Here’s the corrected version with Yang Eun-jik consistently using he/him:
Master’s reaction caught me off guard.
“What’s wrong, Master?”
“Did you just say… Yang Eun-jik?”
“…Ah, yes.”
I nodded.
“Haa… Why did you meet that person? No, where did you meet him? More importantly, why are you asking about him?”
“……”
Master was usually taciturn, but this current appearance was somewhat unfamiliar.
Why was Master acting like this?
“Please calm down, Master.”
“Do I look like I can calm down right now? That person is a Hidden Fish of the Murim Alliance.”
“A Hidden Fish… you say?”
Hidden Fish (潛魚).
While it literally meant a fish hiding deep in water, in the martial world… no, if someone belonged to the Murim Alliance, it had a different meaning.
It referred to those who schemed secretly in hidden places.
No one knew their true purposes.
They simply followed orders from above.
How did I know about this?
Because I’d encountered a Hidden Fish in my past life.
Though I wasn’t their target at the time, I sensed something suspicious and investigated them, which was how I learned.
That there were people called Hidden Fish in the Murim Alliance.
So I stopped investigating there.
My instinct told me it would become dangerous if I dug any deeper.
Anyway, I needed to calm Master down a bit.
“So you’re saying Yang Eun-jik is a Hidden Fish of the Murim Alliance?”
“…!”
At my question, Master flinched and let out a sigh.
“I apologize. I got too excited and showed an unseemly side. For Snow Wind Palace’s Chief to lose composure…”
“It’s fine. I understand.”
“But… do you know what Hidden Fish actually means?”
Master’s eyes seemed to pierce through me.
I calmly shook my head.
If I said I knew about this now, it would definitely be strange.
“No. I don’t.”
“Haa, since I’ve said this much, if I don’t explain, you’ll rush into danger.”
I already knew about it, so I wouldn’t do that this time, but…
As expected, Master knew me too well.
“Hidden Fish refers to those who belong to the Murim Alliance and secretly carry out operations for them.”
“Then, are they dangerous individuals?”
“Before that, I want to ask first. How do you know about them?”
I quickly made up an excuse.
I couldn’t say I learned about it in my past life.
And this time, I had a good excuse with the Embroidered Guard.
“Actually, when I went to Luoyang before, I happened to learn about someone named Yang Eun-jik. And I learned about this while helping the Embroidered Guard members this time. The Embroidered Guard was monitoring him, saying he was connected to subversive forces.”
“Subversive forces, you said?”
In the imperial palace’s terms, subversive forces meant rebel forces.
That’s why Master was so shocked.
“For someone from the Murim Alliance to be connected to rebellion… this doesn’t seem like an ordinary matter.”
I nodded at Master’s words.
Master flinched at this and asked me.
“But… you don’t seem surprised that the Murim Alliance would do such things.”
That’s because I already knew how vile the Murim Alliance was.
But I couldn’t say that, so I needed an appropriate excuse.
It felt a bit much to mention the incidents at Zhuge Family or Tang Clan…
Just then, a name came to mind.
“I heard the story from Escort Guard Jin Yu.”
“…I see. Then you must know well how they’re only righteous on the surface while being utterly corrupt inside.”
“Yes. I’m somewhat aware.”
“Then this will be quicker. Escort Guard Jin Yu knows well about Hidden Fish.”
Ah!
Come to think of it, Jin Yu had been an assassin for the Murim Alliance. Someone who also operated secretly.
Then Jin Yu would know about Hidden Fish well and might know about Yang Eun-jik too.
“Thank you for the advice.”
“Then, I’ll see you next time.”
“Yes. Take care.”
Master left the temporary residence.
But…
I hadn’t told Master I was here, so how did Master know to come?
As I thought about this, I smiled to myself.
Those people watching over me must have told Master.
After receiving Patriarch’s guidance at North Sea Ice Palace, my abilities had grown much stronger.
Thanks to that, on my way back to the main group, I became aware of things I hadn’t known before.
It was the presence of people always watching me from my surroundings.
I’d sensed a total of three presences.
At first, I wondered what it was, but as I observed them, I felt a familiar energy.
It was the energy of Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art.
In other words, they were from Snow Wind Palace. Then why were they watching me from around me?
The reason was obvious. Master must have ordered them to protect me.
I could tell through their energy that it was protection, not surveillance.
If they were monitoring me, their energy wouldn’t feel so peaceful.
And Master, knowing my talents, wouldn’t do something I’d catch onto so quickly.
Master, you’re not being honest…
Were you that worried about this disciple?
Anyway, I didn’t need to worry about them.
I thought as I entered the room I was using as my personal office.
Had the Murim Alliance attempted rebellion in my past life too?
Pondering my memories, I wasn’t sure if it was related to the Murim Alliance, but there had been some rebellion attempts.
That’s why the Embroidered Guard and Eastern Depot existed.
After thinking for a moment, I shook my head.
Even if the Murim Alliance was plotting rebellion, having mobilized Hidden Fish, they wouldn’t have exposed it to the outside.
I spoke to Palgap.
“Tell Escort Guard Jin Yu I’d like to see him for a moment.”
“Understood.”
A short while later, Jin Yu entered the room.
“You called for me?”
“Yes, please sit.”
“No. I’ll stand.”
“If that’s more comfortable, do so. However, this might be a long conversation… and my neck’s getting a bit sore.”
Only then did Jin Yu nod and take a seat.
“Do you know about the Murim Alliance’s Hidden Fish?”
At my question, Jin Yu sighed and nodded.
“Of course, I do.”
“Is there someone named Yang Eun-jik among those Hidden Fish?”
“Yes, that person is also one of the Hidden Fish.”
As Master had said.
And if Jin Yu knew, things would likely be easier.
“I actually saw him at the wedding banquet in Beijing this time. So I was wondering whether I should report it.”
Jin Yu bowed to me.
“I apologize for not reporting this in advance.”
“It’s fine. I understand it was difficult to judge. I’m not someone who can’t understand such things. So I’ll give you a formal order. From now on, if such things happen, tell me without fail.”
“Understood. But… how did you know about him?”
“The Embroidered Guard members were watching him. I heard the name from them, so I asked Master.”
“I see.”
Jin Yu nodded and continued.
“Yang Eun-jik hasn’t been a Hidden Fish for very long. As far as I know, it’s been about five years. But he successfully completed some fairly significant jobs. However, since we don’t know about each other’s missions…”
“That’s only natural.”
“But I know about things I was involved in, and other matters. So his swordsmanship, his level, his weaknesses…”
Jin Yu knew more than I expected.
“And he is also someone who won’t hesitate to use any means or methods to achieve his objective.”
A few days later.
Jin Yeong came to see me.
“This humble merchant greets you.”
“Thank you for welcoming me.”
“What unnecessarily formal words are those?”
“Hahaha.”
But his expression wasn’t very bright.
Had something happened?
“Actually, I came to find you because I need your help.”
“My help, you say?”
“Yang Eun-jik seems to have noticed we’re onto him.”
“What?”
“We’ve lost track of him. It seems there was a mistake on our end.”
“……”
Oh no! They lost him?
Even after I told them he was a martial artist?
I sighed, but soon calmed my emotions, accepting it.
Even without me, the person who made that mistake must have been severely reprimanded.
“So now we can’t find his whereabouts. He’s definitely the link, so we need to find him to completely wipe out those harboring rebellion… but…”
“So you’re asking me to find his whereabouts?”
“That’s right.”
“But even the Embroidered Guard members couldn’t find him. How could I, a mere merchant, find him?”
“Ah, sorry. There seems to be a misunderstanding. What I wanted was for you to deduce where he might be hiding.”
“You want to narrow down the search range.”
“Exactly. Our manpower isn’t unlimited either.”
But I still didn’t understand.
Yang Eun-jik was a martial artist, and the Embroidered Guard, which had connections to the martial world, would know his whereabouts better, wouldn’t they?
I looked at Jin Yeong with that puzzlement.
Seeing the dark circles dying under his eyes, I could guess the situation.
They’d already tried everything they could.
They couldn’t do anything more, so they came with half desperation and half hope.
Honestly, I couldn’t understand what purpose the Murim Alliance had for doing such things.
Were they seeking power?
But the Murim Alliance couldn’t be unaware of the imperial palace’s capabilities.
Not just the military force and financial resources ruling this empire, but the palace also had more martial arts experts than the Murim Alliance.
The Murim Alliance must know this attempt would fail.
So why do this…?
Perhaps they wanted chaos?
Whether the rebellion succeeded or failed, chaos was predetermined. If rebellion occurred, countless people would die and bleed.
It wasn’t like they were Blood Cult fanatics obsessed with blood…
The Blood Cult had been subjugated long ago by the Murim Alliance. Extreme Heaven Sword, who used Thousand Flow Ice Sword as his signature technique, had been at the forefront.
After that, Blood Cult leaders kept appearing.
But their power was weaker compared to back then, and they’d essentially vanished.
Come to think of it, the Blood Cult Leader sealed at Mount Wudang…
Thunk.
Just then, Jin Yeong placed a bundle of documents in front of me, breaking my thoughts.
“Here are the materials.”
“Aren’t these classified documents?”
“They are. But aren’t you a Censorate Inspector? You have the qualifications to see these materials.”
“……”
“Please.”
“I’ll try my best.”
I picked up the documents and began reading them intently. It seemed he wouldn’t leave unless I said something.
And I also didn’t like the Murim Alliance doing such things.
This was an opportunity to borrow the imperial palace’s sword to stab the Murim Alliance.
At least this was fortunate.
I’d been wondering how to mention what I’d heard from Jin Yu about Yang Eun-jik, and now he was giving me these materials.
It would have been dangerous to directly relay what I’d heard to Jin Yeong.
They were favorable toward me now, but who knew how long that would last?
At first, I’d reluctantly accepted Jin Yu due to Escort Chief Do Jin of Mount Xingwu’s request.
But now Jin Yu was my person.
Shouldn’t I protect my own people?
And Yang Eun-jik was a dangerous individual.
Just from what Jin Yu knew, he’d already caused the deaths of many innocent people.
In this life, it would be better if he disappeared now.
If he remained alive, who knows how big an incident he’d cause next time… just imagining it gave me a headache.
“Hmm…”
As I rummaged through the materials, I put them down and said.
“Jin Yeong, have you identified the existence of tunnels?”
“Tunnels?”
“Yes. Look here, there’s a report that Yang Eun-jik’s sleeves had dirt on them, isn’t there?”
“There was. But couldn’t that much dirt just get on them from walking around? It rained recently too.”
“If you look, the dirt was on the ends of the sleeves. Martial artists always keep their arms raised, not hanging down.”
I continued.
“Isn’t that true for the Embroidered Guard members as well?”
At my words, Jin Yeong moved his arms around and made a surprised expression.
“Oh! That’s right! I did it unconsciously so I didn’t notice.”
“Anyway, in that situation, for dirt to be on the sleeves, and only on the ends of both sleeves, means there was dirt on both sides.”
I continued.
“Think about it. What would be a path made of dirt, narrow enough to get dirt on the ends of both sleeves?”
“Tunnels!”
“That’s what I think.”
This was my own deduction. Should I say it was a lucky hit from my experience finding the real Tang Yeon-chil at Tang Clan before?
Now I needed to relay what Jin Yu had told me.
I rummaged through the materials and subtly mixed in what Jin Yu had mentioned.
“Ooh…”
Jin Yeong’s eyes sparkled.
“Thank you so much! I’m glad I came to find you!”
“Hahaha, I’m glad I could help.”
Looking at his brightened expression, an ominous thought suddenly occurred to me.
They wouldn’t forcibly drag me to the imperial palace saying I worked well, would they?
Hahaha, surely not.
Really… they wouldn’t, right?
–TL Notes–
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