Chapter 56. The Judgment of Baek In-gyeom
The young sage who had blocked the entrance came and reported that Lee Heesong had turned back.
Baek In-gyeom asked,
"What do you think?"
Baek Eun, who had stood alone against Lee Heesong's advance, was about twenty-eight.
He had entered the mountains in childhood without knowing his own age and had spent more than a decade there.
Though young, his skill rivaled that of middle-aged sages.
"It would be best to cut them all down."
"Others just like them will rise in the same shape."
"Even so, men who commit such lawless acts cannot be left alive."
Baek In-gyeom asked,
"What became of that man, Yoon Ji-woong?"
"Seo Uitaek gave him a fortune, discharged him, and had the Jurchens kill him along the road."
Baek In-gyeom clicked his tongue.
"He did all the dirty work for me, and then begged to be killed?"
"Yes."
"Why are they all the same kind of men?"
"That is how it is. Just give the word."
"I do not wish to weigh whose fault is greater among men who are all alike."
Baek Eun pressed his hand to the ground and bowed his head.
"I will take care of it."
"How?"
"I will kill them all."
Baek In-gyeom tilted his head slightly.
"They are the core of the Northern Expeditionary Army."
"Men like them cannot even protect a nation. If they return, they will devour it. They are that kind of men."
"That may be so…"
Baek Eun spoke in a low voice.
"Lee Heesong and Seo Uitaek—I will kill these two. It is the minimum choice."
Baek In-gyeom asked,
"And Ahn Huise?"
"He has not revealed his claws, but he is the same kind."
"Kill him? Or leave him?"
Baek Eun hesitated, sweating as though under examination, then answered with difficulty.
"He pressed him harshly, yet showed him a measure of goodwill."
"Your standard is rather ambiguous."
"I apologize."
"Look again with clear eyes."
Baek In-gyeom did not directly instruct Baek Eun.
He let him find his own way.
This was not a matter of technique, but of the spirit.
Baek Eun rose.
"I will kill them first and return."
"Youngwoo is not dead."
"He nearly died."
"He did…"
It was impossible to know what Baek In-gyeom was thinking.
His judgments moved beyond the common sense of ordinary men.
Baek Eun added one more thing.
"Have you examined that child's fate?"
Baek In-gyeom shook his head.
"No. Why?"
"Even without seeing it, you must have felt it."
"You felt it as well?"
"It is the structure of Seven Killings (七殺格), with control over killing bringing authority (制殺有權). It is a fate in which dangerous force is restrained and turned into power."
"Is that so?"
When Baek In-gyeom showed little reaction, Baek Eun continued as if explaining.
"He bears the Heavenly Nobleman star. At every brink of death, he will meet someone and live.
This is not a fate that opens its own path, but one in which Heaven sends people to open the way.
The Heavenly Nobleman is a benefactor granted by Heaven.
It signifies aid in times of crisis, great connections, and unexpected support.
In the study of fate, there is a saying:
When the Heavenly Nobleman is present, misfortune turns into fortune."
"Is that so?"
Baek Eun lowered his gaze briefly, as though arranging his thoughts, then spoke again.
"He carries a strong Wandering Star. He is not meant to remain long in one place.
He will drift with the wind, widening his path.
The Seven Killings force is even stronger. He cannot escape the blade and blood.
He is destined to earn his name in war.
The flow of Wood, Fire, and Earth continues.
Wood rises, Fire burns, and that Fire leaves behind Earth.
It is the flow of land won through battle becoming a nation."
Baek Eun raised his head and looked at Baek In-gyeom.
"This fate wanders the world, seizes military power, and ultimately founds a nation.
When he holds a sword, he becomes a general.
When he holds an army, he becomes a king."
Baek In-gyeom gave a faint smile.
"You are quite capable. You have studied much."
"The day stem is Jia Wood (甲木). A great tree. The center of the forest.
The month branch is Chen (辰), the ground of the dragon—power, ambition, the will to grasp the world.
It is a structure often seen in the charts of founders of dynasties.
For Jia Wood, Metal is the Seven Killings.
Ren Water (壬水) nourishes the killing force and turns it into authority.
Thus the structure becomes killing → authority.
The hour pillar is Wu Earth (戊土).
Earth signifies territory, cities, the governance of a state.
It is the structure of turning land gained through war into a nation."
Seeing how clearly he unfolded the fate, Baek In-gyeom asked,
"You are good. Interpret it."
"In childhood, he wanders or grows on the frontier. That is his life until now.
In youth, he gains his name through war. That is now.
In maturity, he will seize military power. He is likely to become a general of the Jurchens.
In old age, he will become a king, perhaps even an emperor.
Yet since you have intervened, he may remain as a warrior or as a sage."
Baek In-gyeom nodded as he listened.
"How did you know his fate?"
"One does not always need to ask. I cannot explain it. I simply saw it."
"So what of it?"
"The Jurchens are one branch of us.
Sushen, Yilou, Mohe, Malgal, Jurchen—they are all one.
After the fall of Balhae, their foundation vanished, and now they suffer under Liao oppression.
To aid another branch of our people—
that, too, is one meaning of a sage stepping into the world."
Too much information poured forth like a flood.
Many among the sages disliked the conflict between Goryeo and the Jurchens.
They did not wish to see Goryeo fall,
yet they could not stand by and watch the Jurchens suffer either.
Baek Eun struck at the very heart of that difficult balance.
Those seated beside him all fell into thought.
The young Baek Eun did not wait.
"I wish to kill them and open his path. Grant me permission."
There could have been many solutions,
yet he arrived at a conclusion at once.
Such was the force of youth.
Some matters defy a lifetime of contemplation,
yet Baek Eun reached his answer in a single stroke, without diversion.
The sages smiled softly, as though looking upon a small child.
Sage Han Ji-un spoke,
"His Majesty will be quite startled."
Baek In-gyeom said,
"It would be better to send them back to the countryside and have them guard their own clans."
Baek Eun replied,
"I will leave them their hands and feet."
Baek In-gyeom nodded with difficulty.
No matter how capable one may be, interference in the secular world distorts matters.
Even when one seeks to avoid it, mere existence here leads to many decisions.
Baek Eun asked again,
"What shall we do with the Seo commander?"
Unlike with Lee Heesong, Baek In-gyeom answered without the slightest hesitation.
Without a word, he slowly drew his hand sideways like a blade.
In that slow gesture, there was a force that seemed capable of cutting down everything before it.
It meant: kill him.
"I understand."
"If that rat-house (鼠家) makes a scene, sweep them all away!"
(*A pun on the Seo family (徐家), likening them to vermin.)
Baek Eun bowed his head.
"It shall be done according to your command."