While I was talking with the Provincial Commander, the escort guards had already tied up all the attackers.
They’d naturally also collected all the poison they’d use to kill themselves.
Seeing that, the Provincial Commander clicked his tongue in amazement.
“Impressive. This clearly isn’t your first time doing something like this.”
“The merchant world is just as cutthroat, isn’t it? We end up dealing with people like this pretty often.”
I picked out the one who had the best weapon.
For warriors, weapons are as coveted as martial arts, so the guy with the nicest weapon was most likely their leader.
At my signal, Escort Guard Myeong Jong splashed cold water over his face.
“Gah!”
Startled awake, he focused, saw me, and seemed to grasp the situation, biting down on his lip.
“Looks like they’re wandering mercenaries.”
“That’s right.”
“Their clothes and weapons are all different, after all.”
Rogues like them split into two types depending on their tendencies.
White rogues and black rogues.
White rogues earn money doing aboveboard work like escorting, while black rogues make their living in the shadows with ambushes and assassinations.
These guys were definitely the latter.
He let out a sly grin and said,
“Anyway, sorry to disappoint you, but even if you torture me, you won’t get what you want.”
“So in other words, you don’t plan on telling us who hired you.”
“We don’t know either. If we don’t know anything, what exactly are we supposed to say?”
Unbelievably shameless.
Then again, you probably need at least this much shamelessness to be a leader among black rogues.
“So, how much did you get paid?”
“What?”
“You at least know how much money you got for the job, right? Don’t tell me you don’t. At your age, not even knowing how much you were paid would make you nothing but an idiot.”
“We got ten gold taels!”
“So you do know. But for killing a second-rank official who’s from the Shandong’s Ak Clan and serves as Provincial Commander, you took only ten gold taels? Are you just naive, or that desperate for cash?”
“Damn it!”
He ground his teeth at my words and spat out a shout.
“They promised if we pulled this off, they’d erase our names from the Murim Alliance’s wanted list!”
Ah, so that’s why they went along with such a small fee.
Ten gold taels was basically just operating expenses.
Gotta admit, that was clever.
“With terms like that, you weren’t exactly in a position to be picky about the job, were you?”
“So what if we weren’t?”
“That means your client is someone with the authority to erase names from the Murim Alliance’s wanted list.”
“…!”
His eyes widened at that.
“In other words, the person who hired you is high up in the Murim Alliance.”
I grinned.
“That’s a bit different from what you said earlier, isn’t it? Thought you claimed you didn’t know anything?”
“…”
He looked completely flustered.
Shiiing.
Behind me, Escort Guard Seo Wu drew his sword.
“So, how about you tell us everything you know?”
.
.
.
A little later.
I gave the battered leader of the rogues a quick once-over. He wouldn’t be able to hold a sword, probably not even walk straight, but I didn’t feel the least bit sorry for him.
Being a black rogue meant he’d already taken countless innocent lives, and ending up on the Murim Alliance’s wanted list meant he’d done it with plenty of cruelty.
From his mouth, we confirmed that the one who ordered this job was a member of the Murim Alliance.
We also learned the target was the Provincial Commander and that the man who gave the commission spoke with an Anhui accent.
At this point, we’d squeezed out everything we realistically could.
“Anhui, huh. The Baekcheon Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord is from the Namgoong Clan, right?”
“As far as I know, yes.”
And the Namgoong Clan is based in Anhui.
“We’ll have to press them hard on this.”
I could hear deep anger in the Provincial Commander’s voice. Of course, someone had just tried to kill him – who wouldn’t be furious?
The next morning.
We set out for Luoyang again.
With this much done, you could say our part in the matter was mostly over.
Even so, just in case, we traveled to Luoyang along with the Provincial Commander’s group, keeping a bit of distance.
Until the Provincial Commander arrived in Luoyang, there were no further attacks.
It couldn’t have been easy to hire those black rogues in the first place, so getting more would be close to impossible.
We watched and made sure the Provincial Commander reached Luoyang and passed safely through the city gate.
Now it was the Provincial Commander’s turn to take the stage.
He’d climbed all the way up to become Nanjing’s Provincial Commander within the military – he’d handle it well.
And now that he had a personal grudge too, it was obvious he’d shake them down to the bone.
Tsk, tsk. That idiot Merchant Lord Namgoong Gang… why’d he have to pull something like this…
I turned to my group and said,
“Now it’s time for us to go our own way.”
“Yes. Where are we headed?”
“We’re going to Hangzhou.”
At the Baekcheon Merchant Group, a beating so brutal it was hard to watch was underway.
Thud! Thud, thud!
The one kicking without restraint was Merchant Lord Namgoong Gang.
And the one taking the blows was Supervisor Ji Taek-mun.
“Damn it! Calling yourself a Supervisor when you don’t have any skill! You bastard! Did I make you a Supervisor so you could screw up like this?”
“I– I’m sor… guh!”
He let out a groan of pain.
The moment he answered the summons and returned to the Baekcheon Merchant Group, Namgoong Gang had kicked him just as he’d expected, and the beating had been going on ever since.
Blood was already splattered everywhere, but Namgoong Gang had no intention of stopping.
“I trusted you with the Changhae Merchant Group and you still managed to lose it again? Just die already, you bastard!”
Around them, the other Supervisors and workers watched nervously, not knowing what to do.
They couldn’t bring themselves to step in, because they all knew Namgoong Gang’s temper.
Right then.
“Um, Merchant Lord.”
“What? Right now?!”
At his icy snap, the attendant flinched and spoke in a small voice.
“We just received word that Provincial Commander Ak Yeong-gyeong has headed for the Murim Alliance.”
“What?”
“Provincial Commander Ak Yeong-gyeong has entered the Murim Alliance’s headquarters…”
“Damn it!”
Namgoong Gang gnashed his teeth at that report.
He’d gone to the trouble of finding some fairly capable black rogues and hiring them… and they’d failed.
‘How could they have failed? With their level of skill, they should’ve been more than enough to take care of that old man, even with guards around him.’
Among the black rogues he’d hired, four of them were Peak–realm experts.
He’d been at ease because it was basically an impossible job to fail unless a Profound–realm master stepped in…
And Profound–realm masters weren’t exactly common.
That meant this wasn’t the time to be standing around.
He had to move quickly to contain the situation.
He headed straight for the dungeon, and only then did the others finally carry the rag–like Ji Taek-mun off to a physician.
A short while later,
Namgoong Gang arrived at the dungeon and saw his deputy and the warriors that had guarded Mo Cheong locked up inside.
“Please spare us!”
We only did what you ordered us to do, Merchant Lord! Why are you doing this to us?”
At their words, Namgoong Gang twisted his lips into a cold smile.
“Are you trying to dump the blame on me now?”
“Merchant Lord!”
“To think I trusted trash like you, hiding such vicious hearts, and gave you work! Grrr!”
“…”
At his words, they understood.
They were about to be made scapegoats and die in his place.
Naturally, rage surged up inside them.
“You son of a bitch!”
“After everything, you throw away the men who were loyal to you!”
To those men, Namgoong Gang spoke in a quiet voice.
“That’s just how the world works.”
Shiiing.
He drew his sword, stepped into the cell, and cut off his deputy’s head.
Slash–!
Thud, roll roll roll.
His deputy’s head rolled across the floor. Watching it, the escort captain suddenly remembered Mo Cheong’s words.
“Heh! In the end, you’ll end up just like me.”
He closed his eyes.
‘Just like you said… in the end, this is what we became. I wanted to live a bit longer, but that “bit” didn’t even last two months.’
But he refused to die like a dog without doing anything.
‘Mo Cheong, you prepared a way to live, but at least I prepared a way to lash out before I die.’
Tack!
He pulled out the hidden dagger he’d smuggled in with the help of the guard outside.
Then he hurled it at Namgoong Gang.
Slash!
His own head flew off, but his final desperate strike still had an effect.
Namgoong Gang had never even dreamed that the imprisoned escort captain would have prepared a hidden weapon like that.
Thud–!
“Aaaaargh!”
The dagger buried itself in Namgoong Gang’s left eye.
“Ghhk! Y– you! You fucking bastard! Get a physician! Call a physician right now!”
Chaos erupted throughout the Baekcheon Merchant Group, and every physician in the merchant group rushed over to treat Namgoong Gang’s eye.
“Will my eye heal?”
“I’m sorry.”
“…”
That answer said everything about his condition.
As he struggled to swallow the shock of losing an eye, his attendant cautiously delivered a message.
“Um, Merchant Lord. A message came from the Murim Alliance. The elder is summoning you.”
“…”
His eye still throbbed with pain, but it was a summons from his father, one of the Murim Alliance’s senior members.
No matter what, he had to go at once.
A bit later.
Namgoong Gang arrived at the Murim Alliance and headed for his father’s quarters.
“Merchant Lord Namgoong Gang of the Baekcheon Merchant Group has arrived.”
The door opened, and he saw his father. And then…
Thwack!
A teacup flew at him, struck his forehead, and blood began to trickle down.
Under his father’s icy, chilling gaze, Namgoong Gang bit his lip.
He knew instinctively.
If he managed to walk out on his own two feet today, he’d be lucky.
We retraced our route and arrived back in Hangzhou.
West Lake’s scenery was breathtaking, even seeing it again.
“It really is beautiful.”
Lady Seohyang exclaimed in admiration beside me.
“I think I did well to serve as your aide, Young Master. I get to see views like this.”
“But isn’t it hard on you, all this traveling?”
At my words, she chuckled shyly.
“If I can see scenery like this, that much hardship is nothing.”
“But, why did we come to Hangzhou in the first place?”
At Palgap’s question, I grinned.
“What do you think I came here for?”
“Is it because of Yangyang Martial Hall, by any chance?”
“That’s part of it, but I’ve got a bigger goal. This time, I’m going to buy up the taverns in Hangzhou.”
That’s why I’d brought Lady Seohyang along too.
“First, let’s head to Yangyang Martial Hall.”
“Okay.”
We made our way to Yangyang Martial Hall, and the children there along with Hall Master Yeom Jin-yeon welcomed me warmly.
“Welcome.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit for so long.”
“Not at all. Thanks to the supplies you’ve been sending, we spent the winter warm and well-fed.”
After greeting the children, I followed Hall Master Yeom to his office.
“Please, have some tea.”
“Thank you.”
After offering me the tea, Hall Master Yeom calmly began to speak.
“It’s already been about two and a half years since we moved here.”
“That’s right.”
It’s been around two years since the famine began, after all.
“So, how’s the tavern that was built where Yangyang Martial Hall used to be? Is it doing well?”
At my question, he gave a faint smile and replied.
“They’re not even making back a tenth of what they invested.”
Just as I’d expected.
It figures – of all things, putting a tavern in that spot…
On top of that, the prohibition on alcohol had come down, making things even worse.
The owner must’ve thought building a tavern there would be a huge success, which is why he put it there.
Even going so far as to drive Yangyang Martial Hall out.
But he still didn’t realize the price he’d pay for forcing Yangyang Martial Hall out.
“The 6th Month is almost here, and the weather’s perfect. It’s about time we got ready to move.”
Before that, I should take a look at the taverns.
I left Yangyang Martial Hall and walked through Hangzhou’s red-light district.
Before the prohibition, the place had been packed with people.
Now, it was so empty it felt eerie.
Naturally, the red lanterns that had once bathed everything in crimson light weren’t lit either.
Oil was scarce and there were no customers, so there was no reason to light them.
Palgap asked in shock,
“Young Master, is this really the same place I remember?”
“Yeah, it’s the same place.”
“A famine really is terrifying.”
I nodded.
My steps finally stopped in front of a cloth shop run by Supervisor Wi Jun-deok – no, Shopkeeper Wi Jun-deok now.
There were hardly any flashy silks inside, the shelves mostly filled with practical, sturdy cloth.
As expected, he’d moved quickly to adapt.
He must’ve been checking over the shop just then, because Shopkeeper Wi Jun-deok jolted in surprise and hurried over.
“Deputy Merchant Lord, you’ve come?”
“Have you been well?”
We went inside, and Shopkeeper Wi Jun-deok served me tea.
I’d just had tea earlier, but since this was his way of welcoming me, I had to drink it.
“It looks like you’re holding up pretty well despite the famine.”
“Yes. It’s been a bit tough, but thanks to your advice, we’re managing somehow.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“So, what brings you to Hangzhou this time?”
Instead of answering, I got straight to the point.
“I’d like you to handle some work for me.”
“Whatever it is, just say the word.”
“Among the taverns here in Hangzhou, are there any that are up for sale?”
Shopkeeper Wi Jun-deok thought for a moment, then answered.
“Up for sale… yes, a few places are.”
“Sounds like things are really tough.”
“It does seem that way.”
“What about the ones that aren’t on the market?”
“They’re not much different. They’re barely hanging on, that’s all that’s keeping them from being put up for sale.”
“I see.”
“But why are you asking, if I may ask?”
At his question, I answered with a broad grin.
“Because I’m planning to become the owner of Hangzhou’s taverns.”
–TL Notes–
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