Why are you so surprised? (5)
“That promise will be kept.”
“Hmm.”
At the unexpectedly compliant reply, Chung Myung nodded, looking rather pleased.
“Still, I say this in case there has been some misunderstanding.”
“Huh?”
“We said that if you passed this trial, we would give you an opportunity. We never said we would absolve that child of responsibility [면책(免責) exemption from responsibility, pardon etc].”
“Whaaat?”
Chung Myung’s face instantly twisted into a scowl as his eyes flew wide.
“What the hell are you old geezers talking about?”
“…”
“You put someone through this kind of hell, and then what? It was a test within a test? Are you kidding me right now?! It seems these gentlemen have spent their whole lives ordering people around with a flick of a finger, so they have no grasp of the situation, but do men with power think blades cannot be driven into their gut or som…”
“Ahahahahaha! I’m sorry, sorry! Someone please put a gag in this bastard’s mouth! Please!”
“Mmph! Mmmph! Mmph!”
Yoon Jong and Jo Geol seized Chung Myung with practiced hands and stuffed a gag into his mouth.
“There, there. Now, Chung Myung-ah, ooh, taaa-daaa!”
“Look over there, look. There’s a lake, and there are trees too. This will be fun, very fun.”
The old sholars, who had been blankly watching the scene, let out awkward dry coughs.
“It seems there has been some sort of misunderstanding.”
“Grr?”
Chung Myung, gag in his mouth, reacted to the word misunderstanding.
How strange. His mouth was clearly shut, yet his eyes alone conveyed every word with perfect clarity: ‘Misunderstanding? A misundersta-a-anding? Did you just say misunderstanding? Ah, perhaps I should stab someone once over a misunderstanding too?’
“F-First, calm down a little. Ahem.”
The old scholars cleared their throats once more. They were accustomed to dealing with cunning old serpents, but this was their first time dealing with a mad dog on a leash, and they were understandably flustered.
“I acknowledge that you have reasons to be angry. So let us make a promise first. Whatever favor we ask of you from this point onward, we’ll do everything in our power to secure that child’s pardon.”
“…”
“I mean it.”
At those words, Baek Cheon narrowed his eyes slightly and asked.
“You said you would do everything in your power?”
“That is correct.”
“That is strange. Unless I have misconstrued your words, does that mean that even with all three of you making the effort, it may still be difficult to secure Hanbin’s pardon?”
“…”
The old scholar seated to the left silently lifted his teacup. After taking a quiet sip of the tea, from which steam still curled, he set the cup down and let out a low sigh.
“Your interpretation is correct.”
“…”
“To be frank, that is precisely why we intend to ask something else of you. It is something we cannot accomplish on our own.”
“No, but……”
It was not an easy thing to accept.
The three people standing before the disciples of Hwasan were all men who had once risen to the very pinnacle of power. Men who had set foot in a place countless scholars, as numerous as grains of sand, could spend their entire lives striving for without daring to imagine they might reach it. Yet even they found it difficult to resolve this situation?
Just as Baek Cheon was about to speak in response to those incomprehensible words…
“Ghhahhg!”
Chung Myung tore the gag from his own mouth in a single motion and clicked his tongue. Then he shot a fierce glare at the old scholars before him.
“So, what you’re saying is that it was all a lie.”
Chung Myung stared at the three old men with a displeased expression before opening his mouth.
“So, you claimed you didn’t know who was responsible for bringing down the Shandong Yu Family, but in truth, you did. Otherwise, those words would never have left your mouth.”
So Jung-gyeong’s expression hardened slightly.
“That…”
“I will explain, Grand Secretary.”
Just as So Jung-gyeong was about to respond, the old scholar who had once been called a Chief Scribe stopped him and let out a sigh.
“It may be somewhat late for this, but I suppose we should begin with introductions. I am an old man named Yeon Taeha [연태하(椽太河)].”
“Yeon Tae…..”
Naturally, the disciples of Hwasan did not know that name. Only Jo Geol and Tang Soso, perhaps having heard it before, tilted their heads slightly.
“Haha. I am not as famous as Master Dangbaek, so it is only natural that Taoists who have half withdrawn from the secular world would not know me. Simply call me Elder Yeon [연노(椽老) or senior Yeon]. That will suffice.”
When the disciples of Hwasan let out awkward laughs, Yeon Taeha looked over them with his wrinkled eyes and continued.
“Of the people gathered here, I was the last to retire to the countryside, so I can at least say that I know a little more about the current state of the Imperial Court. To clear up the misunderstanding first, we truly do not know who exactly brought down the Shandong Yu Family.”
“No……”
Just as Chung Myung’s eyes were about to sharpen once again, Yeon Taeha quickly added.
“We merely have an idea of who it might be.”
Yu Hanbin’s body tensed up.
An idea. Yes, it was merely an idea. But an idea spoken from the mouths of men such as these carried a weight of its own. Which meant that the person Yeon Taeha was speaking of now was the very culprit who had completely destroyed his family.
Yeon Taeha continued with a grave expression.
“I do not know what you may think, but bringing down the Shandong Yu Family was not as difficult as one might imagine. Compared to their lofty reputation, they surprisingly possessed very little.”
“Do you mean they lacked financial resources?”
“That was certainly part of it, but…”
Yeon Taeha let out a low sigh, as though it was a somewhat shameful matter to speak of.
“The Imperial Court is not a place that operates according to ability alone, as people commonly believe. In order to fend off the attacks of political rivals and carry out one’s ambitions, one must inevitably possess influence and a faction of their own.”
“Hmm.”
“The Shandong Yu Family produced countless brilliant scholars, yet they neglected to build a faction of their own. It cannot be that they did so out of ignorance. They simply believed that it was the right thing to do. Even if that meant they would inevitably suffer losses, how could they commit what they believed to be wrong?”
“Ugh…….”
As he listened, Chung Myung suddenly clutched at his chest and let out a groan.
“What is wrong with you all of a sudden?”
“W-Water. My chest suddenly feels tight….”
“Here.”
“Yeah. Thanks… Gah! This is hot water! Are you trying to kill me?”
Yeon Taeha stared blankly at Jo Geol and Chung Myung as they grabbed each other by the collars and squabbled, then shook his head as though the very sight made him shudder.
“…My apologies. They have no concept of what it means to be serious.”
“They have lived lives unlike ours, so we ought to be understanding.”
Uh… is that really…
Baek Cheon quietly turned to look at Yoon Jong.
‘I think we may have just given people a very bad preconception of Taoists from the Central Plains.’
‘What could be done about it…..’
For some reason, he felt sorry for all the Taoists under heaven, but that was not what mattered now.
“Then, who do you believe the culprit to be?”
“Hmm.”
Yeon Taeha let out a heavy hum and began to explain.
“As I said. Bringing down the Shandong Yu Family itself is not such a difficult task. However, exterminating the Yu Family’s bloodline and continuing to keep them suppressed even after all this time – that is something beyond the reach of ordinary political power. In the current Imperial Court, there is only one person capable of such a thing.”
Yu Hanbin swallowed dryly.
After pausing for a moment and meeting the eyes of Hwasan’s disciples, Yeon Taeha spoke with difficulty.
“Chief Eunuch* Do Hyeon [도현(都絃)]. He is the one I believe is responsible.”
❀ ❀ ❀
Gulp.
The man who had swallowed dryly glanced ahead from the corner of his eye.
Seated behind a large, antique desk was a man reading through a scroll.
Though he held that large scroll in his hands, his shoulders and head still rose far above it.
His frame was so imposing that his torso was thick as a tree trunk, and he stood nearly seven cheok tall [that’s like ~210cm]. He was, quite literally, a man for whom the word ‘colossal’ could not have been more fitting.
Perhaps that was why the seat he occupied seemed to fit him so naturally?
His keen political instincts, which allowed him to manipulate the Imperial Court at will, his nimble ability at flawlessly catering to those above him, and his ruthless refusal to tolerate anyone who dared challenge his authority – all of those were undoubtedly essential in shaping the man he was today.
And yet, perhaps more than any of those qualities, more than all the obvious virtues everyone so readily praised, it was the sheer force of the man’s presence that accounted for his power.
Those among the few who could face him in person would find it all the more difficult to deny.
Even now, merely having that man before him made the backs of his knees go weak and his entire body bend of its own accord.
Could such overwhelming pressure, enough to rob a person of control over themselves, truly be attributed to nothing more than the office he held?
Thud.
At that moment, the man set the scroll he had been holding down on the desk with an audible sound.
It was not a particularly threatening gesture, yet the person standing before him flinched sharply, his shoulders jerking.
“A further request for support for the northern front, is it?”
“Y-Yes, Sir.”
The man’s gaze sank deeply.
“And the Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat [내각(內閣)] proposed rejecting it?”
The attendant chose silence.
For he did not dare open his mouth. When the great whale called ‘power’ thrashed about, the shrimp beside it could only close its eyes and pray it would not be crushed to death.
“You there.”
“Yes, Chief Eunuch.”
Chief Eunuch Dohyeon.
He stared silently at the man before him.
His hair was coarse as wire, his eyebrows thick, and his eyes looked as though someone had torn out a tiger’s and set them in his face. Above all, that strong jaw and thick neck made it difficult to believe that this man was a eunuch.
Had his chin not been smooth for lack of a beard, no one would have believed it.
“…So, who verified the factual basis of the recommendation that the Grand Secretariat attached to the memorial**?”
“…..Pardon?”
A slight crease formed between Dohyeon’s brows.
“If the situation in the north is not dire enough to warrant rejecting the request sent from there, as the Secretariat claims, then surely someone must have verified the actual conditions in the north. I am asking who that was.”
“That…”
The man felt the blood throughout his body turn as cold as ice.
Verified? How could anyone have done such a thing? They called it the north, but the front lines were at least several thousand li from here. Who in the current court could possibly travel all that way simply to verify whether the report they had written was true?
“The person who verified it…. there is…… none…”
At that moment, a crooked smile formed on Do Hyeon’s lips.
“This is a matter that will cost a thousand gold.”
“…”
“A thousand gold would not even be enough to procure the food and supplies they have requested.”
With every word he uttered, the air around them seemed to grow hotter and heavier.
“But a thousand pieces of gold are nothing compared to the fate of the nation hanging upon this matter. And yet… they make a decision on such a matter after reading no more than a few lines?”
“Ch-Chief Eunuch. That is…”
“So the Imperial Court has become a laughingstock, has it?”
The Chief Eunuch growled like a wrathful guardian deity***.
“Bring every member of the Grand Secretariat involved in deliberating over this memorial before me. I will personally hold them accountable for this.”
Cold sweat began to soak the man’s entire body. What was he supposed to say? What, exactly?
But whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, the man did not need to answer.
“Yes, Chief Eunuch.”
For that answer had come not from the man, but from behind him. Even though Do Hyeon and he had clearly been the only people in the room.
Having heard the response, Do Hyeon picked up another of the countless scrolls piled beside him and silently began to read.
The man standing before him froze with his head still bowed. He could do nothing. Nothing at all. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now. No, he could not even think. His mind, bleached white like a blank sheet of paper, refused thought itself.
After concentrating on the documents for quite some time, Do Hyeon lifted his head, then suddenly frowned.
“You are still here.”
“Pardon? Y-Yes, Cheif Eunuch. I am.”
“Go.”
“Th-Thank you.”
The man bent deeply at the waist.
Then, carefully backing away, he left the room.
Thud.
The moment he emerged through the open door and rounded the corner, the man collapsed where he stood. Raising a hand already drenched in sweat, he barely managed to wipe his face.
‘……I can’t breathe.’
He was simply too faint-hearted to survive in a place as hellish as this.
Special Spinoff Chapter 56 >>>
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*사례태감(司禮太監) – salye-taegam – The highest-ranking position held by eunuchs during China’s Ming dynasty. After the reign of the Emperor Yongle, they strengthened their influence under the emperor’s protection, participated in government affairs, and exercised power over the court and affairs of state.
**He is talking about ‘표의(票擬)’ – After the reign of the Emperor Yongle of China’s Ming dynasty, the practice by which officials of the Grand Secretariat wrote the proposed decision that the emperor should issue at the end of an official memorial submitted to the throne.
***인왕(仁王) – Nio – door gods at Buddhist temples, considered manifestations of a single god and personifications of the sound ‘om’.
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Finally our main antagonist?
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