The Clinic Room's Scent of Salt and Herbs

The clinic room was full of the smell of salt and herbs. Baek Miryeong held the edge of the paper with tweezers and carefully dabbed on salt water. Where the liquid dripping from the brush tip touched the paper, ink twisted and spread through the grain. The first fragment, its ink now clumped into illegibility, went limp like wet cotton. Baek Miryeong set down the brush and held her breath.

"The concentration's too strong. At this rate the remaining traces will dissolve too. The paper fibers have reached their limit."

Cha Yeonho gripped his trembling left thumb hard with his right hand. Pain shot up his wrist to his shoulder as the bone joints shifted out of place. His eyes, bloodshot from staying up all night piecing together the fragmented records, stayed fixed on the ledger.

"Try again. Cut the salt water concentration in half, and this time wet it along the grain on the back of the paper."

An Sobin spoke with her trembling hands hidden deep in her sleeves. Her fingertips were swollen from washing herbs.

"Senior, let me handle this piece. It's the method we used in the herb room for papers marked for disposal."

Baek Miryeong handed over the brush without hesitation. Cha Yeonho placed a hand on An Sobin's shoulder. Through his palm he could feel her breath catch as she held the fragment containing the records of twelve year old children.

"You don't have to name anyone. Just confirm what those numbers mean."

An Sobin held her breath and lowered the brush. The careful brushstroke passed gently across the center of the paper. The ink didn't spread in a clump but stopped between the fibers. Slowly, black dots and numbers rose clearly to the surface. It was a punishing backlash figure, more than three times what an ordinary trainee would take on in a year. Beside it, instead of a disciple's name, sat two small dots.

"This is the same mark I saw when I was organizing ledgers. It's the mark stamped on things meant to be discarded in the herb room. To find it here..."

Cha Yeonho bit his lip looking at the mark. This wasn't a simple clerical error but organized falsification of numbers. He looked down at his own left hand. The sensation of bone shifting out of place as he took on the backlash at the settlement ceremony came back vivid.

"Senior, record every number you see here. Don't leave out a single one."

"I know. But Yeonho, if this record comes out into the open, the backlash inside the sect won't be small. This isn't just a mistake in a backlash ledger, it goes straight to the responsibility of the elders who held the right to transmit."

"That's exactly the result we want. Tying the weight of responsibility to the right to transmit."

As noon approached, they headed for the main hall where the audit seat had been arranged. Choe Yul was already seated, reviewing documents. The settlement hall elder sat one seat below the head seat, arms crossed, greeting Cha Yeonho with an arrogant air. When Cha Yeonho entered, the elder let out a thin sneer.

"Disciplinary Scribe Cha, worked hard all night cooking something up, did you? Responsibility of the right to transmit, is that it? Trying to shake the sect's discipline with such a baseless claim?"

Instead of answering, Cha Yeonho set the ledger fragments he'd brought down on the table. Baek Miryeong opened the log recording the restoration process beside them. Choe Yul narrowed his eyes and examined the ledger.

"By the record, this fragment matches the piece found in the archive last night. But the possibility of tampering can't be ruled out. Disciplinary Scribe Cha, can you prove this went through a legitimate restoration process?"

The settlement hall elder gave a hollow laugh.

"Proof, obviously. They cooked up some solution between themselves and fit the numbers together as they pleased. He should be charged for defiling the ledger with personal feelings, ignoring the authority of the transmission elder."

Cha Yeonho looked the elder straight in the eye.

"Elder, if you doubt it, prove it yourself. Senior Miryeong's restoration solution is still here. Apply the same method to that unverified fragment left in the corner, the one where the ink hasn't been erased yet. If the same result comes out, that isn't tampering, that's fact."

The elder's face hardened. Choe Yul thought for a moment, then nodded.

"A reasonable proposal. Physician Baek, bring that fragment."

Baek Miryeong picked up the brush again with a composed expression. Choe Yul watched every movement of the brush and every reaction of the liquid meeting the paper without missing a beat. After a few breaths, numbers and two dots in the same format as the previous ledger emerged clearly on the paper. A heavy silence settled over the main hall. Choe Yul lifted the ledger and held it up to the light.

"By the record, there's no trace of tampering. This figure matches the actual backlash quantity."

"That's absurd. That, that's just a simple error!"

The elder shot up from his seat. But Choe Yul's eyes had already gone cold. He set the ledger down and turned his head toward Cha Yeonho.

"Disciplinary Scribe Cha, I accept the credibility of this evidence. But who these numbers point to, and how this connects to the right to transmit, that's still insufficient. The young disciples' names are concealed, are they not?"

Cha Yeonho turned to look at An Sobin. She stood in the middle of the main hall, her trembling hands hidden deep in her sleeves. As if she'd made up her mind, she stepped toward Choe Yul.

"Examiner, I'll speak the names myself. But please don't put them in the record. Those children still remain at Hoeryu Sect, and the moment their names are revealed, far from being protected, they'll be in even greater danger."

"For the credibility of testimony, names are essential."

"I'll submit their ages, the time they entered the sect, and the training hours the transmitting senior in question was responsible for, instead of names. That alone should be enough to establish where responsibility lies."

Cha Yeonho backed An Sobin's choice. He drew out a document marked with black ink lines from inside his robe and handed it to Choe Yul.

"This is the record we secured. The names are concealed, but the structure will be clear enough, how the authority of the right to transmit was used as a tool to offload backlash."

Choe Yul took the document and read through it slowly. On paper it was flawless. The figures, which had cunningly exploited the blind spots in the sect code, were now unmistakable evidence with no room left for excuses.

"The right to transmit grants the authority to pass on martial arts, but in exchange it demands responsibility for the disciple's physical injury and backlash. That's our sect's charter. Disciplinary Scribe Cha, what are you demanding with this record right now?"

Cha Yeonho stood upright, enduring the pain in his knees.

"I demand the stripping of the right to transmit and the immediate fulfillment of that responsibility. I also request a full reaudit of every ledger connected to this matter. Within three days, everyone who took part in this falsification will be brought before the same judgment stone."

The elder's face turned ashen. He tried to make an excuse, but Choe Yul had already reached his decision and drew out his seal.

"By the record, Disciplinary Scribe Cha's request is valid. As of today, the settlement ceremony is suspended, and a public inquiry into the responsibility of the right to transmit will be carried out. For three days, all ledgers will remain under Disciplinary Scribe Cha's management."

Once Choe Yul's ruling fell, the air in the main hall changed. Cha Yeonho walked out of the hall. The cold air of dawn filled his lungs. Beside him, An Sobin followed quietly.

"Senior brother, did we really win?"

"No, this is only the beginning. We have to restore every ledger and find the real ones responsible that they've kept hidden. Along the way, we might end up losing even more."

Cha Yeonho opened his left hand and looked at it. His fingertips were trembling faintly. At the end of the corridor stood Seo Eunseol. She was fingering a copy of a branch hall ledger.

"Disciplinary Scribe Cha, faster than I expected."

Seo Eunseol stepped forward and blocked his path.

"Is the deal still on? One seat of the right to transmit, traded for this ledger."

Instead of answering, Cha Yeonho gripped his left thumb hard. The pain surged to its peak.

"If you want to make a deal, first prove that the numbers written in this ledger were distorted. Within three days, everything will come out."

Cha Yeonho stepped past her and kept walking. Behind him he could hear the elder's shouting, but he didn't stop.

"Eldest brother, where are we headed now?"

"To the archive. We need to find every fragment among the erased traces that hasn't been restored yet."

Crossing the threshold of the archive, Cha Yeonho checked his left hand. The pain had grown clearer. He picked up the last ledger fragment left on the desk, its scratch marks stark. That fragment carried an even larger backlash figure. And beside it was a small, finely engraved red mark. Cha Yeonho stopped in his tracks looking at that mark. Before the reversal, it had been the black record of the insiders he'd once trusted so completely.

"This..."

An Sobin came closer and looked at the mark. Cha Yeonho slid the fragment deep into his sleeve. The sound of the archive door closing rang out cold. He picked up a candlestick and walked into the darkness of the stacks. Three hours remained until the inquiry. He stopped in front of a drawer at the far end of the stacks, one not yet sealed. Inside was a private charter on the operation of the right to transmit, signed personally by Jin Mugyeol.

He steadied his breath and pulled the handle. The old hinge screamed as the door opened. Inside lay a bundle of documents and, beside it, a ledger someone had marked in red. It was on an entirely different level from the settlement ceremony records, an actual ledger of the sect's resource management. Cha Yeonho drew it out and opened it. The moment he turned the first page, countless names, dates, and records of injury poured out like a panorama. Among them, the very last page caught his eye, the sealed copy the settlement hall elder had hurriedly taken with him from the main hall that morning.

He checked the document. At the top of the page was the settlement hall elder's official seal, and beside it, the transmission elder's signature stood out clearly. Cha Yeonho stood with his back to the cold stacks. The fight had now gone beyond simply securing the right to audit. He whispered low to An Sobin.

"Sister, take this out of the archive. Deliver it to Brother Dogyeom first, and don't show it to anyone else, no matter what."

An Sobin took the ledger with trembling hands and held it close to her chest. Cha Yeonho picked up the candlestick again. Now it was his turn to move. The pain in his left hand hadn't faded, it had turned into a heat that felt like it was scraping his bones. Cha Yeonho kicked open the old wooden box in the corner of the archive. At the bottom of the box lay the private list of those holding the right to transmit. With this, he could hold people responsible not only for the tampering of the settlement ceremony but for every training accident that had been quietly overlooked for years. Cha Yeonho made his final decision. Three days from now, he would sit across from Sect Leader Jin Mugyeol and throw this ledger onto the desk. He tucked the ledger into his robe and threw himself through the narrow window of the archive. Outside, the bell announcing dawn was already ringing.