“As you may have guessed, you will have to serve as bait in this request. That is the condition for dividing the request money into five shares.”
The place the five wanderers, including Il-hyang, moved to was Cloud Moon Pavilion, located on the outskirts of Giyang County.
This was a tea house that sold tea of decent quality at a decent price, so it was quite popular among the wanderers of Giyang County.
And the famous spot that had made this place well known was the second-floor pavilion overlooking the central garden.
Il-hyang brought the Sinking Snow Tea, which Cloud Moon Pavilion prided itself on, to his lips.
Then, while looking down at the well-tended garden from the second floor, he asked the most important question.
“I understand the bait role. I want to hear the plan after that. First, did you make this plan on the premise that I would be completely kidnapped? Or will you catch the kidnappers just before I am kidnapped?”
“Naturally, we made the plan on the premise that you will be kidnapped and taken away.”
Il-hyang tilted his head.
“Why? According to what was written on the request noticeboard, we can receive the reward just by catching the culprits.”
One-eyed Hak In-bo hesitated for a moment before answering.
Then, after glancing at the other companions around him, he soon sighed and spoke honestly.
“As a request separate from that, we were individually designated.”
“When you say you received a separate designated request…… Do you mean you received it from the County Magistrate of Giyang County?”
“Yes.”
Was it truly that his biological son had been kidnapped, just like the rumors drifting through the marketplace said?
As Il-hyang blinked in surprise.
Hak In-bo glanced around and opened his mouth in a low voice.
“Two days ago, the County Magistrate of Giyang County’s son was kidnapped. Though he is not the son of the legal wife, the fact that he is the only son does not change.”
Surprisingly, the rumor was true.
Il-hyang looked at Hak In-bo with round eyes and whispered.
“It seems the rumors going around were true?”
“Yes. The old man, the County Magistrate of Giyang County, made a fuss everywhere and pressed people hard, so there was no way the rumor could be hidden.”
“Then this becomes an overlapping request. We will have to recalculate between ourselves.”
“……Hm?”
Il-hyang placed his tiny hand on the table and spoke with a serious face.
“If the County Magistrate of Giyang County separately designated Great Hero Hak for a request, then you must have received a separate request fee for that as well.”
“…….”
For a moment, Hak In-bo wore the face of someone who had taken an unexpected blow.
Then he slowly nodded.
“……Your calculations are thorough. Good. We will divide that into five equal shares as well.”
“Thank you.”
Hak In-bo readily accepted, but he could not hide his regretful expression.
It seemed he had intended to roughly divide and distribute only the request money from the Vagabond Association.
‘As if I’d let you.’
The request amount from the County Magistrate of Giyang County that was revealed like that was, surprisingly, one thousand silver coins.
‘Five hundred just as the retainer.’
If they successfully completed the request, he would give an additional five hundred.
‘Then the total request money is…….’
One thousand five hundred silver coins.
It was a request with an enormous sum of money attached to it.
Even after dividing that into five equal shares, each person could take three hundred silver coins.
CLINK—
On the spot, Hak In-bo took out his coin pouch.
After separately taking out one hundred of the silver coins received as the retainer and giving them to Il-hyang.
He wrote a contract before Il-hyang’s eyes and received his signature mark.
After that, he opened his mouth.
“According to the government office’s investigation, the kidnappers’ range of activity was not that wide.”
The investigation results that came out of the government office in only one night were quite helpful.
Because they could narrow down the culprits’ area of activity.
Hak In-bo dipped a finger into the teacup he had been drinking from, then took it out. With the tea water, he drew a rough terrain map on the table.
Then he pointed to one place and opened his mouth.
“When we narrowed the activity range around the residential areas of the kidnapped children, this was the only place where all their routes overlapped.”
It was the well located in the central district inside the city walls.
By coincidence, it was the very place where Il-hyang had put on a public strip show not long ago, after creating the 1st Circle, saying he would wash himself clean.
“The request will begin with you being kidnapped from this place, Cheongyeon Well .”
“……Understood.”
After confirming the location, Il-hyang’s face twisted on its own as he remembered the disgrace he had committed at the well, Cheongyeon Well.
Hak In-bo misunderstood that and opened his mouth.
“Mm…… Still, now that you have received the retainer, I would like you to stop making that face as if you’ve chewed shit.”
“Right. Trust us. We’re fairly famous around here!”
One-eared Go An-jeok.
He spoke with a smiling face, brightly showing the only front tooth he had.
But Il-hyang did not give any particular response.
‘I should prepare separately after all.’
He acknowledged that these men were fairly useful forces among the wanderers.
All of them were First-Rate Experts. And the fact that the County Magistrate had separately entrusted them with a request meant they had that much trust in the industry.
‘However.’
That was all.
What if the kidnappers had stronger forces?
The instant he was kidnapped, there would be no guarantee of his safety.
‘I need a minimum safety measure.’
Around the time Il-hyang was thinking of his own preparations, Hak In-bo spoke.
“Given the client’s circumstances, I would like to begin the work as quickly as possible. What about you?”
“Ah. Then let us move at once.”
It had been two days since the County Magistrate’s young son was kidnapped.
It was impossible to know whether he was alive or dead.
If they at least secured the corpse, the request would be complete.
But if the client’s son actually died, it would also become an extremely unpleasant matter from Hak In-bo’s position.
Perhaps he might even have to leave Giyang County, which he used as his base.
Perhaps because of that, as soon as he heard Il-hyang’s answer, he picked up the teacup he had dipped his finger into earlier and gulped down the remaining tea.
Then he rose from his seat.
“Let us hurry.”
In that way, the group secretly moved to Cheongyeon Well.
Near Il-hyang’s lodging.
***
The well inside the town.
Cheongyeon Well.
Il-hyang had not known it, but this was a fairly popular place nearby.
First, it was famous because it was excessively large for a well.
In addition, there was supposedly a historical meaning to the fact that the town of Giyang County had formed around this Cheongyeon Well.
That was why, quietly but consistently, townspeople often came and went.
‘Even so, there are far more people than I expected.’
From around the time lunch had passed.
Il-hyang lay neatly on a large wooden platform like a corpse.
But even after no less than half a day, there was no news.
‘I’m starting to get hungry.’
Had the operation failed after all?
Il-hyang and the wanderers were each standing far apart as if they were not companions.
Regrettable as it was, the moment he decided that it was about time to wrap things up for today.
An unexpected variable appeared.
“Oh? Young Master! Why are you in such a humble place?”
“……You are?”
“It’s me! Po-il. It's me! Po-il, the little brother you cherish so dearly, Young Master .”
“…….”
The Server of Manseok Inn.
When the fellow smiled brightly with his dark face.
Il-hyang thought matters had become a little tangled.
“Why did you come here?”
“I came to fetch bathwater for the guests, of course. I always come out at this hour.”
When Po-il took down two water buckets as large as his own torso from the water yoke and showed them to him, Il-hyang obediently nodded.
“But it seems you’re stronger than you look. Those buckets are quite large.”
“Hahat, I’m used to it, so it’s easy. As you said, I am strong.”
The Server Po-il answered that way and, with a cry of “Hup,” bared his thin arm and flexed with all his might.
Then Il-hyang saw a tiny quail-egg-like muscle bulge on his forearm.
“H-how is it? Is it not fairly splendid, Young Master?”
“……Yes. Admirable.”
In any case, today seemed to have gone wrong.
Seeing that there were no particular signs even until the hour was growing this dim.
No matter how he looked at it, today was a loss.
‘One cannot be full on the first spoonful.’
Il-hyang looked at Hak In-bo with his eyes and slowly shook his head.
Just then, Hak In-bo seemed to be thinking similarly, as he sighed beneath the eaves near the well.
『Let us stop here for today.』
As soon as he heard the sound transmission, Il-hyang turned his head to Po-il and said.
“Should I help you a little?”
“Oh? No, sir. This is my work, Young Master. Please return to the inn first!”
At Po-il’s rather professional answer, Il-hyang nodded, slowly stretched, and rose from his seat.
Then, suddenly.
An inexplicable realization flashed through his mind.
‘They said the kidnapping incidents occurred around the well, didn’t they?’
That meant there had to be some reason why the kidnappings could only be done around the well.
‘What is that reason?’
This well area was quite open.
It was also large.
And because the waterways connected to the well spread fairly widely, many people came and went.
In many ways, the conditions were not good for kidnapping children.
And yet, they had insisted on kidnapping around this place…… Huh?
‘Waterways?’
Il-hyang brushed himself off and stood up from the platform, then looked around the well.
Then, with a face that had realized something, he gently placed his hand on Po-il’s shoulder as Po-il was diligently drawing water from the well with a bucket.
“Hm? You still haven’t gone, Young Master?”
“Little Brother. Let’s do one job together.”
The Server of Manseok Inn.
Po-il nodded without the slightest resistance to the matter abruptly brought up.
“Tell me anything, Elder Brother.”
Il-hyang looked into Po-il’s eyes, which were filled with loyalty, and opened his mouth.
“First, would you take off your clothes?”
“……Pardon?”
Po-il’s loyal gaze was instantly dyed with irreverence.