Heaven-Defying Hero - 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

The sweltering summer had passed.

When seasons changed, the first thing to change was always the market scenery.

The fans, hemp cloth, and insect-repelling incense that were frequently seen on display stands disappeared, replaced by chestnuts, dates, and cotton clothes. Above all, various grains abundantly filled the shops.

Ja-gang-cheon was not one to miss such changes.

As if possessed by a ghost, Ja-gang-cheon came out to the market and headed to the fruit shop at the market entrance.

“Welcome, Lord. The pomegranates are very good today.”

Since he came to the market so frequently, Ja-gang-cheon was on friendly terms with most of the merchants.

“Have you been well? I haven’t seen you recently.”

“I was sick, so I rested for a while. But you came alone today. Where did Cheon-gu… I mean, where did the Subordinate go?”

The shop owner glanced around subtly.

“I’m sorry. I’m still not used to it.”

“But whose attention are you being mindful of?”

“Haven’t the East Sea Merchant Guild members increased quite a bit? I’m being unnecessarily cautious.”

“Don’t tell me they said something about such things?”

When Ja-gang-cheon made a serious face, the owner quickly waved his hands.

“Oh my! No! The East Sea Merchant Guild people wouldn’t do such things.”

“Then why are you being cautious?”

“Actually, the Labor Office manager invites me for dinner in the evenings.”

“What?”

“If I say bad things about the manor, the Labor Office manager finds out like a ghost and invites me for dinner in the evening. Then he says he’s asking as a favor and we eat dinner together. He doesn’t pressure me at all, but the atmosphere is so uncomfortable…”

After tattling in his own way, he looked relieved.

“I’ll tell them not to do that from now on.”

“Oh my, no. These days the East Sea Merchant Guild is doing so well that I’m receiving help too. Since you come here often, Lord, I received these southern fruits first like this.”

Purchasing southern fruits was something the East Sea Merchant Guild had been doing for a long time.

“That’s good. Then give me one pomegranate too.”

“Shall I make it into juice?”

Knowing Ja-gang-cheon’s preferred method, the owner quickly brought a bowl and started squeezing the pomegranate.

“These days the East Sea Merchant Guild has such good momentum that it seems like it’ll soon become Jiao-nan’s top merchant guild.”

“I see. I’ll have another cup.”

“Haha. I’m not just saying empty words. Until now, I felt sorry that the East Sea Merchant Guild had no results compared to their efforts, but since last summer they’ve completely changed. They immediately took diligent people from the families of market merchants as guild staff.”

Such grassroots goodwill was important for merchant guilds. Not simply because of reputation, but to fully utilize the manpower, connections, and experience they possessed, very close relationships were necessary.

‘They said they recruited talent, and the effect is good.’

They said they selected from across the nation, and as many as five people came to greet him.

“These days the East Sea Merchant Guild members walk the fastest. That shows how busy they are.”

There was no reason to feel bad when an acquaintance received praise. Especially if they were people he’d been most worried about recently.

“I lost.”

“What?”

Ja-gang-cheon pointed to the left end of the fruit stand and drew a line all the way to the right.

“From here to here! Please deliver everything to the East Sea Merchant Guild!”

“Oh my! Lord! You don’t need to do that…”

While saying that, the merchant’s hands were putting fruit into baskets.

After giving a gift to the East Sea Merchant Guild, Ja-gang-cheon immediately regretted it.

‘Cheon-gu will scold me.’

He wouldn’t get scolded simply for spending a lot of money. Even if the gift was excessive, Cheon-gu would say ‘You can do that.’

Still, he regretted it because the East Sea Merchant Guild had originally supplied those fruits.

‘I bought fruit supplied by the East Sea Merchant Guild and sent it back to the East Sea Merchant Guild.’

Of course, the East Sea Merchant Guild wouldn’t sell it back to the market, but they would definitely be bewildered.

“Am I an idiot?”

The merchant who sold it knowing this became slightly annoying too.

“I really should travel with Cheon-gu.”

The reason he came to the market alone was because Cheon-gu had left the manor first.

-I’ll go discuss how to sell the medicine.

Three types of medicine made under Deungmyeong Manor’s name had been completed.

They had internally confirmed the medicine’s efficacy, and even Yang Mosu, the manufacturer, was surprised. But selling it was another matter.

There were many things to decide, from pricing to production quantities to initial promotion.

“I should play around at the port and then go have lunch together when the meeting ends.”

He made his own plans and headed to the port.

“It’s definitely different.”

The number of boats coming and going from the port had doubled. He had heard about it from Cheon-gu, but seeing it directly, he could feel the clear difference.

‘It’s good for people-watching.’

Ja-gang-cheon found people-watching the most fun. A lively scene like this was perfect.

“Should I go over there?”

He spotted a tea house with outdoor tables and tried to take a seat.

“Lord! How are you!”

But the path to the tea house wasn’t easy.

One person greeted him, and then others came running to greet him one after another.

‘They said they’re the busiest, and that’s definitely true.’

The fruit merchant’s words weren’t empty.

More than twenty East Sea Merchant Guild people had greeted him and left.

“Lord! What brings you here? Please come more often.”

This time it was Seok-ho, the tall one from the East Sea Merchant Guild.

“I just came to look around.”

“Shall I keep you company?”

“Aren’t you busy? I heard there was a meeting.”

“Ah! That was postponed because the Merchant Guild Leader said he would personally oversee it in the evening.”

“What? When was it canceled?”

“It’s already been over two hours.”

Ja-gang-cheon tilted his head.

“Then where did Cheon-gu go? He didn’t come to the manor.”

“Well, maybe he had somewhere to stop by…”

Since becoming friends with Cheon-gu, there had never been a single time when he didn’t know his whereabouts.

“Can you find out where Cheon-gu is?”

Just in case, he decided to look into his whereabouts.

“Yes! Lord!”

Though it was a light request, Seok-ho moved quickly as if he had received the most important order of his life.

And in just a moment, he stood before Ja-gang-cheon again.

“He went to Jisanpo!”

“Where is Jisanpo?”

“It’s a fishing port to the south. It’s mainly where small fishing boats come and go.”

Fortunately, a guild member who had been traveling that way had met Cheon-gu.

“Shall I prepare a horse?”

“Which way is Jisanpo?”

Seok-ho’s finger followed the coastline and stopped at one place.

“The port you can see over there is Jisanpo. It’s quite far to walk.”

“It’s fine. I’ll take a shortcut.”

“There isn’t really a shortcut…”

Pop!

Ja-gang-cheon ran toward the sea. Then he leaped toward Jisanpo, stepping on the gentle waves.

Whether what he was doing on the water was running or flying was confusing, but Seok-ho simply nodded.

“Wherever the Lord goes becomes the path.”

***

“Oh my! A flying fish… is it?”

“It’s a person!”

Ja-gang-cheon waved to the fishing boat and increased his speed toward the distant Jisanpo.

Behind him as he stepped on the sea and grew distant, the fishermen burst into exclamations of admiration.

“Wow. The Lord of Deungmyeong Manor was at that level?”

“They say no one of the same age can compare to him, and it wasn’t empty words.”

“Where’s it just the same age? Even if you add twenty years above that, there’d be no one who could match him.”

“Come on. That much?”

“Hey! You! Didn’t you see him handle the Shandong Owak? You’d need to be at least that level to compete, but is there anyone among the current thirty-something masters who could handle the Shandong Owak alone?”

While they were sharing opinions, Ja-gang-cheon stepped on the last wave and leaped up.

Thud.

Even though he had risen several times higher than his own height, his movement upon landing was incredibly light.

“Cheon-gu!”

There was no need to search around. He was standing with a middle-aged man at Jisanpo.

“Huh? Gangcheon. How did you know to come here?”

Seeing his friend who had dropped from the sky, Cheon-gu asked with a surprised expression.

“The Merchant Guild people told me. But why did you come here?”

Before Cheon-gu could answer, someone offered a greeting.

“Hello, Lord. It’s my first time meeting you. I’m the waitstaff of Yeonok Guesthouse.”

There was an old inn at the edge of Jisanpo. The middle-aged man introduced himself as the waitstaff there.

“Hello, waitstaff uncle.”

“I had circumstances that led me to seek out Subordinate Cheon-gu. If it was rude, I apologize.”

“Not at all. But what’s the matter?”

Cheon-gu provided the explanation instead.

“He decided to sell the inn, but problems arose.”

It was originally such an old inn that repairs were absolutely necessary. But recently, with the prosperity of Jinhae Port, many ships had come to Jisanpo as well.

“The inn owner saw this as an opportunity. Instead of making repairs, he decided to sell.”

The waitstaff continued the explanation.

“The inn owner is my uncle. Due to continued losses, he’s wanted to sell for a long time, but buyers only appeared recently.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“The people who said they’d buy the inn changed their minds this morning. There were three of them, and they all said they wouldn’t buy.”

“Suddenly?”

“Yes. Not only that. The battlefield that had lent us money requested repayment. Since we decided to sell the inn, it’s customary to add a little more interest and give us about a month.”

Even to Ja-gang-cheon, who didn’t know much about such matters, there seemed to be many suspicious points.

“But why did you seek out Cheon-gu?”

“When I looked into it, it seems like Gu Dong-gu orchestrated this. So I asked about what kind of person Gu Dong-gu is.”

“Gu Dong-gu, you mean the boss of Haejeonggol?”

“Yes. That’s right. They say he recently took charge of a Shandong Trade Guild base, and he appears at Jisanpo frequently.”

When Gu Dong-gu’s name was mentioned, Cheon-gu frowned.

“It’s probably a scheme to acquire the inn cheaply. He’s been eyeing this place for a while.”

“Why?”

“He wanted to operate a secret giru that only serves special guests. I think he got that idea while doing a lot of entertaining.”

“Ah!”

At Cheon-gu’s words, the waitstaff let out an exclamation.

“Then it makes sense that he’d target this place. My uncle originally built the inn here just for the scenery.”

“He said if he ran pleasure boats from Jinhae Port, he could make the path to Jisanpo into a flower garden too.”

“How do you know all that?”

“When I was in Haejeonggol, I begged here. This waitstaff uncle helped me a lot back then.”

“Ah. I see.”

Hearing that he had helped Cheon-gu, Ja-gang-cheon also became motivated.

“Then Gu Dong-gu must really want to buy this inn?”

“He would. Actually, you can’t make much money with just a Shandong Trade Guild base. The secret giru here would be his core business.”

A trade guild base manager was literally just a warehouse keeper. Even so, since he could use the Hwangbo Clan’s name, no one could touch him.

If he ran a secret giru based on that name?

Gu Dong-gu would be able to have both power and wealth.

“Good. Then it’s simple.”

Ja-gang-cheon summarized the situation simply.

“This inn. How much were you originally going to sell it for?”

“There was a lot of back and forth, but we had settled on eight hundred silver taels.”

“Then I’ll buy it for eight hundred taels.”

“Pardon?”

“Are you planning to operate a secret giru, Lord…”

Ja-gang-cheon waved his hand.

“I’m going to sell it to Gu Dong-gu at a high price.”

It was a very simple solution. Ja-gang-cheon had realized how to make money with money.

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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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