Chapter 263
Chapter 263
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 263
Chapter Title: Tae Mo Mountain Fortress (2)
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“W-what is the meaning of this! Calling us beggars!”
Wu Jung-cheon stammered, caught off guard by the insult.
It was only natural.
The head of a sect holds absolute power within its walls.
And that extended to guests who visited the sect as well.
Even as the leader of the Loyal Duke Faction, I was still merely a guest.
To barge in and lecture him that ‘your management style is flawed’ was a major breach of etiquette.
But I had no other way to persuade him.
“That’s right. I said you look like beggars.”
“Even for you, Hall Master Jin, how can you speak so crudely!”
“Fortress Lord… no, Great Hero Wu, you must face reality. Does that useless mountain over there truly look like it’s worth ten thousand silver nyang?!”
“Well, it’s said to have a gold mine buried…”
“Have you confirmed it?”
“Hm?”
“I’m asking if you’ve confirmed there’s gold buried there.”
“Hmph, do you think I wouldn’t have checked something like that?”
Wu Jung-cheon continued, his expression full of confidence.
“I confirmed the presence of gold dust in the stream myself.”
“No.”
How in the world did this man become a master with this level of intelligence?
“Have you sent for a prospector?”
“W-well, since I confirmed the gold dust…”
“So you haven't. Then do you have the gold dust you supposedly confirmed?”
“I had my disciples gather it.”
From the very bottom of his desk, Wu Jung-cheon took out a finger-sized paper bundle and unfolded it.
“...You’ve been had.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“Have you ever seen real gold dust before?”
“...This is my first time.”
Of course. A man who could barely afford his next meal would have never seen gold dust.
The swindler must have targeted that very point.
“Gold dust isn't this large. Even the occasional bigger flecks are mixed in with much smaller ones. But more importantly.”
I took out a piece of the supposed gold dust and held it before Wu Jung-cheon’s eyes.
“These flecks are too angular, as if they were cut from something. Gold dust of this size would be rounded, not sharp-edged like sand.”
“Th-then?!”
“It’s definitely a scam. If you proceed with developing a gold mine based on this, the costs will be thrown into the wind.”
“Gasp!”
Wu Jung-cheon’s eyes widened as if they would tear.
It seemed he was finally facing reality.
Having grasped the whole situation, he slammed his hand on the desk.
*CRACK!*
As the table shattered from the force of his internal energy, sending splinters flying, Wu Jung-cheon clutched the back of his neck and collapsed.
“Th-that bastard! Ugh!”
Honestly, I wasn’t surprised.
Modern people, with their fatty diets, might get so enraged their blood pressure spikes, leading to a stroke. But this was the martial world, where oil was a luxury, and Wu Jung-cheon was a master who had reached the pinnacle of the transcendent level.
He was far from having vascular diseases or the various lifestyle-related illnesses that cause strokes.
Well.
‘Still, I should do what I have to do.’
I quickly rushed over to support Wu Jung-cheon and shouted.
“Fortress Lord! Please, come to your senses! Is anyone there? The Fortress Lord has collapsed!”
If I just stood by, I’d look like a psychopath.
* * *
That evening.
After the commotion died down, I was finally able to meet with Wu Jung-cheon again, who now had a white cloth tied around his head.
“...Hall Master Jin.”
“Yes.”
“I... blinded by greed, I threw away the opportunity you gave me... I knew there was no such thing as a quick fortune, and yet…”
The eyes of the Tae Mo Mountain Fortress executives around him twitched, and soon, loud wails erupted from their mouths.
“No, Fortress Lord... you did your best!”
“How can you say such a thing! This incident isn't anyone's fault but the swindler who deceived you!”
“That’s right. We will catch the swindler, so please rest your mind and focus on your recovery!”
“...”
Spoken like true descendants of beggars, they offered nothing but empty comforts.
How were they supposed to catch a swindler who was long gone?
This was a world without national ID cards, let alone CCTV.
“Everyone, be silent!”
Wu Jung-cheon, who seemed to understand this as well, roared at his executives.
“...”
Once the room fell silent, he turned to me and asked.
“Help me.”
“Even I can’t catch the swindler.”
“I’m not asking you to catch the swindler.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m asking you to help Tae Mo Mountain Fortress get back on its feet.”
“Hmm...”
As I hesitated, he asked again.
“Is there no way?”
“There is a way, but…”
I deliberately paused before continuing.
“I’m worried that if something like this happens again, it will all be for nothing.”
“What should I do?”
“Let's put it in writing. A contract stating that the financial management of Tae Mo Mountain Fortress will be entrusted to an individual dispatched by the Western Heaven Merchant Guild.”
From experience, I knew a man like Wu Jung-cheon was unlikely to go back on his word.
The reason for putting it in writing was simple.
‘Because an obsession with business ventures can be a terrifying thing.’
It was a precaution against that particular madness that makes people gamble away not just their family’s money, but the bank’s too.
I had personally witnessed my cousin Ju-ha and my childhood friend Mun-gi squander their families’ fortunes in my past life.
Wu Jung-cheon nodded with a pained voice.
“You are saving our Tae Mo Mountain Fortress from crisis. What could I not do? I will do as you say.”
“Fortress Lord!”
“You can’t! Fortress Lord.”
“How can you entrust our finances to an outsider!”
The surrounding executives cried out in shock at a decision that was nothing short of humiliating for the leader of a great sect.
“All of you, shut up!”
But Wu Jung-cheon didn’t even blink.
“I made the choice, but not a single person among you realized that man, Yang, was a swindler. We were all fools, all idiots. So how can it be shameful to accept help from someone with wisdom!”
‘My, what a refreshingly straightforward personality.’
A short while later.
Once the room was in order, I sat down with Wu Jung-cheon and explained the terms of the contract one by one.
“Alright, from this point forward, I will be Party A, and you, Fortress Lord, will be Party B... First, Party A will receive ten percent of the profits generated by Tae Mo Mountain Fortress as a fee for management consultation, and in return, will do everything possible to restore its financial health…”
“...”
It was a perfectly fair and clean contract.
* * *
What started as a simple act of not being able to ignore the clear eyes of little children had now ballooned into the task of normalizing the entire household of Tae Mo Mountain Fortress.
I wondered if I’d gotten myself into unnecessary trouble, especially on my honeymoon, but what was done was done.
If I hadn't started, that would be one thing, but since I had, I needed to see it through to a clean finish before leaving.
The first thing I did was call the general manager to check the financial statements.
And upon reviewing them, Myo Hyang and I were met with despair.
“You call this a ledger?”
“Y-yes, that’s right…”
“No, this is... sigh, that’s fine. General Manager, you may leave.”
What he called a ledger was nothing more than a simple list of money in and money out.
At this point, I had no choice but to start over from square one with this sect's management.
“We have no choice. Let’s start by counting the remaining money. We’ll start a new ledger from today.”
“Um... my lady.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I counted earlier. All they have is forty-two nyang.”
“Hmm...”
A sigh escaped my lips.
How were we supposed to feed over five hundred sect members with just this?
Myo Hyang shook her head as if there was no other option.
“We’ll have to sell what they have.”
“True, but... will any of this actually sell?”
The assets of Tae Mo Mountain Fortress consisted of the rocky mountain where the sect was located, the rocky mountain next to it, and the tea fields at the base of the mountain.
In the past, they had leased out the tea fields to tenant farmers and lived off the rent, but as the population of Guizhou decreased, they could no longer find tenants.
In other words, there was no demand.
“The Western Heaven Merchant Guild will have to buy it.”
“For ten thousand nyang?”
“Are you crazy? Even if we’re partners, the accounting must be precise. Hmm... In my opinion, three hundred nyang would be fair.”
“Great Hero Wu would faint if he found out.”
That was a loss of 9,700 nyang, after all.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him, so I suggested another idea.
“How about this method instead?”
“Hmm... that’s a bit... In that case... what about this…”
“I don’t think that would lead to sustainable management…”
And so, Myo Hyang and I, forgetting our fatigue, continued our heated discussion.
Several hours later, in the early dawn just before the sun rose.
“Let’s just stop.”
“I agree.”
Unable to fight off the overwhelming sleepiness, Myo Hyang and I went straight to bed.
Commerce in the area was dead. We couldn't start an escort agency because we were short on warriors, thanks to the Loyal Duke Faction's affairs and the dispatch to Nanjing. There were no merchant guilds nearby to take on as clients, either.
My usual confidence that I would find an answer had long since vanished in this situation.
“Let’s just sleep for now.”
“Alright. I don’t think we’ll come up with anything more right now.”
“But... are we just going to sleep?”
“My goodness, the sun will be up soon.”
“R-right? Then I guess we have no choice.”
“...Still, it feels a bit sad to just sleep... Sh-should we just... cuddle?”
“Sh-shall we?”
Before long, a warm air filled the room.
* * *
The next time I opened my eyes, the sun was high in the sky.
*Zzz... zzz...*
Myo Hyang must have been exhausted, as she was still fast asleep.
‘I should teach her some martial arts.’
For her health, I should find a suitable technique for her.
“Mmm... you’re awake?”
“Oh, I was trying to be quiet, but I woke you.”
“It’s fine. It’s time to get up anyway.”
“Shall we eat and then go for a walk?”
“With all this work to do?”
I followed her gaze around the room. The documents we had been reviewing all night were scattered everywhere.
“This is exactly when we need to move. We came all this way on a trip; it’d be a shame to stay cooped up in a room, right?”
“Alright. Let’s do that, then.”
A short while later, Myo Hyang and I finished a simple meal and left Tae Mo Mountain Fortress.
There wasn’t much to see, of course, just rocks and sand.
“Oh! Look at this. The stone has such a pretty shape.”
“There’s a bird flying over there. How cute.”
“That rock looks just like a puppy.”
Still, Myo Hyang seemed content, happily trotting around and looking at everything.
After walking for a while, we reached the fortress's tea fields, and she shared her thoughts.
“It’s a little better here. It looks like you could farm here.”
“It does.”
It actually didn’t look bad.
A stream flowed on one side, and unlike the nearby sandy areas, the soil here looked reasonably moist.
The only flaw was that it was on a steep mountainside.
“They should have just farmed. What were they thinking, trying to mine for gold…”
“I know, right?”
As we were sighing and turning back, Myo Hyang’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she ran forward.
She dug into the ground and soon held something in her hand, a bright smile on her face.
“Look at this. It’s sorghum. It's growing so well here even though no one planted it. It must be well-suited to this land.”
Her pure joy made me smile without realizing it.
And in that moment.
‘Wait.’
An idea struck my mind like a bolt of lightning.
If nothing else worked, we could just farm.
I recalled a certain legend.
‘Guizhou Maotai.’
The legendary sorghum wine that would one day be known as one of the three greatest spirits in the world.