"Thank you."

"We'll go now."

Dang So-mun and Baek Mun-ji then headed back to their quarters after bowing and thanking Kang-hyuk.

"...."

Kang-hyuk sat on the bench in his courtyard for a while with his eyes closed, engrossed in deep thought.

He soon opened his eyes, and stood up.

He looked at the three suspicious employees, who were still kneeling on the ground.

"Right, should we begin once more?"

For the employees, the sound of Kang-hyuk's voice was more frightening than the very voice of the G.o.d of death.

One hour had pa.s.sed.

Kang-hyuk was sitting down on his bench, lost in thought once more.

He had called Mu-jin, and handed the employees over to him

However, he had firmly instructed Mu-jin to keep the matter a secret.

Kang-hyuk intended to keep the promise he made to Baek Mun-ji and Dang So-mun.

'But…there are more than I had expected.'

From the employees' confession, he found out that there were more dealers than antic.i.p.ated, no less than five.

'Even so, it's a relief that none of the other dealers are teachers, and that it hasn't been long since they've started dealing in the academy.'

His first task was to deal with the people who had instructed the employees to deal the drug.

As Kang-hyuk stood up, Byeok Ae-rin appeared before him.

"Should I accompany you?"

"It's fine. I'll go alone."

"Okay."

He stroked Deuk, who was happily wagging his tail, then exited his residence.

Sometime later.

Kang-hyuk was in Jungcheon.

The employees revealed a while ago that the base for the dealings they had been involved in was in Jungcheon.

"So, they were hiding here. I guess it's dark underneath a lamp, eh?"

He walked, following the upward flow of the Middle River. More precisely, he walked one hundred and fifty steps.

He then looked at a building to his left.

It was a shop selling rice and other grains.

The sign read Taesang Rice Merchants.

Kang-hyuk raised his eyebrows at the sign.

It was because the original name of the Dark Medicine Valley had been Taesang Medicine Valley.

The employees had been approached at this shop, and were promised half of the profits if they sold one drug.

Unable to refuse such a lucrative proposition, the employees immediately agreed.

Kang-hyuk headed towards the shop.

'Huh?'

But then, all of a sudden, his senses were alerted by something. He felt a familiar energy close by.

Kang-hyuk looked up at the rooftop of the shop.

The person was hidden under the guise of the invisibility technique, and so, most wouldn't have noticed their presence. Unfortunately for them, Kang-hyuk could feel them clearly.

He grinned, and sent them a telepathic message.

-Shim-gu-ya. What are you doing?

-Huh! Hyu-hyung-nim!

-What are you doing there on the roof?

***

Recently, everyday had been a happy day for Shim-gu.

The cleaning work wasn't easy, but this didn't dampen his spirits in any way.

There was a single cause for his happiness- being in the same s.p.a.ce as Kang-hyuk.

He would sometimes visit Yeongyowon to pick on Ji Cheol-muk, and sometimes visit Kang-hyuk's residence to eat a meal cooked by Byeok Ae-rin. This was how his days had been pa.s.sing by.

Shim-gu gave thanks to G.o.d everyday in grat.i.tude for his new joyous routine.

This life was something he couldn't have even imagined some days earlier.

But right now, he couldn't imagine spending his days without Kang-hyuk and his colleagues.

"Llla."

Shim-gu hummed as he cleaning the cla.s.sroom that Kang-hyuk had used for teaching.

A group of employees pa.s.sed by, all seeming to head in a certain direction.

"Tsk tsk."

Hong-ssi, a fellow cleaner clicked his tongue at the sight of the group.

"Those fellows, playing around when they're meant to be cleaning?"

"Sorry? Playing around?"

Shim-gu spoke to Hong-ssi formally, since he was under the youthful guise of the Byeonyongsul technique, while Hong-ssi was a middle-aged man.

"Those three fellows there."

Shim-gu remembered that he had indeed seen the men during the morning and evening meetings of the academy employees.

"They've been a.s.signed different places to clean, but they've been quite arrogant, playing around instead of working."

"Arrogant?"

"They say that they've got a stomach ache so they have to rest for a while, but honestly, they make this excuse repeatedly and mess around."

Hong-ssi let out a sigh.

"And then, if you don't let them go, they wickedly crowd into a place that had been cleaned, and mess it up again. So, it's better to clean alone than chase after those dirty fellows."

Shim-gu replied, curious, "How do you know all of this?"

"I'm quite close to a cleaner that has to clean the same area as one of those fellows."

"I see."

Shim-gu's eyes shone.

He couldn't let such fellows be.

He quickly finished his work, and followed the three employees into the forest.

They couldn't see him as he was hidden under an invisibility technique.

Furthermore, he was wearing his earring that was made of the Energy Concealing Stone.

The employees seemed to be heading towards a corner of the academy that wasn't used very often- the practice camping site.

'They sure are playing around!'

They laid down under a tree, and were snickering away amongst each other.

"So, did you have fun with her?"

"Don't even ask! I've never had such fun in my life! I think I know why the gisaeng houses are called jade hand houses now."

"Oh? Really?"

"d.a.m.n it! How do you not run out of money? I want to go to the jade hand house and have some fun too!"

One of the employees then straightened his posture and spoke, "Ah! There is some! The money's going to come in!"

"There is some?"

The employee nodded.

"Yeah. The shopkeeper said that customer three sent a message. So, I'm going to give him the stuff today."

"Customer three? The one that accidentally spilled the drug?"

"Either way, we're going to make a dealing today, so the money's going to come in."

One of the employees, that had been listening silently, suddenly spoke up. "There's something I don't understand. Why is he pigging out on the rotting powder, and still attending the academy?"

"Mind your own business! It's Moorim's issue anyway."

"Right! We just need to make a good living for ourselves. Hahaha."

"So, are we going there tonight?"

"Of course! We'll go there straight after collecting the stuff and making the dealing."

"I wish the evening would come faster. Hehehe."

Shim-gu's expression hardened as he listened to their conversation.

'Rotting powder? White Tiger Spirit Powder? Dealing?'

If what he had heard was really true, he knew that this was no small matter.

Shim-gu was a current elder of the clan, as well as the former head of Hyeonmugak.

There wasn't a chance that he didn't know about the rotting powder.

'That's a drug with serious side-effects that has been prohibited by the clan! Is there really someone taking the drug?'

He felt that if there really was someone consciously consuming it, they were mad.

'I'll be in for an immense scolding by the hands of my Hyung-nim if I overlook such a matter.'

He decided to follow them, and when they had entered, then left a grain selling shop in Jungcheon, he noticed the 'shopkeeper' they had been referring to.

He was able to notice this because of the unique energy that surrounded drugs made by the Dark Medicine Valley.

It was then that Shim-gu knew he really couldn't let the matter be.

And so, he had returned once more at night, and was sitting on the roof of the shop, mulling over what he could do, when he was suddenly surprised.

He had been interrupted by Kang-hyuk's unexpected arrival.

"And that's what happened Hyung-nim."

Kang-hyuk nodded at Shim-gu's explanation. They were sitting opposite one another in conversation while looking over Jungcheon.

"I see. You did well."

Shim-gu felt his heart swell up at Kang-hyuk's praise.

Kang-hyuk's attention had been drawn to the issue, even if Shim-gu hadn't personally let him know that he had tailed the employees.

'I would have almost certainly received a beating for not looking over the matters of the school if I hadn't taken action! What a relief!'

Kang-hyuk continued to speak, "What have you discovered so far?"

"Ah! Yes!"

Shim-gu promptly responded, "The Taesang Rice Merchant shop has been open for around a year. The people were happy about the opening of a grain selling shop, so they have a decent reputation. But…"

"But what?"

"No one knows the shopkeeper's name. Everyone just calls him Mr. Chang."

"Mr. Chang…"

Kang-hyuk recalled Chang Il-mun, the man he had encountered while taking his teachers test.

He had been a member of the Dark Medicine Valley, and his surname was also Chang.

"However, it is certain that the Taesang Grain Shop is a branch of the Dark Medicine Valley. I can strongly feel the unique energy of their drugs present there."

"I see."

Kang-hyuk suddenly remembered the sleep smoke that had been used on his a.s.sistant, Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g, when he first saved him from the attack of those thugs.

He wondered how the sleep smoke could have been obtained within Nakyang, and now, his query had been answered.

"So…should we infiltrate the place?"

"Right now?"

Kang-hyuk nodded.

"I informed Mu-jin that there was traceless smoke and pyrolytic acid being used in Nakyang. I was wondering why there hadn't been any results of their investigation into the matter as of yet."

"Really? In Nakyang?"

"Yes, but looking at the way how these guys are carrying out their dealings, I can understand why the pace of the investigation is a little delayed. They're using ordinary people for their distributions, not Moorim folk, so it's much more difficult to track."

"That's true."

"That's why we need to infiltrate the shop right now- to prevent further damage."

As Kang-hyuk spoke, he began walking towards the Taesang grain shop.

"Come if you want to, go away if you don't."

"Ah! I'm obviously coming! Hyung-nim!"

Shim-gu rushed to catch up with Kang-hyuk.

As it was late into the night, the shop was locked down.

But there was nothing that could stop Kang-hyuk's infiltration.

"It's been a while since I've last had to use this."

Kang-hyuk took a black key out of his sleeve. Upon seeing the key, Shim-gu nodded.

"Well, if you have that, there'll be no problem getting in."

The key was an artefact that Kang-hyuk had obtained in the past. It was known as the universal lock key.

It could either close, or open all locks.

*Click.*

Kang-hyuk had opened the lock of the Taesang grain shop with the use of the universal lock key. Then, he and Shim-gu stealthily entered the shop.

'Hm…'

It looked like an ordinary grain shop from the inside.

Sacks of rice, beans and other various grains were stacked everywhere.

Unfortunately for them, Kang-hyuk's senses couldn't be deceived.

He pointed in a certain direction, and sent Shim-gu a telepathic message.

-It's there.

He could feel the particular energy of the Dark Medicine Valley's drugs in that location.

They then approached the place. Shim-gu smiled as he examined the wall.

-There's an automated system in place here. If I lower that lamp holder, I think the wall will open. Should I go ahead?

Kang-hyuk nodded. Shim-gu promptly pulled the lamp holder down.

*Seu-reu-reuk.*

Soon, the front wall moved backwards as a small door appeared on the wall to the left.

Kang-hyuk and Shim-gu went through the door, while the wall moved back to its original position.

The scene present inside of the wall was completely different from that which one would expect of a grain shop.

The bookshelf fitted to the inside of the wall was filled with black bottles instead of books.

Drugs were stacked on shelves everywhere.

The scene was a familiar one to Kang-hyuk.

He had seen a similar sight when he previously raided the workshops of the Dark Medicine Valley.

Shim-gu then pointed towards a bamboo container. "It's here. It's the rotting powder."

"And there's the sleep smoke powder. There's also the traceless smoke, as well as the pyrolytic acid."

They had come to the right place.

All of a sudden, they noticed voices coming from the other side of the room.

Shim-gu and Kang-hyuk approached the source of the sound.

There they saw three men sitting around a table, busily cutting and decocting herbs.