The Favor - 7

"Why would the Imperial Inspector suddenly want to meet me?"

Advice you let slip past you over the course of a lifetime has a way of proving useful in the unlikeliest of places. I smiled at Jeon Gilsan, who was staring at me in bewilderment.

"I got some advice from your grandfather once."

"From my grandfather? What kind?"

"How to solve a money problem."

There was a method the Mangeum Lord would approve of — and one I didn't mind using myself.

"I never dreamed Hongran harbored such feelings for me..."

When I told the Imperial Inspector everything I had seen and heard at Hyewol Pavilion, he was so stunned he could barely string his words together.

"She seemed ready to say that if she couldn't live for you, Your Excellency, there was no reason left to live at all."

"My plan was to buy out her registry first, and then become her guardian..."

"I'm sorry — you planned to redeem her contract and then simply let her go?"

He'd meant to pay that exorbitant sum and give her nothing but her freedom?

"How could I ever try to buy a woman's heart with money? If Hongran found a man who truly captured her heart, I intended to marry her off to him."

Jeong Munwon shook his head with a bitter smile.

I needed sunglasses. The glare was blinding. So that's the level of saintliness required to look after that little hellion without feeling a shred of guilt.

"Since the fault lies with both of them, the offer is this: pay three times the original redemption fee, or take back the money you left in their keeping. That's the proposal I brought back from the Gi-ru."

"The terms have improved considerably, considering how nothing I said could move them before. You uncovered the whole situation and worked hard on my behalf. Truly."

The Imperial Inspector Jeong Munwon bowed his head in gratitude to me — a mere black-haired foreigner.

"It's all in service of you, Your Excellency. So what will you do?"

Are you going to take the money back and cut Hongran loose? Or pay three times over? Three times the redemption fee was a genuinely enormous sum, so I asked just in case.

"To me, Hongran was like the little sister I left behind in my hometown. But if I dwell in Hongran's heart as a man, then as a man, I must answer in kind."

There wasn't a trace of hesitation in the Inspector's eyes as he looked at me.

"I knew you'd say that."

His answer was so refreshingly decisive that I couldn't help laughing.

"Forgive me. I know your concern for me and for the country is sincere. But even before you came to my aid, Hongran was already at my side. How could I pretend not to know her heart?"

No, no. I was just trying to get your money back.

"Of course. The Inspector I believe in would never do otherwise."

It was well within the range of expected answers anyway.

When I smiled and sent the Inspector a look of deep trust, Jeong Munwon stared back at me as if momentarily at a loss for words.

"...It pains me to say this to someone who trusts me so completely, but — do you, do you happen to have any money?"

I saw that coming too. Your face is about to burst into flames. Don't be so embarrassed. I never intended to lend you money anyway — I have something else in mind.

"Actually, there's a proposal I'd like to make to you regarding this matter."

I had confirmed where the Inspector's resolve lay.

"A proposal?"

"A way to save Hongran. Though it may be somewhat distasteful to you, Your Excellency."

"Tell me."

"Well, the thing is..."

A method the Inspector would find distasteful — yet one that was certain, and would leave his good name untouched. I laid out the plan I had devised.

"...Must we truly go that far?"

"What matters most to you right now?"

I pressed my lips together and looked Jeong Munwon squarely in the eye.

No matter how brilliant a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scheme may be, if it doesn't sit well with the heart of the one choosing it, it must be discarded. That was why I asked.

What are your priorities? What do you most want to protect, right now?

"...Very well. Do as you see fit."

Even for the great Imperial Inspector Jeong Munwon, the most important thing in this moment — this very instant — was the woman who had loved him, and their child.

A method the Inspector balked at. A method both certain and unstaining to his name — turned out to be surprisingly simple.

"Seal every exit! Not a single one of them escapes!"

We're just carrying out lawful official duties, that's all.

Merely exercising public authority — with a slightly private motive mixed in.

Broad daylight at Hyewol Pavilion. Countless bailiffs and constables, myself among them, and Wu Podu commanding them all — we stormed the establishment.

"Master Wu? Bailiffs and constables too? What brings you here?"

"A report of criminal activity at Hyewol Pavilion came in, and the magistrate's office has responded!"

"Ahaha! Master Wu, you work too hard. Might I have a word over here?"

The manager of Hyewol Pavilion grabbed Wu Podu's sleeve as if this sort of thing were just another Tuesday.

"Ahem."

Master Wu. Why are you glancing at me like that? I'm the one leading the bailiffs. You have a job to do today.

I ended up following Wu Podu off to one corner.

"Master Wu, there seems to have been a terrible misunderstanding about that moonshine business. We knew nothing about it, and we've been buying from a different distillery ever since."

The manager rubbed his palms together and bobbed his head repeatedly, like a man swatting flies.

"You know exactly what wrong you've done, don't you."

"Of course we do! Now then — why don't you and the hardworking bailiffs here enjoy a drink on the house? Or better yet, shall we ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arrange some private accommodations here at Hyewol Pavilion?"

"Heavens! None of that!"

Wu Podu recoiled in horror as the bribe tried to burrow into his sleeve.

"Why ever not! When have we ever treated you poorly?"

"When did I ever say that! If— if anyone sees this, they'll get the wrong idea!"

Wu Podu looked at me and protested his innocence for his very life.

Bailiff wages are notoriously thin, I understand. Though judging by your reaction, you must normally partake quite generously.

"Master Wu?"

"Bah! Enough! Arrest every last employee of Hyewol Pavilion!"

Wu Podu bellowed like a cornered beast.

"What— what is the meaning of this? Where in all the world is it written that buying a little moonshine earns treatment like this!"

Fair point. Hyewol Pavilion hadn't brewed the illicit liquor — they'd merely purchased it. Under normal circumstances, the punishment would have been light.

It was rather like how someone who pirates and distributes a film gets punished severely, while someone who merely watched it doesn't.

But here's the thing. Today is a very different case.

Why else would one of only two Head Constables in all of Wuhan show up in person?

"The moonshine distiller bribed a manager."

I explained to the Hyewol people the reason for today's visit.

"I'm sorry?"

"That manager bribed other managers, and those managers bribed still more, and together they've been devouring the state's tax revenue."

"But— but what does that have to do with us..."

"The distiller's ledger of corruption contains evidence that your Hyewol Pavilion financed the operation! Since no one knows how far the web extends, the order is to arrest everyone!"

Balbon Saegwon — pull up the roots, dam the source.

I had hesitated only because I was too honest a public servant. For an Imperial Inspector vested with sweeping authority to audit and indict corrupt officials, it was an almost laughably easy thing to do.

"You heard him! Arrest them all!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Aaagh!"

"I— I'm just a serving girl!"

"Spare me, please!"

"What in the world..."

What else? The sweet taste of public authority.

"Bailiff Kang. The Hyewollu Owner is waiting to be interrogated."

At the Wuhan magistrate's office, everyone connected to Hyewol Pavilion had been bound and hauled in — the Hyewollu Owner among them.

"Master Wu. Thank you."

I offered my thanks to Wu Podu, who over the past few days had swept up everyone from the moonshine distiller on down.

"Ahem. Bailiff Kang. About that..."

Wu Podu seized both my shoulders roughly, then carefully lifted me up from my bowed position.

"Yes?"

Why are you looking at me so tensely?

"I— I may have recently accepted a few gifts without thinking. I just— I never imagined they meant anything like..."

Oh, is that all.

"Ahaha, whatever do you mean? Once today's business is done, I'm certain the Imperial Inspector himself will be grateful for your hard work, Master Wu."

I'll put in a good word for you. There — said delicately.

"You will? Hah! That's our famous bailiff for you! I truly don't know how we produced a bailiff like you! Once you go in, I'll clear everyone out and leave you two alone."

"Thank you."

Bailiffs taking bribes because their pay is meager — that's as old as the profession itself. If it weren't for Hongran, I wouldn't have touched the petty corruption of low-level clerks either.

There was no need to mention that while accepting gratitude.

"I'm counting on you. You're the only one I trust. Truly."

You don't need to grip my shoulders and stare so earnestly — I already know.

Only after reassuring Wu Podu, again and again, was I finally able to enter the interrogation room where the Hyewollu Owner waited.

"You're a difficult man to get an audience with."

The Hyewollu Owner was a gaunt man in his fifties with a scraggly goat beard.

"Really, is this how you do things?"

The moment he saw my hair color, he knew exactly who I was, and he fixed me with a hard glare.

"Haha. Whatever do you mean?"

"I'd sooner have sold the whole Gi-ru than hand Hongran over to the likes of you."

The Hyewollu Owner spat the words at me, making it abundantly clear he knew precisely why he was sitting in this room.

"You are here because of criminal activity, Owner. Kindly refrain from speculation."

"A matter that should have cost me a few strokes of the cane and a fine has landed me in a cell — forgive me if I speculate!"

The Hyewollu Owner's voice rose with indignation.

"It's a misunderstanding."

"The wrongdoing was Hongran's and the Inspector's. I merely quoted a fair price. And this is what I get in return."

The Hyewollu Owner snorted as if the whole thing were beneath contempt.

Right. The two of them did do wrong — that part's true. But here's the thing. This situation, right now? This one's on you.

Hands clasped behind my back, I began to circle him, wearing a look of amused contempt.

"My original plan was to sell at twice the redemption fee. But the Inspector came back with the money so quickly that my greed got the better of me. And as I pondered, a brilliant idea came to me — one that might just help with Hyewol Pavilion's struggling business these days."

Where exactly are you playing the victim from?

"Wh— what are you talking about?"

"Squeeze every coin the Inspector can produce, then declare it still isn't enough. Even if he brought four times the fee, I'd have demanded eight. And then, the moment Hongran gave birth, I'd have sold her off to another Gi-ru to raise the funds."

From the very beginning, the Hyewollu Owner had never intended to hand Hongran over to the Inspector at all.

Desperate to salvage Hyewol Pavilion's failing finances, he had bought moonshine, watered down his liquor, and set out to bleed money from the two fools who'd caused him trouble.

"How could you possibly know that?"

The Hyewollu Owner's eyes went wide.

"Who do you think is standing in front of you?"

"Bailiff Kang Yunho..."

The man who had solved countless murder cases shrouded in mystery, repelled the Shadowless Divine Thief's infiltration, and come within a hair's breadth of capturing the legendary phantom himself.

Did he really think a man who enjoyed the boundless trust of an Imperial Inspector couldn't deduce this much?

Though in truth, it was the Owner's own lackeys who spilled everything.

He really ought to manage his people better. They came into the interrogation room chattering away before I'd even prepared the branding iron — made my job remarkably easy.

"When Hyewol Pavilion's crimes come to light, your liquor license will be confiscated."

A juhaeng — in plain terms, a license to sell alcohol.

"That's absurd! Confiscate the juhaeng? You're telling me I can't do business at all!"

"This bribery case is one the Imperial Inspector is personally overseeing. Everyone involved will receive due punishment, and Hyewol Pavilion will not escape sanction."

"This is tyranny! Losing the juhaeng over a little purchased moonshine! The punishment far exceeds the crime!"

I stopped walking, right in front of the indignant Owner.

I wiped the smile from my lips and let my face harden. Not as Kang Yunho facing the Hyewollu Owner — but as a bailiff facing a criminal.

"What's this? You claim you're the wronged party — but the Inspector wasn't, I suppose?"

"..."

The punishment far exceeded the crime, didn't it. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Taste a little of your own medicine, you bastard.

"Think it over while your head cools. Then we'll talk again."

The Hyewollu Owner was thrown into a cell.

Chew on it well — the crime of toying with the great Imperial Inspector Jeong Munwon. And then we'll talk again.

How long would it take for him to come begging for that conversation? Not even a full day passed before someone came looking for me at the residence.

"The Gi-mun Hyangju requests your presence."

"Tell her I'll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠call on her this evening."

"Hoooooo."

Beyond a haze of pipe smoke, a gaze fixed on me — the gaze of a grandmother agonizing over what to do with her troublesome grandson.

"I ought to visit simply to pay my respects more often, yet I only ever seem to appear when it's someone else's business. I'm ashamed of it."

I greeted the Gi-mun Hyangju wearing the expression of a man who knew he had no right to a smiling face.

"Was my last offer not to your liking?"

"It was. I thought it a very reasonable offer."

"Then why..."

Why do you keep making one mess after another? The Hyangju's reproachful eyes bore into me.

"Because I didn't want to accept the offer. I wanted to do something else."

"Something else?"

"The Hyewollu Owner took the Inspector's most precious thing hostage and shook him down. He shook him down only a little, and I'm expected to nod and say thank you? That doesn't sit well with my temperament."

To be fair, the fault in this affair lay with the Inspector and Hongran. That was why I, too, had thought three times the redemption fee a fair price.

But here's the thing. When I thought it over again, the arithmetic felt wrong somehow.

"So you escalated the matter yourself?"

It was just like the paper mill affair.

When your opponent holds your most precious thing hostage, you have no choice but to follow their script. You have no choice but to beg for mercy and plead for a discount.

Why, though?

Because they're holding what's precious to me hostage.

Why must I unconditionally accept the other side's proposal? Why am I the one currying favor? How do I actually resolve this?

The answer lay in the advice the Mangeum Lord had once given me.

— Find what the other party treasures more than money.

Just because your opponent is clutching something precious of yours doesn't mean you must dance to their tune.

Hadn't I already received that advice? Didn't I already know the method Jang Noya had once used on me?

The very method the Mangeum Lord had used on me.

"Only when both sides hold something precious hostage is a negotiation truly ready to begin — wouldn't you say?"

To seat your opponent at the negotiating table, all you had to do was take the hostage-taker's most precious thing hostage yourself. And then—

It was my turn.