When he turned his gaze, the Emperor and the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy were staring at him as if they had seen a ghost.
Was it real?
Had his face really healed?
It was frustrating that he could not see it.
“Frustrating, isn’t it? Here.”
When he looked at the bronze mirror Jeok Wigang held out, his face had returned cleanly, as though nothing had ever happened.
No, it was even cleaner than before he had been injured.
“Ah! I forgot. You said your face couldn’t be seen, right?”
Jeok Wigang grinned and grabbed his head again.
No way.
He stared at Jeok Wigang with trembling pupils.
“Don’t worry. I’ll crush it so they’ll never recognize you.”
*****
Bleeergh—
Zhu Seogi and the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy kept vomiting.
At that sight, Jeok Wigang shook his head.
“You both have remarkably weak stomachs.”
“D-did you truly have to do that in a place where His Majesty was present?”
“That is how you make them obedient. There has to be overwhelming fear for them to follow without thinking about anything else. Look. They listen promptly now.”
Jeok Wigang spoke to the people standing in a single-file line.
“Sit.”
PA-PA-PAT—
As though they had practiced it, they all sat at the same time.
“Stand.”
PA-PA-PAT—
“Who is the one you must devote your loyalty to?”
“His Majesty the Emperor!”
“How must you be loyal?”
“We must devote our lives in loyalty!”
“His Majesty’s words are?”
“The Mandate of Heaven!”
“That’s right. From now on, if His Majesty gives an order, you won’t pretend to die. You’ll actually die.”
“Yes, sir!”
Jeok Wigang smiled as he looked at Zhu Seogi.
“Your Majesty. They will now obey Your Majesty’s commands absolutely.”
“Th-thank you.”
“Not at all. I merely did what had to be done.”
“They may be acting obedient now because you are in front of them, but once they return, will they not change their minds again?”
“Then why not create a new one?”
“A new one?”
“Isn’t new wine meant to be put in new wineskins? Establish a new organization to follow Your Majesty in place of the Eastern Depot.”
“Sigh. If that were easy, I would have done it already. There is no one in the palace who wishes to follow me.”
“Why would there be no one? They are right here, are they not?”
The direction Jeok Wigang pointed to contained the Eastern Depot men kneeling on the ground.
Zhu Seogi and the Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy stared at him as if dumbfounded.
“Do you think they will follow me sincerely?”
“Let’s have them do it first. And please give the newly established organization a name.”
At the request for him to name it, Zhu Seogi thought for a moment before speaking.
“The opposite of the Eastern Depot. I shall call it the Western Depot.”
“That’s good.”
Jeok Wigang grinned and spoke to the Eastern Depot men.
“Starting today, you are the Western Depot. What are you?”
“We are the Western Depot!”
“What is the Eastern Depot to you?”
“Our enemy!”
“That’s right.”
Watching Jeok Wigang enjoy himself, Zhu Seogi wondered whether this was truly all right.
It somehow seemed as though he was playing around.
It also seemed like a word game between the Eastern Depot and the Western Depot.
Most of all, there was the question of who should be placed at the head of the Western Depot.
“What use is creating a new organization? There is no talent to place at its head.”
“That talent is over there too.”
“Hm?”
“Hey, come here.”
At Jeok Wigang’s call, one man sprang up, ran over, and prostrated himself.
He was Ban Ho, the Spy-Interrogation Officer who had led the group from the Eastern Depot.
“Place this fellow at its head. His martial arts are fairly good, and he should listen well.”
“You mean this man?”
“Yes. You’ll listen well, won’t you?”
“That is correct! If His Majesty tells me to die, I shall die!”
“He says he will listen well.”
“Mm.”
“Try trusting him once.”
Zhu Seogi stared silently at Jeok Wigang, then seemed so dumbfounded that he laughed without meaning to.
“How strange. My situation has not changed at all, yet when I am with you, I feel a confidence that makes me think I can do anything. Even now.”
“I do not know what to do with myself when Your Majesty thinks so highly of me. From now on, I shall make sure there are no men who dare act rudely toward Your Majesty.”
“I truly hope you do.”
“Do not worry. Even if a million imperial troops were to threaten Your Majesty, I have the strength to make them all kneel.”
Zhu Seogi looked at Jeok Wigang with an absurd expression.
To say such a thing so casually.
And yet those words did not seem like a lie.
A general who could face ten thousand men alone was called one who could not be opposed by ten thousand.
Jeok Wigang seemed to be that kind of existence.
An existence that made one feel, simply by having him nearby, that anything could be done.
Zhu Seogi nodded and said, “Very well. I shall follow your intention.”
Then ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) he approached Ban Ho and said, “From today onward, I appoint you Chief Eunuch of the Western Depot. Follow my command, keep watch on the Eastern Depot, uncover every last one of their crimes, and report them to me.”
At Zhu Seogi’s command, Ban Ho bowed his head and said, “I obey the imperial order!”
It was the first time.
Since becoming Emperor, it was the first time Zhu Seogi had seen someone obey his command so meekly.
All of this was thanks to Jeok Wigang.
He wanted to bestow an official post upon him too.
If possible, the highest official post.
Seeing the look in Zhu Seogi’s eyes, Jeok Wigang smiled and shook his head.
“No.”
“What do you mean?”
“I came here to take the imperial examination. I will take the examination properly and receive an official post.”
“What? Hahahaha!”
Others were desperate to receive official posts by any comfortable means available, yet Jeok Wigang said he would enter by taking the examination properly.
If he wanted, Zhu Seogi could give him a post beneath one man and above ten thousand.
If it was Jeok Wigang, that was.
And yet he said he would enter through the examination.
Zhu Seogi liked Jeok Wigang more and more.
On top of that, though they had only met for the first time today, he felt as comfortable as an old friend.
So much that he wanted to keep him by his side at all times.
Cough— cough!
It seemed Zhu Seogi had grown excited because he was in a good mood.
When he suddenly began coughing in pain, Jeok Wigang approached him and said, “May I touch Your Majesty’s august body for a moment?”
At Jeok Wigang’s words, Zhu Seogi smiled and said, “For you, as much as you wish.”
Zhu Seogi now seemed ready to believe anything Jeok Wigang said.
Jeok Wigang placed a hand on his back and murmured an incantation.
“Let the flow of qi reveal its clarity, trace the blood vessels to their end, manifest the five organs, diagnose the six bowels, respond to poison qi, reveal the wounded places.”
It was an incantation that examined the other person’s bodily condition in detail.
With this, he could find the reason Zhu Seogi’s body had weakened.
“Hmm. It is poisoning.”
“P-poisoning?”
“Yes. The reason Your Majesty’s body has weakened is poison.”
Then he murmured another incantation.
“Poison, retreat without trace. Evil qi, scatter completely. Clear flow, fill the body. Body and mind, become pure.”
At that instant, multicolored qi began bursting out of Zhu Seogi’s body.
“Ahhhh.”
As though it felt good, Zhu Seogi closed his eyes and let out a moan.
His dark complexion gradually brightened, and soon a ruddy color began returning to his face.
His drying skin also swelled back out, soon turning firm and healthy.
Of those watching, no one was greatly surprised.
They had already experienced enough of it while being beaten by Jeok Wigang before this.
A short while later.
Zhu Seogi rejoiced as he looked over his completely changed body from every angle.
He even jumped up and down and ran this way and that.
Then he spoke in an emotional voice.
“Hahaha. Now... I am not short of breath. All the places that hurt are gone too...”
Soon Zhu Seogi began shedding tears.
Then he clasped Jeok Wigang’s hands tightly.
“Thank you! Truly, thank you! You are the savior of my life.”
“I merely did what had to be done, Your Majesty.”
“No! Do not think you can slip past it that way. I promise you. I will repay this grace without fail.”
At that, Jeok Wigang grinned and said, “Understood. Then I shall look forward to it.”
“What? Hahahaha!”
Zhu Seogi liked Jeok Wigang so much that, if his heart had its way, he would have sworn brotherhood with him at once.
Now he would do anything for Jeok Wigang.
He felt as though he could even hand over the Emperor’s seat if Jeok Wigang asked for it.
No, rather, he wished Jeok Wigang would take it.
He wanted to throw everything off and return to his hometown, live comfortably while farming as he had before.
“You must continue doing it. And you must create an age of peace and prosperity.”
“Hm?”
“Were you not just thinking that you wanted to quit being Emperor?”
“Huh. Do you read thoughts now too?”
“It was written all over your face.”
“What do you think? Have you no thought of taking this position?”
At those words, Jeok Wigang shook his head with open disgust.
“Absolutely not.”
His complete sincerity could be felt.
If Jeok Wigang hated this position, then Zhu Seogi would give him a position similar to it.
If none existed, he would create one.
Seeing the look in Zhu Seogi’s eyes, Jeok Wigang felt uneasy.
I need to settle the palace business quickly and get out.
*****
An Eastern Depot safe house.
A finely handsome man sat in the seat of honor. He was the head of the Eastern Depot, the Chief Eunuch.
“They disappeared?”
The Chief Eunuch of the Eastern Depot tilted his head after receiving the report.
“Yes. Everyone dispatched to the Emperor’s secret safe house has disappeared.”
“Hmm. Is it not because they have yet to discover the Imperial Seal?”
“We sent people there, but they say they vanished without a trace.”
“Without a trace? Where did they go?”
“We are still investigating, but judging by the traces of battle throughout the secret safe house, it appears they fought someone and were dragged away afterward.”
“When was the day those Hanlin Academy bookworms were supposed to meet the Emperor?”
“According to our information, yesterday was the appointed date.”
“So that information was true after all? I heard the Embroidered Uniform Guard followed the Hanlin Academy without our knowledge. Was it them?”
“Would the Embroidered Uniform Guard have done it?”
“Who knows? I haven’t even seen the tip of that Commander bastard’s nose.”
“Not many people know that man’s face.”
“Even so, does it make sense that I, the head of the Eastern Depot, do not know his face?”
“Shall I obtain a portrait?”
“Forget it. That would make me look like I was courting him.”
“Understood. Shall we investigate the Imperial Seal’s whereabouts again?”
“Forget it. Let’s just make a new Imperial Seal. That would be faster.”
“The other ministers will oppose it.”
“Sigh. This is truly irritating. It is not as though I can kill them all.”
When his beautiful face creased slightly, his subordinates bowed their heads.
“Even your frown is beautiful.”
“That is only natural.”
At the compliment that he was beautiful, the Chief Eunuch smiled again.
“For now, proceed with making a new one and persuade the ministers. Keep searching for the Imperial Seal in the meantime.”
“Understood.”
“Look into the movements of the Embroidered Uniform Guard as well. If they took the Imperial Seal, there will be some suspicious movement.”
“Yes! What should we do about those who disappeared?”
“Is our Eastern Depot short on people?”
“We have many.”
“Then don’t make a fuss over a mere few people disappearing.”
“Understood.”
“Leave. I want to be alone.”
“Yes! We shall withdraw.”
As soon as his subordinates withdrew, he slouched back into the chair and sighed.
“Sigh... How long must I keep playing this damned human role...”
Ding, ding, ding—
The bell announcing the time rang.
“Damn it. Is it already that late?”
With a deeply irritated expression, he lowered his head and lamented.
“I should have just killed the Emperor and transformed into him. Then things would have been easier...”
He was blaming his own choice, as if reproaching himself.
“Now I have to go flatter that ugly bitch.”
As though he truly did not want to go, he struggled to his feet and walked out with his shoulders drooping.
“Just hold on a little longer. I am almost there... After all the trouble I went through to build this board, I cannot give up now.”
After muttering that, he soon changed his expression and shifted into a vigorous stride.
*****
Zhu Seogi was looking down at the man before him with a flustered expression.
This was the man Jeok Wigang had called after Zhu Seogi said the Western Depot had too few people to be meaningful.
It was Ye Yahyeon, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
He was someone who had never budged when Zhu Seogi called him, yet when Jeok Wigang called, he came running in a single step.