Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 57

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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 57. The Swordmaster Listens to Hong’s Tale
After parting ways with Mo Yong Yul, Namgung Ho Yeon was led by the clan’s treasurer, Namgung Sang Bo, to the Yingbin Tower, where distinguished guests were received.
Upon entering the tower, three men sat waiting for him at an antique tea table.
“Has Ho Yeon arrived?”
“My son. Welcome.”
One was his father; the other was Sang Gwan Hae.
The man seated across from them rose hesitantly—a merchant by the name of Man Hong Gi, unmistakably.
“Young Master! It has been far too long since we last met!”
“……?”
‘Who is this?’
Namgung Ho Yeon tilted his head, puzzled.
He was not the sort of man whose face lingered in one’s memory.
Man Hong Gi offered a respectful bow and greeted him.
“I am Man Hong Gi! I have come to repay the kindness you once showed me!”
“Kindness?”
“Did you not offer me your precious tea without collateral, though I was nobody of consequence?”
“Tea? Ah!”
Only then did Namgung Ho Yeon recall who Man Hong Gi was.
A merchant he had met in Hefei months ago, searching for goods to trade.
The very man to whom he had tossed tea with instructions to the Ho A Won’s master, Tak Won Ui, because the merchant had spoken well of the Namgung name.
“The peddler, wasn’t he?”
“Ha ha, indeed! That very Man Hong Gi stands before you.”
Though his benefactor had not recognized him at once, Man Hong Gi smiled all the same, unbothered.
‘He shows kindness to others without affectation—and then forgets the kindness altogether. Truly, he possesses the heart of a sage.’
He had witnessed this from the beginning, when Namgung Ho Yeon established Ho A Won to gather orphans with nowhere to turn and teach them their letters.
Namgung Ho Yeon was a rare breed of great man in this world.
Even if he was still rather small in stature.
“So, what brings you…… here, then?”
Namgung Ho Yeon had started to speak in casual tone but caught his father’s eye and switched to formal speech.
Man Hong Gi cleared his throat and glanced around the room.
“Forgive me, but might I ask—what is the relationship of these gentlemen to Young Master Ho Yeon?”
At the man’s cautious, deferential inquiry, Namgung Ho Yeon’s brows twitched slightly as he answered.
“This is my father, that is my elder brother, and this is our clan’s treasurer.”
“Mmm.”
“Ha ha, meeting you again, brother, has truly been great fortune.”
“Heh heh, I understand. Anyone would nod in agreement after receiving the generosity of such a great man.”
Namgung Baek made a disapproving sound, while Sang Gwan Hae and Namgung Sang Bo exchanged a knowing glance.
Namgung Ho Yeon then continued.
“If this is about the tea plantations, the family holds fifty percent of the rights, so Father and the treasurer should hear it. If it concerns the leaf trade, since I’ve already made an arrangement with Sang Gwan Hae, he should be informed.”
“I see. I apologize once more for my rudeness.”
Man Hong Gi bowed to each of the three men in turn, begging their pardon.
Then he withdrew a letter from within his robe—crimson silk embroidered densely with gold thread in the pattern of ginkgo leaves. At a glance, it was a document of considerable worth.
“What—?!”
“Gasp!”
“Th-that is—?!”
All three men save Namgung Ho Yeon started visibly, though they had not yet glimpsed the letter’s contents.
Man Hong Gi nodded, his voice trembling as he spoke.
“This is precisely why I sought confirmation. It is not something to be opened carelessly.”
“Quite so.”
“Most understandable.”
“Y-yes, I understand.”
At Man Hong Gi’s words, all three nodded their assent.
Yet frown lines had deepened on Namgung Ho Yeon’s brow.
‘So what in blazes is that thing?’
Man Hong Gi opened his mouth to speak.
“It concerns an encounter I had when I passed through Shaanxi Province.”
* * *
Man Hong Gi was a peddler.
As he wandered the nine provinces, the world felt so small that he had nearly forgotten where home was.
Yet there was one thing he never forgot—kindness itself.
‘The young master of the Namgung Clan gave me an opportunity. To entrust Premium Grade tea without requiring any collateral!’
Man Hong Gi’s back was laden with a sturdy frame packed full of goods.
Never had such a load felt so heavy.
In terms of sheer weight, he’d carried heavier things before, but measured by value, this was the most precious cargo he’d ever borne.
‘Superior Grade weighs as silver, Premium Grade weighs as gold.’
Superior Grade was priced by the weight of silver, while Premium Grade commanded its weight in gold.
It was a famous saying among merchants regarding tea.
Tea was a luxury that everyone from commoners to scholars enjoyed, yet the rarest varieties soared to astronomical prices, entering the realm of luxury goods.
‘The young master probably didn’t expect great profit from me. He simply wanted to spread word of the excellence of the leaves grown in SeoOk, that’s all!’
Man Hong Gi was well aware of his station as a mere peddler.
So rather than profit by selling the tea at a high price, he resolved to distribute it as widely as possible, making it known far and wide that the Namgung Clan’s tea was of Premium Grade.
“I assure you, it’s genuine! Do try it!”
“Get out of here! We conduct business in cartloads at this tea house, not in odd scraps hawked by peddlers!”
Of course it wasn’t easy.
Fine tea houses wouldn’t deal with peddlers, and there was little chance that scholars or officials would even see him.
“Alas, what a shame. To hold treasure in one’s hands and yet be unable to sell it. I have no face to show the young master…….”
With his load showing no sign of diminishing, Man Hong Gi eventually arrived in Shaanxi Province.
There too, he sought out the finest tea house to sell his wares.
“Hmm, where does this tea come from?”
“From Anhui, sir. Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui, Liuan Guapian, Keemun Black Tea—all renowned varieties!”
“Heh.”
After finally getting an audience with the tea house manager, the man listened to his words and let out a dismissive laugh.
“Anhui’s days as a tea region are long past. Nowadays it’s Fujian’s Iron Goddess of Mercy and Zhejiang’s Dragon Well that reign supreme.”
“B-but this truly is Premium Grade! Please, just taste it!”
“I’ve no desire to ruin my palate on such rough goods. A bumbling peddler like you ought to know what the imperial court favors these days.”
Bang!
Turned away from the door, Man Hong Gi trudged forward with slumped shoulders, muttering to himself.
“How can one know if it’s renowned tea or swill without tasting it? What impossibly stubborn people.”
Man Hong Gi’s frustration had grown so acute that words escaped his lips that shouldn’t have.
“Do they think the fashions of the imperial court define all that is worthy in the Central Plains? Their vision is not merely narrow—it is miserly.”
Then.
From ahead came the elegant, crystalline voice of a woman.
“Interesting indeed.”
Man Hong Gi looked up to see a man and a woman, both wearing bamboo hats, standing before him.
The woman was wrapped head to foot in a black cloak with a face veil drawn over her features, making her identity impossible to discern.
The man towered above most others, his shoulders broader than the frame on Man Hong Gi’s back, and a six-sided mace hung at his waist.
“F-forgive me, but who are you?”
“We are subjects of the Eun Kingdom.”
“……I am too, if I may say so?”
“Then we are kindred.”
Man Hong Gi blinked, and the woman brought a hand to her lips as if to stifle her amusement.
Those delicate, elegant hands—like fine jade—belonged unmistakably to a noblewoman of high birth who had never known hardship.
‘This is a lady of a noble house! And the man behind her must be a guard!’
Man Hong Gi wavered between the fear of offending such people and the allure of seizing an opportunity.
In the end, he chose the latter.
“Might you be searching for tea, by any chance?”
“Indeed. My mother cannot take her meals without it.”
“What variety does she prefer?”
“All of it.”
“I beg your pardon?”
At Man Hong Gi’s bewilderment, the woman’s eyes curved softly.
“Your business seems to be struggling. I shall buy everything you have.”
“……That is not possible, ma’am.”
“Hmm? Why not? Are you not a merchant?”
“Before I am a merchant, I am a man who knows gratitude. This tea is what my benefactor wishes to be made known far and wide, across as many places as possible. I cannot sell it all at once.”
“Ah?”
At Man Hong Gi’s firm refusal, the woman nodded thoughtfully and spoke.
“Then it cannot be helped. Sell me what you are able to.”
“As you wish.”
Man Hong Gi set down his frame then and there, dividing the tea by variety and offering five taels of each kind to the woman.
“Ordinarily I’d charge gold by weight, but since this is our first transaction, I’ll accept silver instead.”
“Most generous. If it falls short, I’ll settle the difference later. Eon Mu Sa. See to the payment.”
“But miss—”
“Do it at once.”
The large man called Eon Mu Sa regarded Man Hong Gi as though he were a charlatan, yet he paid in silver and took the tea with him.
The woman nodded and turned back to Man Hong Gi with an expectant air.
“I do hope you’ll find it delicious.”
“I’m confident in the quality, but you see—one water, four perspectives. I can’t speak to your particular palate.”
“How dare you!”
At Man Hong Gi’s words, the large man seized his Six-Sided Mace.
Then.
“Ha ha ha! One water, four perspectives—how apt your words are. My own mother still puzzles over why I’ve yet to take a liking to confections.”
The woman laughed brightly and waved her hand as if dismissing him.
“Though there are minimum standards, you understand. I do hope you prove yourself a sincere merchant.”
Man Hong Gi shouldered his pack with the greatest composure he could muster and withdrew.
But cold sweat beaded his back.
‘Did I misjudge matters in my greed? I’m troubled…….’
Many who had crossed the will of such elevated persons had died without a soul knowing.
There was no reason he couldn’t be among them.
‘This won’t do. When dawn breaks tomorrow, I’ll head down to Sichuan.’
But Man Hong Gi’s wish never came to pass.
That very night, the garrison soldiers came to the inn where he lodged.
“Wh—what is the meaning of this!”
“Peddler. Take up your pack and come with us.”
Man Hong Gi recognized the large man leading the garrison soldiers as Eon Mu Sa from that morning, and his heart sank like a stone.
‘This is bad! She was no mere girl!’
To command garrison troops like that—could she be a governor’s daughter?
Man Hong Gi was led by the large man across the threshold of an enormous estate.
The grounds were under strict guard, and among those on duty stood soldiers in Golden Armor.
‘Could they be—surely not……?’
Man Hong Gi’s face went deathly pale.
If they were indeed who he thought, then he was already a dead man.
‘No, it can’t be. If they are the Golden Embroidered Guard, then the girl I met this morning……!’
Creak!
Drenched in cold sweat, Man Hong Gi was dragged into the inner chambers, and the moment the door opened, he nearly fainted.
“You’ve come. Peddler.”
“Ah—!”
A refined woman with her hair braided high in an ancient style sat in a chair, turning her head with an indolent air.
A peerless beauty with a cold gaze held a playful smile at her lips as she looked down at Man Hong Gi.
But he dared not meet her eyes.
His gaze was fixed on counting the golden ginkgo leaves embroidered upon her Red Robe.
Only one being in this realm could have ginkgo leaves embroidered on her garments.
“This humble merchant begs audience with Your Highness!”
Thud!
Man Hong Gi fell to his knees, his entire body trembling as he pressed his forehead to the ground.
The woman before him was undoubtedly of royal blood in the Eun Kingdom.
This morning, he had presumed to lecture such a noble personage about palates and tongues.
‘This is the end of me…….’
The fool in the old tale who wagged his three-inch tongue and lost his head—that fool was now him.
As Man Hong Gi was bidding farewell to his tumultuous life.
The woman smiled and spoke.
“Now it’s time to settle the bill.”
* * *
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
The four men listening to Man Hong Gi’s account kept their silence, watching him intently.
Beneath that burning gaze, Man Hong Gi nodded and continued.
“At that moment, I truly felt as though my name was already half-written in the register of the dead.”
“……How did you manage to come back alive?”
Sang Gwan Hae asked the question with evident curiosity, studying Man Hong Gi’s face.
Man Hong Gi turned his gaze toward Namgung Ho Yeon and opened his mouth.
“It was thanks to you, sir.”
“Me?”
“Had the quality of the tea leaves you gave me been inferior, I would have paid the price.”
Whoosh.
Man Hong Gi ran a hand along the nape of his neck, as though still feeling the lingering chill of it all.
“But there is such a thing as Misfortune Becomes Fortune, I’ve learned. That person said I’d been charged too little, and converted it to an equivalent weight in gold to settle the account fairly.”
“How remarkable…….”
Namgung Baek exhaled in wonder at this almost unbelievable tale.
Meanwhile, the eyes of Financial Director Namgung Sang Bo and Sang Gwan Hae were fixed on the Letter that Man Hong Gi held.
“Then that Letter——!”
“Surely not…….”
“Heh heh. Indeed.”
Rustle.
Man Hong Gi unfolded the Letter with a confident smile.
“It is a personal letter written by Her Highness, the Third Princess herself! She wishes to meet the proprietor of the tea leaves who was my benefactor!”
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
The eyes of Namgung Baek, Namgung Sang Bo, and Sang Gwan Hae went wide as saucers.
Namgung Ho Yeon scratched the bridge of his nose, lost in peculiar thought.
‘The Eun Kingdom? When did the nation change?’
―Good grief, boy. You ought at least to know which country you’re living in.
―Pah! Quite right, you stone-hearted fool!
As Namgung Ho Yeon read through the Letter, chiding himself under the reproach of both Heavenly Thunder Sword and Black Night Sword, his eyes began to gleam.
A fine opportunity had fallen into his lap.
And at precisely the right moment.

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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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