The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 74

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 74. The Imperial Brother
Walking through a small forest near Nae Mu Ban, Ryu encountered Yun, who had appeared out of nowhere.
Yun spoke to Ryu, who regarded him in silent bewilderment.
“I have a younger sister.”
Sensing Ryu’s confusion, Yun continued.
“She is a girl who stands second to none compared to those two women you saw in the forest.”
“And?”
“I would give her to you. Will you not join hands with me?”
Ryu studied him in silence for a moment before answering Yun’s abrupt proposal.
“Would your sister share that same thought?”
“That girl would walk into hell itself if it were for my sake.”
At Yun’s reply, Ryu let out a soft laugh.
“So I’m to be the hell, then.”
“You’re hardly the ideal bridegroom, after all.”
Yun’s eyes remained steady and unwavering as he answered. Ryu studied him and spoke.
“At least you speak from the heart. I’ll grant you that much.”
Perhaps because a positive word had escaped his lips, Yun’s expression brightened.
“Then you accept?”
Ryu shook his head at Yun’s question.
“No. I have no intention of leaving this place. There are still those I must protect, and so long as they remain here, I remain as well.”
Yun fell silent for a moment, lost in thought, before asking.
“After that, then?”
“When that time comes, we’ll discuss it then. How could I possibly predict what may unfold even tomorrow, let alone years hence? I’m no fortune-teller.”
Yun nodded slowly, his mind clearly turning over Ryu’s words.
“Very well. We shall revisit the matter when the time comes.”
With that, Yun turned to leave, and Ryu watched him go with an expression of resigned bewilderment. Gwak Ki Ryang, who had been standing some distance away, quickly bowed his head and followed after Yun.
As Ryu observed the two of them departing, Hee Jun approached.
He seemed to have something to say, yet the words did not come, and he merely shifted his weight uncertainly. Ryu, studying him closely, finally asked.
“Do you also have a younger sister to offer me?”
“Ah, no, that’s not it.”
Hee Jun answered hastily, startled. Ryu pressed further.
“Then what? Why are you whining like a dog that’s lost its bone?”
“It’s that…. I have seen someone who calls himself Yun before.”
At Hee Jun’s words, Ryu let out a short laugh.
“I suspected as much from your expression when they first arrived. You must have seen him in whatever place you were before you came to Saja Plain?”
No one was unaware of what Hee Jun had done at the Jeok Sa Jo.
Even O In Bang knew.
A physician.
Despite his youth, he was no mere healer but a proper physician—and a skilled one at that.
But Ryu knew one additional fact.
That Hee Jun had been the youngest royal physician in the Imperial Palace.
Hee Jun had revealed this himself on the day when Ryu first saved his life on the battlefield.
Though not from Hee Jun’s own mouth, there was another who knew this secret.
Jang Min Su.
That Jang Min Su knew a fact unknown even to Yi Song, who had served longer than all but Ryu himself at the Jeok Sa Jo, was because Jang Min Su had once served in the Imperial Guard.
Their tenures at the Imperial Palace had overlapped.
But beyond those two, it remained a secret.
The Imperial Palace had made a threat: should it be revealed, they would pursue and kill the offender wherever they might flee.
The court was desperate to conceal the fact that a Catholic had emerged from within the Imperial Palace.
This was why only Ryu and Jang Min Su knew that Hee Jun had been a royal physician.
It was because of this that Ryu could ask his question without fear, and Hee Jun nodded in confirmation.
“Yes, that’s correct. I saw him when I served as a royal physician in the Imperial Palace.”
“I more or less suspected as much. So if that’s the case, there’s no real need to—”
“He is the Imperial Brother.”
At Hee Jun’s words, Ryu’s eyes widened.
He had assumed the man was merely some reckless royal on an unauthorized excursion.
But the Imperial Brother….
“You may have heard the rumors, but the Emperor’s health is not good. Should the Emperor pass away, he would become the strongest contender for the throne.”
The Imperial Brother—formally, the Hwang Tae Je.
A title denoting a brother who shares the same father and mother as the Emperor.
Ryu, understanding what she meant, asked a question.
“But doesn’t the throne pass to sons, not between brothers?”
“The princes are too young. For that reason, even the Crown Prince has not been determined yet.”
“Then why Yoon?”
The question carried an implicit meaning: why had he come to such a dangerous battlefield?
Hee Jun, catching the implication, answered.
“Because he fell out of favor with the Dowager Empress. He advocated for Western Learning and argued that Catholics should be treated with leniency.”
The Dowager Empress was the wife of the previous emperor—that is, of Sun Je.
More precisely, she was a Gye Bi, meaning a consort who entered after the original Jung Bi died.
After Jung Bi, the mother of Yoon and the man now sitting on the throne, had passed away, she had become Sun Je’s empress.
“I’ve heard rumors that the Dowager Empress manipulates state affairs.”
“It’s the reason the government has never intervened even as the Murim has been divided and waging war for so long. The current imperial household and bureaucracy are filled with corrupt officials who would sell off the nation itself for profit.”
This was not a problem confined to the current emperor’s reign.
It had been the same under Sun Je and even before him.
Especially the power of the Oi Cheok—the imperial relatives—which stood above imperial authority, had led the nation down a path other than peace and prosperity.
So much so that rumors of the nation’s collapse had been circulating for a hundred years already.
It was remarkable that it had not yet fallen.
Among the people, there was open talk that the Murim was the foundation sustaining the nation.
That the people of the Murim were holding up a country that should have crumbled long ago.
Never had the government been so incompetent, nor had the Murim ever flourished as it did now.
It was said that the Murim wished this time to last forever, and thus supported the incompetent government.
Hee Jun continued with his explanation.
“Since he has fallen out of favor with the Dowager Empress, who holds state affairs in her own hands and manipulates them, the Hwang Tae Je would have needed to flee to somewhere beyond the reach of the Dowager Empress and her allied forces.”
“And that place is here?”
“The Murim, and especially Saja Plain—the battlefield where politics is most difficult to penetrate—is the only place where the government cannot interfere.”
It was a kind of refuge.
Honestly, it could not be called a good choice, yet neither could it be called wrong.
At least it was true that the government could not reach here.
Not only the government.
Even the Nine Major Sects that form the Cheol Hyeol Maeng cannot privately interfere in this place.
Those nine great sects knew well what consequences awaited those who fell back here.
That is why they kept each other in check, ensuring that no one could privately intervene on Saja Plain.
So he fled to such a place.
“So he does have the eyes to see the situation.”
At Ryu’s assessment, Hee Jun laughed bitterly.
“On the contrary, I think he made a wrong choice by selecting the place with the highest likelihood of death.”
Not his coming to Saja Plain.
But volunteering for Jeok Myeol Dae, specifically the Jeok Sa Jo.
I can guess the reason.
He must have judged that with the Jeok Sa Jo—the vanguard of the fiercest battlefield—the Dowager Empress would be powerless no matter what she attempted.
But he considered only that, ignorant of how the Maeng Ui Dan used the Jeok Sa Jo as an expendable piece whenever victory demanded it.
That the Jeok Sa Jo survived each time was purely a miracle born from relying on Ryu’s abilities.
Not knowing this, he must have seen it only as the place where the most people survived on the fiercest front line.
And so he carelessly chose the Jeok Sa Jo.
At Hee Jun’s words, Ryu only laughed bitterly.
“Now that you know, go rest.”
“You must never waver.”
Wondering what this could mean, Ryu looked at him, and Hee Jun continued.
“It does not matter if it is the Namgung Clan or the Muddang. But not the Tae Je. If you join hands with him, the abyss awaits. Endless war.”
War is being waged even now.
So as Ryu was about to answer that it did not matter, he caught the yearning light in Hee Jun’s eyes and laughed bitterly instead.
“I understand. I won’t let it pass easily.”
It was not an absolute promise that he would never let it pass, but even that was enough relief for now, so Hee Jun’s expression became one of relief, and he bowed before hurriedly turning to leave.
He thought he had spoken far too presumptuously.
Ryu watched Hee Jun’s retreating figure with a slight smile.
He understood that everything Hee Jun did was for Ryu’s sake—for himself.
Had Hee Jun, still needing to remain on the front lines for a long time, thought only of his own safety, he would have told him to refuse both the Namgung Clan and the Muddang.
Every situation that would take Ryu from his side would be dangerous for Hee Jun.
Yet he had not done so.
Understanding that meaning, Ryu’s troubled heart gradually settled into calm.
It was because he had come to understand that as long as he had work to do, there was no reason to waver.
With his resolve thus steadied, Ryu turned his steps toward Nae Mu Ban.
But regardless of Ryu’s newfound determination, events had begun unfolding at the Maeng Ui Dan encampment that lay beyond his control.
To begin with, envoys from both the Namgung Clan and the Muddang came calling repeatedly, each seeking an audience with Ryu.
And Tae Geuk Geom Wang had even subtly lent his support to the both of them.
Ryu could tolerate this much.
He understood that beneath it all lay the intentions of Gong Chan and Tae Geuk Geom Wang, both seeking to ensure his safety.
But the other members of the Nine Major Sects who began attaching themselves to him not long after were a different matter altogether.
They came not for his protection, but for their own advancement.
What truly exasperated him was that among them were representatives from the Hwangbo Clan—to which O In Bang belonged—the Peng Clan, and the So Ju Cheol Bang, all mixed together.
Those three factions, in fact, proved the most aggressive.
Though Ryu could guess at whose instigation this had begun, he could not bring himself to treat them harshly.
After all, they were the families of the Jeok Sa Jo members for whom he bore responsibility.
The only consolation was that Yun had remained quiet since their conversation that day.
Had she not grasped his meaning and continued pressing him, it would have been far more exhausting.
Unable to endure these tiresome days any longer, Ryu finally sought out Gong Chan.
“What is the matter? Great Master Jeok Sa.”
To Gong Chan, who conducted himself as though appointed to honor him, Ryu spoke in a voice tinged with displeasure.
“I have no intention of jesting.”
“If I took it for jest, I would be disappointed. Right now, both the Lord and I are quite serious.”
He knew the reason for their seriousness was to protect him.
But.
“It is not solely for my sake, as both I and the great master know well enough.”
At Ryu’s words, Gong Chan’s eyes wavered.
“I had not realized the foresight of the great master ran so deep.”
“Foresight? It is merely that rolling about on battlefields for so long has made me perceptive.”
Gong Chan, who had judged Ryu to be a man so direct he would break rather than bend, found himself quite taken aback by this unexpected equivocation.
What Ryu said was true.
If the Namgung Clan or the Muddang took Ryu under their wing, it would not be Ryu alone who would be protected.
In fact, even Tae Geuk Geom Wang and Gong Chan, who knew of his abilities yet kept them hidden from the Nine Major Sects, would not remain unscathed.
Of course, Tae Geuk Geom Wang was a figure whom no one dared lay a hand upon.
Not only was his own strength formidable, but the Muddang lurking behind him wielded enough power to ensure that none of the Nine Major Sects could casually move against him.
But Gong Chan was different.
There was no easier target for venting their frustrations.
By making him a scapegoat, they could restore the tarnished dignity of the Nine Major Sects—reason enough to move without hesitation.
That is, unless Ryu went to either the Namgung Clan or the Muddang.
But if Ryu placed himself under the protection of the Namgung Clan or the Muddang, the remaining sects of the Nine Major Sects could not harm Gong Chan.
To do so would be to make enemies of either the Namgung Clan or the Muddang, both of which possessed two Hwa Gyeong masters.
No sect could commit such an act and hope to escape unscathed.
Thus, no one would remain who dared touch Gong Chan.
Recognizing this truth, Gong Chan replied to Ryu’s words.
“And so I thought perhaps the great master would not come away entirely at a loss.”
To Gong Chan, who did not deny it, Ryu spoke.
“I appreciate the thought, but I have no intention of leaving this place.”
“Why… Surely not because of the Jeok Sa Jo members?”
“I cannot say what you might think, but I have made my position clear. So I would ask that you cease wasting time on such matters and instead issue us operational orders.”
“In the current situation, issuing operational orders to the Jeok Sa Jo would draw the ire of the Nine Major Sects.”
“I do not believe you are a man who would forget his duties over such a trifle. It was because I held such faith that I marched without hesitation toward orders to go to certain death. I ask that you not shake that faith of mine.”
Leaving only these words behind, Ryu turned to depart, and Gong Chan watched him go in silence.
Whether Ryu’s words bore fruit or not, operational orders for the Jeok Sa Jo came down the day after he visited Cham Myeong Gak.

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