Monopolizing Fortunes (119)
Monopolizing Fortunes (119)
Ziiing—!
He had heard tens of thousands of songs, met thousands of entertainers, and tested hundreds of them.
So he could accurately judge an entertainer's skill before she had played the gayageum and taken five breaths.
But Ja Su-yeong didn't need that much time. The moment she plucked a single string, Ha Du-sang knew.
'That!'
From the first ringing note, the waves in his chest had already stirred.
—Unable to protect itself, it was broken; now the lonely autumn wind blows—what is to be done.......
The zither melody set to Du Fu's poem "Reeds" tore through Ha Du-sang's heart in an instant.
His eyelids grew heavy of their own accord, and when he closed his eyes, he found himself standing in a dense reed bed by the river before he knew it.
Before that mournful, lonely autumn wind, he became a small being feeling the transience of time with his whole body.
When the final line, "I only fear letting the years pass in vain," ended and the zither's lingering resonance faded, Ha Du-sang opened his eyes.
Fortunately, no tears fell, but the heaviness in his chest still made it hard to breathe.
He had listened to hundreds of entertainers said to possess outstanding skill, but never once had a sound bored into his chest like this.
In terms of technique, there had been more accomplished musicians. But music was not a world that could be judged by technique alone.
Far more important than technique was the power to move the listener's heart. That performance had just displayed that power without reservation.
"Shall we leave and go to another pleasure house?"
At Ja Su-yeong's question, Ha Du-sang snapped back to his senses.
"Ah...... no!"
Realizing he had reacted too strongly, Ha Du-sang hastily composed his expression.
"Hm, that much is usable. Though the technique is a little lacking. But if you want to work at the Number One Pleasure House of Beijing, there is a gate you must pass through."
"What gate do you mean?"
"The Number One Pleasure House of Beijing is, quite literally, the largest and finest pleasure house in Beijing. Courtesans who want to work here line up. Hiring is entirely at my discretion."
"And so?"
"Hmph! Since you would be a courtesan, you must serve guests well at night, mustn't you? Most of the people who come here are great merchants or high officials. It is a place where even the smallest mistake is not tolerated. So I must first teach the courtesans how to entertain those gentlemen."
"So you're saying I have to sleep with the steward for a night?"
"It is instruction, instruction. Ahem!"
Ja Su-yeong smiled brightly. That smile made his heart seem to sink with a thud.
Her music was wondrous and her beauty was like flowers and moonlight—she was truly worth a fortune.
"It seems this isn't the place for me to work after all."
Ha Du-sang hastily rose, following Ja Su-yeong.
"You mean to just leave? There is no place in Beijing as good as our pleasure house."
"Then I'll just have to make a better pleasure house myself."
It wasn't empty talk. With someone like Ja Su-yeong, making a pleasure house famous would be nothing.
"Fine. Fine. What do you want?"
For now, he had to hold onto her. Only by keeping her close would he have a chance to satisfy his lust.
* * *
He was five cheok tall, and his white-streaked hair looked as if it hadn't been washed in months, oil fairly streaming from it. There seemed to be a thousand lice in there.
His white eyebrows and small eyes, his bulbous nose and thick lips were unsightly, but he was Baek So-gu, the Beggars' Sect Leader, Chwita-gae.
"Why did you come looking for me?"
Baek So-gu's manner as he posed the question to Hwangmi Dal with half-lidded eyes was prickly.
"Because this friend wanted to meet the Sect Leader."
Baek So-gu glanced at Do Tong-dal. It was still early, so the shabby tavern held no one but their party.
Baek So-gu tossed back a cup of cheap baijiu suited to the tavern and asked again.
"Why?"
Do Tong-dal answered.
"To treat you to good liquor."
"The liquor I'm drinking right now is always the best liquor in the world."
He was a wise old man who knew how to be content with the present.
"Then come find me in Hangzhou sometime. That day, I'll treat you to the best liquor. My business is done."
At those words, Hwangmi Dal was startled.
"We came all this way and that's all your business? What kind of bullshit is that?"
"I've seen the Sect Leader's face, so that's enough. I'll wait in Hangzhou."
Do Tong-dal rose without hesitation and left the tavern. Namgung Seol-rin followed right away, and Hwangmi Dal came chasing after them in a fluster only much later.
"What on earth is this! I threw away my pride to arrange this meeting, and you end it like this!"
"Staking your pride on such a trivial matter. Well, that's how the old man's pride is."
"You little—! Hah—! I'm older by at least a year, so I'll be the one to endure it. But do you really mean to leave like this? You met the Beggars' Sect Leader just to say you'd treat him to a drink?"
"I'll state my business when the Sect Leader comes to Hangzhou."
"When you talked to me, you made it sound terribly urgent, and now you say you'll leisurely wait for the Sect Leader! Are you mocking me!"
"Everything has its season, and success or failure matters more than time. I'm raising the odds of success by delaying the timing a little."
Namgung Seol-rin nodded as if she understood.
"So if you go to him and state your business, it looks like you're asking a favor, but if the Sect Leader comes to you, it becomes the opposite?"
"The Sect Leader probably already knows about me. Rumors in the martial world are always exaggerated—he may think of me as a greater figure than I really am."
"No matter how exaggerated the rumors are, compared to your real ability, you've still been underestimated. I'll guarantee that."
"Thanks for the compliment. Anyway, there's nothing better than curiosity for opening a person's ears. The Sect Leader will come looking for me. It's only a matter of time."
"That time is the problem."
"Three days after we return to Hangzhou—he'll probably come within that."
Do Tong-dal's prediction was not wrong. Not three days—less than one shichen after they arrived, they received Baek So-gu's visit. Of course, there was a bit of commotion.
"You old beggar, do you know where you are, coming here to beg!"
"Hehehe! Money earned by squeezing the blood of honest folk—what's the harm in giving a little charity to a beggar?"
"What? This chestnut-sized old tramp must be dying to get himself killed!"
"Man-chun! No matter how much of a beggar he is, you shouldn't treat an elder that way. Give him some drinking money and send him off."
"Understood, Deputy Society Leader."
"How am I supposed to drink Sagiju with this money?"
"What? Sagiju? Even I can't drink that because it's too expensive! This beggar doesn't know his place......!"
Having heard that much, Do Tong-dal stepped onto the stairs leading down to the first floor. On the first floor of the Red Tiger Society headquarters were six thugs, and the only one not fuming was Jo Jin-ho.
Of course, Jo Jin-ho didn't know the identity of the old beggar Baek So-gu.
"That's enough playing around. Come on up."
At Do Tong-dal's words, the startled thugs straightened their postures.
"From the look of it, I might be able to squeeze some drinking money out of this place."
"Hwang Cheol."
The big-eared man called Hwang Cheol answered.
"Yes, Coordinator."
"Go buy ten bottles of Sagiju."
"T-ten bottles?"
"Yes. Say I'll settle the bill later."
"Understood."
As Hwang Cheol hurried out, Do Tong-dal said to Baek So-gu.
"Sect Leader, is that enough?"
"Tch! What kind of thug is so stiff? Well, thugs are all like that, I suppose."
Grumbling, Baek So-gu ambled up to the second floor. On the second floor were Namgung Seol-rin, Jang Yu-seom, and Won Dae-yeon.
"It's been a long time, Sect Leader."
When Won Dae-yeon greeted him, a brief smile crossed the Sect Leader's face.
"Have you been well?"
His lack of surprise at Won Dae-yeon being in the Red Tiger Society showed that he had thoroughly investigated Do Tong-dal.
"Yes. You're the same as ever, Sect Leader."
"You've changed a great deal."
"Because I'm not the person I used to be."
"Which former time? When you ran wild, mad with revenge, or when you were called the Greatest Hero Under Heaven?"
"All of those were me."
Baek So-gu's thick white eyebrows twitched.
"You've changed more now than when you went from hero to vengeful ghost?"
"I'm no longer a hero, and my revenge is done, so the old me is dead."
Baek So-gu, who had been staring at Won Dae-yeon, asked.
"Then are you just a thug now?"
"Yes. Just a thug."
"Understood. Then I'll treat you as such."
Only after ending his conversation with Won Dae-yeon did Baek So-gu sit down in a chair.
"This isn't much of a place for drinking."
"Shall I guide you to a pleasure house?"
At Do Tong-dal's suggestive question, Baek So-gu scowled.
"A pleasure house for a beggar? The best place for drinking is under a bridge. Tsk!"
"Sagiju should blow away any disappointment about the location."
"Let's see how great this Sagiju really is."
Baek So-gu closed his mouth, and Do Tong-dal didn't bring anything up either. A strange silence circled between them.
Neither Baek So-gu, who had come, nor Do Tong-dal, who had waited, said a word about the truly important matter.
The person most stifled by this silence was, as expected, Namgung Seol-rin.
"When are you going to see my brother?"
Because the silence was stifling, she asked something she had been wondering about anyway.
"If I have business near the Namgung Clan, I'll see him once."
"You'll tell my brother everything too, right?"
"Everything is a bit much—wouldn't it be better to tell him only what's absolutely necessary?"
"But it concerns the survival of the Namgung Clan. He has a right to know."
"That's exactly why it's better for him not to know. So that in the worst case, he can deny any involvement."
"Hah—! Do you think denying it will work?"
"It will. They're a martial clan."
"It's treason. Do you think that will hold?"
"Let's talk about that later. We haven't even left yet."
"I'm going to tell him. The Namgung Clan should prepare itself too."
"Keeping this secret is vital. The fewer people who know, the better."
"You're going to tell the Beggars' Sect too."
"Not yet."
Namgung Seol-rin glanced at Baek So-gu and said.
"Well, not yet, I suppose."
In the end, Baek So-gu could not hold back and opened his mouth.
"Fine, I'll ask first. What is the business you wanted to see me about?"
Do Tong-dal answered with a smiling face.
"To treat you to Sagiju......."
"Stop talking nonsense. You already dragged out talk of treason to hook my curiosity, so why draw it out further?"
Namgung Seol-rin said.
"I didn't know the Sect Leader had a hobby of eavesdropping on other people's conversations."
Baek So-gu burst out shouting.
"You were talking openly right in front of me!"
Do Tong-dal stepped in.
"If the Sect Leader came all this way on his own two feet and is that curious......."
"You called me here!"
"Would the Beggars' Sect Leader go just anywhere because someone told him to?"
"Fine. Before this old man's life runs out, let me hear it. Why did you call me here—no, why are you treating me to drinks?"
If he drew it out any longer, the old beggar's temper might explode and he might leave.
"The Beggars' Sect knows about the hidden faction causing incidents all over the martial world these days, right?"
"I know as much as others know."
"For the Beggars' Sect, how could that be?"
"I know that you healed Namgung Cheol-hyeon and Alliance Leader Hwang."
"That's quite a closely guarded secret. As expected of the Beggars' Sect. Would any other sects happen to know about this?"
"As you said, it's a secret matter, so even the Nine Great Sects haven't grasped it. It's information we could only know because we're the Beggars' Sect. Hmph!"
"Then how did the hidden faction know?"
"Hm?"
"They came to me and even left a warning like this."
Do Tong-dal loosened his collar and showed the scar left on his chest.
"That wasn't all the hidden faction knew. They knew about me, and about what I've done, in astonishing detail."
"Their information network seems considerable."
"That's what I think too. But how did the hidden faction obtain such information capability? Information capability is only completed when two things overlap: power and time. The Sect Leader knows this better than anyone."
"Since we haven't precisely identified the hidden faction, there's no way to know their power...... They seem to be observing you specially. You've interfered with their activities more than once or twice."
"That could be. But I have another possibility in mind."
"Another possibility?"
"That there might be a spy of the hidden faction in the place with the greatest information network in the martial world. For example, somewhere like the Hao Sect."
Do Tong-dal had used the Hao Sect as an example, but anyone listening could tell he was referring to the Beggars' Sect.
Baek So-gu's expression twisted violently.
* * *