Part 1: Reverse Thinking
Kong Yo, younger brother of the Kong family head on Mount Beimang, turned to look back at the massive gates he had just left behind.
One of Luoyang’s great houses.
Sensing the displeasure in the old man’s sour gaze, a household retainer of the Kong family carefully asked,
“……So in the end, they refuse to move?”
“That’s right.”
Old Kong Yo brushed aside even the steward’s help and climbed lightly into the carriage.
Unlike the bedridden family head Kong Ryang, his younger brother Kong Yo remained robust and vigorous beyond his years.
As the carriage began to roll, Kong Yo spoke to the retainer.
“……The Second Young Master’s faction of the Sword Family has been busy running about all night. Half of it was probably outright threats.”
Kong Yo had been making the rounds of high-ranking official households with whom he had some acquaintance, yet not a single one had stepped forward as an ally.
Not even one.
“In ordinary times they all make a great show of how close they are to the Kong family, yet now they’re so frightened they can’t even think of moving.”
Everything was proceeding exactly as the Second Young Master intended.
“Rather than rashly thrusting themselves into a power struggle and getting crushed between the millstones, they can protect themselves simply by staying still. So that’s the choice they made.”
Kong Yo stroked his long beard as he answered.
“……Yet your expression doesn’t look entirely dark, my lord?”
“Is that so?”
Kong Yo smiled faintly.
“Because events are flowing precisely as that First Young Master predicted.”
“What?!”
Kong Yo offered no further reply. He simply gazed out the carriage window at the distant scenery.
I should like to meet that First Young Master myself one of these days.
Luoyang Sword Family.
Special-grade closed cultivation grounds.
The Third and Fourth Young Mistresses arrived at the closed cultivation grounds as though flying, light-foot techniques carrying them the entire way. The moment they entered they could not suppress a groan.
“Aigoo……”
The instant they stepped inside, the sight of patients packed all the way into the corridors, receiving treatment from physicians, filled their vision.
Every patient was a martial artist.
“……Judging by the look of them, they were all Second Sister’s sparring partners.”
“They’ve all been smashed to pieces.”
“Looking at the wounds…… these were live-blade spars?”
“Young Mistresses……!”
The training-hall master who spotted them started to bar their way, then changed his mind.
“……Ordinarily the Guard Pavilion Master’s strict order was that no one be allowed in. But please, come inside and somehow restrain the Second Young Mistress. I would be most grateful.”
Just then one of the cultivation-ground staff came running in haste.
“The last remaining sparring partner has collapsed!”
“And the Second Young Mistress?”
“She shows not the slightest intention of stopping the live-blade spars! She demands a new opponent be brought at once!”
“……”
Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun and Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye exchanged glances.
Perhaps they had come at a bad time.
Fortunately their fears proved unfounded.
“Ohhh! My little cuties have come! How long has it been!”
Second Young Mistress Yeon Seo-rin sheathed the treasured sword she had been holding and greeted them with a bright expression.
Yet that expression stood in stark contrast to the empty outdoor training ground around her. Every attendant who would normally have filled the place had fled, proving just how savage the atmosphere had been moments before. Only she remained.
“……Second Sister. What on earth is all this?”
At the Third Young Mistress’s dubious question, Yeon Seo-rin laughed heartily.
“I had a bit of insight and was trying to advance, but no one could keep up with me. Come, this way.”
The Fourth Young Mistress’s gaze went to Yeon Seo-rin’s wounds.
“Shouldn’t you receive treatment first?”
Whatever live-blade spars she had been holding, and for however long, Yeon Seo-rin’s hair was a wild tangle and thin rivulets of blood still seeped from the sword wounds covering her entire body.
“I’m fine, fine. A little trauma salve and these will heal in no time.”
Yeon Seo-rin led them to an outdoor table set up to one side.
“Well now. Seeing you two who are so hard to catch a glimpse of come all this way, even a dullard like me can guess the reason.”
With her characteristic intuition she pinpointed the sisters’ question without any real clue.
“You’re here because you’re curious about So-hyeon’s true intentions.”
At her words the Third Young Mistress swallowed dryly.
Her second sister’s intuition was always developed to a degree that felt almost eerie.
“……Yes. We heard that Sister met Eldest Brother not long ago.”
“That’s right. I did.”
“Is there anything you heard, or anything you can guess? What is Eldest Brother aiming for by stirring up all this turmoil?”
“Hm?”
At Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun’s words, Yeon Seo-rin tilted her head as though she had no idea what they were talking about.
“You can’t tell just by looking?”
She muttered that she had assumed they would have figured it out already, then answered,
“Obviously So-hyeon is trying to become Young Family Head.”
Even the usually composed Fourth Young Mistress’s eyes went wide.
“Eldest Brother, Young Family Head……”
Whatever she had been about to say was drowned out by Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun’s almost screaming reply.
“That’s like striking a boulder with an egg!”
They had thought Yeon So-hyeon’s aim was at most to make a name for himself among the glittering candidates so that he could later establish a branch family.
“After ten years of silence, to suddenly aim for Young Family Head now—how vast is the gap that’s already opened……?!”
The Second Young Mistress scratched her head.
“Well, true enough. That’s the judgment common sense forces on you. In ordinary terms.”
She smiled as though she found the whole thing amusing.
“Come to think of it, how many people under heaven right now would be certain that So-hyeon could become Young Family Head?”
The Third Young Mistress shot to her feet.
“You don’t even need to count! That goes beyond the ordinary and common sense—it’s in the realm of the impossible!”
The Second Young Mistress, who had been counting something on her fingers, stuck a finger in her ear at the shout.
“……Is that so? If clever little you thinks so, then I suppose it is.”
“The situation is already turning against him!”
At her reaction the Third Young Mistress trembled with agitation.
“No matter how much shock Eldest Brother delivered by making Mount Beimang his first outing, the moment the Second Young Master himself headed for the Imperial Capital, the power of the old masters of Mount Beimang is as good as blocked!”
Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye agreed.
“None of the high officials the old masters would move will want to get involved in the power struggle between the Sixteen Families and the Luoyang Sword Family.”
“Is that so?”
At those words Yeon Seo-rin smiled meaningfully.
“That doesn’t match what I ‘see.’”
“Pardon?”
At that meaningful smile the twin sisters rounded their eyes and stared at Yeon Seo-rin.
“Why do you think the second boy managed to block So-hyeon?”
“Because that’s how things are going, of course……”
“No.”
At that single word, Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun, who had risen and even been shaking her fist, let her hand fall of its own accord.
“This is So-hyeon blocking the second boy.”
“……?”
While the Third Young Mistress tilted her head and chewed over the words, the Fourth Young Mistress’s mouth opened.
“……Indeed. So that was it.”
Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye rose from her seat without realizing it.
“Originally, in a direct confrontation between the Second Young Master and the First Young Master, ten out of ten would have predicted the Second Young Master’s victory.”
“Ah……!”
The moment she heard it, the Third Young Mistress caught on as well.
“In that case the neutral power holders of Luoyang would have unhesitatingly taken the Second Young Master’s side and torn into the First Young Master!”
“But once Eldest Brother made Mount Beimang his first move, the Second Young Master had to content himself with merely preventing the neutral powers from entering the board at all.”
Exactly so.
As they said, the Second Young Master could now move only those already under his influence, or those like the Business Support Department who were willing to gamble on the side that looked advantageous.
“Yes, that’s right.”
The Second Young Mistress laughed heartily.
“That’s why I said it wasn’t the second boy blocking So-hyeon—it was So-hyeon blocking the second boy.”
It was the Second Young Mistress’s characteristic intuitive insight, able to pierce to the core without being bound by chronological order or cause and effect.
“So-hyeon forced an opponent armed with divine weapons onto the stage bare-handed.”
Yet another of Yeon So-hyeon’s hidden aims.
Having spoken that far, Yeon Seo-rin looked at the Third and Fourth Young Mistresses and laughed.
“Normally you two are different, but seeing you like this, you really are twins.”
The twin sisters, who had both leapt up with identical expressions and fists raised, flushed and demurely sat back down.
The Third Young Mistress gave an unnecessary little cough and said,
“……Even so, the basic difference in size between him and his opponent is far too great.”
“It’s the difference between a giant and a child.”
“Even excluding the neutral powers, the people the Second Young Master can mobilize are more than plentiful.”
“That’s true enough.”
Yeon Seo-rin readily conceded.
“There are plenty more people who are about to get smashed by So-hyeon.”
“Pardon?”
“Hm?”
Whether it was the director of the Business Support Department who had protected and raised them, or the second sister right in front of them—their confidence in Eldest Brother’s ability felt almost excessive.
Did they see something in him that the sisters themselves could not?
“……”
“Fourth Young Mistress.”
It was the training-hall master.
“Someone has come from the main family’s intelligence department.”
The Fourth Young Mistress was originally the information secretary to the director of the Luoyang Sword Family’s Business Support Department.
Even with the director absent, it was only natural that intelligence reports would still reach her.
Once she confirmed that the training-hall master and the intelligence agent had withdrawn, the Fourth Young Mistress returned to her seat and opened the note.
“This is……?!”
“What is it?”
The Third Young Mistress snatched the note from beside her and, seeing the contents, also froze solid.
……Relocation of the destitute to Hodu Village has begun. Confirmed that the First Young Master has been independently continuing the Hodu Village project?
Hearing the Third Young Mistress’s words, Yeon Seo-rin burst into open laughter.
“Just like So-hyeon! To topple an opponent bigger than yourself, you have to shake their center of gravity until they can’t think straight!”
With this, the Second Young Master’s side would have no choice but to divide its response yet again.
If it’s gone this far…… could it be……?
For an instant the thought flashed through the Third Young Mistress’s mind that Eldest Brother might actually snatch victory from the Second Young Master’s faction. She shook her head.
“……This still isn’t enough.”
“It’s only the beginning for both sides.”
Somehow grasping exactly what she meant, the Second Young Mistress smiled with growing interest.
“……At first.”
“Hm?”
The Fourth Young Mistress spoke.
“At first, Sister, you asked if we had come because we were curious about Eldest Brother’s true intentions.”
Yet when the twin sisters had questioned Yeon So-hyeon’s purpose, it was the Second Young Mistress who had looked surprised.
“What was that ‘true intention’ you spoke of, Sister?”
The Third Young Mistress nodded along as well.
“Ahh, that.”
The Second Young Mistress scratched the back of her head.
“I just thought you two had come because you were curious about So-hyeon’s next move……”
“Sister knows Eldest Brother’s next move?!”
“What is it?!”
At the sight of the twins leaping up in unison, the Second Young Mistress smiled.
“What? So you are curious.”
Haha, even if my head’s a bit empty my instincts are sharp, she muttered to herself, while the twins’ desperate gazes poured onto her.
“I heard a little of it from So-hyeon himself in advance……”
“Sister!”
Yeon Seo-rin opened her mouth as though yielding to their insistence.
“Most likely, from now on So-hyeon will continue for a while as he has—neutralizing the opponent’s pressure while seeking to expand his own power.”
Headquarters of the Fairy Cult.
The lowest hall.
“First Young Master. A message has been delivered from a Hyeonwol Pavilion agent.”
Yeon So-hyeon unfolded the note Jeong-a handed him; a smile touched the corners of his mouth.
“It seems several high-ranking official households wish to meet me in secret and have made contact through Hyeonwol Pavilion.”
At those words Jeong-a expressed doubt.
“Were they not all bound hand and foot by the Second Young Master?”
She had understood that those whose hands and feet remained free last night were only the houses that had already joined hands with the Second Young Master’s faction from the start.
“Of course they were.”
Yeon So-hyeon tossed the note into the brazier.
“But not everyone is going to cooperate obediently with that Second Young Master bastard.”
Every faction had its enemies, and the Second Young Master’s faction was no exception.
Those who had quarreled with him or harbored deep grievances were seeking to lend secret strength to Yeon So-hyeon, who had now entered into open conflict with him.
“Come to think of it, I heard that yesterday’s events have spread as rumor throughout all of Luoyang.”
“Yes. Those who heard the rumors gathered the information and judged that I would not fall easily to the Second Young Master.”
The more successfully Yeon So-hyeon continued to stand against the Second Young Master from now on, the more people would desire to join hands with him.
“A perfect time to expand one’s power.”
Just then one of the Mercy Hall staff approached cautiously and bowed to Yeon So-hyeon.
“First Young Master. A man and a woman outside wish to see you.”
“Few know that Master is here. Who are they?”
At Jeong-a’s question the Mercy Hall staff member looked slightly awkward.
“They only say that if they mention ‘Spring,’ the First Young Master will understand……”
The faint smile at Yeon So-hyeon’s lips deepened.
Once the Second Young Master, who wielded influence over Luoyang’s underworld, entered into conflict with Yeon So-hyeon, of course they would come.
The Spring of Luoyang, which until now had never made direct contact with Yeon So-hyeon, had come seeking him.