Monopolizing Fortunes (52)
Monopolizing Fortunes (52)
The moment Do Tong-dal finished speaking, Won Tae-hyeon asked.
"Can you make the Red Wind Sword Sect and the Black River Blade Sect withdraw?"
"I can promise you that."
"How are we supposed to believe that promise? Our opponents are the strongest unorthodox sects in Zhejiang Province."
Do Tong-dal stared blankly at Won Tae-hyeon for a moment, then stood up.
"Seems the conversation is over."
"Wh—what do you mean?"
"This is a meeting where nothing can be settled unless we trust each other. If you don't believe what I say, what's the point of talking all day?"
"The enemy is so strong, so I was asking you to tell us your method...."
"You're asking me to leak secrets? Can you guarantee that what we discuss here won't reach the Red Wind Sword Sect and the Black River Blade Sect?"
There were fifteen people watching and listening. They hadn't sworn an oath of silence, so there was no way to guarantee the secret would be kept.
Hwang Chan-seok spoke up.
"I believe what Coordinator Do says. He drove them off once, so he can do it twice. Coordinator Do isn't a braggart, after all."
Won Tae-hyeon, who had received Do Tong-dal's gaze, nodded.
"Fine. I'll believe that promise too."
"What I'm curious about is what happens after those two sects leave Hangzhou. Our Black Dragon Society and the Haerang Society over there disappearing is an unavoidable reality. If we'd lost a fight between underworld groups, we'd leave everything entirely in the winner's hands, but this is different, so I'm curious what the Red Tiger Society has in mind."
"As long as you aren't traitors who sided with the Red Wind Sword Sect and the Black River Blade Sect, I guarantee not only your safety but even your positions."
Relief flickered through many eyes.
"However, for one year, the revenue split between the branch and the headquarters will be adjusted."
"By how much?"
"Eight to two. The headquarters gets eight, of course."
"That's absurd!"
"How are we supposed to run a branch on twenty percent!"
"You're telling us to starve to death! If that's how it is, we'd be better off siding with the Red Wind Sword Sect and the Black River Blade Sect!"
Do Tong-dal waited for the commotion to die down. He'd expected the reaction, so he waited at ease.
Hwang Chan-seok and Won Tae-hyeon, who had led this gathering on behalf of the two underworld groups, calmed the branch chiefs down.
"Coordinator Do, as you've run a branch yourself, you must know that we can't hold out on twenty percent of the income."
"You're getting your lives guaranteed, and now you want your income guaranteed too—that's the mindset of a thief. Well, an underworld thug isn't much better than a thief."
Won Tae-hyeon asked.
"Coordinator Do, are you trying to take us in, or make enemies of us?"
"Honestly, I don't care which it turns out to be."
"Excuse me?"
"Our Red Tiger Society is already well off as it is, so there's no need to get greedy."
"Do you think the Red Wind Sword Sect and the Black River Blade Sect will leave the Red Tiger Society alone once they've taken over our two groups?"
"If that war breaks out, who do you think bleeds first?"
Anyone who wasn't a fool could guess that the lowest-ranking thugs of the underworld would be mobilized first.
"In our Red Tiger Society, there are three people who can kill the sect leaders of the Red Wind Sword Sect and the Black River Blade Sect."
"Th—that's completely absurd...."
"Hall Master Won. You've fought Jang Yu-seom, haven't you?"
"Yes."
"I guarantee you, he can kill the leaders of both sects within ten moves. If you don't believe me, ask him yourself. Hall Master Won knows well enough that Jang Yu-seom isn't the sort of man to talk nonsense."
Some people could be judged from a single meeting. Whatever else was true, Jang Yu-seom was not someone who would talk himself up.
"And Protector Namgung here is nearly his equal."
Namgung Seol-rin bristled.
"What do you mean, nearly his equal? You're saying I'm weaker?"
"Didn't you get pushed back a little when you fought last time?"
"I was caught off guard then. If we fought now, I'd win!"
Do Tong-dal shrugged and said to Hwang Chan-seok and Won Tae-hyeon, "That's what she says."
They did not know Namgung Seol-rin's true identity, but they had long heard that her martial arts were formidable. Jang Yu-seom and Namgung Seol-rin were the reason the Black Dragon Society and the Haerang Society had given up on fighting the Red Tiger Society in the first place.
"Then who is the third?"
At Hwang Chan-seok's question, Do Tong-dal grinned.
"Me."
"What?"
"How do you think I killed the Baekeum Assassin, who even first-rate masters of the martial world feared?"
Namgung Seol-rin thought, 'He really is laying it on thick,' but silently went along with Do Tong-dal's bluff.
"If you side with the martial sects and fight us, can't you picture how that ends? I can."
The fifteen branch chiefs swallowed hard. If they fought the Red Tiger Society, which had three masters stronger than the leaders of the two sects, the outcome was all too obvious.
The blood spilled in the back alleys would all belong to the thugs of the Black Dragon Society and the Haerang Society. And they would never know who won between the two sects and the Red Tiger Society.
They would already be dead.
"I'm just saying this, but the Red Wind Sword Sect and the Black River Blade Sect can't get involved in Hangzhou's underworld war. The martial artists they've dispatched right now are their entire force."
"Why is that?"
"Compared to martial artists, even underworld members are civilians. Do you think the authorities would sit still while martial artists kill civilians? Don't forget whose side the county magistrate is on."
The final remark drove the point home. No matter how they racked their brains, the final victor could only be the Red Tiger Society.
Hwang Chan-seok asked.
"May we contact you after discussing it?"
"I won't wait long."
On the way back to headquarters after the meeting, Namgung Seol-rin asked.
"Don't you think you pushed them too hard?"
"You have to tighten the screws now so they're grateful when you loosen them later."
"So you do plan to loosen them?"
"It's not good to be too harsh on fellow thugs."
"But wasn't today's secret meeting a little too un-secret? Among fifteen branch chiefs, is there really not a single one who's sided with the martial sects?"
"Who said this was a secret meeting?"
"It wasn't?"
"If what was said here today doesn't reach those two sects, I'd actually be disappointed."
"You mean you deliberately leaked it?"
"The Red Tiger Society has three masters who can beat the leaders of the two sects. How do you think those two sects will react when they hear that?"
"Disbelief?"
"And wariness. They'll start to wonder if it might be true. Then, if the subordinates they sent get beaten, that suspicion turns into certainty. They've already lost once, so a second defeat would be enough to convince them. On top of that, with the authorities involved, they'll never dare make a move. Why the disappointed face?"
"I thought I might get to fight the leaders of the Red Wind Sword Sect or the Black River Blade Sect."
"If you want to fight masters, go back to the world you came from. This is the underworld, where people just pick up blades and fight like idiots."
"I wonder. Will it really end as just the underworld?"
"Huh?"
"After you unify Hangzhou, can you really stop there?"
"That's something to think about later."
"There's no way you haven't thought about it. Are you conflicted?"
"Don't you know me a little too well?"
"How long do you think I was your right-hand man?"
"Even so, it's just the underworld. There are no masters like you're hoping for."
"A river isn't only water. There are reefs, and trees, and sometimes corpses. This time alone, two martial sects showed up. Like reefs."
"I don't get it. If you like fighting that much, why stay in the underworld instead of going to the martial world?"
"Because I like you."
At the sudden confession, Do Tong-dal stopped walking.
"What? I—well, you mean you like me as a friend, right?"
"No. I like you as a man. Don't stare at me like that. I might not look it, but I'm embarrassed."
Do Tong-dal chased after Namgung Seol-rin as she strode past him. A question like "Why do you like me?" was meaningless. But he couldn't tell her not to like him, either.
It had just been sudden, and he didn't know what to say, so now Do Tong-dal followed behind Namgung Seol-rin.
"Why are you suddenly confessing? It's awkward."
Only after a long while did he manage to ask. Namgung Seol-rin's answer came a little late too, without even turning her head.
"Everyone says they like you. Mistress Yeon and Su-yeong too. There's no reason I can't say it too."
"What are you going to do if a daughter of the Namgung Clan falls for a thug like me?"
"I told you. The Namgung Clan isn't that big a deal. If the Namgung Clan defined me, I never would have become the Red Tiger Society's Protector in the first place."
He had known Namgung Seol-rin liked him, yet he had pushed her away because he believed they could never be a match.
He had thought that connection had ended there, but a bond was not so easily severed.
"I'm not forcing you to answer. You already have a woman, and who knows what other women will appear in the future."
"Then why do you like a guy like that?"
"There's no particular reason to like someone. It just turned out that way."
The conversation ended there. The two of them walked the rest of the way to headquarters in silence, keeping the same distance.
* * *
A wild wind was raging in the yard, but Seon Hye-min was calmly preparing tea.
Swords and blades clashed, and the carefully tended grass was scattered in all directions by rough movements, but Seon Hye-min paid no mind.
After sparring for over two ke, the two sheathed their weapons while gasping for breath.
"Thank you for the lesson today."
When Namgung Seol-rin cupped her fists in salute, Jang Yu-seom also bowed.
"On the contrary, I learned a great deal."
Straightening up, Jang Yu-seom turned his gaze toward the left wall.
"But it seems someone was watching...."
As Jang Yu-seom moved to walk that way, Namgung Seol-rin stopped him.
"Leave it."
"You knew too, Miss Namgung? Judging by how well they hid their presence, they seemed to be a martial artist."
"Probably. It's likely the Red Wind Sword Sect or the Black River Blade Sect. Tong-dal said they might spy on our sparring, and his prediction wasn't wrong. How unpleasant."
"Something must have happened."
Namgung Seol-rin told him about the meeting two days earlier between Do Tong-dal and the branch chiefs of the two underworld groups.
"I heard about that meeting as well."
"He said the Red Tiger Society has three masters who can beat the leaders of the two sects, so they must have wanted to confirm it. That's why they were watching, and they happened to see our sparring."
"Then did you ask me to spar today in order to show them?"
"That's not it. Lately my martial arts seem to be regressing, so I asked Jang Yu-seom for help. The two things just happened to overlap."
"Regressing? That's absurd. On the contrary, your martial arts seem to have grown deeper than before."
"I think I should be the one saying that."
Jang Yu-seom whispered.
"I'm training hard so my wife doesn't scold me."
"What?"
"I've only ever received help from Coordinator Do, so if the time comes when I need to help him and my martial arts are too weak to do it, there'd be nothing more hollow than that."
"That could never happen. Someone of Jang Yu-seom's level wouldn't even be outmatched by an elder of the Nine Great Sects."
"Oh-ho! Is that self-praise?"
After thinking for a moment, Namgung Seol-rin lifted her head.
"I'm also among the top five in martial arts in the Namgung Clan."
It was true. Aside from the Clan Head and Namgung Cheol-hyeon, there was no one in the Namgung Clan who could confidently claim to defeat her.
"I'm not used to seeing an arrogant Miss Namgung...."
"I think it looks good."
Seon Hye-min, who had joined the conversation, said, "Have your tea before it gets cold." Instead of sitting in chairs, they perched on the edge of the main hall's raised floor. This kind of informal setting was comfortable.
Seon Hye-min asked Namgung Seol-rin.
"When are you going to confess to Coordinator Do?"
"I already did."
"What?"
"Whaaat?"
They had nudged her about it, but neither Jang Yu-seom nor Seon Hye-min had thought she would actually do it, so both were surprised.
"Now that I've done it, it wasn't a big deal."
In truth, she had been worried her pounding heart might burst through her chest.
"So?"
Namgung Seol-rin shrugged.
"There's no sequel."
"You confessed to Coordinator Do and there was no echo?"
"I did hope a little, but he didn't say 'me too.' Since I only hoped a little, I was only a little disappointed. Hehe."
Seon Hye-min knew there was no way her disappointment had been small. Namgung Seol-rin was just good at hiding it.
"I wish I knew what Coordinator Do really feels."
At Seon Hye-min's murmur, Namgung Seol-rin said promptly.
"Right? I should be the one learning the Mind-Reading Art, not Tong-dal."
"The Mind-Reading Art?"
* * *