The Hangings
“I will not end this civil war,” she said, “until every last bit of the cleaning is finished.”
The wind that tore across the spire was fierce. Moyong Un-jeong’s hair streamed wildly from beneath her helm.
For a moment the force of her presence held the elders silent. Then one of them stepped forward.
“…We understand the iron will behind the Acting Family Head’s reforms.”
She was a middle-aged woman whose face was still black with soot, as though she had come straight from helping fight a fire.
“Head of the Guest Pavilion.”
Recognizing her, Moyong Un-jeong gave a brief nod of acknowledgment.
Moyong Su-ryeon, Head of the Guest Pavilion, had once been a formidable commander of one of the Moyong Family’s sword companies during the northern wars. Now she held what was little more than a sinecure—responsibility for the family’s guest hall. Yet when she clasped her hands and bowed with the proper honorifics, it was clear she still respected Moyong Un-jeong’s authority.
“It has been a long time, Acting Family Head.”
“What is it you wish to say?”
Coming from a major branch of the clan, Moyong Su-ryeon’s counsel was worth hearing.
“Regardless of the Acting Family Head’s resolve, a matter such as this demands a swift and decisive conclusion.”
How long had it been since she had been free to speak her mind?
“To that end, dealing with the rebels we can already see is not the first priority. The greatest problem lies where we cannot see.”
“Where we cannot see?”
“Their ringleaders.”
A trace of relief even touched Moyong Su-ryeon’s face.
“By ringleaders you mean Moyong Wan of the Prince Gong faction and Moyong Chu-san of the Martial Alliance faction?”
“Precisely.”
As Moyong Su-ryeon nodded, the other elders pressed in to support her.
“They have the power to agitate and rally the outer branches.”
“What’s more, they can receive direct support from Prince Gong and the Third Young Master of the Luoyang Sword House.”
“If they slip away beyond our reach, they will become a grave source of future trouble.”
Moyong Un-jeong inclined her head.
“I see.”
Sensing that she was listening, the elders spoke with greater force.
“Therefore we must, even now, detach troops and pursue them without delay—”
Moyong Un-jeong unfastened the leather bag that had been sitting at her side.
Thud.
Clatter.
Two severed heads rolled free of the bag and tumbled across the stone.
“……?!”
Whatever agony they had suffered, the faces were so thickly painted with blood that they were twisted into nightmarish grimaces.
“H-heads?!”
The expressions frozen on those heads looked ready to scream at any moment. The Moyong elders recoiled a full step in horror.
“No…?!”
The opposite reaction came from Moyong Su-ryeon. She stepped closer, recognized them first, and her eyes flew open as though they might tear.
“These are…?!”
The other elders, who had coughed awkwardly and drawn near again to hide their embarrassment, identified the heads a beat later and went pale with shock.
“…This one is Moyong Wan?!”
“And isn’t that Moyong Chu-san?!”
“It is.”
Moyong Un-jeong nodded, her expression utterly calm.
“The Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword House claimed their heads before anyone else.”
“……!”
The godlike stratagems of Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon were famous even here, in the distant Moyong Family of Shenyang.
“H-how in the world did the Eldest Young Master…?”
Even so, seeing the proof with their own eyes was a shock of an entirely different order.
“…Heavens.”
“…How did the Eldest Young Master discover escape routes even we did not know?”
“How did he, residing in Luoyang, even know who these men were to begin with?”
Moyong Un-jeong cut through the elders’ murmuring.
“So then, Head of the Guest Pavilion. What comes next?”
“Ah…!”
Still dazed, Moyong Su-ryeon hurried to continue.
“I-if their ringleaders are dead, the next priority is the Grand Councilor.”
Though the Grand Councilor had never openly aligned himself with Prince Gong or the Third Young Master—
“With the ringleaders gone, Prince Gong and the Sword House’s Third Young Master will certainly try to contact him in order to keep our house in chaos.”
In the present situation, the Grand Councilor who had vanished from sight would abandon whatever neutrality he had maintained and join hands with the Moyong Family’s enemies without fail.
“But conversely—”
Moyong Su-ryeon’s expression grew still more grave.
“If we secure him first—”
The elders took up her words.
“We can put him forward to persuade those who lean toward neutrality.”
“There are still many who have not clearly chosen a side.”
“The chances are slim, but with the Grand Councilor’s persuasion we might even draw defectors out of the rebel ranks.”
“That will not be a problem.”
Moyong Un-jeong nodded as calmly as before.
“My deputy, Moyong Ho, is already hunting him.”
“……?!”
That morning, before departure.
The Grand General’s headquarters.
“Preparations for departure are complete!”
Unlike Moyong Un-jeong, who had worn a complicated expression before setting out, Moyong Ho reported to the Eldest Young Master with a face already bright and clear.
“We can leave at once!”
How long had he fretted over that wretched family of his? The combination of the Eldest Young Master’s transcendent performance the day before and his elder sister—the one they called a living legend, Moyong Un-jeong—was irresistible.
There’s no way I’m sitting this one out…!
His shoulders were already twitching with the urge to start swinging a blade when Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon called him.
“Moyong Ho.”
“Yes!”
Still reading through documents, Yeon So-hyeon spoke.
“You will not be joining the column.”
“……?!”
Moyong Ho looked as though he had been struck over the head.
“W-why, Eldest Young Master?!”
His cry was almost a scream. Yeon So-hyeon answered.
“I know you have been building ties among the younger generation of the Moyong Family.”
“……!”
The Eldest Young Master’s gaze rose from the papers and settled on him.
“You called it a Death Squad, did you not? You gathered young loyalists to the Family Head from the branches, intending to strengthen Un-jeong’s position within the house.”
“H-how did the Eldest Young Master know of that?!”
In the history that had already passed, Moyong Ho had risen with those young men, raising arms inside a Moyong Family that no longer had any hope, only to die trying to aid his sister.
“Sister.”
Yeon So-hyeon remembered the man’s final words clearly—words carried to him after Moyong Ho had vanished as dew on the execution ground.
Heaven seems to have abandoned this Moyong Family. And yet—
Even with a face ruined by beatings, he had never lost his upright bearing to the last.
I, and my comrades, never abandoned the Moyong Family until the end.
Instead of laboring to convince Moyong Ho at length, Yeon So-hyeon gave him the words the young man most needed to hear.
“You meant to speak only after your comrades had fully gathered and your preparations were complete. But—”
He looked Moyong Ho in the eye.
“Now is the time to move them.”
Around the time battle erupted before the Grand Assembly Hall—
In the heart of Shenyang, young martial artists in white uniforms surrounded a certain mansion.
There were no passersby or gawkers nearby—not merely because the white uniforms marked them as of the Moyong Family, but because the long bands they wore about their heads and the expressions on their faces were far too resolute.
Crash!
“Unhand me!”
An old man was being dragged out into the inner courtyard by the young warriors.
“Do you not know who I am?!”
He spat and roared at the top of his lungs.
“I am the Grand Councilor of the Moyong Family, you whelps!”
One of the young men, unable to endure any longer, spoke.
“In a time when the family is in such turmoil, why is a Grand Councilor of such importance hiding here?”
“There is a critical secret conference about to take place!”
The Grand Councilor shouted brazenly, without a flicker of panic.
“If you wish to save the family from chaos, release me at once!”
A young man with a white headband scowled in fury.
“Then whose were all those goods piled high in this secret safe house? And why are your household and retainers packed and ready here instead of at the main estate?”
“That—!”
“Silence, traitor.”
The blow that smashed across the Grand Councilor’s face before he could offer another shameless excuse belonged to Moyong Ho.
Crack!
The present.
“In that case, time is of the essence.”
The Head of the Guest Pavilion spoke to Moyong Un-jeong.
“A man of the Grand Councilor’s rank will have prepared several secret safe houses within the city.”
She stroked her chin and narrowed her eyes.
“To chase down every one of those houses and seize him would—”
Moyong Un-jeong, who had been looking down from the spire, cut her off.
“There he comes.”
“…What?”
Thud.
“Un-jeong…!”
Dragged like a dog and flung to the ground, the Grand Councilor spotted Moyong Un-jeong and crawled toward her with desperate strength.
“It is I! Your great-uncle…!”
He was Moyong Un-jeong’s granduncle. Through the gaps where Moyong Ho’s blows had knocked out his teeth, the wind whistled as he seized her boot.
“There must be some misunderstanding between us!”
“You are insolent before the Acting Family Head!”
The young men of the Death Squad, white bands about their heads, seized him—but he clung to Moyong Un-jeong’s foot as though it were the rope of his life and would not let go.
“Un-jeong!”
“I will cooperate with anything… no!”
He corrected himself.
“I will do whatever you command! I can be of great help to you! I am the Grand Councilor of this house!”
He flung up a hand, pointing down from the spire toward one of the rebel positions inside the family grounds.
“There are those among them who are still tied to me—I can be of any use you need!”
Moyong Su-ryeon advised her by sound transmission.
“Un-jeong…! Please…!”
Looking down at the Grand Councilor as though he were something filthy, the Head of the Guest Pavilion continued by transmission.
“W-what are you doing?!”
Her transmission cut off.
“Who are you?! What in heaven’s name are you doing to me?!”
Someone had suddenly appeared atop the spire and was binding something around the Grand Councilor’s ankle.
“You have arrived, Eldest Young Master.”
“The Eldest Young Master…?!”
At the title, the entire gathering turned in shock—but Yeon So-hyeon was simply finishing the knot at the old man’s ankle.
“Let go of this! Let go!”
The Grand Councilor thrashed like a man in a fit, but he had no hope of escaping Yeon So-hyeon’s grip.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
“What else?”
Having confirmed that the cord was secure, Yeon So-hyeon spoke.
“I am going to make your crimes known far and wide.”
“What—?!”
The Grand Councilor could no longer answer the Eldest Young Master. Moyong Un-jeong had already stepped close and slipped a noose around his neck.
“U-Un-jeong—?!”
“Do not speak my name so freely, traitor.”
With a low, ringing rebuke she seized him by the collar and hauled him upright.
“I am the Acting Family Head of this house.”
The instant the words left her mouth, Moyong Un-jeong hurled the Grand Councilor out from the spire.
“……?!”
“……?!”
In the same heartbeat that every eye but Yeon So-hyeon’s and Moyong Un-jeong’s went round with shock—
Crack!
A sickening sound, and the Grand Councilor’s body jerked, neck broken, and hung limp from the noose beneath the tower.
At the same moment the long strip of cloth Yeon So-hyeon had fastened to the man’s feet unfurled with a snap.
Criminal: Moyong Gap
Charges: Treason · Collusion · Flight · Embezzlement · Misappropriation · Bribery…
Below, those who witnessed the sight began to murmur and gather. Standing at the Eldest Young Master’s side, Moyong Un-jeong addressed the assembly once more.
“It seems you did not listen carefully—or else you misunderstood me.”
“I said quite clearly that I would conduct a thorough cleaning.”
The moment her words ended, the Grand General’s guard began carrying out hangings in rapid succession along the roof of the Grand Assembly Hall.
Crack. Snap!
Those executed were the traitors the Death Squad had dragged in from outside just as they had the Grand Councilor, the traitors found still alive inside the Grand Assembly Hall, and even the corpses of those already dead.
“Remember it properly this time.”
As cheers rose from the crowd far below, Moyong Un-jeong drew the line with absolute clarity.
“There will be no mercy for them.”
Without waiting for any answer she thundered down toward the base of the spire.
“Assemble the troops!”