Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 69 - I Always Think of You (7)
Chapter 69 – I Always Think of You (7)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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When I entered the Provincial Administration Commission, people glanced at me and stared. Normally they would recognize me as the Divine Physician of Hubei and act friendly, but this was the first time no one had come up to me at all. In fact, when the constable who had acted friendly before met my eyes, he hurriedly turned away and began walking with an awkward gait.
I went straight into the Revenue Office. The Revenue Office was a complete disaster. Since its head, the Vice Minister of Revenue, had become entangled in a corruption case, that was only natural.
“Hey, hey! I told you not to touch that! Do you want to get bound up with the Censorate and dragged away with him!”
“Th, the documents were crooked, so…”
“Shut up! From now on, if anyone touches a document without the Censorate’s permission, we’ll treat it as an attempt to destroy evidence!”
Just like at Radiant Crystal Merchant Company, people were there overturning documents and conducting a thorough search. Only then did I realize that the Eastern Depot people had really been taking it easy. This was what a real search was like, so harsh you could barely breathe.
I rolled my eyes around and watched the situation. If I tried to look for someone right now, it felt like I’d get cursed out for being tone-deaf. I wasn’t even an official, but a commoner. Still, I couldn’t just keep spending time here.
“Is the Revenue Councillor here right now?”
I grabbed a nearby man from the Revenue Office and asked. I was fully prepared to get cursed at.
As expected, the man from the Revenue Office whirled around toward me with a fierce frown. But unexpectedly, no abuse came out.
“The, the Divine Physician of Hubei?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, well. Um. He is here right now. The Councillor is also under inspection, so it may be difficult for him to receive you.”
The Revenue Office official stammered and watched my face. I wasn’t some high official, and there was no need for him to be this cautious and use honorifics with me.
“In any case, he is here, right? Then I can just wait.”
“Ah, no. There is no need for you to wait. If you have urgent business, I will deliver it to him myself.”
“Pardon? That’s really not necessary.”
“No, no. I want to do it.”
The official suddenly bowed to me and went into the office of the Revenue Councillor. When he came back out, he lowered his head to me again.
“He says he will come out shortly.”
“Ah, yes… thank you.”
Watching the respectful official to the very end, I tilted my head. There probably existed no people as overflowing with pride and arrogance as officials of the Imperial Realm. Even when I had been the Company Lord of a Great House merchant company in the old days, officials would still stand with their waists and necks ramrod straight just because they fancied themselves men who drew the state’s salary.
Was that man just a special case? Well, there are all kinds of people in the world.
Just as the official had said, Hyeong Tae-seong, the Revenue Councillor, came out immediately. The Censorate man I had seen through the crack in the door looked bright-faced. The atmosphere was the complete opposite of the Revenue Office, which had been reduced to chaos.
“Come in.”
When I entered, the man from the Censorate gave me a small bow.
“Divine Physician of Hubei, or should I call you Company Lord? In any case, it’s a pleasure. I’m the Investigating Censor in charge of this search.”
“You’re an official, so you may speak casually to me.”
“Oh no. If I did that, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief would chew me out. He instructed us that while overturning the Revenue Office, we were to treat only the Revenue Councillor and the Divine Physician of Hubei with the utmost courtesy.”
“Ah.”
So that was why people had grown respectful. But thinking about it again, that couldn’t be the whole reason. Wang Song’s orders only applied to the Censorate’s own men, after all.
There was no reason for the Provincial Administration Commission’s constables or the Revenue Office’s officials to watch my mood.
“I see. Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. This is our duty.”
“Watching the Censorate carry out a search made my knees go weak.”
“Hm, to be honest, turning the Revenue Office upside down now doesn’t really mean much. The major pieces of evidence had already been sorted out and arranged in advance by the Revenue Councillor. That alone is enough. We’re just looking to see whether there are any additional offenses.”
“Ah, is that so. Then what will happen to the Vice Minister of Revenue?”
“Well…”
The Investigating Censor smiled awkwardly. No matter what, it seemed too early to speak of that yet.
At that moment the door burst open and someone entered. The people who came in were Wang Song, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and a middle-aged man with a goat beard. Wang Song, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, did not enter first, but let the middle-aged man in ahead of him. That alone made me think I knew who this man was.
“We greet the Provincial Administration Commissioner.”
Hyeong Tae-seong swiftly proved the man’s identity for me. The Provincial Administration Commissioner. In other words, the head of Hubei’s Provincial Administration Commission.
The moment he arrived, the Provincial Administration Commissioner rebuked Hyeong Tae-seong.
“Tsk. You handled this matter rather oddly.”
“I apologize.”
Hyeong Tae-seong lowered his head. I immediately understood the feeling involved.
Without informing the Provincial Administration Commissioner first, he had connected directly to the Censorate and turned the Provincial Administration Commission upside down. From the Commissioner’s perspective, it was the sort of action that could make him feel Hyeong Tae-seong had ignored him.
“Still, since the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief handled the mediation well in the middle, you should know that you remain in office thanks to him.”
“Once again, I apologize.”
“No, that’s not it. I know what was in your heart when you chose to connect directly to the Censorate. You were afraid that if you reported it to me, word would leak to the Vice Minister of Revenue, weren’t you?”
The Provincial Administration Commissioner spoke as though the taste in his mouth had turned bitter. Which, of course, meant that Hyeong Tae-seong had not trusted the Provincial Administration Commissioner. That was all it could mean.
“Now, now. Provincial Administration Commissioner, you needn’t scold him too much. In the end, he is still an official who moved for the sake of the people, is he not?”
“Ahem, if it hadn’t been for that, I would’ve chastised him severely.”
The Provincial Administration Commissioner cleared his throat and only then looked at me.
“So you’re the Divine Physician of Hubei. A pleasure to meet you. I am Gang Se-min, Provincial Administration Commissioner of Hubei.”
“The honor is mine. I am Muk Hui-yeong of Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.”
I briefly looked over Gang Se-min’s face. There was nothing especially distinctive about it, but he was still the man in charge of an entire province. That made him a high official on an entirely different level from a prefectural governor who merely handled one department among the many within a province. It was especially necessary to choose my words with care.
“How much has the Provincial Administration Commissioner been told?”
First I asked cautiously. I needed to know that before I could decide how much I was allowed to say right now. It wasn’t Gang Se-min who answered, but Wang Song.
“The Provincial Administration Commissioner had to be told everything. Isn’t that trust? In any case, we’re all in the same boat now.”
“That’s true enough.”
I cleared my throat. In truth, someone at the level of the Provincial Administration Commissioner had the right to know the whole plan. After all, we were overturning an entire Provincial Administration Commission, and when persuading the Provincial Administration Commissioner, they would naturally have explained the plan.
In our secret meeting at the Revenue Office before, we had made the assumption that if the Censorate directly pressured the Vice Minister of Revenue, then the Vice Minister would move the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot. And the idea was that if we eliminated that Chief Director of the Eastern Depot, then everything would be resolved.
The Hubei branch of the Eastern Depot, having lost its leader, would splinter into disarray, and the Vice Minister of Revenue, who would instantly lose the powerful backing he had relied upon, would collapse at once. That had been our calculation.
In any case, since they said the Provincial Administration Commissioner knew everything, it made speaking easier.
“But…”
The man with the highest rank here, the Provincial Administration Commissioner, let the end of his sentence trail off. What reason could a Provincial Administration Commissioner possibly have to watch anyone’s mood?
Yet surprisingly, the person he was watching was none other than me.
“How did you deal with the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot?”
“Pardon?”
That was a question that was slightly difficult to answer. Wang Song added on after him.
“Just as you said, we spread the rumor that the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot had disappeared. Among the people, the accepted theory is that he went into hiding because the Censorate intervened, but a strange story is spreading as well.”
“A strange story?”
“That you are a divine being who commands monstrous spirits and uncanny powers, and that the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot was reduced to a handful of bloody water.”
“…People are seriously saying that?”
“Quite a few people seriously believe it.”
That was something even I hadn’t anticipated. It was true that I had instigated the rumor that the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot had disappeared. That was necessary in order to bring down Vice Minister of Revenue Jin Mu-byeok.
On top of that, I had also spread the rumor that the Chief Director had gone into hiding because he feared being tied together with Jin Mu-byeok by the Censorate. When it comes to rumors, the first one to spread them is the victor. Overlapping lies are distorted into truth, and exposing those lies requires an enormous amount of truth. That was why I had managed to make the Chief Director’s disappearance into the orthodox account, but the tale of monstrous spirits and uncanny powers was a rumor I truly could not have foreseen.
“That’s because you showed them the miraculous deeds of the Divine Physician of Hubei. In truth, curing an epidemic no one else could heal that cleanly is not something an ordinary mortal would do.”
I had only done it because I had knowledge of the future. I had overlooked the fact that it might look like a miracle to others. Still, to think I would end up becoming some divine physician who handled monstrous spirits and uncanny powers.
“Well, that kind of ridiculous rumor will disappear soon enough, won’t it?”
“That much is true. But that’s not the important point.”
“Then what is?”
“The point is that at least we know the truth. We know that he wasn’t made to disappear by the intervention of the Censorate.”
Their eyes were full of curiosity as they stared at my mouth.
“Do I really have to explain the process?”
“You don’t have to explain it. It’s only that if secrecy becomes mixed into a relationship, then trust may fade.”
I let out a dry laugh. If they were speaking so regretfully like that, then they really were terribly curious.
Naturally, killing an official of the Imperial Realm carried enormous risk. That was why Wang Song and Hyeong Tae-seong had doubted me all the way to the very end when I said I could deal with the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot.
To their worries, I had never explained in concrete terms how I intended to deal with the Chief Director. I had only firmly stated that I could.
From their point of view, there were many possibilities they could imagine. Perhaps I had mobilized assassins, or connections, or poison, or a honey trap. In any case, they wanted to see all the cards in my hand. They wanted to know what kind of hand would allow me to kill a regional magnate like the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot without hesitation.
Gang Se-min, the Provincial Administration Commissioner, Wang Song, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and Hyeong Tae-seong, the Revenue Councillor. I looked at each of them in turn.
There was no need to speak about Hyeong Tae-seong, who was a future Chancellor. The Provincial Administration Commissioner was at present a second-rank official, while the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief was a power in the Imperial Palace. Compared to them, I was nothing more than the Company Lord of a single merchant company, carrying the shabby name of a lay disciple of Wudang. That being the case, from my point of view I rather welcomed sharing a secret with these men.
In front of them as they sat tense, I smiled broadly and gave my shoulders a small shrug.
“I just killed him.”
“…Just?”
All three of their voices merged together stupidly. From their perspective, it must have felt like the most nonsensical answer possible.
“You killed the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot yourself?”
“He came to assassinate me, so I had to kill him.”
“No, but you didn’t even set up some sort of trap?”
“Did I need to? I win against him.”
“…”
At my confident answer, all of them were left speechless. After a brief silence, Gang Se-min muttered blankly,
“At the level of the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot, there are hardly any people in Wuhan who can stand against him…”
“I’m not from Wuhan. I’m a man of Wudang.”
“As far as I know, you haven’t even been a lay disciple for a full year yet.”
Wang Song asked that. In the meantime, it seemed he had also investigated my background thoroughly. Of course, there was nothing there for him to find.
“That’s just talent.”
“Good heavens.”
When I said that, all of them were once again at a loss for words. Their eyes changed anew. Up to now, they had only known Muk Hui-yeong the Company Lord and Muk Hui-yeong the Divine Physician of Hubei, so it was understandable.
“You are a frightening man.”
Gang Se-min said that in a trembling voice. To think the day would come when even a Provincial Administration Commissioner would watch my mood. It had been impossible even in my previous life. Then again, Gang Se-min did seem somewhat soft for a high official.
“Well then. Since your curiosity has been answered, let’s do what we came here to do.”
Wang Song clapped his hands to change the mood.
When we went outside, Jin Mu-byeok was already kneeling, bound, in the devastated Revenue Office. The Censorate’s censors had seized him. There wasn’t even a trace of resistance left in Jin Mu-byeok’s eyes. With even the Chief Director of the Eastern Depot he had trusted gone, it was only natural that he would cast everything aside.
“Ha ha.”
The moment I saw him, laughter burst out of me. At the sound of that ridicule-filled laugh, poison returned even to Jin Mu-byeok’s empty eyes.
“You bastard I’ll chew to pieces.”
“What exactly did I do? You should be blaming yourself for committing corruption.”
“Shut up! Ever since I got tangled up with you, everything has been ruined. Everything!”
Jin Mu-byeok shouted. He seemed not even to see that the Provincial Administration Commissioner and the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief were standing right in front of him. Then again, he wasn’t in a situation where he could worry about that anymore.
I crouched down and met Jin Mu-byeok’s eyes. His hands and feet were bound, leaving him unable to move in the slightest. Taking advantage of that, I landed a clean slap across his face.
The sound rang out sharp, like someone being struck with a belt. Jin Mu-byeok’s body trembled. To suffer such humiliation before his subordinates at the hands of a mere merchant must have been utterly unbearable.
“Look here. You were trying to kill me too, weren’t you? So that means me sinking you is just unavoidable, doesn’t it?”
I tapped his cheek, which was already swelling, with my palm. Jin Mu-byeok looked as though the humiliation had nearly unhinged his mind.
Quietly, I leaned close and whispered into Jin Mu-byeok’s ear.
“Ever since you took the side of the Wuhan Merchant Association, I’ve always wanted to bury you. And today that wish finally came true.”
At that instant Jin Mu-byeok’s face turned so red it looked ready to burst, and with a strangled sound he toppled backward. I chuckled. Probably, when his consciousness faded, the sound of my laughter would be what lingered.
After knocking Jin Mu-byeok unconscious, I stood up. The people around me were looking at me as if stunned.
“You really could kill someone with your tongue.”
Wang Song clicked his tongue. The Censorate’s censors slung the collapsed Jin Mu-byeok over their shoulders. It would be troublesome if he died here. He would be escorted to the Imperial Palace and receive lawful punishment there.
Watching Jin Mu-byeok being dragged away while drool ran from his mouth, I had never felt so refreshed.