Look at that — an answer straight out of him without even asking what was troubling me.
This is exactly why I don't want the black-hearted ones near me.
Even as he thought that, he found himself looking forward to whatever the man would tell him.
"Do you know the saying — if asked about the Tang Clan's strength, answer the Black Steel Corps?"
Of course he knew. Since ancient times the Tang Clan had kept several units.
The Black Steel Corps of martial force.
The Green Mist Corps of assassination.
The White Poison Corps of poison arts.
The Iron Wing Corps of protection.
And last, the Azure Scale Corps, which oversaw the clan's secret affairs great and small.
Among them the Black Steel Corps was the gathered whole of the Tang Clan's martial force, famed for there being no weapon they could not handle — throwing blades of course, but swords, spears, and staffs as well.
So much so that it was said they rose with the dawn and were the last to lie down at night.
"Go and see them. You'll get what you're after."
"Thank you for the advice."
"They'll be asleep at this hour, so go once it's light."
"Understood."
Tang Yu-hyeon tried moving his fingers, then called Tang San back.
"Hyung-nim."
"Hm?"
"Toss me into my quarters, would you."
There was no strength in his body.
He could move if he had to, but with someone standing right there who looked willing to help, he was not about to pass up an easy ride back to his quarters.
"All right."
Not a moment's hesitation.
Is it that he doesn't bother with prey he could swallow in one bite? Or is it simply that he cares for a younger brother?
Either way makes no difference.
'All I need is to be carried back to my quarters.'
What matters is not today but tomorrow.
'Let's see just how strong the Black Steel Corps is.'
And recover my own skill while I'm at it.
***
Dawn, as the day began to break.
Tang Yu-hyeon headed for the annex training ground where the Black Steel Corps was said to train.
"Haap! Haaaaap!"
Booming battle cries carried even from outside.
A good sign.
It meant their passion for martial arts ran as loud as their voices.
Just as he was about to step into the training ground.
"What brings you here at this hour?"
Tang Jong-cheon called him to a halt.
There was no rise or fall in his tone, yet the sense of an outsider being turned away could not be shaken.
'Is this somewhere I am not allowed?'
A Tang Clan man could walk about the Tang Clan, could he not?
Tang Yu-hyeon hid his coldly chilled eyes with practiced ease and made a clasped-hands bow.
"I greet you, Thirteenth Elder."
"Never mind the greeting. Answer my question."
"I came to ask permission to observe the Black Steel Corps."
Tang Jong-cheon twitched an eyebrow.
You? — that was roughly the meaning of it.
He had never expected opinions to turn all at once, but was it not about time they shifted a little?
"While training recently, I realized my own shortcomings. As I was wondering what to do about it, it occurred to me that observing the training of the Black Steel Corps, which stands as the emblem of the Tang Clan's martial force, might help. That is why I came."
Tang Jong-cheon made a low hum through his nose.
"As a rule, observation of the Black Steel Corps is forbidden to all but the Clan Head and the few approved by the Black Steel Corps Captain."
There was no chance such approval would come down for Tang Yu-hyeon, who was not the Young Master but a mere Second Young Master.
No matter that he had brought back a lost secret manual.
'To milk the Record of Invasive Poisons, or to show them a new secret manual — that is the question.'
Tang Yu-hyeon swept quickly through his memory and picked out secret manuals for handling weapons.
But even to hand one over, he would have to know their martial attainment to choose one that suited.
'Teach them martial arts that don't match their skill and ruin their bodies? Not a chance.'
That could never be allowed.
"But if you accompany me, that is another matter."
Tang Yu-hyeon stared blankly after Tang Jong-cheon until the man had walked past him.
"What are you doing? Hurry up."
"Nothing. I am coming at once."
Even as he followed behind Tang Jong-cheon, Tang Yu-hyeon could read nothing from his back.
Letting him into a place that would otherwise have been forbidden — that was clearly goodwill.
What had drawn out that goodwill?
The emergency council and the Joint Study Pavilion. Apart from those two, there was no point of contact between them.
'Perhaps it is better to assume he has been satisfied with what I have been doing.'
Tang Yu-hyeon decided not to think on it any further.
A person's heart was apt to sway like a reed.
CREAK—
As Tang Jong-cheon opened the door and stepped in, the clash of blades cut off.
The Black Steel Corps members, sparring in pairs, made a clasped-hands bow toward him as one.
"We greet the Thirteenth Elder and the Second Young Master!"
"Enough with the courtesies."
Tang Jong-cheon waited for them to straighten, then looked to Tang Roe, Captain of the Black Steel Corps, and continued.
"The Second Young Master realized his shortcomings while training and has asked to observe. By the rules it is not permitted, but I hope you will allow it for my sake."
"How could I refuse? I will have another seat prepared."
"That will not be necessary. You have granted a rare opportunity; I will not add to the trouble. Standing to watch is enough."
"Understood. Then allow me to show you this way."
Once they had climbed to a spot that took in the whole training ground, Tang Roe raised his voice with inner arts.
"Resume sparring!"
"Yes, sir!"
With that short answer, the Black Steel Corps members went straight back to their sparring.
CLANG! CLANG! CLAAANG!
At first they seemed conscious of the stranger that was Tang Yu-hyeon, but soon they focused on the opponents before them.
'A good attitude.'
But a good attitude did not necessarily lead to good skill.
'Far too many unnecessary movements.'
The Five Thunder Chain, the Soul-Chasing Flying Butterfly, the Chained Ten Blades — all of them.
Their skill in unfolding the throwing blade arts was not bad — considering how many martial arts had been lost, it counted as good.
But was there any sign in them of reaching complete mastery of those throwing blade arts?
There was not.
Every one of them was bewitched by flourish and had forgotten the essence; how could they ever reach complete mastery?
If they truly wished to unfold the Tang Clan's throwing blade arts, they had to be faster, sharper, and stronger than this.
Otherwise there was only death.
The death of failing to survive, failing to stand in the way, failing to protect.
'When am I supposed to teach this lot?'
Tang Yu-hyeon swallowed a sigh and looked at Tang Jong-cheon and Tang Roe.
They too were only watching the corps members quietly.
They were most likely trading assessments of the members' skill and plans for the days ahead by telepathy, so their judgments would not reach anyone else's ears.
'It would be nice if I could steal a listen.'
For that, his martial attainment fell woefully short.
'A pity.'
Just then, Tang Roe abruptly asked Tang Yu-hyeon a question.
"Second Young Master. How do the members' skills strike you?"
Tang Yu-hyeon did not answer at once; he only turned his head.
'Do I tell the truth, or not?'
The deliberation did not last long.
It was for the Tang Clan's sake; a few sour looks were cheap enough.
His reputation had already fallen once, and even if he had raised it somewhat, there was nowhere further to fall.
"Their fundamentals seem solid. The Black Steel Corps lives up to its name. However—"
Tang Yu-hyeon pointed out the members he had marked, one by one.
"That one's hips are pulled too far back, and that one's follow-through is weak when he looses a blade. He'll wreck his wrist at this rate. And that one......."
Tang Yu-hyeon's assessment went on for half a quarter-hour.
As the criticisms piled up, the training members' eyes twitched and their movements halted.
Vice Captain Yang Mo-seol frowned at the scathing assessment.
She barely held back the anger trying to burst out of her and calmly made a proposal.
"Second Young Master. If that is how it looks to you, then we too would ask to learn from you. How would it be if you sparred with our members?"
Even as the words left her mouth she seemed to think it a fine idea herself, for she looked to Tang Roe for agreement.
"If the members shore up their skills with the Second Young Master's help, it will do them good."
"Hmm. What do you think, Second Young Master?"
This was the very question he had been waiting for.
Tang Yu-hyeon pulled the corners of his mouth into a smile.
"A fine opportunity. I thank you for the offer."
At a manner of speech that seemed arrogant at a glance, Yang Mo-seol growled without a sound.
Though Tang Yu-hyeon caught the faint movement of the muscles in her face, he did not make an issue of it.
Tang Roe and Tang Jong-cheon likewise knew what expression she had made and did not stop her.
"Vice Captain. Bring someone suitable to face the Second Young Master."
"Understood."
Yang Mo-seol swept her eyes quickly over the members.
She had a candidate in mind from the moment she first made the proposal.
"All halt! Everyone but Hwang Jeong-cheol, clear the sparring platform!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
As though they had been waiting only for her order, the members gathered their throwing blades in perfect order and moved off the sparring platform.
Left alone, Hwang Jeong-cheol brushed the dirt from his clothes and loosened up lightly.
'A new recruit? .......Martial attainment at the peak realm. He certainly hasn't been in long.'
He had not even hoped for a spar with a master.
But naming an inexperienced peak realm recruit as his opponent could only mean they were looking down on him.
Even if it was said that in the Black Steel Corps every member, recruit or not, held martial attainment worth three grown men.
'All the better if he isn't fully dyed yet. I'll set him right before he takes the wrong road.'
Tang Yu-hyeon stepped onto the sparring platform, still smiling.
With the very man who had passed such a scathing judgment on the Black Steel Corps standing before him, Hwang Jeong-cheol steadied his breathing.
『Play along for a while, then crush him.』
『Understood.』
But he could not hide the spark that flared in his eyes the instant he received the telepathy.
"I, Vice Captain Yang Mo-seol, will judge. Let the duel begin!"
"I will learn a move from you."
"And I will learn a move from you."
Tang Yu-hyeon and Hwang Jeong-cheol gave a clasped hands greeting, then set themselves as though taking a starting stance.
WHIIIIISH—!
Hwang Jeong-cheol swung his arm wide and loosed his throwing blades.
Five silver lines splitting the empty air.
It was the Five Thunder Chain.
'He dared look down on the Black Steel Corps! Second Young Master or not, there's no need to hold back!'
Tang Yu-hyeon watched the blades flying at him, then swung his arm as lightly as a man shrugging off an outer robe.
WHIIIIIISH—!
With that alone, throwing blades spun out swiftly through the air.
CLANG! CLANG-CLANG! CLAAANG—!
The blades, flying in the shape of birds, struck Hwang Jeong-cheol's aside.
The Five Thunder Chain against the Five Thunder Chain.
He had returned it exactly.
As if to say: I am the model here, so watch and learn.
"Tch!"
Hwang Jeong-cheol slid his hand into his sleeve to loose more blades.
But before he could even fit one between his fingers, a blade appeared abruptly before his eyes.
"Damn it.......!"
CLATTER-CRASH—!
Twisting his body, Hwang Jeong-cheol rolled across the ground in an ugly sprawl.
Bracing himself on the ground, he could not easily rise.
For a Black Steel Corps member, boasting the Tang Clan's finest martial attainment, to be beaten by one not yet twenty must have been shameful.
But that was not the only reason he could not rise.
The blade that had appeared out of nowhere behind the Five Thunder Chain.
The same movement unfolded, and yet one attack had been followed immediately by another.
He had felt the gap in martial attainment for himself.
Tang Yu-hyeon looked down at him and tilted his head.
"What, surprised?"