The Clan Meeting
When I entered the hall where the clan meeting was being held, many of the senior figures had already arrived.
They were all gathered there—the men of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect who each wielded influence of one kind or another, great or small.
Naturally, their eyes turned to me.
Wariness, irritation, curiosity, a trace of fear...
I could feel a whole mix of emotions in those gazes.
It seemed they had already been turning over all sorts of thoughts regarding this latest incident.
"You've arrived, Young Lord?"
An old man welcomed me.
Though he was already past sixty, he looked far more vigorous than most young men.
The old man's identity was none other than Yi Tae-gyeom, Head of the Elders' Council.
He was the true power holder of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect, the master of the Elders' Council faction.
And one directly tied to the forces in the shadows. One of their dogs, too.
A sharp flash of hostility rose in my eyes, then vanished.
Instead, I looked at him, smiled faintly, and said, "It has been some time, Elder Council Head. Have you been well?"
"Thanks to your concern, Young Lord, I have passed my days without trouble. And have you been well?"
"Regrettably, no. As you know, something unfortunate happened."
I was referring to the Wang Ho affair.
"Ahem."
Off in the distance, Wang Jin cleared his throat, evidently displeased by the mention.
But whether he liked it or not, Yi Tae-gyeom only kept smiling.
"As it happens, today's meeting has been called largely to settle the aftermath of that matter. The Law Enforcement Hall's investigation has been concluded."
"Yes. I'm listening."
"Law Enforcement Hall Leader. Explain."
"Understood."
At the summons, Seo Un-hwi, the leader of the Law Enforcement Hall, raised his voice so all could hear.
"The embezzlement case involving Chief Administrator Wang Ho has concluded with the finding that he acted alone."
"Wang Ho acted alone? That can't be right."
"Hmm..."
Several of the senior figures voiced their discomfort.
They did not say it outright, but the target of their suspicion was plainly Wang Jin.
The scale of the affair had simply been too large for Wang Ho to have managed it by himself.
But Seo Un-hwi, as calm as ever, explained as though he fully understood their concerns.
"Of course, we conducted the investigation with Elder Wang's relationship to Wang Ho in mind. However, while it is true that Wang Ho used Elder Wang's name to threaten others, we found no evidence that Elder Wang was directly involved."
"Ahem."
"I see."
Everyone nodded as if they understood.
Seo Un-hwi belonged to the neutral faction, and he was a man of unshakable integrity. They trusted his word.
If he said there was no evidence, then there truly was none.
There was more than enough reason to suspect Wang Jin, but pressing the issue here without proof would only invite backlash.
So I, too, gave a slight nod.
I still don't have enough power to crush Wang Jin outright without clear evidence.
To begin with, my reason for attending this gathering lay elsewhere, not with Wang Jin or Wang Ho.
Tap, tap.
I rapped the table in the meeting hall twice, then addressed those gathered there.
"May I say a few words?"
"Speak."
Yi Tae-gyeom answered on behalf of everyone.
His reaction said plainly enough that he intended to hear what I had to say.
Smiling faintly, I laid out the plan I had already been considering.
"Using this incident as an opportunity, I would like to make a proposal to all of you. I propose that we change the way the main family is run. Specifically, in administrative matters."
At my sudden words, the senior figures' eyes widened.
It had startled them enough that I had spoken up first.
They clearly had not expected me to suggest changing the structure of the clan itself.
"Young Lord, what do you mean by changing the administrative structure?"
"Exactly what it sounds like, Elder Cheong."
I looked at an elder named Cheong Gi-hwan and smiled lightly.
"To prevent a disgraceful incident like this from happening again, I propose that we increase the number of chief administrators. And when conducting business involving a sum above a certain threshold, it must be reviewed and approved by at least two chief administrators. After that, final authorization will come from either me or the Family Head."
"Increase the number of chief administrators?"
"Wouldn't that be an enormous waste of manpower?"
"It's far better than entrusting everything to one man and having the clan's money embezzled. In addition, half of the newly appointed chief administrators will be chosen by me."
"What!"
"Young Lord, do you intend to fill those posts with nothing but your own people?"
The elders listening to me blurted out in alarm.
They feared that if I did that, power would become concentrated entirely in my hands.
But I pressed forward confidently, as if I saw no problem at all.
"It seems all of you are misunderstanding something."
"Misunderstanding?"
"They would not be my people. They would be the people of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect. I am the Young Lord and the one acting in the Family Head's stead. If I identify capable men and appoint them for the good of the clan, what exactly is the problem?"
"That...!"
"Or is it simply that you dislike the idea of my influence increasing in financial affairs?"
"...!"
No one could answer.
Everything I had just said was perfectly correct.
And because of that, they had no grounds to refute me.
The senior figures began reading one another's expressions, uncertain how they ought to take this.
And then—
"Hmm. Very well, let us do that. The Young Lord's thinking seems reasonable."
"Elder Council Head!"
Unexpectedly, Yi Tae-gyeom was the first to voice his agreement.
What are you plotting?
Looking straight at me, he said, "However, for fairness' sake, let the other half be filled through deliberation by our Elders' Council. What do you say?"
"As you wish."
I nodded as though it made no difference to me.
What mattered at this stage was not monopolizing all authority at once, but raising my influence to begin with.
So even if they responded like this in order to keep me in check, that was fine.
Perhaps my easy acceptance had been unexpected, because Yi Tae-gyeom looked at me strangely before continuing.
"Then let us proceed on that basis. And there is another matter I would like to raise at this meeting."
Another matter?
"And what would that be?"
"Judging by this latest affair, it seems the Young Lord's personal safety has been left far too exposed. Of course, when you go out, you travel with an escort... but while within the clan, do you not spend much of your time alone?"
In truth, this too was something that would have been unthinkable in any other clan.
The heir of a great family wandering about without even a single guard.
But in the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect, they had deliberately preserved that arrangement.
It was because they had wanted to diminish the authority of the Family Head and the Young Lord, while impressing that diminished standing upon the clan members and elevating the authority of the Elders' Council instead.
Absurd, but until now it had been accepted as normal.
Yet now Yi Tae-gyeom was trying to change the very thing they themselves had established.
Obviously, he was not simply trying to attach a guard to me. He meant to place a watcher at my side.
Even so, I did not show any sign of realizing that.
For one thing, assigning me a guard was reasonable on its face. For another, I wanted to see whom he intended to send.
"So, taking this incident as the occasion, I intend to assign the Young Lord a personal guard. The man I recommend is this one."
As if he had prepared in advance before convening the meeting, Yi Tae-gyeom pulled out a document and handed it to me.
The moment I examined it, my expression shifted.
Oh?
An unexpected name was written there.
And not just anyone—a man I knew.
A small smile formed inside me.
This... I might be able to use.
The man named in the document handed to me by the Elder Council Head was Sagong Cheon.
He was in his early thirties.
Though still relatively young, he was a martial artist with the outstanding skill of the Peak Realm.
But I knew his true value did not end there.
Sagong Cheon's potential is extraordinary.
In my first life, he had steadily grown stronger until he reached the Harmony Realm, becoming one of the martial artists who represented the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect.
Unfortunately, he had died young because the shadowy forces had not wanted the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect to grow any stronger.
And yet they were assigning a man like that as my guard.
"Young Lord. What do you think?"
"I think it's an excellent choice."
When I answered at once, Yi Tae-gyeom looked genuinely surprised.
"Why do you look so startled?"
"Personally, I expected the Young Lord to reject my recommendation. I am a little surprised that you accepted it so readily."
"Why would I do that to you, Elder Council Head? After all, you've done this out of concern for me."
I smiled as I answered.
Of course, that was not the real reason at all.
Sagong Cheon's potential was far too valuable to be left rotting under Yi Tae-gyeom.
Why had a man like him lived as Yi Tae-gyeom's puppet in the first place?
Because Sagong Cheon's young daughter had fallen ill with a rare disease.
Ordinary physicians could not cure it. They could barely even keep it from worsening. And to obtain the medicine his daughter needed, he had to regularly buy rare and costly remedies far beyond what an ordinary monthly stipend could afford.
But I know the cure for that illness.
"Hmm."
Yi Tae-gyeom stroked his chin, wearing an expression that suggested he felt something had gone wrong.
No matter how he looked at it, my reaction must have seemed strange.
But to withdraw his own proposal now?
There was no way he could afford to lose face like that in a clan meeting.
In the end, he nodded and forced a smile.
"I sincerely hope this man will prove useful to you, Young Lord."
"I'm sure he will. Since you've prepared him for my sake, Elder Council Head, I'll do my best to get along with him."
Still smiling, I accepted Yi Tae-gyeom's gesture.
And so the matter of appointing a personal guard to the Young Lord passed without issue.
Later, won't the Elder Council Head pound the ground in regret over this?
But by then it would already be too late.
Sagong Cheon would already belong to me.
With that thought in mind, I smiled faintly.
Just imagining Yi Tae-gyeom seething made me feel full without even eating.
I can't wait to meet the younger Sagong Cheon.
If I could win his goodwill, it would be like gaining an army of a thousand men and ten thousand horses.
And a short while later, I was finally able to meet Sagong Cheon face to face.