The Invisible Hand
“…No matter how colossal a tree may tower—dozens of zhang into the sky—once its roots rot, all is for nothing.”
One of the Supreme Councilors let out a heavy sigh.
“Our main family is exactly that right now…!”
The highest deliberative body of the Luoyang Sword Family, known now as the Supreme Operations Committee, had originally been called the Emergency Response Committee.
And that Emergency Response Committee had been nothing more than a temporary organ meant to bridge the power vacuum until authority could be properly handed to the legitimate heir in a crisis.
But.
“…All of this is the karmic retribution and original sin of our predecessors.”
The newly appointed Supreme Councilors closed their mouths, faces twisted in pain.
"......."
Those who had formed the Emergency Response Committee had coveted the supreme family of the realm for themselves. As a result, they had ignored the family head’s standing injunctions, intimidated and threatened the legitimate heir Yeon So-hyeon, and usurped his power.
“…We Supreme Councilors have always claimed we strive to watch over the main family in the finest detail even from our high seats.”
“Yet it has come to the point where the very eyes and ears who must hide their faces and identities now deceive us.”
One of the councilors spoke in a bitter voice.
“This organ’s original role was never more than a temporary body for the transfer of power. We forced that temporary body into the permanent system of the Supreme Operations Committee.”
A newly appointed female councilor clutched her head.
“…From the very beginning, problems were inevitable.”
A senior councilor gave a heavy nod.
“We have poured countless hours into patching this system over the years.”
“Yet it has become glaringly clear that we failed to solve the fundamental problem.”
The seniors and prime culprits who had set all this in motion were long gone from their seats. The karma they left behind remained, rotting the roots of the great tree that was the Luoyang Sword Family.
“Chairman.”
Every gaze fixed on the Chairman, the sole living figure from that past era still active.
“How in the world did the First Young Master come to know all of this?”
The Chairman answered.
“It began with a single report.”
“A report?”
Instead of answering further, the Chairman pulled a cord and summoned the person waiting outside.
The heavy iron door opened, and the one who had been standing by entered the secret chamber.
“It is an honor to meet the Supreme Councilors of the main family for the first time.”
When the councilors saw the woman who now stood revealed, astonishment crossed their faces.
“…You are?”
“You were with the Agency until recently, were you not? A field commander—your name was clearly—”
Standing before the oil lamps of the secret chamber, the middle-aged woman calmly introduced herself.
“Cheong-su.”
She was none other than the Cheong-su who had left the Agency and offered her sword to Yeon So-hyeon. The same woman who had saved Daseonrang from an assassination threat and then vanished for a time now stood before them.
“Ah, yes. Cheong-su. That was it.”
“When we heard you had left the Agency and returned your heavy silver armor, more than a few here regretted the loss.”
There were councilors who recognized the woman who had served the Agency with unwavering loyalty for so many years.
“So it was you who submitted the report on the Agency’s corruption to the First Young Master?”
“No.”
Cheong-su shook her head firmly, contrary to expectation.
“I merely delivered the report containing that information to the First Young Master when I left the Agency. The actual informant is still inside the Agency.”
The councilors murmured among themselves.
“Still active?”
“Then why did that person not report directly to us…?”
A newly appointed male councilor trailed off mid-sentence. He might be new to this chamber, but he had spent a lifetime in the Luoyang Sword Family and weathered every storm imaginable.
“…I see. That person did not trust the Supreme Operations Committee.”
To suspect that a Supreme Councilor or the Committee itself stood behind the Agency’s corruption was only logical.
“Precisely.”
Cheong-su nodded with a bitter expression.
“Had it not been the First Young Master’s direct order, I would never have set foot in this place myself.”
Her merciless words made the councilors bow their heads in wretched silence.
"......."
"......."
They had nothing to say, even if they had possessed ten mouths. Fundamental flaws in the Supreme Operations Committee system aside, they had failed to earn the trust of people who had devoted their entire lives to the Sword Family.
“This is a copy of that report. Read it and confirm for yourselves.”
Using the technique of Grasping Objects from the Void, the Chairman distributed a copy to every councilor.
“This…!”
“…Haa.”
Sighs and groans escaped those who read the report.
A newly appointed male councilor set the papers down with trembling hands and asked in a hollow voice,
“Why did the First Young Master—why did His Lordship not deliver this report to us sooner?”
Cheong-su answered the question with a question of her own.
“Would you have believed the First Young Master before events reached this point?”
"......."
Of course not. Other councilors might have been different, but he himself would certainly have assumed the First Young Master was merely playing a card to gain an edge in the succession struggle.
“Still, we would have tried somehow to verify it through an internal investigation—”
Cheong-su cut him off.
“After the same tired internal investigations that have been repeated for years, they would simply have cut their tails and vanished, as always.”
“…Indeed.”
In a situation where no one could even tell who was safe to trust and who was not, what proper internal investigation could ever have been conducted?
“As I said earlier.”
The Chairman’s voice, laced with internal energy, snapped the despondent councilors back to attention.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity the First Young Master has created for us.”
“That is certainly true.”
A councilor who had served nearly as long as the Chairman nodded.
“At this very moment, whoever has been blocking the information that should have reached us will inevitably be exposed.”
“A perfect chance to weed out the traitors within the Agency.”
“…Yet.”
One councilor frowned.
“In this situation, who is to serve as our trustworthy ears and hands?”
The councilors fell into grim silence.
“…The Chief Administrator of the Inner Court?”
“The sharp conflict between that man and the First Young Master is famous, is it not? If he learns this affair began in the First Young Master’s hands, there is no telling how he will move.”
“Moreover, giving even more power to a man who is already formidable…”
“And yet if we bring in others…”
Faced with this unprecedented crisis, they felt utter helplessness.
“On that point, you need not worry.”
It was the Chairman.
“Outside right now stands the head of the independent intelligence network the First Young Master has built within the main family.”
“The First Young Master built an independent intelligence network…?”
“What in the world—?!”
Ignoring their shocked reactions, the Chairman nodded to Cheong-su.
“It is a pleasure to meet you all, Supreme Councilors.”
The person Cheong-su had escorted stepped forward and clasped his hands in greeting.
“I trust no one here fails to recognize my face?”
Of course not. He was one of the core figures of the Luoyang Sword Family, someone the Supreme Councilors could never fail to know.
“Chief Steward…!”
The man who revealed himself was the head of the Luoyang Sword Family’s Steward Department.
“…Chief Steward, you have been supporting the First Young Master?”
“What nonsense is that?”
The Chief Steward gave a short laugh and shook his head.
“It is not that I have been supporting the First Young Master. It is that my lord, the First Young Master, has been supporting me.”
"......!"
The unimaginable relationship between the Chief Steward and Yeon So-hyeon was laid bare in that instant.
“In any case, do not concern yourselves with information. Until this matter is concluded I shall remain nearby and personally serve as your eyes and ears.”
A meaningful smile curved the Chief Steward’s sharp features.
“I have already deployed large numbers of agents centered on the Agency and the intelligence departments. You may place your trust in me.”
Even without those words, not a single person present doubted the Chief Steward’s capabilities. He was a master of intrigue who could long ago have entered the Senate, a man who had proven his worth since the days of the Grand Family Head.
How in the world did the First Young Master win the loyalty of a man like this? When did their relationship even begin?
“Chairman.”
The councilors clicked their tongues in awe and turned to the Chairman.
“…Since the First Young Master has already prepared someone to serve as our eyes and ears,”
“does that mean he has also prepared those who will become our hands and swords?”
The Chairman answered at once.
“Yes.”
What they had half-feared was true. Amid stifled, half-incredulous laughter, the Chief Steward spoke.
“At the First Young Master’s request, the Senate will assist you.”
“The Senate…?!”
“The Senate of the Luoyang Sword Family—”
“You mean the Special Task Force of the Senate will move?!”
The Special Task Force was a band of high-level masters who had retired for unavoidable reasons. If those masters—who obeyed only the direct orders of the Senate—took the field, they would become the most trustworthy hands and the sharpest swords imaginable.
“But is it not a fixed principle that the Senate never interferes in the internal politics of the main family?”
That was precisely why the elders lived on a hillside village, farming and raising livestock.
“There is one single exception.”
“Of course…!”
At the Chairman’s words, the newly appointed male councilor—who knew the family statutes by heart—struck his own forehead.
“There is a clause stating that if an event threatens the very existence of the main family, the Senate may act on its own judgment!”
Another councilor who recalled the same clause marveled.
“Ordinarily, of course, a threat to existence would mean an attack by a great external enemy…!”
“But there is no detailed proviso, so it is open to interpretation!”
The Chairman nodded.
“Exactly.”
He surveyed the chamber and asked,
“Is there anyone here who does not agree that the present situation constitutes a threat to the existence of the main family?”
There could be none.
“Heh heh.”
The newly appointed male councilor shook his head slowly.
“How could anyone remember such a dead-letter exception clause that even I had half-forgotten…?”
He began to pose the question and found the answer himself.
“Don’t tell me this, too, was the First Young Master…?”
“If one were to seek the person most thoroughly versed in the family laws of the main house,”
the Chief Steward shrugged,
“who else could it be but my lord, the First Young Master?”
"......."
"......."
Everyone was left speechless. They had thought themselves sufficiently astonished when they received reports of what Yeon So-hyeon was doing in the Imperial Capital. Yet seeing preparations this thorough left them completely without words.
This is…!
It is as though the First Young Master’s invisible hand exists everywhere…!
At this point the thought even crossed their minds that every one of them might have been puppets dancing on Yeon So-hyeon’s palm from the very beginning.
“Everyone, focus!”
It was the Chairman’s sharp rebuke that jolted them back to awareness.
“Do not forget that the First Young Master is, at this very moment, enduring the enemy’s bombardment in order to buy us this time!”
They snapped to their senses and began to move.
“…Y-yes!”
“Then at once…!”
Yeon So-hyeon had prepared the broad outline, but the concrete plans and their execution now rested in the hands of the Supreme Councilors. And these men and women, who had devoted their entire lives to the Sword Family, proved themselves worthy of the title: in an instant they formulated plans and began issuing orders in every direction.
…First Young Master.
Watching them, the Chairman recalled the day Yeon So-hyeon had first laid out this entire scheme—the night he had met the First Young Master Yeon So-hyeon wearing the face of Amcheonjonza.
“You mean to say the Agency has truly fallen this far…?”
The Chairman found himself clenching the report on the Agency that Amcheonjonza had given him.
“Remember this well, Chairman.”
In a voice like molten metal overflowing its crucible, Amcheonjonza spoke.
“There will be only one chance. Once the Second Young Master’s faction has nowhere left to retreat, the corrupted administrators of the Agency will inevitably move to blind the eyes and ears of the Supreme Councilors.”
“…Please convey to the First Young Master that I will keep it firmly in mind. However.”
The Chairman carefully tucked the report into his robes and asked Amcheonjonza,
“Who compiled this report?”
Amcheonjonza smiled with quiet sorrow.
“Long ago there was a man in the Agency who was both a friend to the First Young Master of the Sword Family and a comrade. Though they differed greatly in age, their hearts were said to have been well-matched.”
Something clicked in the Chairman’s mind.
“…You speak of the former Agency Director who died in the line of duty?”
“He died in the line of duty, yet it was neither the enemy nor an accident that killed him.”
"......!"
If it was neither the enemy nor an accident, then he had been murdered by his own side.
“The First Young Master learned of it only later. That man had long been secretly tracking those within the Agency who displayed suspicious movements.”
“…So they murdered him and disguised it as an accident during a mission.”
It was a truth bitter beyond measure.
“Not long ago the First Young Master met that man’s younger brother.”
Amcheonjonza sighed and looked up at the night sky.
“Following in his elder brother’s footsteps, the younger brother had also entered the Agency and become a field commander.”
The younger brother of the former Agency Director. And a field commander.
The Chairman had little difficulty piecing the rest together.
“…After the so-called Book-Price Uproar in the Inner Court not long ago, when the First Young Master was summoned before the Supreme Operations Committee, it was surely that younger brother who came to escort him.”
The Chairman spoke as though sighing.
“So he had been continuing the investigation into the Agency’s corruption in his late brother’s stead…!”
“Exactly.”
Amcheonjonza gave a bitter smile.
“That report is a precious thing steeped in the blood and effort of two brothers who were more loyal to the Sword Family than anyone.”
A grinding of teeth echoed, and ghostly fire kindled in Amcheonjonza’s eyes.
“When the First Young Master creates the opportunity,”
his gaze locked onto the Chairman,
“you, Chairman, must find them. You must drag every last one of them in!”
His ringing voice seemed to shake the very air.
What other answer could there be?
In that moment the Chairman forgot that he and the First Young Master were supposed to conceal each other’s true identities. He clasped his hands and offered a formal salute.
“Loyalty!”