727 - The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel

Seeing the Voice of the Deceased. A detective, by tradition, is someone who reconstructs a case by deducing clues left by the deceased and traces left by the perpetrator. With natural intuition and skills honed through training, when they see what others cannot, they say they see the voice of the deceased. "A ghost of a deceased mistress, you say?" [Honestly, I thought I'd die of frustration. Oh right, I'm already dead. So is that why I feel like I might die again?] I never expected to actually hear, let alone see, the voice of the deceased. "Hey... Hey, Kang Yoon Ho. What is this?" Gil San, even if you're urgently poking my side, I have no idea. How is Eon Ga Young able to see ghosts? Is it because she's of the bloodline of the Underworld King's elder? Is it because she's been lying down and tormented by spirits for decades? ZHFFaHg0NTVMUERqTnhDNTdpRkczWnhXeVJZYUxpVlNzZHZhOU9JUjV3L3FjV2pOallzMmhqaUZiY0graEQ1Zg "Gil San." "I'll block the door!" Whatever it was, it was an emergency situation. [What is this?] "What kind of a vile spirit dares to covet the body of a delicate beauty! Well, not delicate but voluptuous! Anyway! The Heart Sutra! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! The Jade Emperor! In the name of Muhammad! With the power of Hwanung!" Her being possessed by a spirit is a situation that the Underworld King elder anticipated as the worst scenario. I must break the possession no matter the cost. Clasping my hands together, I summoned the faith that only arises when needed. "Will that be enough! I'll get some salt!" Gil San, exorcisms are typically done in pairs, you know. That guy deserted us. I must regain my senses. [I'm not some vile spirit.] "It's like how a man who's never dated might lie about having experience when needed!" I get it! [No, I said I'm a vengeful ghost.] Isn't that essentially the same? "Oh, maiden ghost! Abandon your lingering affection for this world and reincarnate peacefully!" [Not a maiden.] "That's even worse...! Non-maiden ghost, away with you! How dare you covet the body of my stoic, pure, full-chested maid, which is only to be tainted with my own color!" Only the master is permitted to covet the maid’s body, after all. Not that I'm saying I'll do so necessarily, but one can never be sure about the future, right? [...] "Kang Yoon Ho! I brought the salt!" So, you didn't just abandon us. Gil San, I had faith in you! I grabbed a fistful of the salt and threw it at the non-maiden ghost. "Take this! The salt blessed with the Lord's grace!" [Ugh.] The salt mixed into the air weakly. Just like how the men who professed to her hopefully, with faces full of dreams concerning marriage, children, grandchildren, and overseas trips during retirement, were met with a steely barrier and bounced off as she smiled back at them. Isn't sharing a meal together nothing? Even if you're nice to everyone, those who've always been single tend to hold onto hope. I couldn't help but throw salt out of frustration, but she didn't budge. "It doesn't work...?" "It's okay! My trump card remains!" I snapped my fingers, summoning the power of gold. The extended index and middle finger pointed at that which did not belong to this world. [A-aren't you going a bit far?] Too late to regret it now. Non-maiden ghost! I'll send you off with these two fingers. Of course, to the afterlife. "Get out quick!" [Alright, I'll leave if you let me vent first! I promise! We've already talked it over!] "Really?" [You want answers too, don't you? I promise I won't harm her!] I could sense her uneasy gaze on the golden aura. As long as your weakness is clear, there's nothing to fear. After a moment of consideration, I nodded. "Very well. Let's hear you out." —— "What happened exactly?" Now that I was willing to listen to the case, this turned from a spirit encounter to a victim investigation. Basic courtesy was necessary. [You truly live up to your reputation as a detective. Just as you deduced.] Admiration was clear in her voice. Had she heard everything from beside us? "Is it an affair? Well, if becoming a concubine for your and your brother's future was the reason, I can understand to some extent." Could it be that there's a secret lover? It might not have been for love that she became a concubine; such situations occur sometimes. [How can you—! I mean, how do you view a ghost? I was always faithful!] "Did you marry out of love?" I asked, surprised at her vehement denial. [Why? The master was such a dashing man. From when I was little, I swore I'd become his second wife!] The affection in her voice was undeniable. Not to say the apothecary’s owner isn’t handsome, but perhaps she's into sturdy older men? People have various tastes. If it's not an affair, then clearly the circumstantial evidence leading to my deduction must be the truth? "The suspect is a man. One intimate enough to open the door for him at night. My deduction stands, yes?" [Other deductions are correct too.] "Not an affair, yet the deduction is right? Is it a love affair then?" [Being so close yet wrong is really frustrating.] So, I was right after all. An acquaintance, a love affair? Having guessed correctly, now the conclusion feels misplaced. The specter’s affirmation only confuses me more. "It makes no sense. You didn't have an affair, and yet it's a love affair? Who on earth is the culprit?" [The one who killed me is… wait!] "What is it?" [What the—? Hold on a minute. Oh no!] The mistress seemed startled, struggling, but her distressed voice gradually faded away. "Uh?" The expression of the possessed Eon Ga Young vanished, leaving only her golden eyes staring blankly at me. "......" "Could it be... Ga Young?" She nodded slightly. Where did the mistress's spirit go? Why couldn't she name the culprit and left? Staring at her bewildered, Eon Ga Young summarized the situation in one word. "Exhausted." —— Why couldn't the spirit of the mistress reveal the culprit and vanished? The answer was simple. "Didn't you say using Ga Young's body required more than an ordinary spirit?" "Innate shapeshifting lasts only three minutes." Ga Young's body doesn't have good endurance. Who would have thought even a vengeful spirit would be cast out after just a few words? "Has she moved on to the afterlife?" "She's still here. It seems she needs more time." Ga Young gestured with her eyes somewhere off and then shook her head. "Can't we just get the answer separately?" "Only possible when she's transformed." "If I'd known, I would have asked for the answer first." In my greed to verify all the answers, I ended up missing my chance. It's frustrating. As I unknowingly rubbed my forehead with my fingers. "Wasn't it helpful...?" I could feel her unwavering gaze fixed upon me, her voice expressionless. Though difficult for anyone else to discern emotions from her face, the emotions toward me were evident. "No, it was plenty. But Ga Young." "Yes." My face is reflected entirely in her golden eyes. The possession she undertook for me was indeed helpful, but as an adult, and as her master, I had something to make clear. "Letting a spirit use your body is a very dangerous act. Make sure to ask next time." If things went wrong, she could become a bloodthirsty demon. It was fortunate that the mistress wasn’t a malicious spirit. "I watched everything. I can drive them out too." A small, childlike protest. She acted for her master's sake, so why was she being scolded? There was no need to dampen the spirit of this still inexperienced maid with sternness. "I'm just concerned for you." All I had to do was convey my concern. Like last time, I gently held her hand. "Oh." "Hmm? You've understood." Her soft hand carefully clasped mine, as if afraid of getting lost. I'm not scolding you, just concerned. After a long, sincere gaze from her golden eyes, Eon Ga Young finally nodded. "Alright..." Why does she keep her head down? Is she dissatisfied with something? Just as I was about to ask, a cold voice rang out from behind me. "Hyang Mae or Miss Ha Yeon should see this." "What? No! This was just an educational moment." Oh right, Gil San was here. I'm innocent. I quickly turned to release her hand, feeling the resistance of her grip not wanting to let go. "Forget about it. So, did you figure out who the culprit is?" Gently playing with Ga Young's hand with my fingers until it slipped away, we delved back into the topic at hand. The deduction was correct. But the conclusion wasn't. That leaves only one possibility. "They said even the love affair aspect was correct, so the deduction was right. The direction is where the error lies, surely." "The direction was wrong?" "If it wasn't his love affair, but someone else’s?" I'd thought of the key figure in the case purely as the victim. I should have investigated other relationships too. "No way. Are you saying the mistress was having an affair?" "The husband could be having an affair too, but that's less likely." "Why's that?" "He commissioned this investigation, didn't he? If anything, as a reputable detective, it wouldn't stop at just clearing a false accusation; he'd surely want to find the real culprit. He wouldn't want to risk anything." Clearing the wife's name would be excessive in effort. Furthermore, there's another reason why the husband isn't the culprit. "I guess he worries about getting caught by his wife. And having a few women at home isn't a significant issue, really." "It certainly is an ideal country." A society where, as long as a man has ability, it doesn’t matter how many wives he has. There's no need to kill a mistress over an affair. "But even so, if you get engaged to more than three fiancées, I can't help you there." "Don't worry." If one must note, Hyang Mae was the fourth fiancée. "Be careful. At any rate, if the mistress found out about the wife’s affair and ended up killed over it. That the conclusion?" "It has credibility, but it's odd. If the suspect were the affair partner or someone hired by the wife, there’s no way the murder weapon would be left in the wife's room. If the mistress were caught, their name would certainly come up." "If it's a crime of passion, the lady of the house is the main suspect." It grew even more puzzling. The mistress was murdered due to a love affair, yet neither the husband nor the wife had a motive. Was there something I hadn't yet discovered? Or perhaps. "The deduction was right. If the directionality was wrong? What did I miss?" What was missing in the death of the mistress? From start to finish, was there something I'd overlooked? Was there a misunderstanding along the way? "Could it be…?!" Suddenly, a hint crossed my mind. "Did you figure something out?" "I think I need to conduct one more investigation." —— [That's right. That's the answer.] "Just as I thought." In the evening, when darkness fell, I confirmed the answer from the spirit of the recovering mistress, after conducting an investigation and reaching a conclusion. [You really are a fine detective. I didn’t even need to tell you, did I?] "It's a deduction that requires someone to confirm the answer." I had barely found the answer. If there was one issue left. [You'll set the record straight, won't you?] "I can’t do that." [Why not?!] "There’s no evidence." There’s no way to capture the culprit. The scene that the detectives swept through was already thoroughly contaminated. Getting information from the corpse isn’t viable since it must have been buried and is decaying by now. [But I am here.] "Who would believe it?" I would use the words of the deceased. Everyone listens to the victim. There'd be no chance of it being admitted as evidence. [What if I talked about secrets only I know about the household...] "People would just say the detective is talented at discovering unexpected things." [What do you suggest, then?] I have the answer sheet but can't show a perfect solution. It's a frustrating situation but not without a way forward. "I can reveal the culprit. But I need preparations." [What preparations?!] "First, let's recreate the situation at the time of the murder." [Do you want me to show you the scene of my death again?] "Let's recreate the entire sequence from start to finish, and I'll provide you with the answer." Which evidence belongs to the victim? What evidence indicates the perpetrator? How did the detectives contaminate the scene, and who among the household members entered the scene? I don’t possess the intuition to guess everything. But. If you have the answer sheet, you can always write a new explanation guide. —— "Have you truly found the culprit?" "Yes, everything's prepared. Would you care to join me at the scene with the lady of the house?" The next day, I was ready to reveal the culprit and revisited the estate of the Hosanyang pharmacy owner. "Wait! Hold on a moment!" "Are you planning to call upon some martial artists to subdue the culprit immediately?" Bang Dae Woon waved his hands, then spoke with an eager glint in his eyes. "If the famous detective is confident, it's as good as capturing the culprit! I can't afford to miss such an opportunity, can I?!" "An opportunity, you say?" "Oh, there you are! Please, come inside!" What does he mean? Before I could ask, the door to the estate swung open. The person who appeared was someone I had seen the day before. "Did Detective Kang really find the culprit within a day?!" "Jo Judge? And even the officers..." It was Jo Judge. Even officers had arrived. "It's a chance to hear the deduction of a renowned detective! I can't witness this moment alone! Just hold on a bit longer! I've invited some aficionados of Jae Gal Seol Rok's work too!" "What...?" "We'll all listen to Detective Kang’s deduction together!" It was an extraordinary opportunity to hear deductions like those from a novel detective. At a single word from the owner of the Hosanyang pharmacy, I found myself facing the distinguished figures, difficult to meet even when trying to arrange meetings, just a little later.