A village in Sichuan Province.
There, the Dan Clan Merchant Group had taken root.
They mainly made and sold decorative dolls.
The dolls they crafted were quite beautiful and even recognized for their artistic value.
So officials and nobles, or anyone with a bit of money, would decorate their display shelves with dolls from the Dan Clan Merchant Group.
But recently, their revenue had taken a sharp downturn.
The cause was the Self-Dancing Doll launched by the Eunhae Merchant Group, which was based in Hubei Province.
Only a thousand were released in a limited sale, and strangely enough, the doll could dance on its own.
Moreover, the clothes it wore were so stunning that wearing outfits inspired by the doll became a trend among courtesans.
Curious about what kind of doll it was, the Dan Clan Merchant Group barely managed to obtain one of the Self-Dancing Dolls—specifically, the Xi Shi doll.
Even to their own eyes, it was truly astounding.
When they wound the wheel behind it, the doll really danced.
And the colors of the outfit were vibrant without being excessive, arranged in perfect harmony.
It was such an incredible display of craftsmanship that it stirred envy.
But that wasn’t all.
The doll’s face was so exquisitely made it looked almost human.
So, driven by desire, they ordered a replica be made—but the answer that came back was “impossible.”
So he personally summoned the artisan and asked,
“You’re saying it can’t be replicated?”
“Yes, that’s right. I don’t know who made this doll, but if someone has this level of skill, they must be a master artisan.”
The artisan shook his head firmly.
“Honestly, I can imitate everything else. But connecting these wheels to move in unison—this is the core. And no matter what materials we use, it just doesn’t work.”
“Is that so?”
He commissioned other artisans as well, but every one of them gave up.
Meanwhile, the doll broke down.
Which wasn’t surprising, given how many times they’d disassembled and reassembled it trying to study it.
‘Come to think of it, they said if I brought the product warranty, they’d repair it for free, right?’
Thinking he had nothing to lose, he brought the warranty and visited the store where he’d bought the doll.
Exactly fifteen days later, he received the repaired Self-Dancing Doll.
Seeing that, the Merchant Lord of the Dan Clan Merchant Group felt a chill.
Technology that couldn’t be mimicked.
Aesthetics that surpassed anything they could produce.
And flawless after-sales service on top of it.
At this rate, the Dan Clan Merchant Group’s doll business would be completely devoured by the Eunhae Merchant Group.
He couldn’t let that happen.
He had to find a way—any way.
These days, I’d been in great spirits.
Especially yesterday—I’d felt fantastic.
Because we’d had the latest profit report from the Eight-Person Pharmacy.
The Eight-Person Pharmacy settles its accounts twice a month—once every 15 days.
That’s when my share gets calculated too.
And the net profit I heard yesterday, and the portion that would come to me, far exceeded my expectations.
That’s how well the Eight-Person Pharmacy was doing.
These days, physicians even post their ads in the pharmacy to promote themselves.
So the pharmacy set up a bulletin board where physicians can post their flyers, and customers choose doctors by reading through them.
In fact, that was my idea.
By doing that, it creates a mutually supportive atmosphere, making it harder for the physicians to act territorial.
Thanks to the pharmacy’s growing reputation, people from other counties were now coming to visit.
My goal is to open Eight-Person Pharmacies all over the Central Plains.
Fewer people suffering from minor ailments, and I make money in the process.
What could be more beautiful than that?
And the money piling up step by step will become great power one day.
Now that I think of it, the next Self-Dancing Doll release should be starting soon.
This time, following the Xi Shi doll, it’s the Diao Chan doll.
Diao Chan (閉月), who stirred the hearts of both Lü Bu and Dong Zhuo at once.
Even I thought the Diao Chan doll, crafted in her likeness, was truly beautiful.
The Self-Dancing Dolls, together with the Eight-Person Pharmacy, are businesses that’ll provide me with steady income.
So I need to pay closer attention to them.
Getting complacent with the present is dangerous. The moment you grow complacent, profit turns into loss.
That’s a truth I learned through the experiences of my previous life.
Anyway… I wonder if Father’s on his way back by now?
He’d gone to meet the Commissioner of Land Affairs in Hubei Province with the Diao Chan doll.
He was supposed to return the day before yesterday, but still hadn’t come back.
What could be going on?
Just then, I sensed someone’s presence.
It’s Deputy Jo Yeong-yeong.
Soon, her voice reached us.
“This is Deputy Jo Yeong-yeong.”
Chief Administrator Yu nodded, and I replied,
“Come in.”
She entered, gave a slight fist-and-palm salute, and got straight to the point.
“The Merchant Lord has returned. He’s convening a meeting immediately. You must go to the Eunwol Pavilion.”
“Understood.”
At Chief Administrator Yu’s words, she turned to me and said,
“You must attend as well, Young Master Eun Seo-ho.”
“…Me too?”
A little while later—
I arrived at Eunwol Pavilion with Chief Administrator Yu.
The other Pavilion Lords were already present, and even Jeong-ho, who’d recently become a Minor Merchant Lord, was there.
Becoming a Minor Merchant Lord had given him the right to officially participate in meetings at the Eunwol Pavilion.
“You’re here. Take your seats. Seo-ho, you too.”
At Father’s words, we quickly sat down. His expression looked grim.
“Everyone’s here. The reason I’ve called this meeting is because of an unsettling rumor.”
“A rumor?”
Jeong-ho asked, and Father continued.
“When I met with the Commissioner of Land Affairs, he gave me a heads-up about the ‘rumor regarding the Self-Dancing Dolls.’ That’s why I was delayed returning—I stayed to investigate.”
“…”
I figured out why I’d been called to this meeting.
I was the employer of the doll’s creator and deeply involved in this matter.
“The rumor is this: that human souls are trapped inside the Self-Dancing Dolls.”
“…What?”
I reflexively asked back.
Because nothing like this had happened in my previous life—it completely caught me off guard.
No, more than that—human souls?
How absurd.
“Human souls? That’s not true at all.”
“No, of course not.”
Father nodded and went on.
“But that’s the rumor that’s spreading, and we confirmed it through the Hao Clan.”
“Where exactly is this rumor spreading?”
In response, Father opened a map and pointed out the regions with his hand as he explained.
This… it’s all over the place.
No matter how I looked at it, something was wrong.
Usually, a rumor starts in one place and spreads outward. It doesn’t flare up simultaneously in multiple regions like this.
Which means… someone’s orchestrating it.
As expected, Pavilion Lord Yeon immediately grasped the meaning.
“Whoever’s behind this must be jealous because the Self-Dancing Dolls are selling too well.”
“I think so too.”
“But, Merchant Lord,”
Pavilion Lord Yeon continued.
“We had been anticipating interference from other merchant groups and kept watch, but there was no suspicious activity.”
At her words, Jeong-ho spoke up.
“That just means they moved with extreme secrecy.”
Then Pavilion Lord Jeok Byeong-cheol who had been quietly listening, said,
“More like our surveillance network was breached.”
“I think so too.”
At their words, Chief Administrator Yu added,
“More urgent is to consider the potential impact and prepare countermeasures in advance.”
“That’s the very reason I called this meeting.”
We immediately began discussing countermeasures.
This rumor was clearly being spread intentionally by someone. That meant we had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
There could be a flood of refund requests for the Self-Dancing Dolls already sold, or the imperial court could order an investigation.
That would mean the collapse of the business.
That must never happen.
I’d bled for this business—no way I’d let it die like this.
I found myself thinking—
If I’d known about this in advance, I could’ve handled it more effectively.
Normally, when a merchant group needs information, they commission the Hao Clan or Beggars’ Union.
But that’s only after something happens, to deal with it after the fact.
You can’t just go around collecting information when nothing’s even happened yet.
If you want to gather intelligence preemptively to prevent incidents, you have to operate a private intelligence unit. And the information gained that way helps make more money.
But that’s easier said than done. It requires a massive amount of capital.
Only the top ten merchant groups under the heavens could afford to run such a network under them.
In the future I’d lived through, the Eunhae Merchant Group eventually had surplus funds and ran its own intelligence unit. That became the foundation for it to rise as one of the top three merchant groups in the world.
And right now, I desperately wished I had that same intelligence network.
But I didn’t have the extra capital yet.
Maybe once my funds pile up a little more, I can start operating one.
Anyway, today’s meeting concluded with a few countermeasures in place.
But we couldn’t gauge the actual damage caused by the rumors yet, so the conclusion was anything but satisfying.
Three days later—
I was reminded once again just how easily people fall prey to rumors.
Of the thousand Diao Chan dolls, only two hundred thirty had been sold.
.
.
.
I was out in the marketplace.
To be exact, I was sitting inside the general store owned by the Ghost-faced Constable. He clicked his tongue when he saw me.
“Why’re you always squatting in here day after day?”
“Well…”
I grinned sheepishly.
“Because it’s comfortable here.”
“In all my years, you’re the first person to say sitting next to me is comfortable.”
Despite grumbling, the old man didn’t kick me out.
“So what is it?”
“Sorry?”
“You’ve got that look—what’s weighing on your mind?”
Truth was, I wasn’t someone who showed my emotions on my face. It was something drilled into me growing up in a merchant household, and it had become a habit.
But the old man saw right through it.
The reputation of the Ghost-faced Constable wasn’t just empty talk after all.
“Well actually…”
I explained everything from the beginning. After hearing me out, the old man chuckled.
“People have always been swayed by rumors. Got any plan?”
“I don’t know. This hit me so suddenly, I’m still kind of stunned.”
“Tsk tsk…”
He clicked his tongue at my words.
“You’re an odd one. Sometimes you seem like a merchant who’s weathered every storm under heaven, and sometimes you’re just a regular boy.”
“Hahaha.”
I had nothing to say to that.
That duality was probably because I’d died at the age of thirty-nine and come back.
“And right now, all I see is a normal fifteen-year-old kid sitting in front of me.”
I turned and looked at my reflection in the mirror.
What showed was a fifteen-year-old boy.
But inside, I was a thirty-nine-year-old man who had nearly taken his merchant group to the top of the world.
And at that moment, it felt like something smacked me in the back of the head.
I couldn’t believe I’d been sitting here stunned and sulking over something like this!
I think it hit harder because nothing like this had happened in the future I remembered.
In that timeline, the Jinkyeon Merchant Group had sold the Self-Dancing Dolls without any interference.
But no matter the business, it’s only natural for rival groups to try and suppress it.
Just like the Eight-Person Pharmacy faced resistance at first.
Surely, even the Merchant Lord of the Jinkyeon Merchant Group had dealt with opposition. And knowing him, he probably issued a heavy-handed warning.
Assassination, perhaps. Or a raid…
But in this life, I was the one running the Self-Dancing Doll business. So the methods others used to interfere would be tailored to me.
This was something I had to be prepared to face.
Still… this is pretty intense.
Does that mean they rate our merchant group that highly?
Well then—thanks, I guess.
Just then, Ghost-faced Constable looked at me and grinned.
“Now the battle-worn merchant is back, sitting in front of me again.”
At his words, I gave him a fist-and-palm salute.
“Thanks to you, Elder, I realized something important. I’m grateful.”
“What’d I even do? So—let me ask again. Got a plan?”
“Yes, Elder.”
I grinned.
“You fight rumors with rumors.”
“Use barbarians to control barbarians (以夷制夷?)”
“Something like that.”
I’m going to make sure no one ever dares to use the Self-Dancing Dolls against us again.
I stood and headed for the merchant group. I needed to review the details and respond properly.
Then, a group of kids caught my eye.
They passed by noisily, laughing and shouting, and I suddenly stopped in my tracks.
“That’s it!”
“Huh? What’s gotten into you, sir?”
Palgap looked confused, but I just smiled.
“I just came up with a really good idea.”
And the method that had just come to me was one I’d actually used in my previous life.
I still didn’t know who was behind this mess—
But whoever you are, you’re dead.
–TL Notes–
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