"Did you say Beijing?"
"That's right."
The Historian frowned slightly.
"That's strange."
"Why?"
"Actually, I've heard various stories about Gwanghui Mujeon from you all this time, but most of those events are stories I've heard at least once before. Of course… the direction and interpretation are a bit different."
Guangqushen chuckled.
"It's not a bit different, it's completely different."
"Yes. So… that's right."
The Historian readily admitted it.
The known deeds of Wei Yan-ho and the deeds of Wei Yan-ho that Guangqushen spoke of were too different, even for being different. It was as if different writers with different tendencies heard the same plot and each wrote their own story. The overall movements and context weren't different, but the detailed contents were too different.
"Anyway!"
The Historian cleared his throat loudly and changed the subject.
"Anyway, whether in official history or in folk tales, it's content I've heard at least once, but I've never heard even once that Gwanghui Mujeon went to Beijing."
"You couldn't have."
"…Why is that?"
"First of all… hmm, firstly, not many people knew about it."
"Still, it's Beijing…"
"It's a bit different now, but Beijing at that time was a place where martial artists couldn't swagger around freely. Although it was basic that the government didn't pay much attention to the martial world, they weren't lenient enough to overlook sword-carrying ruffians swaggering around Beijing."
"That would be so."
"Wei Yan-ho was already a famous person in other places, but to ordinary people, he was just a passing young man. So there was no way for rumors to spread that Wei Yan-ho was in Beijing. And in other places he got entangled with martial artists, but… here he got entangled not with martial artists but with court officials. So there was nothing to spread rumors about."
"It's a bit strange."
The Historian spoke as if he couldn't understand.
"No matter what, a martial artist having an audience with the Emperor isn't an ordinary matter. Looking back through history, after the case of Master Zhang Sanfeng whom the Emperor invited as a teacher, hasn't there been any case of a martial artist directly having an audience with the Emperor?"
"That's right."
"No matter how few martial artists were there, I can't understand how such a big event didn't become a rumor at all."
"There's nothing strange about it."
"Pardon?"
Guangqushen chuckled.
"If things had proceeded normally, you'd be right. But as you know, is there anything normal about what Wei Yan-ho does?"
"…There isn't."
"If he could have had a proper audience, as you said, those rumors might have spread… but there's no way it proceeded like that. So the court officials couldn't spread rumors even if they wanted to… and we had to keep our mouths shut too."
"Pardon?"
"…It became something we couldn't go around blabbing about."
Guangqushen's face turned slightly pale.
Just recalling that incident made his face look nauseated. Until now, not even once had Guangqushen made such a face while talking about Wei Yan-ho's affairs.
'What on earth happened?'
The accidents Wei Yan-ho had caused so far were already enough. But The Historian began to fall into anxiety upon grasping from Guangqushen's face that there was something more than this.
What more could there be from here?
"Don't tell me even the Imperial Family…"
"…Listen here, didn't I tell you?"
"Pardon?"
"That fellow is like a natural disaster. If he could choose where he struck, he wouldn't be a natural disaster."
At those words that were too convincing, The Historian found himself nodding without realizing it.
"Well, since all of Wei Yan-ho's affairs are like that, it's not incomprehensible… but there's still one thing I absolutely can't understand."
"What is that?"
Guangqushen narrowed his brow and spoke.
"What on earth was Prince Lee thinking when he called Wei Yan-ho into the Imperial Palace?"
"…"
"Now that's truly strange. Really."
***
Actually, even though I'm from the Beggar's Sect and handle all the information in the world, I could never obtain information about the Imperial Family. That's because it's not transmitted through people's mouths.
And even if we obtained information, it would be immediately discarded.
Why, you ask?
Tsk tsk tsk.
Why would the Beggar's Sect classify and organize information? To serve the world or something?
Even beggars have to eat and live.
Of course, we beggars live by begging, but begging alone makes it hard to even put food in our mouths. People who don't know say the Beggar's Sect makes loads of money, but that's half right and half wrong.
Of course we make money. That's true. If you add up the money we get from selling information, the money we get from participating in various affairs, and the money the kids get from begging, there aren't many places in the world that make more money than the Beggar's Sect.
Then what's wrong?
It doesn't remain.
No, really. That money doesn't stay.
Think about it.
No matter how much money you pile up, how many beggars are there? If there's even one drought, people's hearts become stingy in an instant, and then all those many beggars have to starve. But the Beggar's Sect can't say, "I know you've been begging hard all this time, but there's nothing we can do so starve to death."
If you feed those beggars, the money you saved really flies away in an instant.
So we have to save money desperately. But what if we sold information about the Imperial Family?
That's right.
The seed of beggars throughout the world would probably dry up, right?
So even if information about the Imperial Family comes in, we throw it away and don't take interest in it.
That's why I didn't know.
Yeah. I didn't know.
I didn't know that place was such a mess.
…I didn't know at the time.
***
"Wow, the house is really big. It would be really nice to live in a house like this."
"…A house is sufficient if one can just lay down one's body. There's no need for it to be excessively large."
"Why would someone who knows that say such things?"
Prince Lee's face trembled.
'I forgot for a moment.'
Human memory tends to fade and become idealized as time passes. The intense presence he felt when he first met Wei Yan-ho had become quite faded in that short time.
'I must have been crazy.'
Why did I call this fellow in?
No matter how good the reason, what meaning would it have if he collapsed from apoplexy before achieving it?
"I don't want such a house, but as royalty, there's something called dignity. If I built and lived in a thatched cottage, the ministers would rise up like a swarm of bees to stop me. Do you understand my difficulties?"
"Being royalty is really great. You get to live in houses like this without doing anything."
"Aaaahhh!"
Prince Lee almost threw away all dignity and everything to get into a brawl with Wei Yan-ho, but those around him desperately held him back.
"Your Highness, please calm down!"
"Isn't he originally that kind of fellow!"
"Dignity! Dignity!"
"Huff, huff!"
Prince Lee desperately took deep breaths.
Didn't he already know that Wei Yan-ho was this kind of fellow?
The important thing was the purpose, not getting into a brawl with Wei Yan-ho.
"Groan!"
When they arrived at the front of the house, servants came rushing out to greet them.
"You've returned! Your Highness!"
"Open the gate!"
"Yes!"
When the gate opened and the carriage entered inside, Prince Lee got out of the carriage and opened his mouth.
"These are guests who have come from afar, so there must be no negligence in hospitality. Take care so their travel fatigue can be relieved."
"Yes! How could there be any issue!"
It was a dignified appearance. Prince Lee himself thought so too. But because of that damned fellow behind him who kept chuckling snicker snicker, the back of his neck kept getting tense.
"You fellow!"
"Yes?"
"You follow me for now."
"…Me?"
"Then who else is there?"
"I want to rest too, you know? Can't I receive some non-negligent hospitality and then follow you?"
"…Do you want to receive non-negligent beatings all over?"
"You've become quite violent while we haven't seen each other."
"Who do you think caused all this!"
The servants' eyes widened.
The Prince Lee they knew was an incomparably solemn person. And that solemnity wasn't strange at all about him. As the current Emperor's older brother and arguably the eldest among the royalty, how could you remove the word 'solemn' from him?
No matter how much the eunuch Nok-gi controlled the Imperial Palace, a mere eunuch of low birth couldn't approach the dignity of Prince Lee, who was royalty from birth.
But…
"I thought you might have matured a bit after going to the martial world, but you've become even more of a scoundrel!"
"You've gotten a bit older, old man!"
"I'm aging because of you!"
"Usually aging is just aging. But people who can't avoid the passage of time tend to look for reasons. It's heartbreaking to become the target of that reason, but if it makes your heart more comfortable, old man, then I should sacrifice myself."
"Grrrr…"
Seeing Prince Lee about to collapse from high blood pressure, Wei Jeong-han's upper and lower teeth began to clash mercilessly.
'If I'm not careful, this will escalate to the crime of insulting the Imperial Family.'
With the desperate will that he couldn't ruin the family because of one fool, Wei Jeong-han jumped forward. Then he immediately smacked the back of Wei Yan-ho's head.
"Ow! Why are you hitting me!"
"You insolent fool! Did I teach you to be like this!"
"No matter how much I think back, I don't think I learned anything in particular…"
"…"
When he was young, he left the family claiming to practice martial arts, and when he got older, Wei Yan-ho left home. Faced with that devastating original sin, Wei Jeong-han became like a mute who ate honey.
"I apologize, Your Highness."
After all, shouldn't one speak with people who can communicate?
Having failed to stop Wei Yan-ho, Wei Jeong-han began to appease Prince Lee.
"It's my fault for not teaching him properly. If there's any fault, it lies with me, so please punish me."
Prince Lee nodded as if moved.
"Indeed, a child's wrongdoing is the father's wrongdoing."
"That's right."
"Then you should be punished."
"That's… yes?"
Wei Jeong-han's eyes widened as he looked up. Usually at times like this, shouldn't the response be 'No. What fault could you have?'
"What kind of scheme do you think you're pulling! You damned fellows!"
Prince Lee began breathing fire from his mouth.
"I'll immediately impose the punishment of beating with sticks on you fellows!"
"Eh, getting angry at people you called when they didn't want to come. If you were going to be like this, why did you call us?"
"I'm already regretting it, you damned fool!"
"You're quite fickle. The people below must have a hard time."
"Ah… the back of my neck! The back of my neck! Call a physician! A physician!"
Watching the scene becoming chaotic, Jang-il indifferently tore at his jerky.
"Typical."
It was a very typical day for Wei Yan-ho.
"Prepare for entering the palace."
"You need to tell me what kind of preparation to make for me to decide whether to prepare or not."
"I was going to tell you!"
"It would be nice if you told me in advance."
Grrrrrr.
Prince Lee gripped his inkstone tightly. His contemplation while holding the inkstone wasn't because he was worried this inkstone might hurt Wei Yan-ho.
'He'll dodge it anyway.'
After releasing a monster-like fellow into the martial world, he had returned even more monstrous. He couldn't even gauge what level he had reached.
"Sigh…"
Prince Lee, who put down the inkstone, opened his mouth.
"The reason I specifically called you to this place is…"