The Merchant's Way - 4
"Have you heard the news, friend?"
Rumors spread in the blink of an eye.
"You mean the one about every bookstore in Yichang returning their copies of Dangga Pungun? Yeah, I heard."
"They even compensated Daseogak for the losses, apparently."
"I heard it was double compensation. The boycott must have hit them hard."
"The Daseo Society and even the chairman of the Yichang Merchants' Association stepped in to settle the whole Dangga Pungun affair, or so they say."
"Does that mean volume two is coming out now?"
"Once Author Hopil hears the news, he'll snap out of it and start writing again. We'll just have to wait and see."
This is Hopil.
I matched the moment and posted a note of thanks as well.
"Author Hopil's message of gratitude just went up at Daseogak!"
"Have you heard, friend? Author Hopil is finally going to write again."
"Our Daseo Society pulled off something huge."
"Sniff... Now we can finally read Dangga Pungun... volume two of Dangga Pungun!"
The only bookstore in Yichang still selling Dangga Pungun, and the news that volume two had entered the writing stage, brought customers flooding in day after day to buy the first volume.
"Is it out yet?"
"They said they'd announce it a week before release. Why do you have to come here every single day?"
"I'm just here to check for news."
Some customers merely glanced at the display table where Dangga Pungun sat; others from the Daseo Society spent the entire day hanging around the print shop waiting for volume two to appear. Every day more people arrived, hungry for the next installment.
"Finished it?"
I asked Hwarin, who was reading the last page of the Dangga Pungun draft.
"Hey. Hey, Yunho."
Her voice trembled with shock.
"Yeah?"
"You're not even from the Sichuan Dang Clan—how, how do you even think of things like this?"
Hwarin looked me up and down with a stunned expression, as if she half expected purple hair and green eyes to appear if she scrubbed me hard enough.
"Well..."
Well, the stack of wuxia novels I've read with Sichuan Dang Clan protagonists would fill a small room by itself. Of course I can think of this much. But how was I supposed to explain that? I couldn't talk about the real world, so it was a little awkward.
"Ah... your Dokin friend. Sorry."
Seeing my troubled face, Hwarin seemed to realize something and apologized with a guilty look.
"Haha. No, it's fine. I just got hit with an old memory all of a sudden and blanked out for a second."
"Yeah. That can happen. But here, and here! And here! The fight scenes are a little off. The ideas are clever, but the explanations and descriptions feel thin."
Hwarin quickly changed the subject and began pointing out the shortcomings in volume two of Dangga Pungun.
She walked me through every concrete flaw: this part of the poison technique was lacking, that part of the hidden weapon usage was wrong. It felt exactly like being told, "You're great at soccer overall, you just can't attack or defend."
"I'll revise it."
If this level of polishing was all it needed, we could have books rolling off the press in a few days.
"And this... uh... never mind."
Hwarin started to jab a finger at some problem on the page, then pulled her hand back.
Something ambiguous, maybe. With issues like that it was better to hear the editor's full opinion and then decide myself.
"What is it? Even if it's vague, just tell me. I'll listen and decide."
"Well..."
Hwarin couldn't look at my face. She stared at the floor and dragged the words out.
"Yeah?"
Was it because of the steamy scenes? She really didn't need to point those out.
"This 'Number One Courtesan of Hubei' who appears... that's not the name of a girl from the pleasure house you visited last time, right?"
Hwarin kept her head bowed, only lifting her eyes to peek up at me, as if the words themselves were too embarrassing to say.
"Pfft—hahaha!"
That was it?
"Forget it! Never mind then!"
My laughing face must have told her it wasn't a real courtesan's name. Her ears turned scarlet and she shot to her feet.
"Pfft—hahaha. Where are you going?"
"None of your business!"
I clutched my stomach and laughed. Hwarin, face flushed with indignation, slammed the door on her way out.
"Hwarin! Don't leave! There's a place around here that does great Sichuan food. Let's go eat together."
No answer came. Had she gone downstairs? I hadn't heard footsteps after the door closed. Was I going to have to finish the revisions and eat alone?
While I was still fretting, the attic door carefully opened again.
"Is... is the food there good?"
Hwarin poked only half her face through the crack and asked in a shy voice.
"Yeah. People say it's delicious. Let's go together."
"Mm."
I set down my brush and headed with Hwarin for the Sichuan restaurant.
The release day of Dangga Pungun volume two.
Revisions and printing took time, of course, but nowhere near long enough for the readers' patience to snap.
"Whoa."
When I opened the door that morning, the only sound I could make was a stunned exhale. The line stretched so far it defied belief.
"Snacks for sale!"
"Give me some of those snacks. Water too."
"Over here!"
"Puffed rice for sale!"
"We've got popcorn! Caramel and onion flavor!"
The wait was so long that merchants had materialized out of nowhere and were selling food along the queue.
Were all these people really here for my book? Did Daseogak secretly have some other event going on? For a moment the whole scene felt unreal.
"Can we go in now?"
A familiar face from the Daseo Society, looking utterly haggard, asked me. Looking closer, I realized the people at the very front of the line were all Society members.
"Wait—why are you folding up sleeping bags?"
"The moment Daseogak closed last night we laid our bags right here and slept."
"Us too."
"Hahaha. I've got something I need to check real quick, then we'll start."
Could we even control a crowd this size?
"Make way! The cart has to get through!"
Someone shoved through the throng, hauling a large load on a cart toward Daseogak.
"Come on in."
The man pulling the cart was the bookstore owner who had once violated the merchant's code.
"Just as promised, I've brought the entire production run of Dangga Pungun volume two. Not a single copy skimmed off. No need to worry."
Even running Daseogak's old press all day long had its limits. As both compensation and a show of goodwill, the owner had covered every cost and printed a massive quantity of volume two on our behalf.
"Thank you. We'll store them in the back warehouse."
"That waiting line is monstrous. Can Daseogak's staff handle this many people?"
"We'll do our best."
"Nonsense. Let me help."
"Really?"
"When fellow merchants find themselves in a tight spot, lending a hand is the merchant's way itself! Hahaha. I'll put my own shop's staff and guards to work controlling the line."
Coming from a man who had recently had the merchant's code forcibly injected into him, the words felt a little rich—but free help was free help.
"I'd be grateful."
"Leave it to me."
The first buyers of Dangga Pungun volume two were, of course, the Daseo Society members.
"This is the volume two our Daseo Society fought for and won."
The first Society man through the door lifted a copy of volume two with solemn reverence, as if drawing a legendary sword from a lake.
"Indeed. This second volume is living proof that justice can overcome injustice, that righteousness and chivalry can defeat evil."
"Exactly. Was it not we who acted with the same chivalry as Dang Jeong?"
"We may not have won the Number One Beauty of Sichuan, but we have won Dangga Pungun volume two."
"Precisely! Now all that remains is to witness Dang Jeong's chivalrous deeds."
I understood the feeling, but watching them hoist an erotic wuxia novel aloft while making grand declarations was somehow both hilarious and touching. Still—thank you, members of the Daseo Society.
If only we had a commemorative photo, I'd have taken one with them.
"I'm looking forward to more than just the chivalry, though."
"Ahem. Need I even say it?"
"Move already!"
Beyond the Society members, a flood of customers poured into Daseogak for their copies of Dangga Pungun.
"Two copies per person maximum! Stay in line! Anyone who cuts goes straight to the back!"
"This one book! I've been dying to read this one book!"
"A night with the Number One Courtesan of Hubei! I can't wait!"
"It's just going to be another spring-medicine plotline anyway. Why get so excited?"
"Silence! Since ancient times, to lose faith is to embrace death itself!"
"C-calm down. I was only joking. Truth is I lined up since dawn because I want volume two too."
On the sales day of Dangga Pungun volume two, the day's revenue set a record unmatched in the fifty-year history of the bookstore—even including the original Baek family shop.
Scholar Hwang hurried home with volume two of Dangga Pungun clutched in his hands.
"Young master, have you finished all your business outside?"
"Of course. From this moment on, no visitors whatsoever. Turn everyone away!"
Scholar Hwang showed the servant the volume he had just bought and sternly ordered that any guest who appeared be driven off at once.
"Heh heh. If it wouldn't be an imposition, young master, might I perhaps borrow Dangga Pungun volume two myself once you've finished?"
"I'll read it first, then lend you the extra copy I bought for missionary work."
"Thank you. Though if you're going to lend it, giving it to me now would be—"
"Nonsense! I will not suffer the sight of anyone reading Dangga Pungun volume two before me!"
Scholar Hwang cradled the book as protectively as a father shielding his child.
"Heh heh. Then I shall wait a little."
"Do so. The more people who know of Dangga Pungun, the better. Wait just one day."
"A whole day?"
"I intend to savor it properly, as Dangga Pungun deserves. I take my leave."
Scholar Hwang carried volume two into his room.
His hands trembled so badly he could barely bring himself to open the cover. With a pounding heart he sat at his desk and carefully, carefully turned the first page so as not to crease the paper.
Volume two of Dangga Pungun contained everything Scholar Hwang had hoped for—and far more.