Chapter 144 :

Those Wearing Black Masks (3)

The atmosphere in the room turned as cold as if frost had settled over it.

Though the Demonic Cult had disappeared from the history of the murim, the weight of its name alone was enough to dampen everyone’s excitement.

Besides, the people here had taken the entrance exam with me and witnessed the Demonic Cult for themselves.

“What should I do……? What am I supposed to do……? What can I do?”

Jang Dowon had lost the sharpness in his eyes. Like a man who’d lost his senses, he paced frantically around the yard.

“Elder…… Why do you think the Demonic Cult is behind this?”

“……A rumor has been going around Yueyang for months. The Demonic Cult has been resurrected, and they’re plotting to take over the world.”

“Then the disappearances—”

“They began around the same time as the rumor.”

Jang Dowon suddenly looked as if he’d realized something, then clung to me.

“Young man! I heard you enrolled in the academy. I’ve heard plenty of rumors about you. Do you know anyone in the Diancang Sect?”

“Why are you asking about the Diancang Sect?”

“Isn’t Diancang the greatest power in Yueyang? Surely they could find my granddaughter, who was taken by the Demonic Cult.”

I could help, but I found myself wondering whether I should tell him right away that the Diancang Sect and I weren’t on good terms.

“Please help me. I’ll never forget this kindness.”

Jang Dowon pleaded, crying and sniffling like a child.

Why was I reminded of myself whenever I looked at Jang Dowon?

There was no need to agonize over it for long.

“Let’s go, Elder. I don’t know if I’ll be of any help, but I’ll do what I can.”

Seongsadawon was a famous tea house in Yueyang and also served as a Diancang branch.

Ordinary people could hardly even meet the proprietor, but when we identified ourselves as students of the Martial Academy, we were immediately escorted to him.

“……We’re already investigating the disappearances in Yueyang. Go home and wait. We’ll inform you as soon as we have results.”

“I heard a rumor that the Demonic Cult is involved…… Is it true?”

The proprietor furrowed his brow.

“Are you letting yourselves be shaken by stories made up by ignorant fools who know nothing?”

Jang Dowon begged him, clearly unconvinced.

“Sir, please save my granddaughter. She lost her parents, and I’m all she has left in this world.”

The proprietor frowned deeply and waved him away.

“Didn’t I say we’re investigating? Resolving a case takes time, so wait.”

I’d listened quietly until then, but now I spoke up.

“Are there any suspects?”

The proprietor looked me up and down.

“I said we’re investigating the case. I can’t tell you.”

“Are they opponents even the Diancang Sect fears?”

“……Young Hero, mind your words. The Diancang Sect doesn’t fear injustice. Even if the ‘Demonic Cult’ really exists.”

“……Even if the ‘Demonic Cult’ really exists?”

When I tried to press him on that strange remark, Namgung Seonhwa stepped in front of me.

“Where is Young Master Jong Byeokgi now?”

“……You know Young Master Jong?”

“We aren’t personally acquainted, but we’ve exchanged names.”

“And who are you to ask about his private affairs?”

Namgung Seonhwa answered the proprietor’s dismissive question.

“I’m Seonhwa of the Namgung Family. Is that enough for you to tell me where Young Master Jong is?”

………

After we left Seongsadawon, Jang Dowon glanced at Namgung Seonhwa and whispered to me.

“H-how did you get to know a young lady of the Namgung Family?”

I could have explained the whole story, but I doubted he would hear a word of it right now.

“It just happened.”

“……Regardless, thank you. It feels as if things are finally moving along, thanks to you.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s only natural.”

“……If I’d known things would turn out this way, I should have found somewhere to stay long ago.”

At Jang Dowon’s passing remark, I asked him, “Did someone offer to take you in, Elder?”

“Take me in? I’m just an old man who makes jewelry…… I was told they’d protect me if I joined their group. Of course, I refused when they treated me like a servant. Looking back, I should have accepted. At least if I’d been under the Diancang Sect’s protection, it would’ve been easier to sort things out.”

Our conversation ended in front of the pleasure house where Jong Byeokgi was staying.

“Master Jang and I will go in alone.”

I was trying to spare the women any embarrassing sights, given the nature of the place, but Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran looked at me incredulously.

“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? We’ve even slept at a pleasure house before.”

Seong Moran flung open the door as she brought up what had happened during the entrance exam.

A strange fragrance drifted through the pleasure house, mingling with breathless moans. Men and women, barely dressed—or perhaps not dressed at all—moved about everywhere.

“There he is.”

At the best seat in the house, Jong Byeokgi and his companions were drinking hard, each with a woman at his side.

“Young Master Jong.”

“Hmm?”

Jong Byeokgi, nursing his wine while gazing at a courtesan with half-lidded eyes, looked toward Namgung Seonhwa.

“Why, Young Lady Namgung! What brings you here? And why have you brought those beggars along?”

At the sight of Namgung Seonhwa, Jong Byeokgi’s companions hurriedly tried to straighten their clothes.

But they were so drunk that they could barely pull their garments into place.

“I came to ask about the disappearances in Yueyang.”

“The disappearances? Ah, yes…… That. It’s nothing. Such things happen from time to time to families that can’t keep their households in order.”

“……This elder’s only granddaughter has gone missing. I’d like you to help him, Young Master Jong.”

“Elder……?”

Jong Byeokgi looked at Jang Dowon through bleary eyes, then twitched his brow.

“Ha, so it’s that arrogant old man.”

“You know him?”

“Our Diancang Sect once visited him because we wanted to hire him. But he was so full of himself. And now…… he’s lost his granddaughter?”

Jang Dowon dropped to his knees on the spot.

“Sir, I didn’t know my place and acted arrogantly. Please, save my granddaughter.”

“Hmph. If you’d come to the Diancang Sect sooner, this wouldn’t have happened…… Tsk, tsk.”

Namgung Seonhwa spoke up as well.

“Please, Young Master Jong.”

Jong Byeokgi smirked and waved his hand a couple of times.

“Fine. I’ll look into it for your sake, Young Lady Namgung. But remember this: you’ll owe me a favor.”

“……I’ll remember.”

“Now go. Looking at that old man is ruining the taste of my wine.”

After dismissing us, Jong Byeokgi went back to flirting with the courtesan, and his companions smiled as if they were quite pleased with the scene.

I brought Jang Dowon home, pressed his sleep point to put him to rest, then quietly stepped into the yard.

“I should have tried asking Young Master Jong a little more.”

Namgung Seonhwa couldn’t hide her regret.

“You’ve already done more than enough.”

Besides, she’d even said that she would owe him a favor.

As a member of the Namgung Family, she knew better than anyone how much weight those words carried.

She had done everything she could.

“But Young Hero Jin, you seem troubled.”

“………”

There were too many questions about the case of Jang Dowon’s missing granddaughter.

The Intelligence Department had records about the disappearances in Yueyang, but I couldn’t find any connection to the Demonic Cult.

Of course, that might have been because I didn’t learn the Demonic Cult’s true identity until much later in my previous life.

Even so, it was hard to believe the current disappearances were the Demonic Cult’s doing.

The Demonic Cult were madmen who didn’t hesitate to use human sacrifice for their bizarre sorcery, but they weren’t foolish enough to act in a crowded commercial district like Yueyang.

They didn’t need to come all the way to Yueyang. There were countless children in the world who had lost their parents, and countless people lived in places beyond the government’s reach.

The Demonic Cult had always been meticulous about concealing its identity.

Would they really come to Yueyang, a city swarming with visitors from all over the world, and carry out their plans here?

Who knows……

Having felt their cunning to the bone on the front lines of the war in my previous life, I couldn’t believe it.

“And didn’t you notice anything strange at Seongsadawon?”

“Something strange?”

“The proprietor said he didn’t fear them, even if the ‘Demonic Cult’ really existed.”

“Why was he so sure the Demonic Cult wasn’t real? The rumor has spread all over Yueyang. Did he simply refuse to believe it?”

Maybe I was being overly suspicious, but I couldn’t shake the same unease I’d felt when I was cheated at a gambling table in the Sojeong Unit.

At times like this, you had to search even the gamblers’ undergarments.

I turned to the Taeul Sect disciples.

“When Master Jang wakes up, do your best to reassure him.”

“Yes.”

“Where are you going, Young Hero Jin?”

I answered Seong Moran’s question.

“I need to look into this myself.”

“First, we should gather information.”

“Shouldn’t we go to the beggars’ quarter? The Beggar Gang would know.”

It was only natural to think of the Beggar Gang first, since they held most of the information in the murim world.

But I knew another information network just as capable.

I headed for a small fabric shop in a corner of the busy district.

“Why are we here?”

“We already bought clothes.”

The two women wondered why I’d returned to the fabric shop.

Without a word, I approached the shopkeeper and presented the Haomun token Yeo Mimi had given me.

The shopkeeper, who’d been chatting amiably with customers, briefly stiffened.

Then he bowed respectfully and led me inside.

At the back of the fabric shop was a staircase leading down to a basement.

Below it, we found a reception room far larger than the shop above.

All sorts of strange objects waited for buyers inside.

Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran were speechless at one astonishing sight after another.

“Could this be…… a Haomun secret market?”

“A secret market?”

At Seong Moran’s question, Namgung Seonhwa answered, unable to hide her surprise.

“It’s a confidential shop run by the Haomun. They can procure all sorts of things that can’t be found openly, from women’s underwear to corpses…… But I heard it was extraordinarily difficult to earn the right to use one……”

Before Namgung Seonhwa could finish explaining, the shopkeeper walking ahead of us smiled pleasantly and said, “The goods traded here are divided into grades. The things you just mentioned are available to customers with ordinary status.”

“……So there’s a special grade, too?”

“With that grade, there’s truly nothing you can’t obtain. Living people’s blood, even bones taken from the dead. If it exists in this world, we’ll get it for you by any means necessary.”

“……And how does one qualify for that grade?”

The shopkeeper kept smiling as he answered Seong Moran, who swallowed nervously before asking.

“You can’t earn that grade just because you want it. You need to be qualified.”

The shopkeeper glanced at Namgung Seonhwa before adding, “For your information, even your grandfather, the Divine Sword, doesn’t have that qualification.”

The two women were stunned by his answer.

“You know who I am?”

The shopkeeper smiled pleasantly.

“Would I be a man if I failed to recognize two of the three great beauties of Anhui Province?”

Even after hearing him, the two women still looked astonished.

“You said even the Divine Sword doesn’t qualify. Then who in the world does?”

Seong Moran asked in a plaintive voice.

The shopkeeper didn’t answer.

Instead, he shifted his gaze.

And at the end of that gaze was……

“Ah……”

“What on earth are you, Young Hero Jin?”

Embarrassed, I quickly changed the subject.

“Are you the Yueyang Branch Leader?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I have something to ask you.”

“Allow me to escort you inside. Someone is waiting for you.”

Someone was waiting for me?

Had they arrived in advance, knowing I’d come?

Unable to make sense of it, I silently followed the Yueyang Branch Leader once more.

We passed through the secret market and continued deep into its maze-like interior.

Only after a long while did the branch leader stop.

He opened the door without hesitation.

“I apologize for only paying my respects now. I’ve been occupied with official matters.”

Inside, someone unexpected was waiting to greet me.

A familiar face and a courteous manner……

No, why was this person here?!