The Phantom Thief - 2
“The Shadowless Divine Thief has struck again!”
Every time Lim Hayeon hopped another fence, the name on everyone's lips came up more and more often.
“A black paper crane again this time?”
“That's right. They say the man's treasure chest had nothing left inside but a lone black paper crane!”
“So who got fleeced this time?”
“You know that notorious rich fellow—the one famous for his predatory moneylending...”
“First that infamous merchant got hit, and now someone else entirely?”
“That's just how many villainous rich men Wuhan is crawling with.”
“What's so special about this Shadowless Divine Thief, anyway?”
“My friend, have you still not read Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero, the novel that's got all of Wuhan buzzing?”
The more people lent an ear to news of the Shadowless Divine Thief, the greater the fame of Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero grew in turn.
“Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero?”
“The phantom thief from that novel—the Shadowless Divine Thief—has appeared here in Wuhan!”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“If you're curious, go read the novel!”
The phantom thief and the novel. In a Wuhan grown lax after the ghost ship affair, the two became the talk of the town, lending the city a fresh undercurrent of tension.
“The strategy of having Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero and the Shadowless Divine Thief advertise each other seems to be working well.”
I said this to Lim Hayeon as I read through the materials sent over from the Simun in the mansion's study.
“I heard it from Soso. Unlike in Yichang, some people are apparently encountering Hophil's work for the first time through Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero and then joining the Daseohoe because of it.”
“......”
Readers entering through the novel and then joining the club. Delighted as I was to hear our hardcore fan base growing, it did pose a bit of a problem.
“M-Master Kang? Is something worrying youuu?”
She must have caught my expression darkening. Jegal Hyang asked with a concerned face.
“It's nothing. I was just giving some thought to how to run Daseogak going forward.”
“Running Daseogakkk?”
“Our preparations for Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero fans seem a touch lacking. We have a Dang Family Storm menu at Daseogak, but no Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero menu yet.”
Money has to be earned, after all.
“Ahh... yes, of courseee.”
“Hrk! Speaking in the voice of Hophil himself—will you please stop making pronouncements as Master Kang?”
There was no need for either of them to look quite that green about the gills. Granted, from a reader's perspective it's shameless profiteering—I'll admit that much.
“Haha. Disappointed, are we?”
I put on a deliberately sheepish smile.
That's right. Curse me. Curse away. With no way of even guessing how many mouths I'll have to feed in the future, I have to earn hard.
Is this the sorrow of a mask-wearer? My shoulders already feel heavy.
Lim Hayeon watched me for a moment, let out a small sigh, and spoke.
“...Since the Shadowless Divine Thief has to move whenever you get called a crooked merchant, let's brainstorm a good menu together.”
“Lady Hayeon...”
I'm touched.
“I-I'll help tooooo!”
Jegal Hyang looked between the two of us, lowered her head, and came over to me.
“Then let's plan it out, the three of us.”
“Yes. And it's not just the novel—apparently the Simun and the Gimun have been helping out tremendously as well. Word is that if you step into a tavern at night, everyone inside is talking about me.”
“That's possible because it's Lady Hayeon, not because of the Haomen.”
“Because it's me?”
Lim Hayeon tilted her head and asked.
“What kind of gossip would it be if the tavern waitresses and courtesans merely chattered about some rich house being robbed? A phantom thief who commits righteous theft, robbing the corrupt to feed the poor—that's something no one has ever heard of, which is exactly why it's the talk of every table.”
The Haomen's help is considerable, of course. But while the Hyangju could set the tongues of waitresses and courtesans wagging, they could not move the mouths of the people themselves.
The reason the Shadowless Divine Thief's legend kept spreading and reproducing itself without end was that his deeds were so extraordinary they made people's tongues itch.
“Then it was something only possible because of you and me. The Shadowless Divine Thief is something we made together.”
Lim Hayeon said it with a soft smile in my direction.
“Is that how it works?”
Getting recognized by the very person executing the plan I designed as its mastermind—well, that feels good too.
“Um, excuse me... no, wait, that's not itttt.”
“Lady Jegal, is there something you'd like to say?”
Perhaps the middle manager wants recognition too, beyond the planner and the executor. Then of course she shall have it.
“Ah, I, um, that is—it's about Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero. I think people are starting to suspect a connection with Daseogakkk.”
What came out of Jegal Hyang's mouth was entirely different from what I'd expected.
“Now that you mention it, I heard something similar from Soso. She said people are worried the Shadowless Divine Thief might somehow be tied to Daseogak.”
In truth, opinion was sharply divided even among devoted readers about the affair between the novel and the thief.
Some called it an uncanny coincidence, some insisted there was no connection at all—and some even claimed it was a prophecy from the great Hophil himself.
And among them, admittedly, were a few who voiced the cautious suspicion that perhaps the Shadowless Divine Thief was linked to Daseogak, or inspired by the novel.
“Well, we've already prepared a countermeasure for that... Hm? What is it?”
What now? I was about to carry on the conversation when Sibi came looking for me.
“Master Kang Yunho. You said you had urgent business—a visitor has arrived.”
A visitor? Someone from the Joseon Hometown Association? Or a Daseogak employee?
When I asked Sibi, she only shook her head at both.
Who could it be?
Unable to satisfy my puzzlement, I went to the front gate, where a man in a constable's uniform stood waiting.
“Your face seems familiar somehow... but who might you be?”
It wasn't the first time I'd seen him, but I didn't know a single constable by name.
When I pretended to recognize him, the constable brightened and spoke up.
“I knew it, Master Kang! You even remember seeing my face a few times coming and going from the Daseohoe. I'm Jeong, a lowly patrol officer working at the government office.”
A constable from the Daseohoe, then. My premonition was not good. What could this be about?
“Ah, of course—one of the club members. But Constable Jeong, what brings you here all alone?”
Could this be official business from the office? Getting entangled in tiresome affairs would do me no good, so for now I'd flatter him with a warm face and stress our connection.
Constable Jeong's face turned quite serious at my question, and then he spoke.
“Today I've come not as a constable, but as a member of the Daseohoe—to give you a warning.”
“A warning?”
When I asked with a puzzled voice, Jeong glanced around before looking at me.
“There are too many watching eyes. May we speak inside?”
“Please, come in.”
Nothing good ever came of Lim Hayeon being seen unnecessarily. Officially, she was supposed to be at the courtesan house, not in this mansion.
I had Sibi make sure Lim Hayeon and Jegal Hyang kept their distance, then guided Constable Jeong to the sitting room.
“Within a few days, the bailiffs from the government office will come looking for you, Master Kang.”
Jeong took his seat, drained the cup of tea Sibi poured, and got straight to the purpose of his visit.
“The bailiffs?”
“The rich men victimized by a thief calling himself the Shadowless Divine Thief appear to have pressed the higher-ups. They've been asked to investigate Daseogak's connection to the thief.”
Getting robbed apparently didn't sit well with them. So they spent some coin on the officials, did they?
“A connection to Daseogak? There must be some colossal misunderstanding here.”
First things first—play the wronged party. I waved my hands and widened my eyes in denial.
“Of course it's a misunderstanding! Are you not the man who solved the ghost ship case, where the escorts were brutally murdered—the man the people call the Brilliant Bailiff? And now you're accused of ties to a thief! What slander is this!”
Constable Jeong clenched his fist as though he himself had been wronged.
“If a true bailiff says such things, I'm embarrassed beyond words.”
“There's no need for false modesty. It was a case the office itself tried to wash its hands of, citing the non-interference between officials and martial artists. And then a single man of Joseon solved it! When word of your deed spread, from the lowliest patrol officers to the bailiffs themselves, everyone clicked their tongues in admiration.”
After all, if officials kept brandishing the doctrine of non-interference, the ones with the worst headache would be the front-line officers actually responsible for public order.
Thanks to my solving the Nokcheong Escort Agency case—where the escorts and tally-keepers had been slaughtered and every last shipment stolen—my standing in Constable Jeong's heart seemed to be quite high.
Never mind that I'd only done it to recover my own stolen goods.
“Haha. Thank you.”
“A few of us bailiffs argued for your innocence, bringing up the ghost ship case you solved, but the higher-ups wouldn't so much as listen.”
“That's troublesome. If they took a bribe, they won't be coming to investigate with good intentions.”
I put on a troubled, grave expression.
“I understand your indignation. A thief resembling your fiction appears, and suddenly they want to raid Daseogak? What conceivable grievance could the great Hophil and Master Kang have with some common crook? It's absurd!”
Sorry. Actually, it makes perfect sense.
Constable Jeong pounded his chest in frustration.
“As if I weren't already drowning in affairs, now the office sends its men...”
“I'm sorry. All a lowly patrol officer like me can do against the corruption above is come here and tell you to prepare.”
Jeong's clenched fists trembled with indignation.
Had he come because, as a constable, he hated to see the man who'd solved a case the true bailiffs couldn't suffering a slanderous accusation—and, as a Daseohoe member, because he couldn't bear to watch Master Kang endure hardship?
Thanks to Constable Jeong, I'd bought time to prepare.
“Thank you. I'll work out a countermeasure. Have you eaten, by the way?”
“I'd help further if there's anything more I can do. As for a meal... well, Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero has been releasing back to back this month. Haha.”
Jeong scratched his head with an awkward laugh.
Constables were public officials, but at the very bottom of the ladder, their pay was meager indeed.
The crooked ones used to wring every sort of toll from the common folk with the power of the state behind them, like the traffic police of decades past.
Should I slip him some money?
Handing cash to a man who'd come with courage against his superiors' corruption—wouldn't that just drag us both down to the same level?
“I'd like to show my appreciation for your courage, Constable Jeong, but if I did, we'd both become exactly the sort of people they are.”
Let me float the bait, just quietly. A sly sort would take the hook.
“You're right.”
He nodded. So he refuses bribes, then.
I was about to send him off with mere thanks when I caught a flicker of disappointment cross his face.
Ah-ha. So he's the type who won't ask outright, but if you slipped a coin into his sleeve while he protested that you really shouldn't—he wouldn't refuse either.
“Which is why—let's go out. The meal's on me.”
I rose from my seat with a smile.
“Master Kang. As I said just now...”
I know. I know exactly. You're telling me not to embarrass each other. Well then, there's a way around that.
“I think you've misunderstood me. I have no intention of buying you a meal as Kang Yunho.”
First, draw the line clearly—not a bribe.
“I'm sorry?”
Constable Jeong blinked at me, flustered. Why the disappointment? I went on, a hint of a smile in my voice.
“It's not that Kang Yunho is buying Constable Jeong a meal. It's that Master Kang—Daseogak's manager—is buying a meal for a fellow Daseohoe member who loves Hophil's books enough to forget his own meals.”
The manager's treating a loyal regular. That's all.
“Ah!”
I could see the last trace of guilt leave Constable Jeong's eyes.
“And if that still weighs on your conscience, then invite a few other Daseohoe members along as well.”
“Will you talk about Hophil's novels too?”
Jeong asked me with obvious anticipation.
“Of course.”
“Splendid! It seems my eye for judging character was spot-on after all.”
Not really, though.
“They'll come looking within a few days.”
After lunch, I told the two women about my conversation with Constable Jeong.
“I figured he wouldn't stay idle, but I never imagined he'd set the government office in motion this quickly.”
I nodded at Lim Hayeon's words.
I'd predicted what would happen once the Shadowless Divine Thief started his work, but the authorities were moving sooner than expected.
Did we get a little too carried away with the looting?
“Wh-what do we dooo?”
Jegal Hyang looked at me, worry plain on her face.
“There's no need to worry too much. We've all prepared countermeasures together, haven't we?”
It was merely a matter of timing. I'd fully expected the office to come knocking at least once.
Whether the Shadowless Divine Thief was a copycat, or whether some connection existed between Daseogak and the thief—they would certainly interrogate me on all of it.
“It's a place that can invent crimes that don't exist, so we do need to be careful.”
“Then we'll simply have to make sure even the crimes that do exist can be erased.”
“Do you have a plan in mind?”
Do I ever.
A way to make sure nothing interferes with the steady sales of Legend of the Storm Chivalric Hero to come.
“Since it's come to this, let's use the opportunity to clear away every last suspicion.”