Chapter 58
Chapter 58
Iron Emperor — Chapter 58
Whoosh.
Was he lamenting that the nation's discipline had yet to be established?
The Yeolje Go Jin-cheon, standing alone, cut a forlorn figure. More than that, he betrayed a hint of despondency.
He dropped Buru's proposed alias, "Danmuji (端武智)," clutched in one hand, to the floor. Then he reached into his robes and looked again at the era-name he himself had written out.
'Danmuji (㫜務址)'
The character dan (㫜) for bright, mu (務) for striving, ji (址) for foundation.......
The meaning was different, yet Hwi-garam's voice, which had reached Jin-cheon's ears, refused to leave him.
'Simple (單純) ignorance (無知).'
It was the moment when Jin-cheon's days of toil dissolved into foam.
Gauri's road ahead was long, and longer still.
* * *
The daily routines of the Gauri people never changed.
At dawn, the shouts of soldiers running around the lake, the sight of elders and women heading out to till the fields.......
The slaves, aside from this, were assigned to every other form of labor. Yet they did not appear to be oppressed. They were simply mobilized for communal work, fed, and moved mechanically. One side gradually grew more proactive, the other more passive. And as in a world ruled by the law of the jungle, the dividing line grew ever darker, even without being codified into law.
"You son of a bitch!"
Wham!
"Urghk!"
One man hurled curses as he beat the other like a dog, and the one on the ground rolled about, taking the beating like a dog. Yet not a single person around them moved to intervene, and the onlookers' gazes only grew colder.
"What's going on here!"
Clatter-clatter-clatter!
As the soldiers responsible for public order came running, the man who had only been taking the beating on the ground began to thrash desperately.
"S-save......."
"Shut up, you bastard!"
Whammm!
"Urk!"
But the man's kicking only grew fiercer, and the approaching soldiers' footsteps only grew more urgent. The situation seemed grave.
Crrrack.
"Kkhuuuh."
"Die!"
A harsh grinding of bone rang out, and as the flailing man's body trembled as if convulsing, the eyes of the surrounding people, which had been watching coldly, wavered. Under those gazes, the man, foam beading at the corners of his mouth, soon went limp. Only then did the soldiers arrive and manage to pull away the man who had still been kicking.
"He's dead."
"Huff, huff."
One soldier shook his head and spoke in a troubled voice. At that, the man restrained by the other soldier began to turn pale, as if only now realizing what he had done.
"Everyone who witnessed this here will come with us. You'll all have to serve as witnesses. Let's go."
"Let's go."
With over ten thousand people living here, incidents were inevitable. But murder was a first. The footsteps of the man being led away by the soldiers and the ten-odd people following behind were heavy. The resolution of the first murder would become the practical standard of law for them going forward.
Around the government office, encircled by a low wall, a crowd of people had gathered, watching how this matter would unfold. Ten thousand people it might be, but the density was high, so small incidents spread quickly. And the first murder was enough to capture everyone's attention.
"Name!"
"I am Hailon."
"Your branch and unit!"
"I am receiving Axemen training."
Due to the shortage of personnel, only branches had been divided so far. The dead man had been a slave, a giant a full head taller than this man, but the fact that Hailon had killed him so easily after only a short period of training showed just how grueling and intense that training was.
"Why did you kill him?"
"......."
At the question of why he had killed, Hailon kept his silence. But his complexion, unlike when he had been dragged here, was far more composed now. Yet the fact that he had killed a man remained unchanged, so he seemed to be maintaining a calm demeanor, as if awaiting his sentence.
"His Majesty arrives!"
The crowd's bodies sank to the ground like a wave, revealing the figure of Go Jin-cheon. The commander conducting the interrogation rushed from his chair, prostrated himself, and cried out.
"Your Majesty, Supreme One of All Heavens who embraces all people and all things, I, Yang Mu-jeon, offer my respects."
Stride. Stride.
Past the prostrated Yang Mu-jeon walked Jin-cheon. Behind him came the brothers Eulji Buru and Uru, followed by Dae Mu-deok and Yeon Hwi-garam. Gerard and Risel came running up belatedly and took their places.
Jin-cheon slowly seated himself in the chair, swept his gaze around the scene, then parted his lips and let out a low voice.
"Rise, all of you."
"His Majesty commands everyone to rise!"
"We shall follow His Majesty's will."
All rose from their places with their heads still bowed. When the people had risen, Jin-cheon furrowed his brow as if something displeased him.
"Not the culprit!"
"Ah, understood, Your Majesty!"
"......."
Whether from ignorance or from faithfully following Jin-cheon's command, even Hailon, who had been forced to kneel, had risen. Jin-cheon, seeing Hailon returned to a prisoner's posture, extended his hand and read the interrogation record and witness statements. This was not a matter that required the Yeolje to involve himself personally, yet Jin-cheon had brought his retinue and come in person all the same.
"Hmmm."
"......."
As a deflating sound escaped Jin-cheon's lips, Hailon began tightening sharply.
It was a small nation, but he was the sovereign of a nation. His own life or death was not the issue. Thoughts of his wife and children at home suddenly flickered through his mind.
"You."
"I...... the Supreme One of All Heavens, the heaven-sent......."
"Don't do things you're no good at. Just answer what you're asked, and answer well."
"Hik! Yes!"
An ordinary soldier could not be expected to know the proper rites of worship before the Yeolje, and Jin-cheon, moreover, was a man who detested such things fiercely. Hailon, feeling the beads of sweat rolling down his back, waited for the next question.
"Your reason for killing!"
"Yes, I will speak."
Unlike before, Hailon began to answer Jin-cheon's question smoothly, as if reciting.
"Phew, my whole body's aching."
Hailon, having finished training, was dragging his weary body home. Unlike other days, the training intensity had been especially high that day, so Hailon's body and mind were exhausted and irritable. But unlike before, he had also begun to receive small bits of praise, so his confidence had noticeably started to grow along with it.
"Tch, how far do they think they'll get doing that......."
"Shh! I told you to be quiet."
Hailon stopped walking at the voices reaching his ears and turned his head.
"What's this?"
As Hailon muttered to himself and looked, two men were continuing their work as if nothing had happened. Hailon clicked his tongue once, then began to walk again. But his steps came to a halt after only a few paces.
"Damn, acting all high and mighty. When the subjugation force comes, he'll be the first to get wiped out."
"Friend, he'll hear you."
"Tch."
Having already heard their conversation, sparks began to fly in Hailon's eyes. As he slowly turned his head, the sight of the one trying to stop the other and the one grumbling came into view.
"You two."
"Ahem, ahem."
"Kaak, ptooey."
As Hailon's voice dropped low, the man who had been trying to stop the other coughed dryly and began to edge away, but the grumbling man spat phlegm to the side as if to say, "See that?" Even at a glance, he was a full head taller than Hailon.
Hailon slowly moved his steps toward them. Their attire, unlike Hailon's soldier uniform, was a standardized garment—the attire that marked them as slaves.
At a time when ordinary citizens' gazes toward slaves were already growing colder, they had picked a fight with Hailon, who looked a bit on the scrawny side.
"What did you say just now?"
"Just go on your way, soldier."
At Hailon's words, the man straightened his back and put on an intimidating expression.
"You bastard, say that again."
"Don't go 'you bastard' this and that. Slave I may be."
"What!"
"And to tell the truth, what good is running around with a sword? You and I both fled and ended up as slash-and-burn farmers, so we're in the same boat. Don't be so hard on me."
Wham!
With a single blow, Hailon's rage, packed into his fist, exploded outward, and the man was felled on the first strike and beaten until he died.
"......."
"So I killed him. How am I the same as that bastard? Why do you think we go through all that suffering? Sob, just take my life and spare my family. Uhh-uhhh......."
"Insolence!"
"Enough."
As Hailon's weeping burst forth and the royal guards moved to rebuke him, Go Jin-cheon stopped them.
"This is a first."
A low but clear voice carried on the wind to the people holding their breath.
"A person dying from a fight here—I'm told this is the first time?"
"Yes."
At Jin-cheon's quiet voice, the commander who had been leading the interrogation bowed and answered. Jin-cheon's tone, as if the matter had nothing to do with him, only deepened the people's confusion and made it harder to guess what verdict would be handed down.
"A man has died."
Jin-cheon's voice rose slightly. He must have begun addressing all the people gathered here.
"When we first reestablished Gauri in this place, the first thing we said was to broadly benefit the people. And yet, a man has died."
"......."
The sweat that had been running down Hailon's back had already gone cold. Had he sensed his own fate?
"I proclaim to the people gathered here. For a person to kill a person is an act permitted only on the battlefield. If there is a misunderstanding, you must resolve it. If there is a dispute, you may come to the government office to settle it. But if you kill on your own whim, the corresponding punishment is death, and death alone. Moreover, killing even after hearing the voices of soldiers rushing to stop you—that is an act that scorns the government!"
Gulp.
The sound of someone swallowing echoed unusually loud. Jin-cheon's face showed no particular expression. He simply spoke as if reading a prepared speech.
"Hailon!"
"Yes. Y-y-Your Majesty."
"Do you regret it?"
"Huggh, ugh-ugh-ugh."
"Do you regret it?"
"I regret it. Ugh-uhhh-uhhh."
In Jin-cheon's eyes as he looked at the sobbing Hailon, there was nothing but detachment.
"Do you know what crime you have committed?"
"Yes. I killed a fellow subject...... out of my own petty jealousy."
"Wrong."
"......."
Seeing the corners of Jin-cheon's lips curl up oddly, Dae Mu-deok began to feel uneasy. The decision made here would become the paramount standard should a similar incident occur in the future. That was precisely why Jin-cheon had come in person.
"First, your crime is the destruction of national property."
"......!"
"Your Majesty!"
"Silence."
Sure enough, Jin-cheon's unexpected pronouncement drew Mu-deok's voice out in protest and set Hwi-garam's head shaking as if to say, "Nothing to be done about it." Naturally, Eulji Buru and Uru nodded their heads with blind approval. Small as it was, a stir rippled through the crowd in all directions before dying down.
"A slave is an existence akin to livestock, having already surrendered the rights that may be pursued as a human being. In that respect, for Hailon, who is training as a soldier, to beat a barking dog is no problem at all. The problem is that he killed it."
"......."
Hailon's mind spun toward confusion. It was not that Jin-cheon was telling him he had done well. The problem was the ambiguity of the standard being applied. The same was true for those standing in attendance around Jin-cheon.
"To me, a soldier who protects Gauri is more precious than livestock."
"Your Majesty!"
"However! Though that livestock, not content with casting away its freedom with its own hands, went so far as to insult Hailon, who strives even to protect their own safety, and further still compared his will to their own garbage-like passivity...... even so, it was human. However useless it may have been, less capable than a dog or a cow, however much it is a white elephant of no use whatsoever in war and the first thing to be discarded in times of danger—for now, it was human."
Despite Mu-deok's restraint, Jin-cheon's sarcasm only grew sharper. Jin-cheon's previously relaxed expression slowly hardened, and a great voice tore from his throat to shake the air.
"I pronounce judgment! Hailon, who caused this incident, shall never be freed from the station of a soldier for the rest of his life, nor shall there be any discharge from conscription. In short, he must raise the sword until his dying day. Furthermore, for the crime of destroying one valuable resource, he shall, together with his wife, apply his strength and produce five more children within five years. Should he fail, his wife and all his remaining children shall be made slaves in their entirety."
"Y-y-Your Majesty!"
At last, Mu-deok let out a dazed voice toward Jin-cheon, who had just delivered an utterly bizarre verdict, while Buru and Uru were spreading out their five fingers, calculating something.
"However! This judgment is a one-time measure. Should a similar incident occur in the future, it must go through the government office's ruling, and at that time, a slave who has disdained the people may be punished up to the death penalty. In other words! If you're going to kill, I will do the killing. Do you understand!"
"As Your Majesty wills!"
"And should anyone cause the death of a slave without going through the government office's judgment, that too shall be a grave crime, and the perpetrator, unlike today's ruling, shall see his entire family and all their descendants made slaves to the last generation."
"As Your Majesty wills!"
Jin-cheon rose from his seat as if he had nothing more to say, then looked at the people as if he had one more thing left unsaid.
"If, perchance, anyone should think of committing such a deed in hopes of this same judgment in the future—go ahead and try. I will personally wring your neck."
"Y-y-Your Majesty, your dignity!"
"Let's go."
Despite Mu-deok's urgent voice, Jin-cheon walked away with a brusque stride, as if asking, "Does dignity feed you?" And Hailon, left behind, felt as though he had returned from hell. There was someone who placed a hand on his shoulder as he stood there.......
"Look here, fella. Five in five years. Put some strength into it, starting tonight."
It was Uru,
"You bastard, if you burn up all your strength at night and come to training all limp and wobbly, you're gonna die."
and Buru.