Episode 226
“The car… I found it!”
Jang Sam-tae looked around with wide eyes, his eyes flashed, and he opened his mouth.
I thought there must be a place where the cult leader hid the money, but sure enough, I found a secret passage.
He shouted loudly and called Dan Woo-hyeon.
“Lord Jang-! Lord Jang!”
Dan Woo-hyeon, who was listening to this from afar, looked at Jang Sam-tae.
“It’s noisy.”
“I found it! This Jang Sam-tae really found it!”
Since Jang Sam-tae had been looking for this all day, it was like watching Sim Mani find wild ginseng.
He moved around as if he wanted to dance.
Dan Woo-hyeon gave him a confused look, but he didn’t stop.
“Anyway, I found it.”
“I know because I saw it.”
Jang Sam-tae turned his head with an awkward expression.
I didn’t like Dan Woo-hyeon’s words as if they were no big deal.
I have found a secret passage that not even Dan Woo-hyeon in the world could find, so it would be nice if I could give him a little praise.
Jang Sam-tae, who was muttering to himself, headed to a place inside the pavilion that was not easily visible to the human eye.
Even though I passed by the area several times, I didn’t notice anything strange, which showed how much the leader didn’t trust people.
There was a table there and a vase on top. There was also a picture hanging on the wall, and at first I thought there was some kind of hidden device in the vase or picture, but instead of that, the table itself was the way to a secret passage. I can’t believe I wasted a day because of this. The name Daedo (大盜) made me cry.
“It’s a narrow place.”
“The wretched body of that cult leader is enough to fit in.”
The secret passage was narrower than I thought.
It is a place that is not easy for even adult men to enter. However, as long as it is the head of the cult, you can enter as much as you want.
Because it was so dry, it was enough to crawl through.
Dan Woo-hyeon quietly placed his hand on the wall. bang-!
The force that exploded hit the wall and broke it.
Jang Sam-tae was horrified as he looked at the falling wall fragments. The outside was certainly filled with wood and soil, but the inside was made with steel so that it could not be easily destroyed even by aerodynamic force.
But even that is of no use in front of Dan Woo-hyeon’s power.
Not only the wood and soil, but even the steel was shattered.
Soon, a fairly wide passage appeared.
“You hid it well.”
“How much did you collect?…” Jang Sam-tae looked inside and shook his head. No matter how important the money was, he was so thorough that I wondered if it was necessary to go to this length.
As I entered inside, I felt damp.
It was almost impossible to even walk in that dark space where there were no torches, let alone night poles, and you couldn’t see an inch in front of you.
Jang Sam-tae, who was following behind, grabbed Dan-woo Hyeon’s collar.
This is to prepare for the unexpected
.
“Let go.”
Jang Sam-tae withdrew his hand at the sharp voice he heard and closed his mouth.
No, when Somi catches him, he doesn’t say anything and I don’t know why he only does this to himself.
I was a little angry, but since the other person was the other person, I kept my mouth shut.
There are people who are okay with flirting and people who are not allowed to do so, and Dan Woo-hyeon was one of the latter.
Eventually, when we got a little further in, Dan Woo-hyeon, who was ahead of us, suddenly stopped. Jang Sam-tae, who was following behind, shouted! And he buried his nose into Dan Woo-hyeon’s back.
“Ah, what are you doing….”
“We’re all here.”
“Is that so? Hehehe.”
Jang Sam-tae hurriedly lowered his posture as he felt like he was looking back.
Soon, Dan Woo-hyeon, who was looking around, stretched out his hand toward the torch placed on one side, and light came into the dark space.
“Oh… it’s enormous…” Jang Sam-tae swallowed his saliva as he looked at what was unfolding before his eyes. Like an emperor’s treasury, a considerable amount of gold and silver coins were piled up here and there, and all kinds of precious metals that could be considered money were also visible.
Even Dan Woo-hyeon could not hide his surprise at the enormous amount, which, if he could just sell it, would be enough to support not only one fortune, but several generations.
Even though I saw it with my own eyes, it was truly an amount that was hard to believe.
Then something caught Dan Woo-hyeon’s eye.
A book that seems to have been treasured alone, even though other possessions are scattered here and there.
Dan Woo-hyeon approached it with a strange expression.
Finally, the moment I saw the cover.
I widened my eyes.
Nam Gung-cheon
and Dan So-mi were leading a carriage and had already entered Honam. If we continued like this for one more day, we would have definitely arrived, but we turned the reins to a different place and were riding up the mountain.
Dan So-mi’s eyes, looking out the window, were generally bright.
I don’t know if I was thinking about the past while looking at the surrounding scenery, or if I wanted to engrave in my eyes the scenery I hadn’t seen in a long time, but I didn’t even try to fall from the window.
“I think you’ll have to walk from here.”
Finally, Kwon Moo-jin muttered.
The mountain road was rougher than I thought. It would be nice to be able to pull the carriage up, but it seemed impossible.
It seemed like it would be faster to stop the horse nearby and walk.
“Oh I know this place! Just go straight from here to here!”
Dansomi jumped out of the hopscotch carriage and looked around and said. When I lived in a slash-and-burn village, this area was like a playground for children.
Namgungcheon looked at the direction Dansomi pointed to.
There was no trace of anyone passing by.
‘From a place like this to Agyang?’
I couldn’t hide my surprise when I thought about that.
I heard from Dan Woo-hyeon that Dan So-mi’s village was attacked and her entire family was massacred. However, the distance from here to Akyang was considerable.
Even if you were to walk on adult feet, it would take two or three days unless you were riding a horse or carriage.
However, Dansomi is much smaller than other children her age.
More than a year has passed, but other than growing a little taller, he hasn’t grown much.
It would have taken more than four days for such a child to walk all the way to Agyang with his wounded body, and he would have collapsed and died before that time from exhaustion.
“Did you really come from here to Aeyang?”
“yes? Hehehe, I actually don’t remember.”
Dansomi scratched her head with a embarrassed expression. When I tried to recall my memories from that time, there was nothing special about it. Is it just that when I opened my eyes, I was an evil sheep, alone, and the faces of my dead parents came to mind?
All I could think about was the struggles I had to survive.
“Home… I see. “It was unconscious.”
Nangong Cheon was somewhat unconvinced, but it didn’t seem like Dan Somi was lying at all. I couldn’t tell if I really couldn’t remember or if I was just blowing away painful memories.
“Let’s go first, Somi.”
Namgung So-hye looked at Namgung Cheon with a strange gaze and led Dan So-mi. This is because it kept reminding me of memories that were not worth thinking about.
“this way!”
Soon, it moved towards the place Dansomi had pointed out. The mountain was generally not difficult.
It was large enough for young children to run around and although it was narrow overall, it was easy to climb.
Climbing the winding mountain path, we continued to move toward the place Dansomi had pointed out.
After going inside for a while, they soon made their way through the thick bushes and the sight of a small village caught their eye.
“This…”
“That’s too much.”
Kwon Moo-jin and Majang Kang were the first to notice it and were impressed. At first glance, it was a small slash-and-burn village.
The place, which didn’t even seem to have that many people, was completely deserted.
When I looked back, Dansomi was also contemplative.
I didn’t even think it would be like this.
This little child would have been busy running away.
“Home…”
Namgung-cheon sighed and entered the village.
“this way! “This way!”
Dan So-mi grabbed Namgung So-hye’s sleeve and pointed to a place. He found the house where he lived.
Namgung Sohye took a breath and quickly ran towards there.
“Here… this is Somi’s house
.”
“Ah…”
Namgung Sohye was speechless.
The place where I collapsed was no longer able to be called home.
The hardened blood stains remained, albeit vaguely, revealing the horrors that had occurred here.
The good news is that there are no bodies?
Namgung So-hye, who had been thinking that far, turned her head.
What is fortunate?
Considering Dansomi’s feelings, she had to find her parents’ bodies and bury them properly.
I glanced at Dansomi.
Although his eyes looked sad, he didn’t seem that depressed. Therefore, Namgung So-hye asked Dan So-mi with a strange expression.
“Are you okay?”
“…It hurts my heart, but I can’t help what happened.” He was truly mature to the point where it was hard to believe he was only eight years old. However, judging by the way he clenched his fists, it seemed like the fear and horror of that day still remained in his mind.
Namgung Sohye slowly entered the collapsed site.
“What was Somi doing here?”
“ah! It’s there, right? That persimmon tree! “I played with it and ate it every day when it opened.”
What Dansomi pointed to was a half-broken persimmon tree. It could no longer function as a tree and could easily be used as firewood, but when I looked closely, there were traces of Dansomi left there.
“That must have been nice. “Hehehe.”
Namgungcheon repaired the broken tree. Then, when he smiled, Dan Somi nodded, her face brightening.
Although it was a memory I could never return to, I still liked my hometown after a long time, so I took Namgung Sohye by the hand and showed her around the place.
“He’s a great kid. “I can’t believe you came to your senses even after seeing this situation.”
“You may be smiling on the outside, but in reality, you want to cry… That’s right…”
Namgung-cheon looked around and noticed the broken trees and traces everywhere, the direction of blood splatter and the engravings on the walls and pillars. I looked at the sword marks.
“You are not an ordinary thief.”
“How can you judge something like that?”
Majang River asked. Because a long time has passed, the traces have been greatly damaged.
In fact, it didn’t seem like it would be easy to determine whether he was a thief or not.
Nevertheless, the fact that he was thinking that way meant that Namgung-cheon had sensed something.
“Most of the blood splatters are consistent. That means he’s quite an expert. Also, they were not numerous… Somi said that they rode horses and wore iron armor…” A
group of small but excellent experts who rode horses and wore iron armor.
Although such people existed in the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult, I felt strange in that they were not traces of the martial arts used by the Jeong Sect or the Demonic Cult.
“But why are there no bodies?”
Namgung-cheon opened his eyes with a sigh. It is possible that the coffin department disposed of the bodies, but in that case they would have gathered them together and set them on fire, but there were no traces of that.
The strange feeling did not go away easily.
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