The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 33

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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 33

Chapter 33. The Small Merchant Guild Leader’s Public Announcement (4)

Since it had happened when Eun Seo-ho was very young, he likely wouldn’t remember it, but Eun Jung-ho had made a vow with his younger brother.
The promise he’d made to Eun Seo-ho was that he would always keep his word.
Now his oath to his brother clashed with the courtesy owed to a guest, and he exhaled slowly.
‘How can I speak of trustworthiness as a merchant if I cannot even honor my promise to my own brother?’
Eun Jung-ho spoke to the maidservant.
“Tell the guest that I’ve been unexpectedly called away on urgent business and cannot meet them at this time. And convey my apologies—I will visit them later to make proper amends.”
“Yes? Ah, understood.”
Then Eun Jung-ho turned to Jeon Woo-jin.
“Let us proceed to the Banquet Hall.”
“Thank you for heeding my counsel. I shall escort you at once.”

* * *

Meanwhile,
the guest waiting in the Orchid Room could not hide their bewilderment at the maidservant’s words.
‘Damn it! What a disaster!’
The guest gripped the blade concealed beneath their skirts.
“Guest, shall I escort you to the Banquet Hall?”
The maidservant’s tone was polite and formal.
The guest reluctantly rose and made their way toward the Banquet Hall, and as the maidservant watched them depart, she tilted her head in confusion.
There was something odd about the way they walked.
It could not be helped.
For the guest in the ornate palace dress and veil was not a woman at all, but a man.
He was an assassin known as the Faceless Guest.
The reason he was called the Faceless Guest was that no one in the world knew his true face.
He possessed the Bone-Shifting Art, which allowed him to alter his skeletal structure at will, and he was equally skilled in disguise using synthetic skin masks.
Thus, at times he appeared as a robust young man, at others as an elderly woman, sometimes as a child, and sometimes as a beautiful maiden.
However,
knowing that his intended target had come to the very threshold before turning away left him unsettled, and as a result, he had failed to maintain proper composure in his gait.
‘Tch! My equanimity shaken by such a trifle! My training is still incomplete.’
He quickly corrected his stride.
He had received the contract five days prior.
The task was to assassinate Eun Jung-ho, the eldest son of the Eunhae Trading Company, or at minimum to inflict grievous wounds severe enough to prevent him from conducting public activities.
He could not fathom what reason lay behind such a contract.
From what he knew, the Eunhae Trading Company held considerable prestige in the surrounding area, and Eun Jung-ho himself had a fairly respectable reputation.
But none of that mattered to him.
‘If I started questioning every detail like that, I couldn’t do this job at all.’
Having already accepted so much, I couldn’t simply abandon it now.
Besides, I couldn’t afford to waste time.
If the real person I was impersonating appeared, my identity would be exposed.
The Faceless Guest emerged into the Banquet Hall.
Listening to the cheerful music and the lively chatter of people eating and drinking, I searched for my target.
After searching diligently, I finally found Eun Jung-ho.
He finished speaking with a guest, then moved to a corner and sat down on a rock.
Seeing his exhausted appearance, it seemed he was taking a brief rest.
It was an opportunity.
The Faceless Guest didn’t miss it.
I pushed off the ground with my feet and hurled myself toward him.
My course of action was already determined in my mind.
‘Strike down the Guard Warrior with the first blade, cut down the target with the second, then immediately shed the disguise and hide myself among the crowd—flawless.’
Just as I anticipated, Jeon Woo-jin, the Guard Warrior who noticed the disturbance, drew his sword and blocked my path.
“Young Master! Danger!”
“Gasp!”
But the Faceless Guest’s first strike was swift and precise.
Unable to match that speed, Jeon Woo-jin was forced to expose his chest.
But Jeon Woo-jin was tenacious.
Enduring the pain, he continued to block the Faceless Guest until the end.
Clang!
‘How is he still moving? The wound shouldn’t be shallow.’
In that moment, the Warriors of the Eunpung Corps who had been standing guard nearby came rushing over.
Assassination required flawless planning.
Even the slightest deviation meant failure.
So this was failure.
The Faceless Guest turned without hesitation.
Any longer and escape would become impossible.
The reason I had survived this long as an Assassin was because I abandoned any attachment and fled whenever a job showed signs of failure.
That was when it happened.
“Ugh!”
Something felt wrong.
The movement in my legs felt unnatural.
‘What… what is this? Why are my legs suddenly…’
My legs began to stiffen progressively, and escape with hardened legs was impossible.
The encirclement of the Eunpung Corps members tightened, drawing ever closer.
‘Damn it, I didn’t want to use this.’
He quietly retrieved the smoke bomb he had hidden in his sleeve.
Given its considerable cost, it was an emergency item he carried with him at all times.
This specialized smoke was remarkably long-lasting and wide-ranging, allowing him to obscure people’s vision even with his injured leg and slip unnoticed among the crowd.
Boom!
He hurled the smoke bomb, and thick clouds billowed in all directions.
‘I won’t waste this opportunity—I’ll change my appearance… Wait?’
Something felt wrong. A terrible emptiness.
That emptiness became agony. His right arm had been severed.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
When the smoke cleared, he found himself facing an old man wielding a sword.
The blade in the hands of the old man he’d known as the proprietor of the Miscellaneous Goods Shop in the Entertainment District felt strangely familiar.
“Gasp! You… surely not… the Ghost Face Broker?”
“I’ve finally caught you.”

* * *

I sensed something amiss in the sequence of events.
Given the timing coincided with when that incident had occurred, I headed to the Guest Reception Room to find Eun Jung-ho.
It was then that a maidservant delivered unexpected news.

“The Small Merchant Guild Leader said he was unable to meet with the guest in the Orchid Room due to an urgent matter.”

What do you mean by that?
So Eun Jung-ho didn’t meet the guest in the Orchid Room—did something unexpected happen that I didn’t anticipate?
Or did he avoid the situation on my advice, following what Jeon Woo-jin said?
Without knowing what was happening, I felt utterly perplexed.
Ah!
But there was something more important.
“Then what about the guest in the Orchid Room?”
“The guest has returned to the Banquet Hall.”
“What?”
“Is something the matter?”
“No, no, it’s nothing.”
I hurried off to find Eun Jung-ho.
There was a possibility the Assassin might target him again.
And soon I spotted my brother resting, perched upon a rock.
In that instant!
Someone clad in ornate palace garments lunged toward him.
“…!”
The Assassin had not given up after all.
And just as I’d predicted, Jeon Woo-jin stepped forward, and combat erupted between them.
I quickly sent an urgent signal.
“Everyone to Sector Five!”
The nearby Eunpung Corps members rushed toward where Eun Jung-ho was.
And they grasped the situation.
“An Assassin targeting the Small Merchant Guild Leader!”
“Don’t let them escape!”
Desperation flickered in the Assassin’s eyes.
I instinctively sensed the Assassin was attempting to flee, and I shouted to Eun Jung-ho.
“Eun Jung-ho! Bi Eun-si!”
“Huh?”
Focus returned to Eun Jung-ho’s momentarily dazed eyes, and he immediately deployed Bi Eun-si.
Whoosh! Swish swish!
Bi Eun-si embedded itself in the Assassin’s legs.
It mattered not that the legs were concealed beneath a skirt.
A hidden weapon of such caliber could easily pierce through mere fabric.
“Ugh!”
Thanks to Bi Eun-si’s paralytic effect, the Assassin lost balance and seemed about to be captured.
But in that moment, a smoke bomb detonated.
I bit my lip.
‘Damn it!’
I had prepared Bi Eun-si to prevent the Assassin’s escape, yet it seemed I would lose them again.
It happened then.
Thud.
A sickening scream erupted as something clattered to the ground.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
Moments later, as the smoke cleared, I recognized the figure emerging from within.
The Old Man from the Miscellaneous Goods Shop stood holding a sword with an unusually distinctive hilt.
The guard was shaped like a fierce tiger, its sharp teeth and claws bared in menacing glory.
The Assassin, writhing in agony, stared at the Old Man in shock.
“Gasp! You… you can’t be… the Ghost Face Broker?”
“Finally caught you.”
At the Ghost Face Broker’s words—the Old Man from the Miscellaneous Goods Shop—the Assassin collapsed where he stood.
He seemed to be contemplating something, his lips moving, but the Old Man swiftly kicked his jaw with a nimble motion.
“Hah!”
Crack!
“Gack!”
A poison capsule flew from the Assassin’s mouth and rolled across the floor.
“Can’t let you escape to the afterlife.”
“…”
Watching this unfold, I finally understood why the Ghost Face Broker was such a terror to murderers.
Not a single opening.
Just then, Father and Go External Chief Manager came rushing over, having heard the commotion and hurried here immediately.
“Jung-ho! Are you alright?”
At Father’s words, my brother nodded.
“Yes, Father. I am fine. I apologize for the trouble. However, while protecting me, Woo Jin Warrior was…”
Eun Jung-ho turned to look at Jeon Woo-jin.
The Physician treating Jeon Woo-jin spoke.
“Jeon Woo-jin is fine.”
“Truly?”
“Yes. With about two weeks of rest, he should have no trouble moving. We were fortunate to treat him immediately.”
At the Physician’s words, Eun Jung-ho’s face finally brightened.
Father nodded and spoke.
“It was indeed a blessing that we stationed Physicians throughout the grounds, just as Seo-ho suggested!”
“Yes, Father.”
“But then…”
Father turned to look at the primary culprit behind this chaos and the Old Man from the Miscellaneous Goods Shop before him.
Then Go Il-pyeong seemed taken aback and asked respectfully.
“Are you perhaps the owner of that sword?”
“That’s right.”
At those words, Go Chief Manager bowed respectfully with cupped fists.
“I am Go Il-pyeong, External Chief Manager of the Eunhae Trading Company. As a junior, I respectfully greet you, Senior.”
Everyone gasped in astonishment at the Go Chief Manager’s courtesy.
It made sense—the Go Chief Manager himself was a master swordsman bearing the renowned title “One Sword Pierces Heaven.”
For such a man to show such deference meant his counterpart was an extraordinarily significant figure.
And indeed, that was precisely who stood before us.
The old man waved his hand dismissively.
“Please, spare me the courtesy. It’s excessive for a retired relic like myself.”
“I must respectfully disagree, Senior.”
The Go Chief Manager turned to the old man with a question.
“But might I inquire what has transpired here?”
“Allow me to explain.”
Eun Jung-ho stepped forward, and Father nodded before asking, “What exactly has occurred?”
My brother recounted the entire sequence of events.
After hearing the account, the Go Chief Manager addressed the old man.
“Then you prevented the assassin targeting our Small Merchant Guild Leader from escaping. We are deeply grateful.”
“Nonsense. I merely did what was necessary. If anything, I should be thanking you.”
“Pardon?”
The old man looked toward me as he spoke.
“This youngest son of yours invited me here, and through that invitation, I’ve received an extraordinarily precious gift.”
Go Il-pyeong’s expression grew even more bewildered at these words.
“You know I’ve been running a miscellaneous goods shop on West Street all this time, don’t you?”
“Of course I was aware, Senior. Had I known it was you, I would have sought you out long ago to pay my respects. Please forgive my rudeness.”
“I deliberately concealed my identity while running that shop. All for the sake of capturing this wretch.”
The assassin was already securely bound by the Eunpung Corps warriors.
“I received my orders and fulfilled my duties, yet there remained one target I could never apprehend—this very one.”
“Then… could this be the Faceless Guest?”
“You’re well-informed.”
“But how did you discern that he was the Faceless Guest?”
“Because of this.”
The old man kicked the severed arm lying on the floor, flipping it over. A peculiar scar on the inner surface of the arm became visible.
“The swordsmanship I’ve mastered leaves a distinctive mark upon my opponents. This scar is precisely the one I inflicted when I previously failed to capture this creature.”
The old man approached the Faceless Guest and roughly tore away at his beautiful face.
As the skin peeled away, a different visage was revealed beneath.
“And this is the face I once beheld!”
In broad daylight, the Faceless Guest’s true face was exposed.
So the assassin that the old man known as the Ghost Face Broker had pursued so relentlessly was the Faceless Guest?
And this Faceless Guest was the very assassin who had caused chaos at the banquet celebrating Eun Jung-ho’s appointment as Small Merchant Guild Leader?
Faced with these unexpected connections I had never known in my previous life, I could only laugh.
Was this a fortunate turn of events after all?
Thanks to this, the old man had achieved a lifelong aspiration, and we had managed to capture alive the assassin who had targeted Eun Jung-ho’s life.
Thanks to that, the Old Man fulfilled his lifelong wish, and we were able to capture the Assassin who was targeting Eun Jung-ho’s life.
“I’ll need to hand this man over to the authorities… but since he’s caused such a commotion here… let’s handle it this way. I have some experience in interrogation, so I’ll lend my assistance. What you’re after isn’t the man himself, but those pulling his strings, yes?”
At the old man’s proposal, Go Chief Manager glanced toward my Father, who nodded in agreement.
“We accept your offer.”
“Then show me the way.”
“Of course.”
With that, Go Chief Manager disappeared with the old man, dragging the Faceless Guest along with them.
But this didn’t resolve everything.
The disturbance had been far too significant—the guests continued murmuring amongst themselves, and the atmosphere remained unsettled.

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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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