episode_0028

Thud!

…Not here either.

Yiyeon’s eyes narrowed.

“Are you really staying in an empty room?”

Im Somin asked hesitantly.

“Is there a better place to be holed up alone than an empty room?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“I’ll make sure, so why don’t you quickly look for an empty room, Im Dongsaeng?”

“Oh, but it’s still someone else’s house, so I’m a bit worried…”

“Is that the problem right now? Just find it quickly.”

Yiyeon pushed Im Somin.

Only then did Im Somin reluctantly spread out her hands and started searching for the empty room.

How long did she search for?

A considerable amount of time had passed, but there were still nearly half of the empty rooms left to search.

Not only because the scale of Geumryongjeon was so large, but also because Im Somin, who usually only walked back and forth on familiar paths, was not familiar with the geography of the battlefield.

“Ugh… I’m sorry for being slow, Unni. I got confused and ended up going back to where I came from. Unni, I think I…”

It was when Im Somin, who met Yiyeon again, complained with a tearful face.

“Wait.”

Yiyeon’s eyes sharpened as if she sensed something.

Im Somin also unknowingly held her breath.

Although she thought there would be no danger here, Yiyeon’s atmosphere was unsettling.

And a moment later.

Footsteps that were not hiding their presence approached.

The footsteps stopped suddenly at one point.

“What are you doing there?”

“Oh? Ju Unni?”

Im Somin’s eyes widened.

A tall, cold-faced beauty.

An unhidden scar on her neck.

There was no doubt that the woman they were looking for, Danwol, was Ju Okyoung.

“Ah, where were you? I’ve been looking for you until now…!”

Im Somin ran towards Ju Okyoung as if she were happy.

No, she tried to hug her.

But Ju Okyoung lightly avoided her, making a futile gesture in the air.

“I found you, why?”

“Why? Because we agreed to spar today!”

Im Somin pouted as if she were disappointed.

“So is there a problem with the way we’re going now?”

Ju Okyoung said nonchalantly.

“No, if you were going to be this late, you should have told me in advance…”

“Yes, that would have been better. Im Dongsaeng was worried.”

Yiyeon intervened.

Her expression had returned to its usual calmness.

But her eyes were seeing more than ever.

From the movement of the pupils to the reaction of the toes.

It might be nothing.

But the feeling was telling her otherwise.

There might be something.

“I see.”

Ju Okyoung blinked her eyes as if lost in thought.

“It seems that I have caused worries not only to Im Dongsaeng but also to this soldier. It’s my fault.”

Ju Okyoung cleanly admitted her mistake.

“It’s okay. It would have been fine if nothing had happened.”

Yiyeon accepted her words.

And she thought.

‘…It’s natural.’

There was nothing strange in Ju Okyoung’s reaction.

So was it just nothing?

Just a minor incident due to personal carelessness?

But that feeling…

“If it’s not too much to ask, may I know where you’ve been all this time?”

Yiyeon asked again.

“I just went into an empty room to meditate.”

The answer came naturally.

If there had been even a hint of hesitation, it wouldn’t have been possible.

And considering Ju Okyoung’s usual behavior, the answer was quite understandable.

‘…Maybe I was just being suspicious.’

In the end, Yiyeon had to let go of her doubts.

But a lingering sense of unease remained in her heart.

‘Phew, let go of the lingering feelings. If I wait, the truth will eventually come out.’

***

It was no coincidence.

Her intuition and persistence led to a discovery.

While Ju Ok-young’s day passed by, Yi Yeon couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

Unable to dismiss her suspicions, she decided to change her approach boldly.

Instead of focusing on the new guests, she meticulously searched through each empty room, leaving no stone unturned.

It took more time and yielded no results, but she persisted in her thorough investigation.

Perhaps it was her personality that made it possible.

Another week passed by.

“Sigh….”

She was mentally exhausted from the fruitless repetition of her efforts.

But finally, at this moment.

Click!

As she touched a ink painting hanging on the wall, a mechanism was triggered, making a noise.

Yi Yeon’s eyes widened.

She held her breath, scanned her surroundings, and cautiously approached the source of the sound.

It was clearly coming from the floor.

After a moment of inspecting the floor, she seemed to have found something.

A subtle difference in texture.

Yi Yeon pressed down on the spot with force.

Creak.

The floor shifted, revealing a hidden entrance.

A staircase was revealed.

And beyond that staircase, a fairly spacious area unfolded.

It was clearly a hidden room.

“This place…”

Of course, nothing could be confirmed yet.

There could be places without hidden rooms among the many martial arts factions.

Regardless, it was worth investigating.

Yi Yeon carefully scanned her surroundings once more before descending the stairs.

She made sure to close the entrance and erase any traces.

“…Candles.”

Even with the entrance closed, the hidden room was illuminated by thick candles placed around.

How much money must one have to have expensive candles like these in a single room.

Of course, considering this was the Golden Dragon Field, it was a plausible answer to the question.

But that wasn’t the important part.

Yi Yeon scanned the entire room with sharp eyes.

And then.

“Huh.”

She let out a sound of disbelief.

There were too many traces left behind, to the point of being careless.

It seemed like there was no intention to hide anything at all.

It could be that they trusted the secret space, but even considering that, they were overly careless.

“…Thanks for making the investigation easier.”

Muttering to herself, Yi Yeon bent down.

She planned to examine the footprints left on the floor.

The first thing that caught her eye was rough and large footprints.

Without a doubt, they belonged to a man.

Judging by the size of the footprints, he was quite large in stature.

His footprints were scattered all over the place.

Meaning he had been here for a long time, moving around actively.

There were no footprints of another man.

“One man.”

As she mentally organized the information, Yi Yeon turned her gaze to where the other footprints were.

This time, the footprints were thinner and smaller than the previous ones.

Indicating they belonged to a woman.

Although smaller than a man, she was still quite tall for a woman.

Most likely a tall woman.

And…

“Why are there so few footprints…?”

Yi Yeon’s expression turned puzzled.

There were too few footprints, making her doubt if they had even walked around.

It was almost as if they stood in the same spot every time they came.

Could a human really stand in the same spot multiple times like that?

“…Can a human really stand in the same spot multiple times like that?”

Yi Yeon pondered with a look of disbelief.

As a human, it was almost impossible.

The only plausible explanation would be if the man was a superior and ordered the woman, his subordinate, to stay put.

No, there was no other way to explain the situation.

Yi Yeon inserted her speculated relationship between the man and the woman into her mind.

“As for the other footprints… Hmm?”

Investigating the remaining traces, Lee Yeon’s expression was filled with puzzlement.

Two sets of traces belonging to different women.

The fact that was puzzling was not the existence of two sets of traces.

It was because there were traces left behind by a tall woman who had mainly stood in one place before and remarkably similar traces of another woman.

These two women also seemed to have stood still in almost the same spot.

“Do they have to share the same secret rendezvous spot?”

That seemed to be the only explanation.

Even so.

Not just one, but three women.

…Even if they were in a superior-subordinate relationship, could it be possible for three women to have secret rendezvous in a place like this, taking turns?

Not just two legs, but three?

Moreover, this secret place was within the inner sanctum.

A forbidden area where one would not dare to set foot without permission.

It might be possible to sneak in secretly, but it wouldn’t be easy for such frequent comings and goings.

“There must be an accomplice.”

One of the three women involved in the rendezvous must be an accomplice.

Maybe all three.

“Hmm.”

It’s complicated.

Lee Yeon sighed with a complex mind and turned her gaze back to the ground.

This time, to find traces other than footprints.

And.

Soon, Lee Yeon’s eyes widened as she discovered something.

“On the knees… and elbows…?”

Traces of knees and elbows.

And they were spaced at regular intervals.

What did that mean?

“Crawling…?”

Lee Yeon froze for a moment as confusion clouded her mind.

This was the first time she had encountered such a situation in her life.

Traces of an adult woman crawling on the ground.

And three different ones at that.

Three adult women crawling on the ground… It was beyond her comprehension.

“Even… this…”

Now, she could clearly see significant traces all over the room.

They indicated active crawling…

Why…?

“…”

Lee Yeon stood speechless for a while, shocked.

Then, as if realizing something, she muttered.

“Could it be that kind of person.”

She had heard from Eun Hwa-young once.

That there was a vulgar man among the customers of Jeokhwaru who demanded to treat the women like dogs as long as he paid enough money.

Despite the employees at Jeokhwaru adamantly refusing such an ignorant request, the man was stubborn.

Eventually, the security guards had to forcibly take him to a back alley to resolve the issue, and the story was that Jeokhwaru did not dare to make a fuss about it.

At that time, she was disgusted and thought, ‘How can such a perverted man exist?’

But he was right here.

A dangerous man with perverted desires.

“Sigh, let’s just finish the investigation.”

Lee Yeon breathed out a sigh and continued her search.

And.

“As expected.”

Fur.

Not hair, but curly fur.

Such fur was scattered all over the room.

It was embarrassing to even think about it, but there was no doubt it was a conspiracy.

With four different types, it clearly matched one man and three women.

If it were just a few strands, she wouldn’t have known, but with this amount, it meant they had taken off their clothes and done something.

And that something was, of course.

“Intercourse…”

Lee Yeon involuntarily muttered the answer, her face turning red.

It was an embarrassing word for her, still a virgin.

“What on earth is this place…?”

Having finished investigating anything visible, Lee Yeon pondered with a puzzled expression.

Was this simply a secretive rendezvous spot for that deed?

Was it really that simple?

There were too many unsettling points to judge it that way.

“Let’s inform that girl first.”

Eun Hwa-young, being sharp, would be able to give some answers just by hearing the situation without looking.

And.

“I need to find the owner of these traces.”

With clear traces left behind, she would be able to identify the owner of the traces with her naked eye.

Although the man would most likely be in the outer courtyard, once she found out the identity of the women, a path to obtaining more accurate information would open up.

Yeonyeon carefully erased her tracks before ascending once again.

After meticulously erasing her tracks from above, she cautiously made her way outside.

“I hope this will be a clue.”

Yeonyeon quickly moved the new model.

***

“Are you really doing well?”

Bang So-un sucked on his pipe while asking, “Of course, sir. Who am I? I am Jang Il. When have I ever failed to tame the women?”

Jang Il laughed heartily, overflowing with confidence.

“No, it seems like your mind has gone astray again.”

At first, he seemed cautious, but now he seemed to be enjoying dominating and seducing new women, which showed a loosening of his mental state.

“Oh, no way. Sir, just relax and wait. I will tame them well and present them to you fresh.”

Jang Il remained confident.

“So, are you saying that your current state is exactly what I mean by ‘gone astray’?”

“Oh, no, not at all. And besides, aren’t the fish inside the Golden Dragon Field just easy prey?”

In the end, he even belittled the easy prey.

“Didn’t I tell you? There might be a spy. The fish inside the field might be able to communicate with the outside.”

“But it really seems like there is no spy, right? There doesn’t seem to be any way for them to communicate with the outside at all…”

In the vast and impenetrable field, especially deep within the inner sanctum, there seemed to be no way.

Even if he aimed to accompany Hwang Bo-seol’s foreign affairs, it would be difficult.

First of all, he couldn’t leave Hwang Bo-seol’s side.

And being part of a duo, he couldn’t afford to show any suspicious behavior, as they would immediately report it.

In theory, Bang So-un agreed that it would be difficult.

But that didn’t mean it was impossible.

Jang Il didn’t know that.

“Alright. Just do well on your own.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Okay, go out and do your job.”

“Got it. Then.”

Jang Il confidently left the room.

“Kid.”

Bang So-un chuckled.

Indeed, that kind of behavior was typical of Jang Il.

Apart from brainwashing women, he needed to have some brains to be a normal Jang Il.

Phew.

Bang So-un took a deep inhale of the pipe smoke before exhaling slowly.

“It seems like it’s time to start moving.”