Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 167

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

#167

“Guest.”
Jeom So-i knocked on the door of Geom U-bin’s room at an inn in Seo An, where he had taken lodging.
“A message has arrived from the Daseong Merchant Association.”
It was what he’d anticipated, so Geom U-bin replied briefly and gathered the coat he’d hung up.
“So the Huashan Faction Leader has become a debt collector,” Yeon Geum-hong said.
Seo Seok-san laughed heartily at her words.
“It’s the perfect role for a Huashan Faction Leader like that.”
“He must be quite angry by now?”
Do Pyeong-su’s remark drew a smile from Geom U-bin.
“That’s exactly what I want. The Faction Leader won’t simply resolve this debt and walk away.”
“How so?”
“He’ll come to me. The question is how he’ll come. Though to be honest, the method matters far less than the fact itself.”
Geom U-bin moved through the situation with the seasoned ease of someone who had spent fifty years rolling through Murim.
Not only in martial arts, but there were few in Murim who could outmaneuver Geom U-bin through intrigue.
“Should we go along as if we’re your attendants?”
“There’s no danger, so it’s fine.”
Upon arriving at the Daseong Merchant Association, a butler who had been waiting at the main gate ushered Geom U-bin into Gam O-heung’s office.
Gam O-heung’s face when greeting Geom U-bin was stiff as stone.
“Quite the skill, moving the Huashan Faction Leader like that.”
Gam O-heung spoke as he regarded the Huashan Faction Leader’s letter with displeased eyes.
“There is nothing in this world that cannot be resolved through proper means.”
“And is running ya-bawi, robbing money through foul play, your definition of proper means?”
“It was a legitimate wager. You didn’t summon me here to debate the rights and wrongs of that matter, did you?”
Gam O-heung let out a long sigh and pushed forward a banknote. The draft, stamped with the seal of Cheonha Jeonjang, bore the figure of five hundred thousand silver taels.
“This sum should keep you from complaining.”
Gam O-heung spoke as though granting a great favor, but five hundred thousand taels could not satisfy Geom U-bin.
“That’s barely a tenth of what I’m owed.”
“It’s a substantial sum for earnings from ya-bawi. Withdraw now. I’m restraining myself out of respect for the Huashan Faction.”
Geom U-bin held the banknote in his hand and drew out the Hwa Seop-ja.
“Let’s call the five hundred thousand taels payment received. That will cover the interest accrued thus far.”
As he opened the lid of the Hwa Seop-ja, blue flames flared up. Geom U-bin brought the five-hundred-thousand-tael banknote to the fire.
“What are you doing?”
Even Gam O-heung’s startled cry could not stop his hand. The banknote touched the flames and erupted in yellow fire.
“Did it seem to you that I traveled all this way for such paltry coin?”
He set the banknote on the table, and as the yellow flames vanished, nothing but black ash remained.
“That was interest. The interest you imposed as usury came to about this amount, didn’t it?”
As five hundred thousand taels vanished before his eyes, Gam O-heung’s hands trembled uncontrollably, though no words escaped his lips.
Leaving Gam O-heung to his silence, Geom U-bin rose.
“Now that the interest is paid, that leaves the principal of six million, two hundred thousand taels. You said I was free to set the interest myself, so now you should have a clear sense of how much interest accumulates.”
“Do you truly believe you can walk away from this unscathed?”
“It seems you still don’t grasp who holds the blade.”
Geom U-bin shook his head with an expression of pity.
“Your window of opportunity is closing with each passing moment. I hope you’ll act wisely.”
“You’re the one blind to your own limits, growing cocky with your little success in Hangju. You’ll soon discover how much your enterprise is nothing but a castle in the air.”
“It’s best to stop something with a hoe before it takes root. This is my first and last warning to you.”
The moment Geom U-bin stepped out of the room, Gam O-heung, consumed by rage, overturned the table. The black ash of five hundred thousand taels scattered in all directions.
“Impudent wretch! Il-ho!”
Gwak Il-ho, the butler who had been waiting outside, hurried into the room.
“Send word to the Huashan Faction to sever all ties!”
“Sever ties, sir?”
“Tell them Geom U-bin’s demands cannot be met.”
He had received a letter bearing Baek Jong-dan’s official seal instructing him to honor Geom U-bin’s requests.
That was why he had handed over the great sum of five hundred thousand taels to Geom U-bin.
But Geom U-bin had reduced that money to nothing but ash. As a merchant down to his bones, Gam O-heung could not forgive a man who treated money so lightly.
“The Huashan Faction won’t approve of this, will they?”
“Then we sever ties. It’s Huashan that will lose, not us.”
The Daseong Merchant Association’s annual contribution to the Huashan Faction exceeded fifty thousand silver taels. Of course, it was money the Daseong gave out of necessity.
Simply having the Huashan Faction’s backing benefited the association considerably, and most disputes could be settled merely by invoking the Huashan name. Fifty thousand taels a year was well worth the cost.
Yet running the association without Huashan wasn’t impossible. They would need to hire more Murim martial artists and spend considerably more, but Do Pyeong-su had resolved to accept that loss.
In fact, Huashan would suffer more without Daseong’s contributions. No other organization in Shaanxi Province donated as generously; their robes would fray, and their tables would grow sparse.
This was the moment to make it clear who held the upper hand.
“And send word to Magistrate Ha. I wish to meet with him.”
“You mean to borrow the authority of the Government Office?”
“Let Oseong Merchant Association see exactly who they’ve touched.”

***

These past few days, Baek Jong-dan had endured a difficult spell. The shadow cast by ghosts of the past had corroded his relationship with his largest patron, the Daseong Merchant Association.
“If the Daseong Merchant Association fails to settle its debt by tomorrow, we will hold Bok Cheol-bang accountable.”
Geom U-bin had returned with that message and vanished. The Huashan Faction’s sect leader found himself forced to listen to threats from nothing more than a merchant boy.
Anger that had slumbered in the depths of his chest now clawed upward, filling him completely.
“Master, your disciple Jo Pil-chang seeks entry.”
“Come in.”
Jo Pil-chang, thirty-eight years old, was Baek Jong-dan’s senior disciple and among the strongest candidates to become the next sect leader.
“A letter has arrived from the Daseong Merchant Association. The contents are troubling.”
He already knew what it said—Geom U-bin had been here—but he asked anyway.
“What does it say?”
“They will no longer send contributions to the Huashan Faction.”
No surprises there.
“The discord with Oseong Jang-won in Hangju continues to worsen.”
“Surely this isn’t a matter to be solved by force?”
“What if we simply surrendered Cheol-bang?”
“You’d have me turn Bok Cheol-bang over to Oseong Jang-won?”
“He brought this upon himself, after all.”
Jo Pil-chang had never been fond of Bok Cheol-bang. The boy’s words and deeds were thoughtless, lacking the gravity expected of a Huashan disciple, and had earned him frequent censure.
But now that he’d caused such a calamity, the displeasure had rooted itself far too deeply to extract.
“No matter what mistakes a disciple commits, I cannot abandon him.”
“Yet the damage to the Huashan Faction from this matter is immense.”
They had lost not only their largest source of material support, but Huashan’s reputation throughout the Murim would certainly plummet.
“If word spreads that we cast out a disciple for money, what will the Murim think of Huashan?”
“We could create a pretext……”
“Enough. I will not excommunicate Cheol-bang over this.”
The words seemed to be for his disciple’s sake, yet if excommunicating Bok Cheol-bang would have solved the problem, he’d have done it long ago.
But judging by Geom U-bin’s actions, the matter would not be settled so simply.
“I will resolve this myself. Do not concern yourself.”
Geom U-bin was gradually backing Baek Jong-dan into a corner. Such a situation was dire for the sect leader, but it was far more dangerous for Geom U-bin.
‘This fool is digging his own grave.’

***

Bae Do-sang released a long sigh and settled deep into his chair. The Oseong Merchant Association’s business grew by the day, leaving him no time to rest comfortably in his seat.
After finishing the ledger entries, Bae Do-sang checked the hour and muttered, “It looks like I’ll make dinner on time for once,” before rising.
But fortune did not smile on him that evening. The door suddenly flew open and Baek O-mang, the director of the Third Association among Oseong’s five divisions, burst through.
“Director! A disaster!”
Since the man was prone to dramatics, Bae Do-sang replied dryly.
“What is it? Did another digit go missing from the ledger?”
“The Government Office has raided us!”
Officials from the Government Office came regularly to squeeze money, so there was nothing particularly alarming about their arrival.
But the word “raided” struck him as odd.
“Raided?”
“They claim the Oseong Merchant Association engaged in illegal salt trafficking……!”
As the commotion outside swelled, six officials poured through the door.
Two garrison commanders and four officials from Jegyeong Won, among them one whose face was familiar to Bae Do-sang.
“Commander Kang. What is the meaning of this?”
Kang Sang-man, whose face had been wreathed in smiles when coming to extort money, now wore the stern expression of a schoolmaster chiding a student.
“Bae Do-sang. It seems you’ve done something you shouldn’t have. I could overlook many things, but salt trafficking? Why would someone of your standing do such a thing? Tsk, tsk, tsk…….”
“What are you saying? We deal only in the quota allocated to us by the state. The ledger shows…….”
Thud!
Kang Sang-man hurled the thick ledger onto the table.
“This ledger contains a complete record of the Oseong Merchant Association’s crimes. You’ve sold twenty times more salt than what was allotted to you. Illegal salt traders have been arrested, and we’ve taken their testimony.”
“What nonsense is this! What could the Oseong Merchant Association possibly lack that we’d resort to salt trafficking!”
“A merchant with money would sell their own liver if they could.”
He barely restrained himself from shouting, ‘That’s what bureaucrats like you do!’
“I don’t know what evidence you claim to have, but it’s all fabricated. What’s the meaning of this? If it’s about money…….”
Kang Sang-man rapped the table, cutting off Bae Do-sang’s words.
“How dare you speak of money! You must have known that salt trafficking is a capital crime—you wouldn’t commit it in ignorance! Guards! Arrest the criminals and seize all relevant materials!”
The officials arrested Bae Do-sang and the Oseong Merchant Association’s executives, seized the ledger and other items, and transported them to the Government Office.
For Bae Do-sang, it was a bolt from the blue, but what troubled him more was that he couldn’t understand why the Government Office was doing this.
Since he habitually slipped them bribes, money wasn’t the reason.
The Government Office’s raid hadn’t struck only the Oseong Merchant Association.
Ever since the Bloodwind Four Lions departed for Shaanxi Province, Se-hwa had been coming to the Oseong Pavilion—which she’d neglected for some time—every day.
Under the careful management of Chief Steward Ha Seok-mun and Gwak Bong, the Oseong Pavilion had been thriving with an endless stream of guests.
Se-hwa simply made her rounds through the guest rooms, attending to her modest duties as proprietress.
“From next month, the Oseong Wine should arrive in more generous quantities, so I hope you’ll content yourselves with one bottle for today.”
“Without the Oseong Wine, I’d have you sit beside me instead.”
“Ha ha ha! There are so many fresher girls than an old courtesan like me.”
Se-hwa smoothly excused herself from the guest rooms. She was about to enter the fourth of the four premium chambers on the fourth floor when……
The sound of heavy footsteps thundered up the stairs, and officials came rushing up.
“What’s happening?”
“Get out of the way, courtesan! You men! Find that woman called Se-hwa, the proprietress of this pavilion!”
At the command of the captain with his neatly trimmed beard, six constables began forcing open random doors and bursting inside.
Se-hwa slipped down the stairs to avoid the officials. Just as she reached this floor, a door opened and Gwak Bong pulled her arm.
“Why on earth are the officials raiding our pavilion?”
After confirming that no officials were outside, Gwak Bong answered her question.
“They say large quantities of Chunmong Powder have been distributed from the Oseong Pavilion.”
Se-hwa had heard vague rumors of Chunmong Powder before. It was a dangerous hallucinogen that could kill if taken incorrectly.
“Did we really use such a thing in our pavilion?”
“How could we? Someone must be trying to frame us, or they’re demanding a bribe.”
The commotion outside grew louder. Officials were indiscriminately seizing not only workers but guests as well.
“These bastards! And we pay them so much every month!”
As Gwak Bong burst out in fury, the door suddenly flew open.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————