I couldn’t help but be startled by Warrior Dong Hyeok-su’s sudden move.
Because I had never imagined he would throw an axe at the door.
No, wait. When the hell did he even grab an axe?
And that axe struck the door latch dead-on, smashing the lock apart.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing?”
The guards who realized what had happened turned menacing.
But Warrior Dong Hyeok-su ignored them completely and shouted inside.
“Hey! You bastard! If you’re in there, get your ass out here right now!”
“You can’t just barge in here like this.”
“If you keep this up, we’ll have to use force.”
Warrior Dong Hyeok-su kept arguing with the two guards and shot me a look.
I nodded and immediately rushed toward the door.
“N-No, you can’t!”
The two guards tried to stop me, but Warrior Dong Hyeok-su blocked them.
When I opened the door and went inside, I saw Master Yeong tied to a chair.
“Master Yeong!”
“D-Deputy Merchant Lord!”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
I quickly cut through the ropes binding him and helped him outside.
Warrior Dong Hyeok-su was still facing off against the two guards.
“Stop right there!”
“…”
The guards went pale the moment they saw Master Yeong Gu-jin.
Then Warrior Dong Hyeok-su glanced back, grinned, and said,
“Hey! You were still alive?”
“I don’t die that easily.”
Master Yeong Gu-jin also let out a faint laugh, then picked up the axe lying on the ground.
“Did you throw this?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Thanks.”
Just then, perhaps because he had heard the commotion, a man came running over with more guards.
“What is all this noise…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence. He had spotted Master Yeong Gu-jin standing beside me.
In that instant, he hurriedly changed his expression and said,
“Gu-jin, what do you think you’re doing? Coming here with an axe and causing this disgraceful scene!”
I was about to say something to him for trying to shift the blame onto Master Yeong Gu-jin.
But Warrior Dong Hyeok-su was faster than me.
“It’s been a long time.”
“You…”
“And don’t try to frame an innocent man. That axe is mine. I brought it with me to save my dear friend, the one you had locked up.”
“Locked up? What nonsense is that?”
“Why don’t you take a look at the marks left on his arms before you say that?”
Just as he said, Master Yeong’s arms were clearly marked from where he had been tied.
“Come to think of it, I heard Gu-man is away on business right now. Is that why you took advantage of his absence to do something like this? In any case, I’m not letting this matter slide.”
“This is the Seonju Yeong Family’s private affair. No matter how close you are to Gu-jin, you have no right to interfere in our family’s internal matters.”
How shameless. He drew the line at a family matter.
If he framed it that way, it would leave us with no room to intervene.
But Warrior Dong Hyeok-su was not the kind of man who would back down over something like that.
“I had no idea the Seonju Yeong Family had a custom of tying up and imprisoning their own brothers. When I met your honored father before and heard him speak proudly of the family, he never mentioned anything like that.”
Wow!
Nicely done. Very nicely done.
I wanted to applaud him in my heart.
“Gu-jin committed a crime against the family! That is why…”
“Ha! This is too much! How far are you going to take these lies before you’re satisfied? He committed a crime? What crime did he supposedly commit?”
“The crime of disgracing the family name.”
Warrior Dong Hyeok-su stared at him as though the words were too absurd to take seriously.
“Are you saying this man disgraced the family name because he brews alcohol?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying!”
Whew… This really won’t do.
I stepped forward and said,
“This is our first meeting. I am Eun Seo-ho, Deputy Merchant Lord of the Eunhae Merchant Group.”
“This is no place for a mere merchant to interfere!”
“No. I have every right to be here. I came as the representative of the merchant group sponsoring Master Yeong Gu-jin.”
“…”
“The Eunhae Merchant Group has been diligently supporting Master Yeong Gu-jin, and we were in quite a difficult position when he disappeared just before the Tasting Competition.”
I lowered my voice and continued.
“And now we’ve discovered that you were detaining him. In that case, whom should I bill for the damages?”
“That is…”
“Shall I report this to His Highness the Crown Prince, who is overseeing this Liquor Tasting Competition, and have him decide who is in the right?”
At my words, his face twisted with discomfort, and he took a step back.
“So wouldn’t it be better to end things here? If this matter comes to light, do you think anything good will come of it?”
“Ugh…”
I said to Master Yeong Gu-jin and Warrior Dong Hyeok-su,
“Let’s go.”
And just like that, we were able to leave the mansion safely.
“Are you all right?”
When we arrived at the Beijing Branch, Brother Jin-ho came out to greet us.
“Yes, thanks to you, I’m fine.”
“That is truly a relief.”
I said to Brother Jin-ho,
“Brother, just in case, please tighten the security a little more.”
“Understood.”
Brother Jin-ho nodded.
With him in charge, I didn’t have to worry about the Beijing Branch’s security. That was how thorough he was.
Except for the occasional nonsense that came out of his mouth, that is.
Even so, I did like Brother Jin-ho better at this time. The Brother Jin-ho who later becomes the External Chief Administrator grows even more solemn than External Chief Administrator Go Il-pyeong, so he’s no fun at all.
I said to Master Yeong Gu-jin,
“Then let’s sit down and talk.”
“Yes.”
I took Master Yeong Gu-jin and Warrior Dong Hyeok-su to the Reception Room.
Once we sat down, Palgap poured us tea.
“Please drink. It is a tea that steadies both the body and the mind.”
“Ah, thank you.”
We spent a little while drinking tea and settling ourselves.
A conversation held while emotions are still running high never goes in the right direction.
Mm. The tea is good.
Palgap’s tea-brewing skills are improving by the day.
Once I felt everyone’s agitation had calmed somewhat, I asked Master Yeong Gu-jin,
“Who was that man earlier?”
“Ah… His name is Yeong Gu-sang. He is my second older brother.”
Beside him, Warrior Dong frowned and added,
“He’s a person I really can’t stand. Always playing petty little games…”
“I suppose that is his own survival strategy.”
A strategy for taking what he wants, that is. They do say second sons of families tend to be more aggressive in pursuing their ambitions.
Mm, as for Brother Jin-ho…
“Seo-ho, I also believe the position of Merchant Lord belongs to Brother Jeong-ho. My pride lies in protecting this merchant group.”
Right. You can’t generalize everything.
And whether he’s ambitious or not, taking what you want at the cost of hurting others can never be called right.
“So, why exactly did they detain you, Master Yeong?”
“To be honest, I don’t wish to speak of it. But refusing to tell my sponsor would be discourteous.”
He let out a sigh and continued.
“Please, I would like what I say here to remain in this room.”
“Understood. We will keep it secret.”
“They told me to marry.”
“Did you say… marry?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“There is a daughter in the household of the Vice Minister of War, and they say she suffers from Madness. But they cannot simply marry her off to just any man, since they have the household’s status to consider…”
“So they wanted to make you that household’s son-in-law and use that connection for their own benefit.”
“Yes.”
“That fucking damned bastard!”
Warrior Dong Hyeok-su erupted in rage.
Of course he did. Even I, a third party, felt my anger boiling. How much worse must it have been for him, when he was Master Yeong’s childhood friend?
Still, the Vice Minister of War’s daughter and her Madness…
Actually, I knew about that story too.
In my previous life, her husband died while trying to stop her during one of her fits, and I learned about it when the trial took place.
She was found not guilty of murder.
The ruling was that it had happened due to an accident.
However, since her side was still responsible for creating the circumstances, the Vice Minister of War’s household had to pay a tremendous amount of compensation to the groom’s family.
And a few years later, her Madness was cured.
I heard a Taoist from the Maoshan Sect treated her.
That incident was still several years away, and it had no direct connection to me, so I hadn’t been thinking about it.
No matter how far back in time I had returned, I couldn’t save every person in the world.
I had to acknowledge my own limits.
And my goals were to make the Eunhae Merchant Group the greatest merchant group under the heaven and to take revenge on the Murim Alliance and the Baekcheon Merchant Group.
Whew…
I rubbed my face with both hands.
But now the situation had changed.
The victim in that incident could become Master Yeong Gu-jin.
Now that he was someone connected to me, I couldn’t pretend not to know about it.
Still, Madness…
Her Madness made her hurt herself whenever it rained.
It had not been like that from the beginning. They said she suddenly became that way one day.
The fact that a Taoist from the Maoshan Sect cured her, not a Physician, meant it was not an illness.
But I would have to look into that later.
There was something more urgent right now.
I said to Master Yeong Gu-jin,
“Though something unpleasant has happened, I hope you’ll give tomorrow everything you have.”
“Of course.”
Yeong Gu-sang ground his teeth.
His plan had been completely ruined.
Dong Hyeok-su.
As his youngest brother’s childhood friend, he had always rubbed Yeong Gu-sang the wrong way.
Perhaps it was because they were alike, even though they were not alike at all.
He seemed fiery and reckless, but once one looked closer, he was actually quite sharp.
People simply failed to notice it.
On top of that, he was the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s eldest son in Guizhou Province.
A person Yeong Gu-sang could not easily touch.
Naturally, his hatred shifted toward Eun Seo-ho, who had been standing beside him.
“How dare a lowly merchant get in my way?”
He ground his teeth and racked his brain, trying to figure out how to make that man named Eun Seo-ho suffer.
And he focused on the fact that Eun Seo-ho was a merchant.
For a merchant, the most troublesome place would be the Ministry of Revenue, which was directly tied to their business.
The next day, he entered the Imperial Palace and headed straight for the Ministry of Revenue.
“What brings a military official here?”
“I have learned of corruption within a merchant group and came to report it.”
“What? Which merchant group?”
“The Eunhae Merchant Group. I witnessed Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho receiving bribes.”
If one was involved in a merchant group, giving and receiving bribes was unavoidable.
Therefore, while his accusation was a lie, it was also not a lie.
Soon, they would send officials to the Eunhae Merchant Group.
If the Ministry of Revenue officials shook them down thoroughly, every day would become miserable for them.
He was indulging in that pleasant fantasy when he realized something about the situation felt strange.
“Are you certain this report is true?”
“Of course.”
“Then write down exactly when, where, and from whom Deputy Merchant Lord Eun received the bribe, as well as how you came to know about it.”
“Pardon?”
“To deal with Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho, we need precise evidence. Extremely precise evidence, at that.”
The Ministry of Revenue official continued.
“That is why we have a saying in the Ministry of Revenue. When dealing with the Eunhae Merchant Group, prepare one hundred times more thoroughly than usual. Otherwise, we’re the ones who get burned.”
“…”
“Haah, a place famous for not taking bribes has received one? Yes, this is a very important matter. What are you doing? Hurry up and write it down.”
At that, cold sweat began to bead on Yeong Gu-sang’s forehead.
If he wrote down a false statement, it would become an inescapable noose tightening around his own neck.
On top of that, False Accusation was a fairly serious crime.
“Actually, I don’t remember it very clearly… I-I’m sorry.”
He practically fled from the Ministry of Revenue.
“Damn it!”
Just because his first plan had failed did not mean he could retreat here.
The second place that came to mind was the Embroidered Guard.
Since he had also worked in the Ministry of War for a long time, he had connections among the Embroidered Guard as well.
After all, people from the Ministry of War occasionally transferred to the Embroidered Guard.
They possessed powerful authority that allowed them to arrest and interrogate someone even without detailed circumstantial evidence.
‘There is a risk that this might reach Father’s or Brother’s ears, but there is no surer way to make that merchant bastard suffer.’
Yeong Gu-sang approached a Pacification Officer in the Embroidered Guard who had once been his friend. Then he reported Eun Seo-ho to him.
“I heard that man make remarks that seemed to suggest treasonous thoughts against His Majesty.”
“What?”
“So hurry up and arrest him…”
“You bastard! How dare you try to frame that person like that?”
“Huh? Uh, what?”
“That person is the benefactor of our Embroidered Guard! There is not a single man among us who has not received his grace! His loyalty is something every one of us acknowledges! Not only that, he is favored by His Majesty himself!”
At a reaction he had never expected, Yeong Gu-sang was left dumbfounded. His friend spoke to him coldly.
“If you ever slander that person like this again, you’ll die by my hand! And let me warn you. If you touch him, our Embroidered Guard will kill you, and His Majesty will tear your family to pieces!”
“…”
“Tch! To think I called someone like you a friend!”
And with that, he turned and stormed away.
Only then did Yeong Gu-sang understand the situation.
The lowly merchant he had tried to take revenge on was no lowly merchant at all.
‘Damn it! I’m fucked!’
While he was anxiously floundering, a man approached him.
“Oh? There you are!”
It was his eldest brother, Yeong Gu-man.
“B-Brother, when did you return?”
“I just got back. I heard the youngest is participating in the Liquor Tasting Competition today, so I hurried back.”
He smiled and continued.
“Our youngest is finally making something of himself! Hahaha! Sure, it’s brewing alcohol, but he’s still standing before His Majesty, so that’s a great achievement! What are you standing around for? We should go watch.”
“…”
The competition was being hosted by the Cheongsu Merchant Group and the Eunhae Merchant Group.
Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho of the Eunhae Merchant Group would definitely be there.
And so would Dong Hyeok-su.
Yeong Gu-sang truly, desperately, with every fiber of his being, did not want to go there.
–TL Notes–
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