Chapter 14. The Future Ten Great Merchants Under Heaven
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“……Great Heroes.”
The waiter opened his clenched fist and offered a respectful Cupped Fist Salute.
“If you keep coming here and making the other customers uncomfortable, we won’t be able to pay the protection money properly. You must at least let us do business.”
It was a fair point. However.
“That’s your problem.”
“If you didn’t like it, you should have done as you were told, shouldn’t you?”
“Well said. If you don’t want to close up shop today, bring us what we ordered right now.”
“Hahahaha!”
In this world, there are those who accept the logic of justification and self-interest, while there are others who care only for their immediate mood and disregard logic entirely.
‘Most of these Evil Path bastards are the latter.’
They are people with whom conversation is impossible unless you suppress them with force from the start. Realizing this fact, the waiter finally wore a smile on his face, albeit belatedly.
“Now that I hear you, you are right, Great Heroes. I have learned a great lesson today.”
“Hehehe, now you’re talking sense.”
“You dull-witted fool. Since you understand, hurry up and bring it out.”
The weak, who have no choice but to cater to the whims of others with a smiling face despite unjust tyranny. And the ruffians who enjoy mocking such weaklings.
……They are the kind of Evil Path scum I despise the most.
‘Even in that situation, he accepted that there was no other way and quickly cast aside his pride. That is not something just anyone can do.’
-Wouldn’t it have been smarter to cater to them with a smile from the beginning?
‘You’re right. But.’
I hid Myoseonja under the table.
‘If such submission is repeated, a human becomes lethargic. That boy is struggling to maintain his dignity.’
Looking back, during the twenty years I spent in the Brain Prison, the reason I did not lose my sanity like the others was because I wanted to maintain my dignity as a martial artist.
I found that waiter interesting.
And it seemed they found us interesting as well.
“Hey, aren’t you Jang-o?”
“……!”
One of the Black Water Society martial artists recognized Jang-o.
“It’s been a while.”
“Who is that next to you?”
As Jang-o glanced at me, I gave a light nod and replied.
“Just an older brother I know.”
“Then may we speak freely?”
“We are also on brotherly terms with Jang-o.”
I took a fresh look at the man holding the broadsword. A thick, bushy beard, murky eyes, and a physique built of flesh and muscle that looked like it could exert some strength. He was undoubtedly an outlaw of this small street.
“Do as you please.”
“Little brother, now that I look at you, you have a fine face.”
“Is that so?”
“If we stood you up at a brothel, would you be able to attract some customers?”
“Hahaha!”
I grinned and brushed off the provocation.
“Thanks for the compliment. How about it? Can you arrange a job for me?”
At that, the bushy-bearded man whistled as if to say, ‘Look at this guy.’
“Of course. But there is a gentleman in our society who likes men. You must pass his inspection first, so prepare yourself in advance.”
“That’s quite something.”
A sound of air escaping my lungs slipped out before I could stop it.
“When someone lets you off once, you should know when to back off.”
“What did you say?”
“You have eyes that can’t even gauge the situation, yet you pick fights everywhere. It’s a wonder you’ve kept your head attached to your shoulders with that kind of temper.”
“You little—”
*Bam!*
I grabbed the bushy-bearded man’s head and slammed it into the plate, then used my chopsticks like a judge’s brush to strike the pressure points of his companions.
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!*
In an instant, the three men stiffened like wooden blocks and collapsed.
“Ugh, ughhh.”
The bushy-bearded man, his front teeth broken, looked up at me with a face covered in blood.
“If you go as you are, that gentleman who likes men will be delighted. Or have you already passed the inspection?”
“U, ughhh.”
“Get lost. I won’t say it twice.”
“S, sorry!”
As I watched the Black Water Society thugs run away for dear life, the waiter approached cautiously and spoke.
“Um, Great Hero.”
“Do you have something to say?”
“Thank you for your help. But please leave our inn.”
At that, Jang-o flared up.
“You bastard, what kind of attitude is that toward your benefactor!”
I raised a hand to stop Jang-o.
“I helped you, yet you show me the door; don’t you think that is shameless?”
The waiter bowed his head with a regretful face.
“They will surely come back and cause trouble again. They will even factor in the humiliation they suffered at your hands.”
“I see. And then?”
I asked, feeling great interest.
“The fact that I am bowing my head to you, Great Hero, will surely make their calculations even more complicated. You may curse me or beat me as much as you like.”
Myoseonja, who understood the meaning, was impressed.
-This kid, he’s no ordinary person.
“Do you not think this is unjust?”
“As you have seen, Great Hero, it is the job of the powerful to decide what is just and what is not.”
“That is the way of the martial arts world and the principle of the world.”
I saw the flame of anger burning in the boy’s eyes.
“Can you spare a moment? I would like to talk with you.”
“Ye-yes?”
As if my request for his time was unexpected, the waiter replied in surprise.
“Ah, but I have to clean up……”
“Jang-o.”
“Yes?”
“What are you doing? Clean this up.”
“…….”
I smiled at the waiter.
“Don’t be surprised. This guy is my subordinate.”
“But isn’t Brother Jang-o from the Iron Fist Chamber?”
“If you are curious about that situation, you must spare me even more time.”
While Jang-o grumbled and cleaned up the inn, I talked with the waiter outside.
“Proprietor, or rather, your father hasn’t come out at all despite this commotion. Is his hearing poor?”
“……!”
The waiter asked back with a surprised face.
“How did you know? Did Brother Jang-o—”
“No, it was just a guess.”
“……That is correct. You are indeed different from the other adults, Great Hero.”
“You are bold. How are the other adults?”
“They are generally ignorant, only know how to put force first, and have poor memories. They cannot see what even a child can see.”
“Hahaha!”
-A clever child often looks down on adults.
When I was a wanderer, I, too, used to click my tongue inwardly while watching the swordsmen who lived like moths to a flame.
‘When a child stays close to pathetic adults, they live by the vow that they must not become like them.’
The reason I took the entrance exam for the Ten Thousand Evil Alliance was also because I wanted to hone my martial arts under the roof of a proper sect.
“You should watch your tongue. For the powerless to recklessly despise the strong is something you, in your weakness, cannot handle.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
However, his reaction suggested he had guessed that I would not be angered by such things.
“Tell me your story. How did you come to Yeongneung County, and why are you struggling to run a business in such a shabby inn?”
“I understand. Well……”
To summarize his story: his father had been a quite successful chef, but he had given up everything to return to his wife’s hometown to treat her illness.
“But despite that effort, my mother eventually passed away. My father also caught an infectious disease and lost his hearing.”
Since there was no place to hire a chef who could not hear, he had started the business with his young son using the little property they had left.
“Before that, I used to attend the academy and was called a prodigy. Though that is all a story of the past.”
If a boy who dreamed of being a bureaucrat or a scholar had fallen to the level of a waiter suffering from the exploitation of the Evil Path, the despair must have been immense.
‘And yet, instead of lamenting his situation, he wiped the tables with a smiling face.’
I saw this kid in a new light.
“With your skills and your resourcefulness, you could have easily built up your family fortune.”
“It is because of the Black Water Society bastards. They leave us in a state where we can neither die nor live, and they suck us dry of protection money.”
The boy clenched his fists.
“As you saw today, they don’t even pay for their meals. They just cause trouble and leave, so it is of no help to the business at all.”
“They are bastards who deserve to be beaten to death.”
“They are bastards who deserve to be beaten to death. They even brutally beat merchants who resist as an example.”
At this point, I threw a question to test the boy.
“Did you intend to keep suffering like that?”
“…….”
“You can speak honestly.”
The answer the boy gave after a moment of deliberation satisfied me.
“I intended to endure for a few more years and bring in another tiger to chase away the fox.”
‘As I thought.’
The blood of a strategist flows in this boy. If so, I would see whether his plan was mere amateurish armchair theory or not.
“Isn’t it the same thing, being exploited?”
“I believed there must be a sect that knows how to ‘trade’ rather than exploit. Because not all martial artists in the world would be so tyrannical.”
‘Not bad.’
An organization needs a strategist. This boy had sufficient potential.
“You are lucky. Because you met me today.”
“What do you mean by that……”
“I am the Branch Master of the Ten Thousand Evil Alliance in Yeongneung, and a few weeks ago, I took over the Iron Fist Chamber and subjugated them. I had marked the Black Water Society as my next target, and I was out on an inspection to see the public sentiment and the level of their martial arts.”
“Ye-yes?!”
Flustered by the sudden influx of information, the waiter said.
“W-wait a moment. Is that really true?”
“It is true, indeed.”
I made the boy an offer he could not refuse.
“If you cooperate in the subjugation of the Black Water Society, I intend to collect all the overdue tabs for you.”
“Ah!”
Only then did a bright smile, fitting for his age, appear on the boy’s face.
“So the tabs, if I calculate them, all added up in silver coins……”
“Hahahaha!”
“Wh-why are you laughing?”
“Only now do you look your age.”
“Yes?”
“It seems you are not yet accustomed to the ways of the martial arts world. Did you intend to receive only the honest amount you lent?”
“……!”
The waiter asked back in surprise.
“Then what else should I receive?”
“Even if you deposit money on the battlefield, interest is earned. You should receive the protection money that was stolen, plus a generous amount for compensation.”
“Ah, so that is how it is calculated.”
The waiter nodded with a deeply impressed face.
“That is the correct calculation.”
-You’re teaching the kid some good things.
‘Naturally. It’s a lesson worth millions of gold.’
“Branch Master, may I ask you one thing?”
“Choose your questions carefully.”
The waiter took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking.
“Why are you showing me such favor?”
“Did I not say I intend to take over the Black Water Society?”
“Yes.”
“It is because your resourcefulness and keen eye could prove useful to me.”
“Is that truly the reason?”
I asked, observing the smile on the waiter’s face.
“You seem rather pleased. Why? I am not helping you; I am using you.”
“Heh, I actually find that more comforting. Unearned favor is far more unsettling. It’s terrifying not knowing how one is expected to repay it.”
This fellow possessed not only the mind of a strategist but the brain of a merchant as well.
‘A general manager, a military advisor, a strategist. He is timber worthy of making a name for himself in any of those roles.’
As the second-in-command and Chief Instructor of the Ten Thousand Evil Alliance, I had raised and scouted countless talents. I trusted my own judgment.
“You, work with me.”
“Work, you say?”
Life is a series of tests. I had just offered a life-changing opportunity to a waiter boy met in a shabby alley of Yeongneung County.
“The truth is, I intend to ruin the Black Water Society tonight. Can you devise a plan?”
“……!”
He did not ask how he could possibly do such a thing. Instead, he replied:
“Leave it to me.”
A certain intuition flashed through my mind.
‘I may have just found a raw gem that makes the interests of the Black Water Society look like nothing at all.’
“What is your name? I am Mok Ju-gyeol.”
“So it was you, Hero Mok. I am No Ji-san.”
“Hm?”
Strange. Where had I heard that name before?
-I find it strangely familiar as well.
If even Myoseonja reacted this way, it meant he was a famous figure. A man who would be in his mid-fifties forty years from now—if he was someone who made a name for himself, then…
‘Ah!’
A bolt of lightning struck through my mind as I traced back my memories.
‘Golden Scale Wind-Frost, No Ji-san!’
It was the name of the man who would one day become one of the Ten Great Merchants Under Heaven.
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