Chapter 83
Chapter 83: I Am Kim Tae-yang (2)
I was grouped together with 31st floor climbers.
Being considered a high-floor climber, the treatment I received was something else.
They kept asking if I was uncomfortable anywhere, and the waiting container had an air purifier running along with a temperature control device.
Food and snacks were continuously supplied.
‘So we're national treasures, apparently.’
I felt pretty good.
I waited for my turn.
"Chief Han is here too."
She stood at the tower entrance with her arms crossed.
A suit really did suit her, as always.
‘But why does that bastard keep glancing at me?’
From a while ago, Section Chief Bong Ju-min had been grinning and peering my way.
It didn't seem like he was trying to acknowledge me.
‘There's definitely something he's scheming.’
After thinking about it for a moment, that guy's plan was plain as day.
I smiled lightly and waited, and soon my turn came.
A special camera was connected to a laptop, capturing the ripple pattern when entering the tower and producing its result.
For a 31st floor climber, the same ripple as a 31st floor climber would naturally appear.
Anyone whose pattern differed would be caught on the spot and subjected to a Gukmubon investigation.
Heh heh heh.
Bong Ju-min grinned as he looked at me.
Of the 10 people grouped with me, 7 had already passed.
5 of them seemed to belong to the same sect and had gone ahead into the tower to climb.
The remaining 2 hadn't entered due to a time limit but were confirmed to have matching patterns.
"You're confirmed as a 31st floor climber. You may return. Thank you for attending. A small stipend will be deposited."
Finally, my turn.
I stood in front of the entry gate.
Chief Han was leaning her back against a pillar near the entry gate.
She didn't seem to recognize me without my Human Skin Mask.
0%
"Please go ahead."
"Yes."
Just as I stepped forward—
"Wait!"
Bong Ju-min raised his hand and jumped forward.
"This person is a Chinese spy!"
"……?"
Everyone reacted with bafflement.
Bong Ju-min shouted in an agitated voice.
"This man! Kim Tae-yang threatened me. He told me to register him as a 27th floor climber, or he'd slaughter my entire family!"
‘……Me?’
I made an expression of indignation.
"Arrest him immediately! He's a spy! I swear on everything I have."
As Bong Ju-min came out swinging so fiercely, the Gukmubon agents slowly started approaching me.
Chief Han focused her gaze on me as well.
"I am not a spy."
"Please come this way."
"I'm telling you, I'm not."
Bong Ju-min shouted again.
"Not a spy? Please check this man's data. It says 27th floor there, doesn't it? The person who modified the entry is me, Bong Ju-min."
At that, Chief Han walked over to the female Gukmubon agent sitting in front of the laptop.
The female agent spoke.
"That's correct, Chief. It's exactly as Section Chief Bong says. Why did a 27th floor conqueror come to take the 31st floor examination?"
Bong Ju-min crowed triumphantly.
"You see! I told you I was right. He certainly won't have a sect affiliation either! It's absurd that an Unaffiliated Climber made it all the way to the 31st floor!"
Chief Han looked at the female agent again, and the female agent nodded.
"There is no registered sect affiliation. He is an Unaffiliated Climber."
I immediately protested.
"I am not an Unaffiliated Climber. I am affiliated with the Red Dragon Gate."
At the mention of Red Dragon Gate, the Gukmubon agents' eyes shifted.
An agent spoke.
"We can recite the names of Red Dragon Gate's 30th floor and above climbers in our sleep. But Kim Tae-yang is a name we've never heard."
I backed away and said,
"I'm telling you, you're wrong!"
"Words alone won't do."
Click.
A Gukmubon agent drew a telescopic baton.
"Hey—wait, are you really doing this?"
The agents tightened their encirclement. Fierce looks in their eyes.
I shouted at them.
"And what will you do if I'm not?!"
"……."
"I'm going to tip off the press. That Gukmubon agents are persecuting a diligent climber and patriot by calling him a spy!"
At the magic words, ‘tip off the press’ the Gukmubon agents faltered.
They turned their heads and looked toward Chief Han.
She stepped in front of Bong Ju-min and looked him in the eyes.
"Section Chief Bong, can you take responsibility?"
"Yes! If I'm wrong, I'll hand in my resignation right then and there."
"Arrest him."
The agents rushed at me immediately.
Swoosh.
I took a step back right against the Murim Tower entry gate.
Hummm—
The moment the ripple shimmered—
The agents immediately grabbed both my arms and dragged me away, throwing me to the ground.
They twisted my arms behind me and snapped handcuffs on.
For a regular person, cable ties would be more than sufficient, but since I was a climber, handcuffs were non-negotiable.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Honestly, it didn't hurt at all, but I screamed on purpose.
"Stay still!"
"Aaagh! It hurts. Gently."
As the agents moved to haul me back to my feet—
"U-Um……!"
The female Gukmubon agent sitting in front of the laptop raised her hand, adjusting her glasses.
"What is it?"
Chief Han asked.
The bespectacled female agent hesitated and spoke.
"H-He's… correct."
"Pardon?"
"This person is confirmed as 31st floor."
She pointed to the results on the laptop screen with her hand.
Chief Han rushed over to verify it, then let out a groan.
"He actually is……!"
Another agent held up a phone and reported to Chief Han.
"I confirmed with Red Dragon Gate—there is apparently a climber named Kim Tae-yang."
"I thought he was Unaffiliated!"
"Well, apparently he joined just a few days ago."
"Oh for—!"
Swoosh.
She turned her gaze to Bong Ju-min.
"T-That can't be. He's definitely a Chinese spy!"
Swish—Tap.
Chief Han turned the laptop around and showed it to him.
"I… it's true? Why—why? That's impossible."
"Section Chief Bong Ju-min!"
Flinch.
Bong Ju-min froze.
"Just what on earth do you think you're—"
"Before that!"
I cut in.
With one rough shake of my body, the agents released both my arms.
I shouted at Chief Han with my hands still cuffed behind my back.
"Take responsibility! Or I'll report everything to the press!"
As I hollered at the top of my lungs, Chief Han gave a look.
The agents promptly removed the handcuffs.
She said,
"I apologize. Today's incident was our mistake."
"Does 'mistake' cover it?"
"No. I'm sorry. How can we make it up to you?"
For a moment, I thought of the jail warden who had become the Hundred-Man Commander of Demon Wind Manor long ago.
That late bastard.
‘Should I ask her to take Bong Ju-min's head?’
No.
Something Chief Han had once said suddenly came to me.
"You should submit your resignation."
She bit her lip.
"Understood. Section Chief Bong, you made a promise earlier, didn't you? Submit your resignation today—"
"Not him."
I reached out my hand.
"Chief Han's resignation."
"……Pardon?"
‘You said it yourself.’
‘That you have to make a big commotion to catch a big fish.’
‘Let's see then.’
‘What we end up catching.’
* * *
I was inside Chief Han's office.
She asked me,
"Coffee? Tea?"
"Do you have a caramel macchiato?"
"Would I?"
"Tea, then."
"Same for me."
Her secretary nodded and stepped out.
I smiled at her and said,
"I thought you'd brew it yourself."
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Don't you know my nickname?"
"Isn't it Poison Spider?"
"Bwahahaha!"
She burst out laughing suddenly.
"Are you flirting with me right now?"
"These days it's called flirting, isn't it."
She looked at me with an expression that said, ‘Oh, this one’.
She seemed taken aback that someone dared to joke around with the great Poison Spider herself.
I asked,
"What perfume do you wear?"
"Why?"
"Because the fragrance is lovely. I'd like to gift some to my mother."
She turned around and picked up a perfume from her desk.
"It doesn't have a brand."
"It's a niche perfume. You can't find it on the market. It's a perfume made exclusively for me by France's finest perfumer."
I reached out my hand.
"May I take it?"
"No, you may not. I don't have many left either."
She set the perfume back on the desk.
Chief Han asked with a smile,
"How old are you?"
"Around 27, I think."
"You don't know your own age?"
"It should be right."
"Do you know how old I am?"
"Aren't you in your early 30s?"
"I'm 5 years older than you."
"I didn't say let's date."
"……."
The look on her face as she went momentarily blank.
‘Come to think of it, everything I said was technically right.’
"You've got nerve, going up against me……. So you joined Red Dragon Gate?"
"It's a pretty decent place."
Swoosh.
She leaned forward.
The familiar scent of lilac drifted over.
"How about coming to Gukmubon?"
"Is this a recruitment offer?"
"You'd be working for the nation."
"From what I saw earlier, you were busy beating citizens up."
"……That, I'm sorry about."
"It's not something that ends with sorry."
The secretary came in carrying tea.
It was a traditional tea steeped in a teapot.
Just as the secretary was about to pour—
"I'll do it myself, so you may go."
The secretary looked slightly startled, then stepped out.
Chief Han tilted the teapot and poured the tea.
"What an honor."
I said to her.
Chief Han smiled.
"Feel free to boast about it."
A voice brimming with confidence. She said,
"I'll apologize once more for the Section Chief Bong incident."
"Not an apology—a resignation."
"You want me to quit?"
"It seems as though you yourself wish to quit the Gukmubon."
Swoosh.
She leaned back against the sofa.
Her expression shifted.
"Why would you say that?"
"You have the look of someone who wants to set it all down and climb freely to your heart's content."
"……!"
She fixed her gaze on me.
Her pupils wavered faintly, as though her heart had been seen through.
"If I quit, what about Gukmubon?"
"Do you think you're the only talent there?"
"Ha! You think lightly of me."
"I think highly of the other agents."
I drank my tea and set it back down.
"Not everything has to be done by you, Chief Han."
"……."
Chief Han pressed her lips tightly together.
It was certainly something she had never heard before.
Everyone had always come to her saying, ‘Chief Han’, and whenever a problem arose, they had waited for her alone like chicks waiting for their mother bird.
But perhaps because of that—
Her influence had grown so vast that Gukmubon could no longer function without her.
And so she feared it all the more.
Click— She lifted her teacup.
This time I asked her,
"How about coming to our Red Dragon Gate instead?"
"Pfff—!"
She suddenly spat out the tea she had in her mouth.
"Oh, dear."
"It's fine."
I pulled out a tissue and handed it to her.
She wiped the tea from her immaculate suit, looking embarrassed.
"This has never happened to me before."
"Sometimes it does."
She stared at me intently.
"Sect Leader Lee Won-ryong is fortunate. He's brought in a valuable talent."
"If I brought Chief Han back with me, he'd be dancing with joy."
"That's out of the question. There would be people who wouldn't welcome it."
"Who would that be?"
She chuckled to herself as she wiped the table.
"There's someone……. Strange but magnificent."
"Isn't there quite a significant age gap with that person?"
"……!"
Swish—!
She instantly shot out her hand like lightning to grab me by the collar.
I slipped aside and caught her wrist.
"So it's true what they say—Gold Claw Hand is second to none."
"Who are you?"
"……."
"Who did you hear that from?!"
Chief Han raised her voice, and I released her wrist and said,
"I am Kim Tae-yang. The disciple of the Nameless Hero."
* * *
Chief Han sat blankly in her office until late into the night.
"Chief Han. Aren't you heading home?"
"……."
Her secretary, eager to leave work, walked into the office and hovered, but Chief Han had documents spread out across her desk and was in complete concentration.
"Chief……Han?"
"Oh? Ah, go on home."
"Thank you."
"Is this all the information on Kim Tae-yang?"
"Yes. There wasn't much."
"Understood. See you tomorrow."
"Yes!"
Chief Han looked at the clock on the wall.
Already 10 at night.
‘How long had she been so absorbed?’
"Sigh……."
She brewed herself a cup of coffee and drank it.
"Just what is this. What kind of situation is this."
‘I am Kim Tae-yang. His disciple.’
The impact those words carried had been immense.
‘Could there be a sect made up of hidden reclusive masters?’
It was something her father, Minister Han, had said to her long ago. The mysterious sect had finally appeared!
And beyond the fact that he was merely a disciple, an even more staggering suspicion had struck her, and that was—
That was—
"Kim Tae-yang…… is Ghost?"
That was the question that had pierced through her mind in that very moment.
She had immediately asked Kim Tae-yang.
"Are you Ghost?"
His reply had been peculiar.
Kim Tae-yang said nothing, curled the corner of his mouth upward, and—
Clap clap clap—!
Slowly clapped 3 times.
Was that a yes? Was he mocking her with a no?
If he had simply said no, she would have been certain.
That ambiguous answer only made her head grow more complicated.
So she had asked again then.
"What proof do you have that you're his disciple?"
Thud.
Kim Tae-yang set down a secret communication device.
The moment it was confirmed to unmistakably belong to the Nameless Hero—
Chief Han had been struck with a tremendous shock.
The secret communication device was the only means of contact between herself and the Nameless Hero.
The fact that Kim Tae-yang now had it meant—
‘You won't be contacting me anymore?’
Chief Han felt as though her insides were caving in.
She asked Kim Tae-yang.
"W-What did he say when he gave you this?"
"He asked if I had forgotten a warning he gave you long ago."
"……!"
‘Do not pursue me any further. Unless you wish to see a second Masayoshi.’
It was a warning the Nameless Hero had given in Japan.
It had been herself who had broken it.
She hurried to explain.
"The re-registration procedure for climbers was clearly under Blue House orders—"
"He said to stop taking cups from the café."
"……!"
"He asked whether the Blue House has a cup-collecting hobby now."
She was left with nothing to say.
The café was the place where she and the Nameless Hero had always met.
Chief Han had secretly gone back to the café and retrieved the cups the Nameless Hero had drunk from.
She had tried to lift fingerprints to uncover his identity.
But nothing had ever come of it.
"What else did he say?"
"You're asking quite a lot without any payment."
She stared at Kim Tae-yang for a moment, then retrieved the perfume from her desk and held it out to him.
"You're giving me a used one?"
"You clearly don't know. The fact that I've used it adds even more premium value."
"I said it's for my mother……."
"Just speak quickly!"
Kim Tae-yang pocketed the perfume and said casually,
"He didn't say much."
"……Give back the perfume."
"Oh! He did ask me something recently."
"W-What was it?"
He sipped his tea and spoke.
"He asked if I had any interest in going to a warm country and living together."
"Emigrating?!"
Chief Han shot up from her seat, and Kim Tae-yang rose as well.
"I'll be taking my leave."
She asked urgently.
"J-Just tell me one thing. Is Ghost…… in Korea?"
"Yes."
"……That's a relief."
Kim Tae-yang gave a slight bow.
"Until next time. Ah—feel free to keep my teacup."