Monopolizing Fortunes (30)
Monopolizing Fortunes (30)
The most surprised person was probably Do Tong-dal himself.
"Mistress Yeon......!"
Yeon Ja-yeon raised a hand and cut Do Tong-dal off.
"A woman's revenge is not something to be blocked. Do you think I have no right to take my revenge?"
It was not a question he could answer with a yes. Fortunately, Namgung Seol-rin spoke up.
"I cannot accept Mistress Yeon's duel."
She called it a duel. It was simply because she could not find the right word to define this confrontation.
"Are you afraid?"
"I am. I'm afraid I might not be able to become Do Tong-dal's two arms."
It was an unexpected answer. It must have been unexpected for Yeon Ja-yeon as well, because she stared at Namgung Seol-rin for a long while.
Through the strange silence, a servant's voice came from outside the door.
"Mistress Yeon, someone has come looking for Deputy Branch Chief Do."
"Seeing as they know exactly where I am, it seems I've become the most famous man in Hangzhou."
Do Tong-dal, who had been running his mouth, stood up and spoke.
"Nothing must happen while I'm gone."
Leaving those words behind, he escaped the room that felt like sitting on a bed of thorns. The person who had come looking for Do Tong-dal was Jang Baek-dong. Even the mole under his nostril felt welcome.
Jang Baek-dong was looking around in every direction like a country bumpkin sightseeing in Beijing.
"Hey, this place is really nice. Heh heh heh......."
He seemed to be in a good mood just from having come to a high-class pleasure house.
"If things go well, you might be able to come here as a guest before long."
"Me? Really?"
"How did you know I was here?"
"I asked Wang Chil."
"What's the business you came looking for me about?"
"Ah! You told me to let you know if the Branch Chief did any of that weird stuff, right?"
"Specifically, I told you to let me know if he stared holes through someone or went around asking about written characters."
"Right! Today he did exactly that! He even stared holes through me. And he went to the village school and asked the teacher about a few characters."
Joy welled up in his chest.
'Jang Jeong-baek got the Mind-Reading Art!'
Otherwise, there was no way Jang Jeong-baek would act like that. Now what he had to do was clear.
"Good work. Let's have a drink here soon."
"Really?"
"Have you ever seen me lie?"
"But...... your arm is going to get better, right?"
Do Tong-dal deliberately nodded vigorously.
"Of course!"
It was uncertain, and the odds of it going wrong were greater, but Do Tong-dal pushed the shadow of despair away with effort.
Do Tong-dal returned to the room. The two women were still sitting in exactly the same positions.
"You said you would become my two arms?"
Namgung Seol-rin, startled, answered.
"Yes."
"You know what that means?"
"I know."
"Until when?"
"Until Do Tong-dal tells me to leave."
"Even if my arms return to how they were before?"
"Yes."
"Change how you address me first. From now on, I am your master."
Namgung Seol-rin bit her lip firmly behind her mask. From the moment she had resolved to become Do Tong-dal's two arms, she had been prepared to accept anything.
"Understood. Master."
Do Tong-dal spoke to Yeon Ja-yeon.
"Please postpone killing my arms a second time."
"If Deputy Branch Chief Do has made that decision, I must follow it. But I still do not like it. Especially the fact that your two arms are a woman."
"My arms have no gender."
"That may be true for you......."
Yeon Ja-yeon looked at Namgung Seol-rin and continued.
"Will that be true for your arm as well?"
Yeon Ja-yeon rose, saying, "Well, I have to prepare for business."
"I have an appointment here today with Wang Chil."
"I'll set aside the best room."
Do Tong-dal drank the tea the servant had brought and laid out his plan to get his hands on the Mind-Reading Art.
It was a simple plan that required no lengthy deliberation. Kidnap Jang Jeong-baek, torture him, and find out where the Mind-Reading Art was. That was all.
The reason he had accepted Namgung Seol-rin as his arms was because of that plan. He needed someone to do the kidnapping and torturing.
"First, figure out Jang Jeong-baek's movements and routes......."
Do Tong-dal worked out the plan diligently in his head. As long as the time and place lined up, it would not be difficult for Namgung Seol-rin to kidnap Jang Jeong-baek.
"I'll need to secure a separate place for the torture too."
Since there might be a lot of screaming, a basement or a mountain would be suitable.
He had been so absorbed in planning that he had not noticed the time passing, but quite a while seemed to have gone by. The door opened and Yeon Ja-yeon came in.
"I don't think I'll be able to attend to Deputy Branch Chief Do today after all."
Do Tong-dal put on a deeply disappointed expression.
"No, why not?"
"The newly appointed Provincial Vice Commissioner is said to be coming here today."
A Provincial Vice Commissioner was a high-ranking official who could be called the second-in-command of a province.
"Why would such an exalted person come here......?"
"Are you asking why he would come to a place like Cheonsangru when there are fine pleasure houses in Hangzhou?"
"That...... that's not it. I'm asking why he's coming to Hangzhou. He should go straight to his post. Honestly, when country folk come to a big city, they just......."
"He wasn't in some backwater; he was in Beijing. Provincial Vice Commissioner is a high-ranking post, but moving from the central government to the provinces is still a demotion. From what I hear, he fell out of His Majesty the Emperor's favor......."
Do Tong-dal recalled a name.
"By any chance, is the Provincial Vice Commissioner named Jeon Su-bang?"
"Oh? Now you even have the names of government officials memorized?"
He remembered. Jeon Su-bang, a junior third-rank official who had incurred the emperor's displeasure and been demoted to the provinces.
Among the countless officials of the nation, the reason he remembered that name was because of a particular incident.
'Is it six or seven months from now?'
Jeon Su-bang, who had been demoted, would return to Beijing in glory. It was thanks to rendering tremendous service in connection with a treason plot.
After that, he had even heard that Jeon Su-bang became the official most favored by the emperor.
Do Tong-dal asked Yeon Ja-yeon.
"Might that gentleman be staying here tonight?"
"If he takes a liking to one of the courtesans, that could happen."
"Can you keep him here until tomorrow evening?"
"I can't make any promises......."
Do Tong-dal strode over to Yeon Ja-yeon. He had meant to take her hand and make the request, but he still often forgot that he could not use his arms.
Yeon Ja-yeon must have noticed it too.
"All right."
Yeon Ja-yeon winked one eye and left behind a whisper: "I'll attach the girl with the best skills in our house to him."
Wang Chil came rushing to Cheonsangru as soon as he finished his work.
"Boss, you know Hall Master Bae Dong-cheol, right?"
"That stiff scholar type at the Gangseon Merchant Company?"
"Yes. Send someone to let him know I'm here."
"Is that all?"
"Bae Dong-cheol will handle the rest himself."
While Wang Chil was gone, the drinking table was prepared.
"Since I can't attend to you today, I prepared this child instead."
The courtesan Yeon Ja-yeon had brought looked no older than sixteen. To Do Tong-dal, she was a child he felt guilty even having seated beside him.
"She may look young, but she's eighteen. Well, according to her parents."
As if it were her first time sitting at a guest's place, the courtesan stared only at the floor with a flushed face.
"Her name was going to be Bom Chun, with Ol Rae, Chun-rae......."
He was thinking, 'Does Mistress Yeon hate that girl?' when she continued.
"......but I thought the name Somi would be better, so I went with that."
Not a single courtesan in the house used her real name. A courtesan was always assigned to sit with Wang Chil.
"You just have to pour Deputy Branch Chief Do his drinks. Just drinks."
Somi was Do Tong-dal's arm for pleasure-house affairs.
"All of a sudden I've got four arms."
"Pardon?"
"Ah...... no, nothing."
Yeon Ja-yeon left with the words, "Then enjoy your time," and departed. A short while later, an entertainer carrying a zither entered.
The entertainer was so beautiful that an "Ah!" of admiration escaped him the moment he saw her. Do Tong-dal had seen her once before.
And in his previous life, he had seen her about twice as well.
'That beauty became her ruin.'
The entertainer placed the zither on her lap and bowed deeply in greeting.
"My name is Ja Su-yeong."
Since Yeon Ja-yeon could not come in herself, she had sent the finest entertainer in her place.
Ja Su-yeong's performance was astonishing. She was only eighteen, yet her tone carried joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure as if she understood life itself.
'A genius like that.'
Her fate was to be forcibly sold off to a local magnate of Hangzhou and ultimately take her own life.
To Do Tong-dal it was past tense, but to Ja Su-yeong it was a misfortune that would certainly occur in the future.
"Good, very good. Even an ignoramus like me who doesn't know the first thing about music can tell it's simply good."
Even Wang Chil was so impressed that he slapped his knee.
'Can I change that child's fate?'
But Do Tong-dal soon dismissed the thought. He could not change everyone's fate, nor did he have any reason to.
He did not even know his own future, which was why he had lost the use of his arms like this. Meddling in other people's fates would be overstepping.
"Deputy Branch Chief Do, Hall Master Bae Dong-cheol requests to meet you in the Cheonghong Room."
The servant's voice came through the rhythm of the zither.
"Understood. Tell him I'll be there shortly."
Do Tong-dal drank three more cups of wine after that before rising. The Cheonghong Room was not usually reserved, but it was a room given when entertaining fairly esteemed guests.
They had probably given him this room because of Do Tong-dal. When he went inside, Bae Dong-cheol, who had been drinking tea alone, sprang to his feet.
"I had heard bad rumors, so I am relieved to see you here like this."
He could tell at once that it was a fake smile. There was no way Bae Dong-cheol was glad that Do Tong-dal had come back alive, so it was only natural that his smile was fake.
In contrast, Do Tong-dal's smile was bright.
"I'm glad to see you again too."
Bae Dong-cheol hurriedly brought up his business.
"I would like to finish the conversation we left off last time."
Do Tong-dal put on a deliberately surprised expression.
"Wasn't that conversation already finished?"
"Oh dear, how could that be? I committed a grave discourtesy last time."
"Everyone tries to save money. If eating less means shitting less, then spending nothing at all is best, isn't it?"
"What are you saying? Paying the price one ought to pay is a merchant's duty."
"I'm a thug, so I don't know anything about duty. I just look at the promissory notes in the envelope."
There was no need to beat around the bush when the business was already clear. Bae Dong-cheol thought the same as Do Tong-dal.
Bae Dong-cheol put his hand inside his coat and glanced at Namgung Seol-rin. It had been bothering him for a while, but since Do Tong-dal had said nothing, Bae Dong-cheol had not asked either.
But since he was handing over a bribe, he could not help being wary of her.
"Just think of her as an object."
Bae Dong-cheol pushed the envelope toward Do Tong-dal.
"Check it."
Namgung Seol-rin opened the envelope and showed the promissory note inside. It was for three hundred nyang of silver. This showed that the Gangseon Merchant Company had offered as much as it reasonably could.
Before, Do Tong-dal would have welcomed this amount with a broad smile, but the situation was different now.
"Give it back."
Namgung Seol-rin pushed the envelope containing the note back toward Bae Dong-cheol. To the flustered Bae Dong-cheol, Do Tong-dal spoke.
"It seems you're not in that much of a hurry. I've received word from another trading company as well......."
"Oh dear! I pulled out the wrong note! Once you pass forty, you keep making mistakes. Ha ha ha!"
He placed another envelope on top of the envelope on the table, so it had not been a mistake. He had either prepared an extra one or it was a note meant for another purpose.
Namgung Seol-rin took a two-hundred-nyang note out of the envelope and showed it. A full five hundred nyang of silver. Even the Gangseon Merchant Company had probably never given a bribe this large before.
When Do Tong-dal nodded, Namgung Seol-rin put both envelopes containing the notes into her pocket.
"There will be good news soon."
* * *
The physician in black merely let out an inscrutable "Hm" and offered no hopeful words.
Do Tong-dal did not press the question either. Whether the news was hopeful or grim, the physician in black would tell him if anything changed.
After receiving treatment, Do Tong-dal headed to Seo-ung-ro. It was to look for a place to kidnap Jang Jeong-baek.
Alleys that served as drunkards' toilets and saw little foot traffic existed all over Hangzhou.
The problem was whether Jang Jeong-baek would come to a suitable spot. If Jang Jeong-baek had learned the Mind-Reading Art to some degree, he might be able to read Do Tong-dal's ill intentions.
So Do Tong-dal decided not to meet Jang Jeong-baek and only scout out a place for the torture.
If it came down to it, he could simply tell Namgung Seol-rin to kidnap Jang Jeong-baek, just as she had kidnapped Do Tong-dal.
* * *