Monopolizing Fortunes (79)
Monopolizing Fortunes (79)
The resentment that had been lodged in his chest burst out all at once and poured out as tears. The words that he could now die without regret were no lie.
Once Jang Mo-seok's emotions had settled, they exchanged brief farewells and left. At Jang Mo-seok's promise, 'Once my granddaughter returns, I'll visit Hangzhou,' Do Tong-dal offered the empty pleasantry that he was welcome anytime.
"We finally got it."
Both Do Tong-dal and Namgung Seol-rin wore relieved expressions.
"Now we can finally go home."
Namgung Seol-rin held out her hand toward Do Tong-dal.
"Give me the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to keep it."
"So again, why?"
Smack!
As Do Tong-dal straightened his back with a yelp after being struck on it, she plucked the box right out of his coat.
"What do you think you're doing!"
"I just want to take it with me."
Do Tong-dal, who had been trying to read Namgung Seol-rin's expression, deliberately averted his gaze. Knowing everything in the hearts of the people around him was not as good a thing as one might think.
* * *
Seo Hui-sun shouted furiously.
"Do you have any right to say that to me, when you caused all this mess just to lay claim to some whore!"
"Th-that is a misunderstanding. It is a rumor maliciously fabricated by people who dislike me."
"I have eyes to see and ears to hear! Do you think I've been sitting still all this time because I didn't know about your filthy womanizing? I kept quiet because it was so pathetic it wasn't worth mentioning! If you were going to fool around, you should have picked some woman with no complications! Why did you have to go sniffing around some Underworld thug's woman and end up in this mess! I'm so ashamed I can't go on living!"
"But if you leave like this..."
"The rest of the family has to survive! The children and I are leaving, so you stay here and either clean this up or just go bankrupt and die, whatever you like!"
"Now, that's too harsh, after all the affection we've shared over the years."
"Affection, my ass. You were so blinded by whoring around that you haven't set foot in my room for fifteen years. If that man Do Tong-dal cuts off that precious cock of yours, I won't have a single wish left."
"Now, now! Such vulgar talk, fit only for lowborns..."
"Oh, shut up, you worthless excuse for a man!"
Seo Hui-sun hurled the shoe she was wearing at Gong So-yang, then climbed onto the carriage. Gong So-yang, who had blocked the shoe with his hand, turned his gaze toward another carriage.
His two sons stood in front of it. The two sons, aged thirty-five and thirty-two, quickly avoided his eyes.
"Are you two really going to abandon me and run away as well?"
The elder son spoke.
"We have to live too."
"You only care about your own survival?"
"Those who want to live have to live."
"You—you wretches! Do you know how hard I worked all this time to keep you in fine clothes and good food, and now you run off to save only yourselves!"
"Father."
"What?"
"Do you know when my birthday is?"
"Why ask that now?"
"Do you know?"
"Well... it's in May... isn't it?"
The elder son shook his head slowly.
"How could you know, when you never once remembered it. You spent most of the family's birthdays in pleasure houses."
"You wretches! I gave you rich food and silk bedding to live in—what more could you want!"
"We've put up with your womanizing and lived until now, so don't expect anything more from us."
"You're leaving because you think I'm going to be ruined, aren't you!"
The two sons merely gave a slight bow of their heads in farewell and climbed onto the carriage. The two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren never even showed their faces.
"Fine! All of you, go! Do you think I'll die like this! I'll make sure you regret it! Hack! Hack!"
He had shouted so hard that he broke into coughing.
"You sons of bitches. Huh?"
In the space where the carriages had departed, a baggage cart pulled in. It was clearly a moving cart loaded with odds and ends.
Gong So-yang stared with a bewildered expression at the servants and household workers who were gathering in increasing numbers.
"What are you all doing?"
The servants and workers answered.
"My parents are unwell, so I'm going back to my hometown."
"My younger sibling is sick."
"I found a new job, so I'm quitting."
The worker who spoke last was the most honest. From the looks of it, this was every servant and worker employed in his household.
"You wretches! You're quitting just because your wages are a couple of months behind?"
"Ptui!"
One servant spat on the ground, then hauled his cart out through the main gate. Behind him, carts loaded with belongings and workers streamed out one after another.
"You—you wretches! Don't ever think of coming back!"
The last servant leaving said.
"The Red Tiger Society gave me a good job. Why would I come back to a place like this, where they work you to the bone and pay you peanuts? Crazy old man."
A gust of wind blew, and a sheet of paper slapped against his face.
"You sons of bitches!"
After cursing and peeling the paper from his face, Gong So-yang fell backward in shock. Do Tong-dal had suddenly appeared right in front of him.
"The household seems rather desolate."
"Wh-why are you in my house?"
"I came to see how you were doing, and you're alive and well."
"Does this look like living well to you!"
Do Tong-dal grinned.
"If you're still breathing, you're living well. Let's see how long that breath lasts."
As Do Tong-dal stepped out through the main gate, he left behind a mutter: "At this rate, he wouldn't even notice if someone walked in at any hour." Then he vanished.
Gong So-yang's heart pounded. It sounded like Do Tong-dal was saying he would come at any time and kill him. Even in a situation where everything had fallen apart, the most important thing was his life.
Gong So-yang immediately rushed to Gong Myeong-un. His family had left, and the servants and workers had quit, so the only person who could protect him now was a government official.
"Uncle, you've come?"
Gong Myeong-un greeted him with sunken eyes, as if he had not slept for three days, and looking just as starved. After receiving the feeble greeting, Gong So-yang spoke.
"Myeong-un, I need to have some officials dispatched to my house. I also need workers from the government office."
Gong Myeong-un gave a self-deprecating laugh.
"Officials and workers?"
"Yes. Those ungrateful bastards all quit, so there's not even anyone left to sweep the floor."
"I'll see what I can do. You there! You there!"
No one answered. Leaving behind the words "Please wait," Gong Myeong-un disappeared for over one ke before returning. Only after another two ke did the Chief Clerk finally appear.
"You called for me?"
"I need officials and workers to dispatch to my uncle's residence."
The Chief Clerk glanced sideways at Gong So-yang. In the old days, he would have bowed so low his nose touched the ground, but now he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, moving only his eyes.
"I can ask around, but I don't know if anyone will be willing to go."
Unable to stand it any longer, Gong So-yang shouted.
"If the magistrate orders it, you do as you're told! What is this insolence!"
Even at Gong So-yang's roar, the Chief Clerk did not so much as blink.
"Using public personnel for private purposes is what's wrong."
"Wh-what?"
"I'll ask, but there probably won't be anyone willing to go."
With only those words, the Chief Clerk turned and left.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"The officials won't listen to me. Not just the Six Bureaus—even the lowliest constables ignore me."
"And you've just let those wretches be?"
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Arrest them and put them to the rack!"
"Who's going to arrest them?"
"You're the magistrate, so of course you mobilize the officials and—!"
"You didn't hear what I said. The officials won't listen to me."
"Then you should send a petition to the capital and set right what's gone wrong!"
"And who's going to deliver the petition to the capital? Should I go to Beijing myself?"
There was a reason Gong Myeong-un's face had deteriorated so badly. He was a magistrate in name only, thoroughly reduced to a scarecrow—like some old man in the back room who did nothing but waste food.
The affairs of the government office ran fine without a magistrate anyway. Even if not as well as under the previous magistrate, Yang Su-pan, no incident beyond the Six Bureaus' ability had occurred.
"If it truly can't be helped, you'll have to go yourself."
At Gong So-yang's words, Gong Myeong-un asked.
"And if I get killed by Red Tiger Society thugs on the way?"
"S-surely they wouldn't go that far?"
"They're the sort who'd do that and worse! Everyone in Hangzhou is on the Red Tiger Society's side—if I died, do you think they'd even catch the culprit?"
"So you intend to live like this? As a scarecrow magistrate?"
"Would you rather I die?"
Even rolling in a dung heap, this world is better than the next.
"Then what about me?"
"What about you, Uncle?"
"Who's going to protect me?"
"You'll have to protect yourself."
"How am I supposed to do that! The escort agency is ruined, the workers have all left, the man I hired to bring in a martial arts master ran off with my money, and even the Red Wind Sword Sect, a martial arts faction, has tucked its tail between its legs for the Red Tiger Society! How am I supposed to protect myself in this situation!"
"Then why did you provoke the Red Tiger Society? Because of you, Uncle, I've ended up like this too."
"You became magistrate thanks to me, and now you blame me?"
Gong Myeong-un suddenly slammed the table.
"Fuck! If I hadn't become magistrate, I'd be living far better than I am now! I became magistrate for nothing, and now look at me!"
"St-still, think of all I've done for you until now..."
"Thanks so much. Satisfied? Now please leave. They say Do Tong-dal has returned. Go kneel and beg. He might just forgive you."
"I will never bow my head to Underworld trash, even in death."
"Suit yourself. Whether you live or die, it's your own life, Uncle."
Gong So-yang left the government office empty-handed. Even the last rope he had tried to grasp had snapped more easily than a spider's web.
As he let out a long sigh toward the sky, his stomach growled. Come to think of it, he had not eaten anything since morning.
He went into a nearby restaurant.
"I'll have the Dongpo pork, the eight-treasure dish, the jeonui-muk, and..."
As he was reciting his order, the server said curtly.
"We're closed."
"What? There are customers over there, and I can smell food cooking in the kitchen."
"They're the last customers."
"You—you insolent—do you know who I am!"
"I know, which is why I'm saying it. Please leave quickly."
"You wretch! Just you wait!"
Gong So-yang stormed out fuming, and one ke later his shoulders had slumped. After that, he was turned away from four more restaurants.
Everyone in Hangzhou had become his enemy. He had lived his whole life in Hangzhou and had been a local magnate wielding the greatest power in the city, yet the time it took for all of that to collapse was not long.
With the feeling that this was his last resort, Gong So-yang entered a restaurant called Won's Eatery. It was a shabby place that sold only noodles and dumplings—the sort of establishment he would not even have glanced at in normal times.
"Could I get a bowl of noodles and some dumplings here?"
"Yes, one bowl of noodles and dumplings... Oh? Are you perhaps Sir Gong?"
He wanted to say no, but the words "Well, yes." came out on their own.
"I'm terribly sorry. It's closing time."
"You're throwing me out here too?"
Obliviously, his stomach loudly demanded food. But the owner was cold.
"There's nothing I can do."
"Boss, you can't do that!"
The person who raised her voice was a woman in her mid-twenties with a tray tucked under her arm. Judging by the towel on her head and the apron around her waist, she appeared to be the cook.
"No, you haven't been here long, so you don't understand..."
"Understand or not, you'll be punished for turning away a hungry old man!"
The woman came over and asked.
"You wanted noodles and dumplings, right? For the noodle broth, would you like beef or chicken?"
"Make it beef."
"Got it. Please wait just a moment."
The woman turned around. Her ample backside entered Gong So-yang's field of vision. It was absolutely not intentional.
His hand simply moved on its own. Gong So-yang's aged hand grabbed the woman's backside.
"Your backside is so firm... No, that's not what I..."
It was already too late.
"You crazy old man!"
The woman swung the tray tucked under her arm and struck Gong So-yang square in the face.
"Yelp!"
The proverb that habits formed at three last until eighty was right after all.
* * *
Namgung Seol-rin asked the physician in black.
"Is it coming along well?"
"It should be finished in about three shichen."
"Keep it a secret from Tong-dal."
"Will that be possible?"
Indeed, just from looking at the physician in black's face, he would notice something was being hidden, and from a few words he would figure out that the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King was involved.
"Don't meet with that guy at all. Just close your doors."
"That would seriously hurt my business..."
"I'll compensate you, so close up!"
* * *