I was curious about the circumstances, but that’s personal business.
So I was going to just leave it alone… but then I saw the way Deputy Jo Yeong-yeong was looking at Internal Chief Administrator Yu…
Sigh.
Wait, come to think of it, he once said the reason he ended up working under Father was because Father saved him when he was in serious trouble.
They’ve known each other that long, so wouldn’t Father know the reason?
He’s busy right now, so I’ll ask later.
“Let’s go see Brother Jeong-ho.”
I headed for his office.
Right now, he’s in charge of silk and other textiles.
That’s one of the busiest departments in the Eunhae Merchant Group.
Especially with this brutal cold, animal furs are selling like crazy, so a place that was already busy has gotten even busier.
When I arrived, there were people waiting to get their documents approved. One, two, three…
There were a lot.
I turned away without hesitation.
I could cut in past the people waiting for approvals and go straight in.
But if I did that, their work would be delayed, they’d suffer for it, and the Merchant Group would take a hit.
Can’t let that happen.
I changed my plan and headed for the training grounds.
Brother Jin-ho would be there anyway.
I reached them soon enough.
But…
A bunch of very familiar faces were running laps around the grounds, drenched in sweat.
They were the guards who had slacked off in Beijing and got punished by me, weren’t they?
They had chunks of iron strapped to their arms and legs, clearly something they had made themselves.
When we left Beijing for the Eunhae Merchant Group’s main headquarters, the punishment I gave them was definitely over.
So why are they still doing this?
On top of that, it wasn’t just that group. Other guards had strapped iron to their bodies just like them and were running around the training grounds as well.
“The Merchant Group is growing, we can’t let the Eunpoong Division be the only one falling behind!”
“That’s right!”
“Exactly!”
“If you stand still, you get left behind! If you don’t want to be left behind, you train without stopping!”
Hearing that exchange, I blinked.
I guess what I said to those five runaways in Beijing left quite an impression.
Well, it wasn’t just sweet talk anyway. The Eunpoong Division is what gives the Eunhae Merchant Group its strength.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected much from them, but seeing them move like this made me feel… strange.
“As expected of you, my Lord.”
Watching that scene, Escort Guard Seo Wu smiled in satisfaction.
“You inspired them and led them to change, my Lord.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“That’s exactly why you’re amazing, my Lord.”
“…”
It was kind of embarrassing.
But, hey… Brother Jin-ho.
Why are you running with them? You’re not at the level where you should be circling the grounds with those Escort Guards.
Right then, someone walked up to me.
“Third Deputy Merchant Lord, you’re here.”
“Ah! Greetings, External Chief Administrator.”
“When did you arrive at the main headquarters?”
“Just now.”
He looked over the people running around the training grounds, then spoke.
“Actually, I gave them a choice. Pack their things and leave the Eunpoong Division, or accept three years of half pay.”
He’d handed down a heavier punishment than I expected.
“They chose the latter.”
“I see.”
“They said they’d been foolish. That thanks to the Third Deputy Merchant Lord, they realized how complacent they’d been as members of the Eunpoong Division, the division that protects the Eunhae Merchant Group which aims to be the number one Merchant Group under heaven.”
“…”
“After that, from the day they returned to the main headquarters, they haven’t skipped that training even once. At first everyone just thought, ‘They’ll cool off soon enough.’ But at the recent regular sparring matches, the results shocked everyone.”
The Eunpoong Division holds regular sparring matches twice a month.
They hold them regularly to figure out everyone’s level.
“And now there’s a sense of tension running through the entire Eunpoong Division.”
I smiled faintly.
I finally understood how things had ended up this way.
“I was thinking the Eunpoong Division’s discipline had been getting lax lately, so I was about to gather everyone and tighten things up, but thanks to you, Third Deputy Merchant Lord, I was spared the trouble.”
“Haha. Now I’m feeling shy.”
“And a little while ago, the training for Escort Guard Myeong Jong and Escort Guard Chang Un finished.”
“Thank you for all your hard work.”
“Not at all. It was enjoyable meeting young people brimming with passion again after so long.”
— And about the matter you mentioned before, I investigated it and took care of the one who was muddying the waters.
At that Voice Transmission, I nodded.
A little later.
I waved as I walked up to Brother Jin-ho, who had just finished training.
“Brother!”
“Huh? When did you get here?”
“Earlier. I’ve seen your face, so I’m heading off.”
“A-already?”
And from the way he had been running around the grounds just now, he looked full of energy.
So I could leave without worrying.
“I’m busy. I need to see Brother Jeong-ho, and my sisters-in-law, and Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon…”
“Feels like Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon are your real objective.”
“…No way. Hahaha.”
“Your answer was a little slow.”
More perceptive than I thought.
After chatting with him about this and that, I headed back to my brother’s office.
Just then, there was no one in front of the door. As I approached, the guard inside called out,
“The Third Deputy Merchant Lord is here.”
“Come on in!”
The door opened, and I stepped into the office. The moment I saw his face…
“Brother, how many days have you not slept?”
The dark circles under his eyes made it obvious he hadn’t slept properly for at least three days.
“Your wife’s going to worry.”
“You think I’m staying up all night because I want to?”
He let out a sigh and continued.
“This is all because of you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You.”
He nodded.
“It’s practically certain that a prohibition order on alcohol will come down soon. So before that happens, someone has to figure out where all the master brewers are and pick out who to bring over. Whose job do you think that is?”
“Mine?”
“Yeah. Yours.”
He sighed again and went on.
“But you had business and ended up coming back late. So who do you think had to do that job instead?”
Ah…
My conscience suddenly started poking me.
But I had my reasons too.
“I do feel bad, but Brother, I really couldn’t help it. The old man at the General Store suddenly dumped teaching duties on me. It’s not like I could refuse…”
“I knew that, so I just let it go. If not, I would’ve tied you up and dragged you back.”
“Hahaha.”
He gave a short laugh, opened a drawer, took out a small pouch, and tossed it to me.
Thump!
I caught it and tilted my head.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“Your birthday present. I figured you’d come here, so I kept it in this office.”
“Can I open it?”
He nodded, and I opened the pouch.
Inside was a belt ornament.
“I thought it would suit you.”
“Uh… thanks.”
It was gold with a piece of red jade set into it. It looked pretty expensive.
“Done being moved?”
“Huh?”
“Then get to work. I’m going to go see my wife and kids.”
.
.
.
Ah, this is exhausting.
After receiving the stack of work from him, I headed straight to the Virtuous Wind Department.
I worked there all day, and only when it was time for dinner did I finally make it back to my detached house.
“You’ve returned, sir?”
“Yeah.”
Palgap came out to greet me.
I glanced at the side of my detached house. Earlier I’d been in such a hurry to wash up and greet Grandfather and my parents that I hadn’t paid attention, but now I saw a brand-new building standing right next to my place.
It was the lodging for my personal guard squad.
Come to think of it, they had said construction was finished.
From the start, the scale wasn’t that big, and with the bad harvest there was an overabundance of laborers to hire, so it went up quickly.
Just like I’d ordered earlier, I’d heard Escort Guard Myeong Jong and Escort Guard Chang Un were staying there.
It had been a while since we last met, so we should at least share a meal.
Sharing a meal is the fastest way to get close.
“Palgap. Let’s go check out the new lodging.”
A little later.
I was standing in front of the newly built lodging.
In truth, there was no hard limit on how many personal Escort Guards a Deputy Merchant Lord could keep.
But to maintain a personal guard squad, you needed the Merchant Lord’s permission, and all the operating costs had to come out of your own pocket.
So most people only put together a squad of about ten.
But I wanted more than that.
In my previous life, it took dying a dog’s death at the hands of the Murim Alliance and the Baekcheon Merchant Group for me to realize it.
If I wanted to bring them down, I needed a lot of strong warriors.
So this time, I had it built large enough that more than fifty people could live here comfortably.
Maybe the servant working at this lodging had sent word, because Myeong Jong and Chang Un came out from inside and quickly cupped their fists to me.
“We greet you, my Lord.”
“We greet you, my Lord.”
“It’s been a while. Have you both been well?”
Their eyes were clearly more serious than before, sharpened like blades.
Ah… External Chief Administrator.
Just how hard did you push them to make them look like veterans who’d spent ten years on the battlefield?
Either way, it was good for me.
“I came to look around the new lodging. Could I ask you to show me around?”
The two exchanged a glance, and Myeong Jong from the Mount Hua Sect stepped forward.
“Of course.”
The lodging had a total of five floors, and they said about sixteen people could stay on each floor.
“The first floor is the dining hall, I see.”
“Yes. I heard they modeled it after an inn. We needed a space where everyone could gather.”
“Where does everyone wash up?”
“There’s a communal bath behind the building.”
The rooms started on the second floor. When we opened one of the doors, it was completely empty inside.
Well, there was no need to bring in bedframes this early.
“We’ll show you our room, my Lord.”
They opened the door to the second room off the stairs. On each side were two beds and a small chest.
There was even a low table in the center.
And it was spotless. It would be hard to find a speck of dust.
“It’s incredibly clean.”
“Ah, we did a bit of cleaning.”
At Myeong Jong’s words, Chang Un added on,
“We’ve been used to cleaning since we were young. At the sect, all the buildings are cleaned by the disciples…”
“That’s a good habit.”
At my words, their faces brightened. Is my praise really that great?
“That’s enough looking around for now. I’m planning to have dinner together tonight. Is that all right?”
“Of course.”
A little later.
A table was set on the first floor of the lodging.
I thought about going out to eat, but I also needed to discuss my new guard system tonight, so I decided we’d eat here.
I couldn’t just talk about that kind of information out in public.
For tonight’s dinner, a maid from my detached house put in the work. She was pretty skilled in the kitchen, so in a short time she whipped up some decent dishes.
So we had pepper pork stir-fry, fried meat, and even a crispy scorched rice dish laid out on the table.
I should give her a bonus.
“It feels nice to have everyone gathered like this for dinner. Please, eat up.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
Once I started eating, the six Escort Guards and Palgap began eating too.
When everyone had eaten their fill to a certain point,
I set my chopsticks down and brought up tonight’s main topic.
“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to change the guard system. Before, with only four of you, you had to switch shifts every eight hours, but now that there are two more, you’ll stand guard for eight hours and then rest for sixteen.”
“So we’re going from two shifts to three shifts.”
“Exactly. And we’ll draw lots to divide into teams.”
I spoke to Palgap.
“Palgap. Could you make up some lots?”
“Right away, sir.”
A little later, he brought over the lots, and the six Escort Guards each drew one.
Seo Wu and Myeong Jong.
Jin Yu and Chang Un.
Yeo Eung-am and Lee Pil.
Those were the teams.
“Oh, and for reference, we’ll redraw the lots once a month. Over dinner here, just like this.”
“Understood.”
“Then, which team wants the first shift?”
At my question, Yeo Eung-am raised a hand.
“We’ll take the first shift. Myeong Jong and Chang Un will need to have a few things explained to them anyway.”
As expected of him. Maybe because he had the longest experience, he’d often show insight I hadn’t even thought of.
.
.
.
Night fell.
I headed for Father’s office. I’d sent Palgap earlier to ask if I could meet him briefly after dinner.
But…
“The Merchant Lord asks that you come to the rear garden.”
Father’s attendant delivered the message, and I went to the rear garden.
“You’re here? Since you said you needed to see me urgently this evening, I figured something sensitive was going to come up.”
“…”
As expected of Father.
I went up into the pavilion, and he offered me a seat.
Tea was already prepared.
After I took a sip, he spoke first.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
“Honestly, this might be a bit of an impolite question.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about Internal Chief Administrator Yu.”
“…?”
I continued.
“Why doesn’t he get married?”
At my question, Father let out a quiet sigh.
There was definitely a reason.
–TL Notes–
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