543.With that single look, the owner of the voice froze as if ice
From the rear, someone grit their teeth and shouted,
"Don't be afraid. There are a thousand of us. That's just one man."
Before the shout even finished, Park Seong-jin's gaze swept over in that direction.
With that single look, the owner of the voice froze as if ice had seized the back of his neck.
Without a word, Park Seong-jin raised his hand and swept the air once.
In that instant, silver was reborn within the darkness.
It was no longer a line, but a plane—
a thin, disc-like force slicing across the dark.
Where that plane passed, the front ranks of the rebels were emptied once more.
And upon seeing that vacant space, the thousand behind them finally understood.
The number a thousand held no value before this man.
What they possessed was quantity.
What Park Seong-jin possessed was quality.
Quality cuts down quantity.
Quantity collapses before quality.
At that moment, deeper within the palace, the rhythm of the drums changed.
Doom. Doom. Doom-doom-doom.
This was not a simple warning drum.
It was the drum announcing the completion of an encirclement.
Yun-dam moved, and the Geonryong Guard closed in completely.
The king's command was enforced.
"Anyone who crosses the palace walls is guilty of treason."
Those words hardened into reality.
The rebels' rear was sealed.
Their flanks were sealed.
Only one choice remained.
To kneel before Park Seong-jin.
Still, humans cling to futile hope until the very end.
"Let's negotiate."
"We were wronged."
"The Jeonmin Byeonjeongdogaem went too far—"
Park Seong-jin did not move his head.
He had not come here to negotiate.
He stood here to sever the backlash.
He left them one sentence.
"From now on, we speak not with words, but with the register."
Then he raised his hand and summoned a Geonryong Guard officer.
"Do not raise torches.
If you want to live, drop your weapons now."
At first, the sound of weapons hitting the ground came one or two at a time.
Soon it became dozens.
Finally, it spread to hundreds.
The sound of iron striking stone lingered longer than screams.
There were those who did not drop their weapons to the very end.
In the darkness, they shoved one another, trying desperately to rush Park Seong-jin.
What remained to them was not justification, but final, frantic struggle.
As if he had been waiting for it, Park Seong-jin spoke once more.
"Fine."
His presence settled low and spread across the ground.
In an instant, the rebels' legs trembled all at once.
It felt as though the earth itself was pushing them away.
Seizing that moment, the strike unit drew their blades from both sides.
This time, it was not stealth.
It was frontal.
The yard before Sinbong Gate turned into hell within moments.
What was more terrifying was that this hell ended without chaos.
The few who remained to the end collapsed to the ground, wailing.
"Spare us… spare us…!"
"We… we—!"
Looking down at them, Park Seong-jin said quietly,
"Whether you live or die is not for me to decide."
He lifted his gaze to the ramparts.
Yun-dam stood in the darkness, and behind him, even the king's shadow was cast.
Park Seong-jin bowed his head, very briefly.
Then he turned back to the rebels and said,
"You have already raised your blades against the king."
With that sentence, the conclusion of that night was sealed.
All that remained now was pursuit, registers, and punishment.
More important, however, was the point of origin.
Who had provided the money.
Who had hidden themselves.
Who had pretended to submit while slipping inside.
Park Seong-jin knew this.
The backlash of civil war does not end with those who wield blades.
It ends only when the hands that placed those blades are cut away.
Standing in the middle of the Sinbong Gate yard, where the scent of blood had not yet faded, he called for a Geonryong Guard officer.
"The register.
Rewrite it from here. Now."
The officer answered with trembling hands,
"Yes… yes, sir."
Park Seong-jin closed his eyes once, then opened them again.
And in a voice so quiet it sounded like a murmur to himself, he said,
"Yes.
This is the beginning."