The Records Bureau's First Mission (1)
The duties of the Management Records Bureau were quite leisurely.
“Ar, shall we go to a place that serves Sichuan cuisine well this time?”
“Hyung Paeng. Is it okay for us to do this?”
“It’s fine. The director doesn’t mind when he has nothing to do.”
I corrected myself. It was very leisurely.
After reporting for duty, I read the seniors’ work logs, and when lunch time came, I was with my superior Paeng Ju-hyeok, visiting the gourmet spots near the Murim Alliance.
The restaurants in Wuxian, Hubei, where the Murim Alliance is located, seemed to have been all visited.
Surprisingly, fried potato things that shouldn’t exist in this era of China often appeared and surprised me.
‘Is this also due to the dilution of historical authenticity?’
I couldn’t match the game setting and the current reality I’m drifting in 1:1, but I knew at least that some knowledge and settings from the game applied in this world.
Of course, not all concepts from the Black and White Army Alliance War would apply directly. Still, it was useful as a reference to understand the world.
For example, my choice to join the Murim Alliance instead of the Four Black Sects was based on knowledge from the Black and White Army Alliance War.
The Murim Alliance treated vagabonds much more kindly than the Four Black Sects.
In the Four Black Sects, vagabonds were openly used as meat shields, and if they died, they were stripped and eaten. The Murim Alliance used them as consumables but still kept an eye on surroundings. If they died, they would at least leave a few words on the memorial tablet.
In a similar context, I could find changes that seemed to originate from the historical authenticity dilution option in several places.
Books that appeared regardless of the era, but there was even clearer evidence.
First, the name of this country itself.
The Dun Country. There was no such country name in actual China. It was the unique country name from the Black and White Army Alliance War when the historical authenticity dilution was applied.
The great factions like the Five Great Sects or Nine Major Factions had real power levels above regional warlords, almost like warlords. An odd government full of managers who practiced the strange principle of not being able to be harmed by official documents.
But the problem here is…
‘Things like fried potatoes didn’t appear in the Black and White Army Alliance War I remembered.’
The changes in the jianghu wulin were much more extreme than the historical authenticity dilution option in the game I remembered.
‘Maybe it’s the difference between a chaotic era and a mixed era.’
Unlike the chaotic era where people messed up the world with their hands, the mixed era where heaven and earth are mixed. That’s why things like potatoes or chili powder that shouldn’t exist appear.
It was good for me. During my hungry vagabond days, I didn’t know, but while spending money freely, I saw how great the jianghu gourmet level was.
***
“Everyone, what have you been doing until the Shen hour (3 PM to 5 PM) is almost over?”
Upon returning to the Records Bureau, I rarely saw Byeol-ui waiting. His words were casual, but his expression was relaxed, like he was just saying it.
“I went to a place that was a bit far to eat today.”
Paeng Ju-hyeok answered lazily, as if he knew.
Byeol-ui smiled brightly and threw something at us.
The thing shot like a hidden weapon was, of course, a book.
“Records Bureau Paeng Ju-hyeok, Yeok Cheon-myeong. Local investigation mission.”
“Ah.”
A sigh came out involuntarily. There was no one who didn’t like playing and eating in this world.
‘Is the fun martial arts life finally over!’
Moreover, the nature of the missions at the Management Records Bureau was also a problem.
Although I had experience dealing with anomalies, I had learned through my body that dealing with anomalies was much more dangerous than fighting with ordinary gangsters and brawlers.
“Don’t have such a face as if the world has ended. Usually, it turns out not to be an anomaly.”
“Eh?”
Byeol-ui didn’t say more himself and nodded to Paeng Ju-hyeok. The silent pressure that the rest would explain it yourself as the superior was felt.
“Tsk, the director is trying to use young ones for nothing. First, go!”
Paeng Ju-hyeok, who had climbed up to the Records Bureau, tapped the held book.
“See?”
“Huh.”
Even though I knew the book was held in Paeng Ju-hyeok’s hand, it didn’t look proper.
“Even in the Records Bureau, if you set your eyes on it, it gets tiring in many ways, so they made it so that the rulebook is well visible without using the hidden method separately below. But from the moment you go out of the bureau, the story changes.”
“…Then, is it better to read the book content in advance from the lower floor?”
“Principally, yes. But this is your first exploration mission, right?”
Paeng Ju-hyeok shrugged and explained. The Management Records Bureau isn’t affiliated with the Four Black Sects’ punishment unit, and they don’t push new records keepers into the mouth of anomalies.
“Is that how it is in the Four Black Sects’ punishment unit?”
“Uh, probably? They treat the Records Bureau like disposable items, using them once and throwing them away. The investigation unit that’s properly not the punishment unit seems to be treated quite well, but it’s not certain. The heretical factions lie a lot.”
I was surprised by Paeng Ju-hyeok’s attitude, who casually mentioned meeting them, more than the fact that the punishment unit exists in the Four Black Sects.
“If we meet, we don’t fight with each other?”
“We try not to fight as much as possible. If we fight among ourselves, the anomalies would like it more. But, um…”
Paeng Ju-hyeok scanned me up and down.
“You’d better not let them know you’re a records keeper.”
“Are you trying to steal the rulebooks we wrote?”
“If it ends at just stealing level, it’s fortunate. If they hear threats like ‘if you hand over the rulebook, we’ll spare your life,’ just hand it over. But usually, they stab first and then try to steal from the corpse.”
“Insane heretical bastards.”
A curse came out. Paeng Ju-hyeok nodded and agreed.
“Calling them heretical is fine, but I said we don’t need to worry about our mission.”
“Yes.”
“The director has a slightly eccentric side, but he’s still a person who knows the boundaries. He doesn’t push newbies into danger by ordering them to meet first-class anomalies.”
I nodded with ‘ah’ in my head. Of course, a few words from Paeng Ju-hyeok didn’t completely eliminate my worries.
The lowest grade anomaly has the ability to easily handle one or two people, right?
“And actually, most anomaly investigations end with ‘it turns out it wasn’t an anomaly after all.’”
“…Yes?”
“There are many anomalies in the underbelly of jianghu wulin, but more than that, there are overflowing people. Listen carefully.”
Paeng Ju-hyeok told about one of the incidents he investigated.
“There was a stone Buddha carved who knows when and by whom in a deep mountain.”
“From the start, it’s creepy.”
“However, from some day, corpses were found under the Buddha’s feet.”
The shape of the corpses wasn’t normal. Eyes. All the corpses had their right eyes pierced, and a quarter of their heads had evaporated, stacked neatly.
I swallowed saliva. A Buddha that eats people. It was like the deed of a crazy heretical monk who had the alias like Blood Buddha or Demon Buddha.
Since the beginning of the story was ‘it seemed like an anomaly but actually a person did it,’ the culprit of this incident was also likely a person.
‘Is it a Shaolin monk who fell into illusion?’
I reasoned out the truth on my own. If they want to stain the Buddha with blood, there must be some grudge, and if they precisely hit and burst the eye area, they likely have boxing skills centered on close combat.
“Who was the culprit?”
“Ah. It was a high-level expert from the Jingxing Sect who came out to drink after training martial arts.”
“……”
“There was also a bandit nest in the area. When passing under the Buddha’s right big toe, they practiced piercing the right eye precisely to hone the subtlety of swordsmanship.”
‘Insane martial artists!’
I corrected my evaluation of insane heretical bastards. They weren’t even under illusion; they practiced by bursting people’s eyes to kill them while in their right mind.
“If they had that much skill, why didn’t they just exterminate the bandit nest?”
“Ah, that’s also why that person is wise! The group called Green Forest here, which is not really a 72-bandit nest but a bad one. So, they gave them the chance to repent.”
The insane Jingxing Sect high-level expert’s thinking as explained by Paeng Ju-hyeok was this.
‘If dying in front of the Buddha is repeated, we must have offended the will of heaven greatly, so maybe they won’t do banditry?’
In reality, he chose targets delicately. He first targeted Chai Zhu, who was harshly treating his subordinates, burst their eyes, and then the next Chai Zhu who succeeded Chai Zhu’s position also burst their eyes….
Since bandits were afraid to go out, the damage to bandits was also suppressed.
“But there was a part that even his outstanding five elements couldn’t predict. When the bandits disappeared, the activity radius of nearby village residents expanded. An herb collector who saw the corpse and was shocked told us too.”
‘Is it not that they are outstanding in five elements but calmly insane?’
Paeng Ju-hyeok, who didn’t know my confusion, continued while subtly showing his admiration for the ‘heroic deeds’.
“Like this, most of the first mission ends with ‘well, it wasn’t an anomaly after all.’ First, read the orders with a light heart.”
“…Most?”
“Ah. Sometimes anomalies appear. That’s why the escort mission accompanies.”
Suddenly, I missed the Baekgeomdae.