Chapter 22: Who Sent You Bastards?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 22: Who Sent You Bastards?
After a brief exchange of introductions, we sat around a table set up in a corner of the Grand Training Arena.
Bok-ja quickly scanned the information I'd brought about the Sword Demon and asked, "This grandpa, the Sword Demon. Are you sure he's in this neighborhood?"
"…He should be in this district, at least."
I only knew the Sword Demon would appear on YouTube five years later, and that he'd be found dead of loneliness a few days after that, in Seoul's ○○ District.
‘It feels daunting all over again.’
It was a search for a Martial Arts Expert who had gone into seclusion a full twenty years ago. Even if we searched with all our might, we'd still have to rely on luck to some extent.
At my words, Shin Kang-heon shook his head, sounding quite pessimistic. "How are we going to find him? Are we just going to knock on every door and ask, 'Is the Sword Demon here?'"
"Oh, that's a good idea. We can just have the errand boy do it."
"Shit…"
Shin Kang-heon glared at me, having tried to be sarcastic but only ended up losing face, but with one cheek still swollen, he just looked ridiculous.
"…I think we can narrow down the search."
Bok-ja, who had been lost in thought for a moment, spoke up. Her eyes sparkled like the protagonist of a detective manga.
…I'd noticed it last time, but Kim Bok-ja seemed to really enjoy situations like this, investigating or tracking things down.
Bok-ja spread the documents I'd printed out on the table and said, "Just by his clothes, you can tell he's lived frugally. And though it doesn't say in detail, it feels like he caused a huge incident and was forced to retire, right? If twenty years have passed since then, what kind of situation do you think he'd be in now?"
Shin Kang-heon, caught off guard by the sudden question, blinked a few times before answering, "…A boring situation?"
"Idiot. Think before you answer."
"Wow, since when did you get so familiar…?"
I cut off the bewildered Shin Kang-heon and asked Bok-ja, "You mean he'd be in a difficult financial situation?"
"Exactly!"
"…"
Shin Kang-heon glared at both of us in turn with a disgruntled expression, then crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "He could be bored because he's in a difficult situation."
"Argue something that makes sense."
"He doesn't seem helpful at all, can't we just leave him out?"
The reason for the Sword Demon's seclusion wasn't widely known. It was only known that he, famous as a Swordsmanship master of the Martial Alliance, had committed some grave error, leading to his expulsion, and that the Eight Great Sects were involved to some extent. After that, almost no information could be found about the Sword Demon, who had vanished without a trace.
‘It's as if someone intentionally hid him.’
In an era like this, concealing an incident of this magnitude wouldn't be easy, but if it was solely a Martial affair, and if the Martial Alliance or the Eight Great Sects were involved, it wasn't impossible.
Bok-ja pointed to each document, taking the lead in her deductions. "Judging by the Sword Demon's past actions and personality, it's unlikely he earned a lot of money. In other words, there's a high probability he's a poor elderly person living alone by now."
"Isn't that biased? He could have saved a lot of money and be living comfortably. And honestly… how easy is it for a Martial Arts Practitioner to make money if they put their mind to it?"
Bok-ja's opinion, and Shin Kang-heon's words, both had a point. The two, with their opposing thoughts, looked at me simultaneously, as if asking, 'What do you think?'
"Bok-ja's probably right about this."
It wasn't that I was taking one of their sides. Because the Sword Demon I saw on YouTube was emaciated, like a mummy, and dressed in shabby clothes.
—"…I will now reveal the Swordsmanship I have researched my entire life. Those who need it, learn it, and make it your own; it will greatly aid in the advancement of your martial arts."
His slow voice and parched lips made it obvious to anyone that he was malnourished. The sight of him slowly demonstrating and explaining each move of his Swordsmanship in a dirty, old room.
‘I must have watched it hundreds of times to make it my own.’
It was a time when, as a Vagrant, I needed any lifeline I could grasp to survive by the sword. Hearing Bok-ja's words, the scene inside that room seemed to come back to me vividly. Even the wide-open high sky and trees visible outside the small window when the Sword Demon held the camera and adjusted its position.
"…An old, dilapidated house with the sky visible outside the window and ginkgo trees overlooking it."
"That's oddly specific."
"Well, if the person doing the searching says so."
Bok-ja's eyes sparkled with interest, and Shin Kang-heon merely shrugged, no longer offering opposing opinions.
"We've gathered this much information, so we should be able to narrow it down quite a bit. Let's focus on old villas, studio apartments, or rooftop rooms with ginkgo trees planted in front. Specifically, neighborhoods where the sky isn't obscured by apartments or buildings."
Shin Kang-heon seemed amazed by Bok-ja, who could effortlessly make such deductions and calculations. "Are you some kind of private detective?"
Bok-ja then pulled out a business card, handed it to Shin Kang-heon, and winked. She seemed to have recognized at a glance that he was from a wealthy family, adding a little sales pitch.
"A Freelance Spellcaster with both skill and beauty. If you need any procedures, give me a call. I'll give you a special 10% discount."
Shin Kang-heon, seeing the business card that read 'Spellcasting Specialist RED RABBIT,' tilted his head and asked, "But is your name Bok-ja? Ki Mu-hyeok called you that earlier."
"…Only people who've known me for five years or more can call me that. And it's been bothering me for a while, but I'm your noona, so use polite speech, okay?"
When Kim Bok-ja's expression turned serious, Shin Kang-heon snorted in response. "Ki Mu-hyeok uses informal speech with you."
"What does that have to do with you? Are you close with me?"
"…You're right, but it's damn unfair…"
For the record, from Bok-ja's perspective, I'd only known her for a month myself, but there was no need to tell Shin Kang-heon that.
I clapped lightly to get their attention and said, "Alright, that's mostly settled. So, the first thing we need to do is…"
Bang—!
Kim Bok-ja slammed her palm on the table, cutting me off, and exclaimed, "Time for dakgalbi! I used my brain so much I'm starving!"
At her fierce demeanor, as if she'd devour me instead if she didn't get dakgalbi immediately, I obediently nodded. "I was just about to suggest we eat first anyway. Since you gathered for me, I'll pay today."
"Really? Shin Kang-heon. How much dakgalbi can you eat?"
"Ha! Until I'm too full to move."
"Okay! Your noona is going to eat until she has to roll home today."
…These bastards?
Kim Bok-ja and Shin Kang-heon, who had suddenly teamed up to empty my wallet, devoured twelve servings of dakgalbi that day.
From that day on.
Every day after that, Shin Kang-heon and I went around to all the places an elderly person living alone might reside: villas, studio apartments, rooftop rooms, and so on. We'd knock on doors to check, and also visit real estate agencies, pretending to look for a house while subtly prying for information.
Unlike us, Bok-ja had her main job, so she couldn't come along, but she relayed various pieces of information via phone or messenger.
`[rabbit : Another bust today? The divination for the west looks good, try going there.`
`[God Kang-heon : Aren't you a cultist? Your divinations have never been right.`
`[rabbit : Rookie, wanna die?`
`[God Kang-heon : STFU]`
However, even after a week, there were no significant results to speak of.
"Ha, what kind of hellish grind is this…?"
Climbing up and down villas without elevators dozens of times a day, even Shin Kang-heon, who was quite confident in his stamina, groaned.
"Think of it as cardio. Aren't those thick thighs of yours going to waste?"
"I do it every day without fail, okay? And this isn't exercise, it's labor."
"If you feel it's unfair, then beat me."
"Ugh, seriously!"
Shin Kang-heon challenged me again, vowing to avenge his previous defeat, but he was utterly crushed in our second Betting Duel as well. Thanks to that, the period of him being my errand boy was naturally extended.
"Still, you were better than last time. By… a fingernail's width?"
"I'm going to crush you before this year is over!"
Not a chance.
Anyway, Shin Kang-heon and I roamed around every day, searching for the reclusive Sword Demon, and experienced all sorts of things in the process.
"You two! What are you doing here?"
"We're sorry. We were just…"
Local residents reported us as suspicious, so we were caught by the police and had to explain ourselves for a long time.
"Hee-hee-hee! Can't you just disappear! You despicable demonic bastards—!"
We also had to flee from an alcoholic elder who mistook himself for a peerless swordsman, dodging the liquor bottles he swung.
"Are you college students? Want to hang out with us?"
"We're high school students."
"Ahaha! No way. What high school students are this cool?"
We even had a samgyeopsal party with college students who were enjoying their youth, playing guitar on a rooftop room. We hung out with them to gather information, as they claimed to have lived in the area for a long time, but they kept hitting on us, so we ended up jumping off the rooftop to escape.
And so, a week passed.
Fed up with the Sword Demon search, we now split up to cover our assigned areas, then met up at night with sour expressions to exchange information.
"Did you find anything?"
"Just in case, I checked the west side too, and some grandma gave me this to eat."
"…It's tteok."
Sitting on a park bench, sharing the tteok Shin Kang-heon had received, I wondered if we needed to revise our future plans.
‘I expected it wouldn't be easy, but…’
The truth was, with no results, it felt like a waste of time. Wouldn't it have been better to focus on my personal training during that time? Wouldn't it be better to choose an alternative now?
"Shoo, shoo! These things don't even pretend to look when a person chases them."
Shin Kang-heon was currently engaged in a battle of wills with the pigeons loitering nearby, eyeing our snacks greedily. It was then that I thought they looked quite well-matched, perhaps because their intelligence levels were similar.
"Excuse me, students."
Turning at the unfamiliar voice, I saw a Middle-Aged Man with glasses approaching, peering curiously. His messy beard and prominently assertive belly reminded me of the meddlesome old men found in every park.
"Are you perhaps looking for a Martial Arts Practitioner?"
"…Why do you ask?"
When I stood up and politely asked back, the Middle-Aged Man inexplicably hunched his neck and took a step back. "Oh, no. It's just that I've seen you two wandering around here for days… And your physiques are clearly enormous. You've been walking around with eyes that look like you're about to beat someone up, so…"
At his words, Shin Kang-heon and I looked at each other simultaneously.
‘It's because of your bulk.’
‘Take the intensity out of your eyes.’
After a brief moment of blaming each other, Shin Kang-heon looked at me with a 'what now?' expression, and after a moment's thought, I answered the man. "That's right. We're looking for a Martial Arts Practitioner. We don't have any bad intentions… we just have a favor to ask."
"I knew it! I have a good eye, you see. I recognized it right away."
Pleased that his guess was correct, the man scratched his messy beard and gave us some information that piqued our interest. "I heard that an old man named Grandpa Choi, who lives in a rooftop room in the next neighborhood over, used to handle a sword back in the day. Just in case, you should go check him out."
Choi?
The Sword Demon's real name was Choi Geon. Shin Kang-heon, apparently recalling that, widened his eyes and nodded.
After getting the exact address of the man called Grandpa Choi, we stood up from the bench.
"Thank you, mister!"
"Be careful! That old man has quite a nasty temper!"
Leaving the meddlesome neighborhood man's warning behind, we immediately started running.
"Don't you have a good feeling about this one?"
Seeing Shin Kang-heon burning with enthusiasm despite the late hour, I let out a small laugh. I said to the guy, who was pulling out his smartphone as he ran, "You seem to be enjoying this?"
Shin Kang-heon flinched, then his expression hardened, and he glared at me. "What's so fun about it? I'm just forcing myself because I want to quit being your errand boy as soon as possible."
But for someone who was 'forcing himself,' his lips had been subtly curved upwards just a moment ago…
I subtly poked at a fact I'd learned while spending the last few days with Shin Kang-heon. "You don't have any friends, do you?"
Shin Kang-heon scoffed in disbelief and retorted, "Do you know how many followers I have?"
"Are those friends?"
"Shut up. You don't have any friends either."
Running neck and neck, we arrived at the rooftop room where the man called Grandpa Choi supposedly lived. After getting lost several times in deserted alleyways, we finally found the place: the rooftop of a villa that looked incredibly old. Climbing the creaking iron stairs, we saw a building with old cement walls. It was a desolate scene, as if Ghosts might appear.
Shin Kang-heon swallowed hard and was the first to speak. "Is anyone…"
At that instant, I shoved Shin Kang-heon aside with my left arm and simultaneously drew my sword with my right hand, swinging it. My body instinctively reacted first to the Killing Intent. The moment I turned, I felt a chilling breeze right beside my neck.
Clang!
The blades clashed, and I was pushed back several steps. If I hadn't blocked it in time, it would have been an attack that would have easily severed my neck.
"Who sent you bastards?"
A pair of eyes glared at us from the darkness. The chilling voice was heavily imbued with Killing Intent.