Monopolizing Fortunes (162)
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Monopolizing Fortunes (162)
"Eek—!"
The startled Wang Il-seok plastered himself against the wall as if fleeing, and Wang Du-sik was surprised too.
"What kind of table breaks this easily? Did they make it out of straw?"
"You bastard, I told you to control your strength! Are you going to smash everything you touch?"
"Tch—! Guess I'll have to walk around like a little girl."
Do Tong-dal spoke to Wang Il-seok, who was pressed against the wall and trembling.
"This guy's rough around the edges, but he's good-natured at heart. Handle him gently and put him to use."
"C-couldn't you just help me yourself, Bae Cheong-dong?"
No matter how frightening, a person was better than a tiger or a bear. Wang Du-sik suddenly roared.
"Are you trying to put my brother under you?! You son of a bitch, how dare you...!"
Do Tong-dal's palm landed on Wang Du-sik's back. It sounded like tearing metal, but Wang Du-sik's face was unbothered.
"You little shit! Show some respect!"
Wang Du-sik, who had been radiating fury as if about to throw a punch, relaxed his hands.
"Yes."
That didn't mean Wang Il-seok's fear subsided.
'Society Leader or not, should I just run away?'
Wang Il-seok looked at Do Tong-dal, who was watching him intently, and gave up on the idea.
'If I run, I'm dead.'
Cursing his own fate, he had no choice but to move according to the plan he had originally made.
That night, Wang Il-seok sent Wang Du-sik to Jideok-ro. It was where Wolcheon Hwayeong Pleasure House stood, an establishment with a reputation rivaling Hongrak First Pleasure House.
Watching Wang Du-sik enter Wolcheon Hwayeong Pleasure House, Wang Il-seok felt a strange glee.
"Heh heh heh... Jammu Society bastards, you feel the fear I felt."
That day, the damage to Wolcheon Hwayeong Pleasure House did not end with a marble table breaking.
"You sons of bitches, while an elder is drinking!"
After a shout like a beast's roar rang out, the thugs were thrown out the windows, and the pillars of Wolcheon Hwayeong Pleasure House collapsed.
Wang Il-seok, who had been watching the scene from outside, burst into laughter.
"Jammu Society bastards! Serves you right! Our Wang Protector! The best! The best!"
Wang Du-sik, who had half-destroyed Wolcheon Hwayeong Pleasure House, was arrested by the dispatched officials.
He had expected them to wreck the officials too, but surprisingly he submitted to the restraints without resistance. Of course, the ropes kept snapping whenever they tied him, so the comical sight of Wang Du-sik leading the way to the government office unfolded.
* * *
The Branch Chief's posture as he left the estate after receiving three hundred nyang of silver was deeply deferential.
"If you ever encounter difficulties while conducting business, please contact me at any time. I will help with anything within my power."
Sincerity could be felt from the Branch Chief, whose appearance was as clean and refined as a scholar's.
"Thank you for accommodating me like this. Actually, there was one request I wanted to make..."
Pleased that there was something he could do, the Branch Chief quickly spoke up.
"Don't hesitate, please tell me."
"Well... it's the child of a friend of mine. I heard he caused a bit of a commotion at a pleasure house and was taken to the Luoyang government office. It's because of his drinking habits, so I was hoping you could give him a few strikes of the cudgel to fix that habit. Ha ha ha!"
"Oh dear... when it comes to a child's problem, I cannot stay out of it. I will take care of it immediately."
Of course, instead of being beaten, Wang Du-sik was released after even receiving apologies from the officials who had arrested him. He had done it because Do Tong-dal told him to go quietly, but he hadn't expected to be released with such treatment.
"As expected of my brother!"
Jang Bu-ok's admiration was a hundred times greater than Wang Du-sik's. The angle at which the Branch Chief bowed his head toward Jang Bu-ok was the same as one would show to a master.
"What kind of sorcery did you use?"
The three hundred nyang of silver given as a bribe had not been wasted at all. He had even struggled to press it upon the man, who had refused it adamantly.
Do Tong-dal, upon receiving the question, answered as if it were nothing.
"Through the inspector, it's easy to move someone like a Branch Chief."
"Ah... you know the inspector?"
"We happened to form a connection."
Of course, Do Tong-dal had never even met the inspector. The errand he had sent Baek So-gu on was to go to Beijing and meet Yang Su-pan.
To handle Luoyang, he first needed to make the officials pliable.
Upon receiving Do Tong-dal's message, Yang Su-pan immediately sent word to the Jehyeong Surveillance Commission.
One of the most powerful men had asked him to look after someone, and the inspector was not bold enough to refuse.
And so the request had trickled down and down until the Branch Chief's waist was bent before Jang Bu-ok.
If he had intended to explain, he would have spoken in detail; saying it was a coincidence meant there was no need to know. The quick-witted Jang Bu-ok asked no further.
"You know where the largest restaurants in Luoyang are, right?"
At Do Tong-dal's question, Jang Bu-ok answered without hesitation.
"Baekmi Restaurant and Seonhwa Ilmi, aren't they? Both are owned by Merchant Yu."
They were restaurants so successful that all three hundred seats were packed to bursting every day.
"They'll go under soon, so prepare to acquire them."
He had decided not to ask for details anymore.
"I'll need to meet the people working there first."
A restaurant's greatest asset is its workers.
"Silk and tea will be coming over soon too, so prepare for that as well."
"I'll make thorough preparations."
* * *
The Jammu Society was shattered miserably. They even used assassins, but blades could not even pierce Wang Du-sik's body.
Since force was useless, they finally asked the head constable they had been bribing.
But the answer that came back was a sight to behold.
"You bastard! Who do you want to see get cut down?! When we arrested that man, the Magistrate got torn apart by the Branch Chief! Handle Underworld matters yourselves!"
Bang Seok-jung, the head of the Jammu Society, lost his mind with rage.
"You fucking bastards! After all the money I've shoved up your assholes, you talk that shit! You fucking bastards!"
"This bastard's got a death wish!"
"Kill me, you dogs! Getting killed by you is the same as getting killed by that monster!"
The officials' six-sided clubs showed no mercy. He had rushed at them while alone, so there were no subordinates to stop them.
With the Society Leader arrested like that, the Jammu Society became leaderless. The Songrak Society leisurely swallowed up the ownerless Jammu Society.
As soon as he had swallowed the Jammu Society, Wang Il-seok rushed to Wang Du-sik, who had not taken a single step out of the pleasure house.
"Protector Wang, the Jammu Society has finally become ours."
"Yeah?"
He was indifferent. Indeed, for someone with martial arts like Wang Du-sik's, the squabbles of the Underworld would be laughable.
"Oh, right! My brother said something about what to do when the Jammu Society collapsed... Ah! Are there two big restaurants there?"
At the mention of two big restaurants, the names immediately came to mind.
"Do you mean Baekmi Restaurant and Seonhwa Ilmi?"
"I don't know such difficult names. Send some guys over there and have them squat there. You know what I mean, right?"
If thugs like them squatted there, no matter how delicious the restaurant, no customers would come.
It seemed he wanted to ruin the two restaurants, but the problem was the officials.
"Will it be okay?"
"You saw me get released after being arrested, right?"
"I saw it clearly."
"Have officials come to arrest me since?"
The head constable and constables who had taken money from the Jammu Society didn't even come near the area.
"My brother has already handled the officials, so you don't need to worry."
"Then I can stir things up without worry. Heh heh heh..."
* * *
"Let's do just two hundred more nyang this time."
At Yu Baek-sang's words, the loan shark Seo Pil-yong made a troubled expression.
"Young Master Yu, it's already six hundred nyang just for today. Including the previous amount, it comes to nine hundred nyang."
Yu Baek-sang's face twisted violently.
"You know who I am! I'm Yu Baek-sang, the eldest son of the Yu Merchant Company! Yu Baek-sang!"
A few gamblers in the gambling hall looked at Yu Baek-sang, who had raised his voice, but soon returned their focus to their own tiles.
In the gambling hall, hazy with tobacco smoke, over a hundred gamblers were intently squeezing their tiles.
For those who had lost money, even the brief moment of setting down their tiles made their lips burn.
"I said give me the money!"
"That's difficult. If you truly wish to borrow money, you must put up collateral."
"Collateral?"
"Yes. If you just write down what you will give on the loan note, the money will be released immediately."
"Do you think I, Yu Baek-sang, won't repay a measly gambling debt?"
"I apologize. I'm just a man working for a monthly wage..."
"Fine! I'll write the damn thing!"
A gambler's biggest problem is wagering something beyond his means.
Yu Baek-sang put up the silk shop, the Yu Merchant Company's most profitable business, as collateral. Of course, it belonged to his father, not him, but since it would become his anyway, there was no problem.
He also believed that with just two hundred nyang, he could win it back today and repay it.
"You bastard, just you wait."
Yu Baek-sang glared at the man who looked like a male escort and had taken all his money so far.
It didn't even take one shichen for the two hundred nyang in his hands to pass over to the male escort.
In the end, Yu Baek-sang racked up a debt of one thousand five hundred nyang that day, and following the silk shop, he even put up the tea house as collateral.
—Special Clause: Daily interest is ten percent of the principal, and if not repaid within fifteen days, both wrists will be cut off.
The writing was so small it was hard to see without a magnifying glass, and Yu Baek-sang naturally did not see it.
When dazzling sunlight filled the window, the loan shark Seo Pil-yong informed him of the special clause.
"If there was something like that, you should have told me when I borrowed the money! You son of a bitch!"
"It's written right here in plain sight, so it's your fault for not seeing it, Young Master Yu."
"This is invalid! What kind of loan has ten percent daily interest!"
"For your information, it's compound interest."
"Does cutting off wrists make any sense?"
"If you want to keep squeezing the buttocks of your beloved Solhyang, you'll need to repay it within fifteen days."
"You bastards."
He felt like he had been scammed, but there was no evidence, and the loan note remained. The law was strict, so he wouldn't actually have his wrists cut off. Yu Baek-sang believed that.
* * *
The thugs weren't doing anything in particular. Ten of them would swarm in at once, order the cheapest food, and then sit there squatting.
Every customer who entered would see the thugs with their menacing looks and turn away.
Occasionally, a bold customer would take a seat, but they soon had no choice but to flee.
"What are you staring at, you bastard!"
"You little shit! You want a fight?!"
In the murderous atmosphere, with thugs holding knives and looking ready to brawl at any moment, there was no one who could eat comfortably.
When Yu Chang-gu called a head constable he had connections with, the man simply left, saying, 'This is something I cannot touch.'
Seething with rage, Yu Chang-gu shouted at the loitering thugs.
"You're all dead! My nephew is a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect!"
He had suffered humiliation and even injuries at the pleasure house, but the only person who could resolve this matter was his nephew, Yu Yeong-jeon.
After hearing Yu Chang-gu's complaints, Yu Yeong-jeon let out a long sigh.
"You want me to chase away thugs again?"
His back was still stiff from the injury he had received at the pleasure house. Physical injuries could heal cleanly over time. But the humiliation he had suffered at the pleasure house could never be washed away.
As word travels fast, it seemed some Mount Hua Sect disciples had also heard that Yu Yeong-jeon had been knocked out in one blow at the pleasure house.
On the surface, they worried about his injuries, but they were surely laughing at him inside.
Even if he was a lay disciple, he was clearly a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect, and for a disciple of the Nine Great Sects to be unable to withstand even a single move from some unknown nobody was the greatest humiliation imaginable.
Yu Chang-gu, who had provided the source of that humiliation, had come again to ask him to chase away thugs.
"Don't worry. They're not those bastards from the pleasure house."
The reason he couldn't refuse outright was because he had been spending a considerable amount of Yu Chang-gu's money within the family.
"This is the last time."
Only after receiving that promise did Yu Yeong-jeon move his aching body.
When they entered Jideok-ro, the news was delivered to Wang Du-sik, who had been drinking from the moment he woke up that morning.
"Heh heh heh... I was just getting tired of the drink, and now a Mount Hua Sect disciple shows up. Since he's supposedly a Mount Hua Sect disciple, I'll get to have some fun, right?"
Wang Du-sik finished tearing the chicken leg he was eating and left the pleasure house. Wang Du-sik's unhurried steps had just reached Seonhwa Ilmi when a crash! rang out.
Wang Du-sik peered inside through the open door. He saw a thug flying backward and collapsing as he grabbed a table.
That thug was the last one still standing.
* * *