The Blacksmith's Bargain
Hwang Ga glared at Hong-wi for a long moment, and then, at last, let out a soft snort of laughter.
He asked bluntly, "Why do you say that?"
"Because the thing that man fears most of all is the prospect of you, my lord, entering the Jianzhou trade yourself."
Hwang Ga pondered this for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, there's truth in that, but..."
"It's as you think, my lord. But here is the point — Pushan Hadaru will be terrified deep down as well. The mere knowledge that you intend to help me organize a merchant caravan will be enough to drive them to the negotiating table."
Hwang Ga fell deep into thought, fanning himself slowly. He was turning Hong-wi's words over and over in his mind.
There was real merit in it, no doubt. Until now, he had never once considered organizing a caravan himself. As a Joseon man, he had always judged it impossible to leap over the solid wall that the yain society kept ringing around itself — and no one knew that better than Hwang Ga himself.
And yet it was also true that the idea of turning that wall into a bargaining chip had never once crossed his mind. He was annoyed with himself for not thinking of what this young whelp had conceived, but Hwang Ga was a man who gave credit where credit was due.
Snapping his fan shut with a click, he spoke in a businesslike tone. "That may well be... but hear me. In all my years, I have never once thrown myself into a venture that was plainly doomed to fail."
"That depends entirely on your caliber, Lord Hwang."
"My... caliber?"
Hwang Ga nearly burst out laughing.
"Do you mean to content yourself with ruling the waterways of the Yalu River? Or will you seize hold of the entire Jianzhou trade?"
Hwang Ga was silent for a moment. Then he let out a low, rising laugh.
"Heh... heheheh, heheheheh...!"
He laughed with genuine delight. "This young master is truly an amusing one! You come asking me for investment, and then you have the nerve to question the caliber of the man you're asking to fund you? Very well — you asked, so I shall answer. Yes. I want to knead the Jianzhou trade in these two hands of mine. No — why stop at the trade? I want to knead all of Jianzhou itself."
Hwang Ga clenched his fist. "Have you ever been west of Hwangseongpyeong, young master? Eh? No? Out there stand enormous stone steles. The yain folk say they are the steles of the Jin emperors, but what of it? What I want is for my name to stand as tall and enduring as those monuments, on both sides of this river. What does a mere smuggler boss scraping out a comfortable living amount to? Like the waters of that Yalu down there, it will all flow away in the end."
Hong-wi said nothing.
"On this side of the river and on that side, the way people look at merchants is exactly the same. Whether they honor scholars or honor warriors, when it comes to merchants they all look down their noses just the same. Doesn't it make your blood boil? Those lofty scholars claim that civilization was spread by some sage of old — Gija, or whoever it may be. Isn't that utter nonsense? Who was it that accomplished it, if not merchants like me — the very ones they hold in contempt?"
Hwang Ga flashed a wry smile. "Who sells rice and salt to the yain folk, who sells them cloth, who sells them farming tools, so that they have enough to eat and enough to wear? There's an old saying: only when bellies are full and backs are clothed do people come to know propriety. Looked at that way, you could say merchants like me are the very root of civilization — and of the nation itself."
Hong-wi listened to Hwang Ga in silence.
There was sound logic in it. He might never have felt that sympathy in the days when he was King of Joseon, but having come to this point in his life, he could feel it keenly now.
"Right now it's the Jianzhou Three Guards, or Lee Man-ju, or the like who knead Jianzhou in their hands. But I have ambitions of my own. I don't know whether that answers your question."
"It answers it more than enough."
Hong-wi replied quietly. "If that is the ambition you hold, my lord... then you must throw yourself directly into the Jianzhou trade. There is no other way."
"And will you do that for me, young master?"
"I will."
A silence settled over the room.
Hwang Ga drummed his fingers lightly, rhythmically on the table, lost in thought. At last he shook his head.
"It's an intriguing offer, but it is not my answer. As I said, I do not leap into ventures with a high likelihood of failure. No — you will have to give me something else. Something I desire with all my heart."
"You speak as though that thing were already in my keeping, my lord."
"It is. You have it."
Hwang Ga answered with perfect composure. Hong-wi's brow twitched.
"And what would that be?"
"The Manpo military officer, Song Yu-bin."
This time it was Hong-wi who fell silent.
It lasted only an instant, but the seasoned Hwang Ga did not miss the brief ripple that had flickered across Hong-wi's face. A knowing smile spread across his own.
"You know Song Yu-bin, young master. Don't you? Don't bother denying it — you already do... Because of that man, I have endured no small hardship in my business. He is a formidable one, I'll grant. In all my life I have never seen a man who could not be corrupted, no matter how hard one tried to bring him down. It is simply a pity that he stands on the opposite side from me, blocking my path."
"And what exactly is it you want?"
Hwang Ga's eyes glinted. "I know that you and he share a bond unlike any other. I don't know why, but it's becoming clearer now... Song Yu-bin served under Yi Jing-ok for many years, didn't he? They say the brotherhood forged on a battlefield can be traded for nothing. If you were Yi Jing-ok's own flesh and blood... well, then the way that man has treated you makes perfect sense."
Hwang Ga's reasoning had wandered considerably off the mark, but the core fact — that Song Yu-bin was loyal to Hong-wi — was not wrong. And Hong-wi felt no urge to correct the man's "misunderstanding."
"For years I have searched for that man's weakness — the man who would neither bend nor rot. And now, here he stands before my very eyes."
"How can you be so certain that I am Song Yu-bin's weakness?"
Hong-wi answered in an even, unruffled tone.
"There is no room for doubt. That Song Yu-bin broke the law of the land for the first time in his life — and it was precisely because of you."
Hwang Ga's voice was low.
Hong-wi did not answer. Song Yu-bin was, in truth, a rare breed of man — unbending and upright as a rod of iron. Hong-wi had no wish to watch such a man fold his convictions on his account.
"...I had thought the tally I gave you already repaid me amply. No matter how you look at it, that object is worth far more than a single crossing of the river."
"That is true. But how can an object have value when it has never been put to use? Go to Song Yu-bin yourself, young master, and rid me of this thorn in my side. Do that, and I give you my word — I will spare no support, of any kind, for you."
"Intriguing as that is, I cannot order Song Yu-bin to bend his convictions for my sake. Nor could I promise you such a thing..."
"Might I be permitted to answer that myself?"
A deep, resonant voice cut Hong-wi off mid-sentence.
In an instant, the air in the room froze solid. Both Hong-wi and Hwang Ga knew exactly whose voice it was.
Hwang Ga wore the expression of a man struck by lightning. No — even a man truly struck by lightning could not have been more stunned than Hwang Ga was at that moment.
The fan slipped lifelessly from his hand and rolled across the floor. The door slid silently open, and a towering man with a long, full beard strode inside with measured steps.
Hwang Ga barely wrung a voice out of his throat, disbelief written across his face. "Song... Yu... bin..."
Even the unshakable Hwang Ga, caught wholly off guard, stammered in shock. "How in the world... how did you..."
The next moment, Hwang Ga sprang to his feet and snatched the sword hanging on the wall.
"Ha... hahaha... you sly, conniving devils, the pair of you...? You're telling me you dared to lure even me into a trap?"
"Hwang Ga. Enough of your bluster."
Song Yu-bin spoke quietly. His gaze was fixed on Hong-wi.
Hong-wi let out a long sigh. "Did it truly have to come to this, Gyeong-yeon?"
His voice, cold and subdued, resonated with a depth beyond his years — yet there was an unmistakable sadness threaded through it. A grief born of the fact that, because of him, an upright man had bent his convictions.
As if he had been waiting for exactly that, Cha Gyeong-yeon stepped into the room. "I only just worked out your game... though looking back, I ought to have seen through it far sooner."
"There was no other way to persuade Hwang Ga, Your Majesty. You know that as well as I do."
"So you had to bring Song Yu-bin into this. But this is not what I wanted."
Hong-wi exhaled heavily.
Song Yu-bin spoke in a calm, level voice. "If Your Majesty has need of me, how could I stand idly by?"
"I am grateful... but I never wished to see a man as straight as you bend his principles."
While Hong-wi and Song Yu-bin exchanged these words, Hwang Ga said not a single thing.
Cha Gyeong-yeon addressed him in an easy, unhurried tone. "How about putting that sword away? No one has thrown you into a trap, as it happens. In truth — isn't this the very heart of your own stronghold?"
"Hmph."
At Cha Gyeong-yeon's words, Hwang Ga slowly licked his lips. "So you're not saying you intend to hand me over to Song Yu-bin, then?"
"Of course not. In any case — you haven't forgotten that we came here to secure your investment, have you?"
Cha Gyeong-yeon answered in a lighthearted tone. "We came to give you exactly what you want."
Hwang Ga held his tongue. Cha Gyeong-yeon leaned forward.
"You know it as well as anyone. You've succeeded in taking control of the Yalu waterways, but ambitious men like you will keep appearing in the future. Officer Song there could shatter your whole enterprise at any time. But what if Officer Song were to treat you — how shall I put it — with special favor?"
"Now that is a tempting proposition."
Hwang Ga nodded slowly. Song Yu-bin already had a fearsome reputation among the smugglers. The rival gangs, forever growling at one another over territory and profit, would set aside every grudge and cooperate with each other for one purpose alone: devising countermeasures against Song Yu-bin.
And yet — if he could now sail in the same boat as Song Yu-bin... The very thorn that had plagued him yesterday, the one he had been racking his brains over how to drive out, would become from tomorrow a shield and a blade in his hands.
"Very well. I accept your proposal."
"You mean it?"
"I, Hwang Ga, may be a man who tramples the law of the land, but I do not say two different things with one mouth. It troubles me that you, young master, have little experience in trade — though then again, who is born knowing business straight from the mother's womb? Consider it a gamble, and I'll extend you my support — this once, in good faith."
The tension in the room dissolved in an instant. Hwang Ga clapped his hands together. "No day this auspicious should pass without drink. Mak-gae! Are you still alive out there?"
"Yes, my lord!"
Mak-gae appeared, white as a sheet. Sweating buckets, he begged forgiveness before anything else. Because of him — of all people — Song Yu-bin himself had been allowed to slip inside, and Mak-gae was very nearly out of his mind with dread.
"My lord, forgive me. I—"
"We'll settle blame later. How these people got in is a question for another time, so worry yourself with something else. This officer Song of Manpo did not come for my head. At least, not today... In any case, Mak-gae — go to the storeroom and fetch us some drink."
"Yes, my lord! Drink, you say?"
"The finest we have! There's a bottle of cheongju I meant to present to the Ganggye magistrate a while back and never got around to. A precious guest has arrived — that much at least should be laid out. Hurry now!"
Jarred back to his senses by Hwang Ga's shout, Mak-gae scurried out in a fluster. Once he was gone, Hwang Ga turned back to Hong-wi.
"We visit Pushan Hadaru tomorrow, first thing. I'll come along myself. A cow's horn comes off only by twisting it in one unbroken pull — so let us set to work at once."
"Agreed."
Hwang Ga was nothing if not decisive once a matter was settled, and Hong-wi answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Hm, I sent that fellow off for drink and... ah, there he is now. Pour the cups."
As Mak-gae fumbled the cups around, Hwang Ga turned to Hong-wi and his companions. "To this joyous day none of us foresaw — let us all have the first cup together."
In an atmosphere considerably thawed from how it had begun, everyone raised their cups. Even as he drank, Hwang Ga cast his sharp eyes back and forth between Song Yu-bin and Hong-wi.
Hong-wi was looking at Song Yu-bin with an expression that was hard to read.
Having drained his cup, Hwang Ga spoke up with the utmost good cheer. "Today has been a truly profitable hour. Lord Temusi-i — I will call on you tomorrow. Officer Song, we shall meet again another time."
Song Yu-bin nodded without a word.
They bade Hwang Ga farewell and left his annex. Hong-wi spoke up.
"I wish a moment alone with Officer Song."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
Before Ho-in could say a word, Cha Gyeong-yeon answered for him, quite unable to hide his delight at how well everything had turned out. "You played it beautifully today, Your Majesty. Splendidly done!"
"It was nothing."
Hong-wi stepped outside with Song Yu-bin. They walked in silence for a while.
"My presence is making life difficult for you, Officer Song."
Hong-wi spoke first. Song Yu-bin answered.
"Do not say such a thing, Your Majesty. I merely kept faith as a servant of my sovereign ought."
"Do you still look upon me as a king you ought to serve?"
"Your Majesty — the man I serve is not the usurper sitting in Hanyang at this very moment. It is the man standing before my eyes, here and now."
Hong-wi could say nothing.
What more, after all, was there to say?