Chapter 51
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Brilliant Flower Pavilion (1)
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Dongting Lake is a lake in Hunan Province.
Perhaps because of the famous Yueyang Tower, it was a place many people visited for leisurely cruises.
As such, the area around Dongting Lake was filled with taverns and inns, always bustling with people.
However, not every place around Dongting Lake was crowded.
A courtesan house named Gomaru had not a single customer, and its owner was passing the time with a long yawn.
“Is this the place?”
Someone appeared at the deserted Gomaru.
“Who's there?”
Im Sagyeong, the owner of Gomaru, frowned at the people entering.
They were four very young men and women.
“Hmph.”
Despite Im Sagyeong's question, they didn't answer and simply looked around.
Then, they plopped down at a random table.
“We've come to a tavern, so we must be customers.”
the brown-haired young man, Jinmyeong, retorted.
“Bring us your best dish and some wine.”
“Well, I never.”
The young brat was incredibly rude.
Besides, this wasn't a tavern, but a courtesan house.
A place to embrace courtesans.
To bring a woman to such a place and order food and drinks, they must be clueless about the ways of the world.
But seeing the weapons at their waists, Im Sagyeong had no choice but to head to the kitchen.
“Looks like he's the owner.”
“There are no customers, and I don't see a cook either.”
As if the owner handled everything himself, Im Sagyeong brought out a simple stir-fried bok choy and a bowl of murky rice wine.
“…”
The four of them stared at the stir-fried bok choy and rice wine Im Sagyeong placed on the table, speechless for a long moment.
“Do we have to keep putting up with this?”
“Let's taste it first.”
They suppressed their anger and brought the bok choy Im Sagyeong had served to their lips.
“Hah.”
After taking a bite each, they frowned and drank the rice wine.
The bok choy must have been stir-fried carelessly without being properly washed, as it was still gritty with dirt.
“I can't take this anymore.”
Gu Jahong, who had looked displeased from the moment they arrived, finally shot up from his seat.
“Leaving? That'll be one hundred pun.”
“…How much?”
One hundred pun was by no means a small sum. Yet he was demanding that much for this inedible food.
And for nothing more than a simple stir-fried bok choy, at that.
“Are you saying you won't pay?”
As Im Sagyeong spoke, men began to appear from all corners.
They were rough-looking men, even at a glance.
“If you ate the food, you have to pay.”
“Think you're hot stuff just because you're carrying a sword?”
Yet, even as the five men appeared, none of the four showed any sign of fear.
Their complete composure made Im Sagyeong feel that something was wrong.
“Hoo, Yang Jeon, Gu Jahong.”
At Jinmyeong's sighed call, Gu Jahong grinned, while Yang Jeon, who had been sitting quietly, stood up with a deep sigh of his own.
“What are you doing! Get them!”
Im Sagyeong shouted, and the five men charged at them.
Moments later, the five clashed with the two.
“Ugh!”
“Gaaah!”
Screams filled the air.
But the screams belonged to the five men Im Sagyeong had trusted so much.
They were being beaten by the two young men, unable to put up any real fight.
‘They're getting beaten that easily?’
It was unbelievable.
But now he understood why he'd had such a bad feeling.
His instincts had known this would happen.
‘I have to run.’
Im Sagyeong faltered and began to back away.
Hoping the four young men and women wouldn't notice him, he moved toward the door.
‘Just a little further…’
As he continued backing up, Im Sagyeong realized he was close to the door and spun around.
“Aah!”
“Where do you think you're going?”
But a single sword was already hovering in the air before his eyes.
Im Sagyeong was so startled that he fell backward without realizing it.
Caught, Im Sagyeong ended up kneeling in a line with the five men.
“Do you have any idea who we are?”
Im Sagyeong bellowed, though he didn't dare stand up.
“And who would that be?”
“That is…”
Im Sagyeong couldn't easily bring himself to say it.
“This isn't over. You will definitely regret what you've done today.”
“From where I'm standing, it looks like you'll be the ones with regrets.”
Jinmyeong, who had been listening quietly, sighed.
“To think one of the branch businesses meant to send money to the main cult is in this state.”
“D-Don't tell me you're from the main cult?”
Only then did Im Sagyeong understand why his men had been defeated so effortlessly.
“Hehe. What brings the main cult all the way out here…?”
The moment he realized they were from the main cult, Im Sagyeong's attitude changed.
“And who might you noble individuals be…?”
“Did you really not hear anything? That someone from the main cult would be coming?”
Im Sagyeong nodded his head furiously at the question.
“That can't be right. Is the Heavenly Demon Castle's administration that incompetent?”
At the mention of the Heavenly Demon Castle, Im Sagyeong's face stiffened.
This meant they weren't just ordinary members from the main cult.
“This guy might not have checked.”
“No, sir! I swear, no letters came from the main cult!”
Im Sagyeong exclaimed desperately.
Yang Jeon's suspicious gaze felt incredibly unfair.
“But really, who are you…?”
“Why are you so eager to know? What if you find out? Are you going to ask the main cult about us?”
“No, sir!”
Im Sagyeong desperately tried to figure out their identities, but when Gu Jahong glared at him, he quickly bowed his head.
‘Brown hair…’
Unlike the five men who had no clue, Im Sagyeong looked as if he was on the verge of figuring something out.
‘Sword control?’
He suddenly remembered the sword that had blocked him, floating in mid-air.
‘Mixed blood with a foreigner! Sword control!’
How could he not have realized it immediately!
“W-Why is the Sixth Young Master in a place like this…?”
The most famous person in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult right now was none other than the Heavenly Demon's sixth disciple, Jinmyeong.
He couldn't understand why that same Jinmyeong would come to such a remote place.
“I know. Why a place like this.”
Jinmyeong sighed and looked at Im Sagyeong.
“It seems they sent us to random places. I wonder why I ended up here.”
“Pardon?”
Im Sagyeong looked puzzled by Jinmyeong's cryptic words.
“You're the owner here?”
“Yes, I am.”
“And them?”
Jinmyeong looked at the five men next to Im Sagyeong.
“They are the Mak brothers. From the eldest, they are Mak Il, Mak I, Mak Sam, Mak Sa, and Mak O.”
“…”
He almost commented on how lazily they were named.
Now that he heard they were brothers, he could see the family resemblance.
“Anyway, what's with this place's name? Gomaru (High Demon Pavilion)? I'm sure people are just flocking here.”
Jinmyeong disliked the name from the start.
What kind of establishment would put the character for 'demon' in its name?
“Hehe. This isn't a tavern, it's a courtesan house.”
“A courtesan house?”
Only then did Jinmyeong realize his mistake.
No wonder the interior seemed awfully lavish for a tavern.
If it was a courtesan house, it was possible for the food to be bad.
That is, if the courtesans were exceptionally skilled.
“You might as well advertise everywhere that you're associated with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”
“…”
Seeing Jinmyeong change the subject, Im Sagyeong cursed inwardly.
What was so wrong with the name of this establishment, which signified aiming high as a man of the demonic path?
“So, are there any customers upstairs?”
If it was a courtesan house, it made sense that this main hall was empty.
“Hehe. Not a soul.”
“…”
It seemed their initial assumption that there were no customers was correct after all.
“So, since you have no customers, you resort to extorting money like you just tried with us?”
“Hehe. We don't even have customers to extort money from.”
“And you're proud of that.”
Jinmyeong sighed at Im Sagyeong's shamelessness.
“I heard your payments to the main cult are late.”
“Well, with no customers, it's been a bit difficult…”
Im Sagyeong scratched his head and answered weakly.
“Did you think it was fine since the main cult didn't send anyone?”
“I suppose so.”
He wasn't sending the tribute, but the main cult didn't press him.
Im Sagyeong had been anxious about when someone might show up, but when no one actually came, he had unwittingly relaxed.
And so, he had just been letting time pass by idly.
“So that's why they sent me here.”
Im Sagyeong must have thought they wouldn't care about a small business like this, but that wasn't the case.
Seeing that Jinmyeong was sent here, his other senior brothers were likely sent to other problematic locations as well.
“From today on, I'm taking over this place.”
“Pardon?”
Im Sagyeong looked bewildered at Jinmyeong's words.
“I said, since you weren't sending any money, I've been put in charge.”
“A-All of a sudden?”
“Yes. Suddenly. If you had done your job properly, this wouldn't have happened.”
Im Sagyeong spoke with a complicated expression.
“Then what will happen to me?”
He thought the main cult didn't care about him, but he was wrong.
“Am I… being sent back to the main cult?”
Im Sagyeong's voice trembled.
It wasn't because he was happy at the thought of returning home.
He was worried he would lose his life if he went back to the main cult like this.
“I won't be directly involved. You'll be the face of the operation.”
“Pardon?”
Jinmyeong sighed at Im Sagyeong, who didn't seem to understand him.
“Just keep acting as the owner.”
“Ah, I understand.”
He thought he would lose his life now that someone new had arrived, but luckily, it seemed he would be able to keep it.
“And you lot… You should at least be good enough to kick out troublemakers.”
Jinmyeong said, looking at the Mak brothers.
Although they were only first-rate martial artists who hadn't even reached the peak level, they should be able to drive away common thugs.
“The first thing we need to do is change the name.”
Gomaru was the kind of name that would make potential customers turn around and leave.
“And we're going to hire a cook.”
“Pardon? A cook?”
“Yes. Your cooking is terrible. This is a place where people eat, so of course the food has to be good.”
“This isn't a place for eating, it's a place for…”
“It's not like people don't eat here at all, is it?”
While a courtesan house was more about embracing courtesans, that usually came after enjoying drinks and food in their private rooms.
“But no cooks will want to come here.”
Gomaru's bad reputation was already widespread.
Since Im Sagyeong had failed to pay proper wages until now, no one would want to work here.
“Tell them the pay is ten silver nyang a year.”
“What? Ten silver nyang?”
Im Sagyeong looked shocked.
Ten silver nyang was a lot of money.
‘That's roughly twenty thousand dollars.’
It was hard to calculate the exact conversion, but Jinmyeong thought of one silver nyang as about two thousand dollars.
And he believed that hiring a decent cook for an annual salary of twenty thousand dollars was a very good offer.
“For that much, many cooks will gather.”
“Really? Then hold a cooking competition or something. Think of it as recruiting a few who make the most delicious food.”
After assigning tasks to Im Sagyeong, Jinmyeong immediately began to look around the courtesan house.
‘Is this place even salvageable?’
Was it because it hadn't been maintained?
The condition of the courtesan house was far from good.
Jinmyeong continued upward, examining the building in detail.
‘This is going to be a little tough.’
Dongting Lake had so many good inns and taverns.
No matter if he hired a new cook and changed the name, it seemed he would only manage a small increase in customers, not great success.
Jinmyeong's concerns about how to run the courtesan house only deepened.