The Precious Baby of the Bandit Leader Chapter 109

“Search the surroundings. They couldn’t have gone far yet.” 

 

Touching his faintly trembling lips, the Prime Minister spat out the order as if chewing on the words.

 

“And as for this place… burn it all down. So that they can see it from afar.”

 

Fwoosh—!

 

Flames flared up all across the mountain stronghold.

 

The Prime Minister stared at the roaring fire and smoke, coldly suppressing his seething anger.

 

Then, he slowly turned around.

 

Standing silently in that spot with his head bowed was Lee Seohoo.

 

Grab—!

 

The Prime Minister’s hand suddenly and roughly gripped his shoulder.

 

The grip, heavy with fury, was enough to crush bone, yet he did not let out so much as a groan.

 

“Answer me. Did you not say Kim Gangdu was here? What is the meaning of this?”

 

“…I apologize.”

 

A short, heavy response.

 

Lee Seohoo continued in an unwavering voice.

 

“He was certainly in the stronghold when I arrived. It seems he noticed something was amiss in the meantime and fled elsewhere.”

 

“How on earth…!”

 

Releasing his grip on Lee Seohoo, the Prime Minister breathed heavily.

 

‘Ji Hakseung.’

 

The man’s name flashed sharply through the Prime Minister’s mind.

 

“To think I actually believed he was giving away the fortress’s location… a wretch worse than a dog. An incompetent traitor who cannot even protect a single piece of information.” 

 

Murderous intent glinted in the Prime Minister’s eyes as he muttered, grinding his teeth as if they might break.

 

“We’ve lost the child!”

 

“They fled by the waterway!”

 

At the ensuing reports, the Prime Minister snapped back to his senses and issued another order.

 

“Check the waterway. There should be a pirate ship heading this way. You must capture the child on that ship.”

 

At that moment, Lee Seohoo stepped forward. And he quietly handed a note to the Prime Minister.

 

“Your Excellency. Right before our deployment, I ordered a subordinate left at the pier to track them… and he sent this along just a moment ago.” 

 

The Prime Minister held his tongue and unfolded the letter at once.

 

A single short sentence caught his eye.

 

[Come to the secret base I mentioned beforehand.]

 

The contents were lengthy, but the core message was singular.

 

That they had already been notified of their ‘next’ hideout and made their move.

 

Just then, Bae Seonguk, one of the Prime Minister’s close aides and a captain of his private army, stepped forward.

 

“But this is strange. Didn’t Captain Lee say he saw Kim Gangdu at the stronghold? Even if they noticed something amiss in the meantime, the timing doesn’t add up for them to have sent a message through the pirates from here. Shouldn’t they have arrived later than Captain Lee?”

 

At Bae Seonguk’s point, the Prime Minister turned his gaze to look at Lee Seohoo.

 

Lee Seohoo replied with a calm face.

 

“I heard the pirates rescued Kim Gangdu’s daughter. Pirates are skilled at long-distance communication by training birds.”

 

“Which means…”

 

The Prime Minister continued.

 

“Are you saying Kim Gangdu had already joined hands with the pirates?”

 

“That is my judgment. They likely sent a letter via the pirates’ bird, and they would have headed straight to the next stronghold with the child.” 

 

It certainly made sense.

 

The circumstances matched as well.

 

“…If that is the case.” 

 

Anger seeped back into the Prime Minister’s voice.

 

“It means… we’ve lost that child as well.”

 

A sense of despondency washed over him at the fact that, despite storming in with such fierce momentum, he had ultimately lost them all.

 

Grind.

 

The sound of the Prime Minister grinding his molars together rang out clearly.

 

‘When I have already lost so many soldiers as it is… to come all the way here and return empty-handed again.’

 

[Return at once. You have repeatedly failed over the years, so make up for your blunders through state affairs now.]

 

The child he had looked down upon so much. 

 

The Prime Minister recalled the letter from his young grandson, who had once been nothing more than a puppet.

 

Having grown up before he knew it, that child was no longer ‘beneath’ the Prime Minister.

 

This news would eventually reach the palace as well.

 

If so, there was no way he could save face before the king, whom it was now difficult to consider a mere puppet.

 

The Prime Minister let out a sigh and issued a low command.

 

“Go back and torture that b*stard Ji Hakseung a bit more. If it yields nothing… get rid of him. And…”

 

The corners of his lips twisted slowly as he stared at the blazing flames.

 

“Round them all up—not only Kim Gangdu’s group, but even the pirates we have complacently left alone until now. I will personally sever their heads with my own hands.”

 

Having finished speaking, the Prime Minister roughly tossed away the letter he held in his hand.

 

“We are returning.”

 

“Yes! Your Excellency.”

 

The subordinates moved busily, and the Prime Minister boarded his palanquin.

 

As the door closed, the subordinates lifted the palanquin and began to depart the stronghold in unison.

 

Watching the Prime Minister’s palanquin move away, leaving the flames behind, Lee Seohoo silently turned his back.

 

With an expression that hid his inner thoughts, he slowly lifted his head.

 

The letter dropped on the ground.

 

He quietly cast his gaze upon it.

 

Just then.

 

“Captain!”

 

His subordinate Go Suchan came running over hastily, quickly scooped up the letter, and spoke with a bright face.

 

“Here it is! You told us to bring back all clues just in case, did you not!”

 

Grin, he continued, looking at Lee Seohoo with a smug expression.

 

“To think you even sent someone to the pier amidst all that! You didn’t lose your meticulousness even in the chaos. If not for this letter, we would have ended up just chasing the pirate ship!”

 

However, Lee Seohoo showed no reaction to those words and quietly opened his mouth.

 

“Throw it away. We don’t need it anymore.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

The answer he received was unexpected.

 

It was an uncharacteristic remark from Lee Seohoo, who was always flawless and coldly decisive.

 

While Go Suchan stood baffled, Lee Seohoo turned away without another word.

 

And silently descended the mountain.

 

“What was that…?”

 

Go Suchan muttered, looking down at the letter.

 

“Was it not that important…?”

 

As he scratched his head, his comrades approached him.

 

“By the way, that person the Captain sent to the pier… who was it?”

 

“I don’t know. I didn’t see them either.” 

 

“He must have sent them in secret. We were busy getting here, so it’s possible….” 

 

Go Suchan couldn’t shake off a somehow uneasy feeling.

 

‘Well, the Captain must have had a plan.’

 

Tilting his head, he ultimately tossed the letter away, letting it fly in the wind.

 

* * *

 

Hooo—!

 

Someone hiding under a tree behind a rock, having watched the entire conversation, carefully let out a breath.

 

It was none other than the pirate vice-captain, who had infiltrated to scope out the stronghold’s situation.

 

‘The pirates are in danger.’

 

Neatly organizing the things he had heard for quite some time in his mind, he gulped.

 

Only now could he truly realize why the captain and Damho had been so cautious about involving the pirate crew.

 

And why they had agonized over this matter for so long.

 

‘It seems this guy named Ji Hakseung leaked the location of the stronghold… and that guy is finished now.’

 

The vice-captain systematically arranged the gathered information in his mind.

 

‘But what on earth was that about the letter?’

 

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand. According to what that man named Lee Seohoo claimed… they had been in an alliance with the people of the stronghold from before.

 

And that they had sent a letter to the pirates via a bird—their method of communication—instructing them to come to the secret base…

 

‘That can’t be true, right? And we’ve never even received such a letter! Sure, we’ve traded a few times… but we’ve never been in an alliance with the people living in the stronghold to plot treason from the start…’

 

Whoosh.

 

Just then, fortunately, a gust of wind blew.

 

Snatch! Reaching out and grabbing the flying letter, the vice-captain narrowed his eyes and observed the handwriting.

 

‘Looks like it was written in a hurry. As if done while moving, trying not to get caught.’

 

At that moment, he thought of Lee Seohoo, who had descended the mountain.

 

‘Could it be… he wrote this himself? And deliberately set this up so the Prime Minister couldn’t chase the child…?’

 

All the circumstances pointed to that. But it was hard to believe.

 

Was he not the ‘left arm’ and closest confidant of the Prime Minister, of all people?

 

“…First, I’m heading back to the captain.”

 

The vice-captain slipped the letter into his pocket. Nodding to his subordinates, everyone soon began to move silently.

 

Crackle, crackle.

 

Leaving the mountain fortress behind as it burned crimson and spewed thick gray smoke, they hurried their steps.