Chapter 144. Those Wearing Black Masks (3)
The atmosphere in the place settled coldly, as if frost had fallen.
Although it had already vanished into the history of the Murim, the weight carried by the name “Demonic Cult” was enough to make their excited hearts sink.
Moreover, the people here had personally witnessed the Demonic Cult while taking the Regular Exam with me.
“What should I do…… What am I supposed to do…… What should be done?”
Jang Do-won had lost all of his usual sharp gaze, and he wandered around the yard frantically like someone who had lost his mind.
“Elder…… Why do you think the Demonic Cult did this?”
“……Starting a few months ago, such rumors began spreading through Yueyang. They said the Demonic Cult had revived, and that they were scheming to seize the world.”
“Then the disappearances…….”
“They began around the same time as those rumors.”
Jang Do-won suddenly looked as if he had realized something, then began clinging to me.
“Y-you! You said you entered the academy, did you not? I have heard the rumors about you well. Do you perhaps know anyone in the Diancang Sect?”
“Why are you looking for the Diancang Sect?”
“Is Diancang not the foremost power in Yueyang? If it is them, could they not find my granddaughter, who was taken by the Demonic Cult?”
“…….”
I had no objection to helping, but I fell into deep thought over whether or not I should tell him right away that my relationship with the Diancang Sect was not good.
“Help me. If you do, I will never forget this grace.”
Jang Do-won cried like a child, shedding tears and snot.
Why was it that even though I was looking at Jang Do-won’s face, my own image came to mind?
There was no need to continue pondering for long.
“Let us go. Elder, I do not know whether I will be of help, but I will come with you.”
Seongsa Tea Garden was a famous tea house in Yueyang and also served as Diancang’s branch.
For ordinary people, even meeting the proprietor was difficult to begin with, but when we revealed that we were academy students of the Murim Academy, we were immediately guided to where the proprietor was.
“Hmm…… We are investigating the disappearances happening in Yueyang to a certain extent. If you return and wait, I will inform you as soon as the results come out.”
“I heard there is a rumor that they are related to the Demonic Cult…… Is that true?”
The proprietor furrowed his brow.
“Are you being shaken by stories fabricated by ignorant fools who know nothing?”
At his words, which did not inspire any trust at all, Jang Do-won pleaded.
“My lord, please save my granddaughter. She lost her parents, and now I am the only one she has left in the world.”
The proprietor furrowed his brow deeply and waved his hand dismissively.
“Did I not say we are investigating right now? It takes time for a case to be resolved, so wait.”
I listened quietly to the conversation, then spoke.
“Are there any people on the list of suspects?”
The proprietor looked me up and down.
“I cannot tell you, as the case is under investigation.”
“Is the opponent someone even Diancang fears?”
“……Young Hero. Watch your words. Diancang does not fear injustice. Even if it is the actual ‘Demonic Cult.’”
“……Even if it is the ‘actual Demonic Cult,’ you say?”
Just as I was about to say one more thing because of his strange words, Namgung Seon-hwa stepped in front of me.
“Where is Young Master Jong Byeok-gi right now?”
“……Do you know Young Master Jong?”
“We do not have a personal friendship, but we have exchanged names.”
“Who are you, Miss, to ask about someone’s private affairs?”
To the proprietor who spoke as if the question was absurd, Namgung Seon-hwa said, “I am Seon-hwa of the Namgung Clan. Is that enough for you to tell me where Young Master Jong is?”
“…….”
After leaving Seongsa Tea Garden, Jang Do-won glanced at Namgung Seon-hwa and whispered to me.
“H-how did you form a connection with a young lady of the Namgung Clan?”
I could have explained everything in detail, but it seemed he would not hear any of it right now.
“It just happened somehow.”
“……At any rate, thank you. Thanks to you, it feels like things are beginning to move a little.”
“Please do not mention it. Is this not only natural?”
“……Had I known this would happen, I should have found a place to stay somewhere long ago.”
At Jang Do-won’s words, which he spoke in passing, I asked, “Were there places that said they would take you in, Elder?”
“Take me in? What would anyone take in an old man who only makes ornaments for…… I merely heard that if I became one of theirs, they would protect me. Of course, I refused because they treated me like a servant. Thinking about it now, I should have done it long ago. At the very least, if I had been under Diancang’s shadow, this would have been easier to resolve.”
“…….”
Our conversation stopped in front of the pleasure house where Jong Byeok-gi was said to be staying.
“Only Elder Jang and I will go in.”
Because of the nature of a pleasure house, I was being considerate, wary that the women might see embarrassing scenes, but Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran spoke as if they were dumbfounded.
“We have even slept in a pleasure house before, so why are you suddenly acting like this?”
Seong Mo-ran flung the door open and walked in while mentioning what had happened during the Regular Exam.
Inside the pleasure house, a strange fragrance drifted through the air, aroused moans could be heard, and men and women who could hardly be distinguished as dressed or undressed were walking around everywhere.
“There he is.”
At the highest seat in the pleasure house.
Jong Byeok-gi and his companions each had women tucked at their sides as they poured and drank alcohol.
“Young Master Jong.”
“Hm?”
Jong Byeok-gi, who had been looking at a courtesan with half-closed eyes while turning over his wine cup, looked at Namgung Seon-hwa.
“Why, Miss Namgung! What brings you here? ……And with those beggars trailing after you in a line?”
At Namgung Seon-hwa’s appearance, Jong Byeok-gi’s companions hurriedly straightened their clothes.
However, they were so drunk that they could not even fasten their clothes properly.
“I came because I wanted to know about the disappearance cases happening in Yueyang.”
“Disappearances? Ah, aah……. That matter. It is nothing much. Such things often happen to those whose households are not properly managed.”
“……This elder’s only granddaughter is said to have disappeared. I would like Young Master Jong to help him.”
“Elder……?”
Jong Byeok-gi looked at Jang Do-won with bleary eyes, then twitched his eyebrows.
“Ha, so it was that arrogant old man.”
“…….”
“Do you know him?”
“Our Diancang once visited him because we wished to use him preciously, but he acted so terribly proud. But…… you say he lost his granddaughter?”
“…….”
Jang Do-won knelt on the spot.
“My lord, I acted arrogantly without knowing my place. Please, save my granddaughter.”
“Hehe, if you had come to Diancang earlier, none of this would have happened… Tsk, tsk.”
Namgung Seon-hwa also stepped forward.
“Young Master Jong, please.”
Jong Byeok-gi, who had been sneering, waved his hand a couple of times.
“Very well. I will look into it, if only for Miss Namgung’s sake. In exchange, remember this. Miss Namgung now owes me a debt.”
“……I will remember it.”
“You may leave now. If I keep looking at that old man, I feel my wine will begin to taste foul.”
Along with that order to leave, Jong Byeok-gi once again began flirting with the courtesan, and his companions also smiled as if they found the sight quite satisfying.
After bringing Jang Do-won back home, I pressed his sleep acupoint to put him to sleep, then quietly came out into the yard.
“Perhaps I should have spoken to Young Master Jong a little more.”
Namgung Seon-hwa could not hide her regret.
“It was enough that you stepped forward.”
Moreover, Namgung Seon-hwa had even said at the end that she would owe him a debt.
As a person of the Namgung Clan, she surely knew well how heavy those words were.
It was no different from doing the best she could.
“But for some reason, Young Master Jin, you do not look relieved.”
“…….”
That was because there were not only one or two points I found suspicious about the case of Jang Do-won’s granddaughter disappearing.
Among Mantongbu’s records, there had been documents related to the Yueyang disappearance cases, but no point of contact with the Demonic Cult could be found.
Of course, it might have been because in my previous life, I had only learned the true identity of the Demonic Cult much later, but it was still difficult to assume that the current disappearance cases were caused by the Demonic Cult.
The Demonic Cult were madmen who did not hesitate to use human sacrifices in order to employ bizarre spell arts, but they were not fools enough to cause incidents in a bustling area full of people like Yueyang.
Even without coming all the way to Yueyang, there were countless children under heaven who had lost their parents, and countless people living in areas beyond the reach of government offices.
The Demonic Cult, which had tried to hide its identity thoroughly until the very end, came all the way to Yueyang, where tourists from all over the world gathered, and caused incidents?
‘I am not so sure…….’
To me, who had felt their cunning deep in my bones on the front lines of war, that was completely unconvincing.
And.
“Did you not notice anything strange at Seongsa Tea Garden?”
“Something strange?”
“Did the proprietor not say that he would not fear it even if it were the ‘actual Demonic Cult’?”
“…….”
“Why was the proprietor certain that the Demonic Cult was not real? Rumors have spread this widely in Yueyang. Did he simply not believe them?”
It might have been an oversensitive thought, but a foul feeling remained, just like when I had been cheated in the gambling at the Sojeong Squad.
At times like this, one had to search even the underclothes of the bastards sitting at the gambling table.
I spoke to the children of the Taeul Sect.
“When Elder Jang wakes up, calm him as much as possible.”
“Yes.”
“Young Master Jin, where are you thinking of going?”
At Seong Mo-ran’s question, I answered.
“I need to look into this separately.”
“First, we should gather information.”
“If it is the Beggars’ Sect, should we not go to the beggars’ village?”
Since the Beggars’ Sect held most of the information in the Jianghu, it was not unreasonable for them to think of the Beggars’ Sect first.
However, I knew an information organization that was not inferior to them.
The place I headed to was a small fabric shop located in a corner of the bustling district.
“Why here?”
“We already bought clothes earlier.”
The two of them were puzzled when they saw me visiting a fabric shop again.
Without saying a word, I approached the fabric shop owner and held out the Black Token I had received from Yeo Mi-mi.
The fabric shop owner, who had been doing business warmly, briefly stiffened his face, then bowed politely and guided me inside.
Inside the fabric shop, there was a staircase leading down to a basement.
When we went down below, an inner chamber larger than the fabric shop appeared.
Inside the chamber, all sorts of strange items were waiting for their owners.
Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran could not close their mouths at the succession of astonishing sights.
“Is this perhaps…… a Black Shop?”
“A Black Shop?”
At Seong Mo-ran’s question, Namgung Seon-hwa could not hide her surprise as she spoke.
“It is a confidential shop operated by the Hao Gate. From women’s underclothes to corpses, they say you can obtain all sorts of things that cannot be found in public……. But I heard obtaining the right to use a Black Shop is no ordinary difficulty…….”
Before Namgung Seon-hwa could finish her explanation, the fabric shop owner walking ahead smiled and spoke.
“There are also grades among the items traded in a Black Shop. The items you just mentioned are things that guests of the ordinary grade can obtain.”
“……Then does that mean there is a separate special grade?”
“There, there is truly nothing that cannot be obtained. Not only the blood of a living person, but even fragments of bone from the dead. If it exists in this world, we will bring it to you no matter what we must do.”
“……What must one do to obtain that grade?”
At Seong Mo-ran’s question, asked while swallowing hard, the fabric shop owner continued smiling as he spoke.
“That grade is not something one can obtain simply because one wants it. One must have the qualifications.”
The fabric shop owner looked once at Namgung Seon-hwa’s face and answered.
“For reference, even your grandfather, the Divine Sword, does not possess those qualifications, Miss.”
The two of them were shocked by the fabric shop owner’s answer.
“Do you know who I am?”
The fabric shop owner smiled.
“If I failed to recognize the two women counted among the Three Great Beauties of Anhui Province, would I even be a man?”
Even at the man’s words, the two of them still could not erase their stunned expressions.
“You said even the Divine Sword does not qualify, so who exactly possesses such qualifications?”
At Seong Mo-ran’s words, spoken as if groaning, the fabric shop owner moved his gaze without answering.
And at the end of that gaze was…….
“Huh…….”
“What exactly…… are you, Young Master Jin?”
Embarrassed, I quickly changed the subject.
“Are you the Yueyang Branch Chief?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“I came because I have something I wish to ask.”
“First, I will escort you inside. Someone is waiting for you.”
Waiting for me?
Did he know I would come and arrive ahead of time?
At those incomprehensible words, I silently began following the Yueyang Branch Chief again.
After passing through the Black Shop and walking for quite some time through the maze-like interior, the Branch Chief finally stopped.
He opened the door without delay.
“I have only now come to offer my greetings, using the excuse that I was occupied with many affairs.”
Inside, an unexpected person was offering a greeting.
A somewhat familiar face and a respectful attitude…….
No, why was this person coming out from here……?!
