Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 8

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

#Episode 8

“You said earlier you couldn’t make much. How much can you produce in a month?”
“About thirty bottles of each variety.”
“That’s not a great deal. Who makes the liquor?”
If he mentioned disciples, it would certainly raise questions. There was no point drawing unnecessary attention to such matters.
“One aunt and three uncles.”
“Skilled artisans, then. At any rate, the quantity you’re talking about seems well within what we can move through our establishment.”
“You mean you’d take our entire supply?”
“Why not?”
Ha Seok-mun scratched his head with an uncertain expression.
“I’ve already made a commitment elsewhere.”
“Ah, is that so? How much did you promise them?”
“The quantity hasn’t been settled yet.”
“Then let’s settle it with us. How much can you deliver?”
Ha Seok-mun felt the urgency wash over him.
Hangju had no shortage of establishments, and the competition was correspondingly fierce.
Proprietors invested tens of thousands of silver coins to expand their operations, and spent lavishly to recruit beautiful courtesans of exceptional talent.
Among all that competition, distinguishing yourself through liquor alone was difficult. Fine spirits were produced in limited quantities.
But these four varieties Geom U-bin had brought today could become the most formidable weapon in all of Hangju’s establishments.
“You said fifteen silver coins starting next year? I’ll give you fifteen from the first month itself.”
Fifteen silver coins matched two years’ wages for a jeomsoi working in an establishment.
Yet Ha Seok-mun felt confident.
Hangju was where people gathered who loved liquor and had more money than they could manage.
“But you must deliver twenty-five bottles of each variety every month.”
Ha Seok-mun was a man who knew how to stake his claim.
“Since you recognize the value of our liquor, I cannot refuse you, Manager. I understand. I’ll make deliveries every five days starting tomorrow. As for payment……”
“I’ll settle it the moment you bring the liquor.”

***

“What? Fifteen silver coins?”
Even the Bloodwind Four Lions, whose sense of money bordered on nonexistent, understood what fifteen silver coins meant.
In truth, they gave money scarcely a thought.
They’d entrusted everything to Geom U-bin, and as long as they had no shortage in their daily needs, that was enough.
But fifteen silver coins wasn’t merely comfort in living—it could make them wealthy in short order.
“The liquor is truly excellent. Ha ha!”
“The liquor aside, but it seems the swordsmaster has a knack for business?”
Yeon Geum-hong’s observation wasn’t wrong.
When Ha Seok-mun said he’d take an exclusive arrangement, the slight hesitation had been a hidden push and pull.
Had Ha Seok-mun’s counterpart been an ordinary merchant, he wouldn’t have capitulated to Geom U-bin’s strategy so readily.
Ha Seok-mun would never have imagined an eight-year-old child wielding such business acumen.
Not that Ha Seok-mun came out of it poorly.
Buy dear, sell dear—profit was profit.
“Master Do. It’s time for your studies.”
“Yes!”
For Do Pyeong-su, study time was no longer a burden. There had been a time when even memorizing a single character was an ordeal, but now he’d completed a third of the Thousand Character Classic.
Watching Geom U-bin and Do Pyeong-su leave the room, Seo Seok-san murmured to himself.
“At this rate, will Pyeong-su actually learn his characters? The swordsmaster’s gift is remarkable. It’s something even Master couldn’t accomplish.”
Yeon Geum-hong spoke with concern.
“I worry he’s too exceptional. The protruding stone gets hammered down, they say. His business acumen, the speed at which he masters Martial Arts—it’s all happening too fast.”
“Tch, why borrow trouble like that? It’s good if he excels at everything.”
“I can’t help but worry!”
“We can’t keep the swordsmaster by our side for life anyway.”
“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”
“Isn’t it that you’ll be sad when he grows up too quickly and leaves us?”
Yeon Geum-hong found herself unable to counter Seo Seok-san’s words easily.
“You’ll become someone great, I’m certain of it. At least as accomplished as our Master.”
“You truly believe that?”
“Of course. You’re our senior martial brother. We only need to support you until the day you can fly on your own.”
“And when will that day come?”
“If it comes soon, that’s good. If it comes late, then we’ll have more time together, and that’s not so bad either.”
“But what if we all fly together?”
Seo Seok-san offered a bitter smile at Yeon Geum-hong’s question.
“Our Master herself regretted leaving us with this karma. If we stayed together, we’d only burden you with our karma as well. That’s something we can’t allow.”
Jang Man-dok, who had been listening quietly, nodded in agreement.
Yeon Geum-hong rose to her feet and spoke.
“Ah, enough! That’s a concern for the distant future. Let’s not worry about it now.”
And then they were struck by the same realization.
They had no complaints about their current life. Making wine, wondering what they’d eat today, thinking about what to teach Geom U-bin—this simple existence seemed the most peaceful and meaningful time of their entire lives.
They had always thought of themselves as the worst murderers in the Murim, corrupted to their very bones, destined to never escape that cage.
But the time spent with Geom U-bin was peeling away the selves they thought they knew, revealing new ones underneath.
A new self discovered after ninety years of life.
This truth struck all four of them with profound wonder.

***

“Manager Ha, what do you mean? This month we can only receive fifty bottles of our Sohangju?”
Wolha Giru had always received orders of at least one hundred fifty bottles.
“We still have twenty bottles in stock. To be honest, even those fifty bottles might not sell well.”
Gwak Dae-pal’s voice erupted with fury.
“Are you telling me that Sohangju from the Sohangju Brewery—the wine that sells out because we can’t keep up with demand—won’t sell properly? That’s nonsense!”
“That was true until five days ago. We’d like to maintain the same quantity for accounting purposes, but we can’t keep stacking wine that won’t move…….”
“That’s enough! This isn’t the only place in Hangju to sell our wine! Don’t ever think of doing business with us again!”
Sohangju had become so renowned that it was said openly: any giru in Hangju that didn’t carry Sohangju couldn’t claim to be first-rate.
Gwak Dae-pal expected Ha Seok-mun to grab him by the trouser leg and plead, but instead the manager simply stared after him with an oddly vacant expression.
“Hmph! They dare reduce our order? The Brewery will collapse and then they’ll wise up. How dare they!”
As Gwak Dae-pal stepped toward the door, he recognized a familiar face.
It was Wang Jang-su, a man who ran the largest textile shop in Hangju.
They nodded in passing now and then, so Gwak Dae-pal was about to greet him when he overheard Wang Jang-su asking the jeomsoi something.
“Can I drink at least one variety of Sagiju today?”
‘Sagiju? Is there even such a wine?’
The jeomsoi addressed looked troubled.
“Sir, as you know, our supply is extremely limited. We sold out completely two days ago.”
“What? A giru without the wine its customers want? That makes no sense!”
“My apologies. The quantities that come in are so small…… but we do have our finest Sohangju. Shall we prepare that for you today?”
“Sohangju…… yes, it’s good wine indeed. But here’s the thing—once you’ve tasted Sagiju, Sohangju just won’t go down your throat! For what I’d have to pay, I might as well drink cheap Hwaju instead!”
Anger and astonishment surged through Gwak Dae-pal together.
The anger was at being compared to cheap Hwaju; the astonishment was at the question of just how good this Sagiju could possibly be.
“Since I’m here, I can’t just leave. Might as well have any old wine and let a courtesan massage my backside on the way out. Tch!”
Gwak Dae-pal called out to the jeomsoi as Wang Jang-su headed deeper into the giru.
“Well, if it isn’t Manager Gwak!”
“Indeed. I’m curious—I’d like to taste this Sagiju you speak of.”
“So the news reached your ears too, Manager Gwak. Well, word’s already spread like wildfire among the drinkers of Hangju, so it was only a matter of time.”
“The word’s spread?”
“Yes sir. Because of Sagiju, we’ve had far more customers lately. The price is so steep that only the wealthy come calling…… Hehe! You understand?”
The giru’s business was thriving, and the jeomsoi was gloating about it.
“So can you get it or not?”
“Sigh! Even the proprietress herself can’t procure it. If you want to taste Sagiju, you’d need to make a reservation and come as a paying guest…….”
“Forget it!”

Gwak Dae-pal stormed back to the Sohangju Brewery and found his elder brother and co-proprietor, Gwak In-cheol.
“Brother! Have you heard about this Sagiju they’re selling at Wolha Giru?”
“So you’ve caught wind of it too.”
Gwak Dae-pal recounted what had happened at Wolha Giru.
“I already got an earful from the manager of Hanga Giru about it. He’s furious that some of his regular customers have switched to Wolha Giru because of this Sagiju. He’s even asking us to make something like it, but how can we when we haven’t even tasted it?”
“Is Sagiju sold nowhere but Wolha Giru?”
“That’s how it is. So in the end, we’d have no choice but to go there, pay for it, and drink it ourselves…….”
Fortunately, they were spared such humiliation. The next day, the youngest of them, Gwak Jeong-man, brought Sagiju.
“I made inquiries around town and found that a place called Cheonha Jeil Gaekjan on the outskirts of the city sells Sagiju. I ran there as fast as I could and barely managed to get my hands on these!”
With that, he lined up four holojbyeong bottles on the table.
“Sagiju isn’t the name of just one type of spirit — there are actually four varieties, which is how it got its name.”
Each holojbyeong bottle had the name of its contents written on it.
“Pungnyuju? Shall we try this one first — crude name and all?”
Gwak Dae-pal reached to uncork it when Gwak Jeong-man spoke.
“Second Brother, I should mention — this is rather expensive.”
“Expensive? How expensive can a bottle of spirits be…….”
“Twenty silver coins.”
“What? Twenty silver coins per bottle?”
“No. Twenty silver coins per bottle — eighty coins total for all four.”
“This — this is madness! That’s nearly ten times what we charge for Sohangju!”
“If we bought wholesale, the difference wouldn’t be quite so steep, but either way it’s extraordinarily expensive liquor.”
“Such expensive stuff, and you say it’s hard to find?”
Learning the price, Gwak Dae-pal’s hand grew cautious as he worked at the cork.
Pop!
As the cork came free, the aroma spread in all directions.
He swore he had never encountered a fragrance so pure and refined.
The three brothers took turns, each drinking a cup of Sagiju. For the next half hour, none of them spoke — not even during those ten days when grandfathers and grandmothers had died in succession, had they observed such silence.
“Elder Brother. Could we possibly… make a spirit like this?”
Gwak In-cheol, under the gaze of his two younger brothers, released a deep sigh.
“With what skill could I? I’ve been brewing spirits for thirty years already, but with these — I can’t even guess what ingredients were used. It’s as though a juseon descended from the heavens and made them. If I could, I’d cast aside my pride and take this distiller on as my teacher.”
While Gwak In-cheol, the spirit-maker, harbored the heart of a craftsman, Gwak Dae-pal, the merchant, was thoroughly a businessman.
“Would the distiller perhaps teach us the secret to making such spirits?”
“Of course they wouldn’t.”
Gwak Dae-pal added to his words as though his resolve had hardened.
“So we steal it.”
“Steal it?”
“We can’t just let someone who’s spat in our rice bowl walk free, can we!”

***

“In my twenty years in the criminal underworld, this is the first time I’ve gone to steal a spirit-making secret,” Jo Cheol-jung said, the corners of his mouth curling slightly as he glanced sideways at Gwak Jeong-man, who walked shoulder to shoulder with him.
“You’ll keep your promise about the hundred silver coins, won’t you?”
“Of course. Would I lie to you?”
The two men, both thirty-eight years old, had been neighborhood friends since childhood.
“Listen, friends. Let’s go to Wolha Giru tonight and have our fill of that famous Sagiju!”
Four ruffians followed behind them.
“Hey, boss. You said the place we’re going to is a distillery that makes Sagiju. Won’t there be plenty of Sagiju there?”
“Spirits taste best when you drink them with a woman, you simple-minded fool!”
“Hehehe! You really do understand refinement, boss!”
“Of course. In that sense, why don’t we sample the Pungnyuju first?”
Exchanging these hollow jests, they arrived at the distillery by the riverside. A central building stood protected by four structures arranged in a circle around it — the whole compound had considerable charm.
As they led their horses through the gate, a middle-aged man with tousled hair who had been sweeping the courtyard straightened his back.
“What brings you here?”

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