Chapter 115
Late at night, I returned to the village.
Tang Hi had definitely said, “Let’s go back to the village!” after all. There was a high chance they would spend the night in the village.
I considered returning to the inn, but instead, I settled down on top of a large tree at the entrance of the village. I figured that from up here, even if they left the village early, I wouldn’t miss them.
I sat cross-legged on a branch for a while. Then, when dawn broke, I spotted the Investigation Corps coming out of the village entrance and jumped down to block their path.
My surprise appearance elicited all sorts of reactions from them.
“W-What the hell? Why is he here?”
One looked at me as if utterly dumbfounded.
“See? I told you that bastard was suspicious!”
Another immediately lost his temper.
“Brother Dan!”
And another welcomed me first, and so on. Of course, most of them looked bewildered, as if asking, ‘Why is that guy here?’ but I paid no attention and grinned.
“What? We haven’t seen each other in ages. Aren’t you happy to see me? I’m so happy I could die.”
Paeng Mirang’s veins bulged as he shouted.
“What do you mean, ‘ages’?! You left just yesterday, and now you suddenly show up and expect us to be happy? Did you follow us? What are you plotting this time?!”
‘Damn, he’s sharp.’
“Ehh, what plotting? I just happened to see you guys, so I thought I’d say hello. Rangrang, you’re way too feisty for your own good.”
“Rang, l-l-this…!”
“Brother Dan.”
Before Paeng Mirang’s eyes could roll back in anger, Daoist Woonhak hurriedly stepped forward. He asked in a polite tone, doing his best not to show how flustered he was.
“It is certainly good to see you again… but, as Young Master Paeng said, it is also rather surprising.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. What brings you back? Did you forget something? Or did you have some business with us? …If this is about the evidence.”
“Eh? Why would I care about the evidence?”
“What?”
Seeing Woonhak’s bewildered expression, I gave a derisive snort. Then I raised my chin and continued in an indifferent tone.
“Well, you were whispering about it like it was some huge secret, so I got curious. It’s not like I particularly need to see it.”
I’d already seen it anyway.
“I’m not some righteous hero, and I’m not even from the orthodox sects. What would I gain from looking at that? Get in your way? Why would I bother with something so troublesome? I don’t care about the Demon Cult or the Murim Alliance.”
Because I was a member of the Demon Cult.
“My only interest has been the same from the beginning until now. Did you all forget how I got my nickname?”
“My nickname…?”
Flower-Seeking Bird (Flower-Glutton). A bird that seeks flowers.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Woonhak Daoist and everyone else there looked at Liyeon. Then, remembering that the Flower-Seeking Bird only went around looking for ‘women,’ they hurriedly looked elsewhere.
At the young lady standing blankly beside Tang Hi. I helpfully corrected them.
“Both are right…♡”
“Excuse me?”
Woonhak Daoist’s mouth fell open.
“Seriously, aren’t you guys being way too cruel? You were trying to keep such fantastic flowers all to yourselves? Isn’t that just too much, humanly speaking?”
“Excuse me?”
“Do you know how much I regretted it while I was on the road? One step, Miss Joo’s face; two steps, Young Master Lee’s face. Whenever I closed my eyes, Miss Joo. Whenever I opened them, Young Master Lee. Their exquisite appearances kept dancing before my eyes. I thought I was going to die.”
“Excuse me?”
“I was planning to use the evidence as an excuse to stick around the beauties and somehow get close to them, but I never expected you guys to coldly kick me out like that. Do you know how sad I was then? Huh?”
“Excuse me?”
“But then I thought about it…”
I grinned.
“Since when did I need someone else’s permission? I can just follow you around.”
Yes, that was my true objective. To use the beauties as an excuse to stick close to them.
At times like this, my disgraceful nickname truly shone. I must have lived like such a delinquent all these years that even with such an absurd excuse, they were looking at me as though, ‘Well… I guess that’s possible.’
At first, I had only intended to mention Miss Joo, but when they looked toward Liyeon, I impulsively dragged him into it as well.
Well, now that I’d said it, it did make some sense.
Honestly, Liyeon’s unparalleled beauty was enough to make even Miss Joo fade into the background a little. With that level of beauty, I might even be bewitched…
‘If I’m already a woman-chaser and now I become a man-chaser too, what does that make me? Just a chaser… a crazy bastard?’
“Are you insane?!”
Right then, Paeng Mirang shouted exactly what I had been thinking.
“Who said you could follow us? You think I’ll just let you?!”
“Hey, don’t get so angry. We’re going to travel together from now on. And I won’t interfere with your business. I’ll just watch from a distance. Okay?”
“Cut the bullshit and get lost!”
“Don’t tell me to get lost. I get excited when I hear that. And what did I say I was going to do? I said I’d just watch. And if I get bored, maybe I could help out with something…”
“No, no. Wait a moment, Brother Dan.”
Zhuge Ye suddenly interrupted me. At once, everyone’s gaze, including mine and Paeng Mirang’s, turned toward him.
Zhuge Ye took a deep breath. Then he asked the fundamental question that no one else had dared to bring up.
“The leader… is a man, though?”
“So?”
I gave him a thumbs-up.
“As long as the taste is good.”
***
…Perhaps because I had dropped such a massive bombshell?
They kept their distance from me for quite a while.
Oddly enough, Leeyeon and Miss Joo seemed completely unfazed, while only the people who had nothing to do with it kept giving me strange looks.
At least Woonhak Daoist didn’t avoid me. Instead, he kept trying to persuade me to leave.
“There won’t be much fun in coming along with us.”
“Just looking at beautiful people is fun enough.”
“It could be dangerous.”
“Then I can just run away by myself.”
“…The two of them might dislike it!”
“Gasp.”
I covered my cheeks as if genuinely shocked.
“I really like that. Being despised by beautiful women.”
From that moment on, even Woonhak Daoist stopped talking to me. Of course, I didn’t care and continued following behind them like a puppy.
At first, they kept glancing at me uneasily, but when I truly did nothing, they gradually relaxed.
As expected, they left Jinhae and went around the surrounding area, asking people about the Pleasure Pavilion. But no matter how much they asked, they seemed unable to obtain any worthwhile information, and their faces grew increasingly gloomy.
Before long, they were even looking back at me. Seeing that, I snorted with amusement.
‘Looks like they could use my help after all.’
Back in the mountains, Zhuge Ye had repeatedly regretted not asking Brother Dan. Maybe they had finally remembered that now.
As if my guess was correct, Woonhak Daoist and Zhuge Ye were awkwardly approaching me from a distance.
“Um, Brother Dan…”
Zhuge Ye was the first to speak.
“I’m sorry for ignoring you for a while…. But considering the bond we once shared, if you could just answer one thing…”
“Hmph, I don’t know, I don’t know! You treated me like some pervert, and then treated me like some once-in-a-century lunatic who lusts after men as well as women, and now you expect me to answer you just because you came asking?!”
“I was just flustered and said it without thinking… But you’re really good at talking, aren’t you?”
“Anyway, I don’t know!”
“If you answer, I’ll introduce you to one of my older sisters. The most beautiful woman in Hubei.”
“I will answer anything, Young Master.”
For a moment, Woonhak Daoist looked at Zhuge Ye and me as if we were both insane, but as men (or pseudo-men) we had already shaken hands.
I grinned.
“So, what do you want to ask?”
“Brother Dan, you said you stayed in Jinhae for several days before we met, right? Did you happen to see a Demonic Path gang there? Its name is the Pleasure Pavilion…”
“The Pleasure Pavilion?”
I tilted my head as though I had never heard of it before. Then I shook my head.
“First I’ve heard of it.”
“Did you happen to see anyone similar? Demonic Path martial artists, bandits, anything like that…”
“Not at all. I did see a few religious people handing out food in the village, but other than that, no. Besides, I only arrived a few days before you guys did.”
“The Sacred Flame Cult…”
I heard Woonhak Daoist mutter quietly, but I pretended not to notice. Instead, I steered the conversation elsewhere, acting as though I was interested in what they were saying.
“What, are you guys looking for the Pleasure Pavilion? But why have I never heard of them? If they’re suspicious enough for you guys to investigate, I assumed they’d be a large organization… Are they a newly established sect?”
At my question, the two hesitated.
They had asked me for help, but it seemed they were still reluctant to tell me the details.
That was probably as far as I could go.
Just as I was about to give up without a fuss…
“They’re not a newly established sect.”
A low, quiet voice came from nearby.
It was Liyeon.
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