Acquiring the Murim with Money - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 20. Corporate Acquisition and Vertical Integration

“Well, the bait is cast.”
In the Baekun Trading Company Office, Baek Unhui handed a sealed letter, carefully sealed with wax, discreetly to an informant from the Heukssu Bureau.
“Get it to the swordmaster of the Bigyeon Byeok Family as quickly as possible.”
So Yang, examining the thick documents beneath the candlelight, frowned as he worked the abacus.
“So now we just wait for him to slip it into the Temporary Clan Leader Residence without anyone knowing? But this contract copy that the swordmaster handed over—the more I run the numbers, the more appalled I become.”
“It’s a contract cunningly drawn up—essentially fraud.”
“Right. They’re promising to guarantee exclusive rights to distribution, and in exchange they’ll set up a network to send the Bigyeon Byeok Family’s trained hawks across all of Jungwon, and they’ll cover all the costs of building branch operations and raising chicks in bulk. It’s tempting enough.”
So Yang tapped the abacus irritably.
“But looking at the accounts, the expenses they claim to have funded are inflated by at least three times by my calculation. And the interest they’ve attached is vicious usurious lending—the kind where debt spawns more debt. No matter how hard the Bigyeon Byeok Family works to make money, they can never keep pace with the swelling interest.”
‘Infrastructure cost inflation combined with predatory compound interest—an unjust contract dressed up as a massive investment, but really a malicious fraud designed to trap them in debt forever. In the modern world, this would be grounds not just for contract cancellation, but legal prosecution.’
Baek Unhui pointed to a corner of the contract, remembering a close call from his days as Gang Tae-seok when he’d nearly written down the wrong digit on a contract and had it voided for unfairness.
“And hidden in a corner of the contract is a poison clause: ‘Should interest payments on the invested capital fall into arrears, all family emblems and distribution-related rights shall be surrendered in place of the debt.'”
So Yang clicked his tongue.
“Those martial folk living in the mountains, hooting and hollering like birds—how would they know the snares of these dark merchants? They’d have signed under the honeyed words that the merchants would give them plenty of money and help expand the business, and they could pay it back slowly from earnings. But even if they discovered this fraud, would a simple letter really make the interim leader dance to our tune?”
“I can’t promise absolute certainty. A person’s heart is unknowable.”
Baek Unhui fingered his teacup, a faint smile playing at his lips.
“But think about it logically. He grabbed power in the clan and tried to push his worthless son into the succession race, and now the whole family is about to go under. There’s only one way out: when we offer our hand, use the fraudulent contract as pretext and overturn the entire board. I explained the specific methods kindly in the letter, so we should hear something soon.”
‘If the interim leader simply cuts off the communication network in time…’
A cold strategy flickered through Baek Unhui’s mind.
‘The Pungcheon Trading Company’s eyes and ears—constantly exchanging contact and payments with merchant houses across regions dozens of times a day—will likely go numb in an instant. And they’re burning through their liquid reserves with aggressive expansion everywhere, especially the massive investment in the Bigyeon Byeok Family. If we make our move at the right moment, triggering a catastrophic liquidity crisis coupled with technical default isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.’
So Yang, reading Baek Unhui’s intention, snapped the ledger shut with a flash in his eyes.
“If your prediction plays out, Pungcheon will be up to their neck in flames the moment money and information flow are cut off.”
“Exactly. What’s the first thing a merchant house does when it suddenly needs cash?”
Baek Unhui spread the Nakyang Commercial District Map across the table with a flourish.

* * *

Two days later, at Baekcho Farm on the outskirts of Nakyang in the mountains.
A venerable farm that had cultivated medicinal herbs for generations with pure water and soil, yet the faces of the Master and his steward were clouded with worry.
“Master, we have no more space to store anything. Pungcheon’s men didn’t come for their usual purchase again this month, and soon all these precious herbs will rot.”
“Trusting them was my mistake. Because of those ruffians, the peddlers have stopped coming, and debts just keep piling up. Now I have no choice but to make a decision.”
“Master? But those ruffians who’d been causing trouble in front of the gate every single day—they don’t seem to be around today.”
“What? Those pestilent thugs didn’t show up today? I’m relieved, though I have no strength left to resist anyway, but what could they be plotting…?”
The moment the Master rose uneasily from his seat, the wooden gate of Baekcho Farm swung wide open.
“The main office of Pungcheon Trading Company has a fire at its heels, so it’s lost the capacity to worry about remote farms like this.”
Baek Unhui, dressed in fine silk, strolled in at ease, flanked by Gwang-du with a menacing expression and Dang So-yu, a crooked old man.
“Those leftover medicinal herbs you can’t dispose of, and indeed all future medicinal herb production from Baekcho Farm—Baekun Trading Company shall purchase it in its entirety.”
The Golden Divine Eyes gleaming in Baek Unhui’s gaze swept across the vast fields of Baekcho Farm.

[Medicinal herbs cultivated at Baekcho Farm: diverse and abundant premium-grade herbs were being grown, though inventory had accumulated and withered, creating a severe undervaluation.]

“Baekun Trading Company?”
The Master of Baekcho Farm, who had been lost in thought for some time, finally opened his mouth.
“I have devoted my entire life to Baekcho Farm. While it is sudden, handing over this farm—my whole life’s work—to those scoundrels from Pungcheon at fire-sale prices would be worse. Yet I have a question. What will happen to the workers who labored here? And even if Pungcheon withdraws for a time, they have a stranglehold on the distribution network. How do you intend to sell?”
As the Master asked with half-doubt, half-hope, Baek Unhui pulled a stack of Title Deeds from his robes with an amiable smile.
“The medicinal herb processing workshops on Namun Street that closed recently due to Pungcheon’s monopoly on logistics, and the Angsim Medical Clinic that had run out of patient capacity but was on the verge of closing for lack of medicinal supplies—we’ve bought them all. The only thing that will change is that they’ll be under the Baekun Trading Company name, but everyone will continue working as before. You included, of course.”
“What?! What on earth…?”
“You need never worry about herb inventory again. Farm at Baekcho Farm, process at our workshop, dispense directly to patients through our clinic. We’ve completely eliminated the gap where middlemen extract their exorbitant cut. Whether the distribution network is blocked or not, we trade with ourselves—that’s all.”
The Master’s jaw fell slack.
Vertical Integration—a revolutionary business method that could dramatically improve operational efficiency. With the structure where middlemen profited from the distribution process gone, herbs could be sold far more cheaply to patients while maximizing profit margins.
“But… but surely to prepare medicine and dispense it directly, you’d need a skilled physician…”
“No need to worry about that. Besides the venerable Heo Uiyeon of the Angsim Medical Clinic, who has built trust here in Nakyang for years, we already have the finest medical master in all the martial realm in our company.”
Baek Unhui stepped back slightly, and Dang So-yu, who had been standing behind him, snorted and stepped forward.
“Hmph, working with these dirt-stained weeds isn’t my preference, but they’re doubling my research budget for lethal herbs. What can I do? All these worthless herbs withering away in this field—once they pass through my hands, even the rich will line up with purses full, begging for the tonic powders I can turn them into.”
Dang So-yu drew out a handful of mysterious powdered medicine from his robes and scattered it over the wilted herbs lying in the field. Then, reversing the application of his Poison Technique, he condensed the vital force of the medicinal herbs. Before long, the unpromising herbs transformed into premium-grade products gleaming with lustre, the change visible even to the naked eye.
“Goodness! That’s the legendary skill of a Medical Immortal!”
The Master of Baekcho Farm prostrated himself before Baek Unhui and kowtowed.
Baek Unhui suppressed a surge of triumph and thrust the Title Deed forward into the master’s hands.
“There you are, Master. No more withering your fields while watching the brokers’ faces. Sign here first, if you would.”
The moment the master’s trembling hand pressed his seal onto the contract and handed it back.
A golden system window bloomed across Baek Unhui’s vision with a pleasant chime.

[Notification: Ownership of Namun Street Workshop, Angsim Medical Clinic, and Baekcho Farm has been transferred to the caster.]
[The value of tangible assets is now reflected in real-time in the caster’s Internal Power Portfolio!]

Whoooosh—!
From the fingertips holding the document, internal power cascaded like a waterfall toward his core. As he fully integrated those vast properties and rights—all in Below Book Value State—into his own assets, he felt his body’s vessel, expanded through the Qingfeng Yange Dan, filling heavy and complete. What’s more, according to So Yang’s calculations, the dormant potential of these newly acquired assets was prime stock capable of multiplying tenfold or more once Vertical Integration took effect.
As Baek Unhui luxuriated in the rush of burgeoning internal power, a junior colleague who’d been keeping watch outside approached and whispered urgently.
“Young Master, a message from the Cheonil Network. The main headquarters of the Pungcheon Trading Company is in upheaval. The hawks of the Bigyeon Byeok Family—who vanished completely from yesterday at noon—haven’t shown themselves today either, and there are many people running about in a panic instead.”
“Good. Keep tracking their movements. Report everything directly to the Steward as soon as you know.”
‘The Interim Clan Leader is bolder and faster than I expected. He’s moving even quicker than my projections.’
Baek Unhui tucked the contract away and smiled to himself.
‘Now the real game begins. Those bloated Pungcheon fools, swollen from indiscriminate expansion, won’t be able to respond quickly to this situation. But given the scale of their capital, even optimistically it’ll take them a week to stabilize. I have to make my move before then.’

* * *

The next day. The main house of Baekun Trading Company.
“Your gamble has succeeded perfectly.”
So Yang burst into the office, waving a bundle of promissory notes still damp with ink.
Excitement blazed across a face usually sharp and severe.
“When problems explode from an unexpected angle, they say they immediately start liquidating those unprofitable ventures that were consuming capital during their reckless expansion, or they shift into damage control. That’s exactly what happened.”
“Precisely. They’ve already absorbed dozens of operations in Nakyang alone, with more lined up to be swallowed. They managed to control and coordinate all those scattered pieces through the Bigyeon Byeok Family’s fast network, but now? They don’t have the bandwidth to mind everything. We’re exploiting that gap. The medicinal herb farms on Nakyang’s outskirts they were strangling into extinction, the workshops on Namun Street—places like that.”
Baek Unhui pressed Baekun Trading Company markers onto three outlying zones on the map.
“All we have to do is stand ready with open mouths beneath the goods they vomit up as they gasp for air, just like today. How are the preparations I ordered—so we can respond the moment the situation erupts?”
“Complete chaos. The hawks vanished all at once, and the gears that were meshing so precisely began to grind. It looks like they scrambled because keeping to their promised payment deadlines became difficult, and they panicked that minor problems might spiral into something larger.”
So Yang set down the weighty bundle of promissory notes on Baek Unhui’s desk with a sharp tap.
“The Yongho Iron Workshop and the Nakyang Canal Wharf—places Pungcheon had bled dry through their backroom schemes. They gutted these operations, but apparently reconstructing them properly would take money and time, so they dumped them at fire-sale prices. I mobilized the funds we’d been holding in reserve and swept them up. Now, Pungcheon may be disoriented at the moment, but they’re absolutely not the sort to collapse this easily. They’ll find some way to reclaim these assets or retaliate.”
“That’s my concern to manage. You keep doing what you’re doing—dig deeper into their finances and look for more vulnerabilities to exploit. Fine work. Our Chief Financial Officer.”
Baek Unhui activated his Golden Divine Eyes and picked up the bundle of promissory notes So Yang had brought.

[Canal Wharf and Iron Workshop Distressed Debt : Face Value 5,200 Silver Taels]
[Purchase Price : 2,200 Silver Taels]

Shriieeek—!
The documents in his hand transmuted into internal power, coursing through his entire body. The perfect vulture strategy—scooping up at a deeper discount assets already acquired cheap through someone else’s toil.
Baek Unhui placed Baekun Trading Company markers on the major strongholds across the Nakyang map, his smile thick with satisfaction.
“We’ll harvest the medicinal herbs ourselves from the fields and sell them directly. We’ve seized portions of Nakyang’s waterways and steel production under our roof. Those Pungcheon idiots tried to devour another family with a single contract, and now they’re losing the very meal they laid out—they’ll weep blood over this.”
Pungcheon Trading Company had set a snare meant to catch the enormous whale of the Bigyeon Byeok Family. Baek Unhui had cunningly broken the trap’s latch and was systematically picking out the choicest assets.
A brilliant flare of resurrection shot across Nakyang’s sky—the triumphant signal of Baekun Trading Company’s glorious return from the brink of delisting.

The Money-Driven Jianghu: M&A Chapter 20

Author
Song Jjeon-bol
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yoon Taeri
Cover
Sik

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260907057.0020

ⓒ2026, Song Jjeon-bol

※ This e-book is protected under the copyright law of the Republic of Korea.
No part of this work may be reproduced or modified in any form without the permission of the author and publisher.

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