As Prophet - Chapter 198



Only Noblemtl

Episode 198. The Pursuit – Another Fox’s Den

Soon after, the three training officers arrived, and those who were acting as commanders of each unit came running. As they arrived, they shouted for loyalty, and the sound of loyalty filled the whole place.

“It seems to be around here. They haven’t come out of the ground yet. Try poking the ground with a metal skewer longer than a person. If you find a place where it goes in, let me know.”

“Loyalty!”

“And if there’s a place where the ground looks different than usual, tell me. It could be raised or sunken. Look through all the places you usually go. They could come out of nowhere.”

“Loyalty!”

The training center’s Do-jeong Lee Ki-moon arrived late. He came riding a donkey, which he had gotten from somewhere, and it looked really funny. The soldiers burst into laughter at the sight of a fully armed old general riding a donkey.

“What is that again?”

“You told me to come quickly, but I didn’t have a ride. I just grabbed something and got on, and it turned out to be a donkey… … Heh heh.”

I jumped down and patted the donkey’s chin as it ran towards me. When I raised my hand, one of the guards came and grabbed the reins. The donkey shook its head and turned around, just like the ill-tempered old man in the back room.

“What’s going on?”

“There is a bloodline nearby.”

“Oh, did you dig this way this time?”

“I thought it wouldn’t be here because the ground is soft, but it seems to be here. I asked people who know the inside of the training center to gather together because I thought it might be inside.”

Lee Ki-moon lost his temper. He shook his head and shouted, and his poorly maintained gray beard flew in all directions.

“No, why are the Inumu Shikis here? They already live like failed scholars, watching out for each other in the back alleys of the government office. If we choose this as our exit, what will His Majesty think later?”

“Oh, is that the problem?”

“We fight wars, but we actually live in an internal society. That’s more important. Even if we win and become victorious, if we say that the enemy’s secret path was to the training center, we will later receive jealous looks.”

Dalcheon shrugged his shoulders.

“Is it that difficult? Because I have no experience in public office.”

“No matter what I do, I feel uneasy. For people like us, we just go out and hope that nothing happens, and our job is to stand in the back and watch what happens.”

“Oh my, why do you live like that?”

“Who would want to do this? These guys have been discriminating against each other, knowingly or unknowingly, for more than a day or two. At times like this, you can’t even see where they are hiding. We protect the country, and we have to use our influence. Where in the world is there such a law?”

“That’s right.”

Dalcheon secretly agreed. It seemed like things would work out that way.

“They treat us like servants.”

“Oh, stop it. We have to find it anyway. We have to hurry.”

“Ahem. If you find it… … .”

“I will bury it.”

“I heard that you detonated the Jincheonroe in the hole earlier.”

“Yes.”

“I will bring you Jincheonroe.”

Dalcheon caught the commander as he was about to turn around.

“No, I’ll have someone bring it to you. Right now, what’s important is what you find. If there’s a floor that shows signs of being different than usual, please look for it. I told you to use a probe to poke places that have sunken in or collapsed, or places that make a different sound when you step on them.”

“Probe? What is that? Is it part of the standard military equipment?”

“No, it’s a long iron stick. It’s used by grave robbers, but it’s quite useful when searching underground.”

“But how does a true person know that?”

“Isn’t our country a country thousands of years old, shining with history and tradition? There is another land beneath the ground, and another land beneath that. There are buried things for living, and there are also valuables.”

“No, Jin-in, did you play like that in the mountains? Did you do anything like grave robbery?”

“Are you by any chance drinking alcohol?”

“What about alcohol? What time is it now?”

“Anyway, please come find me within an hour. If you think something is strange, plant a small triangular flag. I’ll check. I’ve already deployed people, so please take responsibility and lead them.”

“You ask the best training center in the world to do something like that.”

“Didn’t you say that there was someone higher up?”

“They are concurrently employed and do not reside in the house. The actual head of the house, who is not a concurrently employed person, is the head of the house.”

“Aha, that’s right. So you have a strong sense of responsibility. If you don’t find it and close it quickly, you won’t make it through the night. Hurry up.”

Baek I-jeong, who was watching the two people bickering, pointed to Do-jeong and pointed toward the training center.

“There is no time.”

“Huh, is that the case for Miss Baek as well?”

“We plan to go outside the castle and look for an entrance. I think it will be quicker that way.”

“Isn’t it dangerous?”

“It’s war. Where wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

“Oh, it’s a shame to be a woman.”

“I will take that as a compliment.”

Lee Ki-moon shouted, “Loyalty!” and ran into the training center. It was like his own home. He waved his arms grandly and walked with his arms wide open.

“Let’s go. You’re going that way, right?”

Baek I-jeong pointed towards Gwanghuimun.

“No, ma’am.”

“I have the power to protect myself.”

“No.”

“I’ll go with you. I know the geography around here well. Not to mention the Ihyeon area. Leave it to me. I have some ideas about where to go.”

“where?”

“Everyone has fled. It’s a mess. It seems like the war has already passed before it even started. But there is a place that is the opposite. It is deserted. It’s a place where any business would go well. And everyone who knows the governor knows that he is a fool.”

“No, me?”

“You can find your way through the mountains like a ghost, but you can’t find your way through the city at all. How many times have you gotten lost in our house in Hanyang?”

“How do you know that?”

“The servants found him wandering the alley and brought him home.”

“Oh my, you call that a roadblock? Dude, a cutlassfish.”

“If you make jokes like that, you’ll be treated like an old man. These days.”

Dalcheon’s face turned bright red. Unable to refuse any longer, he raised his arm and pointed forward. It was about halfway between Ogansumun and Gwanghuimun.

“Is it over there?”

“Maybe. It’s quiet around here, so I can feel it now.”

Baek Yi-jeong pointed to the ground with his fingertips.

“Is this place?”

“That’s not exact. Let’s go.”

After passing through a couple of thatched alleys, the castle wall appeared. The two men climbed the slope leading to the wall. As they rebuilt the wall, they built it on a slope so that the defenders could easily approach the wall. This may have been possible because the ground was soft.

“Loyalty!”

“Loyalty!”

“Loyalty!”

“Loyalty!”

The general guarding the wall on this side saluted, and the soldiers guarding the wall saluted one after another. Dalcheon quickly waved his hand to try to smooth over the uncomfortable situation, but then lowered his head.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“How may I help you?”

“I want to look outside the walls.”

A person who appeared to be armed with a gun pointed towards the training center.

“There’s a group of soldiers heading that way. Are they related?”

“They dug a tunnel. It looks like it’s this way, so we’re checking it out. We’re… …um, trying to find their entrance.”

“That’s the complicated Lee Hyun right there. It’s not easy.”

Dalcheon pointed to Baek Ijeong standing next to him.

“There is a guide.”

“Outside the castle there are swarms of them.”

“I’m sure the adult will help me.”

When he said that, the gun shrugged its shoulders and then moved its heel.

“I will protect you.”

“Please.”

The two men looked towards Lee Hyeon, who was sleeping soundly on the wall.

“Which one?”

Baek Yi-jeong pointed to a dark spot with her fingertips.

“There it is. It was empty when it should be bustling with people, but now it seems like people are coming and going when it should be empty. They were blocking the way with straw bales at sunset. That’s when I became suspicious.”

“Oh! You looked closely.”

“… … .”

“Then, stay here.”

“Child, I… … .”

Baek Yi-jeong’s words did not continue. Dal-cheon jumped down from the wall alone. One of the soldiers who was watching the two screamed. The officer next to him covered the man’s mouth.

The moon blast, which had fallen just below the castle wall, bounced off the white stone wall. It drew a parabolic arc like an arrow, and passed through dozens of traps at once.

Baek Yi-jeong clenched his small fists. He felt as if a large bird had spread its wings and was flying down in the dark night. He reached into the air and jumped up once more. He jumped up once more in the air where there was nothing to grab onto and in an instant he arrived in front of the building complex that Baek Yi-jeong had mentioned.

Several other shabby buildings surrounded the center, as if they were guarding it. Just as she had said, bundles of straw, which seemed to have been brought in just now, were strewn about carelessly, as if they had been worked on by some unscrupulous man. They sparsely obscured the places visible from the walls, such as between houses and between fences.

Dalcheon was impressed by Baek I-jeong’s keen eye. It was not far from the tavern where he had encountered the group of Geomgye not long ago. It was said that the beginning of the Lee Hyeon market was when people who had left their hometowns flocked to Hanyang and started building houses and living there. Originally, there must have been people living there and having houses, but the fact that a village the size of a city was created was due to a sudden influx of people.

There is no particular reason why those who have nowhere else to go come. It is because they have something to eat and live for. This is the place where they can eat and live by doing anything. Their livelihood, their place to live, their karma. Whatever you call it, it is their land.

* * *

As he was about to turn around the building and enter the alley, he heard a sound not far away. It was a low cough, but he could clearly see that he was holding it back. Dalcheon closed his eyes and opened them. He was hiding behind a straw mat he had set up at the corner of the alley.

Dalcheon drew his sword without making a sound and stabbed the man. The man who was stabbed in the neck by the sword that suddenly emerged from the straw fell down without even making a sound.

As I entered the alley, I saw some black guys between the half-collapsed mud walls. I crossed over to the other wall and clung to it. A group of laborers came out groaning from behind on the other side. They seemed to have been injured somewhere. They were under a hastily raised roof like a barn.

“What? Why are you here?”

“Injured. Injured.”

“Is it the enemy?”

“No. The wall collapsed and I was left covered in dirt and stones.”

“Did it collapse a lot?”

“There are some weak spots. This is what happened when we reinforced it.”

“Go ahead!”

The person who was supporting the injured person moved towards Lee Hyeon. There were five unmanned personnel guarding the entrance. Dalcheon closed his eyes.

A dozen or so unmanned people were surrounding the wall, guarding each element, and not far away, a group of black unmanned people were gathered like soldiers. This was not good. The so-called masters were gathered like a ragtag group, and there were more than a few dozen of them. If you added up all the people nearby, it seemed like there were close to a hundred.

I found the entrance, but my mistake was not thinking about what to do after that. They had focused their energy on this place. It was clear that this was an important point. If Eunmyeon was going to risk his life here… … .

At that time, Ilseonggun came riding a horse.

“How is the work going?”

The person at the entrance answered.

“It seems like the process is not easy. There are many casualties. More than a dozen people have already been carried out.”

“Injured? Why are you hurt?”

“It looks like it keeps collapsing.”

“Okay.”

Ilseong-gun looked at the entrance. He seemed to be holding back from going in.

Dalcheon, who had stopped moving and even slowed down his breathing to hide his presence, slowly moved to the side. At the end of the alley, he could see the back of a guy looking outside in a similar position to the first guy he had killed. Dalcheon approached him absentmindedly and stabbed his sword into the guy’s left back. There was a short squeak, but he fell down immediately because he had stabbed his heart exactly. Blood poured out like a fountain through the thin gap he had created when he pulled out his sword. He pushed the guy into the straw and stood there, looking for his next target.