You’ll find out soon enough. (2)
The Chief Administrator of the Gahwa Merchant Guild, Yeom Malsaeng [염말생(廉末生)], was being tormented by a peculiar feeling.
“The face reader said everything was fine.”
There was no room for doubt. That Master of Appearances was considered the finest in all of Beijing. Not only did he come and go from the homes of famous high officials as though they were his own, but rumor had it that he even frequented the inner palace of the Imperial Court.
A man of such standing could not possibly have misread someone, so there should clearly be no problem.
“Surely that’s so… Surely.”
Then what was this strange feeling? An unpleasant sensation had been gnawing at him, like the lingering discomfort of having relieved himself without wiping properly afterward.
“Hm. This won’t do.”
Under ordinary circumstances, he would not have been so particular, but these were sensitive times. Surely it was better for everything to be certain.
“Is anyone there?”
“Yes, Chief Administrator.”
“Bring Hong-ga [홍가(洪哥)] here.”
“Yes!”
Only then did Yeom Malsaeng give a small nod and took a sip of his slightly cooled tea.
“It makes no difference even if those fellows came here harboring ulterior motives. After all, men like that won’t last long under Hong-ga.”
The Gahwa Merchant Guild was always recruiting people. This was despite the fact that the wages it paid its laborers were thirty percent higher than in other places. That meant the work was proportionately harder, of course, but it also meant that the established workers were extremely hostile towards newcomers.
Hong-ga was someone like the boss of those laborers at the Gahwa Merchant Guild. He had no official title, but he was so rough and violent that the laborers did not dare oppose him.
“I’ll tell him to give them a moderate amount of trouble and see how they react.”
Just as Yeom Malsaeng was considering what might happen next, a deep voice came from outside.
“Chief Administrator. It’s Hong-ga.”
“Come in.”
“Yes.”
The door opened, and a middle-aged man called Hong-ga stepped inside.
Broad shoulders twice the width of an ordinary grown man, massive muscles that twitched as though alive with every step he took, and, above all, a huge scar running from his left eye down to below his cheek like a venomous snake crawling across his face.
He was, quite literally, a man with an appearance fearsome enough that one would dread seeing him even in a dream.
“Did you call for me?”
“Come in, come in.”
Yeom Malsaeng spoke to him with a slight degree of courtesy.
As the Chief Administrator, he had no reason to speak politely to a mere laborer, but Hong-ga was a man deserving of respect regardless of his station.
“Yes. The reason I called you here is that I have something for you to do.”
Hong-ga promptly gave a firm nod.
“If it is an order from you, Chief Administrator, I must devote my very life to it. What is it?”
“You know the laborers who came in recently? The ones who came from Shaanxi.”
“….Yes?”
“You don’t know them?”
It was strange. Hong-ga’s face, which could have made most crying children faint simply by lifting his head and staring at them making no particular expression, suddenly became so blank that it seemed almost idiotic.
Just as Yeom Malsaeng was about to tilt his head in confusion, Hong-ga abruptly nodded.
“Ah, yes, I do. Of course I know them. Those gentlemen… I mean, those people.”
It was only a momentary slip of the tongue, but Yeom Malsaeng did not miss it, and his eyes narrowed.
“Those gentlemen… I believe this is the first time I’ve heard you speak of laborers that way.”
“Ha, hahaha.”
Hong-ga let out an awkward laugh before stumbling over his words.
“I-I’ve worked at the Gahwa Merchant Guild for more than five years now… Surely I can’t keep acting like the ruffian I used to be forever, can I? They say that even a dog at a village school can recite poetry after three years, so after spending five years as a servant in the household of the Director of the Ministry of Revenue, surely I ought to know at least a little about manners. Hahaha.”
Yeom Malsaeng’s expression changed at those words, and he spat out sharply.
“Who said this place was the Director of the Ministry of Revenue’s household?”
“Ah. Well……”
“Watch your words. This is a merchant guild owned by his younger brother. It has nothing to do with the Director himself. Do you understand?”
“Of course. Naturally.”
Yeom Malsaeng shook his head as though displeased. But expecting too much from a servant would be absurd as well. He soon brought up the matter at hand.
“Anyway, there is only one thing I need you to do. Give those newcomers a little trouble.”
“…What? Give them trou.. ble?”
“That’s right.”
Yeom Malsaeng nodded and continued in a low voice.
“They seem a little suspicious. If they have some ulterior motive, probing them a bit should make them reveal their true colors.”
With a meaningful gaze, Yeom Malsaeng looked at Hong-ga.
“This is hardly a difficult task for you. Isn’t that right?”
“…”
“Hong-ga?”
Hong-ga nodded vigorously.
“Of course, of course. It’s hardly a difficult task, Chief Administrator! Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to torment them until they shed a few tears.”
As if making a bold declaration, Hong-ga thumped his chest with his fists. The scar running across his face twitched menacingly.
❀ ❀ ❀
Creak.
The door of the great hall used as the servants’ quarters opened, and Hong-ga cautiously stepped inside.
“Hey, you’re here?”
“Ah, yes, Sir!”
Hong-ga’s stiff expression instantly brightened.
In the largest chair in the middle of the quarters sat the little runt, gazing at Hong-ga as he accepted a cool cup of honey water from another servant.
“What did he say?”
“Well… uh. The thing is.”
“He told you to probe us?”
“T-To give you a little trouble…”
“Ah, really?”
Chung Myung, who had been sitting in the chair, flashed a crooked grin.
“Why don’t you try?”
“W-What do you mean by that, Sir? It’s not like I’ve got a death wish.”
Hong-ga immediately prostrated himself on the spot.
“Tsk, tsk. A person ought to have some loyalty. These are people who have fed and housed you for years, after all.”
“L-Loyalty is something you choose to give to a person, isn’t it? I may be an ignorant fool, but I can still tell the difference between places worthy of my loyalty and those that aren’t.”
“Hmm. Well… that is true.”
Chung Myung shook his head.
“But this makes things awfully boring. If I’d known it’d turn out like this, should I have waited a little longer? That would’ve been fun.”
Cold sweat streamed down Hong-ga’s face.
‘That devilish bastard.’
If he had? What was there even to say? He would have gotten the beating of his life. One that couldn’t even be compared to what he’d suffered earlier.
He’d already felt his soul leaving his body when the supposed newcomer started beating people senseless without so much as a warning, but what if Hong-ga had actually picked a fight with him? At that point, even getting beaten to death would count as dying of natural causes.
“Hmm. So that Chief Administrator bastard is suspicious of us?”
The little devilish runt repeatedly cracked his neck as though something displeased him.
“Honestly, I don’t know why there are so many people who insist on making things difficult for me. Where in the world could you find another person as virtuous as I am?”
“…”
“What’s with that expression?”
“Th-That’s just how I was born.”
“Oh, really? I suppose it does look that way. Tsk, tsk. Must have been hard for you.”
“…”
Hong-ga swallowed dryly.
He had settled down and washed his hands of his old life when he found a place at the Gahwa Merchant Guild five years ago, but when it came to having lived a rough life, he was a man who was second to no one.
That was how he knew. He would have known even without his battered bones screaming in pain, even without his kicked backside howling in protest, even without taking all of this into account… despite the vicious beating he had taken, there wasn’t a single wound on his body.
That bastard was the real thing.
A man like that was never to be touched. If you had the misfortune to cross paths with him? The only answer was to assume you were already dead and prostrate yourself flat on the ground.
‘Director of the Ministry of Revenue, my foot.’
Power was frightening. But Hong-ga knew this much: power was distant, while violence was close at hand.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“Ah, nothing! I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
“How can a man go around without thinking?”
“I-I’ll think. I’ll think without rest from this moment on.”
“Tsk.”
Chung Myung smacked his lips, seemingly disappointed.
“Well, aren’t you quick on the uptake? At least you won’t get yourself beaten to death somewhere.”
“Ha… hahaha. Thank you.”
While this absurd farce was unfolding, Jwa Gohak sat in a corner clutching his head, muttering something under his breath without end.
“If you infiltrate a place and start beating people the moment you enter, is this really an infiltration, or are you dancing around begging them to arrest you? If this was how it would be, why did we infiltrate the place in the first place? It’s all over now. I’m an idiot. Why did I bring those Taoist bastards into this…”
“Sasuk. I think that man over there has lost it.”
“He wasn’t normal to begin with. Honestly.”
Watching Jwa Gohak look ready to tear all his hair out, Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
“Making such a fuss over nothing.”
“Nothing? This? You call this nothing? Hey, you crazy Taoist bastards! Do you know where we are? This is the Director of the Ministry of Revenue’s house! I told you!”
“The Director of the Ministry of Revenue, my foot. This is what you ink-stained bastards are like. Think about it. That so-called Chief Administrator already suspects us, doesn’t he? Even though we haven’t done anything in particular. Right?”
“…That’s true.”
“Then if we’d just kept our heads down, do you really think we could’ve gotten through this without raising suspicion?”
“It would… be difficult.”
If they started digging in earnest, something was bound to come across as suspicious. That was a fact difficult to argue with.
“See? If we’d started doing stupid things trying to hide ourselves for no reason, we could’ve ended up making the whole situation worse. But now we’ve taken care of things ahead of time, so we won’t have any problems for a while. If we get caught, this bastard will be the first one to die, so he’ll hide us for all he’s worth. Right?”
“Th-That’s right, Sir.”
Hong-ga nodded as vigorously as he could.
“There will absolutely! Absolutely be no problem! I swear it on my life.”
“See?”
“…”
“Or do you have a better idea?”
“Uugh.”
Moisture gathered in the corners of Jwa Gohak’s eyes.
He desperately wanted to scream at him to stop spouting nonsense, but his cold, rational mind was forced to admit that what Chung Myung was saying wasn’t entirely wrong. That was what made it so sad. That was why…
“There, there.”
At that moment, Baek Cheon stepped in to bring the situation under control.
“If the Chief Administrator has even the slightest suspicion, we can’t drag this out for long.”
“That’s right.”
“Then we need to find something that could serve as evidence as quickly as possible. Hmm, what would be the best way to proceed from here?”
Just as everyone was about to offer their thoughts on Baek Cheon’s words, Chung Myung spoke in an indifferent tone.
“No, why are we the ones worrying about that?”
“What are you talking about? It’s our problem, so of course we have to worry about it.“
“Tsk, tsk. You’re making things needlessly complicated. Watch closely.”
“Huh?”
“Hey, you. Come here.”
Chung Myung raised a hand and beckoned Hong-ga to come closer.
“Yes?”
“I said come here.”
Hong-ga got to his feet and hesitantly shuffled over to Chung Myung. Once Hong-ga was standing right in front of him, Chung Myung lightly patted him on the back and grinned.
“Hey.”
“….Yes?”
“Hasn’t anything suspicious happened around here lately?”
“I don’t really know of anything…”
“There’d better be.”
“…Yes?”
“Shouldn’t there be something? If there isn’t, that means you’re useless. And I’m not the sort of person who goes out of his way to let useless people keep breathing.”
“…I’ll look into it immediately. I will find something out. I swear, no matter what it takes.”
“Have the investigation finished by this evening. If it isn’t all sorted out by the time I wake up from a nap… No, well, a rough job will do. If it isn’t sorted out, we’ll just have a little talk in private.”
“I-I’ll find out even if it kills me. Please! Please believe me!”
Hong-ga repeatedly bowed his head as tears streamed down his face. Watching him, Chung Myung replied indifferently.
“Hmm. Well, all right. I don’t exactly trust you, but I’ll give you a chance.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!“
“Then, before you begin your investigation, go make me another cup of honey water. Perhaps it’s because the honey is top quality, but it’s sweet and delicious.”
“Yes, Sir! Of course! You can rest comfortably here. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Good, good. You’re quick on your feet. I like that.”
Jwa Gohak, who had been quietly watching the scene, turned his head to Baek Cheon.
“…Why?”
“I-I’m only asking just in case.”
“Hm?”
“…You really are Taoists, right?”
“…”
Baek Cheon could not bring himself to answer and simply turned his head away.
Special Spinoff Chapter 63 >>>
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