The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 2

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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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The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company – Chapter 2

Chapter 2. Fifteen Again (2)

The thought returned to me once more, and I exhaled a weary sigh.
Then I continued down the spiral of my own reasoning.
What if this were merely a vision seen in death’s final moments?
There would be nothing I could do about that. What more could the dead accomplish?
But what if I had truly returned to when I was fifteen years old?
As my thoughts reached that point, I bit down on my lip.
If that were the case, then everything I had endured would be a future that awaited me once more in this life.
I had no desire to meet such a miserable end again.
It was inevitable that I would clash with the Baekcheon Trading Company, which stood behind the Murim Alliance.
My dream was to make the Eunhae Trading Company the greatest merchant guild in The Realm, and I had no intention of abandoning that dream.
Yet to achieve this, I needed the strength to protect myself, my family, and the guild.
Having experienced that terrible future, I felt the necessity more acutely than ever.
The Baekcheon Trading Company, backed by the Murim Alliance.
Both wealth and martial power were overwhelmingly in their favor.
As I was turning these grave matters over in my mind, I heard the voices of Palgap and another servant from outside.

“Hm? Is it snowing already?”
“Ah, snow is such a nuisance to clear.”
“I hope it doesn’t accumulate too much.”

At that, I let out a soft chuckle.
The snow that had begun falling around lunchtime the day after my fifteenth birthday remained vivid in my memory, as it had come unusually early that year.
And I remembered how heavily it had accumulated.
In that instant, I bolted upright from my chamber.
“That’s right! How could I have overlooked that?”
My return to the past meant I possessed knowledge of events yet to unfold in the future.
Among those events were opportunities—fortuitous encounters and chances.
These opportunities currently had no master.
What has no master belongs to whoever claims it first.
“But before that….”
I collapsed back onto my chamber bed with a heavy sigh.
“I need to address this frail body first.”
Only now did I feel a strange pity for my younger self, wondering how I had managed to survive in such a weakened state.
As a child, I had been as healthy and vigorous as any other boy.
But after passing twelve years of age, my health had gradually deteriorated, and by the time I reached twenty, I could barely walk without a cane.
Yet that fate would not befall me now.
I understood my body’s condition intimately.
‘And I know all the good and ill fortune that awaits in the future as well.’
If I moved faster than anyone else by leveraging that knowledge, I would be the one to reap the greatest rewards.
I clenched my fists tightly.
If I had truly reversed time, then I owed it to myself and my family to exact vengeance.
Even if the destruction of the Eunhae Trading Company and my death had not yet occurred, they were already realities I had lived through.
But there was one thing that troubled me.
The final words Namgung Kang, the Guild Leader, had hurled at me just before he killed me.

“The truth is, the higher-ups destroyed the Eunhae Trading Company because of you.”

Because of me…
Surely it was because our guild competed too fairly and obstructed the Baek Cheon Merchant Guild.
I could infer as much from what he had said before.
Yet I sensed there was another reason lurking beneath the surface.
He had already cited multiple reasons why our guild was an eyesore, so why would he specifically mention me at the very end?
‘I’ll need to uncover this slowly. I have more than enough time.’
I had been thirty-nine when I died.
That meant I had more than twenty years ahead of me.
And I had no intention of changing my objective.
‘Since they looked down upon money so, I’ll use that very money to bring them to ruin.’

* * *

That afternoon.
I received a summons from my father.
As I opened the door to the Guild Leader’s Office and stepped inside, I saw my father seated before his desk.
The sight of him caused tears to well up in my eyes.
Eun Gil-sang, the Guild Leader of the Eunhae Trading Company.
He is my father.
In the future, he would pass the position of Guild Leader to my Elder Brother and retire.
But not long after he began the retirement he so desperately desired, he fell ill with a mysterious affliction and passed away before anything could be done.
Seeing him now in robust health, so unlike the sickly appearance he wore then, my heart ached with overwhelming emotion.
My face must have flushed from desperately holding back tears, for my father tilted his head curiously as he looked at me.
“Your face is quite flushed—you must be quite ill. Yu Chief Manager mentioned that you haven’t been looking well lately.”
So Yu Chief Manager had already come and reported to him.
I had anticipated as much.
It was his duty to report accurately on the achievements of the successors learning practical operations at the Jae-gyeong Pavilion.
But I had not expected him to report so quickly.
“I should have visited your quarters myself. I apologize.”
“No, Father.”
“I’ve been worried lately—you seem to be falling ill more frequently.”
His voice and eyes were filled with concern.
Fearing that tears would spill if I remained silent, I bit my lip.
“Is the work perhaps too burdensome? Or is your health truly suffering? If so, I can delay your entry into practical operations.”
I realized this was the reason my father had summoned me.
A successor to the Merchant Guild had to undergo five years of practical training immediately upon turning fifteen.
During the first three years, one learned and mastered the flow of money at the Jae-gyeong Pavilion.
Then for one year, one studied the intricate operations of the guild at the Se-poong Hall, which oversaw all general affairs of the Merchant Guild.
Finally, during the last year, one gained practical experience at the Sang-yu Hall, which handled the selection and sale of the guild’s goods, and only then did one officially qualify as a Junior Guild Leader, a true successor.
Therefore, avoiding practical training was never an option.
This was why my father had not suggested it.
Nor did I wish for it.
Moreover, an accident would soon befall the Jae-gyeong Pavilion, and to prevent it, I needed to begin my practical training.
Composing my emotions, I answered in the calmest voice I could manage.
“No, Father. I will begin my practical operations without delay starting tomorrow.”
“Are you truly certain? You’re not pushing yourself out of a sense of burden from being one of the successors?”
At that question, I exhaled silently within myself.
My father’s worried expression pained my heart.
I deliberated for a moment.
I needed to find a way to ease my father’s concerns while still executing my plans.
‘A few days of rest should be acceptable.’
After calculating in my mind, I spoke carefully.
“Then, Father, might I rest for five days? In that time, I will recover my strength.”
At my words, Father’s expression finally relaxed.
“You’ve thought this through well. I’ll inform Yu Chief Manager myself, so proceed accordingly.”
“Yes, Father. I apologize for causing you concern.”
“I should have Baek Physician prepare a medicinal decoction for you.”
A medicinal decoction.
I nearly sighed without thinking.
Because the decoctions I’d consumed thus far had nearly killed me.
Another decoction was dangerous.
“Forgive me, Father, but I’ve only recently taken a decoction. Even the most beneficial remedies become poison in excess, do they not? I believe rest in my chamber will suffice.”
“Very well. Do as you see fit.”

* * *

Returning to my chamber, I collapsed onto the bed and exhaled deeply.
‘Heavens! I’m breathless from a short walk?’
How could I expand the Merchant Guild and seek vengeance when my body was in such a state?
I had to recover first, and urgently.
In truth, my ailment stemmed not from ordinary illness.
I recalled the future I had experienced—when I managed the Eunhae Fabric Shop.
.
.
.
It was when I had just taken over the Eunhae Fabric Shop.
I had just turned twenty.
A young woman came to the shop seeking to sell silk she had woven herself.
Women selling cloth they had personally woven was one source of income for them—nothing extraordinary.
Yet her silk was exceptional.
I had never encountered fabric of such quality before.
I offered her a generous price.
It was roughly three times the standard rate, and when she questioned this, I told her:

“A merchant acquires fine goods at fair value and sells them at profit to those who need them. One who acquires fine goods without paying their true worth is a swindler.”

It was my conviction that merchants who haggle over value never prosper for long. For that reason, I had no desire to undercut the worth of goods.
My connection with her continued, and at our fabric shop, we called her the Bamboo Forest Weaver Woman.
She lived in the bamboo forest nearby.
I observed her family with meticulous care.
It was a principle passed down through generations in my family that one must cherish people, and I held the same conviction.
Thanks to her silk, our fabric shop grew rapidly.
It was because her silk gained renown among the wealthy merchants in the region.
Moreover, by setting generous prices for fine silk, artisans who produced quality fabrics began visiting us to conduct business.
But I did not stop there.
I began crafting and selling goods made from that fine silk that would appeal to the wealthy, and I reaped enormous profits from it.
And ultimately, my meeting with the Bamboo Forest Weaver Woman saved my very life.

When I entered the winter of my twenty-third year.
A middle-aged man came seeking me out.
His identity was one of the Five Great Physicians—the Black Flute Physician.
He was called by that name because he always carried a black flute, and he was a physician who wandered without belonging to either the white or black factions.
I welcomed him warmly.
My illness had been worsening, and I had been searching for a physician.
Yet here he was, coming to find me.
He spoke to me directly upon our meeting.
“I heard about you from my daughter.”
“Pardon?”
I tilted my head at the Black Flute Physician’s sudden words.
“The wife of Gwak from Bamboo Valley. She is my daughter.”
“Ah…”
The wife of Gwak from Bamboo Valley—that was the Bamboo Forest Weaver Woman.
The Black Flute Physician narrowed his eyes and asked.
“Did you approach her intentionally, knowing she was my daughter?”
“No, sir. I did not know.”
I truly had not known.
Had I known, I would have sought her out long ago.
“Then why did you set such generous prices for her silk, and even care for her family so attentively?”
“There was no particular reason. I simply valued her skill.”
“You valued her skill?”
“Yes. It is the principle passed down by my family’s ancestors. A small merchant sees only the money before his eyes, but a great merchant sees lasting profit beyond the person. I believe the same.”
He regarded me quietly.
After studying my eyes for a long moment, he let out a soft laugh.
“You speak from the heart. That must be why she made her request.”
“Sir?”
“My daughter asked me to save you. She said there had never been anyone who cared for her family as you did. She wanted to repay that kindness.”
His words stirred something within me—a mixture of embarrassment and discomfort.
I had acted purely for my own benefit, yet here he spoke of me as though I had done him a favor.
“Well, regardless of your reasons, it matters little now. My daughter needed a father when she was most vulnerable, yet I abandoned her with a friend’s family and wandered like the wind. I am late, far too late, but I must finally become the father she deserves.”
He extended his hand toward me.
“Let me examine your wrist.”
As though entranced by his words, I offered my wrist, and Black Flute Physician began to take my pulse.
After examining it carefully for half a moment, his expression shifted.
It was the look of someone who had discovered something fascinating.
He withdrew his hand and spoke.
“A man born with the Mysterious Dragon Star Constitution, yet his body lacks the water essence—of course he withers and dies. It is inevitable.”
“Pardon? The Mysterious Dragon Star Constitution? What is that?”
“The Mysterious Dragon governs water essence. That is why such a constitution typically manifests in women with strong yin energy. Those born with the Mysterious Dragon Star Constitution usually possess exceptional five-element affinity.”
“You mean… because I am male?”
“Precisely. I have never encountered a man with the Mysterious Dragon Star Constitution until now.”
“I see…”
“You likely began falling ill around twelve years of age.”
“…That is correct.”
“As your masculine identity strengthened, your yang essence grew increasingly dominant. At this rate, you will not survive five more years.”
“What… what do you mean?”
Black Flute Physician nodded gravely at my shock.
“Yes. You will die within five years.”
For a moment, my mind went blank.
I had believed it merely an illness, but to learn it stemmed from my very constitution—it was incomprehensible.
And to hear I would not survive five more years!
It was as though the heavens themselves had struck me down.
I asked urgently.
“How can I survive, Master? I wish to live! I no longer wish to suffer this pain.”
I could not accept death like this.
I could not bear to see my family’s sorrow as they exhausted every means to cure me.
Black Flute Physician spoke to me then.
“Heh heh, did my daughter not ask me to save you? To bring you back from the brink of death? That is precisely why I have come.”

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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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