The modest drinking table was attended by Yeon Hojeong, Mo Yong-woo, and Mookbi.
Mo Yong-woo asked, “Where is Strategist Je Gal?”
“The strategist is in the strategist’s office.”
“No, I mean the strategist of the Evil-Smiting Corps. Miss Je Gal.”
“That’s what I mean. She went to the strategist’s office because she had something to help her father with.”
“She did?”
“Things have been so hectic lately. The Evil-Smiting Corps handles training well enough on its own, and she only drops by now and then to look over the formations or check the strategies they each devise. She’ll join us once we depart on campaign, though.”
Mo Yong-woo spoke as if envious.
“I have truly envied that for a long time. The existence of a strategist, I mean.”
“You won’t have anything to envy now.”
“Is she becoming the combined force’s strategist?”
“Of course.”
“......Did you tell Miss Je Gal?”
“No. But hasn’t she already sensed her own fate?”
Mo Yong-woo clicked his tongue.
“You really are something.”
Yeon Hojeong lifted his cup.
“Enough. Shall we drink first?”
“Gladly.”
The three clinked cups and drank the liquor down refreshingly.
Mo Yong-woo asked Mookbi, “Then what happens to Vice Commander Mook?”
Mookbi shrugged.
“Well. I haven’t heard anything separately from Young Master Yeon yet.”
The two looked at Yeon Hojeong.
Yeon Hojeong chuckled.
“The leadership told me to reorganize personnel at the supreme commander’s discretion. So I’ve thought about it in my own way.”
“What is it?”
“For the time being, the Righteous Justice Corps will maintain a two-force structure. So everyone just keeps doing what they’ve been doing. Brother, you take the Demon-Sweeping Corps, and Mookbi takes the Evil-Smiting Corps. Ah, in the Evil-Smiting Corps’s case, I may move with them as well depending on the situation.”
Mo Yong-woo’s face darkened.
“Of course, given how distinct the two units are, it would be best to make use of each side’s strengths... but will that be all right?”
“In practice, the Righteous Justice Corps isn’t all that different from when we went to smash the Corridor Band in the past. Put another way, it’s a combined force of the Demon-Sweeping and Evil-Smiting Corps. The only difference is that it was temporary then, and now it’s permanent until an order to separate us comes down.”
“That difference is precisely the problem.”
“I have no intention of forcing them together either. It might be different if our departure were in the distant future, but the leadership seems intent on sending the Righteous Justice Corps outside the Alliance soon.”
“Mm.”
Yeon Hojeong watched Mo Yong-woo’s expression and asked as if tossing the words out.
“You already knew, didn’t you?”
“Rather than saying I knew, there was something I spoke to Brother about separately.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Mo Yong-woo relayed his recent conversation with Mo Yonggun exactly as it had happened.
Yeon Hojeong smiled.
“Ink Dragon Manor?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
“It was the conclusion I reached after weighing various things in my own way. I apologize for not telling you first, Brother Yeon.”
“I told you before, didn’t I? Since the environments we’ve each stayed in are different, we should move according to what each of us thinks. There’s nothing for you to apologize for.”
“I’m grateful you say that. In any case, what do you think?”
“About Ink Dragon Manor?”
“Yes.”
Yeon Hojeong nodded.
“Not bad. No, rather, it’s quite good.”
“That is a relief.”
“There are several intentions behind the Martial Alliance sending the Righteous Justice Corps out on campaign. There’s the intent to make us grow close quickly by rolling through the dirt together, and there’s also the intent to send us out at this opportunity, since we are a field force and yet we’ve spent most of our time tied down inside the Alliance. And....”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed.
“It is also to announce us to the world.”
“The existence of the Righteous Justice Corps?”
“Yes. In truth, by head count, it’s merely the Evil-Smiting Corps with fifty more from the Demon-Sweeping Corps attached, so it is nothing all that new. What matters is the symbol.”
“The symbol....”
“Yes, the symbol.”
Yeon Hojeong looked up at the ceiling.
“Since the Martial Alliance was first founded, it has been growing smoothly until now. I’m not just saying that. It really has been growing well. But even now, most people in the world live without knowing just how tremendous the Martial Alliance’s power is.”
“I think so as well.”
“The Evil-Smiting Corps and Demon-Sweeping Corps went out into the rivers and lakes a few times and achieved things, but that alone isn’t enough. To begin with, there has been no battle that all of the Central Plains watched.”
“Didn’t the Evil-Smiting Corps eliminate many Dark Path gangs? Moreover, every Dark Path group the Evil-Smiting Corps eliminated consisted of true villains who sucked the marrow from common folk.”
“Right. Thanks to that, our reputation rose. But that is all.”
“I do not think there is any greater merit than that. In this era where the empire has lost power and public order has collapsed, the Evil-Smiting Corps punished evildoers through decisive action. To common folk, scattered little evils cause greater harm than one enormous evil.”
“Do not try to perform some great good. Melt into the world and do many small goods. Yes, that’s true. True chivalry is like Gi Uhui—silently doing good even if others do not recognize it. I think so too.”
“That is why the Evil-Smiting Corps is remarkable.”
“And that is why the Martial Alliance decided it was not enough.”
“......What do you mean?”
Yeon Hojeong sighed.
“For an enormous organization like the Martial Alliance, dividing good and evil and performing acts of chivalry is not that important. Whatever else may be true, what moves the world is power and money. And in the irrational world that is the martial world, those two things demand reputation as their price.”
“.......”
“They will need a greater, stronger, and more definite reputation. That is why they are sending out the Righteous Justice Corps.”
Mo Yong-woo’s eyes deepened.
“For the Martial Alliance’s reputation?”
“Yes. Something on the level of the Corridor Band is not even close. The Three Creeds? They are our most dangerous enemy, but the world does not yet know them. Needless to say, half-baked Dark Path gangs are not enough either.”
Yeon Hojeong looked at Mo Yong-woo as he spoke.
“You said you told Mo Yonggun that Ink Dragon Manor must be dealt with? That proposal will likely be approved in some form before tomorrow passes. Why? Because in the end, what the Martial Alliance needs is reputation.”
“That...!”
Mo Yong-woo had never thought that far. The reason he had advised Mo Yonggun that Ink Dragon Manor had to be dealt with was because of the Perverse Lust Cult, not because of reputation.
“I... thought that proposal would not pass easily. The reason being, Ink Dragon Manor is an enormous organization. One wrong move, and war could break out.”
“That could happen.”
“When I told Brother that, it was in order to uncover the Three Creeds’ strings. I did not have anything so perilous in mind.”
“I know. I know, but this is a world where people can offer a hundred interpretations of a single poem. This is the Martial Alliance we’re talking about. Did you think it would move exactly according to Brother’s intent?”
“......!”
“At least when it comes to this matter, the odds are high that it won’t.”
“How could this be....”
Mo Yong-woo could not believe it.
“Are you saying my proposal may light the spark for war with the Dark Path?”
Yeon Hojeong shook his head.
“That is a separate matter. The Service Lords of the main Alliance are not fools. Starting a war first in the current situation? That’s nonsense. They absolutely won’t do anything that reckless.”
“Right?”
“However, since sending the Righteous Justice Corps out of the Alliance is confirmed, they will try to make the best possible use of us. And it is obvious that the best prey for casting our presence over the world is Ink Dragon Manor.”
“......!!”
Mo Yong-woo’s face hardened.
“As you say, the Service Lords are all wise people. Of course power and money are important to an organization, but even so, they will not try to touch Ink Dragon Manor by force.”
Yeon Hojeong nodded.
“That is why I said it would be approved in ‘some form.’ Touching Ink Dragon Manor itself is not the only way. We may receive orders to attack illegal businesses or vicious sects connected to Ink Dragon Manor.”
Yeon Hojeong chuckled.
“And as for those, I personally infiltrated and dug up information. If approval goes through, the odds are high that we will strike them based on the information I brought back from Ink Dragon Manor.”
“......Hooo.”
Mo Yong-woo sighed as though the ground itself were collapsing beneath him.
“The affairs of the world truly never go the way I wish.”
“When has the world ever been easy? It does not go the way we wish, and it does not roll according to what we want, so each person throws himself into the struggle to create the world he desires.”
Mo Yong-woo, his face heavy, looked down at his cup and filled Yeon Hojeong’s and Mookbi’s cups.
“Whatever the case, this time, we have no choice but to trust the leadership’s decision.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.
This time?
That meant that from some point onward, Mo Yong-woo had begun to feel doubt toward the leadership’s orders.
Hmm.
Yeon Hojeong studied Mo Yong-woo’s eyes.
They looked confused and stifled. They looked worried, and there also seemed to be anger toward this wretched world.
Yeon Hojeong quietly examined Mo Yong-woo’s face, then tossed out a question.
“Do you feel stifled?”
“I do.”
“Even so, we have to fight. What else can we do?”
“Do not say it that way. The leadership’s orders are absolute, but at least in the Orthodox Path, there is a great principle that takes precedence even over orders.”
“What is that?”
“Chivalry.”
Mo Yong-woo’s eyes shone.
“Sacrifice the few for the many? An organization may be able to do that. But the Orthodox Path must not. Everyone becoming well-off at the cost of making a single person miserable? That is something that can never be tolerated.”
“But that is reality. Everyone cries out such words, but in the end, the world has not flowed according to ideals. Not for thousands of years.”
“Even so, we must pursue them. The reason is that they are the right path. If we do not pursue them and do not strive for them simply because they are unrealistic, how can we call ourselves the Orthodox Path, and what can we teach the younger generation?”
Mo Yong-woo’s face twisted.
“What if we lack reputation? What if we lack power and money? If it is to let even one more person live like a human being, and if that is the right path, then pursuing it is only proper.”
His face was still confused. But Mo Yong-woo’s voice did not waver.
He was moving while hiding his true feelings in order to set his clan right, but that could not be a reason to diminish the man named Mo Yong-woo.
Mo Yong-woo had always been this kind of person. He was someone who knew what value must never be abandoned, even if the world collapsed. And he was someone prepared to stake his life for that conviction.
Yeon Hojeong said, “But we alone cannot change the survival principle chosen by that long history.”
“That is not a survival principle. In the end, it was people who made that history!”
“Then change it yourself.”
“What...?”
“I’ll help you, so tear out and fix every injustice and every un-Orthodox act that makes you feel that way.”
Mo Yong-woo’s eyes shook violently.
Yeon Hojeong spoke calmly.
“There are more evil people in the world than good ones. And compared to those who are good or evil, there are ten thousand times more people who do not even know whether what they are doing is good or evil.”
“.......”
“I do not think I can reform them all. Nor am I in a position to. But if you feel stifled, Brother, and if you want to make that kind of world, then I will gladly stake my life.”
“Brother Yeon.”
“Of course, the Three Creeds must still be smashed no matter what.”
The two looked at each other in silence.
Yeon Hojeong smiled.
“One drink should be enough. You seem to have a lot to think about, so let’s end it here for today.”
“Brother Yeon.”
“I’ll come by tomorrow, so buy me a meal. Mookbi, let’s go.”
Yeon Hojeong rose from his seat and looked down at Mo Yong-woo as he added one more thing.
“Keep this in mind. We did have a round against the Divine Flame Cult, but the real fight has not even begun yet. Think carefully about how you should move inside it, and what kind of life you should live.”
“.......”
“I’m going. See you tomorrow.”
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