Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 150 - Central Plains Merchant Union Council (5)

Chapter 150 – Central Plains Merchant Union Council (5)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Seeing Jin Su-gwan made it all start to feel real.

The fact that I was about to begin meeting, in earnest, the ties of my previous life.

It was also another moment that made me realize, once again, that I truly had been a merchant.

Lately I had spent so much time living and moving only among martial artists that there were moments when my days as a merchant felt like a dream that had never truly existed.

“Ah, Brother. Do you know Young Master Jin?”

“Young Master, my ass. That is not a title you throw around for just anyone.”

At my words, the smiling expression on Jin Su-gwan’s face stiffened slightly.

In the strange atmosphere that suddenly spread, the one most flustered was Na Hyeon-wi.

Yu Cha-ryeon and Jo Chung-heon, my attendants who had merely been standing behind me and watching, were likewise staring at me in surprise.

That was only natural. They both knew I was not usually the kind of person who would pick a quarrel like this.

“C-come on now. Why are you being like this? Young Master Jin is also a member of one of the Shanxi Four Families. Calling him Young Master is entirely appropriate.”

Na Hyeon-wi belatedly tried to smooth things over, but Jin Su-gwan only shook his head with a smile still on his face.

“It is fine, Young Master Na. There is no need for that. For some reason, it seems I have displeased this gentleman. We can meet again inside.”

“Ah, no. Young Master Jin!” Having said that, Jin Su-gwan slipped inside.

No one else would have seen it, but I saw the moment his face completely hardened as he turned away.

“Brother! What kind of discourtesy was that? Have you never heard the saying that in the world of commerce, one should never make needless enemies?”

“He is a little different.”

“What?”

“He already thinks of us as enemies.”

“What kind of nonsense is that now?”

“Spend time around him and you will understand. Though the best course would be to make sure you never have to spend time around him at all.”

“I really do not understand a single word you are saying.”

“Just think of it simply. How should I put it? He is the world’s…”

I rubbed my chin between thumb and forefinger as I searched for the appropriate word.

Of course, there was no need to think long. The answer was obvious.

“…biggest son of a bitch?”

Na Hyeon-wi looked utterly unable to understand why I was showing such open hostility toward Jin Su-gwan.

That was only natural. At first, I too had thought Jin Su-gwan was a kind man, because he always walked around smiling. But once his mask came off, he turned out to be something entirely different. There were two people whose true faces I recognized before anyone else in my previous life. One was Na Hyeon-wi. The other was Jin Su-gwan.

The difference was that Na Hyeon-wi had been in the positive direction, while Jin Su-gwan had been in the negative one.

“Let us go in first. Come to think of it, when exactly was the official meeting again?”

“The day after tomorrow.”

“Every time I come to this Merchant Union Council, I always wonder why they make us arrive before the meeting and confirm our attendance like this every single day.”

“I know why they do it. Want to guess?”

“Hm. Since the elders are busy too, could it be because it would be troublesome if there were schedule changes?”

“Nonsense. These are old men who spend more time reading the Profound Profundity Manual of Go than reviewing meeting documents. Then again, if they do not want senility, I suppose they should play go a lot. Though plenty of them already look senile.”

“Are you usually someone who talks this much trash?”

“Whenever I come here, I start talking more trash. That is why I hate coming. I am a man who would prefer to live using only kind words and good words.”

“It sounds as though you have come here often.”

“Far more often than you think.”

“How could that be? This is not a place a newly established branch master would come to.”

“Why would I bother lying about something like that?”

Na Hyeon-wi looked at me as if to say, I do not think so, before sinking into thought again. But with the limited understanding of someone still young, he clearly could not grasp why those old men insisted on calling people in early.

“Ah, I do not know. What is it then?” “What else? It is just old men trying to keep younger merchants in line.”

“Come on now, surely not. Every elder who sits in this council is someone of tremendous prestige.”

“That is exactly why. In the past, they were so prestigious that people respected them as elders and great men without them doing anything. But now they get treated like old men shut away in the back room. So this is just a petty trick to fill up their wounded pride.”

“That cannot be…”

Na Hyeon-wi covered his mouth as if he had never imagined that his seniors could be such ugly people.

“It is because you come from a distinguished family among the Shanxi Four Families and because your father is such a great man. You have never had to deal with this sort of overbearing old-man nonsense. Now then, watch.”

Hearing something a hundred times was not equal to seeing it once. Instead of dirtying my own mouth with more abuse here, it would be better to show him directly.

I entered the Merchant Union Council building.

The Merchant Union Council building was decked out with all manner of gold and valuables, as though it wanted to boast about how much money it had. But it could not fool my eyes. There were genuine pieces here and there, but far more obvious fakes were mixed into the corridors.

Once we entered the hallway, a beautiful woman with long shapely legs came over to us. Her skirt was slit from the thigh upward, the sort of outfit old men dressed women in so they could pretend to glance at them in a dignified manner.

“Please state your merchant company affiliation, position, and name.”

“I am Muk Hui-yeong, branch master of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.”

“Ah, so you are the star of this meeting.”

As she said that, the woman looked at me with a rather sympathetic gaze. Although she worked at the Merchant Union Council too, it seemed she had been put through quite a lot by these old men.

“I have no desire to be the star.” “I can imagine. Please follow me. The elders are waiting.”

Come to think of it, who was chairman at this time? Naturally, I did not know. At this point in the original course of my life, I had not even owned a merchant company. In fact, back then I had not even known that an organization called the Merchant Union Council existed.

I followed the woman. She brought us before a door made from blackwood, a full jang in height.

She knocked lightly on it.

From within came an aged yet still ringing voice.

“What is it?”

“The attendee for the meeting the day after tomorrow has arrived.”

“Ah. Good.”

With a creaking sound, the enormous door swung open. From inside, the smell of old age came rushing out.

When I looked in, I saw many men playing go without paying the slightest attention to our entrance.

“Who is that? It is a face I have not seen before.”

At least there was one man who acknowledged us. Judging by his face, he seemed to be the youngest one there. Even so, he still looked well over seventy.

The woman apparently expected me to introduce myself. When I said nothing, she stared at me blankly for a moment before hurriedly adding, speaking on my behalf.

“Ah. He is the Branch Master of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.”

“The Branch Master of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company? Is that branch master above me, then?”

“Ah, sorry. He is the branch master of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.” “Yes, say it like that.”

I had hoped, perhaps, that this might not be the Merchant Union Council I knew. But this was unmistakably the Merchant Union Council I knew.

Only after the woman announced that I was the branch master of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company did everyone’s attention turn toward me.

“That brat?”

“Ho.”

“He is a slippery-looking one. Tsk tsk.”

“But if this is his first time here, did he come empty-handed? My eyes are so dim these days that I cannot see clearly…”

The old men playing go all made one disparaging comment after another as they looked at me. It was just as it had been in my previous life. The way they appraised a man was like the way they would appraise an item at an auction hall.

“What are you standing there blankly for? If you came, then you should at least go around and greet each person one by one!”

An old man speckled with age spots barked at me.

Na Hyeon-wi, standing beside me, froze at the sudden shout. Then again, whenever Na Hyeon-wi had come here, his giant of a father, Na Han-geol, would have been with him, so the atmosphere would not have been like this.

Who would not shrink in this situation, where senior elders summoned you only to shout at you from the outset? Even from a rational point of view, given their network and influence, even if someone did not truly feel intimidated, they would still have to pretend to be.

But I knew how little these people really amounted to. In that situation, there was no reason for me to shrink.

“So I just need to come back the day after tomorrow, right?”

Ignoring the old man completely, I asked the woman at my side. The woman’s eyes widened into circles as she stared at me. She clearly had not expected me to react like this. The atmosphere in the room chilled instantly. The old men wore blank expressions as though they doubted their own ears, and the people who had come with me also just stared with their eyes wide as if they were looking at a madman.

“Just look at this insolent brat!”

“A rude little upstart!”

The first reactions came from the old men. Since anyone could see that my words contained deliberate contempt, there was no way they would not fly into a rage.

“Wait, the one next to him. Is that not Han-geol’s son?”

“Hm?”

Apparently, among the old men with dim eyes, at least one still had decent sight. Someone had recognized Na Hyeon-wi.

“Young Master Na! What are you doing? Come over here and massage the elders’ shoulders.”

Just then, someone suddenly stood and shouted. It was Jin Su-gwan, whom I had not even noticed in the corner.

Then again, I had expected that he would have come inside early and started currying favor with the old men.

“Uh, ah…”

Na Hyeon-wi looked around helplessly, but at that moment I quietly gave him the obvious answer.

“Go.”

“What?”

“Go. There is no reason for you to take my side.”

Naturally, that was how I saw it. Perhaps in my previous life it would have been different. But right now, Na Hyeon-wi and I were not close enough for that. Yet Na Hyeon-wi, whether in my previous life or now, always managed to go beyond my expectations.

“What is the meaning of this, elders? How can you treat a rising star of the world of commerce with such coldness?”

Now it was my turn to be surprised. I had never dreamed that Na Hyeon-wi would actually take my side here. But Na Hyeon-wi had already burst into motion, and there was no sign he intended to stop.

“The branch master of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company came all the way from Hubei despite his busy schedule, and yet instead of personally welcoming him and encouraging him, you act like this! I, this Na, am truly disappointed!”

“What is wrong with him?”

One of the old men said that. And on that point, I agreed with him.

“You brat! Just because your father is Na Han-geol, do you think you can act as you please?”

“Act as I please? At the very least, my eyes are better than yours, elders!”

“What kind of lunatic is this!”

I had only meant to make a point and leave, but thanks to Na Hyeon-wi, I wound up floating awkwardly in the middle of it all. One of the enraged old men grabbed the go board in front of him and hurled it at Na Hyeon-wi. At a glance, judging from the board position, it looked like he was throwing it because he had been losing.

The board came flying together with the stones. Na Hyeon-wi had trained in martial arts enough that he probably would not have been hurt by it, but this time my hand moved faster.

I drew my sword at once and split the incoming go board in two.

“Huh?”

Everyone here was a merchant. Old merchants at that. They probably had not even seen how my sword left the scabbard.

After cutting the board in half, I sheathed the sword again and spoke. “Listen here, old men. If you summon busy people, then conduct yourselves with some dignity.”

“W-what did you say?”

Was it because they had just seen what I could do? The old men’s voices did not have the same force they had before.

I turned sharply and walked out of the room, and my companions, including Na Hyeon-wi, hurried after me while watching my face.

“What on earth were you thinking?”

The moment we stepped out, Jo Chung-heon cried out. Many merchants tended to think of the Merchant Union Council as some kind of power behind all the merchants of the Central Plains, and Jo Chung-heon seemed to be exactly that type.

But those with any real experience knew better. The Merchant Union Council was just a gathering of chaff.

“Enough of that. Let us go drink instead.”

“What? After making this kind of disaster, you want to drink?”

Jo Chung-heon nearly foamed at the mouth and toppled backward. Of course, no one caught him, so he had to pull himself upright again on his own.

“This is not the Merchant Union Council’s real headquarters.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“Come along. I will show you where it is.”

And the place where we arrived was an establishment with a signboard so weathered it looked ready to fall off.

Its name was Beijing Restaurant. There was a reason I had accepted the Merchant Union Council’s invitation. And it was here.