Chapter 1
Back to Square One (1)
The cicadas, which had waited years for this moment, were crying noisily.
Baek Socheon shielded his eyes from the sunlight pouring through the window.
The scorching heat against his palm gave him a foretaste of just how sweltering this summer would be.
Across the training yard, beneath the shade of a tree, three or four martial artists stood chatting as they avoided the blazing sun.
When the astronomical forecast predicted that this summer would be unusually hot, the martial artists of the Martial Alliance let out weary sighs. Their relationship with the Celestial Heaven Alliance, the eternal nemesis of the orthodox faction, had recently deteriorated, leaving them trapped in an endless cycle of training.
Even so, they would rather train in the middle of a heat wave than come anywhere near the place where Baek Socheon was currently sitting.
It was a place said to make people feel suffocated from the mere sight of the building.
The interrogation room of the Shadow Pavilion.
The Shadow Pavilion was the Martial Alliance’s internal inspection agency. It monitored violations of the chain of command, corruption, and misconduct among its martial artists, and wielded tremendous authority.
At that moment, the interrogation room door opened, and a young man entered with a large bundle of documents tucked under his arm.
“I am Investigator Lee Yeop.”
As soon as he sat down, he began rummaging through the documents.
“I apologize for being late. Something came up for the senior investigator, so I was sent here as an urgent replacement.”
Investigators with at least three years of experience were called senior investigators, while those with seven years or more were known as special investigators.
Lee Yeop was a new recruit who had joined that spring.
It would have been flattering to say he was overflowing with ambition and enthusiasm. These days, he was simply too busy and exhausted to think straight.
Through Lee Yeop’s eyes, Baek Socheon appeared to possess a finely sculpted, muscular physique, a face that anyone would describe as handsome or masculine, and eyes that seemed far too deep for someone so young.
Above all, he looked intelligent.
The interrogation would probably be over quickly.
“You may already be aware of this, but if this investigation uncovers any additional crimes, you will be handed over to the Judicial Court. Choose your answers carefully.”
Baek Socheon glanced at Lee Yeop.
“A rookie?”
Lee Yeop’s expression hardened at the blunt remark.
“I am the one asking the questions.”
“You can at least tell me that much, can’t you?”
His attitude was insolent, but his voice was low and pleasant to hear.
“I will say it again. I am the one asking the questions.”
“Pathetic. Truly pathetic. Sending a rookie because they’re afraid of getting beaten up.”
Lee Yeop felt anger flare inside him.
He still doesn’t understand the situation he’s in.
Apparently, the man did not realize that offending an investigator of the Shadow Pavilion could turn a case that should have ended with his release into a stay in the underground prison.
Lee Yeop hurriedly read through Baek Socheon’s personnel file.
“Name: Baek Socheon. Third Squad Leader of the First Unit of the Iron Sword Corps. So, you were a squad leader in the Iron Sword Corps.”
The Iron Sword Corps was universally acknowledged as one of the Martial Alliance’s elite organizations.
Is that why he’s acting so arrogantly?
Most people would have been intimidated by the name of the Iron Sword Corps, but it meant nothing to an investigator of the Shadow Pavilion.
What surprised him instead was the man’s age.
“You are thirty-eight years old, and… Wait. Thirty-eight?”
Anyone looking at Baek Socheon would have thought he was in his early to mid-twenties.
“Is this age really correct?”
When Baek Socheon gave no answer, Lee Yeop continued reading the file.
“Joined the Martial Alliance twenty years ago. Good heavens, you really are thirty-eight.”
His earlier rudeness suddenly made a little more sense.
The man had been in the Martial Alliance for twenty years.
“After joining the Alliance, you entered the Iron Sword Corps. The following year, you rendered distinguished service and became the youngest person ever to be promoted to squad leader. After that, you also set records for the fastest promotion to vice unit leader and unit leader?”
Lee Yeop stared at Baek Socheon in astonishment.
And that was far from the end of his remarkable career.
“Afterward, you became the Commander of the Iron Sword Corps…”
For a moment, Lee Yeop thought he had misread the document.
Commander of the Iron Sword Corps?
That was one of the five most powerful positions in the entire Martial Alliance.
What came next was even more astonishing.
“After that, you transferred to the Secret Pavilion to carry out covert operations. The Secret Pavilion?”
Lee Yeop’s voice trembled at the name.
The Secret Pavilion was the Martial Alliance’s clandestine strike force. It gathered the finest martial artists from every organization and carried out the most secretive operations under the direct orders of the Alliance Leader.
The parade of achievements continued there as well.
“Vice Pavilion Master only six months after joining the Secret Pavilion, and Pavilion Master after just two years? Good heavens!”
He had risen all the way to become the Master of the Secret Pavilion.
And he had done so at the youngest age in its history.
Second only to one man and above ten thousand others.
He had stood at the very heart of the Martial Alliance’s power.
Lee Yeop had never even seen the face of the Secret Pavilion Master before. Even if he had, the man would have occupied a position so exalted that Lee Yeop could never have dared to hold a direct conversation with him.
Lee Yeop now read the rest of the record with an entirely different state of mind.
“Six special promotions, separate from your regular promotions, since joining the Alliance?”
Lee Yeop’s eyes widened.
An opportunity for a special promotion was rare in the life of a Martial Alliance warrior.
Even receiving one was difficult, yet Baek Socheon had been given six.
How did I not know about someone like this, even as a rookie?
The answer was written on the next line of the personnel file.
“What is this? Nine demotions?”
From his position at the summit of power as the Master of the Secret Pavilion, he had been demoted back to Commander of the Iron Sword Corps, then vice commander, then unit leader, and finally squad leader.
He had slid all the way back down the very path he had climbed.
Lee Yeop raised his head and stared at Baek Socheon.
The Martial Alliance was filled with countless martial artists, so strange things happened all the time, but a case like this was exceedingly rare.
“The reasons for your demotions were insubordination, excessive use of force, trespassing into a restricted area, insubordination, insubordination, breaking into the underground prison, insubordination, insubordination, and assaulting a superior officer?”
Lee Yeop stared at Baek Socheon in disbelief.
“It is remarkable that you are still alive.”
There was one more thing he could not understand.
Why wasn’t a special investigator assigned to someone this important?
Judging solely by the record, it would not have been strange for the Master of the Shadow Pavilion to conduct the interrogation personally, let alone a special investigator.
Was it because his current rank was only squad leader?
Special investigators were assigned only to unit leaders and those of higher rank.
But Lee Yeop soon realized that today’s interrogation had nothing to do with rank.
There was no possibility that such an important figure had been classified according to a mere technicality.
Baek Socheon’s earlier words came back to him.
Pathetic. Truly pathetic. Sending a rookie because they’re afraid of getting beaten up.
This is not his first interrogation at the Shadow Pavilion.
No one in the Shadow Pavilion could handle him, so they had sent Lee Yeop instead.
Perhaps they assumed Baek Socheon would behave at least somewhat more obediently if his opponent was a rookie.
Damn it! They should have warned me. Wait… Then our Pavilion Master must be watching this interrogation as well!
The moment that thought occurred to him, Lee Yeop’s heart began pounding as though he were the one under investigation.
He struggled to compose himself and began the interrogation.
“Now, shall we discuss the recent incident?”
“Why investigate when you’ve already decided on the punishment?”
Now that Lee Yeop knew Baek Socheon’s history, the rude answer no longer bothered him.
Instead, he had become curious about the man.
“Two days ago, a strike mission was assigned to the squad under your command. However, you refused the order. Is that correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
“There was an enemy ambush.”
“Was there any evidence or suspicious circumstance suggesting an ambush?”
“Are you telling me I should have gone into the ambush to confirm it?”
“Very well. Then how did you know there was an ambush?”
“A feeling.”
“You disobeyed an order because of a feeling?”
Baek Socheon nodded.
His manner of speaking was rough, but he was answering every question.
“After you disobeyed the order, a field investigation team from our pavilion went there and inspected the area personally. They found no traces of an ambush.”
“They failed to find the traces.”
“Do you not trust the Shadow Pavilion’s investigation?”
“Do you? Ah, you’re still a rookie, so you wouldn’t know. Don’t even get me started. Your investigations are a complete mess.”
“You are convinced there was an ambush. Fine. But intuition aside, should you not obey an order once it has been given?”
“Even if every member of my squad dies? Is the order still more important?”
A brief silence followed.
Lee Yeop stared at Baek Socheon.
He had already lost the ability to judge the man objectively.
How could he possibly distinguish truth from falsehood in the testimony of someone with such an extraordinary career?
Honestly, if a man like this said he had sensed an ambush, then Lee Yeop felt there probably had been one.
But as Baek Socheon had already said, the decision regarding his punishment had been made in advance.
“I do not understand. You were once such a successful man. And now, it seems you cannot even keep your position as squad leader.”
Lee Yeop spoke in an authoritative tone.
“Baek Socheon, Third Squad Leader of the First Unit of the Iron Sword Corps, you are hereby demoted from squad leader to ordinary martial artist for insubordination. Return to your residence and await further orders.”
It was his tenth demotion.
Unable to contain himself, Lee Yeop asked,
“What in the world happened to you?”
“I don’t know. Send those brilliant investigators of yours to find out. Can I leave now?”
“Yes, you may go. An order assigning you to a new post will be issued by tomorrow. Report to your new position within the prescribed period.”
As Baek Socheon rose from his seat and prepared to leave, Lee Yeop asked,
“Why didn’t you leave the Alliance? I’m not asking as an investigator, but as a junior speaking to his senior.”
If it had been him, Lee Yeop did not think he could have endured living in such humiliation. Even working as a bodyguard for a wealthy merchant would have allowed Baek Socheon to live several times better than he did now.
Baek Socheon asked calmly. He, too, no longer treated Lee Yeop as the investigator questioning him, but as a junior martial artist.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Why did you join the Martial Alliance?”
Lee Yeop was taken aback by the unexpected question, but answered honestly.
“It was my dream to become a martial artist of the Martial Alliance.”
“So was mine. It had been my dream since I was six.”
Leaving only those words behind, Baek Socheon walked out of the interrogation room.
Lee Yeop silently watched his retreating figure.
Baek Socheon stepped outside the building.
Centered around the Alliance Leader’s Hall, which stood directly ahead in the distance, numerous buildings surrounded the grounds.
The First Hall, Two Courts, Three Pavilions, Four Corps, and Five Units—the vast and powerful organizations of the Martial Alliance.
This was the Martial Alliance, where countless martial artists engaged in hidden struggles to gain power.
While everyone else raced upward, Baek Socheon had returned to square one after twenty years in the Alliance.
Instead of walking through the shade along the edge of the grounds, Baek Socheon crossed the training yard filled with scorching heat and left the area.
The Master of the Shadow Pavilion, Hwang Jongsin, stood beside the window of his office.
Behind him stood Lee Yeop, who had been in the interrogation room only moments earlier. The moment Lee Yeop left the room, the Shadow Pavilion Master had summoned him here.
Being alone with the highest-ranking leader of the organization made Lee Yeop’s heart pound, just as it had when he was with Baek Socheon.
“What did he say?”
“It was as stated in the report. He said he was certain there had been an ambush.”
“Anything else?”
“He did not say anything noteworthy.”
Far below, Baek Socheon could be seen walking across the training yard.
As Hwang Jongsin watched him, he said something Lee Yeop had never expected.
“Baek Socheon is my senior. He joined two years before me.”
“What?”
Lee Yeop was startled.
According to Hwang Jongsin’s explanation, he had joined the Alliance eighteen years ago, while Baek Socheon had joined twenty years ago.
Of course, Hwang Jongsin had joined at the age of twenty-five, whereas Baek Socheon had joined at eighteen, so Hwang Jongsin was older.
“Baek Socheon was already famous when I joined.”
“But he would only have been in his second year at the time, wouldn’t he?”
“He was skilled and possessed excellent judgment. That man was never truly a rookie, not even from the beginning. You know the type, don’t you? Someone born with everything necessary to become the greatest in a particular field. That was what everyone said. That Baek Socheon must have been born a martial artist.”
Lee Yeop looked at Baek Socheon’s retreating back with renewed interest alongside Hwang Jongsin.
“He had not only talent, but luck as well. No matter how gifted he was, he could never have advanced so quickly without opportunities to demonstrate that talent. A few years after we joined the Alliance, the Celestial Heaven Alliance started a war.”
“Yes, I know.”
The Great War Between the Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions had continued for more than a decade.
“Stories about him always came from the battlefield. They said he had killed someone in one place, won a battle somewhere else, and would use any means necessary to achieve victory. They said he had broken through an inescapable encirclement alone to rescue someone, or that he had received yet another promotion and risen to some new position…”
“The things he accomplished were so extraordinary and grand that it never felt as though he belonged to the same Martial Alliance as the rest of us. He was like the protagonist of a story.”
A sigh of amazement escaped Lee Yeop.
“How did someone so incredible fall this far?”
“You wouldn’t know. It wasn’t included in the report you read.”
“What?”
“In the final battle that brought about the ceasefire with the Celestial Heaven Alliance, he suffered grievous injuries. His dantian was shattered, and his blood and energy were twisted by severe internal damage. Even the Divine Physician said he would die, but he survived.”
A shiver ran through Lee Yeop’s entire body.
He had never imagined that such a thing had happened to Baek Socheon.
“His internal injuries were healed, but his shattered dantian could not be restored. The Divine Physician reportedly said that unless Baek Socheon underwent Marrow Cleansing and Rebirth, he would never be able to use internal energy again.”
“Ah!”
Lee Yeop exclaimed repeatedly.
Just as Hwang Jongsin had said, it felt like something that could only happen in a book.
“When he woke up, he was given a great reward, and the position of Secret Pavilion Master remained his. But he failed to protect his position. He repeatedly disobeyed orders and violated the Alliance’s rules.”
“Some called it the all-too-common fall of a hero. Others said there had to be some hidden story we did not know. Rumors spread that he had fallen out with the Alliance Leader… Some even said that instead of leaving him as Master of the Secret Pavilion, the Alliance should have expelled him entirely.”
“While all kinds of rumors circulated, he continued to fall. It had taken him seventeen years to climb that high, but only three years to slide all the way back down.”
Baek Socheon had now completely disappeared from their sight.
“Not many people know about this. An order was issued forbidding anyone from discussing matters related to Baek Socheon.”
It was an open secret that the martial artists of the central headquarters quietly avoided discussing.
“Can he no longer use martial arts at all?”
“A tiger that has lost all its teeth and claws still would not be bitten to death by a dog or wolf.”
However, without internal energy, his limits would be obvious.
“Wasn’t this punishment too heartless?”
Lee Yeop could understand Baek Socheon now.
How could a man who had once risen so high remain sane after losing his internal energy?
“Heartless? If the Alliance were truly heartless, he would be locked in the deepest underground prison by now—or already dead. Baek Socheon is not the only person in the Alliance, is he?”
That was true.
They had to consider the morale of the other martial artists as well. If someone repeatedly disobeyed orders and received no punishment, the discipline of the Martial Alliance itself would collapse.
“In fact, the reason he is still alive may be thanks to the Alliance Leader.”
“What do you mean?”
“We do not know the Alliance Leader’s intentions. We cannot tell whether he wants to drive Baek Socheon out or whether he still cherishes him.”
“The Alliance Leader has never once revealed his thoughts or feelings regarding him. Even as Baek Socheon, whom he once treasured more than his own children, suffered demotion after demotion, he never once said whether he approved or disapproved, whether it was right or wrong.”
“When no one knows what is in his heart, how could anyone recklessly expel the person who contributed more than anyone else to securing the ceasefire with the Celestial Heaven Alliance?”
Lee Yeop understood.
This interrogation would be more extraordinary than any investigation he would ever conduct during his lifetime in the Shadow Pavilion.
It had already become one he would never forget.
Hwang Jongsin’s gaze shifted toward the distant Alliance Leader’s Hall.
“Now that he has finally reached the very bottom… perhaps we will soon learn the Alliance Leader’s true intentions.”
Hwang Jongsin turned toward Lee Yeop and added one final remark.
“When that time comes, we can speak again about just how heartless the martial world truly is.”