The Silver Tiger Plaque
The Nanyang Headquarters of the Eunpa Merchant Group. Branch Leader Eun Baek-jung. He was a man consumed by greed.
“Du Chung is dead?”
Already past sixty, the two matters that weighed most on his mind were which of his sons would prove the superior successor, and erasing every trace of his deceased older brother. Du Chung had been a promising talent celebrated since the previous generation. Though he had failed as the person in charge of the Sichuan branch, his reputation had not plummeted to the bottom—there were plenty of other failures within the Eunpa Merchant Group. Nor had Eun Baek-jung allowed it to.
He had bought Du Chung with money when the man was ready to turn his back on the world.
“Is this the work of that Cheong-san bastard?”
“That… I cannot say for certain.”
“What do you mean you cannot say! It’s obviously that bastard’s doing!”
Eun Baek-jung hurled the pipe in his hand. Blood streamed down the subordinate’s forehead where it struck him.
“Damn bastard…”
Cheong-san was the single most irritating existence to Eun Baek-jung. A meritorious retainer active since the previous generation, he remained an unbowed rebel who refused to submit. The reason Eun Baek-jung could not cast him aside was that Cheong-san’s influence showed no sign of waning. No—all the factions outside Luoyang displeased him. They constantly voiced complaints and threw up obstacles. The decline of the Eunpa Merchant Group was entirely their fault. If they had simply carried out his orders properly, the group would have become the greatest merchant organization under heaven by now. Therefore, Cheong-san, who had blocked that future, was a bastard that even chewing up and swallowing whole would not satisfy.
“Just when it seemed he was finally about to collapse.”
The Nanyang branch’s performance was currently the worst among all remaining branches. It was because of that rotten flesh called Cheong-san that the other branches had grown rebellious. If they could simply carve out that rot, the Eunpa Merchant Group would have nothing left but to soar. Or so it had been.
“No, actually—this is perfect. This is the chance to eliminate that bastard. Investigate thoroughly! Spare no support whatsoever!”
“This can’t be…”
Cheong-san’s reaction upon seeing the Silver Tiger Plaque before his eyes was far more intense than Jin-pa’s. He shed tears like chicken droppings for a long while, sobbing.
“What has become of the branch leader…”
“You do not suspect how I obtained this?”
“Hooo… The branch leader I knew would have erased it from the world rather than let it be taken. The circumstances may not have allowed it, but young lady, you are clearly the successor the old master chose.”
“Hmm…”
It was fortunate the effort of persuasion had been saved. Borrowing Eun Baek-ho’s halo like this meant that even if she performed the fictional ‘Bing Ok-yeon’ created together with Hong Mae, the trust would not easily crumble.
Revealing too much power from the Jegal family may become a variable in future activities, but that was unavoidable for So-yeon’s sake.
“The old master has passed away. He lost his vitality after his son went first.”
“Aah… Branch leader…”
“Was the young master also alive?!”
“Yes. He survived until the time of his studies.”
“I should have rescued him sooner…”
“There is no need for self-reproach. The old master would not have wished it.”
“Huk…”
Though not to the same degree as Hong Mae, Eun Baek-ho had also been a profound connection for Ok-yeon. She found the two people’s affectionate mourning for Eun Baek-ho’s death pleasing. But now was not the time for such leisure. Since Luoyang lay directly north of Nanyang, the news would have already reached them. She needed to prepare, even if only a little, and quickly.
“Branch leader? You know what I desire, yes?”
She granted no time for mourning. Just as she had done with Jin-pa, she displayed an impatient, thoughtless demeanor that could even appear arrogant depending on the situation. Unlike Jin-pa, Cheong-san did not wear a disappointed expression.
“You must want revenge.”
“The old master was no different from a grandfather to me. Even if the one who made his end so miserable is his own younger brother, I cannot forgive him.”
“Just as I hoped.”
Cheong-san shot to his feet.
“I have dreamed of a day like today. All preparations were completed long ago. We simply lacked a central figure to carry it out! Those who have been idly watching until now will join you—no, the young miss—once they see the old master’s plaque!”
“Ufufu, excellent. Since I need only handle the revenge, I would be grateful if you took care of everything else.”
She was not yet Bing Ok-yeon, who had seized the Eunpa Merchant Group. She would become Bing Ok-yeon, the face of the Eunpa Merchant Group. The more she was underestimated, the better. Regardless of friend or foe.
“What do you think?”
Cheong-san and Jin-pa had spoken at length with Ok-yeon. Though they trusted Eun Baek-ho’s judgment, they could not blindly believe in her when they carried so much on their shoulders.
“I was surprised Uncle still possessed such drive.”
“…Hmm?”
“I thought he had completely forgotten the branch leader by now. He always grumbled that the old days were better. Yet in truth, he had been preparing steadily behind the scenes?”
“Hehe…”
Cheong-san stroked his beard with an embarrassed expression.
“I was not speaking of myself, but of your impression of the young lady.”
There was a proper reason Cheong-san had shown such lethargy. Perhaps because Du Chung had also cherished Jin-pa, he had not dragged her into their muddy struggle. Of course, even if it was a muddy struggle, it had never been revealed on the surface. Du Chung had been obsessed solely with diminishing Cheong-san’s influence, while Cheong-san had been desperate merely to protect it. Jin-pa had been the buffer between them.
As the days passed, the shadow of defeat had grown thicker. Gaining the upper hand against Du Chung, who stood behind Eun Baek-jung’s support, had been far too difficult.
In the first place, realizing that bastard had betrayed us came far too late.
Perhaps because his bond with Eun Baek-ho had not run deep. Whether it was simply personal greed, he could not know. But the reason Du Chung had come to Nanyang was solely to topple Cheong-san.
Du Chung’s schemes had been vicious and cunning, leaving no room for countermeasures. Enduring for over ten years was a miracle in itself. Moreover, every person he had drawn in possessed immense influence; it had seemed they would be helplessly defeated. It was fortunate that Jin-pa was weak—or so he had thought.
Yet those bastards were eliminated in a single stroke. The internal poison that could interfere with our operations has vanished completely. The remaining ones cannot hinder us.
And right after Bing Ok-yeon’s arrival, no less. It was too contrived to be coincidence. Such perfectly timed coincidences were never common in this world.
It seems she has not noticed the board yet.
She was a resourceful woman, yet still like an untainted girl. Extremely insensitive to the malice of others. She could not even detect harmless deceptions like this.
That too is something that comes with experience. Someone like Jin-pa would suit the new Eunpa Merchant Group far better than an old man like me.
If Bing Ok-yeon was, as he suspected, an extraordinary woman concealing herself, then a person like Jin-pa would be the perfect talent to assist her.
But how did she know? Did she reveal herself only after completing every investigation? If so, just how thorough a person is the young lady? Moreover, no matter how profound her martial prowess, she could not have handled all of it alone. She must have a group secretly following her.
Truly worthy of being the talent Eun Baek-ho cherished most, Cheong-san had inferred a fair amount of the truth from mere hints. But even he could not know everything. How could he know that Ok-yeon was a person who had cast aside even herself for revenge?
“The young lady… to speak honestly, she seems rather pure. Even though it looks as if she endured great hardship alongside the branch leader.”
It was probably not pure in a good sense. It was simply Jin-pa’s personality that prevented her from speaking ill of others.
“Hehe, is that so?”
“It seems she sent the branch leader off well in the end. Saying she knows little of commerce and would entrust everything to us—I see that very favorably.”
“That is fortunate.”
“But you know, I suspect she was originally a daughter of some noble house.”
“Did she seem different?”
“Before we escorted her earlier, I saw her watching the moon in the garden. She had removed her veil then… Wow… I have never seen such a beautiful person in my life. I have seen many rumored to be beautiful, but after seeing the young lady, they all seem like fireflies beneath the moonlight. She could confidently say that her face alone would suffice. That must be why she usually covers it.”
Jin-pa poured out stories about Ok-yeon with visible excitement.
“If the two uncles were still alive… they would have been truly delighted…”
“…That they would. That fellow missed the branch leader greatly as well.”
“Hic…”
Jin-pa began to cry.
Several days later.
“Word has arrived that both Hubei and Shaanxi will join us.”
“What of Hechang and Kaifeng?”
“They remain silent. However, it does not appear entirely negative. They likely mean they will not lend strength to either side.”
“Please handle that portion yourself, branch leader.”
“Of course. Leave it to me.”
The work progressed with astonishing speed. The branches outside Henan, which had been trembling in fear that their necks might fly off at any moment, immediately sent secret letters. The branches inside Henan, where Eun Baek-jung exerted powerful influence, maintained their silence. They were attempting to ride the current.
“Now that we have the answers from the four major branches, all that remains is to rise.”
There were probably those in other branches harboring different intentions. Even so, it did not matter. On the surface, no one had opposed them. Even if they ended up fighting with only the Nanyang branch, they possessed more than enough justification.
“Young miss, may I ask one favor?”
“What is it?”
“You call the old master ‘grandfather,’ but if possible, how about addressing him as father?”
“…”
Ok-yeon did not answer. It was not that she could not, but then would Hong Mae and Eun Baek-ho not become like husband and wife? Nor could she regard them as replacements for her true parents.
“I will use grandfather.”
“That is not bad either. I apologize for making you uncomfortable.”
“Not at all. I have called him ‘old master’ since we first met, so the title has simply become familiar. I prefer this as well.”
Through settling the form of address, Cheong-san had tried to make Ok-yeon appear more convincingly as Eun Baek-ho’s successor. Indeed, it would be troublesome if they were caught on such trivial details.
As their discussion continued for some time—
“Branch leader. A guest has arrived.”
“Did I not say we would receive no visitors for the time being? Or is it a constable?”
A large-scale murder had occurred in the middle of Nanyang’s residential district. The resulting chaos had not yet subsided. At first the Eunpa Merchant Group had been treated as merely related, but now it had become an inseparable part of the incident. That was only natural—many of the deceased had connections to the group. Repeated investigations were inevitable.
Of course, since Du Chung and Cheong-san had outwardly maintained an amicable relationship, they had not fallen under direct suspicion. The requests had merely been repeated calls for investigative cooperation on the level of whether any clues to the murders existed within the Nanyang branch.
“It is indeed a constable, however…”
“However?”
The mother’s expression was quite uneasy.
“I have come as well.”
“…!”
It was a massive old man. His sparsely grown hair resembled that of a monk who had broken his precepts long ago, and his robes were a golden kasaya. The Gold-Greedy Monster, Geum Man-deuk. An eccentric heterodox expert who loved gold so much that he had even changed his name to something as blatant as Geum Man-deuk.
When he grinned, every tooth gleamed. The old monster whose every motive in life was gold had come all the way to a place like this…
“It has been a while.”
“Welcome, Ten Thousand Gold Old Senior.”
“What are you all doing gathered together at a time when you should be extremely busy?”
Because of Geum Man-deuk’s overwhelming presence, she had noticed it late. Right beside him stood Eun Baek-jung’s confidant from the main branch. That explained why the Gold-Greedy Monster had come here. Eun Baek-jung, with fire beneath his feet, had urgently opened his treasury.
“We were discussing future plans.”
“Discussion my ass! A fellow who has done nothing but idle until now suddenly wants to work?”
Open hostility. It was not a tone one should use toward a member of the same merchant group.
“I have learned everything! Not only did the branch leader fail to protect him, he killed the vice branch leader?!”
“…!”
Jin-pa looked at Cheong-san with startled eyes.
“Hehe, so you have come to frame me?”
“Frame? Frame, you say? Why don’t you try offering your excuses before the branch leader himself!”
There could be no evidence. Not only had he not killed the man, but unless they had used a borrowed knife to commit murder, there could be no perjured testimony. And even if there were, it would be hopelessly clumsy. That was why they had brought Geum Man-deuk. They intended to arrest him first. Even the constable was averting his gaze with a troubled expression.
“Eun Baek-jung has been blinded by desire and now seeks to ruin the Eunpa Merchant Group.”
“Ha! Showing your true colors! Old man, I request your assistance!”
“Kuk kuk…”
Geum Man-deuk did not move. He simply sat across from a certain woman, toying with his mustache.
“Old man…?”
“Ahem… This is truly…”
“Perhaps you require more gold?”
Bing Ok-yeon quietly rose to her feet.
“Well… I shall step out for a drink. Continue your discussion.”
Geum Man-deuk followed him out as well.