Part 22 - Contempt
"Mind if I take a look at that?"
At the voice coming from the direction of the shattered window, everyone's gaze turned at once.
"Hah."
Yeon Sang-hyeon and the gatekeeper climbed over the window frame and came inside.
With every eye on him, Yeon Sang-hyeon brushed the wood splinters and debris off his clothes.
"Young Master, I'll help you."
"Uh, thanks."
Jeong-a, who had come up without anyone noticing, carefully straightened him up with gentle hands.
After she had even fixed his robes neatly, Yeon Sang-hyeon tilted his head.
"What are you doing? Hand it over."
The dumbfounded looks on the Black Bone Sect members' faces turned into fury.
"Who the hell are you?!"
One of the martial artists standing behind Geumju barked.
The shout, packed with inner energy, boomed through the room.
"…Ow, my ears."
Yeon Sang-hyeon dug a finger into his ear in an exaggerated way and went on.
"Can't you tell from these clothes?"
When Yeon Sang-hyeon pointed at the gatekeeper's outfit, everyone's eyes snapped to the gatekeeper.
Even under the weight of all that attention, the gatekeeper stood calmly and met their stares.
"…A Sword Clan guard?"
"Mm…"
Their expressions turned strange.
In Luoyang, the name Sword Clan was one everyone feared—yet a mere guard?
Maybe that would work on ordinary commoners, but weren't these people the notorious lawless scum of Luoyang?
Yeon Sang-hyeon shook his head.
"Be careful. He's dressed like this, sure—but he's an incredible master."
The uneasy looks shifted toward the guard.
He didn't look like a master at all—he didn't even look like an ordinary martial artist. Someone snorted.
"Pff."
Then, as if on cue, the whole Black Bone Sect erupted into loud laughter.
"A master, he says."
"If that guy's a master, then I'm the greatest under heaven!"
Geumju didn't laugh along, but she, too, watched Yeon Sang-hyeon with skeptical eyes.
"..."
He didn't look like much, but the way he carried himself was so brazen that for the moment, they couldn't decide what to do.
"…Tch."
Smacking his lips, Yeon Sang-hyeon ordered the gatekeeper.
"This won't do. Go get it."
"…As you command."
As the gatekeeper stepped forward, the laughter died instantly.
Killing intent gathered in their eyes.
When he took two steps, the three martial artists around Geumju all prepared to make a move at the same time.
By the time he took the next three steps, the Sword Clan Bronze Token in Geumju's hand was now in the gatekeeper's.
"…?"
The most shocked of all was Geumju herself.
It felt like only a faint breeze had stirred her hair—yet the Sword Clan Bronze Token she'd been gripping was already in the other man's hand.
In that instant, the same thought flashed through everyone's mind.
'A master…!'
A heavy, icy silence settled over the hall.
"Hm."
Whether everyone was stunned or not, Yeon Sang-hyeon simply turned the Sword Clan Bronze Token over in his hand, inspecting it.
Jeong-a asked carefully, "Young Master, is it the real thing?"
Yeon Sang-hyeon nodded.
"Yeah. It's genuine."
A dark shadow touched his eyes as he looked at it.
"In the past, this token was originally a pledge given to a benefactor who had shown the Sword Clan great kindness—a promise to repay that debt anytime, anywhere."
His voice sank.
"If a benefactor holding the token fell into danger, the Sword Clan would run there no matter where it was."
The bronze token in his hand glinted under the sunlight.
"And they drew their swords beside that benefactor, even if it meant death."
"So it was a symbol of limitless trust", Se-a said.
At some point she had risen from her seat. From Jeong-a's behavior, she had already realized who Yeon Sang-hyeon was—and she didn't dare remain seated in front of him.
Yeon Sang-hyeon glanced at her briefly, then nodded.
"…That's right."
A bitter smile touched his lips.
"Now it's nothing more than a sacred object handed to business partners."
He lightly tossed the Sword Clan Bronze Token toward Geumju.
Tap—Geumju snatched it out of the air, then narrowed her eyes at Yeon Sang-hyeon.
"It may be only a sacred object, as you say, but it's also proof that guarantees safety from the Sword Clan's blind blades. Isn't that so?"
Her words were clearly spoken with the 'Sword Clan master' behind Yeon Sang-hyeon in mind.
"That's true", Yeon Sang-hyeon said, nodding readily.
"If the Sword Clan ignores the token and acts however it wants, the trust they've built will collapse."
A smile curved Geumju's lips.
"If you had power within the Sword Clan, you might be able to smooth it over somehow, but that would be difficult, wouldn't it?"
Yeon Sang-hyeon shrugged as if in agreement.
Geumju spoke with conviction.
"So you're that infamous Swordless."
As she said the derogatory name—"Swordless"—a thick sneer spread across her face.
"Yeah. I'm Yeon Sang-hyeon."
The moment he finished, Geumju burst into laughter.
It was the kind of laughter that sounded like she might choke.
After laughing for a long while, she wiped at the tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and finally spoke.
"Ah, damn. You scared the hell out of me. Ruined my whole look."
Her gaze fixed on Yeon Sang-hyeon.
In that downward look was unmistakable contempt.
"So what brings someone who's said to waste his life playing at immortals and letting his axe-handle rot to a place like this?"
At her arrogantly vicious words, Jeong-a's delicate brows twitched.
"It's nothing. My maid has business with the Pavilion Master here", Yeon Sang-hyeon said calmly.
"Looks like you got tired of destroying the Luoyang Sword Clan from the inside. Now you're going to wander outside and drag the Sword Clan's name through the mud too?"
Se-a slammed her smoking pipe down on the table with a sharp clack.
"Geumju, you should watch your mouth. No matter what anyone says, this man is the Sword Clan's—"
"The Sword Clan?"
Geumju snorted.
"To your eyes, does this sheltered young master really look like the Luoyang Sword Clan?"
At those words, Jeong-a clenched her teeth.
"..."
But she still couldn't step forward.
Someone as powerless as her would only turn her master into an even bigger joke, not restore his honor.
"Unbelievable…", Geumju muttered, letting out a hollow laugh as she swept her hair back.
"Hyunwol Pavilion Master, do you still not get it? What I'm relying on to do this?"
She shook the Sword Clan Bronze Token in her hand.
"What I've got is an unbeatable golden rope—something that's not even in the same league as some First Young Master who's a name only."
Her voice rang out, bright and sharp.
"I'm not some incompetent nobody who can't even get a foot into the fringes of power! A person who's truly the Second Young Master's closest confidant met with me again today—"
Mid-sentence, Geumju's gaze landed on Jeong-a.
"…met with me again today…"
Trailing off, she stroked her chin, looking back and forth between Jeong-a and Yeon Sang-hyeon.
Then, as if she'd noticed something, she jabbed a finger at Jeong-a.
"You! You're the troublesome bitch he told me about!"
"..."
Jeong-a squeezed her eyes shut.
It felt as though that finger were stabbing all the way into the most fragile part of her soul.
"Oh, what a funny coincidence. I heard about you this morning—and now I meet you in person."
Geumju strode straight toward Jeong-a.
"…That's far enough."
The gatekeeper stepped in, blocking Geumju from coming any closer.
But with the Sword Clan Bronze Token involved, that was all he could do.
"Go on. Say something. Why would you kick away that golden chance with your own feet—the chance you might've become the Second Young Master's concubine—and then run to that Swordless instead? Hm?"
Geumju mocked Jeong-a with eyes like she was watching a curious animal.
"Even if you didn't become a concubine, wouldn't it be better to be a mere plaything? What were you going to do, believing in a bum like this?"
Jeong-a stepped forward, shielding Yeon Sang-hyeon from Geumju's pointing finger.
"Do not insult my master. Someone like you has no right to speak the name of one so noble."
Even at her protest, Geumju only cackled.
"Noble? Sure—noble as can be. Throwing away every right he was born with, tossing aside responsibility, getting pointed at by his own family and still—"
Blue sparks flickered in her eyes.
"And yet he'll still be far more noble than some lowborn street trash like me, right?"
Jeong-a didn't avert her eyes, even before Geumju's terrifying aura.
But—
"..."
She had no answer.
Swordless.
In the Luoyang Sword Clan, in the vast metropolis of Luoyang, even across all of Henan Province—that name was a target of ridicule.
People knew the Luoyang Sword Clan, called the greatest clan under heaven, all too well—and for that reason, they also knew all too well the name of its reclusive disgrace: Swordless.
While his father, the Retired Supreme Clan Lord, shut himself away sick in bed yet poured everything he had into holding the clan upright, this unfilial son had no presence at all.
A coward.
A craven.
If, during his seclusion, the Luoyang Sword Clan had not continued to grow stronger and expand, Yeon Sang-hyeon's name wouldn't have ended at mere mockery.
"No words? If you have anything to say, I'll listen—go on. Say it?"
She was furious.
So furious.
Jeong-a wanted to shout that First Young Master Yeon Sang-hyeon—the master she had seen, the master she had chosen to serve—was not like that.
She wanted to speak loudly of the Yeon Sang-hyeon she knew.
But no matter what she said, her words would only ring hollow.
The helplessness she felt now—powerless like this—was the first time in her life.
Even when she'd been driven out of the reception hall as if chased by the Second Young Master and Third Young Master, she hadn't felt this powerless.
But being unable to stop her master from being humiliated—this helplessness cut all the way to the bone.
"How about that's enough?"
It was Yeon Sang-hyeon who wrapped an arm around Jeong-a's shoulders and guided her back.
"She's my only dedicated maid, after all."
He smiled with simple innocence.
"…If you keep going, I'll have no choice but to get angry too, you know?"
"It stopped being fun a while ago", Geumju scoffed, forcing down the chill that stirred in one corner of her heart.
Her blood had risen, and she'd mocked him—but the position of the Luoyang Sword Clan's First Young Master was, for her, a burden of a rank as well.
She turned her eyes to Se-a.
"Pavilion Master. No matter how hard you peek outside, the safety devices you're waiting for aren't coming."
The 15 minutes Se-a had mentioned had long since passed.
"You pressured them…!"
Geumju, facing Se-a's glare, shook the Sword Clan Bronze Token again.
"This is a complete master key."
Cackling in good spirits, Geumju turned and walked toward the door.
"I was going to carve a proper warning into your body today, but…"
She flicked a glance at Yeon Sang-hyeon.
"Too bad a nuisance showed up, so that part's going to be difficult."
Escorted by her subordinates, she stepped out, waving a hand behind her.
"Next time I come, that pathetic First Young Master won't be able to save you."
Geumju disappeared beyond the doorway, and her men followed her out like a retreating tide.
"Geumju…", Se-a ground out, teeth clenched.
And then Jeong-a—who had been holding on by sheer mental strength until that moment—collapsed.
"First Young Master… I'm sorry…"
Yeon Sang-hyeon caught her, but she was already unconscious.
"Jeong-a!"
Se-a's urgent voice rang out in panic.