Former Official Lord Bang Un
Can a company succeed just by creating an attractive product with market dominance and marketing it well?
The answer is no.
There is accounting, bookkeeping, and tax affairs to track and manage cash flow; personnel and administration to keep the company running smoothly; and, not to be overlooked, the legal team that protects the company from every manner of lawsuit.
In truth, Hwiyeom had harbored some doubts about the importance of a legal team. Unlike the twenty-first century, Jing was hardly a land where all people stood equal before the law. Still, he had reached the conclusion that one was necessary.
Relying on the Poseongsa only goes so far.
If the Poseongsa held administrative authority, it was the Anchalsa—the Judicial Commissioner—who held judicial power.
The problem is, I have no particular relationship with the Anchalsa.
The Poseongsa and the Anchalsa were not exactly enemies, but they were bound to keep a wary eye on each other. Had Hwiyeom reached out to the Anchalsa as well, his relationship with the Poseongsa would likely not have been what it was now.
Once Elder Bak Chang-eon and Second Secretary Lee Jinmyeong, summoned by Hwiyeom, had taken their seats, Hwiyeom told them about the troublesome rumor.
Elder Bak Chang-eon furrowed his brow.
"As the saying goes, three men make a tiger. Even if our Tang family's reputation stands as solid as a thousand-year-old tree, a single woodpecker can still bore a hole and make a nuisance of itself, can it not?"
"I agree. Which is why I intend to prepare a countermeasure."
"A countermeasure, you say?"
"I mean to establish a Legal Affairs Division."
"A Legal Affairs Division?"
Hwiyeom explained the concept of a corporate legal team as it existed in the twenty-first century.
Lee Jinmyeong's reaction was peculiar.
"I understand what you mean, Young Master… but would it actually be effective?"
"Secretary Lee, what do you mean by that?"
"It is true that Jing has many laws, but crucially, the verdicts themselves are heavily swayed by the personal opinions of the officials. Even if we create a Legal Affairs Division and parse the statutes line by line, the county magistrates and Judicial Commissioners will still rule however they please."
"Secretary Lee, that is exactly why we are creating the Legal Affairs Division."
"Pardon?"
"I never planned to recruit someone well-versed in legal theory to begin with. What I need is a former official."
Lee Jinmyeong still looked as though he could not quite grasp it.
Hwiyeom grinned and added the explanation.
"Secretary Lee, you said it yourself. In this country, the law is ultimately swayed by the personal views of the bureaucrats. Which means that if we can simply bring those bureaucrats over to our side, we can make this country's law do whatever we want—can we not?"
"B-but that is no different from bribery!"
"No, it is not bribery. We are simply hiring them and paying them a salary."
That was the point.
Even in the modern world, slipping a former judge a little money and asking him to have a quiet word with a friendly colleague about a verdict would get you arrested for bribery. But if you instead brought that same person in as a law-firm partner or an outside director and paid him a wage, it was not particularly illegal.
Of course, at Jing's level of development, handing out outright bribes would rarely cause trouble—but there is no need to take even that modest risk.
As the Sichuan Tang Clan's influence continued to spread across the realm, someone would inevitably pick a fight. Factoring in the possibility of being caught for bribery later, a Legal Affairs Division staffed by former officials was a bargain by any measure.
"I understand your meaning, Young Master. However, there is one point that concerns me."
"Oh? What is it?"
"Officials who can sway the judiciary would be high-ranking men of county magistrate rank or above. Would such people… join our Legal Affairs Division?"
In Jing, which had no separate system of lawyers, prosecutors, and judges, those who handled judicial affairs were the assistant commissioners attached to the Judicial Commissioner's office, or the county magistrates who held judicial authority over their counties.
In the twenty-first century, those who passed the bar naturally became judges or prosecutors, or else joined law firms or corporate legal teams. Here, asking a sitting official to resign his post and enter a single family's service—essentially becoming a retainer—was nearly unthinkable. A bureaucrat's status was incomparably higher than in the modern age.
"If we wish to persuade a currently serving official to leave his post and join the Legal Affairs Division, we will have to offer far more wealth in compensation than one might expect."
"Hmm. Of course, recruiting someone still in office would give us the greatest influence. If that proves impractical, I am also considering inviting officials who have already stepped back from the front lines. Even if they have retired, it does not matter so long as they can still whisper into the ears of those currently serving."
"It is a sound approach… yet as I said earlier, they would need to have been at least a county magistrate, and to have held a post of vice commissioner or higher in offices such as the Sichuan Judicial Commission, for their words to carry weight. And even if we bring such a man in, he would still have no pull with a sitting Judicial Commissioner."
In short, a former high court judge could not move a sitting Supreme Court justice.
At this point, even Hwiyeom began to wonder whether he had thought the matter too lightly.
"Then what about recruiting a former Judicial Commissioner outright?"
"Going as high as Judicial Commissioner would be even harder, would it not? A former Judicial Commissioner would already be living in enviable comfort without us. He would already have lines of people offering bribes and gifts…"
"I am not asking him to do anything on a daily basis. Ordinarily he simply puts his name on the office door, collects a little pocket money, and lends us his prestige. When a legal dispute arises for the main house, he rolls up his sleeves and uses his old connections and knowledge to help us…"
"Well… these are people who accumulate money just by sitting still and breathing…"
Lee Jinmyeong tilted his head as though the idea were less than promising. Just as Hwiyeom was about to frown—
Ye-eun, who had been listening quietly, spoke.
"Young Master. Recruiting a former Judicial Commissioner may actually be possible."
"Huh?"
Lee Jinmyeong's eyes went round, and Hwiyeom's brow smoothed. Elder Bak Chang-eon, who had been listening with his arms folded, nodded as well.
"I, too, have someone in mind."
"Oh? Who is it?"
"A man who once served as Judicial Commissioner of the Henan Judicial Commission, and who has now retired to spend his later years in his hometown."
"Lord Bang Un. He has built an estate called Soan Fort on Xiling Snow Mountain, not far from Seongdo, and lives there now."
The person Ye-eun and Bak Chang-eon had thought of was one and the same.
Hearing the description, Hwiyeom himself recalled a name.
"Ah, Soan Fort—I know it, I know it. That mountain where the waterworks construction was an absolute nightmare. Come to think of it, I heard the master of the place was some tremendously high official. So he is a former Judicial Commissioner?"
"How on earth do you propose to recruit a man like that?"
Lee Jinmyeong asked, eyes still wide with surprise. Elder Bak Chang-eon stroked his beard.
"I am curious about that myself."
As elder and secretaries, Bak Chang-eon would normally have spoken down to Ye-eun and Lee Jinmyeong—yet he did not. He respected their titles as secretaries.
Ye-eun spoke in her quiet, even voice.
"As head of the Minjeongwon, I tend to hear things a little faster than others."
"What information do you have?"
At Hwiyeom's words, Ye-eun nodded.
"Lord Bang Un has three daughters. The youngest is extremely frail; every medicine has proven useless. If our Tang family's medical arts can heal her body, Lord Bang Un will not turn his back on the Tang family's grace."
"Hmm… but can she actually be healed? If we say we will try and then fail, we will look even worse."
"She can be healed."
"On what basis?"
"…"
Ye-eun lowered her brows for a moment, then said,
"The basis… I cannot say."
"?"
"Hah."
Lee Jinmyeong and Bak Chang-eon stared at Ye-eun with expressions that said, What on earth is this girl talking about?
Ye-eun kept her mouth stubbornly shut and simply met Hwiyeom's gaze with a calm, steady look.
Hwiyeom asked,
"You can do it—is that it?"
"Yes."
"And you cannot even tell me the reason?"
"…I am sorry."
"You are my secretary."
"I am sorry."
"…"
Hwiyeom studied her for a moment, then nodded.
"Fine. I will entrust you with full authority over this matter. Go ahead and try."
"Thank you."
"I am giving you this chance because I trust you. Do not disappoint me."
"Yes."
"All right, then—assuming we can recruit Lord Bang Un. Does that solve all the problems?"
At Hwiyeom's question, Elder Bak Chang-eon nodded.
"If we can bring Lord Bang Un over, we will naturally connect with his disciples and with those who ride his coattails as well. There will be no issue."
"Leaning too heavily on connections from only one faction is not ideal… but fretting about that before we have even recruited him is premature."
Hwiyeom nodded.
"Nothing for it, then. We will put the establishment of the Legal Affairs Division on hold for now. In the meantime, we need a way to respond to the rumor."
Creating a Legal Affairs Division to counter the rumors Hong Ilgon was spreading was the long-term solution. But they also needed an immediate answer to the rumor already circulating.
As if she had been waiting for exactly that moment, Ye-eun promptly produced a proposal.
"If that is the case, I have prepared something. Here is the proposal."
"Oh."
There were even copies ready for Bak Chang-eon and Lee Jinmyeong. Hwiyeom smiled at her thoroughness.
"As expected—you have the skill to head the Minjeongwon."
No matter how he looked at it, Ye-eun displayed abilities one would never expect from a girl of her age.
There is clearly some hidden history with this child… hmmm…
Regarding Lord Bang Un's youngest daughter as well, she seemed to know something. Hwiyeom was aware that Ye-eun was concealing something extraordinary, yet for now he chose to look the other way.
Whether she sensed his thoughts or not, Ye-eun lowered her lashes and spoke respectfully.
"I had not even considered establishing a Legal Affairs Division, so I prepared this expecting to be summoned regarding a countermeasure for the rumor."
"Excellent foresight. Let us have a look."
Ye-eun's plan was simple.
Fight rumor with rumor.
The rumor that the recent string of tragedies among the merchant houses belonging to the Qingcheng Sect was the Sichuan Tang family's revenge—and the counter-rumor that the one spreading that story was none other than Hong Ilgon, newly joined to those same Qingcheng merchant houses—would be leaked through the Minjeongwon.
And if it came down to a straight contest of rumor-mongering, the few lackeys of the merchant houses Hong Ilgon controlled would never be a match for the Minjeongwon.
"Hong Ilgon's position is not yet secure. To be precise, he is still assassinating rivals and aggressively seizing management rights in order to solidify his footing."
"True."
"From our perspective, even if we cannot prove it is Hong Ilgon's doing, simply spreading the rumor is enough. The beauty of a rumor is that you do not necessarily have to prove it is true—especially when it happens to be true."
In this age, pinning a nonexistent crime on someone was not even difficult. And when there was already something to point at? It was as easy as swimming with both feet on the ground.
"An excellent idea. That will make the merchants belonging to the Qingcheng Sect watch Hong Ilgon with wary eyes. And that, in turn, will force him to rein in his actions."
"That is not all! From the Qingcheng Sect's standpoint, they will have no choice but to order Hong Ilgon to restrain himself. It is a sure method of restraint that costs almost nothing."
Bak Chang-eon and Lee Jinmyeong each added their agreement.
Hwiyeom nodded with a satisfied expression.
"Good. Proceed as planned."
Ye-eun bowed her head to Hwiyeom.
"Yes."
At lunchtime, conversation passed among the people eating at a Baekga-jaengsik noodle shop in downtown Seongdo.
"Hey, did you hear that rumor?"
"Rumor? What rumor?"
"About how the caravan masters and chief factors of the Qingcheng merchant houses have been dropping dead lately. Word is it is actually the work of some fellow named Hong Ilgon who just joined those houses."
"What? Why?"
"Why else? To wipe out his rivals and snatch their places for himself, right?"
"Come on, that is going too far. Surely not."
"No, it seems it might not be so far-fetched after all."
In the great dining hall of the State-run Ironworks, workers who had finished a hard morning's labor sat in small groups, making conversation their side dish and cool water their wine.
"After the chief factors and caravan masters died, the authority and shares they held were redistributed or absorbed elsewhere—and a good portion of it flowed straight to that Hong Ilgon fellow."
"That bastard. Was he not a parasite sucking the Tang family's blood for years already?"
The laborers of the State-run Ironworks were either from Tang branch families or people who had found work thanks to Hwiyeom, so their impression of Hong Ilgon was thoroughly foul. Naturally, the talk grew ever more blunt and vicious.
"The one who profits when the chief factors die is that Hong fellow—so why is the rumor pinning it on the Tang family? Am I the only one who finds that strange?"
"Seriously, what does the Tang family even gain by killing people from the Qingcheng merchant houses? To swallow that paltry trade? Does a whale fill its belly eating anchovies?"
"The Tang family has not even absorbed any Qingcheng merchant houses to begin with. They have gained nothing!"
"This… has to be Hong Ilgon's handiwork, right? And then the shameless dog goes around saying it was the Tang family."
"When you put it that way, it all fits, does it not? Hong Ilgon is the one who profited, and when you remember he was driven out of the Tang family and holds a grudge…"
"Yeah. Nothing more to see here."
It was not only Baekga-jaengsik and the State-run Ironworks. Delivery men carried their iron cases all over the city, chatting with customers and spreading the rumor as they went.
It had been only a short while since Qingcheng and the Sichuan Tang family had nearly collided head-on. How could such a topic fail to be interesting? Conspiracy theories and other people's fights were topics that never failed.
In the end, the rumor crossed the mountain gate of the Qingcheng Sect before long, and Hong Ilgon was summoned by Baekhyeon Jin-in.
"There is a limit to how long I can look the other way. Stop it now."
"…I have not yet made the merchant houses' control fully my own."
It was the sound of his plan—to expand his influence over at least half the houses and bend them to his will—going awry. Looking at Hong Ilgon's flustered face, Master Baekhyeon clicked his tongue.
"Tsk! That is why you should not poke a beehive that was sitting quietly and end up losing even your original stake! If you had simply left the Tang family alone, this rumor would never have started. Yet you went and spread that absurd story just to get even."
"…"
It had been done with Baekhyeon Jin-in's own permission, precisely because he was wary of the Tang family's influence growing too large—yet he wiped his mouth clean of the fact, and Hong Ilgon ground his teeth in silence.
Baekhyeon Jin-in said,
"No need for many words. Stop spreading the rumor, and stop your schemes against the Qingcheng merchant houses as well. Do nothing that will catch the eyes of the people of Sichuan. Do you understand me?"
"…Yes."
Hong Ilgon had no choice but to answer so.
Meanwhile, Hwiyeom had been laying various plans to expand the business in the meantime. In the midst of those thoughts, Ye-eun came to him with a report.
"Lord Bang Un's youngest daughter has collapsed, and they have reached out to the Sichuan Tang family to heal her."
Her eyes shone with a dark, cold light.
"This is our opportunity."