Opening Preparations – 5
"So I hear the two of you have decided to live together."
The master of the Mangeum Money Exchange. The wealthiest man in Hubei Province. The Lord of Mangeum.
With no time to shake off his fatigue, the Mangeum Lord looked up from the ledgers spread before him and addressed his granddaughter seated across the desk.
"Yeeees."
"Well done. You found your courage."
He set his papers aside and gave his granddaughter—a frozen statue of a girl—a warm, knowing smile.
For Jegal Hyang, it had taken a great deal of deliberation to arrive at a decision that was anything but easy.
No matter how much a man might catch her fancy, living under the same roof was another matter entirely. Should things fail between Jegal Hyang and Kang Yunho, his granddaughter would carry the stain of it for the rest of her life.
What pleased the Mangeum Lord so thoroughly was the discovery that his granddaughter, just like him, had recognized Kang Yunho as a man who must not be let slip away.
"Yeeees."
In truth, Jegal Hyang had answered him on the spot, without a second of hesitation.
"Kang Yunho is a young man I have been watching closely for some time. The rabble will seize upon the color of his hair, but as a man, as a husband, as a head of household—I have never seen his equal."
His eye was never wrong.
The Mangeum Lord cast his mind back to when Kang Yunho had come before him for the second evaluation, not long ago.
Whereas his other grandchildren were wringing their hands, unable to keep even one business afloat, Kang Yunho had already secured his footing and was expanding his enterprise.
He was penetrating markets through an angle of attack no one else had conceived, growing his operation without overextending himself, while simultaneously reinforcing his foundations and reaching for a single great leap forward all at once.
Every time the Mangeum Lord looked at Kang Yunho, the conviction swelling in his chest hardened a little further.
"Yeeees. M-Master Kang seeeems like he would make a w-wonderful husbaaand."
Jegal Hyang nodded shyly, her cheeks flushing pink at the praise of Kang Yunho.
These were the very words she had spoken to Kang Yunho just yesterday. That her grandfather shared the same thought could only lift her spirits.
"Are you confident you can win Kang Yunho's heart?"
"Ah, well, that is..."
The Mangeum Lord gazed ruefully at his granddaughter, who fidgeted with her fingers and could not bring herself to answer.
A prize match.
The youngest daughter of the Zhuge Clan. A face worthy of being called the finest beauty in Hubei. Talents to spare, besides.
Just as Kang Yunho looked to him like the perfect groom, Jegal Hyang was every bit a bride no groom need be ashamed of.
There was no doubt in his mind—if only this child would act with a little more initiative, she could claim a corner of Kang Yunho's heart, that heart already occupied by so many women.
The trouble was that his granddaughter's nature was far, far too passive.
"I am gradually deepening my relationship with Lady Jegal."
The Mangeum Lord recalled his conversation with Kang Yunho from a few days prior.
He had believed Jegal Hyang fully capable of winning Kang Yunho's heart—had his fiancée's devotion to her simply run that much deeper than expected?
One side was holding fast to a parallel line; the other felt affection but moved with the speed of a glacier.
It is no crime for a man to keep several wives.
Left as it was, matters might never reach the ending the Mangeum Lord desired.
"Can you win his heart before Kang Yunho's next business evaluation?"
He asked his granddaughter again whether she intended to take the initiative.
"Ye-yes? Th-that is..."
Jegal Hyang hung her head, wearing a hesitant, uncertain expression.
At the sight, the Mangeum Lord remembered a conversation from some time ago with her mother—his own daughter, Jang Yeongyeong.
Gazing at his passive granddaughter's face, the Mangeum Lord thought of Jang Yeongyeong—the cleverest of his children, and the mistress of the Zhuge Clan.
Jang Yeongyeong was a mother who understood her daughter Jegal Hyang better than anyone.
Even when his daughter felt a genuine fondness for a man, her glacial pace could cost her the chance.
And when that happened, what was to be done?
Why, offer counsel to your own father, of course.
When his precious granddaughter lifted her head and looked at him, the Mangeum Lord declared with the cold face of a merchant of the highest order:
"If this old man's eye finds the state of your relationship unsatisfactory, then I shall attach a different granddaughter of mine to Kang Yunho."
"Pretend there is a time limit. He will move that much more decisively."
"They've confirmed there's no damage to the cargo at the Seocheon Escort Agency, so they'll be moving the books over for us today."
On the first floor of the Ungi Inn, I ate an early breakfast with my staff and Im Hayeon while she walked me through the day's schedule.
"So all that's left is to press the seal. Since I'll need to stop by the Daseogak branch later, I'll send word to Lady Jegal as well."
Books are, by their very nature, terribly vulnerable to damage.
From the worst scribble scrawled across the opening page of a mystery comic to a splash of rainwater or a smear of grime—any of it, and a fine book is instantly reduced to a ruined one.
I had worried the cargo might have suffered through some rough handling along the way, but it seemed there had been no trouble after all.
"I'll call for a carriage and get ready to head out."
"If it's too much trouble, I can go alone."
The Domun crowd could be tightening their surveillance around us.
Much as I preferred working alongside Im Hayeon, keeping her out of this particular errand might be the wiser choice.
"It's not as if the Domun goons are going to march into the Seocheon Escort Agency or the branch itself. Once the branch has its grand opening, I won't be able to move around during business hours anyway—so it has to be now."
Im Hayeon answered me with a hard-set face, as if I'd just said something utterly ridiculous.
"......"
She could have hidden away in some safehouse, or fled Wuhan entirely—those options were on the table, you know.
A personality that sees her own responsibilities through to the very end. Truly worthy of being the woman I trust most in Wuhan.
I looked at her with an expression of open admiration.
"What? Is something wrong with me?"
"You look lovelier than usual today."
"What are you even saying!"
Why are you yelling? You're pretty, so I said you're pretty.
"Ohh. So lovey-dovey first thing in the morning."
With this being the early staff breakfast hour, one of the employees listening in nearby tossed in a comment.
"Hmph! Everyone can hear us, you know!"
Im Hayeon shot me a flustered glare.
Everyone can hear? Well, what a fine opportunity, then.
I hid a smirk, picked up a morsel with my chopsticks, and dropped another remark for Im Hayeon.
"I met with the Samgu brothers yesterday. They had an interesting story to tell."
"An interesting story?"
"About the tribute money the Samgu brothers had intended to give me. Apparently, Lady Hayeon took a portion of it."
The tribute money from the docks that I had refused to accept.
Im Hayeon had taken the money I'd set aside to keep the dockworkers supplied with liquor and meat.
"......You heard about that too?"
Wearing an oh-no expression, Im Hayeon questioned me in an exceedingly cautious voice.
The dockworkers' wages were trifling, but the fees coming in as commissions were nothing to sneeze at.
Word had spread that the Joseon dockworkers were diligent and reliable, and as the loading work swelled by the day, the tribute money sitting in reserve had grown to a considerable sum.
And Im Hayeon had taken a portion of that. Handled carelessly, it could spiral into an embezzlement scandal.
Across the first floor, the clatter of spoons among the eating staff stopped dead.
Im Hayeon's face, by contrast, looked not merely embarrassed but positively proud.
Though of course, she had every right to be.
"If you meant to throw a feast for the elders and orphans of the Hometown Association, you might have told me."
"You're busy, that's why. Stuffing the dockworkers full of meat and drink is all well and good, but we ought to look after the weak ones who can't work either."
"When I told Sister-in-law that you'd refused the tribute money, sir, she said we ought to hold a feast for the elders and orphans of the Hometown Association. Just like that."
"......"
No wonder the association calls her Sister-in-law with such reverence.
From what I gathered, beyond the feast, she had also been quietly distributing grain and firewood to the orphans and elderly out of the tribute money.
I watched Im Hayeon go about her breakfast as if it were nothing at all, a soft warmth spreading across my face.
"Um... are you angry, by any chance?"
"You handled the association leader's work on my behalf—why would I be? Well done. I trust Lady Hayeon will keep up the good work going forward."
"Understood."
"A true Sister-in-law, as expected!"
"Thank you, Association Leader!"
The moment I passed judgment, the staff—who had been holding their breath through the heavy atmosphere—erupted into applause.
"Did you really have to announce it right here?"
Im Hayeon spoke with her head bowed, too embarrassed to look up.
Yes. Good deeds aren't truly good deeds until they make the front page of the morning paper.
Once word of Im Hayeon's charity spread through the Hometown Association, the very people who swore to protect our Sister-in-law would also stand guard against her information leaking out carelessly.
"You really do look even prettier today."
"Nnngh! What is wrong with you!"
"Ow!"
Who pinches someone's thigh with their toes?!
"Once you press the seal, we'll have everything transported straight to the branch."
Breakfast finished, we arrived at the Seocheon Escort Agency.
"Yes. Lady Jegal, please press the seal you received from the Mangeum Money Exchange."
"......"
What on earth is going on?
Glancing over at Jegal Hyang seated beside me, I found her mouth hanging open in a daze, her eyes slightly unfocused.
Her mind had wandered off to some other world entirely.
"Lady Jegal Hyang?"
To summon her back to reality, I called her full name with force.
"Ah! Um... Wha?! H-here I aaam!"
Was she dreaming she'd become some awoken gayageum virtuoso of music with her eyes wide open?
Only at my call did Jegal Hyang glance around, take stock of her surroundings, and then extend her hand toward me.
What am I supposed to do if you hand the seal to me?
"Haha, you're not supposed to give it to me... actually, never mind. I'll press it myself."
"Thank you both for your efforts. We'll load the cargo onto the carriage and deliver it."
The branch head of the Seocheon Escort Agency looked back and forth between us, visibly moved that every detail had been settled without a hitch.
"I'll check over the final transfer with my own eyes. You go on ahead in the carriage."
Im Hayeon rose from her seat and stepped out the door alongside the branch head.
"I'm counting on you."
The branch currently held the management staff and employees hired on through the Mangeum Money Exchange.
If we moved the cargo into the branch warehouse today and began organizing, we could open for business within the week.
"......"
"Lady Jegal? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
She'd been lost in the clouds this whole time.
She surely wasn't dreaming with her eyes open, so was she sick somewhere?
"Ah, um... n-nooo."
Jegal Hyang waved her hands, avoiding my gaze.
She looked absolutely not fine.
Knowing Jegal Hyang's personality, even if she were ill, she'd never admit it for fear of inconveniencing others.
"Hmm. You don't seem to have a fever, though."
I brought my hand to her forehead and compared her temperature against my own.
No fever.
"Ahh! Th-th-th-th-that's not it aaat all!"
Huh?
In an instant, heat was radiating off her forehead.
Is she actually sick? Her face looks rather red too.
"I planned to organize the books at the branch today and go over everything with you, Lady Jegal, but if it's too much, I'll manage with Lady Hayeon alone."
Take a sick day if you're unwell. Though since I don't pay wages, I suppose it would technically be an unpaid one.
At least it beats being a salaried worker at some fine upstanding company—slaving through every summer while all the higher-ups took their vacations, shouldering the entire workload alone, writing novels on the side with no sleep to spare, and then, when you finally tried to take the leave you'd earned, getting scolded that the rainy season had already passed and the summer vacation window had closed, so where exactly did you plan to go? Resolve to actually go next year—yeah, I'm better off than that guy.
"Um..."
Perhaps moved by the concept of an unpaid sick day, Jegal Hyang looked up at me with a slightly tearful expression and spoke.
"Yes?"
"I-it's just that Master Kang, without me... n-no, that's not what I meaaan."
What a devastated expression.
Don't tell me—is she the type who gets hurt being told to rest because the company runs fine without her?!
"I need you, Lady Jegal. I simply have no wish whatsoever to see something as precious as Lady Jegal's health suffer."
Don't misunderstand.
I'm telling you to rest precisely because you're indispensable.
To run my work in Wuhan, I need both Jegal Hyang and Im Hayeon. I want nothing going wrong with either of them.
"Hhh... reaally?"
Only then did Jegal Hyang break into a delighted smile.
"Yes. So rest, if you're unwell."
"My body is fiiine. Master Kang, a-and this toooo!"
She seemed perfectly restored in the space of a heartbeat. Was it all a matter of mood?
With a beaming smile, Jegal Hyang held out a single book to me.
"What's this? Ah! I've been waiting for you to give it to me."
So she'd been writing in the exchange diary.
"I'm soorry for making you waaait."
"Not at all. I shall answer with the utmost care and sincerity."
Had her condition been off because she'd stayed up late finishing the exchange diary like some homework assignment over break?
After everything she suffered during the Nokcheong Escort Agency affair, Jegal Hyang deserved an exchange diary written with nothing held back.
"What do you think you're doing dawdling here when you were told to come to the carriage?!"
Just as I reached for the exchange diary, Im Hayeon flung the door open, visibly furious.
Had I dragged things out too long?
"I was having a word with Lady Jegal and lost track of time. We'll leave at once."
"What were you two even talking ab— wait. What is that in both of your hands?"
Im Hayeon's eyes shifted to the book Jegal Hyang and I were holding between us, and she asked.
"It's nothing."
If this got found out, it would be mortifying for both of us—so this had to stay secret.
Feigning perfect indifference, I slipped the book naturally into my breast.
A flawless acting performance.
The book went in smoothly and swiftly, at exactly the level of natural.
Any ordinary person would never have managed to read the title written on the cover.
"......An exchange diary?"
That is, if they were anyone other than Lim Hayeon—successor to the Shadowless Divine Thief.