Chapter 116: Lost Sword of the Great General (6)
How could Haejin not think of that earlier? Of course, Ogura was worried about becoming a ghost that wandered around and hurt people instead of a ghost that protects his country.
Being slightly away from the house wasn’t enough. So, he built a temple right next to his tomb to weaken the evil qi.
“Oh… I see. He must be very famous.”
Haejin pretended not to know him. As his accent was different from the local’s, the monk thought it was natural. He smiled widely and started to talk.
“He was a great man. In his youth, he went to Daegu, Korea, and started a business from nothing. He built an electricity company and founded a bank.”
Technically, Ogura didn’t start empty-handed. After he got a job at a railroad company in Daegu, he bought land in Daegu. Soon the price of that land soared up, and he struck it rich in no time.
Later, he worked with other businessmen to build the Daegu Electricity Corporation and founded Seonnam Bank.
He practically controlled Daegu’s economy in the Japanese colonial era.
“Oh… he is impressive.”
Haejin agreed with the monk, but he wanted to vomit. Ogura Takenoske had sent more than a thousand Korean artifacts abroad with the money he made.
“Oh, but are you from Korea…”
The monk came to his senses and asked as if he had made a mistake, but Haejin used his fluent Chinese.
“No, I’m from Taiwan. ‘Ni hao.’ See?”
Haejin said, ‘hello’ in Chinese, and the monk grinned again.
“Oh, I see. If you want, I can tell you more about him…”
Haejin thought that he couldn’t tolerate it anymore, so he interrupted him.
“Haha, no, thank you. I just want to look around this temple.”
The monk was disappointed to hear that. He then said goodbye.
“It’s a shame you don’t have enough time. Then, I hope you have a good time here.”
After the monk left, Haejin looked around the temple. It was to find out where the tomb could be.
The worst thing possible was the temple had been built on the tomb. In that case, no one would be able to guess where that tomb was, so Haejin couldn’t dare to get to it.
If only he could determine where it was, he could dig in from far away, but as he couldn’t, he couldn’t even try.
Was the tomb really under the temple? If the temple had been built on the tomb for real, where was the tomb?
If it had been a different artifact, Haejin would have given up when he was sure that the temple was on the tomb, but he couldn’t give up the Double Dragon Sword. So, with nervousness and agitation, he looked around again and again.
With the statue as the center, the main hall was in the north and the entrance was in the south, but the pagodas in the east and west felt somewhat strange.
Haejin wondered why and unconsciously approached the pagoda in the west, then he realized its shape looked familiar.
This rectangular five-story pagoda looked simple and rough, but it clearly had a Korean soul. Haejin couldn’t think that it was from Japan.
And as the pagoda was in a temple, there had to be a place for the buddha, but there wasn’t. There wasn’t a single thing about Buddhism in it.
Haejin could only recall another pagoda similar to it that was in Japan. Leecheon Hyanggyo Five-
Story Pagoda.
(hyanggyo means government-run provincial school of Joseon)
This pagoda used to be in Leecheon, but in 1915, it was moved to the colonial government’s museum as a decoration for the festival to celebrate the fifth year of the Japanese colonial era.
But then, Okura Kahichiro, a Japanese businessman, submitted a form to bring the Hexagonal Seven Story Pagoda, which was in Pyeongyang, to Japan.
Then, the Joseon History Committee told him to take the Leecheon Hyanggyo Five-Story Pagoda instead.
They let him take it instead of the Hexagonal Seven Story Pagoda because it had less historical value. It was outrageous.
Anyway, if this pagoda was in the east of the temple, the tomb was under the temple or at least nearby.
Haejin pretended to admire the pagoda and looked around. As the temple was in a desolate place, no one was there.
He carefully unfolded the cane in his hand and started to stab it in the ground.
Momoko had prepared it. It was made with special alloy. Although it was thin, it was very strong. Plus, it looked like an ordinary hiking cane, so it didn’t draw attention.
But after Haejin unfolded it, it extended to 5m. Momoko had told him he had to succeed, saying she had brought it from Korea.
She immigrated to Korea with one crisis, and she was a real Korean now.
From now on, it was a fight of patience. Haejin had to poke around the area, starting from the pagoda.
He didn’t feel guilty about robbing a tomb. Ogura Takenoske stole the Korean cultural property, and even tried to cut the energy of the people with General Lee Sunsin’s sword.
This wasn’t disturbing the eternal sleep of an innocent man. It was about retrieving the soul of the Koreans. Haejin’s conscience wasn’t hurt.
The problem was that he had to keep doing that without being seen. He couldn’t do that forever.
He hid from monks that passed by sometimes and worked for five hours… the sun was setting behind the mountain and darkness started to fall.
Haejin ate kimbap and water that he had prepared in advance to get strength. When he stabbed between the root of the huge tree that was behind the main hall, his hand felt something.
Haejin pulled back the pole with thrill. He couldn’t be sure which artifact it was like his father, but he thought at least he could tell whether it was rock or something that was buried in the empty space of the tomb.
Of course, he couldn’t be sure. But now, he had to move.
“Hey, it’s me. I’ll send you a location, so please tell Momoko to whom this land belongs to and if we can bury a body here.”
Haejin called Eunhae. Then, he moved away from the tree and started to think. He was thinking how he should dig in.
Before, he only had to uncover the entrance of the cave, it took only a few hours, but now, one or two days wouldn’t be enough.
It would depend on where he started to dig, but he had to work at least a week to a full month.
There are two ways of robbing graves.
One, digging the tomb itself. This comes with great risk as it is plainly shown. However, you can finish much faster.
The second method is to start to dig from far away and make a tunnel to the tomb. There is less risk of being caught, but it takes a long time, naturally.
If Ogura Takenoske’s tomb had been in a slightly more desolate place, Haejin would have built a small cabin on it.
Then, the people would have not been able to see even if he dug the tomb so it would have been safe and fast, but as it was too close to the temple, he couldn’t do it.
He thought hard, but there was no way he could dig the tomb itself. Then, he had to dig from far away, but he couldn’t just do that, either. He needed to prepare himself.
Haejin went down the mountain and got back to the hotel. He worked on a plan with Eunhae and Momoko.
“Have you found out?”
Momoko took out some documents.
“Just as we thought, the temple itself belongs to the Ogura family. But the land right next to it, right this spot, belongs to an old couple. So, I asked if it was possible to make a tomb in that land, and they said no.”
Of course. Who would let a stranger be buried in one’s land?
The only good part was that the point where Haejin wanted to start to dig belonged to the old couple.
“Never?”
Momoko smiled.
“I think 30 million yen can make them change their mind.”
“Good, then give them 30 million yen and get a promise. The tomb would be a little big and they shouldn’t come for about 15 days.”
“Okay then, what about the workers?”
Haejin shook his head.
“I can trust you, but not the other Japanese. I will do it alone.”
“Alone? It will be hard. How can you…”
Eunhae tried to stop Haejin, but he couldn’t let anyone else handle it.
“I can do it alone. That’s why I asked for 15 days. Oh, and the funeral should be simple but properly set… you know what I mean, right?”
It was impossible for a young man to dig a tunnel that led to the tomb from the spot Haejin had chosen.
Nevertheless, he was sure he could do it in 15 days. He had magic that gave him the strength of 3, 4 people. So, he spoke with confidence.
“So, no one would be suspicious? Okay. But is that your plan? From a tomb to another tomb?”
Momoko was puzzled. She couldn’t understand Haejin’s plan. Then, Haejin pointed at the map.
“Yes. From here to here, I’ll dig in 15 days. I will tell you which tools I need, so please prepare them.”
“What kind of tools do you need?”
Actually, Haejin didn’t know well. He had learned about grave robbing by watching from the side, but he had never done that.
Byeongguk was the only one who could help Haejin now.
Haejin hadn’t asked him to work together because this could go wrong and as he had retired already, he didn’t want to drag him in again.
Haejin called Byeongguk immediately. Thankfully, he soon picked up.
“Wow, isn’t this Park Haejin who hasn’t called in days? I thought you were dead!”
“I’m sorry. I was busy.”
“Of course, you were sooooo busy… what is this about? I’m sure you didn’t call me to go to drink.”
Haejin took a deep breath and said, “Hu… uncle, I have to dig for about 30m. Which tools do I need?”
At first, Byeonguk didn’t say anything. After 10 seconds of awkward silence, Byeongguk spoke grimly.
“Do you have to do this?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me whose tomb it is. If I just tell you this, I cannot see your father’s face again after I die. What are you going to get?”
Haejin thought about lying, but it wasn’t going to work.
“It’s Ogura Takenoske’s tomb. I’m going to get the Double Dragon Sword.”
“You’re going to take what? Double Dragon Sword?”
“Yes.”
“Haha… well, you leave me no choice. Yes, I will have something to say to your father if it’s such an artifact.”
“Good.”
Byeongguk spoke with delight as if he was offering a gift.
“When you get to Ogura’s tomb, there is one more thing you should take.”
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