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“Let me explain from the beginning.”
The Mount Hua disciples, having unpacked at a modest inn, gathered in Jwa Go-Hak’s room.
“Hey—don’t shove.”
“…What do you expect? The room’s small.”
“Do we really have to cram into such a tiny room?”
“…It’d look odd to stay in a nice inn dressed like this, too.”
“Ha, true.”
Tang Soso glared at Jwa Go-Hak, eyes simmering with anger. Startled, Jwa Go-Hak made a pointless coughing sound and spoke.
“…I had no choice. Please understand.”
“You could’ve disguised yourself as a child from a decent household. That would’ve been easier.”
“Then they’d suspect us of being scholars…”
“Having money doesn’t mean you don’t study! Just say we’re traveling for pleasure!”
“Ah.”
When Jwa Go-Hak gasped as if he hadn’t thought of that, Baek Cheon reacted for Tang Soso.
“Ah? You’re making an ‘ah’ sound now? Ah?”
“H-hold yourself. Taoist!”
Baek Cheon had Jwa Go-Hak by the throat; the latter choked and flailed.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you? This bastard—I never liked you from the start.”
“No, I’m telling you it’s not! Really!”
No matter how it looked, it seemed intentional, but everyone except Baek Cheon and Hae Yeon decided to let it slide.
Staying in a small room was a minor inconvenience, and a spectacle like this might not come around again.
“Ahem. So, to explain again…”
Jwa Go-Hak, who seemed much wearier now, continued.
“The person we need to surveil is the Ministry of Revenue official, Ga Eon-Seong.”
“Huh? Ministry of Revenue? What’s that?”
“…It’s an official post. A high-ranking civil official of the third grade.”
Chung Myung frowned as if troubled.
“What are you talking about? Weren’t we here to catch that eunuch Do Hyeon or whatever?”
Jwa Go-Hak clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“You Taoists don’t seem to grasp the situation.”
“Hm?”
“The head of Dong Chang—the Grand Eunuch—is one of the top three powerholders in the Central Plains. If you clumsily approach someone like that, it won’t end with just your head rolling.”
Chung Myung snorted as if the worry was laughable.
“You’re the one who doesn’t get it. Do you think I’d be afraid of some eunuch?”
“Taoist. You said the sect is Mount Hua, right?”
“That’s right.”
“If a Taoist is caught snooping near the Grand Eunuch, within a month tens of thousands of troops will be camped beneath Mount Hua.”
“…”
“Someone bearing the imperial edict will kick open Mount Hua’s gate and march in.”
Cold sweat formed along the back of Chung Myung’s neck.
“Then what will Mount Hua’s sect leader do? Fight, or be dragged obediently to Beijing?”
“…I’d never touch an imperial eunuch, even in death.”
Even Chung Myung couldn’t handle that.
Those damn cowards. I beat them, but to assault the sect leader—
Seeing Chung Myung calm, Jwa Go-Hak shrugged and continued.
“Just because the target is Do Hyeon doesn’t mean we can touch him directly. That’s beyond us. What we must do is find out what schemes Do Hyeon is pulling behind the scenes, not attack Do Hyeon himself. Never forget that.”
The Mount Hua disciples nodded. They, too, didn’t want to imagine an army gathering beneath Mount Hua.
“Anyway, so we should watch that Re… Re what?”
“Ministry of Revenue.”
“Right. So we just surveil him?”
“Yes.”
“But why him specifically?”
“I don’t know the exact details yet. But two things are certain: he’s a close associate of Do Hyeon, and recently strange things have been happening around him.”
“Strange things?”
“Unknown people have been seen entering and leaving his home multiple times.”
“Hmm.”
Baek Cheon crossed his arms and said, “That’s not much to base suspicion on…”
“Um, excuse me—could you uncross your arms? Khu. You just look so intimidating.”
“This bastard…”
As Baek Cheon’s face flushed with anger, Jwa Go-Hak quickly steered the conversation.
“Of course, we don’t suspect him for that alone. The most important thing is those unidentified figures.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“All the watchers we sent after them never returned.”
The Mount Hua disciples narrowed their eyes. If that were true, suspicion was warranted.
“So we believe the Ministry of Revenue must be involved in something. And perhaps…”
“That it’s connected to Grand Eunuch Do Hyeon?”
“Yes. Definitely.”
Only then did everyone nod in agreement.
“If it’s that big, it’s worth digging into.”
“Good.”
Baek Cheon sprang to his feet and shouted, “Alright, let’s not waste time—where does this Grand Eunuch live?”
Jwa Go-Hak smiled and answered, “I wouldn’t know.”
“How could you not know that!”
“Haha. You can’t blame me. It’s my first time in Beijing too.”
“That’s not the point! You should have known important information like this beforehand.”
“…No, it’s easy to say ‘remember where some house in Beijing is’ when you’ve never even been here.”
Baek Cheon ground his teeth.
“Then go ask around. There must be plenty of fellow students and such here.”
“Haha. I don’t know what you mean. You know we came to Beijing in disguise to avoid suspicion. Contact with other students is forbidden.”
“…Right. Then fine—ask the Beggars’ Union.”
“Oh. By the way, there are no beggars in Beijing.”
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon blinked in disbelief.
“To be precise, there may be beggars, but none of them are affiliated with the Beggars’ Union.”
“Does that even make sense?”
“Well, when you think about it, it seems unlikely an information network would openly operate under the Emperor’s nose.”
“What the…”
Unlike the furious Baek Cheon, the others all nodded.
“That’s true.”
“Ridiculous.”
“Yeah. I get it.”
“Even beggars wouldn’t come near this place if they didn’t want to break their pots.”
“…You all accept things too quickly.”
Baek Cheon exhaled reluctantly.
“Then there’s nothing else to do. We’ll have to ask people around. Check a few establishments—someone should know.”
“Wow.”
Jwa Go-Hak applauded as if amazed.
“Asking about a high official’s whereabouts in Beijing. Indeed, the grand intentions of you Taoists are beyond someone like me. As a reward for broadening my horizons, I’ll make sure you get good food. You won’t have to worry about a meal until you’re executed!”
“Who are you thanking for that, you bastard!”
Soon Baek Cheon and Jwa Go-Hak were squabbling and throwing punches, but the others paid them no mind and fell into thought.
“This is a bit troublesome.”
“We need to know where he lives before we can do anything. There’s no way to find out without asking, and we can’t search the entire capital.”
“Actually, even if we knew the house, it’s a problem.”
“Huh? Why?”
“We can’t just storm in. High officials aren’t like the people we’ve dealt with. We can’t protest at the gate asking to be let in. What on earth could we do?”
“Hmm. True.”
Finding the house and attempting infiltration would be crude. Considering the consequences if discovered, they’d rather avoid it.
“So what do we do?”
“Exactly.”
Watching everyone groan in silence, Yu Yiseol lightly patted her twin braids and spoke.
“Perhaps.”
“Yes? Sago? Do you have some good idea?”
“It’s not exactly that…”
Yu Yiseol hesitated, then said, “Fighting and handling things with information the Beggars’ Union provides.”
“Huh?”
“…Is that all we know how to do?”
“…”
“…”
A heavy silence fell over the room.
They wanted to object, to counter it somehow. But no rebuttal came to mind.
“Well… if nothing else works, should we contact Branch Leader Hong Dae-Kwang?”
“Wait a minute. Then we’d really be admitting we’re fools who can’t do anything without the Beggars’ Union.”
“How can you argue with that fact?”
“No…”
At that moment, Yu Han-bin, who had been quietly observing, tilted his head.
“Um, excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t get it—why is everyone acting like this?”
“What, you don’t know? It’s because we have to find that Ministry of Revenue fellow’s house.”
“It’s not just finding the house; we also have to figure out the situation there right now.”
“But all our means of gathering information are blocked. Given the capital’s nature, it’s not easy to use other methods.”
Even after all that explanation, Yu Han-bin still looked puzzled.
“So why is that hard?”
“Huh?”
“I mean… ah, never mind. Forget it.”
“Hmm?”
Yu Han-bin started to say something, sighed, then—clearly annoyed—picked at his ear and headed out of the room.
“I’ll get you rough information by tomorrow.”
“…Huh?”
Thud.
The group staring at the closed door looked at each other.
“…Is he going to cause trouble or what?”
“He’s not the type to do that anymore, but still.”
A strange unease began to rise.
“…What is this?”
At Yu Han-bin’s summons, the group who had come down to the inn fell silent at a bizarre sight.
In a gloomy alley behind the inn, Yu Han-bin sat with one leg casually crossed on a large chair, and in front of him knelt children only slightly older than he was.
“What is he doing?”
“Uh… it looks like he’s already taken charge of the area.”
“That thing in his hand—is that alcohol?”
“Looks like cold tea…”
“That kid drinks cold tea like it’s liquor.”
Then the kneeling children looked up and shouted.
“Boss! The Minister of… ack!”
“You brat, speak quietly. Do my words not sound like words to you?”
“S-sorry.”
“Anyway, people from Beijing. They all seem so out of it. Tsk.”
When Yu Han-bin raised his hand slightly, one of the kids picked up a fallen teacup and handed it to him. With a teapot of unknown origin, he filled Yu Han-bin’s cup with cold tea.
“So, did you find out?”
“Yes! Boss. We even learned how many spoons are in that house.”
“Good. Thanks for the trouble.”
Sitting back, Yu Han-bin turned to the others.
“He says he found out.”
“…”
“Now you can just ask.”
“…”
Baek Cheon, at a loss for words and staring at Yu Han-bin, murmured, “Chung Myung.”
“Yes?”
“What on earth is he going to become when he grows up?”
“I don’t know… I’m starting to get a bit scared of that myself.”
Sahyung, sect leader sahyung. Sorry. This isn’t my fault.
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