Chapter 132: The Bait Must Be Dangled to Be Tasty (4)

Seo Jae-pil's expression turned serious as he carefully began to speak. "Your role as bait seems to have been effective, Young Master."

"You noticed something fishy?"

Seo Jae-pil nodded at the question.

"His words were consistent enough. But during our conversation, there were moments... moments where he hesitated, and you could catch glimpses of hesitation."

It was definitely just fleeting moments of hesitation and doubt. So brief that others wouldn't have noticed.

But Seo Jae-pil had spent months as a physician at the Pure Mind Hall, counseling martial artists who were learning Demonic Arts.

Through that experience, he'd seen countless people hiding things or telling lies.

Their reasons for lying or concealing things were pretty much the same across the board.

'They wanted to hide their experiences of being overwhelmed by side effects.'

Since they were all people you'd call "masters," most of them had strong pride. For people like that, admitting they'd struggled with mental illness wasn't easy.

Hell, even regular people found it embarrassing to talk about their mental health issues.

But...

"Most importantly, we're still in the early stages of counseling, so we haven't even had any deep conversations yet. We were just talking about life in the Hall of the Demonic Way and about the students. But even with such trivial topics, he acted like he was having some incredibly important conversation, hesitating and mulling over his answers.”

Something was definitely off if someone had to think that hard about answering even the most pointless small talk.

"Especially after you started your club tour, Young Master, that attitude became even more pronounced."

"As I thought..."

So that was why he kept picking fights with me. He had approached me with malicious intent from the very beginning.

'Holy shit. What kind of idiots send a mole who reveals his hostility so blatantly?'

It never even occurred to Il-mok that his lazy behavior might be the catalyst for that hostility.

While Il-mok was chuckling at Ma Do-yeong's incompetence, Seo Jae-pil asked, "So, should I report this directly to the Hall Master?"

For some reason, Il-mok shook his head at that question.

"Wouldn't that be a waste? Apart from Ma Do-yeong, there's another mole hiding in the Hall of the Demonic Way."

“Won’t we find that out by capturing and interrogating Ma Do-yeong?”

"That's naive thinking. You think Ma Do-yeong would sell out his colleagues that easily?"

"...It's not really my place to say as a physician, but the Divine Cult's interrogation methods aren't exactly gentle."

"What if he doesn't clam up, but feeds us false information instead?"

Only then did Seo Jae-pil realize what Il-mok was getting at, letting out a soft "Ah" of understanding.

"That's definitely a possibility. But even if Ma Do-yeong frames someone else, won't the truth eventually come out if we interrogate the framed individual and investigate their activities?”

"Do you have any idea how many innocent people would get interrogated in that process?"

Il-mok's words of concern for potentially innocent victims made Seo Jae-pil look moved, but Il-mok had different motivations.

If it were people close to him being interrogated, that would be one thing. But the rest were strangers to him. No, less than strangers. He couldn't care less whether those cultist fanatics got interrogated or not.

‘If, during that wrongful interrogation, someone lies to avoid torture or even gives a false confession, things will get complicated.’

Worrying about innocent victims was just an excuse – he was really considering the possibility of failing to root out the problem completely due to being misled by false confessions.

'These bastards are after my head, so if I don't handle this properly, it'll be annoying as hell.'

Of course, if there was no other solution, he might have just ended it there. But now, a very good card had fallen into my hands.

“More importantly, now that we’ve identified one of the moles, is there any reason to throw that card away?

“Are you suggesting we use Ma Do-yeong as a pawn?”

"Exactly."

The reason he could think of a way to use Ma Do-yeong wasn't just because of his obsessive compulsions.

'I never thought movies would come in handy like this.'

He'd remembered something from a movie he'd seen.

To find the kingpin of a drug organization, they identified a drug mule but didn't arrest him, choosing to tail him instead.

'But how did that movie end again...?'

Thinking back, they did find the head, but instead of cleanly capturing him, they barely managed to catch him after a fierce battle.

It was a somewhat unsatisfying ending, but Il-mok didn't care.

'Well, the Hall Master is on our side anyway, so what's the problem?'

Even if a fierce battle broke out in the Hall of the Demonic Way, the Hall Master would clean it up in the end.

The same went if the fight occurred at the main headquarters. The Heavenly Demon, who owned the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, was on their side – what was there to worry about?

While Il-mok was lost in his thoughts, Seo Jae-pil looked uncertain and asked, "But even if we use Ma Do-yeong to catch another minion, couldn't that person also tell lies?"

He had a pretty sharp mind for a doctor. It was a good point. As he said, the rats in the Hall were all just minions. They weren’t the ‘kingpin.’

But...

"If we capture several pawns, we can cross-reference the information they give us. We interrogate those bastards in separate spaces and cut off their information flow."

Only then did Seo Jae-pil fully understand Il-mok's intention and nod.

"In that case, as you said, Young Master, there should be fewer innocent victims from false testimony cases."

"Well, if they've already coordinated their stories in case they get caught, this method would be useless too."

"...?"

Then why go through all this trouble?

Before Seo Jae-pil could voice this question, Il-mok brought up something unexpected.

"By any chance, do the physicians at the Pure Mind Hall use some kind of code? To hide information about patients' personal details, or for some other purpose?"

"...There is one."

Looking at Seo Jae-pil's expression which seemed to ask why he was asking this, Il-mok said, "Then, could you give me some paper and a brush? I want you to convert what I'm about to write into that code. Make it look like I'm requesting hand sanitizer again, or disguise it as counseling content about some instructor."

"!!!"

Seo Jae-pil asked with a shocked expression:

"Don't tell me... when you requested hand sanitizer alcohol before, you had already calculated this entire situation?"

Il-mok shrugged lightly.

"You never know, right? There might be moles among those who travel between the main headquarters and the Hall of the Demonic Way."

Il-mok answered casually, as if it was no big deal, and held out his hand as if telling him to hurry up and bring the paper and brush.

When Seo Jae-pil saw what Il-mok had written at the very top of the paper, his eyes widened in shock.

"You... you're going to write about THAT?"

What was written there was a request to the Heavenly Demon for permission to use a certain item.

"With this, we can get a confession out of them no matter what story they’ve concocted, can’t we?”

“…In that case, couldn’t we just use it on Ma Do-yeong alone after capturing him?”

"The problem is, if we use this, half of what they say will be nonsense, so we'd still need the same cross-verification. Also, Master might refuse to let us use it."

"Ah..."

As Seo Jae-pil nodded in understanding, Il-mok was already writing the next sentence on the paper.

The content of the second sentence was a request for reinforcements.

They needed a surveillance team to secretly follow Ma Do-yeong, their chess piece.

But if they moved too many people unnecessarily, there was a risk the targets would hide.

They needed to monitor Ma Do-yeong with minimal personnel, without making the targets feel suspicious.

And Il-mok knew someone who was excellent at stealth and concealment.

'Last time, she said she was sorry for not being much help, so I should ask for her assistance this time.'

* * *

Two days later, after finishing my daily routine, I headed to the Theater Club.

"Haha! Welcome, Junior Il-mok!"

"Hohohoho. Please take care of us today too."

Watching Baek Cheon and Bang Mi-hwa greet me without fail, a sigh escaped my lips.

'Once I catch the head, I'm quitting immediately.'

It wasn’t like I came back to the club because I liked it. Being with attention whores like Bang Mi-hwa and Baek Cheon was mentally exhausting.

If it weren't for Instructor Ma Do-yeong, the Meditation Club would definitely be the best. For lazing around, at least.

'I have to make him let his guard down, so I have no choice.'

After going through the trouble of applying for a club tour to use myself as bait, going back to the Meditation Club now would be suspicious in many ways.

That’s why I had returned to the relatively safest option, the Theater Club. I had considered going to the Bodybuilding or Doctrine Research Clubs to monitor other potential rats, but…

'If I stayed there, I might fall into Qi Deviation and go berserk.'

And if I went berserk, they might happily use that as an excuse to stab me with a sword, so I had to give up on that idea.

While I was thinking about those two most horrible clubs, Ju Seo-yeon had approached me.

"Young Master Il-mok."

From her sneaky way of speaking, I could somehow predict what she was going to say next.

“When you went to the main headquarters for your injury, did you meet Lady Jin Hayeon?"

"I didn't see her."

Since I'd anticipated the question, I answered without any change in my expression. I decided not to think about why I could predict what this crazy person would ask.

"Really? Lady Jin Hayeon served you directly, Young Master Il-mok, didn't she?"

"Maybe it's because I'm just a student currently. Miss Jin is probably somewhere focusing on her training."

I was glad I'd lied.

She was already pestering me this much when I said no. What if I had told her I was with Jin Hayeon?

'She would have stuck to me all day long, grilling me about Jin Hayeon's recent life.'

She had the perfect mindset of a sasaeng fan.

Of course, I had no intention of dealing with such a fan, and also...

"Disciple Ju. I've told you countless times that students should address each other as Disciple. How many more times do I need to tell you?"

Instructor Eun Ryeo's cold eyes were directed at both me and Ju Seo-yeon.

'Why me...?'

The feeling that she was being particularly harsh on me was getting stronger.

'Is it old maid syndrome...?'

I didn't know Instructor Eun Ryeo's side effects, but if someone that age was unmarried, it seemed like a plausible symptom in addition to her side effects.

While I was analyzing Instructor Eun Ryeo's symptoms by channeling my inner Physician Seo, Ju Seo-yeon answered boldly.

"I'm planning to become Young Master Il-mok's maid after completing the Hall of the Demonic Way anyway, so wouldn't it be proper to keep calling you Young Master here too?"

"...Do you really think that makes sense?"

"Yes, Instructor!"

Looking at Ju Seo-yeon's bright, sparkling eyes as she answered, Instructor Eun Ryeo sighed and turned her head away.

"......."

It seemed even old maid syndrome couldn't handle sasaeng fans.

'Yeah, I really need to escape quickly.'

My desire to leave this terrible hell grew even stronger.

Naturally, my gaze turned toward the hall where the Meditation Club was active.

It wasn't just because I missed that place.

'I hope you're keeping a good watch?'

It was because someone who had snuck into the Hall of the Demonic Way today was there.