Chapter 43: A Breach in Discipline (3)

Kang Yun’s eyes flashed.

A third-rate street tough? He could only assume those words were aimed at him.

“Are you speaking to me?”

“Where’d you sell your manners?”

“...Pardon?”

“I’m the First Young Master of the Yeon Clan of Green Mountain. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that—being a captain? Or did you forget? You’re not senile already, are you?”

Kang Yun watched Yeon Hojeong a beat, then bowed with crisp form.

“I was flustered and committed a discourtesy. Captain of the Flying Hawk Squad, Kang Yun, greets the First Young Master.”

“That’s all?”

“...Sir?”

“You think being ‘flustered’ lets you off for killing a man, too?”

Kang Yun’s brow twitched.

“Your words are excessive.”

“Talking back?”

“How is this talking back? It is not that.”

“If it’s not talking back, what are those eyes? Rebellion?”

“First Young Master.”

“What?”

“I am neither talking back to you nor rebelling. So please—let us end it here.”

“End it here?”

“Yes.”

“Not even a request—you’re issuing me an order? That won’t do, Captain Kang.”

Kang Yun’s face kept tightening.

“Even for the First Young Master, don’t you think this is too much?”

“Now you’re arguing your case. Do your seniors know you carry on like this?”

“First Young Master!”

Strength had slipped into his voice without his noticing.

Yeon Hojeong rubbed his ear.

“No greeting, you talk back, then you nitpick me point by point—and now you dare give orders?”

“...!”

“At this point, even if the main house expelled you, would you have anything to say?”

Kang Yun’s eyelid quivered.

“Why are you doing this? I’ve never attempted to be discourteous to you.”

“Try looking at yourself, then.”

“Of course failing to greet you was my fault. But I still think your wording was excessive.”

“You mean my calling you a third-rate thug?”

“Yes.”

“So Captain Kang thinks what he’s doing right now is different from what street scum do?”

Blood flushed Kang Yun’s eyes.

“Street scum? That’s an intolerable charge.”

“Is it? So my words were harsh?”

“Yes.”

“And them?”

“...Sir?”

Yeon Hojeong jerked his chin toward Yu Jiha.

Yu Jiha was drenched in sweat. He’d already been put through a round; dirt smudged his training clothes in several places.

Not only Yu Jiha—the entire Third Unit of the Flying Hawks looked the same.

“What did they do that was so wrong you’d make them train with no meals and no rest—and with iron-core wooden swords on top of that?”

“They disobeyed their captain’s orders. Disobedience and breach of discipline. As captain, I am imposing the proper punishment—”

“If they disobeyed and breached discipline, you should have gone with summary execution. Why give a filthy punishment like this instead?”

The words were terrifying.

Faces across the Third Unit went chalk white. None of them had imagined the phrase “summary execution” would be uttered over something like this.

Kang Yun was just as taken aback by the sudden grenade.

“Summary execution? That would be excessive!”

“Looks better than what you’re about to do. If you’re going to kill them, take a head with one stroke—why torture them?”

“How can you call this torture? This is a proper disciplinary measure!”

“Discipline?”

A blade-cold gleam lit Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

It was so keen that even Kang Yun—famed for his grit—felt a chill in his chest.

“You—your name is Yu Jiha, yes?”

He hadn’t expected the First Young Master to remember his name. Yu Jiha startled and lifted his head.

“Y-yes!”

“Step forward.”

Yu Jiha took one step out.

Among the Third Unit he looked the most battered; thin cuts marked his face and hands.

“Why are you being chewed out by your captain?”

“...Sir?”

“...”

“Ah—t-that is...”

Yu Jiha glanced at Kang Yun.

Kang Yun spoke up.

“With respect, First Young Master, I am the captain. And a captain has full authority over reward and punishment for his unit. However you may be the First Young Master, this could be considered overreach.”

“So—you’re telling me to shut my mouth?”

“First Young Master!”

Yeon Hojeong’s voice went cold.

“If you interrupt me one more time, I’ll summon you to the Law Blade Pavilion.”

Kang Yun’s eyes wavered.

The Law Blade Pavilion was the body that oversaw internal law and investigations. In special cases, it even issued judgments in the clan lord’s stead.

Because of that, the clan’s fighters feared it most. The moment you violated house law—or took bribes, or committed corruption—you were hauled before the Law Blade Pavilion and given a heavy sentence.

And the First Young Master had just threatened to summon a captain before that very body.

Kang Yun’s breathing roughened, but he didn’t dare move.

Yeon Hojeong spoke to Yu Jiha.

“The same goes for you. If you don’t answer me ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) at once, you go to the Law Blade Pavilion with your captain.”

Yu Jiha snapped ramrod straight.

“C-correction, sir! I was being punished for training alone for one si-jin during last night’s sleep period! I’m sorry!”

Yeon Hojeong frowned.

“You’re punished for private training?”

“Y-yes, sir!”

“A member of a martial house shaved off sleep to train—how is that a crime?”

“That...”

“Don’t tell me you overtrained and harmed unit drill?”

Yu Jiha couldn’t answer. That judgment belonged wholly to the captain.

But from Yu Jiha’s expression alone, Yeon Hojeong could tell he had performed well in unit training.

Yeon Hojeong turned his gaze on Kang Yun.

“How is this a crime?”

Kang Yun opened his mouth.

“I issued orders to the unit. Meals at set times, sleep at set times. For one hundred men to move as a single body, that kind of control is indispensable.”

“Control?”

“Yes. We have continued that drill for years. No one has ever broken that army code. Until yesterday.”

His face was sour. He hated having to explain this in front of his men.

Yeon Hojeong looked back to Yu Jiha.

“Your captain says so.”

“...”

“Your captain has no manners, but what he just said has some sense.”

“But...”

“But?”

Yu Jiha bit his lip.

Even to himself it felt unjust. However vital army code might be, how could it be a crime for a guest to read books or for a fighter to cultivate his art?

Was it that sense of injustice? Yu Jiha spoke in a voice pressed flat.

“I enlisted in the Flying Hawks last year.”

“And?”

“I worked hard to make it into the Flying Hawks. But for the past year, private training has been strictly forbidden. Only unit drill.”

“And?”

“Since I joined a unit, I must act according to unit discipline. That’s natural. But I wanted to become more than that. Yet over the past year—not only I, but the others—our actual skill didn’t increase even a sliver.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes deepened.

“But the Flying Hawks’ overall combat power improved. Because everyone fused as one.”

“Yes.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“At eighteen you’re old enough to know. You are a Flying Hawk. If you joined the Flying Hawks, you act according to the Flying Hawks’ code. Another word for that is responsibility.”

“...”

“I understand your grievance. But an organization has its own law. Since you chose to enter it, you bear its share of responsibility.”

“So I tried to quit.”

“What?”

Yu Jiha spoke, aggrieved.

“In the end I couldn’t adapt to the unit. So I filed to withdraw through proper procedure. But it wasn’t accepted.”

“You filed properly? Then why couldn’t you leave?”

Yu Jiha let out his pent-up anger.

“They said, ‘Once a Flying Hawk, always a Flying Hawk.’ They said the only way out of the Flying Hawks was death.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes cooled.

Now he saw why Yu Jiha had tried to carve out private time. Disobeying a captain’s order was certainly a breach of code—but for someone who wanted to grow stronger, there hadn’t been another path.

Kang Yun hurried to cut in.

“Nonsense! That statement is only for unit esprit de corps. In reality there is no such thing!”

“And yet—so it became.”

The longer he spoke, the colder Yeon Hojeong’s voice grew.

“If in reality there’s no such thing, why couldn’t this man leave? He said he filed properly.”

“Procedure requires a measure of flexibility. At the time, the clan’s unit power reports were due. In that situation, a unit member’s departure could cause a major issue.”

“So it was the natural measure?”

“Yes.”

“And that flexibility of procedure—belongs, say, to the organization called the Flying Hawks.”

“Of course. The Flying Hawks growing stronger is the Yeon Clan’s strength rising.”

Kang Yun answered with confidence.

And to that Kang Yun, Yeon Hojeong finally let fly the words he’d been holding back.

“Useless bastard.”

“W-what did you say?”

“By your own words, the Flying Hawks growing stronger means the Yeon Clan grows stronger. Then for the Flying Hawks to grow stronger—who needs to get stronger?”

“...!”

“Why can’t you answer? I’m not asking about getting a good score on some internal report. I’m asking the minimum condition for the Flying Hawks to truly grow stronger.”

“That is...”

“Does it end with only you getting stronger?”

“...”

“When the unit members grow stronger, the unit’s combat power rises. Yet under the banner of ‘for the organization,’ you forcibly detained a member who requested to withdraw.”

Kang Yun’s face crumpled.

“‘Detained’ is a poor choice of words. At the time, we had no choice.”

“And after that? Why is this man still in the Flying Hawks now?”

Kang Yun didn’t answer quickly.

In truth, he’d long forgotten that part. He figured with proper drill the boy would adapt on his own.

That’s how everyone grew, he thought. So he’d judged Yu Jiha’s request wasn’t even worth a look.

“That too is ‘discipline’? Blocking a withdrawal even after he followed proper procedure?”

“...”

“Answer.”

“No... but it was all for the Yeon Clan—”

“Oh? So all this was because, in your personal judgment, it was ‘for the main house’?”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“So this is what it is. You swear by law and code, but wherever you personally think something important, you preach flexibility—and you draw the knife only in places you yourself deem unimportant.”

“That’s not true!”

“What’s not true, you useless bastard.”

Kang Yun’s face turned vicious.

“Even as the First Young Master, I will not endure further insult. And this matter belongs entirely to the Flying Hawks. Do not interfere further.”

From the start, Kang Yun hadn’t liked Yeon Hojeong.

No—he despised him. The moment he learned the great clan’s firstborn wandered taverns, he stopped seeing him as a person.

That didn’t change even after Yeon Hojeong’s reform. The Azure Hawks talked much about the First Young Master’s change, but he refused to believe it.

And now that very First Young Master was meddling in Flying Hawk business. Kang Yun had swallowed as much as he could.

Yeon Hojeong’s smile thinned.

“Don’t meddle?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Hojeong spoke to Yu Jiha.

“You—go bring the Law Blade Pavilion Master.”

The air on the Grand Training Ground went cold in an instant.

Yeon Hojeong looked at Kang Yun.

“You’ve handled the Flying Hawks however you pleased ‘for the Yeon Clan.’ Then I, for the main house, will throw an incompetent like you out of the captain’s seat.”

“...!”

“Be ready to strip off that uniform.”