POV Jeoksa Hyuk, Eldest Son of the patriarch of the Jeoksa Family

  The scent was intoxicating.

  Her perfume, worn especially for him, smelled of

  petrichor and mixed so beautifully with the hint of jasmine ever present

  in the air of the Blooming Lotus Pleasure House.

  The sweetness of the alcohol, the mesmerizing music, the

  soft glow of colored crystals lighting up the walls in mesmerizing, moving patterns. It was all a warm hug to the senses, an experience surpassed only by her physical embrace.

  While the corner stall—reserved permanently, and

  exclusively, for him—offered some privacy, the rambunctious ambiance of

  the pleasure house was always what truly provided him with a sense that

  he and his beloved were completely alone. It was counterintuitive how

  hearing other people nearby could make him feel so serene and secluded

  but knowing that everyone else in the building were there for the same

  reasons and that no one would judge him gave him such immense peace of

  mind.

  It allowed him to focus entirely on the beautiful woman, wearing the delicate, white, silk dress he bought her, leaning against him.

  She fed him grapes and made him laugh with silly jokes as they drank the best alcohol money could buy.

  “My lord, what’s the occasion? You don’t usually go

  straight for the top shelf. Not that I’m complaining, of course,” she

  said with a ditzy giggle, perfected over the years of working in the

  Bloom Lotus Pleasure House.

  Hyuk downed the drink and slammed the glass back on the

  table. “Oh, I had a good day, my love. My luck is making a long awaited

  return. You should have seen me at the dice table today. Roll after

  roll, I emptied every pocket in the room!” His eyes stared into the

  ceiling as he replayed the glory in his mind. “Besides,” he said as he

  returned his attention to his beloved, “only the best is good enough for

  you. Tell me, how did you like my gift? You’ve barely said a word about

  it.”

  The courtesan sat up straight and looked around as if

  wary of someone listening before turning her gaze directly to his eyes.

  “Need you ask? Of course I love it, more than anything I’ve ever gotten!

  But… are you certain it’s not… too much?” A more perceptive man would

  have noticed the sincere concern in her voice and the slight fear in her

  eyes, but Hyuk wasn’t know for his acumen in that regard.

  “Too much?” He waved his hand nonchalantly. “Who do you

  think I am?” His hand moved to caress her cheek as he stared into her

  eyes. “There is no such thing as too much, my love. I would give you the

  heavens and the earth and all that resides in between, if but I could.”

  Her cheeks turned bright red. She lovingly moved a few

  strands of his long hair which had come to cover parts of his face

  before she practically tackled him with affection.

  Damn! That servant deserves a

  reward! I don’t know what sort of gift he came up with, but by the gods

  that man knows his way around a woman’s heart.

  While his focus moved away from stray thoughts of his new

  servant and back to the lovely courtesan who went above and beyond the

  worth of the coin he paid, others had their focus on them.

  Although he secure and private in his booth, reality seldom bent to such delusions.

  The backrooms of the Blooming Lotus Pleasure House

  Two other courtesans stood behind a wall with slits in

  strategic places, peering into the corner stall. They watched every

  moment and heard every word.

  Each stall had such peepholes. Their main purpose was for

  the safety of the women who worked there, but they were more often used

  for the amusement of those not currently working the floor. They would

  eavesdrop on the shameful secrets of the wealthy.

  It was mostly a form of entertainment, something to laugh

  about, but they weren’t blind to the value of such information either.

  Although they had yet to ever make use of it for fear of losing their

  clients’ trust. The enchantments on the walls ensured that the clients

  were none the wiser.

  Although the front of the pleasure house was a feast for

  the senses, the back rooms were dark and damp. Each room was small, the

  viewing rooms more so than most, and the corridors narrow.

  The two courtesans stood huddled next to each other,

  faces held up against the wall to peer through the slits in the wood

  paneling.

  “Ugh, she’s been boasting about this secret gift for days now. I’m sick of hearing about it,” one of girls said.

  The other turned her head away from the peephole to face

  her friend. “Tell me about it. She always thinks she’s so much better

  than us just because the patriarch’s son happened to have favored her. It’s honestly pathetic.”

  Turning around completely to lean with her back against

  the wall, the first girl crossed her arms. “It’s beyond pathetic—it’s

  sad.”

  “Right? If that gift is so wonderful, why not show us?”

  The condescending question evoked a scoff. “I bet it’s

  nothing, just some piece of trash that she’s pretending is something

  special.”

  “Uhm,” a voice from the narrow corridor interrupted the

  two women. A girl, late teens by the look of her, poked her head in. “If

  you really want to know what that gift is, why not go see for

  yourselves? I’m pretty sure I saw her stash it under a loose floorboard

  under her bed, and since the lord won’t be leaving any time soon, you

  could be in and out before she even realizes.”

  The two courtesans looked at each other.

  “Who is that and why is it speaking to us?”

  “Some orphan the owner took in last week. Her parents

  died, and she never married, so she’s practically a stray dog who

  doesn’t know her place, yet.”

  The two courtesans waved their hands dismissively at the young woman, while shooing her away.

  “Ugh, shoo. Get out of here, dog.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t—“

  “Less talking, more leaving!”

  They blinked, and the girl had vanished without a

  trace. There one second, gone the next. With her out of the way, the two women stood in silence for a few moments

  before one of them turned to the other. “We could take a look, actually.

  I am dying to see what this special gift is after all.”

  “Me too!”

  They ran out and hurried up the narrow stairs of the back quarters. Once they reached the dormitories, where all the women of

  the pleasure house lived, they made their way to the far end, where the

  prince’s beloved had her room. Carefully, they opened the door after making sure no one

  else was around. One of them stayed by the door frame to keep a look out

  while the other checked under the bed.

  The room was small, there was barely space for the

  queen-size bed and a wardrobe. It didn’t take long to find the loose

  floorboard.

  Her initially excited face dropped when she saw what was hidden.

  “Well!? What is it, don’t just stare at it,” her friend

  said from the door frame. The courtesan picked up the book and showed it

  to her friend. Immediately, her face dropped as well. “Oh gods, how

  could— Gods, they’ll burn down the entire pleasure house for this. No,

  we need to take this to the guards immediately!”

  The first one held her hand up in a panicked protest.

  “No, the guards aren’t gonna care about the truth, they’ll kill us just

  for having seen this! We have to go to directly to the patriarch. No,

  wait… That won’t work either, he’ll want to protect his son. Damn, what

  do we do!?”

  From the door frame, her friend gasped as she figured out

  the solution to their dilemma. “Lord Changmin! We take it to Lord

  Changmin, he’ll keep us safe.”

  They didn’t delay for a moment.

  The courtesan holding the book wrapped it in a blanket

  they found scrunched up on the floor. Without stopping for a moment,

  ignoring the greetings and questions of their coworkers as they left the

  pleasure house, they made haste across the city to the home of Lord

  Changmin, the second son of the patriarch.

  Even with their rush it still took over an hour to arrive.

  “Halt!” The guard stationed at the gate called out as

  they approached. “This is the residence of Lord Jeoksa Changmin. Unless

  you were invited, you need to turn away, now.”

  The two women were terrified, but they couldn’t turn away, not from this.

  “Please, we have urgent business with the lord! You must

  let us speak to him!” the one holding the book pleaded as she squeezed

  the blanket hiding the book.

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  “The lord is not someone the likes of you two can meet as you please. Turn away now before I am forced to take action.”

  “No please! We swear, it’s truly urgent.”

  The guard raised his spear menacingly.

  “It concerns Lord Jeoksa Hyuk! We wouldn’t insist if the lord didn’t need to hear this information. Please, just tell him.”

  Pausing for a moment, the guard finally caved when he

  realized that their business there was related to the heir apparent.

  “Fine, wait here.” He made his way into the mansion, leaving the two

  women to wait outside the gate for a few minutes. It was the longest few

  minutes of their lives. Eventually, he returned. “Alright, the lord has

  agreed to see you. Follow me.”

  They were escorted through the courtyard and into a

  building on the right hand side. Though it was a mere side building it

  was still bigger than the entire pleasure house which they called home.

  After a short walk down the winding corridors, they were

  led to room. Inside sat Lord Changmin behind his desk, staring them down

  from the moment they entered the room.

  In most ways, he looked very similar to Lord Hyuk. He had

  the same blue, piercing eyes and long, golden brown hair. If not for

  the fact that he had a trimmed beard while his older brother was clean

  shaven, and his more prominent nose, one might have thought they were

  twins.

  To the side stood an older man whose hair had begun to lose its otherwise dark color.

  “We greet the lord!” The two courtesans had long since

  learned their manners and etiquette from their work and clasped their

  hands in front, careful not to drop the book, and bowed a near 90

  degrees.

  “Rise,” Lord Changmin said in gravelly voice. “You have

  something urgent to share with me regarding my older brother.” He spoke

  with authority. Even though it was the two women who came to him, he announced

  their business there as if it were he who had summoned them.

  “Yes, my lord. We are courtesans from the Blooming Lotus

  Pleasure House. Lord Jeoksa Hyuk is there right now. As always, he is

  with Myung-Hee, one of our most popular courtesans.” The scowl on the

  lord’s face made the courtesan hurry up, to move on to the matter at

  hand. “Late last week, she was given a gift by the lord. She has boasted of

  it ever since yet refused to reveal the gift to any of us. Tonight, we

  overheard them speak of the matter in hushed tones, and our curiosity

  got the better of us. We sneaked into her bed chambers and found the

  gift Lord Jeoksa Hyuk gave her, hidden beneath the floorboards under her

  bed.” While one spoke, the other handed over the book, still wrapped in

  a dirty blanket. “We recognized the importance of this matter and

  immediately came to report it directly to you, my lord.”

  The lord’s brows furrowed as he wondered what might be so

  important, he shared a glance with his advisor and slowly unfurled the

  blanket.

  Inside was a book, a book titled, [Jeoksa Style, Thousand Thunder Extermination].

  His Peak strength radiated outwards as rage consumed him, the air crackled with electricity.

  The courtesans were Experts, but as they weren’t combat

  practitioners, to be experts meant that they were in their low level thirties.

  They struggled to face the wrath of a true warrior over level 60.

  Lord Changmin looked at the two women before him, trembling as they kneeled. Through sheer force of will, he calmed himself.

  “You did well to bring this to me. Matters such as these

  are frightening, so I applaud your courage and assure you that you two

  will be rewarded for this great service to the Family.” He signaled a

  guard to fetch the courtesans. “Take good care of these two,” he said, with a slight emphasis on the word ‘good’.

  Once the guard escorted them out, the lord turned to his

  elder advisor and said, “I’ve long wondered how the fool would bring

  ruin to himself, but even I never expected him to do something like

  this.” He chuckled incredulously. “He’s handed the throne to me. All

  these years, all these plans and schemes… for him to just give it up

  like this. I’ll admit, it’s bittersweet. I was looking forward to

  orchestrating his demise myself, but who am I to look a gift horse in the

  mouth.”

  His advisor nodded. “It is an unexpected turn of events

  to be sure, but a most welcome one. With this, the transfer of power

  will require far less bloodshed. Still, my lord, we can’t settle for

  this at face value. He has placed the knife in your hand, but before you

  use it to pierce his heart, it’s best to be thorough.”

  Lord Changmin leaned back in his chair and held up a hand

  to appease the old man. “I know, you’re right. We need to make this

  airtight. To get a copy of our Family’s secret technique, he must have

  gone to the vault. There should be witnesses, guards who saw him enter, and records of his access.

  Likewise, we need to capture this whore of his.”

  “Excellent, my lord,” the advisor said with a proud nod.

  “And those two courtesans? Is it really enough to pay them off? They

  could be used to undermine your goals. If the fool—or anyone else for

  that matter—catches on to this, they might use those two to suggest that

  it is a scheme.”

  With a most pointed look, Lord Changmin replied, “Do you

  believe this is the first time I have had to cut down loose threads? I

  already told my guard to take good care of them. They won’t be a problem.”

  POV Jeoksa Hyun, Patriarch of the Jeoksa Family

  For the next few weeks, the Jeoksa Family was quieter than usual. There were no conflicts or arguments of any kind, really.

  Patriarch Hyun was glad.

  For most of their lives, his sons always seemed to find

  some reason or other to argue and fight. It was natural, it’s what

  brothers do, but it still irked him. Soon they would have to lead the

  Family, and together they would be far stronger than if they remained

  divided.

  They were both incredibly talented, in different respects

  of course but talented nonetheless. The day those two joined forces

  would be the day the Jeoksa Family rose to new heights.

  Hyun was powerful enough that he could reach any place

  within the city in the time it took to finish a cup of tea, yet he

  always preferred to walk.

  He ambled through the markets and smelled the spices and

  the flowers. Every now and then he would stop to get a skewer of meat or

  fruit.

  “Greetings, Patriarch. Would you like to try my new

  recipe?” asked as vendor cooking meat in a large wok pan. “I’ve gotten

  my hands on those lilac peppers you like.”

  Hyun’s eyes opened wide and his mouth watered at the mere

  mention of his favorite pepper. “See, now how could I ever say no to

  that.” He took the skewer and tossed the vendor a coin, in spite of the

  man’s insistence that it was on the house.

  The scene was repeated several times as he made his way

  across the city. It made his journeys longer but that much more

  enjoyable.

  Soon he arrived at the gate of his eldest son’s mansion.

  It had hurt his feelings that his eldest son had chosen to live on the

  opposite side of the city from him, but he never let it get him down.

  “Greetings, Patriarch!” said the guard.

  Placing a kind hand on the guard’s shoulder, the patriarch said, “Guard Seok, how’s the daughter? Better I hope.”

  “Yes, Patriarch,” the guard answered with a nod. “She

  recovered not a week ago, and is already back to causing trouble.” He

  sighed. “Is it wrong to say I miss it? There were a lot of sleepless

  nights with the fever, but at least I didn’t have to chase after her all

  day long. The little bugger takes off every chance she gets.”

  Hyun chuckled heartily. “Some say you’ll miss the trouble

  once they’re older, but take it from me, the trouble never seems to

  end. My boys are still going strong in that department, even after all

  these years. If chasing her around is the worst of your problems, I say

  enjoy it while you still can.”

  “Wouldn’t trade it for the world, Patriarch.” The guard

  opened the gate and pointed toward the side of the main building. “He’s

  around back.”

  The courtyard was clean and well tended to, but as the

  patriarch got closer to the side gate leading to the backyard, an

  unpleasant odor appeared.

  He opened the gate and was met by trash and empty bottles

  of alcohol strewn across the path. When he rounded the corner, he found

  his first born son on a bench.

  Patriarch Hyun couldn’t help but think that it couldn’t

  be comfortable to sleep like that, even for a high leveled practitioner,

  with his head hanging off the side, and his leg over the backrest.

  “Hyuk, wake up.” Hyun kicked the heavy stone bench. It

  was a casual kick, but still hard enough to move it back a half meter.

  The heir apparent fell off and woke up in a stupor.

  “Huh, what the—“ He was about to throw a fit but then realized the cause of his stumble. “Oh, father! Welcome, what brings you?”

  Hyun clenched his fist and jaw and took a brief moment

  before answering. “You are nearly 70 years of age, is it not time to put

  an end to these childish habits yet?”

  The son rolled his eyes and brushed off the dust and dirt

  from his disheveled robes. “Surely you didn’t come all the way here

  just to rehash the same conversation we’ve had a thousand times before?”

  “No, I didn’t.” Hyun took a breath to calm down. “I came to ask you, what is going on?”

  Hyuk froze in confusion and stared at his father for moment. “What do you mean? Going on, where, how? What?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me!” The patriarch pointed his

  finger at his son. “Since the moment your brother was born, the two of

  you have argued and fought without pause. Now, there has not been so much as a word

  out of either of you for 19 days. And yes, I counted.”

  The son raised his hands innocently. “Why are you asking me? I’ve never been one starting things. Go ask Changie.”

  “I am here, asking you, because you are my oldest and my—“

  “Favorite! I knew it. Suck it Changie!” Hyuk laughed to himself.

  The patriarch just sighed. Coming here was a mistake, he knew that, but he still held out hope. He turned to walked away, but

  paused as he remembered something. “There’s a council meeting soon, I’ve

  been asked to ensure you participate this time. You will be there.”

  Hyuk held up his hands. “Yes yes, I’ll be there.”

  Patriarch Hyun’s mood had soured, so he took a more

  direct route back to his office, making use of his Movement Skills to

  make the journey quicker.

  He landed outside the building and entered through the main door of the administration building.

  Scholars and administrators were carrying stacks of paper

  and running to and fro, but each and every one of them paused and

  greeted the patriarch as they passed by.

  He returned every greeting, by name mostly. It was a

  small thing to remember all their names, especially for someone of his

  level, but he found it was a simple way to improve his relationship with

  the people who helped him keep the family running.

  “Greetings, Patriarch,” said a young man. He was a

  scholar who had recently taken over as the patriarch’s personal aide.

  “Lord Jeoksa Changmin is waiting for you in your office,” the aide said

  with a slight bow.

  “Excellent, just who I was looking for. Best keep our interruptions to a minimum, if you could.”

  Patriarch Hyun’s office was at the end of a hallway.

  As he entered the dimly lit room, his second son, Changmin, was sitting in

  front of the desk with his back toward the door. The office itself was

  quite similar to Changmin’s office, or more accurately, Changmin had

  modeled his office after his father’s—not that he would ever admit it.

  The son made no effort to greet his father, he didn’t even turn his head

  to face him.

  “Changmin, I’m glad you’re here,” Patriarch Hyun said as

  he closed the door and began to walk toward his son. “I was just about

  to go see you— Have you changed your hair?”

  A figure in a pitch black robe with red patterns appeared in between them like an apparition.

  With the extreme reaction time of a Master Practitioner, Patriarch Hyun caught a blade in his hand.

  Unfortunately, he was still too slow.

  The sword had already pierced his heart by the time his hand grabbed hold of it.

  It all happened in a fraction of a second. If he were more

  prepared, if he had had his guard up, he might have been able to stop

  it with some degree of ease, but he was in the safety of his own city,

  his own office, with his own son.

  There was more to the blade than a simple piece of metal

  piercing his heart, that much he could have survived. The thrust was

  executed with a powerful intent, one strong enough to completely destroy

  his heart and spread the damage further into his body and spirit.

  The figure withdrew the sword from his torso and Hyun collapsed on the ground.

  In his final moments before death claimed him, voices sounded.

  “Excellent strike, Demon Lord.”

  “Due credit, Intelligence Hall Master. Without your preparations, or your Talent for that matter, we never could have gotten this close without being detected.”

  “Thank you, Demon Lord. Best we hurry, the next stage is close at hand.”

  Patriarch Jeoksa Hyun had one final thought before he died, “That voice, that’s not my son.”

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