Heaven-Defying Hero - Chapter 66

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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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#066

Deungmyeong Manor was bustling.

About a hundred East Sea Merchant Guild members had come to the manor early in the morning.

“Come on! Line up properly!”

The youngest, So Cheon-i, was excited.

“Right. Today So Cheon-i is the instructor, so make sure to establish proper discipline with the newcomers from the start.”

“Yes! Subordinate!”

“Ask the Chief Instructor if you need anything.”

“Yes!”

So Cheon ran confidently today as well to the 6-foot giant who stood with his back to the morning sun, casting a long shadow.

“Chief Instructor! What should we do with the newcomers?”

“There are many old people, so don’t hit them.”

Above instructors were squad leaders, and the position that managed those squad leaders was chief instructor.

Pansuk, who until yesterday was only briefly called a squad leader in the mornings, was given the official title of Chief Instructor starting today.

“From now on, you need to be the center. You’ll manage everyone who learns martial arts. Got it?”

“Yes, Hyeongnim. I’ll work hard.”

Pansuk taught the Deungmyeong exercises to the merchant guild members along with So Cheon, whom he had appointed as a temporary instructor.

“You there! If you don’t do it properly, it won’t be effective!”

At Pansuk’s booming shout, the drowsiness remaining in the merchant guild members’ eyes vanished.

“Chief! Raise your arms higher!”

So Cheon also raised his voice, not to be outdone.

“I was once cut by a sword on my shoulder, so it doesn’t go up completely.”

“What? Then what should we do…?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“But they said it won’t be effective if you do it half-heartedly…”

In the end, So Cheon called Pansuk.

“Chief Instructor! The Chief’s arm won’t go up!”

“Everything works if you try hard enough.”

Pansuk stood in front of So Yeon-dok and grabbed the arm that supposedly wouldn’t go up.

“Pan Seok-i. Did you forget? My arm originally doesn’t go up.”

“Hyeongnim, I know that too.”

“Then why are you grabbing my arm?”

Crack crack crack!

“Ahhhhh!”

At So Yeon-dok’s scream, those around showed expressions of horror.

“Pan Seok-i! You bastard! What the hell are you doing right now!”

The old-timers from the Labor Office came running in shock.

“I’m the Chief Instructor! I’ll take full responsibility!”

“You bastard. Just taking responsibility isn’t enough. Why are you trying to kill the Chief?”

They tried to stop him by grabbing on, but it was like monkeys hanging from an old tree.

Crack crack crack!

“Ahhhhh!”

Only after hearing So Yeon-dok’s scream one more time did Pansuk let go of his arm.

“Hyeongnim, try moving your arm now.”

“Huh?”

“I fixed it, so try moving it.”

So Yeon-dok, who had been clutching his shoulder, slowly began to move. Then he gradually showed a surprised expression.

“Your dislocated shoulder was put back wrong. I pulled it out and put it back in properly, so it should be fine now. Hehe.”

Seeing Pansuk smile brightly, So Yeon-dok felt anger rising but couldn’t say anything.

“Thank you. But next time, I’d appreciate it if you could explain beforehand.”

“Ah, I did that on purpose. If I told you it would hurt like you were dying, I thought you wouldn’t do it.”

“I… I see.”

So Yeon-dok gritted his teeth and held back his anger.

“Come on! Let’s start the exercises now! You must do it without even an inch of error, down to your fingertips and toes!”

That’s when it happened.

“Excuse me, Chief Instructor.”

“Yes?”

“Do I have to do this too?”

Pansuk’s previously firm gaze wavered.

He saw a seventy-year-old white-haired old man standing with a cane.

He was the East Sea Merchant Guild’s subordinate who had protected the guild longer than even the current guild leader.

He had been a merchant guild member for a full 55 years, and a subordinate for 25 years, postponing his retirement at the East Sea Merchant Guild Leader’s request.

“If you tell me to do it, I suppose I’ll try my best…”

“Subordinate uncle, come this way. Have some tea while watching people move around. That alone will give you vitality.”

“Oh my, Jangju. Why are you taking care of even an old man like me?”

At Ja-gang-cheon’s appearance, the subordinate waved his hands dismissively.

“Come on, I’ve prepared everything over there.”

Ja-gang-cheon guided the subordinate to a wooden platform in front of the guest quarters with a clear view of the courtyard.

“Come here every day for a stroll, have a cup of tea and go. Have this instead of taking walks.”

“Isn’t this a Deungmyeong Divine Pill?”

“It looks the same, but it’s a different medicine. It takes much more care than the Deungmyeong Divine Pill. I’m only giving it to our manor family.”

Though he spoke simply, it was actually medicine personally manufactured by Song Ja-in, who had been the master of Dogok. The medicinal ingredients and manufacturing method were different from the mass-produced Deungmyeong Divine Pills from the beginning.

“Jamoseong Pill. It’s medicine made by a loving mother, so chew it thoroughly and don’t leave even a speck of powder. It’s really precious.”

“Is it alright for an old man who’s about to die to eat something this precious?”

“If you eat this, you’ll live long and healthily. So you must take it.”

Ja-gang-cheon personally put the pill into the subordinate’s mouth.

The subordinate experienced the strange sensation of the slightly bitter-tasting medicine soon melting and disappearing.

When it went down his throat, it was cool like ice water, then after a moment his stomach became warm. Just from that change alone, he could tell how effective the medicine was.

“But please make sure to supervise properly from here. If anyone slacks off even a little or doesn’t do it properly, report it to the Chief Instructor immediately.”

“I will do so.”

From then on, Deungmyeong Manor was filled with the sounds of commands and breathing.

When the Deungmyeong exercises that brought hot energy to all of Deungmyeong Manor ended, it was time for the elite’s morning training.

It was just a brief internal energy circulation before meals, but today Song Ja-in brought out something special.

“The pills taken from the Hwangbo Clan subordinate were indeed Mountain Hermit Energy Accumulation Pills.”

Mountain Hermit Energy Accumulation Pills.

They were spiritual medicines that Nokrim prided themselves on.

“They’re known as spiritual medicines made by gathering the essence of mountains, but actually they’re made by refining the yin energy of snow ginseng and yang energy of fire spirit grass into medicine. They go through a special preparation process, but I don’t know that part either.”

“Anyway, they’re good for the body, right?”

“Yes. It’s the only beneficial thing Nokrim does for people among everything they do. I hear they use the inner cores of ancient spiritual creatures together. Even if they’re not as good as Shaolin’s Great Recovery Pills, they’re known to be superior to Small Recovery Pills.”

“Are these genuine?”

“I’m certain. They’re so elaborate and use such good medicinal ingredients that they couldn’t be fake. There was no poison reaction either.”

One of the originally five pills had disappeared.

One was used to test the medicinal effects.

“I tried eating one and it was fine.”

It was the most reliable method. Hearing that, Ja-gang-cheon gave one pill each to Cheon-gu and Pansuk without hesitation. And he also took one for himself.

“Alright, let’s eat them.”

“Huh? We’re just going to eat Nokrim’s treasure like this?”

“Yeah. Since it’s good stuff, we should eat it. It’d be a waste to give it to others.”

Ja-gang-cheon, who had been taking elixirs since childhood, naturally concluded in favor of consuming them.

“I don’t need any since I’ve already taken them.”

“Then let’s keep one just in case.”

“Hyeongnim. Is it really okay for me to consume something so precious?”

“Since it’s precious, hyeong should eat it.”

“Then wait a moment. Let’s all consume them in Bingokgo’s training room. I’ll prepare for any internal energy rampage.”

While everyone was interested in consuming the elixirs, one person voiced a question.

“But how did the Hwangbo Clan come to possess these?”

Ja-gang-cheon answered Cheon-gu’s question.

“Do we need to know that?”

“You’re saying we should just eat them without knowing?”

“That’s what I did.”

Cheon-gu looked at Ja-gang-cheon quietly.

“We consume them like murder and destruction, leading to annihilation.”

“Consumption annihilation! Sounds good!”

Cheon-gu thought once more.

“Right. Let’s eat them. If there are any problems, they’d be with the Hwangbo Clan. I think it’s fine for us to take this much.”

“Exactly. The elixirs are innocent. That’s what our mother said.”

Once the elixir matter was settled, Song Ja-in brought out three books.

“These are ledgers that the Hwangbo Clan’s Subordinate kept separately. Everything from people he met to bribery details is recorded. More than half appear to be influential government officials.”

The Hwangbo Clan was being kept in check by the government office as well. This was because they had grown their power excessively. To smooth this over, the Subordinate personally stepped forward, and everything was written in the ledgers.

“Hmm. Should we throw those away?”

At Ja-gang-cheon’s words, Cheon-gu sighed.

“Just because you can’t eat something doesn’t mean you should throw it away.”

“Isn’t it non-interference with government affairs? Then they’d be useless anyway.”

“If we grow as large as the Hwangbo Clan, we might need them. Even if people can’t eat this, it could be an elixir for our manor.”

Cheon-gu ended up taking the three ledgers himself.

“I’ll keep these. I need to examine them in detail.”

Surprisingly, the others showed no interest whatsoever.

***

It was a busy summer.

Not only ice, which always saw explosive demand at this time, but Deungmyeong Divine Pills were truly a huge hit.

Deungmyeong Divine Pills and the three types of Deungmyeong elixirs had become items that couldn’t be sold fast enough at the Southern Trade Port.

With premiums of 30% attached, crowds formed in front of Donghae Pharmacy every dawn.

Naturally, merchants who couldn’t obtain goods crossed over to Jiao-nan, and sailors who received cheap medicine supplies made tidy profits.

Furthermore, the East Sea Merchant Guild began direct distribution into Shandong Inland based on the Hwangbo Clan incident.

Donghaejoo and Deungmyeong Divine Pills played decisive roles once again, and seafood distribution using ice became a great asset in attacking existing markets.

In the merchant world, when one guild grows, there are bound to be guilds that relatively decline.

Among them, the simultaneous collapse of Jiao-nan’s three major guilds was quite a significant event.

“Dan-ju Cha.”

Jo Pilseong, the East Sea Merchant Guild Leader whose skin had darkened from recent trips to the Southern Trade Port, called for Cha Makdo.

“Yes, Merchant Guild Leader.”

“Would you go collect a debt for me?”

Jo Pilseong handed Cha Makdo a promissory note.

“What is this?”

“It’s a promissory note that Haeshin Merchant Guild wrote to the proprietress of Cheongmyeong Giru. It’s worth fifty thousand silver taels, so go collect it.”

Haeshin Merchant Guild was where Cha Makdo used to work.

They had let him become independent with a dried goods warehouse, then took it back when the business developed.

Haeshin Merchant Guild, which focused on seafood distribution, was the place that suffered the greatest blow from the East Sea Merchant Guild’s development.

As the East Sea Merchant Guild extensively conducted seafood distribution using ice, they lost their place to stand.

Now it was impossible to do distribution business in Jiao-nan without ice.

“Yes, Merchant Guild Leader. Thank you.”

A key figure of the East Sea Merchant Guild couldn’t be ignorant about Jiao-nan’s merchant world.

‘It’s already a collapsed place.’

They were barely holding on by reducing personnel and selling their assets.

‘Fifty thousand silver taels.’

Though it was a large sum, considering Haeshin Guild’s former scale, it wasn’t enough to bring them down.

However, now it was sufficient to cut off their lifeline.

The Merchant Guild Leader probably paid extra to obtain the promissory note for Cha Makdo’s revenge.

So Cha Makdo instead composed himself and went to find Inryeok Sojangnin So Yeon-dok.

On the day he was kicked out and nearly broke his leg, So Yeon-dok had appeared and saved him.

“Will you protect me this time as well?”

“What should I do?”

“If I put the guild’s interests aside and focus only on revenge, please smack me on the back of the head.”

“If I did that, I’d get smacked on the back of the head by Hyeongnim Merchant Guild Leader. I’ll just pat your shoulder.”

“Thank you.”

Cha Makdo thus brought So Yeon-dok along and visited Haeshin Merchant Guild.

“I’ve come to collect the money you borrowed.”

At the entrance of the guild where he had been coldly thrown out, Cha Makdo confidently presented the promissory note.

“Please, please spare us.”

The tongue that had criticized him now faced the ground as if it would lick shoes, and the hands that had driven him out rubbed together making sounds like flies.

Seeing that scene, Cha Makdo felt the sharp ice fragments lodged in his chest melting away.

‘Thank you, Merchant Guild Leader.’

Was it because he had released all his resentment?

“If you don’t have money, you may pay with other things. We’ll appraise the business rights, buildings, and shares that Haeshin Merchant Guild possesses. Make your choice.”

Cha Makdo began cruelly seizing what Haeshin Merchant Guild possessed.

He was so ruthlessly thorough that even So Yeon-dok, who came with him, shook his head.

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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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