Temporary Closure - 6
No matter the plan, it is always important to prepare a fallback.
Just because I can play the part of a tiger cub does not mean I can naively assume everything will go smoothly. Assume the worst, and prepare the best path out of that worst-case scenario.
What happens if they discover I am not a tiger cub at all? Is there any way to walk away from that alive? Of all the options available to me, what method will actually let me keep my head and come back in one piece?
My one and only life is on the line. No amount of preparation, no method employed, can ever be excessive.
What tools does a black-haired barbarian like me even have? After long thought, the answer was simple: leverage the reputation I had built in Yichang.
“Why is everyone gathering here?”
A passerby asked the Daseo Society members surrounding Daseogak.
“Hopil’s writing has been posted at Daseogak.”
“Is Volume Three finally coming out?”
“Quite the opposite — the serialization is in danger of being stopped! Those Sichuan Dang Clan bastards are taking issue with Dangga Pungun and hunting for Hopil so they can drag him back to the clan!”
“What?! What problem could they possibly have with Dangga Pungun?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Because of it, Manager Kang is about to get hauled off.”
“Why Manager Kang?”
“Manager Kang said he would never reveal the location of the person Daseogak protects — his own kindred spirit — and stepped forward to be taken in his place!”
“Good heavens! He volunteered to be dragged off by those terrifying Murim folk? I thought he was just a money-grubbing devil, but the man’s got a mountain of loyalty!”
“Hopil knows what will happen to him if he’s taken, so he declared with tears of guilt that he would put down his brush until Manager Kang returns!”
“H-he said he’d stop writing?!”
“Exactly. Daseogak faces closure! Hopil faces retirement! How could the Daseo Society possibly stand by in a situation like this?”
“You trash! You absolute bastards! Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?!”
“The Sichuan Dang Clan should be rewarding him instead! Why are they dragging him away?!”
“Dangga Pungun’s serialization stopped?! I refuse to accept that fact!”
People continued to pour in around Daseogak, drawn by the news that Dangga Pungun was ending.
“Your doing, I take it?”
Uigakju looked over the crowd, then slid his eyes toward me.
“It seems someone saw the Dang Clan people blocking Daseogak yesterday. Since there’s no one in Yichang who doesn’t know Dangga Pungun, the rumor spread in no time.”
Did he really think I would sit still? I put on my most shameless face and pretended innocence.
I had started with Hopil’s public notice and actively spread the word among the Daseo Society members. I even asked them to surround Daseogak again the moment Uigakju and the Dang Clan people returned.
Of course, I hadn’t expected this many to show up.
“Make way! The Chairman of the Yichang Literary Society is passing through!”
As Uigakju and the Dang Clan warriors looked troubled by the crowd, an elderly literati stepped forward from within their ranks.
“And who might you be?”
Uigakju asked the man who appeared to represent this throng.
“Heh heh. Merely a man who leads those who love writing in this Yichang.”
The Chairman of the Yichang Literary Society stroked his beard and met Uigakju’s pressure without yielding an inch.
“Good heavens! If he’s the Literary Society Chairman, doesn’t that mean he came out of the Hanlin Academy?”
“I heard he’d retired and rarely left his residence — to think he would appear here!”
The Hanlin Academy — the Emperor’s advisory body and the institution responsible for compiling imperial texts.
I had earnestly begged the Daseo Society to bring someone who could at least speak a word against the Sichuan Dang Clan. Instead of a mere word, they had produced a man so high-ranking that one ought to bow one’s head.
“Nngh…”
Even Uigakju seemed to realize he was facing someone difficult to handle, and a troubled look crossed his face.
“Even His Majesty has never blocked the path of speech. How is it that the Sichuan Dang Clan, called a pillar of the Orthodox Sects, would do a thing like this?”
“Well water does not interfere with river water. This is a family matter.”
A refined way of saying the official world and the martial world do not meddle in each other’s affairs. Uigakju was telling them to stay out of Dang Clan business.
“Heh heh heh. That is the very phrase I have wanted to fix since my days in office. So these days, if well water touches river water, everything simply becomes well water, is that it?”
The Literary Society Chairman looked from Uigakju to me, then fixed me with a steady gaze, obliquely asking when laying hands on common folk had become a matter of the martial world.
“He is merely a black-haired barbarian.”
Still not a single word about him being family, I see.
“Not a barbarian — a man of Yichang. And a young man who knows propriety at that.”
“That’s right! He even pays his contribution fees to the Merchants’ Association without fail!”
“He’s picky, sure, but he never delays payment on deliveries and settles accounts thoroughly!”
When the Literary Society Chairman took my side, people who had personal ties with me — not just Daseo Society members — began speaking up in my defense as well.
I’m touched. I really hadn’t run my business carelessly in Yichang after all. Of course, I had greased a few palms rather enthusiastically.
“We are not taking him as a criminal. We merely have something to investigate.”
“It is the nature of a criminal that he always has the most things to be investigated.”
“We are taking him as a guest.”
“These days guests are dragged off by force? I heard somewhere they don’t even put him on a horse and haul him away in ropes.”
Uigakju did not answer and simply glared at me. What? He wasn’t going to use ropes, but he was planning to make me walk the whole way. I can’t even use lightness skills — I’d like a horse or a carriage, thank you.
“It is a misunderstanding.”
“Would you believe that if you were me?”
“Hah. And what do you intend to do if I don’t believe it?”
The qi Uigakju released made the atmosphere around us plummet in an instant. As expected of a martial artist — even in the middle of a flock of rabbits, he was every inch the tiger.
The Chairman showed no sign of being cowed, clearly used to such situations, but if I left things as they were, there was no telling what might happen.
“Greetings. That you would trouble your heavy steps to come out for my sake leaves me not knowing where to put myself.”
This was exactly the moment for me to step in. Smiling, I inserted myself between the two men.
“Standing up for a young man who has brought a new wind to Yichang is no trouble at all.”
The Chairman looked at me with open concern.
“I believe this entire affair has come about from a series of small misunderstandings. Misunderstandings only dig deeper the longer they are left to fester. Before this one settles in, I wish to go to Sichuan myself and sort it out.”
“It is far too dangerous. Become my house guest instead. I will give you a room.”
Becoming his house guest meant he would stake the name of a retired Hanlin Academy scholar to protect me. An enormous favor.
“This is a matter concerning my friend. Hopil’s mouth is my mouth, and my mouth is Hopil’s. Before calamity can reach him, I wish to handle it myself.”
I thumped my left chest and put on a look of resolve.
“Huu… One side is prepared to lay down his life for a literary friendship, and the other has resolved himself to snap the strings like Bo Ya. Very well. If that is the case, there is nothing more to be done. Martial artist.”
“Are we finished now?”
“I have disciples in Chengdu of Sichuan Province. I will speak with them separately. And should he fail to return within the allotted time, I will exert my influence not in Sichuan, but elsewhere.”
Elsewhere than Sichuan could only mean the distant imperial capital.
“…That will not happen.”
Even Uigakju seemed not to desire such an outcome; he softened his stance and took a step back.
“I hope it does not. And you as well, Manager Kang. I look forward to the day you return safely and sell Volume Three of Dangga Pungun.”
I watched the Literary Society Chairman as he cast one last worried glance at me and turned away down the road.
One contingency was now in place.
If they ever discovered I was not a tiger cub, the name of a Hanlin Academy scholar would flash through their minds the moment they thought of killing me.
I need one more contingency.
What did the Sichuan Dang Clan fear most? Why were they so desperately covering up the Color Demon incident?
In the end, public opinion.
As a clan walking a tightrope as one of the Orthodox Sects, they fretted over their reputation more than anyone and kept an ear to the public. Even if my tiger-cub performance failed, I had to make them hesitate and keep hesitating before they ever drew a blade.
I would create the very situation the Sichuan Dang Clan feared most.
I shouted toward the Daseo Society members who had been watching everything unfold.
“Members of the Daseo Society! This is Kang Yunho, manager of Daseogak! Here is Volume Three of Dangga Pungun!”
I pulled Volume Three from my robes and held it high.
“Ooooooh!”
“I had originally intended to publish Volume Three soon, but circumstances have forced me to delay publication for a time.”
“Whyyyy?!”
“Just publish it and go!”
“If I publish this Volume Three and leave, Hopil has sworn he will never write again! Therefore! Daseogak will enter temporary closure, and upon my return I will publish this Volume Three! I beg you — please wait for Volume Three and for me, Kang Yunho!”
“Guhh! Well, if that’s how it is…”
“You Dang Clan bastards! We’re going to watch until Manager Kang comes back alive!”
“If Volume Three isn’t published, let’s go burn the Sichuan Dang Clan to the ground!!!”
“Agreed!!!”
If Daseogak entered temporary closure and interest in Dangga Pungun faded, the black-haired barbarian dragged off to the Sichuan Dang Clan could simply disappear from people’s minds.
To prevent exactly that, I had produced Volume Three.
An already completed Volume Three — yet one they could not read because of the Sichuan Dang Clan.
Even if interest in Volume Two eventually cooled, the thirst for Volume Three would transform into resentment toward the Dang Clan and keep the topic circulating on everyone’s tongues.
At least until the fate of my life was decided.
“Doing exactly as you please, I see.”
Uigakju had watched the entire spectacle and finally spoke.
“This is a world where a black-haired barbarian who has done nothing wrong can still have his neck twisted. If I don’t publish Volume Three, who knows what might happen — so I need at least a promise in place, don’t I?”
“You will not be able to publish Volume Three anyway.”
“That is a matter for me and the Clan Leader to discuss. It is not something you can decide.”
I had no intention of ending the serialization of Dangga Pungun. One way or another, I was going to put out Volume Three.
“You never concede a single word. I will watch to see whether you can do the same in Sichuan.”
“Do you intend to drag me off right this moment?”
I looked at the Daseo Society members who still had not dispersed. Surely he wouldn’t…?
“Tsk. I’ll give you one more day. Go secure a carriage.”
Uigakju eyed me with open displeasure, then pushed through the Daseo Society members and disappeared.
The next day, we made time to visit the steward uncle.
“I have heard the rumors. If you leave the promissory notes with me, I will handle the debt matters for the time being.”
This was the same steward who had stayed until the very end to settle the debts when Dang Hwarin’s maternal grandfather passed away, and again when her mother fled.
He was the most trustworthy person we could leave things to while we headed for Sichuan.
“Thank you.”
“If a debtor is absent for a prolonged period, it creates problems not only with money but with credit as well. You will need to return as soon as possible.”
“I will do my best.”
We had made a good deal of money, but not enough to feel secure on a long journey. We needed to resolve the Sichuan Dang Clan matter before the funds ran dry or the creditors started causing trouble.
“I would have liked to see you off with a cup of wine, but circumstances do not allow it.”
“When we return, let’s share a cup. The wine you gave Hwarin last time was excellent.”
“Oh? You drank that?”
The steward uncle looked at Hwarin with surprise. She dipped her head like a guilty criminal and turned her face left and right. Disappointment flickered across his expression.
Wait… was that wine something I wasn’t supposed to drink?
“Haha. Yes. It was so fine I find myself wanting another bottle. Next time I’ll bring two myself.”
What had already gone into my stomach couldn’t be helped. The only option left was to treat him even more generously in return.
“Huu. It truly is a fine wine. My wife would sit me down, pour me that wine, and then act coquettishly right in front of me… A child who normally didn’t even look like a woman would suddenly become so…”
“Haha.”
We chatted with the steward uncle a little longer about the ways of the world, then left the estate.
“The debt matters are settled for now. The documents that needed handling are done, and the letters that needed sending have been sent. Is that everything?”
Because I had never left work piled up, everything was finished so quickly we could leave this very moment if we wanted.
“Shouldn’t I have been the one doing all that…? But how would I even…”
What’s with her all of a sudden?
I was walking toward Daseogak with Hwarin, who had been muttering strange things, when we ran into a group of Daseo Society members heading somewhere.
“Put me down!”
“Manager Kang! So this is where you were.”
“I appreciate yesterday’s help. But why is that fellow tied to an A-frame carrier?”
The man bound to the carrier was not someone I saw often, but his face was familiar as a Daseo Society member.
“We’re dealing with a heretic who stirs up trouble.”
“Pardon?”
“We had barely kindled hope for Volume Three when this one started pouring cold water, claiming we were being used.”
“Haha…”
“He said a book with only two volumes out doesn’t deserve this kind of uproar. That Hopil is actually going into hiding because he can’t handle the next part of the story, and that this Manager Kang fellow is just sucking up the money and running.”
“That is a bit much.”
Who could have predicted someone would show up with a blade and threaten to stop me from writing Dangga Pungun? I wanted to release Volume Three too.
“To think he fails to understand the great will of Master Hopil! Our Daseo Society cannot tolerate a heretic who has lost his faith!”
The Daseo Society member pointed at the man on the carrier with a voice full of righteous fury.
“Let me go!”
“I hope nothing happens, but I truly do not wish for anyone to die or be injured over a novel.”
Reader disputes turning into murder cases. The authorities stepping in and forcibly ending the serialization of Dangga Pungun for corrupting public morals. That was a fate I wanted to avoid at all costs.
“Our Daseo Society would never do anything that stains Master Hopil’s honor. Why would we injure a person?”
“Haha. That is a relief.”
“However, a heretic who stirs up trouble is not a person.”
“Ah…”
“A joke! Just a joke!”
When my expression hardened, the Daseo Society member laughed and clapped me on the back.
“I’m sure you’ll handle it well, but I’m counting on you.”
“Have no fear! We’ll turn this heretic back into a human being and return. Everyone, move out!”
“Save me! Is this what happens when someone speaks the truth?!”
“This heretic still hasn’t come to his senses! Water knows the answer, so let’s start with water!”
“Straight ahead is the Yangtze! Keep going just like this!”
I really hope nothing goes wrong.
The day of departure arrived.
“This should be enough, right?”
“Yeah.”
Hwarin and I stared bitterly at the signboard standing in front of Daseogak.
Daseogak Temporary Closure
— Away on Business with the Sichuan Dang Clan —
“Get into the carriage.”
We turned at Uigakju’s words and headed for the carriage.
Will we be able to come back?
I had finished every preparation within my power.
Whether I return as a tiger cub or as a broken wreck, it is now time to go check the dice I have thrown.
Let’s go. To the Sichuan Dang Clan.