Senior Brother of the Sect Leader (3)
Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp.
“…….”
“Kraaaah! Now this is good stuff!”
The blood drained from Han Yi-myung’s face.
Just what kind of liquor is that……?
Snow Dew Essence.
It was a drink only the very highest ranks of the Ice Palace could touch. Even the previous Palace Lord had only ever sipped it from a specially made little cup, as though merely tasting it were an act of ceremony.
And yet the taoist in front of him was now chugging the precious liquor straight from the bottle.
“Hey, your booze is pretty damn good. Bring another bottle!”
“Right here, Daoist sir!”
“…….”
What truly made Han Yi-myung’s insides turn was not Chung Myung drinking Snow Dew Essence like water, but Seol So-baek clinging to his side and fussing over him.
Where exactly has the dignity of the Ice Palace Lord gone……?
At least there were no other Ice Palace members around to see this. That was the one blessing.
“Haaah. Now that’s a good drink.”
Watching Chung Myung empty bottle after bottle, Han Yi-myung found himself asking a fundamental question: was that man really a taoist at all?
It was too late to wonder now, but still.
And beside Chung Myung, a fluffy white bundle was tearing into meat with relentless zeal.
Chomp chomp chomp chomp!
“That little thing is eating all my share?”
Chung Myung glared fiercely, then soon relaxed and nodded.
“Fine, whatever…… you did kind of pull your weight this time.”
At those words, Baek Ah stiffened proudly and thrust out its tiny, bulging belly.
“Yeah. Eat up, eat up.”
The two of them—no, one man and one beast—went right on clearing away the liquor and meat with impressive speed.
Then Jo Gul, sitting beside Han Yi-myung, turned to Baek Cheon and asked, “But, Sasuk.”
“What?”
“That bastard’s still a patient, right? Is it really okay for him to be guzzling alcohol like that?”
“Leave him be.”
“So he’s actually in better shape than he looks?”
“No. He’ll probably just drink himself to death.”
“…….”
What in the world was that conversation supposed to mean?
Han Yi-myung shook his head, looking utterly dazed.
Now I really don’t know anything anymore.
Watching what Chung Myung did made his head ache, and listening to the Mount Hua disciples made his soul drift away.
“Let’s seeeeee.”
At last, after pushing the wine bottle aside, Chung Myung spread open the booklet in his hand.
It was the inventory of the Ice Palace’s assets.
Palace Lord…….
Han Yi-myung squeezed his eyes shut without realizing it.
The image of Seol So-baek badgering and bullying the elders into producing that inventory was still vivid in his mind.
- Write down every single thing. Not one item left out! Every single thing! Do you understand?
This is all my karmic debt.
Until he became Palace Lord, Seol So-baek had been nothing more than a polite, obedient child. Now he was a man who bared his eyes and drove the old men mercilessly.
Of course, how much of that change could really be blamed on Han Yi-myung……?
“Heh heh. I checked everything.”
“Hah. The Palace Lord knows what he’s doing. I’m very pleased.”
“Thank you, Daoist sir!”
“…….”
Like soil near ink, they said.
Usually, when black ink was present, some smudging was unavoidable. But in Han Yi-myung’s eyes, Chung Myung wasn’t merely ink—he was a whole river of it.
A river of ink you could throw a person into just to dye them with it. Otherwise, how could one explain Seol So-baek’s transformation?
“Hmmm.”
Whether he understood Han Yi-myung’s feelings or not, Chung Myung was carefully studying the Ice Palace’s property list with grave seriousness.
But as he turned page after page, his expression grew increasingly indifferent.
“……So-baek.”
“Call me Palace Lord, you horse-faced bastard!”
“You’re the one embarrassing the sect!”
“I told you not to call me Dong-ryong!”
“Sasuk, that’s not the point right now.”
“Oh? Really?”
No matter what the others muttered beside him, none of it would have reached Chung Myung’s ears. He looked at Seol So-baek with a thoroughly listless face.
“Did you people live by digging up dirt and eating it?”
“…….”
“……No, forget it. I shouldn’t even bother talking.”
With a long sigh, Chung Myung tossed the booklet onto the table.
What is this, not the assets of a person but of an entire sect?
This was no different from Mount Hua when he had first arrived there. No, given the number of mouths they had to feed, it was even worse than Mount Hua.
Still, if he thought about it, it made sense. What could possibly be earned in a land that was nothing but ice?
In the past, they must have made money and secured grain by trading with the Central Plains, using the North Sea’s local products. But even that had gone out the window once that idiot Seol Cheon-sang cut off all trade with the Central Plains, so their finances had inevitably collapsed.
“Grrrr……”
Everything in this world came at a price.
Considering what Chung Myung had done for the North Sea, it would not have been an exaggeration to rip out the Ice Palace’s foundations entirely.
The problem was that this sect had never had any foundations to begin with, and the walls barely holding up the roof were already so rotten they were on the verge of collapse.
With a hollow look in his eyes, Chung Myung absently flipped through the booklet.
“……Twelve carts. Thirty-one dog sleds. And…… fifty dogs?”
“Apparently they’re all excellent hounds.”
“……I’m losing my mind.”
Chung Myung’s soul seemed to leak right out of his mouth.
There was nothing here to rob even if he wanted to. If anything, they were in a state where they ought to donate the supplies they had brought with them on the way to the North Sea.
How the hell are they supposed to run this place?
Chung Myung looked at Seol So-baek with genuine pity in his eyes.
Hyun Jong at least had age and experience on his side, and he himself had a deep affection for Mount Hua. That was why he had been able to endure those brutal years somehow. But this kid was different. How on earth was he supposed to cope with financial ruin this severe?
Just thinking about everything Seol So-baek would have to face made his eyes feel oddly wet.
“……Let’s ignore that.”
“Huh? There’s nothing you like in there?”
“No…… it’s not that. Anyway, forget it for now.”
“I’ll check again just in case something got left out.”
“No, I said forget it.”
Chung Myung waved his hands dismissively, breaking out in a cold sweat. The Mount Hua disciples all tilted their heads.
“Why’s he acting like that, Sasuk?”
“Who knows? Maybe that’s still not enough for him, and he wants to gobble up something bigger.”
“Ah…… I see. For a second I thought he was actually taking pity on the Ice Palace and giving up on looting them.”
“Hahaha. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in years.”
“Right? Hehe.”
Hey…… those bastards?
Blue veins popped at Chung Myung’s temple.
“Tch. I shouldn’t even be talking.”
Shaking his head, Chung Myung looked past Seol So-baek to Han Yi-myung, who was seated opposite him.
“Hey, old man. No, I mean, Chief Officer Han.”
“Yes, Daoist sir.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“I’m asking what you plan to live on from here on out. Looking at this, you’re all about to starve to death.”
A bitter smile touched Han Yi-myung’s lips.
He could not exactly call Chung Myung wrong.
Seol So-baek, even after seeing the list, probably hadn’t sensed much of anything. But to Han Yi-myung, who had once been the Ice Palace’s chief officer, the palace’s finances looked not merely bad but catastrophic.
“I’ve been worrying about that myself. I never imagined Seol Cheon-sang had ruined the Ice Palace this thoroughly……”
The Ice Palace was not just a sect.
It was the leading sect of the North Sea, the regional power responsible for the lives of its people. So it had to bear the burden not only of the Ice Palace disciples but of the North Sea’s entire livelihood as well.
Because of the Demonic Sect and Seol Cheon-sang’s tyranny, the people of the North Sea were suffering from terrible hunger too. They might scrape through this winter somehow, but before the next harvest came around, their food would surely run out completely.
Han Yi-myung hesitated for a moment, then continued, “The people of the North Sea have pinned great hopes on the new Palace Lord. But if he can’t solve the food problem, it won’t take long for those hopes to turn into disappointment.”
“That figures. Eating first and everything else after—that’s what matters most.”
“Which is why I must ask you something…….”
“Yes?”
Looking at Chung Myung with a determined expression, Han Yi-myung said, “I would like to resume trade between the Central Plains and the North Sea, which had been suspended.”
Chung Myung nodded calmly. Truthfully, that was the best solution for now.
But……
“Do you even have anything to sell? Looking at this, it seems like there’s nothing left.”
“……That’s the biggest problem…….”
Han Yi-myung let out one sigh after another, looking like a man already halfway to the grave.
That bastard Seol Cheon-sang…… I could chew him up and still not feel satisfied.
The position of Palace Lord was not something you could simply take because you were strong in martial arts. Especially somewhere like the Ice Palace, which was all the more true. Anyone without a sense of economics should never have been made Palace Lord there.
Wasn’t that exactly why Seol Cheon-sang, despite possessing greater martial skill than the previous Palace Lord, had never truly become one?
“……So, I may have to ask you for a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yes.”
After taking a deep breath, Han Yi-myung spoke.
“This is shameless of me, but could we perhaps borrow some grain from Mount Hua?”
“Oh?”
Chung Myung’s perpetually sullen eyes brightened, as though he’d found something interesting.
“Right now our warehouses are empty, so we have nothing we can offer in return. But given time, the Ice Crystal will begin to be mined again, and we should also be able to secure more hemp. If we can trade in the North Sea’s other specialties as well, we’ll be able to repay that amount soon enough.”
“Probably.”
“So…… if you could just lend us enough food to get through this year, we’ll do our best to repay it as quickly as possible.”
When he finished, Han Yi-myung bowed his head deeply.
They had already received so much grace from Mount Hua. To ask for grain on top of that felt, even to him, like shameless greed.
But the Ice Palace had nowhere else to turn now except Mount Hua. Their unilateral suspension of trade with the Central Plains had severed every existing business relationship, and the allied factions of the outer lands were in no better shape, even if they weren’t quite as desperate as the Ice Palace itself.
As Han Yi-myung waited anxiously for an answer, Chung Myung’s firm voice struck his ears.
“Ah, no. That won’t do.”
“…….”
Of course not.
With a bitter expression, he let out a small sigh, preparing to apologize for having made an unreasonable request.
But then he heard something completely unexpected.
“We’re not strangers, are we? Why would we bother lending or not lending grain? That much, we’ll just give you!”
Han Yi-myung’s head snapped up.
“Pardon?”
“I said we’ll give it to you. We’ve got grain sitting around anyway.”
“B-but grain enough to feed all the North Sea people until next year…… that would be, uh, quite a large amount…….”
“Quite a large amount” barely covered it. It would be more accurate to call it a tremendous amount.
And yet he was saying he would not lend it, but simply give it away?
Han Yi-myung’s bewildered eyes flickered helplessly. Chung Myung shrugged and puffed his chest out.
“You don’t seem to know this, but I’m kind of loaded.”
“…….”
“Ah, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not thinking anything weird here. The North Sea and Mount Hua are friends now, aren’t they? Right?”
“Of course, Daoist sir!”
Han Yi-myung answered in a rush, tears welling at the corners of his eyes.
He couldn’t say it out loud, but ever since he had checked the North Sea’s finances, he had not been able to sleep properly.
At this rate, wasn’t he going to have to stand by and watch countless people starve to death?
And yet this man was saying he would provide the food to save them without asking for a thing in return!
I misunderstood Daoist Chung Myung.
Come to think of it, Chung Myung had never been a bad man.
His words were rough and his manners atrocious, but hadn’t that taoist led them to overthrow Seol Cheon-sang, stood at the very front when fighting the Demonic Sect, and saved the North Sea from disaster?
Judged by those deeds alone, he was practically a saint.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you, Daoist sir.”
Han Yi-myung sprang to his feet and prostrated himself fully on the floor.
“Hey! What are you doing all of a sudden!”
Chung Myung also hurriedly stood and pulled him up.
“What’s there to make such a fuss over? Friends help each other when things are hard—that’s only natural!”
“……Yes. Yes, of course, Daoist sir.”
Han Yi-myung kept wiping away the tears sliding down his face with his sleeve.
I was wrong to doubt this wonderful man…….
As he straightened up, Chung Myung casually draped an arm over his shoulder and smiled. Then he said,
“So, anyway…….”
“Yes?”
“We’re friends now, right?”
“Of course! If the Ice Palace and Mount Hua are not friends, then who in the world could be? The friendship between our two sects will never change.”
“Right. Right. That’s how it should be.”
Watching Han Yi-myung brighten up, Chung Myung’s face blossomed into an equally dazzling smile.
“But…… Chief Officer.”
“Yes.”
“Friendship is about helping each other, right?”
“Indeed.”
“Then let’s say, for example, a friend opened a tavern in my neighborhood, and I went somewhere else to drink. How do you think that friend would feel?”
“……Well, they’d obviously be upset……?”
“Exactly, right?”
“Y-yes, of course. But why are you suddenly bringing that up……?”
With that same blinding grin, Chung Myung got to the point.
“Oh, nothing serious. Mount Hua runs a small trading company, you see. Since we’ve already got the company, we also do some shipping and delivery, and anyway, we’ve been focusing on the trade side of things, buying goods and reselling them…….”
“…….”
“Since I’d feel a little hurt if my friend did business with some other trading company. We’re friends, after all. We are friends.”
“…….”
The face Han Yi-myung had just moments ago been wearing with such emotion froze over. His cheek began twitching uncontrollably.
“S-so…….”
“Hehe. It’s not such a big deal, is it? You said you were going to trade anyway, right? If you do it with us, it’s better for both sides. If some other jerk gets involved and starts making things complicated, it’s just a headache for the North Sea too. Isn’t that right?”
“So what you’re saying is…… monopoly. You want a monopoly, don’t you?”
“Ah, when you put it like that, it sounds so cold and harsh. I’m just saying we should trade with friends first. We’re not about to rip you off on the price, so wouldn’t that be easier for everyone?”
“…….”
“Isn’t that right?”
“…….”
“Isn’t. That. Right?”
The carefully enunciated words felt like they were hammering straight into his skull. Seeing Chung Myung blatantly flare his eyes and pour out murderous gleam, Han Yi-myung hurriedly nodded. Cold sweat ran down his spine in a stream.
“Y-yes…… yes, Daoist sir.”
“Hahaha! As expected of Chief Officer Han! You really know how to talk!”
Chung Myung laughed heartily, patting his shoulder.
“You can’t calculate profit and loss between friends! I’ll speak to the Sect Leader and send as much grain as you need!”
“…….”
“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there some problem?”
“I…… hahaha…… no, I was just wondering about one thing.”
“Yes?”
“Until when…… will this monopoly…… no, this priority trading between friends last……?”
“Ah, that’s an easy question.”
At the cautious inquiry, Chung Myung broke into a wide grin.
“Until I die.”
“…….”
“As long as I’m breathing, friendship lasts forever!”
“…….”
“Betray me, and you’re dead. Just like that.”
Han Yi-myung couldn’t help thinking that……
starving to death might actually be a little better.