Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 64 - I Always Think of You (2)
Chapter 64 – I Always Think of You (2)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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If it was the imperial palace, that meant someone had come from Beijing. As I walked quickly back toward the Company Lord’s room, the only figure I could barely think of was the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. At Hyeong Tae-seong’s request, I had indeed sent a letter to him.
But if that were the case, there was no reason he should have come together with the Vice Minister of Revenue. If the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate had come to Wuhan, he would have met Hyeong Tae-seong first and reported the corruption of Jin Mu-byeok, the Vice Minister of Revenue.
No matter how much I turned the possibilities over and twisted them around, I couldn’t think of anyone from the imperial palace who ought to be coming here.
Even I, who believed one only understood things by colliding with them head-on, did not particularly want to collide with the imperial palace. I steadied my breathing in front of the Company Lord’s room and opened the door.
Inside, an errand boy was already brewing tea to serve the Vice Minister of Revenue and the visitor from the imperial palace.
The instant I stepped in, my eyes widened. I didn’t even notice the Vice Minister of Revenue. That was because sitting next to him was a breathtaking beauty wearing a sword at her waist.
Her luxurious black satin robes and hair pinned up with a hairpin were enough to inspire admiration. Any man would be tempted, at first sight, to imagine kissing her.
“Radiant Crystal Merchant Company really has grown quite large. To think I’d have to wait.”
“If you had sent word in advance, I would’ve been waiting for you.”
But I had no time to sink into appreciation. I had to deal with the Vice Minister of Revenue. As expected, it seemed he had come just to start trouble.
“And the person beside you is…?”
I trailed off. With that sort of beauty, she looked almost like an imperial princess. Princess Ju Eun-seol’s appearance was famed with the title First Flower of the Central Plains.
Of course, hardly anyone had ever actually seen Ju Eun-seol’s face. Ordinary people had no chance to seek an audience with the imperial family. Even I, who had once been the lord of a Great House merchant company, had never seen her.
“Ah. Allow me to introduce you. This is Yi Hwan, Chief Director of the Eastern Depot.”
“…Pardon?”
Without even realizing how disrespectful it was to a palace person, I had no choice but to ask again. The Eastern Depot was the imperial palace’s special service agency, and it was composed entirely of eunuchs.
Jin Mu-byeok frowned at once, but the person introduced as Chief Director of the Eastern Depot covered a smile with a hand.
“Ho ho. It’s fine. As you can see, with an appearance like this, people make that mistake often.”
“Ah, my apologies.”
Only then did I belatedly apologize for my rudeness. That voice and those gestures were those of a woman in every respect, yet the person was in fact a eunuch.
The thought that had flashed through me when I first saw Yi Hwan, the thought of a kiss, made gooseflesh burst across my spine and arms. A kiss with a eunuch. What a horrifying and dreadful thing to imagine. Other people might differ, but I was the sort of man who preferred women to men.
“So then, for what reason has the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot come?”
Collecting myself again, I looked toward Jin Mu-byeok. Whether eunuch or not, the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot was not someone to take lightly.
It was a very high position even within the Eastern Depot, which was itself a special service organ. Since the Eastern Depot specialized in intelligence and arrests, an uneasy feeling crept up from deep within me.
The answer came not from Jin Mu-byeok, but from Yi Hwan.
“I’ll explain.”
“Very well.”
“Do you know the Demonic Cult?”
At Yi Hwan’s words, I furrowed my brow. The Demonic Cult. It was a group shunned even within the martial world, and the imperial palace as well had been one of the forces that had worked tirelessly to reject it.
“I know of it. Didn’t it perish long ago?”
“That’s right. The palace and the martial world joined forces and drove out the Demonic Cult. That’s a historical fact everyone knows.”
“Yes. It is.”
“That’s the general outline. What comes next is a secret. Well? Are you confident you can keep it?”
Yi Hwan smiled with the eyes. It was a smile frightening enough to make both my heart and my fists tremble at once.
Now Yi Hwan’s appearance no longer entered my sight. No, to be honest, some part of it still did. But in any case, if the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot was calling this a secret, then… I immediately shook my head.
“I’m confident I could keep it, but I won’t hear it. Who am I to eavesdrop on a secret of the Eastern Depot?”
“There isn’t really an option not to hear it. Regrettably. I asked whether you could keep it, not whether you wished to hear it, didn’t I?”
Yi Hwan’s smile deepened. The air in the room seemed to grow colder and colder. The draft blowing in from outside felt like cool blades relentlessly slicing across my body.
“…Then I suppose I must keep it.”
“Good. Lately, the movements of remnants of the Demonic Cult have been detected in several places throughout the Central Plains.”
The secret came immediately, not even allowing me the space to catch my breath. The moment I heard it, I drew in a great breath.
I had been thinking the same thing myself, and hearing it from someone else’s mouth felt like having my suspicions confirmed. And if it came from the mouth of the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot, the man who oversaw information, then it was effectively official.
“That is astonishing. Wasn’t the Demonic Cult wiped out?”
“Yes. It’s said they were all eradicated a hundred years ago in the Ten Thousand Mountains over a span of a hundred days. But it seems some descendants survived.”
“I see.”
My unease deepened further. Yes, it was useful enough to have my suspicion that the Demonic Cult was active confirmed. But why in the world was he telling that to me?
“You have the look in your eyes of someone asking why I’m telling you this, don’t you?”
“Your intuition is sharp.”
No matter how perceptive a merchant might be, he could not keep up with a eunuch whose profession was watching people.
“It’s because you’re suspected of being a spy of the Demonic Cult.”
“…Hah.”
I forced out as much incredulity as I could, but inwardly I was panicking.
The first thing that came to mind was that someone who had seen me use demonic qi had reported it. But when I used demonic qi, there had been no one around. I had checked more than once before using it, so that was certain. Then was it Mun Il-ji? Had his acting like he couldn’t recognize demonic qi only been quick improvisation? All sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind.
“Me?”
I pointed at myself and tried to express maximum grievance and disbelief. But it didn’t seem to work at all on Yi Hwan, whose eyes had narrowed with that same smiling expression.
“Yes.”
“What’s the basis for that?”
“Someone reported it.”
“And who was that?”
“Naturally, I can’t tell you.”
“Then you have no basis.”
My tone regained a little confidence at that. If they had no basis, then I had nothing to cower over. It was true that I possessed demonic qi, but I was not a spy of the Demonic Cult.
“There is only suspicion.”
“Then perhaps I should hear what sort of suspicion it is.”
“First, the epidemic that spread in Wuhan. According to the Eastern Depot’s investigation, traces of demonic qi were found at the point of origin where the epidemic spread.”
Yi Hwan continued speaking.
“Who profited the most from the epidemic in Wuhan?”
“Was there anyone who profited from it?”
“There you are. You. You gained the reputation of Divine Physician of Hubei.”
I let out a short laugh. Chief Director of the Eastern Depot or not, it was simply absurd.
“I was only trying to save people.”
“Or perhaps you deliberately spread demonic qi, then later treated people with demonic qi yourself. That is one line of suspicion.”
That was a pricking statement. It was because half of it was true. After all, it was true that I had treated people with demonic qi.
“Second, the hoarding of the Green Forest Twelve Forms. After monopolizing the stock, perhaps the Demonic Cult deliberately loosed Green Forest bandits in order to raise the price of the Green Forest Twelve Forms.”
“That’s quite a bit of speculation with a great many middle steps omitted.”
“In any case, isn’t it strange to the point of madness that a new merchant company like Radiant Crystal Merchant Company dealt in and sold only the Green Forest Twelve Forms? At a time when you ought to have been handling many kinds of goods just to break open a path.”
Yi Hwan smiled. Now, no matter how long I looked at that face, my heart no longer fluttered. Not only because I knew the person was a eunuch. The smile hanging on that pale, beautiful face was colder than anything else.
“Then it also makes some sense how Radiant Crystal Merchant Company managed to persuade the Black Dragon Gate. If one possessed an expert of the Demonic Cult, erasing a single black-path gang would be no great challenge.”
“This has gone past the realm of speculation and into imagination.”
“Then let me ask you. Why did you think of buying up the Green Forest Twelve Forms, a book no one had been interested in? And even stake the survival of your merchant company on it. There must have been some certainty behind that, wasn’t there?”
At that, even I was left speechless.
“Surely you aren’t going to tell me you knew the future?”
Yi Hwan was very clearly mocking me. It was obvious that even Yi Hwan would not have come here in person over such flimsy conjecture alone.
The Association Master of the Wuhan Merchant Association, the Vice Minister of Revenue, and above them perhaps even the Zhuge Clan must have moved the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot. The accusation that I was a spy of the Demonic Cult was clearly only a charge cobbled together for convenience. The reason was simple: there wasn’t a single thing in Yi Hwan’s words that deserved to be called fact.
And yet I could not refute him. Truths I could not speak and falsehoods had been intricately mixed together in a way that was hard to separate.
It was true that I had treated people with demonic qi, and it was true that I had monopolized the Green Forest Twelve Forms because I knew the future. It was even possible that the Black Dragon Gate and the Demonic Cult were connected. After all, Mun Il-ji had been implanted with gu.
In the end, all I could do was shrug at Yi Hwan, who was staring directly at me.
“I don’t particularly have anything to say.”
“Are you confessing your crime?”
“No. Not that.”
“Then this is going to be troublesome. We’ll be searching Radiant Crystal Merchant Company. During the search, all business operations will cease.”
“By what authority?”
In an instant, Yi Hwan’s sword flashed out of its scabbard. Even my eyes, accustomed to fast movements, could scarcely follow it. Before I knew it, the cold blade was already touching my throat.
‘…An astonishing expert.’
Then again, both the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot were places crowded with experts from the imperial palace. If Yi Hwan had risen high enough to become Chief Director of the Eastern Depot, then of course he too would be an immense expert.
“By the authority of the Eastern Depot. Do you have a complaint?”
I couldn’t even swallow properly. My Adam’s apple felt as if it would brush the blade if it moved.
“None.”
I forced that answer out in a strangled voice.
Only then did Yi Hwan withdraw the sword. The chill of the blade still lingered ominously on my neck, and I rubbed it with my hand.
Then Yi Hwan leaned close to my ear and whispered,
“The Eastern Depot is a place that exists in darkness. If you don’t wish to meet your end in some back alley, it would be best to watch your words and behavior.”
“…I will remember that.”
“I have no intention of using brute force. This isn’t the old age, where people were simply dragged in and tortured until false confessions came out.”
That much was at least fortunate. And the words made me even surer of their purpose. Their true aim was to search the merchant company and halt our business operations. The accusation that I was a spy of the Demonic Cult was only the excuse.
In any case, it was still terrifying enough. I thought I should go to the Black Dragon Gate first and find out what had become of the gu. If word got out from the Black Dragon Gate that gu had been used there, I myself might come under suspicion. It would be a case of the crow flying and the pear falling, and unfair though that might be, there was a saying not to adjust your hat under a plum tree. It was best to prevent chances for misunderstanding before they arose.
So the search began. Eunuchs in black garments, from who knew where, came in and tore through every document and bamboo slip in sight.
As I watched with my arms crossed, the eunuchs intentionally slowed their pace. They even said that since they couldn’t finish the search today, they would come back tomorrow.
“What a pity.”
Yi Hwan smiled with the eyes once more and withdrew, while Jin Mu-byeok, who had remained silent, clicked his tongue and muttered,
“Didn’t I say so? If you stick your head out too far, you stand out.”
Jin Mu-byeok left following Yi Hwan, and Radiant Crystal Merchant Company had become a complete mess. Naturally, the eunuchs had no intention of tidying anything after finishing the search.
“…Company Lord.”
Jo Chung-heon quietly came up beside me. The people of Radiant Crystal Merchant Company, now with no work to do, were all looking at me.
“Heh heh.”
A laugh slipped out of me before I knew it. I had suffered this kind of harassment from the authorities plenty of times in my previous life as well. Of course, it was my first time being targeted by the Eastern Depot itself.
“Foreman.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t come in for a while. The others too. The eunuchs are going to be camping here for quite some time anyway.”
“Pardon? Then…”
“Don’t worry. Your wages will still be paid.”
At my words, the people of the merchant company exchanged glances. Leaving only that behind, I went straight into the Company Lord’s room and shut the door.
By the time the search was over, moonlight was already spilling a wavering glow across the world. Resting my chin on my hand with an elbow on the desk, I glared into the darkness.
This time I hadn’t prepared for it, or rather, even if I had, it was the sort of trick that would have hit me anyway. But next time would be different.
“They still don’t know me.”
I always repay things.
Whether they’re acts of kindness.
Or enmity.