Shaanxi Scorpion (3)
I stepped out of the inn, wondering what on earth was going on.
"No way! How could this happen?!"
"What should we do, Manager Um?"
I saw Um Sam-taek, the deputy manager, collapsed on the ground in a daze.
"What exactly happened?"
It was one of the junior managers who answered my question.
"Well... we got scammed."
"Ah..."
No wonder the trip here felt too smooth.
A major disaster had struck.
I let out a sigh.
Um Sam-taek was the deputy manager. That meant he'd handled countless deals up to now.
For someone with that much experience to fall for a scam!
I asked the junior manager, "Tell me the details."
"Well, you see..."
Manager Um and his group had met the tea broker they were supposed to see yesterday, as scheduled.
"It was definitely Manager Hwang, the one we've been dealing with all this time."
Manager Hwang was the broker we usually traded tea with.
"The contract he brought matched perfectly... It was so seamless, no doubt about it."
"So you went ahead with the deal without suspicion. But how did you realize it was a scam?"
"This morning, we got word from the real Manager Hwang. When we asked if we'd met yesterday to close the deal..."
"And?"
"He said no! He told us something came up and he'd suggested meeting the next day—what was this about?"
"That's when you knew."
"Yes. Manager Hwang told us to take a good look at the goods we'd traded for."
The junior manager continued, "When we checked... it wasn't pu'er tea at all. Just dried grass pressed into brick shapes."
"Did you request a deferral on the military payment?"
For deals this big, unless it was a straight barter, they used payment vouchers.
Requesting a deferral before cashing those in would prevent the payout.
"That's..."
"Too late already."
"Yes."
So we'd been completely cleaned out.
I examined the fake pu'er bricks closely.
It must have taken some serious effort to fake all these.
That's when I spotted a single sheet of paper tucked among the fake pu'er bricks.
I pulled it out and unfolded it.
You've worked hard getting scammed by the Shaanxi Scorpion.
"Ah, damn it."
Suddenly, a story from my past life came to mind.
Unnecessary meticulous care.
A scammer who targeted merchant groups with thorough investigations and brilliant acting.
His hunting ground was Shaanxi Province.
He called himself the Shaanxi Scorpion.
The scorpion of Shaanxi.
And he left these infuriating notes for his victims.
That bastard made countless merchants shed tears, sowing distrust and feuds among them.
He even tarnished the reputation of Shaanxi merchants.
There were even managers who took their own lives over the scams he pulled.
Why kill yourselves?
The one who deserved to die was someone else.
Amusingly, he never targeted the same merchant group twice.
Now I knew why he'd never approached our group in my memories.
Today's pu'er scam—he'd already hit the Eunhae Merchant Group before.
Back then, I was in my third year on the job, buried in paperwork at the finance office.
I vaguely recalled hearing we'd lost a thousand taels of silver to a scam.
Since it wasn't my direct experience, I hadn't thought of the Shaanxi Scorpion when coming to Shaanxi this time.
Perhaps all that resentment and death piled up to the heavens, because he eventually got caught.
The one who nabbed him? A child.
A kid who sensed something off, and a merchant who didn't dismiss the child's words.
During interrogation, it came out that he'd scammed over five hundred merchant groups.
The funny part? His motive.
No real reason.
Just for fun.
He enjoyed watching people fall for it.
For his own amusement, he'd wrung bloody tears from his victims.
Even more outrageous was his response when asked about those who killed themselves.
"Who told them to die? Why's that on me? Plenty of people survive getting scammed by me just fine. The ones who die are just weak."
Utter nonsense.
His own death was gruesome.
The Emperor, hearing of the case, said, "He's flayed so many alive—fitting to return the favor," and had his skin peeled off while still breathing.
A brutal end.
They say he begged the executioner to just kill him already, but apparently his own death wasn't amusing.
That was far in the future. Right now, we were in deep trouble.
A thousand-tael loss meant we'd been fleeced of cash.
I inwardly cursed the Shaanxi Scorpion viciously as I looked at Manager Um.
"Aigoo, what are we to do... Aigoo..."
Manager Um sat on the floor, at a total loss.
The goods we'd received weren't legit.
The money was already gone.
We couldn't even source funds locally to buy more tea.
The items we'd brought to sell here? The scammers had taken those too, claiming they'd handle the sales.
And he had no authority to borrow in the merchant group's name.
In the end, we'd have to head back empty-handed.
And Manager Um...
He probably couldn't escape responsibility.
Honestly, a thousand taels was pocket change for me now.
The pouch the Guimianpo elder gifted could hold fifty taels in raw silver and still feel light as a feather.
But buying more tea with my own money? My pride wouldn't allow it.
You rotten bastard.
Daring to mess with the Eunhae Merchant Group?
One of my specialties is stripping scum like you bare.
Look forward to it.
I'll take even your underwear.
I said to Palgap, "Hold off on heading to the Wu-i Merchant Group for now."
"Got it."
Then I proposed to Manager Um, "Given the situation, let me take command here for a bit. Do you agree?"
Manager Um nodded with a resigned expression.
"Do as you see fit, Young Lord. I have no idea what to do."
He seemed badly shaken.
I told his attendant, "Take good care of the manager."
"Yes, sir."
Standing before them, I declared confidently, "I'm issuing orders now. Have this manager scout if any other merchant groups here have been scammed by someone called the Shaanxi Scorpion. If so, get details on the methods and damage amounts."
"Yes, sir."
"Manager Eo, calculate our exact losses."
"Understood."
"Manager Sim, analyze how the scammers made those 'tea' bricks they passed off."
"Pardon?"
"It's craftsmanship good enough to fool Manager Um's eyes. How much would a master artisan who can produce top-quality black tea—specifically brick pu'er—fetch around here?"
"Ah! I see!"
Manager Sim caught on.
"From the workmanship, we can tell who made the bricks."
That would lead to the tea plantation, and become a clue to catch the Shaanxi Scorpion.
Then I recalled they'd taken the goods we'd brought to sell, promising to handle it.
I approached my master.
"Escort Leader, I have a request."
"Speak."
"I'd like help from the escorts. I'll pay extra for it."
"Do so. And since we're heading back together anyway, pay them directly."
"Got it."
I found the escorts who'd inspected our cargo and approached the lead escort, a senior one.
"You've heard from the Escort Leader, but we'll pay for your help."
"No need for pay. We're not strangers—we help each other in tough times."
The next in rank chimed in, "Senior Escort's right. We're not the type to chase money in a crisis like this."
"I want to pay you."
It was truly grateful, them offering help for free.
But I could only accept the sentiment.
We weren't short on funds anyway.
"Check if the goods we brought here are being traded."
"Will do."
Our goods were candies. Shaanxi didn't produce them.
Hard to transport without melting, we'd brought them carefully—and they'd snatched them clean?
The more I thought, the angrier I got.
But thanks to that, we could track their tail faster.
The Shaanxi Scorpion got too greedy.
Then Manager Eo said cautiously, "Um, there's an issue."
"What?"
"We were set to leave the day after tomorrow, but with this, we might not have enough for lodging fees."
Without a word, I pulled a voucher from my pouch and handed it over.
"This enough?"
"Ah!"
He gaped at the amount and replied, "Yes, more than enough."
"Take the Eunpoongdae warriors when you go cash it."
"Understood."
It was my money for lodging, but I didn't mind.
I planned to wring more from the Shaanxi Scorpion than this.
Quietly to Manager Eo, I said, "Inflate our losses as much as possible."
"Pardon?"
"Calculate every little bit of damage in silver. Got it?"
"Yes, sir."
Kwak Myeong-hyeon was returning from handling some personal business.
He and the deputy escort leader had personal matters, so they'd been taking turns on watch.
Truth be told, there was no real need for watch yet.
No cargo left to guard.
But you couldn't slack on duty.
A scam, huh...
He'd seen all sorts in his escort work, but this was a first.
Scamming a merchant group by impersonating a trading partner.
Bold? Impressive?
But somehow, he felt they'd messed up this time.
His disciple, the young lord of the Hyeonpoong Kingdom, Eun Seo-ho, grasped the situation instantly upon hearing.
He took command from Manager Um Sam-taek without hesitation and issued spot-on orders.
Each one precise and necessary.
Normally, panic clouds judgment in crises like this.
Even Manager Um was the same.
Deputy manager or not, this was unprecedented for him.
From what he knew, Um Sam-taek had over a decade on the job.
Yet even he was lost—while Eun Seo-ho, barely a year into real merchant work as branch head, pushed forward decisively.
Kwak Myeong-hyeon was Eun Seo-ho's swordmaster.
He could read the resolve in those eyes: catch the Shaanxi Scorpion, no matter what.
And from watching him, Eun Seo-ho got things done.
He mastered the Binghae Sujeol Gong—which takes over a year—in just half a month. That says it all.
He'd said "half a month" half-jokingly, but the kid did it.
He was curious how Eun Seo-ho would resolve this.
Before long, Kwak Myeong-hyeon reached their inn.
"You're back?"
"Anything happen?"
"No, all clear."
"Looks like guests arrived."
"Ah, victims."
"Victims?"
"Other groups scammed by that crook. Three besides us already. The young lord invited their heads."
I looked at the men who'd entered my room at the inn.
They were heads of merchant groups operating in Shaanxi, victims of the Shaanxi Scorpion.
I introduced myself briefly and cut to the chase.
"How much did each of you lose?"
"Why ask?"
I smiled at the question.
"Our group lost three thousand taels of silver."
The three heads gasped.
Manager Eo had tallied diligently per my instructions, inflating the past life's thousand-tael loss to three thousand.
"The Eunhae Merchant Group intends to catch the scammer who hit us—the Shaanxi Scorpion. That's why I gathered you three."