The Lost Ones (2)

Koong!

The headless corpse sank to the ground.

Jin-hyeon, who had bound Dong Neung’s body to the end, released his limbs and flopped onto his back.

“Hoo, hoo.”

He closed his eyes and immediately circulated the Heavenly Wolf True Art.

The True Qi that had been rampaging calmed at once and coursed through his whole body. Then the limbs that had been convulsing quickly returned to normal.

“Teacher.”

Seol Hong-baek hurried over to Jin-hyeon.

“Are you all right?”

“I am fine.”

Of course, he was not unscathed.

He had taken a slight internal injury from receiving Dong Neung’s sword to decide the battle at once. It was not a big problem, but a day of rest would be best.

But compared to Dong Neung, who was battered and then lost his head, it was nothing.

After quickly settling his organs, Jin-hyeon rose with a light Qi-infused shout.

“So it ends like this.”

“So it does.”

Seol Hong-baek let out a sigh.

“You truly went through a lot.”

“The ones who suffered are those who lost sleep for days.”

Jin-hyeon dusted off his clothes and picked up the fallen Indestructible Sword.

Seol Hong-baek’s eyes gleamed.

“That sword the Guild Master gave you is truly sturdy.”

“Built the way it is, it could only be sturdy. By the way…”

Jin-hyeon scratched his head and looked down at Dong Neung’s corpse.

“He was strong, this one.”

“He is the Mountain-Breaking Sword Lord, Dong Neung.”

“You know him?”

Seol Hong-baek spoke with a hardened face.

“He is an honored guest of the Red Sword Sect. I know he drops by two or three times a year. I have seen him once myself.”

“Mm.”

“He is also a swordsman famed in the eastern Murim of our time. With his skill he even received invitations from several sects, and yet how did he…”

Jin-hyeon had no interest in that much. What mattered was only that this guy had ties to the Red Sword Sect.

The Red Sword Sect was one of the Sichuan Eight Martial Houses and a sect entangled in the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild scandal. They would naturally have ill feeling toward him as well, and like Wi Chang-gun would be stalking him for a chance.

‘I was about to wreck them soon, and yet things tangled up like this again.’

Then, from far off, the sound of someone running was heard.

“It seems the Left Chief Constable is leading the constables this way.”

“I see.”

Jin-hyeon tapped the ground with his toes.

“I will go check the other side. Please explain what happened to those gentlemen.”

“Teacher.”

“Yes.”

“Before you go, will you tell me how you knew this man was targeting this place?”

“I will tell you when I return. I think we caught him well, but one never knows.”

Paak!

Jin-hyeon swiftly cut across the bamboo grove.

That night.

On the fourth floor of Jade Fragrance Pavilion, as he ate excitedly, Jin-hyeon spotted someone coming up the stairs and motioned to Do-min.

Do-min, who had been wolfing down braised pork, startled in fright and stood. She roughly wiped her mouth with her sleeve and scurried to stand behind Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon also rose to his feet.

“You have come.”

The one who came up to the fourth floor was Lee An. The two captains who came with him were taking posts on the stairs between the third and fourth floors.

Lee An glanced up at the ceiling.

“Not meeting on the fifth floor?”

“It is full.”

“So you rented the entire fourth floor?”

“You said it would go on public funds.”

“Why waste money? You could just come to the Investigation and Defense Court.”

“I dislike how stiff the atmosphere is there.”

“Do you realize this? From the Mighty Tiger matter to this murder case, you earned great merit, so I came all the way here. Strictly speaking I am off my post right now.”

“Then isn’t this a good chance for the Chief Constable to enjoy some fine food too?”

“You are impossible to deal with.”

Lee An snorted a laugh and took a seat.

Jin-hyeon sat with him and pushed the dishes forward.

“Please have this first.”

“I am hungry, but I will lift my spoon after I hear you out. By the way, are you all right? I hear you have a slight internal injury.”

“That is why I am eating like this. One must eat to live.”

“Your digestion is outstanding.”

“It is because I am still young.”

Answering with a laugh, Jin-hyeon suddenly looked up at Do-min.

“What are you doing?”

“…Yes?”

“Why are you standing there? You stopped eating.”

“Ah, w-well, of course…”

“No one will be moved if you stand primly with braised-pork sauce all over your face.”

“Gasp! Ah, it did not wipe off?”

Startled, Do-min scrubbed her mouth with her sleeve again, then composed her face and bowed her head. She felt she had acted too forward before an important person and her heart was uneasy.

Lee An gestured to a seat.

“Sit and eat. I am fine.”

“!”

Do-min fidgeted and looked to Jin-hyeon for a cue.

Jin-hyeon snorted a laugh and shook his head.

“Do as you like.”

Once a person hears that, it is hard to just keep standing.

Do-min hesitantly sat down. Naturally she could no longer stuff food into her mouth like before. Her chopsticks moved politely on their own.

Lee An spoke with a serious face.

“One suspect died, but thanks to the Patriarch’s testimony, the accounts of the swordsmen under him, and the Demonic Qi remaining at the battlefield, it has become a given that he was the culprit.”

“What about the one called Beon Gang?”

“He confessed to everything.”

“I thought he would thrash about, but he spilled it more easily than expected.”

“There was too much physical evidence, and we made the interrogation rather fierce. Even aside from that, we confirmed the Demonic Qi Dong Neung gave off and the Demonic Qi lodged in Beon Gang’s dantian were almost identical. There was nothing difficult about it.”

“Then it worked out well.”

“Now then, tell me. How did you read the killers’ movements?”

Jin-hyeon relayed exactly the conversation he had had with Jeong Gyo.

“Mm, I see.”

He nodded silently, but inwardly Lee An could not help but admire him.

‘He is truly smart.’

His intellect, discernment, and analytical power are all outstanding. On top of that he acts to gather the needed information himself across this vast Sichuan land. There is no talent like this.

“Do not misunderstand. I also heard it from someone else.”

“Is that person perhaps the saber-wielder who caught Beon Gang?”

“There is such a person.”

Lee An quietly studied Jin-hyeon’s face and nodded.

“Good. Let us set that part aside for now. What I truly want to know is today’s matter. Explain how it happened.”

Jin-hyeon put a large piece of braised pork into his mouth.

Do-min’s eyelids quivered. Only two pieces of braised pork remained on the table.

“I only predicted in an ordinary way. The culprits evaded the eyes of the constables and the searching sects to a surprising degree. No matter how I thought about it, this was not a problem solved by skill alone.”

Lee An’s eyes flashed.

“Information. You mean they knew information.”

“Even so, it would be hard to get information just anywhere. Given the culprits’ martial level, even if it was not the Eight Martial Houses, they would belong to a sect that can square its shoulders. If not that, then they belonged to the Sichuan branch.”

“Mm.”

“Of course, the chance they belong to the Sichuan branch is low. The Investigation and Defense Court would have started by investigating the branch’s own officials.”

“Exactly.”

“Then they belong to a fairly influential sect, and they would have heard talk of postponing the Radiant Sword Festival and deploying an Inescapable Net by night.”

“…”

“No matter how confident one is in skill, it is too great a burden to work through an Inescapable Net. Naturally they would try to act before that.”

Lee An felt goosebumps crawl up his spine. Of course, he did not show it.

“And then?”

“The issue is the target locations. Unlike before, they cannot kill people situated in middling places. Even if there was no Inescapable Net, the vigilance would’ve surely been tightened.”

“…”

“In short, there is a very high chance they would raid outlying places they did not target before, or isolated households.”

Jin-hyeon pointed at the empty plate with a finger.

“If we see this as central south, the first murder was here. The next murder was here, and the one after that was here. Considering the Red Sword Sect’s current position, the murders happened very close by.”

“!”

“If you mark each place the incidents occurred, you can narrow down a certain zone, even if not a base. These guys did everything within a thirty-five kilometer radius roughly centered around here. Then today?”

“They would go beyond thirty-five kilometers.”

“Yes. The searches have tightened, and psychologically they would be uneasy. Even if not beyond thirty-five kilometers, they would try to work at the farthest outskirts.”

Lee An ended up admiring him.

“So that is why the Patriarch Seol told the sects to search near the outskirts.”

“There were places I had scouted in advance. Of those, I asked that the less likely spots be staffed by sect personnel, and the more likely spots be assigned some of the Eight Martial Houses and the Seol clan’s swordsmen.”

Lee An looked at Jin-hyeon.

“You, the Seol clan, and your friend went to the likeliest place.”

“Yes. Honestly, I thought we would catch one of the two, not that both would come. It was surprising.”

“Judging by the saber marks on Beon Gang’s body, your friend is quite a master too. But if Dong Neung had headed that way, your friend would have been beaten.”

“He has the skill to hold on to the end. Besides, the distance between the two places is not even five kilometers. If the two moved at the same time, the arrival time would be almost the same.”

“In other words, the one who finishes the weaker side first goes to support the other side?”

“My friend had no need to come to me. The Patriarch was there.”

“Why did you not send other forces to that side?”

“He is very shy. He dislikes showing his martial arts to others. And well, I am not someone who can command all the Sichuan sects.”

In the end, it meant he had thorough information analysis and strong confidence in his martial arts.

He went a step further and properly read the criminal’s psychology. They would need to interrogate Beon Gang further, but some of what he confessed matched exactly what Jin-hyeon just said.

Lee An, quietly looking at Jin-hyeon, shook his head.

“I do not know where someone like you appeared from.”

“I will take that as praise.”

“Of course it is praise. And it is a worry. It may not seem likely, but if someone like you caused trouble, it seems no one could catch him easily.”

“Is that so?”

Lee An asked with a rather serious face.

“Have you any thought of joining the Investigation and Defense Court?”

“None.”

“…”

“None.”

Feeling needlessly abashed, Lee An grumbled.

“Is that not too firm?”

“You already knew the answer, did you not Chief Constable?”

“The Investigation and Defense Court also has special recruitment. With your ability you could start as a captain of constables. Of course it would need the Right Chief Constable’s recommendation, but I can manage that somehow.”

Do-min looked at Lee An in surprise.

Jin-hyeon gave a wry smile.

“I appreciate the offer, but I have no particular attachment to that side.”

“That is truly a pity.”

With disappointment plain on his face, Lee An lamented. It seemed he truly wanted Jin-hyeon to enter the Investigation and Defense Court.

Quietly looking down at the edge of the table, he soon nodded and stood.

“In any case, I have heard all that I needed.”

“You are leaving? Without eating a little?”

“My subordinates are toiling, and would it do for the Chief Constable to come to an expensive tavern and eat fine food? Even if only for show, I should stay up through the night with them.”

“You are a sage of this age.”

“No need.”

Jin-hyeon rose from his seat. Do-min quickly stood as well.

About to turn his back, Lee An seemed to think of something and gazed at Jin-hyeon.

“Is there something on my face.”

“Do you know of the Mad Demon?”

It was a sudden question. Jin-hyeon nodded.

“If you mean that Mad Demon from ten years ago, I know of him.”

“In those days, Instructor-General Seo Jong-dam and I were the field leads. So we thoroughly investigated the places the Mad Demon swept through.”

“…”

“My memory has grown hazy, but the blade wounds on Beon Gang’s body somehow called that Mad Demon to mind.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

Jin-hyeon smiled without a word.

Lee An, quietly watching him, nodded.

“See you later.”

“Go safely.”

When Lee An was gone, Jin-hyeon sat rubbing his belly.

“I still feel a bit hungry.”

“Me too.”

Do-min promptly picked up a piece of braised pork with her chopsticks.

“Shall we order one more? It is on the house.”

“Shall we have three more plates to be safe?”

“Let’s do that.”

“Master.”

“What?”

Chewing the meat, Do-min spoke.

“If you start as a captain of constables, would your life not blossom?”

“Eat a lot.”

“Yep.”

Putting down his chopsticks and sipping tea, Jin-hyeon looked out the window.

It was dark, but with the news of the killer’s capture, the market street had just regained its bustle.

“The moonlight is nice.”