Chapter 421: Asking After Yorang's Heart
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 421: Asking After Yorang's Heart
The Clan Head's Office.
"Yaaaaawn."
Tang Seo-yoon let out a massive yawn. Her fatigue simply refused to lift.
"Damn that Jang Sun-woo."
She ground her teeth, thinking of the culprit behind her exhaustion—her lover, Jang Sun-woo.
Since their first night together, Tang Seo-yoon’s life had changed completely. Specifically, her daily routine now involved being held in Sun-woo’s arms once every three days.
He had visited her bedchambers religiously since that first night. He was incredibly... diligent.
And that diligence was exactly what was wearing her out. She was already buried under a mountain of work every day without a moment to rest. Sun-woo’s faithful visits only added to her physical drain.
Of course, she could have turned him away, but she simply couldn't bring herself to do it.
It feels so good... how am I supposed to say no?
The intimacy with Sun-woo was intoxicatingly pleasurable. The feeling of being loved by someone, the sensation of becoming one with the person she loved, the comfort of falling asleep in his arms—everything about it was wonderful.
It was so wonderful that she couldn't reject him, even as her fatigue reached its limit.
Thus, Tang Seo-yoon was faced with a dilemma. While their intercourse was too good to pass up, she felt as though it might actually be shortening her lifespan.
What should I do...
She sank into deep thought, searching for a wise way to overcome this hurdle.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Suddenly, someone began pounding violently on the door.
Slam!
The door swung open roughly, and a peerless beauty with a cute expression appeared. It was Yorang.
"Oh, Yorang. Welcome."
Tang Seo-yoon greeted her warmly, genuinely glad to see her after a while.
"Have you been doing well?"
"I've been doing terrible!"
"Pardon?"
Tang Seo-yoon blinked in confusion at Yorang’s blunt reply.
Ever since the runaway incident, Yorang had been treated with the utmost care, almost like a royal guest. The office of the Head of the Jaegyeong Pavilion, where Yorang worked, had been turned into a playroom for her. The support staff for the pavilion had been tripled to take over all of Yorang’s burdensome tasks.
Furthermore, the system had been changed so that Yorang only had to work when she was bored, and even then, her workload was limited to no more than ten cases a day—only the most critical documents.
The Jaegyeong Pavilion had been transformed into a place of Yorang, by Yorang, and for Yorang.
So, what did she mean by saying she hadn't been doing well despite such treatment? Tang Seo-yoon’s expression darkened.
"May I ask who has been making things difficult for you?" she asked, her voice grave.
The lavish treatment of Yorang was a direct order from her as the Acting Clan Head. If someone was defying that order, it was a serious matter. It was nothing short of insubordination.
"Tang Jin-seol is crazy!" Yorang shouted, her voice rising in anger.
"What?!"
Tang Seo-yoon asked again, stunned. An entirely unexpected name had come out of Yorang’s mouth. Why was her married older sister being mentioned now?
"Wh... what happened?"
"What happened? What happened?!"
Yorang’s voice spiked as if she were having a fit.
"Look at this!"
Yorang shoved a ledger forward.
"This is the amount of subsidies Tang Jin-seol has taken from the Tang Clan over the past six months. How much do you think it is?" Yorang asked, her face scrunched in irritation.
"Wait... just a moment."
Flustered by Yorang’s aggressive stance, Tang Seo-yoon carefully began flipping through the ledger.
Flip, flip, flip, flip.
After a few moments...
Thud.
Tang Seo-yoon closed the ledger.
"It’s... a lot."
She tried her best to maintain a calm expression as she spoke.
"It’s a lot, right? It’s incredible! I was wondering where all the money was disappearing to, and it turns out it was all going here!"
"..........Is that so?"
"It’s like pouring water into a broken pot! What’s the point of me working overtime, breaking my back to save, calculate, and earn money? It’s all leaking out from places no one sees! And what kind of scheme is it to register fake merchant guilds just to embezzle funds?"
"............"
"The way she’s pocketing the money is so impressive I’m actually speechless."
Yorang continued to fume, her anger showing no signs of cooling down.
"Especially look at this. Look at the subsidy she took at the end of this month!"
Yorang snatched the ledger back, flipped to the very last page, and pointed her finger emphatically.
"Five hundred thousand Nyang! Five hundred thousand! Do you think this makes any sense? Do you know how many sweets and wafers you can buy with five hundred thousand Nyang? It’s more than I could eat in a lifetime! Does this seem right to you? Does it?! Is there one person meant to earn the money and another bitch meant to spend it? Is that it? Then I want to be the bitch who spends it! I’m not working! I quit!"
Yorang’s voice cracked with indignation. The more she thought about it, the more furious she became.
The amount of money Tang Jin-seol had siphoned off was beyond imagination. She had been claiming astronomical subsidies under ridiculous pretexts: dignity maintenance fees, development funds for improving the human rights of female martial artists, funds to encourage childbirth among unmarried women, and support for single mothers.
She took it all as if it were her birthright.
Not only that, but she had also created several fake merchant guilds, falsifying ledgers to make it look like transactions were occurring to pocket even more cash.
Embezzlement.
Yes, she was committing massive embezzlement. It was a crime so well-hidden that it would never have been discovered if Yorang hadn't looked up the inventory of the fake guilds out of sheer boredom.
"...Is this... even possible?" Tang Seo-yoon asked, looking dazed.
She knew Tang Jin-seol received a significant allowance, but she never imagined she was pocketing such a staggering sum. It was as if she were monopolizing a huge chunk of the clan's annual net profit all by herself.
"I organized the records because it is possible! That woman is completely insane! She claimed she needed more this month because of some succession competition or whatever, but even considering that, her overspending is horrific!"
Yorang continued in a deadly serious tone.
"We have to cut off her subsidies immediately! And the bastards who handed the money over to her should have their heads cut off!"
"..........So there were internal accomplices after all."
"Of course! You think she did all this crazy stuff alone?"
Yorang nodded vigorously.
"Most of those old geezers who retired a while back were in on it. We have to crush them first. They’re the ones who stamped the deals with the fake guilds."
Yorang scowled as she spoke.
"If there was no inventory, how did they keep it from being discovered for so long?" Tang Seo-yoon asked curiously.
She wondered how fake guilds with no actual goods could avoid detection for such a long time.
"They passed it down like a tradition. From the predecessor to the successor. They packaged it as if it were a tacitly approved form of corruption."
"How could they!"
Tang Seo-yoon’s voice rose in indignation. She had never imagined they would commit such malpractice in that manner.
"Now do you see why I haven't been doing well?" Yorang pouted.
"Yes... I think I understand. You felt a sense of contempt seeing such systemic corruption carried out as a 'tradition.'"
Tang Seo-yoon spoke in a calm tone, finding Yorang’s anger justifiable. Anyone would be furious to discover such organized, habitual corruption within their own organization.
"No, that's not it," Yorang countered, tilting her head.
"Pardon?"
"It’s because I’m jealous as hell!"
"Jeal...ous?"
"I have to work to earn my money! But that bitch just plays around and gets paid like clockwork! And hundreds of thousands of Nyang at that!" Yorang screamed in frustration.
"..........."
Tang Seo-yoon fell silent. She never imagined the reason for Yorang's fury was simple jealousy.
"That kind of organized, large-scale corruption gives a worker like me a massive sense of loss and deprivation!" Yorang declared with a stern face.
But Yorang... you get paid for playing around too...
Tang Seo-yoon barely managed to swallow the words. She knew saying that would only ruin the mood.
"This is why the people at the top are the problem! Talking about 'tradition' this and 'tradition' that! Just so they can swing things however they want!"
Since when did Yorang become so eloquent?
Tang Seo-yoon found herself impressed by Yorang’s vocabulary and continued to listen patiently until the girl had vented all her frustrations.
*
After some time had passed, Yorang seemed to have calmed down. She stopped her chattering and looked at Tang Seo-yoon with sparkling eyes.
She looked as if she were expecting something.
Seeing this, Tang Seo-yoon let out a small chuckle. She knew exactly what Yorang wanted.
"Yorang, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, we would have been in big trouble."
Tang Seo-yoon praised her with a bright smile. She knew Yorang was fishing for a compliment.
"Hehe... it was nothing."
A satisfied smile immediately spread across Yorang’s lips. Praise from others always felt electrifying.
"Well, I’m going now!"
Yorang looked at Tang Seo-yoon and spoke with a lively expression.
"Where are you going?"
"To get praised by Sun-woo!"
Yorang beamed. It seemed her annoyance toward Tang Jin-seol had vanished after her venting session and a few words of praise.
"That’s a shame. I wish you could stay longer."
"I can't! After Sun-woo, I have to go to the Great Matriarch! Then to Geum Jeok-hwa! And then to Neung So-hwa!"
"You haven't told Lady Geum yet?"
Tang Seo-yoon asked in surprise. She hadn't expected Yorang to skip over Geum Jeok-hwa, who also worked in the Jaegyeong Pavilion.
"Nope! Seo-yoon, you’re the Acting Clan Head! It’s only right to tell the Acting Clan Head first!"
Yorang spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"............."
Tang Seo-yoon was momentarily speechless, touched by Yorang’s unexpected words.
"Bye-bye~"
Yorang waved and skipped out of the office. Her footsteps looked incredibly light.
Tang Seo-yoon watched her go with a warm, fond smile.
*
Slam!
Yorang threw the door open.
"Sohwa! Sohwa! Sohwa!"
She called out to Neung So-hwa, who was sitting on her bed.
"Oh, is that not Yorang? What brings you to my quarters so suddenly?"
Neung So-hwa welcomed her with a bright expression, surprised by the unexpected visit.
"Guess what? I did something totally cool!"
"I am curious. What is it that you have done?"
Neung So-hwa asked, genuinely intrigued. she was looking forward to hearing what this cute young lady had to say.
"I personally uncovered a massive case of embezzlement and corruption that was rotting the Tang Clan!"
Yorang began to recount every detail of Tang Jin-seol’s corruption with great pride. Neung So-hwa listened intently, nodding and reacting at all the right moments.
The massive corruption within the Sichuan Tang Clan, the overlords of Sichuan, was a fascinating topic even for her.
"Truly a wicked woman. How could she spend the clan's wealth so recklessly, as if it were mere water?"
"Exactly! My thoughts exactly!" Yorang agreed enthusiastically.
"So, what did you do?"
"I went and told Seo-yoon everything. Now they’re all going to get in huge trouble."
"Ho, how wise of you. You truly are a multi-talented individual."
"Hehehehe."
Yorang blushed at the praise.
"I like you, Sohwa!"
Yorang lunged forward and dove into Neung So-hwa’s arms.
"I like you as well, Yorang. How can one be so refreshingly pure?"
Neung So-hwa looked at Yorang with admiration. She found it fascinating how Yorang treated her without any pretense or reservation.
She was royalty—the biological granddaughter of the current Emperor. Most people found it difficult to even be in her presence. But Yorang was different. She approached her with sincerity and treated her with genuine warmth. That attitude was both novel and deeply appreciated.
She is much like Sun-woo.
A smile naturally formed on her lips. She felt as though she had gained both a lover and a friend all at once.
But what exactly is the relationship between Yorang and Sun-woo?
Suddenly, a question occurred to Neung So-hwa. The relationship between the two was quite subtle. They were clearly close, but it was hard to define.
To call them friends seemed an understatement given their extreme closeness, yet they lacked the burning passion typical of lovers. It was a relationship she couldn't quite pin down.
"Hmm."
Driven by curiosity, Neung So-hwa spoke up slowly.
"Yorang, there is something I wish to ask."
"What is it? What is it? What is it?" Yorang asked, her eyes twinkling.
"What exactly is your relationship with Sun-woo?"
"With... Sun-woo?"
Yorang repeated the question, her voice tinged with confusion. A shadow of doubt began to flicker in her eyes.