Lee's expression became slightly subtle.
'I can't exactly say that the Divine Strategist sent a heartfelt letter to prevent you from returning to Guangdong…'
There are truths in this world that are beautiful only when they remain unrevealed.
"I thought it wouldn't be bad to take this opportunity to meet His Majesty once."
"What would change by meeting him?"
"..."
Lee felt momentarily at a loss for words. He hadn't called him here for such a reason in the first place, but trying to make excuses kept causing his words to trail off.
"Wouldn't it be better than not meeting him?"
"Hmmmm?"
Wei Yan-ho looked at Lee with suspicious eyes.
"What! Why, what?"
"No. Nothing."
Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.
"When someone of high station gives orders, what could a commoner like me say? If you tell me to die, I die; if you tell me to live, I live."
"Grrrr."
It was a protest about having other intentions but not revealing them. Wasn't it Wei Yan-ho's talent to express such protests in such an unpleasant way?
"Would I make you do something harmful?"
"…I don't think we have enough acquaintance or friendship to be certain of such things?"
"..."
Lee became like a mute who had eaten honey.
"Besides, Master said that while you can know ten fathoms deep in water, you cannot know one fathom deep in a person's heart. He said that trust, while appearing very solid on the outside, has the hidden phrase 'as long as no harm comes to me' within it. In a world where even family members stab each other in the back and deceive one another, there's nothing more foolish than trusting strangers with whom you share not a drop of blood."
"…That swindler master of yours said that?"
"Yes. Of course, I try to filter these words somewhat, knowing they come from Master's extremely unfortunate family relationships and human connections. However, it doesn't seem entirely wrong."
Lee was left speechless.
This fellow already had some inherent problems, but meeting such a strange master had completed him in an even worse direction.
"And Master said that those involved with the imperial palace are…"
"Those?"
"Hehe, I misspoke. Master said that those people involved with the imperial palace have hearts so black that there's no hope of redemption from the start, so I should let everything they say go in one ear and out the other."
"…Just call them 'those' then."
The latter part was a worse insult, so what would change by calling them 'people'?
As Lee shook his head vigorously, Wei Jeong-han was unable to do this or that, fidgeting restlessly. Common sense dictated that he should immediately strike down Wei Yan-ho to stop him, but…
'He doesn't seem angry at all…'
He was showing irritation but didn't seem particularly angry. Wei Jeong-han was also a seasoned martial artist who had experienced all kinds of battles – on land, in the air, and underwater. He couldn't possibly fail to read such expressions.
Lee, who had been glaring at Wei Yan-ho with a thoroughly displeased face, slowly opened his mouth.
"His Majesty has virtually no interest in the current martial world."
Wei Yan-ho nodded greatly.
Indeed, why would someone of the Emperor's stature be interested in the martial world where ruffians run wild? He could live just fine without knowing about it. Even if you searched all of the Central Plains, those involved with the martial world would be just a handful.
"Actually, martial artists don't help the world at all – they're just idle fellows wasting time with swordplay, so His Majesty has no need to take interest."
"…Do you think so?"
"Yes. Well, I shouldn't say this as a martial artist myself, but martial artists are really no different from bandits except that they don't rob money."
"Oh?"
Lee looked at Wei Yan-ho with an interested expression.
He liked martial learning.
Among everyone currently in the imperial palace, Lee was probably the most favorable toward the martial world. Even Lee couldn't understand the strange pride that martial artists possessed.
'When they're of no help to the world whatsoever.'
From a national perspective, martial artists were beings who brought about nothing but unrest without being helpful.
While farmers who dig the earth produce grain and fishermen at least catch fish, what do these so-called warriors do? They just waste their lives learning martial arts without producing anything.
Yet they act as if they're doing something great, with tremendous pride. That baseless pride had irritated him more than once or twice.
But Wei Yan-ho seemed to have no pride as a martial artist whatsoever.
"Aren't you a martial artist?"
"I somehow ended up this way. It wasn't what I wanted."
"Actually, isn't being a martial artist a way of life? Even now, if you wanted to live working diligently, it wouldn't be impossible, would it?"
"Work? That's a horrible thing to say."
"..."
"Rather than diligently working, I'd prefer to live as a ruffian."
This was the kind of person he was.
Lee ended up shaking his head. What could he expect? What indeed?
"Anyway, His Majesty has no interest in the martial world. No matter how much I tell him he should take interest, he doesn't even pretend to listen."
"You don't have much influence, do you?"
"…I'm sorry."
"No. Well, I heard that lack of ability isn't something to apologize for. Incompetence isn't a sin."
Crack.
As a rough bone-grinding sound came from Lee's neck, Wei Jeong-han trembled.
'It's karma, karma.'
Wei Jeong-han clearly understood why the saying "cultivate yourself, regulate your family, govern the state, and bring peace to the world" exists. No matter how great one's achievements, if you can't control even one family member, ruin comes in an instant.
"Anyway, what does His Majesty's lack of interest in the martial world have to do with me?"
"Because he cannot afford to have no interest in the martial world."
Lee's face hardened.
"I heard the Demonic Cult has risen again."
"So I heard."
"The purpose of those evil cult bastards isn't limited to just the martial world. Though they mainly fight with martial artists, they're the kind who try to overthrow not only the imperial family but destabilize even the common people and the entire country."
"Hmm…"
There was certainly that aspect.
Martial artists usually waged war among themselves and in most cases didn't cause much harm to the imperial family or common people. But the Demonic Cult didn't stop at such a level.
Strictly speaking, they should be seen not as a martial force of the martial world but as a religion, and they were extremely exclusive toward those who didn't follow their religion.
How many common people had suffered whenever the Demonic Cult rose to power in the past?
"We cannot just stand by and watch."
"That's certainly true. But what does that have to do with me?"
"You need to persuade His Majesty."
"What?"
"Only you can do this."
Wei Yan-ho asked with the most serious face in the world.
"Did you eat something wrong?"
***
"…He asked what I ate wrong."
"Kook kook kook kook."
Moon Yu-hwan covered his mouth and laughed. He knew this wasn't something to laugh about, but he simply couldn't hold it in. Who else besides Wei Yan-ho could say such things openly to the great Lee?
"You seem quite amused?"
"How could that be?"
"You've become quite sly too."
"It's unavoidable to survive in this treacherous imperial palace. It was you, Your Highness, who forced me into the palace against my wishes."
"So you're saying it's my karma?"
"If I must say so, then yes."
"Sigh, these days I'm getting beaten down everywhere."
As Lee made a joke, Moon Yu-hwan smiled with satisfaction.
"But."
"Yes."
"Do you really think it will work out well?"
"Hmm…"
Moon Yu-hwan let out a contemplative sound. After seeming to ponder for a while, Moon Yu-hwan opened his mouth with a serious tone.
"We must face reality. Currently, we have been completely pushed back by the eunuchs."
"That's right."
Though he didn't want to admit it, that was the truth. Lee hardened his face.
"There are various reasons, but the biggest reason is that His Majesty's favor is directed toward the eunuchs."
Loyalty was the problem.
If their loyalty to the Emperor had been even slightly lacking, the situation wouldn't have flowed this far.
'True loyalty isn't like that.'
Even knowing that the eunuchs were clouding the Emperor's eyes and manipulating the imperial family, they couldn't disobey the Emperor's orders to eliminate them. Believing that someday the Emperor would understand their true intentions, they waited, and now things had reached an irreversible point.
"Still, because you were here, we could endure this far."
"But that too has its limits."
"It would."
Recently, the eunuchs' misdeeds had become extreme. However, having already become the greatest power within the imperial family, it was difficult to check the eunuchs. The gap had widened to the point where he wondered if they might all be swept away at once.
"But Wei Yan-ho…"
Lee shook his head.
"His Majesty is not such a generous person. If that fellow makes even the slightest mistake, disaster will strike. And neither you nor I, who recommended him, will be safe."
"That's correct."
"Yet you want to force through this adventure?"
Moon Yu-hwan quietly nodded.
"It's something that must be done."
"..."
"The time to watch in the name of stability has passed. Now we must employ even extreme methods."
"But isn't having Wei Yan-ho as that extreme too reckless?"
"Your Highness."
Moon Yu-hwan sighed and said,
"The upright people we think of are too familiar and predictable to His Majesty. To put it nicely, they're familiar; to put it bluntly, they're boring people."
"Hmm…"
"To break through the situation, we need freshness."
"There are many others."
"No one else can have as great an influence on His Majesty as that child."
"Well…"
Lee looked at Moon Yu-hwan with a thoroughly displeased face.
'Sometimes poison is necessary too.'
However, the poison called Wei Yan-ho was far too dangerous.
If used properly, it had the power to turn the situation around, but in most cases, it would become a bad move that would strangle them.
'What are you believing in?'
It was Moon Yu-hwan who, upon receiving the Divine Strategist's letter, suggested calling Wei Yan-ho to the imperial palace to meet with His Majesty. It was an idea that Lee simply couldn't understand, but…
'He is a Grand Scholar of the Hanlin Academy.'
If there's a Divine Strategist in the martial world, then in the scholarly world there's Moon Yu-hwan. If a Divine Strategist is renowned as the greatest strategist under heaven, then Moon Yu-hwan was recognized as the greatest intellect under heaven. If such a person's mind produced this opinion, he should trust and follow it.
Even if it was an idea that Lee couldn't understand at all.
"But remember this."
Self-interest disappeared from Lee's face. What appeared afterward was the face of a loyal subject worried about the country.
"Your gamble might save the country, but it might also lead the country into an even greater quagmire. If such a thing happens, I will never forgive you. Before His Majesty punishes you and me, I will punish you first."
Moon Yu-hwan smiled quietly.
"If a man born into this world lives for his country, fails, and receives punishment, wouldn't that also be a welcome thing?"
"…You're something else."
Lee ended up laughing heartily.
"But do you really trust Wei Yan-ho? What exactly are you trusting to do this?"
Moon Yu-hwan smiled broadly and said,
"If you reveal your hand beforehand, some things lose their fun."
"Tsk, you've really become cunning."
Moon Yu-hwan smiled broadly as he looked up at the sky.
The countless stars that he used to watch with Wei Yan-ho from the eaves were looking down at him.