Chapter 385. The Pursuit — Gi Mincheol
Youngwoo went straight to the Regent's Office.
He asked for an officer named Gi Mincheol.
By the time he found him after asking around, the man was already wearing an uncomfortable expression.
Youngwoo asked without preamble,
"I heard you were the first person to discover the novice monk's death yesterday."
Gi Mincheol immediately waved his hands.
"No. Plenty of people saw him. I was only the one told to notify Guangyou Temple. You know how it is. Someone told me to go, so I went."
"Several people saw him?"
"Yes."
"Then why was I told you were the first to find him?"
Gi Mincheol lifted his shoulders as though unfairly accused.
There was nothing especially suspicious in his manner.
He did not look excessively startled, and his voice did not shake much.
"I wouldn't know. How am I supposed to know how the story was passed along? The monk may simply have misunderstood. And that alley is not even on my usual route."
Youngwoo watched him in silence.
He truly had no talent for investigation or interrogation.
If a man said he had not done it, there was little to answer with.
A blade at the throat might settle things faster, but fear usually came out before the truth.
Once frightened, people blurred even what they knew and invented things they did not.
Youngwoo asked again,
"Who told you to notify the temple?"
Gi Mincheol's eyes shifted.
"I don't remember clearly. Someone said, 'You go,' so I hurried over because I felt sorry for the boy."
"You don't remember that either?"
The corner of Youngwoo's mouth pulled into something ugly.
It looked like a smile, but it was not.
Gi Mincheol's face stiffened slightly.
Only then did he seem to realize he had said something wrong.
Someone had died.
A child from the temple had died.
And claiming he could not remember who had sent him to report it sounded far too casual.
Youngwoo stepped closer.
"A person died, and you went to inform the temple. Yet you cannot remember who ordered you to go?"
Gi Mincheol wet his lips.
"Everything was chaotic at the time."
"So chaotic that you were badly shaken, yet plenty of people saw the body and you merely delivered the message?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember the names of the people who were there with you?"
Gi Mincheol hesitated.
He could hardly claim he did not know the men who had been with him.
Youngwoo did not miss the silence.
"You don't remember that either, I suppose."
Gi Mincheol's eyes flickered.
Barely.
But unmistakably.
Only then did Youngwoo begin to understand.
This man was not the mastermind.
He was merely a low-ranking piece who had moved under someone else's orders.
And now he was keeping his mouth shut because he did not know how much he was allowed to say.
Youngwoo spoke quietly.
"Gi Mincheol."
"Yes."
"The back of that novice monk's head did not split because he fell. He was struck with a club."
The blood drained from Gi Mincheol's face.
The reaction was too fast.
Youngwoo did not move closer.
Instead, he asked very softly,
"Why does that surprise you?"
"I just... never imagined such a thing."
"I'll give you a quarter of an hour. Gather everyone who was there at the time."
"What? How am I supposed to know where they all are?"
Gi Mincheol protested.
"I'll give you a quarter of an hour."
Youngwoo rose and headed toward the inner offices of the Regent's Office.
But the soldiers at the entrance stepped in front of him.
That had never happened before.
In the past, no one had stopped him from coming or going.
Back then, the Regent's Office had still been a confused administrative compound in the aftermath of battle, and he had been one of the men responsible for the victory.
Now things were different.
Hierarchy had returned here as well.
There were procedures at the doors.
People were separated before they were allowed inside.
Youngwoo said,
"I wish to meet the man in command here."
The soldier guarding the entrance replied stiffly,
"He is not someone anyone can meet whenever they please. You must follow procedure—"
Youngwoo took one step back.
"Then follow the procedure."
He changed his tone at once.
The weight of his presence entered his voice.
The soldier's expression stiffened awkwardly.
"Please wait."
More than ten soldiers remained between Youngwoo and the entrance while one man went inside.
But after a long time, no word came back.
Youngwoo waited, then pointed at another soldier with one finger.
He jerked his chin toward the inside of the compound.
The soldier understood immediately.
He was quick-witted.
A peerless martial master was standing there looking as though he might kill everyone in sight, and that master wanted someone to go inside and announce him.
If the soldier went in, some superior officer would curse him out.
If he stayed here, the man standing in front of him might do far worse.
Which was more frightening?
The soldier thought for only a moment.
The answer came quickly.
"I'll go."
He turned and hurried inside.
The remaining soldiers stood with their spears raised, watching Youngwoo.
The spearpoints were up.
But there was no strength in the hands holding them.
Everyone knew they were blocking him without truly being able to stop him.
Youngwoo waited outside the door.
Yet the situation inside the office was perfectly clear to him.
He was not seeing it with his eyes.
He was not hearing it with his ears.
It was his sense of qi.
What came through even more clearly than sights or sounds was human attitude.
He could feel the confusion rising inside.
It was as distinct as the flicker of a lamp behind a thin paper door.
A subordinate reported Youngwoo's arrival.
Go Youngchang asked why he had come.
When the subordinate failed to answer properly, irritation rose.
That irritation reached Youngwoo immediately.
Short.
Sharp.
Then came hesitation.
Should Go Youngchang come out?
Should he refuse to let Youngwoo in?
Would avoiding him make things worse?
If he met him, what would he have to hear this time?
That wavering state of mind churned inside the office.
At last, Go Youngchang rose from his seat.
He walked toward the door, then stopped.
He scolded the subordinate.
The tone was obvious even without the words.
Could the man not even make a proper report?
Then, finally, Go Youngchang came out himself.
The door opened.
He emerged with a smile carefully arranged across his face.
He buried the confusion and irritation inside and painted exaggerated warmth over the surface.
"Oh! The hero of our last battle has come to see us."
He clasped his hands and laughed with practiced ease.
"What brings you all the way here? There was no need for you to trouble yourself. I would have come to you."