The Farmer Who Ended Up Teaching the World’s Greatest Martial Artist - Chapter 26

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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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| Chapter 26

“Ahem. I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

A wrinkled old man entered, clearing his throat with a thick voice as if phlegm was stuck in it.

He looked strict at first glance, and his eyes visible between the wrinkles seemed to shine with light, as if he had experienced all the hardships of the world.

Seeing the old man’s face, Yoo Eun-hyun recalled Gong Si-hak’s words in his mind.

―The trading house will probably send out Old Man Jin as their appraiser.

―Old Man Jin?

―Yes. He’s an old man whose bones have grown thick to the point of rotting in this business as a fence. His eye for goods is incredible, but… his ability to lowball prices is equally incredible.

―Will I be able to get a fair price dealing with such a person?

―It’s absolutely impossible for someone meeting him for the first time. But it’s not like there’s no way. First, try doing as I tell you.

Whether he knew these thoughts or not, the old man smiled with a seemingly benevolent expression and introduced himself.

“I am called Jin Seung-hyeok. And you, young master?”

“Names aren’t necessary for trading goods. Just call me Mr. Yoo.”

“Mr. Yoo…”

Following Gong Si-hak’s advice, Yoo Eun-hyun introduced himself as just Mr. Yoo. Jin Seung-hyeok’s eyes seemed to flash sharply for a moment but soon returned to normal.

“Young Master Yoo, I see. Ahem… So, I heard you came to sell gemstones.”

“Yes, this is it.”

Yoo Eun-hyun handed over the tiger’s eye stone along with its pouch to Jin Seung-hyeok. Jin Seung-hyeok received it and felt around inside the pouch as if gauging its contents, then immediately took out the tiger’s eye stone.

“Hmm, a tiger’s eye stone. With this size, the stone is large and without scratches, so it could be called top grade. May I ask about the origin of this item?”

“I inherited it from my parents. They told me to pass it down when I marry and have children later.”

“Ahem… I see. But you don’t appear to be married yet, young master?”

As if telling him not to lie, Jin Seung-hyeok’s eyes gleamed and he let out a small snort. But Yoo Eun-hyun had already received advice about this from Gong Si-hak. Yoo Eun-hyun laughed boldly and said.

“I think selling this and turning it into money would give me better prospects for marriage. And if I’m going to wander Gangho, shouldn’t my pockets be well-lined?”

“Hehe. How wise of you. That’s right. It would be troublesome to put the cart before the horse. So… how much are you thinking?”

“I think around 12 taels of gold would be reasonable.”

“12 taels?”

At Yoo Eun-hyun’s words, Jin Seung-hyeok began staring at Yoo Eun-hyun intently. Yoo Eun-hyun swallowed nervously and recalled Gong Si-hak’s words again.

―By my appraisal, this tiger’s eye stone is worth about 10 taels of gold. But you shouldn’t immediately offer 10 taels. You need to ask for higher than that.

―Is that so the other party can haggle down and I can receive 10 taels?

―Yes. Old Man Jin will try to lowball you with an absurd price. You need to start with a high price from the beginning and then negotiate.

And Jin Seung-hyeok’s reaction was exactly as Gong Si-hak had predicted. Jin Seung-hyeok, who had been quietly examining the tiger’s eye stone as if appraising it, suddenly frowned and put the stone down with a thud.

“That’s quite expensive. While it’s a fine item, we also need to make a profit. There’s no guarantee it will sell quickly, and if we put it in a jewelry auction to get full price, there will be commission fees… So even if we sell it well, it would be about 7-8 taels. After deducting our profit and other fees… how about 3 taels?”

Though he had expected it, it was an absurd price. Yoo Eun-hyun frowned and retorted.

“Isn’t 3 taels too much? I know that such tiger’s eye stones sell for about 15 taels elsewhere. If that’s the market price, then as you said, you need to make a profit, so I asked for 12 taels.”

“Ahem… Indeed. If you’ve done some research, it can’t be helped. Then assuming we get about 10 taels at auction, how about 5 taels?”

“That’s still too little. How about considering 15 taels as the standard price and making it 10 taels, which is one-third? Besides, since Won-jeong Trading Company operates auctions directly, there would be almost no commission fees.”

At Yoo Eun-hyun’s words, Jin Seung-hyeok’s face seemed tempted, but he quickly hid that expression. Jin Seung-hyeok spoke with a deliberately displeased face.

“Ahem. You are mistaken, young master. I don’t know where this ‘elsewhere’ you mention is, but market price isn’t determined just by sellers unilaterally setting prices. Market price is established when the prices of sellers and buyers match and transactions occur.”

Having said this much, Jin Seung-hyeok immediately got up from his seat and approached a nearby bookshelf. Then he rummaged around for a while before taking out a book and showing it open to Yoo Eun-hyun.

“Look here. This is the purchase price list for tiger’s eye stones established by our trading house. With this weight… it would be about 12 taels. Considering the profit and the human resources and time costs involved in selling as you mentioned, 7 taels is the maximum amount I can offer. If you’re not satisfied, why don’t you go sell it at that place selling for 15 taels?”

Jin Seung-hyeok spoke firmly, giving an ultimatum as if the negotiation was over. At his resolute voice, Yoo Eun-hyun closed his mouth and fell into silent thought.

―If the other party says that and doesn’t get up from their seat, then they haven’t completely given up either.

Yoo Eun-hyun recalled Gong Si-hak’s final advice, narrowed his eyes, and spoke.

“Gemstones like this won’t rise much in price during peaceful times like now since trading is active. But if the martial arts world becomes chaotic, distribution will be restricted, so if there are places that need them, you could charge much higher prices, couldn’t you?”

“Where would there be places looking for inedible gemstones like this during martial arts world chaos?”

A mocking smile spread across Jin Seung-hyeok’s face as he replied. It wasn’t because he actually thought that way, but just a response to pressure his opponent, which Yoo Eun-hyun now seemed to understand.

“There are places unrelated to the martial arts world that would want such gemstones. For example… the Imperial Palace.”

“We don’t even know if the martial arts world will become chaotic or not, do we?”

“Isn’t it already half chaotic?”

Though he had cut straight to the point, Yoo Eun-hyun’s words contained quite a lot of meaning.

Jin Seung-hyeok, who immediately understood this, no longer responded. Instead, like Yoo Eun-hyun had done earlier, he just silently closed his mouth and stared at Yoo Eun-hyun with sharp eyes.

Now those eyes were similar to the ones that had been looking at the tiger’s eye stone earlier. In other words, he was looking at Yoo Eun-hyun with appraising eyes.

“…Fine. I’ll give you 10 taels. But may I make one proposal?”

Jin Seung-hyeok said this while taking out 10 taels of gold from his chest and handing them to Yoo Eun-hyun.

Since he had already received the money, it meant the proposal and the payment were separate matters, so Yoo Eun-hyun readily nodded as if to say go ahead.

“If you don’t have anything particular to do, would you be interested in working for our trading house? We would treat you generously.”

Anyone who knew Jin Seung-hyeok would surely be amazed. It was extremely rare for him, famous for being picky, to make such an offer first.

‘I’ve come all the way to Uiseonsu-ga, where do I have time to look elsewhere?’

But Yoo Eun-hyun had no way of knowing such facts. He had no intention whatsoever of accepting Jin Seung-hyeok’s proposal. Right now, Yoo Eun-hyun’s mind was filled only with the thought that he needed to meet Soo Hwa-seon first.

And thinking about it more, the conversation Yoo Eun-hyun had with Jin Seung-hyeok was based on Gong Si-hak’s advice, wasn’t it? Ultimately, Jin Seung-hyeok’s recruitment offer was no different from proposing to Gong Si-hak rather than Yoo Eun-hyun, so there was even less reason to accept Jin Seung-hyeok’s proposal.

“I’m sorry, but I must decline. I have other business to attend to right now…”

“Ahem. Is that so? If you have time after your business is finished, please stop by. I’ll make sure you’re not disappointed with our treatment.”

When Yoo Eun-hyun declined, Jin Seung-hyeok didn’t insist further. He just nodded while leaving the possibility open.

“Yes, I’ll be going now.”

Having achieved his target amount anyway, Yoo Eun-hyun walked away with light steps.

Just as he was about to head back to Euiryun-gak, Yoo Eun-hyun suddenly stopped in place.

‘This is…’

Yoo Eun-hyun’s senses caught the feeling of someone hurriedly following him from inside the trading house.

Not openly following, but trailing while hiding their presence. It was definitely the sign of being tracked.

It didn’t take long to figure out who had put a tail on him.

‘Jin Seung-hyeok must have really taken a liking to me.’

Actually, Yoo Eun-hyun had somewhat expected this. Though Jin Seung-hyeok had pretended to back down gracefully in that room, he hadn’t been able to hide his interest and hadn’t taken his eyes off him until the moment he left. Since Yoo Eun-hyun hadn’t even revealed his name, Jin Seung-hyeok must have found him suspicious and assigned someone to investigate his background.

‘But isn’t this too easy to detect for that kind of thing? Or does it not matter if I notice?’

On the surface, Yoo Eun-hyun would appear to be just a greenhorn who hadn’t even learned martial arts, so thinking that level of tracker would be sufficient wasn’t unreasonable.

Yoo Eun-hyun, who had been pondering in the same spot, came up with an idea.

‘Anyway, if they find out I entered Euiryun-gak, Uiseonsu-ga would get involved too. I need to shake them off beforehand.’

It would be troublesome to waste Gong Si-hak’s efforts to avoid giving information about Yoo Eun-hyun. And unlike the past, he had now learned internal energy, so he felt he could shake off someone who had noticed him.

Just as Yoo Eun-hyun organized his thoughts and was about to draw up his internal energy, someone’s voice struck his ears.

“…Hey? Hey!”

At first it was a cautious voice.

But when Yoo Eun-hyun, lost in thoughts about the tracker, didn’t respond, a much louder voice soon rang out as if unable to control their temper.

Only then did Yoo Eun-hyun turn around to look at the person who had called him.

“Now you turn around. Hey. What are you doing blocking the path? Move aside!”

Yoo Eun-hyun stared blankly for a moment at the woman who was speaking to him accusingly with a frown.

A youthful face closer to a girl than a woman. Due to her fancy clothing, it was hard to gauge her exact age, but even estimating high, she appeared to be around Yoo Eun-hyun’s age. She was certainly a woman of rare beauty. But what caught Yoo Eun-hyun’s attention was something else.

‘Where have I seen her? Her aura seems somehow familiar…’

From this woman he had encountered by chance, Yoo Eun-hyun felt some kind of déjà vu. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t recall the reason.

Since staring like this was also rude, he first apologized to the woman.

“Sorry. I was thinking about something else for a moment…”

“Fine, just hurry up and move.”

The woman spoke curtly as if she didn’t need Yoo Eun-hyun’s apology. Yoo Eun-hyun also felt awkward and tried to quickly leave the spot by drawing up his internal energy to shake off the tracker as well.

Just as Yoo Eun-hyun was about to draw up his internal energy and leap away.

“Wait a moment.”

The woman’s hand shot out like a hook and caught Yoo Eun-hyun.

“Your face looks familiar. Have we met somewhere before?”

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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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