Chapter 271 : Plague (6)
Chapter 271: Plague (6)
A few days had passed since three completely mismatched typhoons of plague, the Alliance Leader's visit, and Dam Bin’s pregnancy had struck in succession.
Fortunately, peace was finally returning to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's branch in Lanzhou.
The plague had been more or less brought under control, and the relationship between Dam Bin and Ouyang Mun was slowly but surely progressing.
"Miss Dam Bin, is there anything else you need?" Ouyang Mun asked.
True to his word about being the type to tunnel-vision on one thing once he'd set his mind to it, Ouyang Mun was taking care of Dam Bin with the dedication of a martyr.
"...I can't think of anything right now, so why don't you rest for a bit?"
Even Dam Bin, who'd initially found Ouyang Mun's attitude uncomfortable, was gradually warming up to him.
"Then please rest well. I'll wait outside."
"...You don't have to leave. Just rest here next to me."
"Yes, ma'am!"
How should I put it? It felt less like dealing with a potential husband and more like dealing with an obedient puppy.
In any case, Il-mok was just thinking that he could finally breathe a sigh of relief now that the urgent situations had been resolved one by one when—
"Young Master! Officials from the government have come looking for the head of the Maitreya Luminous Cult!"
"From the government? What for, all of a sudden?"
"They say they can't tell us the reason. They're just saying that the Left Provincial Administration Commissioner is looking for you and wants you to come to the Provincial Administration Commission Office with them immediately."
A new storm had arrived without warning.
The Provincial Administration Commission Office governed each of the thirteen provinces in the Central Plains, serving as the highest administrative body in each province. The Left and Right Provincial Administration Commissioners who headed these offices were high-ranking officials of the second rank and the supreme authorities of their respective provinces.
The problem was, why the hell was someone of that stature suddenly looking for him?
"Phew."
Il-mok let out a light sigh and gave instructions to the warrior from the branch who'd come to report.
"Tell them that I was in the middle of caring for plague patients, so as a precaution, I'll cleanse myself thoroughly and then come pay my respects."
"I will relay that message."
Having bought himself some time using the plague as an excuse, Il-mok calmly organized his thoughts.
***
At the heart of the Lanzhou Provincial Administration Commission Office, several officials had gathered.
After ordering someone to bring the head of whatever-it-was-called Maitreya Luminous Cult and waiting an hour, a middle-aged official lost his patience. His face twisted as he shouted, "Huh! How dare these lawless martial artists make the Left Commissioner wait! They should be punished by law!"
The officials' gazes turned toward the Left Provincial Administration Commissioner seated in the center.
The Left Commissioner was also frowning as he stroked his white beard, but his displeasure wasn't because of the Maitreya Luminous Cult.
"They said he was treating plague patients. The way you're talking, it sounds like you want me to catch the plague."
The middle-aged official who'd climbed to his current position through flattery and bribes turned pale and hurriedly prostrated himself.
"It-it's a misunderstanding, Your Excellency!"
"Tsk."
The Left Commissioner clicked his tongue lightly and was about to say something more when a shout came from outside the door.
"A representative from the Maitreya Luminous Cult has arrived!"
The Left Commissioner, who'd been glaring at the official, turned toward the door and called out, "Let him in."
No sooner had he given the order than the door opened and a masked man entered. The moment he stepped inside, the officials erupted in angry shouts without exception.
"How insolent!"
"Where do you think you are? Take that mask off!"
It was all because of the mask the man wore.
The Left Commissioner rubbed his temples like he had a headache and commanded.
"All of you, leave."
He realized they would just get in the way of the conversation. It was also an unavoidable problem since officials generally had a tendency to look down on martial artists.
The officials collectively knelt and cried out.
"It won’t do Your Excellency!”
"It's too dangerous!"
"We don't know what evil intentions this man might have!"
The Left Commissioner waved his hand and only then did they fall silent. He opened his mouth.
"Let's say this man has evil intentions. Can any of you stop him then?"
"......"
The officials collectively became as silent as mutes who'd eaten honey when they heard the question.
The officials couldn't say a word.
They tried to stutter out a response, but the Commissioner cut them off.
"B-But..."
"Evil intentions aside, why would he attack me? He knows that if he kills me, the Maitreya Luminous Cult will be wiped off the map. Isn't that right?"
The Left Commissioner's gaze as he looked around the room finally landed on the masked man. While it was partly to persuade the officials, that last statement was also a warning directed to the masked man.
As if complying with the warning, the masked man bowed at the waist in respect.
"How could I dare harbor evil intentions toward the Left Commissioner?"
The moment the man finished speaking, the Left Commissioner gestured to the officials to leave.
Eventually, the officials exchanged glances and filed out of the hall one by one, leaving only the Left Commissioner and the masked man.
"Are you going to keep wearing that mask?"
At the Left Commissioner's question, the man raised his hand and removed his mask. What was revealed was the face of a middle-aged man with several scars.
It was Il-mok.
Thanks to using the plague as an excuse, he'd bought time to prepare a human-skin disguise in case he had to remove his mask.
"Please forgive my rudeness."
When Il-mok bowed respectfully and said this, the Left Commissioner examined Il-mok's face for a moment before speaking.
"Hmm. You have good manners for a martial artist."
"How could I be rude to someone who governs the country and cares for the people?"
"Oho."
The Left Commissioner showed an interested reaction and asked Il-mok, "Well then, do you know why I summoned you here?"
"I am not wise enough to guess your thoughts, Your Excellency. Please enlighten me."
The Left Commissioner's lips curved into a subtle smile as he answered.
"It's because of a rumor I heard recently. I hear that you have brought the plague that began spreading in Lanzhou under control?"
This was the reason the Left Commissioner held goodwill toward the Maitreya Luminous Cult despite never having met them before.
The government didn't care if a few commoners died or if martial artists engaged in sword fights, but plagues were a different story. A plague meant that at a minimum hundreds, and in severe cases thousands or tens of thousands, would drop dead.
And if thousands or tens of thousands of people died, the state's granaries run dry, and there wouldn't be enough labor to carry out the Emperor's orders.
In other words, it meant that the officials of a province struck by a plague faced the risk of at least being stripped of their office, and in severe cases, being sent into exile or degraded to slavery.
Since these people had stepped forward first to prevent such a crisis, it was natural for him to feel goodwill toward them. The officials who'd been gathered here earlier had simply treated it as "naturally something the lower classes should do," which was why they'd been so rude.
Moreover, since the Maitreya Luminous Cult belonged to the martial world, they'd looked down on Il-mok even more.
At the Left Commissioner's words, Il-mok swallowed a sigh.
'Phew. Thank god he means well.'
On the way over, Il-mok had imagined all sorts of scenarios. Among them was the possibility that the Maitreya Luminous Cult's influence in Lanzhou had grown too large, and this was a summons to keep them in check.
He'd planned to resolve things through dialogue if possible, but if that proved impossible, Il-mok had even considered assassination.
And that also means he had also prepared for this exact situation. Il-mok turned on his Persuasion stat to 100.
"We didn't do anything special. Isn't this all thanks to you, Your Excellency?"
"Huh? Thanks to me?"
The Left Commissioner acted confused, but he was definitely smiling.
Il-mok didn't miss that and kept going.
"That's right. Isn't it all because you, Left Commissioner, who cares for the people, gave us instructions in advance?"
Since he used to work as a civil servant back in his previous life, Il-mok knew very well what superiors liked most. Nothing worked as well as passing credit up the chain.
Having your credit stolen by your boss was the absolute worst. But—
'It's not like I get a bonus from the government if I take the credit.'
Il-mok wasn't part of the government system to begin with, so the credit was useless to him.
And Il-mok's prediction hit the mark perfectly.
"Hahaha. So I ordered it, huh? What a pleasant thing to hear. But even if you say that, will anyone else believe it?"
"I was planning to spread that to the people as well. I've been too busy caring for the plague patients to tell them yet, for which I apologize."
"Hahaha."
The Left Commissioner was grinning from ear to ear. “Still, even if I ordered it, actually pulling it off perfectly is another thing entirely. Since you completed my 'mission' so well, I should give you a reward. So, is there anything you want?"
Hearing the Left Commissioner's question, Il-mok calmly opened his mouth.
***
That evening, in a large estate built in one part of Lanzhou, a middle-aged man was pacing back and forth inside the hall, chewing his nails with anxious steps.
'Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.'
He was the official who'd tried to flatter the Left Commissioner and ended up getting a tongue-lashing instead.
'What's the big deal about some lowlifes dying?'
That wasn't important. The real problem was that a martial artist dared to keep them waiting. He just pointed that out to the Left Commissioner; it was so unfair that he fell out of favor over such a small thing.
He was trying to figure out how to fix this mess when...
"Master."
A servant brought him a letter.
It was from an old friend he used to hang out with when he was young, who now lived in a different province.
And when the man checked the contents of the letter, his eyes widened.
"Hahaha. Heaven hasn't abandoned me yet!"
The content was simple.
It said that the Maitreya Luminous Cult in Gansu Province appeared to be teaching treasonous doctrines that suggested they were plotting rebellion.
In other words, the Maitreya Luminous Cult needed to be cleaned up immediately.
He grabbed the letter and ran straight to the Left Commissioner’s office.
"I request an audience with the Left Commissioner."
He managed to get a meeting with the Commissioner and handed him the letter.
"These wicked people of the Maitreya Luminous Cult must be dealt with by law immediately!"
His logic was simple. If the cult were traitors, then his own crime of insulting them would disappear. Furthermore, since he'd been the first to inform the Left Commissioner of this fact, he calculated that he could get back in his good graces.
The man was full of hope, but when the Left Commissioner finished reading the letter, his reaction was far from what the man had hoped for.
"Hah. Birds of a feather really do flock together."
As the Left Commissioner laughed in disbelief. The official thought he heard wrong.
"Wh-what do you mean by that, Your Excellency?"
"You come to me with a rumor heard by someone who isn't even in Gansu? Are you in your right mind? Are you saying that this rumor is more credible than what I saw with my own two eyes? Do you think I'm blind?"
"Th-that's not it."
"Get out. I don't want to see your face right now."
The man tried to say more, but the Left Commissioner's gaze left him no choice but to turn around. He knew that if he said one more thing, it wouldn’t just end with him being kicked out of the office.
After kicking him out, the Commissioner read the letter again and laughed.
"Treason, they say? Give me a break."
The Left Commissioner recalled his conversation with the man from the Maitreya Luminous Cult that afternoon.
To him, who had served in office for decades and climbed to the position of Left Commissioner, the contents of this letter were nothing more than just a bunch of bulllshit.
And it wasn't just because the man had passed all credit to him.
"What a world we live in. To think there would be someone who demands that as a reward."
It was because the reward the man had requested at the end was so strange that he simply couldn't see them as a group plotting rebellion.
***
A few days later, after handling some matters related to the Left Commissioner and returning to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's branch in Lanzhou, Il-mok received a letter.
[Found the rat's head.]
It was a letter from his Third Brother, Seo Wan-pyeong.