At his words, Mae Jeong quietly wondered what had gotten into him.
This was a man who usually treated him like he barely existed.
Even when he had something to say, he would either pass the message through someone else or send a letter.
But Mae Jeong had no choice but to stop at what came next.
“I have something to tell you about that guest of yours.”
Mae Jeong had already been suspicious of Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho and had been looking into him.
Of course, judging from the circumstances, he most likely was Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho.
The Merchant Lord had vouched for him as well.
But after everything Mae Jeong had been through, he still couldn’t bring himself to trust the man completely.
So he rose from his seat.
“Lead the way.”
“Very well.”
A short while later, the two arrived somewhere without many people around.
“So, what is it you wanted to tell me about my guest?”
“That guest of yours, he’s the Deputy Merchant Lord of the Eunhae Merchant Group, isn’t he?”
“That hasn’t been confirmed yet.”
“If the Merchant Lord says it’s certain, then it’s certain.”
“…”
“He truly is the Deputy Merchant Lord of the Eunhae Merchant Group, so put your doubts aside. You know I accompanied the Merchant Lord to Luoyang during the last Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering.”
“Yes. I do.”
“I saw him there as well. And the two Escort Guards who caused trouble at the time were with him too. From what I heard, it was thanks to Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho’s pleading that those two weren’t expelled and instead became his guards.”
If Supervisor Cho went that far, there was no reason left to doubt it.
“By the way, I hear you’re transferring to the Eunhae Merchant Group?”
“I haven’t decided yet, but how did you hear about that?”
“I have my ways of finding things out.”
Mae Jeong bit his lip.
“So what is it you’re trying to say?”
Supervisor Cho cleared his throat, looking slightly embarrassed, then answered.
“Ahem. That project you’re working on right now. Hand it over to me.”
“Excuse me?”
For a moment, Mae Jeong went blank at Supervisor Cho’s words.
The project he was pushing forward was an effort to make candy production more efficient.
It was about ninety percent complete, and the workers had responded well to it.
In other words, Supervisor Cho wanted to take credit for something that only needed its finishing touches.
“To be honest, since I’ve barely received any proper bonuses all this time, it’s been rather hard to face my family.”
The shamelessness of wanting to sit down at a table that only needed the rice to finish steaming was infuriating, but more than that, Mae Jeong felt hurt.
“…You don’t think I might stay with the Yeocheong Merchant Group?”
“What attachment would you have to make you stay here? It’s not as if you plan to bury your bones in this place. The Merchant Lord was the one who brought you here in the first place, so once the Merchant Lord steps down, won’t you have no reason left to stay?”
At those words, Mae Jeong felt something inside him go hollow.
Until now, he had worked so hard to blend into the merchant group, and apparently all of it had been pointless.
“…”
“And this is a request the Merchant Lord made personally. You’re hardly the sort of man who would turn your back on his request.”
“…”
Mae Jeong let out a sigh and said,
“I thought I had done my best to live for the Yeocheong Merchant Group and its people in my own way, but I suppose it still wasn’t enough.”
“That’s…”
It was then.
“Fire!”
“The sugarcane field is on fire!”
The sudden screams and shouts startled them both.
When harvesting sugarcane, people would often set deliberate fires to drive away snakes and pests.
The sugarcane itself wouldn’t burn when handled that way.
But that was only during harvest.
The sugarcane had not even properly ripened yet.
If it was exposed to fire now, this year’s sugarcane crop would be ruined.
They stopped their conversation and rushed toward the sugarcane field.
Then, grabbing sickles themselves, they joined the others and began cutting down the sugarcane that had not yet caught fire.
They had to keep the flames from spreading to the rest of the field somehow.
“Waaah!”
At that moment, children came running from beside the sugarcane field, crying.
Supervisor Cho quickly ran over to them and asked,
“What happened?”
“We’re sorry.”
“We’re sorry. Waaah!”
At his sharp questioning, the children only cried.
“Stop crying right now! Tell me what happened!”
“Th, that’s…”
“We were roasting birds in the vacant lot over there…”
The vacant lot they pointed to was beside the sugarcane field, a place the children used as a playground.
Normally, there was enough distance that lighting a fire there would not spread to the sugarcane field, but the weather had been extremely dry lately, and the wind was especially strong today.
So sparks had blown over, and the sugarcane field had caught fire.
“You, you, you… you brats!”
Supervisor Cho was about to explode in anger, but Supervisor Mae stopped him and asked the children,
“Now that I think about it, don’t the five of you usually go around together? Why are there only four of you?”
“Um… Brother Cho Im went inside, saying he’d put out the fire.”
“What?”
Cho Im was Supervisor Cho’s son.
If someone was inside the sugarcane field once it caught fire, it was hard to survive.
Knowing that, Supervisor Cho’s mind went blank, and he sank down on the spot.
Mae Jeong grabbed a nearby water jar and poured it over himself.
“What are you trying to do?”
“I’ll bring him out.”
“It’s dangerous!”
At those words, Mae Jeong spoke firmly.
“He’s your son, Supervisor Cho! We can’t let the son you struggled so hard to have die like this.”
“But why must you be the one to risk your life?”
“Is this really the time to argue about that? One of our merchant group’s family members is in danger!”
Then Mae Jeong shook off his hand and ran into the sugarcane field.
“Cho Im! Where are you? Cho Im!”
It was easy to get lost in a sugarcane field, so markers had been set up here and there.
Following those markers, Mae Jeong found his way through and searched for Supervisor Cho’s son.
“Cho Im!”
“Mister!”
Mae Jeong finally found Cho Im, and the boy teared up the moment he saw him.
“I’m sorry. We were trying to roast birds… sniff…”
“Your father is worried. Let’s get out of here.”
They retraced the path they had taken in order to leave the sugarcane field, but…
“Ugh! Damn it!”
At some point, the flames had spread and blocked their way back.
They could neither move forward nor retreat.
The scorching flames surged and crept closer to them.
The heat and smoke choked the air from their lungs.
‘Now that I think about it, didn’t I go through something like this once?’
Was that why?
Whenever he saw an especially large fire, fear would make cold sweat run down his back.
So whenever they burned the sugarcane fields, he would take sick leave and shut himself inside his home.
He had desperately hidden it, afraid someone might discover his weakness.
‘Honestly, what was I thinking, running into a fire to save Im when I’m like this?’
A bitter smile rose to his lips.
Despite the way they had rejected him, he had cared for the merchant group’s people.
It was because of that feeling that he had thrown himself in so recklessly.
‘But in the end, I’m going to die like this.’
He could not remember him, but he had wanted to meet the father who was waiting for him.
It seemed that wish would not come true.
‘I hope the Merchant Lord won’t grieve too much.’
Thinking that, he squeezed his eyes shut, held the child tightly in his arms, and waited for the death that was coming.
Then, suddenly, a frigid wind blew.
Fwoosh–!
Mae Jeong opened his eyes and lifted his head.
Someone was standing in front of him.
“I’m glad you’re safe. Heaven and earth must have been watching over you.”
At those words, for a moment, it felt as if something else appeared before his eyes.
— I’m glad you’re safe! Heaven and earth must have been watching over you!
And another voice rang in his ears.
‘Whose voice is that?’
It was a damp voice, as if the speaker was truly relieved.
For some reason, tears slipped from his eyes. And then…
“Ugh!”
His head began to hurt as though it were splitting apart, and in the end, he lost consciousness.
Escort Guard Seo Wu supported Supervisor Mae.
“He seems to have passed out.”
“I see.”
The child had already fainted. It seemed he had been unable to withstand the terror of the flames closing in.
After finding the Heavenly Spirit Root in the sugarcane field and taking it, I noticed that a fire had broken out.
I was heading toward the flames to suppress the fire when I suddenly increased my speed.
That was because I sensed Supervisor Mae’s presence in that direction.
If Supervisor Mae died, this entire trip to Guangxi would have been for nothing.
I urgently used Ice Art to extinguish the flames as I ran forward, and I managed to save Supervisor Mae.
I raised my Qi again.
Wooooong.
The Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art was an internal power of extreme yin.
Thanks to that, it had a powerful suppressive effect against fire.
I raised the Silver Mist Sword and swung it toward the place where the flames were raging.
Fwoooosh–!
Once the Silver Mist Sword’s fog power joined in, the flames rapidly began to die down.
Through the escape route I secured, the two Escort Guards followed while carrying Supervisor Mae and the child on their backs.
Perhaps because they had heard the news, not only my companions but also the merchant group’s people had come out and were stamping their feet in anxiety.
As soon as I emerged, my companions ran over.
“Deputy Merchant Lord!”
“Please take care of these two. I’ll go put out the fire.”
“But… it’s dangerous!”
I smiled faintly and swung my sword again, and the fire began to go out in an instant.
“Oh!”
“Ooooh!”
The Yeocheong Merchant Group’s people were greatly astonished.
I continued releasing Ice Art, and before even fifteen minutes had passed, I was able to suppress the fire.
“Please check whether any flames are still burning.”
“There are none!”
“It’s all out!”
“That’s a relief.”
Only then did I turn my head and look at the two people who were still unconscious.
“You little brat! Open your eyes!”
The supervisors were gathered around the child, but they could not bring themselves to approach Supervisor Mae.
Even so, they kept glancing at him.
Their eyes were filled with guilt and apology.
“That child is Supervisor Cho’s son, and I heard the moment Supervisor Mae learned the boy hadn’t come out of the sugarcane field, he ran straight inside.”
With Palgap’s explanation, I understood the situation.
And I also understood why those men felt guilty.
Then the other supervisors came over to me.
“To think you could extinguish a fire just by swinging your sword. Incredible!”
“It just so happens that the martial art I learned belongs to the Ice Art branch, so putting out the fire was not difficult.”
“Thank you so much.”
“We don’t know how we could ever repay this debt.”
“I’m glad I was able to help, but how bad is the damage?”
“Fortunately, only a portion burned.”
“That is a blessing amid misfortune.”
Only then did I begin to understand why the Yeocheong Merchant Group had wavered in my previous life, and why Supervisor Mae had not been there.
It was not that Supervisor Mae left this place after the Merchant Lord died. He had been a victim of this fire.
Considering the current weather and the force of the flames, most of the sugarcane field would have burned.
The problem was that the culprits were children.
Even if they tried to hold the parents responsible, would it have been possible for them to repay the full amount of the losses?
Impossible.
So the merchant group’s finances were bound to stumble…
And since all the children who played together were the children of the merchant group’s supervisors, it must have affected the supervisors’ actions afterward as well.
Those combined results must have led to the future I knew.
Just then, a group of people came running from far away. Since they had medicine chests on their backs, they seemed to be physicians.
“Over here! Here!”
As soon as they arrived, they checked Supervisor Mae’s and the child’s conditions.
“They have only fainted. After some time passes, they should regain consciousness.”
Soon, they were moved back to the merchant group, and the remaining people handled the cleanup.
Thanks to everyone busily moving about, clearing away the burned sugarcane and doing what needed to be done, the work finished quickly.
Two days passed after that.
The door to my quarters opened, and Palgap entered.
“What about Supervisor Mae?”
“Still nothing.”
The child had regained consciousness, recovered, and returned to his daily life.
But Supervisor Mae still had not awakened.
“They say there isn’t anything particularly wrong with him.”
“Right…”
I couldn’t stay here too much longer…
After thinking quietly for a moment, I rose from my seat.
“I should go see Supervisor Mae.”
I left my quarters and headed toward the infirmary where Supervisor Mae was lying.
“We greet the Handsome Young Hero Great Hero!”
When the merchant group’s people saw me, they quickly cupped their fists and greeted me.
“Ah, yes…”
Thanks to what I had done during the fire at the sugarcane field, I was being treated like a hero in the Yeocheong Merchant Group.
Not only the Merchant Lord, but even the Deputy Merchant Lord had held my hands and thanked me repeatedly.
And somehow, the rumor had spread, and even my epithet was known now, so everyone called me Handsome Young Hero Great Hero.
Sigh… I can’t escape it even here.
Soon, I arrived at the infirmary.
Supervisor Cho was pacing in front of it.
“Ah!”
When he saw me, he quickly tried to leave.
“Are you here to visit Supervisor Mae?”
“Ah… yes.”
“You may go in with me.”
“It’s all right.”
“I won’t stay long.”
At my words, he hesitated for a moment before nodding, and we entered together.
Supervisor Mae lay utterly still, as if dead.
His complexion was fine, and his breathing was normal…
Just as I approached to examine his body, Supervisor Mae’s eyes opened.
“U, uhm…”
Supervisor Cho urgently called out to him.
“Oh! Supervisor Mae! Are you awake? Do you recognize me?”
“Uh… Supervisor Cho?”
“Yes! That’s right! It’s me, Supervisor Cho!”
“Im…”
“He’s safe! Thanks to you… he lived.”
“That’s a relief.”
“You fool! I was so afraid you might never wake up… sniff.”
In the end, Supervisor Cho burst into tears.
“I’m so sorry to you that I can’t even raise my head!”
“Hahaha.”
Supervisor Mae laughed.
“But who saved Im and me? I’m certain someone swung a sword back then, and it seemed as if the fire went out…”
At those words, Supervisor Cho said,
“Here, the Handsome Young Hero Great Hero saved you and my son. Not only that, he also suppressed the fire.”
“Ah!”
He turned his gaze toward me.
“Thank you very much.”
“It was nothing. I’m truly glad you regained consciousness.”
“Um, Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho.”
Tears welled in Supervisor Mae’s eyes, though he had been laughing only moments before.
“I want to… see my parents.”
“Could it be…”
“Yes. I’ve regained my memories.”
–TL Notes–
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