Opening Preparations - 3
Perfect.
Domun's tightening surveillance net. Lim Hayeon's runaway courtesan problem. The Mangeum Lord's meddling in my love life. Jegal Hyang getting thrown out of the estate. Was there really a way to cut through every one of these obstacles all at once? Standing before the Mangeum Lord, a single stratagem had flashed through my mind.
'We could all just live together. All three of us.'
If the three of us cohabited in a secure estate, neither Haomun's threats nor the Mangeum Lord's romantic interference would be able to touch us anymore. Two problems, each troublesome on its own, yet combined they produced an enormous advantage. Put them together and they made a perfect pair of wings.
'You two are my wings.'
I gazed fondly at the two women wearing utterly baffled expressions. If the three of us joined forces, we could overcome any crisis in Wuhan and soar toward new frontiers.
"Let's live together, the three of us."
I declared my flawless plan to the two women once more. But neither answered my proclamation.
It's a perfect plan, so why do you both look like that?
Why are your expressions frozen? Just nod once, please.
Maybe it's the suddenness.
I calmly waited for their response. And at last—
"What did you just say?!"
"Kuh!"
I took a sudden hit.
"Young Master Kaaang……."
"Haha… Jegal Soje?"
I received gazes full of resentment.
"You! Out of the room!"
And I was thrown out.
Where did it all go wrong?
I sat in a corner of the inn's first floor, clutching my head. Both of them, as if they'd conspired, had tossed me out of the room. Wasn't that a bit much?
"Tsk tsk tsk. I knew he'd end up like that."
As I slumped there in my misery, voices of the staff drifted over from a corner.
"Seriously, with his sister-in-law around, how does he have the gall to bring another woman into his room?"
"Hey, you don't even know what happened! Can't you say that about the Association Leader?"
"Why wouldn't I know what happened? Two women go into a room, and the man comes out kicked to the curb—there's only one explanation! Two-timing until his pants finally split, that's what!"
"Well, I was checking on the Giosugu pigeons on the third floor earlier and heard the shouting. It sounded like he proposed that the three of them live together and got chewed out for it."
"What? The Association Leader?! You're lying!"
One of the staff who'd been valiantly defending me whirled around and stared at me in shock.
"That's right. Hard to believe, but it's true."
A great deal was omitted, but it's true. It pains me, but credit where credit is due.
"…Consider yourself lucky you weren't thrown out in your undergarments."
The icy stares of the inn staff all pinned me at once.
No, I'm telling you, it was a perfect plan.
"Hayeon Soje. Please open the door. Hayeon Soje."
I waited long enough for her anger to cool, then knocked first on Lim Hayeon's door.
"Hayeon Soje, I brought hotcakes that Grandmother went out of her way to bake, with maple syrup too, to lift your spirits. Let's eat them while they're warm."
I even brewed an iced Americano. Please, just open the door.
Is this how church evangelists feel on their weekend rounds? I could hear movement inside, but she had no intention of coming out.
Can't give up. Like an evangelist who won't stop knocking until the door opens—no, I had to become the superconductor Kang Yunho, latching on and never letting go.
"Hayeon Soje, just open the door once."
I can explain everything. But the firmly shut door, much like an unread message I'd nervously worked up the courage to send a woman I liked, showed no intention of changing.
So the world of superconductivity remains distant and treacherous after all.
Since Lim Hayeon's anger clearly hadn't cooled, there was nothing for it. I sighed softly and muttered at the door.
"Then I suppose I'll go visit Jegal Soje first."
"Where do you think you're going?!"
Crash! The sound of someone scrambling up erupted from inside the room.
Oh. Could it be?
Like a heart barely pried open, the door cautiously swung ajar.
Lim Hayeon thrust out a pouting, thoroughly displeased mouth, looked me up and down with disdain, and finally spoke.
"…Get in here."
"Thank you."
I brazenly slipped into Lim Hayeon's impeccably tidy room.
"Haah. How on earth did I end up with a man like thi… haah…."
What, you don't like me strolling in shamelessly? Lim Hayeon sighed at the sight of me and pushed a chair toward me.
"Um, Hayeon Soje."
"What on earth were you thinking, saying that? Explain yourself."
"I can explain. If you listen calmly, you'll understand too."
I didn't explain enough. I got ahead of myself because I thought it was such a good plan.
"Calmly?! You expect me to hear 'let's all live together' and stay calm?! No. Talk. Now."
I already had my persuasion strategy fully mapped out.
First rule: never reveal my selfish motives.
Nothing like—how I wanted to wake up yawning and walk into the living room to find two beauties gorgeous enough to stun me sober, or how I secretly wanted to load two lovely women into my carriage and commute to work basking in smug superiority, or how I wanted to come home and eat dinner with the three of us together.
Absolutely must not reveal the selfish desires.
In situations like this, erase yourself first.
The most important thing is justification. Deploy the biggest, most convincing justification possible.
"Everything I do is for you, Hayeon Soje."
I gazed at Lim Hayeon like a man whose thoughts belonged to one person alone.
"…For me?"
"Domun's surveillance net is closing in. At this rate, it may only be a matter of time before they catch wind of your whereabouts."
Stir up that sense of crisis.
The Wuhan branch of Haomun ran on a kind of oligarchy, with the Hyangju cooperating closely to govern their own forces. Until now, the Simun Branch Master had kept my affiliation with Simun secret while pumping counter-intelligence at Domun—but the situation had changed drastically. Now that Domun could commit fully, the strategy had to change.
"It certainly is a dangerous situation."
Lim Hayeon nodded readily.
"You could handle Domun's fighters yourself, Hayeon Soje, but the problem is the exposure itself. Being located means you could be dragged away at any moment."
In chess terms, Lim Hayeon was the queen. She could face down anyone, but the mere fact of her being in danger was the problem.
"And what does that have to do with the three of us living together?"
Only now did Lim Hayeon seem to realize she'd misunderstood something, her anger settling as she asked me.
Good. The justification strategy worked. Next was to show off how hard I'd been working on her behalf.
"I requested guards from the Mangeum Lord for your protection."
"For me?"
I nodded at her surprised echo.
"Guard warriors will be stationed at the estate. I told him there were people targeting me and Jegal Hyang after the Nokcheong Escort Agency incident—but in truth, it was all for you."
That was why I'd demanded guards from the Mangeum Lord. No matter how powerful Haomun's Domun might be, they couldn't directly touch the Mangeum Money Exchange.
And the youngest daughter of the Jegal Clan lived inside that estate. A house connected to both the foremost martial clan of Hubei and its wealthiest tycoon—if Lim Hayeon's location were ever discovered, Domun would have to stake every single one of their members' necks to lay a hand on a house where the three of us lived.
I slowly laid out my scheme for Lim Hayeon.
"For me…."
Lim Hayeon clasped her hands together and looked at me with moved eyes.
"Honestly, eating and sleeping here at the inn suits me far better. Why would I want the inconvenience of trekking out to an estate to live with Jegal Soje, someone I barely know?"
"You barely know…? You should have said so from the start! And here I was, not knowing any of this…."
Feeling guilty, are we? Then I'll have to make you feel even guiltier.
"Everyone involved did it all for you, and you alone."
I smiled at her like a boyfriend ready to absorb every ounce of his girlfriend's anger and complaints.
I schemed all of this for you. Pretty impressive, right?
"Does it hurt where you got hit earlier?"
"Haha, don't worry about it. My hide is thick— I'm fine. I'm sorry for blurting out the conclusion first."
"Honestly, you always…."
Lim Hayeon laughed as if she couldn't help herself and sat down beside me. Why are we squeezing onto one chair together? When I started to tip over, she grabbed my hand and pulled me back. Just sit somewhere else, please. But I couldn't ruin the mood, so I turned to her and asked once more.
"So—will you live with us?"
"Alright. Let's live together."
One mountain after another.
"Jegal Soje."
Now for Jegal Hyang's turn. I knocked on the office door; it wasn't locked, so it swung open easily.
"Jegal Soje, coming in."
Carefully balancing the food, I poked my head inside.
Not here.
Where did she go? I set the food down and scanned the office, but she was nowhere to be seen. Had she slipped out while I was talking with Lim Hayeon? Or was this that formation trick she'd used before?
"Young Masteeer Kaaang."
It was neither.
"Jegal Soje. You were under the desk. Come sit here, won't you?"
Beneath the desk in the office, Jegal Hyang was crouched, hiding in its shadow with a gloomy air.
Come out already.
A businessman and a beauty hiding under his desk. Anyone who walked in on this—or worse, anyone with a taste for a certain *genre*—would get entirely the wrong idea about our position.
"…"
Like a dog sulking because it got skipped for a walk on a rainy day, Jegal Hyang settled into my chair with a resentful air.
"Jegal Soje, I was too hasty and said something that caused a misunderstanding."
First things first—apologize.
"A misundershtanding?"
This time too, deploy the justification: it's all for her, not for me.
"Yes. This whole affair was planned entirely for your sake, Jegal Soje."
"F-for me?"
"The Mangeum Lord found our relationship stagnating and prescribed an extreme remedy. Since he's cast you out of the estate, he told me to pretend I don't know you, if that's what I wanted. But how could I ever pretend not to know you, Jegal Soje?"
"Heheh. Yeees."
"But there was a serious problem."
"A ploblem?"
"We are, after all, in a contract courtship. An unmarried man and woman living together—the whole world would point fingers. I cannot allow a bride as beautiful and talented as you, Jegal Soje, to carry such a grave blemish on your marriage prospects."
"Heh. A, a fide bride…?"
Jegal Hyang, clearly unaccustomed to being called an exemplary bride, squirmed and twisted with embarrassment.
"Yes. A barbarian like me can shoulder whatever slander or pointing fingers come my way. But I won't allow harm to come to you, Jegal Soje—a peerless bride with no equal anywhere. Hm?"
I was in full flow, lecturing away about how none of this was my desire and everything was for her sake, when Jegal Hyang suddenly seized my sleeve.
What's this?
When I looked at her, her face flushed scarlet, she squeezed her eyes shut, unable to meet my gaze.
Did she not like what I said?
Jegal Hyang worked her lips for a moment, then, gripping my sleeve tight, spoke.
"Y-you're a g-g-good husband prospect tooooo, Young Master!"
Ah. Now I'm the one blushing for no reason.
"Haha, thank you. So as I racked my brain for a solution, what I came up with was the three of us living together."
A way to spare the Jegal Clan any disgrace, dodge the Mangeum Lord's interference, and resolve Lim Hayeon's problem all at once—cohabitation was the answer.
"With Hayeon-unni?"
"Yes. Hayeon Soje is the one who helps my business most—no, she's simply indispensable to it. She understands me better than anyone. So if we live together, we can pass it off not as a man and woman cohabiting, but as a shared residence purely for work."
"The unni… who helps you most…."
Did I overemphasize Lim Hayeon's competence? Jegal Hyang's expression curdled strangely.
"Naturally, living at the inn is most comfortable for me. But going forward, I judged this the very best way to escape the Mangeum Lord's interference without burdening you. If I caused you a misunderstanding, I truly apologize."
I apologized to her once more.
Jegal Hyang stared long at my bowed head, then carefully asked.
"You… you're doing this for me, right?"
"Of course. If we live together, coordinating the Daseogak branch operations will be much easier too—and I look forward to our exchange diary as well."
I'll accompany you to the places you can't go alone, help run the bookstore, keep up our diary. Let's live together. That's how we can solve all our problems.
When I looked at her with expectant eyes, Jegal Hyang turned her head slightly, as if my gaze was too much to bear, and quietly opened her mouth.
"Yeees. Then… that sounds niiiice."
Just as planned.
Persuasion finally achieved. I sent Jegal Hyang back to the Mangeum Lord's estate to prepare for the move, and murmured to myself on the walk back.
Major problems had assailed me all at once, but by bundling the two women's issues into a single solution, I'd somehow produced an even better outcome. The longer commute would be a nuisance, sure.
Only one task remained now.
I looked up at the cascade of starlight and called out with vigor.
"Now then—time to finish the grand opening of the Daseogak branch!"