Promising Mediation
The man who came looking for Hui-yeom was none other than the heir of the Hebei Paeng Family and one of the famed Nine Dragons Seven Peaks of the martial world—
Cliff Blade Dragon Paeng Sang.
"Paeng-hyung?"
The massive, somewhat weary-looking man flashed a grin.
"It's been a while, Dang-hyung. Care for a drink?"
It was a rather rude invitation—showing up without any prior notice and asking for a drink out of the blue—but Hui-yeom nodded anyway.
Wasn't this a kind of romance in its own way?
Well, his reason for coming is pretty obvious, too.
Without another word, Hui-yeom set aside his documents and called for a servant to prepare drinks and side dishes.
Sure enough, after emptying a few cups while making small talk, Paeng Sang grew serious the moment the liquor started to hit him.
"Dang-hyung, it truly wasn't our main family."
"I was already thinking along those lines. The Paeng Family aren't fools. They wouldn't leave such blatant traces of their secret techniques while making a move."
"You really think so? But that martial art was unmistakably ours."
Paeng Sang, looking uncharacteristically gloomy, knocked back another cup and exhaled a liquor-tinged sigh.
"I stopped by that dam before coming here. What a magnificent structure. You're truly something else."
"You flatter me."
"Haha, this man and his modesty… Anyway, the palm imprint carved into the water wall was definitely… the mark of our family's Hunwon Thunderclap Palm. But…"
His voice rose.
"Even so, it wasn't us! I dare to claim our innocence! Our family doesn't do things that way! If we want a fight, we declare it openly and smash them head-on with pure force—that's the Paeng way!"
Paeng Sang growled.
"This is a frame-up! Someone stole our martial arts to sow discord in the martial world!"
"…"
"Of course… I understand it isn't a very persuasive argument… but it's the truth."
"…"
Hui-yeom downed a cup and spoke.
"Paeng-hyung, there was a line in some miscellaneous book I read once. 'When a crime occurs among magicians, what matters is not how it was done, but why.'"
"Magicians?"
"It's about incidents happening in a country called England, far across the sea. In the story's setting, magicians are… something like Taoists who specialize in certain heretical arts."
"Heretical arts? Like transformation techniques or commanding demons?"
"Something roughly like that."
"Hmm."
"Anyway, in that book the magicians form families like the great houses of the martial world and wage power struggles. People die in incomprehensible ways, and the protagonist, as an investigator, tracks down the culprit."
"Sounds interesting. But?"
Paeng Sang tilted his head, wondering what any of that had to do with the present. Hui-yeom continued.
"Martial artists are superhuman. The world is vast, and every kind of bizarre martial art and heretical technique exists. So even if the traces left at the scene match the Paeng Family's, I don't think we can conclude the culprit is one of your people.
Pinning down the how is meaningless.
With a world this large, what guarantee is there that no other martial art could leave scars similar to the Paeng Family's?
If someone prepared from the start to frame the Paeng Family, they might have sought out such a technique. Or the secret manual for that art might have leaked in the past."
"…In fact, that's why the elders of our family suspect imperial involvement."
"I consider the possibility of the imperial court rather low."
"Why?"
"Same reason the Dang Family doesn't suspect the Paeng Family. Because you can't explain the why. There's no motive for doing it."
Watching Paeng Sang stiffen slightly, Hui-yeom went on.
"If the Paeng Family attacked the Baekgak Mountain Dam, they'd lose a great deal. Their friendly ties with our family, the imperial court's refusal to leave them alone, and the Namgung Family, whose relatives were killed—need I say more?
But what do they gain? Making the Dang Family and the court look bad? Killing a few Namgung people?
They gain nothing."
"Exactly!"
"The same goes for the imperial court. This is a project the Emperor authorized, supported for years, silencing ministers' complaints and brushing aside every bit of noise along the way—and now the dam's grandeur and practicality are supposed to cover all of that.
And yet the Emperor orders the great dam destroyed? There's no reason for him to smash his own foot that spectacularly.
Besides, why the Paeng Family of all people? If he wanted to split the orthodox factions, there were far better methods available.
So it isn't the court's doing either."
"…Then whose work do you think it is?"
Paeng Sang's eyes burned; he looked ready to rush off and take the culprit's head that very moment.
Hui-yeom shook his head.
"If it were clear enough to say easily, would we be sitting here like this?"
"Even a small hunch will do. The elders will make the judgment."
"…The Demonic Cult."
Paeng Sang flinched. Confusion spread across his face at Hui-yeom's words.
"The Demonic Cult? They withdrew decades ago…"
"They retreated, yes—and just as they've done several times before, they're surely waiting for a chance to rise again."
"Mmm."
"The Heavenly Demon once possessed the ability to steal martial arts. If we assume the Heavenly Demon seized the Paeng Family's techniques, that the Demonic Cult therefore holds them, and that they used those arts to sow division among the Nine Great Noble Families—it more or less fits."
"…That story is hard to believe as well, clearly."
"True. When you go home, ask the elders once. They probably already know. In any case, our family has decided to think of it that way. We judge it more likely than suspecting the Paeng Family."
"Dang-hyung…"
Paeng Sang looked at Hui-yeom with a touch of emotion, then nodded.
"The Paeng Family will surely repay the Dang Family's trust."
"Yes. That's why our family intends to mediate the dispute between the Namgung Family and the Hebei Paeng Family.
Which is why we sent a letter to the Paeng side.
Though I didn't expect Paeng-hyung himself to come."
"Do you have a way to mediate?"
"Well, we sit down calmly and persuade them with reason. The Namgung Family is far too emotional right now. I can't blame them entirely… but if the Dang Family, who are also victims, step in as mediators, the Namgung Family won't be able to simply dig in their heels."
The Namgung Family had lost people; the Dang Family had nearly lost a dam while sitting quietly.
Even if outsiders tried to insert themselves, the line "if you're not a party to this, stay out of it" would not work against the Dang Family.
Moreover, the Namgung Family had recently conducted themselves in ways that left them with nothing to say to the Dang Family.
It had started with them picking a fight and getting thoroughly audited by the tax authorities. They had completely raised the white flag and surrendered as a condition for ending the audit—yet they still hadn't learned their lesson and had been caught sending spies.
And that was why the Heavenly Sword Unit had been dispatched.
What if the Namgung Family, eyes rolled back in rage, told the Dang Family to shut up as well?
Fine, fine, we'll shut up. But then is it all right if we spread to the entire martial world exactly why you people ended up dispatching the Heavenly Sword Unit to the great dam our family built, and how the two-faced Namgung Family stabbed us in the back and got caught?
Unless Namgung Jin swallowed pesticide in a fit of temper, he would never accept such a situation.
In short, the circumstances were already such that if the Dang Family spoke, the Namgung Family would have no choice but to accept it to some degree.
I think we can somehow mediate this matter with our family's strength…
But the future was the problem.
This incident had made one thing certain: there was an undercurrent force trying to create chaos and division in the martial world.
Preparations were needed.
Martial world affairs would run their course as martial world affairs, but business still had to roll forward on its own track.
With the completion of the Baekgak Mountain Dam allowing massive amounts of clear water to be drawn, construction on the Second State-run Ironworks entered its final surge.
"Lathe! Watch the lathe angle!"
"You idiot! Look at the connector properly! The direction's reversed! Do you know how much money we lose every time we stop the production line?!"
Warriors additionally dispatched by the Dang Family for technician protection and security reinforcement arrived and guarded the facility installation site without gaps, while the technicians poured themselves into the final work.
Meanwhile, Michelangelo, Gwak Do, and the rest of the Construction Department people were clicking their tongues as they examined the damaged water wall.
"We got lucky."
"No kidding."
People often said a dam would collapse if you made a hole big enough for even a finger.
The entire wall had to form an arch shape that perfectly dispersed and bore the water pressure; if a hole appeared on one side, the pressure concentrated there and the edges of the hole expanded until the whole thing crumbled.
The masked man's Hunwon Thunderclap Palm had left a massive scar nearly three meters in diameter on the outer face of the water wall, and the destruction had gone fairly deep.
But it had not penetrated.
And there was one more stroke of luck: the water wall was not a solid concrete mass, but a honeycomb-combined structure built with the cellular honeycomb method Michelangelo had introduced.
Gwak Do clicked his tongue.
"If it had been solid concrete, the shock would have transferred through the whole thing. Even if no damage showed right away, there might have been hairline cracks, or the structure could have weakened."
"Right."
"Smearing cement over something destroyed like this would only be first aid. This spot would become a weak point and collapse someday."
"Exactly."
"And tearing out solid concrete to replace just this section would have been a nightmare of a job."
"You said it!"
"…But the method you proposed? We just lower the water level, strip out the damaged honeycomb cells and the ones around them, slot in new honeycomb frames and lock them together, then cover the outer face with iron plate and finish with cement. Done."
"Ahem!! Praise the greatness of this body a little more!"
"…"
Gwak Do stared blankly at Michelangelo, who had planted his hands on his hips and was leaning his upper body ridiculously far back in a swagger.
"…If I shoved him from here, even a guy who learned the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art might die on the spot…"
"What was that?"
"I said your shit's thick."
Grumbling like that, the craftsmen proceeded with the dam's restoration.
Repairing the dam and fully installing the facilities took several months.
The year changed.
And so, in the early summer of the year when Hui-yeom turned twenty-five, Sama Yun twenty-four, and Dang Woo-ju four—
the historic moment finally arrived when the Second State-run Ironworks of the Central Plains was completed.
Murmur murmur murmur murmur.
People thronged to the completion ceremony of the Second State-run Ironworks like clouds.
Even the Provincial Governor of Henan, who had thought he had developed some resistance to crowded events, stuck out his tongue.
"This is… the Baekgak Mountain Dam completion was already enormous, but this doesn't even compare."
"Well, since that succeeded, expectations are piled even higher this time."
Hui-yeom laughed lightly, as if it were nothing.
"Expectations piled higher? It's far more than that! H-His Majesty the Emperor is coming in person!!"
Indeed.
Emperor Sungui had apparently decided to claim the Second State-run Ironworks as a solid political achievement of his own, and had played the ultimate card of leaving Beijing to come all the way to Henan himself.
Not traveling in secret, but as an official imperial event.
No wonder a high official like the Provincial Governor of Henan was trembling like a freshly appointed clerk.
Hui-yeom, for his part, remained thoroughly unimpressed.
"…You'll have to deliver that speech at the ceremony without stuttering. His Majesty will be watching."
"Ah, I'm already nervous enough without you adding to the pressure!"
Hui-yeom snorted a quiet laugh as the Provincial Governor of Henan clutched his chest.
And yet—
After staying up night after night preparing his speech, memorizing it cold, and mounting the podium with a swelling heart, the Provincial Governor of Henan…
"That will do. We have something to say in the Provincial Governor's place."
…had his chance to speak stolen.
"…?"
It was summer.