Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 28

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#028

“How about reconsidering?”

The low voice came from the direction of Sword Master Yeomjak’s flame.

I turned around.

The woman’s figure visible beyond the bamboo screen adjusted her posture with a rustling sound.

“Young Master Hwi. I respect your will, but I don’t think you should decide so hastily, so immediately.”

I can feel it.

The atmosphere flowing through the Bidamyeon Commune has changed, subtly but certainly.

I don’t know what they’re thinking.

But even without opening the third form of Pasabeolsik, I could tell this as a human being, through experience.

Until then, what I generally felt from the Five Great Patriarchs was boredom, and a formal yet businesslike treatment.

A superficial feeling, like licking the surface of dried oak.

Even with polite conversation and etiquette, there was a sense that they could turn cold as a blade at any moment, with not an ounce of curiosity about me as an individual.

But what I faintly sensed now was definitely curiosity.

No, it might not be positive curiosity.

Perhaps it was pure human curiosity about seeing someone as an infinitely foolish person who would self-destruct through hot-bloodedness.

“Right, right. Hehe. To think you’d decide so immediately. Young blood is good, but still?”

Bugaju, Namgung Seong-tae spoke with a briefly hardened expression.

“But that doesn’t mean you can bear less responsibility for your judgment. Do you know what I mean, Young Master Namgung Hwi?”

“Of course, Bugaju.”

“You might choose wrongly out of youthful impetuosity. Well, naturally, that’s how it is—”

“I.”

I cut him off.

“Have no intention of using Namgung blood as an excuse to defend my incompetence.”

“…!”

Namgung Seong-tae’s face instantly turned red.

Those were the same words I had said during my first conversation with the Sword Master, and also what I had shouted during the argument over the Namgung Cheon incident.

Namgung Seong-tae tried to compose his face again. But he couldn’t control his trembling lips.

Sword Master Yeomjak added:

“Then Young Master Hwi, you’re definitely going with the second option to the Sacheon Party? We don’t need to ask any further?”

“….”

“There’s no need to take the difficult path.”

Namgung Seong-tae continued.

“Let’s be clear. You’re not an official envoy. You’re going purely as an individual, and as a ‘preliminary’ Boatman, acting on your own. We’ll say one of our people is going, but don’t expect any help. If we were to make a fuss about our Boatman going and demanding they come out to greet you or do this and that, why would we do this instead of just sending an official envoy? For us, the silver-related trade with Sichuan is something we don’t want to lose as much as the herb and poison trade with the Dang Clan.”

“….”

“So I’m saying this out of concern for the Boatman.”

Bugaju let out a short snort.

“It might look a bit shabby, but wouldn’t Cheongwun Trading Company be better?”

“….”

“I think the Boatman is very smart. On the surface, going to the Sacheon Party looks impressive, while the other option would be escorting supplies for a minor trading company so obscure you’ve barely heard its name. Of course, whichever you choose is your freedom. I’m just Bugaju, but also an elder and a senior in the martial world who supports you, giving advice.”

There’s not even a formal prior introduction from the Namgung Family.

The meaning of these words, when pondered over as Bugaju said, is not a simple matter.

The head of the Dang Clan isn’t just anyone’s dog, and without a formal introduction, if someone like me suddenly shows up claiming to be the Boatman of the Namgung Family, I’d have no complaint even if turned away at the gate.

Moreover, demanding an explanation for the recent disruption in trade regarding one of a family’s major business operations, the silver mines.

Ha, as if they’d listen.

The position of the person who agrees to meet me will ultimately serve as substantial proof of my actual status in this first venture into the martial world, and the mine-related investigation, while seemingly simple on the surface, would be talked about for ages if I return having failed.

‘Thinking about it, this is a more difficult request than a life-or-death duel.’

To avoid being turned away at the gate, I’d need to be at least at the level of a minor family head, or the messenger delivering the message would need to be someone with influence that even they would acknowledge, not just some carrier pigeon.

“…Surprising.”

Sword Master Amyeong murmured in a cool voice at my silence.

“Very surprising. Usually people move as I expect, but this is unexpected. To really choose the second option.”

“Haha! What tremendous spirit the young master has!”

Sword Master Baekrang spoke cheerfully.

“Indeed, in this world, knowing what shame is and moving forward with pride like grass even if the world collapses is what makes a real man! The Boatman is deliberately choosing that path while knowing it’s difficult, so he surely understands that!”

I don’t care what they think of me.

But acting this way wasn’t purely for pride and honor, nor was it a gamble.

‘…It’s definitely the right decision.’

Rather, right after deciding, the anxiety remaining in one corner of my heart was washing away.

The proof of this was

the bewilderment that appeared on Bugaju’s face, though he was desperately gritting his teeth.

….

….

.

-Two days ago, the evening of the day I was invited to the Monthly Political Assembly’s Secret Banquet.

“Though my lord did give his word.”

Baekjao Guk was amazed as he looked at the Secret Banquet invitation I handed him.

“Really… I didn’t think this would actually happen.”

“Really?”

“This is truly the first time. Briefly calling in outsiders from the family for questioning like last time could happen procedurally, but this isn’t that—this is really formal permission as a member.”

Guk was so excited that his face covering became disheveled.

“Being invited as a Monthly Political Assembly member is already surprising, but skipping that and going straight to the Secret Banquet really means entering the very center of the Namgung Family’s core. This is rare to see in this massive system, even for blood relatives.”

“Good. But I don’t think of it only positively.”

At those words, Baekjao Guk’s eyes turned cold.

“…Indeed, since you correctly predicted this invitation would come, what you said afterward must also be correct.”

“Is the investigation I mentioned finished?”

“Yes. One day was sufficient. It’s not external anyway. Above all….”

Guk looked around.

“You selected what I should focus on so clearly. Usually when superiors give instructions, they don’t point things out this specifically.”

“I see.”

The now half-waned crescent moon was casting blue light.

Under the cool night at the end of winter, the shadows of two people standing side by side stretched long.

“Before the report, are you really going to the Secret Banquet?”

“I have to go.”

“…Please reconsider, just this once.”

Baekjao Guk tried to dissuade me.

I looked at Guk.

“So there really was something during your investigation.”

“….”

Guk nodded faintly.

I let out a short sigh.

He calmly recited the investigation results I had requested the day before, right after returning from the brothel and Guk’s oath of loyalty.

“Baekjao is certainly a ghost-like existence within the Namgung Family where private organizations are not permitted. That’s why it’s easier to access more confidential information. That’s why I asked you, Guk, to look into several pieces of information I requested.”

“That’s correct.”

I thought there would be some additional measures from their side.

And above all, I thought the Deputy Family Head or the Sword Master would somehow take action, and if so, I believed that place would be Bi Dam Yeon.

It was the only place where the Namgung Family absolutely couldn’t oppose, while having both credibility and justification.

And what I focused on was the Deputy Family Head.

According to what I’ve learned so far, the Sword Master is certainly one of the Five Great Patriarchs, so his actual status might be higher than the Deputy Family Head, but ultimately a patriarch prioritizes his own domain and territory.

However, the Deputy Family Head also has a role similar to a general manager in charge of finances within the Namgung Family.

He also operates from the central Taecheong-won.

That’s why I believed that if there was any action from their side regarding my boatman position, it would be centered around and initiated by the Deputy Family Head.

Just before we parted at the well, I had instructed Guk, who had sworn loyalty to me.

‘Time is short. Please investigate the flow around the Deputy Family Head as quickly as possible. If my thoughts are correct, there will definitely be artificial movements.’

‘What kind of artificial movements do you mean…?’

‘Money.’

The source of Deputy Family Head Namgung Seong-tae’s power is money and wealth.

While other Five Great Patriarchs wield their influence based on military force and followers, Namgung Seong-tae alone holds the Namgung Family’s purse strings and wields his influence based on that.

‘Find the flow of money. Starting from businesses to logistics… Also, what are the Deputy Family Head’s main businesses? No matter how much he distributed the profitable ventures to the Five Great Patriarchs, he must have some prime assets he handles directly.’

‘Salt fields, medicinal herbs… especially silver mines, I believe.’

‘…Silver?’

Silver, along with gold, was the most commonly used payment for commissions in the assassin’s world.

Nothing in the underworld would be more sensitively tracked in terms of flow than this.

I think of the trading companies that follow the Yangtze River from Anhui, where the Namgung Family is based.

And based on that, at this current time period—.

‘In Sichuan, the three trading companies that control the southwestern region with silver mines would be Cheongwun, Jinmyo, and Towun. Focus on investigating these three trading companies.’

‘…What?’

What appeared on Guk’s face was shock.

‘My lord, how do you know that…?’

‘Especially focus more on the trading companies that connect the Sacheon Party and the Namgung Family among the Five Great Families.’

Silver aside, I had access to a lot of underground information while living as an assassin in the past.

Countless amounts.

And it wasn’t just once or twice that I belatedly realized, “Ah, so that’s what those fragments of information I saw within the family back then meant,” and there were more than a few complete pictures I pieced together from fragments I belatedly retrieved.

And I’m just reviewing that now.

And—.

“…This concludes my report. Furthermore, all of your predictions were correct, my lord.”

I was genuinely surprised.

To be honest, even while giving the instructions, I hadn’t expected much.

But Guk as Baekjao was more capable than I had imagined.

And the position of Baekjao was an overwhelmingly remarkable existence beyond my expectations, showing that there were no problems moving around as a white ghost within this Namgung Family.

In just one day, he had thoroughly investigated everything along the thirty-one routes I had pointed out, and reported it to me having memorized it all in his head without a single written record.

Even when I cross-referenced it with memories of specific events from my past, everything matched perfectly without a single error, so there could be no mistake in his memory.

‘Heaven truly helped me.’

The fact that the Namgung Family could be penetrated to this extent meant, in other words, that from previous generations, the people of the Namgung Family had treated this existence called Baekjao not as a person but as an object, and paradoxically, Baekjao had maintained absolute loyalty to the Namgung Family member he served, but not to ‘that person’ individually for a long time.

For me, having a white ghost who could access almost anywhere as my close aide meant I wouldn’t be inferior to others in terms of information gathering within Taecheong-won and the Namgung Family.

That was like having a thousand troops for me, who had no military force and was at a disadvantage in everything.

“…So you’re saying a large amount of money was spent through Cheongwun Trading Company along with the Green Forest?”

“Yes.”

The Sword Master.

I don’t know what criteria Namgung Cheonhyeok, the head of the Namgung Family, used to appoint the Five Great Patriarchs, but the Sword Master, regardless of his skills, certainly didn’t have a very clean background, no matter how much he claimed to have cleared his past.

Among the Five Great Patriarchs, if I were to pick someone who least fits the Namgung prestige and is unqualified to be a patriarch, it would be the Sword Master, even setting aside my bad relationship with him.

This could be seen from the fact that the forces mobilized in the great battle at the brothel beyond the mountain range included Green Forest bandits and Hwangpyo, the Green Shadow Assassin, even if there was no evidence.

I too had spent my entire previous life at the bottom of the martial arts world. Having lived in that world, I know its ecology—see one thing and understand ten.

Guk said.

“If your prediction is correct, they’ll summon you to Bi Dam Yeon, talk about qualifications, and somehow send you on a mission to Cheongwun Trading Company.”

“Whether they eliminate me there, cripple me, or whatever, I don’t know.”

“But you wouldn’t comply with that obediently, would you? Especially the Deputy Family Head would know that if he sends you and you get harmed, the responsibility would fall on him too. So to take such an obviously visible risk…”

“That’s right. But.”

The answer to this is obvious.

“You just make the person choose that decision themselves. Then it becomes ambiguous to hold them responsible for the consequences.”

“…You mean they’ll make it so you have no choice but to select that option?”

“Their actions are predictable. Bi Dam Yeon is always executed for the benefit of the family. They’ll assign duties to preserve the family’s honor.”

I said calmly while looking at the blue moonlight.

“They’ll give me two or three choices and tell me to choose. And one or two of the other options will be things that, even from a rational perspective, anyone can see would lead to self-destruction compared to Cheongwun Trading Company. Then I’ll have no choice but to select the option related to Cheongwun Trading Company.”

“But wouldn’t that make their intentions too obvious and invite suspicion?”

“Right. So they won’t artificially create the options to be placed alongside Cheongwun Trading Company. They’ll bring actual pressing problems that really need to be solved, making it so I can directly choose Cheongwun Trading Company—real, difficult, practical missions that simultaneously have enough public merit or honor guaranteed to match the difficulty level that no one would suspect the intent.”

“How do you know all this, my lord? You speak as if you’ve been receiving such proposals your entire life.”

“I have some experience living by giving and receiving deals.”

“…While listening, I remembered there was one matter that came to the Deputy Family Head from the Sacheon Party among the things you mentioned. It was from three months ago.”

“From the Sacheon Party?”

“Yes. And what’s peculiar is that regarding this matter, there were traces of the Deputy Family Head severely pressuring his subordinates to prepare immediately, saying he would personally go and to spare no effort in ensuring safety, putting everything else aside.”

I tilted my head.

“The Deputy Family Head personally? The Deputy Family Head isn’t the type of warrior who jumps into the field directly like the Five Great Patriarchs, is he? And he even pressured them?”

“Well… apparently a direct reply came from the Sacheon Party’s general manager, urgently requesting help regardless of the reason, saying they would give additional compensation separate from what they’d give to the Namgung Family to whoever came to help. And that additional compensation was.”

Baekjao Guk said with some bewilderment.

“Golden toads, no less than three of them.”

My movement stops.

“…What?”

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