The Ankle Deep Mud at Gugok Floodgate

The dirt ground at Gugok Floodgate had turned to mud that rose past the ankles, soaked by last night's downpour. Cha Yeonho pressed the knuckle of his left thumb with the fingers of his other hand. A cold ache ran through the bone, the cost of forcing the Reversal through his body at yesterday's settlement ceremony. He pulled a branch wedged in the stone crack at the floodgate's threshold and looked around. The shoulders of the workers gripping the rope rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

"One, two, three, four! Pull!"

The rope pulled taut in time with An Sobin's count. Water dripped steadily from the thick hemp rope. Every time the rhythm slipped, the workers' knees buckled, and the jolt traveled up the rope into Yeonho's palm. Yeonho stepped back and studied the workers' stances. He could see the imbalance in their effort. He untied the rope's knot himself, retied it, and adjusted where each worker gripped it.

Heavy footsteps cut through the muddy road behind him. It was Nam Gyuhan of Iron Gate Hall. He walked up to the floodgate without caring that muddy water splashed over him. Five or six disciples of Iron Gate Hall shoved aside the workers holding the rope.

"For a floodgate managed by Hoeryu Gate, this is quite the sight. Are you trying to hold the water back, or feed it until the bank collapses?"

Nam Gyuhan smirked and tapped the crack in the floodgate wall with the toe of his boot. He pulled a thick bundle of documents from inside his robe and waved it in front of Yeonho's face.

"The protection rights and the debt claims on this place have already passed to Iron Gate Hall. What nerve does a sect have to hold onto a floodgate when it can't even teach martial arts properly and just breaks its disciples' wrists?"

Yeonho wiped his wet hand on his robe and took the documents. Debt records tied to a trading house overlapped with a second, doctored ledger of repair costs. He scanned the last page, the part stamped with Ma Sayeon's seal.

"I'll hand over the protection rights and the debt. No, better yet, I'll put it up for open bidding."

The site went silent as if doused in cold water. Do Gyeom, who had been pulling the rope, flung his scabbard to the ground and ran forward.

"Senior brother! Are you out of your mind? This is a place our sect has protected. If you hand the bidding over to outsiders, Hoeryu Gate will become a laughingstock in Gugok forever!"

"Do Gyeom, face isn't what matters right now. If the workers' wages and the floodgate repairs fall behind, the village downstream floods. Protection rights aren't the sect's property, they're a responsibility for safety."

"Don't play word games with me! I won't stand by and watch you sell off the sect as senior disciple."

Do Gyeom glared at Nam Gyuhan and cracked his knuckles. The dry sound of bone meeting bone cut through the rain. He drove his sword into the ground at Nam Gyuhan's feet and shouted.

"Nam Gyuhan of Iron Gate Hall, let's make a wager. We fight a match here. If I win, Iron Gate Hall pulls out of the floodgate entirely. If I lose, I'll hand over my Transmission Seat to you."

Yeonho reached to put a hand on Do Gyeom's shoulder, but Do Gyeom twisted away. Do Gyeom trusted his own gifted skill, but he had not yet learned the cost of real combat. Nam Gyuhan clasped his hands behind his back without drawing his sword and laughed.

"Fine. Hoeryu Gate's Transmission Seat, now that's a wager worth having. Come at me."

Do Gyeom moved first. He dug his heel into the mud and drove his breath forward. His sword cut through the falling rain, aimed at Nam Gyuhan's throat. Nam Gyuhan sidestepped it easily. Do Gyeom's blade sliced empty air. Nam Gyuhan's palm struck hard into Do Gyeom's elbow. A dull crack of bone against bone sounded. Nam Gyuhan's energy twisted through Do Gyeom's meridians and choked off his breath. Do Gyeom's body flew backward. Blood ran red from the corner of his mouth where he lay buried in the mud. Nam Gyuhan drew his sword and leveled it at Do Gyeom's throat as he spoke.

"It seems you haven't even learned how to bleed off a Reversal properly. Charging in relying on raw strength, how pathetic."

Yeonho pressed his fingers to Do Gyeom's twisted wrist. Heat was boiling beneath the skin. Do Gyeom bore the pain and shoved Yeonho's hand away.

"Senior brother, I lost. I'll hand over the Transmission Seat as promised."

Yeonho stood and fixed his eyes on Nam Gyuhan. He drew another document, stamped with a red seal, from inside his robe.

"Do Gyeom's wager was about the Transmission Seat, not the right to manage the floodgate. Nam Gyuhan, if you're going to take the protection rights, then take along every worker's unpaid wages, every medical bill, and every liability for damages that comes up from here on."

Yeonho pushed the ledger into Nam Gyuhan's hands. Nam Gyuhan opened it, flustered. It listed the workers' names, the wages left unpaid each month, and detailed records of treatment for the injured.

"Wh, what is this? You expect me to take on this mountain of debt?"

"Protection rights travel together with responsibility. If Iron Gate Hall wants efficient management, shouldn't you be able to carry this much?"

Nam Gyuhan's face turned the color of mud. He tried to fling the ledger away, but the workers murmured and closed in around him. Just then, torchlight swung wildly on the road above. It was the elders of the Settlement Hall.

"Cha Yeonho, Do Gyeom. Both of you return to the headquarters immediately!"

The elder took in Do Gyeom's defeat and the chaos at the site, then stepped up to Cha Yeonho and held out his hand.

"A reckless wager at a floodgate repair site, and sharing our ledgers with an outside sect? Have you lost your mind? I'm taking back the seal right now."

Yeonho held the seal in his hand and looked at the elder. The moment he handed it over, Hoeryu Gate's rebuilding would twist to fit the Settlement Hall's taste. Yeonho set the seal down on a rock resting on the ground.

"I'll hand over the seal. But if this floodgate's channel isn't opened by tomorrow morning, the responsibility falls on the Settlement Hall. I've seen the secret dealings behind the ledger, the ones between Ma Sayeon and all of you."

The elders' eyes wavered. Yeonho helped Do Gyeom up, supporting his arm. The two of them left the site behind, walking away from the Settlement Hall's threats. The wind and rain grew fiercer, and the floodgate's stone doors screamed under water pressure they could no longer bear.

On the path toward the headquarters, Seo Eunseol blocked Yeonho's way. In her hand was a broken shard of the Reversal Stone, the same stone Yeonho had shattered on the day of the settlement ceremony, now perfectly restored. Eunseol spoke coldly.

"The elders will try to interrogate you. But show them this shard, and they'll have no choice but to run."

Yeonho took the shard. Carved into its cut surface was a map of a secret passage, marked with the Settlement Hall's seal. This was no ordinary Reversal Stone. It was evidence of how the sect's ledgers had been falsified.

"Do Gyeom, tomorrow morning we go to the interrogation. To the people who think we've already lost, I'll show them exactly who ought to be paying the cost."

Yeonho dragged his wet boots on, walking toward the headquarters. Disciplinary disciples of the Settlement Hall stood guard at the headquarters gate, holding torches high. Yeonho gripped the shard of the Reversal Stone hidden in his robe. Tomorrow morning, an interrogation would begin with every seal and every right of transmission belonging to Hoeryu Gate on the line. Yeonho thought of the red ledger hidden inside his soaked clothes, the record of the workers' sacrifices, the very thing the Settlement Hall most wanted to bury. A disciple standing guard at the gate blocked Yeonho's path and drew his sword. Yeonho looked into the disciple's eyes and spoke low.

"Step aside. I have something to say directly to the sect leader tomorrow morning."

The disciple flinched at the chill in Yeonho's eyes and stepped back. Yeonho opened the headquarters gate and walked inside. The smell of rotting wood from the old sect buildings mixed with the scent of rainwater and stung his nose. Instead of heading to his own quarters, he walked toward the main hall, where the archive's key hung and where the elders would be gathered. Do Gyeom asked in a low voice.

"Senior brother, do you really think the elders will believe this shard, just like that?"

Instead of answering, Yeonho pointed to the seal paper on the archive door in front of the main hall. Stamped on the seal paper was the official mark of a Settlement Hall elder. Rather than tearing the seal, he laid his hand over it and steadied his breath. The energy flowing from his left hand twisted the seal's mark ever so slightly. It became a new order, forged in the exact same hand the Settlement Hall elders used. Yeonho glanced at Do Gyeom.

"Get ready. Tomorrow morning, we'll carry the order they issued against us and turn the interrogation back on them."

Inside the main hall, the sound of a flickering candle drifted out. The Elder of Transmission, who held the archive key, was pacing inside. Yeonho straightened his clothes one last time and shoved the door open hard. There on the desk lay the original ledger the Settlement Hall elders had kept hidden, the one recording every worker's claim to compensation. Yeonho picked it up without hesitation. Hoeryu Gate's fate now rested not on the elders' interrogation, but on where this ledger ended up. He tucked it inside his robe and vanished with Do Gyeom into the depths of the archive.

Tomorrow morning, every disciple of Hoeryu Gate would gather in the headquarters' square. Yeonho waited for that hour, bearing the ache in his left thumb. The moment this record came to light, the Settlement Hall's authority would collapse, and Hoeryu Gate would be forced into a new choice. Yeonho leaned against a window where rainwater seeped in and went through the last of the remaining records. He took the shard of the Reversal Stone from inside his robe and slid it into a gap in the ledger. The evidence was complete. By tomorrow morning, the owner of every responsibility would change hands. Yeonho lifted his head and watched dark clouds pass over the headquarters roof. The rain showed no sign of stopping. He patted Do Gyeom's shoulder once more and gave a quiet order.

"Tomorrow morning, once everyone gathers, open this ledger in the middle of the square. That will be our chance to rebuild Hoeryu Gate."

Do Gyeom nodded and took Yeonho's hand. The energy flowing from their fingertips locked their meridians together. Yeonho realized that this very sensation was the true foundation on which Hoeryu Gate needed to be rebuilt. He put out the candle and began preparing for tomorrow's interrogation in the dark. The sound of rain seeping through the crack in the archive door felt like an omen of change. Yeonho closed his eyes in the darkness and pictured the faces of the elders he would meet at tomorrow's interrogation. A faint smile touched Cha Yeonho's lips as he wrung out the last strength left in his left hand and waited for dawn. Hoeryu Gate's reform had now become a current that could not be stopped. Yeonho checked the ledger inside his robe once more and locked the main hall door firmly. Dawn was breaking.