< Episode 60: Confidential Mission (1) >
– Coo coo coo coo.
The bottom of the lead boat scraped the land and went up.
-with a splash! with a splash! with a splash!
The anchors on the left and right sides of the ship were lowered but the ship was still rocking due to the rough current.
However they succeeded in crossing the river in less than half an hour.
By the time they arrived Nie Chun Jae-jeong Mong Wu-yak and others had woken up and had blank faces as if they were somewhat out of their minds.
They were not even aware of when they fell asleep and when they woke up.
I just felt like I dozed off for a while.
‘hmm.’
Mok Gyeong-un who was looking at them strangely approached Hayun the vengeful spirit who was standing in front of Ta and greeted her with his bow.
“Thanks to you I crossed the river safely. Thank you.”
-You don’t have to be too thankful because you just kept your promise.
“A promise is a promise and gratitude is gratitude.”
-Okay. If you do get off carefully.
“ah! “Can I ask one more question before I go?”
-….What do you mean?
“Did you happen to see an old man with a bamboo fishing rod? “Do you know?”
At these words Vengeance Hayun paused for a moment.
But she quickly shook her head and answered.
-I don’t know.
“You really don’t know?”
-….exactly.
Mok Gyeong-un quickly laughed at Hayun’s reply bowed lightly once again and then turned around.
Looking at Mok Gyeong-un’s back Hayun the vengeful spirit remembered the previous incident.
[If they ask you about Nobu tell them you don’t know anything.]
I hid it because the elder told me to but that clever young man seemed to have noticed.
At least the fact that there is a connection between the elder and himself.
However it was better not to know its identity unless the elder wanted it to.
‘….If you really have talent beyond his as the old man believes we will definitely be in a relationship again someday.’
* * *
Around the first hour of the evening.
In front of the abandoned Guandi Temple (關帝廟) on the east side of Qizhou Mountain in Annak Henan Province.
There were three men sitting around a bonfire eating roasted roe deer meat.
Among the three men who appeared to be in their mid-twenties one stood out in particular: his face was white as if he had been powdered and his lips were red as if he had applied rouge.
Instead of eating the meat in one bite they were carefully tearing it apart and eating it.
Looking at him like this the droopy-eyed man with a blue band around his forehead clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Yubong you have become a very skilled naeguan.”
“Ho ho ho. “It’s been almost two years since I lived as a naekwan so it seems like a natural thing to say.”
“Even if everything else is the same what’s wrong with that laugh?”
“How can you change something that has already become ingrained in your mouth? Please understand for a moment. Mr. Ganyang. Ho ho ho.”
“ha.”
The tickling laughter was so annoying that the man with the blue band around his head called Ganyang sighed.
A man with a beard sitting across from him stopped eating meat and called out in an irritated voice.
“Ganyang.”
“Why but?”
“It’s enough to wait for this so how about we go back soon?”
“Let’s go back?”
“I see. “The late team won’t arrive today anyway.”
“Hana Okgi…..”
As Kang Yang tried to say something the man called Okgi raised his voice and cut him off.
“It rained not just one day but nearly 15 days. “They say rivers overflowed here and there and even landslides occurred. How can they meet the anniversary?”
As he said the damage caused by the rain that lasted for 15 days could not be described in words.
In particular they had heard that it was impossible to even launch a boat around the river.
Taking this into account Okgi judged that it was impossible for even the most expert soldiers to arrive at the meeting point on time.
“hmm.”
Ganyang stroked his chin with a troubled expression.
In three days there will be a military examination by the city council.
Before that I had to arrive at the Hwangdoin Gaebong within two days and familiarize myself with the true purpose of the classified mission and all the necessary requirements.
Moreover this was not the end; there were people who must be met before seeing Mushi.
“It would be difficult for us alone.”
“It’s not that I’m tired and I’m already late. “If they arrive tomorrow the mission will have already been disrupted at that point.”
“…..”
“Didn’t we assume a situation where the advance team couldn’t arrive on time anyway? “Stop going back.”
Ganyang sighed at Okgi’s words.
No matter how much I thought about it it was impossible.
The rivers would have flooded due to heavy rain making it impossible to even cross the river for several days.
In fact the chances of them arriving here even after three days rather than tomorrow were slim.
“Whew. okay. You are right. “Let’s just withdraw now.”
Only then did Ok-gi look satisfied with Kang-yang’s decision.
In the first place he was not very happy about the arrival of the late team.
They said that Naeseong would send out skilled review instructors as requested by ‘there’ but they were just saenims who had no experience in actual combat or ganja.
On the other hand they were trained just for this day.
I am waiting for the day when I will be honored by the association after making a great contribution but are you asking me to focus on those missionaries?
No matter how much I thought about it I couldn’t understand it.
‘I’ll show you that you can do it without those guys.’
I tried to extinguish the bonfire by removing the remaining roe deer meat from the wooden stand.
It was right then.
-Rust!
A sign of movement was felt in the southwest bush.
At this everyone including him hurriedly put their hands on their weapons and turned their heads.
At that time someone appeared digging through the grass.
“iced coffee. “I think we arrived just in time.”
‘!?’
Okgi couldn’t help but sigh inwardly when he saw his face reflected in the bonfire.
He was so surprised by her beautiful face that he thought for a moment that she was a woman.
Then three more people followed suit.
The person who particularly stood out was a man with a muscular and bulky physique although not very tall and a ghastly look with a broken prayer beads hanging around his neck.
On either side of him was a young man who appeared to be in his late twenties holding a rather light-looking sword and a young man who seemed cool-headed despite his tall and respectable appearance.
‘no way?”
Okgi’s expression hardened at their appearance.
Are they really latecomers?
‘Is that possible?’
No matter how much we rushed we were a latecomer that would have difficulty meeting the due date.
How can we get there today if we can’t cross the river in the first place?
At the moment when they were perplexed Ganyang the leader of the advance team spoke to them.
“Heaven’s mandate.”
This was a pre-determined password.
Meng Wuyak stepped forward and responded to Gan Yang’s words.
“Jiun(地運).”
Ganyang’s expression brightened at those words.
That was because the late troops who were thought to not arrive on time arrived just as they were about to withdraw.
-Park!
Gan Yang tried to greet them by putting his hands together and making a bow gesture.
“Welcome. The leader of the advance team….”
At that time Okgi cut her off.
“I’m still not sure if it’s a latecomer or not.”
“What are you talking about? “How can there be people who know this location and password…?”
“Then what if you do something wrong? “You have to make sure of everything!”
Ganyang couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by Okgi’s resolute attitude.
Even so he had been overflowing with dissatisfaction ever since he heard from the committee about the latecomers.
“Look. Okgi…”
“There are three that were notified by the meeting. But there are four of them. Moreover we met a date that was impossible to meet. “Is this not strange at all?”
‘It makes sense.’
At those words Ganyang’s expression immediately became a bit wary.
This was certainly strange to regard as just a complaint against the latecomers.
-Sreung!
At that time Okgi drew his sword aimed it at the rear team and spoke.
“I heard from the council that the latecomers are Samin (三人). “What are you guys?”
Meng Muyak who felt uncomfortable with his attitude of questioning even while aiming his sword came forward.
“Who are you suspecting now?”
“If you have done something suspicious you should explain it but are you questioning it now?”
If it were a normal situation no matter how sharp the other person was I would have made the situation clear first.
However as was the case with all latecomers Meng Muyak was currently in a very sensitive state.
In order to meet the anniversary I arrived here without even being able to rest properly after being exposed to heavy rain for nearly 10 days.
However I couldn’t help but feel annoyed when they pushed me into a fight like this.
“Do you care? “Who now…”
“iced coffee. Please calm down.”
Mok Gyeong-un tried to dissuade him.
“Yes my lord…”
‘Master?’
Everyone in the advance team including Okgi frowned at the word lord.
Of course Mo Kyung-un said without paying attention to this.
“There are three of us who came later and this person is my servant.”
‘what? satellite?’
Apostate Monk Jaejeongjeong looked astonished at Mok Gyeongun’s words.
It seemed like something was wrong so he tried to keep an eye on it but he didn’t expect to introduce himself in this way.
Ok-gi looked at Jae-jeong who couldn’t hide his displeasure and snorted and said.
“You brought a squire on a classified mission? Are you asking me to believe that now?”
“I didn’t bring him from the club but he was a squire I picked up along the way.”
Okgi’s impression hardened at Mok Gyeong-un’s nonchalant attitude.
When I asked him to explain he just spewed out nonsense.
Ganyang the leader of the advance team also seemed to not understand this and said half-drawing the sword he was wearing at his waist.
“Does this situation seem like a joke? “If I were to tell you that an unknown squire was brought in on an important confidential mission given by the council do you think we would just let it go and let us know?”
“Is this because of who this person is?”
“no. That’s the point…”
“Have you ever heard of Jaejeongjeong?”
“A financial well and something…what?”
Ganyang’s expression which was about to raise his voice because he thought there was no communication soon hardened.
He couldn’t believe his ears for a moment.
He knew that Jae-jae-jeong was an apostate monk of Shaolin and was more infamous as a member of Sam-gwang (三狂) before his nickname as Bok-ma-wonsa in Wu-rim.
‘No way!’
That couldn’t have been possible.
Why did a crazy apostate monk even from Shaolin become this person’s squire?
No matter how much I thought about it this made no sense.
But
‘……’
Ganyang’s eyes turned to Jaejeong.
From the first time I saw it I thought it was something I had heard a lot about before.
Everything was just as I had heard through rumors including the broken prayer beads his bulky physique and his ghastly appearance.
Even though the situation was not right Ganyang became speechless when he thought that it might be real.
But it wasn’t jade.
“under! Do you think I’m going to believe that nonsense now? No matter how much it was released by Shaolin do you think that the infamous Samgwang company would do something like a seed that didn’t even meet the terms of service? “If you have common sense you wouldn’t say something like that…”
-Whoosh!
“Oops!”
That was before the words were even finished.
Someone grabbed Okgi’s neck like lightning and lifted it up.
He was none other than an apostate monk Jaejeongjeong.
‘This bastard…..’
Thinking that Ok-gi had let his guard down for a moment he tried to cut Jae-jeong’s arm with the sword he was holding.
But before he could do that Jae-jae-jeong snapped his wrist.
-Pud!
“Turn it off!”
-Changerang!
Thanks to this I dropped my sword.
Either way Jae-jae-jeong said with a grin on his face even the blood on his forehead.
“Whether you are Namisa’s squire or a slave why are you talking so carelessly? Shall I break off the tree branch right here and send it to the Buddha?”
“Knock…”
Jade’s pupils shook as if there had been an earthquake.
‘Is this really a financial investment center?’
Okgi’s inaction reached its peak.
He was confident that he was in the top tier among his peers in all aspects of political affairs.
However if he had the strength to hold his head in one hand and lift it up immobilizing him he was definitely a bastard.
Meanwhile Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said to Gan Yang the leader of the advance team.
“If we need to keep the number of people exactly right wouldn’t it be okay to reduce one person at this time?”
‘!!!!!!!’
Upon hearing those words Okgi’s face immediately became astonished.
< Episode 60: Confidential Mission (1) > end
ⓒ Hanzhongwolya
