I stepped outside the lodging, wondering what was going on.
“No! How could this happen!”
“What should we do, Clerk Eom?”
I saw Eom Sam-taek collapsed on the ground, completely stunned.
“What’s going on?”
It was one of the assistant Clerks who answered.
“Well… we’ve been scammed.”
“Ah…”
‘No wonder the journey here felt too smooth.’
A major disaster had hit.
.
.
.
I let out a sigh.
Clerk Eom Sam-taek was a senior Clerk. That meant he’d handled countless trades until now.
And yet, someone with that much experience got scammed?
I asked the assistant Clerk,
“Explain everything in detail.”
“Well…”
Eom and his group met the tea broker they were supposed to meet yesterday.
“We were absolutely sure it was Clerk Hwang we’ve dealt with many times before.”
Clerk Hwang was the tea broker we regularly traded with.
“Even the contract he brought… there was nothing off about it. Everything was perfect.”
“So you didn’t suspect a thing and went ahead with the deal. Then how did you realize it was a scam?”
“This morning, we received a message from Clerk Hwang. When we asked if he wasn’t the one we met yesterday to make the deal…”
“And?”
“He said no! He said he had an urgent matter and told us to meet today instead. He had no idea what we were talking about.”
“So that’s how you figured it out.”
“Yes. Clerk Hwang told us to check the goods carefully.”
The assistant continued.
“And when we checked… it wasn’t Fucha. It was just dried grass pressed into brick shapes.”
“Did you request a payment suspension at the Exchange?”
For large transactions like this, unless you were doing a direct goods swap, it was done with a promissory note.
If you filed a payment suspension before they cashed it, you could still stop the payment.
“Well…”
“They’ve already cashed it.”
“Yes.”
‘Completely screwed, then.’
I inspected the fake Fucha carefully.
They put in quite an effort to make these.
Then, I noticed a slip of paper tucked between the fake bricks.
I unfolded it.
[Congrats on getting scammed by the Shaanxi Scorpion (陝西蠍).]
“Ah, damn.”
Suddenly, a story from my past life surfaced in my mind.
An idiot with unnecessary attention to detail.
A guy who ran scams against merchant groups with meticulous research and flawless acting.
His territory was Shaanxi.
He called himself the Shaanxi Scorpion (陝西蠍).
And every time he pulled off a scam, he left a letter exactly like this to mock his victims.
That bastard made countless merchants cry, sparking endless misunderstandings and conflicts between merchants.
Thanks to him, even the reputation of merchants from Shaanxi was trashed.
Several Clerks committed suicide after getting scammed by him.
‘Why the hell would you kill yourself? The one who deserves to die is that bastard.’
The funny thing was, once he scammed a merchant group, he never went back to them.
That’s why he didn’t approach our merchant group again in my past life.
Because today’s Fucha scam… had already happened to the Eunhae Merchant Group back then.
At the time, I was three years into working at the Finance Pavilion, buried in documents.
I remember overhearing something about the group losing a thousand silver taels to a scam.
It didn’t directly involve me, so when coming to Shaanxi this time, I didn’t even think about the Shaanxi Scorpion.
Eventually, the bastard got caught, probably because the heavens were done with his nonsense.
The one who caught him… was a child.
A child noticed something strange, and thankfully, someone from a merchant group actually listened.
When they arrested him and interrogated him, they found out he’d scammed over five hundred merchant groups.
And the reason?
There wasn’t one.
He just thought it was fun.
It was fun watching people fall for it.
For his own amusement, he drove people to ruin and made them cry blood.
And when someone asked if he felt bad about those who’d killed themselves because of him, he said,
“Did I tell them to die? Why’s that my problem? Plenty of people I scammed are still alive. If they killed themselves, it’s because they were weak.”
Bullshit.
His death was gruesome.
When the Emperor was informed of this, he said, “Since he’s stripped so many people bare, it’s only right to return the favor,” and sentenced him to be flayed alive.
It was a brutal death.
He begged the executioner to kill him quickly, but apparently, his own death wasn’t very entertaining.
But that’s far off in the future. Right now, our problem is urgent.
Losing a thousand silver taels… meant the money was just gone.
Cursing the Shaanxi Scorpion to hell in my mind, I looked at Eom Sam-taek.
“Oh no… what do we do now… oh no…”
Eom was sitting on the ground, completely at a loss.
The goods were worthless.
The money was gone.
We couldn’t even buy more tea locally. Turns out, the Shaanxi Scorpion had run off with not only the money but also the other goods we brought to sell.
And Clerk Eom didn’t have the authority to take loans under the merchant group’s name.
There was no choice but to return empty-handed.
As for Eom…
He’d never avoid responsibility for this.
Honestly, I had a thousand silver taels in my own pocket right now.
The pouch the Ghost-Faced Constable gave me as a gift could hold fifty silver taels in pure silver and still feel as light as cotton.
But using my money to rebuy the tea… my pride wouldn’t allow it.
‘Bastard. You dare scam the Eunhae Merchant Group?’
One of my specialties… is wringing dry scumbags like you.
Look forward to it.
I’m gonna strip you down to your underwear.
I spoke to Palgap.
“Postpone the trip to the Wu Merchant Group for now.”
“Understood.”
Then I made an offer to Clerk Eom.
“Given the situation, I’ll be taking command here for now. Do you agree?”
Eom nodded with a resigned look.
“As you wish, Department Chief. I truly don’t know what to do anymore.”
He looked completely broken.
I turned to the servant who’d been following Eom.
“Look after the Clerk.”
“Yes, sir.”
Then I stood tall in front of them and declared.
“I’ll be issuing orders from now. Clerk Lee, investigate whether there are other merchant groups in this area that’ve been scammed by someone called the Shaanxi Scorpion. Find out the methods used and the size of their losses.”
“Yes.”
“Clerk Uh, calculate the total amount of damage we’ve suffered.”
“Understood.”
“Clerk Shim, study how these fake teas were made.”
“What?”
“This tea was crafted well enough to deceive Clerk Eom’s eyes. How valuable would a craftsman be who can produce high-quality dark tea, specifically pressed brick tea (塼茶), like this here in Shaanxi?”
“Ah, I see now!”
Clerk Shim seemed to catch my meaning.
“By examining the craftsmanship, we’ll figure out who made the brick tea.”
That would lead us to which tea plantation it came from, and that would be a clue to track the Shaanxi Scorpion.
Then it struck me—the fact that they offered to handle and sell the goods we brought here.
I approached Master.
“Escort Chief, I have a request.”
“Speak.”
“I’d like to request the help of the laborers. I’ll pay them for their assistance.”
“Do as you wish. We’re returning together anyway, so pay them directly.”
“Understood.”
I sought out the laborers who’d inspected the cargo and approached their leader.
“You probably overheard my conversation with Escort Chief. I’ll compensate you for your help.”
“Why would you pay us? It’s not like we’ve only known each other a year or two. We help each other in times of need.”
Another man, seemingly second-in-command, chimed in.
“The leader’s right. We’re not the kind of people to squeeze money out of someone in this situation.”
“I insist on paying.”
I truly appreciated their willingness to help for free.
But goodwill alone isn’t enough. It’s not like I can’t afford to pay them.
“We brought some goods here. Find out whether those goods have been sold.”
“Understood.”
The goods we brought were sugar. Shaanxi doesn’t produce sugar.
And since it melts easily in water, transporting it was painstakingly difficult. And these bastards took off with it?
The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got.
Still, thanks to that greed, their tails were easier to catch.
The Shaanxi Scorpion overreached.
At that moment, Clerk Uh cautiously spoke.
“Um… there’s a problem.”
“What is it?”
“We were actually scheduled to leave the day after tomorrow, but with all this, we won’t have enough to cover our lodging.”
Without hesitation, I pulled a promissory note from my pouch and handed it over.
“Will this cover it?”
“Ah!”
He gasped at the amount written on the note.
“Yes, this is more than enough.”
“Take some guards from the Eunpoong Division with you when you go to exchange the note.”
“Understood.”
I was dipping into my own funds to cover the stay, but it didn’t bother me.
Because I planned to squeeze several times this amount from the Shaanxi Scorpion.
I leaned in and spoke softly to Clerk Uh.
“For the damages… inflate the numbers as much as possible.”
“…Sorry?”
“Anything that feels even remotely like a loss—calculate it in. Understand?”
“Understood.”
Gwak Myeong-hyeon was on his way back from running a personal errand.
Since both he and his deputy had some personal matters, they took turns watching the perimeter.
Not that there was much need for perimeter duty now.
There was nothing left to guard.
Still, that didn’t mean you could neglect your job.
‘But a scam… seriously…’
He’d seen plenty of things during his years in the escort bureau, but this was a first.
It wasn’t like a robbery. Someone impersonated a trade partner and scammed an entire merchant group.
Brazen or brilliant… who knows.
But something told him the scammer made a mistake this time.
Eun Seo-ho, the Deputy Merchant Lord and head of the Virtuous Wind Department, instantly grasped the situation the moment he heard about it.
Then, without hesitation, he took authority from Clerk Eom and issued orders.
Every single order was precise and necessary.
Usually, in a mess like this, everyone’s mind goes blank and no one can respond properly.
Clerk Eom was no different.
Even with his seniority, this was probably the first time he faced something like this.
As far as Gwak knew, Eom Sam-taek had worked for over ten years.
And yet, there he was, sitting dazed and helpless, while Eun Seo-ho—who’d only been running merchant business for a year since becoming Department Chief—moved with absolute decisiveness.
Gwak was Eun Seo-ho’s swordsmanship teacher.
Which meant he could read the determination in Eun Seo-ho’s eyes.
The determination to absolutely catch the Shaanxi Scorpion.
And from what he’d seen of Eun Seo-ho so far… if he said he was going to do something, he’d do it.
‘He mastered the Ice Sea Water Severance Technique in fifteen days when it normally takes over a year. That says it all.’
Honestly, the “fifteen days” remark had been a joke… but he actually did it.
Now Gwak was curious to see how Eun Seo-ho would resolve this.
Before he knew it, he’d arrived back at the inn.
“You’re back.”
“Anything happen?”
“No, nothing.”
“Although… seems like there are guests.”
“Ah, they’re the other victims.”
“Victims?”
“Victims of that scammer. Three merchant groups besides us so far. The Department Chief invited their merchant lords here.”
I looked at the people who entered my room at the inn.
They were merchant lords from Shaanxi, and they were victims of the Shaanxi Scorpion.
I introduced myself briefly and got straight to the point.
“How much did each of you lose?”
“Why do you ask?”
I smiled.
“Our Eunhae Merchant Group lost three thousand silver taels.”
All three merchant lords gasped.
Following my instructions, Clerk Uh had dutifully inflated the damage estimate, turning the thousand silver taels we lost in my past life into three thousand this time.
“Our Eunhae Merchant Group intends to catch the scammer known as the Shaanxi Scorpion no matter what. That’s why I’ve asked you all to come.”
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt