"It would be better not to make the secret cavern known just yet."
Tang Yu-hyeon muttered as he came out from behind the folding screen.
He knew that telling Tang Gang-heon of the cavern's existence would be more efficient than handing the manuals over bit by bit.
The man had led the restoration of the secret arts more than anyone, so he would hardly squander them.
But it must not be done.
At times excess is more fatal than shortfall.
Even a rough look through the 'memories' showed that the Tang Clan's present circumstances differed from those of the past.
To cling to nothing but the old ways without a thought for change?
That was no different from urging the Tang Clan's downfall.
"I've seen my share of people who spend their whole lives on useless nonsense. I can't turn into one of them."
CRACK—!
Tang Yu-hyeon concealed the secret passage meticulously and returned to his quarters.
"You have returned? Shall I prepare a meal?"
"I have no appetite. I wish to rest quietly, so all of you withdraw."
"Yes."
Once every sign of presence beyond the door had gone, Tang Yu-hyeon ground his ink at once and took up a brush.
To write it all out before the Elder Council convened, not an hour could be spared.
Scritch. Scritch-scritch-scritch.
Flip. Flip.
The room was filled with nothing but the sound of writing and the sound of turning paper.
The ceaseless sounds stopped only now and then, when he blew on the ink to dry it.
Time passed, and when at last he had finished down to the final page, Tang Yu-hyeon flopped onto his back.
"Dammit. How am I supposed to hand this over?"
If anything at all seemed off in the handing over, suspicion would follow.
Whether about the manual's authenticity or about his own identity.
"Let's not overcomplicate it. First, hand over one of them for certain."
And was there not one sure method close at hand?
The convening of the Elder Council.
***
Two days later.
Tang Yu-hyeon stood askew in the middle of the council chamber of the Clan Head's hall.
He had not done it on purpose.
Looking at all those eyes glinting to seize on even one weakness, his stance had come out this way of its own accord.
'Those creatures are the same now as they were back then.'
People who feigned refinement while sitting in seats soaked with the blood of others, steering men to suit their own taste.
Tang Yu-hyeon looked around with an expression of weary disgust.
Taking the Clan Head's seat at the center as the mark, the elders sat at a distance to either side, and behind them the young men of the clan, direct line and collateral branch alike, held their places.
Most of them had surely come expecting his fall.
'When you send looks like that, you know, a man's heart just itches to betray them somehow.'
When Tang Yu-hyeon grinned, whispers about him rose here and there.
"My word. Look at that attitude! How is that the attitude of a man in repentance!"
"That is a thick face indeed."
"Perhaps he has lost his sense of fear entirely. Tsk, tsk."
'So what.'
Even with the voices carrying plainly to him, Tang Yu-hyeon's expression stayed the same.
"The Clan Head enters!"
SNAP.
In an instant every sound vanished.
Step. Step.
In the stillness only Tang Gang-heon's footsteps rang clear.
TAP.
When Tang Gang-heon took his seat, Tang Un-yeop took his place at his side.
"Head Steward Tang, begin."
Every gaze gathered at the low, weighty voice.
When Tang Gang-heon raised a hand, Tang Un-yeop stepped forward.
"At the request of the Head of the Elder Council, the emergency meeting will now begin. The matter at hand is the punishment of the Second Young Master, Tang Yu-hyeon. The Seventh Elder will continue with the particulars."
"Ahem."
The Seventh Elder, Thousand Serpent Poison Elder Tang Pae, cleared his throat and rose.
His thrust-out belly and lifted chin, full of swagger as though he had uncovered some great truth, were repulsive.
"The second son, Tang Yu-hyeon, has for the past five years frequented the Hundred Flower Pavilion without pause, holding banquets and consuming a soul-befuddling drug. Furthermore, he leaked the Tang Clan's poisons and medicines, which amounts to a grave crime."
"Who says so? That I leaked what belongs to the Tang Clan."
"The criminal will be silent!"
At that voice edged with mockery, the Eighth Elder, Azure Serpent Ghost Elder Tang Yi, shot to his feet and shouted.
But Tang Yu-hyeon gave no ground and merely tipped his chin.
"A criminal? Me?"
He wiped the humor from his face and spoke coldly.
"Until my guilt is settled, I am not a criminal. Kindly get the form of address right."
"What shamelessness! Can you speak so even with witnesses standing against you?"
"Witnesses?"
"Tang Ga-uk, Tang Il-do, Tang Jang-hak. Familiar names, are they not?"
"Ahh."
They were the ones who, put up to it by the Elder Council, had drifted from one pleasure house to the next with Tang Yu-hyeon.
"Ahh? Ah— ah—?"
Tang Yi's face twisted.
That short sound of comprehension seemed to grate on him.
"When admitting your crime and repenting this instant would still not be enough, what insolent attitude is this!"
"Eighth Elder. Calm yourself."
When the Thirteenth Elder, Dark Poison Sage Tang Jong-cheon, checked him, Tang Yi clenched his teeth.
"Does this look like a matter to be coddled and shielded? Leaking the Tang Clan's poisons and medicines is a grave crime deserving the harshest penalty."
"Who was shielding anyone? You seemed worked up, so I told you to calm down."
'Ho. Listen to that tone. Is he about to loose poison right here?'
Even at the threatening tone, Tang Yu-hyeon only tipped his chin.
Men with rough words did not frighten him.
Speech sharpened to a point like an awl is a tool for hiding the weakness within.
The ones truly to be feared are those who feign innocence on the surface while steering others from behind.
'As I thought, that bastard is not the one who dug the pit.'
Such men do not step to the front.
If anything, they hide behind, cunning to the last.
The Eighth Elder was likely a tail that could be cut off at any convenient moment.
'Good grief. Father. It seems our crop of children has failed entirely.'
Just look at these descendants.
The rivers and mountains have changed ten times over and they still live drunk on their own greatness. What am I to do?
This ancestor will have to scrub their heads down and make people of them all over again.
'You brats are a hundred years too early to bury me with something like this!'
Though whether he could win a contest of public opinion even after those hundred years was another question.
If they wished for his fall, he would rebound and climb that much higher.
Listening to the quarrel between Tang Yi and Tang Jong-cheon as background noise, Tang Yu-hyeon raised a hand.
At once their voices cut off.
"May I offer a word?"
At his composed manner, Tang Yi and Tang Jong-cheon, who had been raising their voices, furrowed their brows.
But Tang Yu-hyeon did not spare them so much as a glance; he turned his head and looked at Tang Gang-heon.
Tang Gang-heon raised a hand lightly to grant permission.
At that, Tang Yu-hyeon cleared his voice and went on at once.
"It seems those present are under a small misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?"
"Yes. A misunderstanding."
At the crisp reply, Tang Yi let out an empty breath.
"It is true that I went to the pleasure house. Only, I did not leak what belongs to the Tang Clan. If anything, I protected it."
Tang Yu-hyeon drew an old book from his sleeve.
At the title, still clear on the worn cover, the Myriad Poison Hall Master shot to his feet.
"The, the Record of Invasive Poisons?!"
The Record of Invasive Poisons.
A secret manual compiling the Tang Clan's lethal poisons that invade directly through the skin or the blood vessels, Midnight-Noon Heart Burning among them.
That very manual, revised once every few years and only by those who had been vetted, was in Tang Yu-hyeon's hand.
'Didn't see that coming, did you? It's a piping hot manual I finished writing just yesterday. Heh heh heh.'
Tang Yu-hyeon swallowed his laughter and spoke with a perfectly straight face.
"You will be aware of the rumor going around lately that a poison of unknown make is being distributed in Sichuan."
Amusingly enough, this part was true.
Though as rumors usually go, there was every chance it had been distorted.
"Where in this world is there a poison of unknown make? Anyone can see it is a secret art of our Tang Clan. The proper course was to obtain and examine it as soon as possible, but since it was said to be sold at only a few pleasure houses and only to special customers, I have been carrying out a covert investigation all this while."
"What?"
"Keeping up this revolting wastrel act for years made it work rather well. There were even witnesses kind enough to escort me to the pleasure houses in person."
When he deliberately put weight on the word 'witnesses,' Tang Yi's face reddened as though it might burst at any moment.
"Deceiving whatever spies there may be within and without, and taking the soul-befuddling drug and poison into my own body, what I recovered through all that hardship is this very Record of Invasive Poisons."
When Tang Yu-hyeon waved the manual back and forth, the Myriad Poison Hall Master reached out as though spellbound.
The manual was laid upon hands trembling finely, as if they were touching a precious jewel.
"I trust the Myriad Poison Hall Master will judge its authenticity."
While the Myriad Poison Hall Master opened the manual to check it, Tang Yi put a hand to his head, saying it could not be believed.
"That cannot be......! He was made to change his clothes, was he not?"
Of course he was.
I only wrote it yesterday, remember?
Still, isn't that much basic?
Have none of you ever lived with something tucked in your sleeve?
"If it turns up the moment the clothes come off, is that hiding? Whether you strip or trade blows in a brawl, you have to keep hold of it for it to count as properly hidden."
Unable to hold his temper, Tang Yu-hyeon growled.
Is whatever's in your sleeves just for decoration?
Back in my day we lifted other people's manuals easily enough. What have you all been doing, never even trying that?
At the look that seemed ready to shoot someone dead, every mouth shut.
In the meantime, the Myriad Poison Hall Master set the manual gently down.
"It is indeed the Tang Clan's."
"......!"
At the Myriad Poison Hall Master's declaration, the council chamber stirred.
Tang Yi, who had driven Tang Yu-hyeon into a corner moments before, went blank.
He turned his head about in haste, but who would help him now?
Realizing he was a kite with its string cut, Tang Yi shouted as though thrashing in desperation.
"Impossible! Hall Master, examine it again!"
"Eighth Elder."
Just as the Myriad Poison Hall Master was about to clash with him, Tang Gang-heon spoke with cold severity.
"How far must I overlook things out of courtesy to an elder of this house?"
It was an ordinary voice, carrying no inner arts and holding no killing intent.
Yet the force settled in that low tone made those who heard it bow their heads of their own accord.
"The Hall Master leads the Myriad Poison Hall, which studies and governs the Tang Clan's manuals and every one of its poison arts. Is there anyone in the Tang Clan who knows the manuals better than he does?"
"I misspoke."
Tang Yi lowered his tail at once.
The Myriad Poison Hall was the institution that studied the poison arts which had walked alongside the Tang Clan's history.
In tradition and expertise, no one could match it.
Because they had to devote themselves to research, no Hall Master in history had ever served as an elder, yet the post carried a standing equal to one.
In short, he was not a man at whom the Eighth Elder, who was not even Head of the Elder Council, could dare raise his voice.
"Do not give me cause to misunderstand."
Raising a banner of revolt against the Hegemon of Sichuan, the sovereign who led the clan, was dangerous.
If it also came out that one had made a move to reduce that power, death would not be escaped.
"......I will take care."
Only after he had quietly taken his seat did Tang Gang-heon's voice ease somewhat.
"The Hall Master has vouched for it, so the merit is established."
When Tang Gang-heon crooked a finger, Tang Yu-hyeon stepped forward naturally.
"On behalf of the Tang Clan, I express deep gratitude."
"I only did what was to be expected."
Unlike himself, Tang Yu-hyeon showed modesty.
With things like this, refusing once was how a greater reward came.
The look that had seemed ready to shoot someone dead was gone, and his clasped-hands bow was flawless.
At the sight, several, Tang Gang-heon among them, smiled with satisfaction.
You like it, don't you?
I'll take your support as my reward.
"You call it expected, but it is a thing not just anyone could do. Effort that has contributed to the Tang Clan's advancement deserves to be rewarded."
Feeling the gazes upon him shift, Tang Yu-hyeon smiled faintly.
"Therefore, a reward is bestowed upon the second son, Tang Yu-hyeon."