Part 4 - The Story of Yeon Sang-hyeon
Hadn't someone said that the face is a window to the mind?
Unless his inner world of imagery stabilized, it was impossible to "fix" his expression so it would come out naturally right away.
So he chose to control every muscle in his face, one by one.
It was a method he could only conceive of because The Ruler Of Darkness had granted him bodily control.
But in the end, it would have been impossible without his abnormal—no, monstrous—memory.
He had memorized, in full, every tiny change that flitted across people's expressions in those brief instants when they shifted with the situation.
"...Good."
After a final check, he opened the door and stepped into the courtyard.
And without realizing it, a breathy exclamation slipped from his lips.
"Ah..."
Sunlight.
Warm sunlight—so gentle it made him forget the cold he had endured in that dreadful darkness.
Without even noticing, he walked barefoot into the center of the yard.
"Young master, did you cough?"
The servants who had been sweeping the garden outside dipped their heads in a perfunctory greeting.
He was the kind of eldest young master who didn't particularly mind a bit of rudeness from beneath him.
The Scholar didn't spare them even a glance.
He seemed not to register their presence at all.
He simply stood there, slowly spreading both hands as he felt the sun.
Like a tree that had waited a thousand years for a single ray of light.
He closed his eyes.
"Eldest young master...?"
Even at the servant's puzzled question, he gave no reply.
The servants could only trade wary looks.
It was strange.
On any other day, no matter what the eldest young master did, they would have shrugged it off and ignored it.
Gulp.
At some point, cold sweat began to bead in their hands.
It was the sort of discomfort only underlings serving a strict master were meant to feel.
Then, as that unease dragged on, the eldest young master finally spoke.
"...Summon every underling beneath me."
It was a voice they had never heard from him before.
It was unmistakably the same as yesterday, and yet… fundamentally different.
A voice that servants like them could not possibly defy.
"...Y-Yes?! Y-Yes! Understood!"
Startled into alertness, the servants bolted with all their strength.
They scattered in disciplined fashion, racing to rouse the others from every corner.
"What's going on…?"
"Huh? What is it? Something happen?"
The summoned servants came straggling in one by one, openly annoyed expressions on their faces.
If the messenger hadn't sounded so urgent, a few of them likely wouldn't have shown themselves at all.
What they found was the bizarre sight of the eldest young master standing barefoot on the dirt, arms spread, basking in sunlight.
Low murmurs passed among the gathered servants.
"Since he's been cooped up in his quarters nonstop, looks like he finally went crazy."
"Ah… I was having such a good nap. What's with all this fuss?"
Among them, an older-looking man clicked his tongue without hiding it.
"Tsk tsk. If the eldest young master is going to be like that, what will become of the great Luoyang Sword Clan…"
To them, the eldest young master was a 'comfortable', 'easy' existence.
They had spent a long time with him.
He had never pressured them, never scolded them, never once punished them.
He accepted nearly every suggestion they made.
And his residence, Wongakjeong, was large for how little there was to do.
Guests never came, so there was no need to polish every corner several times a day. The broad garden that would normally require many hands was mostly tended by the eldest young master himself. And since he wore only a handful of outfits, even the hardest work—laundry—was nothing.
And so the servants of Wongakjeong grew lax, and idle.
And decisively—
Calling him by the contemptuous nickname Swordless and looking down on him was an open atmosphere that drifted through the entire clan.
Even if he was what he was, underlings had no right to scorn him.
But the problem was that they had watched his overly gentle nature from too close for too long.
"...Ahem."
"Kh-hm."
At first, the servants had voiced their dissatisfaction at being called only to witness their master's eccentric behavior.
But before they knew it, the courtyard had fallen into a silence like a mouse had died.
No one had ordered them to be quiet.
Just as with the first servants.
They gradually stopped their useless chatter.
They gradually restrained their improper movements.
They gradually grew anxious.
"..."
"..."
In the end, only an odd stillness and ominous silence remained.
And no one could break it.
Without realizing it, they were already being dominated by the atmosphere flowing from the eldest young master.
"...Are you all gathered?"
That eerie situation continued until he spoke again.
"Y-Yes?! Yes, we are. Everyone is here!"
He didn't even look at the flustered servants.
"From this moment on, you are not needed at Wongakjeong. Report to the Steward's Office at once and receive new placements."
His voice was low, but it rang clearly in everyone's ears.
"T-That can't—?!"
"Eldest young master!"
Those who had only been bowing stiffly finally protested at his words.
"If you cast us out like this, what are we supposed to do?!"
And when one or two found their courage and shouted, the rest raised their voices as well.
"What are we supposed to tell the Steward's Office?!"
"Everyone will look at us badly!"
"Eldest young master!"
All of them shouted in unison, condemning his decision.
"...Keuk, keuk, keuk."
Then a laugh cut cleanly through their raised voices.
A sneer, beginning at the corner of the eldest young master's mouth.
That low, resonant laughter carried a strange metallic ring, as though it clawed at the listeners' ears.
A grotesque, chilling sound.
The servants' napes prickled.
Their tongues stiffened.
Their movements stopped.
"..."
Their mouths shut, but the ominous laughter did not.
Because that ridicule wasn't directed at them.
It was directed at himself.
How stifling and ignorant a man I used to be.
He had believed that if he extended goodwill first, the other party would repay it with goodwill.
Even if they didn't repay it right away, he had believed that someday his sincerity would get through.
No—he had wanted to believe it.
The servants now running wild before him, unaware of heaven and earth, were practically something his past self had raised.
At last, the eldest young master withdrew his laughter and looked down at them.
Not a trace of emotion remained in his eyes.
At that glass-bead gaze, the servants shrank even further.
"What is my surname?"
He lifted a hand and pointed to one person. The man flinched and answered.
"Y-You are of the Yeon clan!"
The eldest young master of the Yeon clan nodded, seemingly satisfied.
"That's right. And this clan—the Luoyang Sword Clan—belongs to the Yeon clan."
Then he pointed to another and asked again.
"What is my name?"
The one indicated trembled, not even knowing why, as he answered.
"...You use the characters 'Sang' and 'Hyeon'!"
Sang-hyeon. With the Yeon surname and the name Sang-hyeon, he asked a third servant.
"Then what is this man named Yeon Sang-hyeon to this clan?"
The servant swallowed dryly and replied.
"Y-You are the eldest young master."
Eldest Young Master Yeon Sang-hyeon smiled.
But the smile was only a shape—empty of any substance—so chilling it made the skin crawl.
"Correct. I am this clan's eldest young master, Yeon Sang-hyeon."
It was as though a blue flame sprang from his eyes.
"Then what are you, who dare defy the eldest young master?"
His mouth twisted.
"Are you the masters of this clan?"
At those words, every servant went pale and threw themselves flat to the ground.
They were uneducated and foolish, but not so stupid they couldn't recognize the place they would die.
"S-Spare us!"
"It's not defiance, not at all!"
"We lowly ones are only…!"
Their neat servant uniforms were soiled.
More so than the bare feet of Eldest Young Master Yeon Sang-hyeon—whose feet they had mocked.
"Shh…!"
When Yeon Sang-hyeon raised a finger to his lips, not even a breath escaped the servants pressing their foreheads into the dirt.
"It is my fault that you became lax, so I will not hold you accountable as far as punishment goes."
A bright smile hung on Yeon Sang-hyeon's lips.
"So pack your things and get out. Immediately."
The moment he finished, the servants poured out thanks to him.
"Th-Thank you!"
"Thank you, eldest young master!"
With a twisted smile, he looked down at them.
When he treated them kindly without limit, all he heard were complaints and resentment behind his back.
But when he squeezed without mercy, then he heard thanks.
Such was the perversity of human affairs.
There was no reason now to swing between joy and anger over each little thing.
More importantly, there was a weightier reason he had driven them all out.
With this, I've removed the unnecessary 'eyes' for the moment.
Many among the servants of Wongakjeong had been reporting every action of Yeon Sang-hyeon, the eldest young master, to other factions within the clan.
He had already known that in the past, but he had ignored it because he was indifferent to power.
There were ways to make servants who dared secretly report their master's behavior suffer a fate worse than death…
But he had not done it.
There's no need to strike the grass and startle the snake right now.
There was no need to make them wary of him.
At least, not yet.
"You. There."
It was a servant who had been trying to flee Wongakjeong in a panic, unable even to pack properly.
When Yeon Sang-hyeon pointed to him, the man turned ghost-white and flung himself down.
"Y-Yes! Eldest young master! Command me!"
As he answered with his face pressed into the ground, his bundle and clothes rolled across the dirt.
But neither he nor Yeon Sang-hyeon cared.
"To the Steward's Office—no…"
Yeon Sang-hyeon's eyes narrowed.
"Tell the head of the Steward's Office directly to select one child carefully and send them to attend me."
The 'head of the Steward's Office' stood so high that low servants like them couldn't even dare meet his eyes.
And yet there was someone who could issue that man an order.
It was already too late, but the servant finally realized clearly who the person he had been serving truly was.
"Yes, yes! Understood! I will remember it, eldest young master!"
"And…"
His next question was absurd beyond belief.
"Where is the sun passing now?"
"You mean… the sun, sir?"
Yeon Sang-hyeon's question—asked with his head tilted toward the sky—made no sense.
The servant only answered as told.
"It's floating over there right now. It's so white, so bright, it's hard even to look at it."
At that answer, Yeon Sang-hyeon tilted his head slightly.
"...Is that so?"
He flicked his hand.
The servant bowed deeply and hurried away.
"...Over there?"
In Yeon Sang-hyeon's eyes, looking up, there was only warm sunlight.
The shape of the sun was nowhere to be seen.
"...Has even the sun turned its face away from me now?"
In his ears, it was as if The Ruler Of Darkness's mad laughter still rang vividly.
[From now on, you will breathe in the darkness, and within the darkness you will bring down the sword of condemnation, punishing all karma in the world—you shall become the Dark Venerable One!]