The Grace Contract
It was the hour before dawn, when the sky had not yet lightened.
The carriage leaving the Henan Branch cut through the darkness as it raced toward Kaifeng.
Inside rode only Namgung Cheon, Namgung Rin, and the Branch Master, Namgung Seon.
Ma Daesan, master of the escort bureau, had been left behind, bound tight in the branch's stone chamber.
The Taeju Merchant Troupe, is it.
Namgung Cheon gazed out the window, lost in thought.
The moment the Taeju Merchant Troupe's name had been spoken, Ma Daesan had trembled like a leaf, paralyzed with fear. If a man of the Cheonli Escort Bureau's stature could be terrified to that degree, it meant something.
This is no ordinary matter.
Namgung Cheon turned his head and looked at Namgung Rin.
"Do you know anything about the Taeju Merchant Troupe?"
At his question, Namgung Rin nodded.
"Not a great deal, but they're so famous that it's impossible not to know them."
She straightened her posture and began to explain.
"The Taeju Merchant Troupe is a massive trading house that has taken root in Henan for over a hundred years. On the surface they deal in ordinary goods, but in truth, it would be no exaggeration to say they hold half of Henan's commerce in their grasp."
Her voice dropped lower.
"What matters more is that they belong to the Merchant Dao Heavens. And not just on the roster, the way other trading houses are — they're members of the Council of Seven Merchants, the Merchant Dao Heavens' supreme governing body."
The Council of Seven Merchants.
The seven great trading houses that moved the Merchant Dao Heavens. Men said the seven of them gripped the money veins of the world itself and shook them at will.
And yet such giants had staged a fraud against nothing more than a single regional branch.
Something doesn't add up.
Namgung Cheon narrowed his eyes.
A trading house belonging to the Council of Seven Merchants, running a con against one mere branch — and over pocket change, at that?
Not to mention it's the kind of thing that could earn them the Namgung Clan's enmity.
It didn't fit together, front to back.
And so—
"This isn't a simple matter of money."
At his words, Namgung Rin nodded as well.
"That's what I think too. If they're careless, it could make an enemy of the Namgung Clan. There has to be some other scheme behind it."
She continued.
"Which means pressing them for answers will get us nowhere — they'll simply play ignorant. Ma Daesan will claim he acted alone, and they'll cut their tail off and be done with it."
She was exactly right.
There was not a shred of evidence that the Taeju Merchant Troupe had put Ma Daesan up to it. Only his testimony. And even that testimony could be dismissed with a shrug the moment the Taeju Merchant Troupe chose to.
This won't be easy.
Namgung Cheon folded his arms.
Accusing them of fraud with no evidence was a guaranteed loss.
In that case...
His eyes cooled and settled.
Their opponent was a massive trading house — men who would betray their own principles for the sake of profit. If they simply demanded their money back, it would only sharpen the other side's wariness.
But if, instead, we say we want to reinvest so we can recoup our losses...
Namgung Cheon spoke.
"Merchants chase profit. When they find someone weaker or more foolish than themselves, they exploit them to the bone."
"Exactly."
"Then we simply become the prey they're looking for."
Namgung Rin's eyes sparkled with interest.
"What are you planning?"
"We set a trap."
Namgung Cheon's gaze sharpened.
"We have to make them bare their tails on their own. And to do that..."
He looked back and forth between Namgung Rin and Namgung Seon.
"We must appear to know nothing at all."
"Ah! To lower their guard?"
"Yes. So we have to look like men who believe the escort run failed, who came here clutching at straws in desperation."
Namgung Cheon turned his gaze back to the window. The gates of Kaifeng were drawing steadily closer.
"We'll need a little preparation."
"What kind of preparation?"
At Namgung Rin's question, Namgung Cheon answered softly, eyes still on the scenery outside.
"When you hunt a beast that's grown too wary..."
His eyes flashed.
"The first thing you do is cover the smell of blood soaked into your hide. So we cover it."
So that they would look like poor, pitiful prey, wandering lost with nowhere else to turn.
The carriage passed through Kaifeng's gates and came to a halt in a secluded alley.
"We go on foot from here to the Taeju Merchant Troupe. Before that, I need a moment to prepare, so please wait in the carriage."
Having said this, Namgung Cheon slipped away, and roughly half a shichen later he returned carrying a battered bamboo hat and a length of worn cloth.
He wound the cloth round and round Changcheon and Mukhon, and in an instant the two treasured swords transformed into a pair of shoddy, forgettable iron blades.
Namgung Cheon handed the cloth-wrapped Changcheon to Namgung Rin.
"You'll be playing my bodyguard, so carry this."
Then he had her wrap Cheonwolhyeon as well in a ragged cloth and sling it across her back like luggage.
Namgung Seon alone still wore his Branch Master's robes — but he had no need of a disguise at all. The gauntness that worry had carved into his face and the restless anxiety in his eyes were the most perfect camouflage he could have asked for.
"Let's go."
At Namgung Cheon's word, the party set out on foot toward the Taeju Merchant Troupe.
After walking for about half a shichen—
"...Quite the imposing place."
The Taeju Merchant Troupe came into view.
Standing on the most prosperous street in all of Kaifeng, the trading house's compound was grander and more dazzling than most government offices. Dozens of halls rose behind its high walls, and the great gate was choked without pause by a constant tide of freight carts and merchants coming and going.
Standing before the main gate, Namgung Cheon sent a whispered transmission to Namgung Seon.
Say only what I tell you to say. Do not hide your emotions — let them show.
Namgung Seon swallowed dryly and nodded. He drew one long, deep breath and approached the main gate.
At once, the guards at the entrance stepped forward and spoke.
"Stop there a moment. What business brings you here?"
Namgung Seon stepped forward.
"I am Namgung Seon, Branch Master of the Namgung Clan's Henan Branch. I've come to see the Grand Manager."
"...The Namgung Clan?"
The guard tilted his head in puzzlement. The Henan Branch Master of the Namgung Clan, coming to see the Grand Manager?
Then Namgung Seon pressed on.
"...If not him, then the Manager will do. Let us in, at the very least."
"P-please wait just a moment."
The guard hurried inside to deliver a message, and before long a middle-aged man in immaculate silk robes emerged.
"I am Wang Jin, Manager of the Taeju Merchant Troupe. Branch Master, to what do we owe this unexpected honor?"
Namgung Seon answered with a note of barely restrained urgency.
"I've come to discuss a matter of grave importance. See me to the Grand Manager."
"If this concerns the escort run, we've already heard. A sorry turn of events, truly. But our own troupe suffered grievous losses as well..."
Even as he expressed sympathy, Wang Jin was drawing a careful line.
"It would be difficult to grant you an audience at present. The Grand Manager's temper is rather strained over this affair."
A polite refusal. Left as it stood, they would be turned away empty-handed.
At that moment, Namgung Cheon's whispered transmission struck Namgung Seon's ear.
Say you must cover the losses, and that you have funds you can quietly draw on without the main family knowing.
Namgung Seon swallowed dryly and opened his mouth.
"Manager, you know my circumstances are desperate."
Genuine desperation bled through his voice.
"I have to cover those losses somehow. Fortunately, I still have funds left that I can draw upon. A considerable sum."
"Funds, you say?"
Wang Jin's eyebrows twitched.
"Money I secured without the main family's knowledge. So please... give me a chance to win back what was lost."
At those words, the light in Wang Jin's eyes changed. The Branch Master they'd assumed was a breath away from ruin still had money tucked away — and funds hidden from his own clan, at that...
"Hmm."
Wang Jin deliberated a moment, then lowered his voice.
"If that's truly how it is, I'll speak to the Grand Manager on your behalf. Please wait just a moment."
Wang Jin disappeared inside, and when he returned a short while later, his expression was distinctly brighter.
"Come this way. The Grand Manager will see you."
"Hah — thank goodness."
Namgung Seon swept a hand across his chest in relief.
Following Wang Jin's lead into the compound, they passed ornate gardens and magnificent halls. But Namgung Cheon did not miss what lay hidden beneath the splendor.
Formations, naturally — and martial artists stationed in outright excessive numbers.
Several among them had even reached the Peak Realm.
Far too heavily fortified for a mere trading house.
Beneath his bamboo hat, Namgung Cheon's eyes narrowed to slits.
He was surveying their surroundings with that thought when—
"We're here."
The room they were shown into was a receiving chamber built as a sealed inner room, cut off entirely from the outside world.
"Wait here just a moment and he'll be with you shortly. Then, if you'll excuse me."
Wang Jin vanished with only a brief greeting, and the party sat quietly in the receiving chamber, waiting for the Grand Manager.
But—
It's been a good half shichen by now.
The Grand Manager did not come.
Hah.
A dry laugh escaped Namgung Cheon. The reason for making them wait this long was obvious.
They want to make it unmistakably clear which side holds the upper hand.
Just then—
Click.
The door opened, and an elderly man entered the chamber.
"Ah, my sincere apologies for keeping you waiting."
Sharp eyes set in a stern, forbidding face.
"I am Jo Jageon, Grand Manager of the Taeju Merchant Troupe."
Jo Jageon offered a courteous fist-and-palm salute, then settled naturally into the seat of honor and came straight to the point.
"I've heard the story from Manager Wang. You wish to invest."
Namgung Seon swallowed hard and replied.
"That's right. It's everything I have riding on this. So this time, it has to work — no mistakes."
"Have no fear. This time there will be no missteps. Hah, we should never have dealt with a rootless outfit like the Cheonli Escort Bureau in the first place. My deepest apologies."
Jo Jageon clicked his tongue and shook his head, then continued.
"And so this shipment will be handled by the Dragon-Tiger Escort Bureau, Henan's finest. More than a hundred escort warriors, and a Bureau Chief who is himself a skilled martial artist from the Martial Alliance."
The Dragon-Tiger Escort Bureau — one of the most prestigious escort agencies in Henan. If they were handling it, it would certainly seem trustworthy.
But Namgung Cheon read it differently.
Meaning the Dragon-Tiger Escort Bureau is in league with them too.
At that moment, Jo Jageon drew a document from his robes and slid it across the table.
"Spices imported from the Western Regions — goods no one can sell without. Invest in these, and you'll easily double your principal."
Namgung Seon accepted the document with trembling hands.
Watching him from beneath the shadow of his hat, Namgung Cheon's mind raced.
If it were nothing more than a grab for money, they'd never dangle bait before prey they'd already fleeced once. Their true aim lies somewhere else entirely.
Then it struck him — something Namgung Seon had said earlier.
The Cheonli Escort Bureau affair was a joint investment, wasn't it?
Then this time, too, he would not be alone.
Having arranged his thoughts, Namgung Cheon sent his whisper at once.
Say the scale is too large — that investing alone would be a burden.
Namgung Seon swallowed dryly and spoke.
"Fine goods, to be sure... but the scale is so large that investing alone is a bit beyond me."
"Heh heh, worry not. You won't be the only investor, Branch Master."
Jo Jageon leaned forward with a secretive smile.
"In fact, this is a closely guarded matter... but others here in Henan are already participating."
Namgung Cheon's whisper followed.
Ask him who.
"And who might they be?"
"Heh heh, that I cannot say. But I will tell you only this — they are people whose circumstances resemble your own, Branch Master. That's how earnest they all are."
At those words, beneath the bamboo hat, Namgung Cheon's eyes went cold and still.
In similar circumstances, is it.
Then that would mean—
People who held positions like a branch master's, yet lost a fortune.
In that instant, a single thought surfaced in Namgung Cheon's mind.
When men of branch-master rank lost so much money that they could no longer keep their branches running, would they ever report it to their clans?
They wouldn't.
The moment they did, everything was over. The branch master's seat, their standing in the family — all of it.
So to avoid that fate, they would thrash about desperately trying to fill the hole. But how could a man left penniless manage that?
He'd have no choice but to borrow.
By the time the thought ran its course, Namgung Cheon's eyes had turned grim.
Don't tell me...
Just then, Jo Jageon set down his teacup with an expression of practiced sympathy and spoke.
"I hear that for your last investment, Branch Master, you drew upon your family's own support funds as well."
He followed it with a look of sorrowful understanding.
"But of course — to recover your principal, let alone see greater returns, you would need still more capital..."
"..."
At that pitying remark, Namgung Seon's shoulders sagged.
Taking his silence for an answer, Jo Jageon leaned forward. His voice dropped lower, softer, more intimate.
"Ordinarily, we would share this with no one... but for honored guests in circumstances such as yours, Branch Master, we have made certain arrangements."
"...And what might those be?"
A faint smile curled across Jo Jageon's lips.
"Have you... ever heard of the Grace-Debt Contract?"
The Heavenly Demon of Namgung
Author | Baek Rihaeng
Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Managing Editor | Editorial Department
Published by | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — Dream Books
Address | 7F, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
ISBN | 979-11-7306-734-1
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