The Ruler of Darkness

The meeting had ended.

As Yeon So-hyeon left the cave, the Organ’s warriors appeared.

“Eldest Young Master, we will escort you to the secret passage’s entrance.”

A female commanding warrior, who had been waiting, respectfully greeted and approached with a blindfold.

“Get rid of that.”

Yeon So-hyeon bared his teeth.

“But this is the Organ’s directive…”

“Directive or not, I don’t care.”

Yeon So-hyeon pointed behind him.

“This was my father’s personal training ground. You understand? A place I’ve been to dozens of times since I was a child.”

As he started walking briskly, the Organ’s warriors quickly followed.

“But…!”

“Just so you know, I can get from here to Wongak Pavilion blindfolded, even if I have to roll there. Don’t waste your time on nonsense.”

The female commander, wearing a smooth mask, hesitated for a moment, then tucked the blindfold into her pocket.

Then, signaling her subordinates, they swiftly moved, summoning the group waiting with the sedan chair.

She quickly handed over Yeon So-hyeon to the commanding warrior responsible for the sedan chair.

After finishing her conversation, she approached Yeon So-hyeon and performed a fist salute.

“I have arranged everything, so you will be comfortably escorted to Wongak Pavilion.”

Yeon So-hyeon patted her shoulder.

“You do your job well. You have a knack for it.”

“…You flatter me.”

As Yeon So-hyeon got onto the sedan chair and held the door, he said to her,

“Must have been suffocating working in a place as rigid as the Organ for so long.”

“Well…”

Yeon So-hyeon closed the door and spoke through the small window.

“If you ever leave the Organ, come to Wongak Pavilion. We’ll need capable people like you in the future.”

Hearing this, the surrounding warriors chuckled.

Some even coughed mockingly.

After all, who would leave a key position in the Luoyang Sword House to join the notorious Eldest Young Master, a sworldess man at that?

But contrary to everyone’s expectations, she scratched her head and replied,

“Uh… my name is Cheongsu. If that time comes, I’ll be in your care.”

Yeon So-hyeon burst into laughter and knocked on the roof of the sedan chair.

“Let’s go home, boys.”

As the sedan chair disappeared like the wind, the surrounding warriors looked at their commanding officer with disbelief.

The commanding officer nonchalantly shrugged.

“What are you looking at? Knowing how to grab the right opportunity is crucial in social life.”

The warriors sighed.

“…The rope you just grabbed seems more like a rotten vine.”

As someone commented, she widened her eyes in surprise.

“Phahahahahaha!”

A hearty laugh.

Unperturbed by her subordinates’ bewildered looks, she laughed heartily for a while.

Eventually, she calmed down.

“Ah, laughing so much made my stomach hurt.”

She gestured, and everyone shrugged their shoulders, beginning to move to retreat.

She stood behind, holding her mask and wiping away tears from laughing so much.

“…A rotten vine, you say? That Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon?”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“Maybe I’m really getting old.”

She watched the departing warriors and smirked bitterly.

‘…After all, most who remembered the old days were replaced after the family head collapsed.’

An organization established for a single purpose had failed in that purpose.

Since that day, many who had been with her on the scene had either quit or been replaced.

‘Maybe it’s time for me to leave the Organ too…’

She had been increasingly dissatisfied with the Organ’s upper echelons lately.

* * *

The cave where Yeon So-hyeon had departed.

The new female executive committee member spoke.

“…The decision to lift the Eldest Young Master’s confinement. It was the right decision, wasn’t it?”

The new male executive committee member replied.

“Did we have any other choice?”

“We didn’t, but…”

One of the executive committee members spoke up.

“The Eldest Young Master could always reveal the truth of that day. Then…”

Another committee member picked up the thread.

“Even now, those who are wholeheartedly loyal to the family head would draw their swords against us.”

“The ones who were in the upper echelons at that time still harbor some doubts about what happened back then.”

“A great chaos would ensue…”

The general affairs committee member spoke.

“Although the council is above the family laws, we didn’t have many means to keep ourselves in check.”

Everyone listened attentively to his words.

“Nevertheless, the council continuously strengthened its internal regulations, striving to handle every matter fairly and feared losing respect more than anything.”

Another executive committee member nodded.

“It was because of the existence of the Eldest Young Master.”

“That’s right. It was because he, who could expose everything at any time, was there that the council could maintain its current principles.”

The silent new male executive committee member asked with difficulty.

“…Were there never attempts to eliminate him?”

One of the committee members laughed heartily.

“Initially, there might have been such plans. But think about it. Do you think he wouldn’t have prepared for his sudden death?”

“We also didn’t fully grasp how many in the family’s upper echelons, even now, maintain ties with him. And if we include the prominent figures inside and outside Luoyang…”

Everyone clicked their tongues.

“It seemed like he was just secluded in Wongak Pavilion for ten years, but well…”

“Without his presence, it’s hard to imagine what the family would look like now.”

As everyone was exchanging thoughts about Yeon So-hyeon, one of the executive committee members spoke.

“Anyway, this meeting room was a place I quite liked, but now we can’t use it anymore.”

“What can we do about that?”

They looked at the spot where Yeon So-hyeon had stood.

The sunlight pouring through the hole in the ceiling illuminated the Golden Seal lying on the floor.

Yeon So-hyeon had left the family head seal there before departing.

“…Nobody dares to touch it.”

“Until a new family head is born, or the former family head miraculously recovers and returns as the family head.”

“We have no choice but to seal off this entire meeting room.”

The chairman finally spoke.

“Remember this, everyone.”

All focused on the chairman’s voice.

“We have only been making promises to the Eldest Young Master that we couldn’t keep, but this time, he kept his promise to us.”

Everyone immediately became somber.

“I will ensure that my possession of the family head seal doesn’t affect the successor competition in the family. So, don’t worry.”

The revelation that the family head seal was in Yeon So-hyeon’s hands had thrown the past Supreme Operating Council into utter chaos.

That’s what the young Yeon So-hyeon, who appeared at the meeting, had told them when they learned of it.

“If there’s still a promise we can keep, a possibility that remains…”

The ritual affairs committee member answered.

“It’s only to do our best to prevent the competition for succession from escalating into a large-scale conflict.”

“That’s something only we, the Supreme Operating Council with all the authority, can do.”

As they were solemnly reaffirming their role, one of the executive committee members joked.

“Now that the Eldest Young Master has officially entered the competition for successors, it seems we’re in for more headaches.”

“Now we can forget about getting a good night’s sleep.”

“Until now, did you have the luxury to sleep soundly?”

While they were talking animatedly, the new female executive committee member spoke in a small voice.

“…Will things really get harder for us now?”

Her voice echoed in the cave.

“The Eldest Young Master has endured all this dishonor silently for the family’s sake.”

Being called a swordsman without a sword, a coward, or a weakling, he had borne it all quietly.

“Such an Eldest Young Master, perhaps he himself will be the first to prevent that large-scale conflict?”

The executive committee members nodded one by one.

“…That’s a reasonable thought.”

“Perhaps he would act that way.”

Then the chairman’s voice resonated.

“But don’t forget, everyone. If the Eldest Young Master feels that we are not performing our role adequately…”

Everyone felt an undeniable fear in his voice.

“At any moment, he can immediately disregard all rules and repeat that bloodbath . Without any hesitation.”

The cave fell into a heavy silence.

* * *

While the other executive committee members were busy making this meeting room, where the family head seal lay, into a sealed area, the chairman was lost in deep thought.

‘…Was the constraint that the Eldest Young Master imposed on the council really just those intangible things?’

Making the Supreme Operating Council more fair due to his presence?

He didn’t think it was just that.

The proof was right there in himself, the chairman.

‘How dare they denigrate us as a band of thieves?!’

‘Just because the kid is praised as a genius by those around him, he’s all high and mighty!’

‘Drag that brat out of the council chamber right now!’

He vividly remembered the remarks hurled at Yeon So-hyeon by those in the initial Supreme Operating Council.

They were the epitome of shamelessness.

Those who had essentially imprisoned the Eldest Young Master, the only and rightful successor.

Those who, relying on the Eldest Young Master’s goodwill, believed that the truth would never come to light.

Old men who acted as if the Luoyang Sword House was their own to rule.

‘…Now, none of them remain in this place.’

Their identities, one by one, had been revealed through secretive rumors.

The ‘Oath of Silence,’ the most crucial internal regulation, had to be strictly maintained for the legitimacy of the Supreme Operating Council.

Back then, he believed that the security regarding the members of the initial emergency council was relatively lax.

But such incidents repeated over time.

Those who sought to privatize the power of the executive committee.

Those who harbored excessive ambitions, secretly supported their factions, or sought illicit gains.

Such individuals were gradually exposed and disappeared from the council.

Now, the only one remaining was the individual who had opposed their actions to the end at that time.

The person who had anonymously sent a letter of apology to the Eldest Young Master.

The only one who acknowledged their mistakes and accepted their original sin.

The current chairman, himself.

He recalled the last conversation he had with Yeon So-hyeon before his departure.

* * *

“…The Supreme Operating Council owes an enormous debt to Eldest Young Master. But.”

As the chairman struggled to find his words, Yeon So-hyeon, with his hands clasped behind his back, spoke.

“But that doesn’t mean you can give me any preferential treatment in selecting the minor family head.”

“…Thank you for understanding.”

If even a hint of favoritism towards the Eldest Young Master in the selection of the minor family head was exposed, the other successors would not stand idly by.

“Besides, I know that being slightly ahead of the other successors isn’t enough to become the minor family head.”

“…We are truly sorry.”

A significant gap that everyone could acknowledge was needed to minimize dissent.

“Leave those matters to me.”

He smiled at the chairman, sitting behind the special curtain.

“So, just continue as you have been until now, Chairman.”

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