Everything Goes as Wished
Around the time the First Young Master’s ox-cart was heading toward the Third Young Master’s encampment—
Luoyang Sword Family, Business Support Department.
“Those people…”
“The Young Mistresses.”
Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun and Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye were entering the main building of the Business Support Department.
Those who had gathered in front of the main hall to wait for the meeting began whispering among themselves at the sight of them.
“…Yesterday they left work without permission, and today they’re late without permission.”
“Even if they are Young Mistresses of the main family, isn’t this going too far?”
The ones muttering were personnel from Support Division One—the very group that had been clashing with the sisters.
“Just because things didn’t go their way, do they think they can act however they please now?”
“Leave them be. They’re still just children, aren’t they?”
Support Division One had been openly throwing in its lot with the Second Young Master’s faction ever since the Department Director left on a business trip.
“Hmph.”
Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun snorted at the Division One staff.
“Fools.”
Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye wore a matching sneer.
The man whose eyes met theirs felt a prickle of unease. Until yesterday the sisters had been thoroughly cowed by them, yet something about them now was unmistakably different.
“Young Mistresses.”
He sidled closer, testing the waters.
“There’s still a little time before the meeting begins. Will the Young Mistresses be attending…?”
His tone was oddly curt.
The Ha clan—the maternal house of the Third and Fourth Young Mistresses—had lost all standing within the Luoyang Sword Family after Lady Ha’s death. The Department Director who had served as their guardian had long been away from the family, leaving them without a protector.
“Meeting?”
“Why exactly should we attend a mere Support Division One meeting?”
These were the same young ladies who, only yesterday, had been furious at being shut out by Division One.
“…What?”
The man who had asked about the meeting went wide-eyed.
“Spare us your useless meddling and step aside.”
“We have no business with the likes of you.”
They lifted their chins with haughty grace.
“What do you mean by—”
“Young Mistresses! You’ve arrived!”
Just as a Division One staffer began to protest, a fat old man appeared at the top of the central staircase.
“We pay our respects to the Deputy Director!”
The Division One personnel hastily bowed their heads. Yet there were those who did the opposite—straightening their spines even taller.
“You’re late, Deputy Director of Support. Word should have reached you well in advance.”
“How long did you intend to keep us waiting?”
The toad-faced Deputy Director hurried down the stairs with a waddling gait.
“Aigoo, I’ve committed a grave discourtesy to the Young Mistresses! After receiving word I rushed about preparing this and that, and before I knew it—”
“Spare us the excuses.”
Yeon Da-eun cut him off.
“Heh heh. Quite right, quite right. What was I thinking, keeping the Young Mistresses standing in a place as shabby as this…”
He rubbed his hands together vigorously, plastered a smile across his toad-like face, and led the way.
“Come, come, no need to linger here. Allow me to escort you to the VIP reception suite. This way…”
The twin Young Mistresses shook their heads at the oil practically dripping from his face, then followed with resigned grace.
“By the way, you do know we’re rather particular about our tastes, don’t you?”
“We only enjoy the tea leaves sold by the Ha clan.”
It had been a long time since the two of them had indulged so thoroughly in the airs of Luoyang Sword Family Young Mistresses.
“Aigo, of course, of course! How could there be any objection?”
Once they vanished up the stairs, the remaining Division One staff fell into confusion.
“What in the world…?”
“Why is the Deputy Director…?”
The most senior among them ground his teeth and jabbed a finger at a junior.
“You! Report this to the Division Director at once! Immediately!”
“Y-yes! Understood!”
As the startled junior dashed off, the senior spun on the rest and bellowed.
“What are the rest of you staring at?! Shouldn’t you be gathering information on what the hell just happened?!”
He glared up the stairs where the Deputy Director had disappeared with the Young Mistresses and ground his teeth again. That cunning toad of a Deputy Director is welcoming Young Mistresses who were being treated like cold leftovers as if they were honored guests…?
Something ominous was unfolding—something they still did not know.
“What did you say?!”
The moment the news reached him, the Director of Support Division One sprinted for the VIP reception suite without a second thought. Damn it, damn it, damn it…!
He dimly recalled hearing that the Third and Fourth Young Mistresses had met the First Young Master at the Geomga Jeonjang, but he had dismissed it. The report had been of low reliability and accuracy, and in any case the First Young Master was not someone they were currently treating as an enemy. I figured even if those two met the First Young Master, nothing would come of it…!
“Division Director!”
The moment he set foot on the VIP floor, a waiting attendant hurried toward him.
“Yes. I am the Division One Director. I heard the Third and Fourth Young Mistresses are meeting with the Deputy Director here. Which room—”
“I am sorry.”
The attendant cut him off cleanly.
“The Deputy Director has ordered that no one be admitted to the VIP floor. Please turn back.”
“I am the Director of Support Division One of this family’s Business Support Department—!”
“There are no exceptions.”
A mere attendant was treating a Division Director this way? That Deputy Director bastard…!
There could be only one answer. He’s cut my line…!
Only yesterday the Deputy Director had sworn up and down that he had no intention of involving himself and that the Division Director should do as he pleased. This son of a bitch…!
Uncontainable rage surged to the top of his head.
“D-Division Director! You cannot go in—!”
“Let go of me!”
He shoved past the restraining attendants and sprinted down the corridor.
He had no idea which room the Young Mistresses were using to meet the Deputy Director, but it did not matter. Having come to the VIP floor, they would be in the most luxurious suite available.
“Halt!”
“Out of my way!”
Those guarding the entrance tried to stop him, yet none possessed the gall to actually restrain a Division Director.
“…And that is why I have always taken the Department Director’s words to heart…”
Hearing the voice leaking through the paper of the door, he flung the ornate doors open with violent force.
“Division One Director?!”
The Deputy Director, who had been rubbing his palms together while seating the Young Mistresses in the places of honor, leapt to his feet and jabbed a finger at him.
“What is the meaning of this discourtesy before the Young Mistresses?!”
Blood vessels stood out in the Deputy Director’s bulging eyes, thick with fury. The man who normally practiced nothing but passive non-interference and easy laughter was nowhere to be found; for an instant the Division Director flinched—then opened his mouth, refusing to yield.
“What in the world is going on—”
“Enough. I was about to summon you anyway, so this works out well.”
About to summon him?
Ignoring the way the Division Director’s face twisted, the Deputy Director gestured. I should hear him out first.
“…Yes.”
He moved to sit as directed—only for the Deputy Director to stare at him in open disbelief.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Pardon?”
As the Division Director stood there clutching the chair and staring blankly, the Deputy Director exploded.
“Do you have any idea what sort of place this is, that you would dare try to sit?! Get over here and stand behind me!”
In that instant, the Division Director understood.
Matters had gone wrong—far beyond anything he had imagined.
“….”
His mind went white for a moment; then he silently took his place behind the Deputy Director as ordered.
“Ahem. My subordinate has forgotten his place and committed a discourtesy…”
An apology that openly belittled him. The Division Director’s face began to flush red and purple all over again.
“Oh my, these things happen.”
“We fully understand the hardship of dealing with subordinates who lack proper judgment.”
The Third and Fourth Young Mistresses waved their hands with elegant nonchalance. They were openly making a fool of him.
“Haha, I’m grateful for your understanding. As expected of those who have assisted the Department Director for so many years…”
The Deputy Director cheerfully danced to their tune as well.
Standing behind them and watching the spectacle, the veins on the Division Director’s forehead swelled larger and larger.
Until yesterday the Third and Fourth Young Mistresses might have outranked him in birth, yet within the Business Support Department their actual position had been far below his. These, these, these little bitches…!
Rage so fierce it felt as if his skull would explode boiled up from within. Yet not a single person spared him a glance.
“Haha, shall we continue our discussion, then?”
“By all means.”
The Deputy Director rubbed his hands together out of habit, a thick smile spreading across his toad-like face.
“Since the First Young Master has assumed responsibility for the finishing work on the Dragon Phoenix Tournament stadium, it is only proper that our Business Support Department spare no effort in providing whatever support is required… no!”
He thumped his own chest.
“We must provide support far beyond what is merely necessary!”
The Young Mistresses snorted.
“Of course. That goes without saying.”
“It is the decision of the Supreme Operations Committee, after all.”
Only then did the Division Director’s eyes fall on the documents lying on the table. The seal of the Supreme Operations Committee’s Administrative Secretariat was stamped upon them with perfect clarity.
It was an order mandating unconditional support.
“W-wait a moment?!”
His thoughts freezing, the Division Director cried out before he could stop himself.
“The F-First Young Master has taken charge of the finishing work on the Dragon Phoenix Tournament stadium?!”
The Deputy Director roared.
“You—shut your mouth!”
“I-I’m sorry…”
The Dragon Phoenix Tournament was currently the largest-scale project the Luoyang Sword Family was pouring its efforts into. And the First Young Master was to oversee its finishing stage?
What of the Third Young Master’s side?
And so suddenly?
“Haha, my apologies. In any case, since the Young Mistresses have come in person as the First Young Master’s representatives, is there any convenience I might arrange for you at once?”
Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun made her demand without the slightest hesitation.
“Right this moment, put a stop to Support Division One’s interference campaign in the Valley of Sin.”
The Deputy Director stiffened.
“…!”
The Division Director, the very man who had been carrying out that interference, need not even be mentioned.
“Th-that is…”
Greasy cold sweat—like meat juices—trickled down the Deputy Director’s fat-laden face. Choose between the Second Young Master and the First Young Master?
Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye smiled at the sight.
“We are not asking you to take Big Brother’s side. Our demand goes only so far as ‘stop the interference.’”
“Meaning…?”
Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun spoke exactly as her eldest brother had instructed.
“It already seems the scales of the Business Support Department have tipped toward the Second Young Master.”
The Fourth Young Mistress continued in the same vein.
“Wouldn’t the Deputy Director’s role here be to restore and maintain the balance of that scale called the Business Support Department?”
“The duty of neutrality, in other words.”
“….”
The toad-faced Deputy Director’s expression hardened. These are not the Young Mistresses’ own thoughts.
These were not words that girls who possessed not even a handful of real power could have come up with. This was without a doubt— The First Young Master is warning me through the Young Mistresses…!
With the Department Director absent, no one held more information within the Business Support Department than the Deputy Director himself. The First Young Master is the rising sun…!
Who in the entire Sword Family would dare strike the Third Young Master from behind while locked in a frontal contest of strength against the Second Young Master?
His calculation was short and precise.
“I apologize! Due to my own incompetence, I was unaware of what my subordinates were doing!”
He slammed his forehead against the table.
“Please! Convey to the First Young Master that nothing of this sort will happen again, and that I beg his continued favor…!”
The Third and Fourth Young Mistresses rose from their seats.
“There is no need for favors or pleas.”
“So long as you properly uphold the Business Support Department’s duty of neutrality.”
“H-heh heh heh. From now on I shall personally oversee every matter no matter what, so simply leave it in my hands!”
Listening to the exchange, the Division Director felt his consciousness begin to blur. What in the world has happened…?
His head spun. No—was the ceiling spinning?
Is this a dream?
The entire world seemed to be conspiring to deceive him.
Yet one fact remained painfully clear even in this situation.
By openly siding with the Second Young Master and treating the First Young Master as an enemy, he himself—
Is my path forward blocked like this?
Advancement through the Second Young Master. The dream of becoming the youngest Deputy Director. The power and pleasure he would have enjoyed as a true power-holder of the Sword Family.
Everything was collapsing before his eyes this very moment.
“N-no—!”
He screamed.
“No! No! No! This can’t be!”
“What is this madman—?!”
The Division Director struck away the Deputy Director’s hand as it tried to restrain his outburst.
“You damned creatures…! Do you think you’ll be safe later just because you’ve climbed onto the First Young Master’s back?! Just because the First Young Master has shown a few impressive feats, do you think he can properly finish a project of this scale?!”
Spittle flying, he shrieked like a man in a fit.
“Fools! Idiots! In the end all of you will—!”
He never finished the sentence.
“…!”
Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun’s knee slammed into his face like a thunderbolt.
She had kicked off the table and driven her knee straight into his face.
Teeth shattered; blood sprayed from his torn mouth.
“…!”
With the toad-faced Deputy Director—who possessed no internal energy and could only gape at the scene that had unfolded in an instant—as backdrop, Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye closed in next and drove a straight punch into the man’s gut.
“Gueeek…!”
The Division Director crumpled pitifully and crashed into the corner.
“Hoo. That feels much better.”
Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun brushed off her skirt as she spoke.
“Mm. I think I finally understand why Unnie throws punches the moment anything happens.”
Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye nodded.
Their eyes met, and both burst into peals of laughter.
“Well then.”
“We’ll be counting on you.”
The Third and Fourth Young Mistresses strode out the door with lively steps.
They were the First Young Master Yeon So-hyeon’s representatives.
The Division Director was now nothing more than a man whose political life had ended.
“….”
The Deputy Director could say nothing to the retreating sisters. He could only wipe the cold sweat from his face with a handkerchief—again and again.