Chapter 24

“The like of this is beyond belief!”

“To bestow a plaque merely because he presented tribute!”

“Excessive favor!”

Beardless, thin‑voiced eunuchs crowded the room, pouring out their complaints without cease.

“This is all because of Im Jaheon’s looks!”

“We must bring in a consort whose face resembles Im Jaheon’s, to win back His Majesty’s favor!”

“No—when will we ever find a beauty to match him! If it were easy to find one as fair as Im Jaheon, the harem would already be full of such women!”

Since Jaheon’s sudden appearance, the eunuchs had been plunged into an unprecedented crisis. When had the Emperor favored anyone so openly besides them? The only basis for their power had been imperial favor; but Jaheon was unlike the eunuchs—he had reason to be favored.

“At this rate, the Qingliu will strut with heads held high again!”

“We should have known from the moment they styled themselves Qingliu!”

“And that accursed old Cai Yong goes about the Imperial Academy singing that scholars should emulate Im Jaheon!”

All together they fumed and railed against Jaheon—yet beyond venting, none had a proper scheme to check him. Setting down his teacup, Zhang Rang spoke.

“So—what is to be done?”

At his sharp words, the noisy eunuchs fell silent.

“I asked whether there is any proper means to check Im Jaheon.”

Zhang Rang knew it well—having tried to undercut Jaheon’s standing with trickery, he had only helped the man sprout wings. Im Jaheon was not to be taken lightly. Thinking Wang Yun stood behind him, he had underestimated him, never imagining the snare he laid would be turned to elevate Jaheon’s renown; nor could anyone have foreseen the Emperor aiding him.

“Prod him incorrectly, and only we shall suffer.”

But the eunuchs’ resistance was fierce.

“But in the end, he is only a boy, Attendant Zhang!”

“Let us drag down his reputation! If we exploit the rumor of his being a male favorite to the utmost…”

At this, Zhang Rang snorted.

“If that worked, would Im Jaheon be where he is now?”

In truth, barring some special incident, the rumor of “male favorite” could no longer tarnish him; had not Cai Yong affirmed that Jaheon deserved imperial favor? Moreover, Jaheon’s poem had already spread across Luoyang, and all knew its caliber; the more malicious rumors whirled, the more people would defend him, saying the eunuchs spread them.

“And His Majesty’s favor is yet firm. Touch Jaheon directly, and only our heads will roll.”

Such is imperial favor—no slander can bite.

“But if we sit idle, the Qingliu will gain the upper hand!”

“See how they gather beneath that stripling, though the Partisan Prohibitions are not yet lifted…!”

“Indeed—they will try to kill us!”

How many Qingliu figures had the eunuchs framed and killed—countless. Should the Qingliu again seize power at court, the eunuchs’ end was obvious. As they babbled on in fear, another power among them, Wang Bo, spoke low.

“Then why not cut off Im Jaheon’s hands and feet?”

“Hands and feet?” Zhang Rang frowned.

“Yes. However much imperial favor he enjoys, if there are no forces to follow him, he remains no more than a favored male; easier to deal with, no?”

With favor so strong, they could not attack Jaheon directly; the Emperor’s reaction was unknowable. But the Qingliu coalescing around him were another matter—they were mere officials and scholars. Understanding, Zhang Rang asked,

“You mean—strike the forces tied to Im Jaheon?”

“Just so.” Wang Bo’s lip curled.

“And so—what if, soon, a blue rainbow were to appear above the palace gardens?”

A blue rainbow—an anomaly taken as an omen that the dynasty’s rule and Mandate were wavering.

“As a calamity‑sign born of the Empress’s sorcery.”

“Young master! Young master! Where are you going so suddenly?”

Startled, O Juk‑yeop cried out as Jaheon made to depart at once.

“If we sit still now, everything may come to nothing.”

“What do you mean—come to nothing…!”

From the first day he met the Emperor, Jaheon had known he would be no easy opponent; but he had not expected him to stir the fight thus. This was no mere checking—it was incitement. Had Jaheon realized a hair later that the Emperor was provoking the eunuchs, he would have lost all the foundation he had piled up in Luoyang.

And if that foundation were lost, Choseon would not be safe either.

“Damn it.”

Never had Jaheon so failed to read someone’s mind. He knew he was being used as bait—but to what end? Was the plan to use him as bait to sweep away the Qingliu yet again? Or did the Emperor wish Jaheon to pare down the eunuchs’ strength?

Or did either outcome suffice?

“Does Your Majesty require a tongue to check the attendants?”

Thinking back, the Emperor had never explicitly agreed to Jaheon’s words. Turning over the Emperor’s unfathomable moves, Jaheon reached for a blank bamboo slip and wrote a line from the Art of War:

“Do not bite the bait.”

He handed the slip to O Juk‑yeop.

“Deliver this to Young Master Xun—and tell him our meeting must be postponed.”

It was none other than Xun Yu; he would readily grasp that the Emperor had laid bait to gather the Qingliu.

“You mean to postpone meeting Young Master Xun?” O Juk‑yeop asked in surprise.

“Yes. Right now, the Yingchuan Xun are not what matters.”

In this chaos, to lose one’s base meant death.

True, imperial favor might permit survival—but who knew how long it would last? Moreover, on this board Jaheon was not a player placing stones; he was a stone laid by the Emperor.

At this rate, the end was clear.

A stone, in time, leaves the board.

“Where could you be going, to refuse even the Yingchuan Xun…!”

As O Juk‑yeop shouted after him, Jaheon paused at the gate and turned to look at the plaque the Emperor had bestowed.

“Loyalty.”

Servants were hanging the plaque where it would be easily seen. Gazing at it, Jaheon murmured,

“I must meet Lady He.”

In this match, Jaheon was but a stone on the board.

But a stone cannot see how the board turns; he could not tell when the eunuchs would strike, nor which of them. He knew only that they meant to exploit the fact that the Empress was rumored to practice sorcery. Therefore, to overturn the board, he must strike the Empress before the eunuchs did.

“It seems…”

Turning over the present situation, Jaheon gave a hollow laugh.

“Moving according to another’s intent does not suit the temperament.”

However much a stone of the Emperor’s, it was not in Jaheon’s nature to move as someone else’s piece.

“Im Huaseo?”

A pale beauty, reclining as she stroked a cat, lifted her head and asked her maid,

“You mean the male favorite His Majesty is said to have taken?”

“Yes, my lady. He seeks an audience.”

“But has that male favorite not yet been formally recommended? How can he enter the palace?”

“They say His Majesty has not taken back Im Huaseo’s jade token.”

“He has not?”

The jade token was a privilege; those who bore it could enter the palace without special reporting. Even among consorts, only those as favored as Lady He received it; Jaheon had borne it less than a month after coming to Luoyang. At that, the white‑faced beauty propped her chin and sighed.

“Haah. Now even a man must be minded.”

The sighing beauty was Lady He, a powerful candidate for Empress. She clicked her tongue. That the Emperor kept a male favorite was more common than one might suppose, yet faced with a man as a political rival, it was awkward in the extreme. Had he been in the harem and this favored, he would long since have been removed.

“Really—since he dwells outside the palace, he cannot simply be killed.”

At Lady He’s words, the maid laughed.

“Do not worry, my lady. Im Huaseo cannot bear a child; however favored he is, your ladyship’s position is secure.”

“But why, then, should that male favorite seek to pay respects to me?”

“Is it not proper for a concubine to pay respects to the principal wife, my lady?”

Not yet Empress, Lady He’s mood nevertheless brightened at the maid’s words.

“Then tell him I will receive his greeting.”

With a meaningful smile, she added,

“For, truth be told, the face of rumor stirs my curiosity.”

Footnotes:

• “Blue rainbow” omens were classic anomaly rhetoric used to justify political action; tying it to “Empress’s sorcery” provided a ritual‑moral pretext for purges. 
• The jade token signified privileged palace access; withholding its recall functionally sanctioned Im Huaseo’s continued entry and status pending formal recommendation.