How Far Will You Go?
"You were waiting for us...?"
Ma Jeonggu asked with a stunned look. Hwiyeom gave a short, dry laugh.
"Of course. You're all fretting over the ironworks business, aren't you? And since I'm the one running the workshops, producing Flawless Steel, and talking ironworks with the Provincial Governor, I figured you'd naturally come looking for me."
At Hwiyeom's words, Ma Jeonggu steeled himself and asked in a rigid voice,
"Since Young Master already anticipated our steps, I'll cut straight to it. What becomes of us?"
"Before I answer that—would everyone except Elder Ma step outside for a moment?"
"What?"
One of the elders flared, raising his voice. Hwiyeom shot Ma Jeonggu a slanted look. Ma Jeonggu hastily turned and soothed the man.
"Calm yourself, Elder Sin. The Young Master surely has his reasons."
"Elder Ma, don't tell me you're planning to save only yourself—"
"Nonsense! What are you saying!"
"Honestly."
Hwiyeom let out an incredulous snort and delivered a short jab.
"You come begging for your lives without even reading the room?"
"…!!"
The elders' eyes bulged, but Hwiyeom merely shook his head as if the heat had gone out of him.
"Fine, forget it. Just leave. I was going to dig around for some way you might still be useful to the family and try to keep you breathing. But if you're the kind of fools who act like this even now, keeping you alive would only become a liability."
"…"
"Well? What are you waiting for? Leave."
Hwiyeom's merciless tone threw the elders into confusion. His unyielding stance made them fear that the Family Head's residence had already decided to kill them. In the end the other elders turned desperate eyes on Ma Jeonggu. He swallowed hard.
"They're saying they'll go back. Please—just once, let us talk—"
"Hmm…"
Hwiyeom stroked his chin as if thinking, then chuckled.
"Then Elder Ma alone may sit. The rest of you, withdraw."
"Th-thank you, Young Master."
Ma Jeonggu carefully took a seat before Hwiyeom. He swore he had never been this cautious even in front of Dang Un-sang.
Even with Ma Jeonggu seated, Hwiyeom said nothing for a long while. He kept his brush moving busily, drafting some document. Anxiety gave way to rising irritation in Ma Jeonggu. Disadvantageous situation or not, the brat's attitude was enough to make a man's blood boil.
He sits me down and treats me like borrowed barley left to rot…
"Elder Ma. You're the one who tried to kill me."
The sudden thrust of the question drained the color from Ma Jeonggu's face. He cleared his throat and put on a stern expression.
"How could that be? A misunderstanding!"
"Well, maybe it is."
"What?"
"But the truth doesn't really matter, Elder Ma."
Hwiyeom still did not glance at him, brush continuing its work.
"You conspired with the ironworks elders to kill me. Whether it's true is irrelevant. That's simply how it has been decided."
"Th-that means…"
Ma Jeonggu's eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck. Only then did Hwiyeom set the papers aside and smile at him for the first time.
"Hong Ilgon sold you and the ironworks elders out."
Of course Hong Ilgon had not done so—yet. But the fact that he was drawing up exactly such a plan was common knowledge, and he had hardly bothered to hide the thought in the Elders' Council. So Ma Jeonggu believed Hwiyeom's words without question.
"That bastard finally—!!"
Ma Jeonggu flushed crimson and exploded. Hwiyeom only laughed lightly.
"Well, you expected it, didn't you? That's why you came to me. If you hadn't shown up, I was about to submit this document straight to the Family Head."
"…"
Ma Jeonggu stared at Hwiyeom with bloodshot eyes. Rage had nearly robbed him of reason; for a moment he seemed to forget he had come to beg. Hwiyeom, however, did not flinch under that murderous gaze. Instead he smiled coldly and met it head-on.
"Ma Jeonggu, looking at those eyes of yours, your pride still outweighs your life."
"Young Master…!"
Just as Ma Jeonggu was about to erupt, Hwiyeom picked up the document and flung it at him. The silk-mounted scroll unfurled with a sharp rattle and struck Ma Jeonggu square in the chest. Half-dried ink spattered. His face twisted with humiliation and fury.
"What kind of insolence is this!"
"Read the document, Ma Jeonggu."
"…"
Still trembling with uncontained rage, Ma Jeonggu lowered his head—then his body locked solid. He lifted the document and read in a frenzy. Moments later he began trembling for an entirely different reason. In that short time his face had gone deathly pale, as if he had seen a ghost.
"Th-this… this is…"
There it was, detailed in hideous precision: how Ma Jeonggu would be framed as the mastermind behind the assassination, what tortures would precede his death, and what would become of his entire family and every branch household under him afterward. When he saw even the name of his great-grandson—barely past his first birthday—listed on the kill roster, cold sweat poured down Ma Jeonggu's body. Not a trace of the earlier fury remained on his face. He asked in a voice thick with terror,
"Wh-what do you want from me?"
"Want? Watch your wording."
Hwiyeom walked over slowly and snatched the kill list from Ma Jeonggu's hands.
"To stay alive—how far are you willing to go?"
"…If you will only spare my family—"
Ma Jeonggu dropped to his knees.
"I will do anything. Anything. Please—end it with me alone."
"…"
Hwiyeom regarded the kneeling man with half-lidded eyes for a moment. In Ma Jeonggu's downcast gaze he saw not rebellion or rage, but deep sorrow and resignation. He grinned.
"That sincerity just saved you."
"…What?"
"Get up for now. Let's have a cup of tea and talk seriously."
"Y-yes?"
"Why do you think I dismissed every other elder and kept only you, Elder Ma?"
Ma Jeonggu had no idea. Hwiyeom's abrupt change of tone left him unable to gather his wits. Speaking now with a far more familiar air, Hwiyeom continued,
"Elder Ma, don't you hate Hong Ilgon?"
"W-well…"
"Of course you do. He used to act as if he spoke for the branch families' interests, doling out advice left and right. The moment things turned sour he wiped his face clean and sold you all as sacrificial lambs. How could that not rankle?"
"…"
"Elder Ma, I'll be frank."
Hwiyeom's expression grew sly.
"The one who truly needs to disappear isn't someone like you—it's a bastard like Hong Ilgon, wouldn't you say?"
"What…?"
"You're stepping forward to protect the ironworks elders and the households under them. But what is Hong Ilgon doing? For the prestige of the Elders' Council and his own standing, he casually cuts off and sells out his own branch kin, doesn't he?"
"…"
Anger toward Hong Ilgon flickered in Ma Jeonggu's eyes. Hwiyeom pressed on.
"Elder Ma, the Family Head intends to destroy Hong Ilgon thoroughly. But he will not purge every elder. It's a practical matter. If we cut down all the elders and the branch families tied to them, who fills the vacuum?"
"That's true, but…"
"Take my hand, Elder Ma. I'll give you the power to control the elders. That's why I engineered this private audience. The ironworks elders' lives now hang on your word alone, don't they?"
"…! So that was why…"
Surprise flashed across Ma Jeonggu's face, then a faint gleam of greed leaked through. Hwiyeom sneered inwardly.
I'll hand out power, sure. But plenty of elders will receive it.
Hwiyeom's real aim was to split the elders thoroughly. Starting with Bak Chang-eon and including Ma Jeonggu, he would tear the Elders' Council's authority into pieces, hand the scraps to a few cooperative elders, and set them competing in loyalty.
Charging a wild boar with a spear is stupid. You set the hounds loose and drive it into a trap.
Hwiyeom soothed Ma Jeonggu with honeyed words.
"If you swear loyalty to me and the Family Head, I promise not only survival but prosperity beyond it."
Ma Jeonggu managed an awkward, doubtful smile.
"Prosperity, you say… The Provincial Governor has already declared he will build the ironworks. Are you saying there will still be a way for us to run our forges? I hesitate to put it this way, but defying the Provincial Governor's will is no easy thing."
"Of course we cannot refuse His Excellency. The state ironworks will operate, and every private forge in Sichuan will collapse. But where do you suppose the craftsmen for that state ironworks will fall from—the sky?"
"……!"
"Naturally the state ironworks cannot absorb every forge master in Sichuan. But I'm the one involved in establishing it, and I'm the one who can speak to the old Governor about it. I plan to push a kind of subcontracting system—government offices directly hiring private forges. As for who decides which firms get selected… you already know, don't you?"
"Is that truly so…!"
"Why would I lie about something like this? And…"
Hwiyeom smiled faintly.
"You don't think my work ends here, do you?"
"Of course not!"
"Ah, of course—this offer is only valid if I can trust you completely, Elder Ma."
The joy on Ma Jeonggu's face twisted into clear confusion as the conversation veered like a bull's horn.
"Only if you can trust me completely… Is a vow of loyalty not enough?"
"Given the gulf that has stood between us until now, it wouldn't be, would it?"
"…"
"Elder Ma, right now I am extending my hand to spare your life. And not only that—I'm offering power and profit as well. Doesn't that mean you ought to give me something in return?"
Ma Jeonggu realized once more that he had no choice.
"Very well. What do you want?"
"Weaknesses."
Hwiyeom's smile turned sticky.
"Give me the weaknesses of yourself and the ironworks elders—one fatal secret or piece of corruption evidence each that would destroy you if exposed."
"And in exchange I may receive a firm promise regarding the rewards…?"
"Bring the weaknesses and I'll sign an agreement on the spot—weaknesses for the contract."
"…Agreed."
Handing over the power of life and death might look like folly, yet Ma Jeonggu did not consider himself foolish.
Since Hong Ilgon already sold us out, these aren't even real weaknesses anymore.
Of course Hong Ilgon had not yet sold them. But Ma Jeonggu, reading the situation exactly as Hwiyeom intended, had already crossed over completely.
He could live. He could even secure interests. Blinded by the light that had suddenly appeared in the dark, he failed to notice that Hwiyeom had made no concrete promises of any kind.
And what was Hwiyeom thinking?
Of course I won't kill them. I'm short on slaves as it is—why kill? Your entire branch is sentenced to labor re-education. I'll work you like dogs.
With that thought he smiled wickedly.
Ma Jeonggu went straight back, persuaded the ironworks elders, and collected their weaknesses. The elders were more than a little uneasy, yet the prevailing view was that they would die either way and had no other options. In the end every one of them handed over his secrets. Ma Jeonggu returned with them and laid them before Hwiyeom. Hwiyeom signed an agreement guaranteeing various interests and seats in the Elders' Council.
For reference, the Family Head's official seal was not affixed—yet Ma Jeonggu did not doubt. Hwiyeom had long handled every enterprise with full discretionary authority granted by the Family Head. From the Family Head's perspective, that simply left room to nullify the contract if things went wrong.
After they firmly clasped hands, Ma Jeonggu asked with a smiling face,
"Then when shall we discuss the business…?"
"Oh dear. We haven't even broken ground on the ironworks yet. Scale, operation—nothing is decided. If talk of planting people starts this early, the old Governor will find it distasteful. You know how these things work. You wait until the atmosphere is good and everything is progressing warmly, then casually slip it in."
"That makes sense."
"Really now. A man who ought to know better—you must be quite excited."
"Of course. All of this is thanks to the Young Master. I will devote myself in loyalty."
"Excellent! Hahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
On that day Ma Jeonggu, of his own will, stamped the seal of a slave contract—generous salary and performance bonuses, cots and midnight snacks provided for constant overtime—on behalf of himself and every branch household that followed him. In the distant future he would often recall the day and say:
"A contract that only emphasizes the benefits and is rushed through like a snatch is bound to be a scam."
Meanwhile the assassination attempt on the Young Master of the Sichuan Dang Family sent considerable ripples not only through the Tang Clan but across all of Sichuan. Many were shocked that anyone would try to harm the craftsman who was transforming the province. Voices rose demanding that the vicious soul who sought to murder a boy of barely thirteen be found and punished with the utmost severity.
Naturally the government was alarmed as well. The Provincial Governor wished to assign Hwiyeom a bodyguard unit under a Commandant of Trust, but Hwiyeom declined.
"In any case, government and martial world are not to interfere with each other, are they?"
"You may be a martial artist, yet you are also a subject of this land of Sichuan. And you are my grandnephew, are you not? What a wretched thing it would be if a grandfather could not protect his own grandnephew."
"I am grateful for the sentiment, but I fear it would only bring trouble upon Great-Uncle. I will take every measure for my own protection, so please withdraw the thought."
In truth he simply disliked the idea of every move being watched by the Provincial Governor. Still, the old man sighed at what he took for filial concern and accepted it.
"If you insist, there is nothing I can do. But if anything of the sort happens even once more, I myself will find the assassin and have him torn apart by the five horses!"
The Provincial Governor's stern warning spread through Sichuan on the tongues of the clerks who served in the yamen. Hearing the news, the common folk of the province nodded and smiled.
"Of course. The Young Master of the Tang Family is Sichuan's treasure."
"Didn't he drive out the cholera and invent every good thing that comes from his head?"
"His Excellency the Provincial Governor is truly wise!"
The black-path men of the back alleys, on the other hand, found the taste bitter.
"For a while the Governor's constables will be prowling with fire in their eyes. Keep your heads down."
"Damn it!"
As a result, murders and banditry in Sichuan dropped sharply for a time. And Hwiyeom resumed the work he had briefly set aside.
The large-scale water-supply construction project.