Chapter 13. Bongyang Inn
Bongyang Inn.
When Jang Ho and the thugs were dying one after another, Gi Dae-hyo and Gi Man-ji were investigating a second-floor room of Bongyang Inn, believed to be the place where the Suicide Plague first occurred. Following behind them, the inn owner, Noh Family, also entered the room.
"Is it this room?"
"Yes, milord."
"You were the one who found them?"
"Yes. I was the first to discover Machil and Choseon hanging dead from the beam over there in this room."
Noh bowed so deeply that his head nearly touched the floor as he answered Gi Dae-hyo's questions.
"Hm."
Gi Dae-hyo began to examine every corner of the room, operating under the assumption that the two deaths were murders rather than suicides.
It was a typical inn room with nothing particularly special. If there was anything unusual, it was the lurid bedspread dyed a deep crimson red, but Gi Dae-hyo, well aware of the nature of Bongyang Inn's business, did not find that strange or noteworthy.
The first thing he checked was whether there were any windows. If there were, an assassin might have entered through one.
However, no matter how he examined the room—front, back, left, right, above, or below—there were no windows. In an ordinary house, a window would usually be on the wall opposite the entrance, but that wall here was nothing more than solid wall.
The possibility of something entering from that direction was dismissed at a glance.
'Then did they come through the door?'
Drreeek.
Gi Dae-hyo reopened the door he had closed and examined the structure of the inn. Bongyang Inn was a typical two-story building. The first floor was an open layout shaped like the character 口, while the second floor had corridors arranged in a shape resembling the character 트. A staircase stood in the middle of the corridor, with rooms lined up along both sides. From the second-floor corridor, the interior of the first floor was clearly visible below. Likewise, from the first floor, anyone moving along the second-floor corridor could be seen clearly.
As a result, the possibility of an intruder entering through the door was also eliminated. If the culprit had come through the door, someone—whether a server or a guest—would have witnessed it.
The possibilities of intrusion from the front and rear were gone.
Next, the possibility from the right also vanished.
This room was located at the very end of the "head" of the 트-shaped layout. The right wall of the room faced the outside. Without tearing down the wall itself, entry from that direction was absolutely impossible.
Next were the vertical directions—above and below. But intrusion from above or below was also impossible.
Above was the roof.
Unless the entire roof was removed, entry from above could not happen.
Below was the floor.
Likewise, infiltration would only be possible if the entire floor were torn up. Both the roof and the floor were constructed with wooden and stone frameworks, finished with packed mud. Not even a drop of water could easily penetrate them. This possibility was eliminated as well.
According to the inn owner, after Machil and Choseon died, the room had never been rented out again, nor had it been repaired. With that, all possibilities of intrusion from front, back, right, above, and below were completely erased.
The only remaining possibility was the left wall. If the Suicide Plague was truly a series of murders, then the culprit must have entered this room through the left wall.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Gi Dae-hyo approached the left wall. A stylish leopard-patterned cloth hung down like a curtain. It was thick and carefully layered for soundproofing, but cloth was still cloth.
Rip—.
With a flick of Gi Dae-hyo's hand, the cloth was torn away, revealing a wall lined with logs arranged neatly in a 川-shaped pattern.
"Hm."
Seeing it, he became convinced that his thinking was correct. Unlike the other walls, this one looked as though passage would be possible if only the wooden logs were removed.
The problem was…
That there was no sign these logs had ever been removed.
"Take a look at this."
"Yes, milord."
At Gi Dae-hyo's call, the inn owner Noh hurried over.
"Is there any way to remove these logs without dismantling the roof?"
"No, there isn't. These logs are fitted into grooves in the ceiling beams and floor beams. Unless all the beams are removed, they can never be pulled out."
Gi Dae-hyo already knew this, but he had asked again for confirmation.
He carefully examined the wall once more. The cylindrical logs were so tightly fitted together that it looked difficult to even slip a sheet of paper between them. There were no traces whatsoever of the wood having been removed.
'Does this mean… that the recent series of suicides really are entirely due to a plague?'
The thought crossed his mind, but Gi Dae-hyo soon shook his head.
That made no sense. What kind of plague in the world induces suicide?
Even if such a thing existed, a plague would normally spread gradually outward from a central area. Yet the victims of the Suicide Plague appeared irregularly throughout Bongyang.
That implied it selectively affected people—and no such plague had ever been seen or heard of. It was absurd.
The conclusion was clear: it was not a plague.
Gi Dae-hyo once again leaned toward the possibility of murder and examined the logs.
If someone had mastered bone-shrinking techniques to the extreme, might they be able to pass through these gaps? He had never seen or heard of such a master, but he thought it was at least possible. In the Martial World, there were many extraordinary individuals whose abilities defied imagination.
Compared to the completely sealed front, back, sides, above, and below, this route seemed more plausible.
At the very least, water might be able to pass between these processed logs. If someone could make their body flow like water, they could surely infiltrate through here.
Between an impossible possibility and one with even a slight chance, Gi Dae-hyo's reasoning naturally leaned toward the latter.
"When Machil died, was there anyone staying in the adjacent room? Or was it empty?"
Gi Dae-hyo asked, expecting it to have been empty. If it were, then the culprit could have infiltrated from there and entered this room through the wall.
But his expectation was immediately overturned.
"Yes, there was a guest in that room as well. He probably arrived at Bongyang Inn around the same time as Machil."
"…Who was it?"
Gi Dae-hyo continued questioning Noh without showing disappointment.
"It was Sosam of the Danri Family."
Noh specified "Sosam of the Danri Family" because there were simply too many people named Sosam. If one said just Sosam, there would be dozens even within Bongyang alone.
However, once specified as Sosam of the Danri Family, there was only one—Ma-a-sam the mute.
"Sosam of the Danri Family? Who is that? Was there really someone with that name in the family?"
Gi Dae-hyo did not know who Sosam was. No matter how famous Sosam might have been in Bongyang, the difference in their status was enormous. In fact, it would have been stranger if Gi Dae-hyo had known him.
So he directed the question to Gi Man-ji.
"Father, he is one of the family's Horse Stable Hirelings."
"A Horse Stable Hireling? Why would someone like that come here at that hour?"
"Probably for the same reason as Machil."
The same reason as Machil?
Ah. Lust.
Gi Dae-hyo's gaze immediately turned to Noh. Noh nodded at once in confirmation.
"Yes, milord. While Machil was holding Choseon, Sosam was holding Aeng-aeng."
"Is that so? Then go and bring the girl called Aeng-aeng here."
No sooner had Noh answered than he brought Aeng-aeng in.
Aeng-aeng had been in the middle of entertaining a guest when she was dragged over without knowing why. As she adjusted her disheveled clothes, Gi Dae-hyo began questioning her.
"On the day Machil and Choseon died, were you in the adjacent room with a man named Sosam?"
"Yes."
"What were you doing?"
Aeng-aeng let out a hollow laugh, as if incredulous.
"Ho ho ho. What would a courtesan and a young man be doing here? Of course, we were—"
"Aeng-aeng! Watch your mouth!"
Noh hurriedly cut her off.
"…Of course, we were sleeping."
"Was that all? Did you see anything entering or passing through the wall between your room and the one where Machil and Choseon were?"
"Well… I was busy with Sosam, so I didn't pay attention to anything else."
"Hem hem."
Noh cleared his throat again as a warning, but Gi Dae-hyo stopped him with a gesture.
"It's fine. Then was there anything else unusual?"
"No. Nothing unusual at all. Just like usual… Ah, there was one thing. Sosam said he was hungry and asked for some food. Usually, guests finish their business first and then eat, but maybe because it was his first time and he was nervous, Sosam ate first and then did his business."
"Hm."
Hearing Aeng-aeng's words, Gi Dae-hyo stroked his beard. It was a habit of his whenever he fell into deep contemplation.
But no matter how deeply he thought about it, the order of eating and sleeping did not seem particularly important, even if it left him uneasy.
He continued to question Aeng-aeng about various things, but in the end, he found nothing unusual at all.
"Thank you for your cooperation. Man-ji, let's go."
"Yes, Father. Then where shall we head next?"
"To the next place where the Suicide Plague occurred."
The two activated their lightness skill and vanished from Bongyang Inn in an instant.
Watching them go, Noh shook his head and went down to the first floor. Aeng-aeng, still watching his back, casually tossed out a remark.
"Now that I think about it, there was one more special thing. That Sosam fellow's stamina was truly extraordinary. Aww—. I've never seen such amazing bedchamber arts in my life. Is there another man like Sosam anywhere? If it's a man like that, I'd be ready to devote this body even if he were mute and foolish."
Smacking her lips in regret, Aeng-aeng returned to entertaining guests. Perhaps because she was recalling what happened with Sosam, her body was already burning hot. Whoever the man might be, he would surely taste paradise tonight.
Bongyang Inn soon returned to what it had always been—a place where men's obscene desires writhed and stirred.