CLS-Chapter 451

Chapter 451:

There is a word called agui.

It means a ghost that died of starvation.

Of course, since there’s no chance of seeing ghosts in reality, this word agui was merely something people imagined. The imagination that those who died of starvation would become vengeful spirits and greedily covet food.

But today, Wei Yan-ho was realizing that the word agui wasn’t just a product of imagination.

“Ri-rice!”

“Mo-more here please! Here!”

“Rice! Riiiice!”

“That’s undercooked, you idiot! Don’t touch it! I’ll cut off your wrist!”

What makes an agui special?

If you obsess over food in an inhuman way, that’s an agui.

Wei Yan-ho thought he had become quite the food lover due to the harsh side effects of training with Baek Mu-han, but his gluttony was nothing.

Here, there were agui in droves.

Unable to ignore Jang-il’s tearfulness—though he was actually dripping more snot than tears—pleas, Wei Yan-ho eventually went into the city and headed to the grain shop.

He found enough money to make the grain shop owner turn pale and bought up all the grain. He even procured a large pot and was now cooking porridge with that grain.

He had briefly considered just ordering from an inn, but Jang-il had said that putting oil into the stomachs of those who had starved for a long time would kill them, so he endured this troublesome process.

‘My precious money.’

Even though it was just mixed grains, it was still food. That’s what he thought when he bought it, but with so many mouths to feed, the cost was considerable.

Even beggars who had heard the news from somewhere kept flocking in continuously.

Watching the beggars swarming like ants gave him chills. Even though Wei Yan-ho had accumulated a fortune worth thousands of gold, if he continued feeding all these people, his back would break.

He could understand why they said even the king couldn’t solve poverty.

Moreover…

“Why is it taking so long to cook! Give it to us quickly!”

“Ah, hot!”

“Don’t touch that pot! I told you not to touch it! If you tip the pot over, I’ll cut off your wrists!”

Beggars weren’t just beggars.

Even though they clearly knew that Wei Yan-ho had spent his own money to buy food, not a single one of these many beggars said thank you. They were just fixated on the porridge before their eyes.

‘This is why they’re begging. Damn beggars.’

No, they’re already begging, so it’s not even a curse.

Perhaps noticing Wei Yan-ho’s uncomfortable expression, Jang-il, who had been cursing while guarding the pot, pushed through the beggars and approached Wei Yan-ho.

“Thank you.”

“…So you’re the baby beggar.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

He thought that among the beggars, the one with even a little conscience would be the one wearing the hat.

“They won’t see anything else. They’re guys who’ve been starving for days.”

“Hmm.”

Wei Yan-ho was generous.

The old Wei Yan-ho would have shouted ‘These damn beggars!’ and thrown a fit, but hadn’t the recent Wei Yan-ho become a broad-minded man?

The fact that about half of the money he found at the grain shop was still weighing down his pocket also helped maintain peace in his heart.

“But this is a big problem. I don’t know what to do about this.”

Jang-il let out a deep sigh.

“But what exactly is that governor trying to do?”

“Damn bastard.”

Jang-il’s face contorted. The reason for oppressing the beggars who had been doing fine was obvious.

“I don’t know how much he received, but it seems Heavenly Alliance threw some money around. He probably doesn’t want to see beggars coming and going from his own house.”

“Hmm.”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

“He received money?”

“Otherwise, how could this happen?”

“Then just report him to the authorities.”

“Who’s going to touch the governor? Who can investigate when you report your own superior?”

“Me.”

“…Huh?”

“I can do it.”

“Huh?”

Jang-il looked at Wei Yan-ho with blank eyes. Come to think of it, wasn’t this guy the Right Inspector? Excluding the currently vacant Left Inspector position, he was the second-in-command of the Censorate.

‘He looks so dumb I keep forgetting.’

Though it was more or less an honorary position, honorary positions had different levels. While an honorary constable couldn’t do anything, an honorary governor could do tremendous things.

Especially if this honorary position was the second-in-command of the Censorate, the palace’s only power group?

‘Come to think of it, this guy… is really an incredible person.’

He didn’t crawl up from the bottom, just sweet-talked the Emperor, but casually snatching the position of Censorate Right Inspector was quite an achievement.

If Wei Yan-ho set his mind to it, cutting off a governor’s head would be nothing.

But…

“Let’s not.”

“Why?”

“If you step in, exposing the governor’s corruption would be nothing, but there’s no benefit to making a big deal in the current situation. To expose that corruption, we’d inevitably have to dig into Heavenly Alliance’s corruption, and that would worsen relations.”

“Do I have to think about such things too?”

“Can’t help it. The situation has changed.”

“You’re having a hard time too.”

For the first time, Wei Yan-ho felt sorry for Jang-il.

Though he was in a position of being one-sidedly beaten, he couldn’t even properly protest because of the relationship between Heavenly Alliance and the Righteous Alliance.

“It’s fine. Living as a beggar, you experience worse things quite often. If you’re resentful, you shouldn’t be a beggar.”

“That’s true.”

“What, inma?”

While the two were bickering, the beggar who had first spoken to them approached.

“Thank you.”

Wei Yan-ho turned his head to look at the beggar.

Thunder rumbled from his stomach, but he seemed to have left the porridge behind.

“Aren’t you eating?”

“We can’t all eat at once anyway. There are many hungry people, so if I wait a bit to eat, that’s fine. It’s not like I’ll die in the meantime.”

“Ho?”

Wei Yan-ho looked the beggar up and down as if seeing him anew.

“I’m Dong-chil.”

“Why are all beggars’ names like that?”

Jang-il chuckled and said,

“What’s the point of giving them nice names? If you’re the seventh one picked up from the east, you become Dong-chil.”

“Really rough naming.”

“I’m thinking of reforming that somehow. When documents come up, it’s all the same names, so I can’t organize them.”

Wei Yan-ho chuckled. All sorts of problems arise.

“Anyway, thanks to you, the urgent fire has been put out. You’ve saved many lives.”

“Couldn’t you just go to another neighborhood to beg?”

“Begging isn’t easy outside the city. Who would share grain made from money earned through hard work with beggars? If there had been such generosity, people wouldn’t die of starvation every winter.”

“Hmm.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded as if he understood.

‘Well, it’s not my concern.’

Just because he learned about the beggars’ circumstances didn’t mean he was going to shed tears and throw away his fortune. In Wei Yan-ho’s eyes, he saw people with perfectly good limbs not working and just begging. If Wei Yan-ho had been in the same situation, he would have secured food by hunting or doing odd jobs at other people’s houses.

Everyone has their circumstances, so he wouldn’t tell them what to do, but he had no intention of providing continuous help.

“Small Beggar, about what I mentioned earlier.”

“Mm.”

Jang-il nodded.

He had asked him to bring any suspicious matters or information related to the strange deaths occurring at the Tang Family.

“Among those who recently visited the Tang Family, there were no suspicious people. And there haven’t been any particularly unsettling movements in the city either.”

“Really nothing? No connection to Heavenly Alliance suddenly acting like this?”

“I suspected it, but… no. Heavenly Alliance hasn’t looked favorably on us for just a day or two. And if they wanted to completely avoid our eyes, they would have used other methods. Or waited until we couldn’t hold out and left.”

“That makes sense.”

Jang-il scratched his head vigorously.

Then what should be done about this?

After searching this much, at least one clue should have emerged. Does it make sense that such a big incident has no cause at all?

Within the Tang Family, they were already saying this was happening due to the grudges of those killed in the past, and there was even talk of calling in shamans.

It was nonsense. But how desperate must they be to say such things?

“A wild goose chase.”

Jang-il let out a deep sigh and turned around. It was unfortunate, but information doesn’t come just because you rush it. Today, let’s just settle for feeding the beggars…

“But…”

Dong-chil spoke with a suspicious tone.

“There’s something that bothers me.”

“Wh-what?”

Jang-il swallowed his saliva.

“No matter how trivial, it’s fine, so tell me quickly.”

“Didn’t you say the symptoms of what’s happening now are similar to Qi Deviation?”

“That’s right.”

“Then isn’t it something caused by martial arts? Isn’t it something that happens when someone tries to learn martial arts and it goes wrong?”

“…It’s subtly different, but it could be.”

Though it would be completely different if you examined it closely, it was difficult to explain all that to Dong-chil now. It was also an internal matter that couldn’t be easily discussed.

“So what I’m saying is, a while ago there was a big commotion about the Tang Family learning new martial arts.”

“New martial arts?”

Instantly, Jang-il’s eyes lit up.

This was really proper information.

“What martial arts was that?”

“How could I know that much? I just heard that the Tang Family obtained some secret manual from somewhere and was learning it.”

“Wh-why didn’t you mention such important information until now?”

“I thought it wouldn’t be much use. It wasn’t just the Tang Family that was talking about learning that martial art. From what I know, all the decent sects in Sichuan learned it.”

“Huh? You’re saying they all shared and learned new martial arts? How is such a thing possible?”

“Small Beggar, you know about it too. There was a big commotion in the martial world because of it before. That Sword Emperor’s secret manual or something.”

“…Huh?”

Jang-il’s face went blank.

“What about it?”

“That secret manual that caused bloodshed, some crazy bastard sold it everywhere, so now it’s more common than the Six Harmonies Fist sold at neighborhood bookstores. They say the Tang Family learned that…”

“That crazy bastard sold it and you ate the money…”

As Wei Yan-ho was about to have a fit, Jang-il covered Wei Yan-ho’s mouth and pulled him back.

“Won’t you let go? Won’t! Mmph mmph!“

“Ah, you mean that. That… yeah, everyone learned it. But…”

Jang-il smacked his lips.

That was new martial arts, but it wasn’t related to the Demonic Cult either.

“I understand for now. Thanks for the information.”

Though it wasn’t really information. Everyone already knew about it.

“I’m just saying this just in case.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Don’t just ignore it and investigate once. I know what I’m saying sounds absurd, but I’m scared.”

“Scared?”

Dong-chil quietly nodded.

“From what I hear, those affected by Qi Deviation are really causing trouble, and if this happened because of that martial art, and for some reason the Tang Family developed symptoms first, won’t everyone else end up the same way?”

“…”

“Then it’s all over.”

Jang-il’s face turned pale.

“What? Why?”

Only Wei Yan-ho, who didn’t understand the situation, tilted his head in confusion.