An Enormous Reward (1)
In his previous life, Mad Tiger Young Master Seok Ho-in had taken that advice, and he had actually moved after spotting something dark red in the direction of Gaewon.
As a result, fortune had smiled on him, and he had ended up securing more than half of the fifty or so wild Haneulmau horses.
But not in this life.
Idiot. It’s useless no matter how much you regret it. Even if you had gone to Gaewon first, I would have stolen them from you by any means necessary.
Looking down at Seok Ho-in, who now wore the dazed, broken expression of a man struck by despair, Seok Geum-ryong felt a surge of triumph.
From the start, this was a fight and a contest Seok Ho-in could never win.
“Then let me continue. My plan is for our Seokga Manor to enter the horse market in earnest, led by these Haneulmau horses. In the end, we need to stand as a force competing with the Red Horse Hall, so our sales can rebound in the second half of the year.”
The reason Seok Geum-ryong was remarkable was simple.
Even when he was showered with praise and everyone else was moved to tears, he didn’t so much as blink.
Rather, at times like this, he displayed a calm more frightening than anyone else’s.
It was a boldness utterly unbecoming of a twelve-year-old boy.
“Of course! Of course! Our Geum-ryong has handed us the finest opening card possible for seizing the horse market this early on. What could possibly be impossible?!”
Lord Seok Ji-sung was especially moved.
Even before this, Seok Geum-ryong had been a tender spot in his heart, and if he could not embrace him, he had almost wished the boy would at least fall away painlessly.
But what was this?
It wasn’t Geum-ryong who was falling away, but rather him driving the others back.
More astonishing still was that he showed talent in so many different fields.
Medicine, martial arts... even the merchant house, too!
They said a gifted man died young, but Seokga Manor straddled both the martial world and commerce. Perhaps, in a house like this, someone versatile was exactly what a clan lord ought to be.
“Chief steward Jo.”
“Yes, Manor Lord.”
“Let us enter the horse market this very year with these Haneulmau horses.”
“As you command! Was there ever any doubt?”
And so, since iron must be forged while it is hot, most of the Haneulmau horses Seok Geum-ryong had brought in were dealt with on the spot.
Of course, Seok Ji-sung did not take them for nothing.
“At today’s family council, I hereby grant Bukcheon-won to my fifth son, Seok Geum-ryong, in recognition of a feat unprecedented in our history, and I bestow upon him the authority of its lord.”
Ohhh, ohhhhhh!
At Lord Seok Ji-sung’s bold declaration, the family council erupted once more.
It was only natural. Bukcheon-won was one of the many estates belonging to Seokga Manor, situated in the north where its feng shui was excellent, and it was so large and splendid that many had long coveted it.
“Father! Wasn’t Bukcheon-won supposed to go to me and the youngest?! ”
The one who protested most fiercely at this enormous reward was Seok Ho-in, who had secretly wanted to move to Bukcheon-won himself.
Outwardly, he had spoken of even the youngest, but in truth, the one who wanted to become the owner of Bukcheon-won was him.
“What nonsense is that? I said I would think about it. I never gave my permission.”
“B-but still...”
“And this is an official family council. Do not call me Father. Call me Manor Lord.”
At the lord’s next thunderous rebuke, Seok Ho-in clamped his mouth shut like a mute who had been forced to swallow honey.
Serves you right.
Watching that scene, Seok Geum-ryong felt a wicked satisfaction.
Some might ask what there was to feel satisfied about when he had stolen Seok Ho-in’s achievement, but that was nonsense.
In this situation, Seok Geum-ryong had merely claimed a great fortune that had been waiting for no owner.
Besides, Seok Ho-in used violence to darken Seok Geum-ryong’s bright future.
That single sin was reason enough to take his fortune from him.
“In addition, we shall provide Seok Geum-ryong with a vast supply of goods and gold, and we will entrust him with the authority to oversee the horse market in competition with the Red Horse Hall!”
Seok Ji-sung did not stop there. He even granted his still-young son tremendous authority.
In Seokga Manor, this meant entrusting an entire line of business to someone, which in turn meant expectations of the highest order.
Wooaaaah!
The cheers rose once more, and many people turned to look at Seok Geum-ryong.
Their gazes held both astonishment and envy.
At last... my chance has come!
Seok Geum-ryong, too, trembled in silence with delight.
First of all, Bukcheon-won was an estate he had kept his eye on since his previous life, and its location and structure made it a natural fortress bestowed by heaven.
That meant that, depending on how he cultivated and developed it, he could build an independent force within Seokga Manor that was both secure and completely his own.
And because he had been named not merely a resident but the lord of Bukcheon-won, it meant he would not be renting space in another man’s estate, but ruling it as its master.
Moreover, among the seven children of this generation, fewer than three had been granted the status of estate lord, excluding the fifth son, Seok Geum-ryong.
Including Geum-ryong now, he was only the fourth.
Even the eldest daughter, Seok Myo-hee, was not lord of her estate, and hers was nothing more than a shabby place compared to Bukcheon-won.
“Manor Lord. Isn’t the reward a little too much?”
One of the stewards raised an objection.
“Nonsense. How many people in all under heaven could bring back fifty-odd Haneulmau horses like Geum-ryong here?”
“...”
At Seok Ji-sung’s question, not a single person could muster a proper rebuttal.
That was how great Seok Geum-ryong’s achievement had been.
And so, as the warm atmosphere brought the family council of Seokga Manor to a close...
“Ah, right! What should we do about Young Master Seok Ho-in’s achievement?”
Jo Seung-pyo asked carefully.
“Who?”
“Young Master Seok Ho-in. The matter of his securing one hundred wild horses.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Seok Ji-sung seem to remember, letting out a short exclamation.
“Give him a few bolts of silk and some jewels.”
Compared to Seok Geum-ryong’s reward, it was no more than a drop of blood from a bird’s leg.
Crrrkhh...
In the end, overwhelmed by the crushing disparity, Seok Ho-in lowered his head and shed tears of fury. There could not have been a more perfect revenge than this.
Unlike the fate he had once known, Seok Geum-ryong now stood in the light, while Seok Ho-in descended the slope.
* * *
“This cannot be. How could I... how could I be lesser than that utterly worthless Seok Geum-ryong?”
When the family council ended, the Mad Tiger Young Master Seok Ho-in was utterly crushed.
And then his despair curdled into rage.
He had not intended to go this far, but he could no longer bear doing nothing.
I can’t endure this anymore.
His anger left him unable to think clearly, as if he were drunk, and he waited until everyone had left, until only Seok Geum-ryong and he remained.
Before long, with Lord Seok Ji-sung leading the way, everyone departed one by one, and once the surroundings had emptied out completely, he rose to his feet.
“Seok Geum-ryong, you bastard!”
He even took the trouble of sealing off the sound with his inner energy so that it would not spread outward, and then he strode toward Geum-ryong.
Seok Ho-in had expected Geum-ryong to be the one who would panic, but it was the opposite.
Geum-ryong looked at him with calm eyes.
“If it weren’t for you!”
Seok Ho-in, driven to the brink, even drew the dagger he had secretly hidden in his robes.
Whoosh!
The reason he had not brought his usual long sword was that he could not enter a family council carrying such a large weapon.
Seok Ho-in, seething with rage, leveled the dagger at Seok Geum-ryong.
“How dare you take Bukcheon-won right out from under me?”
There was a six-year age gap between Seok Ho-in and Seok Geum-ryong, and yet the one climbing upward first was not the eighteen-year-old, but the twelve-year-old boy.
Unforgivable!
Half-mad with jealousy and envy, Seok Ho-in lashed out with the dagger as though he had been waiting for this moment.
Green Spirit Strike!
And it was not even a crude swing. It was, in fact, a sword technique of the Namgung Sect.
It was the Green Mind Spirit Human Sword Technique, taught to collateral bloodlines of the Namgung family.
In other words, this was not a strike made in a fit of excitement, but one meant to kill properly.
Whoooosh!
As proof, a long blade of sword qi formed from the short dagger and swept forward with lethal precision.
For a spontaneous attack, it was a surprisingly orthodox and grandly imposing move.
Die!
The instant Seok Ho-in, fully soaked in murderous intent, unleashed his attack...
Seok Geum-ryong was not about to stand there and take it.
Wind-Wave Scattered Blossom!
Instead, he counterattacked at once, in high spirits.
He drew the Silver Bright Sword from within his robes, as he always carried it, and met the strike with a form from the Wind-Breaking Sword Technique he had learned from Shadowless One Shin Dan-woo.
Clang!
To Seok Ho-in’s disbelief, Geum-ryong’s swordsmanship was sharp and fierce beyond reason.
Each and every strike carried a vast reservoir of inner power and force that Seok Ho-in himself lacked, causing him to recoil.
Even after expending a considerable amount of strength and stamina, he still could not overpower Geum-ryong, and that only deepened his shock.
“Hah... hahhhhh.”
In the blink of an eye, Seok Geum-ryong and Seok Ho-in exchanged dozens of blows in a fierce battle.
At first, Seok Ho-in had dismissed Geum-ryong as a joke because he was too heated to think straight, but by now he could not help his confusion.
No, it even felt as though Geum-ryong was holding back.
“Th-this is impossible!”
Honestly, he had expected to defeat Geum-ryong easily, but now they were locked in such a close and even match that it was absurd.
Which meant...
“You are also a remarkable master at the level of a Super First-class expert?!”
Seok Ho-in asked in shock, unable to reduce Seok Geum-ryong’s standing in his mind.
There was no denying it. From the clash of inner energy to the present exchange, everything pointed to the same conclusion.
However much he hated admitting it, Seok Geum-ryong was a master of no lesser caliber than himself, and perhaps even a little better.
“Hmph. Did you think my talent would be inferior to yours?”
Seok Geum-ryong shoved aside the astonished Seok Ho-in and looked down at him again.
The duel was balanced, but the one hiding his true strength was none other than Geum-ryong.
Shuddering, Seok Ho-in fell silent at the sight of Geum-ryong’s swordsmanship, which was in no way inferior to his own martial skill.
After all, martial ability had been Seok Ho-in’s one and only advantage over the other siblings.
And now even that had been made a mockery of by Seok Geum-ryong, whom he had looked down on all this time. The despair was beyond words.
And then there was one more thing.
“Seok Ho-in. I have something to ask you.”
There was something Seok Ho-in had overlooked. Strictly speaking, it was not that he had been waiting for Geum-ryong, but that Geum-ryong had been waiting for him.
That was why Geum-ryong had waited until everyone else had left, until only the two of them remained.
“W-what?”
Looking at the rattled Seok Ho-in, Geum-ryong asked in a colder voice than ever.
“The one who hired the blood assassin from the Blood Killing Gate to target me last time... was it you?”
The reason Seok Geum-ryong had been even harsher with Seok Ho-in was simple.
In the original fate, Seok Ho-in had brutally killed his servant Deung Chon, and gone on to threaten Seok Geum-ryong’s very life. Geum-ryong suspected Seok Ho-in was the one behind that incident.