Transfer (1)
After confirming my transfer to the Management Records Bureau, the first mission I was assigned was....
“Prepare your personal belongings and come to the Rituals Department. You need to move to the accommodation.”
It was a transfer.
It wasn't a particularly labor-intensive task. Since the Baekgeomdae was essentially a gathering of vagabond martial artists, even if it was somewhat distant from the main headquarters of the Murim Alliance, we didn't have much in the way of personal possessions to begin with.
The fact that my disposition wasn't the issue but rather that I had no money, making it half-forcibly my situation, was deeply saddening.
“Ah, tsk.”
While sorting through my belongings, I realized something was missing. After thinking about it, it was my leather pouch.
The leather armor worn underneath the outer robe was tough enough to save my life once in a fight among third-class martial artists.
The problem was that the shadow creature that had burst forth from the Manghon Villa wasn't on the level of third-class at all. Since I was barely in the second-class realm, the guy who was a few moves above me was at least first-class.
In terms of the precision of his sword arts, he might have even been in the peak realm. The only saving grace was that his internal energy was still immature.
“If that guy had eaten me and replenished his energy, then broken out into the world, he would have easily reached the peak realm.”
It was clear that he had fought me fiercely, tearing my pouch to pieces. Or perhaps the pouch had stuck to my body due to the blood and was torn off by some medicine man.
Either way, it was necessary to properly diagnose my body. Regardless of which, he had saved my life, so although it was uncomfortable, I decided to let it go.
After gathering the items into the leather pouch and heading out, I saw a familiar face.
“You. What are you doing?”
The guy with the striking feature of short-cropped red hair, belonging to the vagabond group, had a handsome face that was hard to imagine for a vagabond, and even more unbelievable internal energy, the leader of the Baekgeomdae.
I had heard that the red hair was due to the hot sun qi martial art affecting him.
“Leader Jak? What's the matter?”
“What matter? After all the Baekgeomdae members who were sent to the labor unit for the demon extermination came back dead, the leader should at least do a debriefing.”
Leader Jak, Jak-su, shook the basket in his hand. It seemed like a gift for a sick visit.
“I heard the senior doctor was handling it, so I thought it would be easy to find, but he wasn't in his bed. I thought he had already died and entered the underworld...”
Jak-su scanned me up and down. He tilted his head as if something was off.
“Has your qi increased, stayed the same, or decreased? There's no way it's the Reverse Bone Needle...”
I had thought he was unusually skilled for a vagabond, but his insight was beyond imagination.
He had seen through my chaotic internal energy from the simultaneous consumption of True Origin Qi and replenishment from the anomaly.
“Amazing. Indeed, Leader Jak is the disciple of a prestigious family sent secretly by the Murim Alliance?”
“What?”
I shrugged my shoulders. We weren't usually on such personal terms, but since I was about to move to another department.
It was okay to be a bit more casual with someone I wouldn't see again.
“Leader Jak's martial arts are a powerful hot sun energy that wouldn't be seen in most sects. On top of that, he often revealed knowledge that was hard for a vagabond to know. I thought you were the supervisor secretly planted by the Murim Alliance to manage the quality of the Baekgeomdae.”
In fact, the Murim Alliance hiring vagabond groups was a perfect environment for infiltration.
So, I thought Jak-su was the first filter to weed out external forces' spies.
“Can it be viewed that way...”
Jak-su muttered as if it was unbelievable. His usual low, slightly hoarse voice was now at a somewhat higher pitch.
Jak-su shook his head leisurely and said clearly.
“I have no backing. I'm from the same vagabond background as you guys.”
“So, did he learn hot sun qi through self-study?”
To reach such a level by training alone while looking at secret manuals found in caves. Truly enviable talent.
“No, that's not it. What are you doing now?”
“An assignment transfer order came down, so I was sorting my belongings.”
Since he had an expression as if he had never heard of it before, I suggested he sit down. Originally, the room was for four people, so now that everyone except me had disappeared, there were many empty seats.
“Leader Jak, you didn't hear the story? Hmph, this is why high-ranking officials are like this.”
I cursed in my heart at the heavens. Didn't they say the administrative procedures necessary for transferring were all handled by the Management Records Bureau?
It was fortunate that I had the sample answer to tell them when asked exactly where the Murim Alliance was transferring me.
“What happened?”
“While introducing the residents in preparation for the demon's attack, we were trapped in the formation unfolded by some unknown person.”
The story from there was a dry report that removed a lot of reality.
All the strange things like a forest that devours the spirit of a person who saw the Eight Trigrams, or a shadow born in the villa, were excluded.
“I happened to escape the formation by luck. But the Murim Alliance's Formation Research Department seemed to think I had the talent to decipher formations after hearing about it.”
This was the setting provided by the Management Records Bureau.
The Murim Alliance's Formation Research Department was indeed a real department, but it was extremely rare for them to go out because they were busy creating and deciphering various formations.
It was common for them not to show their faces outside the department for months during the development period where they actually experienced the formations and modified the shortcomings.
...That was Baeksambyeol's explanation.
“That guy boasted that he had already finished all the administrative processing, but the leader apparently didn't hear it.”
While worrying if Baeksambyeol's setting was bogus, I kept talking.
Being caught in the formation was definitely bad luck, but thanks to it, I got a promotion, so it was somewhat good luck.
“...Hah.”
Jak-su let out a sigh in a low voice after hearing my voice.
“First, congratulations.”
“Thank you. I don't know why no word has reached the leader yet. When I transfer to the Research Department, I'll ask.”
“Well, it's obvious what the Murim Alliance main unit guys think.”
[Hey, Cheon-myeong.]
“After all, vagabonds live day by day, so who would care if one disappears. It's fine. Just don't make a bad impression in the new department.”
[Just agree with it while entering.]
“Hmph, hearing that makes me worried. Aren't you being thrown into testing the newly made formation?”
“It could be. Just live by leaving your body.”
[Don't trust the Murim Alliance.]
“My master died because of the Murim Alliance. Be careful.”
[My master died because of the Murim Alliance. Be careful.]
***
It was an eerie warning, but I didn't waver from my decision to enter the Management Records Bureau.
The first reason was that I couldn't know for sure whether Jak-su's master had been removed from the Murim Alliance for some reason, or if it was truly the Murim Alliance that removed him.
Jak-su himself didn't know how his master had died, so he had probably taken the position of Baekgeomdae leader to investigate internal affairs.
It was possible that the master had secrets hidden even from his disciple, or perhaps he had simply lost in a power struggle.
Or...
“There was also the possibility that he had been eaten by a demon hiding inside the Murim Alliance.”
But all of that was just speculation.
Without accurately discerning the front and back of my benefactor, I shouldn't judge the situation based on it.
If it was someone else's benefactor, even more so.
The second reason was much simpler.
If I don't eat anomalies, I die. No matter how suspicious the Murim Alliance was, the only place that could find the location of the anomaly-food to replenish the leaking True Origin Qi and tell me appropriate countermeasures was the Management Records Bureau.
I shouldered the leather pouch and headed to the preservation archive in the corner of the Rituals Department.
Baeksambyeol, who was flipping through something on the desk in the archive, waved his hand.
“Oh, you're here early?”
“Vagabond's belongings aren't that bulky, are they?”
After nodding, Baeksambyeol handed me a piece of yellowish paper. Complex characters were densely engraved on the edges of the yellowish paper, but the center was empty.
“What is this?”
“It’s a talisman that’s essential when going on exploration missions.”
While I was tilting my head, he handed me a brush and a small carving tool.
“Here, sign with your blood on the empty spot.”
Because of Jak-su's telepathy, I started to suspect that this might be some kind of preliminary work for some sorcery.
“Is this right...?”