The Records Bureau's First Mission (2)
Paeng Ju-hyeok urged me to read the booklet he had been given before the mission. I sighed and focused my inner energy on my eyes.
The blurry focus gradually sharpened, and the full contents of the book slowly came into view.
It was not nearly as thick as the rulebook I had seen in Manghon Villa. It was thinner than a proper book—more like a report.
『Changsu Village Anomaly』
“Changsu Village?”
“Yeah. Based on normal courier routes, it would take about four days from here. Not as remote as Sansan Yugok, but the terrain is rugged, so it’s not the usual path couriers prefer. Still…”
“…if we take the mountain shortcut, we can cut the straight-line distance dramatically. It’s the kind of route used when carrying expensive or rare goods, or when an urgent and fast delivery is required.”
“Carrying heavy loads up mountains isn’t exactly easy, and you rarely get paid extra unless you’re desperate. The water there is decent, and the wine actually tastes good…”
“It sounds like a village that makes its living from the lodging business targeting couriers.”
“That’s right. But what’s going on over there…?”
“Uh, Paeng-hyung must have received the same booklet. Aren’t you going to read it?”
Paeng Ju-hyeok laughed loudly.
“My eyes hurt.”
“What?”
“Having a senior is nice. You get to hear the junior supervisor read it as an excuse. Here—read the rest.”
…That guy really did have some strangely twisted personality. I scratched my head and continued reading the rest of the booklet.
The booklet detailed the anomaly incident that had occurred in Changsu Village.
One of the female attendants working at the village inn had suddenly vanished. She was later found hanging from a paulownia tree at the village outskirts.
What made it even stranger was that she had been pregnant. She had been working at the inn right up until the day before her body was discovered.
“Could it have been due to financial hardship?”
“No. According to the booklet’s records, from the inn side…”
While slowly reading the lines, I felt something off.
“Hey, why is this written so detailed? It’s not like they just copied the entire government office investigation record.”
“Is that right?”
Paeng Ju-hyeok simply nodded.
“What?”
“Ah, the Records Bureau can actually look up case files submitted to the government office. I was curious how that’s possible, so I asked the star senior once. He just said it would hurt if I knew.”
Of course it would hurt.
Wow, they had blatantly stolen government secrets. It was no wonder there was no problem with it.
Unless there was some secret connection between the government office and the Murim Alliance. If that fact ever came out, even if the emperor whose eyes rolled back drew his sword, no one would be able to say a word!
I stuck out my tongue at the Murim people’s sense of security and turned the page.
After the first female attendant hanged herself, the very next day another woman who had been working at the inn met the same fate—hanging from a paulownia tree.
The village chief of Changsu Village had reported the chain of deaths to the government office, but all they could uncover was that none of the victims had any reason to die.
The chain hanging deaths had been speculated to be the rampage of a mad sex maniac because no one had witnessed the victims’ movements, they had no reason to die, and all the victims were women.
However, the government office had been unable to uncover anything beyond that, which was the conclusion recorded in the booklet.
I stared at the final paragraph at the end of the booklet.
『Note: Since the chief could not hear the last words, the possibility that it was the work of a cryptid is low. However, it was dispatched in preparation for exceptional situations.』
“Last words,” huh.
Did the chief have the ability to hear the voices of the deceased?
Was there such a martial art in the world? Even assuming it was the sword technique of Zuo Dao Fang, it was a method that was hard to understand easily.
“I roughly get it,” Paeng Ju-hyeok said, nodding.
“What?”
“You already know? What are you talking about?”
Before reading the final paragraph that stated the possibility of it being the work of a cryptid was low, I had been imagining twisted tree demons.
Like the man-eating trees in Gwigok-ja’s formation, perhaps the strangely twisted paulownia demon hadn’t been harming people.
“The first victim was a woman, right? The child she was pregnant with was probably the seed of the courier agency’s third young master or someone of similar status at the time.”
“…?”
A love story completely unrelated to cryptids spilled out. I asked in confusion.
“Since she was going to depart for an urgent courier mission, she might not have been the third young master of the courier agency.”
“Uh, she thought it was just a one-night stand, and when she said she was pregnant and asked to be taken back to her family, the prince disguised it as suicide and killed her?”
This motive was one I had often seen in dramas or detective novels rather than wuxia stories. Paeng Ju-hyeok shook his head.
“You have a sharp eye for cryptids but a bit slow when it comes to people and their relationships? Why would someone kill for no reason. You’ll make Changsu Village hate you.”
It was probably enough to be a warning not to dream.
The reason there were no traces of being kidnapped by external forces? Because I had gone there myself.
The reason she had looked happy until that day? Because she had been dreaming of escaping the village corner.
“Cruel rejection led to suicide.”
“Why exactly a paulownia tree? Probably because the young master’s name contained the character ‘death.’ If you draw a peach, ‘death’ and ‘peach tree’ come out.”
“Oh, is that the reason? I was just guessing that it was because the paulownia flowers are pretty.”
I brushed off Paeng Ju-hyeok’s absurd words.
“Then what about the second death?”
“You seem to have answered it yourself.”
“What?”
“The prince, who sensed that the deceased left a clue with the peach, hanged one of them, right?”
“……”
“If the pregnant woman died from the peach tree, she might be suspected someday, but if one more dies, she will be cleared from suspicion.”
Paeng Ju-hyeok submitted an eerily accurate answer and nodded.
“Indeed, it was a verbal clue using the peach. I didn’t know why they would kill others to go deeper into the abyss when it was just something that wouldn’t damage their face if they just denied it. If they were clearly pointing to the target, they would have made such foolish choices…”
It was absurd. I had figured out the development and motive of the case from my seat but hadn’t even guessed the dying message.
“You said you didn’t guess the peach verbal clue, but how did you know the other context so well?”
“Ah, that. If a corpse dies in a weird way, it’s usually related to sex. I thought about similar cases from when I investigated.”
I looked up at the sky.
The Jianghu Murim world where such things happened casually felt strangely resentful.
“Well, don’t be too sad that the secret was revealed in advance. It’s just my guess.”
“Why would you be sad for such a reason?”
Like the star being a cryptid, Paeng Ju-hyeok also clearly had a weird personality.
I wondered if the personnel standards of the Records Bureau were weird personalities, and then I was shocked.
Records Bureau members have no choice but to often face cryptids in their jobs. And as the star said, cryptids shake the emotions of the people they face evenly, giving shock to both body and mind.
It’s a natural job environment where the longer the service period, the more the personality gets dirty!
Damn it. My senior Paeng Ju-hyeok has become like a supporting character in a detective comic who is too used to killing.
I had deep worries about what kind of person the chief was.
“Eh? Wasn’t it. Then it’s good.”
Paeng Ju-hyeok, unaware of my worries, nodded and told the next procedure.
“If it seems like it’s not a cryptid but a human’s doing when inferring the truth of the case, find evidence for it and return.”
“Then this time, go to Changsu Village and investigate the courier groups mainly using the mountain passes, and find someone among the personnel of that courier agency whose name contains ‘peach’. Also, look for rumors about women to make it more accurate.”
“Uh, there’s no need to find the culprit all the way. Usually, it’s enough to note that no cryptid qi is felt at the scene.”
***
“This feels a bit chilly somehow.”
“Yeah. Recently the sunlight is scorching, so I was planning to walk at dawn, but if I had known the mountain shade would be this refreshing, I would have had breakfast and left.”
I traveled with Paeng Ju-hyeok for several days to Changsu Village. Even if it’s a collateral branch, it’s one of the Five Great Sects, and they know food stalls that are cheap but delicious.
Of course, Paeng Ju-hyeok doesn’t know all the restaurants across the Central Plains, so there were moments when I had to worry about where to eat.
I stepped in then. Thanks to absorbing the cryptid’s blood, my sense of smell became much more sensitive and could instinctively detect the scent of a good restaurant.
Even in approaching Changsu Village, such delicious smells were coming out.
“Oh, there’s a good smell. I can look forward to the meal after the investigation.”
“Is that so? I don’t catch that smell. It suddenly feels colder…”
The moment we entered the small, somewhat maintained road after the forest shade. Suddenly Paeng Ju-hyeok closed his mouth.
I turned my head following his gaze.
It was snowing at an odd time in Changsu Village.
The source of the delicious smell was white, piled up snow.
It was the cryptid’s scent.