At Palgap’s reaction, I asked again.
“You can’t see this?”
But Palgap only stared at me like I’d lost my mind.
“Then this inkstone—what color is it?”
I pointed at the inkstone that had transformed into a milky white, and Palgap answered without hesitation.
“It’s black, sir.”
“…”
“I think I’d better call a physician.”
‘So these things—am I the only one who can see them?’
I stared at the glowing objects, bewildered.
“Please wait a moment.”
“Uh, w-wait… I’m fine. I’m not sick.”
But before I could stop him, Palgap had already bolted from the room to fetch a physician.
Damn it.
His movements had definitely gotten faster since he’d started learning the secret manual left by the King of Assassins.
“Whew.”
I sighed and turned around.
The white door still shimmered before me, and the inkstone continued glowing like white jade.
I approached slowly, and when I was about two steps away—
Creeak.
The door swung open on its own.
As if inviting me inside.
I peered into the opening, but darkness swallowed everything beyond.
‘Should I go in?’
As I hesitated, Geumryeong poked its head out of my sleeve and leaped through the doorway.
“Hey!”
I lunged forward to catch Geumryeong and stumbled through the opening.
The moment my feet touched solid ground, the world around me transformed completely.
“Huh?”
I blinked hard.
The change was instantaneous.
Cool air brushed against my skin, and towering shelves stretched in every direction.
“A warehouse?”
Just then, Geumryeong appeared from somewhere, dragging a book in its mouth.
“What do you think you’re doing, running off on your own?”
“Kui.”
Geumryeong dropped the book at my feet and nudged it with its front paw.
“You want me to read this?”
I picked up the book.
[How to Use the Secret Vault (秘庫使用法)].
I didn’t need to read it. The moment I cracked open the cover, every word burned itself into my mind.
“It really was a warehouse?”
The space I’d entered was called the Secret Vault, and the Duan inkstone served as its key.
But only those who met specific conditions could unlock this warehouse.
Three requirements, to be exact:
Possess the Duan inkstone for more than three years.
Practice an internal art of Yin Qi.
Achieve a cultivation level of Peak or higher.
I’d recently satisfied all these conditions, which explained why the Secret Vault had revealed itself to me and allowed my entry.
To open the entrance, I needed to channel Qi into the Duan inkstone while visualizing a warehouse.
I must have unconsciously channeled my Qi while grinding ink earlier.
Anyway, I desperately needed a warehouse, and now I had a secret, spacious one!
It felt like the heavens themselves were lending me aid.
And I’d gotten the inkstone as a bonus, no less.
I wondered if I should tell the old general shop owner about this discovery, but it had already been over three years.
Besides, knowing that man, he’d just say, ‘Oh? Is that so? Use it well,’ and move on with his day.
The manual also mentioned that the warehouse would expand as my martial arts improved, giving me yet another reason to train harder.
I scooped up Geumryeong, who was scurrying around exploring the warehouse, tucked it back into my sleeve, and said.
“Let’s go back now.”
“Kui.”
I opened the warehouse door and stepped out.
As I crossed the threshold, the scenery instantly shifted back to my room.
I glanced over my shoulder—the white door still hung in the air.
When I gently tapped the inkstone on the desk, it returned to its original black color, and the white door vanished.
‘I’ve acquired quite the artifact.’
‘I can store the luminous pearl and the Heavenly Fragrance Nectar in here. Same goes for any artifacts I obtain in the future.’
Just then, Palgap’s voice drifted through the door.
“Young Master, I’ve brought the physician.”
“…”
‘No, I’m really fine.’
The next morning.
I rose early again for training.
Palgap watched me with worried eyes.
“Why don’t you just rest today?”
“I’m fine.”
“But yesterday the physician said… you should rest for a few days.”
The physician Palgap had summoned took my pulse, asked several questions, and concluded I’d been seeing things due to exhaustion.
Word of this reached Father immediately, and I was ordered to rest from yesterday afternoon onward.
Thanks to that, I got plenty of rest lying in bed, but I knew that the more I rested now, the harder things would be for my future self—so I couldn’t truly relax.
My body was resting, but my mind, constantly calculating all the work ahead, refused to settle. It was a truly… peculiar feeling.
Anyway, Palgap worries about me far too much.
“Palgap, there’s a saying: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. So you can’t get stronger by lying around just because you’re a little sick.”
“What does that have to do with work, sir?”
“Work is also a form of hardship. Who in the world actually enjoys working? So all work is suffering.”
“Then are you saying you don’t like working either, Young Master?”
“Yep.”
I nodded.
“I hate working too. But if I don’t work, I can’t get stronger.”
“If you say work makes you stronger, that sounds rather odd, sir. Working makes your body tired, not stronger, from what I can tell.”
“No, you have to work to survive. And it’s not the strong who survive—it’s the survivors who become strong. So it’s a phrase that captures the harsh reality that you must work just enough not to die in order to survive and grow stronger.”
After mulling over my words, Palgap clapped his hands and said.
“That’s a very profound saying, sir. I’ll have to share it with Escort Chief Gwak when he arrives later.”
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
If it were Master, as soon as he heard that, he’d declare it an excellent philosophy and train me until I truly was on the verge of death.
“N-no! That’s not it!”
“Pardon?”
“No, really, that’s not what it means.”
“…”
I sighed deeply and said.
“Actually, the saying ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ means that to become strong, you have to cleverly avoid hardship so it can’t actually kill you.”
“Young Master.”
“Yeah?”
“…Never mind, sir.”
‘I think he just cursed me with his eyes.’
As soon as I stepped into the courtyard and finished my Qi circulation, Master entered my private residence.
“Master, did you sleep well last night?”
“Yes, good morning.”
I tilted my head as I studied Master. Something about his aura felt different today.
Before, it was like gazing at sharp, unyielding ice, but today I felt like I was peering up at a vast ice canyon.
Master seemed to notice my expression.
“What is it?”
“Pardon?”
“You appear to have a question.”
“Ah, that… It might be my imagination, but your aura seems different from yesterday, Master.”
“…In what way?”
When I described exactly what I sensed, Master’s expression shifted slightly, and he nodded.
“You’re correct, Department Chief.”
“Pardon?”
“Yesterday, while studying the manual you gave me, I experienced a small enlightenment.”
“Congratulations.”
I cupped my fist in respectful greeting, and he wore a slightly embarrassed expression.
I’d rarely seen such a look on him—it was quite refreshing.
“It’s thanks to you, Department Chief.”
“I believe the heavens were thinking of you, Master, and returned that manual to you through me.”
Master gazed at me for a long moment, then spoke with grave seriousness.
“After I’ve studied this manual further, I will pass it on to you, Department Chief.”
“I’ll await the day of instruction.”
“Then, let’s begin our training.”
Time flowed onward. My eleventh month birthday passed without incident, and I turned nineteen.
Four years had elapsed since I’d returned from death.
This winter solstice, our merchant group ranked forty-ninth among the hundred greatest merchant groups under the heaven, as announced by the Imperial Family.
The goal was now within reach.
Once we broke into the top ten merchant groups, I planned to launch an all-out assault against the Baekcheon Merchant Group.
For now, we were only interfering with the affairs of the Baekcheon Merchant Group and the Murim Alliance from the shadows.
Since we remained a small merchant group compared to Baekcheon, direct confrontation could prove disastrous.
Of course, I had preparations I hadn’t revealed—but they were daggers that had to stay hidden.
I was heading to my office in the Virtuous Wind Department.
Rattle, rattle.
The sound of wheels rolling echoed in the distance. I turned and saw Clerk Heo Un approaching.
“Ah, you must be heading to work.”
“Yes.”
Clerk Heo Un was moving in a wheeled chair—something I’d commissioned Gong Mil to create.
Someone else could push it, or he could propel it himself by turning the wheels.
When Pavilion Lord Yeon of the Trade Pavilion first saw it, her eyes lit up and she exclaimed.
“Department Chief! Let’s sell this!”
The wheeled chair was named ‘Dependable Wheeled Chair (依輪椅)’.
A name my father had chosen.
As expected, Father possessed far better naming sense than I did.
Anyway, as Pavilion Lord Yeon desired, the Dependable Wheeled Chair was being prepared for market.
Many people in the world faced mobility challenges like Clerk Heo Un, so demand would surely be substantial.
But I had no intention of exploiting their difficulties for excessive profit.
I said to Clerk Heo Un.
“It seems you’ve grown accustomed to the Dependable Wheeled Chair.”
“Yes, it’s very comfortable.”
“I’ll push you to the Trade Pavilion.”
“No, that’s alright. I can manage myself.”
“I need a conversation partner for the journey.”
I was about to push Clerk Heo Un’s Dependable Wheeled Chair myself when Palgap intervened.
“I’ll do it, sir.”
“Alright. You handle it.”
‘Right, from Palgap’s perspective, he couldn’t just stand by.’
Rattle, rattle.
As we made our way to the Trade Pavilion, chatting about various topics, Clerk Heo Un brought up something else.
“Excuse me, did I mention before? That I remember all of Baekcheon Merchant Group’s ledgers.”
“Yes, I heard.”
“And I recently recalled something from the records that’s been troubling me.”
“What is it?”
“A considerable sum from the Baekcheon Merchant Group flowed to Yeongcheon Village in Hubei Province.”
‘Yeongcheon Village?’
I searched my memory for the village’s location and soon remembered.
‘That’s… near Mount Wudang, isn’t it?’
“So I searched for related records… and found a transaction for purchasing an Elixir.”
“An Elixir, you say? Hmm, it’s somewhat unusual, but they could have bought it for trade purposes, couldn’t they?”
It wasn’t uncommon to acquire an Elixir, present it to someone, and secure trading rights in return.
“That’s correct. But what bothered me wasn’t that, but rather… the costs for acquiring nearby merchant groups were also recorded.”
At his words, I fell into deep thought.
The moment I spotted Escort Guard Seo Wu, an idea flashed through my mind.
.
.
.
After escorting Heo Un to the Trade Pavilion, I returned to my office in the Virtuous Wind Department.
I closed the partition between my office and the space where the others worked.
I needed to think alone.
In this life, I was the one who obtained the Fruit of Renewal, and because of it, Escort Guard Seo Wu recovered from his illness.
But in my previous life, the Fortune Merchant Group was devastated because of the Fruit of Renewal that Mun Ju-seong had acquired.
And that Fruit of Renewal was consumed by someone else.
A Blood Cult figure who had been sealed away.
The place of his imprisonment was the Wudang Sect.
Because of the Blood Cult figure who had restored his body at that time, the Wudang Sect suffered enormous losses.
That Blood Cultist brought destruction and slaughter wherever he traveled, and because of him, the entire region around Hubei Province descended into chaos.
As the threat grew too massive to ignore, the Murim Alliance finally intervened.
And shortly after they acted, the Blood Cultist was subdued.
Come to think of it, the one who profited from that incident was the Murim Alliance.
By dealing with the Blood Cult figure, the Murim Alliance’s prestige soared even higher.
And the Baekcheon Merchant Group expanded dramatically by absorbing the merchant groups around Hubei that had been driven to the brink of bankruptcy.
Thus, the Baekcheon Merchant Group ascended to become one of the three great merchant groups.
‘No way—then does that mean that incident was orchestrated by the Murim Alliance?’
If so, I had to prevent this.
The horror of that time was so terrible that it made me understand why the Blood Cult earned its name.
But that figure was an incredible master, so there would need to be someone capable of stopping him… wait.
‘Something’s not right.’
The Wudang Sect was one of the most prominent sects in the Central Plains.
With all the warriors they possessed, how could they fail to stop that Blood Cultist?
And it was the masters of the Wudang Sect who had originally sealed that Blood Cultist.
This deserved investigation.
A justification for visiting the Wudang Sect without arousing suspicion…
‘Ah, that would work.’
I held the title of Handsome Young Hero, and if I claimed I was making a donation to the Wudang Sect, they’d welcome me with open arms.
–TL Notes–
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