episode_0043

“In the end, Munju of the Hongryun faction was innocent.”

“It happens often, doesn’t it? If you run to someone because he or she looks suspicious, that is if he or she is an innocent person. Most people become murderers for finding a single flaw in their ledgers, but the head of the Hongryun faction survived by having a competent ledger manager.”

“….It’s truly unknown. I applied for the position of inspector in order to root out the rotten roots of Kangho. Isn’t this no different from a hunting dog catching wild animals? Selecting innocent people, finding fault with them, and killing them. Is this really the right thing to do?”

“Why are you doing this again? Inspector.”

“Perhaps I was going down the wrong path because I was blinded by performance.”

The adjutant smiled bitterly at Lim Seo-ryeon’s words. He didn’t like having long conversations on topics like this. The adjutant pointed to a grave visible near the village.

“I see a grave over there. Inspector. I don’t think I saw it when I went there, but there was a tomb in a place like this.”

“Ah, I see. There was a grave in a place like that?”

On the way back to the branch, Lim Seo-ryeon and the deputy noticed a monument sticking out on a path near the village. The adjutant said as he examined the grave.

“It’s not a very old tomb. If you look here, there is also a text. ‘A young man whose name is unknown, has a love that cannot be realized, and is buried in this place.’ That’s a romantic phrase.”

Lim Seo-ryeon frowned at the adjutant’s words and said.

“What nonsense are you doing in front of the grave of someone who died young? Be careful what you say.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. But, isn’t this a difficult phrase to see in a rural town like this? I don’t know what connection the dead person had to being buried here, and why he was a young man whose name I don’t know.”

After hearing the adjutant’s question, Lim Seo-ryeon also nodded.

“What. Are you curious about that grave?”

A cart passed by. An old man wearing a large hat was coming down carrying a load of grass. He was startled for a moment when he saw Lim Seo-ryeon and his adjutant’s behavior, and he avoided his gaze and said,

“Oh my, they were Murim people.”

Lim Seo-ryun was quicker to notice than the puzzled adjutant. She said with a smiling face.

“Please rest assured. We don’t have anything to do with this guy, we were just passing by. We talked for a while because it seemed like a tomb with a story. Can you tell us what story is involved in this tomb?”

The gentle tone and soft expression make you let down your guard. After hesitating for a moment, the old man adjusted his posture, lowered his head, and spoke.

“Oh my, if you can say that… . I don’t have the courage to hold on without opening my mouth again. From what I heard, the owner of this tomb is someone who worked for the Hongryun faction.”

“In the Hongryun faction?”

“Yes. However, it is said that this guy was discovered secretly admiring the daughter of former Munju. So, it is said that he tricked Munju into saying he would take him to a good place and then killed him by breaking his head.”

The adjutant frowned. Because it was a very likely story.

“I gave Laozi to the merchant and ordered him to clean up after me, so I couldn’t be buried in my hometown. It is said that a merchant who felt sorry for this friend’s situation asked for the understanding of this nearby village and built a tomb for him.”

Lim Seo-ryeon tilted her head and asked.

“Were you the former owner of the door? Or was it the new moonju this time?”

The old man shook his head and answered.

“I don’t know. It seemed similar to the news that the door owner had changed, but I don’t know what happened first.”

“Is that so? All right. Then go on your way. Elderly.”

“Wow, I hope my story was helpful. Hehehe.”

The old man smiled happily and disappeared.

The two started talking again after the old man disappeared. Lim Seo-ryeon opened her mouth first.

“What do you think? Munju now and Munju before. Which of the two do you think did this?”

The adjutant nodded and answered her question.

“Of course, isn’t it the previous order? When I gathered together the stories I heard around me, I realized that it was at a level similar to that of an animal. It would not be strange for such a person to beat a person to death just because he had feelings for his daughter. In a way, it’s a reason that deserves death, but if I were you, I would have just kicked you out.”

Lim Seo-ryeon nodded and said.

“I think so too. The method is too shady. Now, Munju doesn’t have any problems with his books, and in fact, when I heard rumors around him, there was talk that he actually lowered his taxes. A person like that… . I don’t think you would have bothered to do something like this. I would have rather killed him outright. I heard that the current munju replaced the previous munju and even carried out a large-scale purge.”

“If she is the former Munju’s daughter, then she is the current Munju’s wife. Even if you were killed for having dark intentions, no one would have said anything. Rather than that, I think that Jeon Mun-ju secretly killed him because he heard that the Hongryun faction had recently had many problems and the public sentiment around him had been disturbed. It would have been nice to be generous as the head of a clan, but this unfortunate young man passed away.”

Lim Seo-ryun stroked her chin and was lost in thought. He seemed to be lost in thought as he looked at the tombstone. The adjutant looked at her, tilted his head and asked.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Perhaps this death could be the fault of the Murim Alliance.”

The adjutant shook his head at her words and said:

“Ah, you are going too far. Even if we had come a few days earlier, this guy would have died.”

“I would have done it if I had come a few days earlier. So it’s our fault. Go to town and buy a bottle of alcohol. We should at least offer Jeju to the dead.”

“Ah, yes… .”

When Lim Seo-ryeon handed over the coin, the adjutant quickly ran to the village with an expression on his face that he did not understand. Lim Seo-ryeon looked at the monument for a moment and watched the adjutant buy a bottle of alcohol from a guesthouse at the entrance to the village. The adjutant applied the footwork he was learning and returned carrying a bottle of alcohol like the wind.

Lim Seo-ryun said as she accepted the bottle of alcohol from him.

“The pace of learning walking techniques is fast. On the day I went to Hongryunpa to inspect it, my balance was shaken, but today, I have regained my balance to some extent.”

The adjutant smiled awkwardly while rubbing his head.

“Ah, my body moved like that on its own when I thought that the woman behind me was watching.”

Lim Seo-ryun listened to the adjutant’s words and looked over his shoulder for a moment. The old woman with a wrinkled face glanced at the two people and then went back to wiping the table.

“…Anyway, let’s upload it.”

Lim Seo-ryun turned, poured alcohol into a glass, and placed it in front of the tombstone. Then he bowed once and stood up again. When she bowed, the adjutant hurriedly bowed to the grave with her. Lim Seo-ryun got up and scattered the alcohol on the grave.

Then he looked at his adjutant and said.

“He died because of us.”

The adjutant did not object this time. Lim Seo-ryun continued speaking.

“Aren’t the Murim League being swayed by a madman who is obsessed with money and named himself Geumbok Venerable? If a guy says it’s wrong, we’ll go out and find him to make him wrong, and if he says it’s right, even beating someone to death will be right. That’s why we killed him. Because we were covering our ears, we killed him.”

The adjutant looked at Lim Seo-ryeon with a shy expression. Seeing him scratching his head, Lim Seo-ryeon asked.

“Do you have something to say?”

“No. None.”

Lim Seo-ryun continued speaking with a blunt expression.

“If I continue to live like this, there is no point in learning the sword at the Xiangshan School. Since he cannot follow his teacher’s instructions to use the sword correctly, he has no face to see his teacher even when he returns to the Hangsan Sect. Confucius said, Do not see, hear, or do anything that is not righteous. I saw a person die in front of my eyes, and I saw that the leader of the Hongnyun faction, whom Venerable Geumbok had said was suspicious, was innocent.”

Lim Seo-ryeon’s hand was tightly gripping the sword.

She thought of the face of Hongryunpa Munju. Did you say Docheol? He took over the Hongryun faction and became the new lord of the clan. Although he appeared greedy on the outside, he was a person who had no problems with the accounts.

He was also a person who was very good at massage.

She blushed as she briefly remembered the nights she spent at Hongryun Sect. Looking ahead, the adjutant was also looking at the sky with a bleary expression. Lim Seo-ryeon cleared her throat and said.

“Let’s start small. We conducted the inspection perfectly, and the head of the Hongryun Sect passed the inspection. The documents have been prepared, and we will conclude that they do not need further inspection.”

“The elderly man will be angry. If we fail to achieve results again this time, the inspector may be criticized again.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Lim Seo-ryeon answered firmly. The adjutant was startled by the sight and took a step back. This was because she looked a little different from the woman the adjutant knew.

“This is how I find fault with those who have been wronged, and with an honest inspection, I can discern right from wrong. Which one would dishonor the Hangsan School?”

Lim Seo-ryeon looked at the adjutant and said.

“You figure it out. If you continue to be my lieutenant, it may be harmful to you as well.”

The two started walking again. While Lim Seo-ryun was walking quickly, the adjutant looked at Lim Seo-ryeon’s back with a complicated expression.