Part 2 Chapter 121: Who Will Catch the Culprit? / 845
TL: Hanguk
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, that direction is suspicious, meow! I feel a pull, meow!”
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Dad, I smell something suspicious from over there!]
Kihihit. Kking! Kking! Kking!
[Hehe. Butler! Just trust and follow Great Detective Kapang! I’ve got a hunch! Great Detective Kapang will catch the culprit!]
The group searched inside the Wizard’s Association in their own way.
Taecho, having walked around energetically, seemed tired and said,
“Dad, Detective Taechoping is sleepy. I’ll catch the culprit after a nap....”
“Alright. Let’s catch the culprit after you wake up.”
"Mm...zzzzz."
She fell asleep on Sejun’s back.
“Hm? Where did Cuengi go?”
Before they knew it, Cuengi was nowhere to be seen.
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, let’s go that way, meow!”
Kking!
[Butler! Follow great detective Kapang!]
Theo and Blackie noisily insisted on being followed.
“For now, I’ll follow the pull.”
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, it’s this way, meow!”
As Sejun moved in the direction Theo pointed,
Kkiing!
[Follow the great detective Kapang!]
Blackie bit onto Sejun’s pants and held on.
Then,
Drag drag drag.
He got dragged along and
Heung! Kking!
[Hmph! Butler I'll make you regret not following Great Detective Kapang!]
He disappeared after issuing a warning to Sejun.
Yeah. So what. You'll come right back when I offer Roasted and Dried Sweet Potato anyway.
Of course, Sejun found Blackie’s warning laughable.
While Sejun and the others wandered around the Wizard’s Association looking for the culprit,
"Hohoho. What should I do about this...."
Ute looked up at the sky with a worried expression.
***
The basement of the Wizard's Association.
“Vice Chairman Theo, is this really the way? Why are we still going down?”
As Sejun asked while walking down the long staircase,
“Puhuhut. This is the right way, meow! The pull is getting stronger, meow!”
Theo answered confidently.
“Iona, what’s down there?”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. There’s a storage room for cursed items.”
It was a place where the Wizard’s Association sealed items deemed dangerous.
“Cursed items? Hehehe. I like the sound of that.”
“Puhuhut. Me too, meow!”
“As expected, I made the right choice following Vice Chairman Theo instead of that useless Blackie.”
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, just trust me, Vice Chairman Theo! I’ll serve you well, meow!”
Theo, puffed up with pride at Sejun's words, and Sejun, excited at the thought of loot, cheerfully descended the stairs.
“Puhuhut. It’s here, meow!”
Theo pushed the door to the storage with his two front paws.
Creeeak.
As the door opened with a sinister sound,
Whoosh.
Something shot out from the crack in the door aiming straight for Sejun’s forehead.
"What, meow?!"
Thwack.
Theo leapt up instantly and struck the flying object with his front paw.
Thump.
A dagger slammed into the floor, embedding itself deeply with only the handle visible.
Tremble.
The dagger struggled desperately to move again, but it was stuck too deep to come out.
“What is this?”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. It’s a dagger possessed by an evil spirit. It flies around attacking living beings. It must have escaped its chains. Power of magic. Purify.”
At Sejun’s question, Iona answered and cast divine magic on the cursed dagger.
Brrrrrrr.
The violently trembling dagger quieted down, as if it had fainted.
Even after that, various items possessed by evil spirits with nasty temperaments kept attacking Sejun.
“Puhuhut. Not a chance, meow! The Iron Wall Protector, Detective Theoson of Great Detective Sherlock Sejun, will protect him, meow!”
Theo blocked every single one of them.
“But why are they only attacking me?”
“Puhuhut. I really don’t know why, meow?”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Maybe it’s because you’re the easiest one to attack, Sejun-nim?”
“You guys are discriminating in this day and age of equality... That’s not okay. Iona, I’m taking these guys with me.”
He planned to take them and give them a proper education. Through Blackie.
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Go ahead.”
Since they were troublesome evil spirits anyway, Iona readily agreed.
“Heheh. You dared to discriminate and attack only me? You're coming with me too.”
While collecting cursed items one by one, they moved and arrived at the place where the pull was strongest.
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, it’s here, meow!”
Theo pointed to an old treasure chest wrapped in multiple layers of thick iron chains.
“Iona, what’s this?”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. It’s a mimic. It’s not possessed by an evil spirit, but it ate everything in sight, so we had to chain it up.”
“Really? Vice Chairman Theo, is this the one you felt the pull from?”
“Puhuhut. No, meow! I feel it coming from inside this guy, meow!”
“Hehehe. Looks like it swallowed something good.”
“Puhuhut. That’s what I think too, meow!”
“But how do we get it out? If we just kill it, will it cough up what it swallowed?”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. No. If you do that, everything disappears.”
“Then what should we do?”
Sejun paused to think about how to retrieve the item from the mimic’s stomach.
“Ah. Iona, make sure it can’t close its mouth. I’ll go in with Vice Chairman Theo and take it out.”
He was planning to go inside the mimic’s belly to retrieve the item.
And then.
“Puhuhut. To come up with such an idea, meow! As expected, Hybrid Chairman Park is a genius, meow! Amazing, meow!”
Theo praised Sejun.
"Heheh. I'm pretty good."
“Meow?”
When Sejun got a bit smug, Theo looked closely at his face.
“Ahem. That just now wasn't that impressive.”
Sejun immediately adjusted his expression.
“Puhuhut. That’s true, meow! Chairman Park’s face was right on the verge of rotting just now, meow! And now you can even control that? Chairman Park, you’re incredible, meow!”
“Are you mocking me? Anyway, Iona, we’ll be back.”
“Puhuhut. We’ll be back, meow!”
The two who had been bickering like that were about to enter the mimic's mouth together when
“Kyooong....”
Do they even know what’s inside there...
Iona sighed involuntarily watching the two. They were like Dumb and Dumber.
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Wait a moment. Let me try sucking out what it swallowed using a black hole spell.”
“Oh?! Iona, you’re a genius!”
“Puhuhut. As expected, Iona is smart too, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Power of gravity... Mini Black Hole.”
Cheered by Sejun and Theo’s praise, Iona controlled the black hole magic to create suction only toward the mimic’s mouth.
Kueeek.
The mimic began vomiting up everything it had swallowed.
And then.
“Oh. It’s coming out!”
“Meow-meow-meow!”
Wearing goggles, Theo began snatching up the items the mimic vomited with front paws moving too fast to see.
“Theoson! Ionason! Awesome!”
With nothing to do, Sejun cheered on Iona casting spells and Theo energetically collecting items.
“Fantastic detective-animal couple!”
“Puhuhut. I know, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. That’s true.”
Sejun’s cheers worked perfectly on the two.
While Sejun, Theo, and Iona completely forgot about catching the culprit and were busy looting the mimic.
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Detective Cunan will catch the culprit!]
Cuengi clearly smelled a different magic scent when Master Ute's magic was activated!
Cuengi hadn't lost sight of his original purpose and was still tracking the suspicious magic scent.
Sniff. Sniff.
As he followed the scent,
Kueng?
[Is this... a cafeteria?]
Cuengi had entered the Wizard’s Association cafeteria.
Growl...
I can't catch the culprit if I'm hungry!
Cuengi will eat first and then catch the culprit with renewed strength!
Naturally, he picked up a tray and lined up behind another wizard. For reference, the wizards who came to the cafeteria late that day had nothing to eat and had to go hungry.
***
Dadadada.
Blackie, who had threatened Sejun and disappeared.
Kking?
While running eagerly, he came across a forked path.
Kihihit. Kking! Kking!
[Hehe. Great Detective Kapang does logical scientific investigations! It’s this way!]
After a moment of thought, he started running to the left.
“Great Detective Kapang-nim, why did you go left? I would like to hear the insights of a scientifically investigating detective.”
Eomdol, curious, asked Blackie.
Then.
Kihihit. Kking! Kking!
[Hehe. It’s Great Detective Kapang’s scientific hunch! The left side felt right!]
Blackie answered confidently. Which meant he was guessing.
Like that, Blackie continued running wherever his feet took him at each forked path, and after dozens of turns.
Kihihit. Kking?!
[Hehe. You saw that, right?! The skills of Great Detective Kapang?!]
In front of Blackie was a field of sweet potatoes planted by wizards for research purposes. It seemed that Blackie had developed a sweet potato detector.
“Oh! To find sweet potatoes in this complicated path, truly impressive!”
Kkiruk!
Sharalang!
“Great Detective Kapang, you are amazing!”
...
..
.
Ding!
Kkhem. Kking!
[Ehem. This is nothing for Great Detective Kapang!]
Pabababak.
Puffed up by his subordinates' praise, Blackie began digging up sweet potatoes.
***
Gooooooo.
“Meow-meow-meow!”
It had been an hour since they started retrieving items from the mimic’s stomach.
[Rusty Katana]
[Well-crafted supply spear]
[High-quality iron pot]
Nothing particularly good.
Sejun was disappointed after having Kaiser appraise the items that came out of the mimic's stomach.
At that moment.
“Chairman Park, this is it, meow! I felt the pull from here, meow!”
Finally, the item they had been waiting for began to emerge.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Theo quickly moved his front paws to snatch the items being sucked into the black hole.
[Land Deed of the 92nd Floor of the White Tower]
“Huh? This is a land deed?!”
As Sejun checked the item Theo retrieved,
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, there’s more, meow!”
Theo snatched another land deed and handed it to Sejun. In total, there were 25 land deeds retrieved from the mimic’s belly. There were 2 to 3 Land Deeds from each of the nine towers, evenly distributed.
“Hehehe. Good job, Vice Chairman Theo.”
“Puhuhut. I know, meow!”
Theo continued snatching items as he answered.
“Meow?”
Before long, there were no more items to grab. The mimic’s belly was empty and nothing else was coming out.
“Iona, we can stop now, meow! Nothing’s coming out, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Okay.”
Once the mimic had vomited out everything it had eaten, it shrank down to the size of a jewelry box.
“This would be good to store valuables in. It’ll guard them, right?”
“Puhuhut. As expected, Great Hybrid Chairman Park is a genius, meow!”
“Heheh. Let’s go now.”
“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Yes.”
Sejun collected the shrunken mimic and ascended to the surface with Theo and Iona.
Meanwhile.
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Cuengi is now full of strength and will catch the culprit again!]
Cuengi patted his belly and walked out of the Wizard’s Association cafeteria.
“Hey you! Over there! How dare you steal the sweet potatoes I planted for my thesis?! Fireball!”
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Run, everyone!]
Sweet potato thief Blackie was running away with all his might.
Kking?
[That was fast?]
When he went to the sweet potato field, he had passed through dozens of forks in the road, but on the way out, he just ran straight and was out in no time. In other words, he could’ve just gone directly, but instead took an unnecessarily long route.
“Cuengi, did you catch the culprit?”
As Sejun was coming up from underground, he spotted Cuengi and asked.
Kueng! Kueng?
[Not yet! Did Dad catch the culprit?]
"No. Not yet either. But there's no evidence."
Kueng.
[Same for Cuengi.]
While the two were having this conversation
Kking!
[Butler!]
Blackie came running toward Sejun.
And then.
Kking! Kihihit. Kking!
[Butler! Punish him! Hehe. Try and attack me!]
He barked proudly at the wizard chasing him, hiding behind Sejun.
“You rascal! Fireb-”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. What’s going on?”
“Gasp! I greet you, Iona-nim!”
The wizard hurriedly greeted Iona and explained the situation.
“Blackie, why did you steal someone else’s sweet potatoes? He said they were planted for his thesis. Give them back.”
Kking! Kking!
[No! Great Blackie dug them up!]
“I’ll give you this, so give it back.”
As Sejun took out roasted and dried sweet potatoes,
Kking!
[Okay!]
Blackie immediately returned the sweet potatoes.
“Here you go.”
As Sejun handed the snack to Blackie.
“Hm-m! Dad, Taecho is ready to catch the culprit now!”
Taecho, who had been sleeping on Sejun’s back, got up with an energetic voice.
“Ah. We do need to catch the culprit. A culprit always returns to the scene of the crime!”
Realizing he had gotten sidetracked, Sejun switched back to detective mode.
At that moment.
“Hohoho. Sejun-nim, I have something to tell you. Actually...”
Ute appeared, bringing Marcel with him.