Sky Lanterns Over Naksan
“Whoa!”
Tang Yuhyeon rolled his sparkling eyes every which way, as if he had just discovered an entirely new world. He peered here and there, drinking in everything around him.
“Is just looking enough to make you that happy?”
“There’s so much that’s new!”
Of course there was. Yuhyeon was the son their father doted on most. Leaving the Tang Clan grounds had never been lightly permitted. He had attended only the Poison-Shadow Academy, reserved for the clan’s own prodigies, and so had lived almost completely cut off from the outside world.
“H-Hyung-nim! Look over there!”
The place he pointed to was piled high with candies.
“Want some?”
“Yes!”
He nodded so hard his head might have come off.
“I’ll buy them for you.”
“Really?”
Cheonwi paid the vendor. “Here, try one.”
He handed a candy over. Yuhyeon swallowed hard.
“Father will scold me…”
Even the common street sweets that filled every market were forbidden to him. Useless energy would pile up in the body, they said, so every bite of food was ruthlessly controlled.
“If you can’t even eat candy, what’s the point of living?”
“Mm…”
Yuhyeon hesitated for a long time. Cheonwi had no choice. He forced the boy’s mouth open and shoved the candy in.
“Mmmpf!”
“Well? Tasty?”
As Yuhyeon chewed, his eyes flew wide of their own accord. The moment the candy slid down his throat—
“I-It’s sweet!”
His face lit up with pure delight, as though he had just tasted some brand-new wonder.
“Want more?”
“Yes!”
Cheonwi filled both of the boy’s hands with candies. Yuhyeon looked blissful.
“Now let’s go find other delicious things.”
Together they scoured every corner of the market. For a long while the hours were filled with nothing but good food. When the sun finally set, people began carrying strange objects outside.
“Hyung-nim, what are those?”
“Sky lanterns. They’re probably releasing them to celebrate the Sichuan Gathering being held here in Naksan.”
“So those are sky lanterns… Ah, they’re writing something on them.”
“People write their wishes on them and send them up.”
“Wow…”
Yuhyeon could not tear his eyes from the lanterns rising into the night sky.
“Shall we do one too?”
“I’d love to!”
Of course he would never suggest it first. Cheonwi bought a lantern and handed it over.
“Write your wish.”
“What about you, Hyung-nim?”
“I’m fine.”
“If you won’t do one, then I won’t either.”
Cheonwi rapped him lightly on the head. Thump!
“Ow!”
“Just write mine for me while you’re at it.”
“Ah! That works!”
“Are you an idiot? You act so proper in front of everyone else, yet around me you turn into a complete child.”
“Hiiing, that’s not true…”
Yuhyeon rubbed his head and looked thoroughly wronged.
“Hurry up and write the wish.”
“Yes.”
He bent over the lantern, carefully hiding what he wrote so his brother could not see.
“Moments like this really make you look like a little kid.”
Just then Tang Ildo popped out of nowhere.
“Exactly. Even the Second Young Master turns into a regular little boy his age the second he’s in front of the Young Master.”
“Why are you still here?”
“I’m your guard, you know?”
“I’m spending rare alone time with Yuhyeon right now.”
“I’m a shadow. Please pretend I’m not here.”
“Do you want to die?”
“Ahem. I’ll keep my distance.”
Tang Ildo pouted and vanished. In the meantime Yuhyeon finished writing.
“Hyung-nim, I’m done.”
“Then shall we let it fly?”
They lit the flame. The lantern swelled and slowly rose.
“I’m letting go. Make your wish one more time in your heart.”
“Yes!”
The lantern soared into the sky and joined the river of lights. Yuhyeon pressed his palms together and prayed. When he opened his eyes he was grinning from ear to ear.
“What kind of wish makes you smile like that?”
“It’s classified.”
“Classified, my foot. You probably just wished for Father and me to stay healthy.”
“Eek!”
Yuhyeon’s eyes shook violently. It was written all over his face.
“I was right?”
“H-How did you know?”
“Ha. This little fool has no greed at all.”
“You looked at what I wrote!”
He immediately puffed his cheeks in a sulk.
“I didn’t look.”
“That’s mean!”
“I really didn’t.”
“Then how did you know my wish?”
“I didn’t need to look. It’s obvious.”
“No! This time it was completely different!”
Yuhyeon’s whole face twisted with indignation.
“It’s ruined because of you, Hyung-nim.”
“Why because of me?”
“Wishes are supposed to be secret! If someone else finds out, they don’t come true… Hing.”
Meanwhile, on a rooftop nearby, Tang Ildo sat dangling his legs and fiddling with a lantern of his own.
“Tsk. Cold-hearted little master. Would it have killed us to send one up together like nice friends?”
He wrote his wish across the paper.
The Greatest Guard Under Heaven, Tang Ildo, earnestly wishes.
“Heh. My handwriting’s killer.”
He released the lantern high into the night.
“Please, let my wish come true!”
He opened his eyes again—
“Ack! My lantern!”
The perfectly rising lantern collided with the one beside it, twisted, and burst into flames.
“Nooooo! My wiiiiish!”
Tang Ildo’s wail rang across the night sky.
Back at the lodgings, Tang Cheonwi soothed and coaxed Yuhyeon until the boy finally went to his room. Only then did he call out,
“Ildo.”
The guard failed to appear on the spot.
“Tang Ildo.”
At last the boy trudged into view, shoulders slumped.
“What’s wrong with him this time?”
“Why did you call me?”
His tone was sulky.
“Get dumped by a girl?”
“No.”
“Then why are you sighing like the earth is about to swallow you?”
“It’s all Young Master’s fault.”
“What did I do?”
“If we had released the lanterns together, this never would have happened.”
He explained how his lantern had caught fire mid-flight.
“Pfft!”
“I’m being serious!”
“Yes, yes. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t look the least bit sorry.”
“No, I really am. Heh heh.”
Cheonwi’s laughter would not stop. He finally forced it down.
“Anyway, I called you because I need you to do something.”
“Speak.”
“Find out how much golden sore medicine the Cheongang Clan has stockpiled.”
Golden sore medicine was the standard remedy for external wounds.
“Why?”
“The apothecaries in the market seem completely cleaned out of it. While you’re at it, check how many horses they have as well.”
“Medicine and horses…”
“I’ll look into their weapons myself.”
At those words Tang Ildo’s eyes gleamed.
“Is the Cheongang Clan preparing for war?”
Medicine, horses, weapons—everything required for battle.
“Just look into it and report back.”
“Understood.”
Tang Ildo melted into the darkness. Cheonwi kicked off the ground a moment later.
I lived through this in my previous life, but double-checking never hurts.
He dropped onto the roof of the Cheongang Clan’s armory. Security was ridiculously tight. Hwancheonjihwan spoke.
“It’s practically painted in big letters: ‘We’re getting ready to fight.’”
You think so too?
“An armory is important, sure, but they don’t usually guard it this heavily.”
The number of sentries around the weapons storehouse alone looked twice as high as anywhere else.
Time to go inside.
Cheonwi’s body dissolved into the shadows. The footwork of a Yuhongak assassin—the Remnant Soul Floating Steps. No matter how tight the cordon, slipping past their eyes was child’s play for him.
Whoosh!
A few strands of a sentry’s hair stirred.
“Hm? There wasn’t even a breeze… Did you feel something?”
“Nothing at all, sir.”
“True enough. With the Sichuan Gathering underway, what lunatic would try to sneak in?”
They returned to their watch. Cheonwi landed silently on the armory roof, pried up a roof tile without a sound, and slipped inside.
“Whoa, look at all these weapons.”
Wooden crates overflowed with arms. There had to be several hundred at least—and these were no ordinary troop weapons.
“Treasure swords everywhere.”
I can roughly guess where they got them.
There was only one place that could supply such quantity and quality of fine arms.
“Where?”
Secret.
“Figures.”
The armory check was finished. One last stop remained: the residence of the Cheongang Clan Lord. Cheonwi moved again.
“They call him the King of Naksan, and he really did paint the place in gold.”
Unlike the other halls, this one breathed old money. Even the murals on the walls looked like the work of master painters. It was Cheongryujeon, private quarters of the Cheongang Clan Lord.
“No presence inside… He must have gone to see Gang Unso.”
Cheonwi shifted once more, heading for the pavilion where Gang Unso was staying.
“Fuck!”
Crash!
Tables, chairs, ornaments—every piece of furniture in the room had been smashed to pieces.
“Tang Cheonwiiii!”
Gang Unso roared, unable to contain his rage.
“Y-Young Master, please calm yourself—”
Slap!
The servant’s head snapped sideways. Gang Unso had struck him full across the face.
“Do I look calm to you? I was humiliated in front of everyone! Do you have any idea how I feel? Do you?!”
He stomped on the fallen servant, taking out his fury on the nearest scapegoat.
“Die! You bastard Tang Cheonwi!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The servant never even managed to resist before he became a bloody mess. Only then did Gang Unso’s rage seem to ease a fraction. He stopped the beating.
“Ha… Fuck!”
Just then the door opened and a middle-aged man entered.
“Ah… Father.”
It was Gang Goui, Lord of the Cheongang Clan. He clicked his tongue at the wreckage.
“Tsk tsk. Worthless brat.”
Even so, Gang Unso flinched under his father’s presence.
“You lost to that third-rate insect?!”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Do you realize you dragged the face of the Cheongang Clan through the mud?”
Gang Goui’s gaze was ice. Summoning a scrap of courage, Gang Unso answered,
“T-Tang Cheonwi was hiding his true skill.”
“Silence! You lost because you were careless. Even if the boy concealed his strength, at best he is your equal or a little weaker. How dare you perform so pathetically?”
Gang Unso burned with injustice. Being crushed by Tang Cheonwi was bad enough; now his own father refused to believe him. He ground his teeth. Explaining further would only bruise his pride worse. How could he admit he had lost fair and square to the tyrant of the Sichuan Tang Clan? He wanted to deny reality altogether. The same Tang Cheonwi had even heaped humiliation on him in front of the woman he admired.
“Does it rankle?”
“Yes.”
“Then if he shamed you, you must return the favor.”
“How, Father?”
“Tomorrow we will pin a crime on him—using the very poison the Sichuan Tang Clan is so proud of.”
Gang Goui smiled darkly.
“That—!”
“Yes. The lethal poison the Lord of Yuhongak provided. It is vital that everyone except Tang Cheonwi himself is poisoned.”
“Why leave him alone?”
“We will frame him as the culprit. Once that happens, even the Tang Clan will be unable to protect him.”
“As expected of Father.”
“When the boy is cast out of the clan, you will step forward and take his life yourself.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Only then did Gang Unso’s face brighten. He looked thoroughly refreshed, already impatient for tomorrow.
Neither father nor son realized that someone was sitting on the roof above them, listening to every word of their little conspiracy.