A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 305

305. Refutation

“There’s no way to cancel it.”

Kyunghee Gunju spoke those words. Not only Sasooyeon, but also No-gun, Seorin, Hwasa, and Chunghye all couldn’t hide their shock at those words.

“No, surely….”

“That can’t be.”

“…Th, there’s no way.”

Hwasa, Seorin, and No-gun muttered in disbelief.

Sasooyeon felt the same. She couldn’t accept Kyunghee Gunju’s words that there was no way.

“Ahahahahaha!”

Looking at them, Kyunghee Gunju laughed out loud.

“This is so funny. You, who were supposed to ascend to the heavens, are so flustered. So, you were just people too? Being deceived, getting angry, and despairing—just people.”

“That can’t be.”

A flame rose in Sasooyeon’s eyes. She stared straight at Kyunghee Gunju with that cold fire and said.

“There must be a way to cancel it. There’s no way you would have gone this far otherwise.”

Sasooyeon gritted her teeth.

“There is, there must be, a way.”

It was a statement filled with clear conviction. But Kyunghee Gunju scoffed at that conviction.

“No.”

Kyunghee Gunju said.

“There is no way. Don’t you get it yet? If there was, do you think I would have jumped?”

As she said this, Kyunghee Gunju’s extreme choice was proving that her words were true.

“So, why don’t you hurry to the Seowon [private academy]? There’s nothing you can do anyway. In your impatience and anxiety, curse your powerless selves and run like crazy. Who knows? Maybe this signal worked, even though there was no response. But when you arrive in Cheongwon…”

Kyunghee Gunju said, looking straight at Sasooyeon.

“Despair will greet you.”

“Uaaaaaah!”

Sasooyeon screamed. She raised her sword, igniting a flame-like rage. Her sword burned with anger.

Even while seeing that terrifying sight, Kyunghee Gunju laughed instead.

“Now, then, kill me now.”

Gritting, shiiik.

There was no hesitation. Sasooyeon’s sword fell straight towards Kyunghee Gunju.

Kyunghee Gunju faced the moment when Sasooyeon’s flame-like rage rushed towards her, the blade of that rage approaching her eyes, with a calm gaze.

“Just a moment.”

That quiet voice was none other than Sonbin’s. And in that instant, Kyunghee Gunju saw Sasooyeon’s sword stop as if by a lie.

Sarak.

The hair of Kyunghee Gunju that touched the blade was cut off. Sasooyeon’s sword, Mimeong, was stopped right in front of Kyunghee Gunju’s eyes.

“Would you please put your sword away? Suyeon Sojeo [young lady Suyeon].”

Sasooyeon bit her lip. Blood was seeping out, but she eventually sheathed her sword.

Seureung.

With a quiet sound, Mimeong disappeared. But Sasooyeon’s momentum towards Kyunghee Gunju was sharper than a blade.

Jeobeok, jeobeok.

Sonbin walked towards Kyunghee Gunju. Approaching closely, Sonbin bent down and extended his hand towards Kyunghee Gunju.

“Can you stand?”

At those unexpected words, Kyunghee Gunju glared at Sonbin. But it was neither mockery nor pity. Kyunghee Gunju, who had been sitting down, bit her lip.

“Get your hand away.”

Rejecting Sonbin’s help, Kyunghee Gunju put strength into her arms and legs and stood up.

‘Ugh.’

Sharp pain came, but it didn’t last long. Kyunghee Gunju, frowning, examined her attire.

Her clothes were disheveled and partially dirty, but there was no major damage. Kyunghee Gunju lightly straightened her clothes and swept back her hair.

Seuk.

The hair ornament flew away, and because it was a mess due to the strong wind, she couldn’t restore her previous appearance. But she barely managed to avoid looking shabby.

“So, what do you want to say?”

Kyunghee Gunju asked, looking straight at Sonbin.

“Is it true that there is no way to cancel it?”

Kyunghee Gunju smirked. In this situation, is that still what he’s asking about?

“Yes.”

Kyunghee Gunju said with a smile, hoping for what kind of despair her words would bring him.

But Sonbin’s reaction was a little different.

“I see.”

Sonbin rested his chin on one hand and seemed lost in thought. And then asked again.

“What if I had accepted your proposal, Gunju-nim [Lady Gunju]?”

Kyunghee Gunju’s eyes shone sharply. But she wasn’t fooled. Sonbin’s words absolutely didn’t mean that he would surrender even now.

“What do you mean?”

As if trying to grasp the hidden intention, Kyunghee Gunju frowned and asked back.

Perhaps he’s testing her? Hoping that there might be another way?

“Ah, it’s nothing else. I was just wondering if I’m that important. For the noble imperial family’s Gunju to risk her life for me is a bit….”

“You are important.”

Kyunghee Gunju’s voice cut off Sonbin’s words.

“Who do you think you are? What if you had accepted the proposal? Then the Beoncheonjigye [Overturning Heaven and Earth Scheme] would have been as good as complete. And I too….”

Gritting.

Kyunghee Gunju gritted her teeth.

“Wouldn’t have been doing this kind of lowly struggle.”

“…I see.”

Sonbin nodded slowly.

“You said that I was the only solution back then, too, Gunju-nim.”

Kyunghee Gunju frowned. She certainly said that in the carriage in Hangzhou. But hearing it from Sonbin somehow feels shameful. Even more so in this situation.

“Ah, it’s what you said in the carriage back then. To me….”

“I know.”

Kyunghee Gunju, answering in a cold tone, stared straight at Sonbin.

“So, why are you bringing this up now? Did you want to insult me? If so, go ahead and do it.”

Kyunghee Gunju straightened her back and raised her head.

“Because this is my last.”

Facing Kyunghee Gunju’s somewhat provocative gaze, Sonbin sighed quietly and shook his head.

“I don’t know why Gunju-nim always makes me out to be a strange person.”

Sonbin shook his head.

“I just wanted to confirm how important that proposal was to Gunju-nim.”

“Don’t you know?”

Kyunghee Gunju laughed.

“You saw what choice I made right after you, no, that boy, rejected my proposal.”

Immediately after the negotiation broke down, Kyunghee Gunju jumped off the cliff without hesitation. That soon tells that Kyunghee Gunju’s proposal was virtually a gamble on her life.

A gamble of Geonkonilcheok (乾坤一擲) [a single throw of the dice that determines heaven and earth], that decides heaven and earth with a single throw.

“Yes. So, I could understand. The meaning of what you told me about the fear of failure in the past.”

“Me? When?”

Kyunghee Gunju frowned. Did she ever say such a thing?

But Sonbin nodded.

“In the carriage.”

Sasooyeon and Dangwora’s eyes flashed slightly. But it soon disappeared.

Kyunghee Gunju bit her lip. She clearly remembers talking in the carriage before. But to have even said such a thing, how much had she opened her heart to him?

“Okay, are you done wondering now?”

“Yes.”

Sonbin’s answer was like declaring the end of Kyunghee Gunju.

Kyunghee Gunju gritted her teeth and raised her head to face her fate.

“Then….”

“Thanks to you, I now know for sure.”

Sonbin said to Kyunghee Gunju. He was smiling quietly.

“That nothing will happen in Cheongwon.”

Kung.

Sonbin’s words were bound to be shocking. Not only No-gun and Seorin, but also Sasooyeon and Dangwora, Chunghye, and even Geomhee looked at Sonbin with surprised eyes.

“This matter was of great importance to Gunju-nim. As you said, as soon as you confirmed that things had gone wrong, Gunju-nim made an extreme choice right away.”

That was an accurate point. As soon as the negotiations broke down, Kyunghee Gunju jumped off the cliff without hesitation. Provoking Sasooyeon was the same.

“Therefore, this was something that absolutely could not fail. In other words, preventing the tragedy that would happen in Cheongwon at that point can be said to be the most important core condition.”

Even if Sonbin accepts Gunju’s proposal, everything will be in vain the moment he confirms that Cheongwon has been burned down. Therefore, there must be a way to prevent the tragedy.

“Hahaha.”

With a hollow expression, Kyunghee Gunju laughed.

“So, there must be a way to cancel it? That’s the same logic as this woman just now. But what to do?”

Kyunghee Gunju gritted her teeth and said.

“There is no way to cancel it.”

“That’s right.”

Sonbin nodded.

“There is nothing that must be there. Then there is only one logical conclusion.”

Looking straight at Kyunghee Gunju, Sonbin said.

“We started from a wrong premise from the beginning. That is, the premise that Cheongwon will be burned down.”

There had to be a way to cancel it. Otherwise, everything Kyunghee Gunju did would be meaningless.

Nevertheless, if there is no way to cancel it, there is only one conclusion.

From the beginning, the very statement that Cheongwon would be burned down was a lie.

“So, Cheongwon will not burn down. No one will die. In Cheongwon, nothing will happen.”

Sonbin did not ask for consent.

He just said it. What is true and what is false.

And Kyunghee Gunju could not refute those words.

Kyunghee Gunju bit her lip. But it’s already too late to say that there is a way to cancel it now. If there was such a thing, she should have presented it earlier.

Her own extreme choice is to give the opponent the certainty of despair, and at the same time, it proves that Kyunghee Gunju herself has nothing left.

In the end, she couldn’t say anything.

“Is that true?”

No-gun asks in a trembling voice.

“Is it true? Really, is nothing going to happen?”

Sasooyeon’s voice follows, and the sobbing voices of Seorin and Hwasa flow out.

“Hyung!”

“Oppa….”

Sonbin nodded to them. And he turned his head and looked at the silent Kyunghee Gunju.

“If I had accepted the proposal, Gunju-nim would have fired a signal. If you ask why there is no response, you can just make something up. You can say that’s how it is in the first place. Anyway, by confirming that there is nothing wrong with Cheongwon, I will be obliged to succumb to Gunju-nim.”

Kyunghee Gunju was still silent.

“But there is still something I can’t understand.”

Sonbin asked.

“Why did you stay?”

Kyunghee Gunju raises her head. Sonbin continued.

“Why did Gunju-nim have to stay in person? Someone else, such as Cheongranggeom Wi Gong or Hang-a Sojeo, could have stayed?”

Even Soha, who is not here, is fine. No matter how important it is, there is no reason for Kyunghee Gunju to risk her life.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on Kyunghee Gunju. After a moment of silence, Kyunghee Gunju faintly smiled.

“You already know.”

Kyunghee Gunju said. The previous venomous voice is nowhere to be found, only the voice of a tired and exhausted person.

“Because I had no choice.”

At her answer, everyone was relieved for a moment. This is because Kyunghee Gunju acknowledged that Sonbin’s words were true.

In other words, nothing is really happening in Cheongwon.

But her next words were enough to make everyone serious.

“It didn’t matter if I failed. If I die here, the Beoncheonjigye can gain a justification that cannot be compared to anything.”

If it becomes known that the imperial family’s Gunju died at the hands of a Murim [martial arts world] person, the world will be outraged.

It is an absolute justification that cannot even be compared to causing a bloodbath in Hwangsan.

“And that way, it will end with me alone.”

Kyunghee Gunju’s failure is not just her problem. Her family and relatives are not free from this problem either.

But if she dies here, that won’t happen.

Of course, there was no such order. But this was also an implicit condition that the Emperor had allowed her. By dying as the justification for the Beoncheonjigye, her family is freed from the responsibility of failure.

“Ahem.”

No-gun, who was very uncomfortable, groaned.

“Then, is what you said about burning Cheongwon really a lie that you came up with on the spot?”

Kyunghee Gunju smirked. But even that smile doesn’t have the same sharpness as before.

“Originally, that plan was drafted by Soha. It was a plan that was established as soon as it was discovered that you were running a Seowon with children in Cheongwon. But I scrapped it.”

“Why?”

Sonbin asked.

“Because I judged it was useless.”

Kyunghee Gunju answered.

“You can use it to shake you for a moment. But will that last long? Soha also said. ‘A person walking the path of the Mujje [path of non-existence] will not sacrifice himself for children.’ Even if he accepts it, it won’t last long.”

Soha and Kyunghee Gunju cannot trust people’s good intentions. In the imperial family, there is nothing as foolish as that.

But hearing it, No-gun felt a chill down his spine. So, the burning of Cheongwon was something that could have happened.

“And….”

Kyunghee Gunju, who was about to say something more, closed her mouth.

‘I can’t give the order to kill the children,’ was her other true feeling.

It’s not like cheap sympathy. As a Gunju, she wants a strong enemy. An enemy worth risking her life for, an enemy worth changing her destiny.

To her, telling her to kill children was nothing but an insult. Perhaps it was her pride.

That pride also made her shut her mouth. Because she can never say words that beg for his sympathy in front of Sonbin.

Instead, Kyunghee Gunju said with a sneer.

“And, it’s too early to pity me. Because you will soon be in the same situation. The Beoncheonjigye is….”

“That damn Beoncheonjigye.”

No-gun said, grinding his teeth.

“Now I know. So, if you don’t want to be exterminated, shut up and kneel before the imperial family, right?”

No-gun’s voice contained boiling anger.

“But what if I don’t want to? Are you going to kill them all?”

At No-gun’s murderous momentum, Kyunghee Gunju let out a small laugh.

“Maybe.”

“What?”

“Do you know how many high-ranking officials have died just because they were suspicious? The number of soldiers buried because they couldn’t trust the intention of surrender? How many meritorious subjects and their relatives do you think were executed just to stabilize the rule of later generations?”

Kyunghee Gunju continued in a sarcastic tone.

“Even if it’s half of the world, kill it if it harms the well-being of the imperial family. Even if it’s blood-related parents and children, if it becomes a threat, give them poison without hesitation. That is power, and that is the imperial family.”

Kyunghee Gunju’s eyes looking at No-gun were even eerie.

“So, why didn’t you just leave it alone? Why didn’t you pretend you didn’t know and just let it go? If you had, it would have ended with a few deaths here in Hwangsan. Without spilling the blood of so many people.”

“Heolheol.”

No-gun laughed. But his eyes were not laughing. No-gun said, grinding his teeth.

“To say that now….”

“Even if the Beoncheonjigye starts in earnest.”

Sonbin’s quiet voice cut off No-gun’s words.

“They won’t kill everyone. Maybe they’ll burn down one of the four great sects, like Wudang or Huashan. If you think about symbolism, it’s Shaolin, but killing monks is too much of a burden.”

Sonbin said it without any emotion, but burning down Wudang or Huashan is a huge event.

“Once it becomes known that the imperial family’s will is so strong, the remaining sects and the Five Great Families will also consider turning to the imperial family’s side. The experts of the Outer Sect who do not want their sects to be burned down will also respond to the imperial family’s persuasion. Once they have taken the lead like that, the imperial family will no longer burn down the sects.”

Sonbin continued calmly.

“And then, will it be a law that restricts the possession of swords and weapons?”

“Restrict the possession of swords? The orthodox sects are like that, but the unorthodox sects won’t follow such a law, will they?”

No-gun frowned and raised an objection. But Sonbin shrugged and replied.

“It doesn’t matter because there is always a justification to subjugate the unorthodox sects. What the imperial family wants to hold on to is only the orthodox sects, specifically the Four Great Sects and the Five Great Families. If the imperial family wants to, they can confiscate the property and land of the Five Great Families as much as they want….”

The cases of the Four Great Sects and the Five Great Families are different. While the Four Great Sects can hide behind the name of religion, the Five Great Families do not have such a thing. If the imperial family decides to strike, they have no choice but to surrender.

“In the case of the Four Great Sects, you can have monks or Taoists register with the state. If you create something like a Seung-gwa (僧科) [monk examination], you can naturally control the Four Great Sects.”

Seung-gwa (僧科) [monk examination] is a national examination that selects monks and awards them titles. If such a policy is implemented, the Four Great Sects, which are hidden behind the name of religion, are also in the hands of the imperial family.

“Maybe the Beoncheonjigye will be roughly like that?”

Sonbin asked Kyunghee Gunju. But Kyunghee Gunju did not answer. Rather, No-gun, who was listening next to him, clicked his tongue.

“Did you think of all that?”

Sonbin replied with an embarrassed expression.

“No. These are just topics that have already been discussed historically, so I just guessed that it would be roughly like that.”

Regarding the rule of the country, numerous scholars and thinkers have already gone through extensive debates.

The answer is already out. However, there was only the justification to overwhelm the backlash that would inevitably occur, and the will of the court to take the risk that the world might become chaotic.

“Therefore, the seriousness of the Beoncheonjigye is not in the amazing tactics or ingenious tricks, but in the fact that the imperial family has made up its mind.”

“But the current emperor is old and aging. On the other hand, Murim will never easily succumb. Even if the imperial family has made up its mind, how long will it last?”

No-gun is right. The current emperor is old. It is a fact that no one is talking about, but everyone knows, that the succession to the throne will take place in the near future.

Sonbin smiled bitterly.

“That’s also a problem. If the emperor leaves a will, the problem becomes very serious.”

In general, later emperors continue the ruling methods of the late emperor. That is because it gives legitimacy and justification.

If it is the late emperor’s will, there is nothing more to say. Achieving that will be the new emperor’s top priority.

“You knew very well.”

Kyunghee Gunju said in a rather clear voice.

“So, you know you can’t stop it, right? Soon the Beoncheonjigye will….”

“I’m sorry, but.”

Sonbin cut off Kyunghee Gunju’s words.

“The imperial family will have no choice but to postpone the Beoncheonjigye for the time being.”

Kyunghee Gunju’s eyes trembled slightly.

What is this again? She stares intently at Sonbin, but there is nothing she can know.