The Swamp
Just moments ago, the Grand Hall of the Elder Council had been seething with taut tension and a quiet will to fight.
“What in the world?! Approval at seven-tenths, invalid at three-tenths?!”
“How can the numbers fall so perfectly, as if by some lie?!”
But now the Grand Hall of the Elder Council was in such an uproar that even the markets of Luoyang would have wept at the noise.
“N-no, I merely announced the results of the vote,” Elder Hwangmok stammered, cold sweat pouring down his face as the elders who had surged forward unleashed a barrage of protests. “So please, everyone, calm yourselves a little…!”
“Calm?! What do you mean, calm?!”
The elders of the Third Young Master’s faction, faces flushed with rage, shoved their way right up to the base of the dais and spat their words at him.
“The threshold for a re-vote is three-tenths, and look—exactly three-tenths have come out as if by some miracle!”
It was only natural that the Third Young Master’s side would be furious; if the Eldest Young Master gained further ground here, their losses would be severe.
“And you expect us to believe that?!”
Out of a total of one hundred ten votes, thirty-three had been ruled invalid.
Exquisitely—no, unnaturally—precise numbers.
Elder Hwangmok himself was just as bewildered by the situation.
“Don’t take it out on me! Go confirm it with the counters and observers!” he raised his voice. “They were chosen at random from each faction and clique on the day itself—they will prove there was no foul play in the voting procedure!”
At those words the elders scattered in a rush toward those who had served as counters and observers.
“From beginning to end, nothing unusual.”
“We watched every moment with our own eyes.”
Since they had been drawn at random from the various factions that very day, the chance that any of them had been able to work some scheme was virtually nonexistent.
“…Then what on earth…”
“How did this happen…?”
The faces of the dumbfounded elders were full of questions, yet no one had an answer.
“I understand the confusion, but everyone stop wasting time and return to your own cliques and factions.”
The one who stepped forward and spoke was the Head of the Elder Council, who had been watching the chaos from the rear.
“Half a shichen remains until the re-vote. Would it not be best for all of you to make the fullest use of that time?”
Watching the Grand Hall plunge into utter pandemonium, a newly appointed elder wore a look of pure bewilderment.
“A re-vote…”
Some elders had even overturned the ballot box and checked the votes again and again, yet the result had not changed.
“I’d heard such a system existed, but I thought it was something that almost never happened in practice…”
“I’ve rarely seen it myself either,” an older elder replied with a frown.
The elder seated to his left spoke as if he found the whole thing absurd.
“Then why does the re-vote system even exist?”
The older elder let out a sigh and answered.
“From the beginning, the purpose of the Elder Council was never for factions to pit their strength against one another. It was so that people of differing positions could exchange opinions and reach a better consensus.”
The elder who had asked the question scowled at that reply.
“As if that changes anyone’s interests. What a pointless—”
“It is a system created centuries ago.”
The older elder gave a bitter smile.
“Now that the Elder Council has become nothing more than a pure political arena, that original intent is as good as empty.”
Having said that much, he shifted the focus of the conversation.
“But the point we must focus on right now is not that original purpose—it is the invalid votes.”
Another elder nodded and spoke.
“In the Elder Council the result is decided by vote, yet that result is decided before the vote ever takes place.”
He recited the long-standing maxim of the Elder Council, then continued.
“And yet every clique’s predicted outcome has diverged from the actual vote…”
The older elder narrowed his eyes and swept a sharp gaze across those around him.
“That means there is a clique or faction that is lying.”
“These lying bastards…!”
Crash.
One of the Yeon bloodline elders overturned a table in the lounge.
“I will find them and flay them myself!”
No one tried to stop him; the atmosphere in that lounge was murderous enough that no one dared.
“That is not the only problem,” said Hobop Wonju, who had slipped into the Yeon bloodline elders’ lounge while avoiding other eyes.
“You’re saying there’s an even bigger problem right now?!”
“What the hell is it?!”
When the Yeon bloodline elders pressed him, Hobop Wonju’s face twisted in a scowl instead of answering.
At that expression the hot-headed Yeon bloodline elders who had been about to rush him instantly cooled.
They were only temporary allies to begin with. And if this affair went wrong, the very man standing before them would be the one to throw them into the prison cells.
“…Do none of you understand?”
A Yeon bloodline elder who had been sitting in deep thought cut through the atmosphere.
“In the result just now, there was not a single opposing vote.”
The faces of those who had been inflamed by the broken consensus now filled with deep dismay.
“Not one of the Eldest Young Master’s elders cast a vote against.”
Once they grasped the situation, Hobop Wonju spoke again.
“Those perfectly measured three-tenths of invalid votes include the votes of the Eldest Young Master’s own elders as well.”
“That means…!”
The voice of the Yeon bloodline elder who had realized the greater problem Hobop Wonju had spoken of began to tremble.
“…This entire result is the Eldest Young Master’s work?”
In another faction’s lounge—
“You said he was smiling…?”
“I did.”
Elder Paeng, the leader of their faction, nodded at the question.
“The moment it was announced that approval stood at seven-tenths.”
Sinking deeper into his chair, Elder Paeng’s eyes grew even more profound.
“The Eldest Young Master was clearly smiling.”
“…I think I saw it as well,” a younger elder said carefully. “After that, when talk of a re-vote began and the hall fell into chaos, my memory is not entirely clear, but…”
“If we put everything together so far,” a long-bearded elder stroked his beard and clicked his tongue, “then the Elder Council of the great Luoyang Sword House is, at this very moment, dancing on the palm of the Eldest Young Master’s hand?”
His expression twisted further.
“And that while the Elder Council has been openly provoked?”
His voice rose as he continued.
“In a situation like this, someone is even lying and cooperating so that the Eldest Young Master can toy with the Elder Council as he pleases?!”
The atmosphere grew heavier still.
When everyone fell silent, a sharp-faced elder who had been smoking in the corner opened his mouth.
“…Those who break a consensus and overturn a vote have always paid the price, transcending faction and clique.”
As eyes gathered on him one by one, he continued.
“If our deductions so far are true—”
“Then those elders must have been promised a benefit from the Eldest Young Master great enough to make them accept that risk.”
It was Elder Paeng, the leader of their faction, who finished the thought.
Murmurs of disbelief rose here and there.
“…That…”
“Heh heh.”
One elder shook his head as if he could not believe it.
“…So the Eldest Young Master has grown powerful enough to hand elders benefits so great they would make enemies of the entire Elder Council?”
“It has not even been a year since he ended his seclusion. And he has already secured that much influence?”
“Unbelievable. Unbelievable…”
They all knew that ever since the Eldest Young Master had once crushed the Second Young Master, his prestige had only grown day by day.
Yet none of them had ever imagined they would feel that truth so bone-deep inside their own stronghold.
“We have experienced and confirmed it ourselves. Denying reality would be foolish. Therefore…”
Just as Elder Paeng finished organizing his thoughts and began to speak—
“Forgive the interruption.”
A visitor stood at the door of their lounge.
One of the elders who recognized the face asked,
“…What business brings an elder of the Yeon bloodline all the way here?”
“I will not mince words.”
The Yeon bloodline elder bared his teeth as he asked,
“Does the agreement between your faction and ours still stand?”
At that, the long-bearded elder’s eyes bulged.
“…Are you suspecting our faction right now?”
“No, that is not it.”
The Yeon bloodline elder waved a hand lightly in denial, yet his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the room.
“I was merely worried what ill effects might fall upon your faction should our agreement to remove the current Banker be broken.”
Tension coiled through the room.
“…Is that a threat?”
The Yeon bloodline elder shook his head.
“No. I am simply kindly reminding you of the facts once more.”
He continued,
“Many among us are entangled with the Sword House Bank, but not all. And—”
Elder Paeng, who had only been listening until then, cut him off.
“—And the power of the Yeon bloodline within this Sword House needs no further mention.”
Elder Paeng rose slowly from his seat as he spoke.
“The Hebei Paeng Clan of my origin, and our Hebei Faction, hold no grudge against the Yeon bloodline.”
Like a true leader of a faction, he gently received the Yeon bloodline’s anger while clearly stating his faction’s position.
“And we hope to maintain good relations with the Yeon bloodline in the future as well.”
The Yeon bloodline elder’s eyes narrowed.
Luoyang, where the Luoyang Sword House stood, and Hebei Province, the root of this Hebei Faction, were geographically far too close.
…The risks for them to turn against our Yeon bloodline would be far too great.
Having organized his thoughts, the Yeon bloodline elder nodded in acceptance.
“…Very well.”
Perhaps he decided further talk was a waste of time. Leaving only those words, the Yeon bloodline elder strode out at once.
“…That was blood-chilling,” the young elder said, wiping the cold sweat from his brow.
The long-bearded elder smacked his lips.
“For us it is a matter of pride. For them, survival is at stake.”
And almost the moment those words ended, someone knocked on the lounge door again.
“Pardon the intrusion. We come from the Third Young Master’s clique.”
This time it was the Third Young Master’s side.
Hearing that, the long-bearded elder shrugged.
“Everyone is so diligently running around of their own accord that there seems to be nothing left for us to do.”
Approximately half a shichen later.
“Next.”
The final elder who had been waiting approached the ballot box and cast his vote.
“Thank you.”
This time, so that no one could raise any further objections, the box would be opened and counted in full view of everyone.
“What of the Hebei Faction? Who confirmed them?”
“I confirmed them myself, so do not worry.”
“Surveillance of the Eldest Young Master’s side?”
“No particular movements. No one even visited their lounge.”
Watching the scene, the elders of each faction and clique were performing their final checks.
“Then we shall begin the count.”
As the counting started, naked anxiety filled the eyes of the elders.
“…We have done everything we could.”
Whether of the Third Young Master’s side or the Yeon bloodline, every elder hostile to the Eldest Young Master rose from their seats and fixed cold, piercing stares on the process.
“We went around and tightened control properly this time.”
“The result will be different from before.”
Amid those voices, Gamchal Buju, sitting with his arms crossed, asked Hobop Wonju beside him,
“What result do you expect this time?”
“In the end we never found those who broke the consensus and cast invalid votes. Still, after the chaos everyone raised…”
Hobop Wonju rested his clasped hands against his chin and answered in a low voice.
“At worst it will only be the same as before—approval seven-tenths, invalid three-tenths.”
Gamchal Buju clicked his tongue at the reply.
“Then the worst case would simply be another re-vote.”
The moment his words ended, Elder Hwangmok’s voice rang out with the results.
“Ap-approval six-tenths… invalid four-tenths…!”
Every elder shot to their feet without exception.
“W-what?!”
“The invalid votes increased?!”
“How?!”
In the midst of the uproar, Elder Hwangmok raised his voice toward the assembly, his face utterly distraught.
“Therefore, this too is a re-vote!”
The invalid votes had only increased.
The instant the result was announced, Hobop Wonju leapt to his feet and searched the opposite side for the figure of Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.
“…Eldest Young Master!”
But all he could see was the already empty guest seat of the Eldest Young Master, and the retreating backs of the Eldest Young Master’s elders following him out.
For some reason, it seemed he could hear the Eldest Young Master’s laughter in his ears.