Kinds Of Power (4)

“What?!”

Seol Hong-baek was taken aback.

“You’re saying the Teacher’s house burned down?”

“We sent warriors to check just in case, but we couldn’t find any trace of the Teacher!”

“T-this—!”

Suddenly, the conversation he’d had with Jin-hyeon over lunch came to mind.

‘They’ll thrash about until the Martial Examiners from the Main Office arrive.’

‘Wouldn’t that be dangerous?’

‘They won’t move rashly. I have enough strength to protect myself, so there’s no need to worry.’

‘Still…’

‘If it truly feels dangerous, I’ll run straight to the Seol Clan.’

He’d said it with a smile without even a trace of worry.

Seol Hong-baek had known since their first meeting that Jin-hyeon wasn’t ordinary. In fact, every time they met, Jin-hyeon seemed to have changed. He must have been a warrior who had reached a high realm through arduous training from a young age.

A martial man forced by some incident to start again from the bottom.

On top of that, he possessed extraordinary wisdom and keen discernment. Though young, he was the equal of any old veteran of the martial world.

That was why he had let his guard down. Even if the Teacher waved it off, he should have dispatched warriors to his quarters or brought him directly to the Seol Clan.

“Send out our warriors at once! Call the Hundred Ears Corps and have them search the area! By any means necessary, we must find the Teacher!”

“Yes, sir!”

Just then.

“Patriarch!”

“Whatever it is, deal with it later! Right now, the Teacher comes first…!”

“Teacher Jin has arrived!”

“What?”

Startled, Seol Hong-baek practically frothed as he shouted.

“Is he hurt anywhere? Ah, no! Bring him at once!”

“Y-yes!”

A moment later, Jin-hyeon appeared with Im Yeo-wol in tow.

Seol Hong-baek hurried over to Jin-hyeon.

“Teacher! Are you alright?”

“Hmm? Well, yes, I suppose?”

“I heard your quarters burned! What bastards would do such a lawless—!”

“Me.”

“?”

“It was me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I set the fire.”

Seol Hong-baek’s eyes bulged.

“You set the fire, Teacher?”

“That’s right.”

Wearing an apologetic look, Jin-hyeon took a promissory note from his bosom.

“It was a house under the Seol Clan’s name, and I burned it without permission, so I can only apologize. I’ve calculated compensation for rebuilding materials, new furnishings, labor costs, and even the Patriarch’s mental distress. If anything falls short, please tell me anytime…”

“N-no, that’s not the problem!”

He looked completely flustered. With a flushed face, Seol Hong-baek asked:

“What on earth happened?”

“Ah, well.”

Jin-hyeon scratched his head.

At first, he’d thought to hide this matter. He didn’t want the Seol Clan dragged in and harmed for no reason.

But if he found out after this was all over, Seol Hong-baek would be deeply hurt. Not that either of them had any right to reproach the other—but that was precisely why that hurt felt so frightening. It would be better to just be honest.

“A man named Gwan Hong has made a move. He’s a rank-four tax officer of the Sichuan Branch, and the Hall Master of the Finance Hall.”

Jin-hyeon laid out in detail what had happened over the past day.

“…”

Seol Hong-baek’s eyes flashed without a word.

He didn’t shout or rage. His face hardened, and a chilly sword-aura coiled about him.

Im Yeo-wol flinched before she knew it.

It was the fury-laden presence of a true master. He was on a different plane from the assassins she’d run with.

“Patriarch.”

“Mm? Ah!”

Confirming Im Yeo-wol’s complexion, Seol Hong-baek instantly suppressed his aura.

Jin-hyeon spoke with a smile.

“Impressive. You’ve internalized it already.”

He’d always carried an uncommon sword-aura, but now it was different again.

He had fully made the Tianshan Light-and-Shadow Divine Art, the original form of the Seol Clan’s secret art, the Snow-Mountain Heart Method his own. Mastery would take a long time yet, but his very bearing alone showed he had reached a higher plane.

Seol Hong-baek sighed.

“I showed you a disappointing sight. My apologies.”

“I was impressed, actually.”

Seol Hong-baek’s gaze fell on Im Yeo-wol.

She flinched again. His gaze, like a snow-laden valley in winter, was so piercingly clear it was hard to meet.

“I was frivolous before a young lady I’ve just met. I offer my apology.”

“N-no, not at all.”

The answer popped out before she knew it, and Im Yeo-wol was flustered again.

After a few deep breaths to steady himself, Seol Hong-baek asked:

“And this young lady is?”

Jin-hyeon answered frankly.

“She was a subordinate of the Finance Hall’s Hall Master.”

“!”

“She was betrayed. So I brought her.”

Seol Hong-baek had some years in the martial world. From that alone he could grasp the general picture.

“Planning to blow it all up together?”

“When the time comes, yes. And I’ll make that time.”

He seemed to have his own measures well in mind.

Seol Hong-baek sighed.

“I should have stationed warriors at the Teacher’s house beforehand, it was my oversight.”

“I’m the one who said I dislike needless fuss. Besides, it turned into a blessing in disguise, so please set your mind at ease, Patriarch.”

“I’m embarrassed.”

“What matters for you now is training your warriors. Since they’re the ones who remain to the end, the Wisdom King’s martial arts will be a great gift.”

“I’m preparing that right now. This is all thanks to the Teacher.”

“Isn’t it about time we stopped saying such things?”

Seol Hong-baek asked carefully:

“Then… would you rather I didn’t help?”

He felt indebted for having missed the danger aimed at Jin-hyeon—enough that even offering help made him self-conscious.

“If the Patriarch helps, it’ll be like having a host of heavenly troops.”

“What should I do? Say the word, anything.”

“However, if the Seol Clan steps out needlessly, your warriors could get hurt. After it’s over, please just set straight the public sentiment that’s bound to get tangled.”

“Huh.”

“Ah, I do have one personal favor.”

“What is it?”

“I’d like to meet Head Instructor Seo Jong-dam. Could you arrange it?”

“You mean my sworn elder brother?”

“That’s right.”

Just then—

From the far side, the rear door leading to the office opened, and Seo Jong-dam walked out.

“Oh? The Teacher is here.”

Speak of the tiger and he appears.

Seol Hong-baek said,

“Brother, the Teacher says he has something to tell you.”

A puzzled look crossed Seo Jong-dam’s face.

“You have business with me?”

“Yes, I do. And it’s something that will pique your interest as well, Head Instructor.”

Jin-hyeon began explaining from the events of the previous night.

Seo Jong-dam was indeed Seol Hong-baek’s sworn brother; when anger flared, his emanating presence was similar, despite their different martial arts.

Jin-hyeon went a step further.

He’d come to the Seol Clan both to leave Im Yeo-wol in their care for a time and to draw in Seo Jong-dam.

He laid out his plan.

“…Huh.”

Seo Jong-dam stared blankly at Jin-hyeon. Seol Hong-baek just opened and closed his mouth like a carp.

Jin-hyeon said,

“It would be good to pull in the Director General. From the rumors I’ve heard of his temperament, he’s perfect for this role.”

Of course, it wasn’t rumors, but information verified through the Black Society.

Seo Jong-dam sighed.

“Your wisdom and drive are astonishing, Teacher. Embarrassingly, I too passed the copy to a junior I know, but…”

“It didn’t go well, then.”

“Shamefully, yes. He asked for time to think.”

“Time to think is something you can shorten, Head Instructor.”

“What do you mean?”

“Before that—are you ready to be pelted by hail if that’s what it takes to judge the wicked?”

Seo Jong-dam’s face turned grave.

“Even if rocks fall like rain, I’ll run to it. You needn’t doubt me.”

“You’ll need to do a bit of the politicking you dislike.”

“?!”

“Here’s the explanation.”

Jin-hyeon detailed exactly what Seo Jong-dam needed to do.

A short while later.

“A clean sweep?!”

“That’s right.”

“If it’s possible, it would certainly be effective. You are indeed wise, Teacher. However…”

“The sequence I just described hardly counts as wisdom. It’s the sort of plan anyone could think of.”

“…”

“To those who don’t act, everything looks novel and radical, doesn’t it?”

Seo Jong-dam squeezed his eyes shut.

In a low voice, Jin-hyeon said,

“If you just manage to budge a motionless boulder, it’ll roll down the slope on its own.”

“…”

“The more you think, the more you miss your moment. Let’s finish this case together with one strike.”

While handling paperwork for some time, Gwan Hong suddenly couldn’t hold back the surge of anger and slammed the desk.

Kwaang!

Papers cascaded through the split desk.

Gwan Hong idly rubbed his fist with a blank face.

Unlike his expression, his eyes blazed with killing intent.

‘These wretches dare make a fool of me?’

His anger rushed in all directions without aim.

Abyss Kill, whom he’d sent to kill Im Yeo-wol, hadn’t returned.

At first he wondered if they were simply overindulging in their sport. But when morning came and they still hadn’t returned, he sent people—who reported finding the corpses of Abyss Kill and seven assassins at Im Yeo-wol’s quarters.

Im Yeo-wol wasn’t there. Jin-hyeon didn’t show at the meeting spot either.

In the pouring predawn rain, he’d waited over two hours. His wrath kept boiling over, making him grin foolishly.

Abyss Kill and seven assassins dead. Im Yeo-wol missing.

And Jin-hyeon hadn’t come. What did that imply?

‘That bitch betrayed me, did she?’

Or it could be Jin-hyeon’s doing.

Jin-hyeon himself was nothing special—or so the intel said. He might be a master hiding his martial arts, but given his age, the odds were low.

Besides, they said he had ties with the White Sword Seol Clan.

‘If he used the Seol Clan’s forces, put Im Yeo-wol up front to kill Abyss Kill, and went to search her quarters?’

Of course, there had been nothing in her quarters. But they might try to sniff things out.

That seemed more plausible than Im Yeo-wol’s betrayal.

‘It’s not the old men at the branch.’

That was certain. Rather than this kind of murky business, they’d prefer to come swinging in openly. Besides, they wouldn’t have predicted his moves to begin with.

There was no sign of movement from the Investigation and Defense Court either. So the culprit was Im Yeo-wol—or Jin-hyeon.

‘How can this be? Do those wretches have no fear?’

Even at rank-four, most people couldn’t meet his eyes.

The Finance Hall’s Hall Master was a position that made all but the heads of Sichuan’s most renowned houses bow. Gwan Hong was confident of that.

Leaving aside everything else, he was an official of the Heavenly Will Alliance’s Sichuan Branch. Touching someone like that? Impossible unless your guts were spilling out.

What burned him up was that this “impossible” thing was happening right now.

‘It’s not a third party. No matter how I thought about it over and over, it’s one of those two brats. Or both.’

Yet Gwan Hong didn’t go to ground—because he trusted his position, and his own brain.

Above all—

‘What are they planning to demand?’

The world as Gwan Hong saw it was always full of money and deals, force and humiliation.

From when he was a child to now, he’d never seen anyone keep moral conviction. No—there were a few—but they all sparkled for a moment and vanished to the world’s backside.

He’d known before he could even grow a mustache that people were all the same. Thanks to that, he’d climbed to where he was.

‘Money. It has to be money.’

Gwan Hong’s eyes grew deep.

‘If he demands money, I’ll pay whatever it takes to get the register back.’

But if the demand was absurd?

‘Then they all die.’

With Martial Examiners from the Main Office on the way, there was nowhere to run anyway. As always, Gwan Hong staked his life on this.

How much time passed?

“Hall Master.”

“What is it?”

“A letter arrived under the name Im Yeo-wol.”

Gwan Hong’s eyes flashed.

“Bring it at once!”

He took the letter, read it—and his eyes quivered.

I dozed off and couldn’t make it. I’m a heavy sleeper. Anyway, aren’t you peckish? Come to the fifth floor of the Jade Fragrance Pavilion. If you don’t come by the Rooster Hour¹, I’ll pass your turn. I trust you know what I mean.

Gwan Hong looked out the window.

It had just turned the Rooster Hour. It meant to come within two hours.

Grinding his teeth, Gwan Hong rose from his seat.

“Tell Instructor Hwa-won to make ready.”