Madmen
Insane. All of them.
The Kim Clan of Sacheon had preserved a surprising amount of Silla tradition — everywhere we wandered, strange relics and oddities abounded.
Some of the buildings had wooden pillars split clean through, suggesting they dated all the way back to the Silla era. How should I put it — befitting the royalty of a fallen kingdom, I suppose. There were traces everywhere of painstaking effort to keep that bygone age alive.
'But how am I supposed to find evidence?'
I had made it inside, but I hadn't the faintest idea where to start. Asking the servants was one option, but word would reach Kim Hobu's ears far too quickly for that to be a good plan.
'Then again, I can't just wander around aimlessly forever, either.'
Honestly, I would do my best, but I doubted I'd turn up anything of real value.
"Mujin."
"Mm."
Seonhwa looked up at me as I wrestled with the problem, then took my hand and held it tight.
"It's okay even if it doesn't work out. The people of Yushin Village will understand."
"What's this? Are you comforting me?"
I let a smirk tug at the corner of my mouth, and Seonhwa flushed scarlet and snatched her hand back.
"It's just that you seem different from usual, that's all. Don't get the wrong idea."
"Hm? Different?"
"Yes. Normally you're... well, you smile more."
Now that she mentioned it, I suppose that was true. Not that there was much to smile about under the circumstances.
Having seen more plague-ravaged villages than I cared to remember, I knew all too well how horrifying this was. Bodies left to rot because no one dared bury them for fear of contagion — I never wanted to witness that sight again.
So if it was at all within my power, I wanted to save the people of Yushin Village. And even if I failed, they wouldn't curse me, just as Seonhwa said. They'd probably thank me instead.
But that didn't mean I was allowed to give up. At the very least, I had to try my hardest so that I'd have nothing to regret.
Having steeled my resolve once more, I reached out and patted Seonhwa's head.
"Thanks for the comfort."
"I told you, it wasn't comfort!"
Even as she protested, she made no move to pull away from my hand — which was rather adorable.
How long had we been wandering? Darkness was beginning to creep over the estate. Just as I reluctantly turned to head back, I heard it — the sound of someone sniffling, coming from somewhere nearby.
Hic... hic...
'A ghost?'
Curious, I followed the sound. Seonhwa, apparently terrified of spirits, clung to my sleeve as she trailed after me.
The sound led us to the edge of a pond. Torches still burned nearby, so this wasn't some abandoned corner of the grounds.
Drawing closer, I found a girl with yellow hair falling to her waist, rubbing furiously at her eyes.
"Sob... that rotten bastard... *hic*... I'll get him back for this..."
Hm. Clearly not a ghost, then. I should head back. But just as I turned to retrace my steps, I found myself freezing in place.
"And Father goes and does something like that for nothing... and I'm the one who gets blamed while doing absolutely nothing—"
What? Her *father*?
Kim Yeonju's father would be the patriarch of the Kim Clan. But what had he done?
If all I did was stand here and listen to Kim Yeonju's lament, I might learn something more. I hid myself at once.
'Seonhwa. Shadow-Trace Art.'
She nodded.
I passed the instruction through voice transmission, and Seonhwa drew up her inner energy and activated the Shadow-Trace Art. A technique normally used for light-foot movement, the Shadow-Trace Art was also remarkably effective for concealing oneself in dark surroundings like these. Her proficiency was still too low for it to fool a true master, but Kim Yeonju was hardly that.
"Pretending to comfort me while picking at my insides... *hic*... hnnngh..."
If she'd started crying again after I passed by earlier, she'd already been at it for two full hours. Impressive, really, that she hadn't dehydrated yet.
Then, mid-sob, Kim Yeonju suddenly pulled out a water gourd. I watched, bewildered, as she tipped it back and gulped it down. Then she went right back to crying.
'This is unbelievable.'
So she drinks water when she feels dehydration coming on? And the crying never stops? There was no crazier woman alive.
"Over a measly few coins they didn't pay... *sob*. I knew something was wrong the moment they started turning perfectly healthy people into *that*. That's why the young lord of the Wang Clan came all this way and yelled at me. I... I didn't do anything, and I'm the one taking all the blame..."
So. Let me piece this together: 'The Kim Clan, stiffed on their protection fee, spread the plague through Yushin Village — and Kim Yeonju assumed I came here because I'd already discovered it.'
You thought you'd seen rock bottom, and then there was this. I genuinely could not wrap my head around how anyone could commit such an atrocity. And the fact that I couldn't understand it was surely proof that I was perfectly sane. If I *had* understood it, I'd have to question my own sanity.
I glanced over to find Seonhwa trembling with fury. She seemed even angrier now than she had when Kim Hobu had spouted his nonsense at us.
If I spread this truth to every village under Kim Clan territory, it would deal them a devastating blow.
I knew the whole story now, so there was no reason to keep hiding. I released the Shadow-Trace Art and walked straight up to Kim Yeonju.
"I didn't do anything... *sob*..."
"Hey."
"Who—? Ah!"
The moment she saw me, Kim Yeonju shrieked and scrambled backward. Frightened, is she.
"Finish what you were just saying."
Two days, my ass. This was getting settled today.
***
In the end, Kim Yeonju spilled everything to me.
"I tried to stop them, okay..."
"Really? And why should I believe that? You could be lying."
"Mujin, stop at—"
"Hnnngh... I'm not lying... I really did try to stop them..."
"Which is exactly why I don't believe you."
Payback for earlier, you brat.
The tears started flowing again, but I couldn't have cared less. I'd already heard everything I needed. She could stand there and cry until the end of time, for all I cared.
Here's roughly what Kim Yeonju told me. The Kim Clan collected protection fees from the villages within their territory in exchange for keeping the Japanese raiders at bay. But for whatever reason, the raiders had simply stopped coming.
As their income dried up, the Kim Clan used the pretext of building a coastal wall to squeeze the villages dry. And when Yushin Village paid less than demanded, they retaliated by unleashing the plague upon it.
Truly a pack of fools possessed by every evil spirit in existence.
What made it even more absurd was that a branch of the Six Great Clans apparently had no source of income besides protection fees. They lived close enough to the raiders' territory — why not run trade like Byeokrando, or farm their expansive lands?
I asked Kim Yeonju about this too, and she shook her head, saying they'd never even attempted it. They'd grown so accustomed to collecting tribute that the thought of anything else simply never occurred to them.
'Thank goodness I wasn't born into this family.'
What good was noble blood when the whole lot of them were idiots? If they were kind-hearted but dim, that would be one thing — but with character this rotten, I honestly wondered how these people counted among the Six Great Clans at all.
"So what will you do now?"
Seonhwa asked, her voice gone ice-cold after hearing Kim Yeonju's story. They say that when a person's anger grows great enough, they turn preternaturally calm instead — and this was exactly that state.
"What else? Blackmail, obviously."
And with that, I gave Seonhwa the finest possible answer. Her eyes widened slightly, and then she smiled.
"Truly. You never cease to be yourself, Mujin."
"Figured that out now? Then hurry up and follow. And you too."
"M-me?!"
"Who else would 'you' be?"
"Why would I—"
"We need a witness. If I blackmail him with this and he calls my bluff, it ends right there. Besides, I don't know my way around."
"...Fine."
At my words, Kim Yeonju rose slowly to her feet. This girl might be insufferably rude, but she had a conscience — she was, by all accounts, the only one who'd tried to stop it.
Whatever she'd said earlier about the villagers deserving to die with her — that was just fever heat making her mouth run wild.
We'd been walking for perhaps a quarter of an hour with Kim Yeonju leading the way when she abruptly stopped. Then she turned partway around and stared at me, unblinking.
"What."
Why are you looking at me?
I said it with exactly that meaning, and Kim Yeonju's pupils wavered. But she soon steadied herself and spoke.
"I have one favor to ask."
"A favor?"
"Yes. Protect me."
For a girl this proud to ask for anything was surprising enough — but for that anything to be *protection*, no less.
'Is it because of the patriarch?'
She'd likely been rattled, going against a decision her father had made. But at the end of the day, Kim Yeonju was still the patriarch's daughter. The worst she'd face was a scolding.
All she really needed from me was a decent defense on her behalf when the time came. It wasn't a difficult request, so I nodded without much thought.
"That much, sure."
"Thank you."
"Huh?"
*Thank* me? This girl?
Given how she'd been bawling her eyes out and dreaming of revenge mere moments ago, the about-face was startling.
I gave her a puzzled look, and Kim Yeonju's face flushed in an instant.
"What? Am I not even allowed to say thank you?!"
"That's not it. It's just... you're kinder than you let on, apparently."
"Me? *Kinder than I let on?*"
Mouthing the words over and over, mouth hanging open, Kim Yeonju suddenly burst out laughing.
"Where did that compliment come from all of a sudden?"
Damn it all. Now even a compliment sets her off.
"Unbelievable. So proud of being a man, are you? Did you think that'd win me over?"
"Save the chatter and keep walking — before I throw that croaker I couldn't smack earlier."
"Hmph! As if I'd be embarrassed!"
Hahaha.
If there existed a single person in this world capable of driving me truly insane, it would be Kim Yeonju.
***
Somehow, following Kim Yeonju's guidance, I arrived at the patriarch's chamber and stood before the door.
"I am Wang Mujin, young lord of the Wang Clan of Goryeo. I've come bearing a matter of great import, guided here by the young lady Yeonju."
Silence stretched on from within. Surely they weren't going to send me away just like this.
I was starting to regret not having Kim Yeonju handle the introductions when a voice emerged from inside the room — not so much dignified as sheerly heavy.
"Enter."
"With your leave, then."
The door slid open with a low scrape.
I stepped inside — and my eyes went wide. I was stunned in more ways than one.
Within an interior built like a royal audience hall, a man sat enthroned upon an enormous gilded chair. That man, presumably, was Kim Shin — patriarch of the Kim Clan.
Kim Shin was gaunt to the point of emaciation, his eyes narrowed into blades so sharp that it was instantly clear whom Kim Hobu had inherited his glare from. Sunken cheeks threw his cheekbones into sharp relief, and he looked to be in poor health. His eyebrows, sparse and thin against those piercing eyes, only made the stare more pronounced.
Put it all together, and you had the classic face of a treacherous courtier.
That the head of the Kim Clan bore such a countenance was startling enough, but what truly stunned me was the object resting atop Kim Shin's head.
'A crown.'
He wore a crown that even a blind man could identify as a Silla-era artifact.
'Is this bastard out of his mind?'
A man living squarely on Goryeo soil — no royal blood, no claim to any throne — playing at being a king. Suddenly I understood why Kim Hobu treated commoners like insects.
When the father's head was this thoroughly rotten, no son could be expected to keep his wits.
Even his garments imitated the dragon robes of royalty — and of all colors, they had to be yellow. The sheer gall of him announcing *I am the king* to anyone with eyes made my stomach turn.
Earlier, when Wang Inho warned me not to entangle ourselves with the Kim Clan, I thought I understood why. I take it back.
Only now did I truly understand. The reason we could not afford to be entangled with these people.
'One wrong connection, and it's immediate execution.'
The Six Great Clans had each carved out dominions where they reigned like kings, exploiting the weakness of the royal authority. Yet even they feared one thing above all else.
Treason. I'd heard that even the Wang Clan had once been implicated in a charge of treason and nearly torn apart for it. That was the kind of capital crime treason was — mishandle it, and the Six Great Clans and everything else would simply cease to exist.
"I had been hoping to make your acquaintance."
Haha. Either these people had gone collectively insane, or they genuinely believed this was fine.
If Wang Inho knew, then surely the other Great Clans knew what the Kims were up to as well. They stayed quiet because dragging it into the light might set their own sleeves on fire.
But suppose — just suppose — word spread that the Wang Clan had become entangled with the Kim Clan. What then?
It was not a future I cared to imagine.