The Silver Tiger Plaque
Even after that, Bing Ok-yeon continued visiting every merchant house connected to the Eunpa Merchant Group. The Eunpa Bookstore was one of them. Its glory as Nanyang’s largest bookstore had been stolen long ago, yet the Eunpa Merchant Group—still clinging to its old foundations—maintained a sizable collection.
“It’s enormous…”
“Do you like it?”
So-yeon nodded vigorously, looking happier than she had in a long time. Ok-yeon smiled softly and stroked her hair.
“Would you like to browse? I’ll look around a little, then head elsewhere.”
“Yes…!”
Ok-yeon spent roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea inside before stepping back out. Behind her, So-yeon’s eyes sparkled like stars.
“So many books…”
Learning came slowly to her, but she had never hated studying. On the contrary, having the chance ripped away from her only deepened her hunger for knowledge. She had simply never revealed it, because she had always been forced to hide her heart. Of course, it wasn’t as if the family had completely denied her every opportunity. On rare occasions Jegal Do-yeong would toss her a few volumes, telling her to produce educational results and learn them on her own. Or, from Jegal Myeong’s side—
You can come back anytime.
“…”
So-yeon shook her head sharply, casting the memory aside. Ok-yeon seemed to think well of Jegal Myeong. If that was how she felt, then So-yeon’s own emotions had to be set aside. When she thought about it calmly, Jegal Myeong had never directly harmed her. His behavior was uncomfortable, yes… but if it was all for her sister’s sake, she could endure any amount of it.
“…I want to study hard and become someone who can help my sister.”
So-yeon quickly brushed his face from her mind and lost herself among the shelves.
The records left in the books Eun Baek-ho had bequeathed had been read and reread for years. The trading partners he trusted, the subordinates who served him, the various merchant houses he had built with his own hands. Nearly twenty years had passed; almost none of his footprints remained. Yet erasing them completely would still require far more time.
“You told me to seize a declining merchant group and use it as the foundation for my revenge.”
It was no easy task. A tiger whose teeth have fallen out and whose claws have grown dull is still a tiger. The Eunpa Merchant Group remained enormous, still contending for supremacy within Henan. To march in with nothing but proof that she was the previous leader’s successor and demand they hand over the entire organization? It would be no different from suicide. If the world were that simple, the Jegal Clan would never have resorted to such dangerous methods. They would have simply ambushed and killed Jegal Hyun, taken So-yeon, and withdrawn at leisure. Only a tiny handful of people could manage such a feat, and even they would require meticulous preparation.
“So what should I do?”
After touring Nanyang, she had gained a rough understanding of the Eunpa Merchant Group’s current state. She had also traveled through Hubei and the southern regions of Henan, carefully observing every location. Nanyang—aside from the headquarters in Luoyang—was one of the places where the group’s influence still reached with the greatest care.
“If it’s like this here, there’s no need to inspect the other cities.”
A new leader had taken the helm twenty years ago and had walked the path of steady decline ever since. The people who still remembered the group’s former splendor were very much alive. Could they truly feel no discontent with the present state of affairs? Could they truly harbor no anxiety about the future?
“A stranger knocking on the door is met with wariness, but a guest one has personally invited is treated as an honored visitor.”
Ok-yeon was confident she had found the way to step inside the Eunpa Merchant Group. It would not take long.
“Come one, come all! If I bleed within ten punches, you win a silver coin! No martial artists allowed!”
Just as Ok-yeon was about to head for the Nanyang branch of the Eunpa Merchant Group, a familiar voice reached her ears.
“Whoa! What a fierce fist! I nearly got hit!”
“…”
She walked toward the source of the voice.
“Haha, too slow!”
“This guy’s pretty quick!”
“That’s five—aaagh!”
“See?! He’s bleeding! That guy’s bleeding!”
“No, no! I said you had to draw blood! Since when did getting hit mean you win silver?!”
“Just hit him hard enough to make him bleed, you idiot!”
“Come now, silver doesn’t grow on trees, does it?”
It was an absurd spectacle. Why on earth was he earning money this way?
“I spent all my travel funds trying to look good in front of you. Please understand.”
Someone approached from the side. It was a rather beautiful woman with a gloomy expression. Dark shadows lay beneath her eyes and she seemed drained of vitality, as if worn down by the world. In her hands she carried a small basket filled with broken pieces of silver.
“I am Yeom Seo-rin.”
“I’m Jegal Do-yeong.”
Once again, Ok-yeon borrowed Jegal Do-yeong’s name.
“Were you traveling with Young Master Ma?”
“You already know the answer, so why pretend you’ve only just realized?”
“This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“You’ve erected a barrier. You may speak truthfully.”
“…I don’t understand why you would radiate your energy so openly and then say something like that. Even a passing mutt would have sensed the aura you’re emitting.”
“I have no particular intention. I simply didn’t want the young master’s attention caught by someone like you.”
“Someone like me?”
“The young master is insatiably curious. Once something catches his interest, he stays fixated for a very long time.”
“Even so, radiating killing intent at someone you’ve only just met seems rather extreme.”
Just then the ten punches came to an end. Ma Cheon-yu took one extra blow afterward, but somehow managed not to bleed and claimed victory in the bet.
“There was always the possibility you might approach him with ill intent.”
“So now that you’ve confirmed I don’t, you’ve revealed yourself?”
“No. I still find you suspicious. The young master ordered me, so I had no choice.”
“You openly admit your suspicion?”
“Does that offend you?”
She was a strange woman. To declare outright that she suspected someone.
“You needn’t worry about me. I have not the slightest interest in who your master might be.”
“I see. Actually, that was a lie.”
“…”
“The young master’s eyes are sharp. Anyone he takes an interest in always has something special about them. He kept muttering that you were pretty, so pretty. I like the young master very much, so I’m jealous. I appeared to make you feel the crushing despair of my overwhelming beauty. Please get lost.”
“Pfft… hehe…”
“Why are you laughing?”
“I’ll cheer for you, Miss Yeom.”
“Yes, so please get lost quickly.”
They were a truly incomprehensible master and servant. While Yeom Seo-rin collected the silver from the bet, Ma Cheon-yu had already accepted a new challenger and was once again being beaten black and blue.
“You’re bleeding.”
He was sobbing dramatically, insisting through tears that his opponent was a martial artist. Just what kind of man was he?
The Nanyang branch of the Eunpa Merchant Group had once pacified the entire city alongside the main headquarters. Now, after years of relentless staff reductions, it was locked in fierce competition with minor merchant houses.
“The old days were better…”
“All the elders say that.”
“No, you really don’t understand. Back then our Eunpa Merchant Group was the greatest trading company in the world, I’m telling you!”
“I think I’ve heard that ten thousand times now.”
“If only someone like the Silver Tiger Merchant King Eun Baek-ho would fall from the sky.”
“Gasp. Branch Manager, you got your pay docked last time for badmouthing the main office, remember?”
“How is this badmouthing? Did I curse the headquarters? The place is full of people who agree with me. Please, won’t someone appear and save this company! At this rate we’ll all be on the streets within ten years!”
“I heard the leader plans to choose his successor from among his sons?”
“Aigo, Du-ya… those boys inherited nothing but their father’s flaws. Our Eunpa Merchant Group has finally begun its true decline!”
“I think the decline started a long time ago.”
“Are you two gossiping instead of working again? How can the branch manager and vice manager neglect their duties like this?”
It was the exact moment when Cheong-san and Du-chung, the two men responsible for the Nanyang branch, were worrying over the company’s future.
“Oh! If it isn’t our branch’s treasure, Accountant Jin-pa.”
“With Jin-pa here we have nothing to fear! She’s a talent even the Luoyang main office coveted.”
“What’s with the sudden flattery? Did you embezzle something?”
“When have I ever lied to you!”
“The main office is short on people, so they’re even willing to promote someone like me. Oh, that reminds me—the last message from headquarters said our Nanyang performance was the worst and told us to show what we can do.”
“If we could do that, we would have gone to the main office ourselves.”
“Then what about me, stuck here?”
“A golden nugget shining in the mud, perhaps.”
“It would be nice if our kind, hardworking accountant could find us a solution~”
“Isn’t that a bit much, Branch Manager?”
“But everyone we’ve brought in has been problematic. Let’s see, the last one you recommended, Chun-sik, was an escaped government slave. And that westerner Du-chung brought in could barely count on his fingers.”
“Haha! They said the people of the western regions invented numbers, but that was clearly a lie! And that’s not all, is it? The guy Ji-hyeon recommended was colluding with bandits. We really shouldn’t accept recommendations at all.”
“Which is why our clever Jin-pa should go.”
“Wow, look at you dumping all the work on me.”
Jin-pa grumbled as she headed outside. Despite her complaints, those two would probably search for talent as well.
“As if talent would just appear because we’re looking. And even if we found someone, how could one person save a merchant group on the verge of collapse?”
She wasn’t without complaints.
“To save this rotten company we need a martial artist, not some capable administrator. Everyone knows that.”
The biggest problem was that the water at the very top had rotted beyond saving. It wasn’t merely rotten.
“Incompetent perverts.”
The reason she had never gone to the main office was because she knew exactly what would happen to her there.
“Still, we have to at least make a show of effort so the elders don’t get scolded. Where can I find a decent person…”
“Hello.”
“Good heavens!”
“Oh, I’m sorry for startling you.”
“N-no, I thought no one was here… What brings you to the branch? Do you have goods you’d like us to purchase? Our Nanyang branch works with merchants traveling the Silk Road and collects mysterious artifacts from the western regions. If you tell us what you want, we can obtain most items, though it may take some time.”
“Do you deal in human lives as well?”
“…Pardon? That would be… we do handle slaves, but…”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I… I see? We don’t deal in slaves, but if there’s something else you need, please tell me.”
“What a shame.”
“Ahaha… I apologize for disappointing such an honored guest. If you truly need that kind of service, other merchant houses can arrange an introduction to an assassination broker.”
“So you understood after all?”
“…”
She was beginning to think this woman was strange. Had she come here without even learning what kind of place this was? What kind of merchant group accepted murder commissions?
Come to think of it, the other branches have probably done it already. I heard the Anhui branch got involved with the Black Market and the royal palace personally destroyed the branch. We’re lucky we never crossed the imperial family.
If they had, the entire Eunpa Merchant Group might have been erased. Whether it was murder for hire or purchasing slaves, bringing up such dangerous business was incredibly risky. A sigh escaped her. The habit of bowing and scraping that had hardened over the years finally loosened.
“Please leave. The Nanyang branch of the Eunpa Merchant Group does not engage in the kind of work you described. There are many other places that can fulfill your desires. Go there instead. Good day.”
Jin-pa gave the polite order to leave. The other party seemed somewhat offended and abruptly turned away.
Huh?
The moment the veiled woman spun on her heel, something glittering at her waist caught Jin-pa’s eye.
The silver plaque…?