Monopolizing Fortunes (101)
Monopolizing Fortunes (101)
Gong Myeong-un pulled his wandering thoughts back on track.
"Why do you keep backing away? We told you, we're not planning to run!"
A voice came from inside the cell, and soon a man with fierce, bulging eyes emerged.
"Then why are you coming out!"
At the official's question, the man answered with an aggrieved expression.
"They told me to get out!"
"Who did?"
"That old man who came in earlier. He said it was too crowded and stuffy, so he needed to stay somewhere comfortable...."
"Do you expect me to believe that nonsense!"
"I found it absurd too, but it's the truth!"
"Are you saying that old man is more frightening than an official?"
The man's answer came without hesitation.
"Yes."
"Why, you little—!"
The official looked ready to pounce at any moment, but since getting hurt would be his loss, he only shuffled backward. The officials were showing the very height of self-preservation.
Five men came out of the jail, but Do Tong-dal was nowhere to be seen. Gong Myeong-un pushed through the officials and approached the men.
One official blocked his way, but a shout of "You wretch! I am the magistrate of Hangzhou!" made him back off.
Gong Myeong-un went up to the men and asked urgently.
"Is there a young man in there by any chance?"
One of the men looked Gong Myeong-un up and down, then spoke.
"There is a young fellow in there. Filthy temper, vicious...."
Mid-sentence, the man flinched, glanced furtively behind him, and let out a sigh of relief.
"Did he look like this and that, here and there, so and so?"
"I suppose he looked roughly like that...."
The moment those words fell, Gong Myeong-un dashed into the jail.
"Lord Do—!"
Entering the jail, a long corridor appeared, and he could see a space where an entire wall had collapsed. Reaching it, Gong Myeong-un was finally able to see the Do Tong-dal he had so longed for(?).
"Hangzhou Magistrate Gong pays his respects to Lord Do!"
Gong Myeong-un flopped down prostrate before Do Tong-dal.
"What brings the magistrate here?"
"You said you needed this humble one's help, so I came running without asking why or wherefore!"
"You could have just sent the Chief Clerk...."
"How could I send a subordinate for Lord Do's business! That you should suffer imprisonment because I was late... please kill me! Sob sob!"
He really cried. It wasn't just an act; large tears rolled down Gong Myeong-un's cheeks one after another.
"It's nothing much, so please get up."
"Nothing much? How can you say Lord Do's imprisonment is nothing much? My heart is being torn apart like this...!"
Do Tong-dal sighed as he watched the sobbing Gong Myeong-un.
'This guy's personality has changed strangely. Was he always like this?'
Do Tong-dal barely managed to soothe Gong Myeong-un and get him to his feet.
"What in the world...."
The person who let out that dumbfounded voice was Baek Jong-myeong, who had been watching from midway through. Gong Myeong-un had been calling an Underworld thug "lord" this and "lord" that, and what Baek had just witnessed was a once-in-a-lifetime shock.
A magistrate responsible for an entire district performing a full prostration before a mere underworld thug! This was absolutely impossible.
"Magistrate Gong, what do you think you're doing...!"
Baek Jong-myeong tried to rebuke him, but instead Gong Myeong-un's roar came down.
"Magistrate Baek, you wretch! How dare you throw Lord Do in jail! Do you hope to keep living after committing such an outrage!"
Watching Gong Myeong-un foam at the mouth and jab his finger, he became certain: 'That bastard's insane! Definitely insane!'
"Kneel right now and beg Lord Do's forgiveness!"
Convinced the man was insane, he was about to order the officials to restrain him. But then Gong Myeong-un, who had been shouting behind Do Tong-dal, formed a large shape with his mouth.
—Just do as I say!
'Huh?'
—First, kneel!
Gong Myeong-un's expression was desperate, but he didn't seem crazed.
'What in the world is this...?'
While he was frozen, unable to do one thing or the other, Do Tong-dal's voice rang out.
"Let's go outside and talk. It may be a jail, but the smell...."
As Do Tong-dal moved to walk, Won Dae-yeon asked.
"What about Protector Namgung and Strategist Ha?"
Do Tong-dal glanced back but didn't stop walking.
"They'll come out on their own."
Crunch! Thud!
They came out on their own. Gong Myeong-un scurried over beside Do Tong-dal and spoke in a low voice.
"May I have a word with Magistrate Baek?"
"You'd better. Tell him I'll pay for the broken jail."
"You needn't concern yourself with such trifles, Lord Do."
Gong Myeong-un gave orders to the officials as if he were the magistrate of Fuyang himself.
"You lot! Get those vicious weapons cleared away this instant! Clear them away now!"
After shouting that, Gong Myeong-un whispered to Baek Jong-myeong.
"If you want to live, play along with me."
What showed in Gong Myeong-un was not madness but desperation. He couldn't understand the situation at all, but there had to be a reason Gong Myeong-un was acting like this.
'Just in case.'
Even tapping a stone bridge before crossing it, protecting oneself was a bureaucrat's instinct.
"Everyone, put away your weapons!"
"But the escaped prisoners...."
Gong Myeong-un cut off the official.
"Lock them all back up except those five over there... is what your magistrate will order."
Baek Jong-myeong, who had glanced at Gong Myeong-un with a displeased expression, relayed the order as instructed.
Just then, Hwangmi Dal bellowed in a ringing voice.
"Where is my Makya Blade!"
Do Tong-dal whispered.
"It's mine right now."
"It's a rental right now! A rental! The ownership is mine!"
Hwangmi Dal raised his voice in a fit, and somehow the Makya Blade was found. Hwangmi Dal raged that it had been stored carelessly, but he was easily subdued by the combined efforts of Do Tong-dal and Ha Su-ran.
"We'll be on our way now, if that's all right?"
At Do Tong-dal's question, Gong Myeong-un answered quickly.
"Yes! I'll take care of things here! I'm truly mortified that you had to endure imprisonment like this!"
To the bowing Gong Myeong-un, Do Tong-dal showed mercy.
"Don't worry. There won't be any reason for 'that gentleman' to come all the way to Hangzhou over something like this."
At the title "that gentleman," cold sweat ran down Gong Myeong-un's back. If he had to see Yang Su-pan again over an unsavory matter, there would be no second chance.
"Thank you! Truly, thank you!"
Do Tong-dal left the government office with a parting "Well, take care then." Baek Jong-myeong tried to stop him, saying "This isn't right," but Gong Myeong-un even grabbed him by the collar and sent Do Tong-dal off properly.
"Have you lost your mind? Showing yourself like that to a mere underworld thug! How much money have you been taking all this time! Of course it's only natural for affection to sprout amid the bribes going back and forth, but isn't this too much even so!"
"If it were about bribes, would I show myself like that to a thug even if I'd taken a fortune?"
"If it's not bribes, then what? Is some thug under the protection of a high official?"
The question of "That can't be, right?" came back with the answer of "That's exactly it."
"Yang Su-pan."
"Yang... who?"
"You may be the magistrate of a small district, but do you mean to say you don't even know Yang Su-pan's name?"
"No, I know it. But that's because the Yang Su-pan I know couldn't possibly be the one you mean! Isn't he the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Office of the Inspector General, and the trusted confidant of Jeon Su-bang, who enjoys the emperor's greatest favor?"
"So you do know."
Baek Jong-myeong looked at Gong Myeong-un with an expression that said, 'Has this bastard lost his mind?' He had no desire to gouge those eyes out. If he had heard that name from someone else, Gong Myeong-un would have reacted the same way.
"You may not believe it, but Censor Yang favors him... no, it goes beyond favor. The man he treats almost like a younger brother is Lord Do Tong-dal."
"Come on, that's absurd. Why would a man like that treat a mere thug like a younger brother? If he were his real brother, maybe. But their surnames are different! Could they have different fathers? That could be...."
Gong Myeong-un cut off Baek Jong-myeong's idle chatter.
"Lord Do is no ordinary thug!"
"If he's no ordinary thug, then what?"
"He is the most terrifying thug in the world."
Baek Jong-myeong, who had been staring blankly at Gong Myeong-un, burst out laughing with a "Pfft!"
"My uncle was driven out of Hangzhou by that man's hand."
"Your uncle is one of the Three Great Merchants of Hangzhou, isn't he?"
Gong Myeong-un calmly told Baek Jong-myeong the story of the incident.
"A mere underworld outfit smashed even a martial-world force?"
"That's right. The fact that I survived all that was nothing short of heaven-sent fortune. Lord Do never lets anyone who crosses him off the hook, so heaven-sent fortune is the only way to describe it."
Those words of Gong Myeong-un's put Baek Jong-myeong on edge.
"He doesn't leave alone anyone who touches him?"
"Think about it. One of the Three Great Merchants of Hangzhou was ruined over a single courtesan. And then he threw Lord Do in jail? When I think of the time I spent kneeling before Censor Yang because of that...."
Gong Myeong-un shuddered as if he had just pissed himself.
"Does Censor Yang really favor that thug to such a degree?"
"I can put it this way: 'He's already paid the price and reflected on it enough, so please forgive him.' That one simple sentence won me forgiveness."
"You... you still remember those words to this day?"
Gong Myeong-un shouted in a burst.
"Of course I do! If Lord Do hadn't forgiven me, I would have knelt in that spot for three days and either ended up with crippled legs or died! You can't know that terror unless you've been through it! Ah. Hm. That might happen after all."
The final mutter made Baek Jong-myeong's heart sink with a thud.
"M-might happen? What might?"
"Magistrate Baek also threw Lord Do in jail, didn't you?"
"Wh-when did I? I know nothing about it! The underlings did it on their own; I knew nothing!"
"Even if you claim ignorance, when something goes wrong, hasn't the man at the top always taken the blame? Censor Yang won't care about Magistrate Baek's excuses. What matters is that Lord Do was imprisoned."
"If we just keep our mouths shut, how would that gentleman far away in Beijing know?"
"Are our mouths the only ones that matter? Is Lord Do's mouth just a hole punched in leather?"
"Of course Lord Do's mouth matters most. Is there no way to shut that mouth?"
"As for shutting a mouth, hasn't the surest method since ancient times been to put something in it?"
"You're telling a magistrate to offer bribes to a thug?"
"When you're paying for your life, what does it matter whether it's the king or a thug? If you don't want to, there's nothing to be done...."
Baek Jong-myeong quickly pulled Gong Myeong-un back down as he started to rise.
"No, it's not that I won't give... I was just wondering how much I should give."
"Wouldn't that be Magistrate Baek's discretion?"
"About thirty nyang of silver...."
Gong Myeong-un's face twisted sharply.
"Do you know how much money Lord Do squeezed out of my uncle?"
"It must be... a lot. He was one of the Three Great Merchants of Hangzhou, after all."
"And he's the de facto head of the Red Tiger Society, which rules the nights of Hangzhou. What about the money coming in from there?"
"That must be a lot too."
"And you say thirty nyang? If you hold out a thirty-nyang promissory note, you'll probably hear, 'What, am I supposed to wipe my ass with this?' It'd be worse than giving nothing."
"Then how much...?"
"How much do you think Magistrate Baek's life is worth?"
"Y-you don't mean my head will actually roll?"
"It's the Office of the Inspector General. And he's a Left Censor at that. Even if Magistrate Baek were an official praised by all, the Inspector General's office could make a traitor of anyone if it set its mind to it, let alone...."
Gong Myeong-un swallowed the rest of his words. If the government was mobilized enough over underworld matters, even a fart would smell of money.
"Ah... I understand."
* * *
Do Tong-dal's mouth stretched from ear to ear. No matter how much money one had, newly incoming money was always a pleasure.
"What is this money for?"
"You suffered imprisonment, Lord Do, so you should be compensated for it. Hehe!"
"Really, you didn't have to go this far. But refusing your sincerity would be discourteous, so...."
The five people watching the heartwarming(?) sight of bribes changing hands shook their heads.
'A magistrate offering bribes to a thug. The world's ending. It's the end times.'
At the same time, they found themselves newly marveling at Do Tong-dal's ability to make the current flow upstream.
"Use this for travel expenses on your way back to Hangzhou."
Do Tong-dal held out one of the five hundred-nyang promissory notes to Gong Myeong-un.
"Oh my! You really didn't have to!"
Even as he said that, his hand was already gripping the note. He truly was a thug with business ethics.
* * *