Chapter 869

After hurrying Hyuk Mujin upstairs, I blocked the Embroidered Uniform Guards who had come to the pavilion at the crack of dawn.

Then I flashed a broad smile at the first familiar face I spotted.

“Oh, fancy seeing you again.”

So much for the old saying that nobody spits in a smiling face.

Jeong Hogun didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow, even when I waved at him like an old friend.

“Where is His Highness Prince Shangshan?”

I shrugged. “He was asleep until just now. Before a bunch of rude bastards barged in at the crack of dawn.”

“It is already the hour of the Rabbit. That is by no means early in the imperial palace.”

The hour of the Rabbit meant five to seven in the morning.

I was itching to explain children’s rights to this man, who was built like a Stone Golem, but when in Rome, you did as the Romans did.

Though, of course, it was the Son of Heaven’s will—above every law in the Great Nation—that had set the Embroidered Uniform Guard in motion so early.

“What brings you here?”

“I have no obligation to tell you.”

“Then let me guess. Is it finally time for the brothers to reunite?”

At that, Jeong Hogun reacted. His eyebrow twitched so sharply I could see it from where I stood.

“His Highness Prince Shangshan is to have an audience with His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Right. In four characters: a reunion of brothers.”

“You’re a lawless thug from the martial world, so it seems you can’t understand. This is not merely a reunion between brothers. It’s…”

“Oh, I get it.”

I nodded with a solemn expression.

“A somewhat complicated reunion of brothers. Right?”

“……”

“Not quite? Too long? How about a chaotic reunion of brothers? One character shorter, but pretty much the same thing.”

Jeong Hogun took a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself, then spoke in a stiff voice.

“……You’d be wise to watch that insolent mouth of yours before you bring down trouble you can’t handle.”

“Whoa, are you warning me? Didn’t you hear your commander promise our prince yesterday that nothing like that would happen?”

“That was…”

“Judging by your face, you just remembered. If you understand, then let’s do better from now on. Don’t go making trouble for no reason. Okay?”

I smiled and patted Jeong Hogun’s armor. Behind him, killing intent rose like a heat haze from the Embroidered Uniform Guards standing like iron towers.

Whoosh.

Now, that was some atmosphere.

Maybe I’d gotten under their skin more than I needed to. But in my experience, people like him only showed even a hint of what they were thinking when you provoked them like this.

Just like now.

“You don’t want to cause trouble either, do you? Especially when you’re this tired. Isn’t that right, Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan?”

What?

“You look rather tired. As if you didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Anyone with half a brain could tell Jeong Hogun hadn’t tossed out that remark without a reason.

I looked into his calmly lowered eyes and the blade hidden in them, thinking to myself:

Well, look at this guy…

From the start, he’d given me the strong impression that he knew something.

But the deeper you thought, the longer you stayed silent—and that only gave your opponent more reason to suspect you.

Knowing that, I made a show of furrowing my brow.

“You need to feel comfortable to get any sleep. Could you sleep soundly with a bunch of menacing men surrounding you on every side?”

“They are not surrounding you. They are guarding His Highness Prince Shangshan.”

“Does the imperial palace write ‘guard’ but pronounce it ‘surround’?”

“That isn’t worth answering.”

“Then don’t answer. Oh, while we’re on the subject, let me ask you something else…”

I scratched the back of my head and went on.

“In this imperial palace ruled by His August Majesty the Emperor, what exactly are you guarding His Highness from?”

“……!”

“No, the more I think about it, the stranger it gets. If you’re guarding him, there are already soldiers everywhere. I don’t see why the Embroidered Uniform Guard needs to keep watch this closely, too. And if you’re surrounding him, that makes no sense either.”

Checkmate. A perfect one, too.

Either answer would leave him in an awkward position.

If he said they were guarding the prince, then as I’d said, there was no reason for all this. If he said they were surrounding him, that would be as good as admitting that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was monitoring Prince Shangshan on the Son of Heaven’s orders.

Faced with an essay question that led to a dead end either way, Jeong Hogun chose silence.

Getting under the skin of someone who’d run out of things to say was my specialty.

“I asked you something, but you’ve gone quiet.”

“……”

“If it were Baek Yeon, I bet he’d give me a straight answer. Are you keeping your mouth shut because you haven’t made the rank yet?”

“……”

“People really have to get ahead in life. When’s your next promotion? Do you get annual leave or sick days? If I cause trouble, does that mess up your performance review?”

“……”

“Honestly, you were surprised when your commander suddenly killed one of his subordinates yesterday, weren’t you? Is he always that reckless? I won’t tell anyone, so just whisper it to me. My earlobes are sensitive, though, so whispering’s a little awkward. Just use Sound Transmission once.”

Thrilling. Always fresh. Getting under someone’s skin was the best.

I had no idea who’d won this year’s Ballon d’Or,¹ but I wasn’t about to miss out on the Mouth d’Or.

I let my tongue run wild, trying to pry out as much information as I could, and needled Jeong Hogun relentlessly.

I started with gossip about his superior, Baek Yeon, then moved on to promotion woes, a working person’s headache. I asked about the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s average salary and overtime pay, then about what kind of hazing culture they had.

In short, I went after everyone but the Emperor.

Jeong Hogun held out far longer than I’d expected. He finally opened his mouth after I asked whether the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s chow was any good—and started digging into his family tree.

“That’s enough… Give it a rest.”

I could feel his superhuman patience in the one breath he took between words. I nodded with a touch of respect, then replied,

“So you’re still an unmarried bachelor, then?”

“……!”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticizing you for being unmarried at your age. I mean, I’m not your parents. And staying single isn’t so bad—you won’t ruin someone else’s life. So don’t let it get you down. Keep your pecker—no, your shoulders—up…”

“You son of a bitch!”

To be precise, the shout I heard just then didn’t come from Jeong Hogun.

One of the Embroidered Uniform Guards under him, whose face had been changing colors like a seven-hued rainbow for a while now, had finally lost his temper and charged at me.

Or, more accurately, he took one step forward before someone stopped him.

Thud.

“Enough. I won’t say it twice.”

A calloused palm stopped the guard’s golden armor in its tracks. The voice that followed was low and heavy.

The guard recognized the hand as belonging to the very superior I’d just insulted. “Thousand Captain! How can you let that bastard—”

Whack!

One punch, delivered with a heavy yet swift movement—brief, precise, and ruthlessly efficient.

Jeong Hogun’s fist caught the Embroidered Uniform Guard squarely on the jaw. The man crumpled without even a groan, and I let out a quiet sound of admiration.

Not for Jeong Hogun’s impressive technique, though.

“Wow. You really didn’t say it twice.”

“Obeying those above you—that is the law of the military that sustains the Great Nation, and the rule of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

Jeong Hogun handed the subordinate he’d knocked out to the other guards, wiped the blood from his hand, and continued.

“The Commander promised no harm would come to you. For this once, I will follow that order as well.”

“For this once?”

“Any order can be withdrawn depending on the circumstances. There are no exceptions.”

His voice was as blunt as ever, but the gaze he fixed on me was bleak and wild, like the storm that had raged through the night.

It was a side of him I hadn’t seen on the way to the Imperial Capital or after we’d arrived.

His composure had slipped. My guess had been right.

“Well, the situation hasn’t changed yet, so I don’t think that order’s been withdrawn.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Of course.”

At my casual reply, Jeong Hogun closed the distance and leaned in to whisper.

“I’m warning you in all seriousness… If you try anything foolish in this imperial palace, where His Majesty the Emperor resides, you will not escape the consequences.”

“Anyone listening would think I’d already pulled something.”

“From the hour of the Ox² to Insi.³ Three red lanterns were lit.”

What?

“From what I’ve heard, the East Depot used secret signals like that. Probably.”

My heart gave a hard thump.

From the hour of the Ox to Insi. Exactly when Ma Sanbao had come to see me.

And red lanterns as a signal, too.

It was lucky Jeong Hogun wasn’t looking me in the eye while whispering in my ear.

Otherwise, I might have betrayed myself with the tiniest movement.

But I’d been through a lot by now. I’d learned how to keep my emotions in check.

I steadied my breathing and pulse quietly, in an instant, without anyone noticing. Then I gave a short laugh.

“Hong Jin’s crazy about the color red. You can tell by how he paints his lips that color every day, right?”

“Yeah, I can tell. He used to belong to the East Depot, after all. He must have needed to call in someone who could help, even if it meant using such an outdated secret signal.”

Was it suspicion, or certainty?

After countless thoughts flashed through my mind like streaks of lightning, I reached a single conclusion.

A trap.

Neither Hong Jin nor Ma Sanbao was careless.

No—in terms of thoroughness, they were easily in the top five of everyone I’d ever met.

The imperial palace, the East Depot—only people like that could survive in places like these.

And if the secret signal was obvious enough for Jeong Hogun to figure out, there was no way they’d risk meeting while using it.

I can’t take the bait.

I reached all those conclusions in an instant.

My next move followed just as quickly.

Tap.

I pushed Jeong Hogun away from where he stood right up against me, then curled my lips into a smile as naturally as I could.

“Fuck, you’re writing a whole damn novel.”

“……”

“To hell with the East Depot. I don’t know anything about that. I got tangled up in something complicated and spent a while thinking it over. If you really don’t believe me, go ahead and try to frame me.”

No physical evidence. No witnesses.

It was a trap.

Jeong Hogun stared into my eyes, which didn’t waver in the slightest. His answer was practically decided already.

“The night was unusually noisy. A fierce storm and thunder kept roaring without letup.”

“So?”

“It means nothing. That’s all.”

Was the look in those black eyes suspicion he still couldn’t let go of?

Or disappointment because his attempt to sound me out had failed?

For once, I couldn’t tell for sure, and I wasn’t given time to try.

“Have you been waiting long?”

Step. Step.

Three people came down the stairs, their footsteps accompanied by a familiar, androgynous voice.

Jeong Hogun and the Embroidered Uniform Guards immediately straightened and saluted the young prince, who had just appeared.

“I, Jeong Hogun, Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, have come to escort His Highness Prince Shangshan.”

Hong Jin, standing behind Prince Shangshan, who wore a tense expression, gave a wry smile.

“You’re still as impatient as ever. No, perhaps I should say you’ve waited longer than expected, since you did manage to hold out for an entire day.”

“Mind your words, Deputy Military Commissioner.”

“How frightening. Then I’ll…”

“You cannot come with us.”

Jeong Hogun cut Hong Jin off coldly, then added something I hadn’t expected.

“His Majesty the Emperor summoned only His Highness Prince Shangshan and Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. Those two alone.”

What?