Old Hunting Dogs (1)
Luoyang Sword Family, Wongak Pavilion.
"Have you rested sufficiently?"
Il-ryeong, one of the triplet maids, bowed her head with respectful formality. She had been standing by at Wongak Pavilion for the Second Young Mistress.
"For the first time in ages I slept without a single worry. This feeling of refreshment is almost strange."
Yeon Seo-rin, the Second Young Mistress, rolled her shoulders and offered a cool, easy smile.
"Then, though it may be a little early, shall I have the evening meal prepared?"
Yeon Seo-rin shook her head.
"No. I should head back now. The only reason I could hold out until this hour is because this place is Wongak Pavilion."
"…Is that so."
"What's with that look?"
At Il-ryeong's ambiguous reply—neither quite question nor acceptance—Yeon Seo-rin threw back her head and laughed, loud and free.
"Being the Second Young Mistress of this family isn't easy!"
She added,
"And it looks like your master has it far harder than I do, so look after him more carefully."
"…Yes."
Yeon Seo-rin laughed boldly and clapped Il-ryeong on the back. The force made the maid stagger; Yeon Seo-rin pulled an "oops" face and asked her,
"More importantly—I heard the shrine of the Immortal Lady Mother, the Grand Matriarch, is somewhere here in Wongak Pavilion…."
Il-ryeong swallowed the smarting heat in her back and nodded.
"I shall guide you."
"Hyung-nim…."
The Fourth Young Master looked up at Yeon So-hyeon with glistening eyes.
"I heard you haven't slept properly in weeks."
Yeon So-hyeon answered without lifting his head from the desk, the brush flying across the paper.
"I'm fine."
He claimed he was fine, but who would take those words at face value?
Yeon So-hyeon raised his face and gave a bitter smile.
"You're so busy yourself that even two bodies wouldn't be enough. Don't worry about me."
He reached out and ruffled the boy's hair, yet the Fourth Young Master still withdrew only after leaving behind more words of concern and comfort.
Only when the lingering gaze of his young brother finally broke away did Yeon So-hyeon lift his head again and let out a small sigh.
"My body may not know fatigue…."
He set the brush aside, took up a carving knife, and began to work a piece of wood.
Even Yeon So-hyeon, whose strategies were called divine, had clear limits. The Dali Duan Family, the Sichuan Tang Family, even the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families—how easy could it be to devise and execute plans that steered families each worthy of the title of feudal lord in the necessary directions?
And was Yeon So-hyeon looking only at them when he laid his plans? Was there only a single grand design inside his head? Within his mind the entire board and tide of the Central Plains beyond Luoyang moved in a frantic, ceaseless dance across time and space.
He pondered through nights on end, thought again, revised, then painted the whole picture once more in his mind. How many times had his patience nearly snapped along the way? Yet he endured, and endured again. Each time, he carved a Buddha.
Because…
For those bastards, simply being swallowed by the Jeam Jincheon Scripture and suffering for eternity is far too little.
The things they needed to do… no. The things they must do would be waiting for them until the very last day their lives ended.
He manufactured smiles the way a child performs cute tricks before a circle of old men. He concentrated on displaying his skill and captivating them.
If I only summarized the results, it could be cut down to something brief….
Yet Yeon So-hyeon shaped the flow of the entire transaction as if he himself had become a storyteller. He drew their interest, teased their appetites, offered new perspectives that startled them, and shook them without pause or mercy. After returning to the past through the Jeam Jincheon Scripture, had he ever been this patient?
He flattered them. He endured, and endured again.
Presently, Mount Beimang, Gongsun Family estate.
Several stewards who served as Gongsun Na-gang's hands and feet were withdrawing. They had been moving busily for Yeon So-hyeon and the former family heads who had relocated deeper into the garden.
"From this moment on, no one else is to approach."
Beside them, Gongsun Na-gang gave the estate's security chief iron-hard orders.
"Regardless of status, cut down anyone who forces their way in."
Open murderous intent glinted in the old man's eyes.
"If anything like earlier happens again, every one of your heads will roll. Understood?!"
At the sharp, ringing voice the security chief answered with a taut face and tried to withdraw.
"Wait."
Gongsun Na-gang stopped him and spoke in a low voice.
"…Write down the names of everyone who saw the earlier scene."
"…Yes."
Having finished his business, Gongsun Na-gang walked a long while back into the deep garden. There the former family heads could be seen pouring water, drinking, and chattering among themselves.
"Were you all sharing some amusing talk?"
At his words one of the former heads laughed heartily.
"We were speaking of returning to the Imperial Capital and watching the eyes of the bastards who drove us out grow round as saucers."
The others chimed in with cheerful agreement. Gongsun Na-gang played along appropriately while turning his gaze to Yeon So-hyeon, who stood quietly in the corner.
"What thoughts occupy the First Young Master so deeply?"
The honorifics came without the slightest awkwardness.
"Nothing in particular. Rather…."
As if the words had woken him, the First Young Master shook his head and then opened his mouth toward the former family heads.
"I am glad to see the great men enjoying themselves so…."
At the sound of his voice the gazes of the former heads gathered as if drawn by a magnet.
"But things will likely not be so easy. Once they learn that you great men have joined forces, they too will make corresponding decisions."
Those who had been showing excitement all nodded without exception.
"Of course, it is as the First Young Master says."
"Originally, the rarer the fruit, the harder it is to obtain—and thus the sweeter it is, is it not?"
Their gazes turned on Yeon So-hyeon, naked desire shining in them.
"But of course the First Young Master here will devise some plan for us."
"With that divine strategy of his he will lead us, will he not?"
They rubbed their hands, snickered, eyes gleaming, and gradually closed in on Yeon So-hyeon. Of course Gongsun Na-gang was not left out of that circle.
"Come, come, First Young Master. Quickly bestow upon us the next move!"
The old man rushed forward in a flurry, baring teeth that were already beginning to fail, and twisted his face into a grotesque smile.
"Surely! You don't mean to work us into this frenzy and then make us wait with our necks craning from now on, do you? Right? Right?"
The old men wore bizarre expressions tangled with transparent, sinister smiles, gloomy laughter, and bottomless lust for power.
"First Young Master!"
"First Young Master…!"
It was a nauseating sight.
Yeon So-hyeon did not budge an inch from where he stood, as if nails had been driven through his feet. No emotion showed on his face. Without blinking once he looked down upon each of their twisted gazes, every one of their disgusting gestures, with calm arrogance.
Nauseating creatures.
Now they would swallow anything Yeon So-hyeon offered them. And not content with that, they were already trying to climb entirely onto his back without even being given anything.
As expected—they know not the slightest contentment.
Like hungry ghosts whose hunger can never be sated no matter what is poured into their bellies. To keep feeding such people was…
A foolish act.
A chill passed through his eyes. It lasted only an instant, yet it seemed for that heartbeat like a blue ghost-fire.
"…Come to think of it."
Yeon So-hyeon smiled faintly.
"Earlier. A certain great man said that I would mediate among you great men."
When Yeon So-hyeon spoke again the old men stood rooted, staring only at his mouth, and nodded.
"Yes, that's right."
"Is that not the First Young Master's role?"
Yeon So-hyeon slowly nodded.
"Then shall we first try a bit of that 'mediation'?"
At those cryptic words the old men blankly looked only at one another. The "mediation" they had mentioned had been about correcting problems that might arise among them as matters progressed. But had the work even begun yet?
"…Please speak, First Young Master."
"We shall listen."
All waited with stupid faces for Yeon So-hyeon to spoon-feed them.
"Hmm."
After stroking his chin a moment and letting the silence stretch, Yeon So-hyeon suddenly asked them,
"Surely none among you here have already harbored ill intentions and are thinking differently behind our backs, correct?"
At those words everyone burst into laughter, smiled, and waved their hands.
"How could we dare?"
"It is hard even to imagine that such a splendid opportunity would remain in the rest of our lives."
"Anyone who thought such a thing would become the laughingstock of all."
Ignoring their words, Yeon So-hyeon looked at only one man.
"Everyone says so. Do you agree, Lord Yang?"
"Of course, First Young Master."
The man called Lord Yang, former head of the Yang Family, answered casually without the slightest change of expression.
"That the First Young Master has visited Mount Beimang at this juncture is truly like the aid of Heaven itself."
He stroked his white beard and squared shoulders still broad beyond his years.
"This Yang O-dan. Having spent my life in the military, I have faced countless crises in battle and survived by luck more than once. But never have I known such great fortune as this."
Yeon So-hyeon smiled meaningfully.
"Indeed. Fortune, is it…."
Then he crossed his arms in an exaggerated manner.
"Does this great fortune of which Lord Yang speaks perhaps mean fortune stacking twice over?"
At those words the former Yang Family head's eyebrows twitched.
"This one has no idea what the First Young Master is talking about."
His casual voice and demeanor were such that even the other former heads made faces as if they could not understand what Yeon So-hyeon was saying.
"Oh. Is that so. Twice."
Yeon So-hyeon nodded.
"Separate from my coming here, it seems you originally had a plan you were cooking up."
Gongsun Family estate, reception room.
The head maid who had ridden with the First Young Master in the steel carriage, yet who dared not join that conversation, was quietly looking out the window.
"Is the tea… not to your liking?"
"No."
At the steward's words from behind, the head maid shook her head.
"I was merely admiring the scenery for a moment."
With a posture so elegant it hardly seemed that of a maid, she lifted the teacup and moistened her lips.
"The tea fragrance is quite fine."
Her eyes, directed out the window, glowed with a luminous golden light—as if gazing somewhere beyond. And her plump lips moved soundlessly, as if whispering to someone on the other side of the glass.
"First Young Master!"
The former head of the Yang Family exploded in a roar charged with heavy internal energy. The surrounding trees trembled at that voice, as if testifying to his realm.
"Do you dare mock this Yang O-dan?!"
He shouted with the force of a thunderbolt and flicked his sleeve; a gust of wind rose in an instant.
"If you mean to frame this Yang O-dan like this, I will not stand still!"
That blatant and clear warning was laced with a chill murderous intent enough to freeze the bones of everyone present.
However—
"Is that so?"
The corners of Yeon So-hyeon's mouth stretched as if they might tear.
"But I too will not stand still."
It was a smile that mocked the former head of the Yang Family—known throughout the martial world as the Divine Spear Yang Family.