Pieces of the Puzzle
Dang Gwan openly grimaced.
“Do you think I’m some schoolboy? You want me to read all this and submit my impressions?”
“Within two days, if you please.”
Yeon Hojeong spoke without even glancing at him, his attention fixed on the towering stacks of documents.
It wasn’t just him.
Yeon Wi, Jegal A-yeon, and even Kang Liang were each poring over their own transcribed papers. Everyone seemed to understand the urgency and had thrown themselves completely into analyzing the documents.
Dang Gwan closed his eyes. Veins bulged on his forehead.
“Fine. If it helps catch the spy, I can endure the annoyance.”
“Thank you.”
“But why the hell is he here?”
Dang Gwan’s eyes snapped open as he pointed. Moyong Gun stood there.
Moyong Gun didn’t look at him either. In a way, he was the most focused person in the room.
Yeon Hojeong said, “We need every available hand.”
“Available hands? Did you send word to the leaders of the Nine Sects too?”
“I did not. No matter how wise they are, I can’t ask them to read detailed reports on their private lives. Of course…”
Yeon Hojeong gestured at one thick bundle of documents.
“We do have the family heads of the Six Great Families as well.”
“What exactly are you trying to—!”
“I don’t have time to explain everything. If you’re willing to help, please begin your analysis, Family Head.”
Dang Gwan stared at Yeon Hojeong for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Moyong Gun.
Moyong Gun paid him no mind. In fact, he truly didn’t. He read and reread the documents, eyes straining to identify the spy.
“Hmph!”
Dang Gwan snorted and took a seat.
Everyone was diligently doing their part. There was no point in raising his voice and making a scene.
“This it?”
“Yes. They’re folded by sect, so they’re easy to distinguish.”
Dang Gwan clicked his tongue inwardly. Far more extensive than I expected. Each sect leader’s file ranged from twenty pages at the minimum to over a hundred at most.
It was a glimpse into Jegal Mun-ho’s obsession and madness. He must have gone through hell investigating the leaders of the Nine Sects and Six Great Families.
Once seated, Dang Gwan suddenly felt something was off. They’re all scattered. There was no need for everyone to read together, but did they really have to spread out like this?
The strangest of all was Yeon Hojeong. He had taken the most secluded corner of the spacious room, as if he were watching everyone inside. He wants to observe our reactions.
They had gathered insightful people, but to be blunt, one of them could still be the spy.
The Byeoksan Yeon Family, the Moyong Family, and even the Sichuan Tang Family.
Aside from the family heads themselves, only Yeon Hojeong could transparently monitor their reactions.
Yeon Wi and Moyong Gun had willingly allowed this candid surveillance. It spoke to how confident they were.
Whatever the case, he’s impressive in many ways. The Yeon patriarch is one thing, but even Moyong Gun…
They had temporarily joined hands for the greater good.
No matter how aligned their goals were, it wasn’t easy to accept surveillance from a former enemy—let alone one younger than himself.
Yet Moyong Gun had accepted it without complaint. His eyes and posture made that clear.
It means he’s earned that level of recognition.
Dang Gwan looked at Yeon Hojeong.
Yeon Hojeong was focused on the documents, but part of his awareness remained on his surroundings.
I can’t deny it anymore.
The leaders of the Nine Sects might not know, but at the very least, Yeon Hojeong’s influence—trusted by Jegal Mun-ho, the Martial Alliance’s military counselor, and even his rival Moyong Gun—could be considered on par with the Martial Alliance’s highest echelons.
So then… do I acknowledge him?
Dang Gwan smiled. It was a strange smile, somewhere between a sneer and something bitter.
“Rude brat.”
“Yes, I’m listening.”
“Just so you know, I’m not the spy.”
“I thought as much.”
“Really?”
“Yes. About seventy to eighty percent sure.”
“……”
“You’re insufferable.”
“We don’t have time. If you’re going to help, please do so quickly.”
Dang Gwan grumbled as he picked up a document.
“How did I end up tangled with someone like him?”
Two days later.
“Hmm.”
After reading the documents where Yeon Wi, Moyong Gun, Dang Gwan, Yeon Hojeong, and Jegal A-yeon had each written their impressions, Jegal Mun-ho let out a low hum.
“As expected, everyone’s impressions differ. But…”
Jegal Mun-ho looked at Yeon Hojeong.
“There are exactly two people that everyone suspects. On that point, you’re all in agreement.”
“Yes, it seems so.”
“What do you think of those two? Do you suspect them as well?”
“I do.”
“How would you describe them?”
“One is easy to read. The other is difficult.”
“An accurate assessment.”
Jegal Mun-ho’s index finger tapped the table. It wasn’t a meaningful gesture—just a habit when he was deep in thought.
After a moment, he spoke.
“Let me ask you something.”
“Please.”
“You said it back then. That you’d catch the spy within five days.”
“I did.”
“That deadline is now three days away.”
“It’s tight.”
“So how exactly were you planning to root out the spy?”
He hadn’t explained the method to anyone yet.
Yeon Hojeong said, “As you know, Military Counselor, it’s rare for an embedded spy to operate alone.”
“Rare? It’s practically unheard of. Especially in an organization as large as the Martial Alliance.”
“Correct. Of course, there are cases where a massive group sends only a single spy. Precisely because of the risk—if the information fails to transmit, at least they won’t be caught. In other words, they’re planted as a contingency.”
“True.”
“But no matter how I think about it, the Three Sects wouldn’t attempt such a timid infiltration of the Martial Alliance.”
“Of course not. This spy was cultivated over a long period from the start. They were inserted without any initial hardship, so there’s no reason to be constantly on edge about being discovered.”
“In other words, there’s an extremely high probability of a contact connected to the spy.”
“So you were planning to move based on that contact rather than the spy themselves.”
“Yes.”
“And the method?”
“Transmitting the information the spy has gathered requires a certain amount of time. Think of it as a cycle. If that cycle breaks, the contact will inevitably move.”
“That’s right. The problem is we don’t know how long that cycle is.”
“That’s why we needed this.”
Yeon Hojeong gestured at the documents.
“These contain not only the private lives of each sect’s leaders but also their habits and activities since joining the Martial Alliance.”
“Mm.”
“And we narrowed it down. To two people.”
Jegal Mun-ho’s eyes deepened.
“You’re going to monitor those two?”
“Yes. But we’ll have to pin the spy label on someone else.”
“……!”
“The people we’ll secretly monitor are the two narrowed down in the reports. And we’ll have to detain or imprison someone other than those two.”
“……A dangerous operation.”
“It is.”
“And there’s no guarantee of success.”
“Of course not.”
“And we only have three days left. At this rate, even a month or half a year wouldn’t make it easy to catch them.”
Jegal Mun-ho was asking if the plan was too passive.
“It isn’t.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because there will be another shadow besides the contact.”
Jegal Mun-ho’s eyes wavered.
“Another shadow?”
“Yes.”
Yeon Hojeong’s tone was absolute.
“In an operation like this, we need decisive assumptions. There’s nothing we can be completely certain of, but the assumptions we’ll act on are two. First, that the spy wasn’t recruited midway but has been with the Three Sects from the beginning. And second…”
“That there is a contact.”
“Correct. Based on those assumptions, there must be another figure between the spy and the contact.”
Jegal Mun-ho’s eyes trembled.
“Are you certain?”
“If those assumptions hold, I can be ninety percent certain of the shadow’s existence as well.”
“May I ask your reasoning?”
Because that’s how they’ve always operated.
Yeon Hojeong swallowed the words. Only Yeon Wi and Muk Bi knew about his past life. No matter how much he trusted Jegal Mun-ho, he couldn’t reveal that.
“Please just know that I have my own reasons for being certain. For example, even the Shadow God, who once dominated the southern assassin world for years, had a shadow attached to him.”
That shadow had been So Bang.
“The Three Sects are also attempting infiltration for the first time. They can’t help but feel uneasy. Especially against the Martial Alliance. They have no choice but to consider the possibility that the spy might betray them.”
“In other words, a handler.”
“Exactly. And there’s one more reason such a handler would be necessary.”
“The Shinwha Sect.”
“Precisely. After we killed several of their armed forces, they would have urgently dispatched handlers to each region.”
And that was the Three Sects’ way.
It wasn’t just because of this incident. During his time as the Black Dark Emperor, he had seen countless handlers while capturing the spies they sent.
Some posed as ordinary people with no martial arts training, while others were masters of stealth who could easily deceive even peak experts.
The Martial Alliance’s spy handler would undoubtedly be the latter. Yeon Hojeong had no doubt about that.
“So rather than catching the contact, you’re planning to narrow down people connected to those two as contact candidates, then identify whether a handler exists between them and the spy.”
“Yes.”
“Using poison?”
“I’ve decided to borrow the Tang Family’s strength.”
He had even thought through the detailed methods.
Jegal Mun-ho stroked his chin.
“Not bad, but… it’s an operation that’s hard to commit manpower to. Of course, there won’t be many contact candidates connected to those two.”
Still, Yeon Hojeong intended to push forward.
If you keep grasping at trivial, seemingly meaningless details, you’ll eventually reach the root. When the situation seemed hopeless, this was Yeon Hojeong’s own method—persistently digging, even if it seemed haphazard.
“A contact… and a handler connected to that contact…”
After muttering several times, Jegal Mun-ho’s eyes suddenly gleamed.
“How about combining your plan with mine?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Let’s catch the spy while resolving that rather sensitive matter you’re involved in all at once.”
“Pardon?”
Jegal Mun-ho gave a deep smile.
“Of course, I’m saying this because I trust your judgment. Either way, you’ll have to work hard for this one.”
* * *
The next day.
“I apologize for calling another sudden meeting.”
Though the meeting was abrupt, all the elders had gathered. They expected that Jegal Mun-ho had discovered something regarding the spy issue.
Reading their expressions, Jegal Mun-ho spoke with an awkward face.
“My apologies, but today’s meeting isn’t about the spy.”
Yong-hwa Jinin asked bluntly, “Then what is it?”
“I’ve convened this to persuade the elders regarding the Black Dragon Department matter.”
“Persuade? Did you cause another incident?”
“It’s not an incident, but a legitimate operation that might seem somewhat extreme.”
“What exactly are you talking about?”
Jegal Mun-ho’s eyes flashed.
“I’d like to discuss dispatching Yeon Hojeong, the overall commander of the Righteous Army, to the Black Dragon Department.”