Area of Expertise
It had been a long journey, shuttling back and forth between the mild climate of Sichuan and the year-round muggy heat of Nanman.
By the time we returned to the now-chilly Beijing, winter had given way to spring, and we had each grown a year older.
A little more mature, a little more adult—the fifteen- and sixteen-year-old youths who had come back to Beijing.
"Boss."
"Yeah, what?"
"Is troubleshooter work… always this hard…?"
The imperial capital's great gate loomed into view, the yellow dragon of the imperial road writhing across it. Ilhong asked the question with a face so drained she looked half-soulless.
"…Usually it's not like this."
A brand-new detective agency was supposed to sit empty, catching only flies until word of mouth spread. Instead, our very first job had thrown us straight into the succession war of one of the Five Great Clans of the Murim. That was wrong on every possible level.
One thing had led to another—I'd ended up playing wandering swordsman, struck up a friendship with a certain Dang Yeohye, and the whole mess had snowballed from there. Butterfly effect, if you wanted a fancy name for it.
Anyway, we had successfully finished our first chaotic commission and finally made it back to the office.
"Boss, what are you going to do with the reward money?"
"Pay off the debt, of course."
I was nothing like that old bastard Jang from the fabric shop who only ever freeloaded off his friends. After resting a single day to shake off the travel fatigue, I headed straight for the main office of the Eunseong Merchant Group.
I opened the door and, as always, found the refined and elegant Eun Hwaran—one of the Five Flowers of Beijing—sitting there. She was discussing the group's affairs with Manager Jin, her neat black hair swaying gently. The dark circles under her eyes were gone; business must have been going well lately.
"…My, Mujin?"
She looked up in mild surprise. The moment she confirmed my return, a delighted smile bloomed across her face—that signature eye-smile that curved like a crescent moon. Someone back in Sichuan liked to claim she was a mature woman, but true mature beauty looked exactly like this.
"I heard a rumor you'd gone to Sichuan on business…"
"Yes. Just finished and came back."
As I spoke, I set a small chest heavy with gold pieces on the table with a solid thud. Both Eun Hwaran and Manager Jin stared at me as if asking what on earth that was.
"It's the chest I received in Sichuan. Roughly half of what I borrowed from you, Noona."
With a soft click I opened the lid, revealing a mound of gold and silver coins. Manager Jin's face lit up openly; Eun Hwaran looked startled, then faintly uncomfortable. She tapped the chest with the tip of her neatly folded fan.
"Mujin, I never said you had to repay it this quickly…"
She had been waiting patiently without a single reminder. Seeing me dump half the sum on her as if chased by something left her a little flustered.
"I just can't live with debt hanging over me."
Back when I worked at the agency I'd handled plenty of debt cases. No matter how close two people once were, the longer the money stayed unpaid, the stranger the air between them became. Over time the sister-and-brother relationship quietly turned into creditor and debtor. That was exactly how friendships got destroyed over loans.
And to me, my relationship with Eun Hwaran—owner of one of the Ten Great Merchant Groups and the only true righteous merchant of this era—mattered far more than money.
"Keep it, Noona."
I slid the chest toward her.
"Are you sure? Don't you need the capital for your business?"
Worry crossed her face and she gently pushed the chest back toward me with her fan.
"Guild Leader! What are you doing? When someone offers money, you take it at once!"
Manager Jin nearly had a heart attack at the sight. The two of them could not have reacted more differently.
"Yes, grab it before I change my mind."
As the saying goes, a man has one heart when he enters the latrine and another when he leaves. I was only human; watching that much money leave did sting a little. Manager Jin seemed to sense it—he snatched the chest like a crab vanishing into its hole and vanished out the door.
"Heh. Please understand the manager. When he first heard the amount I'd lent you, he almost fainted."
She covered her mouth with her fan and laughed softly. Apparently learning that she had invested a fortune in a wet-behind-the-ears kid like me, and that the kid had then jumped into the murky waters of the troubleshooter business, had made him write the money off as lost.
"Still, I'm glad my little brother seems to have realized something more valuable than money."
She patted my shoulder proudly with her fan.
"…Something more valuable than money?"
Inner energy? Dreams of longevity?
"Credit. Once you lose it, you have to pay two or three times the original price to buy it back. It's a treasure of the heart."
Eun Hwaran smiled sweetly and added that I clearly had the makings of a merchant, so why not come work under her?
"I like the work I'm doing now."
The first job had been spectacular, sure, but normally it wasn't like that. When I shook my head slowly in refusal, she looked a little dejected.
"But what kind of work kept you away so long and let you gather this much money all at once?"
"Well… it's a long story."
Long enough that two seasons had passed.
"It's fine, little brother. I have plenty of time."
She said she would clear any schedule for a story this interesting.
"Aren't you busy? Before I left you were drowning in work."
I distinctly remembered both her and Manager Jin living with permanent dark circles.
"Mangeum Money House is still watching for any opening, but the sericulture and escort businesses have stabilized, so things are a bit freer. The imperial side is quiet for now as well." She didn't know whether that quiet was merely the calm before a storm.
"Well then."
I pulled out a chair and plopped down beside her. Smiling, she opened a nearby drawer as if it were the most natural thing in the world and set out an assortment of this era's sweet-and-salty snacks right in front of me.
"When did you even prepare these?"
"You like them, so I keep them ready."
If I liked them, I should visit more often, she said. Even as guild leader and constantly busy, she still wanted to see her one and only little brother more often.
Crunch, crunch.
The special candied treats sweetened my newly emptied mouth. But where should I even start this long story?
I glanced at Eun Hwaran, who was watching me with bright, expectant eyes.
Ah. Right. Start there.
"I got married, Noona."
Crash…!
Slightly flooring the accelerator on the story. Eun Hwaran shot up from her seat with the most startled expression I had ever seen on her face.
"W-what did you say…?"
I left the Eunseong Merchant Group's main office thoroughly overturned by accident. I received a lengthy lecture that Dang Yeohye seemed to have extremely suspicious tastes and that I should keep my distance. While I was at it I also got a full earful from Hwang Geolgae, then finally returned to the office on the outskirts of Beijing.
My own building in this vast city. Home sweet home.
I had expected the place to be deathly quiet after months of absence, yet unexpected guests had arrived first.
Two men were being served cheap, bitter tea by Ilhong. They were none other than the third-rank escort warriors of the Eunseong Merchant Group, Yang Jo and Yang Wi.
"So why did you pick on our innocent little kids back then?"
"…Ahem."
"I already explained it was a misunderstanding…"
On closer look, she wasn't serving tea—she was interrogating them for their sins from their beggar days.
"Uncles, what are you doing in my office?"
Only when I made my presence known did the two escort uncles finally breathe sighs of relief.
"Oh, perfect timing. We were looking for you."
Why would these uncles be looking for me? I tilted my head in confusion.
"We received a small request from Miss Jo Harang."
"She asked us to deliver these once you returned to Beijing."
The two escorts each handed me an Ul-grade free warrior badge and a drawing of a strangely alluring beast.
"You… have that kind of taste?"
"A beast, of all things. I just can't understand it."
"…It's a misunderstanding."
Had Gwi-ju of the Hui Clan sent these? Why on earth would that woman entrust such hideous gifts to other people?
"And Miss Jo Harang also left a letter for you."
I took the neatly folded square note. When I opened it, the contents were revealed.
That's not how you live life, you bastard.
My head filled with question marks the instant I read it.
"…Boss, what did you do to Miss Jo Harang?"
"I didn't do anything."
This time I was genuinely wronged. I had zero memory of doing anything to her.
"She handed over the letter with such a wounded look. Tch, tsk tsk."
"You're a sinful man yourself. That handsome face is the problem."
I seriously considered smacking both of them on the rear and throwing them out. Yang Jo and Yang Wi only poured more fuel on the weird misunderstanding.
"Stop talking nonsense and leave if you're done."
I would have to meet Jo Harang separately later and demand an explanation. What kind of misunderstanding was this?
"Ah, Boss. How about entrusting that to them? We can't leave the office empty for another long stretch."
Ilhong caught my sleeve and pointed at the wooden boxes in the corner, suggesting we hand them over to the escorts.
"Entrust what, exactly?"
Without a word I pulled out the heads that had been pickled in a special solution and showed them to Yang Jo.
"…I think the food I just ate is coming back up, young hero."
Good for you.
"Heads of Blood Cultists. We estimate fairly high ranks. Ilhong, did you check?"
"Yes. They look like the Blood Cult experts who charged the Heavenly Sword, not the Brain Sword. Similar faces are already on the wanted lists."
Ilhong had apparently used her mysterious network again to access the Haomu Gate's latest intelligence.
"If we poke them with the Myeolmade's long needles it'll be confirmed. Anyway, we should be able to claim five gold coins per head."
At the mention of gold coins that third-rank escorts rarely ever touched, Yang Jo and Yang Wi's eyes lit up.
"You want them delivered to Shaanxi?"
"We'll take them there swiftly. Just give us about fifty percent."
After not seeing them for so long, they were already spouting nonsense. When I shook my head they immediately offered a new proposal.
"Fine, forty percent."
"Have some conscience. We're the ones who caught them."
"Then thirty…?"
"Should I tell Noona Eun Hwaran?"
"You cheapskate…!"
Both escorts flared up at once.
"Fifteen percent! We still need something if we're going all the way to distant Shaanxi!"
They declared it with trembling mustaches, as if they could retreat no further.
"Hmm. Fine, let's do that."
I tossed them the large wooden boxes. Accustomed to this kind of work, Yang Jo and Yang Wi each hoisted a load onto their backs.
"Don't forget—deliver them properly all the way to the Myeolmade."
"Of course. That's an escort's main job, isn't it?"
"We're good at that sort of thing."
They left the office with words of assurance. And so the accidental acquisitions from Nanman set off on their journey to Shaanxi.
"Boss, what do we do now?"
"Find new clients."
I muttered while looking out the window at the potential customers thronging the streets.
Back when I was making a big splash in Sichuan, I had fully expected a flood of new clients to pour into our freshly opened office. After all, the name "Dog-Beating Dragon" had become famous enough that no one in Sichuan didn't know it.
I was the lunatic who smashed through the front gate of the most renowned clan in Sichuan—the Sichuan Tang Family—and charged inside. Of course I got famous. On top of that, Clan Head Dang Yangcheon had dropped my name in front of Sichuan's big shots, supposedly to repay the debt of saving his life.
When someone with that much influence casually praises you among other influential people, the effect is immediate.
"Oh, that Dog-Beating Dragon fellow? He does good work. Saved my life, actually."
One little remark like that and everyone around goes, "Oh, really?" and the jobs start pouring in. That was how every office I ever opened had grown—on word of mouth.
I thought this office would ride the same smooth road…
"Why is all the fame we built up in Nanman and Sichuan so quiet here in Beijing?"
It was ridiculous. In Sichuan our notoriety was practically piercing the heavens. Yet here in Beijing, where I had sunk every last coin into planting roots, it was dead silent.
"We've only been back from Sichuan for less than a week, Boss."
Damn this Central Plains. Why was there no internet, no SNS, no instant messaging? All this spectacular work needed to spread fast and reach the ears of important people.
"They say rumors are faster than feet, right?"
"…How can rumors be faster than feet? The gossipmongers spreading them still walk on two legs."
Ilhong had been systematically dismantling every one of my complaints with airtight logic, forcing me to shut up. Having a subordinate who was too smart was a real headache.
I heaved a deep sigh and stretched out on the long bench in the middle of the office just to kill time. It was an old habit from Earth whenever there were no clients.
Of course, it wasn't as if we had zero visitors after that.
Jingle-jingle.
"Um… is it true you'll really do anything if we just ask?"
A little kid suddenly pushed open the office door.
"Then please find my cat!"
"…"
He must have walked past, seen the sign that said we would take any request, and come in.
"Boss, it's not like we have anything better to do."
Sitting around wasn't going to generate good karma on its own, so I took five copper coins in the spirit of volunteer work and spent several days combing Beijing until I found the cat.
After I solved that case, the kid was so satisfied that the next day he dragged a friend over as another client.
"Some bad kids at the academy keep hitting me and bullying me."
"…"
At least this type of request had been fairly common even in modern times. At that age, a stern word from a strong big brother was far more terrifying than any administrative punishment or teacher's scolding.
"You need a scary uncle, right? Let's go. Big bro will scare them for you."
"But the thing is…"
"What?"
"You… don't look very scary, big bro. You're actually really handsome."
Right. I was no longer the burly, rough-looking man I used to be.
"Watch this."
I took one of the copper coins the previous kid client had given me and crushed it flat with pure grip strength right in front of his eyes.
"Th-that trick is pretty scary."
"Right?"
That was how we successfully completed the third job by intimidating the academy kids. The children's sincere thanks left a faintly warm tickle in my chest.
Then, on a day when the sunset was slowly draping itself over Beijing, a mature beauty who looked to be in her late thirties hesitated, then carefully opened the office door with a timid air.
Jingle-jingle.
"Is this really… the place that will take any request…?"
Every single client who walked in asked the same question. I really needed the Dan Mujin Detective Agency to get famous already.
"Yes, of course."
"Even delicate matters that the Free Warrior Society has already turned down?"
I nodded without a word. That was exactly the niche market we were aiming for.
She swallowed once, as if nervous, then lifted her head with a look of resolve.
"I… I think my husband is having an affair…"
"…Oh."
This one. This was it.
The field I had once been so good at that it had gotten me killed—my absolute specialty—had just walked through the door.