The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group 8: Stop the Jeongyeong Pavilion Fire (4)
In response to my words, A Gakwon stammered,
"N-no! If we betray them..."
"A Gakwon-nim has already betrayed the Eunhae Merchant Group. So what's wrong with betraying them one more time?"
"......"
"And betraying them now would also be atonement for betraying the Eunhae Merchant Group."
I looked him straight in the eye and asked,
"And do you really think they'll keep their promise?"
"......"
His pupils shook wildly at my words.
He had some idea of what fate awaited him and his family.
But this was the only thing he could cling to right now.
"You know what the two things the Eunhae Merchant Group values most, don't you, A Gakwon-nim?"
He nodded at my question, his voice trembling as he replied,
"People... and trust."
"Yes, exactly. So you're saying you can't trust us?"
"......"
"That's a big problem then. One of the Eunhae Merchant Group's own branch managers doesn't trust the group."
I asked again,
"Has your monthly salary ever been late even once?"
"......N-no, never."
"Have we ever denied you leave?"
"Never."
"And yet you can't trust us?"
A brief silence followed.
A Gakwon cautiously asked,
"Can you... really protect my family?"
His words were getting longer.
He was starting to be persuaded.
I felt grateful to my father and ancestors who had built up that trust over the years.
It was thanks to that trust that my words were getting through.
"Yes. I promise. We'll protect your family."
A Gakwon's family was innocent, after all.
But A Gakwon himself was not.
No matter the reason, he was an attempted arsonist.
Still, since he hadn't actually set the fire, there was room for leniency.
"Hand over that fire starter. To me."
"......"
"Come on."
At my repeated urging, A Gakwon tremblingly extended the fire starter with shaky hands, and I took it.
I inwardly sighed in relief and patted my chest.
Right on cue, members of the Silver Wind Squad entered the document vault.
"Young master, are you alright?"
The man standing in front of the Silver Wind Squad members asked me. I knew him.
His name was Jeong Chung.
One of the squad leaders of the Silver Wind Squad.
He would later rise to vice-commander.
He was a welcome face, but I didn't show it and simply nodded.
"Yes, I'm fine."
I turned to Yeo Chang-ui, the branch manager behind me, and said,
"By the way, you got here much faster than I expected."
"Your face looked so serious when you told me to call the Silver Wind Squad, young master. So I requested reinforcements as quickly as possible. But... why is A Seung Gakwon-nim...?"
I glanced at A Gakwon, who was trembling beside me, and said,
"He's the attempted arsonist."
"Pardon?"
Everyone's faces registered shock at my words.
Jeong Chung quickly pulled himself together and shouted to his squad members,
"Arsonist! Restrain him!"
"Yes, sir!"
I said to Squad Leader Jeong Chung,
"He's an important witness. So please don't be too rough with him. And send the Silver Wind Squad to protect A Gakwon's family."
"Pardon?"
Jeong Chung tilted his head at my order, and I continued,
"I promised him."
At my words, A Gakwon's eyes reddened, and he began sobbing with choked gasps.
"Where are your family members right now? Tell me."
* * *
In the Eunhae Merchant Group's small conference room.
There sat the members of the Silver Moon Society.
Group Leader Eun Gil-sang, Internal Steward and Jeongyeong Pavilion Chief Yu So-ak, Silver Wind Squad Commander and External Steward Go Il-pyeong, and the chiefs of the Three Winds Pavilion and Commerce Pavilion.
These five were the members of the Silver Moon Society.
Eun Gil-sang sighed and said,
"What in the world happened here...?"
In response, Internal Steward Yu So-ak said,
"Still, we're incredibly fortunate. If that place had caught fire... I don't even want to imagine it."
Anger was evident on Yu So-ak's face as he spoke.
The others involuntarily shuddered at the sight.
One of the things Yu So-ak hated most was being woken from sleep.
If it was for a valid reason, there was nothing to be done, but the one who created that reason would have to face Yu So-ak's wrath.
"Ahem, ahem. Still, Young Master Seo-ho did a tremendous thing."
Go Il-pyeong quickly changed the subject.
The Eunhae Merchant Group's external steward also served as commander of the Silver Wind Squad and handled external issues.
He was an unparalleled master known as One Sword Shakes Heaven, said to make the skies tremble with a single strike.
He was also the martial arts master of brothers Eun Jeong-ho and Eun Jin-ho.
At Go Il-pyeong's words, Eun Gil-sang cleared his throat.
"Ahem, ahem. He's my son, but it's praiseworthy indeed."
"But... how did the young master know to stop this?"
asked the Three Winds Pavilion Chief.
His name was Jeok Byeong-cheol.
A quiet middle-aged man who disliked stepping forward.
Without him meticulously managing every detail of the group's operations from one to ten, the merchant group wouldn't function properly, so his voice carried significant weight.
In response, the Commerce Pavilion Chief replied,
"I heard the rough outline, but not the details..."
The Commerce Pavilion handled all aspects of goods selection, distribution, and commerce.
It was the flower of the Eunhae Merchant Group.
Its chief was a middle-aged woman named Yeon Da-mi.
A heroine who had overcome countless obstacles with her woman's body to elevate the Eunhae Merchant Group to its current position.
At their words, Eun Gil-sang said,
"The parties involved will be here soon, so we can ask them then."
Just then, they were informed that Eun Seo-ho and Yeo Chang-ui had arrived, and the door opened.
The two paid their respects to the five.
Eun Gil-sang accepted their bows and offered them seats, and they sat down in front.
"First, I want to express my gratitude for this incident. Thanks to you, we avoided disaster."
Yeo Chang-ui waved his hand at Eun Gil-sang's words.
"All I did was call the Silver Wind Squad."
"That was a big deal in itself. Now that I think about it, I'm curious. How did you notice the sleeping drug in the tea and avoid drinking it?"
Yeo Chang-ui answered the question,
"That was thanks to Young Master Eun Seo-ho's keen insight."
At that response, Eun Gil-sang turned to Eun Seo-ho beside him and said,
"I see. I heard you were the one who stopped the incident, Seo-ho. What happened?"
"Yes, Father. I'll explain."
Eun Seo-ho took a brief breath and began.
"Today, I was assigned night duty in place of the In-daesu branch manager. So I went to Sammiban Restaurant for dinner with Branch Manager Yeo Chang-ui here and returned to the duty room. But something felt off."
"What was it?"
"First, the lantern in the duty room was lit. As you and Internal Steward-nim know, Father, the Jeongyeong Pavilion is surrounded by flammables, so we're trained to always extinguish lights when leaving."
Eun Gil-sang and Yu So-ak nodded at Eun Seo-ho's words.
Eun Gil-sang had experience in Jeongyeong Pavilion operations, and Yu So-ak was the internal steward in charge of it, so they knew.
But,
'Normally, wouldn't you suspect something the moment you see that?'
'It's true that's a habit for Jeongyeong Pavilion staff, but to notice it after just ten days?'
The people there glanced at each other and realized they were all thinking the same thing.
Eun Seo-ho continued his explanation.
"And there were strange marks on the teapot lid's knob. Upon closer inspection, they were from hands stained with ink."
"What's odd about that? Someone else might have tried to drink the tea and touched it."
"If so, there would only be stains on the handle and the top of the lid knob."
Eun Seo-ho mimed pouring tea as he said,
"When pouring tea, you press down on the lid with your hand to keep it from falling off—you don't grip it."
"Ah!"
"That means the lid was opened... but you only open it when the tea runs out, right?"
"Exactly."
"And the tea delivered right before starting duty wouldn't run out. So someone opened the lid."
"The tea room servants and maids wouldn't have ink on their hands..."
Eun Seo-ho's grandfather, Eun Ji-bong, was extremely particular about tea.
Thanks to that, the tea business had flourished.
Not content with that, he had established a dedicated tea room within the merchant group and hired specialists to manage and research tea.
It was still the same today; those working there always had to keep their bodies clean.
Eun Ji-bong's philosophy was that unclean hands handling tea would alter its flavor.
Those who failed his surprise inspections got severely scolded.
That was why the tea room employees washed their hands obsessively.
It was absurd to think they would open the teapot lid with ink-stained hands.
"So that's how you noticed?"
"Yes. I poured some tea and checked the cup—there was a strange white powder mixed in. So I wrote a note to Branch Manager Yeo Chang-ui not to drink it and pretended to fall asleep."
"Hm..."
"Then someone crept toward the document vault. So I asked Branch Manager Yeo Chang-ui to call the Silver Wind Squad members."
"I see."
Eun Gil-sang and the others nodded.
But their inner thoughts differed.
'He's my son, but truly astonishing!'
'What keen wits.'
'The merchant group's future looks bright.'
'The young master shows real promise.'
'Someone like that should learn martial arts...'
Eun Gil-sang continued,
"But why did you go catch the culprit yourself?"
Eun Seo-ho looked puzzled at the question, as if it were obvious.
"Isn't it natural for me to go? I'm the group leader's son and the heir to the Eunhae Merchant Group."
The five seasoned veterans were all stunned by the response.
It was an answer none of them had expected.
Eun Gil-sang quickly recovered and cleared his throat.
"Ahem, ahem. I understand your sentiment, but it was too reckless. What if they had a weapon?"
"Even so, how could the future group leader just stand by and watch something unsavory happen in the merchant group?"
Eun Seo-ho cautiously continued,
"But it's true that my actions worried you, Father. I'm sorry."
"Yes, be more careful next time."
"Yes. And unexpectedly, he had an extra fire starter, so to calm him down, I promised to protect his family. Honestly, racking up gambling debts was his fault, and attempting arson was his fault, but his family is innocent."
Eun Seo-ho bowed his head again in apology.
"I'm sorry for deciding on my own without your permission, Father."
"No. You did well."
said Eun Gil-sang.
"As you said, his family is innocent. And negotiating like that prevented the fire—what a relief. You said oil had been poured there too? If it had caught... just thinking about it makes my heart sink."
Everyone nodded at his words.
The place A Seung Gakwon had tried to ignite was the Red Archive in the document vault.
It stored truly vital documents.
Meaning, documents that couldn't be duplicated.
The most important documents in the merchant group's transactions were contracts and delivery confirmations.
Because they bore the seals of both parties.
The seals verified authenticity and proved the transactions.
Eun Gil-sang picked up the document in front of him.
"Hwaryeon Pavilion..."
Hwaryeon Pavilion had originally been one of the small pleasure houses but had grown rapidly on the advice of Eun Gil-sang's grandfather.
By converting to a high-class brothel and employing many talented courtesans.
Thanks to that connection, the Eunhae Merchant Group and Hwaryeon Pavilion had maintained a supply relationship for decades.
However, that connection was now nearing its end.
"The pavilion madam must have been desperate to resort to this."
External Steward Go Il-pyeong spat in anger, and Internal Steward Yu So-ak vented his own fury.
"If she had time for this nonsense, she should have scraped together the money to pay her debts!"
Then Eun Seo-ho cautiously spoke up.
"Father, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Money to pay the transaction fees? Is there arrears?"