Chapter 301: Variable (4)
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Yeo Bul-jin’s expression held an indescribable subtlety. First, he was naturally dumbfounded. If he were an ordinary person, it would have ended there. But behind that, Yeo Bul-jin showed various emotions, including fear, anxiety, and intrigue.
“I know you, and you know me. Right?”
“Of course. Even if we do not know each other perfectly.”
“One thing is certain. You are no fool.”
That was what I thought of Yeo Bul-jin as well. Even if I did not know everything about him, he was no fool.
Certainly, Yeo Bul-jin only made rational choices. When he took the side of the Martial Alliance back then, it was because that was the battle with the highest probability of winning. Whether he had private grudges against me or not, he at least did not make decisions based on private sentiment. I knew that.
“I also know very well that you are no fool, Company Lord.”
“Indeed. Because I am not a fool. If you saw me as a fool, you would be the fool. And the reverse holds true as well.”
There was pride evident in Yeo Bul-jin’s words. Indeed, a man called the Merchant King had one of the sharpest minds in the Central Plains. Who could point a finger at him and call him a fool?
And I too was a Company Lord who led a Great House merchant company in my previous life. My thoughts were the same as Yeo Bul-jin’s. If anyone called me a fool, it was not me but that person who was the fool.
“That is why I am curious. What kind of card do you hold that makes you bring such a proposal?”
Yeo Bul-jin rested his elbow on the armrest. I knew this well. When a person wanted to look relaxed was precisely when they were most anxious.
“Right now, the profits we gain by supplying goods to the Imperial Palace and the Palace of Heavenly Worship are tremendous. We are renewing the golden age of the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company day by day. Yet we should sever that and trade with the New Justice Association? Not only would there be immense risk, but we would also have to give up our current profits. Do you truly possess such a powerful card that can overturn all that?”
“I have no intention of overturning the board. Nor could I. We are merely one of the martial coalitions. How could we handle the Imperial Palace?”
“Then?”
“I came to break the board entirely.”
I smiled. Anxiety shadowed Yeo Bul-jin’s face.
“Let me speak clearly here. If the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company does not choose the New Justice Association, we will certainly retaliate.”
“……”
Yeo Bul-jin’s expression froze. He probably never imagined I would come out this aggressively.
“I thought you were a merchant, but you have become entirely a martial artist.”
“If I were merely a merchant, I would not use such a method. But because I am a merchant, I know such a method is effective.”
Merchants were always the weak in the martial world. And I was now a person who possessed a martial coalition second only to the Palace of Heavenly Worship. There was no reason not to use this strength.
“We are on the side of the Imperial Palace. If we cut off the Imperial Palace and take the side of the New Justice Association, will the Imperial Palace not purge us?”
“That is for your side to judge. It is not something for me to show leniency over.”
“How frightening. But it is not scarier than the Imperial Palace. From now on, the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company will request protection from the Imperial Palace.”
“Naturally, this is not all.”
“What?”
“The Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company will not be able to receive protection from the Imperial Palace.”
“For what reason?”
I looked at a part of the ceiling. Yeo Bul-jin’s complexion changed.
“Come down.”
Yeo Bul-jin said. Soon, someone opened the ceiling and descended. It was the guard I had vaguely seen last time. But now, he was seen all too clearly. It was because he looked so strikingly identical to Uncle Zhu Mun-hwan.
“Do you know me?”
“Your name is Mun-won, is it not?”
The guard’s eyebrows flinched.
“And your family name is Zhu.”
“……?”
Yeo Bul-jin’s head whipped around. Seeing this, it seemed even Yeo Bul-jin had not known Zhu Mun-won’s family name.
“Imperial bloodline……?”
“Ah, so you did not know, Company Lord. You must have simply thought he was a descendant of the Heavenly King Sect.”
“……Y-you even know that much?”
Zhu Mun-won stammered. I tilted my head. It was the most insolent posture I knew.
“Shall I explain? Though I think it might be better if you explained yourself.”
I looked at Zhu Mun-won. Zhu Mun-won was looking at me as if he were seeing a ghost.
A fellow who appeared out of nowhere was laying bare his identity, so it was only natural he made such an expression.
Zhu Mun-won first bowed deeply to Yeo Bul-jin.
“First, I apologize to you, Elder. Rather than having any intent to hide it, I simply remained silent because I intended to end my life as merely the guard of the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company’s lord. I hope you understand that.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Heavenly King Sect is not an ordinary martial sect.”
Zhu Mun-won’s words continued. From the secret history of the Heavenly King Sect’s founding, the Heavenly King Sect’s true identity, Zhu Mun-won’s bloodline, to the nation known as Great Ming.
These were all things I had heard while staying with Zhu Mun-hwan, but to Yeo Bul-jin, who was hearing it all for the first time in his life, his complexion turned increasingly pale as he listened.
To ordinary commoners, Great Ming was a vanished nation. Since the Great Empire thoroughly covered up information regarding Great Ming, that was only natural.
“This is truly hard to believe.”
I understood. Because when I first heard of the nation of Great Ming, I could not believe it either.
Yeo Bul-jin looked back and forth between me and Zhu Mun-won, then sighed.
“However, things that are this hard to believe are usually the truth. We live in a world where things that are moderately believable are lies.”
“You know it well.”
I smiled. In contrast, Zhu Mun-won had a devastated expression. I could roughly infer the relationship between those two.
When the Heavenly King Sect was dismantled and Zhu Mun-won was being hunted by the Imperial Palace people, Yeo Bul-jin must have taken him in. That was likely a glimpse of human Yeo Bul-jin before he weighed only gains and losses when dealing with people, before he was completed as the so-called Merchant King.
“I knew you were being chased by the Imperial Palace, but I did not know you were such a big fish. An imperial scion of a fallen nation.”
“I knew you were being chased by the Imperial Palace, but I did not know you were such a big fish. An imperial scion of a fallen nation.”
Yeo Bul-jin lamented. Zhu Mun-won bowed his head.
“Now it is merely a fallen nation. In the first place, I have no intention of reestablishing the nation of Great Ming.”
“At whose discretion?”
I spoke. Zhu Mun-won looked at me.
“I do not know how you found out my identity, but matters concerning Great Ming are entirely my prerogative. Do not speak beyond your station.”
“Uncle Zhu Mun-hwan wished for the glory of Great Ming until the very end, but his son is completely broken. I only feel pity for him.”
At my words, Zhu Mun-won’s eyes widened like lanterns.
“You know my father?”
“Yes. Am I not supposed to?”
“Do not lie. It has already been well over ten years since my father went missing.”
“The way to prove it is simple.”
I immediately drew Bright Elegance. When the chillingly sharp blade emerged, Zhu Mun-won reflexively drew his sword as well. But naturally, I did not draw it to swing a blade at them.
I slowly deployed the sword art of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Zhu Mun-won’s jaw dropped so wide it looked ready to fall off.
“……Who might you be, Master?”
Zhu Mun-won’s tone turned respectful. I smirked.
“Do you believe me now?”
“Rather than knowing the stances, the energy is astonishing. This energy, as far as I know……”
“Right. Exactly what you are thinking.”
Not knowing what we were talking about, Yeo Bul-jin only looked back and forth between us.
“How do you know our father?”
“A master-disciple relationship.”
“Do you mean you served our father as your master?”
“Yes.”
“When was this?”
I briefly shared the story between Zhu Mun-hwan and me. From meeting him as the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, being trapped together in the formation, to escaping by myself.
Yeo Bul-jin seemed doubtful. He seemed to feel that what I said was too absurd.
Indeed, from spending years inside a formation only to find barely half a year had passed outside, to the story that the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was actually the sect leader of the Heavenly King Sect, it would be difficult to believe easily.
“So that was it.”
However, Zhu Mun-won was different. He had already seen my Heavenly Demon energy. To him, I was a godlike presence. Now Zhu Mun-won had no choice but to unconditionally believe my words.
“Company Lord.”
I whipped my head around to look at Yeo Bul-jin. Startled, Yeo Bul-jin shook his shoulders.
Yeo Bul-jin had probably never seen Zhu Mun-won adopt such a humble posture before. As a result, he could only conclude that I possessed something extraordinary.
“This story is top secret.”
“I understand.”
“There must be a reason I spoke of this top-secret story in front of you, Company Lord, right?”
“……I roughly understand.”
Yeo Bul-jin sighed. If it were revealed that the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company had been sheltering an imperial scion of Great Ming, the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company would not be able to escape severe hardship.
“Association Leader.”
Zhu Mun-won spoke carefully.
“The Company Lord took me in out of pure goodwill. If you use that as a weakness, I will have no face to see the Company Lord.”
“It is not as if I do not know that.”
I said firmly.
“However, I am the New Justice Association Leader. It is no exaggeration to say the lives of everyone belonging to the New Justice Association depend on my moves. I must try everything I can do. I cannot place restrictions on my actions while debating good and evil. That would be irresponsible.”
“Those are correct words.”
Yeo Bul-jin nodded and looked at Zhu Mun-won.
“I do not regret taking you in. Every time I looked at you, I felt the moving thought that I had at least saved one person. Even if I did bad deeds, seeing you made me think that I was not that bad of a person after all.”
“……Elder.”
“So do not blame yourself too much. The New Justice Association Leader is doing what a New Justice Association Leader must do, and I am doing what I must do. A clash arising between that is merely like a natural disaster. There is no need to blame each other.”
“That matches my opinion exactly.”
Yeo Bul-jin gave a bitter smile. Even if he considered it a natural disaster, changing a merchant company’s course due to intimidation could not leave a pleasant aftertaste.
However, I was saving Yeo Bul-jin. He needed to know that as well.
“Ah, but I understand the Young Master is still managing Prince Xian’s private treasury funds.”
“……Well, that seems to be the case.”
“That is why the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company cannot go along with the Imperial Palace.”
“Why?”
“Prince Xian is genuinely preparing a rebellion.”
“……!”
At this at least, even Yeo Bul-jin, who had tried his best to appear relaxed and composed, could not help but be horrified.
“Is that truly so?”
Yeo Bul-jin lowered his voice. A rebellion was naturally a matter one had to be cautious about. If Prince Xian was indeed preparing a rebellion, whether they knew it or not, it meant Yeo Hong-won and the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company, who were managing the private treasury funds, would face the extermination of three generations.
“It is top-tier intelligence, is it not? I have saved you, Company Lord. To be precise, you had no choices from the start, Company Lord. You could only choose us.”
“Then why did you intimidate me from the start? We could have talked nicely.”
“Because I was curious about your caliber, Company Lord.”
“If my caliber had been narrow, what if I had pretended to flatter you while preparing a blade behind your back?”
“Because those words were the truth.”
“What words are you talking about?”
“The words that if the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company does not choose the New Justice Association, we will certainly retaliate.”
I smiled. Yeo Bul-jin shook his head from side to side.
“You are the most difficult opponent I have ever met. I acknowledge it.”
“I am glad to be acknowledged.”
This time, Yeo Bul-jin extended his hand first. I took that hand and shook it.
The front line to overthrow the Imperial Palace was gradually taking concrete shape.