Transferred to an SSS-rank Production Class

[- Sender: Han Cha-hyun

Is the investigation progressing well?

Please report immediately if there are any unusual findings.]

“Sp-spooky…”

The timing was so impeccable that Lee Kang-to wondered if Han Cha-hyun had planted a listening device. His curiosity, which had been peeking out like a meerkat, deflated like a balloon that had missed its opening.

It seemed his daytime adventure would have to end here. It wasn’t just because of the message. To avoid arousing Yun Gaho’s suspicion, he needed some tangible results to prove his alibi.

He had planned to relay the stories he heard in the palace, but he hadn’t even met anyone. Was there some law of conservation of luck? With these odd thoughts, Lee Kang-to jumped down from the roof.

“Oh?”

But no sooner had he landed than he climbed back up onto the roof. He had heard voices coming from around the corner.

A moment later, men in official robes appeared, pulling a cart covered with straw mats.

Lucky me, indeed! Lee Kang-to inwardly rejoiced as he lay flat on the roof, eavesdropping on the men’s conversation.

“Doing such menial tasks day in and day out!”

“With the plague lurking around every corner, what good is an official position…”

“After going in and out every week, even that cursed shrine doesn’t scare me anymore.”

The lamentations that started at the foot of the mountain soon turned into uninhibited gossip.

From the bedridden youngest princess to the disappearance of palace servants, the cursed shrine, and even the king’s debauchery—every topic was worth listening to.

But among them, one story particularly caught Lee Kang-to’s ear:

“Above all, that Commander of the Royal Guards! He’s the real problem!”

“Appointing someone of unknown origin and unremarkable skills as Commander of the Royal Guards. His Majesty needs to regain his wisdom as soon as possible.”

“When Sa Mok-yeong was here, things were never this bad…”

From what he gathered, the king, who was holed up and busy indulging himself, only allowed this Commander of the Royal Guards into his chambers. At a time when he should be urged to come out and attend to state affairs, the Commander was busy throwing his weight around, causing widespread resentment.

Since the resignation of the Geomsabok commanders, who were the only ones who could match him within the royal guards, his misconduct had worsened. It was for this reason that the Geomsabok, who should have been guarding the palace, were now reduced to mere porters.

Lee Kang-to, who had been listening intently with his chin resting on both hands, grinned broadly.

“I swear on a hunter’s instinct, this must all be the work of black magic!”

That king must have died of the plague long ago. The Commander of the Royal Guards must be controlling his corpse to rule On. Soon, the whole world would be engulfed in waves of black magic…

Lee Kang-to’s imagination, which had been running wild, came to an abrupt end as the men entered the mountain with their cart. After a moment’s hesitation, Lee Kang-to followed them.

While not as intriguing as a black magician dreaming of world domination, the cursed shrine that was the men’s destination was interesting in its own right. Who knows, there might be some rare items to be found there?

“A shrine imbued with the resentment of an abandoned royal concubine. How thrilling!”

By the time sweat had formed on the brows of the men pulling the cart, the shrine came into view. Even to Lee Kang-to, who had no expertise in ancient architecture, it seemed like it must have had a quaint charm in the past.

Now, however, it looked like something out of a horror special.

According to what the men had said on the way up, about 20 years ago, a royal concubine had been confined here and died. Since then, ominous events had occurred both inside and outside the palace. As a result, no one had entered or left this shrine.

Especially that jaeshil where the concubine had stayed. Rumors of a vengeful ghost appearing there were so widespread that they had completely sealed off the door with nails.

“Come on, let’s finish this quickly and head back down!”

While Lee Kang-to was distracted observing the shrine, the men had taken something out of the cart and hoisted it up. Tilting his head at the unexpected appearance of the object, Lee Kang-to wondered:

“Shovels? For snow removal… but there’s no snow.”

As if answering his question, the steel blade of a shovel plunged into the dirt floor in the center of the shrine. Now that he looked closely, the uneven surface of the courtyard suggested this wasn’t the first time such activity had taken place.

The men, their earlier chattiness completely gone, silently dug into the ground. Although the frozen earth was as hard as stone, with several strong men working together, it soon gave way.

Lee Kang-to, who had somehow made his way onto the roof of the jaeshil, watched the men’s next actions with narrowed eyes.

“Are they looking for something, or hiding something?”

He stopped humming about being a know-it-all when the men brought the cart next to the hole. The latter, it seems. Lee Kang-to swallowed his words and smirked.

The men dumped the contents of the cart into the hole and quickly covered it up. Then, without looking back, they left the shrine as if fleeing.

A moment later, after confirming that the men were gone, Lee Kang-to jumped down from the roof.

“Ah, I don’t really want to dirty my hands.”

Pouting, he reluctantly drew his scabbard. After halfheartedly poking the ground a few times with the end of the scabbard, the object he was looking for quickly revealed itself. Lee Kang-to tossed aside the scabbard and bent down to pick it up.

“I wonder what this is that made them run away in such a hurry?”

Black beads rolled across Lee Kang-to’s palm.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Who would have thought they’d be burying yokai essence right behind the palace?”

When these beads came out after killing yokai, I really thought I was going to fall over backward. If it hadn’t been for Yun Gaho being completely absorbed in dealing with the monkey yokai, I surely would have been caught.

Lee Kang-to patted himself on the shoulder in self-congratulation.

“Ohoho, what should I do with this brilliant insight of mine?”

These beads were probably collected by the black magician in the palace as a trump card. While the outcome was uncertain, it would surely be beautiful. Lee Kang-to’s heart pounded with excitement.

“Information gathering is essential before making contact with the black magician!”

Lee Kang-to planned to seek out this Commander of the Royal Guards without Yun Gaho knowing. To be able to kill the king and deceive the officials, he must be no ordinary person. Going in completely ignorant would likely result in being played.

They say criminals return to the scene of the crime, so he went back to the shrine once more, but there was no sign of the Commander, let alone a single human hair.

Recalling that disappointing moment, Lee Kang-to pulled out an ornament from his inventory.

“But at least I got this!”

A pale blue jade glinted in the sunset light.

It was an item he had found inside a building he hadn’t had time to explore yesterday.

His thorough search of the jaeshil furniture had paid off. To think it was the ornament of a royal concubine who had become a vengeful spirit. Though split in half and no longer valuable as jewelry, it was as good as treasure to Lee Kang-to.

“Ah, I should ask Hunter Yun Gaho to combine this too. I really am a genius!”

As he was jumping up and down, praising himself, he suddenly stopped with his hands clasped together. His green eyes grew hazy, as if imagining something.

“And I even found traces of black magic. Ah, it was truly ecstatic.”

Following the jaeshil, he had visited the shrine floor, where nine fist-sized holes were arranged in a fan shape. Lee Kang-to was convinced these were remnants of black magic.

What he had seen and obtained at the shrine satisfied Lee Kang-to, but it wasn’t enough to be considered decisive information. That’s why he headed towards eastern Sohan.

Sa Mok-yeong, who was said to be at odds with the Commander of the Royal Guards, might know something. It was already well past the time he should have returned, so he should be able to meet him right away.

“If worst comes to worst, I can always resort to threats.”

It wouldn’t do to treat a rare black magician too roughly, would it? Lee Kang-to vowed to coax and cajole him to find out exactly what he planned to do with these beads.

As he muttered to himself, how long had he been walking? Soon, a familiar thatched house came into view.

“I thought about going to the shrine, but… hehe, I should save the pleasure of a night stroll for later.”

Lee Kang-to, who had completely forgotten the reason he came to Sohan, charged towards Sa Mok-yeong’s house with an air of grandeur.

Though still quite a distance away, Sa Mok-yeong poked his head out of the room as if sensing someone’s presence. Not to be outdone, Cheong-jae’s face, flushed from the warmth of the room, squeezed through the gap in the door.

“What brings you back here?”

“Wow! Benefactor!”

Lee Kang-to, his lips curling up, greeted them. Then, as he was about to take a step—

Ding! His Hunter Watch rang, oblivious to the situation.

“Ugh, who is it? …Don’t tell me it’s Han Cha-hyun again?”

Lee Kang-to’s face, which had been flushed with anger, instantly turned pale. But only for a moment. As soon as he confirmed the sender, his attitude melted into a gooey mess.

“I got scared for nothing. It’s just Yun Gaho.”

It was probably just some obvious message like asking if he was resting well. He could just make an excuse that he dozed off and missed it. There was no time to waste on such things now.

Just as he was about to turn off the Hunter Watch screen without even checking the message—

“Leaving a message unread? Mr. Kim, you’ll really regret that.”

A voice from behind chirped a warning to Lee Kang-to.

“Do you always have to nitpick everything I do— Huh?”

Lee Kang-to, who had reflexively retorted to the goblin’s nagging, froze in place.

If that thing is here now… No, it can’t be. Lee Kang-to, desperately ignoring the creeping anxiety, belatedly checked the message.

Where there’s good luck, there’s also bad luck. The situation didn’t unfold as he had hoped.

[- Sender: Yun Gaho

Is this the lodging?]

“It seems I’ve interrupted Hunter Lee Kang-to’s pleasant time.”

It was the voice of the person he least wanted to hear at this moment. As he turned his head stiffly like a wooden puppet, sure enough, the very person he had thought of was waiting for him.

“H-Hunter Yun Gaho, how are you here?”

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t be here?”

“Well, that’s not it, but…”

Yun Gaho, who had always maintained a proper posture like a dancer, now stood with one leg relaxed, staring at Lee Kang-to.

Lee Kang-to had no idea why he was here, or how he had managed to conceal his presence without Lee Kang-to noticing. Whether aware of Lee Kang-to’s confusion or not, Yun Gaho maintained his characteristic expressionless face, which seemed to fit him perfectly.

“It seems you’ve greatly underestimated me.”

Only his eyes were as cold as a biting winter wind.