Chapter 113
At my words, their expressions hardened.
Monk Xu Jae looked surprised, as though wondering how I had figured it out, while most of the others wore calm expressions, as if they had expected it.
After a moment, Daoist Woonhak spoke.
“…As expected, you had noticed.”
“Who wouldn’t have noticed under those circumstances? And have you forgotten that I was there when you interrogated the bandit chief?”
“Ah…”
Daoist Woonhak let out a sigh. Only then did he seem to remember the incident at the pavilion, when Iyeon had produced the gunpowder and mentioned the Demonic Cult.
Daoist Woonhak simply nodded.
“You’re right, Brother Dan. We came out to conduct our usual inspection duties. While we were on our way to the main headquarters to report what happened at Yongcheok Stronghold, we received a new mission.”
“Is that related to this village? When I arrived here earlier, I didn’t notice anything suspicious.”
“Well, we haven’t properly begun our investigation yet, so we can’t be certain of anything…”
As he said this, Woonhak skirted around the subject. Apparently, he wasn’t comfortable going into detail.
To be honest, I wasn’t planning on pressing him further either. After all, every person they had identified as a member of the Demonic Cult so far had turned out to be completely irrelevant, and there hadn’t been a single case of an actual Guangjin Sect disciple being captured.
They were probably going to grab some innocent person and accuse them of being a member of the Demonic Cult again. There was no need for me to worry about it anymore.
That was true, but…
‘I am curious, though.’
Should I ask, just in case?
“If you don’t mind, could I take a look at the evidence related to this?”
“Pardon?”
“You never know. Perhaps I might recognize something about the evidence. I arrived in this village before you did, after all. Maybe I’ll be able to find a clue by looking at it.”
“That… may be possible.”
However, Daoist Woonhak’s expression wasn’t particularly pleased as he said this. Apparently, revealing that they had a mission from the Inspection Squad and showing me the evidence were two entirely different matters.
The others reacted differently as well. Zhuge Ye spoke.
“…Wouldn’t it be okay to show him once? It’s not like Brother Dan is the one being suspected, and if he really manages to find a clue, that would be good, wouldn’t it?”
Paeng Mirang picked up on his words.
“Why would you show that guy anything just because you trust him? They say you can know the depth of ten jang of water, but you can’t know the depth of one jang of a person’s heart. Who knows what he’s really thinking? And that guy isn’t some famous righteous hero. He’s just a lowly member of the unorthodox path!”
Tang Hi scoffed.
“Hmph. After surviving because of that ‘lowly member of the unorthodox path,’ you’re still all talk, aren’t you, Rangrang?”
“Don’t call me that damned name again…!”
“M-Mr. Dan doesn’t seem like a bad person, but… still, I think it’s better to be cautious with everything…”
Before I knew it, the table had become noisy again. It was much better than when tension had filled the air earlier, but at the same time, I felt a little bitter.
Judging from how things were going, I could already tell what decision they would make. As the conversation gradually wandered farther and farther off topic, Daoist Woonhak cut it off and suddenly looked toward Iyeon.
A certain exchange of glances passed between the two men.
Woonhak nodded, then turned back to me. With a smile on his face, he opened his mouth.
“The thing is…”
***
“We’re parting ways again so soon.”
To give you the conclusion first, they decided not to show me the evidence.
It was what I had expected. Just as Paeng Mirang had said, I wasn’t some renowned righteous hero, and we hadn’t known each other long enough for them to reveal everything to me at once.
I’d also seen Leeyeon subtly shake his head…
‘I suppose the squad leader is still the squad leader.’
Regardless, I readily accepted their decision. There was no point in clinging to them and pressing the matter any further. It would only make them suspicious of me.
In the end, we ate our meal and went our separate ways. Perhaps he was disappointed about parting with me, because Zhuge Ye tried to stop me several times, but he soon gave up. He seemed to understand that this wasn’t the time to play around either.
I cupped my hands in greeting toward the Inspection Squad members standing outside the inn.
“Then I’ll be going now. I hope everything you’re doing goes well.”
“I hope we meet again someday under better circumstances.”
I smiled brightly and immediately mounted my horse. Then I took hold of the reins and began riding out of the village.
A song came humming from my lips.
“Above, the clear blue heavens; below, the rippling waters of a clear river. The sky is high, and the road is long, making it hard even for the souls to fly away. Unable to reach it even in dreams, the mountain passes are treacherous~.”
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
For a while, the only sound was the horse’s hooves. The village gradually grew smaller until it became a dot, and I left the main road and entered a mountain path.
Once, I thought the trees were concealing me sufficiently…
“Okay.”
I brought the horse to a stop. A deep smile spread across my lips.
“Shall we go back now?”
Did I intend to go back? No.
Did I intend to give up on seeing it? That wasn’t happening either.
Ever since they decided ‘We won’t show you,’ there had been only one thought filling my mind.
‘Oh, you’re not going to show me?’
It wasn’t even a real clue about the Demonic Cult. Why were they hiding it so stubbornly? How important could it possibly be?
The more they tried to hide it, the more curious I became. They were making me even more curious!
‘Wow, now I’m getting stubborn about this.’
But if I showed that, I felt like they wouldn’t merely become wary of me… they’d immediately draw their swords. So I desperately held myself back, gritting my teeth and pretending not to care as I came this far.
Fine. If they were going to hide it that much, then naturally, I had to take a look.
I’ll secretly check it and make a quick getaway!
“Yah!”
Having made up my mind, I began circling around the village along a mountain path rather than the original road.
If they were still there, I could get caught. Once I got reasonably close to the village, I dismounted. Then I let my horse loose somewhere in the forest and used my qinggong to race toward the village.
When I arrived and immediately headed toward the inn, they had already left.
It was disappointing, but still within what I’d expected. They would be staying in this village for a while anyway.
Without becoming impatient, I calmly began searching for them. As I secretly searched among the buildings, hiding between them…
‘Found them.’
I soon spotted a group of seven men and women.
They weren’t difficult to find. They stood out wherever they went. Above all, the beauty dressed entirely in white from head to toe would stand out even in a crowd of thousands.
From that moment on, I began following them carefully. They seemed to be searching for someone. They asked the villagers various questions, then walked around the village while carefully inspecting the area.
Thanks to that, I had to be careful not to get caught, but that trouble didn’t last long.
‘Huh?’
They had turned toward the mountains.
I wondered why they were suddenly heading into the mountains, but for me, it was practically an opportunity. Unlike the village, the mountains offered far more places to hide.
I carefully watched the route they were taking, then circulated my internal energy and dashed ahead.
Tap!
I leaped onto a tree.
My plan was to climb a tree along the route they would take in advance. If I arrived first and concealed my presence, even a fairly skilled martial artist would have difficulty noticing that someone was there.
They searched through the mountains for quite some time. Just as I was beginning to wonder what exactly they were doing, they finally stopped.
Right beneath the tree where I was hiding.
‘Perfect.’
Praising my own good luck today, I held my breath even more carefully.
Tang Hi’s voice came from below.
“I’m tired! How much longer are we supposed to search? Are we even sure it’s here in the first place?”
“People said they went toward these mountains.”
Zhuge Ye added,
“What if they didn’t go into the mountains, but used the mountains to reach somewhere else? Why don’t we go back to the village for now? Those guys might come back there.”
Daoist Woonhak answered.
“But they haven’t been seen in the village for some time. We can’t be certain of that either.”
“It’s not certain that they’re in the mountains either, is it?”
“That is true, but…”
Tang Hi stuck out her lips and grumbled.
“No matter how I think about it, I feel like we’re searching somewhere completely pointless. What does that place even have to do with that object…? Squad Leader, show it to me again. We should take another look and see if we’ve missed something.”
At Tang Hi’s request, Iyeon silently took something from inside his robes and held it out.
It was a rolled-up piece of paper.
Seeing it, I immediately realized.
‘That’s it.’
The evidence they had been so determined not to show me…!
Suppressing my pounding heart, my eyes gleamed.
Tang Hi slowly unfolded the paper.
Yes, yes, show me. Hurry up and unfold it!
When the paper was completely unfolded and its contents were revealed…
‘…Huh?’
I saw a drawing of a familiar piece of metal.
The Ink-Iron Token.
The ‘real’ symbol of the Guangjin Sect.
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