Things Gone Awry (3)
A crystal-clear sentence with no room for misinterpretation.
"Father, as I mentioned before, do not get close to the Murim Alliance. They will use you."
Ja-ryeong Sojeo had stated it plainly.
Don't get close to the Murim Alliance—they would exploit the Provincial Governor's office.
That meant she had foreseen even the future where the Murim Alliance would approach them for that very purpose.
If the Murim Alliance saw this, their predictable reactions would be twofold: recruit her or eliminate her.
And it seemed they had chosen elimination. That's why they fed her that quadruple-layered poison.
Of course, in his previous life, her direct cause of death had been the Oseong Merchant Group, but from the Murim Alliance's perspective, that worked out just fine.
Their goal had been achieved either way.
But something felt off.
Knowing the future was an extraordinary ability. In most cases, recruiting her would be the obvious choice.
So why eliminate her?
Just then, he sensed someone approaching.
He started to hurry back to his seat but changed his mind and headed to the bookshelf beside him instead.
Creak.
The door opened, and the Provincial Governor entered.
"Have you finished with your business?"
"It was nothing important. I'm sorry for leaving you alone like this."
"Not at all."
I pointed to the bookshelf and said,
"Ah, my apologies. These books looked so intriguing that I started reading without asking permission first."
"That's fine. But those are rather advanced texts—looks like you have a deep knowledge of scholarship too!"
"Just a meager bit of insight."
He chuckled heartily at my modest reply.
"If you want, you can borrow them. I've heard you've been reading a lot while staying here."
"Pardon? Some of these seem quite valuable—are you sure?"
"As the saying goes, read a book a hundred times and its meaning will appear. I've already read these more than a hundred times each."
Read a book a hundred times and its meaning will appear—these were the words of the scholar Dong-u to those who admired his learning and sought to become his disciples.
It meant that reading a book a hundred times would naturally reveal its true intent, but honestly, reading even one book that many times required tremendous grit and patience.
There had to be nearly a thousand books on this shelf alone, and he'd read them all a hundred times...?
Wow, no wonder he topped the civil service exams.
"Impressive."
I was genuinely awed.
"Then I'll borrow some later. I'd love to take them now, but I still have a book I'm reading."
"I see. What are you reading at the moment?"
As he asked, I naturally sat down at the desk and replied,
"A Thousand Questions and a Thousand Answers to Oneself, written by a man named Yu-seung."
It was a fairly popular book in Beijing these days, about posing a thousand questions to oneself and providing the answers.
"You know it too! I picked it up on my recent trip to Beijing, but I haven't had time to read it yet."
"In my humble opinion, it's quite intriguing."
"I see. I really should give it a read."
As we chatted idly, I realized it was time for the main topic.
"You seem to have a lot on your mind these days."
"Does it show? Haha."
He laughed awkwardly.
"You keep seeing right through me like this—guess I have no talent for hiding my thoughts."
"Not at all. It just means you're an honest man."
"One could see it that way. But as you know, in the world of politics, that's a pretty big weakness."
"But who would dare slander you?"
"True. Lucky me, born into a good lineage."
He continued,
"Ja-ryeong's condition has improved dramatically, and that's what's troubling me. With the engagement and all."
I understood his dilemma.
He was about to marry her off to a family suspected of attempting to poison her.
But calling off the engagement outright lacked solid proof.
Plus, it would be rude after they'd waited this long.
"Since Ja-ryeong is healthy now, we have a duty to inform her fiancé's family."
"Of course."
"But I have no idea how they'll react."
Hm, that's the real issue.
Unlike the Oseong Merchant Group matter, which didn't feel problematic.
"Oh, by the way, what happened with the Oseong Merchant Group?"
"Them? Ah... The Deputy Officer who deceived me was sentenced to ten years of forced labor. And Mae-yeong, the one who put in the request through him, got ten years too."
"But Mae-yeong didn't act out of personal greed alone."
"I think so too. We have evidence that the Oseong Merchant Group supported them and profited from it."
"Good. So you gave them a heavy punishment as well."
"Naturally. For a merchant group, the heaviest penalty is a fine. I imposed five hundred nyang in silver—no, five hundred nyang in gold."
Five hundred nyang in gold? That was substantial.
Even a major merchant group would bleed for that.
Their influence would take a serious hit.
"That's the minimum to warn the other merchant groups, right?"
"Exactly."
Having softened the mood with the Oseong matter, I casually brought up another topic.
"By the way, has anyone who worked around your daughter recently quit or anything?"
"I know why you're asking. I've already looked into it."
As expected of a civil exam topper—not a great administrator, but wise.
"One of Ja-ryeong's maids quit three months ago. Everyone said she was kind, never stepped out of line, and handled her duties perfectly."
"Is that so?"
"They were all sorry to see her go, and on Ja-ryeong's orders, they gave her a generous severance."
The Provincial Governor's eyes gleamed.
"She was in charge of Ja-ryeong's tea."
"...!"
That made her very likely to have been acting on the Murim Alliance's orders.
"So we tracked her whereabouts."
Thinking the same as me.
"What did you find?"
"No one was at her hometown. Even her family had vanished."
I couldn't help furrowing my brow at his words.
"That's too suspicious. An innocent person wouldn't disappear right after returning home."
"Precisely. And a mere maid wouldn't pull this off alone."
He went on,
"Someone from the Hubei Provincial Governor's office must have put her up to it."
Well...
If they didn't know about the Murim Alliance's involvement, that conclusion made sense.
"Someone here supplied the poisoned tea, and the maid, on their orders, brewed it into the quadruple-layered poison."
Yeah, that checked out.
In my view, the maid was probably a Murim Alliance plant from the start.
Judging by the prophecy's date, the warning about the Murim Alliance was written before Ja-ryeong fell ill.
The maid must have seen it and reported to the Murim Alliance.
Aha! That's why they decided to eliminate her.
Either way, it meant there was a Murim Alliance mole in the Hubei Provincial Governor's office.
To resolve this incident, we'd need to investigate there.
Honestly, it wasn't my business to get involved. But since it was the Murim Alliance, that changed things.
An opportunity to screw them over? I couldn't pass it up.
"Governor, since we can't prove their guilt yet, shouldn't we send someone?"
"You're right."
"You won't go yourself... Who were you planning to send?"
"My third son and Deputy Ji-yeong."
"Would it be all right if I joined them?"
"You?"
I scratched under my ear, feigning embarrassment.
"Yes. It's sudden, I know... but I prefer things clear-cut. And who knows, our merchant group might do business with the Hubei office someday. Better to know if they have hidden agendas to avoid losses."
"You mean to uncover the culprit?"
"I'm not that capable, but I'd like to see and judge for myself."
He looked pleased at my words.
"Truth be told, I was going to ask you anyway."
Me?
"When you exposed the Deputy Officer as the thief on the ship, your insight impressed me greatly."
Ah... Should've just stayed quiet.
That would've looked better.
"Please, I beg you."
And so, I ended up heading to Hubei.
.
.
.
The next day,
A young man visited the Provincial Governor's residence, and when I was summoned to his office, I was introduced.
"Introduce yourselves. This is my third son. And this is Eun Seo-ho, young branch leader of the Eunhae Merchant Group."
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Eun Seo-ho, young branch leader of the Eunhae Merchant Group."
"Dong Hang-su. I'm a magistrate in the Yiyeonju Office of Guizhou Province."
A magistrate was a seventh-grade rank handling practical affairs.
"If I may ask, what are your duties...?"
"This and that—miscellaneous tasks."
A vague answer.
Don't pry further.
"I heard you informed us that Ja-ryeong's symptoms were poisoning."
"I happened to notice. Your sister was fated to live, after all."
"Indeed."
Then the Provincial Governor spoke.
"Tomorrow, when we go to Hubei, travel with Young Leader Eun."
"Why?"
"He has sharp insight. It'll help with this matter."
"He's handsome, so he'll be useful for loosening women's tongues."
Cynical.
His sister had nearly been poisoned to death, and he knew they were going to uncover it—yet he was awfully cold about it.
A normal brother would be raging to storm in right away.
Is this why the Governor called him out of five sons? Because of his personality?
Better than a hothead, but... this was disconcerting in its own way.
The next day.
We set off for Hubei Province.
Hubei's capital was Jiangsa, a bit far from Guizhou Province.
It lay northeast in Hubei.
Rich in water from Dongting Lake and Yangtze tributaries, it was great for farming.
It produced lots of cotton, and hills yielded tobacco, honey, ramie, and such.
Oh, and plenty of musk deer, so lots of musk too.
Musk was used in perfumes but also as medicine, so our merchant group visited often.
Come to think of it, from the Murim Alliance's view, it's far more useful than Guizhou.
Anyway, the border between Guizhou and Hubei was mostly mountains.
Meaning a tough journey ahead.
But official roads connected them, so no bushwhacking.
Still...
In hindsight, that might've been preferable.
Riding in the carriage with Gongja Hang-su was fine, but it felt like sitting on pins and needles.
"By the way, Ja-ryeong asked me to tell you to come back safe."
"I see."
"Are you personally close with our Ja-ryeong?"
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
"Why else would she ask me to pass that message to you?"
"Because I brought the eyes, perhaps? And we've shared tea before."
"Shared tea? Why?"
"It was your father's request."
"Father's? And you didn't refuse?"
"Well..."
Why am I even getting these questions? And the way he asks...
A practical magistrate? More like an inspector from the Censorate.
Reminded him of the guy who inspected the Eunhae Merchant Group before.
Cold, emotionless...
Crude as it sounded, rude.
With people like this, best to be straightforward—they'd nitpick otherwise.
Sigh, whatever.
No need to be scared.
"Your father has been so gracious, hosting me comfortably—how could I refuse his request?"
"...Fair point."
"And don't misunderstand. I have no special feelings for her."
"Really?"
"She has a fiancé. Why would I cross that line? I value my own safety most."
"True, you do seem that way."
"Just basic human fondness, nothing more. No need to worry."
I continued,
"She only asked because she's so kind-hearted, caring even for a lowly merchant like me."
He nodded.
"Yeah, Ja-ryeong is kind."
Then he narrowed his eyes again.
"But if you showed her the eyes, couldn't you leave then? Why linger? Hoping to see Ja-ryeong...?"
This guy, really...
"Your father has to pay me first."
I went on,
"He commissioned me, I fulfilled it—so I get paid before leaving. You think I'd go without compensation?"
"...Ahem."
He coughed awkwardly and turned away.
Probably didn't expect such a blunt response.
Clearly flustered.