Chapter 66
Name: Geumdu.
Age: Unknown.
Still, Geumdu was a mole-type spirit beast presumed to be at least a hundred years old.
At first I was simply pleased that Geumdu had volunteered to come along. It was considerate of him. Under normal circumstances Geumdu would have been a great help. Secret vaults or storerooms are usually hidden underground, after all.
But the treasure vault of the Central Royal Residence I had to rob this time wasn’t underground — it was on the rooftop pavilion at the very top of the tower. That meant Geumdu alone wouldn’t be much help this time.
That’s what I thought at first.
But then, looking at Geumdu watching me with such confidence, a memory I had briefly forgotten surfaced: the memory from Cheonmun Mountain Temple. I slapped my knee.
“I’d temporarily forgotten about Gilnang’s spiritual ability.”
Alone, Geumdu would indeed have had trouble being useful. But if Gilnang attached to him, the situation changed entirely. Geumdu could burrow into the Central Royal Residence at any time, and Gilnang had the power to send my consciousness to the vicinity of that Geumdu.
“With that combo, I could probably roam the Central Royal Residence to my heart’s content without being detected.”
And if I did that, the danger level would drop dramatically. There would be a massive difference between verifying Haomun’s information with my own eyes and not doing so.
“Gilnang. I need you to help me.”
I called Gilnang out and asked for assistance right away.
‘I’m always ready to help — just say the word.’
Gilnang accepted cheerfully without asking what the task was. I explained the situation. After hearing everything Gilnang agreed once more and added:
‘It’s not dangerous or difficult.’
From Gilnang’s point of view, staying inside the Geumhwa Trading Company and only using spiritual ability to help was an easy task, so that wasn’t a lie.
I sounded a little more solicitous toward Geumdu, who’d be working hardest tonight.
“If we finish this successfully I’ll get you a big earth-dragon.”
I knew the moles usually ate worms and bugs, and that they especially liked earthworms, so I offered that as payment.
Geumdu raised both paws and cheered — “Piii!” — clearly pleased with my promise. That put Gilnang at ease, too. The problem was easily solved.
‘I already got to eat a lot of tasty things this time. That’s enough for me.’
At first I wondered whether I’d actually given Gilnang anything to eat, then I remembered the parts and the golden divine book that came from dismantling the imugi earlier. It turned out Gilnang seemed to taste treasure whenever it was put in a storage place. My guess proved right.
‘The imugi’s inner core was tasty, but the book labeled “Golden Divine Text” was the most delicious treasure I’ve eaten so far.’
Apparently the value of a treasure corresponded to how tasty it was. I promised to feed Gilnang more tasty “treasures” in the future as payment for this job.
“Shall we get started?”
First I roughly told Geumdu the location of the Central Royal Residence I’d learned through Haomun. I didn’t explain details because I planned to accompany them all the way there anyway.
Like this:
“Gilnang, attach my consciousness to Geumdu right away. We’ll go together from here.”
I intended to be with Geumdu from the start so I could ensure Geumdu’s safety in case anything happened.
‘If you’re ready, I’ll start.’
“Ready.”
The word “uh” escaped at almost the same moment. My vision blurred and the scene changed. The first thing I saw was myself sitting as if asleep.
‘He’s really handsome.’
That’s roughly how others must have looked at me. The sight made me smile; I could understand why someone like Lady Seol had become infatuated. That didn’t mean I forgave her, though. If anything, I felt I should trample her even more for her excessive greed. I turned toward Geumdu.
‘Then let’s go.’
To be honest, I’d been a little worried before we set off — about Geumdu. Although his specialty was digging, I wondered whether digging would slow his pace so much that we’d be late arriving. In the end, that worry proved needless.
Pababpat.
Geumdu dug with furious speed, as if he were razing an arch-enemy before him. To be frank, he wasn’t faster than traveling by spiritual method, but he wasn’t noticeably slower either — the speed was comparable. We reached the Central Royal Residence before I really felt any passage of time.
“Geumdu, you’re more impressive than you look.”
I couldn’t help praising him as soon as we arrived. He looked pleased and motioned for me to go check out the residence right away. Spirit beasts aren’t usually that clever. Excluding Jahowang, who’s a special case, Geumdu was exceptionally outstanding. I took this mission as an opportunity to reassess Geumdu and followed his lead.
We headed confidently toward the main gate. I could feel Geumdu moving in the earth beneath me in sync with my movements — apparently Gilnang’s attachment was compensating for the movement-range limitations of Geumdu’s spiritual ability. I was thankful.
So.
‘Looks like they don’t recognize me after all.’
True to form, soldiers stood guard at the main gate, as befits a royal residence. There were about ten of them in total, counting the hidden ones. Surprisingly, among those in hiding was even an expert at the peak of their art. Still, none of them recognized me, so I walked in without hesitation. The same went for when I walked around inside.
‘First, let’s figure out how they post their guards.’
Locating the treasures mattered, but the first thing was to learn how the residence was defended. If I could grasp that, the danger of being caught the next time I visited would diminish greatly.
The security setup wasn’t easy to understand, since patrols were irregular and shift changes were erratic, leaving few obvious gaps. But this problem was solved rather easily. In an office that seemed to belong to a mid-level soldier I found a document outlining patrol and shift patterns. Learning that would probably allow me to avoid encountering soldiers.
With the soldier problem solved, the remaining concern was the unmanned martial artists secretly posted throughout the residence. I quickly tallied them and their locations. The count came to fifty skilled fighters of first-class level and five peak masters. That’s a force that could be erased by a fairly prominent sect in the martial world. I realized that if I were detected while infiltrating, Geumhwa Trading Company would be in big trouble. But that wouldn’t happen — not if I did my job right.
‘I’d be careless if I were detected after knowing exactly where the masters were placed.’
I had already seen with my own eyes where and which masters were posted. Being found out despite that knowledge made no sense to me. In any case—
‘Haomun’s info — some of it’s right, but a lot of it’s wrong.’
Just as I’d feared. Haomun’s provided information was not entirely accurate. I felt less that they were intentionally misleading me and more that information had degraded over time. For example, a pavilion that Haomun said should be in a certain place no longer existed, leaving only traces behind.
‘If I had broken in relying solely on Haomun’s info, I’d have suffered greatly.’
And an incident soon confirmed my suspicion.
‘It was supposed to be here.’
Following Haomun’s coordinates, I arrived at the storage wing of the residence only to find a trap instead of treasure. It was a complicated trap: mechanical, with added array formations — designed to be nasty. Had I come in unprepared, even someone like me would have been in huge trouble.
The question was whether Haomun had simply made a mistake, or whether this had been a setup to catch me from the start. It was hard to tell because of the traces left behind there.
‘It doesn’t look like those items were moved long ago.’
When you think of a treasure vault you imagine polished, magnificent things, but the reality was different. Dust lay thick; rusted objects were easy to find. The reason was simple: managing treasure is work. People don’t easily enlist others to help because they can’t trust them. So either the owner gives up managing at all, or the treasures are left to sit and only occasionally someone is hired to tend them. Considering that, Geumdamok (the keeper) must have been remarkable. The vault I entered had been much better managed than others. He must have steadily tended it alone over a long time. Even a diligent person would find that hard.
I digressed, but the reason I mentioned it was the dust. Even in the empty storage room of the Central Royal Residence, dust was present — but unevenly. Some spots were clear while others were dusty. The places without dust were too clean, which meant something had been there and had recently been removed. That something was, of course, treasure or valuables. That made me suspicious. If treasure had been moved at precisely this time, that was worth noting.
‘I’ll check that with Haomun later.’
Since I wasn’t certain, I let it pass for now. Once I confirmed the storage was empty, it was obvious what to do. There was no way I’d give up without recovering what had been taken. I had to find out where the treasures that had been here had gone.
‘Where to start?’
At that moment, the sound of heavy raindrops began outside — swishhh. Looking out from the storage window, rain indeed poured down. Any traces that might have continued from here could now have been washed away. I almost felt at a loss about how to approach things. Then, like a savior appearing from afar outside the window:
“Are you planning to let the treasure you value more than your lives get rained on? Could you hurry up a bit?!”
A woman scolding her servants with a sharp tone I hadn’t heard at Geumhwa sounded in the residence. It was Lady Seol.
