Ivan Novikov? From Today, He's a Slave (2)
White energy erupted from Ivan's fist and came howling toward Dang Su-jeong like a raging blizzard.
In an instant the moisture in the air froze solid, white frost scattering like the diamond dust sometimes glimpsed at the poles.
Ivan might look a little slow, but the internal force packed into that single punch could not be taken lightly. Su-jeong hastily holstered her pistols and drew inner energy into both palms.
Boom-boom!!!
Her hands layered three times in rapid succession; six palm imprints blossomed like a fully opened lotus and crashed against Ivan's fist.
It was the Sichuan Tang Family's pride—the Poison Palm, the Scarlet Lotus Divine Palm.
In that single exchange Ivan stood rooted to the earth like a pillar, while Su-jeong was flung skyward as if shoved aside by raw power.
At a glance Ivan seemed to have the advantage, yet Su-jeong had deliberately used his force to put distance between them.
She flipped in midair; her hands vanished into her sleeves and reappeared spitting fire from twin pistols.
Tat-tat-tat-tang!!
"?!!"
She had no intention of killing him, but the shots still streaked for his paralysis points to put him out of commission.
Ivan saw them at once and crossed both arms over every vital spot on his body.
Kak-kak-kak-kak!!
Yin energy as hard as ten-thousand-year ice armored him from head to toe; the lead bullets sparked and bounced away.
After only one exchange Su-jeong understood.
This man is by no means beneath me.
"Ugh! Hidden weapons—truly worthy of the wicked Tang clan! Cowardly!"
"If using hidden weapons makes the Tang Family cowardly, then a man from the Ice Palace using yin energy is just as cowardly! How much advantage have you taken over the years freezing your enemies' meridians with that cold qi?"
Ivan flinched at the retort. He thought hard for a moment, then nodded and cupped his fists in salute.
"That… is fair. It was improper of me to paint an entire school with one brush because of their tactics. I apologize."
Is he kidding me? This isn't a joke—he's serious.
Stopping a fight mid-swing just to apologize was so absurd she almost laughed out loud, yet Ivan was completely in earnest.
Watching him, Su-jeong understood exactly what kind of man he was.
A little dense, but upright to a fault. If he were an ally, he might actually be reliable.
Because he spoke with courtesy, her reply carried courtesy in return.
"Listen, Ivan. I think there's a misunderstanding. How about we stop this pointless fight and settle things with words?"
She let the pistols hang at her sides. Ivan, still rubbing the spots the bullets had struck, asked,
"If we talk, will you promise to withdraw the threats against Landlord Hwang?"
"As I said earlier, that depends on Landlord Hwang himself. And the one who did wrong is Landlord Hwang."
"Landlord Hwang is no villain. I vouch for him."
"And how exactly would you know that?"
"This Ivan trusts his own eyes."
I'd have better luck talking to a wall…
Irritation flared. Should she just finish him? In pure martial skill they seemed roughly equal. And if they were equal, Ivan could never beat her.
She had at least heard of the North Sea Ice Palace's arts in passing; he, on the other hand, knew nothing of the Tang Family's poisons and hidden weapons—especially the Tang Thunder grenade she was fingering inside her robe.
Besides, she had not even shown her true strength. Her title was not Dark Phoenix but Poison Phoenix for a reason. Fighting with pistols was not her real method. When she went all-out she drove the Green Dragon Divine Art to its peak and scattered brilliant poison feathers like the legendary zhen-bird of legend.
The elemental matchup favored her too. Poison was weak against pure yang heat, but devastating against yin-cold arts. If she wished, she could turn him into a frozen corpse in a few breaths.
Yet she could not bring herself to hate the honest youth enough to kill him. So, uncharacteristically, she decided to yield a step and try persuasion.
"Then, Ivan, let's do this. Whether we pull back the hand reaching for the Hwang household is not my decision to make. The one who decides is the Young Clan Head."
"Then is that man the villain?!"
"…First get out of the mindset that anyone from the Tang Family is automatically evil. I'll provisionally assume Landlord Hwang is not a villain either."
"…Mm. Fair enough. We'll provisionally treat the Tang Young Clan Head as not a villain. And then?"
"Meet him yourself and talk. If you can persuade the Young Clan Head, everything is solved, isn't it?"
At her unusually generous offer Ivan frowned and answered without confidence.
"…I won't hide it—I'm no silver-tongued talker. Even when I'm certain I'm right, I have no confidence I can out-argue someone glib."
"But sincerity still gets through, doesn't it? You said the reason you trust Landlord Hwang so much is the sincerity you've seen in him up close."
Confidence returned to Ivan's face.
"Mm. All right. I'll meet the Young Clan Head."
"Good thinking."
"Martial artists speak with their fists, not their mouths. Once I exchange a few moves with him, I'll understand something."
"…The Young Clan Head is weaker than you. He's still just a youth who hasn't even reached his twenties."
"I don't mean I want him to defeat me. One exchange will be enough to feel the truth. Same as with you."
"?"
"I felt it in the first move. Your true specialty is poison arts, isn't it?"
The back of the right fist that had collided with the Scarlet Lotus Divine Palm was still stained red, slowly returning to its natural color as his inner energy forced out the invading poison.
"Something like that."
"That first exchange was excellent. Poison arts are the natural enemy of yin-cold arts. Yet after you blocked my surprise attack, you never used poison again—you only aimed for my paralysis points with hidden weapons. That proves you are neither base nor cruel. At the very least I can trust you won't trap me with some underhanded scheme."
"…And if I do turn out to have set a trap?"
She asked out of sheer disbelief. Ivan threw his head back and laughed, thumping his chest.
"Then I'll die laughing at how poor my judgment was. I die by my own reading of a man—whom would I blame?"
"…I can't tell if you're stupid or just large-hearted. You're not the type to live long."
"Haha! I hear that a lot!"
Su-jeong gave a wry smile and put the pistols away. Somehow she found it hard to dislike this open-hearted fool. Ivan, too, seemed to have largely dropped his hostility toward her.
She said, "I'll take you to the Young Clan Head. Follow me."
"Gladly. I'll be in your debt."
"…So that's how you ended up bringing him here."
After hearing Su-jeong's full account, Hwiyeom regarded Ivan with a strange glint in his eyes.
The moment those eyes met his, Ivan was seized by an inexplicable chill.
What was that? Just now… it felt like he was appraising me…
Meanwhile Hwiyeom was fighting for his life to keep his expression neutral.
Don't rush. Don't look desperate. Stay casual… act like it's nothing…
Truth was, he was more desperate right now than at any point since entering the martial world.
And why wouldn't he be?
A human freezer—how am I supposed to resist that?!
This was an age that had not even invented electric motors, let alone freezers. Yet here stood a man whose internal energy could instantly freeze the moisture in the air and blast out devastating cold.
I have to recruit him. No matter what!
He would stake both his past life and this one: never had he wanted a talent more desperately than this.
First, therefore, he had to clear up the misunderstanding.
In a kindly tone Hwiyeom began to explain—background, current situation, the problems involved—then finished neatly.
"…In short, Landlord Hwang is indeed a villain who has used loopholes to avoid taxes and pile up wealth."
A clean, concise explanation even a child could follow.
Unfortunately the warrior from the North Sea Ice Palace was not so easily handled.
"…What is tax?"
Hwiyeom felt his breath catch.
"…You don't know what tax is?"
Ivan nodded solemnly.
At those words Hwiyeom, Sama Yun, Lee Jinmyeong, Ye-eun, and even Dang Su-jeong all looked up at the heavens and sighed in unison.
He doesn't know what tax is.
Is this guy some gorilla who grew up playing in the jungle with Mowgli?
Geographically it would be more Frozen than Jungle Book, but either way Hwiyeom felt his mind going blank.
"Ahem… so tax is…"
He carefully unpacked the concept. When he finished, Ivan tilted his head.
"So to summarize: farmers grow crops or fishermen catch fish, then hand over a portion of their produce to the state, or else they give labor or serve as soldiers—that service is called tax?"
"Correct. Do you understand now?"
"Mm… I grasp the idea, but it still feels strange."
"What part?"
"All the land under heaven already belongs to the Emperor, does it not? Yet you go to the trouble of dividing it among the people, then take back the harvest they raise. Isn't that needlessly complicated? It's different from the Ice Palace's way."
"How does the Ice Palace do it?"
Ivan answered proudly.
"Everything in the North Sea belongs to the Ice Palace. All produce obtained by the Palace driving its people is kept by the Palace, then distributed to the loyal palace folk so they may sustain their lives! Under the great guidance of our Palace Lord, every palace citizen is building a paradise on earth!"
The North Sea Ice Palace is the Kremlin?!
The familiar red flavor in Ivan's words made Hwiyeom shudder with physiological revulsion.
Sama Yun, however, knew nothing of communism and asked with pure curiosity,
"Hee, how fascinating. One absolute ruler monopolizes every resource and redistributes it… similar to an ordinary monarchy, yet different in many ways."
Lee Jinmyeong nodded.
"A structure that cannot produce local magnates or feudal lords. Extremely specialized for centralization. But it would require administrative power strong enough for the center to control the provinces perfectly."
"The officials would have to be incorruptible as well. The moment bureaucrats start skimming in the middle, both governance and popular sentiment would plunge straight into hell. Aside from that flaw, if the ruler isn't a complete fool it might actually be a decent system…"
Even Ye-eun sounded mildly positive. Hwiyeom cleared his throat with theatrical force.
"Ahem!! Ahem! Ahem! Watch your words, everyone. Someone might twist this into criticism of His Majesty Emperor Sungui's reign."
He cut off his companions' rather over-enthusiastic communist-leaning remarks and continued,
"In any case the Central Plains does things differently from the Ice Palace. One must follow the laws of the land one stands in. By the laws of this place, Landlord Hwang is a criminal."
"He may have used loopholes, but that is not yet a crime, is it? He cleverly stayed outside the net and took profit. I'm not saying he did well, but strictly speaking he is gray rather than black."
Why is the dumb one suddenly so sharp on this of all topics?
Ivan's point was valid. Hwiyeom nevertheless shook his head.
"If something is not a crime simply because it does not break the letter of the law, then countless injustices in the world cease to be injustices. For example, Hero Ivan came here for private vengeance because he believes we are persecuting Landlord Hwang—and he believes that path is righteous."
"Exactly so."
"Yet by the law that is a crime, for the law does not recognize private retribution. By Hero Ivan's own standard, every martial artist in the jianghu is nothing but a pack of armed bandits threatening people with blades and robbing them of their property."
"Th-that can't be…!"
Ivan's pupils shook violently as though struck by a heavy blow; then he hung his head in gloom.
"Th-then what am I to do? Even if Landlord Hwang is a villain, I still owe him a debt. I cannot cast aside that grace—yet if he is evil, what should I do?"
Watching the young man waver, Hwiyeom's eyes suddenly flashed.