diff --git a/ekp.el b/ekp.el
index 0352d47..e0543bb 100644
--- a/ekp.el
+++ b/ekp.el
@@ -69,11 +69,24 @@ Set to nil to force pure Elisp implementation.")
 (defvar ekp-adjacent-fitness-penalty 100
   "Penalty when adjacent lines differ in tightness by >1 class.")
 
+(defvar ekp-consecutive-hyphen-penalty 100
+  "Base penalty multiplier for consecutive hyphenated lines.
+Actual penalty = this × count², encouraging spread of hyphens.")
+
+(defvar ekp-forced-break-penalty 10000
+  "Base penalty for forced breaks where no valid break exists.
+High value ensures forced breaks are last resort.")
+
+(defvar ekp-last-line-short-penalty 50
+  "Penalty multiplier for underfilled last lines.
+Applied as: this × (1 - fill-ratio) when fill < ekp-last-line-min-ratio.")
+
 (defvar ekp-last-line-min-ratio 0.5
   "Minimum fill ratio for last line (0.0-1.0).")
 
 (defvar ekp-looseness 0
-  "Target line count offset: 0=optimal, +1=looser, -1=tighter.")
+  "Target line count offset: 0=optimal, +1=looser, -1=tighter.
+Note: Full looseness requires tracking multiple paths (not yet implemented).")
 
 ;;;; Paragraph Cache Structure
 ;;
@@ -460,7 +473,8 @@ Returns total demerits for this break."
          ;; Consecutive hyphen penalty (quadratic growth)
          (hyphen-count (if end-with-hyphenp (1+ prev-hyphen-count) 0))
          (with-hyphen (if end-with-hyphenp
-                          (+ with-fitness (* 100 hyphen-count hyphen-count))
+                          (+ with-fitness (* ekp-consecutive-hyphen-penalty
+                                             hyphen-count hyphen-count))
                         with-fitness)))
     with-hyphen))
 
@@ -504,9 +518,18 @@ Returns (:badness NUM :fitness NUM :gaps LIST :adjustment NUM :flexibility NUM).
 
 (defun ekp--hyphenate-p (hyphen-positions n)
   "Return non-nil if position N ends with hyphenation.
-HYPHEN-POSITIONS is a vector of indices where hyphenation can occur."
+HYPHEN-POSITIONS is a sorted vector of indices where hyphenation can occur.
+Uses binary search for O(log n) lookup instead of O(n) linear search."
   (and hyphen-positions
-       (cl-find n hyphen-positions)))
+       (> (length hyphen-positions) 0)
+       (let ((lo 0)
+             (hi (1- (length hyphen-positions))))
+         (while (< lo hi)
+           (let ((mid (/ (+ lo hi) 2)))
+             (if (< (aref hyphen-positions mid) n)
+                 (setq lo (1+ mid))
+               (setq hi mid))))
+         (= (aref hyphen-positions lo) n))))
 
 ;;;; Dynamic Programming Line Breaking
 
@@ -552,7 +575,7 @@ Uses PARA's stored glue params for consistency."
          (rest-pixel (- line-pixel ideal-pixel)))
     (when hyphenate-p (cl-incf ideal-pixel hyphen-pixel))
     ;; Force break with high demerits
-    (aset demerits break-pos (+ 10000 (expt rest-pixel 2)))
+    (aset demerits break-pos (+ ekp-forced-break-penalty (expt rest-pixel 2)))
     (aset rests break-pos rest-pixel)
     (aset backptrs break-pos i)
     (aset fitness-classes break-pos 3)  ; very loose
@@ -582,7 +605,7 @@ Returns (demerits gaps fitness new-hyphen-count)."
     (let* ((fill-ratio (/ (float ideal-pixel) line-pixel))
            ;; Penalize if last line is too short
            (badness (if (< fill-ratio ekp-last-line-min-ratio)
-                        (* 50 (- 1.0 fill-ratio))
+                        (* ekp-last-line-short-penalty (- 1.0 fill-ratio))
                       0))
            (dem (expt (+ ekp-line-penalty badness) 2)))
       (list dem nil 1 0)))
diff --git a/ekp_c/ekp_kp.c b/ekp_c/ekp_kp.c
index 4229432..e56b8d1 100644
--- a/ekp_c/ekp_kp.c
+++ b/ekp_c/ekp_kp.c
@@ -83,14 +83,26 @@ static inline double compute_demerits(double badness, int32_t penalty,
 
 /*
  * Check if position is a hyphenation break
+ * Uses binary search for O(log n) lookup (positions are sorted)
  */
 static inline bool is_hyphen_break(ekp_paragraph_t *p, size_t pos)
 {
-    for (size_t i = 0; i < p->hyphen_count; i++) {
-        if ((size_t)p->hyphen_positions[i] == pos)
-            return true;
+    if (p->hyphen_count == 0)
+        return false;
+    
+    /* Binary search in sorted hyphen_positions */
+    size_t lo = 0;
+    size_t hi = p->hyphen_count - 1;
+    
+    while (lo < hi) {
+        size_t mid = lo + (hi - lo) / 2;
+        if ((size_t)p->hyphen_positions[mid] < pos)
+            lo = mid + 1;
+        else
+            hi = mid;
     }
-    return false;
+    
+    return (size_t)p->hyphen_positions[lo] == pos;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -418,13 +430,22 @@ void ekp_result_destroy(ekp_result_t *r)
 
 static inline bool is_hyphen_pos(const int32_t *positions, size_t count, int32_t pos)
 {
-    for (size_t i = 0; i < count; i++) {
-        if (positions[i] == pos)
-            return true;
-        if (positions[i] > pos)
-            return false;
+    if (count == 0)
+        return false;
+    
+    /* Binary search in sorted positions */
+    size_t lo = 0;
+    size_t hi = count - 1;
+    
+    while (lo < hi) {
+        size_t mid = lo + (hi - lo) / 2;
+        if (positions[mid] < pos)
+            lo = mid + 1;
+        else
+            hi = mid;
     }
-    return false;
+    
+    return positions[lo] == pos;
 }
 
 ekp_result_t *ekp_break_with_prefixes(