Chapter 30: Audit (3)

'Audit, huh….'

As a former civil servant, this was somewhat familiar work.

It was a task implemented to prevent corruption, bribery, and illegal activities, but ironically, it was also the kind of work most conducive to committing those very acts.

'They say that's how they used to make money back then.'

These were tales that were a far cry from my work in the Social Welfare Department, but I heard plenty of stories about those dirty deeds. Things like bribing the official in charge to get away with illegal extensions or illegal constructions or allocating ridiculously large sums for outsourcing program development, far exceeding the quality of the final product.

The officials in charge were supposed to monitor them to prevent such things, but turning a blind eye in exchange for backdoor deals was practically a protocol at that time.

'If it's that bad with the internet and everything, I can't even imagine how bad it is in this backward era.'

And this place was an era so ancient it could not even be compared to the 'back in my day' stories I used to hear from my seniors in my days as Seo Jihun.

The chances of getting caught for corruption, wrongdoing, or illegal activities were practically nil compared to modern times.

'Should I try to make some money off this opportunity?'

Just as a sleazy smile was about to form on my face at that thought—

"What's got you so deep in thought?"

Master's voice snapped me out of my wayward thoughts.

"Hahaha. I was just worried that I might make mistakes."

"Hahaha. You are more than capable of handling this, so don't worry."

His benevolent smile made cold sweat trickle down my back.

'Though the chances of getting caught are low, who knows what they'd do to me if I were caught.'

He's smiling like a nice grandpa now, but at the end of the day, he's the leader of a cult filled with psychos.

Moreover...

'Now that I think about it, what is there to even take?'

There were plenty of ways to embezzle.

I could just go to a branch office and threaten them with something like submitting a negative report to Master and they would naturally bow down and bring me all sorts of offerings.

But...

'What would I get? Some fancy food and booze at best. Maybe some gold and jewels.'

Precious metals and jewelery.

When I was Seo Ji-hoon, those words would have made my eyes spin.

'But do I... really need them?'

Thanks to my position as the Heavenly Demon's disciple, I already had a personal maid attending to my needs all day, providing me with three meals a day and even taking care of my sleeping quarters.

At least while living in the cult, the status of the Heavenly Demon's disciple alone was more than enough to live idly.

No wonder they say fair pay stops corruption.

Of course, it was annoying that I had to run around because I was the Heavenly Demon’s disciple, but...

'If I take the money and run, I'll probably spend the rest of my life being hunted by this damned cult.'

It was a future too horrifying to even imagine.

The people who now doted on me calling me "Young Master" or "Brother" would turn into crazed cultists with bloodshot eyes while hunting me down.

"Since Master says so, I'll do my best."

Meaning, I’ll do this thankless task.

'Rather than a business trip, I should think of it as a vacation and take it easy.'

It was a terrible mindset for an auditor.

* * *

A few days later.

I boarded a carriage and departed the cult’s headquarters.

However, I wasn't heading to Aksu County where I had visited last time.

My Master insisted that I needed a deeper understanding of the cult’s affairs and assigned me a destination much farther away.

He wanted me to see and experience it firsthand, saying the atmosphere would be quite different from Aksu County, which was close to headquarters.

'Damn old geezer.'

He seemed desperate to work his disciple to the bone.

Unaware of my inner thoughts, Jin Hayeon, who was riding in the carriage with me, spoke with a serious expression.

"It seems the Heavenly Demon truly believes in your potential, Young Master Il-mok. Why else would he give you the mission of checking out a place so far away so you can understand the cult better?"

She always maintained a cold attitude, yet when it came to matters concerning Master, her eyes suddenly had a rose-tinted filter.

"Do you truly believe he sent me all the way to Hejing (和靜) because he trusts me?"

"Of course! If he didn't trust you, wouldn't he have accompanied you?"

She had a point. Unlike the last trip, Master wasn't accompanying us on this long journey.

'Alright. Since there's no surveillance from Master, I should think of it as a vacation and—'

But before my thought could finish, the carriage suddenly stopped.

"What's going on?" I called out.

The two guards assigned by my Master for this journey replied in unison.

"Young Master. From here on, you must dismount the carriage and follow it using the lightness skill."

“This is the Heavenly Demon’s sacred decree.”

"..."

So this wasn’t about trust. It was about exploiting me without lifting a finger himself.

If I were an auditor meant to assess the situation of each branch, these warriors were there to monitor me.

* * *

"Huff... huff..."

Just as my breathing was reaching its limit and I was starting to stagger—

"Hyah!"

The carriage running beside me came to a stop.

I climbed back into the carriage with routines that had now become familiar.

On the last trip, I didn't know how to use internal energy, so what I called lightness skill was nothing more than mimicking the movements while running just like usual. Obviously, I couldn't keep up with the carriage.

But now that I knew how to use internal energy, I could actually perform lightness skill and run at a speed comparable to the carriage.

Of course, since my internal energy was still modest, I could only manage roughly about one hour's distance at a time.

'This is only possible because it's a Demonic Art.'

Master had said that the amount of internal energy gathered in my dantian would be equivalent to about five years of power accumulated by the standards of the unbelievers in the Central Plains.

In other words, it would take five years for others to gather that much using the Qi Absorption Technique, the simplest and purest breathing method, while I accumulated that amount in just under four months.

As I caught my breath while experiencing the terrifying effectiveness of Demonic Art—

“Breathe and circulate your energy, Young Master.”

I sighed and crossed my legs into the lotus position.

Circulating energy in a violently shaking carriage running at full speed was something that I was already used to, thanks to the last time. But my sigh stemmed from another reason.

'Once my internal energy recovers, I have to run again, don't I?'

I had already repeated this insanity four times. How many more times would I have to run until we reached our destination?

'I should drag this out as much as possible.'

I did my breathing exercises as slowly as I possibly could, taking in huge breaths but only gathering my energy bit by bit.

Even with me dragging my feet on purpose, my tiny little dantian filled up way too fast.

'Let's hold out a bit longer.'

I faked a few more exaggerated breaths, pretending to still be meditating—until the guards’ voices cut through the act.

"Young Master. We know your dantian is already full."

“If you keep this up, we’ll have no choice but to report to the Heavenly Demon.”

"Sigh."

Heaving a deep sigh, I reluctantly got up and stepped out of the carriage.

'I'll get you back for this.'

I'm your cult leader's disciple, you bastards.

* * *

How much time had passed as I was bossed around by mere guards?

By the time the sun dipped low, we arrived at a village. Not our final destination Hejing County, but Kuqa County.

The distance from the cult’s headquarters at the Tianshan Mountain Range to Hejing County was a ridiculously long distance of over 400 kilometers.

Unless one was a master who had reached the pinnacle of lightness skill or rode a horse worthy of being called a thousand-li horse like Red Hare, it was an impossible distance to reach in a single day in this era.

That’s why we planned to rest at Kuqa County, a county located about halfway between the Tianshan Mountain Range and Hejing County.

Of course, this county also housed a branch of the cult.

Since we were going all the way to Hejing County, we were also scheduled to conduct an audit in Kuqa County.

The schedule and route had been planned with this in mind from the start.

As the dusk fell, villagers wrapped up their work and headed home. We headed not to the cult’s branch in this county, but to the only inn available.

The reason was simple.

Our great Master had ordered us to conceal our identities for the field audit.

He said we wouldn't be able to see their usual state if we announced our arrival and visited as auditors.

'He's unnecessarily meticulous about things like this.'

While mentally criticizing Master, the carriage stopped again.

"Hup."

When the carriage stopped, my body tensed reflexively, thinking I needed to use lightness skill.

But then I belatedly realized there was no need for it now since we had stopped at our destination.

"Damn it."

I felt like one of Pavlov’s dogs, conditioned to run at the sound of brakes.

I dragged my worn-out body, drenched in sweat and all, and stepped down from the carriage and entered the inn with Jin Hayeon and the two guards in tow.

However, we weren't greeted by the innkeeper's voice.

Confused, I looked around and saw a middle-aged man who resembled the owner, talking to his child.

“Sam Pyeong! If you don’t study now, you’ll forget everything!”

"Hng. I don't want to study."

A kid who hates studying and a parent trying to force them. It was a scene I'd seen a million times.

"Hey brat, do you know what kind of opportunity this is?! You need to learn while the cult members are willing to teach! Your old man never had anyone to teach him when he was a kid, so I barely learned to read at all!"

"But Dad, you're living well even without knowing how to read."

"It's because I don't know how to read that I'm doing this hard work! And because I don't know how to read, I named my son something as simple as Sam Pyeong! Because I’m crude and uneducated!"

Though the father was practically shouting at his child, his heartfelt desire for his son's well-being was clear.

“That’s why you have to seize this chance the cult’s given us! Study while they’re willing to teach!”

And for whatever reason, hearing him praise the cult like that made Jin Hayeon and the guards next to me get these smugly satisfied expressions on their faces.

"It's just like Young Master Il-mok said. Opening these schools is really doing a lot to boost the faith of the followers."

"..."

The idea to establish schools had been something I’d concocted to offload work onto others.

"Ahem."

Feeling awkward, I cleared my throat loudly, which finally made the dad and son look over at us.

"Oh! Welcome! I'm so sorry, I didn't even see you come in."

"Hahaha. It's alright. Could you prepare two rooms and some dinner for us?"

"Yes! I'll prepare them quickly!"

"Hmm. And could you also prepare bath water?"

At my request, the innkeeper spoke cautiously.

"Well... bath water costs quite a bit, would that be alright?"

Xinjiang wasn't a region with abundant water.

Getting enough to drink or wash your face was one thing, but getting enough for a full-body soak was going to cost you.

But I was so caked in grime that there was no way I was skipping a bath.

"Don't worry about money, we have plenty."

I said so while shaking the money pouch that had been given to me before I left headquarters.

The man’s face brightened at the sight.

* * *

Early the next morning.

We finished our breakfast at the inn and then departed.

Despite being worked like a dog yesterday, I was fine except for being a little tired.

'Man, this body is ridiculously tough.'

No wonder Master had his eye on me. Damn it.

As we wandered the village, I saw people wearing clothes embroidered with the character for 'Demon' (魔) doing odd jobs here and there.

It was the cult members from the local branch who were helping out the villagers.

"Hmm. Looks like the part where our men help the locals so the kids can go to school is working just fine."

We looked around the village for a bit, pretending to be just some random travelers, and then headed for the cult branch.

A small makeshift space had been set up next to the branch office. That was the temporary school where children were taught.

Since we were conducting the audit incognito, I couldn't observe the class directly, so I cautiously approached the temporary academy building.

"Now, listen and repeat after me! The sea is salty, the river is fresh (海鹹河淡)!"

"The sea is salty, the river is fresh!"

"Now, what does this mean~"

Through the paper window, the voices of the teacher and children studying could be heard.

"The first character is 'sea,' and the second character is 'salty,' so it means the sea is salty. And the third character is 'river,' the last is 'fresh,' so the river is fresh! In short, it means the sea is salty and the river is fresh!"

"Teacher! What's the sea~?"

"What does the sea look like?"

"And why does the character for river (河) look like that?"

Because they were all little kids, the moment the teacher finished talking, they all started talking at once.

"Quiet! Quiet down!"

"Teacher! Is the sea really salty?"

"No way! How can water be salty?"

"Maybe they put salt in it!"

"Salt is too expensive to put in water!"

"The sea must be really small!"

"Quiet, quiet!! The sea is a hu~ge body of water! Much bigger than a river!"

The teacher's voice boomed out, rising above the children's chattering.

But the children, as expected, were clueless.

"No way!!"

"How can they make something bigger than a river salty?"

"There must be lots of salt!!"

"Idiot! Dad told me salt is super expensive!"

"Hmph! You've never even eaten salt! I have~!"

The kids kept on squabbling for another minute.

Just when I was wondering why the teacher had gone quiet—

"YOU BRATS!!!"

A shout infused with internal energy erupted.

At the same time, killing intent and demonic energy began to surge from within the schoolhouse.

Only then did I realize I had forgotten one very important issue.

The martial artists of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult cultivated Demonic Arts. Naturally, the martial artists of the branch office would also be cultivating Demonic Arts.

And those damned fuckers suffer from mental illness as a side effect of their Demonic Arts.

In other words—

I'd handed over a bunch of first-graders to be taught by a bunch of lunatics.