How far are you willing to go? (4)
“So to explain it all again from the beginning…”
After settling their belongings at a suitable inn, the disciples of Hwasan gathered in Jwa Gohak’s room.
“Ah, stop pushing me.”
“…What do you expect me to do when the room is this small.”
“No, did we really have to get a room this cramped?”
“…It would be strange to stay at a good inn dressed like this.”
“Ha, seriously.”
Tang Soso glared at Jwa Gohak with eyes seething with rage. Jwa Gohak flinched, then opened his mouth while letting out an awkward cough.
“…There was no other way. I ask for your understanding.”
“You could’ve just disguised us as children from moderately wealthy families in the first place. That would’ve been easier.”
“Then they would’ve suspected us of being Confucian scholars…”
“Just because someone has money doesn’t mean they study! We could’ve said we came here sightseeing!”
“Ah.”
When Jwa Gohak let out a short exclamation as though he had never thought of that, Baek Cheon reacted in Tang Soso’s place.
“Ah? You’re saying ‘Ah’ now? Ah?”
“P-Please calm down, Dojang!”
Jwa Gohak, his neck caught in Baek Cheon’s hands, thrashed desperately.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you? You bastard, I didn’t like you from the very beginning.”
“N-No, I didn’t! I’m serious!”
Though it was obvious that he had done it deliberately, everyone except Baek Cheon and Hye Yeon eventually decided to be understanding and let it pass.
Staying in a cramped room would only be somewhat uncomfortable if they put up with it, but they would never get another chance to witness such a rare spectacle.
“Cough. So, to explain it all again….”
Jwa Gohak, who seemed to have aged considerably in the meantime, opened his mouth.
“The person we need to keep under surveillance is Ga Eonseong [가언성(柯彥誠)], Director of the Ministry of Revenue [호부랑중(戶部郎中) – Hubu Langzhong].”
“Huh? A Director of the Ministry of Revenue? What’s that?”
“…It’s an official position. A fifth-rank civil official.”
Chung Myung frowned as if this were giving him a headache.
“What are you talking about? Didn’t we come here to catch that eunuch named Do Hyeon or whatever?”
At that, Jwa Gohak clicked his tongue once and shook his head.
“Dojang. It seems you don’t understand the situation.”
“Hm?”
“The Chief Eunuch, the head of the Eastern Depot, is one of the three most powerful men in the entire Central Plains. If you carelessly approach someone like that, losing your heads won’t be the end of it.”
Chung Myung snorted as if wondering why he would worry about such a thing.
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand the situation. Do you really think I’m afraid of some eunuch?”
“Dojang. You said your sect was Hwasan, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“The day you get caught loitering around the Chief Eunuch, an army numbering tens of thousands will be encamped at the foot of Hwasan within a month.”
“…”
“And someone carrying the imperial edict [어지(御旨]: the emperor’s order] will kick down Hwasan’s gates and march inside.”
Cold sweat began to bead on the back of Chung Myung’s head.
“What do you suppose the Sect Leader of Hwasan would do then? Fight, or meekly allow himself to be dragged to Beijing?”
“…I won’t lay a finger on a eunuch, even if it kills me.”
Even Chung Myung couldn’t handle this.
Those dirty bastards. I’d be the one who hit him, but they’d beat up the Sect Leader instead.
Seeing Chung Myung become so obedient, Jwa Gohak shrugged and continued.
“Just because the person we’re targeting is Do Hyeon doesn’t mean we can attack him directly. Even we couldn’t handle the consequences of that. Our task is to find out what scheme Do Hyeon is plotting behind the scenes, not to attack Do Hyeon himself. Never forget that.”
The disciples of Hwasan nodded. They didn’t want to imagine an army gathering beneath Hwasan either.
“Anyway, then we’re after that Director… what was it?”
“The Director of the Ministry of Revenue.”
“Right. We’re supposed to keep an eye on him, then?”
“That’s correct.”
“But is there any reason we have to do that?”
“To be precise, I don’t know the exact reason myself yet. But two things are certain. He is one of Do Hyeon’s close associates, and strange things have been happening around him lately.”
“What do you mean by strange things?”
“I hear that unknown people have been seen coming and going from his residence several times.”
“Hmm.”
Baek Cheon crossed his arms and said.
“That… hardly seems enough to suspect him…”
“Um, I’m sorry, but could you uncross your arms? Khmph. You look so fierce, you see.”
“You bastard…….”
As Baek Cheon’s face began to boil with anger, Jwa Gohak quickly changed the subject.
“Of course, we aren’t suspecting him based on that alone. The most important thing is the identity of those mysterious people.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Because none of the men assigned to follow them ever returned.”
The disciples of Hwasan narrowed their eyes. If that was true, then it certainly warranted suspicion.
“That’s why we believe there must be something going on with the Director of the Ministry of Revenue. And perhaps…”
“That those affairs are connected to Do Hyeon, the Chief Eunuch?”
“Yes. Without a doubt.”
Only then did everyone nod as though they were convinced.
“Certainly, if things have gone that far, it’s worth digging into.”
“Good.”
Baek Cheon leapt to his feet and shouted.
“All right, then let’s not waste any more time and get going. Where does this Director live?”
Jwa Gohak answered with a bright smile.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“If you don’t know, then what are we supposed to do!”
“Haha. As much as I’d like to help, there’s nothing I can do. It’s my first time in Beijing too.”
“That’s not my problem! You should’ve obtained such important information before coming here.”
“…You make it sound so easy, telling me to remember the location of a house in Beijing I’ve never even visited.”
Baek Cheon ground his teeth.
“Then go outside and ask around. There must be plenty of your fellow scholars or whatever here.”
“Haha. I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean. You know that we entered Beijing in disguise to avoid suspicion. Naturally, we’re forbidden from contacting other Confucian scholars.”
“…Right. Then forget it. We can ask the Beggars Sect.”
“Ah. By the way, there are no beggars in Beijing.”
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon blinked as though he had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
“To be precise, there may be beggars, but there are no beggars affiliated with the Beggars Sect.”
“Does that even make any sense?”
“Well. If you think about it, wouldn’t it make even less sense for an intelligence organization to operate in secret right under the Emperor’s nose?”
“What the……”
But unlike the overly agitated Baek Cheon, everyone else nodded at those words.
“That’s true.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
“Oh. I get it.”
“Even those beggar bastards wouldn’t come anywhere near this place if they didn’t want their begging bowls smashed.”
“…You’re all accepting that way too quickly.”
Baek Cheon let out a sour sigh.
“Then I guess… there’s no other choice. We’ll just have to go around asking people. If we make the rounds of a few decent inns, someone should know.”
“Wow.”
Jwa Gohak applauded as though deeply impressed.
“Remarkable. You intend to go around Beijing asking about a high official’s whereabouts. As expected, the grand intentions of yours, Dojangs, are beyond the comprehension of a petty man like me. To repay you for broadening my horizons, I’ll make sure you’re served good prison meals. You won’t have to worry about food until the day you’re executed!”
“And whose fault is that, you bastard!”
Baek Cheon and Jwa Gohak soon began bickering as they traded punches. The others, however, paid no attention to them and fell into thought.
“This is a bit troublesome.”
“We need to find out where he lives before we can even begin. But we have no way of finding out, and we can’t exactly search the entire vast Imperial Capital.”
“Actually, even knowing where his house is would be a problem.”
“Hm? Why?”
“It’s not as if we can just barge in. High officials are different from the people we’ve dealt with until now. We can’t stage a protest outside his residence and demand to be let in, either. What are we supposed to do?”
“Hmm. That’s true.”
They could try to infiltrate the residence once they found out where it was, but that would be an amateur’s move. Considering the consequences if they were discovered, it was something they wanted to avoid as much as possible.
“Then what should we do?”
“Right…”
Yu Iseol silently watched everyone rack their brains. She lightly touched the hair tied into two braids before opening her mouth.
“Perhaps.”
“Yes? Sago? Do you have a good idea?”
“Not exactly……”
Yu Iseol seemed to ponder for a moment before opening her mouth.
“Fighting, or handling things with information the Beggars Sect digs up for us.”
“Hm?”
“…Do we really not know how to do anything besides that?”
“…”
“…”
A heavy silence swept through the room.
They wanted to argue. They wanted to come up with some kind of rebuttal. But they simply couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Uh…. If all else fails, should we at least contact Branch Leader Hong Daekwang?”
“W-Wait a moment. Wouldn’t that mean admitting that we really are idiots who can’t do anything without the Beggars Sect?”
“What can you do when that’s the truth?”
“No…”
Just then. Yu Hanbin, who had been quietly observing the entire situation, tilted his head.
“Um, excuse me.”
“Hm?”
“I’m asking because I don’t quite understand, but why is everyone acting like this?”
“Because we have to find the house of that – what was he, a Revenue Ministry Director? Ministry Revenue Director? That guy.”
“But it’s not enough just to find the house. We also need to figure out what’s going on there right now.”
“But every way we have of obtaining information is blocked. And given the nature of the Imperial Capital, it isn’t easy to use any other method.”
Even after hearing the full explanation, Yu Hanbin still wore a puzzled frown, as though he didn’t understand them.
“So why is that difficult?”
“Huh?”
“I mean…. Ah, never mind. Forget it.”
“Huuh?”
Yu Hanbin started to say something, then stopped and sighed. With an unmistakably annoyed look on his face, he picked at his ear as he headed out of the room.
“I’ll find out by tomorrow, more or less.”
“……Huh?”
Click.
The others stared at the closed door, then turned to look at one another.
“…Is he going to cause some kind of trouble?”
“He’s not really the kind of guy to do that anymore, though.”
A strange sense of unease began to creep over them.
⠀
And the next day.
“….What is this?”
Summoned by Yu Hanbin, the group came down from the inn and was rendered speechless by the bizarre sight before them.
In a secluded alley behind the inn. Yu Hanbin sat in a large chair, arrogantly bouncing one of his crossed legs, while several children who looked a little older than him knelt before him.
“What’s he doing?”
“He… seems to have taken over the neighborhood.”
“That thing in his hand isn’t alcohol, is it?”
“Looks like iced tea…..”
“He even drinks iced tea like it’s booze.”
Just then, the children who had been kneeling raised their heads and shouted loudly.
“Boss! We found out about the Director of…. Argh!”
“You little bastards, I told you to keep your voices down. Does what I say go in one ear and out the other?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“These Beijing punks, I swear. Every last one of them is completely hopeless. Tsk.”
When Yu Hanbin raised his hand slightly, one of the children picked up the teacup lying on the ground and quickly placed it in Yu Hanbin’s hand. Then, with a teapot no one knew where he’d gotten, he filled Yu Hanbin’s cup with iced tea.
“Yes! Boss. We found out everything, right down to how many spoons they have in that house.”
“Good. You’ve done well.”
Still sitting in the chair, Yu Hanbin turned his head and looked at everyone.
“They say they found out.”
“…”
“You can ask them now.”
“…”
Baek Cheon stared at Yu Hanbin, at a loss for words, then slowly opened his mouth.
“Chung Myung-ah.”
“Hm?”
“What on earth is he going to become when he grows up?”
“Who knows… I was just starting to get a little scared of that myself.”
Sahyeong, Sect Leader Sahyeong. I’m sorry.
This isn’t my fault.
Special Spinoff Chapter 60 >>>
________
Please, subscribe/donate on Patreon or Buymeacoffee – support my work and help me buy official cookies to purchase the chapters. My schedule is on the About page.
Leave a Reply