Chapter 427: A Past Entwined by the Four Spirits (2)

No one seated around the tea table spoke first.

The atmosphere was heavy, the silence suffocating.

How much time passed like that?

Jong Myeong was the first to speak.

“Leaving aside the fact that you arrived without notice and took up the time of an official in the middle of his duties...”

Jong Myeong looked at Tamgyeong.

He was the only person at the table smiling. If anything, he seemed to find the whole situation interesting. The way his gaze occasionally wandered around the room even carried a hint of childlike innocence.

“How do you know this gentleman, and how did you persuade him to come here?”

He had called Tamgyeong “this gentleman.”

The left Provincial Administration Commissioner of the Office of Provincial Administration was a high-ranking official of the senior second rank, one of the central pillars of provincial authority. He had no need to defer to someone merely because that person was older.

For such words to come from Jong Myeong’s mouth, the two clearly knew each other quite well already.

Yeon Hojeong said,

“I thought it would look better to bring someone you find difficult to refuse and have him persuade you, rather than have a martial artist intimidate an official.”

“......Let me make one thing perfectly clear.”

Jong Myeong’s gaze turned cold.

“Have you never considered that precisely this sort of behavior is what makes people regard the organization you belong to as dangerous?”

“I see no reason to put on a polite mask for an official who already regards martial artists themselves as a threat.”

Jong Myeong frowned.

“I would say that has nothing to do with my personal beliefs.”

“Whether those beliefs are right or wrong is of no interest to me. What matters is that, under the pretext of working for the future, you are ignoring countless ways to make Guangdong Province a better place to live right now.”

“Reality is reality. An official’s duty is to labor day and night for a better future and a better life.”

“And is it not also an official’s duty to improve the lives of the countless common people living in the present?”

“I have never thought myself so incompetent that I needed a martial artist to teach me my duties as an official.”

“Then I can only conclude that you are badly mistaken and lack the proper qualities of an official. They say a learned man can take a lesson even from a three-year-old child, yet you seem incapable of conceiving that there might be anything for you to learn from another person.”

Jong Myeong’s rigid cheek twitched.

Whatever else might be said, there was simply no beating this man in an argument. For Jong Myeong, an accomplished administrator who had never been outmatched in either administrative debate or negotiation, it was a particularly painful experience.

Yeon Hojeong continued in an even tone.

“Let me be clear. Guangdong is in a terrible state. If you had truly cared about Guangdong and the empire, you would never have allowed those rotten assassins to run rampant for more than a decade, and you would have noticed long ago that the orthodox factions of the martial world were losing their strength.”

“You seem determined to lay every fault at my feet.”

“Now I see that not only are you unwilling to learn, you’ve even cultivated the nasty habit of hearing only what you want to hear.”

“You!”

Jong Myeong raised his voice.

“I will tolerate no further insolence! The empire has imperial law, statutes, and regulations! Officials are appointed for a reason!”

“Stop changing the subject and acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged.”

“Do you truly wish to be thrown into prison?!”

“You are a failed administrator.”

“......!!”

The words flew like a sharpened dagger and buried themselves in him.

A failed administrator.

That simple, unequivocal description sealed Jong Myeong’s mouth shut.

“The Office of Provincial Administration, the Regional Military Commission, and the Judicial Surveillance Commission each have clearly defined powers and responsibilities and do not interfere in one another’s affairs. So blaming you alone for Guangdong reaching this state may indeed be an exaggeration. However...”

“......”

“You may have earned respectable evaluations in finance and external administration, but when it comes to the less conspicuous work of governance—public order, welfare, and the like—you have unquestionably failed.”

“......”

“Even with those three branches separated, given Guangdong’s particular circumstances, the Judicial Surveillance Commission deserves the greatest blame for the assassin problem. Yet I came to you because the left and right Provincial Administration Commissioners occupy the positions best suited to identifying what the common people actually need.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes sharpened.

“The martial world exists in reality yet seems almost like fantasy to outsiders. Because you saw it only as something dangerous that should be rejected, you never accepted it as part of the population you were responsible for governing. If you had at least decided to eliminate it, that would have been one thing. Instead, you simply ignored it—and parasites multiplied in the space you left unattended.”

“......No matter what you say, I have only one answer.”

His face flushed deep red, Jong Myeong said,

“I will not tolerate you crossing the line any further. You saved my life as the left Provincial Administration Commissioner, so I will overlook every discourtesy you have shown me thus far.”

“......”

“Leave. The affairs of the empire will be handled by its officials. Do not involve yourself any further.”

That was when Tamgyeong spoke.

“Ju Gak once told me something.”

Jong Myeong’s face froze instantly.

It could only have been because of the name Ju Gak.

Tamgyeong continued calmly.

“He said intelligent people have no need to become rigid, yet once they grow old, they often become more rigid than anyone else.”

“......”

“There is nothing inherently wrong with being rigid. The problem is that, for anyone responsible for running an organization, rigidity becomes a sin. It narrows your field of vision until you stop even thinking about anything outside it.”

Jong Myeong stammered.

“Even if you invoke that gentleman’s name, I absolutely will not...”

“Are you frightened? Afraid I might pressure that friend of mine into dragging you down into the mire?”

“......!!”

“People differ in temperament and ability. But looking at you now, it seems to me that you are living not for Guangdong Province, but for yourself.”

“Sir.”

“That is not necessarily wrong either. Is an official not still human? The problem is that even for your own sake, you should have paid more attention to public sentiment in Guangdong. If you wanted to rise higher than your present position, you should have lost sleep making certain Guangdong was governed so thoroughly that not a single problem could arise. Why? Because that is why you receive such a generous salary from the empire.”

“......”

“There are fools among your superiors, and plenty of greedy men as well. But there are also many decent people with sound judgment.”

“......?!”

“Do you understand what I am saying? We can set aside the countless political enemies you eliminated while climbing from the very bottom to where you stand today. The point is that there is unquestionably something wrong with the way you govern now.”

Jong Myeong’s eyelids trembled.

Tamgyeong’s voice was far calmer than Yeon Hojeong’s, almost leisurely.

Yet the weight behind his words was tremendous.

“Whether you sought to fulfill your ambitions or your responsibilities as an official, you should never have allowed Guangdong’s administration to remain in this state. I know nothing about administration myself, but even I can see that your mistakes are hardly minor.”

“I...”

“You do not want to admit it? Because it would stain the history you have built for yourself? Then you should not have allowed it to happen.”

“......!!”

“It has already happened. Your record already bears the stain. That leaves you two choices. Display enough ability to bury that stain beneath greater accomplishments—or step down from your position.”

They were frightening words.

Step down.

They were hardly words an old man who was not even an official—and who had long since severed ties even with the influential Shaolin Temple—should have been able to say.

Yet Jong Myeong had gone deathly pale.

Tamgyeong’s words did not sound like an empty threat.

Yeon Hojeong said,

“If I had known you were this hopelessly inflexible, perhaps I should simply have let you die.”

“......!!”

“Does that sound extreme? I don’t care. When I think of the common people screaming even at this very moment, officials who failed to do their jobs should have nothing to say even with a hundred mouths, and losing a thousand heads would not absolve them of their crimes.”

Yeon Hojeong turned his head.

Soh Bang sat beside them, every nerve on edge.

Her hands were bound in chains, and the murderous expression on her face made her look like a demoness straight out of hell.

“Do you know who this woman is?”

“......?”

“She is a remnant of the heretical Perverse Lust Cult from beyond the frontier. And the Perverse Lust Cult has joined forces with a group called the Divine Flame Cult. Together, they intend to overthrow both the martial world and the imperial court and seize the Central Plains.”

“W-What?!”

Jong Myeong stared at Soh Bang in shock.

Soh Bang’s expression twisted even further. Yeon Hojeong calling the Perverse Lust Cult a heretical cult had clearly offended her.

“And the assassin we eliminated was also an infiltrator dispatched by the Perverse Lust Cult. He was being cultivated as a force that, when the coming war begins, would both serve as part of the blockade line along the southernmost reaches of the Central Plains and provide reinforcements when necessary.”

Flash!

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes turned glacial.

“This is what has been happening in the world you failed to see—the world you refused to see. And it will continue. In fact, the matter has already grown too large for us to simply strike at it head-on.”

“I-Is that truly the truth?!”

“What in the world have you been doing?”

“I asked whether it is true!”

“I do not lie while trying to shake some sense into the rotten skull of an official as highly placed as the left Provincial Administration Commissioner.”

“Th-This...!”

Jong Myeong shot to his feet.

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“Do not think of informing anyone. Their reach has already extended into the highest levels of government.”

“......What?”

“I’m telling you to keep your mouth shut. The moment you speak carelessly about this matter, your head will disappear from your shoulders without anyone knowing how or why. They will send men ten times more terrifying than the assassin who spent seven years at your side.”

“......!!”

“And before that happens, if you run your mouth recklessly, I will kill you first.”

The corner of Yeon Hojeong’s mouth rose.

“Do you understand now why we are telling you this?”

“......”

“There is no walking away anymore. Just as this old man said, you have two choices. Keep your mouth shut and put Guangdong in order—or die where you sit.”

“......”

“You’re already obsessed with preserving your own skin, so at least I don’t have to waste any more words warning you to be careful.”

Yeon Hojeong leaned back in his chair.

“You seem to be in contact with the Eun Clan. We’ll start there. We’ll start by finding a way to save Guangdong. And let me warn you in advance: abandon the delusion that your administration can function properly without the cooperation of Guangdong’s martial world. I trust you are not quite that stupid.”

Yeon Hojeong did not stop with the Office of Provincial Administration.

Taking Tamgyeong and Soh Bang with him, he spent the next five days making the rounds of the Regional Military Commission and the Judicial Surveillance Commission as well.

During that process, he discovered that Tamgyeong’s influence was far greater than he had expected.

Even the highest authorities in each office did not dare utter a word against him.

Soh Bang’s presence made matters easier still.

Yeon Hojeong would first set the stage, Tamgyeong would coax the officials into position, and finally Soh Bang’s very existence would serve as the decisive blow that drove them exactly where Yeon Hojeong wanted them.

And so the five-day tour concluded with a reasonable degree of success.

“Well then. Does this mean I have finished everything you asked of me?”

“You’ve done well.”

Tamgyeong smiled.

“Then it is your turn now, is it not? Our bargain.”

Yeon Hojeong nodded.

“Let’s go.”