Monopolizing Fortunes (2)
Monopolizing Fortunes (2)
"Ha! Responsibility? How the fuck are you going to take responsibility? You gonna stake your life on it?"
"Yes. My life."
Jo Pyeong-do flinched at Do Tong-dal's resolute answer.
"Look at this little shit, all mouth. You're really staking your life? On a ledger?"
"Yes."
"Fuck, next you'll be staking your life on collecting debts, collecting taxes, hauling cargo."
"I will. If you're a gangster, isn't staking your life on everything you do only natural?"
Jo Pyeong-do was at a loss for words, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Wang Chil burst into loud laughter.
"Puhahaha—! Now there's a new recruit I like for the first time in a while! Fine! Let's see what it looks like when you keep a ledger with your life on the line!"
Do Tong-dal sat in the chair Wang Chil had vacated and opened the ledger. The moment he saw it, he sighed at the sloppy handwriting.
The smeared and broken characters were hard to even make out.
"Several of the characters are wrong."
"W-wrong? What's wrong about them!"
"This character here should have the person radical instead of the big radical, and this one should have the field radical instead of the mouth radical. And at a glance, the calculations are wrong too. It's a complete mess."
"A c-complete mess? This little shit... That's a shop name! How do you know the name of a shop on Gwanghwa-ro?"
"I'm a Gwanghwa-ro fixture. The Gwanghwa-ro hardhead is me."
Seo Wang-su clapped his hands.
"Ah! Two years ago, you're the one who cracked the back of two of our Red Tiger Society boys' heads, aren't you?"
"I got beaten so badly that day I couldn't get up for half a month."
Seo Wang-su said to Wang Chil.
"Boss, this kid's got potential. He knows his letters and he's got guts."
"First let's see him sort out the ledger. Don't forget you said you'd stake your life on it."
"Yes. By the way, do you happen to have an abacus?"
Since no one there knew how to use one, of course they didn't have one. So Jo Pyeong-do borrowed one from Baekmi Restaurant on the first floor.
While Do Tong-dal was correcting the mistakes, Wang Chil asked.
"When do you think you'll be done?"
Fixing a ledger is twice as hard as writing a new one.
"It'll probably take about one shichen."
One shichen? Jo Pyeong-do, who had been wrestling with the ledger for three days, had said it would take at least two more shichen.
"Then branch introductions will have to wait until tomorrow. Managing the establishments comes before branch introductions. I'll step out for a bit."
Wang Chil left, and Seo Wang-su also went out, taking Jo Pyeong-do and Gang Bu-song with him. Then, once the one shichen Do Tong-dal had mentioned had passed, they all returned.
"All done?"
At Wang Chil's question, Do Tong-dal held out the ledger.
"Rewriting it was too much trouble, so I just made a new one from scratch."
Wang Chil opened the ledger. He was illiterate, so all he knew was that the white was paper and the black was letters.
But over the years he had seen hundreds, thousands of ledgers. And this was the first time he had seen one so cleanly organized.
"I don't know shit about letters, but this looks damn well written. Don't you think?"
Seo Wang-su, who had been looking at the ledger beside him, nodded as well.
"That's what I'm saying. It's neat. Pyeong-do, how does it look to you?"
"Well... it's about the same as mine."
"You little shit, the same? Be a man and admit what needs admitting. You've been whining about not wanting to do the ledgers, and thanks to the new guy you've got it easy now. You should be grateful."
Wang Chil draped an arm over Do Tong-dal's shoulders.
"A lucky charm's rolled into our fixer office. Stay as long as you can. Don't go anywhere."
"Yes. I'll stay by your side for the rest of my life, big brother."
"Heh heh heh... Look at this kid, sweet-talking. Shall we stop by Cheonsangru first today? Wang-su, you take Pyeong-do and, what's his name... just take the new guy and head toward Hongmun-ro."
Jo Pyeong-do's face twisted. Compared to Hongmun-ro, which was crawling with prostitutes selling their bodies, going to Cheonsangru, a high-class pleasure house, at least offered some eye candy and entertainment for the ears.
Do Tong-dal packed bamboo slips and charcoal into his bag. After walking for a ke, they arrived at Cheonsangru, where many people were bustling about.
Seeing the three-story building of Cheonsangru with its blue roof tiles, a surge of emotion welled up in his chest.
In his past life, he had once dreamed of drinking all night there with a courtesan on his arm. When he had joined the Red Tiger Society, he had thought that dream would soon come true.
But in the end, he had never achieved even that modest(?) dream.
'It was a worthless life.'
He had spent forty-two years in the Underworld, and all he had left was a single wooden leg and fifteen coins.
But this life would be different. This time, he would live the most splendid life, at the highest place of the night, with the greatest power.
"What are you staring at so blankly?"
Wang Chil clapped him on the shoulder, and Do Tong-dal snapped back to his senses.
"It's nice."
"Right? It's the best pleasure house in our district. Though if you go toward the city center, there are even better ones lined up."
As they headed for the door of Cheonsangru, the staff greeted them familiarly.
"Chief, you've come?"
"Hello."
"It's been a while. Come by and enjoy yourself more often."
Wang Chil was welcomed wherever he went. He and his people made their living on money from people like these, so his philosophy was that even if they couldn't treat them like masters, they should at least do everything they could to help them.
"Oh my! The Chief has come in person today!"
The middle-aged man approaching with a face full of smiles was Go Chan-yeong, the general manager of Cheonsangru.
"I apologize for staying away so long."
"Apologize? I should have come to pay my respects to you..."
For a pleasure house where all sorts of incidents never ceased, the Underworld was a necessary evil.
"I stopped by on other business, and also to introduce the new recruit."
"You came in person to introduce a new recruit?"
Go Chan-yeong looked at Do Tong-dal with fresh interest. Wang Chil whispered to Go Chan-yeong.
"Not only is he smart, but he's studied the Thousand Character Classic and the... what's it called, the Four Books and something."
"Oh? The Four Books and Three Classics?"
"Right. The Four Books and Three Classics. He also does a sharp job with the ledgers. So I'm planning to raise him up well, and I'd appreciate your help, General Manager Go."
"Heh heh heh! You've found yourself a fine talent."
Go Chan-yeong said to Do Tong-dal.
"I'm Go Chan-yeong, the general manager of Cheonsangru. We'll be seeing each other often, so I look forward to working with you."
At a high-class establishment like Cheonsangru, the general manager was someone a low-ranking organization member could hardly even speak to.
Do Tong-dal greeted him politely but without groveling. Go Chan-yeong said to Wang Chil.
"A new flower wine has just come in. Go inside and have a taste."
Wang Chil's mouth was visibly watering.
"I'd love to drink it more than anything, but I have to teach this kid the work..."
"Big brother, go ahead and drink. I'll look around on my own."
"What do you know?"
"If I do something wrong, you can correct me later. Right now, talking with the general manager is what matters. Go on."
Go Chan-yeong let out a hearty laugh.
"What a clever young man."
"Right? It seems my luck with people has finally come, late as it is. Go on, then. If there's anything you don't know, there's a man named Tak—ask him."
As Wang Chil walked away with Go Chan-yeong, he said, "I hope that kid stays around for a long time."
"Boss, this time I'll stay with you for a very long time—until I'm smearing shit on the walls."
Do Tong-dal, who had muttered that at Wang Chil's back, headed toward the back gate where goods were brought in.
Passing through the rear garden with its small pond, Do Tong-dal tilted his head.
"But it feels like something happened today..."
Something had definitely happened. Do Tong-dal, who remembered even people's names without missing a single one, couldn't recall it because he had been so overwhelmed at the time.
The first time he had come to Cheonsangru, he had been so confused he had wandered around in a daze and even made the mistake of breaking a jar full of water.
"Seeing as my memory isn't clear, it must have been something that had nothing to do with me."
So the memory he couldn't recall didn't make him uneasy.
Clatter! Clatter!
An old man pulling a cart loaded with liquor crates passed by him. The old man, well past sixty, somehow reminded him of his past-life self.
Seeing him pulling a liquor cart at that age, the old man probably hadn't lived an easy life either.
'The bottom-feeders do the suffering, and some other bastard makes the money.'
In business with pleasure houses, the biggest money was in liquor and women.
So the liquor and women of any pleasure house of decent size belonged to the headquarters or the branch. The fixer office at the very bottom only supplied miscellaneous odds and ends that were all work and no money.
The liquor that had just passed by was supplied by the Baekdong Branch.
'Our fixer office should be handling the profitable business too...'
Do Tong-dal's steps, which had been carrying him along with such thoughts, came to a stop.
"Liquor!"
That day—today's incident—finally came back to him. It had nothing to do with Do Tong-dal, but it was still fairly important.
Do Tong-dal spun around in a hurry. The cart loaded with liquor crates was moving away as slowly as a turtle, while one person was drawing closer.
The woman who looked to be around thirty was Yeon Ja-yeon, the owner of Cheonsangru.
Just as the cart and she passed each other, the rope binding the liquor crates snapped—pop!
"Danger!"
Do Tong-dal ran toward Yeon Ja-yeon. The moment the rope snapped, a crate burst open and the liquor bottles inside poured out toward Yeon Ja-yeon.
Yeon Ja-yeon, who had only just registered the situation, could do nothing but stare at the bottles falling toward her.
Do Tong-dal reached Yeon Ja-yeon before the bottles spilling from the cart did. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into his arms, turning his back to the falling bottles.
Crash!
With a deafening noise, the bottles spilled and shattered. Feeling a stinging pain in his head and back, Do Tong-dal dropped to his knees.
Yeon Ja-yeon, who had been facing Do Tong-dal head-on, also collapsed to the ground. Do Tong-dal protected her with his arms and knees braced.
The bottles shattered into fine shards, and the liquor scattered in all directions like foam. The gazes of the two people, soaked through with liquor, tangled in the air with barely a hand's width between them.
All the bottles that could fall from the cart had fallen. And then—drip! drip!—Do Tong-dal's blood fell beside Yeon Ja-yeon's face.
"Are you all right?"
Do Tong-dal asked first.
"You're the one who's hurt, aren't you?"
"I'm fine."
"I'm fine too."
"Then shall we try moving?"
Do Tong-dal got to his feet and extended a hand. Her hand, when she took it, was cold.
After helping Yeon Ja-yeon up, Do Tong-dal staggered from a sudden wave of dizziness. This time, Yeon Ja-yeon hastily supported him.
Do Tong-dal said with a smile.
"Getting drunk from the smell alone—it must be good liquor."
The workers came running belatedly.
"Madam! Are you all right?"
"You idiots! You should have been careful! Call a physician! Now!"
Yeon Ja-yeon said to the workers who were milling about in confusion.
"There's no need to make a fuss. Still, we should call a physician."
Her gaze turned to Do Tong-dal.
"I don't know who you are, but I owe you a great debt on our first meeting."
"I'm Do Tong-dal, newly assigned to the Gwanghwa-ro Fixer Office."
"Ah, I see."
Yeon Ja-yeon had a room prepared for Do Tong-dal and ordered bathwater heated.
The room, with its large bed, was splendid and fragrant. Do Tong-dal had never slept in such a fine room before.
"Young master, your bathwater is ready."
Being called "young master" was also a first.
'I'm having a lot of new experiences today.'
Bathing while being attended to by a maidservant, he already felt like the emperor of the night.
"Coming back to my past life, I even get treated like this at Cheonsangru. From now on, I'll keep..."
Do Tong-dal, who had been muttering, suddenly sat bolt upright, his upper body rising out of the water.
"Now that I think of it, in three days Cheonsangru won't be under our fixer office's management anymore!"
The greedy branch chief of the Baekdong Branch snatches it away. At that time, they had competed with the Baekdong Branch over one thing, and the bet had been unreasonable from the start.
'What was the bet?'
His memories of everything that happened around this time were hazy. It was probably because he had spent such a chaotic time right after first joining the Red Tiger Society.
Do Tong-dal pressed his fingers against both temples.
"I need to remember..."
* * *