The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 27

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 27. A Better Teacher
“Quite a number.”
“Quite a number indeed…. In the past half year, it’s more than all the military units under the Maeng Ui Dan have achieved combined. Yet I can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t everything.”
Gong Chan said nothing in response to Yi Hwan’s words.
He had deployed the Jeok Sa Jo based on rumors from the Hyeol Gwi Dae about Salla, but he had no clear confirmation of their actual capabilities.
So he set that aside and broached the immediate problem instead.
“It’s true they’ve achieved considerable results, but that doesn’t mean we can simply overlook what happened this time…….”
“You also think he’s the one who did it.”
Gong Chan hesitated a moment before answering Yi Hwan’s question.
“Nothing’s been confirmed, but based on my assessment of Jeok Sa’s abilities, I believe such a feat would be possible for him.”
Yi Hwan smiled faintly at Gong Chan’s words.
“That means you think he possesses far greater skill than I do.”
Yi Hwan, known as the Black Crow Swordmaster, ranked in the Middle Fifth Position of the Yeongha Baekwi.
The warriors of the Yeongha Baekwi, commonly called the Hundred Experts, were positioned as if by prior arrangement—twenty-five each in the Cheol Hyeol Maeng, the Gunma Rim, and the Baek Ui Ryeon.
Yi Hwan was one of those twenty-five belonging to the Cheol Hyeol Maeng.
And that meant that by sheer martial ability alone, he would rank among the top hundred masters in Kangho.
By that measure, Hwangbo Jang Seong, attached to the Jeok Sa Jo, would seem comparable, yet his name appeared only at the very bottom of the Lower Ten Position, the lowest tier of the Yeongha Baekwi.
It was undoubtedly impressive skill for his age group, the kind one could boast about, but he was hardly in the same league as Yi Hwan.
A gap of such magnitude existed between them, despite both belonging to the Yeongha Baekwi.
Though Gong Chan understood what it meant to rank Jeok Sa above such a man, he said nothing.
Yi Hwan, a smile lingering on his face, called to him.
“Gong Chan.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you know I served in the Maeng Ui Dan before I became the leader?”
“I heard you served in the Cheongjung Dae some twenty years ago.”
“That’s right. I was there for about a year.”
Given that the mandatory service period for ordinary soldiers was five years, this was clearly exceptional.
Sensing Gong Chan’s thoughts, Yi Hwan offered an explanation.
“My teacher worried I’d become nothing but a competition sparring master without real combat experience, so he arranged a one-year dispatch. The duration was set as one year from the start.”
Yi Hwan’s teacher was the current headmaster of the Muddang.
Twenty years ago, he had been overseeing the training of Muddang disciples, so handling such a matter would have been trivial.
Knowing this, Gong Chan nodded readily.
“I see.”
“In conclusion, my teacher’s decision was right. The real combat I experienced was on an entirely different level from sparring.”
“Was it?”
“It was. What they call a competition sparring master—a term I once dismissed as empty slander meant to demean disciples of the Great Sects of Renown—I finally understood what it truly meant.”
“I’ve heard the fighting back then was far more brutal.”
“Brutal, you say…. Is there such a thing as gentle combat when your life hangs in the balance?”
Gong Chan laughed awkwardly at Yi Hwan’s words.
Watching him, Yi Hwan continued.
“Brutal, stable—such things are mere prattle from those of us tainted by politics.”
“I fear I misspoke.”
Yi Hwan shook his head at Gong Chan’s apologetic smile.
“I’m not blaming you. I’m merely expressing the melancholy I feel at having become one of those people myself.”
At those words, Gong Chan gazed sadly at Yi Hwan as he looked out the window at the warriors of the Maeng Ui Dan moving busily about.
It seemed to him like imprisoning a lion in a cage and demanding it perform tricks.
The Yi Hwan that Gong Chan knew was better suited to drawing his sword and bleeding on the battlefield than to treading the boards of politics.
Whether Yi Hwan sensed Gong Chan’s gaze or not, he continued while keeping his eyes fixed on the window.
“In those days, there were indeed far more battles, with larger-scale warfare occurring frequently.”
“I’ve heard you were quite renowned even then.”
Yi Hwan turned from the window at Gong Chan’s words and let out a soft laugh.
“How could I not be? With barely a shred of real ability, I blundered about recklessly, constantly courting death.”
“That’s, that’s not what I meant…….”
“I’m not denying it. And I don’t regret those days either. Because of them, I met someone truly remarkable—a person who saved my life countless times when I was in danger. Do you know who I’m speaking of?”
“I understand you mean Yaryul Gyeok, the former leader of the Maeng Ui Dan who held the position at that time.”
“Precisely. He’s my savior who rescued my life beyond counting, and another teacher to me. Even my own master said of him, ‘He’s a better teacher than I am,’ and taught me much through his example.”
I know.
It was a story that had circulated through Kangho for some time, how Yi Hwan spoke of it so openly.
After all, the concepts of Not Serving Two Lords and Child of Two Fathers—serving two parents, two teachers, and two lords—were treated as unforgivable transgressions, so it was only natural.
Yet curiously, the one who had resolved the matter was Jin Moo Gwan Ju, who could be seen as the greatest victim—Yi Hwan’s true teacher.
Just as Yi Hwan had said moments before—”he is a better master than I”—it was Jin Moo Gwan Ju who had spoken these words before a gathering of all the renowned masters of Kangho.
To be precise…….
“When three children pass by, there is surely something to learn even from them—how much more so from the leader of Maeng Ui Dan, who guards the will of the Iron Blood with his own blood at the vanguard of the Cheol Hyeol Maeng? Having seen the growth of my disciple who learned from him and returned, I cannot help but say that he is a better master than I.”
That was what he had said.
Was there not a single renowned master among those who heard these words who did not nod in agreement?
Gong Chan, no less than those masters, found himself in accord with such words.
For learning has no fixed path, and no boundaries to distinguish it.
As Gong Chan nodded to himself with this thought, Yi Hwan’s voice continued.
“That Yaryul Gyeok had a child he was teaching. Though not a formal disciple, mind you. An interesting relationship it was—he taught martial arts, yet she wasn’t his disciple in the proper sense. A little one who followed me quite devotedly back then……. The child was twelve years old at the time.”
At that point, Gong Chan already knew who Yi Hwan was speaking of.
And Yi Hwan’s words continued for him.
“I heard that from the month after I left Maeng Ui Dan and returned to my sect, he went out to war. I thought perhaps Yaryul Gyeok was raising him like a tiger…….”
There Yi Hwan could not continue further.
Five years ago, when Yi Hwan had taken his post as leader of Maeng Ui Dan, that little one—skipping past fifteen years to meet him again—had become not a tiger but a Hyeol Gwi Dae, wrapped in death like armor.
“He is Jeok Sa… Ryu, then.”
Yi Hwan nodded at Gong Chan’s words.
“Indeed. Now I wish to repay a life-debt to him in Yaryul Gyeok’s stead. Will you not help me with this?”
Gong Chan regarded Yi Hwan, who gazed steadily at him, for a moment before a small smile crossed his face.
“A life-debt must be repaid, after all……. Then so shall we. Though with Captain Bong present, we cannot make it seem as though nothing happened.”
“Even with all these Hyeol Gwi Dae’s Patrol Tablets?”
“It is precisely because they exist that we may gloss over it vaguely. The Patrol Tablets serve their purpose well enough as they are.”
“I see……. Very well. On that matter, I leave it to you, Counselor.”
At Yi Hwan’s assent, Gong Chan’s expression brightened.
He had worried that Yi Hwan might stubbornly insist that they could do nothing for Ryu, but the leader had yielded more readily than expected.
“Understood. I shall handle it smoothly.”
“Much obliged. I shall not forget the debt I owe you today.”
“Put such things from your mind, and buy me a drink one of these days. Are you aware that in the five years the Leader has been here, you have never once bought me a drink?”
“Ha ha ha, is that so? Very well then. I shall take you to a fine place and treat you generously in a few days’ time.”
“Then I shall look forward to it.”
With those words left as a parting laugh, Gong Chan departed, and Yi Hwan alone stood before the window, gazing up at the sky growing dim with approaching dusk.
“Yaryul Gyeok, forgive me that this is all I can offer.”
From Yi Hwan’s softly flowing words, a deep anguish breathed forth.
***
Yeo Jeong is a strategist.
Though it was rare for women to take up the role of strategist in Kangho, it was not entirely unheard of, yet even that required a certain foundation to be possible.
At the very least, one needed either to be born into the household of a renowned scholar, or to have the backing of being a disciple of such a house.
In short, it meant that for a woman to take up the mantle of a strategist, bearing responsibility for the lives of so many through her own ability alone, Kangho was not so forgiving a place.
In that sense, Yeo Jeong was something of an exceptional case.
She had no connection to any renowned scholar’s household, nor had she ever received recommendation from such a house.
Yet she had become a strategist nonetheless.
“Strategist Yeo, in two hours we shall reach Saja Plain. Should we proceed as we are?”
To the question posed by Yong Hyeon, captain of the Yi Jeon Dae dispatched to guard her, of the Divine Machine Three Swords, Yeo Jeong shook her head.
“To breach directly with straightforward methods would be ill-advised—the Counselor of Maeng Ui Dan is not an easy person to deal with.”
“Then what do you intend to do?”
“There is an interesting organization within Maeng Ui Dan, I hear.”
“An interesting organization?”
“Yes. A place where all manner of malcontents and wrongdoers gather. In a way, one might say it is where Maeng Ui Dan’s hidden shame is laid bare.”
“Then one might hear many stories they wish to conceal.”
“Indeed one might.”
“So you intend to infiltrate that place?”
“I do.”
“Have you devised a method?”
To Yong Hyeon’s question, Yeo Jeong smiled with knowing significance.
“Given the nature of that organization, they require something like a guard unit, and since using internal personnel might create various complications, they tend to employ outsiders.”
“So you mean to apply to this guard unit?”
“I suspect that would be the quickest way to see through their eyes and grasp both the substance and shadow of Maeng Ui Dan without them becoming aware.”
At Yeo Jeong’s words, Yong Hyeon’s head nodded readily in agreement.
***
Dam In was reviewing three documents laid out on his desk.
“These people—they’ve applied to the Yi Jeon Dae this time, you say?”
“Yes. This time we’ve actually had a decent scholar apply.”
“A scholar, you say.”
Ki Hoon, the senior librarian, nodded as Dam In pulled one of the documents from the pile.
“Yes. He’s from the Il Ja Book Academy in Jingyeong, a small city in Sandong. His arithmetic is quite sharp. And his writing speaks for itself.”
“The others who applied came from the same place, then.”
“Yes. Both were bodyguards at the Il Ja Book Academy, and they possess first-rate skill. The only concern, given the nature of the Ui Gi Dae, is that one of the two is a woman.”
“A woman, you say. That would be this applicant, So Woon.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Female masters aren’t so rare that it should pose a problem. There are women among the Maeng Ui Dan members assigned to the Ui Gi Dae as well. What matters isn’t their sex, but the accuracy of their identities…….”
“A first-class record-keeper is standing by. Once you grant preliminary approval for their recruitment, we’ll immediately request verification from the Hwangha Suli Maeng.”
The Hwangha Suli Maeng was one of the Cheol Hyeol Maeng’s important Great Sects.
Once a river pirate collective on the Yellow River, it had since shed that guise and transformed into a sect that suppressed the scattered river bandits plaguing the Yellow River and safeguarded its waters.
The region they controlled included Sandong, which encompassed the city of Jingyeong—the very area where the Il Ja Book Academy, where the applicants had stayed, was located.
So they would surely know better than anyone connected to the Cheol Hyeol Maeng regarding any academy existing in Sandong under their governance.
“The Ui Gi Dae security squads are always short-staffed, so we needn’t be overly strict. As long as their identities check out, recruit all three.”
“Understood, sir.”
As Ki Hoon bowed and left with the documents in hand, Dam In’s gaze drifted away—and with it, the memory of those three people faded from his mind just as easily.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————