Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.
No, actually, it is important.
Because in my previous life, that young man led a huge group of rebels.
That young man’s name is Gyeong In-juk.
He was born the son of tenant farmers, and when his parents incurred the steward’s displeasure, they became displaced wanderers.
Eventually he joined a group of rebels and, again and again, carried out operations that caught the government troops off guard, riding one success after another.
However, his “reign” didn’t even last three years.
Angered by reports of repeated crushing defeats, the Emperor sent an outstanding general at the head of an army fifty thousand strong, and they wiped him out.
The leader, Gyeong In-juk, didn’t survive either. He was beheaded, and his head was hung up in Beijing, left as food for crows.
Even though he was the ringleader of a rebellion, I honestly thought his talent was wasted. If someone capable had noticed him early and given him a chance to use those abilities, he wouldn’t have met such a miserable end.
And if he had the ability to lead a force that large, he could easily have put his skills to work elsewhere and lived a life where people actually recognized him.
But… I never imagined that “someone” would end up being me.
Anyway, as long as that man is here, I can’t afford to relax during this negotiation.
“Come on in. I’m Sun Dae-seok, master of this mountain stronghold.”
We’d already tied a letter to an arrow and sent word ahead that we were coming to negotiate.
So that’s why they were waiting here to greet us like this.
Still, they sure brought a lot of people to do the greeting.
They were probably trying to surround us to create a sense of intimidation.
But that’s only effective on ordinary folk.
A single Peak expert can easily handle a hundred third-rate and second-rate warriors.
“I’m Gwak Myeong-hyeon of Changin Escort Bureau.”
“And I’m Eun Seo-ho from the Eunhae Merchant Group.”
We introduced ourselves in turn.
“Are you the ones who said you were coming to negotiate?”
“That’s right.”
“Then come this way.”
The place they’d set up for the negotiation wasn’t inside the stronghold, but outside, around some makeshift tables and chairs.
Not letting us inside the stronghold meant they didn’t intend to show us their situation.
Whoever came up with that had a good head on their shoulders.
It was probably Gyeong In-juk’s idea.
The furniture was roughly hacked together from cut logs, and while I was looking at it, Chieftain Sun Dae-seok spoke up.
“Have a seat. Ah, do the chairs look too shabby for such distinguished guests?”
Then, eyeing my silk robes, he added,
“Are you worried your nice silk clothes might get ruined?”
“Not at all. Why would I?”
What a childish attempt at provocation.
I dropped down onto the wooden chair and said,
“I’m just moved by the trouble you went to, setting up tables and chairs for us. You must’ve worked pretty hard to make all this.”
“Th-that’s true enough. Ahem.”
“And you really don’t need to worry about my clothes. I’ve got plenty more like these.”
My words left Chieftain Sun speechless for a moment.
My master also took a seat.
“Please, sit.”
“Hrm, very well.”
Chieftain Sun sat down alone without calling anyone else over. Come to think of it, I’d heard his personality was a bit self-centered.
Because of that, Gyeong In-juk hadn’t been able to stand out. Only after Chieftain Sun died did he come to the forefront, and that’s when his true ability showed.
I looked at Gyeong In-juk standing in the back.
He’d been fidgeting restlessly for a while now.
My master opened his mouth first.
“Our Changin Escort Bureau planned to pay a reward and retrieve the cargo you seized. But we assumed you’d already used up all of it.”
“That’s right. Every bit of it ended up in our bellies. We ate well thanks to you.”
I picked up from there.
“Since you ate well, you need to pay the price.”
“The price?”
“You might not know, since you aren’t real Forest bandits, but when the cargo can’t be returned, or there’s nothing left to return, escort bureaus and merchant groups only have one option.”
I met Chieftain Sun’s gaze.
“Full-scale war. Wiping your mountain stronghold off the map.”
Bang!
He slammed his fist down on the table and shouted,
“Are you saying we should do it right now? Fine! Let’s do it!”
He was clearly trying to intimidate us, but neither my master nor I so much as blinked.
“Wow, you sure are quick-tempered. Sit down. We haven’t finished talking yet.”
“Why should I listen to you? You realize with just one word from me, you all…”
Sigh. This is exactly why he died so young in my past life.
I sent Escort Guard Seo Wu a Voice Transmission.
— Shut him up for me.
In response, Escort Guard Seo Wu drew a sword and swung it toward the trees beside us.
Slash.
With just one light swing, a dozen or so trees were sliced clean through and toppled over.
“…”
“So, what was that about one word from you?”
“Ah, nothing at all.”
Chieftain Sun faltered and fell quiet.
Then Gyeong In-juk, who’d been in the back, shouted,
“But if this was supposed to be a negotiation, why did you come so late? Weren’t you just waiting for us to finish off all the rice and medicinal herbs?”
At that, Chieftain Sun hurried to add,
“Come to think of it, that is suspicious! Just like he said, this can only be seen as deliberate.”
“That’s not it.”
I kept my smile.
“Honestly, we never imagined you’d gobble up all the cargo the moment you seized it. Normal Forest bandits sit tight and wait politely for us to show our sincerity.”
I lifted my head and looked at the people in the back as I spoke.
“And they certainly don’t bother chasing down people who run and injuring them. Because they know very well that once someone dies, things stop being solvable with just money changing hands.”
At my words, a few of them lowered their heads in shame.
“It struck me as strange, so I looked into you. You’re not regular Forest bandits. You’re drifters pretending to be bandits.”
“…”
“To be honest, a lot of people said we should just mobilize our warriors right away and wipe this place out…”
I let my voice trail off on purpose, then looked at Chieftain Sun and continued,
“But our Merchant Lord at the Eunhae Merchant Group is truly benevolent and compassionate. After hearing about your unfortunate circumstances, he made one proposal.”
“And what proposal is that?”
“The Eunhae Merchant Group recently bought new farmland. We’ll have you all work it as tenant farmers.”
“…!”
Their eyes widened.
It was an extremely generous offer even by my standards, so of course they all looked stunned.
“Of course, since you robbed our merchant group and injured our people, you’ll have to work for free for five years.”
At that, Gyeong In-juk shouted,
“Then what are we supposed to live on for those five years?”
“A natural question. So, for those five years, the Eunhae Merchant Group will lend you what you need to live.”
“You’ll lend it?”
Chieftain Sun bristled.
“Come on! Do you know why we ended up like this? Because that damned landlord bled us dry with usurious loans…”
“I understand, I really do. But we’re not shameless scum like that. For the food and living expenses over those five years, we won’t charge you any interest.”
For them, not charging interest at all was already more than they could hope for.
“And after those five years, you can start paying it back slowly.”
At my proposal, Chieftain Sun asked,
“And if we decide not to accept your proposal?”
“Is there really any other choice? If we don’t want other Forest bandits to think our merchant group and Changin Escort Bureau are easy targets…”
I gave him a pleasant smile.
“I think you know what happens, even if I don’t say it.”
“…”
After that, I turned to look at my master.
My master quietly shook his head.
It meant he had nothing more to add.
We rose from our seats.
Holding up three fingers, I said,
“We’ll give you three days. Think it over, and if you decide to accept our offer, hang a white flag over your stronghold. If there’s no white flag flying three days from now, we’ll take it as your refusal.”
After walking a few steps, I turned back and left them with one last remark.
“Think carefully. Living as bandits isn’t exactly easy either, is it?”
And with that, we left.
“I wonder how they’ll respond.”
In answer to my master’s question, I replied with certainty,
“They’ll have no choice but to accept our offer in the end. Because they aren’t truly bandits yet.”
The famine left them no way to live, so they strayed onto the path of banditry, but it wasn’t something they chose of their own free will.
So if you just give them the right excuse, it’s not hard for them to go back to being ordinary commoners or farmers.
Maybe it’s a good thing Gyeong In-juk hasn’t come to the forefront yet.
If he had, we would’ve had to put more on the table.
After Gwak Myeong-hyeon, Eun Seo-ho, and their party left, silence settled over the mountain stronghold.
But soon, their opinions split in all directions.
“So what are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know either.”
“But they said they’d give us land.”
“That just means they’ll work us for free for five years.”
“Still, they said they won’t let us starve to death.”
“But can we really trust that? What if they say that now and then work us like slaves?”
“…”
As people argued back and forth, Gyeong In-juk stepped forward with a suggestion.
“We still have about three days. So why don’t we look into the Eunhae Merchant Group?”
Because he’d voiced concern about Eun Seo-ho’s scheme last time, his standing within the group had risen.
So his opinion was accepted immediately. It was reasonable, after all.
Before long, they selected ten people and sent them to Sunyang County, where the Eunhae Merchant Group was based, to investigate.
.
.
.
Those given the task of investigating the Eunhae Merchant Group arrived in Sunyang County and immediately began their inquiries.
“Excuse me, what kind of place is the Eunhae Merchant Group?”
“The Eunhae Merchant Group? Why do you ask?”
“We’re thinking about working their land as tenant farmers, but we heard they exploit their tenants, so we wanted to ask.”
The person they asked suddenly wore a fierce expression.
“What kind of bastard sons of bitches said something like that? Who was it? I’ll butcher them on the spot!”
The ones who’d come to investigate were the ones who ended up flustered by the outburst.
“I-I’ll have a word with that person myself, so please calm down.”
Then, in a more careful tone, they asked,
“But is it really not true?”
“I can say for certain there’s no landlord as good as the Eunhae Merchant Group. Ordinary landlords take half the harvest, and on top of that, they make the tenant farmers pay the taxes too.”
Technically, the landlord is the one who’s supposed to pay the taxes, but the world isn’t full of such good people.
And good landlords are extremely rare.
“Some of them even charge separately for seed grain and water on top of everything else.”
“That’s right.”
At those words, they ground their teeth without thinking. After all, it was exactly that kind of landlord’s cruelty that had turned them into wanderers.
“The Eunhae Merchant Group isn’t like that. They only take forty percent of the harvest, and they pay the taxes themselves.”
“What about seed grain?”
“The Eunhae Merchant Group naturally covers that too.”
“…”
“That’s not all. If a tenant farmer’s family has a wedding or a funeral, the Eunhae Merchant Group sends people to help with the work. And if they don’t have enough money to handle it, the group lends them money interest-free.”
“…”
“Also, if a tenant farmer suffers an injustice, a high-ranking person from the Eunhae Merchant Group immediately goes to see the County Magistrate. Thanks to that, more than a few people have had their grievances resolved.”
“…”
Praise for the Eunhae Merchant Group just kept pouring out.
“Even if the Eunhae Merchant Group is that good, what if the steward acts high-handed and abuses people?”
“Their high-ranking people make surprise inspections. What steward would dare deceive their own employer under that? They wouldn’t even be able to gather their bones afterward.”
“…”
If what they were hearing was true, there wasn’t a better landlord under heaven.
Just in case, they asked around to many different people, but everyone they spoke to praised the Eunhae Merchant Group without exception.
“The Eunhae Merchant Group? Come to think of it, third Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho of the Eunhae Merchant Group shared food with the entire Sunyang County on his birthday.”
“Food?”
“Thanks to that, my son came back from the brink of death. So even now, I still offer prayers for the Eunhae Merchant Group’s prosperity.”
“Honestly, with the famine that bad, the only reason nobody in this Sunyang County has starved to death is because of the Eunhae Merchant Group.”
“Damn right! Of course.”
The more they investigated, the more their resentment toward the landlord back in their village welled up inside them.
And they began to glimpse the hope that under the Eunhae Merchant Group, they might actually live like human beings again.
Soon after, they returned to the mountain stronghold and reported everything they’d seen and heard.
The three days the Eunhae Merchant Group and Changin Escort Bureau had given the rebel group passed.
My master and I personally headed for their mountain stronghold.
We needed to confirm their decision with our own eyes.
Normally, it was almost certain they’d accept our offer, but nothing in this world is absolute.
If, by some chance, they refused, we had no other options left.
As we made our way toward the stronghold, hoping such a regrettable outcome wouldn’t come to pass, my master spoke.
“Look over there.”
–TL Notes–
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