Back to Business - 3
I should have caught on the moment Lim Hayeon gave Du Eung-hyang as her alias.
"How could the likes of Gu Sook-jeong possibly claim to be the first wife over Lady Du Eung-hyang, Hubei's Number One Courtesan?"
To think the employee I'd hired to stamp out rabble-rousing would turn out to be a rabble-rouser herself.
Lim Hayeon, looking for all the world like someone who had just heard the most preposterous claim in existence, jabbed a finger at the Sichuan's Number One Beauty faction.
"Are you saying Sichuan's Number One Beauty is not the first wife?"
"Of course not! How could Gu Sook-jeong, who barely featured in Volume 1, possibly be the first wife?"
"Ha! A blossom that has never once bowed before another! If Sichuan's Number One Beauty is not the first wife, then who is?!"
"A flower pampered in a greenhouse, treasured like gold and jade—what is there to boast about in its never having been plucked!"
Lim Hayeon folded her arms as though the very notion were beneath contempt and fired back a rebuttal at the man.
Which, naturally, served to emphasize a certain generously proportioned part of her anatomy, throwing the Tea Book Club members' gazes into utter confusion.
"C-cough! Du Eung-hyang is hardly any different in that regard!"
"Of course she's different! Look at Lady Du Eung-hyang. Countless men must have lusted after her. Plenty would have paid fortunes just to spend a single night by her side. Do you imagine it was easy for a woman like that to guard her chastity?"
"I-I imagine it was not."
"The one man Lady Du Eung-hyang truly fell in love with. The one man she judged worthy of receiving everything she had! That man is Dang Jeong. She gave him her everything—how could she not be the first wife?"
"The same could be said of Gu Sook-jeong. And since Sichuan's Number One Beauty outshines Hubei's Number One Courtesan, surely looks must count for something."
"Sichuan's Number One Beauty? Hmph! Is it not obvious that Hubei's Number One Courtesan is the more beautiful?"
With a contemptuous snort, she advanced a step toward the Sichuan's Number One Beauty faction and pressed her argument onward.
Had her opponent been cowed by Lim Hayeon's commanding confidence? Or was he simply lost, unable to decide where to rest his gaze as that certain part of her drew nearer and nearer?
The Sichuan's Number One Beauty faction member looked entirely incapable of gathering his wits.
Lim Hayeon. Are you doing that on purpose?
"Is it not self-evident that Sichuan's Number One Beauty is more beautiful than Hubei's Number One Courtesan?"
"Says who? You're making far too light of a courtesan's world! Even among courtesans—women consumed by jealousy—Lady Du Eung-hyang was openly and proudly acknowledged as Hubei's Number One Courtesan! A title like that means she was, without question, the supreme beauty of her age! Only one whose song, dance, and artistry were equally unmatched could ever hold it!"
Was she throwing herself into it all the harder because she'd once been a courtesan's apprentice? Lim Hayeon wore an expression that seemed to say: you people have no idea how remarkable that is.
"What manner of logic is that?"
"Hmph! Right here! Listen well. From this day forward, Lady Du Eung-hyang, Hubei's Number One Courtesan, is the first wife! Sichuan's Number One Beauty? I'll graciously acknowledge her as a concubine of Lord Dang Jeong's, nothing more. Did you hear me? Con. cu. bine. Faction."
Like a magistrate pronouncing sentence upon the guilty, Lim Hayeon leveled her finger at the Sichuan's Number One Beauty faction and delivered her verdict with absolute conviction.
"Urk—!"
"'Concubine faction'! That's going too far!"
"Fair young lady or not, those are words we cannot let pass!"
Stung as though they'd taken a single devastating blow, the Sichuan's Number One Beauty faction protested indignantly at Lim Hayeon.
"Oooooh!"
"The logic of one against a hundred! A divine being has descended upon the Du Eung-hyang faction!"
The Hubei's Number One Courtesan faction, meanwhile, welcomed her arrival with actual applause.
"Young miss! A fresh perspective on the First Wife War! It was as though you spoke with the true heart of a courtesan!"
"I-I merely immersed myself in Lady Du Eung-hyang as a woman, not as a courtesan."
"Quickly! Seat Lady Hayeon in the place of honor!"
"We've prepared a seat for you here!"
"Lady Hayeon! Lady Hayeon! Lady Hayeon!"
What a mess. Even the people who came here to read are staring over, wondering what on earth is going on.
I had strictly separated the space for conversation from the space for reading and furnished the interior for soundproofing, but none of it mattered once things got this rowdy.
"Haaaaah."
Well done. Truly masterful.
I heaved a deep sigh, stepped out from behind the counter, and walked toward the Tea Book Club.
"The Hubei's Number One Courtesan faction is always open to new members!"
You're not actually Du Eung-hyang, you know.
Lim Hayeon raised one hand toward the Sichuan's Number One Beauty faction, wearing the smile of the victor.
"Lady Hayeon."
Enjoying yourself, are we?
I called her over with the heart of a convenience store owner who had hired a night-shift part-timer, only to watch the kid put off the overnight stock until the shift ended, ignore first-in-first-out, skip the cleaning, never check the cigarette inventory, and do nothing but stare at their phone.
"Eep!"
Had she only now remembered why she'd left her post? At the sound of my voice, Lim Hayeon visibly shrank.
"Follow me."
Time for a little retraining.
"What am I to do with you, egging on fights like that?"
Outside Daseogak, in a secluded corner, I cornered her with every trace of a smile wiped from my face.
"I'm sorry. But those people were daring to insult Lady Du Eung-hyang!"
She protested as though there existed lines that no devoted reader could ever retreat from.
Fair enough. A healthy First Wife War cultivates devoted readers and periodically rekindles interest in the novel, so it does its part. I've been taking my own cut off the special edition sets, so I'm hardly in a position to deny it.
"Lim Hayeon. You are not a member of the Tea Book Club. You are an employee of Daseogak."
I didn't hire you to fight in the First Wife War. I went to great pains to seat you there to deal with rabble-rousers and drive up sales.
"Ngh! I know. I only went out there to calm things down, but the moment they said Lady Du Eung-hyang wasn't the first wife, I... I couldn't hold myself back for even an instant..."
Perhaps the point had struck home and she realized her error, for Lim Hayeon now protested in a voice small as an ant crawling past.
So she really does love Dangga Pungun.
"Do you love Dangga Pungun that much?"
I asked, my voice carrying a trace of disbelief.
"Yes! If Lady Du Eung-hyang is ever cast aside by Dang Jeong, I will hunt down Author Hopil if it's the last thing I do, and I will lodge a complaint!"
The face Lim Hayeon turned to me wore the very expression of a woman in love.
A severe case. Utterly hopeless. When someone is this far gone into fandom, nothing on earth can stop them.
To think a character from a martial arts dating sim would be cheering over a novel I wrote.
As a bookstore owner, this was a moment that called for a scolding, but I couldn't help feeling strangely pleased about it.
"As the owner, I'm grateful that you love Dangga Pungun, Daseogak's flagship title. But I cannot stand idle while an employee stirs up discord instead of helping the store."
Without letting my odd good mood show, I told her in a firm tone.
"Ngh!"
"Had you been any other employee, you would have been dismissed on the spot."
A mistake, I could forgive. But this was no mistake.
I kept my brow knotted and allowed only the muscles around my mouth to soften a fraction.
Just enough for her to sense that while I was a strict boss at work, I was stepping back a pace because she was my sworn brother's daughter.
You were Uncle Wang's daughter, a beauty who would lift my sales, and a woman of the martial world besides—that was why I was letting it slide.
"..."
With nothing to say in her defense, Lim Hayeon hung her head low.
"From this moment on, remember this: before you are a devoted reader of Dangga Pungun, you are first an employee of Daseogak."
Next time, the scolding will be far worse.
"Um... does that mean I've been dropped from the outstanding work-study program?"
"Did we not all agree, before opening, to work together on reducing our mistakes? Be more diligent from now on."
The whip and the carrot must always rest in my hand.
So long as I kept waving that carrot before her eyes, she would silently bear the whip whenever she stepped out of line.
"I'll keep that in mind!"
Only then did Lim Hayeon seem to relax, bowing her head deeply toward me.
Do you have any idea how much trouble it took me to capture you, Shadowless Divine Thief? I have no intention of ever letting you go.
I waved her off and headed back into Daseogak ahead of her.
Reopening after a long temporary closure.
The Tea Book Club members, who had been praying for my safe return, flooded in the moment the doors opened again—but the closure had left its mark all the same.
Customer numbers have fallen.
Going over the ledgers kept since we had resumed normal operations, I reached my conclusion.
Thanks to the second floor's earnings, revenue was holding near normal—but this was a warning sign.
It was gratifying that the regulars, who had waited only for Daseogak to reopen, had turned out in force and propped up sales. But I could not rest easy on that alone.
Book sales had dropped off starkly.
The one mercy was that food and drink were selling well.
Even by my own assessment, the second-floor staffing had been an inspired decision.
I watched in silence as Lim Hayeon handed drinks across the counter, her customer-service smile firmly in place.
"Scholar Hwang! Your Hyang-ah coffee set is ready!"
"You remembered my name?"
"Of course. You order the Hyang-ah coffee set every single time."
"Ahem, ahem. I see—Lady Hayeon remembers because she is one of the Hubei's Number One Courtesan faction."
"I'll have a Hyang-ah coffee set as well!"
"Aren't you of the Sichuan's Number One Beauty faction?"
"F-from today onward, I am of the Hubei's Number One Courtesan faction!"
One smile from Lim Hayeon and they all melt like wax.
Since our little talk, Lim Hayeon had been diligently carrying out her rabble-removal duties.
Now and then I could see her practically squirming with the urge to join the First Wife War herself, but under my hawk-eyed surveillance she seemed to have settled for cheering on the Du Eung-hyang faction.
That much I would tolerate. If anything, it helped draw customers in.
"When it was a dreary man taking the orders, and now it's flowers taking them—who knew Daseogak could feel this alive?"
"The dreary man can hear you."
I retorted flatly to the Tea Book Club regular.
"Hahaha. My apologies. Still, with word spreading lately that Daseogak's staff had changed, even members who'd sworn off coming are showing their faces again."
"Yes. It seems you chose your staff well."
The second floor was not staffed by Lim Hayeon and Ha Soso alone—other women worked there too, and a distinctly bright, cheerful air hung about the place.
Was it really so dreary because I was the one working?
"They've got women straight out of some courtesan house working at Daseogak."
As I gazed blankly toward the customers, my sharpened hearing picked up the whispers of ordinary patrons.
"Come now. I've been to plenty of courtesan houses in Yichang, and never once have I laid eyes on a beauty like that pink-haired lady."
"You think so?"
Word that Daseogak's staff had transformed into beauties had evidently not spread through the Tea Book Club alone—male customers I had never seen before were appearing as well.
Though with a few of them, it was hard to say whether they were reading their books or ogling the women.
There was a limit to how far regulars alone could carry sales.
The Tea Book Club kept coming, to be sure, but the flow of ordinary customers mattered just as much.
I knew the surest fix was to publish Volume 3 of Dangga Pungun as quickly as possible. But when one can prepare many countermeasures, it is poor strategy to pour everything into a single solution.
The momentum that once drew people to the Tea Book Club had faded, and the ordinary customers had thinned with it. How to bring them back...
"Manager!"
Just as I was sinking into my scheming, Ha Soso came up and called for me.
"Ha Soso. What is it?"
"Hehe. Well, um... would it be all right if I ate a little of the tea snacks the customers left behind?"
Ha Soso asked with a faintly sheepish face, like a part-timer asking the convenience store owner whether she could eat the expired disposables.
"Lunch is in a little while. Wouldn't a proper meal be better?"
This was, after all, a world that had never known a proper lunch break. When I introduced one, the staff were shocked enough to be left speechless.
"Hehehe."
Ha Soso just smiled at my question without answering.
Don't tell me.
"You're not skipping lunch, are you?"
"Ah! Well... I make up for it by eating my fill at dinner! Otherwise I can't sleep."
Perhaps ashamed to admit she skipped lunch, Ha Soso avoided my eyes and offered an excuse that was barely an excuse at all.
"Are the other employees the same?"
"Most of them do eat, but some are too hard-pressed to."
Daseogak was a book café, not a restaurant.
I had granted a lunch hour on the understanding that people would see to their own meals. Never did I imagine some of them were going hungry.
Stunned, I stared blankly at Ha Soso—and then her sleeve caught my eye.
"What happened to your sleeve?"
Why is it covered in stains? Blotches that looked days old were scattered here and there across her sleeve.
"I, um, spilled coffee while clearing the tables."
Ha Soso sheepishly hid both arms behind her back.
Why not change your clothes? The question leapt to my lips—then the work-study students' circumstances caught up with me.
Back in my Maedamja days, I too had once emptied every coin I had for a single fine outfit. She might simply have nothing else to wear.
Having hired staff and reopened straight away, unexpected problems kept cropping up one after another.
I needed to grow the customer base, and I needed to look after my people.
I sank into brief thought, wrestling with the pile of problems. Was there no clean solution? After much agonizing, a single idea flashed through my mind.
I'll have to go out for a while.
"I'm stepping out for a bit. Eat fresh snacks—not the ones customers leave behind. And when cleanup time comes, have every employee gather on the second floor."
When a good idea strikes, you put it into motion at once.