Reap What You Sow (2)
His words left me so dumbfounded that a hollow laugh escaped my lips.
What? Fifty percent off or less?
Was he out of his mind?
I turned back to the errand boy.
"Is that really true? Fifty percent off or less...?"
"I understand if you can't believe it. No merchant group in the world sells herbs at those prices. But it's true."
The errand boy declared it confidently.
"That's why people are lining up to trade with them right now."
"Fine, let's say the price is that low. Isn't the quality of the herbs poor?"
"I heard from merchant groups that traded with Namho and came back—the quality is excellent, too."
"I see."
I nodded and changed the subject.
"By the way, I heard Mi-gwa Merchant Group is the go-to for herb trades around here..."
"That's old news."
"Pardon?"
"Well... sigh. No point digging into another group's dirty laundry, so I'll stop there."
I pulled some money from my pouch and slipped it to him discreetly.
"Still, we're outsiders with limited info. Could you tell us more about the local situation?"
The errand boy glanced around, quickly pocketed the money, and spoke.
"Since you put it that way, sure."
Then he told me about Mi-gwa Merchant Group.
"About a year or two ago, rumors started that their herb quality had dropped. And sure enough, quite a few people visited to complain about the actual poor quality."
"How did Mi-gwa respond?"
"They denied it and turned people away at the door. Treated the complainers like frauds, even."
"..."
"So now they're on the brink of ruin. How can they compete when rivals sell better herbs for much cheaper?"
"Makes sense."
"Eventually, Mi-gwa started selling cheap too, but Namho undercut them even more."
I could guess why Namho was selling herbs at fifty percent off or less.
When Namho dropped prices, Mi-gwa went lower. Namho went even lower still.
That much I understood.
Price wars weren't unheard of.
And the winner of a bleeding competition was obvious: the one with deeper pockets.
What I couldn't understand was the drop in Mi-gwa's herb quality.
Not once had the herbs from Mi-gwa ever been subpar.
Mi-gwa always delivered top-quality goods.
Uncle Dang wouldn't sell bad herbs.
The one who taught Uncle the merchant trade was Little Grandfather, who learned it from Eunhae Merchant Group and followed its principles to the letter.
In other words, though Eunhae and Mi-gwa were distinct groups, they shared the same roots in spirit.
Trust was paramount.
Besides, Uncle had ironclad pride—sharper than bamboo tempered in ten thousand years of cold iron.
Knowing that made the story hard to believe.
I knew Namho had played dirty and desperate, and that they'd bled profits to charge in, but not the exact trick.
I'd been busy then, and it wasn't the atmosphere to pry.
Later, asking felt like reopening a barely healed wound.
But now I thought I knew.
Not content with a price war, they'd spread malicious rumors too.
They say three people can conjure a tiger that doesn't exist.
Rumors were terrifying.
Once, Dan Clan Merchant Group spread vicious gossip, and our wooden puppets didn't sell.
Casual remarks had snowballed into disasters before.
If unintentional rumors spread that fast, a deliberate one from Namho must have taken off like wildfire.
But Mi-gwa had built trust with many partners over the years.
Even at low prices, it seemed odd they'd all turn away...
I recalled the errand boy's words.
"And sure enough, quite a few people visited to complain about the actual poor quality."
I called the boy over.
"Those merchant groups you mentioned that complained about the herb quality."
"Yes."
"Do you know exactly which ones?"
"Of course! I know them well."
"Pardon?"
"Geum Merchant Group nearby had that issue."
Geum Merchant Group... I'd look into it.
.
.
.
It was night.
I was pacing the inn's backyard.
My mind was a mess, so I walked to sort my thoughts.
The errand boy's claim was true: Mi-gwa had delivered subpar herbs to Geum Merchant Group, prompting a complaint.
I'd just sent someone to check.
The quality was indeed poor, and that incident had turned other clients away.
Rumors alone were easy to counter—bury them with better ones, like before.
But a real case made resolution far harder.
What the hell had happened?
Uncle wouldn't...
"What're you doing?"
A familiar voice came from behind. It was Brother Jeong Ho.
Turning, I saw him holding the spear Azure Dragon Dance I'd gifted him.
"What about you, out here at night?"
"Skipping daily training makes me feel sluggish, so I'm loosening up."
Classic Brother Jeong Ho—he was a martial artist through and through.
Come to think of it, it was my training time too.
Master always knew if I skipped.
"Your face looks grim. Uncle's mess?"
I nodded and vented to Brother Jeong Ho.
After hearing it all, he poked the ground with his spear tip.
"Dunno if Uncle really did it. But my gut says..."
"...?"
"He's innocent."
"I agree."
"That's why I wanna check myself. But would they welcome us? They'd drag their feet on a meeting request."
To that, I replied,
"Brother, that's what connections are for."
.
.
.
A few days later.
Brother Jeong Ho and I headed to Geum Merchant Group.
"Thank you for making time despite your busy schedule."
Geum Merchant Group's leader chuckled and waved it off at our greeting.
"How could I refuse a request from the Daeseong Merchant Group leader?"
Daeseong Merchant Group.
Salt retailers in Guiju Castle.
And, by imperial order, sellers of signal flares.
I'd asked them to arrange a quick meeting with Geum's leader, and they'd pulled strings.
They didn't want to irk me, the one overseeing flare sales.
Whatever the reason, it got us in fast.
I'd thank them properly later.
"So, what urgent matter brings you?"
I cut straight to it.
"I heard you had an unpleasant experience trading with Mi-gwa Merchant Group."
"Ah, yes. But why bring it up now?"
"We're investigating. As you may know, we're one of Mi-gwa's clients too."
"Ah..."
Geum's leader nodded.
"That makes sense. Wondering if you should switch suppliers?"
"Exactly."
I nodded first.
"That's why we requested this meeting—to ask about the details."
"I know Eunhae and Mi-gwa are close."
"Yes. Which is why we must investigate thoroughly. Closeness means they'd hurt the most as enemies."
"..."
"Destroying built-up trust isn't easy."
After pondering, Geum's leader said,
"I'll cooperate fully. I'll call the chief clerk who handled Mi-gwa trades."
I wondered why the sudden cooperation.
His next words cleared it up.
"I don't want the trust I built with Mi-gwa over the years to crumble either."
.
.
.
Soon, we met the chief clerk.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Man-gyeong, chief clerk of Geum Merchant Group."
"Eun Jeong-ho, vice leader of Eunhae Merchant Group."
"Eun Seo-ho, vice leader."
We exchanged greetings. Then I got direct.
"Please explain the incident with your last Mi-gwa trade."
Man-gyeong nodded and detailed it.
It was a routine merchant trip—nothing special.
"But while sorting the herbs upon arrival, we found something suspicious. Beneath the good ones were low-quality herbs."
"A classic scam—the bottom layer trick?"
They called it bottom padding.
That's why buyers flipped crates to check the base.
"Yes. But Mi-gwa was trustworthy, so..."
They hadn't inspected meticulously and took the goods—only for this.
"We went to complain..."
"And got turned away?"
"Yes. They accused us of slander, shouting even."
"Did Mi-gwa's leader say that himself?"
"Yes."
I nodded and shifted topics.
"I see. Shame the herbs from then aren't around—we could investigate more."
"They're still here."
"...Pardon?"
Man-gyeong continued.
"Just in case, we set aside one crate."
Suddenly, his face seemed to shine with integrity.
We headed to the herb warehouse, entering a small one.
There sat the problematic crate.
The herb was dried heavenly hemp, used for headaches, dizziness, hypertension, hemiplegia, and more.
Guiju Castle produced much of it; Eunhae got over half our needs from Mi-gwa.
I approached and examined closely.
At the bottom, unmistakably inferior heavenly hemp.
The packaging was pro work—merchant group standard for herbs' properties.
It was sealed meticulously, impossible for outsiders to tamper.
Thus, Mi-gwa must have shipped it like this.
But that deepened the mystery.
For pricey herbs, this padding would yield extra profit. But this was heavenly hemp—not expensive.
No real gain from ten crates—not even half a nyang of silver. The effort to disguise the bad stuff was the real loss.
I now knew Namho's dirty, petty trick.
Time to visit them.
* * *
A few days later.
I stood before Namho Merchant Group.
Brother Jeong Ho, I, Chief Clerk Jong Gil-dae, and the rest were all disguised.
To hide we were from Eunhae.
A long line of merchant groups already waited—for cheap herbs.
After one or two hours, we entered.
I gave a fake group name; a clerk asked,
"What herbs do you want?"
"Heavenly hemp, and..."
I listed a few more, then added,
"Can we see samples?"
"Of course."
We were led to the samples.
Then Chief Clerk Jong Gil-dae whispered,
"Something to report."
"...?"
"That clerk and those workers over there—I saw them at Mi-gwa."
"What?"
"They handled packaging there."