It was a peaceful day.

Everything had gone according to plan, which no doubt made it feel more so.

But Cheon Doyun’s calm did not last long.

“Young Clan Head!”

A subordinate’s urgent voice came from outside the study.

Cheon Doyun frowned slightly and answered curtly.

“What is it.”

“A man has come from the Gok Clan!”

The moment he heard the Gok Clan, his stomach dropped.

The uneasy feeling brought Gok Taejun’s face to mind at once.

“Show him in!”

The study door opened and a man came in, drenched in cold sweat.

An ordinary man with nothing distinctive about his face.

“I greet the Cheon Clan’s Young Clan Head. I am Gu Wonho, head steward of the Gok Clan.”

Cheon Doyun nodded.

“I remember our introduction. First, I’ll hear what brings you to me. Is this about Taejun?”

Gu Wonho made a low sound in his throat and gave a small nod.

“This morning we found that the Young Clan Head was not in his quarters.”

BANG!

Cheon Doyun struck the desk before he knew he had.

After all the times he had impressed it on him, Gok Taejun had gone and made trouble in the end.

Gu Wonho watched his face and went on carefully.

“S-so we wondered whether you might have summoned him…”

“How could that be!”

Cheon Doyun snapped back at him. Then he rubbed his face and began to put his thoughts in order.

‘So Seo Woojin has moved? Abduction, perhaps? No. That is a gamble with far too much risk attached. If he has any sense he could not have gotten inside the Gok Clan itself.’

Which meant, in the end, that Gok Taejun had gone out on his own.

‘Damn it. This is exactly why I told them again and again to keep a close watch on him!’

Gok Cheonmu’s complacent handling of it had produced this.

‘Should I go looking for Gok Taejun even now? More to the point, can he be found?’

If the man had any sense, there would be a reason he had sent no word all this while.

Which meant he was in a situation where he could not.

Cheon Doyun decided to deal with it one thing at a time.

“Outwardly, the Yoo Geonwoo business is the Gok Clan’s business. So Cheon Clan warriors will not move.”

“B-but—!”

“It may already be too late, but for now put the Gok Clan’s warriors out and find Gok Taejun.”

“That has already been done.”

A smile with blood in it settled at Cheon Doyun’s mouth.

At least Gok Cheonmu’s response had not been stupid.

Cheon Doyun closed the papers he had been looking at and rose from his seat.

“Then lead the way. I need to see the Clan Head.”

Gu Wonho made a low sound in his throat.

He remembered Gok Cheonmu’s order that if Cheon Doyun wished to see him, Cheon Doyun was to be brought immediately.

If Gok Cheonmu’s word held, that was not an altogether bad sign.

It meant there was a plan, and that was why he wanted Cheon Doyun alone.

Gu Wonho nodded, then answered.

“I’ll take you.”

The two of them left the Cheon Clan quickly and headed for the Gok Clan.

Cheon Doyun went straight to the Clan Head’s office in the Gok Clan.

And there he was able to face Gok Cheonmu.

“I greet you, Uncle.”

At the stiffness in Cheon Doyun’s voice, Gok Cheonmu set down the bottle he was holding and gestured ahead of him.

“Sit somewhere over there. Anywhere.”

Cheon Doyun frowned.

“You’ve been drinking?”

Gok Cheonmu shrugged.

“Seems my head only turns properly with this in it. It’s good for settling me down, too.”

Cheon Doyun made a low sound in his throat.

That was not wrong.

With Gok Cheonmu’s usual temperament he would have decided on the spot that this was Seo Woojin’s doing and marched on the Dark Alliance at the head of his warriors.

“Which is why I told you to watch him more closely than usual.”

A short laugh escaped Gok Cheonmu.

“What can you do about something already done. Still, I’ve learned something this time. That you shouldn’t assign a man a fixed guard. I hadn’t known they were already serving my son as their master. Heh heh. I picked reasonably sharp men, too, and they still made a judgment that stupid.”

Was that self-reproach? Or regret at his subordinates’ foolishness? Either way, it was beyond Cheon Doyun to read it.

Cheon Doyun shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

The man was one of the pillars holding up the dark path. However clever he might be himself, guessing at the thinking of men like that was beyond him.

Because their minds do not turn the way an ordinary man’s does.

Cheon Doyun took a seat at random, as Gok Cheonmu had told him to. And he was barely down before he spoke.

“It will have been the Alliance Lord who moved, as we expected. But there’s no proof, so we must not act carelessly under any circumstances.”

“Hmph.”

Gok Cheonmu only snorted and made no particular answer.

Cheon Doyun felt the frustration of it, but he went on.

“There are two courses open to us. And one of them requires my uncle’s… no. The Clan Head’s permission.”

At the form of address, different from his usual one, the look in Gok Cheonmu’s eyes changed.

He had been half reclining, and he straightened.

“Interesting. Let’s hear the one that needs my permission first.”

Cheon Doyun swallowed.

The Gok Cheonmu he had seen did not have any great depth of affection for his son.

He seemed to look at him strictly as the Gok Clan’s heir.

Which was why he had turned a blind eye to the boy’s dissipation and at the same time never made his position as heir secure.

So perhaps.

“Gok Taejun has to be found without fail. Put every warrior the Gok Clan can muster into finding Gok Taejun.”

“And after that?”

Cheon Doyun stopped for a moment.

And then a cold voice came slowly out of him.

“He has to be killed.”

“…He has to be killed?”

Cheon Doyun nodded coolly.

“Yes.”

A smile with blood in it settled at Gok Cheonmu’s mouth.

“Interesting. Your reason had better be a convincing one. What I follow is your father, not you. Your father would understand a beating administered to correct a nephew’s way of speaking.”

The savage air Gok Cheonmu put out in that instant bore down heavily on the whole office.

Cheon Doyun swallowed dryly at the cold sensation running down his spine, without meaning to.

‘So this is one of the Seven Families’ clan heads.’

Cheon Doyun was under the pressure of it, and he smiled instead.

“There is a reason. There are many reasons, but if I explain the strongest, there is only one. Because Gok Taejun’s death will become the Dark Alliance Lord’s doing. And that pretext becomes the pretext for the Gok Clan to pull Seo Woojin down.”

“Trade my son’s life for the Dark Alliance Lord’s seat?”

“That is right. With me helping from beside you, whatever they argue in return will be useless. The Woon Clan would not have room to put a foot in either.”

The Cheon Clan and the Gok Clan are counted first among the Seven Families.

If the two houses move together against the Alliance Lord, nobody can get out from under it.

Though before that, several houses have to be brought over, and proof that looks real has to be made.

Gok Cheonmu gave no answer at all.

He only propped his chin and seemed to sink into thought.

How long was the wait?

Gok Cheonmu tipped his head.

“I’ll think about it once my son has been found. If he’s in better condition than expected, there’s no particular reason to follow what you say.”

“But—!”

Cheon Doyun started to argue at once, but Gok Cheonmu raised a hand and shut his mouth.

“Don’t imagine I don’t know you’re using my son and using the Gok Clan to get what you want.”

“…!!”

“Ordinarily I’d let it pass, but the Cheon Clan taking a profit at the cost of my son’s life doesn’t add up, whichever way I count it.”

“Th-that is…”

Gok Cheonmu shook his head.

“Enough.”

At the short warning Cheon Doyun closed his mouth.

“There is exactly one case in which I follow your proposal. If my son is damaged past any hope of recovery. Outside of that case I will not permit it.”

“…”

Cheon Doyun did not answer, but Gok Cheonmu tipped his head and pressed him for the next one.

“So now I’d like to hear the one that doesn’t need my permission.”

Cheon Doyun made a low sound in his throat and rubbed his forehead.

Gok Cheonmu really was not Gok Taejun. He looked like a man who would never make a trade that ran one way against him.

‘Damn it…’

A single word from his father at a time like this would make it all much easier.

‘He’ll be silent. As he always has been.’

Cheon Baekhyeon should never have acknowledged Seo Woojin to begin with.

He should have insisted on killing Cheon Suryeon to the end.

Had he done that, the Cheon Clan would not be moving this cautiously either.

‘Nothing to be done.’

Everything the Cheon Clan wills follows Cheon Baekhyeon’s will in the end.

Which meant that to have his own will, the Gok Clan’s help was essential.

He would have to give ground.

“The other one is to make them commit a mistake.”

Gok Cheonmu frowned.

“A mistake?”

Cheon Doyun nodded.

“I don’t know exactly what they’ve done, but every one of their actions has only one reason behind it.”

“Yoo Geonwoo?”

“That’s right. We have to use him.”

The corner of Cheon Doyun’s mouth climbed. He had made a promise to Gok Taejun, but it could not be helped.

Because right now they had to be bound up.

Cheon Doyun went on speaking.

And only then did a satisfied light begin to show in Gok Cheonmu’s face as well.

Seo Woojin left Gok Taejun with Song Biryeong and Muk-yeong.

And went straight to the Qiantang County office.

The Cheongeum Envoy Woon Seorin had sent had already met the magistrate who investigated the White Blossom Hall case.

He had put on a stiff attitude at first, but he turned obliging once he saw that Gok Taejun had been taken, and saw the transfer of the notes that Gok Taejun had written out himself before dawn.

As it turned out, the man who had died had been a criminal held in the Qiantang County cells, given poison in secret and then sent to the pleasure house.

Once the liquor was in him and time had passed, he had convulsed and died.

Naturally Baekwha, who had been held in the cells, was released at once, and Seo Woojin was waiting now for her to come out.

How long was the wait?

The Cheongeum Envoy who had reported to Seo Woojin in person back in Ningbo came out supporting a woman.

Seo Woojin crossed to her in a stride and gave her a cupped-fist salute.

“Good day. My name is Seo Woojin.”

At being greeted first, the Cheongeum Envoy was thrown, but she spoke up calmly enough.

“This is the Dark Alliance Lord.”

At that Baekwha started and straightened where she stood.

“Ah… I-I am honored to meet you. This humble woman is called Baekwha.”

Seo Woojin shook his head and stopped her as she started to make her courtesy.

“There’s no need to stand on ceremony. I’m sorry I couldn’t get you out sooner.”

“N-not at all. I don’t know how I can ever repay this kindness…”

Seo Woojin had to swallow a low sound.

They were speaking, but the exhaustion in her was plain.

He glanced at the Cheongeum Envoy.

“Signs of interrogation?”

“There doesn’t appear to have been physical torture. This being a matter of the murim, the magistrate seems to have gone at it cautiously. He only wore her down by keeping her from sleeping and giving her nothing to eat.”

Seo Woojin sighed, in the end.

Only a few days.

But a few days without food or sleep would have been nothing like only for a woman’s body.

“You’ll want to go back to White Blossom Hall right away, but for now go with her. The hall’s other courtesans have been moved somewhere safe as well.”

Baekwha was nodding when something seemed to come to her, and her eyes flashed.

“Y-Young Master Yoo… where is Young Master Yoo…?”

In the end he had to hear the question he did not want to hear.

Seo Woojin let out a small sigh and answered firmly.

“You’ll be able to see him soon. I’ll see that you do.”

She caught from the way he said it that something had happened to Yoo Geonwoo, but the firmness in it let Baekwha hold on to her composure.

Baekwha drew several deep breaths, and then bowed her head.

“Please… I ask it of you.”

Seo Woojin nodded, then signaled the Cheongeum Envoy with his eyes.

Only then did the envoy take her arm and start off for the place arranged in advance.

Seo Woojin watched the two of them go, and then he too started walking.

‘The Gok Clan will have noticed Gok Taejun is gone by now. And they’ll be guessing it was my doing.’

It would certainly have reached Cheon Doyun’s ear as well.

If Woon Seorin’s thinking was right, he would try to find Gok Taejun by any means.

Because using him would make a counterattack far easier.

‘But he’ll have trouble finding him.’

He had borrowed the hall where he had met Woon Taeryun before. The formation was active as well, so finding the place was effectively impossible.

‘Which leaves Cheon Doyun exactly one method.’

Before he knew it, Seo Woojin was standing outside Woon Seorin’s study.

He put his thoughts in order a moment, then nodded. At that, the warrior standing guard at the door called inside.

“The Alliance Lord has arrived!”

“Show him in at once.”

The warrior opened the door, and only then did he go inside.

Woon Seorin was going busily through sheaves of paper, checking something.

Seo Woojin asked without even sitting down.

“As expected?”

Woon Seorin answered without so much as looking at him.

“Yes.”

The moment Seo Woojin started to let out a breath of relief.

Woon Seorin went on.

“As expected, but it has also gone outside what I expected.”

“What does that mean?”

Tak.

She set down the sheaf she had been reading and raised her head.

“As we expected, the Gok Clan has announced that they will execute Warrior Yoo. And they’ve moved the date up. As we expected.”

“And what’s outside it…?”

“How far they’ve moved it up is outside what I expected.”

“Meaning?”

Woon Seorin let out a deep sigh.

“Tomorrow. Tomorrow at the Hour of the Horse. Warrior Yoo’s execution will be carried out.”

Seo Woojin let out a deep sigh and smiled.

Right.

Not everything is going to go my way.

Seo Woojin pushed his hair back and said,

“Can’t be helped. I don’t like it, but… let’s go with the second plan.”

Seo Woojin’s declaration carried certainty in it.

That however unexpected a move Cheon Doyun brought out, he was well able to handle it.

(End of Chapter 58)