The Traitor Within
There was nothing money couldn't buy.
In this world, not only the stiff-necked martial artists but even the high-and-mighty of the imperial court bustled about hunting for a solid financial backer.
He had believed without a doubt that by seizing both wealth and power, and even bringing Murim folk under his wing, he would walk a golden highway paved with success.
But today, a massive hole had been punched clean through that plan. A truly enormous one.
Crash!
An expensive gilt-bronze incense burner and all manner of precious metals went flying under a toad-like hand.
Geum Hwangdo fixed a murderous glare on the Mangeum Money House martial artists who had staggered back in utter ruin.
"What do you mean he disappeared?"
They were at least First-class Realm experts. One Peak Realm master was mixed in among them. How much money had he poured out over the years just to hire these brutes?
And they had committed such an absurd blunder at the most critical moment of all.
"W-well… that good-for-nothing Eun Yang-gon suddenly threw a fit about needing fresh air, so…"
"You should have stopped him! By any means necessary!"
"…We did try to stop him after the fact, but we got taken out by some thugs who appeared out of nowhere."
The very reason I hired you was to thrash thugs like that.
Geum Hwangdo pounded his own chest in frustration.
"So who the hell are these thugs supposed to be?"
From what he'd heard, even the courtesan who had lured Eun Yang-gon out had an unclear background.
Whoever they were, they had clearly approached with a plan.
"According to internal intelligence, it seems a troubleshooter named Dan Mujin was hired."
The chief steward of the Mangeum Money House, a man with a prominent goatee, lowered his head as he spoke.
"…What? A troubleshooter? You're telling me this whole mess happened because you couldn't even handle one of those?"
The more answers he heard, the more incredulous Geum Hwangdo became; a hollow laugh escaped him.
"He is no ordinary troubleshooter, Father."
Just then Geum Yado appeared, chewing on his lip, and began to explain.
"If he's not ordinary, then what is he?"
"Remember that brat who interfered with our purpose back when we tried to bring down Eunseong over the silkworm affair?"
"…What, the little punk who stood up to the eunuchs back then? He became a troubleshooter?"
Geum Yado nodded. The cheeky bastard had been continuously obstructing the Mangeum Money House's schemes for some time.
On top of that, he seemed to have made some sort of breakthrough in martial arts lately and was earning quite a reputation as a troubleshooter.
Rumor even had it he had made a big splash with the Sichuan Tang Clan.
"Apparently he has reached the Peak Realm, and he and Eun Hwaran call each other older sister and younger brother."
He had even recruited a Grade-E vagabond who had reached the Transcendental Peak Realm into his office. For a mere troubleshooter, his combat strength was nothing to sneeze at.
"Why would people with that kind of ability waste their time playing troubleshooter?"
"My thoughts exactly."
It was a question and answer that made no sense to either of them.
They could have just signed on as retained guests at some wealthy merchant group and collected a steady paycheck.
Why would masters of that caliber run around granting petty favors as troubleshooters?
"Anyway, what do we do now, Father?"
Geum Yado, who had once nearly become Eun Hwaran's husband, swallowed his rage and asked.
At the question, Geum Hwangdo silently glanced toward the direction of the Eunseong Merchant Group.
"Do you have a method?"
"Of course I do."
Geum Hwangdo nodded as if every solution were already in hand.
His expression was as sly as a gambler holding a winning hand.
"Even if Eun Yang-gon has fallen into their hands, the plan merely changes a little. There is no problem."
They had a mole already planted among those people. If the client vanished, what could a mere troubleshooter possibly do?
Moreover, once there was no direct blood relative left to lead either the Eunseong Merchant Group or the escort agency, everything would naturally float free.
When that happened, the only remaining choice would inevitably be Eun Yang-gon.
"I've had enough of looking at that bitch Eun Hwaran's face. Tell them to execute the plan."
"Yes, Father. I will begin without delay."
Geum Yado bowed deeply, eyes gleaming at the thought of finally ridding himself of the nuisance.
And so the long, bitter grudge that had stretched from the previous generation seemed ready to meet its end today.
"I-I'm sorry…"
A man whose mouth was swollen from a thorough beating stammered out an apology.
Eun Hwaran half-hid her expression behind her open folding fan and narrowed her eyes.
Her gaze said she still couldn't believe they had extracted this man from the Mangeum Money House without raising a single alarm.
She swept a faintly admiring look over our side.
"Not me. She did most of it."
I pointed at Jo Harang, whose sleeves had been torn but who was still dressed in fluttering silk robes.
"Ahem."
Having completed a request that relied on charm rather than force—seducing a man—Jo Harang was riding a considerable high of self-satisfaction.
She struck a bizarre pose as if inviting us to experience her demonic allure, which was every bit the equal of Ju Wol's.
"Back when I was a vagabond I just swung my blade like a maniac… Doing this troubleshooter work isn't half bad either."
She confessed that she had walked a path stained with the blood of villains.
Since coming to our office she grinned and said she got to have all sorts of new experiences.
"Right? You make money and you don't have to kill anyone. How great is that?"
Of course, it meant we had to pull every weird stunt imaginable, like this time.
But for me it was already somewhat familiar work.
"But why are you still wearing that outfit?"
I swallowed the rest of the sentence—It doesn't suit you—deep inside.
Jo Harang, dressed in silk and swaying with a smile just like any courtesan.
"Because it's pretty."
She kept fussing with her skirts while looking into the copper mirror in the merchant lord's office. Hard to believe this was the Tiger of Mount Song who casually sent villains' heads flying.
"Well, it is, but still."
"I know it doesn't really suit me, so just keep the rest of that comment to yourself."
Outwardly she looked like a beauty from a painting, so it suited her fine. It was only the gap with her usual personality that felt off.
"So, Brother Yang-gon… what kind of mess have we gotten ourselves into this time?"
After keeping silent, Eun Hwaran walked over to the thoroughly swollen Eun Yang-gon and spoke with a complicated expression.
The exhaustion already thick in her tone suggested this was far from the first or second time.
"It's all my fault… I have no face left to show."
Eun Yang-gon could barely meet her eyes and spoke in a crawling voice.
When the notorious good-for-nothing of the family quietly apologized and asked for forgiveness, Eun Hwaran's eyes went round with shock.
"…What's gotten into him?"
Their father Eun Jincheong had scolded him endlessly, and she herself had tried countless times to reform him, all to no avail.
She looked at me with an expression that said she couldn't believe how I had managed it.
"He was talking nonsense, so I just gave him a little thrashing."
He had been spouting garbage about how he was going to be the next merchant lord and how I shouldn't get cocky, so I had simply given him a gentle "talking-to."
In the sense of snapping him back to reality, that is.
"How hard did you hit him?"
"Hmm… about the way Master hits me?"
"…Mujin, that usually kills people."
Eun Hwaran muttered in disbelief.
I knew that perfectly well. That was why I had carefully controlled the force.
I had poured every ounce of the secret art of Hwang Geolgae-style punching into it—the kind that left no lasting damage but hurt like absolute hell.
"But the effect is really something…"
"Right?"
She looked amazed that her brother, who had always gone off the rails no matter how much he was scolded or lectured, finally seemed to have come to his senses.
As expected, a mad dog needed a club. Whether the apologies he was spitting out now were sincere or not, at least he probably wouldn't cause any more trouble.
"Brother, what on earth were you thinking, placing yourself under the Mangeum Money House's protection? Don't you know how bad relations between the Eunseong Merchant Group and the Mangeum Money House have been lately?"
"W-were they that bad? I just went because they've always taken good care of me with this and that…"
"Haaah."
That "care" had been Geum Hwangdo's scheme to swallow the Eun family whole.
Eun Hwaran rubbed her throbbing temples as if life itself had become too much.
"Y-you still call me Brother, though. I thought you'd completely disowned me…"
"I'm not calling you that because I consider you family. I already have someone like that."
She glanced my way as she said it. That actually made me a little emotional.
"You took in a ruffian like that… as family?"
Eun Yang-gon looked back and forth between us with eyes full of distrust, probably remembering the thorough beating he had received.
"A ruffian? Mujin has helped me over and over in my hardest moments. And he never asked for any great reward."
I simply shrugged in front of Eun Yang-gon without a word.
His expression twisted oddly—resentment and bitterness coexisting on his face.
"So what was Geum Hwangdo's plan? How exactly did he intend to get rid of me and suck the Eunseong Merchant Group dry?"
She cut straight to the point. Eun Yang-gon opened his mouth, slightly cowed.
"I-I don't know the details. Just things I overheard in passing…"
"In passing?"
"I only heard that once they made you disappear far away and the merchant group was left floating, they would do something."
Make her disappear far away. There was no way Geum Hwangdo would leave a future threat alive—it was a hundred percent certain he meant elimination.
The "far away" part had just been words to keep this fool calm.
Eun Hwaran seemed to realize the same thing; her eyes curved into half-moons as she rebuked him.
"Drive me far away? Only someone as naive as you would believe that, Brother."
"Th-that's…"
"Anyway, how did they plan to make me disappear? Tell me."
She snapped her fan shut with a sharp flutter and tapped it against her palm.
"I don't know exactly either. Just that they have their own people planted inside the Eunseong Merchant Group. They said once you've done it once, the second time is even easier…"
A traitor inside the Eunseong Merchant Group, then.
By deduction it would be poison or assassination. Since no high-level expert would be charging in from outside, even Hwang Geolgae would have a hard time noticing.
"Once you've done it once…?"
She muttered, her face turning grave as something came to mind.
"Father, the previous merchant lord, was always in excellent health. Then one day he suddenly died under mysterious circumstances."
There had been suspicious circumstances even then, but with escort runs getting wrecked one after another and the silkworm business shaking, there had simply been too many chaotic affairs to pay attention.
A stab from a trusted insider always hurt worse than a blow from an outsider.
"Who on earth…"
Especially since the previous merchant lord had treated his subordinates like family and dealt with them fairly, Eun Hwaran's sense of betrayal burned even hotter.
"Why would anyone do something like this…"
Even the kindest person turned into a paranoid wreck after suffering something like this.
I didn't want to see Eun Hwaran end up like that, so I spoke up first.
"Noona, leave this one to me. I'll handle it."
Trust me and leave it to me. Just like always.
At my counter-proposal of a request, Eun Hwaran looked at me in silence.
"…Can you do it?"
I was the one who had sensed an assassin that even the under-heaven Tongchang had failed to find, long ago.
Who could possibly hide murderous intent from this body that was born carrying the Heavenly Killing Star?
"Just leave it to me."
I thumped my chest confidently while scanning the interior of the merchant group.
From that day on I became Eun Hwaran's shadow.
Wherever she went, the staff of our office stuck close as well.
Now that we knew there was a traitor inside targeting her, we could not afford to let our guard down.
And while providing close protection, I learned just how packed Eun Hwaran's twenty-four hours were.
"Then I'll take it that the expansion into Sichuan Province is proceeding smoothly, Branch Manager."
The merchant group and escort agency that had once shrunk were now expanding again. That meant the number of faces she had to meet every day was no joke.
Any one of them could suddenly leap out and fire a poisoned needle or swing a blade.
"Ahem… but why is an outsider present at an internal merchant group meeting?"
Naturally, many people who had come from beyond Beijing didn't know my face.
And since both Ilhong and I had rather handsome features, some even briefly wondered whether the merchant lord was keeping male companions on the side.
"He's not an outsider. He's family."
"Pardon…?"
Every time, she would stamp the fact that I was her little brother onto their faces like a seal.
I had never had a family my whole life, so every time I heard that, a warm feeling bloomed in my chest.
Anyway, the endless guard duty continued without a break.
I was starting to understand, just a little, why the shadows under her eyes never seemed to go away.
"If you would just take the post of chief escort captain, this older sister's worries would lighten considerably."
"You still haven't given up on that…?"
"Oh my, I have no intention of giving up until the end."
And every time a small meal was laid out in the merchant lord's office, her persistent recruitment efforts continued.
She clearly wanted to keep a talent like me right by her side and use me forever.
Well, she always seemed to have a headache from being surrounded by parties with conflicting interests. Having a reliable ally like me around would make things easier.
"Merchant Lord, you have worked hard again today. And Young Master Dan Mujin, here are some meat dumplings."
There was also a welcome face that always arrived together with steaming dishes.
Ever since my days as a day laborer, the merchant lord's personal cook had always brought delicious things whenever I visited the office.
Guard duty was inherently boring, but working for a rich house at least meant the food was provided without limit.
"Meat dumplings!"
Jo Harang, who had recently been forced by finances to chew only empty dumplings, broke into a huge smile.
Ilhong's eyes also sparkled as she stared at the mountain of delicacies right in front of her.
"How long has it been since I last had Dongpo pork?"
Anyway, just as I was about to take a bite of the carefully prepared dishes, I suddenly felt something like a quiet snicker.
Yes—not a sound, but a feeling.
I turned my head and saw a pair of red palms trembling as if they were laughing.
I immediately opened my Heavenly Killing Eyes wide and scanned the surroundings.
"Merchant Lord, this is a fresh fish just pulled from the river. I tried seasoning it with spices from the Western Regions."
The cook uncle was casually presenting a hot freshwater fish steamed and marinated in spices, calling it a specialty.
I instinctively seized his wrist.
He was the man I had always liked because every time he came he steamed warm dumplings and snacks for us.
"…Uncle Cook, why did you do it?"
His eyes flew open in disbelief.
"…!"