“This is him.”
The Yukline estate. Betan visited me with the ‘whistleblower.’ The whistleblower had his face hidden behind a mask of some sort.
“He’s the one who came looking for me in the desert…….”
“Betan, you should go on ahead. If what he says is true, we have no time to waste, do we?”
“……Understood.”
“Your merits will be relayed to Her Majesty as well.”
“Yes, sir!”
Betan sprang to his feet, saluted, and went outside. A smile filled his entire face as he left.
“…….”
The reception room settled into a calm hush. I stripped off the bastard’s mask using 「Yeomdong」.
“Huk!”
White skin. Long blond hair. Blue eyes.
A face utterly devoid of a single Jeokgwe trait.
A Jeokgwe impossible to distinguish by outward appearance.
“Your name.”
I asked in a low voice. The bastard answered with an air of extreme nervousness.
“……Rumenil.”
“Is that your real name?”
“Yes. It’s my real name.”
A trembling voice. It was the truth.
I nodded.
“So Peurimien is a Jeokgwe.”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“Your proof.”
“Lilia’s real name is Yurine. She and I are Jeokgwe from the same northern region. We’ve known each other for ten years.”
“…….”
I looked into the bastard’s eyes. I muttered as if mocking him.
“So you betrayed ten years.”
“……It is not betrayal. There is no future for the Jeokgwe now. Furthermore, I have no faith in the Jeokgwe clan itself. So shouldn’t I survive as well?”
Only then did Rumenil’s tension ease. He wore a face that seemed to genuinely loathe his own clan.
“I wasted twenty years in the desert. Just as you say, Professor, the Jeokgwe are all vermin. A tribe with nothing trustworthy about them. Trash-like bastards.”
“…….”
I was briefly at a loss for words. The veins in Rumenil’s neck bulged as though he were spewing blood.
“I wanted to leave even a day sooner. But the Jeokgwe desert is an antlion pit. Once someone enters, they cannot flee or leave. So until now, I acted loyal. However.”
Rumenil reached into his chest pocket. And took out a tiny capsule.
“The Jeokgwe roster and the map of the desert.”
Crack— He crushed the capsule. A thick roster and a large sheet of map popped out.
“Is that your talent?”
“Yes. I can miniaturize and store anything inside this capsule. First, this roster is the Jeokgwe roster. Time was short and my authority was low, so I only transcribed five thousand names, but isn’t arresting five thousand Jeokgwe a tremendous feat?”
Rumenil asked me. I merely nodded.
“Yes. And more than anything, this map of the desert. With this map alone, we can smash the entirety of the Jeokgwe. We can capture and kill the Great Elder.”
“Hmm. Is that so.”
“……Please, just give me one island.”
At those sudden words, my brow furrowed of its own accord. But Rumenil continued with utmost seriousness.
“One island and about two hundred attendants. I would prefer they all be women, but, well, a few pretty-looking men would be fine too. If you just give me enough Elne to build a grand mansion there and live out the rest of my days in comfort, I will be satisfied.”
“…….”
“Professor. Look at me. I don’t look like a Jeokgwe at all. Furthermore, only when whistleblowers like me are treated well will the Jeokgwe be destroyed that much sooner. The fate of the clan? Fuck that. I am not a Jeokgwe; I am a human who wants to get ahead in life.”
……Was there a guy like this on the Named list too?
Honestly, he was a refreshing fellow, so I smiled. He was the first to make me laugh so purely.
“Hahaha.”
Then joy spread across Rumenil’s face. The bastard laughed along too.
“Ha, haha.”
“You’re a funny one.”
“Huh? Ah…… Ah~ hahahaha. Thank you, hahahaha. These damned Jeokgwe bastards. Hahahaha—”
Watching the guffawing bastard, I moved the necksteel.
* * *
The Deputy Director of Public Security’s office. Peurimien lightly drew back the window curtain. Many people were lurking in the shadows.
“……Hmm.”
Has the time come?
Peurimien calmly composed her mind and personal affairs. There was not much to take. Stock and bond certificates. Cash. Other documents containing the Public Security Bureau’s classified information. She put everything into a bag.
From here on, she just had to move as rehearsed.
Peurimien was no fool. As a Jeokgwe, a certain level of preparation was only natural.
“…….”
Of course, her mood was gloomy. Because of that, she had wasted a bit more time. Peurimien looked out the window again. She took in the expansive scenery of the capital.
“……Can’t we live together?”
The most fundamental doubt arose.
The capital is a good city. For Peurimien, who hated the cold and loved convenience, and even for the Jeokgwe dying in the desert or in camps right now, the capital is a place worth living in.
One could aim for a windfall through stocks, horse racing, the lottery, and so on, and there were jobs for those who worked diligently. If one’s body was whole, one could become a soldier; if one’s head was sharp, one could challenge the civil service exam.
Peurimien liked that kind of capital.
She liked the Empire too.
The land holds no sin.
Only people are evil.
“…….”
She picked up her bag. Put on her coat. And then lifted the floor of the office with her mana.
Clack— A passage was revealed beneath the opening tiles.
It was a ventilation shaft leading to the Public Security Bureau’s backyard.
If she poured mana into it like lubricant and inserted her body.
Whiiiiiiish——
Like a slide, she would reach the backyard garden in no time.
Rustle— Peurimien stepped on the grass, stood up, dusted off her briefcase, and this time opened the manhole cover leading to the sewers.
“……Hoo.”
Before putting her body into that underground depth. Peurimien looked up at the Public Security Bureau building again. She inhaled the Empire’s air deeply.
“Farewell. I won’t live in this filth.”
The continent still could not accept the Jeokgwe. Perhaps that was only natural. At present, there was not even a term to distinguish between the Jeokgwe and the cult.
The demonic acts of terror committed across the Empire were shifted onto the guilt of ‘all Jeokgwe,’ and Peurimien could not resist that colossal flow of history.
No one would be able to defy it. Because Emperor Sopienneu’s top priority was the annihilation of the Jeokgwe.
“Fuck.”
Peurimien cursed the moment she dropped into the sewer beneath the manhole. The stench was nauseating. She quickly plugged her nose with two fingers.
Clomp— Clomp—
Loud footsteps echoed. But the noise above ground was even louder.
—Peurimien! Where did Peurimien go!
—Please explain what is happening first.
—What do you mean explain, I asked where Peurimien went! I am Betan of the Imperial Guard! Move aside, you filthy Jeokgwe-like bastards…….
Had they launched a raid on the entire Public Security Bureau?
Peurimien shook her head and walked through the sewer.
The rendezvous point with Ellesol was not far from here. A compatriot who had prepared a new identity would be waiting.
Indeed, fleeing to the desert from here would be something only a sewer rat would do. Rather, like the saying that it’s darkest under the lamp, Peurimien intended to start anew with a new identity—this time not in the inland, but in a city…….
“Hmm?”
On the other side of the sewer. A silhouette caught her eye in the dim darkness. Peurimien approached it and spoke.
“You’re here early?”
There was no answer. But the face that briefly came into view was familiar.
“Hey, Rumenil.”
Rumenil. One of the few Jeokgwe compatriots who knew Peurimien’s face. Peurimien asked as she approached.
“The items you prepared…….”
In the middle of speaking, Rumenil collapsed. His entire body fell over with a thud—like a block of wood.
“…….”
Peurimien belatedly checked Rumenil’s condition.
Pale complexion. Hardened skin. Eyes red as if about to burst.
The bastard was already dead. And had been for quite some time.
“……Who’s there?”
Peurimien readied her mana and asked. She glared behind him.
Then, tak──
Crisp heel taps spread like ripples. A luxurious fragrance flooded in. The stench of the sewer vanished.
“…….”
Peurimien looked at that nobleman. The back of her neck stiffened with tension and doubt.
“Peurimien.”
He who called her name was the enemy of the Jeokgwe. The head of Yukline, whom the children of the desert feared more than tigers or scorpions.
Dekyulein.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
A voice that flowed in like frost. Peurimien looked at him with indifferent eyes.
He asked back with composure.
“Aren’t I asking. Where you are trying to go.”
“…….”
Peurimien’s gaze sank askance. The desert messenger Rumenil. He had been something of a decade-long acquaintance.
“Ah, you mean this fellow?”
At that, Dekyulein twisted his lips and shook his head.
“He said something strange to me.”
Tak──
Dekyulein took a step forward. A bead of sweat trickled down Peurimien’s temple.
“Peurimien, he said you were a Jeokgwe.”
“…….”
“The one who reported to Betan was this…… Rumenil.”
Dekyulein glared at the corpse with rather disgusted eyes.
“He asked for an island as payment. Said he would hand over the list of five thousand Jeokgwe and the location of the desert if we gave him an island, hundreds of maids, servants, and gold and treasures to live on.”
Then he looked at Peurimien again. Peurimien met his eyes.
“……Yet. Why did you refuse?”
“I did not refuse.”
“…….”
In that moment, Peurimien’s heart dropped with a thud. Because of a certain ‘roster’ Dekyulein had produced from his breast.
“He said there were five thousand Jeokgwe listed here.”
Tak—
He tossed the roster. Its thick cover soaked in the dirty sewer water.
“Also. He said this was the map of the desert.”
Swish—
This time he threw the map. Peurimien examined its contents closely. It was an initial blueprint recording the interior structure and entrances of the underground desert.
Peurimien clenched her fist with a crack.
……That damned Rumenil.
“Why…… are you showing this to me?”
Peurimien looked at Dekyulein with a still-placid face. But her lips and eyes trembled violently.
“Peurimien. I may or may not believe that you are a Jeokgwe.”
However, the Professor’s words were quite strange.
“You may have known beforehand that you were a Jeokgwe, or you may not have.”
Tak— Tak—
He approached Peurimien and rested his cane on her shoulder.
“Peurimien. My goal is not the Jeokgwe. The continent does not improve just by killing a few vermin living like ants beneath the desert sands.”
“…….”
Peurimien raised her head. She glared into Dekyulein’s eyes.
Pupils blue and brilliant—more radiant the darker the night, like crystals in the night sky.
“Truthfully, I do not even wish for the Jeokgwe’s annihilation.”
“……Is it because of politics?”
Then, Peurimien realized. The intentions behind the ambiguous, meaningful actions Dekyulein had shown her all this time.
“If the Jeokgwe are annihilated, you can no longer use them as a pretext to eliminate political enemies, nor can you strengthen the Professor’s position any further.”
Dekyulein said nothing. But Peurimien felt a creeping dread rising from the bottom of her heart. Gooseflesh had already spread across her entire body.
“All this time, was that what you wanted?”
From the very beginning until now, had Dekyulein anticipated everything?
From the moment she set out to annihilate the Jeokgwe, had he foreseen that she would attempt to devour the Empire using the Jeokgwe as a pretext?
“……I shall leave that roster and map with you.”
But Dekyulein ignored her question. He merely pointed to the roster and map strewn on the ground.
“Peurimien. Now it is your choice.”
“…….”
Peurimien silently looked at the two objects. She pondered the choice that would follow.
……There was nothing to ponder.
Fwoosh—!
She burned the map of the desert and ‘copied’ the roster with her talent.
“……The roster.”
She put the original roster in her bosom and returned the copy to Dekyulein. Peurimien said.
“Please take it. It is a blank roster.”
The lesser evil rather than the worst.
No, in this very moment, Dekyulein was not even the lesser evil.
He was an option she absolutely had to seize.
“Now, whichever names you write in it is up to the Professor.”
Then Dekyulein twisted his lips. He took the roster and replied.
“Peurimien. As expected, I like your wisdom.”
“……Yes. Then I shall take my leave.”
Now the matter was settled. Having learned Dekyulein’s true intentions, it would be best to leave the Empire entirely…….
As Peurimien walked away thinking this, Dekyulein grabbed her.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“…….”
Peurimien silently looked up at Dekyulein.
As expected, he had no intention of letting her leave peacefully.
Having misunderstood, Peurimien began readying her mana, but Dekyulein scoffed.
“You are still the Deputy Director of Public Security.”
“…….”
“Furthermore, the ‘Voice’ needs you. Come with me.”
Come with me.
Those words of Dekyulein’s left Peurimien dumbfounded.
* * *
……Meanwhile, the Hadekain estate was packed to the brim with adventurers. All were those seeking to participate in ‘Dekyulein’s Test.’
“When does it start!”
Having waited nearly a week, even Ria was on edge.
“If not, give me back my identification card right now!”
Ria shouted, banging on the iron gate of the Hadekain estate. Several adventurers sympathized with Ria.
“Oh, how cute. Even when Ria is angry, she’s adorable.”
Just as Ganesha was watching Ria as if she were cute—
Vreeeeeee—
The iron gate of the Hadekain estate finally opened. Ria puffed her cheeks out and crossed her arms.
Beyond the gate, an old butler bowed to the hundreds of adventurers.
“We apologize for the delay. Please enter. We will begin the test shortly.”
“…….”
“Before that, there will be a dinner party, so—”
—Ah, another dinner party! Just let us take the test already!
The adventurers shouted in irritation, but the very next words left them speechless.
“Professor Dekyulein is also scheduled to attend, so please wait a little longer.”
“…….”