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Shadows over Gaegyeong — The King's Summons and Unease at Court
The sky over Gaegyeong hung low.
A gray mist pressed down upon the palace roofs.
The footsteps of officials passing through the gates sounded heavy, like paper falling onto wet earth.
The King sat alone in the council chamber.
Upon a black inkstone embroidered with gold thread, the darkness of ink slowly spread.
He gazed at it for a long while, then finally spoke.
"Summon him again."
The royal secretary lifted his head.
"Your Majesty, Nangjang Park Seongjin has only just begun his return journey."
"That is precisely why," the King replied, his voice low but firm.
"Call him back.
This is not to entrust him with the affairs of Hwaju."
A brief silence followed.
The King turned his gaze to the map hanging on the wall.
From Liaodong to the southern seas ran lines of troops and powers, layered with fissures never recorded.
"We must look more broadly.
Recovering Liaodong and Simju was our achievement.
But the shadows left behind have not yet cleared."
His fingertip traced the map.
"After Gi Cheol's death, his remnants did not vanish.
They are moving in secret.
And… the Empress's movements are troubling."
He looked to Yi In-jung.
"You have heard it as well."
Yi In-jung bowed his head.
"Yes, Your Majesty.
Even after the Great Khan's edict, traces of the Shadow Guard have been sighted in Liaodong.
It is reasonable to conclude that this is the Empress's will.
It is said that the Great Khan spoke loudly, ordering that the matter be mentioned no further."
The King exhaled deeply.
"I declared it Heaven's will, yet she still abides in her brother's grievance."
At that moment, thunder rolled outside—
a crack as though the sky itself were splitting.
The King closed his eyes briefly, then looked again at Yi In-jung.
"Summon Park Seongjin."
"What command shall be given?"
"The Princess wishes to see him."
The lamps in the chamber trembled.
Light fell across half the King's face.
In his voice lay an anxiety he could not conceal.
"I believe that boy to be one sent by Heaven.
But even a man of Heaven cannot easily escape the blade of the Empress.
She is subtle, secretive, and adept at hidden schemes.
The intrigues of the inner palace exceed all imagining."
The Shadow Guard — An Assassination Unit Departing from the Capital
Night in Dadu ran deep.
Even the Golden Capital, as it was called, was reduced to a single point of light once darkness fell.
That light flowed from the Empress's palace.
At the heart of the court, in a sealed chamber known as the Black Wall,
six men knelt.
They had no names, no faces, no records.
They moved only by the Empress's command.
They were the Shadow Guard.
Before them lay a single sword and a sealed document.
A red jade seal was pressed deep upon it.
"There is only one order," said Bartu, the Censorate Vice-Minister and the Empress's proxy.
"Pass through Hwaju and enter Gaegyeong.
There is one man there—Park Seongjin.
Do not return until his breath is severed."
They did not answer.
Instead, all drew their daggers at once and touched their fingertips to the blades.
A brief oath of blood seeped into the darkness.
That night, the southern gate of Dadu opened.
Hoofbeats cut through drifting snow and vanished eastward.
On roads untouched even by moonlight, their formation scattered, then rejoined.
They were not human.
They were darkness itself.
Their guide was an agent of Black Water Jurchen origin.
He carried a map bestowed directly by the Empress.
"Cross the river twice, and you reach Goryeo's border," he whispered.
"An unseen boundary.
Beyond it is the man called Park Seongjin."
At the sound of that name, the aura of the leading assassin shifted faintly.
There was no expression, but killing intent gleamed like frost along his shoulders.
"This has failed before," said an older man at the rear.
"But this time is different.
The Empress's fury weighs heavily upon us.
This mission must succeed."
A younger assassin asked quietly,
"I have heard his sword is formidable."
"Even the greatest blade cannot block everything," the old man replied.
"We will use every means."
A wind from Liaodong swept across the column,
carrying with it a stench of blood colder than ice.
Once more, the Shadow Guard dispersed—
splitting into three, then five paths, dissolving into the dark.
Their destination was one.
Gaegyeong.
And at that same hour, beneath the southern sky,
Park Seongjin felt a chill he had never known before.
Spring was stirring in the fields, yet a cold like blood ran down his spine.
He lifted his head from the saddle.
"Strange…"
There was no moon in the sky.
It was a night untouched by moonlight.