Chapter 155: That's Secondary Victimization, You Moron
The kids looked confused, so Won Seung spoke up.
"Let them all think that. If one of my comrades gets caught, they can call me out anytime, so stay on guard."
"Something feels off. It's not quite what I think of as 'comrades.'"
"You'll get it eventually. Just remember this: protect each other, but don't trust anyone."
Won Seung laid down the top priority guideline and asked again.
"Tell me your cover identities. I'm a Hyeongbu investigator."
"We went into the capital's underworld. Ak-gyo and I are in the black society, those guys are in the Paeinbang."
Il-sal spoke on behalf of Ak-gyo's crew. As expected... they were living up to their names and personalities.
"I work at a seodang."
"I play the geom at a teahouse."
So-hyang and Bing-seol spoke while glancing at Mu-a. Mu-a replied indifferently.
"I'm unemployed. And I'll stay that way. What's my name? Mu-a of mu-a-ji-gyeong. So unemployed fits."
"I'm a homeless bum."
Jang Chil chimed in right away. These idiots... unemployed and homeless as cover identities?
Bi-ryu-hyang scratched his head and said,
"Can't find a job. Heard it's a tough market these days."
Won Seung asked So-hyang. Her answer was the most unexpected, so he was curious.
"What do you do at the seodang?"
"Look after the kids, feed them... I know how to read, so they hired me on the spot."
Hmm. They needed a woman who could wrangle kids.
Won Seung told Bi-ryu-hyang,
"Snoop around Sacheon Escort Agency. Even as a porter, just get in."
"Got it."
Won Seung immediately assigned tasks.
"Ak-gyo's crew, map out the capital's black society and underworld forces. Dig into the Hao Men too."
"So-hyang, look after the kids for now..."
A seodang of all places... the farthest thing from the martial world. Nothing for her to do.
"Mu-a, you're Bing-seol's maid."
"Maid? I said I don't wanna work."
"You think Bing-seol's gonna make you do anything?"
Mu-a sidled up to Bing-seol and patted her head.
"Yeah, I gotta take care of this one."
"No. 11! I told you not to! It's weird!"
Bing-seol scowled and swatted Mu-a's hand away. Won Seung eyed Mu-a suspiciously too.
That guy's acting kinda off...
"Teahouses are full of gossip. Note down any useful info. Bi-ryu-hyang, once you're in the escort agency, set up a network with the kids everywhere. Especially essential: contact with Dongho-gun at the Murim Alliance."
"What about me?"
Jang Chil asked. What was a homeless bum gonna do?
"Everyone contact Jang Chil. He's homeless, so he can wander around linking us up."
"That's gonna keep you super busy... Can a bum really be that busy?"
"You can."
"What're you gonna do?"
Me? I'm busy just surviving.
Come to think of it, he was the one without a proper disguise. Posing as a Dang Clan target meant eating poison and getting hunted by the Geumuiwi...
Won Seung said,
"I'm telling you all upfront: I'm the most dangerous one here. If something happens to me, go dark immediately."
"Why're you dangerous?"
"I'm gunning for Jeokhyeolsan headquarters. I'll find its location before spring ends."
"Whoa!"
The kids exclaimed in admiration.
* * *
The next day marked the third day since he'd taken the poison.
Won Seung, who arrived early for work, busted his ass all morning, then around lunchtime he wobbled, mumbling he felt dizzy. Suddenly his face flushed red, he clutched his chest, and collapsed.
Jo-wi Yoo-seon and Jang Hyo-gan freaked out, hoisted him up, and rushed to the nearby Gyeongseongbu Medical Office.
The Gyeongseongbu Medical Office was huge, treating not just officials but commoners too. And it had plenty of skilled physicians.
The emergency physician took his pulse, asked about his condition, then called in the others.
They flipped his eyelids, peered at his tongue, drew blood—made a huge fuss—then huddled together whispering. The first doc approached with a grave face.
"Joo Dae-in, it looks like poisoning."
"Poison? What do you mean... Who would poison me...?"
Won Seung asked, pale as a ghost.
Yoo-seon and Jang Hyo-gan, who'd overheard, jumped.
"Trying to poison a Hyeongbu investigator? That's a major crime."
Yoo-seon bolted to the outer office, while Jang Hyo-gan drew his sword and stood guard by Won Seung's head, demanding of the physician,
"Make an antidote."
"Well..."
The doc looked troubled.
"It's beyond our skills to make a full antidote."
Of course. If anyone could detox Dang Clan poisons, they wouldn't be called poison masters.
Jang Hyo-gan scowled.
"What? You can't detox it? Then what do we do?"
"We'll do our best, but... prepare yourselves."
"Prepare?"
Won Seung asked weakly.
"It's a deadly toxin. If it flares up, your heart stops in seven to fourteen days."
"Kuhk!"
Startled by the death sentence, Won Seung yelled and passed out, eyes rolled back. Jang Hyo-gan jolted him upright and channeled qi into his Mingmen point; he came to quickly.
Won Seung lamented,
"Jang Jo-wi... They say I'm dying. I'm only nineteen... Haven't even married..."
"Joo Dae-in, don't lose hope. This is the capital. We'll scour it top to bottom for a master healer. Don't believe these quacks."
The watching physicians bristled at that.
"Hmph, the Gyeongseongbu Medical Office has the best docs in the capital. We figured out it's poison; others would've called it some adult ailment. Folks even come from the provinces."
"You bragging right now? Hurry up and figure out an antidote!"
Jang Hyo-gan bellowed.
The slighted doc replied coldly,
"We don't even know the exact ingredients. Botch the antidote, and he could drop dead on the spot."
"Drop dead?"
Won Seung rolled his eyes back and fainted again. Jang Hyo-gan didn't wake him this time. He sighed deeply and said,
"Let him rest for now. Find a way to detox him."
Word that Won Seung had been poisoned spread through the Hyeongbu outer office in less than half a day. Mu Gi-an came rushing in shock.
"What happened?"
Won Seung shed fat tears.
"Some bastard poisoned me. Even the Medical Office docs can't do shit."
"Who the hell would dare... I'll investigate this myself."
"No... Mu-hyung, better stay out of it. You could get hit too."
Better to have a stray dog investigate than hand it to Mu Gi-an.
"Nah. I've got backing..."
Mu Gi-an trailed off, clearly hiding something.
Won Seung pieced together what he'd suspected.
Geumuiwi's behind him, huh?
Was it common for a Samya-hyeon detective to rocket to Hyeongbu investigator? And now Mu Gi-an had been promoted right after him.
Won Seung had suspected the shadow of the Geumuiwi around him was Mu Gi-an; that slip confirmed it.
"Anyway, I'll catch the culprit for sure."
"What good's that? I'll be dead by then."
"We'll bury you together."
Hmm. Was this guy nuts again? Burying victim and perp together? That's secondary victimization, you moron.
"Not the time. Where's your statement?"
"Yoo Jo-wi took it."
Yoo-seon had taken Won Seung's recent movements and meals.
Simple stuff.
Just back and forth between home and Outer Office Room 7 of the Sixth Division. Meals at home or the outer office cafeteria, except one outing: three days ago, on the way to Samya-hyeon for business, lunch of soba and tea at an open-air tavern.
The routine of an utterly diligent official.
Yoo-seon walked in just then.
"Joo Dae-in, that open-air tavern's suspicious. Someone else ran it from two days before you stopped by until the day you ate. We nabbed the original old couple owners; we'll ID the guy soon."
Gasp—they'd arrested that old couple? Won Seung recalled them. He knew they were innocent.
Hyeongbu prison tortures were brutal. Nothing would come from tormenting clueless elders... but they'd torture till they dropped.
Won Seung rose.
"I'll interrogate them myself."
"No, you need rest."
"Every second now is chipping away at my life. You feel this? Can't stand still."
Won Seung staggered into fresh clothes; Yoo-seon was moved.
Handling cases even facing death.
Then the physician entered.
"Patient, where do you think you're going?"
"Sitting here's useless. Gotta work. I'll die on the job right up to the end."
"Don't... How about we try detoxing first?"
The doc's eyes gleamed. He seemed to know the poison but couldn't name the Dang Clan. Still, he itched to try on Won Seung—pure curiosity sparkling in his eyes.
You punk. Think you can detox Dang Clan's secret Sam-o-dan-sim-san?
No one knew Dang poisons better than Dokgoe. Maybe even better than most Dang folk. He'd documented them thoroughly, antidotes included. Won Seung knew exactly what he'd ingested.
A quack antidote could kill him for real.
"Didn't you say botched detox could kill instantly? What's my survival odds?"
"...Fifty-fifty."
"Sure?"
"Eighty percent?"
"Screw it. Better live a full fortnight than instant-death detox. Or try after."
"By then it'll be in your bones—no one saves you."
"I'll think a day more."
"Decide quick. Poison's eating your veins as we speak."
As Won Seung returned to the outer office, Geum Hyeong-cheol of the Sixth Division called him in. Chief Investigator Eun Bang-seo was there too.
"You really poisoned?"
"Yes. Kuh-huk! My life's down to days."
Won Seung milked some tears. Geum Hyeong-cheol and Eun Bang-seo had no words for his terminal state.
"Hmm... A master like you poisoned. Who dares poison a Hyeongbu investigator?"
"Too late now. Bingbu Shirang's second son Hong Il-wan seems suspect... but I'll croak before proving it."
Won Seung grabbed papers from Samya-hyeon County Magistrate on Geum Hyeong-cheol's desk and handed them over.
"Handle this before I go. My last case."
"Ah... Cases till death. You're the model investigator."
Eun Bang-seo admired.
Thanks to that, the Bang Clan ruined estate sale refund petition from Samya-hyeon got fast-tracked. Rare for Hyeongbu to wrap it without court delay.
Back in Outer Office Room 7 of the Sixth Division, Won Seung gave the resolution doc to Jo-wi Yoo-seon.
"Deliver this to Samya-hyeon. Jang Jo-wi, you're with me to the prison."
His grim tone sent Yoo-seon dashing off with the doc to Samya-hyeon.
Won Seung headed to Hyeongbu prison with Jang Hyo-gan.
The old couple trembled in their cell but lit up seeing familiar Won Seung.
"My lord, save us."
"Relax. I don't torture the innocent."