Book 11: Chapter 10: First Step

Yeon So-hyeon, the one who had turned his back on the world and chosen seclusion.

Kang Sang, who had no choice but to retire to prevent defeat.

Gong Ryang, who had lost all his comrades and struggled alone before ending up in a sickbed.

All of them had returned.

* * *

“…If so.”

Kang Ho's extraordinary mind, which had been in shock, naturally derived the next conclusion.

“The Eldest Young Master did not simply exclude me from the operation targeting the Great Immortal Merchant Group…” Gong Ryang nodded.

“The Eldest Young Master was protecting you, and furthermore—” kang Ho took over the words.

“Furthermore, he was protecting my grandfather in the Imperial Capital.”

“Yes.”

Yeon So-hyeon replied.

“The story that your grandfather is returning to the palace must have already begun to spread in the Imperial Capital.”

“Among the power holders of the Imperial Capital, there is no one who does not know that Elder Kang Sang treasures you like a gem.”

As if helping Yeon So-hyeon's words, Gong Ryang spoke as he looked at Kang Ho.

“I understand.”

Kang Ho slowly nodded.

“I will have to thoroughly look after my own safety from now on.”

“From now on?”

Yeon So-hyeon chuckled.

At that reaction, Kang Ho wore a bewildered expression.

“…Did I make a slip of the tongue just now?”

The answer to that question came from Gong Ryang.

“Not from now on, but you should have been careful from the very beginning.”

“…From the very beginning?”

“Eldest Young Master.”

Even before his words were finished, the voice of the maid Il-ryeong was heard from outside.

“Commander Tang Baek wishes to see the Eldest Young Master.”

“Tell him to enter.”

Tang Baek was a name Kang Ho had not heard of.

Although Kang Ho knew well about the prestigious families of the State of Zhongyuan and those who inherited their blood, he was not to the extent of knowing even the names of Sichuan's swordsmen.

'However. If he is someone the Eldest Young Master allows into this place, he must surely be an important—' kang Ho's thoughts were cut off there.

It was because he had to cover his mouth at the terrible stench that drifted in as the door opened.

“……!”

Tang Baek was holding severed heads.

“Place them here.”

At Yeon So-hyeon's command, Tang Baek approached.

*Thud.* with a heavy sound, the heads were placed on the table.

They were heads whose hair had been tied together in a knot to make them easy to carry.

As if they had not died just now, the blood on the heads was dried black, but.

The heads, which had begun to rot, were emitting a terrible stench.

“…….”

Kang Ho's face turned pale, but he soon became unable to even breathe at Tang Baek's subsequent words.

“As you commanded, these are the heads of the Luoyang information brokers who were monitoring the one named 'Kang Ho'.”

Kang Ho screamed inwardly.

'They were monitoring me?!'

“Were they purely performing only the surveillance request?”

“No.”

Tang Baek's desolate voice echoed in the room.

“Since a long time ago, they had already completed preparations to immediately kidnap or assassinate the one named Kang Ho once contact came from the Imperial Capital.”

Why the heads wore expressions as if they bore all the pain in the world on their own.

And how Tang Baek grasped all their requested matters.

Kang Ho understood in an instant.

“You have worked hard.”

At Yeon So-hyeon's words of praise, Tang Baek shook his head.

“I merely retrieved the severed heads as I always do. All the trouble was taken by the agents of the Crescent Moon Pavilion.”

Tang Baek's words were exactly up to there.

Since he knew all too well that this was not a place where a swordsman could dare cut in.

“Then.”

Tang Baek politely clasped his hands to salute the assembly and withdrew from his place.

“…….”

Until the maid Il-ryeong quietly moved to open the windows wider, closed the door, and went out.

“…….”

Kang Ho could not say a single word.

“They seem to have been dead for quite a while.”

Gong Ryang examined the heads with an unconcerned look, then.

“I thought you were planning to handle them from now on, but you have already finished handling them? You are indeed the Eldest Young Master.”

Rather, he even wore an interested expression.

It was not appreciating the heads as if appreciating works of art, either.

“That fellow Tang Baek was the Fourth Young Master's subordinate, was he not? And he said the Crescent Moon Pavilion took the trouble. If so…” Yeon So-hyeon took a sip of tea with a calm expression and nodded.

“Although it is finished now, until yesterday, I sent the Fourth Young Master's subordinates to support the Crescent Moon Pavilion, which was holding out alone against the attack of the Great Immortal Merchant Group.”

“Did you dispose of these guys as well while you were at it? Excellent. Excellent.”

At Yeon So-hyeon's work processing which was yet another step ahead, Gong Ryang was pleased like a young child.

“I merely handled it in advance along the way.”

Yeon So-hyeon acted as if it were nothing, as usual.

“The Eldest Young Master is amazing, but those subordinates of the Fourth Young Master, and the Crescent Moon Pavilion are also not ordinary.”

Gong Ryang clicked his tongue.

“The children of our family need to learn some of this as well. Since they rely on the power they possess, they are all lazy to the core. Tsk, tsk.”

“In the war they are fighting now, they will also have much to learn.”

“Indeed. They must learn.”

“Because if they do not learn, they will only be left behind.”

Yeon So-hyeon and Gong Ryang.

Both of them.

Did not pay any mind to something like the heads on the table.

“…….”

In this way, Kang Ho, at this moment.

Felt more vividly than ever that these two individuals were figures far removed from himself.

It felt as though he alone among those sitting around the table was drifting far away.

Gong Ryang, who was the leader of the Imperial Capital reformists and referred to by some as the old demon among old demons.

And Yeon So-hyeon, the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, who clearly harbored a deep darkness that he dared not even begin to guess.

“How is it?”

At Gong Ryang's gaze directed at him, Kang Ho suddenly snapped out of it.

“Did you learn something?”

Kang Ho took a deep breath.

Although the stench passed through his nasal cavity and seemed to pierce his brain, when he inhaled deeply, his nose rather began to grow numb.

It was a trick he had learned from the coroner when he was in the Inspection Department.

“…The fact that you had them bring the heads of those who did not even die just now, and which the two of you do not particularly need to check yourself.”

Although Kang Ho might still lack experience, he was by no means a person lacking in capability.

“Must be because, just as Elder Gong Ryang said, there is something I must learn.”

“Ho?”

A smile that seemed to say 'look at this' hung on Gong Ryang's lips.

Without turning his eyes from that smile or from the gaze of the heads placed on the table.

Kang Ho continued to speak.

“The people of the Imperial Capital who went so far as to monitor me even in Luoyang, despite my refusing public office, and tried to carry out assassination in case of emergency.”

Behind his glasses, the corners of Kang Ho's eyes were trembling faintly.

“An obsession to the point where madness is felt, and a thoroughness to not permit a single variable.”

Under the circumstances, are there not only one such group of people.

Kang Ho swallowed hard before putting that name to his mouth.

“…The current patriarchs of the Sixteen Families currently in the Imperial Capital.”

They would have tried to deal a blow to Kang Sang by kidnapping or killing Kang Ho in preparation for emergencies.

“They were still keeping Grandpa, who had retired and only went around hunting, in check even until now.”

It would have been better if he could rather boldly let out a hollow laugh.

The hands of Kang Ho, who adjusted his glasses, were trembling uncontrollably.

“…It was not only you all here and Grandfather that have not finished with the secret story of that day.”

Kang Ho looked at the heads of those who had monitored him and tried to kidnap or assassinate him at any time in case of emergency.

And through their hollow eyeballs, he recalled the highest power holders of the Imperial Capital.

“The current patriarchs of the Sixteen Families in the Imperial Capital also. They have finished nothing from the secret story of that day.”

“Yes, it is as you say.”

Gong Ryang nodded.

“And when an event like today occurs—” the event like today that Gong Ryang spoke of meant that Kang Ho's grandfather returned to court.

Kang Ho took over his words as if he understood.

“They would have kidnapped or killed me.”

Yeon So-hyeon.

“…….”

Gong Ryang.

“…….”

Did not bother to answer.

Since it was a situation that did not require an answer.

And rather, their non-response sank even deeper into Kang Ho.

“…I have learned much from today's matter. No.”

Kang Ho shook his head and corrected his words.

“I have realized much.”

Yeon So-hyeon, who had been quiet until then, opened his mouth.

“Then, what should you do now, Kang Ho?”

Staying in the safest place possible?

Distinguishing between trustworthy people and those who are not?

For a moment, numerous thoughts brushed through his mind, but.

The words that came out of Kang Ho's mouth were as follows.

“…I should give warnings or alerts to those close to me and make them safe.”

Kang Ho shone his eyes coldly beneath his glasses.

Shining his gaze of intelligence was the same as before, but that chill.

Signified the growth of the individual named Kang Ho.

“Since they have become unable to target me directly, they will utilize my surroundings in order to target me.”

They would do so.

It was a prediction that they would somehow drag Kang Ho out and try to implicate his grandfather, Kang Sang.

“That is a good answer.”

Gong Ryang nodded in satisfaction.

Also, Kang Ho saw a smile hang on the corner of Yeon So-hyeon's mouth.

“Yes.”

Yeon So-hyeon poured new tea into Kang Ho's empty cup and spoke.

“Now, you, Kang Ho, have obtained the qualification to take your first step into the power struggle at the pinnacle of the State of Zhongyuan.”

Yeon So-hyeon looked at Kang Ho, who held the teacup politely with both hands.

“From now on, you must play the role of my secretary. Follow me around, watch my every move, and learn everything.”

Kang Ho's eyes widened.

“You mean you are making me the Eldest Young Master's secretary?”

“Yes. You must learn everything as quickly as possible.”

Kang Ho, who was flustered at Yeon So-hyeon's kindness at first, felt an inexplicable sense of urgency in his words.

“As quickly as possible?”

The one who opened his mouth about that was Gong Ryang.

“Elder Kang Sang is hale and hearty enough to put his age to shame so far.”

Kang Sang was of such an advanced age that Gong Ryang, who was carried around while sitting in a chair, had to call him Elder.

“The two of you…!”

Kang Ho understood everything Gong Ryang intended to say and opened his mouth wide.

“The two of you have already begun preparations at this very moment even for the affairs after Grandfather…!”

* * *

The Imperial Capital.

The emergency meeting of the Second Young Master Yeon Ja-cheong of the Luoyang Sword Family and the current patriarchs of the Sixteen Families.

As the meeting grew longer, the smoke densely blanketing the ceiling grew even thicker.

“What about that Kang Sang's grandson's side?”

Another patriarch exhaled smoke long and nodded.

“I had someone sent to Luoyang to deliver orders. I told them to try kidnapping him if possible, and if not, kill him for sure.”

Even if just his cherished grandson Kang Ho dies, Kang Sang will receive a severe blow both materially and spiritually.

“If the fellow has already hidden, what is the next best plan?”

“We must comb through that grandson fellow Kang Ho's surroundings like catching lice.”

“Since if those close to him suffer hardships, he will have no choice but to crawl out on his own.”

“Preparations are already being made.”

One of the patriarchs ground his teeth hard.

“Without distinguishing paternal or maternal families. We must raid everyone from that fellow's milk brother to his friends from his academy days.”

“What about the Luoyang Sword Family's side…” second Young Master Yeon Ja-cheong, who was quietly watching their conversation from behind his golden mask, nodded.

“Please leave that to me.”

Although he had heard that fellow Kang Ho belonged to the Central Inspection Department, where it was hard for the Second Young Master himself to exert influence.

If he was within the Sword Family, he had confidence that he could do something about it somehow.

“Then, I shall take it as such.”

The patriarch in charge of running today's meeting spoke so, then tapped the round table with his long pipe.

When everyone's gaze concentrated, he looked around the assembly and opened his mouth.

“All of you must be feeling something strange by now.”

Everyone nodded immediately.

Among them, of course, was the Second Young Master Yeon Ja-cheong.

“No matter how much we were distracted by the old demons.”

“It is strange that Kang Sang, that crazy old man, could return to court without a sound like this.”

“Especially since this is the Imperial Capital.”

Since the Imperial Capital was the center of administration for the State of Zhongyuan, all processing of affairs was bound to be sluggish in accordance with its size.

Yet Kang Sang's appointment as Prime Minister had proceeded as swiftly as roasting beans in lightning.

“The reformists split into several factions after losing Gong Ryang, that old demon…” whether thinking in one's mind alone.

“A substantial number of the Imperial Loyalists have already been expelled, so they do not have the capability to handle that level of work without a sound.”

Or thinking together with heads put together.

The conclusion arrived at the same place.

“If so…” everyone nodded.

“…His Majesty the Emperor moved in person.”

The Emperor.

The Emperor of the State of Zhongyuan, after those long years.

Had finally taken his first step.