Chapter 584

What had I just heard?

It took me a moment to process it.

I ran through it once, twice, maybe three times in my head. The conclusion never changed.

“What did you just say?”

I had misheard. I had to have. No matter how I looked at it, that was the only possibility. What else could it be but an auditory hallucination?

With that thought in mind, I questioned Baek Sora.

“I asked whether you came here to see your blood relative in the Bottomless Pit.”

“...”

So I hadn’t misheard.

This place was fucking insane.

Whenever I thought I had heard something properly, it was a hallucination. Whenever I thought I had misheard, it turned out to be real. What a ridiculous world.

“...There’s someone from the Bang Family in the Bottomless Pit?”

“You did not know?”

“No. I do now.”

“I thought as much...”

“I only found out a moment ago, when I heard it from you, Head of the Office.”

“...”

I had not known until a moment ago, but now I did.

That was the problem.

“...How did someone from the Bang Family end up in... the Bottomless Pit?”

“Hm... It appears you truly did not know.”

“No. There was no way I could have known. Then perhaps you—”

Could it be she thought I was...

“You do not think I came here to break a blood relative out of the Bottomless Pit, do you?”

“Oh! You did not?”

She even clapped her hands.

Oh, my ass.

When I stared at her in disgust, Baek Sora burst out laughing.

“Ahaha. A joke. Just a joke.”

She waved it away, but I had no idea whether I should believe her. She was the Head of the Office of Justice, after all—the person in charge of enforcing the Demonic Cult’s law.

“It is surprising that Young Master Bang did not know about the person in the Bottomless Pit. Still, I did not believe you came here because you had an interest in the place.”

“I appreciate that, but is there a reason you do not suspect me?”

“Not exactly a reason. People from your family have never been particularly interested in their blood relatives, have they?”

“...”

I paused.

It hit a little too close to home. But for her to say that so casually...

“You seem to know a great deal about my family.”

One could only say something like that if they knew the Bang Family.

Baek Sora shook her head.

“Not a great deal. I have merely heard a few things and made a guess.”

“By ‘heard’... you mean from the person down below?”

“Yes.”

“Ah... I see. Then who exactly is the person down there?”

“I cannot tell you a prisoner’s name. All you need to know is that they belong to the Bang Family.”

“Hmm...”

Fine. There was nothing I could do about that. I nodded.

“...”

“...”

The silence lingered for a moment. Perhaps she found it strange, because Baek Sora soon asked:

“You are not curious?”

“About what?”

“Why a member of the Bang Family became a criminal and was locked away beneath the Demonic Cult.”

“I am curious... but I do not particularly want to know the first part.”

“Hm?”

“Whatever crime they committed, it would not be that strange coming from my family.”

I would not have been surprised to learn that someone from the Bang Family was a criminal.

What surprised me was that they were not merely a criminal, but locked away deep beneath Xinjiang of all places.

“...Heh.”

Baek Sora let out a hollow laugh.

“Your family truly is something else.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

I think so too, actually.

I gave a short laugh at her remark.

“Hm.”

Perhaps the important conversation was over. Baek Sora simply stared at me in silence.

“That is all I wished to discuss.”

“You called me here to ask that?”

“Yes. There were a few other things I needed to confirm as well.”

“Then you have confirmed everything?”

“Yes.”

A smile reappeared on Baek Sora’s face.

“Thank you for coming all this way, Young Master Bang.”

“Not at all. It was an honor to meet you.”

I rose after paying my respects and turned to leave.

“Ah, one more thing, if I may say so out of an abundance of caution.”

Baek Sora stopped me.

“Do not take an interest in the Bottomless Pit.”

“Of course. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I like that your answer came so quickly. Good. As long as you leave it at that...”

The smile in Baek Sora’s eyes vanished.

“I too will take no interest in this incident.”

“...”

I stared at her for a moment.

“I am not sure what you mean.”

“Take care on your way back.”

With that slightly skewed exchange, I left the Head of the Office’s room.

“...”

Pa Oyeon, who had been waiting outside, escorted me out. He only turned back after seeing me to the entrance of the Office of Justice.

“Have a safe journey.”

“Yes. Take care yourself, Young Master Pa.”

The moment I was alone, I ran a hand through my hair.

“That was fucking exhausting.”

My head hurt. It felt like I had broken a sweat from all the verbal maneuvering.

“What a terrifying old woman.”

[Heh heh. It appears you broke out in a cold sweat.]

The Heavenly Demon had been quiet the entire time, but he spoke after I sighed while thinking about Baek Sora.

“Yes. She was no joke.”

I answered honestly.

“I have no idea how many snakes she has coiled up inside her.”

That cemented my impression of Baek Sora.

She was the kind of person I did not want close to me—and wanted even less to deal with.

It was the way she spoke.

She spoke as though she did not know, even though she already knew everything. Her words were filled with fine thorns, closing in on me and pricking at me.

She is already certain that what happened at Seoman Inn was my doing.

And yet, rather than interrogate me about it, she had closed the investigation.

I could understand the Deputy Head doing that, but why would even the Head of the Office do the same?

Was it a warning?

She had deliberately mentioned the Bottomless Pit to gauge my reaction. Do not approach the person inside, and I will overlook your crime. She had even offered me that bargain.

The strange part was...

I would never have known if she had not told me in the first place.

That a member of the Bang Family was imprisoned in the Bottomless Pit.

If she had not told me, I never would have known. But she had deliberately told me, planted the thought in my head, and then warned me not to approach.

Something about that bothers me.

Was it really nothing more than a warning?

I stopped and turned it over in my mind.

Was it even a warning in the first place?

There are too many strange things for it to be merely a warning.

At first, I had judged it to be a warning, but now it seemed it was not just that.

There was another purpose.

“...”

I turned around.

Looking back at the Office of Justice, I frowned.

This...

This did not feel like a warning.

A conclusion took shape. My thoughts started moving, and I worked out what I needed to know.

A flash of insight crossed my mind.

Ah.

I see. This was not a warning.

Was she giving me information?

She had given me the information that someone from the Bang Family was beneath the Bottomless Pit.

Then she had gauged whether I already knew it.

And when she closed the case and offered that supposedly “unnecessary” warning not to approach...

She wanted me to understand.

She had actually laid it out in a way that made it easy for me to grasp the matter—and get close to it.

Which meant...

Dig deeper instead.

Contrary to telling me not to take an interest in the Bottomless Pit, she was telling me to delve deeper and find out what was inside.

“...Well, would you look at that?”

Why would the Head of the Office need to go that far?

It seemed...

There is something there.

Apart from the Dancer and the Divine Tree, there appeared to be something else going on in Xinjiang.

And it involved...

My family.

The Bang Family.

Baek Sora had dangled some bait around this godforsaken train wreck of a family—gone so far as to invite me to investigate it myself.

*****

“Greetings, Head of the Office.”

Pa Oyeon, Third Justice of the Office of Justice, bowed to Baek Sora.

She acknowledged his greeting and walked past him.

“Did Young Master Bang leave safely?”

“Yes.”

It was a short answer.

His face seldom changed, which made him difficult to read, but he was steady, dependable, and useful.

He was also being considered as the next Head of the Office of Justice. Baek Sora lightly patted his shoulder as she moved past him.

“Good. I will be visiting the prison for a while. Tell anyone looking for me that I am unavailable.”

“Understood.”

Passing Pa Oyeon, Baek Sora headed toward the deepest reaches of the Office of Justice.

At first glance, there was nothing there but a wall. But when she extended her hand—

GRRRRRK!

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

The mechanism shifted, and the wall opened.

An entrance appeared, and Baek Sora stepped inside.

BOOM—!!!

The door shut the instant she entered, and darkness swallowed the space.

The place extended far, far down.

It was a chilly abyss where looking below revealed nothing but darkness.

Baek Sora descended for a long while.

As an expert, she could have simply leapt down. But the Head of the Office of Justice had a code of her own.

One could not use inner qi carelessly here.

Even the slightest use of inner qi might provoke an unpredictable reaction from the prisoners inside.

There were not many left now, but even those few were prisoners the Heavenly Demon himself had warned them about.

It was a place where most of those held could barely die even if they were not properly fed.

Baek Sora continued down at an unhurried pace.

How long had she walked?

After a long while, Baek Sora finally stopped.

Before her stood a cell.

Though darkness filled the entire space, that particular spot gave the illusion of having been painted an even deeper ink-black.

Standing there with her hands behind her back, Baek Sora spoke.

“I have brought you an amusing fact.”

Her voice echoed through the empty space, a testament to how utterly vacant it was.

With no trace of human presence anywhere, Baek Sora continued as though speaking to herself.

“A member of the Bang Family bloodline came looking for this place.”

At those words—

CLANK.

A presence that had not been felt inside stirred.

The sound of chains moving.

Amid the rattling, a figure emerged from the distance.

It was a man with disheveled hair hanging over his face.

“A member of the Bang Family...?”

His rough voice was so ruined that calling it a voice felt generous. His pronunciation was slurred enough that one might have thought him impossible to understand, but Baek Sora understood him.

“Yes. A brat from the Family Head’s bloodline.”

“...Khh... Heh heh heh... Is that so...? Did he come... to save me...?”

“Do not be absurd. He did not even know you were here.”

“Khh... Khh... Heh heh heh... Of course. That damned family has not changed...”

His tone made it clear that he had not expected even a little.

Baek Sora asked him:

“I will only ask once, so listen carefully.”

Beyond the bars stood something that had once been her friend.

“Bang Ju.”

Calling his name for the first time in a long while, Baek Sora asked:

“Do you want to get out?”

Those were words the Head of the Office of Justice should never have spoken.

Yet she said them without hesitation.

“Go suck a dick.”

It was the same answer he always gave.

“I see.”

Baek Sora nodded at the expected reply and turned away.

“As I tell you every time, I do not have one for you to suck.”

With a dismissive wave, Baek Sora left him behind.

As she walked, she thought quietly:

I will have to do this my way.

His answer would be the same anyway.

So she would simply do as she pleased.

Baek Sora made up her mind.