“Hojeong.”
“You’re back, Father.”
The meeting must have run late. A faint fatigue showed on Yeon Wi’s face as he returned after midnight.
Yeon Hojeong rose from his seat.
“You’ve worked hard. You should go in and rest now.”
“There is something I must say before that.”
“Is it about the deployment destination?”
“It is.”
Yeon Wi let out a sigh.
A parent’s worry for a child is not bound by experience. Even if that child has won ten battles, the worry felt when sending him into an eleventh is no different from the first.
Yeon Wi was the same. His concern for his son had not changed.
Only, a man who had always kept firm control over his expression was now filled with worry.
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed.
“Is it Ink Dragon Manor?”
Yeon Wi asked in surprise, “How did you know that?”
He laid out his conversation with Mo Yong-woo exactly as it had happened.
Yeon Wi’s face hardened.
“The Commander of the Demon-Sweeping Corps did?”
“Yes.”
To Yeon Wi, who placed great importance on rules and decorum, Mo Yong-woo’s words could only seem to have crossed a line somewhat.
But Yeon Wi immediately set his mind straight. Strictly speaking, Yeon Hojeong himself had occasionally offered him advice or proposed solutions to a situation. Seen in that area, Mo Yong-woo’s conduct in proposing an operation to Mo Yonggun was not something that deserved severe rebuke.
It simply did not feel pleasant because his own blood had become entangled in that matter.
As if reading Yeon Wi’s thoughts, Yeon Hojeong smiled and said, “Commander Mo Yong is an exceptional talent. His martial arts go without saying, and his strategy is not lacking either. But what overwhelms all of that is his character.”
“His character, you say.”
“Mo Yong-woo is the most Orthodox Path-like person I have ever seen. Except for you, of course.”
Yeon Wi smiled bitterly.
“I trust your eye.”
“Thank you.”
“The result of the meeting will be formally announced tomorrow at noon. However, the Service Lords were of the opinion that it would be better to inform you first, as supreme commander of the Righteous Justice Corps, before then. That is why I am telling you now.”
“I will listen.”
Yeon Wi drew in a deep breath.
“As you said, the deployment destination is connected to Ink Dragon Manor of the Dark Path. However, we will not be touching Ink Dragon Manor directly.”
“I thought that would be the case. If we touched them carelessly, it could start a war.”
“Of course, a war will not break out unless things go to extremes. Even if a preemptive strike is made, most matters are resolved through diplomacy, and cases where blood is truly spilled are extremely few. But there is no harm in being cautious.”
“You are right. Then what orders will be handed down to us?”
“Before that, do you know a man named Hong Gwan?”
Yeon Hojeong tilted his head.
“That is the first time I have heard the name.”
“Yes. It was the same for me. Until I heard Hu Gae’s words, I knew nothing about him.”
After pausing briefly, Yeon Wi tossed the words out.
“This man named Hong Gwan is one of Fighting King Yangcheon’s disciples.”
“......!”
Yeon Hojeong’s face hardened.
“Please explain in detail.”
“I would like to, but there is still nothing I can explain with certainty about him. However, according to what Hu Gae discovered, he is one of the strongest among Yangcheon’s many disciples, and he has deliberately avoided showing himself to the world while moving in the dark.”
Yeon Hojeong could not hide his doubt.
One of the strongest? Yangcheon’s disciple?
He was a man who had already lived one life and returned.
In other words, he knew in his own way about things that had happened in the past—or, from the present perspective, things that would happen in the future—as well as people the world did not yet know.
But he knew absolutely nothing about this man named Hong Gwan. Fighting King Yangcheon’s disciple? Of course, he had fought Yangcheon’s disciples before, but the Yangcheon disciples Yeon Hojeong knew numbered only four.
Four was by no means a large number. Yet Father had said he was one of “many” disciples.
Yeon Wi nodded.
“Yes. If you had known, you would not have reacted like that.”
“I fought Yangcheon in a life-and-death battle, killed him, and reigned as King of the Dark Path.”
“I know.”
“The Dark Path’s intelligence network surpasses the Orthodox Path’s in some respects. And when the enemy leader is killed in war, it is standard to search out the dangerous figures under that leader and eliminate future trouble. I did that as well.”
“.......”
“But I know Yangcheon’s disciples to be four. That is not a number one could ever call many.”
“Then it is one of two things. Either he shut himself away even after Yangcheon’s death and plotted something, or......”
“......!!”
“Or he was not Yangcheon’s disciple to begin with.”
Yeon Hojeong’s face once again hardened with shock.
Yeon Wi continued.
“In truth, we originally intended to decide the Righteous Justice Corps’ deployment destination based on the information you seized from Ink Dragon Manor. The illegal businesses Ink Dragon Manor has been conducting are shaking the economy of the martial world, and sects that have not been revealed to the world have been sucking the blood of common people in secret. We intended to set such places as the first targets to strike.”
“That was what I expected as well.”
“But the situation has changed. According to Hu Gae, the very discovery of this man named Hong Gwan was extraordinarily lucky.”
Hu Gae of the Beggars’ Union, the greatest union under heaven, had intelligence that could be discussed as standing at the summit of the world.
Yet even Hu Gae said he had only been able to investigate this man called Hong Gwan by luck, by coincidence. That showed just how well this Hong Gwan had hidden himself.
“This man Hong Gwan—where is he, and what is he doing?”
“He is an assassin.”
“......Pardon?”
Yeon Wi’s face hardened.
“This man named Hong Gwan is an assassin. But he is no ordinary assassin. Hu Gae said that he is the emperor of the assassin world, one that neither I, nor Hu Gae, nor the entire Orthodox martial world knew of.”
“......?”
“And his power, astonishingly enough, is said to be tremendous enough to dominate the underworld of the martial world. In other words, he is the master of all assassins under heaven, and he wields immense power from the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° shadows.”
“......!”
“It was information that was hard to believe. Worse, only his name and his relationship with Yangcheon are clear, while there is no detailed information about anything else, so it is difficult to trust. But...... Hu Gae seemed certain that this man truly reigns as a god of the martial world’s assassin circles.”
Strength entered Yeon Wi’s eyes.
“The problem comes next. The Beggars’ Union refines all information gathered from across the world in real time and sends only what must be reported to the Martial Alliance. Even the volume of information filtered out from that process is enough to make one’s jaw drop.”
“I know.”
“Strategist Je Gal said this. That unusual things have been happening in the southern Central Plains. Sects that had made names for themselves began losing power at some point, then closed their gates, while sects or martial families destroyed by bandits have been appearing one after another.”
“Bandits?!”
“Yes. Of course, it is not only bandits. Localized wars have broken out between sects as well, and several renowned old martial artists have died of disease or fallen from cliffs to their deaths.”
“How could......”
“The problem is that these events are happening far too naturally. The Central Plains is vast. And disease, death, and conflict can happen at any time. Because of that, even the Beggars’ Union had been watching the events taking place in the south but had not considered them particularly strange.”
Je Gal Munho had pointed out something even the Beggars’ Union had not thought strange. Once again, it showed just how extraordinary his eye was.
“And Hu Gae...... believes that this man named Hong Gwan is connected to the natural, yet clearly visible, reduction of the Orthodox martial world’s power taking place in the south.”
“Hong Gwan...... Then what the Righteous Justice Corps must do is?”
“Yes.”
Yeon Wi sighed.
“Go to the southern Central Plains, investigate together with the Beggars’ Union why this matter is happening, determine the clear cause if one exists, then find this man named Hong Gwan and eliminate him—or capture him.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes sank coldly.
A field force was, literally, only a field force. Yet the leadership was telling them to investigate the situation, find its cause—in other words, Hong Gwan—and eliminate him.
It was a task a field force could take on, yet also a task that far exceeded a field force’s capabilities. That was why they were being told to receive the Beggars’ Union’s help, but even so, one could hardly call it a mission suited to the Righteous Justice Corps.
“It would be better to send a small elite unit instead. The Righteous Justice Corps numbers more than five hundred. This is not a matter for an army to handle. It is a matter for a special-operations unit or special operatives.”
“Is there not a special-operations unit within the Righteous Justice Corps?”
“......!”
Yeon Wi sighed.
“Yes. The Service Lords highly value the Evil-Smiting Corps’ capabilities. But I, too, do not think this is a matter the Righteous Justice Corps should handle.”
“Then all the more......”
“That is why they want the Righteous Justice Corps to handle it all the more.”
Yeon Hojeong’s face twisted slightly.
“Because of our reputation?”
“I do not think that is the only reason, but I also do not think that reason is absent.”
Yeon Wi was the Clan Lord of the Yeon Clan of Green Mountain and a member of the Six Great Clans. Naturally, his reputation and presence were immense.
The problem was that every Service Lord possessed a presence and authority no less than Yeon Wi’s. Even if a small number of Service Lords stepped forward to strongly oppose it, unless it greatly violated morality, they had no choice but to follow the general trend.
After quietly looking at Yeon Wi, Yeon Hojeong asked, “Let me ask one thing. Did Strategist Je Gal approve this operation as well?”
“Unbelievably, he was the first to approve it.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes shone.
Yeon Wi sighed.
“That is why I, too, could not show strong opposition. It is not because of my friendship with the strategist. It is because I believe the strategist must have his own reason for approving this matter.”
“That would be so.”
“However, no matter how I think about it, I cannot understand this operation. Especially if, as Hu Gae says, this man named Hong Gwan truly wields powerful authority in the underworld, finding and eliminating him will be no different from plucking stars from the sky.”
“......Hmm.”
Yeon Wi asked indirectly, “What do you think? Do you believe the strategist has a clear reason for approving this matter so confidently?”
“He must. Though I do not know what it is yet.”
“Phew.”
After sinking into thought for a moment, Yeon Hojeong nodded.
“Whatever the case may be, if such an order has been given, then we must make preparations of our own.”
“I have no face before you. I, too, am a member of the Service Lords.”
“No. I am the supreme commander who leads five hundred fifty troops. It is puzzling, and I have concerns, but if it is an order from above, I must obey.”
That was what an army was. Even if an unreasonable order came down, it moved first, and achieved that order with maximum efficiency. That was an army.
However.
Something feels wrong.
A faint shadow fell over Yeon Hojeong’s face.
It feels wrong. Strategist Je Gal and Hu Gae both know Father’s personality. For something of this magnitude, they could have given him a hint in advance. Judging by the way things sound, Father must have only heard it in the meeting room too.
Then Yeon Wi said, “Is there anything I can help you with separately?”
Yeon Hojeong smiled.
“Nothing in particular. However, may I ask one thing of you?”
“Yes. Speak freely.”
“Please meet Mo Yonggun.”
“Mo Yonggun? Now?”
“Yes.”
“What should I do when I meet him?”
Yeon Hojeong spoke in a flat voice.
In that instant, Yeon Wi’s face hardened like frost.
“......Very well. If that is truly what you think, I will do so.”
Half an hour later.
Mo Yonggun, who had been drinking tea while looking out the window, saw a person.
After looking at him for a long while, Mo Yonggun opened his mouth.
“Is anyone outside?”
“Yes, Clan Lord.”
“Bring out a drinking table. An honored guest has come.”
“Yes.”
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