Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 65 - I Always Think of You (3)

Chapter 65 – I Always Think of You (3)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Radiant Crystal Merchant Company, which had been cutting across the commercial world like a ship under full sail, was suddenly forced into an abrupt stop. That didn’t mean the merchant company had grown quiet, however. The eunuchs from the Eastern Depot were tearing through the place, so on the surface it still looked just as busy as before.

“Company Lord.”

“Yes?”

“Why don’t you go inside and rest? I’ll keep an eye on the merchant company.”

“Would that change anything? Even when things get broken, they haven’t compensated us for a single one.”

“That’s true, but still.”

The eunuchs were truly overbearing under the pretext of carrying out affairs of state. Since when had taking bribes and wreaking havoc on a merchant company become the business of the state, I had no idea.

“Why are you here too, Foreman? You don’t need to come in either.”

“Because I’m not just a foreman anymore. I’m the chief foreman now, aren’t I? And I have work of my own to do.”

Ah. Right. I had told him to create a staffing plan and a new organizational chart. Even after giving the order myself, I kept forgetting it.

“In any case, it’s a complete mess.”

All we could do was stand there with our arms crossed and watch the eunuchs overturn the merchant company.

Documents and desks were shifted around and damaged in the process, but they didn’t care in the slightest.

It was understandable, in a sense, why Jo Chung-heon kept telling me to go inside. He probably thought it would be painful for me to stand there watching the merchant company into which I had poured my blood and sweat get ravaged by others.

But I believed that at times like this, one had to face the present situation directly. This was the process of lying on brushwood and tasting gall. If I feared even that, there would be no way to return the favor to them later.

“When is this going to end?”

When I asked one of the eunuchs nearby, he looked irritated.

“It’ll end when it ends. Why do you have so many complaints about an affair of state?”

“I was only curious about the time it would end.”

“If people are carrying out state business, the least you could do is prepare some water and snacks.”

At the eunuch’s words, Jo Chung-heon’s face reddened even more than mine did. He had long known that the Eastern Depot was an arrogant force, but this was his first time experiencing it in person. In my previous life, Radiant Crystal Merchant Company had never become entangled with the Eastern Depot.

I leaned close and quietly whispered something to Jo Chung-heon. I told him to go outside and buy some water and food. He looked at me as if asking whether I was serious, but I only nodded.

Soon Jo Chung-heon brought back food and water, and the eunuchs visibly brightened. Even the eunuch who had been grumbling earlier softened his expression.

“There, you see? We don’t do this because we want to, so if we all show one another a little consideration, isn’t that much better?”

As if anyone would want to show consideration to people ransacking their home. But a different sound came out of my mouth.

“This is the first time I’ve seen the Eastern Depot at work, so I wasn’t used to it. From now on, please don’t worry about food and just do your work. I’d also appreciate it if you could handle the goods and documents a little more carefully whenever possible.”

“Of course, of course. That’s how things should go. A little give and take.”

Once I laid out food that was fairly expensive, the eunuchs’ mood seemed to ease. I stood beside them, picking pieces up with my own hand and blending naturally into the conversation.

“The Eastern Depot must really have a lot of people. To mobilize this many men on a place that still hasn’t yielded anything. About how many are there?”

“How would I know? Even the Chief Director probably doesn’t know. The only one who knows is a Grand Eunuch.”

A Grand Eunuch meant the head of the Eastern Depot and the highest-ranking eunuch who served directly at the Emperor’s side. Well, as a special service organization, it made sense that everything would be wrapped in secrecy.

“I’ve heard that people from the Eastern Depot intervene in the martial world a great deal too, so you must have many experts.”

“Ahem. That’s true enough.”

He liked it when I praised him as some sort of expert. Of course, not all eunuchs looked as pretty as Yi Hwan, so from my point of view I simply wanted to punch them.

“Someone like the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot, how strong would he be?”

“Who knows. In the Eastern Depot, we don’t ask about one another. It’s secret, for one thing. You certainly do keep asking about the Eastern Depot. Do you perhaps want your lower half removed? If you do, just say so. There’s someone who’s extraordinarily skilled at removing it.”

“No, that’s not it. It’s just that I never get a chance to meet people of the Eastern Depot, so I have a lot I’m curious about. If it was rude of me, my apologies.”

“It was rude. Well, but you seem a bit like a proper person, so I’m telling you.”

To be called a proper person just because I gave him food. Then again, when it came to coaxing people, there really was nothing like food.

“You know, the Eastern Depot is a dangerous place. Earlier I told you Eastern Depot people don’t ask about each other, right? Do you know why that is?”

“Isn’t it just because you’re a special service agency?”

“That’s part of it. The more fundamental reason is that no one wants to grow attached. People of the Eastern Depot can disappear at any time.”

The eunuch said that with a sinister laugh.

“People of the Eastern Depot have various assignments, but usually we work not in places like this out in the open, but in the shadows. So you never know when you’ll die. If you die, does the Eastern Depot go looking for your killer and take revenge? Or build you a grand tomb? Nothing like that. You just quietly disappear.”

“Is that so?”

“Exactly. That’s the kind of work the Eastern Depot does. So don’t do anything that gets on the Chief Director’s nerves. In the Eastern Depot, the person who kills disappears, and the person who dies disappears too.”

“That’s truly terrifying.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

When I dramatically wrapped both arms around myself and shivered, the eunuch laughed. No matter how often I heard it, I couldn’t get used to the eunuch’s androgynous laughter.

After that I more or less kept pace with the eunuchs’ conversation, then eventually returned to the Company Lord’s room.

“Company Lord, you really are more impressive than I expected.”

Jo Chung-heon, who had gone on the errand earlier, was resting inside the Company Lord’s room.

“In what way?”

“To think you’d even feed those eunuchs I want to chew up and spit out.”

“If you say that louder, they’ll hear you. The eunuchs of the Eastern Depot all practice martial arts.”

“Gah.”

Jo Chung-heon covered his mouth. Then he lowered his voice and whispered,

“So then, how long is this supposed to go on?”

“Who knows.”

“It’s already been fifteen days. It looks like they’re rereading the same documents too.”

“Looking at the documents isn’t the important thing. Dragging out the time is.”

“The fact that that’s so obvious is what makes me angry.”

Jo Chung-heon started to raise his voice again, then checked the outside.

“I’ve heard the Wuhan Merchant Association is connected to the publishers in Suzhou and Hangzhou and is printing the Green Forest Twelve Forms in enormous quantities.”

“Of course they are.”

“They’ve taken the market share too.”

“That too was inevitable. Ah, now that you mention it, tell the Thousand Snakes Gang to reduce their people. It’s not as though we have much left to sell anyway.”

“Yes. The warehouse is empty now. Instead, they say the Wuhan Merchant Association’s warehouse is packed full of the Green Forest Twelve Forms.”

The Wuhan Merchant Association was now riding exactly the same full sail that Radiant Crystal Merchant Company had ridden fifteen days earlier. That was because the Green Forest Twelve Forms were still selling like wildfire.

“The Wuhan Merchant Association has completely swallowed the Green Forest Twelve Forms market.”

“They have. I hear they’re even cutting back on handling other goods in order to focus on producing it.”

“They’re absolutely obsessed with crushing us.”

“If only the Eastern Depot hadn’t tied down our feet, they would’ve been no match for us.”

“Oh, come on. That’s not true. No matter how much we mobilized the black path, the Wuhan Merchant Association has far more people.”

I gave a soft laugh. The flattery on Jo Chung-heon’s lips was oddly interesting. Then again, any merchant was expected at minimum to know how to gild faces with words.

From Jo Chung-heon’s point of view, my state was one in which I ought to be seething. We had been selling extremely well, then the Eastern Depot pinned us down, and in that brief gap our competitor had overtaken us.

“Chief Foreman.”

“Yes?”

“There is no festival that lasts all year.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m heading out for a moment.”

Whether Jo Chung-heon understood me or not, I walked outside. I had already spoken with the eunuchs enough, so now it was time to leave.

To be exact, I had been waiting for a chance to leave this whole time. Until now I had been unable to because the eunuchs had people watching me.

Outside the merchant company, I spread the spiritual energy from my lower dantian. I could sense the awareness of the people watching me. On the first day I met the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot, there had been eight people tailing me. Now there were only two.

Since for fifteen days all I had done was come to the merchant company and watch eunuchs rummage through it, it was only natural that the number of watchers had been reduced.

“Hoo.”

I entered an alley. The instant I did, I unfolded the Azure Cloud Steps at full speed.

There was no eunuch who could keep up with Azure Cloud Steps when performed at such speed. I darted through the alleys, confusing the eunuchs tailing me, then leisurely slipped away. When I spread my senses once more, no eunuchs were following me.

Feeling considerably lighter, I headed for the Black Dragon Gate. As soon as I entered, even the lowest men recognized me.

“Ah. Aren’t you the Company Lord of Radiant Crystal Merchant Company?”

“That’s right. Is the gate leader here?”

“Yes. Please go in. The gate leader has been waiting for you.”

Waiting for me? As if I’d sent word that I was coming.

I went up to the gate leader’s room. Mun Il-ji was seated there in a large chair. The moment I saw him, I smiled.

“The gate leader’s seat suits you pretty well.”

“If not for you, I wouldn’t have taken it in the first place.”

Mun Il-ji grumbled as he got to his feet.

“I’ve been waiting, so why’d you take so long?”

“You heard it, didn’t you? The Eastern Depot’s been tormenting Radiant Crystal Merchant Company. I’ve had to watch my steps because of that.”

“Ah. I did hear. They’ve also been saying that Radiant Crystal Merchant Company is going to go under because of it.”

I grinned. From the outside, of course it would look that way. If a newly founded merchant company got marked by the Eastern Depot, people would naturally assume it couldn’t continue its business.

“If something like this were enough to ruin me, I would’ve been ruined long ago.”

“Still, isn’t the Eastern Depot pretty rough?”

“It is, but for now, where is that thing?”

“Hah. That damned thing gave me such a headache.”

Mun Il-ji pushed aside the bookshelf behind the gate leader’s room to the left and right. Behind it was an iron door hidden in secret. When he opened it, there was a staircase leading underground.

“Did the Black Dragon Gate always have something like this?”

“Men with dirty secrets always have things like this.”

“This isn’t some imperial torture chamber.”

Smiling bitterly, I started down the stairs. Naturally there were no luminous pearls set into the walls, so I had to grope along one step at a time with a hand on the wall.

At the bottom of the stairs, the groans of a human being and the stale smell of the underground greeted me.

“Ugh, uuugh…”

“It really is a torture chamber.”

I frowned at the sight of a man whose arms were shackled to chains hanging from the ceiling.

The man hanging there had broken limbs and a face beaten to pulp. He was a truly awful sight. Without a word, Mun Il-ji kicked the man’s already broken shin.

“Aaaaagh!”

The hanging man threw back his head and screamed. I glanced left and right.

“Sound doesn’t leak out, does it?”

“Of course not. I come here and beat him whenever I feel bored, and not a single person has ever said they heard anything.”

Mun Il-ji smiled in a chilling way.

The man hanging there was the former gate leader of the Black Dragon Gate. The man who had fed Mun Il-ji gu and controlled him. So being beaten like this by Mun Il-ji was simply karma coming home. I had business with him.

“Hey.”

I spoke to him, but the former gate leader was still so lost in pain that he couldn’t process my words. When I looked at Mun Il-ji, he reflexively raised his fist.

“Gyaaaah!”

In an instant, Mun Il-ji’s fist knocked the former gate leader’s jaw aside.

“Ugh, ughhh.”

Blood mixed with drool streamed from his mouth. Very few teeth remained.

“Answer, you bastard.”

“Y-yes. I uhstand.”

“What the hell is he saying?”

“He says he understands.”

I nodded and grabbed the former gate leader by the jaw, lifting his face.

Now it was time to ask what I wanted to know.

“The gu. Where did you get it?”