Chapter 583

The next day came.

Not long after the ranking matches had ended, morning brought an unexpected development: someone from the Office of Justice came to see me.

“Excuse me. I’m from the Office of Justice.”

It was the same man I had seen before.

“Pa Oyeon, one of the Office of Justice’s Three Justices. Do you have a moment?”

“What is this about? Has the investigation been concluded?”

Pa Oyeon.

The man who looked so decisive and steadfast nodded at my question.

“The investigation into the matter is scheduled to be closed. However, the Head of the Office wishes to see you as part of the process. Do you have time?”

“...The Head of the Office?”

“The head of the Office of Justice.”

The Office of Justice. The organization that handled and enforced the Demonic Cult’s laws.

Its head wanted to see me?

Did Hyo Yeonri move already?

She had said she would take care of it, and it seemed she had already set things in motion.

But—

One word from her brought out the Head of the Office?

A major figure had gotten involved.

That would make things easier for me, but when someone of that stature moved, it meant I had more to think about too.

She said the deputy head would act, but...

Someone above that position stepping in was a different matter.

“So I need to go to the Office of Justice in person.”

“Yes. The closing investigation and a discussion must still take place.”

“Hm. You said your name was Pa Oyeon?”

“Please call me Investigator.”

“All right. Investigator, then.”

“Yes.”

“Are you all right with the case being closed like this?”

“What do you mean?”

Pa Oyeon looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I met his eyes and asked,

“You suspected me of being the culprit, didn’t you? I’m asking whether you are truly all right with closing it like this.”

He had gone through the trouble of suspecting me and investigating me. Wouldn’t it bother him if the case simply ended this way?

Pa Oyeon answered without much emotion.

“If those above order it, then I must put aside whatever doubts I have. That is an order, is it not?”

“Hm.”

That was true enough.

Regardless of his convictions or whether he believed it was right, the Cult’s command came first.

I can’t tell whether that makes him steadfast or merely rigid.

Either way—

“All right.”

It would certainly be more convenient for me if the case were closed.

And besides—

“Can we go now?”

I was interested in the Office of Justice itself.

For more than one reason.

*****

I left at once under Pa Oyeon’s guidance.

Perhaps because everything had already been arranged, or perhaps because Pa Oyeon was with me, entering the Office of Justice was not particularly difficult.

I asked him a few questions along the way.

“May I ask what kind of position one of the Three Justices holds?”

I remembered him identifying himself that way.

Pa Oyeon looked at me and explained.

“There are five ranks of investigators in the Office of Justice. Most are Fourth or Fifth Justices. Those who manage or oversee investigations serve as Third Justices.”

“So you are something like a team leader.”

“If you insist on putting it that way.”

“Then would Second and First Justices be considered high-ranking?”

“Yes. Second Justices can review and handle most cases, and they are authorized to pass judgment.”

“And a First Justice would be the Head of the Office?”

“That is correct.”

I had expected him to refuse to answer, but he explained things surprisingly readily.

Maybe that was because anyone could learn this much with a little effort.

“Then the person I’m meeting now is a First Justice.”

“Yes.”

Pa Oyeon nodded, passing through a doorway.

The Office of Justice stood in the center of the county town, and it was a fairly large building.

I had passed it several times before, but I had not known this was its headquarters.

“Attention.”

When Pa Oyeon entered, the people inside saluted him.

They felt somewhat like the well-trained martial artists of the Murim Alliance.

Then—

“Investigation Unit Leader.”

An old man walking by called out to Pa Oyeon and me.

“Greetings, Master of Affairs.”

Pa Oyeon answered immediately.

So his position was called Investigation Unit Leader.

And Master of Affairs...

“I heard your unit has been busy. Is that still the case?”

“No. I merely carry out the work assigned to me, so I do not think of myself as busy.”

“Still as steady as ever, I see.”

The old man smiled.

Something about him gave me an uneasy {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} feeling.

When I looked at him, his gaze shifted to me as well.

“So this must be the famous Sword Saint’s inheritor.”

He offered his hand first.

“I am Hyo Cheong, Master of Affairs and Second Justice of the Office of Justice.”

Hyo Cheong.

I focused on his surname.

He seemed to be a member of the Hyo Family.

So this is the person Hyo Yeonri mentioned.

I understood that this old man was the person she had referred to.

Perhaps he had shown himself in person to make that fact clear.

“I’m Bang Seongyeon.”

“It is refreshing to meet such a remarkable person this way. Let us try not to see each other too often, though. It is rarely good news when people have to meet us frequently.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I hope the misunderstanding is cleared up soon.”

He gave a short laugh and patted my shoulder.

Then—

[I did everything I could with what I was told, but the Head of the Office is no easy opponent. I hope you find a way out of this yourself.]

A voice transmission entered my ears.

He must have sent it through his inner qi while touching me.

“I have much work to attend to, so I’ll be going. Take care, both of you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hyo Cheong left, and Pa Oyeon led me onward.

Before long, we reached the final room.

“Go in.”

Pa Oyeon opened the door for me, as though he had no reason to proceed farther.

*****

The moment I entered, I felt the air change.

Cold.

It was not particularly warm outside either, but this room was colder still.

“Welcome.”

A voice reached me.

I looked toward its owner.

A woman?

She had long hair and a thin voice.

Yet the weight of age carried in that voice told me she was probably an elderly woman.

“I’m sorry to summon you here and send you back and forth like this.”

I lifted my head and met the old woman’s eyes.

Her white hair was thick, and wrinkles covered her face.

Her slightly upturned eyes and stiff mouth gave me a faint sense of her temperament.

“It is good to meet you, Young Master Bang.”

“I’m Bang Seongyeon of the Azure Moon Sect. I was told you wished to see me.”

“I am Baek Sora, Head of the Office of Justice and First Justice.”

“It is an honor to meet you, Head Baek.”

“An honor? What honor could there be in meeting a worn-out old woman?”

She laughed heartily and pushed a cup of tea toward me.

“I had little to offer, so I prepared only this. My apologies for that as well.”

“Not at all.”

“Do you enjoy tea?”

“I do not know much about it, but I enjoy drinking it.”

“That is what matters. Whether you drink tea with knowledge or without it, enjoying it is what matters, isn’t it?”

“That is true.”

Without hesitation, I picked up the cup and drank.

I did not think she had poisoned it.

This was not the kind of moment that called for such hesitation.

What I needed instead was information about her.

Do you know anything about her?

Naturally, I asked the Heavenly Demon.

He would know more than most.

[Did you not say she was Baek Sora of the Office of Justice?]

I obviously wasn’t asking only for her name and position.

[That is all there is. There is no need for anything more. She has served as Head of the Office of Justice for generations.]

For generations?

[She held the position when I sat upon my seat. She was already its head before that as well.]

“....”

That meant she was older than I had expected.

By that measure, she might even look young for her age.

[You may consider her a contemporary of Heavenly Fist, that old monster.]

She really was an old monster.

Mentioning Heavenly Fist made it easy to understand.

I had to be careful.

People like that were monsters in more ways than one.

Not necessarily only in terms of strength.

“I was told you summoned me.”

Baek Sora was the same.

I swallowed dryly as I looked at the state of her soul.

It has been a long time since I saw a soul like that.

I had seen steady souls.

Unstable souls.

And souls warped in one way or another.

But hers—

I can’t read it.

There was only one reason that usually happened.

Too much has accumulated on her soul.

Yoo Cheongil’s soul had been like that, and so had Heavenly Fist’s.

The souls of people who had reached a certain realm—beings beyond heaven—or those who had built equivalent stature through other means became difficult to discern.

The old woman before me possessed that kind of soul.

Which meant she was anything but simple.

“Yes. I assume you are aware that there has been an investigation concerning you.”

“No.”

“Hm? No?”

“Yes. More precisely—”

I needed to correct that much.

“It was not an investigation of me. It was an investigation into the massacre at the inn. I am not the culprit.”

“Ahahaha.”

Baek Sora laughed at my response.

“That is right. Yes, that is right. We were trying to solve what happened at the inn. To do that, there was much to investigate. In the process, we had to ask Young Master Bang a number of questions. That is simply how it goes, is it not? We have to turn over every stone, and there is much to determine. In doing so, we committed an unusual measure of discourtesy. My apologies.”

“Not at all.”

Discourtesy?

Did she really think it had been discourtesy?

I studied Baek Sora’s face and gave a slight nod.

I can’t tell.

I could not read her expression.

Her gaze was difficult to interpret.

I hated people like that.

They were among the most difficult kinds of people for me to deal with.

“Well, in any case, the investigation will be closed. The incident at the inn was committed by a Demonic Cultist from the Bottomless Pit who had lost his mind and gone on a rampage. More precisely, an escaped prisoner.”

“...The Bottomless Pit?”

“That is right. It is the name of the prison deep beneath the Office of Justice. A Demonic Cultist confined there escaped and caused trouble. It is a frightening world, truly.”

“....”

I held back a sigh.

The Bottomless Pit, my ass.

There had been no escape, and there probably had not even been anyone imprisoned in the Bottomless Pit.

Yet they were going to close the case by claiming an escaped prisoner had wiped out the inn?

And they were telling me that?

This won’t be simple.

What she was really saying was that they still suspected I might have done it, but since they had to close the case, they would wrap it up like this.

“That truly is frightening.”

“Yes. It has been a long time since something so frightening happened, and it has given us quite a headache.”

“...I see.”

“So.”

SSSSSS.

The cold deepened.

Baek Sora, Head of the Office of Justice, leaned closer.

The atmosphere changed again.

“May I ask you just one question?”

“What is it?”

This was it.

The real reason she had summoned me all the way here, even while closing the investigation.

Then the Head of the Office spoke.

“Did you come here knowing?”

“...Excuse me?”

Knowing what?

Before I could ask—

“I asked whether you came here knowing that a member of the Bang Family bloodline is imprisoned in the Bottomless Pit.”

“What?”

What the hell is that supposed to mean?