Chapter 4

After finishing his final check, he opened the door and stepped into the courtyard.

And before he knew it, a faint exclamation slipped from his lips.

"Ah..."

Chapter 4: Yeon Sohyeon

It was sunlight.

Was it said that the face was the window to the heart?

As long as his inner world remained unstable, it was impossible for him to correct his expressions so they appeared natural.

That was why he chose a different method: controlling every muscle in his face one by one.

It was an idea possible only because of the bodily control granted to him by the Scripture of Darkness that Commands the Heavens.

Even so, it would have been impossible without his abnormal memory.

He remembered every single change that occurred in people's expressions, even in the briefest moments as they shifted according to circumstance.

"...Good."

It was warm sunlight that made him forget the terrible cold of that dreadful darkness.

Without realizing it, he walked barefoot into the middle of the courtyard.

"Young Master, have you risen?"

The servants cleaning the garden outside bowed their heads in a perfunctory greeting.

After all, this was the Young Master who never took issue with their minor rudeness.

The scholar did not so much as glance at them.

It was as though he did not even care that they were there.

He simply stood there, slowly spreading both hands as he felt the sunlight.

Like a tree that had waited a thousand years for a single ray of sun.

He even closed his eyes.

"Young Master...?"

Even at the servant's puzzled call, he gave no answer.

The servants merely exchanged glances.

It was strange.

Normally, no matter what the Young Master did, they would simply ignore it and move on.

Gulp.

At some point, cold sweat had begun to form on the servants' hands.

It was the sort of thing only subordinates serving a stern master should have felt.

Then, after that discomfort continued for a while, the Young Master opened his mouth.

"...Summon every servant under me."

It was the Young Master's voice, yet one they had never heard before.

It was clearly the same as yesterday, and yet fundamentally different somehow.

It was a voice that mere servants could not dare disobey.

"...Pardon?! Y-yes! Understood!"

Startled back to their senses, the servants began running with all their might.

They scattered in perfect order, rushing off to gather the other servants from every corner.

"What's going on...?"

"What? Did something happen?"

The summoned servants gathered one by one, openly wearing annoyed expressions as they ambled over.

Had it not been for the urgency in the voice of the servant who delivered the order, some of them likely would not have shown up at all.

What they found when they arrived was the bizarre sight of the Young Master standing barefoot on the dirt, arms spread wide, basking in the sunlight.

Low murmurs passed among the gathered servants.

"Has he finally gone mad from staying shut in his residence all the time?"

"Ah... I was having such a nice nap. Why did he have to call us?"

One of the older-looking servants clicked his tongue openly.

"Tsk, tsk. If the Young Master is like this, what will become of the great Luoyang Sword Clan...?"

To them, the Young Master was someone "easy" and "harmless."

They had served him for a long time.

The Young Master had never once scolded or punished them.

He granted most of their requests whenever they made them.

Moreover, his residence, Wongak Pavilion, had very little work to do compared to its size.

Since guests rarely came, there was no need to polish every corner several times a day.

The broad garden, which should have required many hands, was mostly tended by the Young Master himself.

And since the Young Master had only a few sets of clothing, even the laundry—the task that should have been most demanding—was nothing special.

Just as the first servants had done,

they gradually stopped their idle chatter.

They gradually restrained their improper movements.

They gradually grew nervous.

In that way, the servants of Wongak Pavilion, the Young Master's residence, had become lax and lazy.

Most importantly,

calling him by the derogatory nickname Swordless One and looking down on him was an open atmosphere that spread throughout the entire clan.

No matter what he was like, they were not in a position to dare treat him with disrespect.

Yet the problem was that they had seen his overly mild personality from far too close.

"...Hmph."

"Kheup."

At first, they were displeased by the Young Master's eccentric behavior after summoning them.

But at some point, the entire area fell into silence as though a mouse had died there.

No one had told them to be quiet.

In the end, only an eerie stillness and an ominous silence remained.

And no one could break it.

Before they even realized it, they had already been dominated by the atmosphere flowing from the Young Master.

"...Has everyone gathered?"

That strange situation continued until the Young Master finally spoke.

"Pardon?! Yes, that's right. Everyone has gathered."

He did not even look at the flustered servants.

"From this moment on, you are no longer needed at Wongak Pavilion. Report to the steward's office at once and receive new assignments."

His voice was low, yet it rang clearly in everyone's ears.

"W-what...?!"

"...Young Master!"

Those who had merely lowered their heads in nervous silence began to protest.

"If you cast us out so suddenly, what are we supposed to do?!"

And once one or two of them found the courage to shout, everyone began raising their voices.

"What exactly are we supposed to tell the steward's office?!"

"Everyone will look at us badly!"

"Young Master!"

They all raised their voices at once, condemning the Young Master's decision.

"...Kukukuk."

At that moment, a laugh clearly cut through their shouting.

It was a sneer that came from none other than the Young Master's lips.

The low, ringing laughter carried a strange metallic quality that seemed to scrape against the listeners' ears.

It was bizarre and unbearably eerie.

The hairs on the servants' necks stood on end.

Their tongues froze.

Their movements stopped.

Their mouths fell shut, yet the Young Master's ominous laughter showed no sign of stopping.

That was because the ridicule was not directed at the servants.

It was directed at himself.

How frustrating and ignorant was my past self?

He had believed that if he first showed goodwill, others would return that goodwill.

Even if they did not return it immediately, he had believed that one day his sincerity would reach them.

No.

He had wanted to believe it.

The servants now raising a fuss before him, completely unaware of their place, were the very people his past self had nurtured.

At last, the Young Master drew in his laughter and looked down at them.

Not a single trace of emotion remained in his gaze.

Under those glass-like eyes, the servants shrank even further.

"What is my surname?"

When he raised his hand and pointed at one person, that servant flinched and answered.

"Y-you are of the Yeon clan!"

The Young Master, whose surname was Yeon, nodded as though satisfied.

"Correct. And this family, the Luoyang Sword Clan, belongs to that very Yeon family."

Then he pointed at another person and asked again.

"What is my name?"

The person he pointed at trembled for reasons he did not understand and answered.

"...It is written with the characters 'So' and 'Hyeon'!"

Sohyeon, the man whose surname was Yeon and whose given name was Sohyeon, asked another servant.

"Then what is this man called Yeon Sohyeon to this family?"

The servant swallowed dryly and answered.

"The... the Young Master."

The Young Master, Yeon Sohyeon, smiled.

But that smile was only a shape.

It was empty inside, chilling beyond words.

"Yes. I am this family's Young Master, Yeon Sohyeon."

A blue flame seemed to leap from his eyes.

"Then what are you, who defy the Young Master's order?"

His lips twisted.

"Are you the masters of this family?"

At those words, every servant turned pale and threw themselves flat on the ground.

They were ignorant and uneducated, but they were not so dull that they failed to know when they were courting death.

"P-please spare us!"

"We would never defy you!"

"We merely...!"

Their once-neat servant uniforms grew filthy.

Even more so than the bare feet of Yeon Sohyeon, the Young Master they had mocked.

"Shh...!"

When Yeon Sohyeon raised a finger to his lips, not even the sound of breathing escaped from the servants lying with their heads pressed to the dirt.

"It is my fault that you became so lax. I will not hold even that against you."

A bright smile appeared on Yeon Sohyeon's lips.

"So pack your things and get out at once."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the servants poured out their thanks.

"Th-thank you!"

"Thank you, Young Master!"

With a twisted smile, he looked down at them.

When he had treated them endlessly well, he had received only gossip and resentment.

Yet when he squeezed them mercilessly, only then did he hear words of gratitude.

Human affairs were truly absurd.

But now, there was no reason to rejoice or grieve over every little thing.

More importantly, there was another reason he had driven all the servants out.

With this, I have removed the unnecessary eyes for now.

Many of the servants at Wongak Pavilion had been reporting every action of Yeon Sohyeon, the Young Master, to other factions within the family.

He had known that in the past as well, but he had ignored it because he had been indifferent to power.

There were certainly ways to make servants who dared inform on their master suffer a fate worse than death, but he did not do so.

There is no need to beat the grass and startle the snake right now.

There was no need to put them on guard against him.

At least, not yet.

"You there."

It was a servant who had been trying to flee Wongak Pavilion in a panic without even properly packing his belongings.

When Yeon Sohyeon pointed at him, the servant lost his wits and threw himself flat on the ground.

"Y-yes! Young Master! Please command me!"

As he answered with his forehead pressed to the ground, his luggage and clothing spilled across the dirt.

Neither he nor Yeon Sohyeon paid it any mind.

"Tell the steward's office... no."

Yeon Sohyeon's eyes narrowed.

"Tell the head steward directly to carefully select and send me one maid who will attend to me."

The head steward was someone lowly people like them did not even dare meet eyes with.

A person who could issue orders to such a figure.

It was already too late, but the servant finally understood exactly whom he had been serving.

"Y-yes! Understood, Young Master! I will keep it firmly in mind!"

"And..."

His next question was utterly absurd.

"Where is the sun passing now?"

"The sun... you mean?"

The servant could not understand the meaning behind Yeon Sohyeon's question as he raised his head toward the sky.

He simply answered as asked.

"It is over there right now, sir. It is shining so white and bright that it is difficult to even look at."

At that answer, Yeon Sohyeon tilted his head slightly.

"...Is that so?"

Yeon Sohyeon waved his hand.

The servant bowed deeply, then hurriedly left.

"...Around there, you say?"

What Yeon Sohyeon saw when he looked up at the sky was only warm sunlight.

The sun itself was nowhere to be seen.

"...So now even the sun has turned its face away from me."

The mad laughter of the Scripture of Darkness that Commands the Heavens still seemed vivid in his ears.

[From now on, you shall breathe in darkness, bring down the sword of judgment in darkness, and become the Venerable One of Darkness who punishes all evil in the world!]