Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 30
>Chapter Title: Audit (3)
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‘Audit...’
As a former civil servant, it was something I was somewhat familiar with.
It was a task carried out to prevent corruption, graft, and illegality, but ironically, it was also the perfect job for committing those very things.
‘Back in the day, that’s how they got fat off it.’
It was quite distant from my days in the Social Welfare Department, but still—slipping money to the responsible official to overlook illegal extensions or unauthorized constructions.
Or outsourcing program development, then allocating absurdly large sums compared to the final product’s quality.
The supervising officials were supposed to keep an eye on them, but backroom deals often turned a blind eye.
‘Even with all the internet advancements now, it’s still like this—who knows how bad it was back then.’
And this place? Compared to the “back in my day” stories from my old seniors as Seo Ji-hoon, this was ancient history.
A world where the odds of getting caught for corruption, graft, scandals, or illegality were ridiculously low compared to the modern era.
‘Maybe I should make a quick score this time?’
Just as a sleazy smile crept onto my lips at the thought.
“What are you pondering so deeply?”
My Master’s voice snapped me out of my reverie.
“Hahaha. I was just thinking an inexperienced kid like me might mess up if I step up.”
“Ho ho ho. You’ll manage it just fine, so worry not.”
Facing my Master’s kindly smile, cold sweat trickled down my back.
‘Even if the risk of getting caught is low, who knows what they’d do if I did.’
He was smiling benignly now, but my Master was the leader of a cult full of lunatics.
On top of that.
‘Come to think of it, there’s nothing worth fleecing anyway.’
Sure, there were plenty of ways to fleece them.
Head to a branch, give them a light threat, and that’d be it. Something like reporting negatively to the Heavenly Demon. They’d pile up offerings on their own, right?
But.
‘At best, some special treats or booze. Or maybe gold and jewels.’
Gold and jewels.
Back when I was Seo Ji-hoon, that would’ve made my eyes spin.
‘Do I... really need it?’
Thanks to my position as the Heavenly Demon’s disciple, I already had a dedicated maidservant waiting on me hand and foot all day, with three meals and a bed fully covered.
At least while staying in the cult, the title of Heavenly Demon’s disciple alone was more than enough to live leisurely off.
No wonder they say you need proper compensation to prevent corruption among public officials.
Of course, the fact that being the Heavenly Demon’s disciple meant getting rolled around everywhere was a thorn in my side.
‘Grab the cash and bolt, and I’d be hunted by the cult for life.’
Just imagining it was horrifying.
The people who now doted on me as “Young Master! Young Master!” or “Junior Brother! Junior Brother!” turning into frothing cult fanatics chasing me down.
“With Master saying so, I’ll give it my all.”
In the end, it meant I was locked into pointless labor with nothing to gain.
‘Not a business trip—just think of it as a vacation and slack off.’
Hardly the mindset for an auditor.
* * *
A few days later.
I rode a carriage out of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s main headquarters.
But this time, it wasn’t toward Warm Hostel County, where I’d gone before.
My Master said his disciple needed to grasp the cult’s situation in greater detail, so he’d set a rather distant destination.
It’d be quite different from nearby Warm Hostel County, he said—go see and feel it for myself.
‘Damn old man.’
He was a Master who couldn’t rest until he’d wrung his disciple dry.
Oblivious to my inner grumblings, Jin Ha-yeon, riding in the carriage with me, spoke with a serious expression.
“The Heavenly Demon truly seems to believe Young Master Il-mok will grow greatly. That’s why he entrusted you with inspecting such a far-off place to grasp the cult’s details, isn’t it?”
Her attitude was always icy, yet her mind turned to flower fields whenever it came to matters involving my Master.
“You really think he sent me all the way to distant Hwa-jeong because he trusts me that much?”
“Of course. If he didn’t trust you, the Heavenly Demon would’ve come along himself, no?”
True enough. Unlike last time, my Master wasn’t accompanying us on this long trip.
‘Right, no surveillance from Master, so I can treat it like a vacation and...’
But before my thought finished, the carriage suddenly halted.
“What’s the matter?”
I shouted toward the outside.
In response, the two escorts my Master had assigned for the long journey replied in turn.
“Young Master, from here on, you must dismount and follow the carriage on foot with lightness skill.”
“This is the exalted one’s solemn command.”
“...”
Now I saw it—he didn’t trust me; he’d calculated he could roll me without even going himself.
If I was auditing the branches, those escort warriors were surveilling me.
* * *
“Huff. Huff.”
My breath rose to my throat, and I staggered.
“Hyah!”
The carriage running alongside me came to a stop.
With motions now familiar, I climbed back aboard.
On the previous trip, I hadn’t known how to use internal energy, so my “lightness skill” was just mimicking the motions while running—nowhere near the carriage’s speed.
But now that I could use internal energy, I could truly employ lightness skill and match the carriage’s pace.
Of course, with my meager internal energy, an hour’s run was my limit.
‘Only possible because it’s demonic arts, though.’
My Master had told me the amount of internal energy gathered in my dantian equated to five years’ worth by the Central Plains’ unbelievers’ standards.
That’s the amount you’d need to accumulate over five years with the simplest, purest breathing method, the Natural Absorption Technique.
And I’d gathered it in just under four months.
Catching my breath, I felt the terrifying efficacy of demonic arts firsthand.
“Young Master, it’s about time to start your Qi Circulation and Breath Adjustment.”
Sighing at Jin Ha-yeon’s words, I assumed a cross-legged position right there.
Qi Circulation and Breath Adjustment inside a jolting carriage at full speed.
But it was already familiar from last time’s experience. Still, the reason I sighed was simple.
‘Recover my internal energy, and I’ll have to run again, right?’
I’d already repeated this madness four times. Until we reached the destination, how many more runs awaited?
‘I’d better drag it out.’
I proceeded with the Qi Circulation and Breath Adjustment as slowly as possible. Even as I deeply inhaled and exhaled, I gathered internal energy at a snail’s pace.
Even forcibly dragging it out, my still-small dantian filled up in no time.
‘Hold on just a bit longer.’
Pretending it wasn’t done, I dramatically inhaled and exhaled a few more times.
Voices of the escort warriors came from the front of the carriage.
“Young Master, we know your dantian is already full.”
“Keep this up, and we’ll have to report to the Heavenly Demon.”
“Whew.”
Letting out a deep sigh, I stood and stepped out of the carriage.
‘I’ll get revenge for sure.’
I’m your cult leader’s disciple, you bastards.
* * *
How long was I rolled by escort warriors who weren’t even my Master?
As the sun dipped low, we arrived at a village.
It wasn’t the final destination, Hwa-jeong.
From the Heavenly Myriad Mountains, the cult’s main headquarters, to Hwa-jeong County was over a thousand li—more than 400 km—an absurd distance.
Unless you were a lightness skill master or riding a steed worthy of the name Thousand-Li Horse, arriving in a day was impossible in this era.
So we planned to rest in Gucha County, roughly midway between the Heavenly Myriad Mountains and Hwa-jeong County, then head on.
And naturally, this Gucha County also hosted a Heavenly Demon Divine Cult branch.
Since we were going to Hwa-jeong County anyway, we’d conduct an audit here in Gucha County as well.
That had been the itinerary and route from the start.
Perhaps because the sun was setting, villagers were finishing work and heading home everywhere.
And we headed not to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult branch, but to the one and only inn in Gucha County.
The reason was simple.
Our great Master had ordered us to hide our identities for the on-site audit.
If we announced ourselves as auditors, we wouldn’t see their usual behavior, he said.
‘Picky about useless details like this.’
Muttering curses about my Master inwardly, the carriage stopped again.
“Gasp.”
As it halted, my body tensed, instinctively ready to deploy lightness skill.
But we’d arrived at the destination now, so no need—realizing that a beat too late.
“Damn it.”
It felt like I’d become Pavlov’s dog; curses slipped out automatically.
After repeating rests and runs, I dragged my sweat-soaked, salt-crusted body—now cold and stiff—out of the carriage.
Then, with Jin Ha-yeon and the two escorts, I entered the inn.
But no voice greeted us from the innkeeper.
Looking around curiously, I saw a middle-aged man who seemed to be the innkeeper talking with a child.
“Sam-pyeong! I told you if you don’t study now, you’ll forget it all!”
“Eung. I don’t wanna study.”
A parent forcing study on a reluctant child—a scene oddly familiar to me.
“Hey! Do you know what an opportunity this is? You have to learn when the cult members are teaching you! Your dad didn’t have anyone to teach him as a kid, so he couldn’t even learn a few characters!”
“But Dad, you’re living fine without knowing characters.”
“That’s because I don’t know them that I’m stuck doing this hard labor! And because I don’t know them, I could only name you Sam-pyeong! I didn’t know many characters!”
He was practically yelling at the kid, but his earnest wish for the child’s success came through.
“So when the cult members give us this chance for our sake, you at least have to seize it!”
And for some reason, as he praised the cult, Jin Ha-yeon and the escorts beside me smiled contentedly.
“As Young Master Il-mok said, opening the school really seems to greatly boost the believers’ faith.”
“......”
To avoid extra work from my Master, I’d thought of something easy to dump on others: a school.
“Ahem.”
Feeling awkward, I cleared my throat loudly, and naturally, the father scolding his son turned to us.
“Oh dear! Welcome! Sorry, I didn’t notice you guests.”
“Hahaha. No harm done. Could you prepare two rooms and some dinner?”
“Yes! I’ll get it ready quick.”
“Hm. And perhaps some bathwater as well?”
At my question, the innkeeper responded cautiously.
“W-well... bathwater costs quite a bit, but is that alright?”
The Shin-gang region wasn’t abundant in water.
For minimal drinking or a quick wash, fine—but preparing enough to soak your whole body meant a price.
But I, drenched in sweat, had no intention of skipping a bath.
“No worries about money.”
Shaking the money pouch I’d received before leaving headquarters, the father’s worried face brightened.
* * *
The next morning, early.
We finished breakfast at the inn and stepped out.
Despite yesterday’s dog-like ordeal, aside from slight fatigue, no major issues.
‘This body really is tough as hell.’
No wonder my Master had his eye on me. Damn it.
Praising my own body as I strolled the village, I saw people in clothes embroidered with the character for “Demon” doing odd jobs here and there.
Cult demon members from the branch, helping villagers.
“Hmm. Looks like the branch demons are smoothly helping villagers in place of the kids.”
Pretending to be unrelated outsiders as we toured the village, we then headed straight for the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult branch.
Beside the branch stood a small makeshift space—that was the temporary school for teaching children.
Since we were hiding our identities for the audit, I couldn’t observe classes openly, so I cautiously approached the building.
“Now, listen and repeat! ‘The sea is salty, the river is fresh’!”
“The sea is salty, the river is fresh!”
“And what does that mean~?”
Through the papered window, I heard the schoolmaster and children studying.
“The first character is ‘sea’ as in ocean, the second is ‘salty,’ so the sea is salty. The third means ‘river,’ and the last is ‘fresh,’ so the river is fresh! In other words, the sea is salty, and the river is fresh!”
“Schoolmaster! What’s the sea~?”
“What does the sea look like?”
“But why’s the character for river shaped like that?”
With young elementary-aged kids, questions flew endlessly after every explanation.
“Now! Quiet, quiet!”
“Schoolmaster! Is the sea really salty?”
“No way! How can water be salty?”
“They must’ve put salt in it!”
“Salt’s so expensive—why put salt in?”
“The sea must be tiny!”
“Quiet, quiet!! The sea is a huuuge body of water! Much bigger than a river!”
The schoolmaster’s amplified voice burst through the kids’ chatter.
But kids being kids, they paid no heed.
“No way!!”
“Much bigger than a river, and it’s salty? How?”
“There must be tons of salt!!”
“Idiot! Dad said salt’s super expensive!”
“Hmph! You’ve never even tasted salt! I have~?”
The kids’ nonstop chatter echoed for a while longer.
Just as I wondered why the schoolmaster’s voice had gone silent.
“You little brats!!!”
A roar infused with internal energy exploded.
At the same time, killing intent and demonic energy began roiling inside the school.
Only then did I realize I’d overlooked one crucial thing.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s demons practiced demonic arts. Naturally, the branch warriors did too.
And demons suffered mental breakdowns as a side effect of demonic arts.
In other words.
I’d left elementary school kids’ education in the hands of lunatics.