At Escort Guard Seo Wu’s words, I felt I understood why Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu was scheming such a vicious plot.
Recently, there was a new business the Jinse Merchant Group had ambitiously pursued: the Jinse Pharmacy.
He probably got upset seeing the Eight-Person Pharmacy’s success, or perhaps he coveted the money the Eight-Person Pharmacy was raking in.
Since the Eight-Person Pharmacy was currently the only pharmacy, he must have seen it as a guaranteed successful business.
But it wouldn’t have gone as well as he thought.
The Eight-Person Pharmacy made medicine with high-quality medicinal ingredients supplied by the Eunhae Merchant Group, so they had a wide variety and relatively cheap prices.
In that situation, there were two main methods the Jinse Pharmacy could choose as a latecomer.
Either sell special medicines the Eight-Person Pharmacy didn’t handle, or sell cheaper than the Eight-Person Pharmacy.
The Jinse Pharmacy chose the second method.
However, to sell cheaper than the Eight-Person Pharmacy with its stable and professional supply source, they had no choice but to use lower-quality medicinal ingredients.
So at first people went for the cheap price, but the medicinal effects weren’t great, so naturally they stopped using the Jinse Pharmacy’s medicine.
Anyway, in this current situation, if people who got an upset stomach from eating food at Brother Jin-ho’s wedding banquet found that medicine from the Eight-Person Pharmacy didn’t work well but medicine from the Jinse Pharmacy did, customers would inevitably flock to the Jinse Pharmacy.
This rotten bastard.
No matter what, how could he try to feed innocent guests stomach cramping drugs!
I could see why Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu was using such despicable tactics.
“Escort Guard Seo Wu.”
“Yes.”
“Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu’s position in the Jinse Merchant Group isn’t that solid, is it?”
“Yes, from what I know, those who support him don’t even reach half.”
Palgap asked, puzzled.
“That’s a bit strange. How did he become deputy merchant lord with just that?”
“He either blackmailed them or bribed them with money. With his temperament, it’s entirely possible.”
“I agree.”
Escort Guard Seo Wu nodded.
“And even though the Jinse Merchant Lord is bedridden, if he changes his mind, he can have Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu step down.”
In other words, though he became deputy merchant lord, his position wasn’t yet solid.
So he wanted to establish irrefutable achievements to solidify his position as deputy merchant lord.
Fine, I don’t care about that, but why does he have to harm our innocent merchant group?
This damned bastard.
Then Escort Guard Lee Pil, who’d been quietly listening, asked with curiosity.
“Then the Jinse Pharmacy could just make the stomach cramping drug themselves, so why would he separately commission that medicine from someone called Black Frog?”
“That’s probably because of the Jinse Merchant Lord. He’s not someone who pursues profit while harming others.”
“Ah…”
“If this matter reaches the Merchant Lord’s ears, even if he establishes irrefutable achievements, Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu’s position will become precarious. And if those supporting the eldest son catch wind of it, it could become public too.”
“Certainly, from Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu’s standpoint, he has no choice but to do it secretly.”
“So, what do you plan to do?”
At Palgap’s words, I smiled and answered.
“What else? I need to blow away Bang Wu’s position as deputy merchant lord.”
.
.
.
The next day, I finished my morning tasks and stood up.
“It’s lunchtime. Enjoy your meal.”
“Yes.”
I let them eat comfortably among themselves and headed to my separate quarters.
I had something to check while eating lunch.
As soon as I arrived at my separate quarters, Escort Guard Jin Yu reported to me.
“My lord, a reply has arrived from Young Master Bang Jin.”
“What did he say?”
“He accepts.”
The night before, I’d asked Escort Guard Jin Yu to secretly deliver a letter to Young Master Bang Jin, the Jinse Merchant Group’s eldest son.
The content was to meet this afternoon the next day.
However, since it would be troublesome if seen by others, I told him to secretly come to a pavilion on South Street.
If he accepted, I told him to hang red cloth on the tree in front of his residence before lunch.
If he refused, I told him to hang white cloth.
Young Master Bang Jin had been quite unfairly denied the position of deputy merchant lord.
In that situation, when I made a proposal to “create an advantageous situation in the deputy merchant lord competition,” he couldn’t refuse.
“Then let’s depart after lunch.”
“Understood.”
After eating a simple lunch, we headed to South Street, the meeting place.
A street lined with high-end shops.
After walking for a while, we soon arrived at the meeting place. At the end of South Street was a small pavilion.
That was the meeting place.
When we entered, in a corner, a person surrounded by escort guards and attendants was looking at the scenery outside the pavilion.
Young Master Bang Jin.
I approached and greeted him with cupped fists.
“It’s been a while.”
Young Master Bang Jin also returned the greeting with cupped fists.
“Indeed.”
“Shall we go then?”
He nodded and followed me out.
Where I was heading was Scholar Street.
The paths of Scholar Street and South Street were connected, so we could get there quickly, though it was a narrow mountain path and uncomfortable.
“I accepted your proposal, but where are we going?”
At Young Master Bang Jin’s question, I answered.
“We’re going to Scholar Street.”
“Then we should have met at Scholar Street from the start… Ah, Scholar Street is a bit dangerous.”
“Correct. Scholar Street is more dangerous than South Street. We don’t know where Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu’s eyes might be, so we can’t be seen traveling together, can we?”
“You’re right.”
Like that, we secretly headed to Scholar Street.
The person I was going to find was Black Frog.
The person Warrior Bae-cheol had told me about.
In my previous life too, he’d been quite notorious in Hubei Province.
His specialty was poison.
Those who needed to secretly use poison would discreetly come to Black Frog to make deals.
Naturally, those affected by the poison came to Black Frog to obtain antidotes.
However, dealing in poison was clearly against national law, and to those harmed by it, he was no different from an enemy, so he had no choice but to always hide.
Of course, the name Black Frog stuck because he resembled a black frog.
But it was also because he was good at hiding.
We passed through Scholar Street and arrived at a house roughly made with planks and straw mats against a cliff face serving as a wall.
It was so roughly built it looked closer to a hovel than a house.
“We’re here.”
At my words, Young Master Bang Jin tilted his head.
“So how is coming here related to creating an advantageous situation for me?”
“The person inside will be the one to lead the game advantageously.”
At my words, Young Master Bang Jin gestured to his escort guards.
One of them went inside the hovel and came out, then shook his head.
“No one’s there.”
I smiled and spoke.
“The hovel is a decoy. The real place is here.”
I tapped the rock in front of me.
“What? That rock? But… how do we get inside? I can’t even see an entrance.”
As for the entrance, it naturally existed.
You just had to lift the straw mats spread in the hovel to barely see a small hole you’d have to crawl through.
It was possible because he was small enough in stature to be called by the alias Black Frog.
If we went through the hole he used, we’d naturally get covered in dirt.
Well, it wouldn’t be easy to enter anyway.
And if we went in like that, our heads would turn to mush from Black Frog’s poisons or traps.
But I had no reason to endure such danger or trouble.
“Cut it.”
“Yes.”
At my command, Escort Guard Jin Yu drew his sword and raised his internal energy. The two escort guards of Young Master Bang Jin turned pale.
They’d recognized Escort Guard Jin Yu’s level.
“Haaat!”
A vivid sword Qi sliced horizontally through the rock.
Grrrk!
Then Escort Guard Seo Wu pushed the rock.
Thud!
It all happened in an instant.
I hopped up onto the cut rock surface and looked down below.
“You’ve got yourself a nice spot here.”
“Huk! Wh-wh-who?”
Behind the rock was a fairly wide clearing that had been hidden, and Black Frog, who’d been working there, fell backward in surprise and looked at me.
A small frame, black face, frog-like features.
It’s been a while.
This was the first time seeing him in this life.
Befitting someone who’d lived as a fugitive for over ten years, he calmed his panic and put his hand in his pocket.
He tried to throw a smoke bomb and escape, but—
Thwack!
Crash!
“Kyaah! I surrender! I’ll surrender!”
It was useless before a Peak-level warrior.
When the smoke cleared a moment later, what I saw was Warriors Jin Yu and Seo Wu with their blades at the throat of Black Frog, whose hands were tied behind his back, stepping on his back.
Being Peak-level warriors, they could move as if their eyes could see even with their vision obscured.
He’d been hit several times, and his face was already swollen in places.
Still, since he used just a smoke bomb and not poison, it ended at that level.
If he’d used poison, he would’ve lost an arm.
I approached him with a leisurely smile.
“Pleased to meet you, Black Frog. You must know who I am, so I won’t introduce myself separately. And you know who that is too, right?”
I pointed at Young Master Bang Jin, and seeing him, Black Frog chuckled.
“I’m seeing two of Hubei Province’s famous people.”
“So, are those things you’re working on over there what Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu commissioned this time?”
Even at my words, he brazenly retorted.
“Why would he commission me?”
On the other hand, Young Master Bang Jin tilted his head.
“Wu commissioned him?”
I nodded and asked Black Frog again.
“So what was the commission?”
“I told you I never got a commission!”
Black Frog played innocent.
I hadn’t thought he’d confess readily from the start.
The reason Black Frog’s poisons were popular was not only because their efficacy was excellent but also because his lips were quite tight.
He couldn’t be made to talk with ordinary torture.
I knew this because in my previous life, he was eventually caught.
He was captured about ten years from now.
And they tried to extract information about those he’d made and delivered poisons to, and though he became a wreck from countless tortures, he didn’t say a single word.
But…
Unexpectedly, he had one weakness.
That was—
“Kyaaaaah! Wh-what’s that! T-take it away! Take it away quickly!”
His own face.
When I reflected his face with a mirror, he had a fit.
Actually, he hated his ugly face so much that to fix it, he worked under a physician and learned how to make medicine.
However, he used medicine recklessly and suffered side effects, becoming the hideous face he had now.
So he came to hate his own face and even developed this level of fear.
Black Frog came to live in hiding not only to preserve his life but also because he didn’t want to show his face to the world.
It was a fairly heartbreaking story.
But that’s that, and crimes are crimes.
How many people died and were harmed because of the poison he made?
He tried to close his eyes, but due to drug side effects, his eyes wouldn’t close.
He tried to turn his head, but Escort Guard Jin Yu was holding his face, making it impossible.
“Kyaaaah!”
I watched him scream for a moment, then proposed.
“If you tell me what Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu commissioned, I’ll put away the mirror.”
“D-damn it! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you!”
When I put away the mirror, he panted for breath.
“Huk, huk… Deputy Merchant Lord Bang Wu asked me to make medicine that causes an upset stomach. To put it in people’s food at Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Jin-ho’s wedding…”
“And then?”
“After causing an upset stomach, he’d sell the cure at the Jinse Pharmacy… and asked me to tell him the formula for the antidote.”
“I’ve heard enough.”
As promised, I didn’t shine the mirror anymore and put it in my pocket.
And when I turned my head, Young Master Bang Jin was frowning and spitting curses.
“Bang Wu… that crazy bastard…”
He barely suppressed his anger and bowed his head to me.
“On behalf of my younger brother, I apologize to the Deputy Merchant Lord. I’m truly sorry.”
“How could this be your fault, Young Master?”
As expected, Young Master Bang Jin was as upright a person as the Jinse Merchant Lord. This kind of person should become deputy merchant lord.
Though he was from a competing merchant group, competition should still be fair and square.
That’s how competition is enjoyable and there are no people unfairly caught up in it.
“I’ll inform Father of this matter immediately. And…”
“No.”
I waved my hand.
“This alone isn’t enough to bring him down for certain. If it’s him, he’ll pin the crime on someone else and slip away.”
“Indeed… you’re right.”
He’s that despicable, but his mind works well.
“I know he spent quite a lot of money on the Jinse Pharmacy business.”
“That’s correct. He invested quite heavily.”
“Since the Jinse Merchant Group isn’t a merchant group dealing in medicinal ingredients, he must have had some difficulties.”
“Correct. Honestly, it’s still a bit shaky. And I’m also somewhat skeptical about why the Jinse Merchant Group needs to do the pharmacy business.”
“That’s why I’m telling you…”
–TL Notes–
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