The Tiger's Gaze on the Ledger
Jang Muhwi let out a soft chuckle.
Having Ma Uiryong join the guard unit had proven immensely helpful to him. The guards controlled everyone and everything that passed through the main gate, and their captain seemed to think highly of Ma Uiryong. He had assigned him specifically to main gate duty. It meant no person or cargo could slip past Ma Uiryong’s watchful eyes.
On top of that, Ma Uiryong was surprisingly quick on the uptake. He had become Jang Muhwi’s eyes and ears, monitoring the gate with diligent care. Even now, he had brought the complete list of goods scheduled to arrive today.
Of course, the list itself wasn’t classified. Eventually it would be attached as supporting material to the official reports anyway. But receiving it this quickly was entirely thanks to Ma Uiryong.
At that moment, the fragrant scent of tea tickled his nose. He turned to find Mun Uik holding a teacup and smiling warmly.
“How’s the work treating you?”
“Thanks to your guidance, I’m learning a great deal, sir.”
“Haha. What could I possibly have taught you?”
“If a man who devotes himself day and night to the merchant group has nothing to teach, that would be the truly absurd claim.”
“Enough with the flattery. Come along with me.”
“Where to…?”
When Jang Muhwi glanced at him cautiously, Mun Uik laughed.
“Can you use a blade meant for butchering oxen to kill a chicken? That simply won’t do.”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“You are the ox-blade. That pile over there is the chicken.”
What Mun Uik pointed to was the mountain of reports stacked before Jang Muhwi.
“I’m afraid I’m too slow to grasp your meaning, Secretary Mun.”
“Come along. The finest lessons are always learned in the field. Today you’ll accompany me to the site and draft reports yourself.”
“Oh, but someone like me doing such important work…”
“You’ll manage just fine.”
When Mun Uik jerked his thumb toward the door, Jang Muhwi lowered his head in quiet acceptance.
A short while later, Jang Muhwi found himself at the unloading yard with Mun Uik. This was where the real practical work of the secretaries took place.
Once the carriages arrived, the escorts and guards usually vanished. Naturally, the head escort or guard captain had to remain to verify the cargo. The secretaries responsible for operations would cross-check the manifests against the listed quantities, then record the contracts, lists, and amounts into the ledgers. Only after attaching every supporting document would a report be considered complete.
The secretaries reviewing finished reports back at headquarters only needed to scan the numbers. But here in the yard, they had to confirm the actual physical count of goods as well. In many ways, this was the true heart of the work.
Very few secretaries ever inspected the yard in person. After all, a quiet understanding with the right people could net several taels of silver per day. It was said that more than a few merchant groups had collapsed because of secretaries who falsified reports and siphoned off funds.
Mun Uik led Jang Muhwi to a table beneath a shaded awning.
“Watch closely what I do.”
“Understood.”
When Jang Muhwi rose, Mun Uik smiled again.
“No need to stand at attention. Just sit and observe.”
As the carriages began rolling in, Mun Uik stood. Once the flood started, it showed no sign of stopping. Mun Uik moved among the other secretaries with effortless skill, his eyes and hands working so swiftly he seemed to handle the labor of a hundred men alone. It was easy to see why the others respected him. In practical matters, he was flawless.
The work flowed like water. After two hours had passed, Mun Uik finally called Jang Muhwi over.
“You’ve seen enough to understand the flow, yes?”
“I believe I have a rough idea.”
“Then stand behind one of the senior secretaries and help bundle the completed reports.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jang Muhwi bowed and took position behind a senior secretary. His task was straightforward: not verifying numbers, but binding contracts, item lists, and ledgers together to form complete reports. Simple work on the surface, yet an important duty no newly arrived mid-level secretary would normally be trusted with. A single mixed document could spell disaster. Correcting such a mistake required hundreds—if not thousands—of times the original effort. That was why even organizational tasks like this were never given to newcomers.
The secretaries before him never stopped moving their eyes. They verified detailed tags on each crate against the master list, cross-checked them with contracts, then transferred everything into the ledgers. The organized materials and ledgers then came to Jang Muhwi.
Each time they did, his eyes gleamed like a tiger waiting for prey to emerge from its cave.
Jang Muhwi’s hands moved with surprising speed. He never imagined he would be using the Jang family’s Gold Thread Hand technique in a place like this. Because it was so obscure, no one recognized the movements as martial arts. The other secretaries watched in admiration, and Mun Uik gazed at him with open pride.
Naturally, this wasn’t the true skill Jang Muhwi intended to reveal. He was simply waiting for the right moment.
Rustle. Rustle.
The sound of turning pages never ceased.
Then a bell rang through the merchant complex.
Ding.
The signal for mealtime. Mun Uik broke into a wide grin and tugged Jang Muhwi along.
“Let’s stop here and fill our bellies first.”
But Jang Muhwi remained motionless, eyes narrowed as he stared at the ledger.
“What’s the matter?” Mun Uik asked, surprised by the sudden change.
“This report looks strange.”
Jang Muhwi pointed at the document. Mun Uik burst into hearty laughter.
“Haha. You can look at that later. First time doing this sort of work, isn’t it? Everyone gets tense at the beginning. Even perfectly normal reports start looking suspicious. I’ll check it myself after the meal.”
“But the numbers in the ledger don’t match…”
“Did you just say numbers? Be specific.”
Mun Uik’s eyes widened. He was extremely sensitive to figures. A single misplaced digit could cost a secretary his head. When Jang Muhwi first mentioned the ledger seemed wrong, Mun Uik had assumed a few documents were simply missing. That happened from time to time—items occasionally got mixed between crates. In those cases, they could send workers to search later. But numbers were an entirely different matter.
What puzzled him more was how Jang Muhwi had noticed the discrepancy at all. The task he’d assigned the young man was simply to bundle contracts, materials, and ledgers. Yet somehow he had checked the numbers?
It seemed impossible. Still, the matter was too sensitive to dismiss outright. At Mun Uik’s prompting, Jang Muhwi opened the ledger.
“This section here, this one, and this one as well. They don’t match the supporting materials.”
“Explain in detail.”
“Looking at the materials and contract, this should be three, not two. And here…”
Jang Muhwi pointed out each discrepancy one by one. With every example, Mun Uik’s eyes grew wider. Everything was exactly as Jang Muhwi claimed. The items weren’t particularly valuable, but the counts were subtly off.
Mun Uik immediately gathered all the secretaries. Following his orders, they began searching for the source of the error. Pages turned again and again. They worked without so much as blinking, and only after three full hours were they able to correct the ledger. The senior secretaries, Mun Uik included, even identified the root cause: moisture. Some of the numbers had been partially erased by dampness.
Had every digit vanished they would have noticed immediately. But only one or two strokes had been affected in each case. The secretaries, writing from memory and habit, had simply filled in what they expected to see.
The senior secretaries let out sighs of relief.
“It’s finished.”
“Whew… if we had let this pass…”
Mun Uik finished their thought.
“Our necks and mine would have been hanging by a thread. And we would have spent the next half-month trapped here trying to fix it.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Then, as if remembering something, they all turned at once. Their gazes landed on Jang Muhwi, who was smiling awkwardly.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?”
“Haha.”
Mun Uik laughed brightly, and the other secretaries quickly chimed in.
“Where on earth did you find such a treasure?”
“I suppose I was simply lucky.”
“Could I borrow him for a few days? I’ll treat him to a proper feast, Secretary Mun.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
Mun Uik rejected the suggestion outright, then grabbed Jang Muhwi by the sleeve.
“We’re already late for the meal. Let’s head out.”
“We’ll join you. I’ll cover the cost of the food.”
One secretary raised his hand eagerly. He was the one who had passed the ledger and materials to Jang Muhwi. Had the error gone uncorrected, he would have suffered the worst consequences. Mun Uik grinned and nodded.
“Yes, that seems only proper etiquette.”
“Exactly right.”
The others nodded in agreement. Mun Uik led the way with a spring in his step, shoulders squared with unmistakable pride. Jang Muhwi followed behind, smiling awkwardly. The expression carried genuine warmth.
The reason he had been able to shine like this was entirely due to the Haomin Sect’s assistance. While they couldn’t freely infiltrate the inner workings of the Jangryong Merchant Group, they could manipulate external ledgers and contracts as easily as kneading dough. Jang Muhwi had anticipated this and made the request. This entire performance had been a grand opera staged by the Haomin Sect and himself.
Surely this would draw the attention he sought.
A few days later, Jang Muhwi sat across from Ma Uiryong with a grave expression.
“Any suspicious movements?”
“I’ve reported everything I saw.”
“It still feels like something is missing…”
Jang Muhwi rested his chin on his hand, sinking deep into thought.
Since the incident, he had been treated like a hero among the secretaries. Mun Uik had even moved his seat directly beside his own. His standing had risen considerably, yet the door to the secret office he was truly waiting for remained firmly closed. Their reaction was slower than he had anticipated.
He had already located the office in question, of course. But he couldn’t simply barge in. If he investigated using the authority of the Murim Alliance only to find nothing, the backlash would be severe. More importantly, the true masterminds would likely cut off the tail and flee at the first sign of danger.
Across from him, Ma Uiryong was also resting his chin on his hand. It had become an unconscious habit. At some point the man had begun mimicking Jang Muhwi’s posture without realizing it. Even so, he never forgot to bite into the sweets and skewers before him. His tastes seemed to have changed after joining the guard unit—he now had an insatiable craving for anything sweet.
“Stop eating for a moment and think.”
“Don’t you know the saying that the brain works better once something sweet is in your stomach?”
Just then—
Clap!
Ma Uiryong slapped his palms together as if a thought had struck him.
“Now that you mention it, there are some suspicious fellows. How should I describe them… their clothing was different from the regular secretaries. Even our guard captain treats them with extra respect. Or rather, he seems almost afraid of them. So…”
The sweets and skewers appeared to have done their job. The secretaries who wore black scholar’s hats were apparently executives. They were men Jang Muhwi himself had never seen.
After listening to the description, Jang Muhwi instinctively sensed that the time to leap into the wolf’s den was rapidly approaching.