Monopolizing Fortunes (139)
Monopolizing Fortunes (139)
"Outwardly, yes, but a merchant's greatest asset is people. Given the chance, they'll recover. That's why the Revenge Society is protecting Jang Bu-ok."
Jang Yeon-seon said with a slightly sulky expression.
"It isn't protection. They're slighting him."
"What do you mean by that?"
"The Dongui Martial Hall, being a martial group, doesn't much care for the Hwangdae Merchant Company, which is made up of merchants. Since it's only happening at one Revenge Society branch, it isn't anything serious. But have you looked into the Dongui Martial Hall?"
"It came into being about ten years ago. They call it a martial hall, but they never accepted a single official. They protected merchants from the Underworld and often distributed relief grain, so the villagers speak well of them."
Ha Su-ran asked.
"How long do you think you'll be staying at the Dongui Martial Hall, Young Master Do?"
"I don't intend to stay long."
"Where are you planning to go alone?"
"I'm not."
"Then you mean to move together with the Dongui Martial Hall, but that isn't something you can do as you please, is it?"
"I intend to make them move."
"How?"
Do Tong-dal said to Won Dae-yeon.
"Please look into the Dongui Martial Hall for me."
"Wouldn't the Beggars' Sect be better at investigating than we are?"
Baek So-gu, who had caught Won Dae-yeon's gaze, nodded.
"We don't need to learn any more about the Dongui Martial Hall. The fact that it's a secret Revenge Society branch is enough."
"Then what do you want me to find out?"
"Pretend to dig for information. In that appearance you used when you infiltrated the Hwangdae Merchant Company."
"Oho! You mean to poke the grass and startle the snake."
"Those people have to move if we're going to find the Revenge Society's next base."
If they kept stepping on its tail like that, eventually the body and the head would reveal themselves too.
"Has there been any word from Censor Yang?"
Namgung Seol-rin answered that question.
"They've secured evidence, and it seems they've also gotten testimony from a man named Won Chi-myeong."
"Now they can gradually push the Second Prince out of the imperial palace."
"Censor Yang asked me to tell you that the Third Prince's side is steadily growing."
"It's only natural that people who were on the First Prince's side would switch over. They've treated him like an enemy all this time, so if the Second Prince becomes emperor, they won't escape disaster."
Once evidence and witnesses piled up one by one, not even the Second Prince would be able to hold out.
Do Tong-dal asked Ha Su-ran.
"How is Wang Du-sik?"
Startled by the sudden question, she flinched.
"Pardon? Wha— Wang Du-sik?"
"No matter how tough his body is, the torture must have been quite agonizing."
"The physician in black rescued him in time and even treated him, so he's nearly recovered now."
"That's a relief."
"He probably holds some grudge against you, Young Master Do."
He could see exactly how it would go the next time they met.
"I'll just beat him up a bit."
His relationship with Wang Du-sik was always that simple.
"There's something the two of you need to look into for me."
Ha Su-ran and Baek So-gu, who had caught Do Tong-dal's gaze, stiffened. It was because Do Tong-dal wore a rare serious expression.
"Find out what the Revenge Society was before."
Baek So-gu asked.
"What the Revenge Society was before? There aren't many clues."
"It was probably a group of merchants who also had considerable martial strength. For some reason, they were wiped out by an orthodox faction. Most likely it happened within the last ten or twenty years."
Baek So-gu made a troubled face.
"That's vague."
"That's why we need information-gathering ability."
Ha Su-ran asked.
"Can you tell us even roughly where that orthodox faction is?"
"No. My guess is it was a fairly large one. To annihilate an entire sect and suffer no consequences, they'd need to have scale, wouldn't they?"
"Like the Nine Sects and One Gang?"
Baek So-gu said in a displeased voice.
"Why are the Nine Sects and One Gang coming up here?"
"I was just giving an example. And there's no guarantee it wasn't them, either."
"What do you take the orthodox factions for—."
"Places that pretend to be chivalrous heroes in public while viciously grabbing their own interests behind the scenes."
"As expected of someone from the Northern Unorthodox Alliance. You sound exactly like the Alliance Leader."
"I learned well."
Ha Su-ran said to Do Tong-dal.
"We'll search with a focus on the major orthodox factions. I don't know whether the Beggars' Sect will be able to investigate those same factions."
"Of course we'll investigate! And looking at what those Revenge Society bastards are doing, it's obvious they've done something deserving of ruin!"
"To take revenge on a demon, one has no choice but to become a demon."
"Strategist Ha, are you defending the Revenge Society?"
"I'm only saying that's how the world works."
It was the same back-and-forth that always arose when orthodox and unorthodox factions sat in the same place.
Ha Su-ran asked Do Tong-dal.
"What are you going to do about the Revenge Society?"
Baek So-gu spoke up at once.
"What do you mean, what am I going to do? Smash them to pieces. A massive storm of blood nearly swept through the martial world. It's still going on even now."
"The person who stopped that storm of blood is you, Young Master Do."
Baek So-gu couldn't deny that. If Do Tong-dal had not thwarted the Revenge Society's scheme in those mountains, the martial world would be fighting an orthodox-unorthodox war by now.
"Wouldn't the person who stopped the storm of blood have the greatest authority?"
"You're asking the obvious. There's no reason to preserve the Revenge Society, is there?"
Do Tong-dal asked.
"What if that revenge is justified?"
"Huh?"
"There are many reasons a martial sect gets annihilated. It could be a dispute over interests, or a trivial outburst of emotion could bring about enormous disaster. But when a sect is unilaterally wiped out by a large faction, what is the reason?"
Ha Su-ran said.
"Treasure."
Do Tong-dal nodded. She didn't carry the epithet Sipjeonjisu for nothing.
"I think the same. If one orthodox faction, or several orthodox factions allied together, annihilated the Revenge Society to steal a treasure, what would you do?"
The question was directed at Baek So-gu, and it drew a groan from the old beggar.
"Hmm. I don't even want to think about such a thing."
"Think a little more extremely. If the ones who did such a thing belonged to the Nine Sects and One Gang, could the Beggars' Sect truly punish them?"
"There's no way the Nine Sects and One Gang would do such a thing! I may not like the sorry state the orthodox factions are in right now, but they aren't that shameless!"
"People's eyes often go dark. The Revenge Society over revenge, someone else over greed."
Baek So-gu couldn't accept it, but he couldn't think of anything in particular to say in rebuttal either. So when he shut his mouth, Ha Su-ran asked.
"What if the Revenge Society's revenge is justified?"
"People like us, gangsters, are the sort who sort out right and wrong precisely. Even in my case, if that Revenge Society man Muk Seong hadn't put a wound in my chest, I wouldn't have jumped into this matter at all."
"Huh? You mean you launched this whole undertaking over a mere wound, when they weren't even trying to kill you?"
"A small grudge is still a grudge."
When Do Tong-dal grinned at the end of his words, Baek So-gu grumbled, "Gangsters are so scary I can't even breathe loudly."
"If the Revenge Society's revenge is justified, then the punishment should fall first on those who committed the original sin."
"You're saying the orthodox faction should be punished first?"
"That's the order of things. Gangsters consider order important too."
Baek So-gu said.
"From the way you talk, you sound just like a chivalrous hero."
"The chivalrous hero here is Protector Won. A chivalrous hero pursues good in both process and outcome, but I will absolutely not end things kindly."
"Then what is it you want? If you're doing this because of the wound in your chest, there's no need to sort out the Revenge Society's right and wrong, is there?"
"You'll come to know naturally later."
"It's like a hundred snakes are coiled up inside that young friend's belly."
Do Tong-dal stood up.
"It seems we've said everything we needed to say, so let's part ways now."
But no one made a move to stand. Instead, one by one, they looked at Ha Su-ran. Ha Su-ran, who had been fiddling with her teacup, realized the gazes were on her and asked in confusion.
"Why— why are you looking at me?"
Baek So-gu said.
"Because you seem to have something you want to say to Tong-dal."
"I— I don't have anything like that."
"You don't? I thought you did. Then we can part ways here."
"No, just parting like this is a little...."
Namgung Seol-rin let out a soft sigh, thought to herself, "I'm being generous," and said to Do Tong-dal.
"What excuse did you give for leaving the Dongui Martial Hall?"
"That Yeon-seon was going to buy clothes."
"Then you can go together with Sis Su-ran."
Do Tong-dal was about to say something when Ha Su-ran quickly stepped in.
"Shall we? I'm good at picking out children's clothes."
Won Dae-yeon stood up.
"Then the two of you go buy clothes, and the rest of us will go back and prepare to make inquiries about the Dongui Martial Hall."
Everyone was making an opportunity for Ha Su-ran to be alone with Do Tong-dal. Even Namgung Seol-rin, who could be called a rival in love.
Do Tong-dal, Ha Su-ran, and Jang Yeon-seon went off to buy clothes, while the rest moved toward their lodgings.
Watching the three of them walk off chatting about this and that, Baek So-gu thought it was truly strange.
This group gathered around Do Tong-dal was strange, far too strange. First of all, the leader was a gangster. Not a gangster-like fellow, but a real gangster who liked the profession of being a gangster.
And Namgung Seol-rin was the daughter of the Namgung Clan, the head of the Five Great Clans of the martial world.
What about Won Dae-yeon? A transcendent master whom even the Ten Great Masters would avoid, the greatest chivalrous hero under heaven, was working under a mere gangster.
Jang Yu-seom had been won over by Do Tong-dal and become a gangster, so that could be explained, but it was hard to find a person who was truly loyal to someone.
Yet judging by Jang Yu-seom's record so far, he was the sort of person who would leap into fire carrying a bundle of wood on his back if Do Tong-dal told him to.
"What kind of man is Do Tong-dal?"
Baek So-gu's gaze was directed at all three of them. Among them, Won Dae-yeon answered.
"He's a gangster."
"If he were simply a gangster, you people wouldn't be under his command."
"He is a special gangster. But that doesn't change the fact that he is a gangster."
"Are you all right being under a gangster? Aren't you the greatest chivalrous hero under heaven?"
"Do Tong-dal is the benefactor who saved my life, and even if he weren't, he is a man great enough for me to entrust myself to."
"Even though he's neither orthodox nor a chivalrous hero?"
"Do you truly not know how hollow names like orthodox faction and chivalrous hero are, Sect Leader?"
Namgung Seol-rin asked Baek So-gu.
"What is it you're curious about, Sect Leader?"
Baek So-gu brought out the truth in his heart.
"Is he really going to end as a gangster?"
"Pardon?"
"Honestly, with people like you, you could steam and eat most any sect, couldn't you?"
"Do you think we're going to found a sect?"
"With your current strength, you're too much for gangsters. What Underworld group in the Central Plains could stand against you?"
"That's right. So we're going to unify the nights of the Central Plains and become the greatest gangsters under heaven."
"I'm not joking."
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
Baek So-gu stared at Namgung Seol-rin for a long moment, then let out a deep sigh.
"You people really do like Do Tong-dal, it seems. A sly, ill-mannered fellow like that."
Won Dae-yeon said.
"He's someone you can trust, who never betrays his own people."
Namgung Seol-rin picked up Won Dae-yeon's words.
"He's a fool who looks after the people around him more than himself."
Jang Yu-seom tossed in.
"He's always sincere with his own people."
"What is this, a religion? It's a religion. The Church of Do Tong-dal."
Namgung Seol-rin brightened.
"That's not bad. Should we found the Church of Do Tong-dal, like the Demon Cult?"
"Don't say something so horrifying. You sent Do Tong-dal off to another woman, so what are you grinning about?"
"Because Tong-dal's women embraced me too. There's exactly one bad thing about Tong-dal. That damn womanizing of his!"
"They say heroes are fond of women."
"That's just something men who like women made up!"
"If you're going to be that jealous, why did you send them off together? You could have separated them even by force."
"Sect Leader."
"Hm?"
"Haven't you seen Sis Su-ran's face?"
"How would an old beggar see such an expensive face?"
"When you see that face, you just have to accept it. Any man would be unable to refuse Sis Su-ran. I didn't show it, but do you think Tong-dal would be any different? So I just have to be generous."
Baek So-gu shook his head from side to side.
"I really don't understand you people. Your relationship is just like...."
As Baek So-gu trailed off, Jang Yu-seom said.
"Like family."
Baek So-gu had no choice but to admit it.
* * *