New Member Welcome Party (1)
I arrived at the Rituals Department Preservation Records Office after emptying my stomach as requested by Baek Sam-byeol-ui.
“Hmph. So you’re the newcomer?”
It was a handsome man with broad shoulders and thick wrists. The sword behind his back appeared to have a blade width even wider than a regular dao by an inch. Should I call it a Cham-mado?
“Yes. It is Yeok Cheon-myeong.”
“Name is cool! I am Paeng Ju-hyeok, a record keeper like you.”
“Hebei Paeng Clan?”
Paeng Ju-hyeok smiled broadly and raised his right hand. His four fingers were tightly clenched, only the thumb sticking up, pointing to the sword he carried. It was an unequivocal answer.
The Paeng clan are masters of saber techniques, so the possibility that the warrior who carries a saber is not from the Hebei Paeng clan is even slimmer.
“I saw the five great families at the Murim Alliance war, but this is an honor.”
“Honor? Just someone who was lucky enough to be born. Since I’m the kind of guy my family would spit out, even more so. Call me Paeng-hyung for ease.”
Somehow, even though he is a member of the five great families with a separate position in the Murim Alliance, it was the first time I heard about a member.
It seemed like someone with some conflict with the family. My calculations ended in my head.
Even if he clings, it’s not someone who would beat him saying ‘where did this lowly thing come to fawn?’
“I won’t refuse, Paeng-hyung.”
I was the kind of person who could cling desperately even to polite words.
Before I could get used to fighting enough to properly play the vagabond role, I had almost starved every day. The aversion or resignation had been digested long ago and vanished.
“It’s refreshing and I like it! Then, let’s go down!”
***
While operating the mechanism of the Preservation Records Office, I chatted with Paeng Ju-hyeok about various things.
First, he’s not a senior I just met. Baek Sam-byeol-ui is a direct senior, but the difference in allocation and duties is too great.
The words came out naturally.
The most curious thing about the senior was…
“When do I learn how to operate the mechanism?”
It was about how to enter the Management Records Bureau.
Even if the entry method to the Management Records Bureau is classified, isn’t it appropriate to tell people who have to go there?
Up until now, since I’m not a formal member yet, for confidentiality, but now it’s time to hear it?
‘It’s not like after the welcome party, I’ll have to commute with the senior for a while.’
Just thinking about it is a terrifying future. Regardless of whether the senior is good or bad, the situation of having to commute with the boss.
Paeng Ju-hyeok stroked his chin after hearing my question.
“Hmm, I don’t know about this either. The Records Bureau Chief has to do it himself.”
“Can’t you just bring the books in order?”
“That order to bring changes every day.”
“Tsk, then before leaving work, do I have to read and memorize from some record board?”
I recalled military passwords. Going to the administrative office every day to memorize the changed password isn’t difficult but quite bothersome.
“No. No need for that. If you stand at the door, a voice will come out automatically.”
“…Is there a person in charge of the formation staying inside?”
“If there’s such a person, no need to wait a few days! The mechanism has such a function built-in. I have no idea how they made it.”
It was a surprising story. A formation that knows the personnel of the Management Records Bureau and sends passwords only to them?
“However, maintenance is troublesome. When a new record keeper comes, they have to manually adjust the mechanism, and how long that takes depends on how much free time the chief has.”
“Why such…?”
Isn’t it inefficient? Even for maintaining security of the Management Records Bureau, since all people coming to the Preservation Records Office are record keepers or prospective ones.
“There was a cryptid that tried to infiltrate by wearing the record keeper’s skin.”
A cool one-liner.
“Ordinary mechanisms don’t have a function to change entry methods, right? Then such an incident happened. They successfully repelled it, but after that, the security system of the Management Records Bureau was completely overhauled.”
The current Management Records Bureau is a new facility built in another place after the cryptid’s intrusion attempt. The old one is now used as a warehouse.
“…What happened to the record keeper?”
“Under the skin? Hmm, I think it was eaten by the cryptid. You can see that the cryptids here aren’t really incomprehensible seeds.”
I looked at Paeng Ju-hyeok. For a cryptid that sucks only the content of people and wears the skin, an evaluation of ‘seems understandable from the trail’?
“Tsk, strange. Everyone who hears this story makes the same expression. Let me tell you.”
His added explanation had surprisingly logical reasoning.
First, I had to figure out why the cryptid ate the record keeper. From the black marks left on the cryptid’s body, it was clear the cryptid had inflicted a big wound on the eaten record keeper.
Then, the most plausible interpretation of the chewing behavior is supplementation.
Recovering the injured body through human essence. And incidentally, looking into memories to see how such a human came to kill it.
Feeding tonics for the withered flesh is something humans do, and in that sense, the cryptid also knows it’s bleeding and injured.
“Withering from fighting and groaning means it’s not an invincible, incomprehensible existence that can never be defeated. This incident has value in that it tells us that.”
It was an unexpected logical conclusion.
I was pondering whether I should submit a department transfer request even now, stepping on the stairs.
People were gathered at the central table of the space resembling a library.
“Oh, everyone’s here. There are more people, but the ones who could show their faces now were those four.”
‘…Four?’
A warning rang in my head that something was wrong. There were four people in the Management Records Bureau.
Including the one who brought me here, five.
And yesterday, Baek Sam-byeol-ui said this.
'Including the chief, four will attend the welcome party.'
The numbers don’t match.
The nightmare I had last night and the record keeper skinning incident Paeng Ju-hyeok mentioned just now led to one possibility in my head.
'Among these, if one is a cryptid…?'
“Your expression suddenly hardened?”
“Ah, sorry. Since I thought they were all seniors, my body tensed up.”
Paeng Ju-hyeok patted my back boisterously. Normally, it would be a painful touch that would make tears well up.
But now, no tears come out. It wasn’t a time to be fussy about this much pain.
'First, organize the information.'
First. There were supposed to be four guests for the welcome party.
Second. The book-password for entering the Management Records Bureau changes every day.
Third. The mechanism tells the password only to formal record keepers via voice.
…Fourth. Even if not a formal record keeper, by boarding with the formal record keeper’s entry, one can infiltrate inside the Management Records Bureau.
From just this information, the conclusion that can be drawn is one.
'Paeng Ju-hyeok is a formal record keeper.'
From the five guests, we could exclude only one as a cryptid candidate.
“Haha, the hero who ate the skin of a cryptid is surprisingly nervous! Don’t worry, walk on. I’ll introduce one by one.”
I nodded at Paeng Ju-hyeok’s words. Yeah, first, it’s right to figure it out step by step.
Baek Sam-byeol-ui’s words aren’t absolute truth. There might be someone who joined the welcome party after the mission ended faster than expected.
Because of the nightmare last night, I might be overreacting unnecessarily. I approached the table and greeted energetically.
“Hello! New record keeper Yeok Cheon-myeong!”
The gazes of the four people locked onto me. All were maintaining silence. The eight eyes from the four people flying towards me created a sense of pressure.
“Ah. Understand. I have a lot of aversion.”
Paeng Ju-hyeok sighed and muttered.
“Eh?”
“Actually, among the record keepers gathered today, I’m the most sociable. If we gather those four in one place, even after a few shichen, no one will say a word. Come on, come on, everyone pay attention!”
The four people, instead of being drawn to the loud voice for attention, shrank back. It was a pitiful sight that diluted my sense of crisis in an instant.
I stealthily scanned the four people’s appearances. They all seemed young enough that they might have reached adulthood.
Even if warriors age slowly due to inner energy, isn’t the chief that young?
'Did he use a reverse aging pill?'
“Paeng-hyung, what kind of person is the chief?”
I asked quietly. Paeng Ju-hyeok tilted his head and asked back.
“You didn’t come to work today?”
“…The chief had something happen and entrusted me with the work and left.”
One of the four sitting quietly opened his mouth. But something smelled off.
I chased the source of the scent for a moment. It couldn’t be said to be exactly the same, but similar scents were familiar.
Fishy smell.
“Ah, since you were the first to speak, I’ll introduce you first. Cheon-myeong, that’s Ok Rin over there.”
Ok Rin was a girl with her black hair tied in a single line, and her eyes were green like new shoots. The color was unnaturally vivid. Maybe mixed bloodline from the Western Regions?
“Her personality might be similar to yours.”
“Personality? What do you mean?”
“I ate an abnormal fish that looks like a human, thinking it was a ten-thousand-year fire carp, and my constitution got twisted.”
Ok Rin glared at Paeng Ju-hyeok. He made a scary face and playfully extended his hand.
“Oh, it’s not tasty. The meat is hard, right?”
Tsk, Ok Rin’s gaze moved to me after clicking her tongue.
“I’m sorry earlier. I was choosing words. Right when I came to work, the chief said he had a new employee welcome party today and left. It’s embarrassing, but since he’s originally a busy guy, that’s how it is.”
“Ah…”
I nodded. As the head of a secret organization, he probably meets frequently with the Murim Alliance leaders including the alliance leader.
“Since the chief is absent, how is the Management Records Bureau work handled?”
“It won’t have much impact on you.”
Ok Rin explained that the chief is a key figure in the formation that broadly influences the Management Records Bureau. Even if he is absent, the record bureau won’t collapse, but access to the repository where cryptids are sealed is strictly prohibited.
“There’s also a rule like suspending the import of cryptids to be sealed inside the Management Records Bureau. But you don’t need to remember it right now, so relax.”
I couldn’t relax.
In the end, while the chief is absent, the effectiveness of the great cryptid formation in the Management Records Bureau is reduced, isn’t it?
My eyes looking at the four people filled with caution again.