Chapter 23
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Chapter 23: Ancient Matters
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The gatekeeper was furious.
He gnashed his teeth at the situation, unable to do anything even as mere whelps dragged the name of the Sword Clan through the mud.
Next, he felt rage toward the Young Master.
If he had possessed the authority befitting his status as the Young Master, he could have easily retrieved the Sword Clan’s Bronze Token on the spot and had those wretches hacked to pieces for the crime of insulting the clan.
Yet, when he finally opened his mouth to speak to Yeon So-hyeon, what came out was neither resentment nor anger.
“……I apologize.”
In the end, he, too, had done nothing to preserve his own safety.
He simply hadn't started something he couldn't handle, all to avoid taking responsibility.
“Why would you apologize? You fulfilled your role.”
The words of encouragement, heard from Yeon So-hyeon for the first time, provided no comfort.
“It would be better for you to return now. The one who handed the Sword Clan’s Bronze Token to Geum-ju might see you as being in the same boat as me.”
“But I am the Young Master’s guard…!”
Yeon So-hyeon smiled at him.
“There is no need to sacrifice yourself for someone who does not offer you a sword.”
“That is…!”
He opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to protest.
“……I apologize.”
Yeon So-hyeon handed him a pre-written order.
“Take this.”
The order, stamped with the Clan Leader’s official seal, was for him.
It proved that he had been performing a temporary escort mission under Yeon So-hyeon’s command and had now been ordered to return to his post.
He turned away clutching the order, his footsteps faltering several times, but in the end, he could not turn back.
‘Damn it…’
Even after reaching his current level, he had felt powerless many times, but this was the first time he had felt this miserable.
‘Damn it.’
His long shadow, cast by the setting sun, looked utterly pathetic.
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“Hmm.”
Se-ah’s patience, which had been wearing thin while waiting for Yeon So-hyeon to finish checking Jeong-ah’s pulse, was finally running out.
The famous physicians she had summoned had already come and gone, assuring her that Jeong-ah was merely suffering from extreme fatigue.
They claimed she was simply in a deep sleep.
However, unlike the public perception, she knew that the medical skills possessed by this man, Yeon So-hyeon, were more than enough to establish a school of his own.
That was why she could not hide her anxiety.
“The security of the An Clan is perfect. And as you ordered, I have doubled the guards from the usual amount.”
Despite her subordinate’s report, she only waved a hand while nervously chewing on her pipe.
After pacing outside for some time, her patience finally hit rock bottom.
“Young Master, I am coming in.”
Without waiting for permission, she opened the door and stepped into the room.
The scene inside was almost identical to what it had been just before she left.
Her only sister remained unconscious, and the Young Master was still holding her wrist, checking her pulse.
After a moment of hesitation, she asked Yeon So-hyeon.
“……Is Jeong-ah alright?”
Yeon So-hyeon, who had been quietly keeping his eyes closed, looked back at her.
“Alright? Didn’t you hear that she is just sleeping?”
Yeon So-hyeon’s tone was absurdly calm.
“That…!”
Her hand, gripping the pipe, reflexively tightened, but she barely managed to restrain herself.
“……Ahem. Then why is the pulse check taking so long?”
Yeon So-hyeon ignored her question and held out his hand.
“You brought the information on the Black Bone Faction, didn’t you?”
This time, she nearly snapped her pipe in half.
However, she recited the character for ‘patience’ (忍) over and over in her mind and held up a bundle of documents to Yeon So-hyeon.
“Before that, wouldn’t you care to tell me what is wrong with my sister?”
“This is all of it, right?”
“……It is all of it.”
Her pronunciation was slurred because she was gritting her teeth toward the end.
Yeon So-hyeon stroked his chin, which lacked even a stubble of beard, and frowned.
“Hmm. Actually, upon checking her pulse, it was revealed that Jeong-ah is suffering from a serious illness.”
He clicked his tongue.
“But seeing your attitude…”
Se-ah threw the bundle of documents at him in one motion.
“W-what kind of illness is it?!”
Yeon So-hyeon did not answer; he simply untied the bundle and began to read.
He read with such speed that it wouldn't have been strange to think he was merely skimming rather than reading the documents properly.
“Hmm.”
Before long, Yeon So-hyeon finished flipping through all the documents and nodded.
Se-ah, trembling all over, held back her rage and asked him once more.
“So, what illness is Jeong-ah suffering from?”
Yeon So-hyeon looked at her with an expression that asked what on earth she was talking about.
“Didn’t I tell you she’s just sleeping because she’s tired?”
In the end, the pipe snapped in her grip.
“……You said it was a serious illness.”
Yeon So-hyeon frowned.
“Overwork is a serious illness. Even a young person can lose their life in the blink of an eye.”
“…….”
Se-ah experienced the rare sensation of feeling relieved on one hand, while struggling to control the surging rage on the other.
“Then you mean to say there is nothing wrong with Jeong-ah.”
“Yes.”
Clutching her forehead, Se-ah asked.
“……Why did you ask for information on the Black Bone Faction?”
Se-ah had abandoned her formal speech at some point, but Yeon So-hyeon, as always, did not care in the slightest.
“Looking at the degree and flow of the information gathered, it seems they are plotting something quite dangerous regarding the Black Bone Faction.”
“…….”
Se-ah, whose head was hot with anger, naturally missed the chance to deny it.
Once she was a beat too late, it became meaningless for her to try to deny it now.
She let out a small sigh and opened her mouth.
“And what does that have to do with you, Young Master…?”
Yeon So-hyeon looked at her and said.
“Stop.”
Se-ah’s eyebrows shot up.
“I am not a subordinate who must obey your orders, Young Master.”
Yeon So-hyeon leaned back deeply into his chair.
“That Sword Clan’s Bronze Token was genuine. The connections Geum-ju has are real. You, being in the same industry, should know better than anyone the power held by the Sword Clan’s intelligence department, right?”
Of course she did.
At the very least, in this land of Luoyang, the Sword Clan’s intelligence network was unrivaled.
Yet, precisely because of that, Se-ah could not help but be furious.
“And you let that…!”
Yeon So-hyeon stood up abruptly, cutting off Se-ah’s outburst.
“Let’s go outside so the patient can rest.”
Yeon So-hyeon did not wait for an answer and walked out of the room.
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Darkness had descended upon the sky.
Even the moon hid its face in the cloudy night sky, and the winter wind wailed as it brushed against the roof tiles.
Yeon So-hyeon stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky.
Se-ah shouted at his back.
“In Luoyang, no, in the entire world, what is the most prominent merchant clan? It is the Sword Clan. What is the most prominent martial clan in the world? It is the Sword Clan.”
Her voice grew louder.
“And naturally, the most prominent intelligence network in this land of Luoyang is the Sword Clan!”
She cast aside her mask as a neutral information broker at this moment.
“Isn’t it the Sword Clan that gave a Sword Clan’s Bronze Token to a Black Path organization like the Black Bone Faction?!”
Her one remaining eye seemed to be spitting fire.
“While all the people of Luoyang are groaning in pain and dying of hunger! What has the Sword Clan been doing?!”
Yeon So-hyeon’s back remained unresponsive.
“While that cruel and ruthless group, which knows no reason like the Black Bone Faction, sucks the lifeblood of the people in Luoyang, and while countless organizations like them continue to multiply…!”
“The main family has been standing by with their hands behind their backs.”
Yeon So-hyeon cut her off.
“No, rather, the main family is using them.”
Se-ah was even more enraged by Yeon So-hyeon’s attitude, as if he already knew everything.
“Then what have you been doing all this time?!”
She threw the broken pipe she was still holding onto the ground.
“Honestly, I felt that the things Geum-ju said to you, while the expression was vulgar, were not wrong at all!”
For a moment, Se-ah felt that her words were going too far.
“I know that you showed outstanding ability in the past! But what have you done with that ability until now?”
She did not stop.
“Aren’t you just playing at being a hermit, using the seclusion order given by your father as an excuse?!”
Yeon So-hyeon’s expression was calm.
Se-ah found that expression incredibly grating.
“Of course, there must be a reason. There must be a reason why you stay cooped up even while being insulted and pointed at!”
An attitude as if he intended to carry all the burdens alone.
“But! In the end, you haven’t done anything properly!”
She shouted hysterically.
“If that’s the case, don’t tell me what to do when I’m trying to risk my life to accomplish something!”
Her shrill voice echoed through the courtyard, but it was soon buried and vanished in the northern wind.
“…….”
Se-ah, catching her ragged breath, turned away from him.
His calm gaze had not wavered in the slightest, even at her verbal abuse.
Instead, she felt ashamed of herself at that moment.
‘Do not provoke Geum-ju any further.’
That was the advice Yeon So-hyeon had given her.
She knew it was accurate advice.
She knew that once Geum-ju held the Sword Clan’s Bronze Token, it had become impossible for her to neutralize the Black Bone Faction.
She knew that she should have been focusing all her efforts on erasing the traces left by the Hyeonwol Pavilion instead.
She had simply needed a target for her frustration.
She had been venting her feelings by pouring them out onto the powerless Young Master of the great Luoyang Sword Clan.
Furthermore, she might have even been subconsciously calculating that the Young Master was so broad-minded that he would let her rudeness slide.
Her face burned hot.
“I-I apologize. No. I am sorry, Young Master.”
She fidgeted with her clasped hands and apologized cautiously.
Her appearance was so different that it was hard to believe she was the iron-blooded woman who had built the Hyeonwol Pavilion from the very bottom of Luoyang with her own strength.
At her behavior, which one might even call cute, Yeon So-hyeon burst into a small, soft laugh.
And at that laughter, Se-ah could not bring herself to lift her head even further.
“Once upon a time, there were sisters who were very close.”
At the sudden, out-of-place story, Se-ah lifted her head and looked at Yeon So-hyeon.
"The older sister was overflowing with a sense of justice. She could not forgive the culprits who were ruining the neighborhood where she lived."
Se-ah felt instinctively that this was a story about her and Jeong-ah.
"The older sister, along with comrades who shared her convictions, staked everything on a fight and ultimately failed. And they were all put to death."
Was this an ominous prophecy?
Se-ah could not understand Yeon So-hyeon’s intentions.
Naturally, it was impossible for her to do so.
"The younger sister, who was overflowing with talent, learned of her sister’s death and became a madwoman. She attacked those who had driven her sister to her end. Although she managed to accumulate damage against them, the enemies were too strong. In the end, the younger sister also became a public enemy and was killed. She was hunted down."
It was a story of the past.
And at the same time, it was a story of the future.
Yeon So-hyeon was telling a story that formed a complete picture once the empty pieces were fitted together.
"They could not even properly leave behind their names or their noble intentions. Within stories fabricated at will, they became nothing more than traitors and public enemies of the martial arts world. People insulted those sisters and cursed them."
Having finished his story, Yeon So-hyeon looked up at the sky.
"……Due to my dullness, I do not quite understand what you are saying, Young Master."
Se-ah spoke up cautiously.
"It is a story about how the good perish so pointlessly."
Yeon So-hyeon’s tone was incredibly heavy.
"And it is also a story about how the wicked so often win as if it were only natural."
*Grind.*
A sound of teeth grinding, so harsh it sent shivers down one's spine, rang out from Yeon So-hyeon.
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