Chapter 50
It was a sound whose meaning he could not understand, but the special operative who had gained one more small jar of liquor looked as though none of that mattered at all.
***
Part 25: Words with Feet
“Well now, to think you would give us such gifts.”
“It is nothing much. Everyone, have a pleasant day!”
The young man in silk clothes waved his hand at the special operatives at Wongakjeong’s main gate and stepped inside.
The special operatives all had bright smiles on their faces as they waved back at him.
Every single one of them had a small jar of liquor tucked under one arm.
“Captain, why are you refusing liquor given as a gift?”
The Life-taking Ghost Sword handed the liquor jar he had received as a gift to his comrade.
“…I simply thought that, even if I do not draw my sword right away, I should at least keep it from rusting any further.”
The Medicine King was walking out along the forest path of Wongakjeong.
He had stopped by for a short while and eaten lunch together with the members of Wongakjeong.
“Well now, who might this be? Is this not the venerable Medicine King?”
When the young man in silk clothes bowed deeply in greeting, the Medicine King, somewhat taken aback, returned the greeting as well.
“Oh. Good to meet you. But I am in a hurry, so…”
“Aigo, in that case, I shall be sure to visit you properly and pay my respects next time.”
“Do that, then.”
“Yes, venerable Medicine King. Please take care on your way.”
After passing him, the Medicine King walked for quite some time before muttering.
“…Who was that, and how does he know me?”
“Who are you, and why are you loitering around Wongakjeong?!”
After the unidentified old monks, now some seemingly frivolous young man had appeared and begun loitering around. The twin maid, Il-ryeong, blocked his path.
“Stop right there at once!”
Having seen the enraged Yeon Sang-hyeon the previous night, the girls were taking turns guarding the entrance to the forest path.
“Are you an intruder?!”
“State your identity!”
Receiving the signal, the other two twin maids, I-ryeong and Sam-ryeong, appeared in an instant and surrounded him.
The man in silk clothes had a slender build and a tall height.
Far from looking threatening in any way, the man saw the triplet maids and smiled brightly.
“You must be the maids assigned to Wongakjeong from the Class-A Special Squad of the Butler Department! Good to meet you!”
“Wha—? Good to meet you?”
I-ryeong poked Sam-ryeong in the side as she started to greet him back, then shouted.
“How do you know our identities?!”
The man in silk clothes answered in confusion.
“Huh? The trainees of the Class-A Special Squad are famous for being as outstanding as they are unusual, so is there anyone in the Butler Department who does not know of you?”
The “special training” they had received was classified, but their existence itself was not a secret, so there was nothing wrong with the young man’s words.
“We are famous? Heh heh.”
Il-ryeong poked the preening I-ryeong in the side and asked the young man in silk clothes.
“…Were you sent by the Butler Department, perhaps?”
At that, the young man in silk clothes waved his hands.
“Ah, no. I am…”
At that moment, Jeong-ah, having sensed the commotion, approached.
“If a guest has arrived, you should be thinking of escorting him inside. What is all this fuss about?”
At Jeong-ah’s low scolding, the triplet maids immediately shrank back.
After shooting them a look, Jeong-ah greeted the man in silk clothes.
“Welcome to Wongakjeong. May I ask where you have come from…”
At that moment, the young man in silk clothes clapped his hands and pointed at Jeong-ah.
“Ah! You are that young lady who was called the Flower of the Reception Courtyard and was also known by the name Ice Flower, are you not?”
Jeong-ah nodded with an awkward expression.
“Yes, for now, I believe I am the person you are speaking of…”
The young man in silk clothes bowed deeply to Jeong-ah.
“My, I heard that you had become the Chief Maid of Wongakjeong. Congratulations!”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
The young man in silk clothes exaggeratedly looked around, then spoke to Jeong-ah in a small voice.
“So there was a reason the Second Young Master and Third Young Master could not maintain their composure. You truly are an unmatched beauty.”
Jeong-ah’s eyebrow twitched.
At the same time, the triplets shouted.
“You scoundrel! Are you flirting with the Chief Maid right now?!”
“That story is a secret known by very few people!”
“We should bind him at once!”
As the triplet maids’ eyes blazed and they gradually approached him, the young man in silk clothes hurriedly waved his hands.
“U-Uwaah! I am not a suspicious person! My name is Yeon Ha-ong, and I hold a humble post in the main family!”
A moment later, the triplets shouted in unison.
“What post?!”
***
“You are an advisor in charge of protocol for the Outer Court?!”
The position of the young man who had introduced himself as Yeon Ha-ong was, contrary to what he had said, not a humble post at all but a fairly high-ranking one.
He scratched the back of his head with a good-natured smile.
“It is not much of a position. Since I am a direct blood relative from a branch family, I merely landed a respectable-looking position that is nothing more than an honorary post.”
“A direct blood relative?!”
“Uh… I do not know if you have heard of it, but it is called the Kaifeng Yeon Family…”
“The Kaifeng Yeon Family?!”
The triplets’ faces were gradually turning ashen.
Yeon Sang-hyeon set down his teacup and waved his hand.
“Quiet. Just as that fellow says, the advisor position is only an honorary post. On top of that, he is nothing but an idle playboy who shows his face at every social gathering in Luoyang that calls itself a social gathering, so the three of you need not concern yourselves with him.”
His words were true.
“Exactly, exactly.”
It could be called a rather blunt description, but Yeon Ha-ong merely laughed good-naturedly.
“By the way, Brother So-hyeon.”
When he spoke in a friendly, ingratiating manner, Yeon Sang-hyeon clicked his tongue.
“Why do you always call me Brother So-hyeon?”
He smiled with easy familiarity.
“Calling you Eldest Young Master makes it seem too distant, does it not? We are still distant relatives, so that is why I call you Brother.”
Yeon Ha-ong, who was in his late twenties, always went around smiling like that, as if he had no pride at all.
After listening for a while to his praise of Wongakjeong’s tea leaves, Yeon Sang-hyeon tapped the table with his finger.
“How about we get to the point now?”
Yeon Sang-hyeon looked into his eyes.
“The fact that you came all the way here means you must have picked something up again, does it not?”
Yeon Ha-ong clapped his hands.
“Come to think of it, Brother So-hyeon, have you perhaps arranged to meet the Fourth Young Master?”
Jeong-ah’s eyebrow twitched again.
The triplets’ eyes narrowed.
It had been only this morning that Yeon Sang-hyeon had exchanged letters with the Fourth Young Master through the Medicine King.
So how did this suspicious man know about that?
Yeon Sang-hyeon waved his hand at the maids again.
“I told you, do not concern yourselves with it. It seems that fellow Bi got excited again and bragged to his servants because I agreed to meet him.”
Bi was the Fourth Young Master’s name.
“Yes, yes, that is right. The Fourth Young Master’s maids all looked busy enough to die.”
Even if the Fourth Young Master had talked to his subordinates, it was still an internal matter within the Fourth Young Master’s faction.
So how did this man know about it?
Seeing the maids sending suspicious looks toward Yeon Ha-ong, Yeon Sang-hyeon let out a small sigh.
“There is a saying that a word without feet travels a thousand li, is there not? This fellow’s nickname itself is ‘a word with legs.’ Some also call him ‘a rumor with legs.’”
“Haha, Rumor with Legs. That is indeed this humble one’s sobriquet.”
“What sobriquet? Nonsense.”
At the sight of him speaking proudly, Yeon Sang-hyeon shook his head.
“So.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon asked him again.
“What is it about my meeting with the Fourth Young Master that has you so worried?”
Yeon Ha-ong waved his hands.
“Worried? Not at all. This humble one merely speaks as a younger brother who has always respected and followed Brother So-hyeon more than anyone…”
Yeon Sang-hyeon cut him off.
“Are you worried that I might break my seclusion?”
“Break your seclusion?!”
Yeon Ha-ong jumped in surprise.
“It is not that. I only say this because Brother, who dislikes storms and disputes, is apparently planning to associate with the Fourth Young Master, who is currently right in the middle of the successor struggle.”
“I do not think the affairs of my brother are any of your business.”
Yeon Ha-ong hurriedly nodded.
“Of course, of course. You are right. It was not my place to speak. Hehe.”
He hastily changed the subject.
“By the way, it seems the book broker from the merchant association Brother So-hyeon deals with had quite the ordeal in the inner court today as well.”
“Is that so?”
That was something that had happened only an hour ago.
He was indeed a man who lived up to the name Rumor with Legs.
“Aigo, Brother So-hyeon, did I not tell you? If you make the bill out to me, I will take care of everything for you. Would that not spare those poor merchants some hardship as well?”
Yeon Sang-hyeon snorted.
“Your concern is not for the merchants, is it? You are worried that the friction between me and the inner court will grow worse, are you not?”
He hurriedly shook his head.
“No. How could the likes of the inner court dare have friction with Brother So-hyeon? Are there truly such irreverent people?”
“You have heard something else too, haven’t you?”
“…One of Elder Yeom’s butlers was beaten to death by Elder Yeom last night. It seems Elder Yeom was enraged.”
“And?”
“Perhaps because you drove away your escort unit and went out onto the streets of Luoyang, the escort captain in charge of Brother So-hyeon was ultimately replaced.”
“And?”
He bit his lip for a moment, then carefully opened his mouth.
“It seems the Second Young Master and Third Young Master are very displeased because of Brother So-hyeon’s Chief Maid. I heard that several maids who attended them in bed ended up dead.”
He deliberately did not turn his gaze toward Jeong-ah.
“I see.”
At Yeon Sang-hyeon’s calm reply, his face crumpled as if he might cry.
“Brother So-hyeon… why has your temper been so fierce lately?”
He spoke to Yeon Sang-hyeon in an earnest tone.
“Was it not Brother So-hyeon who said we should be content with what we are given and enjoy life?”
Through her Dragon Eye, Jeong-ah could sense the sincere concern Yeon Ha-ong held for the Eldest Young Master.
Yeon Sang-hyeon looked at him.
“Not anymore.”
“So, Brother, from now on…”
He lifted his face with a blank expression.
“Huh?”
“I said I will no longer be satisfied only with what has been given to me.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon smiled and sank back into his chair.
“So now, you will cooperate with me too.”
Yeon Ha-ong began trembling.
“Haha. What are you saying? This humble one has no idea what you mean…”
When Yeon Sang-hyeon gestured with his hand, the triplets, sensing the atmosphere, sprang up from their seats.
“Now, now, Young Master, please come this way.”
“From now on, let us begin a small operation together.”
“Have you perhaps heard of building an information network?”
Yeon Ha-ong, whose arms had been grabbed by the triplets, shouted.
“S-Save me!”
“When I heard the name Rumor with Legs, I was impressed at once.”
“You are a very useful young master.”
“Hoho, you need not be so frightened.”
The triplets giggled as they dragged him away.
“Brother So-hyeon! Brother!”
Yeon Sang-hyeon waved his hand at him.
“Cooperate obediently with them from now on. Nothing harmful will happen to you.”
As he was dragged away, Yeon Ha-ong looked on the verge of tears.
“…If it is Brother’s command, then this humble one must obey.”
He gave up and disappeared, dragged away by maids who were barely half his height.
Jeong-ah poured hot water into Yeon Sang-hyeon’s teacup again and said,
“He was an unusual person.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon chuckled.
“He will be a great help from now on.”
He unfolded once more the Fourth Young Master’s reply, which he had received from the Medicine King.
A gentle smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
“I can see from here how excited that fellow Bi must be.”