The Poisoned Patriarch
I had been poring over the ledgers for hours now, scribbling notes as I went. “Ugh… It’s been a while since I’ve done this crap, huh?”
What I was organizing were the entry and exit slips. Back when I was the newest hire at the company, I used to count every single item while cursing under my breath in every corner of the warehouse. Never thought I’d be doing the same thing again in this world.
“Still, this is much better. Nothing beats a modern system.”
The bookkeeping methods in this world were completely wrong. Even though Chogabo was supposedly part of the Ten Great Merchant Groups of the continent, their records were no different. They were just scribbled haphazardly on paper, with numbers written in messy Chinese characters that looked like chicken scratches. Reading them was an absolute pain.
To the eyes of a five-year veteran corporate slave from a highly modernized workplace, it was downright pathetic.
“This is exactly what spreadsheets were made for.”
I drew neat columns and rows, then began filling them in like some old man pounding on an abacus. The sole reason I was putting myself through this torture was simple.
“There has to be a reason behind it. Definitely~~”
The original novel was trash, sure, but the world inside this story wasn’t one where events happened without any context. If you ate, you got full. If you slept, your fatigue disappeared. It was a place where countless causal relationships interlocked like reality itself.
Therefore, every result had to have a cause. I had judged that this was my chance to determine whether I could change the fate of Choun-seong—the villain who would grow up to massacre countless people. That was why I was suffering like this.
“I’m definitely going to change it.”
Grinding my teeth, I flipped through the ledgers again and again. I stayed up all night, and by the time the sky outside the window began to brighten and the chirping of sparrows slipped through the cracks in the door—
“Found it.”
Rubbing my bloodshot, exhausted eyes, I smiled.
Cheonryong Chronicle has been updated.
* * *
“I didn’t expect you to ask to see me again so soon.”
This was a son who had never come to visit me before. For that same child to seek me out again after only a single day was surprising. Cho Ja-hyeok thought so, but he didn’t attach any deeper meaning to it.
Not until Choun-seong spoke.
“Your complexion doesn’t look good.”
To hear his own son say his complexion looked poor. Cho Ja-hyeok let out a dry chuckle, utterly dumbfounded.
“It seems yesterday’s events shocked you quite a bit. Seeing you act so meekly… But there will be no reversal of my decision.”
Even in the face of those cold words, Choun-seong’s expression remained calm. He nodded as if he had expected it, then casually tossed out another remark.
“Your complexion is poor, and there’s a bluish tint to it.”
“My complexion is not poor, nor is there any bluish tint.”
As he said, Cho Ja-hyeok’s face didn’t appear particularly bad. But Choun-seong only grinned wider.
“Are you suppressing the poisoning?”
“You dare speak of poison to your own father?”
Cho Ja-hyeok exploded in anger, but Choun-seong continued speaking with perfect composure.
“Sanja-go and daeguk can become medicine when used properly.”
“You little…”
“However, if you’ve gone so far as to use sulfur and buchak, doesn’t that mean the situation is quite serious?”
Cho Ja-hyeok’s gaze visibly wavered. With a triumphant smile, Choun-seong pressed on.
“Since when has it been happening?”
“You bastard… How much do you know?”
“I learned about it yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
“The way you suddenly brought up the elders’ meeting felt suspicious. So I looked into a few things and confirmed that some unusual medicinal herbs had been reported at Hoeui Hall.”
In truth, he had simply read the Cheonryong Chronicle and checked the herbs based on a hunch, but Choun-seong deliberately exaggerated the story. After all, if you wanted praise, you had to act like you accomplished ten things even if you only did one. It was a basic survival skill for any modern salaryman.
Only after looking at the neatly written characters on the paper Choun-seong handed over did Cho Ja-hyeok let out a heavy sigh.
“So you weren’t completely certain about the poisoning?”
“No. I simply thought something unusual was going on and took a guess. Looks like I was right.”
In reality, it had been half a gamble. All he had found was a list of unusual medicinal ingredients and poisonous herbs. He hadn’t known exactly what they had been purchased for.
But Cho Ja-hyeok’s current reaction was telling him that his guess had been correct.
When Choun-seong smiled softly, Cho Ja-hyeok clicked his tongue.
“Hah… I’ve grown soft. To think I’d confess just because you made a lucky guess.”
Soon after, Cho Ja-hyeok slowly nodded.
“You’re right. It’s exactly as you guessed.”
Choun-seong secretly clenched his fist.
So that’s how it is.
Something had felt off. Neither in the Cheonryong Chronicle: Omniscient Scoundrel Choun-seong’s Perspective nor in the original novel had Cho Ja-hyeok ever appeared. Even though there had clearly been an attempt to poison the eldest son, the family head was never mentioned. When you thought about it, it was strange.
It wasn’t that he took no action. He simply couldn’t take any action.
By the time the incident occurred, Cho Ja-hyeok would already have left this world. Once he considered the possibility of poisoning, everything fell into place.
He had wondered why the man who built Chogabo into one of the Ten Great Merchant Groups had stepped down so early and handed the family business to the eldest son, only to disappear from the story.
He must have either lost his life or become unable to appear anymore.
As expected, Cho Ja-hyeok’s explanation was no different.
“As you guessed, the poison has already spread deeply through my body.”
“Was this diagnosed by the Lord of Hoeui Hall?”
Cho Ja-hyeok nodded readily.
“That’s correct. However, they couldn’t even properly identify the type of poison.”
“Did you not look for other methods?”
“Of course I did. But I couldn’t find anyone capable of curing this poison.”
Indeed, it was hard to believe that Cho Ja-hyeok—the head of Chogabo, who possessed immense wealth—would have taken no measures at all. He continued speaking with a hint of lament in his voice.
“Rather than making a fuss about living when there’s no hope, I decided it would be better to finish all my preparations and depart at the time heaven has decreed.”
It was an incredibly cold statement.
To even include his own death in his plans… He really is a ruthless man.
It was probably because of this personality that he had been able to raise Chogabo into such a massive force.
Which means I absolutely have to save him.
The more capable his father was, the higher the chances of surviving the bloody storm that would soon sweep through the family.
Fortunately, it wasn’t completely hopeless.
“In that case…”
The board had been set exactly as he wanted. Now it was time to go all-in and aim for a reversal. He had to bet his own fate as the stakes.
“Would you listen to what I have to say?”
* * *
As soon as dawn broke, Choun-seong headed toward the outer courtyard. The servants’ whispers grew louder as they watched him go.
“Wait, wasn’t the youngest young master supposed to be under house arrest?”
“I heard the patriarch suddenly lifted the punishment and gave him a mission.”
“To that rotten rascal? The heavens must be playing tricks on us.”
Go ahead and gossip all you want, you idiots.
For now he had to leave while minding his image, but he had no idea how their evaluation of him would change by the time he returned.
More than anything, Choun-seong was extremely pleased with the current situation.
“Now I can do whatever I want.”
He no longer had to watch his every move. He could train in martial arts without worrying about prying eyes.
He was humming a cheerful tune when Yeom Choong came running over in a hurry.
“Young master, you’ve come out?”
“Yeah. I assume you’ve heard?”
“I’ve prepared the finest carriage.”
Cho Ja-hyeok had kindly taken immediate action.
“Do as you wish.”
It was an incredibly generous measure. He had even granted permission to use the family’s resources however he saw fit in order to achieve his goal.
The level of support was on a completely different scale from what he had expected. Even the carriage prepared for him was far beyond his imagination.
“This is seriously awesome.”
“The patriarch’s message was to serve you with the utmost comfort.”
“Right. You’re not going to betray me this time, are you?”
“Ah, come on…”
When Choun-seong mentioned the time he had been dragged off by Choun-hak and Seomun Seol, Yeom Choong’s voice grew smaller. The giant man bowed his head awkwardly and added,
“That time… I was a bit… Anyway, such a thing will not happen again.”
“Everyone says that.”
“Young master!”
Watching Yeom Choong yelp in protest, Choun-seong burst into laughter.
“By the way, are you coming with me?”
When he asked the burly man who was carrying a huge load, the answer came back as if it were obvious.
“Butler Baek instructed me to guard your safety, young master.”
“Hmph. Do you even have the skill to protect anyone?”
When Choun-seong kept provoking him, Yeom Choong added with wounded pride,
“Despite how I look, I am a recognized expert among the escorts.”
“Oh, I’m sure. Why don’t you go fight that dog passing by over there and we’ll see who wins.”
“Young master, seriously…”
After watching Yeom Choong look up at the sky, down at the ground, and sigh about five times, Choun-seong laughed inwardly.
From what he had seen so far, the man was surprisingly timid for his size, but he seemed to possess strong loyalty and real skill.
He appears to be fairly well-regarded even among the head escorts. Having him as a bodyguard should be reassuring.
Aside from the occasional urge to smack him, he was a decent escort. Besides, thanks to his utterly ruined reputation, there were almost no other people willing to follow him anyway.
“Fine. I permit you to follow me.”
“Hehe. Please take good care of me.”
Just then, the physicians from Hoeui Hall were approaching from afar.
This was the moment he would take his first step into the wider world.
* * *
The news that Choun-seong had left Chogabo riding in a luxurious carriage also reached Choun-hak.
“What? Father lifted his house arrest?”
Choun-hak was bewildered by the sudden report brought by his second brother.
His younger brother had never once stepped outside the influence of Chogabo in his entire life.
“What sudden whim made him decide to go out?”
“Elder brother, shouldn’t we stop him?”
“It is Father’s decision.”
“Even now, if we go to Father and explain…”
“Enough!”
He stopped his brother with a single word, but Choun-hak himself was also suspicious.
I can’t understand it. What could Father be thinking, giving the family seal to that reckless thunderbolt of a boy?
As he fell into thought, his fiancée Seomun Seol, who was sitting beside him, tilted her head.
“The patriarch must have some intention behind it, don’t you think?”
“That must be the case. He is not the kind of person to act without purpose. However, I cannot fathom what that purpose might be.”
As the young head of Chogabo, whose fame in the merchant world was well-known, he had always been able to see through everything as if it were written on his palm. The fact that he hadn’t even known what was happening inside his own family left him utterly flustered.
Gwak Won, the Three Zen Swords, who had been listening to their conversation, suddenly spoke up.
“If it’s alright with you, I could look into it.”
“There is no need. This is not something we should trouble a guest with.”
“We are in the middle of preparing for the engagement ceremony. We cannot burden you with unpleasant matters.”
At those words, Choun-hak and Seomun Seol looked at each other and blushed.
Seeing them like that, Gwak Won laughed heartily.
“Haha. Just looking at the two of you makes my stomach twist, so please forgive me for not being able to stay still.”
“Even you are teasing us now?”
“I will take care of this matter. While I’m at it, I’ll fix that youngest brother of yours and his terrible behavior.”
“I will go with you, brother.”
Choun-jin also volunteered, but Gwak Won shook his head.
“This is your elder brother’s wedding. How can a younger sibling leave their seat during such an important family event?”
“But that bastard Seong…”
“Tsk. That scoundrel is no brother of yours. Don’t think about anything else and leave this to me.”
At the words of Gwak Won, the Three Zen Swords, Choun-hak’s eyes gleamed.
“Understood. I’ll create a suitable justification for you soon.”