At the Eunwol Council meeting I attended during my last trip to Hubei, the proposal for Brother Jeong-ho to take up permanent residence at the Beijing Branch was approved.
In the Eunhae Merchant Group, every direct descendant of the Merchant Lord is called a Deputy Merchant Lord until someone from that generation becomes the next Merchant Lord.
It's one of the ways we're different from other merchant groups.
The idea is that everyone should compete fairly from an equal position, and the winner becomes the next Merchant Lord.
At the same time, it's a warning never to let your guard down until everything is truly over.
Running a merchant group is a far more ruthless business than most people realize.
If you want to survive the competition without falling prey to someone else's underhanded schemes, you have to take a bite out of them first.
If I don't devour them first, I'll be the one who gets eaten.
With other Deputy Merchant Lords waiting in the wings, you can be replaced at any moment. In other words, you'd better stay sharp.
There was also one final reason – insurance against the worst.
Even if one Deputy Merchant Lord suddenly died or disappeared, the existence of the others meant the succession itself wouldn't collapse.
Under normal circumstances, just as it had been in Father's generation, the next Merchant Lord should have been decided through competition between the three of us brothers.
But Brother Jin-ho and I had both tacitly withdrawn from the succession struggle, so Brother Jeong-ho had naturally become the undisputed next Merchant Lord.
That was also why the proposal for Brother Jeong-ho to reside permanently in Beijing had passed through the Eunwol Council without much difficulty.
“Palgap.”
“Yes, sir. You called for me?”
“Brother Jeong-ho is coming this time.”
Palgap's face immediately brightened.
“He's finally coming, sir?”
“Yeah.”
Lady Seohyang, who was beside me, asked,
“Then will his entire family be coming with him?”
“Yes. They will.”
When Brother Jeong-ho came this time, my sister-in-law and their two children would be accompanying him.
Beijing was the Imperial Capital, which meant more powerful nobles and high-ranking officials gathered here than anywhere else in the Empire.
And if you wanted to run a merchant group in the Empire, you couldn't afford to be on bad terms with them.
Being on friendly terms was best, but at the very least, you had to make sure they didn't interfere with you.
The whole reason I'd proposed having Brother Jeong-ho's family settle in Beijing was to give him the chance to establish those relationships.
Back when the Eunhae Merchant Group was merely a moderately large merchant group ranked somewhere below fiftieth, none of that mattered much.
But now we'd grown into a massive merchant group ranked within the top twenty, and since our goal was to become the greatest merchant group under heaven, we needed to build solid relationships with Beijing's powerful officials as well.
That said, we couldn't become too close to them. If one of them committed a grave crime like treason, we could easily be dragged down with them.
That was where my sister-in-law's role became important.
There were social circles among the officials' wives that men simply couldn't enter.
That was why Brother Jeong-ho wasn't coming alone. My sister-in-law needed to be here with him.
And since they couldn't exactly leave their young children behind, Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon were naturally coming as well.
“Palgap. Prepare the residence for Brother Jeong-ho's family just as we discussed before.”
“Understood, sir.”
There were several staff residences near the Beijing Branch that we'd created by purchasing houses in the area.
Some were being used to house employees, while others had been set aside for members of our family.
Company housing was a form of employee welfare.
Land and housing prices in Beijing were so high that the cost of finding a place to live placed a considerable burden on our employees.
Of course, there were places where they could pay rent month by month, but even those were extremely expensive.
Junior employees could easily spend more than half their monthly wages on housing, and that could eventually become a problem.
If another merchant group or faction tried to buy them off with money, they'd be far more likely to take the offer.
Ease the burden of housing, however, and the likelihood of betrayal went down while loyalty toward the merchant group went up.
And since everyone lived together in one place, there was the additional benefit of them keeping an eye on one another.
Brother Jeong-ho had stayed in the same residence during his previous visit to Beijing, so it would be perfectly suitable for his family as well.
That was when Lady Seohyang called to me.
“Um, Deputy Merchant Lord.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“I think it would be wise to prepare some warm fur clothes for the First Deputy Merchant Lord's family before they arrive.”
“Fur clothes? Wouldn't Brother Jeong-ho have prepared those already?”
Lady Seohyang merely smiled and shook her head.
Which meant she'd probably seen something concerning this in the future.
“Hubei is warmer than Beijing, so they may not have prepared clothing suited to the weather here. And with young children, a sudden change in temperature could easily leave them bedridden.”
“Ah! You're right.”
Lady Seohyang was worried about Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon.
Brother Jeong-ho and my sister-in-law were adults, and both had learned martial arts to some degree.
My sister-in-law in particular was a highly accomplished martial artist, so ordinary cold weather wasn't likely to trouble her.
But the children were a different story.
“Thank you for the advice.”
“I'm glad I could help.”
I immediately called Palgap over and ordered him to prepare fur clothes for Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon.
.
.
.
Before I knew it, the Second Month had arrived.
And Brother Jeong-ho's family reached the Beijing Branch.
Carriages and wagons rolled into the Beijing Branch's carriage yard.
One carried Brother Jeong-ho's family, while the others were loaded with their belongings. Warriors from the Eunpoong Division and members of the Changin Escort Bureau had accompanied them to provide protection along the way.
“Welcome, Brother. You must have had a difficult journey. Sister-in-law, you as well.”
“It has been a while.”
“You're looking well.”
I lowered my head slightly and greeted Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon too.
“The trip must've been tiring, right?”
“Not at all, Uncle.”
“It was fun. It felt like we were traveling with Mother and Father.”
Despite their words, however, both children were visibly shivering.
“It looks like the children are a little cold.”
“I did prepare fur clothes for them, but… it seems Beijing is much colder for children than I expected.”
“I thought that might be the case. Palgap!”
“Yes!”
Palgap immediately brought over the fur clothes, and I helped Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon put them on.
They were so thick that once the children were bundled up, the two of them looked like round balls made entirely of fur.
…Cute.
“Oh my! You even prepared clothes for Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon?”
“Yes. Children have a harder time dealing with extreme heat or cold than adults do.”
“Thank you.”
After my sister-in-law thanked me, Brother Jeong-ho did the same.
“Thanks. You really do think of everything.”
“Don't thank me. Thank Deputy Gwak.”
At my words, Brother Jeong-ho and his wife both turned toward Deputy Gwak.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you so much.”
“There's no need. I'm simply glad I could be of help.”
I smiled in satisfaction and addressed everyone.
“Why don't we head inside and have some hot tea?”
While Palgap showed the Eunpoong Division warriors and the members of the Changin Escort Bureau somewhere they could rest, I headed toward the residence with Brother Jeong-ho's family.
“You remember the place you stayed the last time you were in Beijing, right? You and your family can use that as your residence.”
“That place will be more than adequate. But wait…”
Brother Jeong-ho turned and stared at me.
“Don't tell me you made that place so large because you expected something like this to happen.”
“To some extent?”
I answered with a grin.
“Come on, let's get inside. I've already had the braziers lit, so it's warm in there.”
That evening, I had dinner with Brother Jeong-ho's family.
After we finished eating, my sister-in-law excused herself first, saying she needed to put the children to bed.
They had a nanny, but she still made an effort to spend as much time with her children as she possibly could.
A nanny…
“What's with that expression?”
“I suddenly remembered my nanny.”
“Why would you think about that woman?”
Brother Jeong-ho's brow furrowed, undisguised displeasure crossing his face.
The truth was, the memories I had of my nanny weren't particularly good ones.
When I was ten years old, my nanny died.
She killed herself.
She'd been caught passing information about the merchant group to one of our rivals while working as my nanny.
And that had been the first time anyone ever betrayed me.
I think that incident left me carrying a great deal of guilt. I'd convinced myself that if I'd treated her better somehow, she wouldn't have betrayed either me or the merchant group.
That was probably why I'd become so obsessed with winning people's loyalty.
That's how deeply the betrayal had shaken me.
But after defying death and returning to the past, I finally realized just how foolish that way of thinking had been.
If I'd returned to when I was ten instead of fifteen… what would I have said to her?
I smiled bitterly before asking Brother Jeong-ho,
“You're keeping a close eye on Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon's nanny, right?”
“Of course. After what happened back then, Father has been extremely careful about things like that.”
Brother Jeong-ho continued,
“More importantly, how often do you actually sit down alone for a meal or tea with Deputy Gwak, the woman you're going to marry?”
“Hm? Why are you asking?”
“I'm telling you to spend more time with Deputy Gwak.”
“I think we already spend plenty of time together… We're in the office together almost every day.”
“Good grief, you idiot!”
Brother Jeong-ho thumped his chest as though I were frustrating him beyond belief.
“That's work! When you and Deputy Gwak are in the office, what do you two even talk about besides, ‘Please approve this. Please review this. Proceed as written. This needs some revision’?”
“…That's true.”
We did talk about other things from time to time, but almost all of those conversations were still related to work.
“I'm telling you to spend more time talking privately. Lady Seohyang will have plenty of things to keep her occupied from now on, and once that happens, nighttime might be the only chance you'll have to spend any real private time together.”
“At… night.”
Why did it suddenly feel so warm in here? Was the brazier burning too hot?
“Do you even know when Lady Seohyang's birthday is?”
“…!”
“What about her favorite flower? Her favorite color? Her favorite scent? Her favorite food? Do you know what foods she hates?”
“…”
I found myself completely at a loss for words.
Because Brother Jeong-ho was right. I realized I barely knew anything about Lady Seohyang.
Then why had I been so certain I knew her well?
“Starting now, eat together, have tea together, whatever it takes. Just talk to each other. At the very least, you should both know what the other likes and dislikes.”
Brother Jeong-ho continued,
“Of course, we're merchants. Keeping information from others becomes second nature to people like us… but she's still the person you're supposed to spend the rest of your life with.”
In a way, Brother Jeong-ho's words might have been excessively romantic for someone from the merchant world.
I could remember more than a few cases from my previous life where someone's own spouse had stabbed them in the back.
But that was exactly what I liked about Brother Jeong-ho.
Scheming, plotting, and putting those schemes into action could be my responsibility.
And Lady Seohyang was someone I wanted to trust.
“All right. I'll make an effort.”
“And…”
Brother Jeong-ho idly turned his teacup between his fingers before raising his head.
“This time, I'm thinking of starting a new business.”
“A new business?”
“Yeah. I'm going into jewelry.”
“I see.”
“You don't look surprised.”
At Brother Jeong-ho's question, I gave a faint laugh.
“Silk is one of the things you've always paid the most attention to. If that's the case, then selling jewelry that complements those silks is the obvious next step. There's no way you'd overlook something like that.”
“When you put it that way, I suppose you're right.”
I'd come up with a plausible enough explanation, but in my previous life, Brother Jeong-ho had started his jewelry business around this same time.
And he'd been quite successful with it.
I'd noticed it before when he was buying a present for my sister-in-law, but Brother Jeong-ho had a surprisingly good eye and excellent taste.
Kui!
Good enough to get a reaction from Geumryeong.
This little creature never failed to react immediately whenever there was money to be made.
“The reason I'm telling you this in advance is because I need your help.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“A place to introduce our work.”
Brother Jeong-ho's eyes gleamed.
“I need an opportunity to present the Eunhae Merchant Group's jewelry to powerful officials and their wives.”
That made sense.
Jewelry was the sort of field where, once someone influential started a trend, everyone else rushed to imitate it.
In that case, I had a favor to ask as well.
“Fine. But in return…”
A few days later.
A new workshop opened at the Beijing Branch.
It would serve as the heart of the jewelry business Brother Jeong-ho was launching.
A jewelry workshop.
Jewelry was fundamentally handmade, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the quality of the gemstones and the skill of the artisans determined everything.
That was why Brother Jeong-ho had brought several jewelry artisans he'd recently signed contracts with to Beijing.
Nearly every major jewelry trend began in Beijing.
So if we were going into the jewelry business, this was the natural place to do it.
When I arrived at the jewelry workshop, Brother Jeong-ho came out to greet me.
“You got here fast.”
“Yeah.”
“But asking me to let you tour the jewelry workshop? That's not something you should have to ask me for. I'm the one who should be showing you around in the first place.”
“Hahaha. I suppose that's true.”
“Come on.”
Brother Jeong-ho led me inside the workshop.
The artisans were so completely absorbed in their work, carefully cutting and shaping precious stones and metals, that they didn't even notice us enter.
There he is.
I'd asked Brother Jeong-ho for this tour for a reason.
And that reason was…
– Geumryeong. I need you to do something for me.
– Kui?
At my call, Geumryeong poked its head out from my sleeve.
Except it wasn't looking at me. Its eyes were glittering as it stared at the gemstones and precious metals the artisans were meticulously cutting and polishing.
At least it never ate anything without my permission.
– In that artisan's pocket…
The moment Geumryeong heard my request, it shot away like an arrow.
* * *
Son Mun was an artisan who specialized in cutting and polishing gemstones.
It was his family's trade, so he'd been working with raw stones since before he was even old enough to understand what he was doing.
The truth was, gemstone cutting required a considerable amount of capital.
Buying the raw stones cost money, and so did acquiring all the tools needed to work them.
That was why, apart from a select few, most artisans ended up working for someone wealthy enough to provide the necessary capital.
Son Mun had once been one of those select few independent artisans, but this time, he'd signed an employment contract with the Eunhae Merchant Group.
He needed money for his sick son's medicine.
And that was how he'd ended up all the way in Beijing.
Not long after he began working at the new workshop in Beijing, someone secretly sent him a letter.
[We want information about the Eunhae Merchant Group's new venture. If you want your son to live, cooperate with us.]
The Eunhae Merchant Group had paid him a substantial signing bonus, but even that wasn't enough to cover the full cost of his son's medicine, leaving him deeply conflicted.
Because he desperately needed the money the sender was offering.
“Whew, that's it for today!”
At the Master Craftsman's announcement, everyone began cleaning their workstations. Son Mun was putting his own tools away in a bag when he suddenly realized there was something inside it.
He pulled the object out of the bag and nearly jumped out of his skin.
‘What?! This is…!’
–TL Notes–
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