The Expulsion Tablet

The air in the Genealogy Hall's review chamber was frozen solid. The Settlement Hall elder kept his jaw tight and drummed his fingers roughly against the expulsion woodblock on the desk. He avoided Cha Yeonho's eyes and gave a short nod toward Choi Yul.

"Cha Yeonho, we've already heard your answer. Violating a forbidden precept is grounds for immediate expulsion under sect code. Arbiter Choi Yul, please don't delay any further. Proceed by procedure."

Instead of answering, Choi Yul drew an old wooden tablet from his robe. His fingers moved neatly and quickly along the edges of the record. Yeonho clenched the left hand hidden behind his back. The shock that had struck him when he blocked Ban Jinseok yesterday still ran through his nerves, spreading numbly up to his shoulder. He forced the pain down and glared at the corner of the ledger where Choi Yul's gaze had settled.

"There's a discrepancy in the record."

Yeonho's voice came out rough with a metallic edge, but its point was sharp. The Settlement Hall elder let out a hollow laugh and leaned back.

"A discrepancy? Every record of the settlement ceremony was compiled perfectly under the sect leader's seal. We're executing sect code right now. What exactly do you think you can do with a single character in the ledger?"

"The sect leader's seal was stamped, but the time of the transmission master's responsibility signature comes after the settlement ceremony began. Elder, the ink marks in this ledger are far too clear to hide behind the word 'custom.' The ink density at the signature time is much darker than the record of the ceremony's conclusion. Isn't that proof it was forced in after the settlement was already finished?"

Choi Yul's fingers stopped moving. He examined the small numbers beside the signature line Yeonho had pointed to. The diagonally written signature time was two hours after the ceremony's official start.

"What is this? Elder of the Settlement Hall, explain why the transmission master's responsibility signature was made after the ceremony concluded. Elder, set down your brush. Your hand is shaking."

The elder's brow furrowed. He tried to snatch the ledger back, but Choi Yul pulled the tablet toward himself a beat faster.

"Arbiter, this brush holds the sect's history. How dare an outsider question the order of the record!"

"History is proven by record, not forced by insistence."

"It's custom. Is it not the standing practice of Hoiryu Sect that once the sect leader gives approval, responsibility can be settled afterward?"

"Custom is not a clause. According to this record, if the reversal transfer began before the transmission master's responsibility was confirmed, that is not the transmitter's fault. It's a procedural violation by the sect."

Yeonho gripped his own left hand with his right to keep it from trembling. The scar on his palm ached, but the sharper the pain, the colder his mind grew. The elder rose roughly, shoving his chair back.

"This wretch dares to shake the sect's tradition!"

Without so much as a blink, Choi Yul lifted his brush and drew a red line in the margin of the ledger.

"From this moment, the expulsion ruling changes from automatic confirmation to procedural suspension. Without an explanation for the time discrepancy on that signature line, no disciplinary action will hold effect."

The chamber door opened and Do Gyeom and An Sobin stepped in. Sobin's face was pale, her wrist hidden inside her sleeve. A black bruise still ringed her wrist like a band. Choi Yul took note of the mark.

"Elder of the Settlement Hall, let's go to the Archive. We need to cross reference the actual ledger that proves whether the reversal transfer was completed before the after the fact approval."

The elder bit his lip and strode out the door. Yeonho approached Sobin and murmured low.

"Sister, do you remember where the stone was earlier? Does the sound you remember from that day match this stone's position?"

"Senior brother, the sound was different. Instead of a heavy, crushing sound, there was something sharp, a scraping sound. The stone on the north side of the Settlement Hall wasn't originally in that spot. There were signs someone had forced it to move."

Yeonho followed Choi Yul toward the Settlement Hall. The ground in front of it had been swept clean, but one stone beneath a pillar sat faintly out of alignment. Choi Yul nudged it with his foot. A dull sound rose along with a puff of dust.

"Who moved this stone?"

Everyone fell silent. Choi Yul wrote something in his tablet, his eyes fixed on the bruise around Sobin's wrist.

"According to this record, custom has devoured the rules. For a reversal mark this severe to remain, it isn't a matter of after the fact approval. It's proof the responsibility clause itself was neutralized from the start."

Choi Yul's ruling was merciless. He walked to the main hall's judgment seat and looked up at the raised chair where Jin Mugyeol sat. Jin Mugyeol sat one seat over, smoothing the end of his sleeve. He did not look away from Choi Yul's gaze.

"Sect Leader, as outside arbiter, I propose we suspend the immediate expulsion and permit a three day audit."

"There's no precedent for this, Arbiter Choi Yul."

"The place to set that precedent is right here, in the empty signature line of this ledger. Sect Leader Jin, this signature stands as collateral for your authority. Grant the chance to correct this ledger's discrepancy under your own seal."

"Then I'll stake everything I have on this. Cha Yeonho, will you place your life beside it?"

Yeonho stepped forward from behind Choi Yul. His left hand had gone so numb by now that even gripping the scabbard was a strain. He pointed to his own signature line and spoke.

"Include my violation of the forbidden precept in the audit as well. Put the elders' method of settlement and my own violation on the same judgment stand, and let a conclusion be reached in three days. If the outcome proves me wrong, I'll accept banishment from the sect, not just immediate expulsion."

Jin Mugyeol's eyes wavered. He watched Yeonho in silence, then dipped his brush into ink over the tablet Choi Yul held out. Choi Yul stamped his own name and seal, and recorded the appeal procedure beside it.

"Very well. Three days. For that period, full access to the Archive is delegated to Cha Yeonho."

Choi Yul drew out a red hourglass and turned it over on the judgment stand. Sand began pouring down without a sound. Yeonho stared at it intently. This wasn't simply time to halt an expulsion. It was a countdown toward the collapse of Hoiryu Sect's old customs.

"Acting Disciplinary Scribe, I'll carry the ledger. Senior brother's left hand is at its limit right now. Are you truly all right? Your fingertips have gone white."

Sobin gently supported Yeonho's stiffened left hand. Yeonho nodded without a word. Passing through the main hall's judgment seat, he saw the woodblock bearing his name thrown into a trash bin. What remained to him now was only the title of acting disciplinary scribe, three days of time, and the pain of the reversal that never stopped. As Choi Yul left the hall, he added coldly.

"Records don't lie, but the one who keeps them can always change. Cha Yeonho, prove for yourself whether you'll still be standing in this place three days from now. I'll be watching whether your evidence saves this sect, or destroys you."

Instead of answering, Yeonho took Sobin's hand and walked out of the Settlement Hall. Behind him came the sound of Jin Mugyeol's deep sigh. Wind blowing in over the sect's outer wall snapped harshly at Yeonho's collar. The pain in his left hand reached all the way to his heart, but he did not stop walking. He had won the right to audit, but he still hadn't found the true intruder's mark hidden within the ledger. In three short days, he had to tear down every wall this sect had built. Do Gyeom watched them from a distance, clicked his tongue, and disappeared.

Holding the Genealogy Hall's sealed tablet against his chest, Yeonho turned his steps once more toward the Archive. There was no going back now. Only the path of rebuilding this sect, bound up in discipline and responsibility, remained. A faint tremor ran through his heels as they struck the cold stone floor. He remembered in his body that a wrong judgment meant death. Sobin fell into step to match his stride. Her bandaged wrist brushed against the end of Yeonho's sleeve. It wasn't mere contact. It was the first resistance against the custom that had crushed this sect for so long. Yeonho clenched his left hand once more. Through the numbness, a cold resolve seeped in.

The Archive's heavy iron door slowly opened before his eyes. The smell of old paper poured out and struck his nose. He pushed the door open and stepped into the dark. Rows of ledgers waited for him. Forcing down the tremor in his left hand, Yeonho opened the first box. Inside, memories of his past life mixed with evidence of this one. He drew a deep breath and began reading from the very first line. This was the first price he had to pay. Three days from now, he would stand with the sect's fate in his own hands.

As the candle flickered, the characters in the ledger seemed to dance and sway. Yeonho dipped his brush in ink and pointed toward the signature line of the next ledger. An empty blank without a seal stamped on it came into view. That blank space was the spot Sect Leader Jin Mugyeol had left open, and it also meant the responsibility that Yeonho himself would now have to fill in. In the darkness of the Archive, he pressed his left thumb down hard once more. Pain shot through as if his bones were slipping out of place, but instead of a groan, he let out a cold breath.

Three days. Once these three days passed, Hoiryu Sect could never be the same as before. Sobin stood quietly beside him, watching his movements. The bruise on her wrist glowed red in the candlelight. Looking at that bruise, Yeonho reminded himself of exactly what he was enduring all this pain for. He began erasing the phrases written in the tablet one by one and drafting new clauses. In the stillness of the Archive, only the scratch of the brush against paper filled the air. Yeonho did not stop. Every time he felt the sand in the hourglass grow a little smaller, he opened the next ledger that much faster.

This life would never end as helplessly as the last one had. With his stiffening left hand, Yeonho turned another corner of the page. At last, the clue he was searching for lay hidden beneath a line marked in red ink. A faint smile lifted the corner of his mouth. The prologue to the counterattack had begun. Through the crack of the Archive's heavy door, the faint light of dawn began to seep in. The first night was passing. Yeonho set down his brush and took a sip of tea that had gone cold. Three days was both a long and a short time. He picked up the brush again and turned to the next page. The record holding the sect's fate now rested in his hands. Yeonho opened his trembling left hand and looked at it. The feeling in his fingertips was still dull, but he now knew exactly what price his body would have to pay. The candle in the Archive flared once more, then settled into a calm, steady flame. Time was passing. The moment he stopped, Hoiryu Sect's annihilation would return to being its destined future. Yeonho clenched his left hand once more and took up the brush. The three day audit had only just begun.