At those words, everyone turned to look at that Protector.
“You’re against it?”
At the Chief’s question, the Protector nodded.
“Yes. I am.”
“What’s your reason, Escort Chief Jeon Il?”
Right, that was it. His name was Jeon Il.
“Honestly, Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho is an outsider, isn’t he? How can an outsider be our Snow Wind Palace’s Young Palace Lord! The late former Palace Lord would be outraged.”
“Um…”
I carefully spoke up.
“I’m a Snow Wind Palace disciple too. In that case, you can’t really call me an outsider, can you?”
“By ‘outsider,’ I mean someone who doesn’t carry the Palace Lord’s blood. As you know, the rules handed down from the Patriarch say the Young Palace Lord must be of the Palace Lord’s blood.”
Ah, that’s not it.
He’s wrong.
The Patriarch clearly said the Palace Lord’s position isn’t passed down through blood.
But even if I said that now, there’s no way this guy would believe me.
“I’m just curious, but is there any written record about that?”
“Snow Wind Palace was burned to ashes. Nothing like that could have survived.”
“Then has anyone here actually seen that record?”
At my question, the Protectors looked at one another, then shook their heads.
“I don’t know. Did we have something like that?”
“I never saw it. What about you?”
“Same here…”
Just then, Master opened his mouth to speak.
“We’ve followed that custom until now, but in truth, there is no such record.”
“…”
Master neatly wrapped it up in one sentence.
“Does anyone have any other objections?”
At his question, the other Protectors shook their heads.
But Escort Chief Jeon Il still refused to accept it.
“The reason I’m against this isn’t just that. We haven’t seen his qualifications.”
Escort Chief Ha Cheol spoke, sounding frustrated.
“Haven’t you heard what Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho has done so far? He even earned the title Handsome Young Hero!”
“Snow Wind Palace values martial arts above all! Until I personally see his martial skill, I can’t acknowledge him.”
Escort Chief Jeon Il turned his head to Master and spoke.
“Please understand this Protector’s loyal intentions.”
“And what is it you want to do?”
“Well…”
“One moment, Escort Chief Jeon Il.”
I cut in with a smile.
“Why don’t you have a spar with me?”
“M–me? Why would I?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to see my martial skill for yourself? The best way to check is to do it personally. Am I wrong?”
At my words, everyone nodded.
“Well, that’s true.”
“He’s got a point.”
I turned to Master.
“So please, allow it.”
At my request, Master nodded.
“I’ll allow it.”
.
.
.
Shortly after.
I slipped into Escort Chief Jeon Il’s office.
Changin Escort Bureau gives each Escort Chief a private office.
The only reason I could sneak in here right now was because Escort Chief Jeon Il was off with Escort Chief Ha Cheol.
After the meeting earlier, I quietly asked Escort Chief Ha Cheol for a favor: keep Escort Chief Jeon Il with him somewhere else for about an hour.
I went that far because I needed evidence to push him out.
That’s why I deliberately postponed the match until tomorrow.
It bothered me how desperately Escort Chief Jeon Il opposed me becoming Young Palace Lord.
Everyone else accepted it without much fuss, so why was he so stubborn?
On top of that, there was the nervousness written all over his face.
And the bad feeling I kept getting from him.
In other words, he had something to feel guilty about.
I thought back to the things that happened at Changin Escort Bureau in my past life.
And among those memories, I found a single clue.
“Young Master, did you hear about that?”
“What?”
“They say one of the Escort Chiefs at Changin Escort Bureau embezzled a huge sum. Supposedly around one thousand gold taels.”
“Yeah? That’s a lot to skim off the top. But how did no one notice until he’d taken that much? An escort bureau isn’t exactly a place that’s bad with numbers.”
“Young Master, really now. Why do you think people say even the axe you trust can crush your foot, and the knife you trust can slice your hand?”
“True… there are always people who betray your trust, no matter where you go.”
That was about ten years before I died.
I hadn’t thought much about it, but now I remembered that I didn’t see Escort Chief Jeon Il around after that.
That’s why I started digging into him like this.
Judging from the way he was acting, there had to be something he was hiding.
And proposing the spar was all just to buy myself time.
It wasn’t because I seriously wanted to fight him.
I began carefully inspecting the office, one step at a time.
People like him always hide embezzled money in the same kinds of places.
I checked the spots I had in mind and couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
“Here we go.”
The spot I focused on was the bottom of the bookshelf.
There was a long line scraped into the floor beside it.
That was the hint.
I pushed the bookshelf to the side.
Creak.
The bookshelf slid aside, lining up perfectly with the marks on the floor.
Behind it was a small wall cabinet.
I reached for the book inside and picked it up.
I opened it and let out a second, bitter little laugh.
Jackpot.
Jeon Il finished talking with Ha Cheol and headed back to his office.
He had wanted to return right away, but Ha Cheol kept dragging out the conversation, so he couldn’t get back immediately.
In Jeon Il’s office, Ha Cheol had passionately insisted that Eun Seo-ho should be acknowledged as Young Palace Lord.
Yes, he knew.
He knew that if Eun Seo-ho became Young Palace Lord, Snow Wind Palace’s restoration would speed up.
That was exactly why Eun Seo-ho could not become Young Palace Lord. If he did, everything Jeon Il had been doing until now would lose its justification.
After finishing his work, he opened the window.
At some point, darkness had completely settled outside.
He scanned the surroundings through the window, confirmed that no one was nearby, then closed it again.
He walked over to the bookshelf on one side of the office and opened it.
Inside were part of the assets he’d been stashing away and a ledger listing them all.
In truth, it would have been safer not to make a ledger at all, but he kept one because he couldn’t remember how much he’d siphoned off or where he’d hidden it all.
That was how much he’d embezzled, and how many different places he’d scattered it across.
Snow Wind Palace had already been annihilated long ago.
It was barely hanging on now, like a candle flickering in front of the wind.
He had no intention of disappearing along with Snow Wind Palace.
Restoring Snow Wind Palace was never his goal.
His only goal was to live well himself.
‘Restoring Snow Wind Palace is nothing but a delusion anyway.’
So once he hit the amount he’d set as his goal, he planned to leave this hopeless Snow Wind Palace without a second thought.
That was why Eun Seo-ho must not become Snow Wind Palace’s Young Palace Lord.
Eun Seo-ho belonged to the merchant world and was famous for being sharp.
An escort bureau was also tied to the merchant world, but because guard work and transport were its main business, most of its core personnel were martial artists.
That meant it never managed its money as meticulously as a Merchant Group.
If Eun Seo-ho became Young Palace Lord and happened to look through the ledgers, his embezzlement could be exposed.
“So tomorrow… no matter what happens, I have to crush that brat Eun Seo-ho. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll at least take an arm or a leg.”
Muttering with a sinister expression, he put the bookshelf back the way it was.
Then he snuffed out the candle and left the office.
A moment later, a shadowy figure dropped quietly from the ceiling.
Cold eyes glinted in the dark.
Late that night, I slipped out of the banquet hall for a bit and headed secretly toward Escort Chief Jeon Il’s office.
After what I’d found earlier, I was sure he would have come back and checked the ledger.
He had to be nervous.
The more anxious a corrupt person gets, the more they obsess over the evidence of their own corruption.
Just as I’d expected, there were traces he’d checked the ledger.
All right, time to retrieve it.
Escort Chief Jeon Il would never dream that this thing had vanished.
Even though I’d reached the Profound Realm, sneaking around inside Changin Escort Bureau was no easy task.
There were still people here whose abilities was higher than mine.
That’s why I decided to host a banquet.
Right now, Master and the others were enjoying the feast I’d thrown.
Escort Chief Jeon Il, of course, hadn’t shown up and was probably resting on his own somewhere.
Well, someone who opposed me becoming Young Palace Lord wasn’t likely to attend a banquet I was hosting.
Even if I got caught sneaking around, Master would probably understand…
But things like this work best when you spring them on people before anyone suspects a thing.
Anyway, I should head back to the banquet.
If the host keeps vanishing, it’s not just rude, it also looks suspicious.
The next day.
I arrived at Changin Escort Bureau.
“I’m worried, Young Master.”
At Palgap’s words, I laughed and waved a hand.
“You don’t need to worry about me. There’s no way I’m going to lose.”
At that, the Escort Guards all nodded.
When they heard I was going to have a spar, all six Escort Guards insisted on coming with me.
“No, that’s not it.”
Palgap continued.
“I’m talking about your opponent, Escort Chief Jeon.”
“Huh? Not me?”
“Why would I worry about you, Young Master? You’re not the type to pick a fight you can’t win.”
“Uh, w–well, that’s true, but still…”
“What I’m worried about is that he might hold a grudge against you afterward.”
“You really think he’ll even have the presence of mind for that?”
“Sir?”
“He’s got other things to worry about.”
I followed Escort Chief Ha Cheol, who had been waiting for us, toward the training ground.
I’d been to this training ground once before.
By then, a large crowd had already gathered around it.
All of them were Snow Wind Palace disciples.
It would cause trouble if people found out they were Snow Wind Palace disciples, so they kept that fact hidden.
Naturally, they’d keep quiet about me as well.
And on one side, Master stood with the other Protectors.
“Then, we’ll begin the spar now. Both sides, step forward.”
At Escort Chief Ha Cheol’s announcement, Escort Chief Jeon Il and I faced each other in the training ground.
Escort Chief Jeon Il spoke first.
“If you give up now, we can pretend this spar never happened.”
“Please go easy on me.”
“So you have no intention of backing down.”
“Right.”
The reason he talked like that was because he had no idea what realm I was in.
Escort Guard Seo Wu had told me before.
That you could only figure out my realm by watching me use martial arts.
Even Merchant Lord Namgoong Gang hadn’t been able to read my realm just by looking.
Wait.
But didn’t Master figure it out the moment he saw me?
Maybe things were different at his level.
Either way, it seemed Master hadn’t told anyone about my realm.
Which I was very grateful for.
Anyway, Escort Chief Jeon, I’m sorry, but I won’t be crossing swords with you today.
I spoke to Escort Chief Jeon Il.
“Escort Chief, why are you so dead set against me becoming Young Palace Lord?”
“Isn’t it obvious…”
“I mean the real reason, not the excuses about me not being Master’s bloodline or you not trusting my martial arts.”
My words made him flinch.
“What nonsense is that? There is no other reason!”
“I know the real reason. If you don’t want to say it, I can say it for you.”
I grinned.
“Isn’t it because you’re afraid you’ll get caught for embezzling Snow Wind Palace funds all this time? If I become Young Palace Lord, I’ll audit the ledgers, and then you’ll be exposed.”
My words made him explode.
“What slander is this? Shut your mouth!”
One of the other Protectors spoke up beside us.
“You can’t condemn someone like that without evidence.”
“Embezzlement, you say! Ha, there’s no way Escort Chief Jeon would do something like that.”
Honestly…
These people are so naive.
That’s exactly how Escort Chief Jeon Il managed to embezzle money for so long.
And how they ended up getting hit hard in the back of the head.
Master, who had been silently watching us, finally spoke.
“Deputy Merchant Lord.”
“Yes, Master.”
“The Deputy Merchant Lord I know would never speak so decisively about something uncertain.”
“As expected of you, Master. You really do know me well.”
I grinned and drew a book out from my robe.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, this is a ledger. It lists everything Escort Chief Jeon Il has been siphoning off all this time.”
At my words, his face went pale, and he asked in a trembling voice,
“W–what proof do you have that this is proof of my corruption?”
“The handwriting matches yours, Escort Chief Jeon.”
“H–handwriting can be copied. For all anyone knows, you could’ve forged that to frame me.”
Seriously though, I’m still the Deputy Merchant Lord of a business partner, even if I’m not Young Palace Lord yet, and he’s talking down to me like this.
“You made that up just because I opposed you becoming Young Palace Lord, didn’t you? So you could get rid of me!”
“Think whatever you want.”
I let out a short laugh.
“So you’re saying this ledger isn’t yours, Escort Chief Jeon?”
“Of course not! There’s no way it’s mine!”
“Then you’re saying I made this ledger up just to frame you?”
“Obviously!”
“Mm, let’s see here… fifty silver taels hidden under the rock on the back hill of Sunyang County, the gold Buddha buried beneath the pine tree next to it, five gold taeils invested in Flying Phoenix Pavilion on West Street… and this isn’t even all of it, so you’re saying all of this is mine?”
“…”
–TL Notes–
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