When Chief Administrator Yu died, I vividly remembered how Father blamed himself, saying it was his own inadequacy that led to such an early death.
‘So… does he trust me now?’
For a moment, I felt a flicker of joy—but it quickly faded.
I thought of the precarious stack of documents on Chief Administrator Yu’s desk.
‘I’ll just have to make it my mission to stop his death from overwork.’
.
.
.
Before I knew it, the day was winding down and it was almost time to leave work.
And I’d been racking my brain nonstop.
Tonight, I needed a natural reason to be inside the Finance Pavilion.
I’d already thought of dozens of methods.
I just had to decide which one was best.
At that moment, one of the clerks handed a ledger to Yeo Chang-ui.
“Here’s the night duty log.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Seeing it, I asked Yeo Chang-ui,
“So, you’re on night duty tonight?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Isn’t it usually two people on night duty?”
“Yes. I’m scheduled with Senior Clerk In Dae-su.”
That made me tilt my head.
That’s strange.
It didn’t match my memory.
I was sure Yeo Chang-ui was one of the people on night duty today—but the other one wasn’t supposed to be In Dae-su.
I remembered that clearly because in the future I experienced, Yeo Chang-ui died in the fire that would happen tonight.
And the other clerk had suffered such severe injuries he had to retire.
Just then, a plump clerk approached a group of people and asked anxiously,
“Would anyone be willing to cover my night duty tonight? I’ll treat you to a proper drink later.”
Judging by his expression, he was in a hurry.
That was In Dae-su.
‘So that’s it. He swapped night duty with someone else—that’s why it’s different from what I remember.’
A perfect opportunity struck me.
‘This timing couldn’t be better.’
I quickly called out to him.
“Clerk In Dae-su.”
“Oh! Young Master. How can I help you?”
“You seem to be in a bit of a bind.”
“Ah… Yes, my wife is about to give birth.”
“Then you should go to her right away.”
“Yes, but I’m on night duty today…”
I smiled and said,
“I’ll take your shift.”
“What?”
“I don’t have anything else going on this evening.”
“B–but how could I let you…”
I waved a hand and cut him off.
“Even as a Special Trainee, I’m still part of the Finance Pavilion. I believe I’m qualified to take a night shift.”
I turned to the clerk managing the duty log and asked,
“Am I wrong?”
“No, Young Master. You’re fully qualified to take a shift.”
With that confirmation, I turned back to In Dae-su.
“There you go. So I’ll cover for you tonight.”
“Thank you—thank you so much, Young Master!”
The reason I’d been searching for a way to stay in the pavilion tonight was because the arsonist targeting the Finance Pavilion was extremely cautious.
In the future I lived through, no one even suspected them until they left a confession note and took their own life.
That’s why I’d been feigning ignorance while quietly preparing.
And now, the perfect opportunity had arrived.
Just like that, I had a legitimate reason to remain in the Finance Pavilion tonight.
Night deepened.
At the Finance Pavilion of the Eunhae Merchant Group—
A man looked around, checking his surroundings.
Once he confirmed no one was nearby, he moved quickly.
He headed for the night duty room.
Lighting the lantern in the dark room, he opened the lid of the teapot.
Then he pulled a small paper packet of white powder from his pocket and dumped its contents into the teapot.
Step, step, step—
Suddenly, footsteps echoed nearby.
“…!”
Startled, the man opened the opposite door and slipped out, pressing himself against the wall.
From the corridor, two people in Finance Pavilion uniforms were chatting as they walked.
“Ah, so that’s what happened.”
“It really left me shaken.”
“I would’ve been the same.”
The man knew them well.
Yeo Chang-ui, a Finance Pavilion clerk—and Eun Seo-ho, third son of the Merchant Lord, currently training as a Special Trainee.
The two chatted as they entered the night duty room.
“Oh, do you have overtime work tonight?”
“Yes. It just turned out that way.”
“I’ll help you out, then.”
They bustled back and forth between the archive and the room, retrieving documents.
After working for a good while, they finally took a break.
“Care for some tea?”
“Sounds great.”
Each poured a cup.
Soon after, as they were reading through the ledgers, their heads began to droop like wilting birds.
And then—they collapsed forward onto the desk, fast asleep.
‘Perfect!’
The man grinned.
With the amount of sleeping powder in that teapot, they’d be out cold for at least a full shichen.
He had gone to all this trouble to gain access to the document archive undetected.
The archive was located within the night duty room, and this was the one time when no one else would be around.
He stepped inside and let out a quiet sigh.
‘I never should’ve gotten involved in gambling in the first place…’
Too late for regrets now.
It started with curiosity and a few well-timed whispers from fellow gamblers.
Before he knew it, he was buried under a mountain of debt.
He sold his inherited land and all his household goods—but it wasn’t nearly enough.
At this rate, he’d lose his family.
In his desperation, one of the subordinates of the moneylender—the “money master” of the gambling den—offered him a deal.
— If you do one thing for our master, he’ll forgive all your debts.
— What? S-seriously?
— Dead serious.
— W–what is it? I’ll do anything. Please, just don’t hurt my family…
The subordinate gave him a cold reply.
— It’s simple. You work at the Finance Pavilion of the Eunhae Merchant Group, right?
— …Yes.
— Set fire to the document archive.
— …What?
The man recoiled.
— Why… why that place?
— So are you doing it or not?
— I… but…
— You want to lose your family?
— …I’ll do it.
He bit his lip.
Tonight was the last day of the deadline they gave him.
Up to now, he had carefully studied the area.
He was afraid someone might find him suspicious.
But so far, no one had.
‘Maybe I’ve got a talent for this kind of thing?’
The so-called money master had promised to protect his position in the Eunhae Merchant Group—to keep him in place.
Which meant, for the sake of his future, no one could ever learn he was the culprit.
That’s why he moved so carefully.
He entered the document archive and began scanning the shelves.
‘There it is!’
A bound ledger containing transaction records.
His orders from the money master’s underling were clear: destroy that book completely.
He had asked the man,
“Can’t I just steal it? Arson’s too risky.”
“No. If you do that, it’ll narrow down the suspect list too fast. You have to make it look like an accident—burn that book along with a bunch of others.”
It wasn’t a wrong assessment, so he’d had no choice but to nod.
That’s why he’d brought the oil.
Drip, drip, drip—
He poured it around and pulled out a fire starter.
At that moment—
“Let’s stop right there.”
A voice rang out suddenly, startling him so much he spun around in horror.
Because it was the last voice he ever wanted to hear.
I clicked my tongue as I stared at the arsonist holding the fire starter.
His name was Ah Seung (亞繩).
A clerk of Gi-rank (己級) in the Finance Pavilion.
He was so quiet people often forgot he was even there, which was why everyone had been so shocked when it was revealed he was the arsonist.
Right now, Clerk Ah looked more shocked than if he’d seen a ghost.
“H–how… how are you not asleep? You drank the tea…”
“That was an act.”
“H–how did you…”
“How I figured it out? What do you need to know that for?”
I smirked.
“Shall we start with a punch?”
Thud!
Crash!
I threw a clean punch, and he collapsed backward.
In the future I’d lived through, both clerks on night duty had fallen asleep after drinking that tea.
The fire spread fast. Yeo Chang-ui died, and the other clerk was gravely injured.
The next day, Clerk Ah was found hanging from a tree on the back mountain—cold and dead.
Beneath his corpse was a confession letter.
It said he’d been overworked and overwhelmed, and that he’d drugged the night-duty clerks and set the archive on fire in a fit of rage.
That was how the case was closed, but none of us in the Eunwol Council—the group that oversaw merchant operations—really believed that letter.
Because who poisons others and plans an arson just out of “rage”?
Then, Ah Seung’s family vanished.
It reeked of something deeper.
But we didn’t have the time or manpower to investigate further.
There were no strong leads, and the fire had destroyed a mountain of documents that needed urgent restoration.
We pulled back-to-back night shifts for nearly a year. I did, too.
And even after all that, we couldn’t recover half of what was lost.
It was hell.
The punch I just threw at him carried every bit of the rage I’d swallowed back then.
While he was still down, I quickly snatched the fire starter from his hand and secured it.
Then I picked up a specific document lying on a nearby stack.
“T–that!”
When he saw what I held, Clerk Ah’s face turned deathly pale.
“So this is it. The real document you were after.”
The title on it read: [Fire Lotus Inn (花煙樓)].
In the future I’d experienced, it was revealed that Ah Seung had set the fire—but we never learned who was behind him.
Or rather, we did know who had benefited most from the fire—there were three possible suspects.
But we had no proof.
And so, bitterly, we’d had to let it go. But not this time.
“You sure dumped a lot of oil around. There’s no talking your way out of this. Right?”
Just then—
Ah Seung suddenly pulled another fire starter from inside his coat.
“Don’t move!”
The sudden escalation caught me off guard.
I didn’t expect him to have a second one.
That was my mistake.
“I–I have to burn it! If I don’t, my family will be sold off!”
“Sold off? What do you mean by that?”
At those words, I realized something.
‘Now that I think about it…’
During the investigation in the previous timeline, I had come across something.
All of his property had been transferred to someone else a few days before the incident.
And his family had vanished.
That kind of complete wipeout—property and family—meant only one thing.
“You’re in debt, aren’t you?”
“…”
And judging from how his eyes trembled at the word “debt,” I was sure.
Loan sharks.
But why would he have fallen into debt?
The Eunhae Merchant Group’s pay was generous.
And from what I knew, Clerk Ah hadn’t shown signs of trouble—though I did recall testimony later saying he’d been spending time with some shady people recently.
If that’s the case…
“Gambling debt.”
“…!”
His body flinched.
‘Got it.’
I couldn’t help but offer a bitter smile.
How tragic.
He was never the center of attention, but he lived a quiet, steady life—and then lost everything and fell into ruin.
His family was sold off, his assets taken, and eventually, he was murdered.
That’s right.
He didn’t commit suicide—he was killed.
Of course, we had no hard evidence to prove he’d been murdered. The case was officially closed as suicide.
But all the signs pointed to it being otherwise.
I looked at Clerk Ah, who was trembling violently.
“Clerk Ah. Look at me.”
“…”
“Please. Look at me.”
At my words, he slowly raised his head.
“You want to protect your family, right?”
He didn’t reply—but his eyes answered for him.
“Then tell us everything, exactly as it happened. If you do, our merchant group will make sure your family is protected.”
–TL Notes–
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