Justification — The Supreme Operations Council
When the detention order from the Supreme Operations Council—the highest decision-making body of the Luoyang Sword House—was made public—
“...Ahem.”
“Ahem.”
The elders who had been blocking the Central Audit Department to preserve the Elder Council’s authority shuffled awkwardly backward.
They would have to step aside, of course. Yet even they had their pride. Having stepped forward so boldly, simply clearing the way without a word left them feeling thoroughly humiliated.
But Dokgo Ya-yeon, Head of the Central Audit Department, was not the sort to stand there waiting patiently.
“Then.”
Her white hair streaming, she strode straight through the lingering elders.
“Wh-what—?”
Before the elders who had been bodily shoved aside could even muster a protest of indignation and confusion—
“All units. Begin enforcement.”
Her frost-edged command fell, and—
“Understood!”
The red-clad personnel of the Central Audit Department who had been waiting surged past the entrance of the Elder Council Hall like a wave.
“Commence the search!”
Lest they incur the personal grudges of the elders, every member of the Central Audit Department wore a red mask that covered their faces.
“How dare you…!”
“Do you know where you are, barging in like this?!”
Doors slammed open one after another. Elders’ shouts rose from every direction, yet no one dared stand in the way of the Central Audit Department carrying out an order of the Supreme Operations Council.
“The external standby unit will seal the Elder Council Hall airtight. Ensure no criminal is allowed to escape.”
“Understood!”
Still, the sight of men who were not even elders rampaging freely through the Elder Council Hall, trampling it underfoot, was a spectacle no elder could watch with equanimity.
“Head of the Central Audit Department.”
“Speak.”
The elder of the Third Young Master’s faction who had first barred Dokgo Ya-yeon’s path glared at her as he spoke.
“…That evidence you claim to have obtained. I do not know who provided it—”
Rage and shame. Defeat after defeat throughout the day made the elder’s voice tremble.
“It had better be flawless. Not the slightest problem. Not the least.”
His gaze looked ready to pierce her through while she still lived.
“The Elder Council will never forget the humiliation and contempt it has received from the Central Audit Department this day.”
Dokgo Ya-yeon felt the elders who had earlier edged into the corners still holding their ground, every one of their eyes fixed upon her.
Given the situation, they could do nothing but watch. Yet when one considered the respect they commanded within the Luoyang Sword House, within Luoyang, within all of Zhongyuan—and the power they wielded—feeling fear was only natural.
…Have I made personal enemies of them?
Direct confrontation. A blood feud with the Elder Council of the Luoyang Sword House. Once, it would have been a situation she desperately wished to avoid.
“Hah.”
But now, she was no longer afraid.
“Who dares threaten the audit organ of this house so brazenly?”
A voice rang out from nowhere, shattering the taut tension that had gripped the gathering.
“My, my. Are these not the elders of our house?”
Who else would be gathered in the Elder Council Hall if not the elders? The tone was more than casual—it was playfully insolent, almost as if he were teasing them, and somewhere in it lay a distinct arrogance.
“Dear me…! Then the elders of this house were in the midst of threatening the head of this house’s own audit institution?”
Who present could fail to recognize the owner of that voice?
“…Eldest Young Master!”
The elders who had still been hesitating even before the Supreme Operations Council’s arrest order scattered like the tide at the touch of fire, parting in an instant.
“Do the men who call themselves elders of this house not realize that such an act is a grave crime?”
Saying so, Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon made an exaggerated sweep of his surroundings.
“…Ahem. Suddenly remembered urgent business.”
“…I’ll go with you.”
The elders who had parted before the Eldest Young Master fled his gaze as though escaping, vanishing completely from sight.
At that spectacle, Dokgo Ya-yeon found herself clicking her tongue without meaning to.
…As expected of the Eldest Young Master.
She herself was little more than an outsider within the Elder Council; she could not know the full details of what had happened here today, nor how events were unfolding.
But seeing this… I understand without having seen or heard a thing.
Barely a few hours had passed since the Eldest Young Master first set foot in the Elder Council Hall. And already he held the elders completely under his heel.
“Honestly now.”
Standing in the emptied entrance of the Elder Council Hall, Yeon So-hyeon shrugged as if baffled.
“Must everyone just leave without a word and make a man look so awkward?”
Yet contrary to his words, a sly smile played on his lips; inwardly he was thoroughly delighted.
“…Head of the Central Audit Department.”
The last remaining elder of the Third Young Master’s faction spoke to Dokgo Ya-yeon in a low voice.
“Do not think you will remain safe forever beneath the Eldest Young Master’s shadow.”
“The Eldest Young Master’s shadow?”
Even before that voice thick with killing intent, she raised eyes like glass—utterly unshaken—and met the elder’s gaze squarely.
“I do not understand what you mean…”
She enunciated each word clearly.
“The Central Audit Department always maintains political neutrality.”
Rather, it was the elder of the Third Young Master’s faction whose face twitched when he met those white eyes, so boldly raised.
“And as for the evidence you mentioned just now—”
Seizing the moment the elder’s words failed, she continued.
“The elders of this house may visit the Administrative Pavilion of the Supreme Operations Council at any time and examine that evidence. Arrangements have already been made. Therefore…”
She brought her hands together and bowed with perfect courtesy.
“I would be most grateful if you would direct any inquiries there.”
With those final words she shoved the elder of the Third Young Master’s faction firmly by the shoulder and walked straight into the depths of the Elder Council Hall beside the Eldest Young Master.
The elder clenched his fists and glared after their retreating backs until the last, yet there was nothing—nothing at all—he could do at this moment.
The corridors of the Elder Council Hall.
In those splendid halls, not so much as an ant was to be seen. The elders had all locked themselves away in rest chambers and the like, claiming they needed to “plan countermeasures” or “hold meetings.”
Dokgo Ya-yeon knew those excuses for what they were. The elders simply wished to avoid the discomfort of running into personnel of the Central Audit Department. And beyond that, the one person they most wished to avoid was here now—
Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.
“Walking the Elder Council Hall of all places like this…”
He spoke abruptly.
“Doesn’t it feel rather refreshing?”
As if he had read her innermost thoughts, the question landed squarely. She lifted her eyes—those striking white pupils—and looked at Yeon So-hyeon walking ahead of her.
Whether she answered or not, he continued speaking with his back still turned.
“Until now the Elder Council has never once cooperated with an audit by the Central Audit Department, has it?”
After a moment’s consideration of the Eldest Young Master’s words, she answered frankly.
“…That is so. And—”
She added briefly,
“Rather, they—the elders—have always been the greatest obstruction.”
The Central Audit Department, true to its name and reputation, involved itself only in major cases. And in major cases, major power-holders—elders—were inevitably entangled.
“Indeed. I thought as much.”
At her sigh-laden reply, Yeon So-hyeon gave a small laugh and said,
“But isn’t it amusing?”
She rather thought she knew what the Eldest Young Master found amusing. Yet she did not wish to say it herself, so she merely asked back,
“…What is, my lord?”
Yeon So-hyeon glanced at her sidelong, then turned his gaze forward again and answered by telepathy.
While you stood alone among the powers, upholding political neutrality, proudly guarding the ideals of the head of an audit institution—proper investigation was nearly impossible.
Dokgo Ya-yeon listened in silence as Yeon So-hyeon’s telepathic voice drew out her own feelings one by one.
Yet once you drew close to the power of this Eldest Young Master—on the contrary—
He raised a hand and pointed down the empty corridor of the Elder Council Hall.
—you have been able to walk straight into the very heart of core power and do what must be done without the least hesitation, have you not?
In place of an answer she bit her lip.
Had she continued as before—had she clung strictly to principle and procedure—she would not even have properly begun to touch the Sword House Bank affair, let alone resolve it.
And even if she had somehow managed to open an audit—
…The Banker who has worked so hard all this time would simply have been discarded, and that would have been the end of the matter.
That was the vast contradiction she now faced.
“Keep wrestling with it like that.”
At first she thought he might be mocking her. But when Yeon So-hyeon stopped and turned, his expression was utterly earnest, so she spoke.
“…Will the Eldest Young Master not offer an answer, as you usually do?”
Was that not what Yeon So-hyeon did best?
“No.”
Unexpectedly, he shook his head.
“The answer to that contradictory situation cannot be defined by a sentence or two. Precisely—”
His gaze, so upright it almost stung, fixed straight upon Dokgo Ya-yeon.
“—that continuing struggle. That agony you must endure anew with every new situation, every single time.”
Yeon So-hyeon tapped his own temple with a finger.
“The answer does not lie in the result of the judgment, but in the process of wrestling with it itself.”
Dokgo Ya-yeon understood.
She understood how the Eldest Young Master could issue those schemes to save the Banker and still keep such upright eyes—unlike her own.
…The Eldest Young Master never justifies or rationalizes his own actions.
Yeon So-hyeon had never once offered excuses—that it had been a choice he could not help because there was a reason, or that he had no other way because it could not be avoided.
The reason he could keep such upright, confident eyes was that he faced every one of his own judgments and deeds head-on.
“Eldest Young Master.”
“Hm?”
Calling to him, the Head of the Central Audit Department conveyed her intent by telepathy.
…I believe I have chosen my lord well.
At the sudden words from a woman who was normally so unrelentingly curt, Yeon So-hyeon turned his head with a slight tilt.
“…Good.”
Watching him begin to walk ahead once more, Dokgo Ya-yeon smiled inwardly and asked,
“Eldest Young Master. Where are you heading just now?”
“Did you not come to catch the Vice Head of the Bank?”
Dokgo Ya-yeon’s eyes widened a fraction.
“…Does the Eldest Young Master know where he is hiding?”
“No. But…”
Without turning back, Yeon So-hyeon raised a finger and pointed to his own nose.
“I can smell him.”
He laughed softly.
“The man reeks of something quite delicious.”