Shadows of the Imperial Palace, The Eunuchs (7)

What's gotten into that old man all of a sudden? He ought to be tearing into that lunatic rookie — so why the hell is he laughing like an idiot?

Yi Gwak's reaction was so far from anything Wang Zhen had expected that he could only stare, baffled. Whatever the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠old man found so satisfying, his laughter rang through the halls of the Directorate of Ceremonial until the rafters themselves seemed to shake. He laughed for a long while — and then, without warning, stopped dead. There was no reading him at all.

"A rookie who's barely set foot in the palace dares invoke the dynasty and the imperial house? Are you trying to mock this Gonggong with that clever tongue of yours?"

And then the anger came pouring out.

True to his reputation. It was the old adage made flesh: the longer a eunuch has aged, the less anyone can predict what he will do. A temperament that could pivot dozens of times in a single breath, a wildness no one could steer — fermented over decades until it was fully ripe. To anyone watching, it could only look like raving, like a plague. The phrase raving plague of a eunuch had not been coined for nothing.

Yun Bong, Zhao Gou, Yang Gwang, and Jeong Go in the corner were every bit as startled. Jeong Go, though, even as he puzzled over Yi Gwak's reaction, found his thoughts drifting to the brother he had made only the night before.

Hyungnim's martial accomplishment is considerable. First-Rate at the very least? About the same as I was at Hainan.

That striking face, that unrestrained temperament — and a depth of martial skill that looked, to Jeong Go's eye, much like his own before the expulsion. His sect had been the Hainan Sect, a name that ranked among the great houses of the orthodox path. To stand at a comparable age with skill that could match a former true disciple of Hainan was no common thing. And what art was it that could still project such presence after the very root of yang energy had been cut away? What story had brought a man of that caliber into the eunuchs' ranks? The questions piled up. Jeong Go had lost his dantian and his martial arts when he was cast out. The brother standing there had not.

He swore nothing would go wrong, so he must have something in mind… though he clearly didn't expect the Senior Superintendent to walk in.

They had known each other less than a day, but Jin Myeong did not strike him as a man who made empty boasts. Curious now to see how this new variable — Yi Gwak — would shift the board, Jeong Go set his thoughts aside and watched the two of them face each other.

"Gonggong…!"

Yun Bong, seeing Jin Myeong driven into a corner, stepped forward in a rush. This was a situation that could explode into something far worse. He had to get a word in before it was too late. If he could tie the matter to the new bureau being founded next year, even a man as rigid as Yi Gwak might be brought to see it differently.

He never got the chance.

"Minor Director, stay out of this!"

Yi Gwak cut him off with a glare sharp enough to draw blood, and those stern, exacting eyes of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eunuch in his fifties locked back onto Jin Myeong.

"What else could an Inner Minister possibly have besides that?"

"Inner Minister? This grows richer by the moment. Minor Director — how many days has this rookie been here?"

Yi Gwak's gaze never left the young man who answered without a trace of shrinking. He put the question to Yun Bong with his eyes still fixed ahead.

"…Three days, Gonggong."

"Three days? A rookie of three days in the palace, discoursing on Inner Ministers…? Have you already taught him to distinguish Inner Minister from Outer?"

"That… not yet, Gonggong."

Yun Bong was no less stunned. How did Jang Jinmyeong even know the term — and how was he deploying it against a man as exacting as Yi Gwak? It was astonishing. It was also the worst possible move, the worst possible misreading of the man across from him. Jang Jinmyeong's opponent was Yi Gwak, the Senior Superintendent who lived the traditions and duties of the eunuch more faithfully than anyone alive. No castrated official in the palace had the gall to lecture Yi Gwak on what a eunuch was — a fact even Zheng He, chief of ten thousand eunuchs, readily conceded.

Yi Gwak himself was unexpected enough. But Jin Myeong, who had been reversing every expectation since the hour he entered the palace, was dragging the entire situation into territory no one could map.

"Is that so? Do you even know what Inner Minister means when you run your mouth? Daring to mock this office with that three-inch tongue—"

"A man who laid his worldly desires to rest beside his manhood, left the secular world, and became a ghost of the palace is nothing more than one of the eunuch clan."

Yi Gwak had been winding up to press him again. Jin Myeong cut him off.

It was an enormous breach. It was the kind of act that sent a chill down the spine. But the meaning in those words ran through twenty-seven hundred years of eunuch history, and neither Yi Gwak nor Yun Bong could even think to take issue with the interruption.

"……"

Yi Gwak looked at Jin Myeong, who stood with his eyes quietly closed, and gave no answer. Expressionless, he simply stared. The eunuchs in the hall held their breath.

Yun Bong, who had served beside Yi Gwak for long years, was so stunned he was screaming inside his own skull, his wits nearly gone.

Just who is this Jang Jinmyeong…? This is enough to make a ghost weep.

The eunuch clan. A ghost of the palace. This humble servant is no longer a person. Yun Bong knew what those words were. "Eunuch clan" had been in use for a long time — but the other two were different. As far as he knew, it had been seventeen years ago, when he himself had just entered the palace as a rookie. Those were the words Yi Gwak — then a Rank 6 Jeonbu of the Directorate of Ceremonial — had given when the newly enthroned Yongle Emperor asked him, Who are you? The Emperor had been so pleased he immediately granted Yi Gwak the Rank 5 of Jiancheng, and the answer had passed into legend. After that, out of sheer awe of Yi Gwak's authority, no one beneath him dared speak those words. No one even dreamed of it. These days, unless you were a eunuch of some years, you would not even know they existed.

How in the world did you…?

That was why Yun Bong was stunned. That was why Yi Gwak said nothing. And that, on the other side of the silence, was why Jin Myeong had not been the least bit flustered when he first saw Yi Gwak standing there.

It's been a long time, Old Gonggong.

In the stillness that filled the hall, Jin Myeong remembered. He remembered Yi Gwak as he had been in the life before — a high-ranking eunuch so free of greed, so rigidly upright, that a newly entered Jin Myeong had respected him for it.

How about it? Aren't these the very words you gave me thirty-three years ago?

Before the regression, Jin Myeong had been placed Under Name to Yi Gwak. After the basic education of a eunuch, he had gone under Yi Gwak's hand and learned from him. The old man had taken him around and said those words so often they had become a habit. It was because of that teaching that Jin Myeong had died fighting the eunuch bastards who were trying to ruin the country. So how could he not know?

He was still turning over those old memories when Yi Gwak's mouth began, slowly, to curve.

"Heh. Heh! Hahahaha!"

The old man threw his head back and laughed again — and this time it sounded even more thoroughly satisfied than before.

Then it cut off. Just as suddenly as the last time, the laughter stopped dead. But the face that remained was different. A faint smile hung there now.

"What a truly remarkable fellow. A useful eunuch has come in at last. And what, pray, is the problem with a eunuch who has learned martial arts? He underwent castration and passed the Five Gates — he is the Son of Heaven's Inner Minister, one of the eunuch clan! Jang — Jinmyeong, was it?"

"Yes, Gonggong!"

"Thanks to you, I have had a proper laugh for the first time in a long while. I shall remember you. Do not disappoint the clan. Understood?"

Yi Gwak liked him. Tremendously. A boy of three days, and already the mindset was in its proper place — a eunuch's mindset. The kind of mindset that eunuchs of ten years, of twenty, would not dare claim as their own.

"Yes! How could it be otherwise, Gonggong!"

"Minor Director."

Yi Gwak swept Jin Myeong with a look that was almost fond, then turned to Yun Bong.

"Yes, Gonggong!"

"This office shall report the matter to the Grand Director. Afterward, enter the rookie Jang Jinmyeong onto the register of Rank 8 Attendants."

Shock. Pure, undiluted astonishment. Yun Bong stared at him. Granting a rank to a rookie of three days? The law was that a man received Rank 9 Qingsha only after he had finished his education and been placed Under Name. Except for appointments made by the Emperor's own hand, this was a promotion that deserved to be called historic.

"What? Ah— yes! I receive the command, Gonggong! But why…?"

"This young eunuch is already a martial artist of First-Rate skill. Once he learns the clan's Sunflower Manual, Peak Realm will not be far off. Rank must weigh seniority and ability together. His years are wanting. His ability is not. We grant a rank that matches it. Before long a new bureau will hang its plaque. He is an Inner Official who will be needed then — so devote yourself to his instruction, Minor Director."

"I shall take measures as commanded, Gonggong."

"Wang Zhen. Zhao Gou. Yang Gwang."

"Yes, Gonggong!"

Wang Zhen and his two companions, who had been watching the whole affair with the faces of men chewing gravel, snapped their expressions into order the instant they were called. Wang Zhen's mood was a wreck.

Rank 8 Attendant? Fuck. I'm Rank 9. This old eunuch's lost his mind too. Fuck. I shouldn't have called him.

He felt as if he might drop dead of rage on the spot. Just looking at Jin Myeong made the taut skin of his face sag and age. The old man he had fetched to deal with the bastard had instead ruined everything. At this rate, the rat-piss trickle of internal energy he possessed was going to twist into qi deviation.

"What is Eunuchs as One Body? Anyone may answer."

Jin Myeong heard the question and let out a quiet snort of laughter.

A new bureau… he means the Eastern Depot. Not that I've decided anything yet. Anyway — our Old Gonggong is well and truly angry. Oh yes. Whenever Eunuchs as One Body came out of Old Gonggong's mouth, I never once saw it end well. Tsk. Pitiful little bastards.

The unexpected gift of Rank 8 had taken the edge off his anger at Wang Zhen's crew. Looking at Yi Gwak's bearing now, he almost felt sorry for them.

What did I tell you? Live a little quieter. Don't strut. Of all the Grand Eunuchs in the palace, you had to go and fetch Old Gonggong. Beating the drum and playing the janggu yourselves — your talent for digging your own grave is practically Life-and-Death Transcendence.

"The ten thousand eunuchs, with the Grand Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial as their chief, operate as a single body that cannot be split in two, bound by superior command and subordinate obedience. This is called the principle of Eunuchs as One Body."

Wang Zhen's answer carried a sullen edge he did not quite manage to hide.

"That's right. You know it well. We ten thousand eunuchs are one body. And knowing that, you sneak over like rats to inform on a rookie for having learned martial arts?"

"What? This humble servants weren't—"

"Silence! Jang Jinmyeong should have come and reported it himself! A eunuch informing on a eunuch who has barely entered the palace! Fellows who would betray the clan the moment it suited them! Minor Director!"

"Yes, Gonggong!"

"You will reflect as well. Failing to recognize Jang Jinmyeong's martial arts is a small failing. Wrongly instructing these three Qingsha is a great one. Understood?"

"Yes. I shall take it to heart, Gonggong."

"They are still young. There will be a chance to correct them. I leave the disposition to you, Minor Director — instruct them with the black bamboo cane as thoroughly as you are able."

"I receive Gonggong's command."

And with that, Yi Gwak — who had brought storm and reversal with him from the moment he entered to the moment he left — was gone.

"You—!"

The instant the door closed behind him, the atmosphere in the hall erupted like a volcano. The lava was Yun Bong. Reprimanded in front of everyone, his lid had blown clean off.

"…You eunuchs aren't even worth pickling if I salt-cured the manhoods you no longer have! Bring the punishment stones. Now!"

Hurried footsteps clattered across the floor. Wang Zhen and his companions, faces gone the color of ash at their superior's fury, scrambled to obey. A moment later they were standing on the smooth punishment stones. Wang Zhen, beaten two days running and in no condition to take strokes on calves that had not yet closed, stuck out the soles of his feet instead.

"One stroke: Eunuch! Two strokes: One Body! Recite! Kkiyot!"

From somewhere Yun Bong had produced a four-foot black bamboo cane, and the instant they were in place he brandished it with feeling.

CRACK!

"Eunu—ch!"

"Let me hear those voices! Kkiyot!"

CRACK!

"One Bo—dy!"

That afternoon, Wang Zhen, Zhao Gou, and Yang Gwang did not report for duty. They crawled out of the hall.

That night, after duties were done and roll had been called, the rookies crowded in from every side of the quarters.

"Attendant Jang! Congratulations!"

"Congratulations!"

Yi Hong, the oldest among them, stepped forward first, and the rest of the rookies took up the congratulations in a single voice.

"Thank you, all of you. Hold out three months and you'll be Qingsha — so let's endure it together."

Come now. What's so grand about being an Attendant. This body once climbed all the way to Brush-Holding Grand Eunuch. We'll keep going.

"Attendant Jang — for a man accomplished in both letters and arms to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be so unassuming…!"

Yi Hong, since the night before, had installed himself as inaugural chairman of the little gathering of eunuchs who supported Jang Jinmyeong.

"That's right! Attendant Jang! Please look after us well from here on!"

"You won't forget us just because you've become an Attendant, will you?"

"When you rise a rank later, please pull us up with you, Attendant!"

"Please slot us into a seat, Attendant!"

Yi Hong opened the floodgates, and the clamor poured in from every direction. Jin Myeong nearly laughed. These eunuchs, picking up every bad habit in the palace — slot them into what? You were supposed to compete on ability.

…No. Of course not. What kind of bookish, ink-smelling Confucian talk is that? Am I a scholar?

"Of course. Once a cohort, always a cohort."

He fully intended to pick out the useful ones and slot them in hard. Men of real ability ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who crawled the river bottom because they lacked a pretty face or a gift for flattery. Looks and flattery were skills, of course — but those were for the eunuchs who waited on the Zhu family. He meant to build an organization that was his alone. The eunuchs' power was only going to grow. Even if he left the palace one day, it would be no small help to have members of Jang Jinmyeong's faction sitting in seats of their own.

The excited rookies took up his name in a chant. He was trading lively banter with them, enjoying the moment for what it was, when a voice that was not a voice rang through his skull.

At this hour? Who— wait. Could it be…?

It was him. The master he had seen at the Directorate of Imperial Horses that morning.