The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 628

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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 Eun Hae Trading Company Chapter 628

Chapter 628. The Sword Shrine of Chungyeongseong (7)

Everyone hurriedly regained their balance and assessed the situation.
“What is happening!”
“Why is the Sword Shrine suddenly shaking!”
Cha Chief, still prone on the ground, steadied himself with his hands as he spoke.
“It appears someone has touched something they should not have.”
He surveyed the surroundings, then his eyes widened in horror at one particular spot.
“That, that…!”
The others followed his gaze toward the same location.
There stood a stone statue carved from rock, depicting Baek—a creature from ancient mythology.
Baek was revered as a guardian deity who protected the people from the ravages of war.
For this reason, it was also called a righteous and honorable creature.
The horns upon Baek’s forehead were fashioned from gold.
And someone’s hand was frozen against those horns, unable to move.
“Jang Gal! You absolute fool!”
Kwon Jik shouted at him sharply.
“I clearly told you not to touch it!”
How pathetic—a member of the Geumui Guard showing such inexperience.
Did he not understand that one must never carelessly touch things in a place like this?
His training was clearly inadequate.
In truth, I had known the merchant would cause trouble.
Seo Hyang had warned me before we entered.
Yet I let it happen because it could be handled without serious incident.
Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble.
The Sword Shrine continued to shake.
“Idiot! Remove your hand at once!”
“Yes, yes! Wait, why won’t it come off?”
At Kwon Jik’s command, Jang Gal desperately tried to pull his hand away, but it remained firmly stuck to the horn.
As the Sword Shrine continued to shake, preventing anyone from moving, he suddenly began to scream.
“Ahhhhh! Help me! It hurts!”
I exhaled quietly at the sight.
Baek is a righteous and honorable creature.
Which means those who are not will face merciless punishment.
The very act of touching the horn with greed was proof of his lack of righteousness.
As the strongest one present, I suppose I must act.
And I had my own reasons to act.
I pushed off the ground and rushed toward Jang Gal, sweeping my leg to kick his body away.
“Kugh!”
Thud!
His hand tore away from the horn as his body crashed against the wall of Geom Chong, then bounced back.
“Cough!”
He took considerable impact and collapsed to the ground, spitting blood.
But because his hand had left the horn of the Stone Statue of Baek, the trembling of Geom Chong ceased.
“Phew—!”
“Haah….”
Only then did everyone release their tension, exhaling sighs of relief as they sank to the ground.
“Thank you. We’ve avoided a major disaster thanks to you.”
I shook my head at Gwon Jik’s words of gratitude.
“I’m relieved I could step in.”
As I spoke, I recalled what Seo Hyang had told me.

“If that man called Jang Gal touches the horn of the Stone Statue of Baek, something terrible will happen. You must forcibly remove his hand from that horn.”
“I see. I should give it a good kick then.”
“Please kick it with all your strength, and with my anger included as well.”

Seo Hyang still harbored resentment over Jang Gal’s mockery.
I too held feelings toward him, so I had delivered that satisfying kick.

“Ugh….”
The Gold-Clad Guard Masters approached Jang Gal.
“Are you alright, friend?”
“Cough! I’m… I’m fine…ugh!”
“My goodness! It looks like your ribs are broken.”
“We should have him taken outside for treatment.”
“Yes, that seems necessary.”
That’s when I interjected gently.
“I’m afraid I kicked too hard. My apologies.”
“Not at all! Not at all!”
“Surely you didn’t do it intentionally?”
Though I certainly did intend it.
“You did it to get Jang Gal Member away from that horn, didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“Yes. I moved without thinking—it seemed we’d all be in danger if he didn’t get away from the horn immediately.”
“Well done. We’re all safe thanks to you.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m ashamed to receive such praise despite injuring Jang Gal.”
“Sigh….”
Kwon Jik sighed and spoke.
“It seems Jang Gal Member will have to leave. He can’t perform his duties in this condition….”
That wouldn’t do.
“Actually… I have something I prepared. If he wears it, movement shouldn’t be difficult.”
“Hmm? You have something prepared?”
“Yes. If he leaves now, it would disappoint the Grand Hero, who is so devoted to His Majesty. So wouldn’t it be good for him to try on what I’ve prepared?”
“Bring it here.”
“Yes.”
I retrieved the iron breastplate I had prepared.
It was the one I’d made for Eun Jung-ho when his ribs broke during the Martial Arts Grand Conference.
And it’s a fresh new product recently released by the Eun Hae Trading Company.
“This is it.”
I explained the breastplate and pulled a bottle from my pocket.
“And this is medicine I carry with me. If he drinks this and wears the breastplate, he’ll be fine.”
“I see.”
How convenient this turns out to be.
That’s Geumryeong’s saliva mixed with water.
It’s awkward if people know, but it’s medicine if they don’t.
And since you need to give silver or gold coins to get Geumryeong’s saliva, it’s hardly cheap medicine.
Jang Gal put on the breastplate after drinking it.
About half an hour passed when he spoke with an astonished expression.
“It seems to be all better! No, it’s completely healed.”
“Oh! Is that so?”
“What a relief!”
“Eun Small Merchant Leader! I’m truly grateful.”
At Kwon Jik’s words, I replied with an awkward expression.
“It’s nothing. I’m just glad I could be of help.”
And inwardly, I smirked.
There was a reason I restored Jang Gal and even fitted him with chest armor.
As we continued exploring Geom Chong and returned to Beijing, I would need to haul a considerably heavier cart.
If he had been forced to withdraw due to injury, that wouldn’t have been possible.
Where else could I find such a convenient arrangement!
Now that he’d realized his greed had nearly caused disaster, he wouldn’t act recklessly again.
Since such injuries were common among the Geumui Guard, I took the opportunity to promote our Eunhae Trading Company’s products to those who would find them useful.
.
.
.
I opened my eyes.
Being underground, there was no way to tell the exact time.
But judging from what felt like two hours of sleep, it was likely dawn or early morning.
I woke the workers and had them prepare a meal.
“Oh! You’re up early.”
“Yes. You’re also up early, Grand Master.”
Kwon Jik had already risen and was stretching, while Cha Chief was already examining the areas we would need to explore next.
“Elder, did you cough? You’ve risen quite early.”
“When you get old, sleep abandons you.”
Despite being past sixty, Cha Chief demonstrated such diligence and initiative.
I should live with more dedication as well.
– Squeak! Squeak!
What? Are you saying you’ll bring Master here if I complain?
How could I possibly live more diligently than I already do?
…I had nothing to say.

After finishing our meal, the exploration of Geom Chong resumed.
How much further had we progressed?
We encountered an unexpected situation.
“Here—isn’t this where we’ve already passed through?”
“Judging by the traps being disarmed, it appears so.”
The atmosphere grew grave in an instant.
After exploring Geom Chong for more than a day, we had circled back near our starting point.
“Has this ever happened during previous explorations?”
At Kwon Great Master’s question, Cha Chief nodded.
“I experienced something like this in a Geom Chong I explored long ago. Back then, we could only enter the true interior after solving a riddle.”
“A riddle?”
“Yes. And constructing a Geom Chong in this manner is extremely rare. It requires considerable time and effort, which suggests there’s a high probability that something quite significant is hidden here.”
At those words, I observed the people around me.
Eyes burning with desire.
Since he mentioned something important, they must be thinking of precious treasures.
But would that truly be the case?
I had asked Geumryeong to tell me if he sensed the scent of expensive items, yet he remained silent.
“Then where does this riddle’s problem lie?”
“It’s within this space.”
“Within this space?”
“Yes.”
Cha Chief continued.
“This space itself is both the riddle and the answer.”
At this, Kwon Great Master explained the situation to everyone.
“…Therefore, from now on, we shall all work together to solve this riddle. However, I will not permit anyone to touch things recklessly. You have all witnessed what became of Jang Gal Member, so you understand.”
At Kwon Great Master’s warning, Jang Gal flushed with embarrassment.
“Then let us search for anything that might seem like a riddle.”
“Yes!”
With that, everyone began searching for anything that might constitute a riddle.
In other words, we decided to employ collective wisdom.
I too examined the surroundings with my Guard Warriors while conversing.
“If we simply traveled without obstacles, it wouldn’t take even half a day.”
Half a day? That’s nothing.
It wouldn’t even take two hours.
“Well, it took longer because we had to disarm traps while moving.”
“But this riddle business… what could it possibly be?”
At Myeong-jong Warrior’s words, Chang-un Warrior shook his head with an awkward expression.
“I’m not sure. I’m confident at memorizing things, but solving riddles is my weakness.”
At their words, I chuckled softly and replied.
“With so many experts around, surely someone will solve it?”
Jin Yu Warrior spoke in response to my words.
“From what I can tell, that someone might be your lord.”
I laughed and replied to Jin Yu Warrior’s suggestion.
“That’s not it. This time, I truly have no idea.”
I asked Jin Yu Warrior a question.
“What are your thoughts on this Geom Chong?”
“First, I agree that something quite important is being stored here. And when I learned about mechanical formations, I also studied Geom Chong somewhat. After all, Geom Chong is where all mechanical formations converge.”
He continued speaking.
“The reason there are so few Geom Chongs of this type is because it requires an enormous amount of obsession to create.”
Hearing those words, I became genuinely curious about the purpose of this Geom Chong.
At that moment, Myeong-jong Warrior asked a question.
“Didn’t you say there’s another entrance here called the Dog Hole? Couldn’t we simply enter through there?”
Jin Yu Warrior shook his head at those words.
“While you might think that, it’s not such a simple matter.”
“Why is that?”
“The craftsmen who completed the construction surely wouldn’t have failed to anticipate that intruders would use that other exit to infiltrate. They weren’t fools, after all.”
“That’s true.”
“So even if we enter through there, countless mechanical formations and traps will be waiting inside Geom Chong. It would be no different from this way.”
“Then why did you bother finding another entrance?”
“Because we may need to use it to escape if circumstances demand it.”
“I see.”
Actually, I was curious about that point too, so my question has been answered.
I slowly examined my surroundings.
Now that I thought about it, the stone statues of Baek that Jang Gal had nearly triggered a disaster by touching appeared quite frequently.
Their forms were largely similar, but their materials varied.
There were gold and silver, of course, but also coral.
– Geum-ryeong, why aren’t you reacting to those?
– Squeak? Squeak! Squeak squeak!
– Hmm? You can’t eat those either?
Did that mean all of those were traps as well?
Considering that the horn made of gold had been a trap, perhaps Geum-ryeong wouldn’t eat those because they were traps.
Though Geum-ryeong loves money, she distinguishes flawlessly between money she can eat and money she cannot.
Then something caught my eye.
It was a horn of Baek made from wood.
According to Cha Chief’s words, this place was built hundreds of years ago.
After such a long period, anything made of wood would have rotted away.
Especially since Yunnan is an extremely humid region.
Yet the interior of this Geom Chong is not humid at all. If anything, it’s quite dry.
“I think I’m beginning to understand something.”

I returned to my original position and sought out Kwon Great Master.
He too wore an expression of deep contemplation.
“What troubles you?”
“I believe I understand the riddle.”
“As expected! I thought you would grasp it quickly.”
“You flatter me. My conjecture could very well be mistaken.”
“Let me hear it regardless.”
Kwon Great Master summoned Cha Chief, and I shared my thoughts with them.
“I suspect the riddle left in this space is connected to that Stone Statue of Baek.”
“I had considered that as well. The sheer number of those statues is remarkably excessive.”
“Then you must have noticed that the horns of each statue are made from different materials.”
“Of course. But I could not discern what problem this presented or what clue it might offer, so I refrained from mentioning it.”
“The horns crafted from wood are the answer.”
“Wood? Why would you think such a thing?”
I smiled as I answered.
“Did you not find it strange, Chief? This place is Yunnan—an exceedingly humid region. Yet this chamber remains remarkably dry.”
“Ah… now that you mention it, that is indeed peculiar.”
“The reason such meticulous attention has been paid to moisture is that wood rots.”
I continued my explanation.
“If the wood’s decay were inconsequential, they would never have maintained such dryness here.”
Kwon Great Master interjected.
“Could it not be to prevent the mechanisms and traps from malfunctioning?”
Cha Chief, who had been pondering this, shook his head.
“The mechanisms we have encountered thus far function adequately regardless of moisture. And the one who constructed this Geom Chong would surely know this.”
“Then?”
“Yes. Upon reflection, I believe the Eun Small Merchant Leader’s reasoning is sound.”
Kwon Great Master summoned the others and explained the situation.
“Therefore, we shall touch the horns made of wood.”
“I understand that. But who will undertake this task?”
Yet no one stepped forward immediately.
This was hardly surprising—if something went wrong, there was a considerable risk of severe injury or death.
“I shall do it.”
I raised my hand and stepped forward.
“Since I offered this theory, I will see it through.”

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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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