Catching the Rat (6)
The merchant lords who had taken Eun Myeong-sang's side were now gazing at him with eyes full of goodwill.
The head of the Dan Merchant Group took a step back.
"I see. My ears must have been playing tricks on me back then—I didn't hear it clearly."
Eun Myeong-sang offered him some consolation.
"I heard you've suffered quite a substantial loss. I sincerely hope things work out for you."
In truth, it was a jab meant to rub salt in the wound.
"What can I do? It was my own doing. Haha."
The Dan Merchant lord gave a bitter laugh and continued.
"But if the branch head is saying that much, it sounds like the branch's executives already knew about it..."
"Of course they knew. There's no way they wouldn't have. When they suggested we should jump into the salt business too, I explained the situation to them."
At Eun Myeong-sang's response, the Dan Merchant lord clenched his fist tight.
But on the surface, he kept up his smile.
"I... I see."
Watching this, Eun Myeong-sang smirked inwardly.
'I was just wondering how to bring this up, and here he is asking about it himself. How convenient.'
The conversation they'd just had was the real reason Eun Myeong-sang had come to the gathering today.
Meanwhile, the Dan Merchant lord realized he'd been played by Yeong-po.
Up until now, Yeong-po had repeatedly egged him on, insisting it was a surefire money-maker, pushing him to keep buying up salt.
'How much have I invested all this time!'
In the end, he'd even planned to swallow up the Eunhae Merchant Group's share using Yeong-po.
But his betrayal had turned it all to bubbles.
No, it was worse than that—he'd suffered massive losses.
Even if he tightened his belt for ten years, he wasn't sure he could recover.
Today, imperial edicts bearing the Emperor's decree had been posted in every county office. There was no way Yeong-po didn't know the Dan Merchant Group had taken a hit.
And no one deliberately courts a lightning strike.
So where was he now, and what was he doing?
The answer was obvious.
The Dan Merchant lord recalled the wealth Yeong-po had been steadily stockpiling in his secret manor.
'That should cover at least some of the losses.'
As the Dan Merchant lord excused himself from the others and left the banquet hall, Eun Myeong-sang spoke to his bodyguard.
"Tell Seo-ho. It's time to wrap things up."
I looked up at the night sky.
The moon was bright.
A perfect night for catching rats.
"So."
I turned my head. Standing beside me was Hyang-ok noona, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
"When do I get to make my move?"
"Soon."
We were currently hiding near Yeong-po's secret manor.
I gave a wry smile as I gazed at the manor.
Who would've thought there was a secret manor in a place like this?
In my previous life, I had no idea Yeong-po was a rat.
If it hadn't been for the matter with the self-destructing puppets, I might never have found out.
Of course, I would've had my suspicions.
It wasn't because the Eunhae Merchant Group or I were incompetent. Yeong-po just hadn't been a rat for that long.
By late June in my memories— just a few days from now.
Yeong-po's brutally murdered corpse was found in the woods.
The wounds suggested three killers, all skilled swordsmen.
The motive? A grudge.
But the culprits were never caught.
What on earth had happened?
But right now, that event was still in the future.
I smirked as I looked at the manor.
The Emperor's decree had been announced out of the blue.
But Yeong-po was no ordinary man.
While feeding the Dan Merchant Group false information, he'd been preparing for this exact scenario.
He'd quietly liquidated his assets and siphoned off a good portion elsewhere.
He was here now to tidy up what remained.
Did Yeong-po know?
All those ill-gotten gains from selling Eunhae Merchant Group secrets— they were already in my hands.
I couldn't just sit by and watch him pocket that dirty money, could I?
At that moment, my uncle's bodyguard approached and relayed his message.
It was time to finish this.
"Shall we go, then?"
As if in response, Hyang-ok noona drew her sword. She turned to the leader of the Silver Wind Team, Gu Ji-seong.
"I appreciate your help tonight."
"Don't worry about it."
Gu Ji-seong blew his whistle.
Piiieek—!
That was the signal.
We charged straight into Yeong-po's secret manor.
"Who the hell are you?!"
I could see the warriors trying to block us. But there were only three of them.
We outnumbered them by far.
They looked flustered. Yeong-po emerged from the back, peering out to see what was happening, then gasped in horror.
"H-heuk! W-what is this?!"
Hyang-ok noona shouted at him.
"Yeong-po! You're under arrest for your treasonous spying!"
"What are you talking about? Spying? I've never—"
I cut off his excuse.
"It's already been reported over there, hasn't it?"
"......"
Furious at my words, he bellowed.
"Dan Merchant lord! You son of a—!"
Who's the real dog here...? Anyway, we swiftly took control of Yeong-po's secret manor.
Soon, the three warriors and Yeong-po were bound and forced to their knees in the courtyard.
That's when something struck me as odd.
It was those three warriors guarding the manor. They'd fought like cornered beasts to protect Yeong-po.
I wondered if they were blood relatives, but no—their glares at him weren't affectionate.
"Why go so far? Why not just run?"
One of them gnashed his teeth at my question.
"That's what we wanted! But, but! He poisoned us."
"Poisoned you?"
"The kind where if you don't take the antidote once a month, you die in agony."
I tilted my head.
Such poisons existed, sure.
But they were insanely expensive and hard to obtain.
Would he really use something like that just to secure this manor?
"Do you know where he keeps the poison or antidote?"
"I don't know about the antidote, but I know where the poison is."
I went to the spot they indicated and retrieved an iron box.
"Is this it?"
"Yes."
But it was locked tight.
I asked Yeong-po.
"Where's the key?"
"Lost it."
"......"
As I pondered how to make him talk, Gu Ji-seong grinned.
"Looks like it's my turn."
He pulled a needle from his pocket, inserted it into the lock, and twisted it around.
Click.
The box opened.
"Impressive skills."
"A hobby from my younger days. Haha."
"A hobby's only good if it's used well."
Inside the box was a single packet of tea leaves.
"This is the poison?"
The warriors gnashed their teeth in response.
"Yes."
"That tea kills you in excruciating pain."
"This?"
They nodded, and Yeong-po boasted smugly.
"If you release me now, I can save them. Without my antidote, they'll die. If they do, that's on you."
"......"
"You okay with that?"
He sneered vilely.
Hyang-ok noona bristled at his words.
"What kind of dogshit is that? So poisoning them wasn't your fault?"
Her polite speech shortening meant she was seriously pissed.
"You're worse than a dog. You fucking—"
But she had to stop there.
Our Hyang-ok noona gets foul-mouthed when angry.
And it's not just talk—she tears into you mercilessly until your spirit's in shreds.
Without mercy.
Thank goodness joining the Ami Sect as a lay disciple had improved her a bit.
Honestly, I wanted to let her rip Yeong-po apart too, but not now.
Guests were coming soon, and I needed to hear what these guys had to say.
"Noona, let it go. No need to waste words on him."
"But..."
"And we don't need to give these warriors any antidote either."
Noona's eyes widened.
"What? What are you—"
"Why need an antidote for something that's not poison?"
I pressed on before anyone could interrupt.
"About an hour after drinking this tea, you'd get gut-wrenching pain that feels like your intestines are snapping—pure agony."
The warriors nodded.
"Then, when he gave you that 'antidote' pill, the pain vanished instantly."
They nodded again.
"And he gave you those pills every month on a set day, right? But they must've tasted so foul you could barely swallow them."
"H-how did you know?"
How? It was starting to trend around now, so of course I knew.
This tea had no formal name.
People just called it fake poison tea.
Meaning, not real poison.
It was mostly used to intimidate people. Drinkers, convinced by the pain it was real poison, had no choice but to obey.
I'd been scared of misjudging it myself and tried it once...
Nearly died for real.
Good thing my body was fortified by the Black Blood Divine Thread; otherwise, I'd be gone.
I answered their shocked looks.
"Of course I know. The Eunhae Merchant Group specializes in herbs, after all."
Of course, that was just an excuse.
"Truth is, it's harmless to life—just mixed with a bit of bellyache-inducing toxic herb. And that 'antidote'? It neutralizes exactly that herb. The key point is..."
I turned to Yeong-po.
"You don't need to keep taking the antidote. It was a one-time scam from the start."
At my words, the three warriors roared in rage.
"Uwaaaah!"
"You bastard, I'll rip you apart!"
"You dared trick us?!"
But surprisingly, it wasn't just them—Yeong-po was yelling too.
"Damn it! That stuff cost me good money! Ten taels of silver for the poison and antidote!"
I rubbed it in.
"Wow, ten taels for this? Half a tael? Hell, not even a quarter."
"Uwaaaah!"
I thought he was a capable guy, but turns out he was just a know-it-all fool.
In Sichuan lands guarded by the Sacheon Tang Clan, did he really think he could easily get the kind of poison he wanted?
Anyone caught trading that would be dragged off by the Tangs and suffer unspeakable torments.
Anyway, seeing the three warriors struggling to contain their fury reminded me of Yeong-po's death.
The brutally murdered corpse in the woods.
Three skilled swordsmen killers.
A grudge.
Now I knew who the culprits were.
If your tail's too long, you get caught. They'd probably realized something was off when they survived without the antidote.
Then figured out they'd been duped.
That's when Hyang-ok noona spoke up.
"Someone's coming."
With those words, the gate burst open, and a man shouted.
"Yeong-po! I know you're here, I came to—"
He froze at the sight of us, his face saying, What the hell?
The three warriors and Yeong-po were bound on their knees in the yard.
The manor was surrounded by us.
Hyang-ok noona eyed him.
"The head of the Dan Merchant Group, I presume."
"Y-you're...?"
"You seem quite close with our branch manager Yeong-po."
"W-well, that is..."
"So why are you here? In the middle of the night? People might get the wrong idea."
The Dan Merchant lord coughed awkwardly.
"We're here to recover the assets from this place."
"Recover?"
"These assets were stolen from our merchant group by him."
Just as I'd predicted, he was making excuses.
Yeong-po exploded.
"What the hell are you saying?! Stolen? You gave me all this! As payment for leaking Eunhae Merchant Group intel!"
And just like that, we had his confession on record.
"And lately, you gave me gold bars where only one was real and the rest fake!"
"I gave you real ones."
"They were fake!"
"Even if I used a spy, I wouldn't stoop that low— Heuk!"
Now he seemed to grasp the situation.
Me siphoning the gold was partly to provoke a fight and get confessions, but damn, he was dumber than I thought.
To admit so easily he'd paid for spying.
Hyang-ok noona turned to the Dan Merchant lord.
"I'll fetch my father. Shall we discuss this slowly?"
"N-no need to go that far..."
"Or would you prefer I bring the Censorate Inspector?"