618.sky and sea blended into the same gray.
It was a dawn when sky and sea blended into the same gray.
Even a few jangahead was blurred from view, and in the distance the ridgeline of Iki Island floated like a faint shadow.
The fleet was completely still.
Not a soldier dared raise his voice.
Only the sound of seawater slapping softly against the hulls filled the silence.
Park Seong-jin entered the small control cabin installed atop the flagship.
The lamplight swayed low.
Song I-jeong and the senior officers were already gathered inside.
"Proceed," Park Seong-jin said as he took his seat.
Song I-jeong spread the map and pointed north.
"That shadow you see out there."
"That is the northern fortress."
The adjutant nodded.
"The most heavily defended position on the island?"
"Yes," Song I-jeong replied.
He took a breath before continuing.
"There's a hole."
The air inside the cabin sank.
Someone swallowed audibly.
Song I-jeong's finger slid downward.
"Below the fortress, at the northern harbor, twenty warships are moored."
Park Seong-jin murmured,
"That's a lot."
"They look numerous," Song I-jeong said,
"but traffic dropped sharply after Tsushima fell."
"Of the ships present, few are for troop transport."
"Most are empty."
"Empty?"
One officer's eyes widened.
Song I-jeong nodded.
"Hulls only. The troops moved up into the fortress."
Park Seong-jin's gaze deepened.
"So if we destroy them, that's the end."
"Yes."
Song I-jeong answered without hesitation.
"No naval battle required."
"If we get close, two or three cannon shots will set them all ablaze."
He produced a single sheet of paper.
A stolen layout of the fortress interior.
"And here."
He pointed to a warehouse beside the harbor.
"Straw bundles. Kindling. Oil. Dry fuel."
"They're stacked high."
Park Seong-jin narrowed his eyes.
"If a fire starts, where does it spread?"
Song I-jeong tapped the map lightly.
"The ships."
"And the entrance to the fortress."
Soft gasps escaped the officers.
"They've grown complacent," Park Seong-jin said.
"When money flows easily, vigilance dulls," Song I-jeong replied with a grin.
"The pattern fits," Park Seong-jin said.
Song I-jeong pointed to the most critical spot.
"Do you see this?"
"Northwest side of the fortress, concealed by forest."
"A small gap."
"A hidden gate."
All eyes turned to him.
"There are almost no signs of use," Song I-jeong continued.
"I checked myself."
Park Seong-jin smiled.
"Checked yourself?"
"Yes."
"I even tested the handle."
Snickers leaked out.
Park Seong-jin sighed with a crooked smile.
"…You're impossible."
He looked down at the map and made his decision.
"Good."
"The plan is simple."
"We proceed as is."
He tapped the northern harbor.
"First—destroy all ships in the harbor with cannon fire."
"When the straw ignites, the fire will spread toward the entrance."
The officers nodded.
"Second—once the flames block the gate, the fortress loses visibility outside."
"We use that chaos."
His finger moved directly to the hidden gate.
"Third—insert the martial unit through the postern."
"Secure a foothold inside the main gate immediately."
Song I-jeong followed up.
"Once troops pour in behind them, the fortress collapses from within."
Silence settled again.
Park Seong-jin raised his head slowly.
"Good."
"Iki Island ends today."
"Loyalty!" the officers answered in unison.
The dawn mist was thinning.
The gray silhouette of Iki Island began to reveal itself—
its contours emerging like a massive beast.
—*
Pale dawn light settled faintly across the sea.
The sky had not yet brightened, and mist swallowed the outlines of harbor and fortress alike.
Sea and sky were still indistinguishable.
On the prow of the Goryeo warship, Park Seong-jin raised his hand.
"Prepare the cannons."
The soldiers echoed crisply.
The cannon muzzles rotated slightly, lining up with the harbor.
A cold breath of wind passed.
Then Park Seong-jin's hand dropped.
"Fire!"
Boom—!
The first thunderclap tore across the sea.
Then came the chain—
Boom! Boom! Boom—!!
Flashes slammed down into the harbor.
The first shot struck an outer warship.
Crash—!!
Fire burst through the hull, black smoke billowing upward.
The second and third shells tore into straw stacks and oil barrels deeper inside.
Oil sprayed through the mist, glittering as it scattered.
Then—
hundreds of fire arrows streaked toward the harbor.
Fffff—ping—!
They flew straight through the paths Song I-jeong had prepared.
The moment the dry straw ignited, the fire spread like lightning.
The straw didn't burn—it exploded into flame.
Oil splashed, and the entire harbor became a single mass of fire.
The wind drove the blaze forward.
The trapped harbor carried the flames up the stone road toward the fortress gate.
"Fire!! Fireeeee!!"
Screams erupted from the battlements.
Clueless defenders rushed toward the gate.
Smoke and flame slashed their vision apart.
White—then black.
The harbor's fire and smoke completely swallowed the gate.
Song I-jeong crouched low and whispered,
"Now."
Twenty martial warriors moved like shadows on water.
Black hoods. Cloth that did not flutter.
Their steps made no sound.
They transferred to small boats and vanished into the forest darkness.
No running.
Even their breathing yielded the path.
"Left cleared."
"There."
"Forward sightline."
"Secured."
"Follow-up unit."
"Moving."
Words were brief.
Angles of fingers and glances carried all commands.
The mist-soaked forest was damp and black—
but to Song I-jeong, it was a road.
"Here."
A rocky hollow opened in the brush.
Behind it, a decayed wooden door clung to the stone.
Old. Unused.
And that neglect was its weakness.
"Open."
A warrior pressed his hand against it.
The door gave way easily.
Creeeak—
Everyone froze, holding their breath.
But the inferno at the main gate swallowed the sound.
Inside—silence.
Dust lay thin.
A path unused for decades.
Song I-jeong drew his sword halfway and entered first.
"Left. Right. Overhead."
Three men checked walls and ceiling at once.
"Clear."
He swept his hand.
"Advance."
The unit flowed inward.
Outside, flames and screams tangled together.
Inside the corridor, there was nothing.
All forces had rushed toward the gate.
The postern lay empty.
Two Japanese soldiers staggered toward them from the far end, faces shielded from smoke.
"Why is there—"
Song I-jeong moved first.
Whip—!
Steel passed.
They fell without sound.
Bodies were dragged into the wall.
"Right stair secured."
"Left corridor clear."
Song I-jeong exhaled lightly.
"Good."
"If the plan holds, the main gate still can't see anything."
He raised his hand and gave the prearranged signal—
once. Short. Steady.
From the opposite forest came the drum.
Doom— Doom— Doom—!
Foothold secured.
Now all that remained was momentum.
Park Seong-jin heard the signal and shouted without hesitation.
"All units—land!"
"Advance!"
"Push into the fortress!"
Ships grounded. Soldiers poured out.
Archers flooded the interior with arrows, deepening the chaos.
At the center of it all stood Song I-jeong's martial unit, already consuming the fortress from within.
They planted long spears inverted at the corridor junctions—
small barriers, but unbreakable.
"Left barrier secured."
"Right secured."
Song I-jeong tapped his scabbard.
"Now let's make noise."
Japanese soldiers burst through the smoke from the gate—
fighting outward, struck from behind.
"What—what is this—?!"
Necks twisted.
Shoulders dropped.
Arms broke.
The martial blades were not blocking blades—
they were stopping blades.
One touch, and motion ended.
Song I-jeong glanced toward the bend inside the gate.
Troops still faced outward, loosing arrows.
The idea that the rear had opened had not yet reached them.
"There."
At his gesture, all twenty moved at once.
The archers collapsed from behind.
"Gate brace loose," Song I-jeong said.
"Push."
A warrior seized the timber gap.
Creeeak—
Two more joined.
Crack—!
Boom!
The massive gate swung inward.
As if on cue, the Goryeo troops arrived—
the gate opening directly before them.
The defenders still didn't realize the gate had opened behind them.
Shield-bearers surged forward, and the army flowed inside like a tide,
curving past the approach and through the gate tower into the depths of the fortress.
Song I-jeong smiled quietly.
"The gate is open."
"General, come in."
He raised his sword high and signaled from the foothold.
Doom— Doom— Doom—!
Amid flame and smoke,
the strongest point of Iki Island
was pierced in a single stroke—
through its quietest opening.