Delivery Incident - 8
"I don't know how we could ever repay this debt of gratitude. For starters, at least have a drink with us."
It was the evening of the day the Nokcheong Escort Agency's misdeeds had been dragged into the light.
The Seocheon escorts, who had subdued Nokcheong without a single grave injury thanks to a crushing gap in strength, ushered me straight to a drinking table.
"......"
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect Jegal Hyang to make a request like that. When I'd heard the word "request," I'd assumed she'd want me to take her to some barbecue joint she couldn't bear to enter alone, or drag me shopping, or off to tour some famous scenic spot.
"Young Master Kang? Is something weighing on your mind?"
"Just lost in thought for a moment. Will you be keeping your post as branch manager?"
The man looked ready to weep honey from his eyes. I asked the branch manager who had so nearly been booted into an "honorable" forced retirement.
"Yes. It's all thanks to you, Young Master Kang. Truly, just as the rumors said—his bloodli... Ah! Ahem!"
The Wuhan branch manager belatedly remembered that my being the Tang Clan Head's illegitimate son was a closely guarded secret, and coughed awkwardly.
"What man lives his whole life as his birth decreed? There's someone far more worthy of respect standing right here—isn't there, Branch Manager?"
To steer the topic away, I sang the praises of the Wuhan branch manager, a man who had climbed high despite bearing no Tang name.
"Our branch manager! He volunteered for this wretched posting aiming to climb higher, and he's been on pins and needles wondering whether decades of loyal service would evaporate overnight!"
"You saw that too? The man was pacing his room all night! Hahahahaha!"
"You rascals!"
The branch manager barked at the cackling escorts, face flushed red, but the smile never once left his lips.
"Thanks to Young Master Kang, the lost cargo has been recovered. What a blessing!"
"How on earth did you find the missing cargo in a single day! I was astonished, then astonished all over again!"
"When you named the culprit, I thought Zhuge Liang himself had returned from the grave!"
"Young Master Kang! Hurry and accept the Branch Manager's cup! The rest of us are waiting our turn!"
The escorts shouted, eyeing my cup like wolves sighting prey.
No chance of going home sober tonight.
I accepted the cup the branch manager offered from the bottle in his hand, then rose from my seat and stepped out into the open floor.
If I must drink, let me at least practice some workplace diplomacy first.
"Could I trouble you for a few more cups?"
"Hm? You'll take them all at once?"
"Because the first to be served shouldn't be me."
"......?"
Under the escorts' bewildered stares, I gathered up the cups and filled them one by one, setting each before the empty seats.
The branch manager seems to have caught on to what I'm doing.
The escorts were still sending over baffled looks.
I was, without question, the star of today's show. But the first cup of honor isn't mine to drink.
I gave the cups a silent salute and spoke.
"I have uncovered the truth for you. Please, wash away the injustice with this drink, and pass on to a better place."
"Hohh..."
"Khh—!"
Comforting the spirits of the fallen while, at the same time, honoring the exploits of the men who fought today—the escorts gazed at me, visibly moved.
It might look like empty ceremony, but isn't this exactly what social life is all about?
"...They were diligent lads, every one of them. They'll thank you themselves from the beyond, Young Master Kang."
The branch manager said this with a wry smile.
"I only feel sorry for having made use of them, in a way."
It was true that the Nokcheong Escort Agency had hidden things among the sailors' cargo, but the Seocheon escorts had never actually swallowed any hair.
That detail had been an embellishment, tacked on to give the story more drama—but a lie was a lie, so I owed the branch manager my apology.
"Swallow hair or no, they were escorts who fought to the very last rather than leap into the Yangtze to save their own skins. If anything, they'd thank you, Young Master Kang, for letting their valor ring out even in death."
"That's right! Without Young Master Kang, the lost cargo might never have been found at all!"
"It's spreading through Wuhan faster than wildfire! On my way here, I could hear people carrying on about the Seocheon Escort business in every inn!"
"Then I'm glad to hear it."
"Now take the cup already! My arm's starting to shake! Hahahaha!"
"Gladly."
The branch manager watched me drink with a fond, satisfied look, then soon brought up a puzzling matter.
"Ah! About today, Young Master. It seems a rather more interesting rumor is spreading alongside the rest."
"What is it?"
Finally out.
I drank way too much.
The world was spinning. I knew how to burn off drunkenness with internal energy—but I'd drunk in order to get drunk, so dispersing it now would defeat the whole point. Even murim folk don't care for that trick.
Zigzagging, I somehow managed to push open the inn's door.
"The Association Leader's back!"
"You've returned!"
"What's all this? Big night for late-night deliveries? Why is it so packed?"
It was deep into the night, yet the inn's first floor was swarming with members of the Hometown Association.
And not just the deliverymen. Some festival I wasn't informed of, apparently.
"Our renowned constable of Joseon! Come, take this seat!"
Renowned constable?
What are they on about?
"All of Wuhan is in an uproar, saying Association Leader Kang used brilliant deduction to expose every last one of the Nokcheong Escort Agency's crimes, then felled the agency head with a flick of his fan!"
"Saying a constable of Joseon solved what neither the officials nor the murim could! The streets, the inns—it's nothing but the ghost ship and Association Leader Kang right now!"
"They were raising a racket in the inns, shouting, 'Do you even know who he is? He's our Association Leader, the proprietor of the Ungi Inn!'—bragging to beat the band!"
"Haha..."
So the "interesting rumor" the branch manager mentioned was the renowned-constable story?
The ghost ship had kicked up such a storm that the tale of master detective Kang Yunho—unearthing a cargo no one else could find—must have spread right along with it.
And a master detective who can even fire a tranquilizer gun? All the more extraordinary.
"We heard the news of you and got so pleased we threw ourselves a little feast."
Chef An murmured this to me, sipping from a cup in a corner of the room.
Like folks back in South Korea finding joy in watching their athletes compete in overseas leagues through hard times—were the Joseon people of Wuhan toasting because they finally had someone to be proud of?
"So tell me what happened tod—ack! What?!"
"Read the room, you idiot!"
One of the deliverymen smacked Jegom-i upside the head.
"What? What is it?"
"Sister-in-law is waiting for you upstairs."
"At this hour?"
I lifted my head and looked up toward the third floor.
"When she was hearing the renowned-constable part, she couldn't keep the smile off her face. But the moment they got to the part about you fighting the escorts and subduing the agency head, the color just drained right out of her. You should... probably go up."
Did I worry her that much?
"And, Association Leader—if I may offer a word of honest counsel."
The deliveryman said this with unbounded gravity.
"Hm?"
"Sister-in-law's eyes are blazing red up there—how could you bring another woman into your room?"
"What are you talking about?"
When did I ever?
"Sister-in-law can't sleep a wink, she's up working—and how could you bring home the Zhuge Clan's young lady? I saw it with these two eyes of mine, the two of you heading out together again just today."
The deliveryman jabbed a finger at his own two CCTV cameras.
How do I put this. I glanced around, and every last one of them was staring at me with their lips pressed tight.
So THAT was why the staff's faces turned strange every time I brought Jegal Hyang to the inn lately.
"That's right! Fine, the Zhuge Clan's girl has a pretty face, a grand clan name, deep pockets, and looks tame enough, but... Huh?!"
"Hey! Watch your mouth in front of the Association Leader! Don't you know the Central Plains way? THE CENTRAL PLAINS WAY! Around here, if a man has the ability, he can court more than one woman at a time!"
"The Central Plains way, you say?"
"Exactly. The Association Leader picked up Central Plains culture faster than anyone—he's simply doing his courtship the Central Plains way too."
"Even so! Sister-in-law is right up there this very moment, unable to sleep, wearing a hole in the floor!"
"True. Whatever else, the principal wife is Sister-in-law!"
This is about to turn into an actual brawl.
"Enough of this chatter—enjoy yourselves, all of you. And don't you worry. The drink's got my head swimming, so I'm heading up."
Playing it off as nothing, I thumped the back of the deliveryman who'd first offered his earnest counsel, and climbed toward the third floor—where the final boss awaited.
I stood before the office door, feeling the stir of life on the other side of it.
Going along with Lim Hayeon would have drawn far too many eyes, so we had agreed that I would wait for her. And then I had waded into danger far beyond anything we'd imagined.
"I'm... back."
Is this how a brand-new husband feels—running a company dinner to the third round without a word to his wife, then slipping into a dark house without a sound?
I swallowed drily for no good reason and eased the door open.
I'm dead.
The instant the door swung wide, I saw Lim Hayeon sitting at the desk, brows knitted into a peculiar scowl, waiting for someone.
A fine, thorough scolding incoming.
I screwed my eyes shut and braced for the waterfall of nagging to come.
"Huh?"
But the first thing I felt was a warm hand against my cheek.
"Are you all right?! Are you hurt anywhere?"
I opened my eyes to find Lim Hayeon standing an inch away, gazing at me with a face full of worry.
"Nothing's hurt."
I answered, feeling a little dazed.
"Haah. I told you to run, not to fight! The one decent thing you have going for you is that face—what were you planning to do if it got ruined?"
"You're not angry?"
"I am. I'm simply holding it in until I've confirmed every last piece of you is in one piece."
Lim Hayeon looked me over this way and that for a good while, then let out a small sigh of relief.
And now comes the anger. Fine—might as well charge in headfirst.
"It's thanks to Miss Hayeon that I came through unscathed. I was throwing hidden weapons with the Shadowless Body Art—even the escorts, veterans of a hundred brawls, couldn't cope with it."
"That's exactly why I told you to take me with you."
"Too many eyes on me, you understand. But wielding the Shadowless Body Art... it almost felt as if you were right there beside me, Miss Hayeon."
It was all you, Hayeon. It honestly wasn't dangerous at all. Time for some desperate persuasion.
Lim Hayeon thrust out her lips in displeasure and surveyed me up and down, then soon let her shoulders slump, as if she no longer had the strength to be angry.
"...It all worked out, then?"
Seems I passed inspection, mercifully.
"Who do you take me for? 'The truth is always one! The culprit is you!' The moment I declared that, every soul in the room went weak in the knees."
I laughed, jabbing a finger at empty air like some fabled master detective.
"Well done. That's so like you."
Lim Hayeon gazed at me as if I'd done her proud, then lightly took hold of both my shoulders.
Her breath ghosted featherlight against my face.
Wordlessly, Lim Hayeon kept looking at me with strangely trembling eyes.
This... the mood is getting a little strange.
Her blue eyes look lovelier than ever tonight.
Is it because I just got 'Sister-in-law' shouted at me downstairs? The drink? Or is it that she's fussing over me instead of scolding me?
And now I'm painfully self-conscious for no reason at all.
Get a grip, Kang Yunho. One drunken slip and the Sichuan Tang Clan will...
The Tang Clan?
Huh?!
"Oh no!"
Startled, I bolted for the window.
"What?!"
"I forgot to recover the hidden weapons after the fight!"
"Aren't hidden weapons single-use?"
Only a certain grade-school master detective, best friends with a professor living fat off patent royalties, could get away with that.
"Fire them enough times and they count as reusable. And these are Tang Clan originals—there's nowhere in the world to replace them."
Why on earth did I forget to collect them?
"You think we could find them if we went now?"
The Nokcheong escorts had been hauled off in custody, and the agency grounds were sealed by Mangeum Jeonjang's people even now. If we searched, I believed we could turn them up.
Could I really comb the place alone at night, though? This is exactly the kind of moment when...
With a slightly sheepish look, I scratched my head and asked her.
"Care to join me for a night stroll?"
Lim Hayeon stared at me in sheer disbelief—and then burst out laughing.
"Yes. Let's."
"It was a joint operation between the Nokcheong Escort Agency and the Ilga Trading Company."
A few days later, the branch manager sent word that I simply must come to the Seocheon Escort Agency, so I dropped by together with Lim Hayeon.
"You're saying the Nokcheong Escort Agency didn't act alone?"
"When we interrogated the escorts, it came out that the Ilga Trading Company had bribed the sailors, and Nokcheong had hired the escorts and masterless swords to carry out the deed."
The Ilga Trading Company would pocket the compensation and move its business back to Nokcheong, and Nokcheong, in turn, could drive Seocheon under.
So it was a partnership with profit on both sides.
"No wonder I kept thinking they'd blown the affair up far bigger than it needed to be."
"The Mangeum Jeonjang and the Seocheon Escort Agency will be handling matters from here. But during the investigation, something strange came up. I felt that you and Miss Hayeon both needed to hear it, which is why I've asked you here."
"And what would that be?"
Something not just I, but Lim Hayeon needs to hear?
Lim Hayeon and I exchanged bemused looks.
"Among the information you gave us, you said the swordsman who came off the ship looked over the cargo and declared, 'It's not here! Move it and search!'—did you not?"
"Yes. Wasn't that him searching for the shipments for which the Seocheon Escort Agency would owe a ruinous sum in compensation?"
Why bring that up now? I stared at the branch manager, startled.
"No. That swordsman was searching for something else entirely."
"Then what?"
"On investigation, the man turned out to be a warrior hired separately from outside. And he is said to have spoken, word for word, exactly this."
"Which was?"
He wasn't hunting for some object hidden inside the cargo?
I had taken it to mean that the ship's hold was too hard to inspect, so they should move the cargo and search it.
The branch manager looked between me and Lim Hayeon, then faithfully delivered the swordsman's exact words.
The true identity of what the man had been seeking within that cargo.
It was—