A Fortune Too Great to Bear
"Why are you asking for the asset ledger all of a sudden...?"
"...."
"Ah, of course, the Young Patriarch is now destined to become the Patriarch, so you have every right and obligation to inspect the clan's assets. But why so suddenly...?"
Namgung Myeong studied Namgung Dowi with a suspicious look. Namgung Dowi only muttered in a hollow voice, as though his soul had been drained right out of him.
"Just...."
"Pardon?"
"Don't ask... just show me. Please...."
"...."
The man had left his lodging that morning with clear, bright eyes, so what in the world had happened to make him come back looking like a gambler who'd lost every last coin he owned?
Namgung Myeong, still eyeing him doubtfully, replied with a reluctant sigh.
"Very well. I'll bring you the compiled ledger."
"Uncle."
"...Why do you keep doing that?"
"The Namgung Clan is rich, right?"
"Hah."
Namgung Myeong said it as if the question itself was absurd.
"Come now. There are merchants everywhere in this world and wealthy landowners scattered about like grains underfoot, but no matter how great their fortunes, none of them can compare to the assets held by our Namgung Clan."
It was a statement overflowing with pride.
And of course it was. In Namgung Myeong's mind, the only force under heaven that could truly stand beside the Namgung Clan in wealth was Shaolin. Even Wudang or the Peng Clan, impressive as they were, still fell a step short of Namgung.
But upon hearing that, Namgung Dowi did not look pleased—he began biting his nails instead.
"Rich.... So rich.... Rich, then."
"Y-Young Patriarch?"
"It was rich.... It really was rich...."
Had the boy gone mad?
Crack.
After chewing at his nails to the bitter end, Namgung Dowi finally parted his trembling lips.
"Where do I get the ledger?"
"If you want copies, the Second Chief Guard should have them."
"...Yes. All right."
Watching Namgung Dowi trudge out of the room, Namgung Myeong was seized by an inexplicable unease.
For through the faint uneasiness that lingered in the air, he could make out Namgung Dowi's muttered voice: "It's fine. It's fine. It has to be fine. Please let it be fine...."
"What on earth...."
Namgung Myeong still did not know the true shape of the disaster closing in on the Namgung Clan.
* * *
Cheong Myeong's eyes went round as saucers.
His mouth fell open, and the hand gripping the ledger shook like he'd been struck with the ague.
"I-is this...."
"...."
"Is this all?"
Namgung Dowi gave a reluctant nod.
"This is the Namgung Clan's list of assets."
"...M-my heavens."
Cheong Myeong's head jerked around on its own. Even if Heavenly Demon himself had appeared in front of him just then, he likely would not have been this shocked.
He kept looking back and forth between Namgung Dowi and the ledger before finally, with half-lidded eyes, blurting out his unfiltered thoughts.
"So this is why the world's peasants break their backs and still starve. All the money's in the hands of these bastards. Thieving sons of bitches."
"...."
"Hah. What the hell is this... hahahaha."
Cheong Myeong looked at the ledger again with a face full of utter disgust.
To be clear, Mount Hua was no longer a sect that lacked money. A few years ago, perhaps, but now it could fairly be called one of the wealthiest sects in the world.
Their accumulated assets still couldn't compare with the great merchant houses of the Central Plains, but in terms of income alone, they were now rich enough to slap most sects in the face with money and send them packing.
If judged purely by revenue, Mount Hua had every right to claim it had overtaken the sect in its former golden age. And yet...
"Damn, this is insane. So it's true that the richer they are, the worse they get."
His reaction was so intense that even Baek Cheon, curious, edged closer.
"Just how much is there?"
"See for yourself."
Without another word, Cheong Myeong handed him the ledger.
Baek Cheon flipped through several pages and said carelessly, "Well, of course they might have a lot of money. It's the Namgung Clan. That doesn't mean you need to talk to the Young Patriarch like that...."
Then Yoon Jong witnessed something he'd never seen before.
Baek Cheon's eyes gradually widened, then seemed to bulge forward.
"T-this is...."
Flipflipflipflip!
Baek Cheon's hands grew rougher as he turned the pages.
He kept riffling through the ledger with an expression that had absolutely no business on his otherwise composed face, until suddenly he froze. Then he lifted his head and stared blankly at Namgung Dowi.
But only for a moment. That vacant look quickly curdled into one filled with bitter resentment. Namgung Dowi was taken aback.
"W-why are you looking at me like that?"
"Rich bastard...."
"Pardon?"
Namgung Dowi doubted his own ears. Had Baek Cheon really just said that?
Then Cheong Myeong shouted, "If you've got that much money, why are you still running around swinging swords, you crazy bastard!"
"W-what are you talking ab—"
"The rich are always worse than everyone else! Always!"
Cheong Myeong's voice dripped with a poisonous grievance.
"Damn it. There ought to be a limit to how unfair the world is! One person is born an orphan and barely survives in a beggar's den called Mount Hua, and another gets born as the son of the Namgung Clan!"
"Exactly!"
"My sahoo is from Mount Zhongnan!"
"Compared to Namgung, Zhongnan's a beggar's den!"
"Ah. That's true."
"Damn filthy rich bastards."
"Miserable landlord sons of bitches."
Watching the scene unfold, Jo Geol rubbed his eyes. It almost looked as though red energy were billowing behind Cheong Myeong and Baek Cheon. And for an instant, he could have sworn he saw a sickle and a hammer.
"My heavens.... I thought I was the one who had a lot of money."
Cheong Myeong muttered in a daze.
Now he understood clearly. That damned elder-brother sect leader had been brainwashing him all along, narrowing his world. No matter how loudly Cheong Myeong bragged about making a fortune, in the end he was still just a Daoist scrub who'd be satisfied as long as he had something to eat and drink.
Human greed(?) far surpassed anything Cheong Myeong, who had lived in pure and righteous simplicity, could have imagined.
"Wait. Then Shaolin and Wudang bastards must have money roughly this much too, right?"
Cheong Myeong ground his teeth.
"And these bastards dared to talk about pooling funds for military provisions? I should go dig up their graves myself."
"...What the hell are you talking about? You've been like this from earlier."
"Grrrrr."
Cheong Myeong scratched at his throat as though he had swallowed a lump of burning charcoal.
Yu I-seol, whose curiosity had been piqued by his looks as if he might foam at the mouth and collapse any second, quietly walked over and snatched the ledger from him.
And then—
Thud.
"Gyaaah! Accident! Why are you fainting!"
Dang So-so screamed and rushed over to Yu I-seol, who had toppled backward.
Seeing that, Cheong Myeong clicked his tongue.
"See? See? Someone who grew up on the street should faint at this kind of number. That's normal."
"I'm not an orphan, you know!"
"Same difference."
"No, seriously, just how much money are we talking about for all this nonsense?"
Dang So-so picked up the ledger and looked through it.
"Hmm."
Then, looking slightly underwhelmed, she handed it to Jo Geol. Jo Geol skimmed it too, then said, "This looks like a pretty normal ledger to me...."
"Shouldn't the Namgung Clan have at least this much?"
At their reactions, the veins in Baek Cheon's and Cheong Myeong's foreheads bulged anew. Yu I-seol, who had been sprawled on the floor, suddenly lifted her head and clenched the sword at her waist.
"Filthy landlords."
"Arrogant rich kids!"
"Exterminate them!"
The trio of orphan, runaway, and street-born glared at the three silver-spooned bastards.
"H-hey, hold on! I mean, not everyone— but sahoo is a little different!"
"Right! Sahoo's family is pretty well-off too! He just ran away from it himself!"
Jo Geol was certain this argument would land. But the moment Baek Cheon's answer came out, he cleanly surrendered the counterattack.
"Born with Jin Geum-ryong as my older brother."
"Wow...."
"Fair enough."
"Please stand there, sahoo. My apologies."
Amid the atmosphere that looked ready to explode into revolution at any second, Yoon Jong hurried to mediate.
"N-now is not the time for us to be fighting among ourselves, Cheong Myeong."
"Grrrngh...."
Cheong Myeong twisted his neck as though forcing down bile.
"Huff. Huff."
His insides churned and his stomach rolled, but still—this ledger was in his hands now, wasn't it?
"Th-then...."
Cheong Myeong looked back and forth between the ledger and Namgung Dowi before forcing out the words.
"...A le-"
"Pardon?"
"...S-s... a le... No, wait. A le...."
At that moment, Cheong Myeong realized something.
Deep inside him, at a level he himself had never known, there was clearly something called "conscience."
Tears streamed down Cheong Myeong's face.
I can't say it out loud....
Of course, his labor was precious enough to be worth its weight in gold. The problem was that the Namgung Clan's wealth was so immense that it could be used to wipe one's feet like a rag.
Even for Cheong Myeong, who rated himself highly, he couldn't bring himself to ask for an amount that huge in exchange for massaging a few swordsmen.
Elder-brother! Elder-brother sect leader! I finally understand what conscience is today, elder-brother!
- Is that what conscience is, you crazy bastard!
Ah, just keep quiet for a moment!
Cheong Myeong took a deep breath and tried again.
"Um... t-this... if you give me a le-..."
"Hmm? A le?"
When Namgung Dowi asked in confusion, Cheong Myeong shrank his shoulders and replied in a tiny voice, "Th-then... one le...?"
In later years, Jo Geol would remember this scene as follows:
It was like watching the sun hanging in the middle of the sky shrivel up, or the waters of Dongting Lake run dry. The great Cheong Myeong himself had been pressed down by none other than money.
At that moment, Namgung Dowi shook his head.
"That's not it, Taoist. That's too little money."
"...Pardon?"
"The Namgung Clan has been saved. And from now on, are we not family of the Heavenly Friends Alliance?"
"We... are, aren't we?"
"I will offer five tenths of our assets. Please use it as military provisions for the Heavenly Friends Alliance."
Thud.
The ledger slipped from Cheong Myeong's hand.
With a face as though he'd seen a ghost, Cheong Myeong's jaw began to tremble.
"Fi-five.... Five tenths? Five... tenths?"
"Yes!"
Namgung Dowi nodded with a resolute expression.
"It seems you may divide it as you see fit, Taoist. Your share, Mount Hua's share, and the Heavenly Friends Alliance's share."
"Y-you're really offering five tenths... of this? This?"
"Of course."
Namgung Dowi thumped his chest lightly.
"However important wealth may be, it cannot compare to the favor of having one's life saved. Please forgive us for being able to repay it only like this."
Cheong Myeong lunged at him and seized both his hands.
"T-thank you! Thank you!"
"T-Taoist! Why are you doing this? It's nothing."
Tears poured from Cheong Myeong's eyes.
It's nothing to you.
Thank goodness.
Seriously, thank goodness this guy was an idiot.
What? No, that's not an idiot, that's kind. Same thing.
"I will...."
"Yes?"
"I'll devote my life to this! I'll make sure the Namgung bastards can function as proper human beings, no matter what it takes! I'll do my best!"
"...."
"Absolutely!"
"T-thank you."
Just then, Jo Geol, who had been watching quietly, whispered to Yoon Jong.
"Sahyeong. The situation's a bit strange, but if you think about it, isn't this basically getting beaten up in exchange for money?"
"Shh. Keep your voice down."
"...."
That day, the Namgung Clan became Mount Hua's friend.
A friend born from the heart. A true friend....