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Chapter 56
“– Congratulations on your appointment, Young Master. To think you’ve entered the royal court itself, not just any other position… I still can’t believe it.”
“How about things on your end? The major businesses are all wrapped up, so don’t start anything new. Just keep things steady for now.”
“– I’m doing just as you instructed. Don’t worry about us, Young Master. You just focus on your state affairs.”
“State affairs, my ass. I’m hanging up.”
Ending the call, he tucked the Choreng-i mask device back into his robe.
That conversation marked the transfer of most of his casino operations to the Tavern mistress. The foundation was already solid— they could manage the rest on their own now.
Just as Tavern mistress had said, it was time for him to focus on “state affairs.”
“Phew…”
He drew the bowstring— crack— tension tightening across his shoulders.
It wasn’t the monstrous foreign bow he usually used, but a traditional Joseon-style bow.
Swoosh—!
The arrow released with a crisp sound, striking dead-center on the target at the sadae range.
A drone stationed nearby scanned the shot, then projected a floating hologram of a red flag waving before his eyes.
Perfect center.
He’d worried his skills might have dulled from disuse lately, but it seemed the countless hours of daily practice hadn’t been wasted after all.
“Smuggling? N-No, this is a false accusation!”
While he was leisurely enjoying his archery, a local magistrate— pale as death— came stumbling forward and fell to his knees before him.
The man was one of this quarter’s main inspection targets— a provincial official caught under Royal Inquisition Bureau scrutiny for suspected weapon smuggling with Japan.
“Please believe me! I swear, I’m innocent! My lord! It’s true I let men from Japan in, but that was only because—”
“Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all before. You only let him in because he was an acquaintance. You had no idea he was on the government’s wanted list for smuggling. You didn’t know weapons were being leaked out. And of course, it wasn’t you, the magistrate, who was at fault, but your subordinates…”
Listening with feigned patience, he calmly hung his bow back onto its stand.
It was said this brass bow had been forged centuries ago— he’d wondered what was so special about it. After trying it, the answer was clear: not much.
“So, that’s what you’re telling me to report to the higher-ups?”
“Y-Yes! As proof, the military warehouse inspection showed no irregularities, did it not?!”
“Yes, that’s true.”
He nodded, checking the warehouse inventory and government registry projected on his interface.
The documents were spotless, and the physical inspection showed nothing amiss. Under normal circumstances, he’d have stamped the report “complete” and called it a day.
But…
“Here.”
He tapped the floor beneath his feet on the archery range.
“Open this section.”
At his words, the magistrate— who had been groveling moments ago— froze stiff on the spot.
The others around them also went still.
Unlike before, when they’d trembled at every motion of his hands or feet, their eyes now glowed red as they stared him down.
Rumble—
Responding to his hand signal, two drones activated the internal mechanisms beneath the range floor. A hidden hatch slowly revealed itself.
The outer walls were lined with lead to disrupt optical scans.
Inside, stacked in heaps, were forbidden export goods— weapons and ammunition piled to the ceiling.
A perfect hit.
Clang—!
Behind him, Taewoong flicked aside a bullet that had flown toward his face.
It had been fired from a concealed gun within one of the artificial limbs of a nearby guard.
In that instant, the magistrate and his men began drawing their own weapons.
He sighed.
“Threatening an inspector is a high crime— nearly treason. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”
“Once the goods hidden below were discovered, I was a dead man regardless. Whether I die here or by the Royal Inquisition Bureau’s hands, it makes little difference.”
In other words, killing Chang-woon and escaping offered a higher chance of survival.
The magistrate’s logic wasn’t wrong— years in office had made him sharp.
“That’s true,” Chang-woon admitted, smirking. Then his smile twisted into mockery.
“But only if you can make it out alive.”
His tone turned ice-cold in an instant.
Sensing the shift, the magistrate raised his hand without hesitation.
Immediately, combat drones and guards with mechanical augmentations surrounded the archery grounds.
“I don’t know what trick you’re hiding, but the previous inspectors ignored me for a reason. My lord, the secret to long life? Pretend you don’t see. Pretend you don’t know. That’s how you survive.”
“I’m a member of the Andong Kim clan. You sure you can handle the consequences?”
“Then I’ll leave Joseon. I can find refuge in a Japanese city-state, or even sneak into the central continent like China. Either way, it won’t be your problem.”
So he planned to plunder as much as he could, then flee abroad when the time came.
Chang-woon couldn’t help but laugh.
‘Ah, fleeing Joseon.’
Maybe he should do that too, give up on all this “revolution” nonsense.
“Kill him.”
Without further delay, the magistrate gave his order.
Even before his words finished echoing, the inspector Chang-woon’s gaze swept over his attackers.
“Moo-yeong.”
Slash—!
In an instant, dozens of limbs burst through the air like fireworks.
Private guards aiming rifles, hired mercenaries from unknown lands, even imported Japanese combat drones— all were shredded and flung apart.
“W-What…?”
Only then did the surviving guards realize what had happened. Their eyes went wide in horror.
But it was already too late.
Standing before them was a bodyguard with jet-black mechanical arms, his single-edged sword blade glinting as he raised it.
Moo-yeong stood there— silent, imposing, deadly.
“Ahhhh!”
“Wh-What is this?! What the hell is going on?!”
“What else? It means today’s visitor wasn’t just a mere inspector.”
Amid the chaos, Chang-woon stepped forward and pulled out his inspection token.
The holographic seal flared to life above the projector.
The moment he saw it, the magistrate’s face drained utterly black.
“A secret inspector has arrived.”
In the next instant, Taewoong and Moo-yeong activated their artificial bodies and sprang forward.
Killing the guards who had been disarmed was Moo-yeong’s task.
Grabbing the provincial magistrate who scrambled back, trying to run was Taewoong’s job.
“Ku—, kuhk…!”
“This can’t be…!”
A human weapon clad in top-tier artificial limbs and a wihyang ability user— when those two moved, cleaning the area up wasn’t difficult.
****
“Every day’s a damn chore, honestly.”
Watching blood, steel, and machines whirl across the battlefield, I exhaled a long, tired sigh.
Secret inspector. Originally, this was an important post: the king would dispatch his most trusted official as an inspector to root out local corruption.
But now?
The king sits dead atop the Geunjeongjeon throne, and my father, head of the Andong Kim clan, is the one wielding power in his stead.
So, who in present-day Joseon gets to send a Secret Inspector?
Who else but the great houses? Naturally, the faction that controls the Royal Inquisition Bureau and the Golden Guards— the Left State Council faction. It’s become customary for the Andong Kim to pick the people they send.
Now then, look again at the post I was assigned.
Junior Sixth Rank trainee inspector.
As the name trainee implies, my duty is as a probationary aide: to assist a serving Secret inspector and learn the job under them.
Yet months have passed, and the Secret inspector who’s supposed to teach me never appeared. The court simply hasn’t appointed one.
There’s no Secret Inspector, but there is a trainee learning the inspector’s work.
What the hell does that even mean?
It’s a strange sight, but not wholly irrational: someone has to do the inspector’s job, yet no one of truly high rank wants to be tasked with provincial investigatory work. So they give the temporary title of trainee to a lowly new official and let that newcomer handle everything the inspector would.
Thus was I, Kim Chang-woon, produced— an accidental child of this long-standing tradition.
The glorious title? “Contractual Secret inspector.”
“Guhk… kuhk…!”
The archery range was drenched in blood. I sheathed the inspection token after watching the provincial magistrate thrash with his throat gripped in a vise.
You asking if it’s a real inspection token? Of course not.
It was the kind of toy orphanage kids gave as a birthday present— the “Armored Taejong MK-77 Transform Set No. 1.”
“What shall we do, Young Master?”
“Hold on. Look up the regulations first.”
Taewoong asked in a flat voice as he watched impassively. I scrolled through the Secret Inspector manual file tucked in a corner of the interface.
“The last revision year is… 2172?”
A manual, easily a century and a year out of date. Still, it’s the compulsory field manual every Secret inspector must know, and forgetting it is unforgivable. There’s an ocean of rules to memorize— and none of them are useful. That’s the way it goes when a nation’s luck has turned.
“Normally, we’d hand this over to the Royal Inquisition Bureau and purge everyone involved. But—”
I looked back and forth between the completely subdued magistrate and the intact military supplies. A pleased smile spread across my face.
“Kill them.”
At my words, Taewoong tightened his grip without objection. With a crunch, the struggling magistrate’s body went limp.
Situation: closed.
With the power players upstairs in turmoil, incidents like this had become routine in the outskirts of the capital.
“Contact Tavern mistress, Moo-yeong. Tell them to send people— we’ll take every last item stored here.”
“Are you planning again not to report this to the Royal Inquisition Bureau directly?”
“As always.”
As the phrase “again” implied, provincial officials had long been skimming the Five Army Commands’ military stores to fill their coffers.
This one was just a particularly large thief among many. I started rattling off, without even wetting my lips, the report I would file to the Royal Inquisition Bureau.
“Most of the contraband had already been funneled to Japan, leaving only small quantities here. When we pressed the locals, the provincial magistrate and his men attacked our inspection party. Thanks to the capable bodyguards sent by the Andong Kim main house, the main office suffered no casualties. We express our gratitude to the Andong Kim for their cooperation in the inspection… How’s that?”
“That’s the exact spiel we always send.”
Taewoong shook his head. Meanwhile, Moo-yeong gave me a thumbs-up — word that the Tavern mistress’ crew was already on the way.
“Moo-yeong’s skills improve day by day. At first, we could handle him to an extent, but… now he’s beyond what I can manage.”
“He’s just gotten far crueler with his hands.”
As he spoke and turned his gaze, Moo-yeong was already sheathing his single-edged sword, having wiped the thick blood from the blade.
The man who had aimed his gun at me hadn’t simply been killed— judging from the state of his corpse, Moo-yeong must have decided that a quick death would’ve been too merciful. At this point, even I was starting to find him frightening.
In my previous life, he hadn’t been like this at all. What on earth had turned the kid into… this?
Beep.
While I was cleaning up the crime scene and preparing the report, a notification popped up on one side of my interface.
A directive from the royal court.
After reading through it for a while, I broke into a satisfied smile.
“Taewoong, Moo-yeong— get ready.”
“Sir?”
“Ready… you mean, for something?”
What had come down to me was a royal decree issued under the court’s seal.
In short, it contained two points.
First, in recognition of my successful performance as a trainee Secret inspector, I am hereby promoted to a full Secret inspector.
Second, my first official assignment: to travel to the fortress city in the northeastern frontier, investigate the current state of the Iron Tiger Corps, and report any corruption I discovered.
“My first post is in the northeast? They really mean to work me to the bone.”
Three straight weeks of labor without a single day’s rest hadn’t been enough— now they were sending me to Northeastern District, the most remote of remote outposts.
I’d expected to be used harshly, but not to be rolled around the field like a worn wheel.
If it had been the me of my previous life, I’d have shouted, ‘How many people do you have to grind down before you’re satisfied?!’
But now—
“Well, well… I’m so grateful I don’t even know what to do with myself.”
I couldn’t suppress the laughter bubbling up inside.
Northeastern District Dispatch Order.
I understood their intent perfectly.
With the upper echelons of the capital in turmoil, they clearly wanted eyes on the rebel elements they’d shoved up north.
But Kim Junghun, you’ve made one hell of a mistake.
The man you sent as a “watchdog” is none other than the great traitor who was born to destroy your clan.
And that traitor has now been given the perfect chance—to meet face-to-face with the Iron Tiger Corps, the heart of the coming revolution.
And while I’m at it, if I could make one humble request…
-“Young Master! Please marry me!”
“Pff—”
Just remembering that absurd line made me burst out laughing.
That naive country girl who’d one day become the spark of a revolution— I wondered how much she’d changed since we last met. I’d like to see her face again, even just once.
---The End Of The Chapter---
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