The Big Picture
Luoyang.
Standing by the window and gazing down at the streets of Luoyang steeped in sunset light, Kang Ho clicked his tongue.
"Those old—" he began, then caught Kong Ryang's eye across the room and hastily corrected himself.
"The former heads of the Sixteen Families will have another chance to seize power."
Even with Kang Ho's extraordinary memory and brilliant mind, grasping it all at once proved difficult. So he deliberately spoke aloud the tale he had heard, sorting it through with care.
"And by putting those former heads forward, the Sichuan Tang Family and the Dali Duan Family were brought to a dramatic agreement."
Kong Ryang opened his mouth to add,
"Don't forget. Far more deals were tangled up with the Sichuan Tang Family and the Dali Duan Family."
Kang Ho nodded.
"Yes. There were transactions that resolved their conflicts over the Chongqing urban development project as well."
Yeon So-hyeon had forced the Emei Sect to disgorge its interests, giving those two bitterly opposed great families the opening to advance the Chongqing urban development project and the Yangtze River waterway expansion and maintenance project. On top of that, he had promised the Sichuan Tang Family a foothold for their advance into Luoyang.
"But looking at the bigger picture—"
"In the basic framework, your view is correct."
"…And that deal now reaches all the way to His Majesty the Emperor in the imperial capital."
Seated in his wheeled chair, Kong Ryang smiled.
"The Yangtze River waterway expansion and maintenance project was the late Emperor's cherished wish, after all."
"Once that project proceeds under His Majesty's name, His Majesty will be able to secure at least a minimum of prestige through that great achievement."
He had tried to organize it. He had tried to summarize it. Still the story was dizzying enough to make the head spin.
"…If someone had told me this plan beforehand, I would have dismissed it as nonsense."
Watching Kang Ho mutter so, Kong Ryang chuckled and turned his head.
"But isn't there something even more shocking?"
"…Yes."
Kang Ho followed Kong Ryang's gaze and looked at Yeon So-hyeon.
"While setting all of this in motion…"
Kang Ho swallowed dryly and continued.
"The First Young Master never took a single step outside of Luoyang."
Seated with his back to the sunset, expression hidden in the shadow it cast, Yeon So-hyeon seemed to Kang Ho—why was that?—something utterly inhuman.
"That part is surprising as well, but is that truly what shocked you?"
"Yes…?"
Kang Ho snapped out of it at Kong Ryang's words and looked back at him.
"Is there something more here that I failed to notice?"
Seeing Kang Ho's flustered face, Kong Ryang laughed softly and raised a finger.
"You don't know?"
He pointed that finger at Yeon So-hyeon.
"All of this was accomplished before His Majesty the Emperor sent an imperial edict requesting aid."
"……!"
Come to think of it, that was true. Certainly the Emperor's edict had arrived after Yeon So-hyeon ended his seclusion. But Yeon So-hyeon had begun moving long before that.
"…Eh. Wait? Eh?"
At those words, Kang Ho's mind—which had somehow been coming into order—tangled all over again in an instant.
"First Young Master? What on earth—?"
A polite knock at the door cut off Kang Ho's question.
"Master. The Fourth Young Master has just returned."
When Yeon So-hyeon nodded, the Fourth Young Master Yeon Bi entered and first offered a respectful clasped-hand greeting to Kong Ryang.
"Elder Kong Ryang, it is an honor to meet you. I am Yeon Bi, Fourth Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family."
"I am Kong Ryang."
The two exchanged a short greeting filled with goodwill and trust. The Fourth Young Master knew what Kong Ryang was to Yeon So-hyeon. Kong Ryang knew what the Fourth Young Master was to Yeon So-hyeon. For them, that alone was enough.
"Elder Brother."
Fourth Young Master Yeon Bi reported to Yeon So-hyeon.
"Our sisters' businesses have been roughly settled. There were no management issues before the political problems arose, so the disposal was that much faster."
Yeon So-hyeon nodded in silence, and Yeon Bi found his seat and sat.
"Master."
Jeong-a's voice. The next to enter was Kong Dam-ung.
"As you instructed, I have delivered the message to all the family heads."
Those families that had been about to come under Yeon So-hyeon had been given a chance to prove their loyalty. When Kong Dam-ung's report ended, Kong Ryang—who had been studying his grandson's face intently—nodded.
"Your expression has changed."
Kong Dam-ung raised a hand and touched his own face.
"Has it…?"
"Yes. You seem to have shed at least a little of that raw, thunderstruck wild youth who used to run wild on pure hot blood."
Kong Dam-ung smiled calmly.
"I've simply realized that rather than running wild with my fists, there are things I, as a person, can do from my position."
At those words Kong Ryang laughed heartily with pleasure. What I tried to fix for over ten years and could never manage myself—leave it to the First Young Master and it is done in no time. At last his grandson, who had only caused him worry, was beginning to take on the mindset of the successor who would one day inherit the Kong family.
"Perfect timing."
Kong Ryang pointed to a chair off to the side.
"The First Young Master is about to give you a great lesson, so listen well."
Though it was only a seat in the corner, Kong Dam-ung claimed it at once without a single complaint. In the old days, if it was complicated talk, the boy would have made any excuse to slip away… Satisfied, Kong Ryang nodded and turned his eyes to those present.
"First Young Master."
When he opened thus, the gazes of Kang Ho, the Fourth Young Master, and Kong Dam-ung all focused on Yeon So-hyeon.
"Please bestow upon these children the teaching of the meaning behind the First Young Master's actions—moving first, before His Majesty the Emperor's request arrived."
"…A teaching, is it."
Though Yeon So-hyeon murmured so, he had already made up his mind to pass on everything he had to them.
The Fourth Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, Yeon Bi. The next heir of the Kong family among the Sixteen Families, Kong Dam-ung. Even Kang Ho, next heir of the prestigious Gang family of the imperial capital. When I am absent: In Yeon So-hyeon's mind rose the memory of when he had lost consciousness for a full day from his struggle with the Jeam Jincheon Scripture. In their respective fields, they must stand in for me.
Yeon So-hyeon nodded once and began the teaching.
"There is a saying that a true king does not foresee the future, but creates the future he desires."
The ones who immediately nodded were the Fourth Young Master and Kang Ho.
"I have heard there is such a saying in Yunnan."
"I understand it was a saying handed down from the Dali Duan Family, once the royal house of the Kingdom of Dali."
"Yes, that is so. In a way, it is a simple saying."
Yeon So-hyeon met the eyes of those watching him.
"But the great majority of people—no, nearly all people—even if they vaguely understand the meaning of those words, cannot put them into practice."
Kong Dam-ung shrugged.
"Isn't it said that doing is harder than knowing?"
Kong Ryang struck the armrest of his chair with a sharp crack.
"Boy! It is not such a simple matter!"
Watching the flinching Kong Dam-ung close his mouth, Kong Ryang continued in Yeon So-hyeon's stead.
"The overwhelming majority of people who live in this world are simply hard-pressed responding to the waves of the world that crash upon them."
"And so."
Yeon So-hyeon took up the words.
"When someone merely predicts the complex and turbulent changes of the world and devises responses to them, they are already praised for it."
Hearing the tale to that point, the first to speak was, as expected, Kang Ho, who had been listening from the beginning.
"…Is the First Young Master saying that you prepared for all those things before His Majesty's request, like that?"
"No."
But Yeon So-hyeon shook his head in denial.
"I did not 'prepare.'"
"…Then?"
"I did not move after guessing His Majesty's request in advance. The future that the past me created moved His Majesty."
"……!"
Yeon So-hyeon's eyes flashed. Even Kong Dam-ung, second to none in boldness, flinched for a moment at that force.
"Elder said just now."
Yeon So-hyeon glanced toward Kong Ryang and continued.
"That ordinary people endure the waves of the world, and the outstanding ones predict and prepare for those waves."
He turned his gaze back and looked straight into the faces of those who would bear the future of the Central Kingdom.
"The future I create is precisely their future."
It was a declaration bordering on arrogance.
"And I myself am the fierce wave of the world that they must endure and prepare against."
Those listening held their breath and looked up at Yeon So-hyeon. Yeon So-hyeon spoke solemnly to them.
"And this is the perspective and mindset not of those who live in the world, but of those who move the world."
"……"
"……"
While Kang Ho and Kong Dam-ung kept silent, the first to nod was, unexpectedly, the youngest among them—the Fourth Young Master Yeon Bi.
"…I see."
The boy whose only fault had been his youth and lack of experience opened his mouth.
"Everything was a matter of perspective and mindset."
Understanding it would not make him Yeon So-hyeon in an instant. But unlike when he had merely admired Yeon So-hyeon's actions and scrambled to interpret them—
"…The fog in my head feels a little thinner now."
Kang Ho and Kong Dam-ung had also felt something. But they could not open their eyes as easily as the Fourth Young Master.
"……"
"……"
Yet watching them sink into deep, fiercely intense thought, Kong Ryang smiled. …The future of the Central Kingdom is brightening. The old man's gaze turned to Yeon So-hyeon. In this very moment, once again, the First Young Master has created the future.
After long thought upon thought amid the sunset light through the window, Kang Ho finally spoke.
"First Young Master."
When Yeon So-hyeon looked at him, Kang Ho carefully raised a question.
"Then… regarding the second difficulty of the Yangtze River waterway expansion and maintenance project—Sapaecheon, which holds the lower reaches of the Yangtze—what do you intend to do?"
At that question, the Fourth Young Master, still savoring his realization, brightened his eyes.
"This one is curious as well."
Kong Dam-ung nodded.
"Indeed. If what Hero Yeon says is true, then you must already have intervened in that second difficulty as well?"
Certainly. Far away in the imperial palace of the capital, Gang Sang had spoken to the Emperor in the same vein.
"Already, that problem too—the First Young Master of the Sword Family has begun work toward its resolution."
At the question, Yeon So-hyeon smiled faintly.
"Of course."
Kong Ryang stroked his long beard.
"Hmm. This old man is curious as well. Just what work the First Young Master has already done to extract Sapaecheon's consent."
Yeon So-hyeon sent a smile toward Kong Ryang.
"Do you not already know well?"
"Hmm?"
Kong Ryang's long eyebrows twitched.
"You say this old man already knows well?"
Instead of answering, Yeon So-hyeon looked toward the door.
"By now the operation should have begun, and a report should be arriving…"
"Master."
As if on cue, Jeong-a knocked.
"The Master of Hyeonwol Pavilion has come to see you."
A slight note of pleasure colored Jeong-a's voice. It could not be helped. The Master of Hyeonwol Pavilion was Jeong-a's own elder sister, and Se-a, head of Yeon So-hyeon's external intelligence organization Hyeonwol Pavilion.
"Show her in."
At Yeon So-hyeon's permission, Se-a of Hyeonwol Pavilion appeared.
"My lord."
Though she looked thoroughly exhausted, a leisurely smile hung on her face. At that expression of hers, Yeon So-hyeon let out a small laugh.
"Coming all the way here to report in person. With the Great Immortal Merchant Group withdrawing, it seems life has become livable."
Se-a shook her head firmly.
"Had I been even a little later, Hyeonwol Pavilion would have vanished."
Holding out against the far larger and more powerful Great Immortal Merchant Group that way had been a miracle.
"I see. Has it begun, then?"
Se-a nodded.
"Yes. Just now the Central Investigation Department and the Inner Court have launched their operation against the Great Immortal Merchant Group."
At that, Kong Ryang cried out loudly without realizing it.
"So that was it!"
Every gaze turned to Kong Ryang.
"So that was it!"
This time it was the Fourth Young Master. He did not stop there, but sprang to his feet and exclaimed.
"I kept wondering why Elder Brother so readily permitted the Inner Court's intervention!"
The boy hopped in place, excitement unfiltered.
"And Elder Brother clearly said, 'The raid on the Great Immortal Merchant Group will succeed, but the investigation will fail'!"
"At present, the one in overall charge of the Great Immortal Merchant Group causing the problem is Grand Elder Madam Ouyang, the Second Young Master's mother."
Kong Ryang laughed heartily and joined in.
"And Grand Elder Madam Ouyang of the Sword Family was, without doubt, the daughter of the Lian Lord of Sapaecheon!"
His gaze turned to Yeon So-hyeon.
"First Young Master! From the beginning you intended to exchange Grand Elder Madam Ouyang's life for permission regarding the lower Yangtze business rights!"
"That is why Elder Brother said that even if the raid succeeded, the investigation would fail!"
The Fourth Young Master cried out even louder.
"Because the Supreme Operations Committee of our family will naturally side with making His Majesty the Emperor's project succeed over punishing Grand Elder Madam Ouyang!"