The Birth of the Blue-and-Red Faction

"The Blue-and-Red Faction?!"

No genre in all the world bends itself around its readers' heroine preferences quite like wuxia.

Even the orthodox classics from more than half a century ago had shattered the sacred oneness of lord, teacher, and father by daring, of all things, to make the master herself a heroine.

From a childhood friend promised in marriage, to battle-forged martial sisters and beloved teachers, all the way up to a shameless hundred-and-twenty-year-old grandmaster restored to girlish youth.

Since time immemorial, wuxia lore had held that a heroine, so long as she possessed sufficient charm, could trample every social convention underfoot and still lay claim to being the one true first wife.

"How could anyone push two women for first wife!"

"The Two Flowers of Blue and Red are different! Haven't you seen them come to terms with one another? They even said they'd hold their wedding on the very same day!"

"How despicable, pushing both of them as first wife at once!"

And so, apparently, if the martial sisters agreed between themselves, two could indeed be seated as first wives together.

It felt like only yesterday that the great debate raged over how a mere courtesan could ever become first wife — and now a whole faction was being founded on the premise that there could be two.

What a gratifying sight.

"The Two Flowers of Blue and Red are the very finest women our Blue-and-Red Faction has been searching for!"

"What we always found lacking when we looked upon Gu Suk-jeong, or upon Du Eung-hyang — the Two Flowers have filled that void."

I had expected a new first-wife faction to appear eventually, following the Sichuan's Number One Beauty Faction and the Hubei's Number One Courtesan Faction — but on the very first day since Daseogak's doors reopened?

A few days of banning Dangga Pungun talk inside Daseogak, and it seemed they had gone off, gathered in secret, and formed packs of their own.

"Are the Two Flowers of Blue and Red not lacking in charm compared to Sichuan's Number One Beauty and Hubei's Number One Courtesan?"

"You speak from sheer ignorance! The Two Flowers are two yet one — one yet two! Each alone may fall a hair short, but their combined arts surpass the allure of both women who came before!"

Because I'd been squeezing two heroines' worth of prominence into a single volume, I had leaned into the charm born of their partnership rather than individual appeal — and now that very partnership was deploying a united front in the real world too.

"If you're going to push someone for first wife, push just the one! Forming a coward's alliance like this!"

"Combined arts are not cowardice. They are strategy against powerful foes."

"Uuurgh!"

"The Blue-and-Red Faction is open to all — newcomers of the Tea Book Club and veterans alike."

Day one of Dangga Pungun talk being allowed in Daseogak again, and the Blue-and-Red Faction was hungrier for recruits than anyone.

"A cold, austere beauty ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of a swordswoman — Im Mi-ryeong has all the more charm over Sichuan's Number One Beauty."

"And Im Mi-ryeong never carried another man in her heart! A lone, lofty flower, then — does that not make her a cut above Sichuan's Number One Beauty?"

"You mean that chivalrous hero, Yunhyeon? That was never love — merely admiration. Now think on it from the other side. Wasn't the sight of a heart once held by the hero Yunhyeon slowly being dyed in the ink that is Dang Jeong truly entertaining to read?"

"N-now that you mention it... it was rather lovely to behold."

"What did you just say?"

Catching the wavering look on the Sichuan's Number One Beauty Faction man's face, the Blue-and-Red Faction member did not let the chance slip by.

"Sichuan's Number One Beauty is a woman of the past! If it's lofty pride you love, coupled with devotion so supreme she'd give her whole life for love's sake — come to the Blue-and-Red Faction, home of Im Mi-ryeong!"

"If I join now, what number member would I be?"

"You would truly do this?!"

The very same play was unfolding across the room in the Hubei's Number One Courtesan Faction.

"You would betray Du Eung-hyang!"

"Betray! I have never once betrayed Du Eung-hyang! The love in my heart for her remains unchanged!"

"Then why are you joining the Blue-and-Red Faction?"

"My heart for Im Min has simply outgrown my heart for Du Eung-hyang, that is all."

"It cannot be!"

"A new Tea Book Club member, are you? How did you find this Volume 3?"

"It was truly delightful. Dang Jeong's exploits were magnificent, and Lady Im Min's cuteness was..."

"Tender and doting, yet knowing exactly when to stoke jealousy for love's sake, and adoring her dear sister all the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠while — come, join the Blue-and-Red Faction of Im Min!"

This was bordering on outright congregation-poaching.

As a rising power, the Blue-and-Red Faction snatched up fresh Tea Book Club recruits and coaxed members out of the established factions one by one, swelling its ranks.

And naturally, the established factions could only gnash their teeth at it.

"Traitors!"

Among those crying betrayal was a beauty with pink hair and jade eyes — Lim Hayeon.

"If there's nothing else, let's get back to the counter."

"Shouldn't we be stopping them?"

"No one's grabbing collars and brawling. They're merely exchanging healthy conversation, no?"

We were already three volumes in. So long as tempers didn't boil over, the Tea Book Club observed Daseogak's rules admirably well.

Even if the newcomers might inflame the mood, with Lim Hayeon and the Sichuan Tang Clan warriors standing about, nobody had the gall to start a genuine riot.

"But the Blue-and-Red Faction is poaching our people!"

Lim Hayeon stamped her feet as she protested to me.

"Can anyone dictate another person's likes and dislikes? We all love Dangga Pungun all the same. If a real fracas breaks out, that's when I'll step in. Here — take this."

I handed Lim Hayeon a wrapped bundle.

"What's this — red tea leaves?"

She returned to her counter and unwrapped the bundle, tilting her head at me.

"You did say you were confident in brewing fine teas, so I bought some quality red tea leaves. What, losing your nerve?"

They were fine leaves indeed — fine enough that my supplier had asked, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of all things, why I'd suddenly chosen to stock something at such a steep price.

"What do you take a Gyobang graduate for? Just you watch."

Face full of confidence, Lim Hayeon swept over to the tea service in a flash and began brewing.

The view from behind — a beauty in a figure-hugging black cheongsam coaxing red tea from the leaves — was the sort of sight that would steal the soul of anyone who happened to look.

After a short wait, she set a cup before me with practiced, fluid grace.

"Oh."

"Delicious, isn't it?"

It was. Definitely worth the steep price. Or was it simply that her hands worked differently?

When I nodded back with wide eyes, Lim Hayeon lifted her chin as if to say, see for yourself.

"Brew a few more cups, would you?"

"But what's all this red tea for, anyway?"

"Red tea is red, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry?"

Leaving Lim Hayeon blinking in bewilderment, I loaded a tray with a suitable spread of refreshments and marched straight into the heart of that bloodless war.

"Members of the Blue-and-Red Faction, my thanks for your hard work."

Wearing my finest customer-service smile, I approached the corner where the Blue-and-Red Faction had gathered.

"Manager Kang? Were we being too loud?"

"Not at all. In a show of support for the Blue-and-Red Faction, I've brought complimentary refreshments."

"Refreshments, you say? These are delicious. Is this a new menu item?"

I nodded and looked out over the Blue-and-Red Faction.

It made no difference to me which heroine my devoted readers loved. Whoever they cheered for, they were readers who loved my novel.

Had I been nothing more than an author, I might have been satisfied right there. But Kang Yunho, manager of Daseogak, could not let this opportunity pass.

I gestured at the red tea and the bluish refreshments and spoke.

"Indeed. Refreshments crafted from premium ingredients by the hands of a skilled master. The name is the Blue-and-Red Set."

The first-wife vote ought to be decided by an election of cold, hard coin, after all.

"The Blue-and-Red Set?"

"To convey to the author Hopil just how many of you love the Two Flowers of Blue and Red — shouldn't we put forth a set on fair and equal footing with the other first-wife candidates?"

"You mean to say that buying that set will let Author Hopil gauge whom we believe should be first wife?"

"Yes. The Blue-and-Red Set is priced higher than the others — but as it covers two ladies, each purchase will count as double the votes."

As the latecomer to the first-wife race, she'd need a special double event to fire up her supporters, wouldn't she?

"Blue-and-Red Set here, please!"

"This red tea is utterly divine!"

"I cannot lose! Two Sukjeong Tea Sets over here!"

"Three Hyang-ah Coffee Sets for me!"

Demand creates supply, and supply generates revenue.

Daseogak's new first-wife sets sent its earnings soaring higher still.

The Tea Book Club, however, was not squabbling solely over who deserved to be first wife.

With a new volume freshly published, talk of Volume 3 was actually livelier than the First Wife War itself.

And chief among the hottest topics was the momentous secret unveiled in Volume 3.

"To think Saekma was a demonic cultist all along."

Saekma's true identity. The man who had wielded arts so like the Tang Clan's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had in fact been a servant of the Demonic Cult.

"I had already caught on."

A Tang Clan warrior set down his red tea and addressed the Tea Book Club members gathered around him.

"You had noticed, sir?"

"Immense martial prowess, yet an abnormal obsession with carnal desire. Does that not strike you as odd?"

"I took him for a mere madman, but hearing it laid out like that... it does seem off."

"One of the hallmarks of demonic cultivation. Most assume that practicing demonic arts simply rots the mind — turning its practitioners savage, or driving them to mindless slaughter — but there are other side effects."

"What other side effects?"

"It grows harder to master one's own desires. Some fail to restrain them and become raving madmen; others decay into madness by slow degrees. In the end, their very patterns of thought warp to fit their cravings."

"So, in plain terms — they become madmen who wear their madness gracefully."

"Haha. Precisely. However deep a man sinks into depravity, if killers come for his head, he will flee them. Yet when the Erotic Fiend marked a woman, no power under heaven could pry his obsession loose. A textbook symptom of one who has cultivated demonic arts."

"So Saekma cultivated demonic arts, and they drove him mad with lust."

"And there was further proof he belonged to the Demonic Cult."

"What proof would that be?"

With every gaze in the room now upon him, the Tang Clan warrior gave an awkward cough and began.

"Ahem. One of the favored methods by which demonic cultists sow chaos across the Jianghu is to imitate the martial arts of prestigious orthodox sects — or to leave behind traces resembling them."

"I've heard of that as well. Wield demonic arts and you'll be hunted to the ends of the earth, but leave traces of an orthodox sect's arts, and the sects tear each other apart instead — a well-loved trick of the trade."

"Just so. Saekma unleashing the demonic weapon hidden on his person only at the moment Dang Jeong drove him to the brink — it mirrors exactly how a cultist conceals his demonic arts to the very last, then bares his true nature."

"So that's why Saekma wielded arts resembling the Tang Clan's! Author Hopil had even the intimate inner workings of the Jianghu in mind all along!"

"Truly a formidable author."

That scene was simply one I added because I'd promised the Sichuan Tang Clan I would repackage Saekma as a demonic cultist.

The whole reason I'd been hauled off to the Tang Clan in the first place was for unearthing the Saekma incident of twenty-odd years past.

Rather than dredge up the old truth — that Saekma had in fact been a Poison Human manufactured by the Tang Clan — I had changed his identity to that of a demonic cultist with similar symptoms.

Though the man who had actually created the Poison Human had collaborated with the Demonic Cult, so it wasn't as if the clan came away entirely clean, either.

"To resolve the very matter the main family has been anxious over, and at the decisive moment besides. I am truly in awe."

As I listened in from a corner, Tang Pae came over, his face glowing with admiration.

"My aim is achieved. I have no intention of bringing harm to the Tang Clan."

I answered with studied indifference, playing the part of the Tang Clan's bastard son whose purpose had at last been fulfilled.

"The Clan Head will rejoice to hear it as well."

"Whether he rejoices or not is no concern of mine. Make good use of this opening — speak often of the demonic angle, so no unfortunate misunderstandings take root."

"Already done. My subordinates have joined the Tea Book Club outright and are active members as we speak."

They went that far?

Not that I minded. The longer Tang Clan folk lingered in Daseogak, the more Dangga Pungun sales and second-floor revenue would shoot straight up.

Enough to make me think they might pay off their debt in no time at all.

"Not working, I see. What are you doing?"

Lim Hayeon hurried over to my corner with a busy air about her, and Tang Pae shot her a sidelong glance before smiling with narrowed eyes.

"Ah! Come to think of it — I shall keep the cheongsam a secret."

Leaving Lim Hayeon utterly bewildered, Tang Pae withdrew to his security rounds.

I opened my mouth to say it was fine — and the words jammed in my throat.

On reflection, there was hardly any pressing need for this to reach the Sichuan Tang Clan, was there?

"These Main Wife Sets. Aren't they a touch too expensive?"

With Daseogak's revenues marching upward day after day and new Tea Book Club members streaming in, grumbling was bound to erupt from somewhere.

"Who told you to order that many?"

"This is why we must screen the Tea Book Club's new applicants."

"Tsk, tsk. Why do those wretched rabble-rousers breed so quickly?"

"We ought to summon a fresh broom to sweep out Daseogak's troublemakers."

As if today's complaints were nothing new, the members clicked their tongues and dressed the newcomer down.

"No, pray hear me out. Just how long are we expected to keep ordering these sets?"

"Until the first wife is decided, obviously."

"With no telling how many volumes remain until the finale, ordering on and on like this becomes a war without end,"

I, for one, hoped Daseogak's revenue would climb without end.

"Then refrain from ordering. I intend to keep at it."

"I'm not saying we should stop ordering — I'm a new member myself. I only mean there's no need for it to overheat."

"You're not the only one who's had such thoughts. But if we halt, the other side will charge ahead. How are we to stop?"

"One set a day. Even if we drink them all, surely that much is enough. If you agree, I will buy one Main Wife Set apiece for every member of the Tea Book Club."

This new member must have very deep pockets.

"Hmm. One set before each member..."

"If every faction orders on the same terms, I see nothing wrong with it."

A fair point.

Dangga Pungun would keep serializing, and its heroines would only multiply by the day.

Who would become first wife? A money-powered election to make it so.

Better for the members to join hands and buy one each than to wage an endless war padding Daseogak's coffers — the wise course, surely.

And if my merchant cunning proved too venomous for their taste, the members might well form blocs among themselves and hammer out an accord.

"I'll take your agreement as given and place the order. Manager Kang!"

But here's the thing.

Did he think I, the manager, would simply stand by and watch?

"One moment — I'll put up this notice first, then take your order."

I posted a notice large enough for all to see, then turned back around.

"What notice could... Wha—!"

"What in the world?"

"It can't be?"

The Tea Book Club members stared at the notice, faces frozen in shock.

"I made a very special request of the author, Mr. Hopil, just for this."

When merchant cunning has no finish line, you simply build a rest stop along the way. Manager Kang asking a favor of the author Hopil, that is.

"...The side stories' length may be decided according to popularity, you say?"

The length granted to the heroines I favor — decided by me.

How about that? You simply can't resist, can you?

Grinning from ear to ear in triumph, I asked the stunned Tea Book Club members:

"The Main Wife Sets — how many shall you be ordering?"