The Frost on Hoeryu Gate's Courtyard

A cold frost had settled over Hoeryu Gate's courtyard. The elder of the Settlement Hall sat in the seat of honor and lifted his teacup all the way to his chin. The sharp crack of porcelain meeting its saucer swept through the entire sparring ground. The elder jutted his chin toward Do Gyeom, who stood at the center of the sparring ground.

"Do Gyeom, ever since the settlement ceremony your unbroken string of wins has been the pride of the sect. Prove that momentum today in the rank match. Do you not understand that your victories are the sect's authority itself?"

Do Gyeom gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist. He tried to steady his breath, but a dull, aching pain rising from beneath his ribs blocked his airway. It was the price of the backlash he had built up by forcing down his opponents' strength through his recent string of victories. He recalled clearly that his wins had not come from his strength alone, and that someone, beneath that shadow, must have carried the pain in his place.

Do Gyeom drew his sword. The ring of metal cut through the stillness of the courtyard. Instead of raising it to strike, he twisted the angle of his wrist and brought the blade level. Slowly, he let his grip go slack. The sword fell to the stone floor with a dull clatter.

"This sword got ahead of what I deserve. If this ranking was won on a road paved by junior disciples carrying the backlash that should have fallen on me, then it weighs too heavily to keep."

"What do you think you're doing! An act like this could see you expelled for defying the sect code!"

"Proof will not come from me. It will come from the record of responsibility my sword carries. Until the audit period ends, I will hold my teaching rank in abeyance."

Do Gyeom bowed in proper form, then stepped back toward the platform where the rank tablets stood. The elder's face darkened to a livid red. At that moment, breaking the heavy silence, An Sobin rose from her seat. She kept her trembling left hand hidden deep in her sleeve. The elder glared at her and pressed her.

"An Sobin, your senior brother has gone this far. One word forgiving whatever grudge lies between you, and everything returns to where it belongs. Why does a young disciple keep choosing to act in ways that chip away at her master's authority?"

Sobin did not look away from the elder's gaze.

"I have no right to speak of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a luxury of feeling that can only be discussed once the person at fault has paid in full for their wrongdoing."

Do Gyeom lifted his head and looked at her. Sobin pointed at the thick ledger set before the elder.

"Senior Brother Do's forfeit is not a pardon. What's needed right now is a settlement of the record of my injuries, and a contract stating who will be held responsible for that backlash. So the same pain doesn't repeat for the disciples who train after us, make public the ledger showing who bore the backlash numbers, and state the cost of treatment clearly. If that is why Senior Brother Do laid down his rank, then I will answer under the same terms of responsibility."

The elder let out a hollow laugh.

"A contract. As if a young disciple could set the sect's discipline."

"Then I will stop testifying. All that remains is for me to recite everything I saw and heard, in full, before the auditor: how my injury occurred, where the flow of that backlash began, and into whose hands it flowed."

Do Gyeom, paying no mind to the elder, stepped up beside Sobin. He pointed to the sect's seal stamped on the ledger.

"Sister Sobin is right. With the authority I held as teaching seat, I hereby delegate to Sobin the right to correct the opaque records in this ledger. I don't care if my rank tablet becomes worthless. Until the results are in, I will teach nothing."

Choi Yul, seated at the auditor's table, stopped his brush and lifted his head. He silently recorded Sobin's demand and Gyeom's consent. Cha Yeonho walked over to Choi Yul's side. Yeonho rubbed his left thumb, checking the stiffness of the muscle. Without changing his expression, he handed Choi Yul a document.

"Examiner Choi. The right to teach is not a privilege, it is the sum total of responsibility. If a teaching seat takes only the privilege and evades the responsibility for the backlash, then it serves the sect better to leave that seat empty. What Do Gyeom, my junior, has just done is not a forfeit. It is a demonstration establishing, as a principle of the sect code, that the right to teach and the responsibility for it must be joined together."

Choi Yul reviewed the record. It was an unprecedented situation, but once Sobin's injury and Gyeom's suspension of his own qualification came together, they formed a weight the elder could not simply cast aside. Choi Yul dipped his brush in ink and drew a line across the ledger.

"For the record, I will review a provisional sect code holding teaching-rights holders to responsibility. This is, however, a temporary clause that applies only until the final charter is revised. From this moment, we begin cross checking testimony against the ledger. Elder, if you object, bring evidence."

Do Gyeom stepped toward Sobin and bowed his head.

"Sister An, before my rank changes into responsibility, tell me your terms for training first. I need to know exactly what price I must pay."

Sobin looked at Do Gyeom and answered.

"Senior Brother Do, never again hide your pain to win. Once my testimony is finished, from that day your swordsmanship will move to the rhythm I set. That is the price for the rank you lost."

Choi Yul drew a heavy stroke across the center of the auditor's table and continued.

"Tomorrow morning, we will cross check the original settlement ledger against Disciple Sobin's treatment records. Any teaching seat whose responsibility cannot be confirmed will have their qualification suspended by tomorrow noon."

By the time the audit ended and the crowd began to scatter, Jin Mugyeol stood at a distance, watching the whole scene. In Mugyeol's hand was a small box holding the sect leader's seal. Yeonho walked over until he stood before Mugyeol. Leaving the seat of honor that belonged to the sect leader empty, Mugyeol moved to sit in the seat beside it.

"Disciplinary Scribe Cha, have you even considered where this game you've started will drag the sect? Responsibility is a brand that, once taken up, can never be set down. Are you truly certain that the weight you're trying to carry now can save those children?"

Instead of answering, Yeonho held out his left hand before Mugyeol. The hand, its knuckles swollen and prominent, was trembling.

"I don't know if it can save them. But at least now I know where this pain I carry came from. Rather than the reputation Master worked so hard to protect, I chose to chase down the source of this pain."

Mugyeol's face twisted. He gripped the box in his hand tightly. Mugyeol held the box out to Yeonho. It was the key to the master ledger that held the sect's financial authority.

"Take it. This is the weight of responsibility you wanted so badly. The moment tomorrow's audit finishes settling this ledger, you will have every sin of Hoeryu Gate placed on your shoulders. Can you still bear that?"

Yeonho took the box. Without hesitation, he opened it and checked the documents inside. There, packed tight, were the secret deals Hoeryu Gate had struck with outside merchant guilds, and the list of disciples sacrificed as the price for them.

"Not bear it. From now on, we will share it. The weight Master carried alone, everyone will now carry together."

Just then, Choi Yul approached him. He handed Yeonho a thick envelope. Stamped on the envelope was the red seal of the Genealogy Registry.

"Cha Yeonho, the provisional sect code you submitted has passed the audit committee's approval and been adopted as the final agenda item for tomorrow's hearing. But this document carries one condition. If even a single piece of evidence you have claimed proves untrue by tomorrow's hearing, you will be expelled from the sect on the spot and lose all authority."

Sobin came to his side and lightly took hold of the envelope.

"Senior Brother, let's confirm it together. It's fine if not everything in our memories lines up exactly. This ledger we checked ourselves, and our wounds, those are the evidence."

Listening to Sobin, Yeonho opened the envelope. Inside was a list of witnesses to be handled by this afternoon, and a list of the damaged ledgers to be restored by tomorrow morning. Do Gyeom took up his sword and moved to stand guard behind Sobin. Yeonho scanned the list in the envelope once more. There, written in red pen, was a name that had not yet appeared. It was the name of the key witness who would decide the outcome of tomorrow's hearing. Yeonho's gaze stopped on that name. Baek Miryeong was waiting outside the door.

"Where do you think you're going in that condition? Get treated first. Audit or not, if your hand falls apart, you won't be able to prove anything."

"Miryeong, the treatment can wait a moment. If I don't finish matching this ledger now, the evidence we could present at tomorrow's hearing disappears."

Yeonho cut off her words and turned to the first page of the ledger. Beside the names of the young disciples were two small dots. As time went on, the gap between the dots had been narrowing. That gap was the density of the backlash, the price the children had been made to pay. He rubbed his left hand and pushed Miryeong's hand away.

"Master left the sect leader's seat of honor empty. You'll understand what that means by tomorrow. Right now I need to check the seal stamped at the end of this ledger."

Yeonho spread the ledger open on the desk. Miryeong sighed and brought over a bowl of medicinal broth. Yeonho drank the medicine while looking over the ledger again. The list in the envelope, Do Gyeom's empty rank tablet, Sobin's tightly pressed lips. All of it was weaving together around a single axis. Yeonho picked up his pen and began correcting the errors in the ledger. Waiting at the end of it were tomorrow's ruin and a new beginning. The final line of the document Choi Yul had given him caught his eye. [Tomorrow at noon, the final ruling on the principle joining the right to teach with responsibility.] Yeonho stared fixedly at that line and forgot the pain in his left hand. Footsteps sounded from outside. Seo Eunseol was walking down the corridor. In her hand was the last copy Yeonho had been looking for. Yeonho stood and opened the door. Eunseol looked into his eyes and murmured low.

"I gave up one of my own teaching seats to get this. So you'd better do this right. This time the sect really could fall apart."

"I know. This time, I'm the one who will carry it."

Yeonho took the copy from her. Eunseol turned away, and Yeonho went back to the desk and laid the copy over the ledger. The two ledgers overlapped perfectly, revealing a hidden seal. Yeonho's gaze fixed on that seal. He now knew clearly what he had to do. The shadow at the door stretched long. Someone knocked. Yeonho took a breath, then clenched and unclenched his stiffening left hand. Tomorrow's hearing had begun.