So There Was Still a Justice Gate After All (3)
With a rustle-rustle-rustle, a mountain of silver coins was piled up before them.
It was the kind of sight that should have made anyone grin from ear to ear, but the eyes of Hyun Jong, who stood before that heap of money, were filled instead with an indescribable melancholy.
“Heeheehee.”
“……”
“I’m giving you a bargain because you’re the Sect Leader. If it were anyone else, I’d have charged at least twice this much. Krrr, honestly, this isn’t how it should be. Usually, the closer you are to someone, the more carefully you should handle money, but I’m just too soft-hearted for my own good.”
As he listened to Chung Myung’s chatter, Hyun Jong wordlessly looked up at the ceiling.
Ancestors.
I’m sorry.
Mount Hua has become a place where a disciple lends money at interest to the Sect Leader.
Hyun Jong covered his face with both hands in despair. If there was one thing that could make him spring upright in the middle of the night, it was debt and usury. Just thinking about the days when he had been tormented by them still made the back of his neck ache.
And yet here he was, having to borrow money from a disciple of all people and pay interest on it.
“I-It’s not compound interest, right?”
“I just told you, if you pay by the agreed deadline, that’s all that matters. Why are you worrying about something like that?”
That sounded awfully familiar too…….
“Then…… what happens if I fail to meet that deadline?”
“Come on. You’re going to pay on time anyway, so what does it matter? Hehe.”
Hyun Jong squeezed his eyes shut.
They said when you drove out the wolf, the tiger would come in its place, and after getting rid of the debt collectors, some eel-like little bastard had slithered in instead.
What a life I lead…….
But Hyun Young, who had shared most of that life with him, seemed to think rather differently.
“Money dealings must be handled clearly! Indeed! What a commendable boy.”
Watching Hyun Young nod in satisfaction made him want to reach around and twist that chin clean off the man’s neck. Hyun Jong shot a glare at Chung Myung, who was cackling with delight.
That righteous bastard!
That bastard who never left loose ends and always kept the books straight!
……Huh? Wait, was that a compliment?
At that moment, Hyun Young’s gaze landed on the Five Swords.
“You lot!”
“Yes?”
“Starting now, you’re banned from personal spending for three months. No stipends!”
“What? Wh-why?” cried Jo Gul, eyes flying wide. So shocked was he that his voice cracked at the end.
Because they spent most of their time training, Mount Hua’s disciples had few chances to make money of their own. Those from wealthier families might receive money sent from home, but most of them had long since stopped relying on family support after Mount Hua began earning money and paying them stipends as pocket money.
And now he was cutting their pay all of a sudden? There was no worse thunderbolt than that.
“Why else? You were planning to perform charity with other people’s money while spending your own however you liked, weren’t you? And then taking all the credit yourselves?”
“……W-well, that…….”
Hyun Young declared firmly, “There’s a reason they say the bear does the work and the man eats the profit! You fit that saying to a tee. If you wanted to walk the path of righteous deeds and give to others, then it’s only natural that you should be prepared to bear the loss yourselves. How dare you take everything for yourselves and still try to feel good with someone else’s money!”
“H-hey, even so, you can’t just take away our measly allowance! You might as well eat a flea’s liver! You really have no heart at al—”
“You little bastard?”
In that instant, Yoon Jong’s eyes rolled with fury as he swung a fist toward Jo Gul’s jaw, ready to spin his head clean around.
But something struck faster than lightning and kicked Jo Gul first.
“Kyaul!”
“……”
Yoon Jong swallowed dryly when he saw the leg stretched out in front of him.
“He’s rude. He needs to be punished.”
R-right. Yu Sago.
That part’s right. But to kick someone without warning like that…… Yu Sago, you really have changed a lot.
Slowly folding her long leg back, Yu I-seol calmly returned to her kneeling position and raised both arms.
The moment Yoon Jong saw her eyes, he flinched and hurriedly pressed his own arms tight against his ears.
“……As you wish, Elder.”
At Baek Cheon’s quiet answer, the others in the Five Swords nodded as well.
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
“Grrr…… If that’s how it was going to be, you could’ve answered before I got hit…….”
“You went berserk before anyone could answer,” Yoon Jong said with a long sigh.
Still, since the accusation that they had tried to show off with other people’s money had struck a nerve, no one looked especially dissatisfied.
Giving to others meant cutting away from your own share and handing it over. It never meant giving away what belonged to someone else.
At that, Hyun Jong quietly pushed the silver coins in front of him to the side, his thoughts somewhat complicated. Then he gathered himself and looked around the room, restoring a bit of order to the atmosphere.
“In any case, then…….”
By now, Mount Hua’s senior members were gathered in the room.
“We should discuss the current situation. Yes, let us discuss it.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
His dignity as Sect Leader had already flown far away, but it had never been much to begin with, so it hardly mattered.
“As you’ve all heard, the situation around us is not good. With the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families signing the treaty of the Yangtze River’s inviolability, this area has become a lawless vacuum.”
At Hyun Jong’s glance, Hyun Sang nodded and took up the explanation.
“At present, the evil sects around the Yangtze are, quite literally, swarming. We’ve even heard that the bandits who usually keep to themselves are running wild as well.”
“Those shameless thieves!”
“They ought to be dumped into the river and drowned, all of them!”
“This is why bandits are all the same!”
At the reactions bursting out from here and there, Hyun Jong gave a slightly awkward look toward one corner of the room. He was worried about one person there, who was growing smaller and smaller by the second.
Hyun Jong cleared his throat.
“……Mind your words a little.”
“Ah…….”
Only then did they notice the Green Forest King cowering in the corner. Looking embarrassed, they scratched the backs of their heads.
“We didn’t mean it like that, Green Forest King.”
“Yes, of course. Not all bandits are the same. Mountain bandits are a bit better, at least.”
“You’re still a damn bandit no matter how you slice it. What’s the difference?”
“Chung Myung, be quiet.”
But Hyun Sang continued his explanation with a calmness that suggested Im So-byeong might as well not even exist.
“As a result, the common people are suffering terribly. Being harried by bandits is one thing, but merchant ships can’t travel properly, which means laborers can’t work, and even the fishermen who used to sail the river can’t go out. It’s an inevitable state of poverty…….”
“Hmm.”
After a moment’s thought, Hyun Jong turned quietly to Baek Cheon.
“What do you think, having seen it firsthand?”
“It is serious. This is not a matter of a day or two, but something that has continued ever since war broke out on the Yangtze…… If this drags on much longer, we may see starvation in large numbers.”
Hyun Jong nodded.
Of course, there were those who had seen this with their own eyes and knew it already, but a sect existed so that what was known by a few could be made known to all. Mount Hua, especially, had to be that way. Once he was sure everyone understood the situation, Hyun Jong spoke.
“I’ve asked Eunha Merchant Guild to transfer Mount Hua’s assets to the Yangtze. Once grain and funds arrive, we’ll put out the fire for now, so everyone should help.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
Then Hyun Young, who had been listening quietly, opened his mouth with clear displeasure.
“Charity has its limits.”
“I know.”
“Sect Leader, I am a Daoist too. I’m not objecting to spending our fortune to save the common people. But that cannot be a fundamental solution. Mount Hua’s granaries aren’t eternal, after all. We can’t carry this burden forever.”
Hyun Jong nodded in agreement. The affairs of the world could not be solved by sentiment alone; practical concerns had to be taken into account as well.
And in a situation like this, there was one person whose opinion would be the most accurate. Hyun Jong’s gaze turned toward him.
“Chung Myung. What do you think?”
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung tapped his cheek twice with a finger, then spoke.
“The evil sect bastards don’t have enough staying power to keep this kind of chaos going forever. Right now they’re acting all wild, but soon they’ll run out of steam and quiet down. Then most things’ll get back to normal. The problem is the water routes are blocked, so the laborers don’t have anywhere to work right away…….”
He shrugged.
“We were already short on manpower anyway, so let’s hire laborers. It’d be nice to drag in free labor and make them work for us, sure…… but bandits are the type who never learned how to work in the first place, so if things keep going like this, problems’ll crop up.”
Then, with a wave of irritation, Chung Myung shot a glance at Im So-byeong.
“If the Green Forest King had a little more dignity, we could’ve just crushed this already.”
“……I’m sorry I lack dignity.”
“Good. At least you know.”
With a soft sigh, Hyun Jong turned to Hyun Young.
“So, for the time being, let us release money into circulation. Mount Hua bears some responsibility for the Yangtze becoming what it is, after all.”
“You would’ve spent it even if we weren’t responsible.”
“Hoho. Please be a little understanding.”
Hyun Young pouted, but he didn’t object any further.
As the noise around them died down a little, Im So-byeong coughed politely and carefully added his own thoughts.
“Since the Sect Leader has held this meeting with me present, it must be because he wished to hear my opinion as well, so I shall speak.”
“I just started this without thinking…….”
“……”
“P-please, go on.”
In a somewhat intimidated voice, Im So-byeong began his explanation.
“The merchants of the Yangtze are all gathering in Jiujiang right now, are they not? If we hire laborers there at a fair wage, then their families will gather in Jiujiang as well.”
“Yes, naturally.”
“Then this place becomes a city.”
“Hmm? A city?”
Hyun Jong blinked at the sudden turn in the conversation.
“Isn’t that a bit too grand a thought?”
But Im So-byeong merely smiled and shook his head.
“A city isn’t such an extraordinary thing. Any place where many people live together is a city. Even if we do nothing in particular, the people who gather will build houses on their own, and once merchants see that, they’ll flock here as well. Before long, a city will take shape.”
“Hmm. Come to think of it, that does make sense.”
Snap!
Im So-byeong opened his fan and held it before the lower half of his face. His eyes flashed.
“Then what we need to do is take control of that city firmly and make it part of the Heavenly Alliance’s domain.”
As everyone nodded as if bewitched by that strategist’s manner, Chung Myung suddenly glared.
“Who told you to open a fan in front of the Sect Leader like some rude brat? Put it away.”
“……”
Looking dejected, Im So-byeong lowered the fan and went on.
“A city becomes both capital and influence. Right now Mount Hua, the Heavenly Alliance, and the Green Forest have seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Centered on this city, we can project influence across the entire Yangtze, and beyond that, make the Heavenly Alliance’s prestige known throughout all of the Central Plains.”
“Don’t casually sneak the Green Forest in there! You want to die?”
“Ah, don’t be so stingy and let us in too! We already applied for membership in the Heavenly Alliance, didn’t we?”
“Why? So you can take the entrance exam too?”
“Actually, I did take it once…….”
Hyun Jong let out a long sigh and covered his face.
Please, for the love of heaven, can we just have a meeting?
Why were there two of them when even one was enough to make a room unbearable…….
Before the conversation could drift even further off course, Hyun Jong hurriedly spoke.
“Then, Green Forest King, what do you think Mount Hua should do? No, what do you think the Heavenly Alliance should do?”
“Do as you’ve been doing.”
“Pardon?”
Im So-byeong smiled faintly.
“The Sect Leader only needs to keep doing what he has always done. There is nothing especially more for you to do.”
“……Will that truly be enough?”
“Yes.”
Im So-byeong nodded slowly, then said with gravity, “Those who have gathered here already remember Mount Hua’s name and have accepted Mount Hua as their protector. So naturally, they will come to feel they belong to Mount Hua…… cough, cough! Ah, damn it…… just a moment.”
After hacking out several heavy coughs, Im So-byeong continued with a face gone red.
“If they come to accept Mount Hua as their own sect, then they’ll consume Mount Hua’s goods first and try to sell Mount Hua’s merchandise for us. They’ll support Mount Hua, and Mount Hua will protect them, and in this way they’ll naturally be exploited…… no, I mean…… collected? Ah, no…… what in the hell is the word for this?”
Mount Hua’s disciples narrowed their eyes and looked at him as if to say, Well, of course.
That bandit bastard…….
No wonder they call him a mountain thief.
Look at the gears turning in that head of his. He’s exactly like Chung Myung.
As if to prove those silent accusations, Chung Myung quickly jumped in to help.
“A virtuous cycle! A virtuous cycle!”
“Ah, right! A virtuous cycle! That’s it. Everyone benefits that way. Hahaha.”
Im So-byeong laughed brightly. Then, with a suddenly dissatisfied look, he muttered, “No, but this really shouldn’t be this easy…… now that I think about it, it’s ridiculous. If things were going to work out like this, why did we ever do banditry? We should’ve just become righteous sects too. People would bring us money on their own if we just pretended to be good…… wow, the more I think about it, the more wronged I feel?”
“Keep your head on straight.”
“Ah, my apologies. I lost myself for a moment.”
“……”
Noticing the distrust now raining down on him, Im So-byeong gave an awkward smile.
“So, in conclusion, what we need to do is seize the Yangtze’s commercial network and do a good job caring for and protecting those who come here because of it.”
“……We didn’t exactly begin this with such elaborate thoughts in mind.”
At Hyun Jong’s murmur, Im So-byeong’s lips twitched with amusement.
When you looked at it carefully, all of this had been laid out for them by the Four Hegemons Alliance and the Nine Great Sects alike. They need only place their chopsticks on the table and swallow the whole feast.
Building a city in the Yangtze, pulling people into it, and folding it into their own sphere of influence? Even a kingdom would struggle to pull off something like that. Yet that absurd thing was happening all on its own.
“The problem is how those evil bastards will respond…….”
The concern had just begun to flicker in Im So-byeong’s eyes when—
“Sect Leader! Sect Leader, are you there?”
“Hm?”
Hyun Jong turned toward the door. A frantic voice had come from outside.
“This is Hong Dae-gwang of the Beggars’ Sect! I came because there’s something you must know right away.”
“Ah, Branch Leader Hong. Come in.”
As those near the entrance opened the door, Hong Dae-gwang hurried inside.
After bowing quickly to Hyun Jong, Hong Dae-gwang spoke with a dark face.
“Sect Leader…… the Four Hegemons Alliance has made its move.”
At those words, Hyun Jong’s face hardened.