WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 144: Those Who Wear Black Masks (3)
──────
The atmosphere turned as cold as frost.
The Demonic Cult had already vanished from the martial world's history, but the weight of that name was enough to quell everyone's excitement.
Besides, everyone here had witnessed the Demonic Cult firsthand while taking the regular examination with me.
“What do I do...? What should I do...? How am I supposed to handle this?”
The sharpness had vanished from Jang Dowon's eyes. He paced the yard restlessly, like a man who had lost his mind.
“Elder... Why do you think the Demonic Cult did this?”
“...Rumors have been spreading through Yueyang for months. They say the Demonic Cult has returned and is plotting to rule the world.”
“Then the disappearances...?”
“They began around the same time as those rumors.”
Jang Dowon suddenly seemed to realize something, then grabbed onto me.
“Y-you! You entered the Academy, didn't you? I've heard a great deal about you. Do you happen to know anyone from the Mount Cang Sect?”
“Why are you looking for the Mount Cang Sect?”
“Mount Cang is the greatest force in Yueyang, isn't it? If anyone can find my granddaughter, who was taken by the Demonic Cult, it's them.”
“...”
I didn't mind helping him, but I wondered whether I should tell him that my relationship with the Mount Cang Sect was currently poor.
“Please help me. If you do, I'll never forget this favor.”
Jang Dowon wept like a child, tears and mucus streaming down his face.
Why did seeing Jang Dowon's face remind me of myself?
There was no need to deliberate any longer.
“Let's go. Elder, I don't know whether I'll be of any help, but I'll come with you.”
#
Sacred History Tea House was a famous tea house in Yueyang and served as a Mount Cang Sect branch.
Ordinary people would have found it difficult even to meet the branch head, but once I revealed that I was a Martial Arts Academy student, we were immediately led to them.
“Hmm... We have investigated the disappearances in Yueyang to a certain extent. Go back and wait. We will inform you once we have results.”
“I heard rumors that the Demonic Cult is involved... Is that true?”
The branch head frowned.
“Are you being swayed by tales invented by ignorant commoners who know nothing?”
The wholly unconvincing reply made Jang Dowon plead.
“Sir, please save my granddaughter. Her parents are gone, and I am the only family she has left in this world.”
The branch head waved a hand, frowning deeply.
“Did I not say we are investigating? These matters take time to resolve, so wait.”
I listened quietly before speaking.
“Do you have any suspects?”
The branch head looked me over from head to toe.
“We are investigating the case, so I cannot tell you.”
“Is the opponent someone the Mount Cang Sect fears?”
“...Young Hero, watch your words. Mount Cang is not afraid to stand against injustice. Even if it truly is the Demonic Cult.”
“...Even if it truly is the Demonic Cult?”
I was about to press the odd wording when Namgung Seonhwa stepped in front of me.
“Where is Young Master Jong Byeokgi right now?”
“...You know Young Master Jong?”
“We aren't personally acquainted, but we have exchanged names.”
“Who might you be, Miss, to ask about someone's private life?”
Namgung Seonhwa answered the branch head, who spoke as though her question were absurd.
“I am Seonhwa of the Namgung Clan. Is that enough for you to tell me where Young Master Jong is?”
“...”
#
After we left Sacred History Tea House, Jang Dowon glanced at Namgung Seonhwa and whispered to me.
“H-how did you come to know a young lady from the Namgung Clan?”
I could have told him the whole story, but I doubted he would hear any of it right now.
“It just happened.”
“...In any case, thank you. Thanks to you, it feels like things are starting to move.”
“Don't mention it. Isn't this only natural?”
“...If I'd known this would happen, I should've arranged somewhere to stay long ago.”
Jang Dowon's passing remark made me ask, “Was there somewhere that offered to take you in?”
“Take me in? Who would take in an old man who only makes jewelry? They only said they'd protect me if I joined them. Of course, I refused because they treated me like a servant. Looking back, I should've accepted. At least if I'd been under Mount Cang's protection, this would have been easier to resolve.”
“...”
Our conversation stopped in front of the brothel where Jong Byeokgi was staying.
“Only Elder Jang and I will go inside.”
I was trying to spare the women from potentially embarrassing sights, but Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran spoke as though I had said something absurd.
“We stayed at a brothel before, so why are you suddenly acting like this?”
Seong Moran threw open the door as she brought up the regular examination.
A strange fragrance filled the brothel, accompanied by heated moans. Men and women who seemed neither fully clothed nor fully naked wandered everywhere.
“There he is.”
At the brothel's best table, Jong Byeokgi and his companions were drinking heavily with women tucked under their arms.
“Young Master Jong.”
“Hm?”
Jong Byeokgi, who had been drinking while gazing at a courtesan through half-lidded eyes, turned to Namgung Seonhwa.
“Why, Miss Namgung! What brings you here? ...And you brought those beggars along too?”
Jong Byeokgi's companions hurriedly began fastening their clothes at Namgung Seonhwa's arrival.
They were so drunk that they could not even properly fasten them.
“I came because I wanted to know about the disappearances in Yueyang.”
“Disappearances? Ah, ah... That. It's nothing much. Such things happen from time to time to people who can't manage their own households.”
“...This elder's only granddaughter has gone missing. I would like you to help him, Young Master Jong.”
“Elder...?”
Jong Byeokgi looked blearily at Jang Dowon, and one eyebrow twitched.
“Ha, so it's that arrogant old man.”
“...”
“You know him?”
“Our Mount Cang Sect visited him because we wished to make good use of his talents, but he was so full of himself. Still... You lost your granddaughter?”
“...”
Jang Dowon fell to his knees.
“Sir, I was arrogant without knowing my place. Please save my granddaughter.”
“Heh. If you had come to the Mount Cang Sect earlier, this would never have happened... Tsk.”
Namgung Seonhwa stepped forward as well.
“Young Master Jong, please.”
Jong Byeokgi smirked and waved his hand twice.
“Fine. For Miss Namgung's sake, I'll look into it. But remember this. Miss Namgung now owes me a favor.”
“...I'll remember.”
“You may leave now. Seeing that old man any longer is ruining the taste of my wine.”
With that dismissal, Jong Byeokgi resumed flirting with the courtesan. His companions smiled as though they found the sight quite satisfying.
#
I brought Jang Dowon home, tapped his sleep acupoint to put him to sleep, then quietly stepped into the yard.
“I think I should've spoken to Young Master Jong a little more.”
Namgung Seonhwa could not hide her regret.
“You've already done more than enough.”
She had even said she would owe him a favor in the end.
As someone from the Namgung Clan, she must have known exactly how much weight those words carried.
It was no different from doing everything she could.
“But Young Master Jin, you look as though something is still bothering you.”
“...”
There was more than one thing that troubled me about Jang Dowon's granddaughter's disappearance.
There had been documents in the Mantong Office records concerning the Yueyang disappearances, but I could find no connection to the Demonic Cult.
Of course, that might have been because I only learned the Demonic Cult's true identity much later in my previous life. Still, there were too many holes in assuming the current disappearances were their work.
The Demonic Cult was full of lunatics who did not hesitate to use human sacrifices for their grotesque sorcery, but they were not foolish enough to cause trouble in a crowded, prosperous city like Yueyang.
They did not need to come all the way to Yueyang. There were countless children in the world who had lost their parents, as well as countless people living in places beyond the reach of government authority.
The Demonic Cult, which had tried to conceal its identity to the very end, would come to Yueyang, where tourists from across the realm gathered, and cause trouble?
‘I’m not so sure...’
Having felt their cunning deep in my bones on the front lines of the war, I could not accept that idea.
And there was something else.
“Didn't you notice something strange at Sacred History Tea House?”
“Something strange?”
“Didn't the branch head say they were not afraid even if it was the real Demonic Cult?”
“...”
“Why was the branch head so certain it wasn't the real Demonic Cult? Rumors have spread throughout Yueyang. Did they simply not believe them?”
It might have been an overly sensitive thought, but the same unease I had felt when the Sojeong Unit was caught in a rigged gambling game remained.
At times like this, you had to search every gambler at the table, down to their underwear.
I spoke to the Taeul Sect disciples.
“Once Elder Jang wakes up, do your best to reassure him.”
“Yes.”
“Young Master Jin, where are you planning to go?”
I answered Seong Moran, “I need to investigate this separately.”
#
“First, we need to gather information.”
“If it's the Beggar Sect, shouldn't we visit the beggars' quarter?”
The Beggar Sect controlled most of the information in the martial world, so it was natural for them to be the first thing someone thought of.
But I knew an information organization that was no less capable.
I headed for a small fabric shop in one corner of the busy district.
“Why are we here?”
“We bought clothes earlier.”
The two looked puzzled when I entered the fabric shop again.
Without answering, I approached the shop owner and showed them the Black Token Yeo Mimi had given me.
The shop owner, who had been warmly serving customers, stiffened for a moment. Then they bowed politely and guided me inside.
Behind the fabric shop was a staircase leading underground.
Once we descended, a private chamber even larger than the shop itself appeared.
All sorts of strange goods waited there for their owners.
Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran could not close their mouths at the astonishing sight before them.
“Could this be... a black market outlet?”
“A black market outlet?”
At Seong Moran's question, Namgung Seonhwa answered, unable to hide her shock.
“It is a secret shop operated by the Hao Sect. They say you can obtain anything unavailable in the open, from women's undergarments to corpses... But I heard earning the right to use a black market outlet is extremely difficult...”
The fabric shop owner, who was walking ahead of us, smiled faintly.
“The goods traded at black market outlets have ranks as well. The goods you just mentioned can be obtained by ordinary-ranked customers.”
“...Then are there separate special ranks?”
“At those ranks, there is truly nothing we cannot obtain. From the blood of the living to fragments of the dead, if it exists in this world, we will acquire it by any means necessary.”
“...How does one earn that rank?”
Seong Moran swallowed hard as she asked. The shop owner still wore a faint smile.
“That rank is not something one can earn simply by wanting it. You must be qualified.”
The shop owner looked at Namgung Seonhwa before answering.
“For reference, even the Divine Sword, Miss's grandfather, does not possess those qualifications.”
The answer left both women stunned.
“You know who I am?”
The shop owner smiled.
“If I did not recognize the two women counted among Anhui Province's Three Great Beauties, could I truly call myself a man?”
Even after those words, both women could not hide their shock.
“You said even the Divine Sword is not qualified. Then who in the world has such qualifications?”
At Seong Moran's strained question, the shop owner shifted their gaze without answering.
And at the end of that gaze...
“Huh...”
“What in the world are you, Young Master Jin?”
Embarrassed, I quickly changed the subject.
“Are you the Yueyang Branch Head?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“I came because there is something I wish to ask.”
“First, I will guide you farther inside. Someone is waiting for you.”
Waiting for me? They knew I would come and had arrived beforehand?
Unable to understand what was happening, I silently followed the Yueyang Branch Head again.
Only after passing through the black market outlet and walking deep into its maze-like interior for some time did the branch head stop.
Without hesitation, they opened the door.
“I have been occupied with official duties, so I am only now able to offer my greetings.”
An unexpected person was greeting me from inside.
A somewhat familiar face and a respectful manner...
No, why was this person here...?!
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried