The children started getting curious.
“A secret song?”
“What is it?”
“Tell us too!”
“I’m not supposed to… but since you said I look like a Self-Dancing Doll, I’ll tell you.”
This was exactly the method I’d planned.
Change public perception of the Self-Dancing Dolls through a song.
Catching the rat hiding in the Sichuan Branch was one goal, but part of why I came to Sichuan in secret was for this as well.
People instinctively reject anything that feels forced. That’s why I was borrowing the power of children.
They’re one of the most natural existences in the world.
So I’d use them to naturally shift public opinion.
And for this operation, capable and trustworthy agents had been sent to each province.
After teaching the children the song, I stood up.
“Alright, let’s go grab lunch.”
“Honestly, shouldn’t we be eating Sichuan food while we’re in Sichuan?”
It had been a day since we arrived, but we’d only eaten plain noodles and dumplings so far, skipping Sichuan’s signature dishes.
Palgap seemed a little tired of it.
At his words, I looked at him for a moment and asked,
“Have you ever had Sichuan food before?”
“No, sir.”
“Think you can handle spicy food?”
“I’m originally from Sunyang County, you know.”
Sunyang was close to Hunan, so the cuisine there was similar to Hunan’s.
And Hunan cuisine is spicy.
But Sichuan spice is a little different.
Hunan’s spicy flavor carries a hint of sweetness, while Sichuan spice is numbing and burns.
Just one bite of authentic Sichuan heat will have you sweating in streams.
There’s a reason they say Sichuan folks have no fear of spicy food.
The first time I had Sichuan cuisine was five years from now.
I’d come to Sichuan while managing the Eunhae Textiles and had to inspect some Shujin in person.
Back then, I boldly ordered mala xiang guo (麻辣香鍋).
My uncle tried hard to stop me, but I insisted I’d be fine.
In the end, I spent the whole night suffering with stomach cramps.
Ugh…
Just remembering it makes shame bubble up inside me.
I sighed.
“Well, at the very least not now. If you’re gonna try, wait till we get back to headquarters.”
Seeing me like that, Warrior Lee Pil spoke.
“Sometimes the best way to learn is by experiencing it yourself. And today, I’d like to enjoy a taste of home after a long time.”
Taste of home?
“You’re originally from Sichuan?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Then I guess we don’t have to worry about food being wasted.”
We headed to a nearby restaurant.
I ordered plain dumplings. Not all Sichuan dishes are spicy, after all.
Warrior Yeo Eung-am also ordered dumplings.
“I’d rather not learn through pain, haha.”
“Smart move.”
Palgap and Warrior Lee Pil, however, ordered mala xiang guo.
The food arrived soon after.
It was a small pot filled with meat and vegetables stir-fried in spicy seasoning.
“Wow! That looks amazing!”
“Yeah, enjoy.”
Looks good, right?
I counted in my head.
One,
two,
three—
And Palgap… completely defied my expectations, or more like shattered them.
“Oh? This is delicious! The numbness is quite unique!”
“…”
Lee Pil let out a loud laugh.
“Hahaha! So you’ve got the taste for this, Palgap! Whew! It’s been a while since I had real food.”
The two of them dug in, happily chomping on the mala xiang guo.
“…”
I checked Palgap’s expression, but there wasn’t even a hint of forced tolerance or pain.
He was just genuinely enjoying the food.
It felt like watching a bear devour a beehive, not caring if the bees stung its nose.
Is Palgap’s tongue a bear too?
After finishing our meal, I went out again to find more kids to teach the song.
Several days passed like that.
A marketplace in Sichuan.
Children walked along, humming a tune.
“A Self-Dancing Doll with a soul inside, a Self-Dancing Doll that helps you make money…”
Hearing the song, a group of adults sitting outside a tavern drinking takju began talking.
“Come to think of it, that song’s been going around a lot lately.”
“You mean the one about the Self-Dancing Doll that brings in money?”
“Yeah, I heard there’s some truth to that.”
“What?”
“You know how everyone’s heard the rumors that the Self-Dancing Dolls have souls, right?”
“Sure, that’s what made them creepy. I heard Elder Jeon next door locked his doll in the storage.”
“But now they’re saying those souls bring in wealth. Apparently, people have made huge profits from them.”
And with that, the rumor began spreading—not just through Sichuan, but across the entire Central Plains.
.
.
.
The Merchant Lord of the Dan Clan Merchant Group was listening to a subordinate’s report.
“So, you’re telling me the Self-Dancing Dolls are all sold out?”
“Yes, sir.”
“They sold out in less than a month? I thought they’d be stuck in storage?”
“That’s what we thought… but it seems the rumors are to blame.”
“Rumors?”
“Yes. The rumor that the soul inside the Self-Dancing Dolls helps you earn money.”
He had heard of that rumor too.
But he knew for a fact it wasn’t true. Because the dolls didn’t actually contain souls.
He would know—he was the one who fabricated and spread the original rumor.
“And the source of the rumor?”
“We’re looking into it, but it’s still unclear. It’s spreading through a song children sing, but we haven’t identified who started it.”
“…”
The Dan Clan Merchant Lord clicked his tongue and furrowed his brows.
“Whoever came up with this plan… was damn clever.”
“Sir?”
“This has the Eunhae Merchant Group’s fingerprints all over it. They turned our own rumor back on us.”
“Then should we use the rumor ourselves? Say that not just their dolls, but ours too can bring wealth?”
At the subordinate’s cautious suggestion, the Merchant Lord thought for a moment, then nodded.
“That might work. Do it.”
“Understood.”
“But… why haven’t we heard from our contact?”
“Sir?”
“I mean the one from the Eunhae branch. With something like this happening, he should’ve contacted us already.”
He stroked his chin and added,
“Seems the payment wasn’t enough. We’ll have to sweeten the deal a bit.”
“Would it be alright to invest that much?”
“It’s fine. We’ll bleed him for far more in return.”
I looked at the moon through the inn window.
It’s already been seven days and nights since I arrived.
I turned to Palgap and asked,
“Still no stomach problems?”
“None at all, sir.”
“…”
Lately, Palgap had taken a real liking to Sichuan cuisine and kept eating it nonstop.
And still, he never got an upset stomach.
Palgap… do you have a bear stomach too?
“By the way, about that rumor going around lately.”
“Oh, you mean the one that Dan Clan’s dolls help you make money too?”
“Yes, that one.”
“So they finally took the bait.”
“Huh?”
As Palgap tilted his head in confusion, I gave a small grin.
“You just bit the first lure I planted for this scheme.”
There were two main goals I was aiming for.
The first was revenge against the Dan Clan Merchant Group, who came up with this entire ploy.
I didn’t just want to change people’s perception of the Self-Dancing Dolls through the song I created.
Those who own Self-Dancing Dolls tend to be wealthy.
To outsiders, it’s impossible to tell whether they got rich because of the doll or if they already had money and simply bought one.
That tiny bit of ambiguity was all it took for the rumor to start rolling on its own.
Soon, it’ll be clear that it was all nonsense.
But since the rumor helped Self-Dancing Dolls start selling again, those who first spread the negative rumors will want to exploit this reversal.
Just like they’re doing now.
People aren’t fools.
A single rumor, even two, might pass unnoticed—but once it reaches three, they start sensing something’s off.
And what happens then?
The reputation of the Dan Clan dolls, which tried to ride the wave too late, crashes.
The Dan Clan Merchant Group will have no choice but to step in and publicly deny the rumor.
And by doing so, they’ll also be denying the original rumor that the Self-Dancing Dolls contain souls.
Three different rumors about dolls in just over a month? People will feel something’s clearly wrong.
You think they won’t realize where it all started?
They will.
And then the Dan Clan’s reputation will fall even further.
Palgap nodded at my explanation.
“Ah, so that’s what it was? You really are brilliant, Young Master!”
“I know. I’m pretty smart.”
“But still… it feels like a shame to lose the profit we made from the soul-brings-wealth rumor.”
“No, that rumor needs to die quickly.”
“Huh? Why’s that?”
“If it keeps going, the heavy-footed authorities will start moving. If they label the dolls as items that bewitch people, it’ll be a problem.”
I continued.
“That’s why the Dan Clan has to suppress the rumor even if it costs them their reputation.”
“Ah…”
“What I want is for people to love the Self-Dancing Dolls themselves, without any rumors. They should shine on their own.”
A few days later.
The Dan Clan Merchant Lord was receiving a report in his office.
Slam!
“Damn it all!”
He slammed his fist on the desk in front of him.
“Our doll sales are dropping even further? What the hell is going on?”
“Well…”
The subordinate explained.
“People’s opinion of our dolls is getting worse. It seems they’re put off by them.”
“Put off? Why? They’re dolls that help you make money!”
“That’s the thing… Families who’d buy decorative dolls like ours tend to be well-off…”
“So what?”
“They’re saying the Dan Clan dolls seem cheap compared to the Self-Dancing Dolls.”
“What?”
“They’re saying we only jumped on the rumor bandwagon to make sales… because our dolls lack class.”
“Cheap? These dolls are made with Shujin, one of the Central Plains’ four great silks, and decorated with Shuxiu (蜀繡), one of the four great embroideries—and they’re calling them cheap?!”
“…”
He forced himself to calm down.
“What should we do?”
The Dan Clan Merchant Lord knew exactly what kind of people their clients were.
Proud and status-conscious.
If those types were now distancing themselves, it was a major warning sign.
If things continued, even their remaining customers would leave.
“And an official from the local administration has issued a warning. The authorities might take action soon.”
He had to put a lid on this before it exploded.
“Send out the word immediately. Spread the correction that the rumor about our dolls bringing wealth is false.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Dan Clan Merchant Lord could already guess what would come of this order.
A clean-up of his own mess.
He’d end up retracting the very plan he created with his own hands.
‘Still, even with this, I don’t think we can recover our reputation.’
The thought hit him out of nowhere.
‘Could the one who crafted this counter-scheme really have predicted all of this?’
No way.
He forcibly dismissed the thought.
If whoever pulled this off truly aimed to bring down the Dan Clan Merchant Group, they wouldn’t survive it.
I was eating dumplings at a local diner.
Beside me, Palgap and Lee Pil were happily devouring their spicy Sichuan dishes.
Not that I didn’t want to eat anything but dumplings.
But I had no choice. I’d suffered enough before.
Maybe I should start building resistance to every cuisine in the Central Plains, just in case?
Tch…
Just then, I overheard a conversation from the next table.
“They say that thing about the Dan Clan dolls bringing in money was a lie.”
“Yeah, I heard that too.”
“So what, the same’s probably true for the Self-Dancing Dolls, huh?”
“Must be.”
“Come on, how would a doll help you make money anyway?”
“Now that I think about it, isn’t it weird?”
“What is?”
“Don’t you think there’ve been way too many rumors about dolls lately?”
“You’re right.”
“So maybe they’re all fake. Think about it—first, they say the Self-Dancing Dolls have souls. Then the soul helps you make money. Then they say Dan Clan dolls do the same thing.”
“And now they admit the Dan Clan doll rumor was false?”
“So what does that make all of them? Just lies, right?”
“Then who started all this?”
“Who else? The ones who spread the first and third rumors.”
“Wow. I didn’t think the Dan Clan would stoop that low.”
“Shameless.”
I gave a faint smile.
Once again, people aren’t fools.
Now… shall we go catch the rat?
–TL Notes–
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