An Advertising Genius Falls into the Joseon Era - Chapter 12

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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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Episode 12
“This is Mansang, where you’ll be working starting today.”
Im Sang-ok dismounted and gestured for Ha-yun to follow.
When Ha-yun lifted her gaze, a grand structure filled her entire field of vision.
“Wow…….”
The massive complex, with buildings arranged in neat rows on either side of the main hall, was enough to draw an involuntary gasp of wonder.
‘So this is Mansang……!’
Ha-yun swallowed hard without thinking, confronted with the new place where she would soon be working.
From every corner around her came the relentless shouts of porters hauling goods and clerks checking their tally.
“Thirty bolts of silk!”
“Five crates each of brushes and inkstones!”
“Twenty crates of ginseng here!”
“Hey! Handle the ginseng carefully! Each crate is worth over a hundred taels!”
“Fifty crates of dried seafood, just arrived from Jeonju!”
“Qing medicinal materials intake completed!”
“The western warehouse is nearly full now—send everything coming in from here on to the northern warehouse!”
“Yes, sir!”
The bustle was befitting of Joseon’s greatest trading house.
Watching hundreds, thousands of crates flowing in and out, Ha-yun felt as though she were glimpsing a modern warehouse operation.
Thump-thump!
Just as Ha-yun stood transfixed, a middle-aged man hurried toward them from inside.
“Daebang, you’ve returned.”
“Yun Pyeong, has all been well in my absence?”
“Well in my absence? Of course not, Daebang. With you gone, how could this place run properly? Between attending to one thing and another, I’m losing my hair over it.”
The man called Yun Pyeong was clearly someone who had spent many years climbing the ranks here.
“Ha, your dramatics are something else.”
“But that aside…… who is this?”
Yun Pyeong’s gaze shifted naturally to Ha-yun. Im Sang-ok smiled faintly and spoke.
“This is Im Ha-sung, the new Haengsu who’s started working today.”
“A new Haengsu, you say?”
Yun Pyeong’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he looked at Ha-yun.
A Haengsu was roughly equivalent to a department head in modern terms—so his bewilderment at seeing a slender young man placed in such a position was understandable.
Moreover, in rank this newcomer stood above even Yun Pyeong himself.
“That is indeed the case.”
“……Yes. I understand.”
A terse reply, but one laden with clear displeasure.
Im Sang-ok turned back to Ha-yun.
“This is Yun Pyeong, who assists in running Mansang. He’s usually called Yun Jeopsang.”
“Please call me Yun Jeopsang, for simplicity.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Im Ha…… sung.”
Formal greetings were exchanged, and Im Sang-ok patted Ha-yun on the shoulder.
“You must be tired, so rest easy today and begin your duties tomorrow. Yun Jeopsang will show you the details.”
“Yes.”
“Yun Jeopsang, see that our new Haengsu is shown to quarters.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“Then I’ll take my leave now.”
Im Sang-ok disappeared into his office to tackle the accumulated work.
Left alone, Yun Jeopsang began the tour.
“Haengsu Im, if you’ll follow me this way.”
“Ah, yes.”
Upon stepping through the entrance, a vast warehouse came into view.
“This is Mulchung, where goods are organized and sorted.”
“Ah, I see.”
“That over there is Sangjingo, where valuables such as silk and medicinal materials are stored separately.”
“Sangjingo…….”
“Going deeper in from here, you’ll find Jangbuchung, where clerks like myself keep our ledgers day and night. Should you ever need to find me, Jangbuchung is where you’ll look.”
“Yes. I understand.”
The buildings seemed to stretch on endlessly.
Ha-yun did her utmost to commit every detail to memory.
As they ventured deeper inward, a long corridor came into view.
Dozens of room doors stretched along both sides of the corridor, like a hotel.
Yun Pyeong stopped before one of them.
“This will be your room from today onward, Haengsu.”
“Thank you.”
“Should you need anything at all, please do not hesitate to call for me.”
“I appreciate it.”
Yun Pyeong withdrew, and Ha-yun slowly surveyed the room.
A small space, perhaps six pyeong in size.
A neatly arranged bedstead occupied one corner, while a desk and chair sat beneath the window.
Through the window, the courtyard and the figures moving about came into view at once.
“Not bad at all.”
If the Inseang Tavern had been a goshiwon, this place was practically an officetel by comparison.
After being confined in a cramped, suffocating space, having a clean private room lifted her spirits considerably.
Ha-yun stood before a mirror set against one wall and examined her appearance.
“That aside… it suits me rather well, doesn’t it?”
Even during her short-hair days, people had often remarked that she looked boyish, but now, dressed so openly as a man, she looked genuinely convincing to her own eye.
She found herself wondering what she would have looked like if she’d had a younger brother.
“Hmm, should I pitch my voice a bit lower, perhaps?”
To make her male performance more convincing, Ha-yun mimicked a deeper tone.
“Good day to you. My name is Im Ha-sung.”
“Good day. They call me Im Ha-sung.”
“Ah yes, Im Ha-sung, indeed.”
“Heh-heh-heh, I am one known as Im Ha-sung.”
She would have to adapt to her new name and new identity.
To avoid being dragged before the magistrate again, these phrases needed to flow naturally from her lips whenever, wherever, whoever asked.
“First, I ought to fix these clothes.”
Since Im Sang-ok hadn’t known her size, the garments he’d procured were far too large.
The sleeves completely swallowed her hands, the trousers pooled at her feet, and the tunic gaped open with the slightest movement.
“I’ll fold up the sleeves first…”
There was much she could tolerate, but dowdiness was not among them.
Ha-yun removed her tunic to adjust the fit.
That was when it happened.
Bang!
“Oh, heavens!”
The door suddenly swung open, and someone stepped inside.
Ha-yun hastily pulled her tunic back on and stared at the uninvited visitor.
Thump-thump.
The man who had entered without warning appeared to be roughly Ha-yun’s age.
Tall and broad-shouldered, with a sharp, prominent nose.
His features were strikingly defined.
He possessed pale, luminous skin uncommon in this era—the kind that would naturally evoke thoughts of a nobleman.
Yet his eyebrows, which tilted sharply upward, gave him a cutting, formidable air.
“Hmm.”
The man wandered about the room without the slightest hesitation, as though it were his own.
Worse still, his feet were caked with dirt.
Fresh traces of mud now marked various corners of Ha-yun’s newly arrived chamber.
Ha-yun frowned and demanded, “Who exactly are you?”
“Ah, forgive me. My manners, it seems.”
The man smiled lightly and spoke.
“A pleasure to meet you. I heard a new Haengsu had arrived, so I came to pay my respects.”
“…”
Ha-yun, her patience worn thin, offered no response and simply fixed the man with a cold stare.
Uncomfortable now, the man withdrew his hand and introduced himself.
“Song Do-hyun. I am a Haengsu as well.”
“I see.”
“And your name would be…?”
Ha-yun hesitated briefly before speaking.
“Hmm, I am one known as Im Ha-sung.”
“Im Ha-sung?”

A flicker of confusion crossed Song Do-hyun’s eyes.
Ha-yun asked with concern.
“Why? Is my way of speaking strange?”
“No, that’s not it…….”
Song Do-hyun fell into deep thought.
After a moment, he laughed as if nothing were amiss and continued.
“I must have gotten confused. Ha-ha. There are simply so many similar names.”
Then his gaze sharpened as he posed his next question.
“I hear the Daebang brought you along personally on this journey?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“If the Daebang would bring someone personally, you must be no ordinary merchant. Perhaps you sold something remarkable?”
Ha-yun answered curtly, picking up on the subtle provocation in Song Do-hyun’s tone.
“Nothing particularly remarkable. It was rather ordinary, if anything.”
“Ordinary, you say. The Daebang isn’t the sort to bring along someone for trifles…….”
“What matters isn’t what you sell—it’s who’s selling it.”
“That suggests you possess some exceptional skill?”
Ha-yun shrugged instead of answering.
Song Do-hyun then posed a more direct question.
“If I may ask, which merchant house did you work for? Since we’ll be working together going forward, surely I ought to know which house employed you?”
“Well…….”
Ha-yun trailed off.
She could have kept deflecting stubbornly, but as Song Do-hyun said, if they were to be colleagues working together, there was no reason to sour things from the start.
So Ha-yun spoke honestly.
“I actually worked at a tavern.”
“A tavern?”
Song Do-hyun repeated, taken aback.
“You mean that tavern in Jeojat District that serves rice soup?”
“Yes. I ran the tavern for a time. Business went quite well. The Daebang even praised it.”
…….
A silence stretched between them.
Bewilderment flickered across Song Do-hyun’s features.
Then he burst into raucous laughter.
“Ha-ha-ha! You do joke well!”
Song Do-hyun shook his head as though at a loss.
“Even if the Daebang isn’t what he once was, there’s no way he’d seat a nobody who sold rice soup in a Haengsu position, is there?”
There was logic to Song Do-hyun’s objection.
By modern standards, it was like a CEO of a major conglomerate promoting a restaurant worker to management.
For Song Do-hyun, who had clawed his way to the Haengsu position after more than a decade of hardship, discomfort was inevitable.
Unaware of this, Ha-yun continued her account with artless pride.
“I’m serious. I really did sell rice soup. Some days I’d sell hundreds of bowls. I was so busy my calves would cramp from standing.”
……!
Song Do-hyun’s expression turned cold.
His eyes betrayed naked displeasure.
His voice grew grave as he asked once more.
“Are you saying that’s the truth?”
“Yes. The Daebang himself praised how impressive the tavern I built was.”
…….
Now Song Do-hyun’s expression wasn’t merely cold—it turned icy.
He gave Ha-yun a slow, appraising look from head to foot.
“I see.”
The conversation ended there.
Song Do-hyun asked nothing more about Ha-yun.
Something other than curiosity had begun to settle in his heart.
“Very well. I’ll take my leave now.”
With a markedly different tone, Song Do-hyun left the room, his expression drained of all warmth.
Seeing this, Ha-yun’s brow furrowed.
“What’s with that insufferable bastard?”
After the clash of wills, exhaustion began to settle over her.
“So there’s hazing even here, huh?”
For Ha-yun, such circumstances were all too familiar.
At twenty-five years old.
And she was a woman.
The fact that Ha-yun had landed a team lead position at a major corporation meant the surrounding gazes needed no explanation.
Other departments constantly picked fights with her, the executive director endlessly rejected her proposals, and within her own team, ostracism of Ha-yun was openly practiced.
Team dinners without Ha-yun.
Eating alone.
Even when someone brought around coffee, Ha-yun’s cup was invariably missing.
If an ordinary person had endured such treatment, they would have either quit from stress or filed a workplace bullying complaint.
But Ha-yun overcame it all.
How?
Through sheer competence.
She ambushed the executive board with a surprise presentation of the proposal the director had rejected, and through relentless persuasion, she seized the opportunity that yielded an unprecedented blockbuster success.
That campaign won Ha-yun the prestigious South Korean Advertising Award that year.
As this pattern repeated, her team members gradually began to acknowledge her, and eventually followed her with genuine faith and loyalty.
Thanks to Song Do-hyun’s recent visit, Ha-yun felt emotions she had long forgotten beginning to stir within her once more.
“Song Do-hyun?”
Ha-yun recalled her conversation with Song Do-hyun and renewed her resolve to join Mansang.
“Let’s see who the real impostor is.”

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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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