[Wasn’t I called because of the request?]
[It’s just that there are too many knife-wielding ruffians at the post office for the constables to charge in with their wooden clubs. So, I used a small trick.]
“To think the guest is the culprit…” Je-gal Seol-rok raised one corner of his mouth, looking utterly delighted as he faced the unnamed postmaster who, unbeknownst, had fallen into the trap he set.
Cheh!
“Haha! I was wondering how to catch the culprit, but you led him right to us!”
Je-gal Seol-rok was neither a constable nor an official. It was common for the unnamed postmaster to personally visit the client’s house in order to receive a major request. Naturally, he wouldn’t have suspected anything.
Elder Oh couldn’t help but admire Je-gal Seol-rok’s clever scheme as he watched the constables surround the unnamed postmaster.
“Don’t resist. If the unnamed postmaster kills the constables, he’ll lose everything. Isn’t this all just to make a living?”
Grab him!
Guh!
“To make a living, huh?”
“Quite literally. Officer Jung, you know full well that the black-green post office and the blue-green post office are like enemies.”
As Je-gal Seol-rok responded with a nonchalant expression, Officer Jung’s eyes widened in surprise as he recalled his words from yesterday.
“The black-green post office…! Yes! That’s the post office I said you were a suspect in! So, among your deductions, you found the culprit who perfectly matches the description!”
“Did I say that yesterday? Officer Jung, you must be kidding! I thought you were just listing things out randomly, but to think one of them could actually be the culprit!”
He thought it was just a meaningless jumble of letters and brushed it off. To think there was already mention of the culprit. Could it be that Ho Pil created a forest to hide the trees?
Elder Oh chuckled as he reread the lines he had overlooked.
What a joke! No way!
Je-gal Seol-rok, having the same identifying features as mentioned, was actually a man with motive for the crime. The head of the black-green post office glared at us, bewildered.
What?
You think a left-handed guy with green hair is the culprit? He just injured his leg during delivery!
Shut up! I’ll have you arrested and twisted into confessing!
Can you take responsibility for that?
What?! How dare a mere postmaster say that?!
In a situation where only the truth remained to be revealed, the unnamed postmaster looked at us with an expression full of confidence.
My brother-in-law is in Wuhan’s government office. Does “Hong the clerk” ring a bell?
Wh, what? Hong the clerk is your brother-in-law?
If you release me now, I’ll make sure to keep today’s events from reaching my brother-in-law.
Th, th, that’s awesome!
A clerk? What a disaster. Even if Officer Jung finishes his service safely, I can’t say with certainty that he’ll climb the ranks.
I began to realize why the order came from above to bury this case, while simultaneously, I had to watch Officer Jung’s flustered expression as he struggled to respond.
“Haha. With this, we can’t interrogate based on mere physical resemblance.”
A relative of a superior. Elder Oh could envision what events would unfold next. Surely, there would be talk of acquittal, and the lower-ranking officers would end up thoroughly implicated.
How could one know the culprit? Je-gal Seol-rok’s deductions were on the verge of becoming useless.
“You brat! Do you mean to commit blasphemy? We must catch that man! Just bring out whatever you have more!”
No matter how clever Je-gal Seol-rok was, this was a frustrating situation. Elder Oh followed the text with worried eyes and found a promising line that greeted him.
Officer Jung. You don’t even have to worry about releasing him.
Detective!
There’s still much to discuss.
“Right…! It can’t end here.”
With a proud expression like that of a grandfather observing his exceptionally capable grandchild, one corner of Elder Oh’s mouth lifted.
——
“To identify someone by their physical traits is quite an incredible feat. Yet you say there’s more to discuss?”
Merely deducing the culprit’s traits at the scene of the crime was an unheard-of ability. But was there another reason why the unnamed postmaster was the culprit?
Motive and characteristics. What else could possibly point to the unnamed postmaster as the criminal? Elder Oh turned pages with excitement.
The ghost ship plan was incredibly meticulous. I don’t believe in perfect crimes, but this one came pretty close. Normally, it would have ended leaving only rumors of the ominous ghost ship incident.
Everyone’s eyes were now focused on Je-gal Seol-rok. In such instances, the reactions of people typically divided into two: feeling burdened, or having fun.
Those who knew even a little about the host could guess—this was someone who knew how to enjoy the stage. As someone who wished for the successful conclusion of the performance, I decided to support him on behalf of the perplexed audience.
Without the detective, of course.
Hahaha.
How on earth did you uncover it? I would appreciate it if you could explain it in a way everyone else understands.
Heh, he smirked, seemingly pleased with my assistance, or perhaps because my question intrigued him. He began to unveil what everyone had been waiting for.
The answer to the ghost ship incident.
Mr. Kang. There are many hidden layers to this case.
Hidden layers?
Our lives are not like a blank sheet of paper. You might write out a foolproof answer, but there’s no place to submit it while grinning and claiming everything has been solved. With the answer in hand, one is wholly responsible for the outcome.
What are you getting at? The people in the room wore puzzled expressions, but I had a dim understanding of what he was saying.
You discovered something in your answer related to the ghost ship incident?
Je-gal Seol-rok looked at me as if he had found something fascinating and nodded.
Let’s think about the first question and the answer. The problem of the ghost ship incident: how can a master stealthily board the ship where all the postmen’s packages are being inspected?
The barrel.
That was a known problem and answer.
It’s satisfactory but not a perfect answer. To be precise, it was the captain’s drinking credentials. The culprit had to empty a barrel of liquor every time they boarded the ship, focusing on the captain’s alcohol credentials. They could then hide inside and say they finished the liquor! It was a good answer; however, sometimes an answer can create a problem.
A problem?
The captain’s drinking credentials were severe. The symptoms had spread to their marrow, developing into alcoholism. They had to be drunk daily to stay upright, and upon boarding the ship, what do you think they were thinking?
They’d want to drink, of course.
Exactly. The ghost ship incident plan was extremely meticulous. But as soon as they stepped off the ship, the answer transformed into a problem.
We know why the captain searched for an inn, but what does that have to do with pointing to the unnamed postmaster as the culprit?
“Right. While I understand why the captain searched for an inn, I don’t see how it connects to identifying the culprit.”
Elder Oh also nodded, stroking his beard as he followed along. Je-gal Seol-rok’s problems and answers. What could possibly be peculiar about it?
You know the answer but choose not to inquire about it.
What?!
Elder Oh looked startled at such lines as if he were being reprimanded.
What are you implying?!
Let’s think back to the situation. The conclusion of the ghost ship incident was to move the cargo to a designated location. During that time, not even a captain could act recklessly. Yet, once the cargo was unloaded from the cart, the circumstances changed somewhat. The captain had injured his leg.
There’d have been no need to help!
Desiring a drink. The captain’s thoughts continued to revolve around this problem. On a dark night without a moon, burning with the thirst for liquor. Taking advantage of the slack in supervision, how would the captain want to answer this? When he looked up, what would stand out the most?
No way…!
An inn. The captain could walk to an inn, even with a hurt leg.
“Exactly! The inn that’s open at night must have lights on! Wait a moment! Are you saying that’s it?!”
Drinking credentials, a moonless night, lights at an inn, and an injured leg.
We finally understood. Why Je-gal Seol-rok had said we know, though we do not know. And what he had seen on the answer sheet.
We could barely comprehend.
There was a hideout for the ghost ship incident’s perpetrator not far from where there was an inn!
Now do you understand?
A silence of horror settled over the room. Je-gal Seol-rok could only smile at the students who had managed to keep up with him.
——
The captain was in a precarious relationship with the culprit—drinking together while hiding a knife in his bosom. He would want to find a place to drink in peace.
Je-gal Seol-rok, with no time to lose, led the students, who could barely keep pace with him, into the next phase.
There’s no guarantee they came from close by. They used a cart… Wait! The captain didn’t…
Didn’t ride in a cart. Just to be cautious, I asked the Hao Ruler if anyone used a cart around that time. They reported there was none.
That day… their urgent rush was all to get to the Hao Ruler.
No time to waste.
“Are you telling me that from just the cart clue, I could surmise that much?!”
Shock upon shock resounded in Elder Oh’s head.
Mr. Kang. Please help unfold the map on the table.
As I assisted Je-gal Seol-rok in spreading out the large map, a familiar scenery unfolded before us.
This is… the map of Wuhan!
Je-gal Seol-rok, in a manner I couldn’t understand, stabbed at the inn where the captain died and began to circle the surrounding area.
On a moonless night, the captain with a hurt leg would search for the nearest inn. Considering the other inns, it would probably fall within this range.
This alone might not…
If Je-gal Seol-rok was right, the criminal’s hideout should lie within that circle. But to identify it would be problematic because of the vast range.
Here, we need another answer.
Another answer?
It rained two days ago. With the few people at the port, if the cart left tracks, they’d notice right away. Naturally, they could only travel along the paved road where there’d be no wheel tracks left.
They laid wooden planks to hide those wheel tracks, right?
That very answer posed a problem for me.
Je-gal Seol-rok chuckled with delight at Officer Jung’s question. It was as if a scholar had hit upon a problem worthy of his attention.
What?
So, where did the culprit head off to? In a place devoid of people, naturally, there’s no management. Paved roads are extremely scarce. So if you think, those trying their best to avoid leaving traces at the docks would travel the easily pursued unpaved road?
Really?
The paved road that began at the dock branched into three roads. The incident occurred at night. We arrived at dawn. Limiting it to these roads, gathering witnesses won’t be difficult.
The Hao Ruler.
“Ah, so that’s why you rushed to the Hao Ruler at dawn!”
Exactly. So, I could see which road it had taken. Now, let’s see if there’s a building where this path meets the circle we drew initially.
Someone’s answer becomes a problem for someone else. I finally understood the meaning woven into Je-gal Seol-rok’s words.
Why did such an answer get given?
Why did the culprit make such an answer? The answer left by the culprit poses a problem for the detective.
The culprit cannot possibly discard their answer sheet. The detective can see the traces the culprit left behind.
There are numerous hidden layers to this case.
Some may only glance at the answer sheet, while others observe the answer sheet’s back. They think, they deduce, and then they find the answer.
Persistently seeking. For every problem posed, endlessly deducing until finally, someone finds the answer.
A detective.
As we gazed at the single point where the circle drawn by the detective met the line drawn by the detective, we shouted.
…the black-green post office!
Ironically, the unnamed postmaster was the very person I was after. If I lead the constables into the black-green post office right now, I could achieve the desired outcome. Isn’t that right, unnamed postmaster?
Behind the stage, our gaze shifted toward the person hidden in the dark shroud who had overheard everything.
…Because of that damn drunkard, everything’s in ruins.
The culprit, unable to muster any excuse under the pouring stares, could only let out a deep sigh.
