Cliff's Edge: The Imperial Capital
Imperial Capital.
A conference chamber in a certain mansion.
Clink.
"......!"
A maid who had been lighting the oil lamps with infinite care jolted at the tiny sound she herself had made and screamed inwardly.
She was a woman of no small experience. Even so, her present tension was entirely justified.
"......."
"......."
One look at the faces seated around the conference table made it impossible not to be tense.
From the current heads of the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families to the Second Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, wearing that bizarre horizontal-bar mask—
A single gesture from any of them, and her life would vanish with absurd ease.
"......."
"......."
Fortunately for her, not one among them had the mental leisure to notice a maid's accidental noise.
"...At first they held every eye on the old elders. Then that mad old man Gang Sang crawled into the palace."
Once the maids who had finished lighting the lamps had all withdrawn from the chamber, one of the family heads muttered as if to himself.
"The moment attention fixed on Gang Sang, the old elders slipped into the palace themselves...?"
Perhaps because of the thick smoke rising from pipes and cigarettes, the brilliant lamps of the conference hall seemed unusually dim today.
"And we thought, at most, the old elders meant to lean on the Emperor and dabble a little in power. But then..."
He continued in a tone of pure disbelief.
"Suddenly—a Yangtze River Waterway Expansion and Maintenance Project? Just what kind of bolt from the blue is this?"
"I even hear the preparations are nearly complete. How in the world...?"
"If the Emperor succeeds in expanding the Yangtze waterways—the late Emperor's long-cherished enterprise—"
"The Imperial House gains that much prestige."
"And we lose that much prestige in turn."
Power was not a substance with substance. It existed only when the many believed it rested with a person.
Every man gathered here knew that fact all too well.
"......."
Once more, a heavy silence settled over the chamber.
"...Damn it."
One family head, having received a slip of paper from a subordinate, read the contents and spat the words out as if chewing them.
"...The Emperor has ordered rooms prepared for guests to stay long-term."
It felt as though what was bound to come had finally arrived. Another family head twisted a bitter smile.
"Now that they're back inside the palace, they have no intention of leaving at all."
"They're certain that once they step out, we'll never let them back in."
Yet another family head thumped his own chest.
"It's enough to drive a man mad. Do we still have no detailed information on this 'holy land' business or whatever it is?"
"...Not yet."
The Imperial Palace was their front yard. The people of the palace were their servants. That was how confidently they had always spoken.
And as the night deepened, information poured in without rest.
Yet not a single piece of news brought them any relief. What arrived was closer to rumor than intelligence.
"...This feels like a problem that precedes the opponent's strategy."
"It does."
Another family head slowly nodded as he retraced everything that had happened so far.
"From the beginning, someone among us has been continuously and subtly feeding us false information."
As if by prior agreement, their gazes turned, one by one, toward a single man.
"W-what are you saying? Subtly false information?!"
The man who found every gaze fixed upon him like spears cried out in a near-fit and sprang from his seat.
"That almost sounds as if you are saying I deliberately leaked false intelligence!"
One of the family heads who had been staring him down struck his pipe against the table with a sharp crack.
"Head of the Yang Family."
Through the scattering ash, the man's eyes fixed on the Yang Family head's indignant face with murderous intensity.
"Every scrap of inside information your father, the previous head Yang O-dan, supposedly passed along—every last bit of it was wrong, was it not?"
"You claimed he was extracting intelligence while pretending to share a boat with those old elders."
Another family head glared, eyes rolling.
"Yet not one piece of it was accurate, was it?"
"Looking at it now, it feels entirely deliberate. I doubt that is mere fancy."
One man ground his teeth.
"According to what I have learned, your father—the previous head of the Yang Family—never even entered the palace."
"The number who entered was fourteen: the Kong Family's elder, Kong Ryang, and—"
He raised a finger and pointed straight at the current head of the Yang Family.
"Your father, former head Yang O-dan, was not among them."
"And every piece of information you claimed to have received from him made us look in the wrong direction."
If not for that—would something have been different?
No. Even then, the present outcome would not have changed much.
But they would not have been so thoroughly, so one-sidedly, played along the way.
"Why not come clean at this point?"
"Come clean about what, exactly?!"
The more words flew, the whiter the Yang Family head's face became.
This damned—!
He thought of his father, Yang O-dan.
Was it a trap?! Did that old man deceive me?!
Even now, in his breast, he still carried the letters that had arrived under the name of his father, Yang O-dan.
At first he, too, had doubted Yang O-dan's true intent. He had verified more than once whether the letters he received were truly from Yang O-dan.
For a time, far too many things had fit together so perfectly that there seemed no further reason to doubt. And because the letters contained "that secret" which no one but Yang O-dan could know, the writer was unmistakably Yang O-dan himself.
"Easy, easy—think about this, all of you!"
He appealed to the room.
"If things turned out this way, everything would be exposed on the spot! What possible reason would I have to deceive you?!"
He was desperate.
"Intelligence can never be perfectly accurate—even intelligence that comes from inside! You all know that perfectly well!"
He cried out almost as if screaming.
"And it is not as if everyone moved solely on the information I provided! Each of you has your own intelligence network!"
It was less his desperate manner than the logic and content of his argument that made the family heads fall briefly silent.
"......."
As he said—if the truth would inevitably come out on the ground, the current head of the Yang Family should by now have found some excuse, any excuse, and withdrawn from the field.
"...True enough. The information had matched so well for so long that even we scarcely suspected it."
"...Is that not precisely what makes it so cunning?"
"But we each verified that intelligence as well, did we not?"
"...That is so."
Another family head clicked his tongue.
"For now, better to press the Yang Family head once the full truth comes to light."
At their words, color began to return little by little to the Yang Family head's face.
It felt as though a blade had just grazed his throat and passed on.
Th-thank the heavens!
To be singled out in a situation already staring defeat in the face would have been a nightmare.
That damned old man stabbed me in the back...!
The head of the Yang Family ground his teeth inwardly.
I swear by Heaven—I will find that old man and put him to the rack with my own hands!
But he could not possibly know.
The Yang O-dan he sought could no longer be found anywhere.
He could not even imagine it.
Yang O-dan was already dead—killed by the hand of Amcheonjonza on Mount Beimang.
At that same hour, the Imperial Palace.
"Truly a marvelous business."
In the quarters the Emperor had prepared within the palace, Gongsun Na-gang—now changed into comfortable clothes—let out a hollow laugh.
"Thanks to that, the affair proceeded smoothly."
"With the current family heads thrashing about under false intelligence, there was not even a gap for interference to slip through."
Answering in chorus were the old elders, likewise changed into easy garments. Before turning in for the night they had gathered in one lodging and were trading conversation.
"That Yang Family head—he still cannot even imagine that his father is already dead."
"How could he know?"
One elder snorted a laugh.
"Even we who know those letters were written by the First Young Master's own hand would have been deceived, had we not known the truth."
Some clicked their tongues anew at Yeon So-hyeon's ability.
"Uncannily perfect—to an absurd degree."
Yeon So-hyeon's flawless forgeries.
They had been prepared after Yang O-dan's death at Amcheonjonza's hands on Mount Beimang.
"When he killed the man, it looked as if he did it without a second thought..."
Recalling the figure of Amcheonjonza he had seen that day, one elder shuddered.
"So the First Young Master already had the entire plan in place?"
It had also been possible only because the old elders had flawlessly concealed Yang O-dan's death.
"The most astonishing point..."
Gongsun Na-gang narrowed his eyes and stroked his beard.
"...is that what the First Young Master said that day was true."
Back then, on Mount Beimang, after executing Yang O-dan—who had already harbored other designs in his heart—Yeon So-hyeon had spoken thus:
Had that talk of a planned surprise alliance never been spoken—
"If that matter had not been in the letters, the current head would have suspected the writer might not be Yang O-dan."
Exactly so.
The current head of the Yang Family, finding in the letters a fact known only to himself and Yang O-dan, had no choice but to believe the writer was Yang O-dan.
"Now reverse the thinking," Gongsun Na-gang said.
Another elder looked puzzled.
"Reverse it?"
Gongsun Na-gang lowered his posture and spoke in a quiet voice.
"If the current head of the Yang Family believed with absolute certainty that the letter containing that matter was written by Yang O-dan—then that matter itself must have been true."
It was only a partial statement, yet—
"Then...!"
Those present needed no kinder explanation.
"The First Young Master, who knew a plan known only to those two—does that not mean he truly read the heavenly secrets?!"
As one of the elders cried out, a chorus of near-sighing admiration burst from the group.
"Truly... the First Young Master read the heavens...?"
"If he did not read the heavenly secrets, how else can it be explained?"
"It is inconceivable that the Min side would have leaked the matter to the First Young Master..."
The future affairs Yeon So-hyeon knew through regression, combined with his extraordinary abilities, made the old elders believe the unbelievable—even when told to believe it.
"...Truly, speaking of it again like this, it strikes me anew. The First Young Master is an extraordinary man."
"Is it not reassuring that such a man stands on our side?"
"A vast blessing—a vast blessing indeed."
"In the truest sense, the First Young Master is a great fortune. For us, and for His Majesty the Emperor."
"Without the First Young Master, what in the world would we have done...?"
Thus, as time passed, the leash Yeon So-hyeon had fastened around the old elders' necks tightened ever more firmly, bringing them under his control.
"This affair, it seems, has left our hands."
The current heads of the Sixteen Families, who had continued their conference deep into the night, finally raised both hands in surrender.
"Even if the Emperor succeeds in this, it is only the first step, is it not?"
"There will be some damage to us, true."
It was time to acknowledge reality and look to what came next.
"We still have many opportunities."
"The Yangtze River Waterway Expansion and Maintenance Project has not even properly begun, has it?"
"And Sapaecheon of Gangnam will hardly grant permission quietly."
"Conveniently, the grandson of the Lian Lord of Sapaecheon is here with us as well."
They smiled toward the Second Young Master, and the Second Young Master nodded in return, conveying that they need not worry.
Opportunity belonged to the strong.
And they were the strong.
No matter that the Emperor might succeed in the late Emperor's cherished enterprise—no matter that Gang Sang had returned, that the old elders had returned—the balance of power did not change.
Opportunity still lay on their side.
Just then, a subordinate of the Second Young Master hurried in.
"My lord. An urgent report."
He whispered into the Second Young Master's ear and handed him a slip of paper.
"In that case, shall we first discuss the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering scheduled for this autumn?"
"Ah, yes. Gathering like this is never easy for us."
"Rather, this is fortunate. Without such an affair, we would never have convened at all."
"While we are at it, we ought to settle a few decisions—"
Crash—
Their conversation broke off with the sound of a chair toppling.
The Second Young Master had shot to his feet, sending his seat tumbling backward.
"Second Young Master?"
"What is it?"
On the slip of paper in the Second Young Master's hand was written the following:
[Urgent Report from the Main House]
Inner Court and Central Investigation Department: raid on the Great Immortal Merchant Group successful.
The core lay in the next line:
Supreme Operations Committee showing movement to discuss a judicial deal with Grand Madam Goyang.
What profit could the Supreme Operations Committee possibly gain from a judicial deal with Grand Madam Goyang?
This is without question a deal with Sapaecheon...!
A bargain that would compel Sapaecheon—which could not afford to lose its influence over the Luoyang Sword Family—to cooperate with the Emperor's Yangtze River Waterway Expansion and Maintenance Project.
The instant Yeon So-hyeon's gambit drove home with perfect precision against the Second Young Master's side.