Chapter 75
Chapter 75
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Part 25: Inner Court
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Inner Court Main Hall,
Temporary Joint Investigation Headquarters, Command Room.
The Protectorate Sixth Division Chief entered, a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a thick stack of documents in hand.
"It's not really my place to say this since I've only been Division Chief for a few months, but was the job always this packed with work?"
The Protectorate First Division Chief stamped a seal on the approval section and chuckled softly.
"With pressure coming down from above like this, we have to step up ourselves if we want things to move at the desired pace."
The Sixth Division Chief let out a sigh as he set the stack of documents down on his temporary desk and took a seat.
"The Central Inspection Pavilion has fully withdrawn, at any rate. We've received all the related documents."
The First Division Chief stamped another seal and spoke up.
"Do you remember the one who first started the investigation from the Inspection Department?"
The Sixth Division Chief took out a cigarette, stuck it in his mouth, and rubbed his forehead.
"...Gang something-or-other, that low-level investigator?"
"Inspection Investigator Gang Ho. Keep that name in mind."
"Why that nobody...? Well, I'll remember it for now."
"And the Enforcement Court has sent word."
The First Division Chief handed over a document he'd just received.
"They've scheduled the public trial for this very morning."
The Sixth Division Chief's jaw dropped.
"...This morning?"
It was an unprecedentedly swift pace.
He flipped through the document bearing the Enforcement Court's insignia, frowning.
"We haven't even finished investigating external connections or follow-ups yet."
He slammed the document down.
"Is this their way of saying they're sweeping it under the rug?"
He immediately contradicted himself.
"No, if that were the case, they wouldn't push for a public trial. So then...?"
The First Division Chief nodded.
"It means they'll shake down everyone afterward and punish all the ones where dirt turns up, one after another."
The Sixth Division Chief looked stunned.
"...Is this thing that big of a deal?"
The First Division Chief's eyes narrowed.
"The Enforcement Court interprets it as the main family's discipline crumbling."
The Sixth Division Chief groaned without even thinking to light his cigarette.
"...I laughed it off when I heard the rumors about the book price."
He recalled the transmission he'd heard from the First Division Chief last night about the Inner Court Chief Steward and the Eldest Young Master, and shuddered.
At that moment, someone from the Protectorate knocked and entered to report.
"The Eldest Young Master is leaving. And..."
He hesitated for a moment.
"The Inner Court is holding some kind of gate-opening ceremony."
* * *
Instead of going down to bid the Eldest Young Master farewell, the First Division Chief opened the window.
Dazzling sunlight from the sunrise poured in along with a cold gust of wind.
"Not going down?"
Instead of answering, the First Division Chief gestured toward the window with his chin, so the Sixth Division Chief approached the window.
Since the temporary command room was on the third floor corner of the main hall, they had a clear view of the Inner Court Main Hall's inner courtyard.
"...Better not to go down."
The courtyard was packed with ceremonial housekeepers and maids there to see off the direct-line-blood-relative Eldest Young Master.
Their orderly formation with flags and instruments looked quite impressive, but that wasn't the issue.
"...Inner Court Personnel Secretary, Inner Court Administrative Secretary, Inner Court Security Secretary, Inner Court External Affairs Secretary..."
As the First Division Chief listed off the positions while gazing below, the Sixth Division Chief swallowed dryly.
"...Front row is Seventh Rank, back row is Sixth Rank. The Inner Court's top brass."
In particular, those at the Inner Court's Seventh Rank were, due to the nature of their duties, effectively elder-level figures even if they didn't hold elder status.
The First Division Chief gave a wry smile.
"Right now, they're treated as elder-grade, but when the Supreme Family Head was active, their will was equivalent to the Family Head's."
The Sixth Division Chief positioned himself so he wouldn't be visible from outside and spoke.
"Now the Supreme Operations Council assists the Supreme Family Head. If the Supreme Family Head rises from his seat, they'll reclaim their positions."
"...Right."
The First Division Chief didn't believe the "unconscious" Supreme Family Head would rise, but he nodded along vaguely.
It was a fact he could never reveal to the Sixth Division Chief, who had only just begun peeking into the Luoyang Sword Clan's deepest core.
How profoundly dark the shadows of the Luoyang Sword Clan were—shadows he'd only started uncovering after becoming an elder himself.
He was sometimes terrified by them still.
"...That said, the Eldest Young Master is impressive too."
"Yeah."
The Eldest Young Master, accompanied by maids, was casually exchanging greetings with the Inner Court's top brass.
Occasionally cracking a joke, perhaps—their laughter even reached the temporary command room.
"...The Inner Court's top brass taking the Eldest Young Master's jokes so calmly... they don't seem entirely sane either."
Even those who had investigated the Inner Court found it so awkward they couldn't go down.
How much more uncomfortable must it be for the top brass facing the very person who filed the complaint?
Yet none showed surprise, fear, or anger.
"...Even after such a sudden inspection and investigation cut down so many of their underlings."
The Sixth Division Chief was a veteran of the Protectorate, seasoned by long years of investigations.
He could confidently say there wasn't a trace of negative emotion on those Inner Court top brass's faces or in their body language.
A sense of wrongness weighed on him.
"It's a rare sight for us too, so take a good look."
The First Division Chief whispered lowly, a rare hint of excitement in his voice.
"That scene right there reveals at a glance the true nature of the Inner Court, the most secretive organization even within the main family."
"I just feel that sense of wrongness...?"
The First Division Chief narrowed his eyes.
"That sense of wrongness you're feeling? That's the real Inner Court. Everyone we saw during this investigation were just small fry unworthy of the Inner Court name."
"...So you're saying they hide their emotions that well to create that sense of wrongness?"
"No."
The First Division Chief explained calmly.
"They truly don't care."
"...They don't care even about their underlings getting cut down? Isn't that a hallmark of those in power?"
The First Division Chief snorted softly.
"They wouldn't care if a fellow top-brass colleague's head rolled right now. Nor if their own did."
"What do you mean?"
"The Inner Court's top brass see themselves merely as components. Components forming the Inner Court organization. Ones fully prepared to be replaced or expended at any time."
It was a mindset utterly unlike that of ordinary powerholders.
"No, what kind of insane...?"
The First Division Chief's gaze turned to the Sixth Division Chief.
"Have you forgotten what's behind this Inner Court Main Hall?"
* * *
Behind the Inner Court Main Hall, a small annex hall.
In a spacious room like a temple's main hall, an elderly figure whose age was impossible to guess sat cross-legged.
In his half-lidded deep eyes swirled profound contemplation and madness beyond what any ordinary mortal could fathom.
A side door opened, and a middle-aged man with seven golden threads dangling from his waist appeared.
"...Inner Court Chief Steward. The lockdown has been lifted."
At the Inner Court Chief Steward Secretary's voice, the old man's eyes fully opened.
"The Eldest Young Master is leaving?"
"Yes. The Main Hall is proceeding with the gate-opening ceremony per procedure."
The Inner Court Chief Steward, whom Yeon So-hyeon had called an old monster, rose from his seat.
"Once the Eldest Young Master starts moving, everything from here on will be turned upside down."
"...We are all prepared to cast aside our lives like mere straw at any moment."
The Inner Court Chief Steward slowly nodded.
"So it should be. As long as the scissors do not break, the hand is unharmed, and the bonsai undamaged."
The Inner Court Chief Steward murmured softly.
"Even I am merely one pair of scissors..."
The 'hand and bonsai' he referred to were not himself.
At that moment, a voice came from outside the hall.
"The Medicine King has arrived for today's treatment."
The Inner Court Chief Steward nodded, and the Inner Court Chief Steward Secretary called out toward the outside.
"The Chief Steward permits it. Let him enter."
"Yes."
Moments later, the side door opened, and an elderly man with a disheveled appearance entered carrying a bundle.
It was the Medicine King.
The Inner Court Chief Steward bowed his head toward him.
"Elder. Thank you as always today."
The Inner Court Chief Steward Secretary bowed deeply as well.
The Medicine King clicked his tongue softly.
"You're suffering plenty at your age too."
The Inner Court Chief Steward smiled.
"There's no time when I envy your boundless vitality as much as these days."
"...'That one' starts moving, and suddenly you find the strength surging, eh?"
Seeing the Inner Court Chief Steward's wry smile, the Medicine King let out a small sigh.
"I'll brew you some tonic later, so take care of yourself."
The Inner Court Chief Steward bowed his head.
"Right now, more than me..."
"I know without you saying."
The Medicine King passed the Inner Court Chief Steward and entered the long passageway inside.
"I'll protect the one you value more than life itself, even staking this name of mine. Don't worry."
The Inner Court's direct physicians followed the Medicine King into the passageway and disappeared.
Gazing toward that passageway, the Inner Court Chief Steward spoke.
"...All for the Family Head."
The Inner Court Chief Steward Secretary bowed his head.
"All for the Family Head."
The place where they stood, behind the Inner Court Main Hall, was the Luoyang Sword Clan's innermost sanctum.
An area solely for the Luoyang Sword Clan's Family Head.
* * *
The First Division Chief faced the cold wind against his face as he looked down at the Inner Court Main Hall's courtyard.
"...Everything about them exists solely for the Luoyang Sword Clan's Family Head. If I had to label it, 'extreme Family Head loyalists'?"
The Sixth Division Chief swallowed dryly.
"...The more I learn about the Luoyang Sword Clan, the more absurd it seems."
The First Division Chief chuckled softly.
Rubbing the goosebumps on his arms roughly, the Sixth Division Chief asked.
"Then, all of them down there, that whatever-it-was..."
"'Brainwashing'?"
"Ah, yes. Are they all connected to that brainwashing? I heard the main family even has 'specialists' for that..."
The First Division Chief shook his head.
"I've heard that those Left Path Heretical techniques can only extract loyalty from 'specific targets.' They have clear limitations."
The Sixth Division Chief nodded.
"...That would leave too big a vacuum when the Family Head changes."
"Exactly. The ones who should become limbs would turn into puppets with cut strings just from a Family Head transition."
No matter what, the clan had to keep running.
"...Then it's even more terrifying. All those with such great power willingly ready to throw away their lives?"
The First Division Chief smiled.
"...Think back to the main family's warriors."
"...Mm."
A groan escaped the Sixth Division Chief.
Murderous demons obsessed with loyalty and devotion to a fanatic degree.
Ones prepared to give up everything for the clan or their lord.
"...Now I get why the heirs fight so fiercely to become Acting Family Head."
"Yeah. But there's something even I don't quite understand right now."
"What is it?"
The First Division Chief stroked his chin beard.
"Those ones down there. The Inner Court's top brass. Why are they all out here from this early dawn to see off the Eldest Young Master?"
The Sixth Division Chief's eyes widened.
"...You mean it's not because of that gate-opening ceremony?"
"From what I know, the gate-opening ceremony is just standard procedure."
Doubt flickered in the First Division Chief's eyes.
"No need for the top brass to pour out like this just for a gate-opening ceremony."
Jeam Jincheon Gyeong - Volume 4