#62: The Lost Ones (3) — The Patriarch of Sichuan

The interrogation room was dark, but very noisy.

“So what I’m saying is!”

Beon Yu shouted.

“I told you I didn’t know! If I knew that he was that kind of person, I would have contacted the Investigation and Defense Court at once!”

“First, please calm down.”

The captain of the constables flicked his brush with a blank face.

“I will ask again. Sect Master Beon, are you saying you did not know that Mountain-Breaking Sword Lord Dong Neung and your son were going out every night to commit murders?”

“Of course I didn’t know!”

“It may be possible in Dong Neung’s case, but it is hard to understand that you did not know your son was going out. It was not one or two days, but a full eight days.”

“How old do you think he is that I would check every night whether he sleeps well? He said he read medical texts late into the night and then slept. He said that, so I took it as such. What other suspicion would I have?”

“I see.”

“Besides, the Red Sword Sect is vast. It does not even compare to the lodgings you lot stay in!”

“I am sure.”

“Moreover, do you know how much work I have that I could check that one by one? My life is such that I cannot even sleep four hours a day properly!”

It was as if he would breathe fire.

Beon Yu’s flushed face was full of grievance. Anyone could see he looked wronged.

The captain moved his brush again, sorting and writing down Beon Yu’s words.

Beon Yu opened his mouth again.

“Look here. First let me see that brat. I must hear directly what on earth he was thinking to do such things!”

The captain said as he moved his brush.

“We cannot allow that.”

“It will only take a moment! As Sect Master I have the right to hear from that brat!”

“The number of civilians your son killed exceeds ten. We must also investigate whether there are any incidents not yet discovered.”

“You are so frustrating! That is why if I meet him face to face…!”

It was then.

“It is truly difficult.”

The door opened and Lee An came in.

The captain rose and bowed his head, then sat again and moved his brush.

He did not yield his seat even though the man was his superior, because he was in charge of this case.

As if it were natural, Lee An leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

“Matters concerning one’s child are always difficult. Are they not?”

“Listen, Chief Constable. Let me meet that fellow. I too must hear from him!”

“Why do you not call him your son?”

“What do you mean?”

“You only say ‘that fellow,’ ‘that brat,’ and do not say ‘my son.’ Perhaps there is little affection between father and son?”

For a moment Beon Yu’s mouth closed. If trivial, it was trivial, yet somehow no words came.

Lee An’s eyes shone keenly.

“Sect Master Beon.”

“…”

“I know you feel wronged, but you would do well to refrain from words that cross the line. Until clear evidence comes out, you cannot be cleared of suspicion either. If not a suspect, the question of aiding and abetting remains.”

“Ch-Chief Constable!”

“If you are truly wronged, then actively cooperate with the investigation. Do not spout useless words, understood?”

Beon Yu bit his lip.

In his heart he wanted to hurl every curse. No, he felt like drawing his sword and swinging it.

But of course he could not.

The Heavenly Will Alliance’s Sichuan Branch can never ignore the Sichuan Eight Martial Houses. The Investigation and Defense Court belongs to the branch, so naturally it is the same here.

But due to the Mighty Tiger corruption incident, the sects entangled in it were holding their heads low. In such a situation, his son and that son’s master brutally murdered dozens of civilians.

Even with ten mouths, what could he say? Moreover, before him stood Lee An.

Lee An. The third-ranking figure of the Sichuan Investigation and Defense Court.

Though called third, he is practically the highest authority ruling the constables. Furthermore, Lee An’s martial skill is in no way inferior to the heads of the Sichuan Eight Martial Houses.

Before such power and martial skill, even the Red Sword Sect Master could do nothing. If bribes worked, he would quietly slip some, but the man was counted among the cleanest in the Court.

In the end, there was nothing he could do.

Then news like a bolt from the blue came.

“Your other two children have also been brought in here now.”

Sparks flew in Beon Yu’s eyes.

“Those children are guilty of nothing!”

“Whether they are guilty or not will be revealed by investigation.”

“Listen, Chief Constable! Is it not enough with me? With this situation the honor of the Red Sword Sect is already in the dirt…”

“Silence!”

Lee An’s thunderous rebuke was like an edict.

“Your son killed civilians beyond count! Even if you did not know, as a parent and as a Sect Master you should rightly bow your head. Is the sect’s honor something important in such a matter?”

Beon Yu’s lips quivered.

Having shut the petty man up with a single scolding, Lee An continued coldly.

“The Heavenly Will Alliance will officially issue a temporary order to seal your gates.”

“S-seal the gates?!”

“Until the investigation is over, none of the involved may leave the Court. No one.”

Beon Yu’s face went pale.

The Heavenly Will Alliance thoroughly respects local sects. Unless it is truly extraordinary, an order to seal the gates does not fall.

Having received a compulsory order that might appear once a year, friendly groups and businesses who hear the rumor will quickly sever relations.

In short, for the Red Sword Sect, it was as good as the end.

“…Chief Constable.”

Beon Yu spoke with a dazed face.

“My second, please let at least my second son go. He has worked a year to prepare for this Radiant Sword Festival. If he moves now it will not be too late, so I beg you for mercy just this once…”

“The Radiant Sword Festival has been postponed by three days.”

“!”

“And do not seek mercy from me. Seek it from your conscience, from the souls wrongfully slain, from this world.”

Beon Yu’s head drooped.

In that short time, his face looked as if it had aged ten years.

“Hoo.”

When he sighed, his breath came out white.

A quiet market street at dawn. It was nearly the hour of the rabbit, so there was no one on the streets.

Far to the east the market was already bustling. The market folk were marking the start of the day.

But here it was different. With so many taverns and cloth shops, there were very few who opened at this dawn.

Jeong Gyo lifted the cloth covering the pot.

Cold, and cold again. Perhaps because it was dawn, the black pot looked all the more grim.

With a wry smile, he gripped the pot with both hands. He was about to put things away.

At that moment.

“…”

Setting down the pot he had pulled out, Jeong Gyo let out a sigh.

“The air is cold.”

The man walking over with hands behind his back was Jin-hyeon. His sword was nowhere to be seen, and his clothes were neat.

Jeong Gyo looked at Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon looked around the market street.

“At this hour the market street is pleasant to walk.”

“…”

“I remember when I first came here. I wondered if there was another street so hectic. It was so clamorous that the back of my head ached.”

“…”

“But after coming and going a few times, it was not bad either. It still rattles the nerves, yet you feel the taste of people’s lives. This lively street could be called a hidden attraction of Sichuan.”

After looking around for a while, Jin-hyeon turned his gaze to Jeong Gyo.

Jeong Gyo spoke in a forced, stiff voice.

“I am not selling dumplings.”

“Tonight as well?”

“…”

“If you do not sell tonight, you will not sell tomorrow or the day after either.”

“I do not know what you came to me intending, but I have already made up my mind, so give up.”

“You say you do not know why I came, yet you say you have made up your mind. What kind of talk is that?”

“It means there is no point if you came to stop me from closing the shop. Also, there is no point if you came to hand me over to the Heavenly Will Alliance. With a life that has flowed like this, I will again…”

“You will run?”

Jeong Gyo’s gaze turned cold.

“Do not speak so lightly of another’s life.”

“How old are you?”

“?”

“I am curious, so please answer.”

What on earth was this man?

Jeong Gyo had met many people, but never someone so hard to grasp.

“Thirty-three. Satisfied?”

“Exactly ten years different from me.”

“…”

“From now on I will call you ‘older brother,’ so treat me like a younger brother as well.”

“?”

What kind of madness was this, all of a sudden?

Frowning, Jeong Gyo spoke.

“Are you in your right mind? I am the man who was called the Mad Demon. Many have forgotten, but more have not. If my identity is revealed, everyone in the world will try to kill me…”

“I do not know about everyone trying to kill you. Let us simply be comfortable as older and younger brother.”

“Look here.”

“Whether you are a Mad Demon or a Divine Demon means nothing to me.”

“?!”

“I like you. That is why I made such a proposal.”

Jin-hyeon’s smile was especially relaxed and easy.

“I was quite a rowdy customer, but you did not humor me like that merely because I was a regular.”

“You are wrong. I only acted the shopkeeper.”

“No, you did not act the owner. You tried to act, but before you knew it you were living each day happily.”

“What do you know!”

“Am I wrong?”

Jin-hyeon’s face grew rather serious.

“Did I truly see wrongly?”

Why was this?

He should say he saw wrongly, yet strangely his words stuck.

Avoiding Jin-hyeon’s eyes, Jeong Gyo bit his lip. He wanted to say something. Whether curses, apology, thanks, anything, he wanted to blurt whatever came.

But his mouth would not open. Why was that?

Jin-hyeon spoke as if tossing it out.

“I treated you sincerely.”

The answer was simple.

Sincerity. Because of that sincerity.

All along he had kept himself at the fringes. In ten years, Jin-hyeon was the first with whom he had shared heartfelt feeling.

With so few people he grew close to, he had even forgotten how to form ties. So at first he had no thought of opening a dumpling shop.

But as if bewitched he opened it, and after opening he regretted it. To lay down a formation array and wait for people to come, what a contradiction, he thought.

At that time, Jin-hyeon appeared.

And now, at peopleless dawn, they were having this conversation.

Jeong Gyo spoke in a hollow voice.

“I am no different from the culprits of this murder case.”

“If you were no different, then the murders should not have ceased for over ten years. You should not have looked at the dead civilians with such sorrowful eyes.”

“…”

“Did you truly kill all those civilians ten years ago?”

Jeong Gyo’s eyes wavered.

Jin-hyeon asked once more.

“I am not asking about life-and-death bouts with martial artists. Did you go mad and kill civilians as well? Answer me.”

“…”

Jeong Gyo could not answer. He seemed not to know himself how to answer.

After watching him for a while, Jin-hyeon smiled and looked up at the sky.

“I intend to form a clan.”

“?”

“If you ask why a clan and not a sect, there is no grand reason. I simply like the sound, and I prefer saying ‘family member’ to ‘sect member.’ If we can, doesn’t the term ‘same family’ sound better?”

“…”

“What do the forms of address matter? Call it as your heart goes. What matters is being family, is it not?”

“I…”

“Do you have somewhere to go? Or a clear goal you must do right now?”

Looking at Jin-hyeon with trembling eyes, Jeong Gyo slowly shook his head.

Jin-hyeon nodded.

“Near Jayang I am building my house fairly large. Below it is the market street. It is quite different from here, but it is lively as well. Let us live there together.”

“What on earth…”

Something almost surged out.

He did not know what it was, and he neither wished to know nor to spit it out, so he swallowed it with his saliva.

In a voice sunk a notch lower, Jeong Gyo asked.

“Why are you so good to me? Is it because of my martial arts?”

“As you would know from crossing hands, I can swing a bit myself. Though you likely did not truly fight me.”

“Then why are you doing this at all?”

“Because the dumplings were good.”

“I am asking seriously.”

“I am not joking either.”

“…Are you really doing this because the dumplings were good?”

“Must I say it in more detail?”