Geuk-hwan was not in the detached houses. They said they did not know when he would return, so I did not wait and simply turned back. As I neared the main gate, I glanced back without thinking.
I remembered looking at the Deep Fragrance Pavilion from here when I worked as a gatekeeper. It was a time when my nagging doubts had deepened after Bang Jo-in died, I met Won Seo-gang, and went through one thing after another. Back then, I was truly curious.
Just what kind of place was the Deep Fragrance Pavilion? As it turned out, it was the Western Village branch of the Underworld Information Clan. All my suspicions were cleared up, I found the owner of the Mak Jade, and I became a house guest of the Underworld Information Clan.
And now, standing in the same spot again, I looked at the Deep Fragrance Pavilion with new eyes. With all its red lanterns taken down, the eight-story main hall did not look like a brothel, but rather a wealthy manor or a merchant guild’s building. Was this the true face of the Deep Fragrance Pavilion?
There was no way the pavilion master did not know that Won Seo-gang was the Left Guardian of the White Lotus Sect. If that was so, it meant the Underworld Information Clan and the White Lotus Sect had some kind of relationship… I did not know much about the White Lotus Sect.