Monopolizing Fortunes (103)
Monopolizing Fortunes (103)
No sooner had the name left his lips than another torrent of praise, laden with every flowery phrase imaginable, poured out.
Jang Yu-seom waved off the claim that he was the finest martial artist in the military, but he could not stop their adulation.
Do Tong-dal's hand gestured toward Won Dae-yeon.
"Protector Won Dae-yeon is someone you may not know...."
"How could we possibly not know Protector Won?"
Of course, they had not known that Won Dae-yeon had once been the greatest hero under heaven. Still, as members of the Underworld they had crossed blades a few times, so they exaggerated those encounters and praised him with all their heart and might.
"You certainly know a great deal about the Red Tiger Society."
"They are the people we respect above all others, so of course we should know."
Gwak Cheol-ju's gaze shifted toward Hwangmi Dal. It was a request for an introduction, but Do Tong-dal simply ignored it.
"Ahem!"
The others had received something close to hymns of praise, so Hwangmi Dal cleared his throat, wanting to add a spoonful of his own, but Do Tong-dal pretended not to hear.
Hwangmi Dal was not even a member of the Red Tiger Society, so there was no need to introduce him.
"But that gentleman over there...."
Gwak Cheol-ju spoke first. What a commendable fellow.
"He's just an old man who tags along. No need to pay him any mind."
"You brat! What do you mean, an old man who tags along!"
"Did I say anything wrong?"
"That's not the point! Shouldn't you introduce me properly?"
"You're not even part of the Underworld, so why do they need to know?"
"Even so, they ought to know!"
"If you want them to know so badly, just say it yourself!"
"Fine! I'll just do it myself! I am Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword, Alliance Leader of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance!"
In an instant, silence fell over Gwak Cheol-ju's party. Hwangmi Dal thought, These brats are frozen stiff and can't even speak, when someone let out a snicker.
The laughter spread like a plague, and soon all the Seven Stars Society men wore similar smirks.
"Is that... mockery?"
At Hwangmi Dal's question, Gwak Cheol-ju hastily waved his hands.
"N-no, not at all. But it is a little hard to believe. Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword, Alliance Leader of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance, you say."
Had Do Tong-dal's party not been present, they would have grabbed the old man by the beard and demanded, 'Has this old man gone senile?'
"I'm telling you, I really am Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword."
"Come on, even a lie should have some limits."
"Indeed. If you'd said you were an Elder of the Nine Great Sects, we might have been able to believe it, but Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword is going way too far."
On top of that, Do Tong-dal called him "old man" and wore an unmistakable look of annoyance. There was no way such a person could be the Alliance Leader of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance.
"I'm telling you, I really am Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword, Alliance Leader of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance! Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword Hwangmi Dal!"
He even spat out the name he had not wanted to reveal, but the wall of disbelief remained high.
"Is that gentleman really Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword?"
Do Tong-dal, who had received Gwak Cheol-ju's question, glanced at Hwangmi Dal.
"Why would such an extraordinary person follow us around and put up with abuse?"
"Right? Hehe!"
"You—you little bastards! Fine! I'll show you proof that I am Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword!"
Hwangmi Dal drew the sword from his back. Everyone flinched and leaned back, when suddenly Hwangmi Dal hurled the sword to the left.
"Eeek—!"
Gwak Cheol-ju's party hastily buried their noses against the table, but the sword flew off somewhere unrelated to them anyway.
The spinning sword, astonishingly, flew not in a straight line but in a curve, slicing through every pillar in the dining hall.
After tracing a great circle and making one full circuit of the dining hall's interior, the sword returned to Hwangmi Dal's hand.
The startled Namgung Seol-rin and Jang Yu-seom cried out as if screaming.
"Flying Sword!"
Even if it was not the legendary realm of Qi-Controlled Sword, Flying Sword was the final goal to which any martial artist who wielded a sword aspired.
Won Dae-yeon wore an expression that said, 'I knew he could do at least that much,' while Do Tong-dal thought, 'Is that really so impressive?' and felt no particular emotion.
Hwangmi Dal, sword in hand, did not stop there and lightly stamped his foot.
Boom!
The entire third floor, its pillars all severed, collapsed.
"Aaaagh—!"
Just as Gwak Cheol-ju's party screamed and tried to hide under the table, Hwangmi Dal's sword moved.
Crunch! Boom! Crash!
With a thunderous noise, the roof came down, but within a two-jang radius of where they stood, only a few fragments flew in. That was all.
He had used sword qi to cut and deflect the collapsing roof. It was truly astonishing martial arts.
Amid the thick dust, Hwangmi Dal wore a satisfied expression at his own handiwork(?) and sheathed his sword.
Gwak Cheol-ju's party, jaws agape from shock, had no choice but to believe that the old man before them was Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword.
No, even if he were not Heaven-Splitting Thunder Sword, such astonishing martial arts were more than enough to inspire awe. Of course, not everyone felt awe at Hwangmi Dal's martial arts.
"Cough! Cough! No, has this old man lost his mind?! Why did you go and wreck a perfectly good building!"
When Do Tong-dal shouted in anger, Hwangmi Dal shouted back without backing down.
"Because you wouldn't answer me properly!"
"So you destroy a building over that? Is being acknowledged by Underworld thugs that important to you?"
Now that he thought about it, that was true. What glory was there in being recognized by a bunch of lowly thugs?
"Still, it felt like I was the only one being ignored...."
"You get ignored because you pull stunts like this! Who's going to pay for this?!"
"Hmph! I am the Alliance Leader of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance. Even if I knocked down a hundred buildings like this, my fortune wouldn't so much as scratch."
"Is that so? Even a rough estimate puts the damages at fifty nyang of silver."
Beside him, Won Dae-yeon chimed in. "More like eighty nyang, wouldn't you say?"
"Right? Well, a man of your standing, Alliance Leader of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance, surely carries around eighty nyang of silver."
Hwangmi Dal did not even need to put his hand in his pocket to check his money. Because he did not have a single coin.
The Alliance Leader of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance was no ordinary person. Whenever he left the alliance, at least ten subordinates followed to attend him.
Travel expenses were not the Alliance Leader's concern. Hwangmi Dal was a man for whom the very concept of money had grown faint.
"I don't have any on me right now, but if I send word to the Northern Unorthodox Alliance...."
"Then you can stay in the government jail until that person arrives."
"Why would I go to jail?"
"You wreck someone else's shop like this and you won't go to jail?"
Won Dae-yeon muttered, "Typical unorthodox faction boss," and Do Tong-dal chimed in with, "Filthier and pettier than an Underworld thug."
Hwangmi Dal felt wronged, but it was true that he had destroyed the building and had no money to pay for it, so no proper defense came out.
"Hmph! Then you can lend it to me."
Do Tong-dal's eyes went round as if in surprise.
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"Why would I do something like that?"
"I'll pay you back."
"If I could borrow money with words that simple, I'd be the richest man in the Central Plains within a month."
"I said I'll pay you back! Don't you trust me?"
"You have a prior record of breaking promises...."
"The Makya Blade wasn't something I promised!"
"You egged someone on to break a promise, which is worse."
"So you won't lend it to me?"
Hwangmi Dal's eyebrows shot up. In truth, if Hwangmi Dal simply bolted here, the one who would ultimately have to pay would be Do Tong-dal. If Do Tong-dal also refused to care, the money would have to come out of Gwak Cheol-ju's pocket, but he could not do that to a man who was about to become his subordinate.
"What about interest?"
"Interest?"
"No, I know you're oblivious about money, but surely you know that when you borrow money, paying interest is only natural?"
He had been about to bolt, but seeing another path, Hwangmi Dal immediately stepped forward.
"How much do you want?"
"Ten percent."
The thought, 'Why is he being so reasonable?' vanished at Do Tong-dal's next words.
"Per day."
"Why, you thief! I may be ignorant about money, but this is too much! Where in the world is there such usury?! I'll just—hwaak—!"
"You can give me something else instead of money."
"Something else?"
Hwangmi Dal's hand, raised to strike, had not yet come down.
"You grant me one thing I want."
"This bastard thinks I'm a fool!"
As his hand rose higher, Do Tong-dal spoke quickly.
"You don't have to grant it!"
"Huh?"
"If it really seems too much, just say no. Then I won't say another word about it."
"So I can just flatly say no?"
"Yes."
Hwangmi Dal narrowed his eyes.
"What's your angle?"
"There's no angle. I'm simply trusting the old man's conscience."
"Hmm... You're not the type for that."
"I mean it."
Hwangmi Dal, who had been shooting suspicious looks left and right, asked again.
"So if I say I won't grant what you want, that's the end of it?"
"That's right."
"Fine. That seems reasonable enough."
By anyone's reckoning, it was a deal in which Do Tong-dal came out at a loss. But Do Tong-dal thought differently. Of course, he had not yet decided what to ask for, but he was confident he could make the old man grant it.
'Getting that prideful old man to move is a piece of cake. Hehehe....'
Seeing that, the Seven Stars Society thugs felt more awe toward Do Tong-dal than toward Hwangmi Dal.
'He goes toe-to-toe with the Alliance Leader of the Northern Unorthodox Alliance? A thug?'
In their eyes, Do Tong-dal was a man who had opened a new horizon for thugs. A halo seemed to glow behind Do Tong-dal's head.
In any case, they had taken Shaoxing without bloodshed. The four Underworld societies of Shaoxing, including the Seven Stars Society, had no choice in the matter.
They knew exactly how the Underworld societies of Fuyang had been cut down. Challenging the Red Tiger Society would be like throwing an egg at a rock. They could not even land a stain on it.
After roughly settling matters, Do Tong-dal's party departed for their next destination, Yuhang.
* * *
"Between the First Prince and the Second Prince, who do you think will next sit on the throne?"
"Is there not also the Third Prince?"
At Yang Su-pan's question, Jeon Su-bang shook his head.
"For one thing, the third has no faction worth mentioning. You have to consider him far from the imperial throne."
"By conventional thinking, wouldn't the First Prince be in the strongest position?"
"That is true, but he has not even been invested as crown prince yet. And he's already twenty-five."
"His Imperial Majesty is still young...."
"But he's ailing."
"The word 'ailing' is a bit...."
"It's not as if I said it to his face."
Unless it was said directly to his face, the emperor would not be able to hear it anyway. His eyes had grown dim, his ears had dulled, and his movements were impaired as well.
They were concealing it as much as possible, but it was only a matter of time before rumors spread that the emperor's condition was serious.
"The time has come to invest a crown prince. No, it's already far too late."
"Even if the First Prince ascends to the imperial throne, it will not harm you, my lord."
"Of course, I have no fear of losing my position. But my power will not be what it is now."
At present, the First Prince's closest confidant was the eunuch Tae-jin. Tae-jin had looked after the First Prince since childhood and had followed him like a shadow ever since, tending to him.
If the First Prince became emperor, Tae-jin would clearly enjoy the power that Jeon Su-bang currently held.
There was a law strictly prohibiting eunuchs from participating in politics, but law was like a blade in the hands of the powerful. If the emperor wished to render it powerless, he could do so as much as he pleased.
"But is the Second Prince not also a problem?"
"He is. That side has far too much influence from the maternal relatives. If the Second Prince becomes emperor, he will replace all the heads of the Six Ministries and seat his maternal relatives."
"Should we not devise a plan quickly?"
"The problem is that no one can know who will become emperor. If we side with the First Prince out of inertia and the Second Prince suddenly becomes emperor, it won't end with simply surrendering our posts."
A power struggle was a tightrope walk in which disaster could befall not only one's own life but one's entire clan to the third degree.
"If we back the Second Prince and the First Prince becomes emperor, that would also be a disaster. But if we sit idle...."
"We end up like a kite with its string cut."
"You must make a decision quickly."
Given the emperor's condition, he would soon invest a crown prince. Yang Su-pan asked.
"Has His Imperial Majesty given you any private word?"
"He is still deliberating. If the First Prince's qualities were even slightly decent, it would not be a matter he would agonize over."
"To be honest, I do not think the Second Prince's qualities are particularly good either."
The two were close enough to speak such words freely.
"If his character is poor, he should at least have ability. Both of them are utter trash in character and ability alike, so it's only natural His Majesty is agonizing."
Yang Su-pan asked in a low, suggestive voice.
* * *