Response and Recompense
Yongbongjihoe Arena Construction Site.
The Third Young Master's camp.
A warrior of Hyeongsan—one of the Luoyang Sword Family's branch houses—was racing through the downpour toward the medical tents, clutching a cloth-wrapped bundle to his chest as though it were something precious. Inside were the sweets and snacks he had managed to wheedle out of the supply clerks: hard-won treats for comrades nursing wounds large and small.
"At last—support from the Medical Academy has arrived…!"
Even as the rain hammered him without mercy, the weariness on his face could not hide a flicker of light. The senior master may have put me on probation afterward, but it was still worth it…! After all, he had stormed straight into the command tent to demand answers about the delayed medical aid.
"I heard the physicians have arrived!"
"…That they have."
The guards posted outside the medical tents answered with a strangely half-hearted air.
"What do you mean…?"
Sensing something amiss, he pushed straight inside.
"Over here! Hold this vessel, I said!"
"The sword wound's too deep! We need more hands!"
"Medicine Fairy, protect us…!"
Inside the linked expanse of large canvas tents, the medical station was nothing short of a battlefield.
"Water must not touch the wound! Why is the field-cot preparation so damned slow?!"
The original medical staff had been joined by every newly arrived physician from the Luoyang Sword Family's Medical Academy, all of them throwing themselves into the work. Yet the wounded were simply too many, and elite physicians were a finite resource.
And worse—
"Wh-what in heaven's name are you doing?!"
The Hyeongsan warrior flung his precious bundle aside and seized one of the physicians by the collar.
"Wh-who are you?!"
The startled physician, yanked away mid-treatment, stared up at him. The warrior's face—gaunt with fatigue, soaked through by rain—was still overflowing with killing intent.
"Why in the world are you treating the enemy first?!"
It was true. The physician he had grabbed was treating prisoners taken from the other side—and he was far from the only one doing so.
The fortified district of the impoverished laborers.
Rebel command.
"We're alive!"
"We're alive! We made it!"
To them, the Luoyang Magistrate's sentence of lifelong hard labor was no different from a full pardon.
"You've all suffered so much. Every last one of you—you've endured so much…!"
"We'll get to see our families again…"
"Amitabha, Amitabha. Thank the heavens. Thank the heavens…"
The rebel leaders cheered, threw their arms around one another, and shared the joy without restraint.
"…"
Their reaction left Yeon So-hyeon momentarily speechless. He had known they would not refuse the only path that could save every life among them. In truth, they had never possessed a real choice. Even so, the speed of their acceptance caught him off guard. I had prepared myself to argue hard and fast… Still, an easy path is welcome enough.
"Long live the First Young Master!"
"Long live the First Young Master!"
"Long live!"
One shout of "Long live!" and the rest joined as one.
"…'Long live,' of all things. Honestly."
It was a phrase that made him glance around, half-afraid someone might overhear. Dodging the exuberant crowd with a wry smile, Yeon So-hyeon made his way toward the leaders of the impoverished laborers.
One of them was kneeling in a corner, gazing up at the ceiling in prayer.
"…Have you all truly understood? Lifelong hard labor is little different from becoming slaves."
That was the realistic limit of what Yeon So-hyeon could achieve—the one way to spare the lives of every person who had committed the crime of rebellion.
"First Young Master. We understand perfectly well."
The man finished his prayer with a smile, rose, and answered.
"…I am not speaking of simple release. Your lives will be saved, yes—but every one of you will spend the rest of your days laboring under me. You grasp that?"
They did not yet know it, but time itself was limited. Within that dwindling window, Yeon So-hyeon had to persuade them. And the list of things he needed them to accept was long. That was precisely why he had steeled himself and even revealed his identity as Amcheonjonza—to give his words greater weight.
"We know."
"And you accept it so lightly? Without a single moment of hesitation?"
Is it truly so easy to hand your entire life over to another man?
The question left the leader looking briefly at a loss for words.
"…"
He studied Yeon So-hyeon's face. The strips of flesh torn away by the mask were still knitting themselves shut at a visible rate, yet the faintly uneasy expression underneath was not hard to read.
"Ah… I see."
Understanding dawned. He nodded.
"If this humble one may be so bold—First Young Master, you seem to undervalue your own influence."
"My influence…?"
He had been expanding his power with startling speed of late, yet it was still far from a level he found satisfying. And had it not been these very people who once insisted that his power alone could never resolve this crisis?
"Only a short while ago you said my strength would never be enough to settle this."
"That is not the kind of influence I mean."
The smile on the leader's face deepened.
"They say a sage never knows the weight of his own virtue. First Young Master, you are exactly such a man."
"A sage…"
Yeon So-hyeon made no effort to hide his astonishment. Even his mother, Yak So-yu, had never prepared him for words like these. He had never imagined anyone would speak of him that way.
"That is far too generous a description."
He shook his head firmly. By then the entire command staff had gathered around him.
"Too generous, is it…"
The laborer leader only smiled at him. One of the Spring of Luoyang comrades spoke up.
"Is it truly, though?"
A sage.
Yeon So-hyeon shook his head again.
"I will take it as the grand language of people who have just been given their lives back. More importantly…"
He addressed the circle that had formed around him.
"Having the Magistrate's written order does not mean this is finished. The hard part may be only beginning."
Many nodded.
"…Indeed. That stands to reason."
"We had already guessed as much."
The leader spoke again.
"Just now, First Young Master, you said the Supreme Operations Committee of the Luoyang Sword Family would also 'come to' the same decision as the Magistrate."
The sharper minds among them seized on the phrasing.
"Meaning the Committee has not yet issued its own decision."
"Correct."
Yeon So-hyeon nodded.
"Even with the Magistrate's order in our hands, Luoyang is, in truth, the Sword Family's domain."
Was there anyone in Luoyang who did not know that?
"Neither the Family nor the Supreme Operations Committee can be the first to extend a hand to people who raised an armed revolt."
The Sword Family, offering release first to those who had risen in armed rebellion? Even with the Magistrate's order in play, that much was impossible. At this very moment countless impoverished laborers across Luoyang still suffered. A poorly set precedent could cascade into consequences no one could predict.
"So what you mean is…"
The leader continued for him.
"In the proper order, we must be the ones to surrender completely first—and show that we will submit to order."
"Exactly."
Yeon So-hyeon added the rest.
"Only then will the Supreme Operations Committee make the Magistrate's order public and issue a matching decision of its own."
There was a natural sequence to all things. The Chairman might be on Yeon So-hyeon's side, but he could not simply arrange every matter for Yeon So-hyeon's convenience. Nor did Yeon So-hyeon want him to. Such favoritism would only hand their enemies a powerful justification—and invite far greater trouble later.
"I know this will be difficult," Yeon So-hyeon said, looking around the room. "But you must disarm completely first. Every charge of explosives planted throughout the district must be withdrawn."
"And the Third Young Master's forces who have been facing us until now…?"
"They will not fully withdraw from this place until the Committee's decision is handed down."
In other words: while the enemy still held blades at their throats, they themselves would have to cast aside every means of defense first.
Uneasy murmurs rippled through the gathering.
"That is not all."
Since he had begun, Yeon So-hyeon decided to lay out every hard demand at once.
"Until the supervisors dispatched by the Supreme Operations Committee have recorded the identities of every person who took part in the uprising—and confirmed that my control over you is absolute—no one may leave this place."
"…"
Silence fell. The roar of the rain, unheard a moment before, suddenly seemed sharper and closer.
Yeon So-hyeon looked at them and said, "What I can promise you without hesitation is this: once all of that is done, the Supreme Operations Committee will keep its word. And I—"
His voice rose, as if to quiet the rain itself.
"I, First Young Master of the Sword Family and Amcheonjonza, Yeon So-hyeon, will spare no effort to ensure that promise is kept."
He stepped back when he finished. Time was not abundant, but he meant to give them at least a moment to deliberate among themselves. From this point on, the entire question reduced to one thing: whether they could trust the word of a man who belonged, by blood and station, to the very power they had resisted. They will need time to think it through.
Yeon So-hyeon intended to watch their discussion and then offer further proposals to help persuade them.
"…"
"…"
But they did not discuss anything at all.
They simply looked at him.
"…?"
Yeon So-hyeon's brow twitched. That was when the leader spoke for them all.
"We accept every condition the First Young Master has set."
"…"
The same instantaneous answer as before.
"…Do you understand that if you trust only my word, and the Sword Family then moves against its promise, you could all be slaughtered without even a chance to resist?"
In that case, it might be better to die fighting to the last.
At his words, smiles appeared on every face.
"As expected…"
One of the comrades gave a wry smile.
"The First Young Master truly undervalues his own influence."
Another spoke.
"First Young Master. Among everyone standing here, not a single person has never received kindness from the House of Mercy."
Even the comrade who had once voiced concern about Yeon So-hyeon joining the Spring of Luoyang stepped forward.
"Even those of us who once dared to doubt the First Young Master's true intentions—none of us would ever claim we received no grace from him in the past."
Another comrade drew from his robes a wooden pendant carved with the image of the Medicine Fairy.
"And while not everyone here places their faith in the Medicine Fairy alone…"
"Even if the history of the Fairy Cult is shallow in this place, there is not one among us who denies or rejects her great mercy and great compassion."
The leader calmly recited a teaching of the Fairy Cult.
"Life is precious in itself. Its weight knows no worldly measure of greater or lesser."
He smiled as he looked at Yeon So-hyeon.
"First Young Master. The reason we have been able to resist until now—to defend our dignity—is because of the Medicine Fairy's teachings."
"…!"
It was a truth Yeon So-hyeon had never known. Before his regression, he had known these people only through records.
"Khh—khak…! Let go of me—!"
The one who came to the choking physician's aid was Elder Yu of the Fourth Young Master's faction.
"Release that man, young warrior."
A voice accustomed to command. Eyes that did not waver by so much as a hair. Both hands still stained with the blood of the wounded. Even at a glance her presence carried a weight that marked her as no ordinary figure.
"…Please explain this. Treating the enemy first—what in heaven's name is happening here?"
The Hyeongsan warrior put the question to her as he released the physician's collar.
"Cough…!"
But the answer came not from Elder Yu. It came from the physician himself, still sitting on the ground, both hands wrapped around his own throat.
"…I—we—are simply doing what physicians are meant to do."
A shout burst from the Hyeongsan warrior's mouth.
"You're saying a physician's duty is to treat the enemy before his own allies?!"
"We are saving the patients who are in greater danger. That is all!"
Even as the tingling killing intent threatened to freeze his tongue, the physician refused to look away from the warrior's eyes.
"You… you madmen…!"
Other physicians and support staff had registered the confrontation, yet none of them intervened. Their priority remained the patients under their own hands.
"Insane, all of you…!"
Even under the swaying, unsteady lantern light, the way his hand closed on his sword-hilt was painfully clear.
"A physician's duty is to save lives. Life is precious in itself. Its weight knows no worldly measure of greater or lesser."
Murmuring the words like a prayer, the physician rose slowly to his feet and stepped forward until he stood directly before the warrior.
"So if you mean to cut me down—then cut."
He might possess no internal qi, yet the physician's bearing did not yield a single inch to the young warrior.
"I am of the Sword Family's Medical Academy. The masters who taught me received their medical arts directly from the Medicine Fairy herself."
The young warrior's gaze fell to the prayer beads hanging at the physician's throat—beads that symbolized the Fairy Cult.
"I live by her teachings, and I have sworn to pass those teachings on to those who come after me."
"…That…"
The young warrior could neither act nor withdraw. Behind him, older senior physicians were nodding with quiet pride.
"…"
Watching the scene, Elder Yu felt a private stir of admiration. I had heard that the Medical Academy has always held many believers of the Fairy Cult—but when did their numbers grow this large?
The leader spoke again.
"That the First Young Master—son of the Medicine Fairy—should appear before us in the form of Amcheonjonza, the one who punishes evil in Heaven's place…"
His eyes moved to the mask Yeon So-hyeon still held in one hand.
"…feels almost like destiny itself. That is how I would put it."
One of the comrades struck his own chest and added, "And for such a man to come here in person…"
"To bring us a solution that ignorant folk like us could never even have dreamed of…"
The leader said, "How else can we describe it, except to say that the earnest prayers we lifted to Heaven have finally received an answer?"
One of them was the first to sink to his knees before Yeon So-hyeon. The gesture was almost devout—like an act of reverence.
Then all the others knelt as well.
"As the Luoyang Magistrate has already declared, our lives now belong to the First Young Master."
"Therefore we will follow every decision the First Young Master makes."
Yeon So-hyeon could find no words.
"…"
In the past, his mother's devotion to the world had been sown like seed in every corner of the land. His own younger efforts—small attempts to carry even a fraction of that will forward—had been added to it. And now those seeds had borne fruit. That fruit had become flowers, and without Yeon So-hyeon ever knowing, they had opened wide in the heart of this fierce rain.
So-hyeon.
To the man whose chest had gone tight and full, his mother's voice seemed to reach him across the years.
The only one who can save a person… is another person.