The Old Ministers
Yeon So-hyeon had demanded that the heads of the new allied families swear their loyalty.
The family heads had leapt to their feet at the sheer absurdity of it.
"Did you see the line of investors outside?"
"They caught the scent of money."
"Quite the crowd. The First Young Master won't be short of capital for his ventures any time soon."
Yet even their chatter about the Emperor's meeting with the previous heads of the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families eventually ran dry. Once they had finished discussing the investors gathered outside as well, a silence settled.
"…Hmm."
"Hrm."
Their own precarious position rose once more to the forefront of their minds.
Should I go swear loyalty to the First Young Master right now…?
The trouble is, if I move first, the others will notice.
But if I don't move now, I feel like it'll be too late…
Everyone seems to have finished their calculations…
The delicate equilibrium formed by their mutual wariness began to collapse the moment one person appeared.
"You've returned."
The son-in-law of the Seo Family rose from his seat.
"How did it go?"
He asked his wife with careful respect.
"It resolved itself quite nicely, as it happens."
The son-in-law let out a breath of relief.
"That's good to hear."
The other family heads could not follow the exchange and simply stared, baffled.
She said she was only going to fix her clothes…?
What exactly resolved itself?
The acting head of the Seo Family waved a hand.
"We're leaving. We have no further business here."
She could easily have sent a maid to summon her husband in private and slipped away. Her sharp-eyed husband understood at once why she had chosen to return and speak openly instead.
"Has the first command been issued?"
"It has."
The acting head of the Seo Family spoke so the watching family heads could hear every word.
"Our family's lord has given his first order."
At her words, the family heads wore the expressions of men who had been struck across the back of the head in broad daylight on a public road.
"……!"
"D-did you just say lord?"
"Don't tell me you already swore loyalty to the First Young Master in that short time?!"
Some of them pressed her with questions, but the ones with sharper instincts and quicker feet were already moving.
"I-I have some business to attend to. If you'll excuse me for a moment…!"
"Hold on! Wait for me—I'm coming with you!"
They shoved the door open and bolted.
The delicate balance had already shattered. Once someone had sworn loyalty ahead of the rest, there was no longer any need to watch one another.
A clamor erupted as they poured out of the reception hall, all racing to meet the First Young Master.
"No dignity. No sense of propriety."
In the suddenly empty reception hall, the son-in-law shrugged.
"Well done."
The acting head smiled at him.
"You picked up on it so cleverly in the moment."
He returned the smile.
"Since we've already stepped onto the battlefield, the more 'meat shields' our new lord has, the better."
"I hear that down in the south, where firearms are common these days, they call them 'bullet sponges.'"
The couple's matching smiles held a faintly chilling resemblance.
"Your grandfather."
Yeon So-hyeon spoke to Kang Ho.
"How much do you know about Gang Sang?"
"About my grandfather…?"
Hearing his grandfather's name from another's lips was something that had not happened in a very long time. For his grandfather was a man whose name no one in the Central Kingdom dared speak lightly.
"He was the most loyal of loyal subjects under the previous Emperor. He served as Grand Chancellor twice—once under the late Emperor and once under the current Majesty."
That Yeon So-hyeon could speak the name so freely could only mean his friendship with the old man ran deep.
"…All that prattle. I could go on endlessly about the stories everyone already knows."
Yet the question Yeon So-hyeon had put to him—how much he truly knew about Gang Sang—clearly carried a deeper intent.
"I suspect the First Young Master knows my grandfather far more deeply than I do."
Kang Ho lifted his gaze to meet Yeon So-hyeon's.
"My grandfather and I are very close, but that closeness was always that of grandfather and grandson."
Unmistakable envy toward Yeon So-hyeon shone in his eyes.
From the very beginning, the reason Kang Ho had headed for the Luoyang Sword Family even after taking first place in the palace examinations was that his grandfather, Gang Sang, had spoken of Yeon So-hyeon to him day after day.
Heh heh, Kang Ho. Look at this letter So-hyeon sent. Do you think you can even begin to grasp this exceptional insight?
His grandfather had treasured every single letter from the First Young Master.
Ahh. If only that boy So-hyeon hadn't shut himself away, he would have accomplished great things by now…
On rainy days, drowning his melancholy in wine, he had spoken of the First Young Master.
…All of this is my fault for not listening carefully to what that boy said.
Even the occasional headless, tail-less muttering that made no sense at all had always, without fail, concerned Yeon So-hyeon.
Among those memories, one had been burned into Kang Ho's mind long before his perfect recall ever manifested.
It was this:
Do not grow arrogant.
When everyone had praised Kang Ho as a genius, his grandfather had said:
The true genius is Yeon So-hyeon. That boy.
No matter how many times people had called Kang Ho a prodigy or a brilliant talent from childhood, no matter how overwhelmingly he had topped every ranking at the academy, no matter that he had taken first place before the Emperor himself in the palace examinations—his grandfather's opinion never changed.
"But my grandfather retired long ago, did he not? How could a man like that have anything to do with the upheaval currently shaking the Imperial Capital—?"
"A moment."
A cautious knock at the door made Yeon So-hyeon raise a hand; Kang Ho fell silent.
"Master…! The allied family heads are all requesting an audience at once…!"
Il-ryeong's voice from outside carried an uncharacteristic note of fluster.
The family heads… the same ones who were in the same position as the acting head of the Seo Family earlier.
Kang Ho was just beginning to reason out why they would come en masse when Yeon So-hyeon already had the answer.
"…It seems the acting head of the Seo Family goaded them into it."
"To increase the number of heads that will fight alongside us, no doubt."
A faint smile touched Yeon So-hyeon's lips as he murmured,
"Convenient of them to move on their own."
The allied family heads' sudden arrival; the fact that the acting head of the Seo Family had sworn loyalty first; all the surrounding circumstances—Kang Ho knew them as well as anyone present. Yet he still had to deduce, while Yeon So-hyeon arrived at the solution at once.
"…I see."
Kang Ho lifted the teacup before him to hide the bitter smile that had slipped onto his face.
Grandfather…
He murmured inwardly.
Lately this humble grandson has come to feel, just as you said, that there is always a sky beyond the sky.
"Admit them."
The moment Yeon So-hyeon's permission fell, the family heads nearly smashed the door down in their rush.
"First Young Master!"
"Please accept our family's loyalty as well…!"
"Hey, stop shoving! Wait your turn!"
"Our family is far more capable than the Seo Family!"
Once the dam broke, the tide became unstoppable. The family heads who had hesitated to the very end finally understood there was no longer any ground left to retreat to.
"First Young Master…!"
And so, right before Yeon So-hyeon's eyes, they staged a farce that looked like a cheap street skit.
But at this rate…
Kang Ho frowned as he thought.
Even if the First Young Master accepts their loyalty right now, the form of it will look terrible.
The acting head of the Seo Family had at least observed minimal propriety and offered proper respects. These men were simply demanding, with the force of market peddlers, that their loyalty be accepted.
Ugly to the very end.
They had delayed and delayed their decision, dragging their feet; Kang Ho knew it well, and he could not look kindly on them for it.
If the First Young Master has some method—
He glanced at Yeon So-hyeon, saw the man's unhurried expression, and nodded to himself.
As expected. The First Young Master has a card to play.
And that "method" arrived at Yeon So-hyeon's office the moment the thought finished forming.
"Master, the guest you spoke of has arrived…!"
Il-ryeong's shout was swallowed by the uproar the family heads were making.
"All of you, show proper respect!"
A voice thundered, dense with internal qi.
A mere shout laced with internal energy should not have been enough to cow the heads of powerful, prestigious families.
"……"
Yet they fell silent all the same.
Because—
"The current head of the Kong Family among the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families, and former Grand Chancellor, Elder Kong Ryang, has personally come to visit the First Young Master of the Sword Family!"
Kong Dam-ung, face only roughly washed after hard fighting and clothes hastily changed, pushed a wheeled chair into the room.
"……"
Seated in the chair was Kong Ryang—one of the great elders of the realm, and the current head of the Kong Family—come in person to see Yeon So-hyeon.
"Why are these mongrels making such a racket? Is this a marketplace?"
"Mongrels…?!"
The family heads who had bristled at the insult met Kong Ryang's eyes and immediately lowered their heads and dropped their gazes.
He only just rose from his sickbed…?!
What in the world is that look in his eyes…!
A chill ran down their spines.
"First Young Master."
Even though every head was bowed and every gaze averted, Kong Ryang's expression remained somehow dissatisfied.
"Are these mongrels the new forces to be thrown onto the battlefield?"
"They are."
Yeon So-hyeon smiled and confirmed it.
"Do they not meet your standards?"
Kong Ryang grumbled,
"And these are supposed to be heads of influential families. They look like nothing but empty barley sacks left out to dry."
The gaze he ran over the family heads was so indifferent it was chilling.
"They say a master calligrapher does not choose his brush, do they not?"
When Yeon So-hyeon spoke with a laugh in his voice, Kong Ryang nodded as if conceding the point.
"I'm no master calligrapher myself. Still, in times like these, one cannot afford to be picky about cold rice or hot."
"F-First Young Master…!"
One of the family heads mustered his courage and opened his mouth.
"Just what is going on here—?"
"Silence, you cur!"
The words he had scraped together the courage to speak never reached their end.
"You lot were just babbling about swearing loyalty this and that—and now you dare interrupt your betters' conversation?!"
The volume of that voice, coming from a man with no internal energy who had been bedridden until recently, was almost unbelievable.
"I-I'm sorry!"
Not only the one who had spoken but the rest of the family heads broke out in cold sweat as well.
"You have sworn loyalty to the First Young Master, and the First Young Master has transferred control of you to me. From now on, you will follow my command."
"……!"
Kong Ryang's command.
The family heads swallowed hard.
"Your families will be thrown immediately into the war against the Second Young Master's allied houses."
Kong Ryang looked them over and bared his teeth in a smile.
"Under me, you will spill blood to prove your worth—and at the same time prove that your loyalty is genuine."
"……"
"……"
Apparently satisfied at last by the sight, Kong Ryang laughed.
"If you dislike this treatment, then blame yourselves for dithering and diluting your own value by delaying the decision."
What more could anyone say to that?
"……"
The family heads worked their mouths soundlessly like fish in a pond, then finally hung their heads.
Only then did Kong Ryang smile in true contentment.
"All of you, follow my grandson."
"Kong Dam-ung, at your service."
Kong Ryang's grandson, Kong Dam-ung, offered the family heads a formal salute.
"This boy will kindly show you the front lines where you are to be deployed."
Like conscripted peasants freshly pressed into service, they kept their heads bowed and quietly followed Kong Dam-ung toward the exit.
Once the room had emptied and the door closed, Kong Ryang turned a beaming smile on Yeon So-hyeon.
"First Young Master! It's been too long!"
Only a few days had passed, yet the old man behaved as though years had gone by. Nothing remained of the murderous aura he had radiated moments earlier.
"You are most welcome, Elder."
When Yeon So-hyeon clasped his hands to offer formal respects, Kong Ryang waved him off.
"Now, now…! What need is there for ceremony between us?"
"Haha. You truly never change, Elder."
Instead of formalities, the two men shared a simple embrace that expressed the joy of comrades reunited.
"……"
Watching from the side, Kang Ho could only click his tongue in quiet awe.
When I first heard that the Kong Family had taken the First Young Master's side, I could scarcely believe it…
Seeing their friendship with his own eyes, he understood at once why the Kong Family had so readily stood with Yeon So-hyeon in this war.
My grandfather as well… so the First Young Master had ties with Elder Kong Ryang too…!
With every passing moment the gulf between himself and the First Young Master became more painfully real. While Kang Ho had been learning letters among green academy boys, the First Young Master had been forging friendships with men who would leave their mark on the age.
"First Young Master!"
Kong Ryang made no effort to hide his delight; it shone in both face and voice.
"I have brought you excellent news!"
Relief flickered across Yeon So-hyeon's features at the words.
"…So the operation in the Imperial Capital succeeded."
"It did! A complete success!"
Kong Ryang laughed heartily.
"Those bastards took a blow to the back of the head with their eyes wide open!"
The Imperial Capital.
"The Second Young Master of the Sword Family!"
"He's here!"
The voices that greeted the Second Young Master as he entered the council chamber where the heads of the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families—save the Kong Family—were gathered held nothing but urgency. Not a shred of goodwill remained.
"The First Young Master's meeting with the previous family heads! And the rumors of those previous heads seeking an audience with His Majesty the Emperor! All of it was a smokescreen!"
The family heads in the chamber ground their teeth.
"Everything was meant to deceive our eyes!"
Beneath his mask, the Second Young Master frowned.
"Would someone kindly explain exactly what is going on?"
He had not even taken his seat, and already this.
"While we were all distracted by the movements of the previous family heads, we got hit from behind!"
One family head slammed a thick conference table.
"The imperial loyalists and the reformists joined hands…! And they brought that mad old man Gang Sang back into the palace!"