Chapter 4
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Part 4: Yeon So-hyeon
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They say the face is the window to the soul.
Unless one’s inner state was stable, it was impossible to immediately correct one’s expressions to appear natural.
Thus, he chose to control every single muscle in his face individually.
It was a method he had only been able to conceive because of the physical control granted to him by the *Jeam Jincheon Classic*.
Yet, in the end, it would have been impossible without his memory, which could only be described as abnormal.
He remembered every single change that occurred in the brief moments when people’s expressions shifted according to their circumstances.
"……Good."
Having finished his final check, he opened the door and stepped out into the courtyard.
And, before he could stop it, an exclamation escaped his lips.
"Ah……."
It was the sunlight.
It was a warm sunlight that made him forget the chilling cold of that horrific darkness.
Without realizing it, he walked barefoot into the center of the courtyard.
"Young Master, have you risen?"
The servants who had been cleaning the yard bowed their heads, albeit perfunctorily.
The Young Master was someone who, in any case, did not mind the slight rudeness they committed.
The scholar did not spare the servants a single glance.
It was as if he did not even register their presence.
He simply stood tall in that spot, slowly spreading his hands to feel the sunlight.
As if he were a tree that had waited a thousand years for a single ray of sun.
He closed his eyes entirely.
"Young Master……?"
Even at the servant’s question, finding his behavior strange, he gave no answer.
Seeing this, the servants could only watch each other’s reactions.
It was a strange thing.
Under normal circumstances, no matter what the Young Master did, they would have just shrugged it off and ignored him.
*Gulp.*
Cold sweat was beginning to bead on the servants’ hands.
It was the kind of reaction one might expect from subordinates serving a strict master.
At the moment that discomfort reached its peak, the Young Master’s mouth opened.
"……Summon all the subordinates under me."
It was a voice they had never heard from the Young Master before.
While it was clearly the same as yesterday, it was fundamentally different in some way.
It was a voice that the servants dared not defy.
"……Yes?! Yes! Understood!"
Startled into alertness, the servants began to run with all their might.
They scattered in perfect order, racing to gather the other servants from every corner of the estate.
"What’s going on……?"
"What is it? Is something happening?"
The summoned servants wandered in one by one, wearing openly annoyed expressions.
Had it not been for the urgent tone of the servant who delivered the order, some of them likely would not have shown their faces at all.
The sight that greeted those who gathered was the bizarre spectacle of the Young Master standing barefoot on the dirt floor, arms spread wide, receiving the sunlight.
Low, whispering voices passed among the gathered servants.
"Since that man has been holed up in his quarters, it looks like he’s finally lost his mind."
"Ah…… I was having a good nap; I don't know why he’s calling us and making a fuss."
One of the older-looking servants clicked his tongue openly.
"Tsk, tsk. With a man like that as the Young Master, I wonder how the Great Luoyang Sword Clan will fare……."
To them, the person known as the Young Master was a "comfortable" and "easy" existence.
They had spent a long time with him.
The Young Master had never once pushed them or scolded them.
He had granted almost every request they made.
Moreover, his residence, the Won-gak Pavilion, required very little work relative to its size.
Since guests rarely visited, there was no need to polish every corner several times a day; the vast garden, which required much labor, was mostly tended to by the Young Master himself; and as for the clothes he wore, there were so few that even the laundry, which could be considered the most arduous task, was nothing of note.
Thus, the servants of the Young Master’s residence, the Won-gak Pavilion, had become lax and negligent.
And crucially,
Calling him by the derogatory title of "The Swordless One" and looking down on him was an open atmosphere that permeated the entire clan.
Even though he was not in a position that subordinates should have dared to ignore, regardless of who he was.
The problem was that they had watched him from too close a distance, and he was a man of too gentle a nature.
"……Ahem."
"Cough."
At first, they had expressed dissatisfaction with the Young Master’s eccentric behavior after calling them out.
But before long, for some reason, the scene fell into a silence as if even the mice had died.
No one had told them to be quiet.
Just as the first servants had felt, they gradually began to refrain from idle chatter.
They gradually began to restrain their restless movements.
They gradually began to grow anxious.
"……."
"……."
In the end, only a strange sense of stillness and an ominous silence remained in the courtyard.
And no one could break it.
Without even realizing it, they were already being dominated by the aura emanating from the Young Master.
"……Are you all here?"
The bizarre situation continued until the Young Master opened his mouth.
"Yes?! Yes, that is correct. Everyone is here."
He did not even look at the flustered servants.
"From this hour, you are no longer needed at the Won-gak Pavilion. Report to the Steward's Department immediately and have your positions reassigned."
The voice was low, but it was heard clearly by everyone.
"W-what……?!"
"……Young Master!"
Those who had been merely bowing their heads in tension protested at those words.
"How can you cast us aside so suddenly? What are we supposed to do?!"
And as one or two found the courage to shout, everyone raised their voices without exception.
"What on earth are we supposed to tell the Steward's Department?!"
"Everyone will look at us with disdain!"
"Young Master!"
They all raised their voices in unison to condemn the Young Master’s decision.
"……Heh, heh, heh."
At that moment, there was a laugh that cut sharply through their loud voices.
It was a sneer that had begun at the Young Master’s lips.
The low, ringing laughter seemed to be mixed with a strange metallic sound, scratching at the ears of those who heard it.
It was a bizarre and sinister sound.
The hair on the back of the servants’ necks stood up.
Their tongues froze.
Their movements stopped.
"……."
Their mouths were shut, but the Young Master’s ominous laughter showed no signs of stopping.
That was because the mockery was not directed at the servants.
It was a mockery directed at himself.
‘How stifling and ignorant a man I was in the past.’
I had believed that if I were the first to show kindness, the other party would reciprocate with kindness. Even if they did not return it immediately, I believed that, eventually, my sincerity would reach them. No, I had wanted to believe it. The servants currently running wild before me, oblivious to the heavens and the earth, were essentially creatures raised by that past version of myself.
Eventually, the Young Master wiped the smile from his face and looked down at them. Not a shred of emotion remained in his eyes. Under that gaze, which felt like shards of glass, the servants shrank back even further.
“What is my surname?”
When he raised a hand and pointed at one of them, the servant replied in a startled tone.
“Y-you are of the Yeon clan!”
The Young Master, who bore the surname Yeon, nodded as if satisfied with the answer.
“That is correct. And this family, the Luoyang Sword Clan, belongs to that very Yeon clan.”
He then pointed to another and asked again.
“What is my name?”
The one pointed at trembled for no reason and answered.
“...You use the character ‘So’ and the character ‘Hyeon’!”
Yeon So-hyeon. Having confirmed his surname and name, he asked another servant.
“Tell me, what is this person, Yeon So-hyeon, to this family?”
The servant who was pointed at swallowed hard and replied.
“Y-you are the Young Master.”
The Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, smiled. However, the smile was merely a shape, hollow and devoid of substance, making it chilling to behold.
“Correct. I am the Young Master of this family, Yeon So-hyeon.”
Blue flames seemed to flicker in his eyes.
“Then what are you, who dare to defy the orders of that Young Master?”
The corners of his mouth twisted.
“Do you think you are the masters of this family?”
At those words, all the servants turned pale and prostrated themselves on the spot. Though they were uneducated and foolish, they were not so dull as to not know when they were facing their own demise.
“P-please, spare us!”
“It was never our intention to defy you!”
“We were just…!”
Their neat servant uniforms were soiled—more so than the bare feet of the Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, whom they had mocked.
“Shh…!”
When Yeon So-hyeon raised a finger to his lips, not even the sound of breathing escaped the servants who had buried their heads in the dirt.
“It is my fault for letting you become so insolent, so I will not hold you accountable for your sins.”
A bright smile spread across Yeon So-hyeon’s lips.
“So, pack your things and get out at once.”
No sooner had he spoken than the servants began to offer him their thanks.
“Th-thank you!”
“Thank you, Young Master!”
He looked down at them with a twisted smile. When he had been endlessly kind, he had heard only gossip and resentment. Yet, now that he was wringing them dry, he finally heard words of gratitude. Human affairs were truly ironic.
There was no reason to be swayed by such trivialities now. More importantly, there was a weightier reason for him to cast all the servants out.
‘With this, I have cleared away the unnecessary “eyes” for the time being.’
Many of the servants in the Won-gak Pavilion had been reporting every move of the Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, to other factions within the clan. He had known this fact in the past as well, but because he had been indifferent to power, he had ignored it. There were ways to make the servants who dared to spy on their master suffer a fate worse than death, but he did not do so.
‘There is no need to beat the grass and startle the snakes just yet.’
There was no need for them to be on guard against him. At least, not yet.
“You there.”
It was a servant who had been trying to scramble out of the Won-gak Pavilion without even properly packing his belongings. When Yeon So-hyeon pointed at him, he was terrified out of his wits and collapsed to the ground.
“Y-yes! Young Master! Please, give your command!”
As he answered with his head buried in the floor, his luggage and clothes scattered across the ground. However, neither he nor Yeon So-hyeon paid it any mind.
“To the Steward’s Department, or rather…”
Yeon So-hyeon’s eyes narrowed.
“Tell the Head Steward to personally select and send me a child to attend to my needs.”
The ‘Head Steward’ was a person of such high standing that lowly servants like them could not even dare to meet his eyes. To be someone who could issue orders to such a man—though it was already too late, the servant realized clearly who it was he had been serving.
“Y-yes! Understood, Young Master! I will keep that in mind.”
“And…”
His follow-up question was utterly absurd.
“Where is the sun passing through right now?”
“The… sun, you say?”
The question from Yeon So-hyeon, who was looking up at the sky, made no sense. The servant simply answered as he was asked.
“It is floating over there. It is shining so white and so brightly that it is hard to even look at.”
At that answer, he tilted his head slightly.
“...Is that so?”
Yeon So-hyeon waved his hand. The servant bowed deeply and hurried away from the spot.
“...Around there, you say?”
All that was visible to Yeon So-hyeon as he looked up at the sky was the warm sunlight. The sun itself was nowhere to be seen.
“...Has even the sun turned its back on me now?”
The wild laughter of the *Jeam Jincheon Classic* seemed to ring vividly in his ears.
[From now on, you shall breathe in the darkness, strike down with the sword of judgment in the darkness, and become the Venerable of Darkness who punishes all the karma of the world!]
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