Rebirth of the Heavenly Demon Chapter 16: The Owner of Elixir Already Exist(3)

Book 1 Chapter 16: The Owner of Elixir Already Exist (3)

Translator: Hwarang

Editor: Jay

‘So they are really lackluster in their duties here.’

By just wearing some fancy clothes and telling the workers that I was from Heavenly Dao Gate, they didn’t even bother to verify my identity and instead let me through. If I were to kill the director here, then she would have died because of her incompetence.

Even if this was a small branch located in a remote area, this was something unacceptable.

The director of this place was Kong Jong. She was the person who Kwang Du called Lady Kong. As a director, she had a pretty decent face and body.

“Welcome sir, you said you are from the Heavenly Dao Gate?”

“Yes I am.”

“May I have your honorable name?”

“Ma Young Cheong. The current head of the family is my uncle.”

Kong Jeong nodded her head.

“Now that I have learned your honorable name, sir, it is truly an honor to have met you.”

Honorable name? What honorable name?  This was too hilarious. The real Ma Young Cheong is someone who was stuck in the Heavenly Dao Gate and rarely showed his face to the outside world.

“Please sit down here.” Kong Jeong led me to a chair.

Seeing her actions, I could only sigh. It didn’t matter whether I was someone of a higher status than her, she was still the director assigned by the Murim Alliance. On top of that, she acted like this even though my status as Ma Young Cheong was not even a direct successor of the Heavenly Dao Gate. What if someone who is a direct descendant came, would she have kowtowed to them?

I saw her eyes move around and twitch couple of times. Maybe it was because I was wary of her, since she could be colluding with Kwak Do Su. I tried to get rid of any biases towards her, because once you start looking with a prejudice, your judgment will start getting clouded.

We had a short conversation about the alliance and I told her some things about the Heavenly Dao Gate. To her, the things I told her must have sounded believable, since these were things that she didn’t know about. So, she asked me various things about the Heavenly Dao Gate and I answered them without hesitation. There was nothing that I didn’t know about that clan, so I cleared up misconceptions she had about Heavenly Dao Gate, and she seemed to completely believe that I was from the Heavenly Dao Gate.

Then I asked her the question that I was really here for.

“The reason that I came here was because I had something to ask you.”

“Pray tell.”

“The clan is looking for a man.”

“Who are they looking for?”

“Someone named Kwak Do Su.”

After hearing me say his name I saw a slight change in her look. It wasn’t a look of ignorance.

“Why are you looking for this man named Kwak Do Su?”

“Do you know who this man is?”

“Ah, of course. He is a bandit who does all sort of evil deeds, so he has a bounty on his head.”

“Yes, that man. After looking into it, I found that the last time they reported anything about him was from this post. It seemed that you were involved somehow involved in that report.”

“Yes that an incident that happened a while back.”

“So, how stupid was that person?”

“Excuse me?”

“The person who was taken hostage.”

“Oh, him. He is called Byuk Lee Dan and he is the heir of the Byuk Clan．

“So he must have been a fool.”

Kong Jeong gave a small smile. But she made an expression that showed that she couldn’t say that about him.

“According to the report, I heard that you were pretty close to him.”

Then she said in a smaller tone, “Well, aren’t there times that you just have to share a drink with a fool?”

“Ha ha ha, there are.”

Kong Jeong laughed along with me seeing that her joke made some impact. This lightened the mood.

“Why would someone so esteemed like you, Lord Ma, be looking for someone like Kwak Do Su?”

Seeing that she called me Lord Ma I threw her the bait.

“He committed a grave crime against the clan. Everyone from the clan is looking for him.”

She showed some response. Her face became colder and her eyes widened. It seemed as if she was forcefully suppressing her reaction.

I was certain of my suspicion. There was some sort of relationship between Kwak Do Su and Kong Jong.

If she schemed something with a criminal such as Kwak Do Su to get Byuk Lee Dan taken as a hostage, she wouldn’t have any excuse even if they punished her. But, as a director of the the Murim Alliance Branch, scheming with a criminal was something unforgivable. She shouldn’t complain even if she received a dog’s death.

“What kind of crime did he commit?”

“I can’t tell you, since it’s a private clan matter. But, I will tell you that this matter is of the utmost importance, since even the elders have made their move. You can see how important this matter is, since I even came here directly without riding in a carriage.”

Since she could have doubted me, I said these things first.

“Of Course.”

“Since the whole clan is on the move, it’s only a matter of time before he’s caught. I’ll let you in on a secret, I really want to catch him before anyone else from the clan. That way I can show them that I am more capable than those fools who they call themselves heirs of the clans.”

She swallowed her saliva, since there must be a lot of things in her mind.

Then I threw the biggest bait of all.

“Do you want to work for me at the Central Branch Office?”

Her eyes brightened after hearing the words Central Branch. I already knew that many of these directors of small regional offices dreamed of working at the Central Branch.

Working at the Central Branch, as well as having backing from the Heavenly Dao Gate.

Kong Jong’s eyes trembled. “Is this for real?”

“Since I also need someone trustworthy at the Central Branch, I promise to you in the name of Heavenly Dao Gate.”

To avoid suspicion, I got up from my seat and got ready to leave. In times like this, stepping away was the best solution.

“I will await your response. I must know where he is as soon as possible, since we are short on time.”

This was her final test.

If she told me where he was as quickly as possible, then she would have atoned for her crime that much faster.

It was as I had expected. Two days later she came to the inn I was waiting at.

“I found everything you wanted to know.”

She was able to find his location in two days? How was that even possible? Only if Kal Sa Ryung mobilized every able body in the Alliance might this be possible. How was she able to find him this quickly? What would her answer be if I asked her why she hadn’t caught him all this time, even though she knew where he was?

She was so blinded in her success that she revealed that she was working with Kwak Do Su. From the beginning, she already knew where Kwak Do Su was. These past two days, she must have been doing a background check on me.

However, there was no way for her to figure out I was imitating Ma Young Cheong because I told her the truth along with the lies. She was going to have hard time sorting everything out, since many of the things I told her were information that aren’t readily available to the public.

“So where is he right now?”

“He is at Jae Nam, sir.”

Jae Nam! Excellent, this was where Black City Merchant Guild was. So Kwak Do Su was hiding in an area where there are a lot of people.

“Where in Jae-Nam?”

“I don’t know his exact location, sir.”

My face froze. “Are you playing with me? You want me to search the whole city?”

She quickly replied, “No sir, how could I allow you to do that? I know a way to find him. There is something that he really loves.”

“What is that?”

“Gambling. He loves gambling so much that he would even sell his family for money. If you look through the gambling parlors you will probably find him.”

“So you are certain of this information.”

“Yes sir. He will be at one of the gambling parlors. There are reports saying that all the murders that he committed was to provide gambling money.”

“Alright, I will believe you.”

“Please take a look at this.” She brought me a piece of paper that showed his appearance.

“On his left cheek, he has a peculiar scar, which will help you to find him rather quickly.”

This was true betrayal.

“After I find him, I will help you become the director in one of the Central Branch Offices.”

To make it more believable, I continued, “Although, it might be one of the smaller offices.”

Even if she became a director of a smaller office in the Central Branch, it was a win for her, since she was just a director of this rural side branch office.

“I will serve you faithfully.”

She kowtowed to me right there.

“Make sure you keep this a secret.”

“Of course sir.”

“And what’s the bounty on his head?”

“Five thousand Nyang sir.”

“Twenty thousand Nyang? Oh, not bad.”

I raised the price by fifteen thousand Nyang on purpose.

It seem like she heard me wrong the first time

“It’s not twenty thousand…”

After seeing my cold face, she quickly said, “Yes, it is twenty thousand sir.”

Since she was someone who received bribes before, she understood me right away. For her advancement to the Central Branch she had to offer at least this much.

She must have this much money hidden somewhere, so I was just taking back the money that she took from my father with interest.

“What kind of payment method do you wish sir? I could sent it to…”

“Give it to me via traceless bank note.”

“Yes sir.”

“Come to Jae Nam with the money in three days. After giving you his useless head, I will head straight for the clan. Wouldn’t it be better to finish this business as soon as possible?”

“Yes, of course.”

Then we made arrangements to meet somewhere near the Jae Nam three days from now. If everything went according to plan, I would be able to meet the deadline that the manager gave me.

As I was leaving she gave me a warning.

“Please be careful. He is a crafty one.”

He was someone who would kill a whole family in cold blood for his gambling addiction. She was someone that worked with him to make dirty money. We would see what happened to the pair of them.

“See you in three days.”

After our conversation, I got on a horse and left for Jae Nam.

This was a new experience for me, since I was always the one giving out orders and not actually doing this sort of stuff. But change is good, since it brings experience and a new atmosphere which allows you to see things in a different light.

As soon as I arrived at Jae Nam, I went into one of the gambling parlors and started looking for him, but there wasn’t any sign of Kwak Do Su. There was a high possibility that he was wearing a disguise or face mask just like me.

Since I couldn’t find him, I decided to look around for mercenaries who had decent Martial Art skills. However, this gambling parlor was full of people like this. There was no way a gambling addict like him would be in such a small parlor like this.

‘Did Kong Jong fool me?’ Could she have contacted Kwak Do Su after sending me here? But... I knew that she wouldn’t do that. She wasn’t the type to sacrifice her own life for the sake of others. She would rather betray her ally than be chased for her entire life.

‘That means he is somewhere here.’

Since he was someone who had such a high bounty on his head, he most likely would be in hiding somewhere.

Then something came into my mind.

‘Could it be? Could it exist in this place?’

Kal Sa Ryang reported about these places almost daily. There are many hidden places like this throughout the Kang Ho. There was only one place that he could be at.

The illegal gambling parlors.

Illegal gambling parlors were created because the Murim Alliance kept close watch on all gambling parlors and heavily taxed them to prevent people from going bankrupt. So, to avoid the watchful eyes of the Alliance, illegal gambling parlors were created.

Every year we cracked down on multiple parlors, but we could never get to the root of the problem.

‘I must check it out.’

To gather information, I went into the biggest inn in the place. The reason was that inns are the places that hold the most information. People from all of Kang Ho, like merchants, travelers and mercenaries could be found in a major inn. The ones who knew the most information were the waiters. As they wait on others, they hear every story and rumor that is happening around the Kang Ho. So in all of Kang Ho, waiters of a major inns were some of the most knowledgeable about current news.

With this in mind, I went around asking for the most senior waiter. Then one youth pointed out an older man. I called out to him. He seemed relatively old and his eyes showed signs of experience. The fastest way to open their mouths was through money.

I put ten Nyang in my hand.

This waiter was relatively surprised. Usually people only gave him one or two Nyang for his services, but I gave him ten Nyang.

“If you can answer my question this will be yours.”

His eyes wavered, since this was a chance that only came once in awhile.

“You can ask me anything.”

“I want to win some money.”

“There are few gambling parlors in the area.”

“But I like the quiet ones.”

His eyes lit up as it seemed he understood me. Of course, working as a waiter in this area for many years, there was no way he wouldn’t know what I was talking about. However, he couldn’t say things too rashly, since others could get angry at him.  

After looking between my hand and my face, he finally said it.

“I know a place for people who like the quiet.”

 “Where is it?” I placed the money on his hand.

People usually give the money after receiving the information, but I gave him the money beforehand.

It seems to have been effective. He lowered his voice and said, “Go about ten li south from here and you will find a place called Tasteful Market.”

“Thanks.”

“But you can’t just go in there. You need an invitation from someone.”

I got up my seat, saying I understood.

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

Chapter end