The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 65

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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 65

Chapter 65. Journey to Beijing (3)

A thunderburst mine.
When detonated, the iron shards within scatter outward, inflicting grievous wounds upon those nearby—a weapon of terrible lethality.
A weapon that dealt immense suffering, one where instant death would almost be a mercy, had just entered our carriage.
I had already anticipated an ambush targeting our carriage.
But I had not foreseen it would be a thunderburst mine.
“Damn it all!”
I seized it before it could strike the carriage floor and hurled it straight through the window.
My target was the Masked Intruder who had thrown the mine and was now fleeing.
Fortunately, none of our warriors were positioned there.
Simultaneously, I grabbed Father and Eun Jung-ho by their collars and yanked them downward.
“Get down!”
Boom—!
In that instant, a deafening roar shattered the air around us.
And with it, fragments scattered in all directions.
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
The sound of shards embedding themselves into the carriage echoed.
Several pieces pierced through and lodged inside the carriage itself.
“….”
I didn’t need to imagine what would have happened if that mine had detonated inside the carriage—the thought alone was sickening enough to make me curse.
“What… what in the world was that…?”
The carriage door burst open as Yun Chung-jin, the deputy leader, stepped out ashen-faced and demanded an answer.
“Are you all unharmed?”
“We are, fortunately.”
Eun Jung-ho continued.
“Thanks to Seo-ho’s swift response, we escaped unscathed. Something came through the window into the carriage, but he caught it and threw it back out.”
“I’m relieved to hear you’re safe.”
The situation was quickly brought under control.
Meanwhile, I began analyzing what had just occurred.
No matter how I considered it, this didn’t seem like the work of someone after the salt retail rights.
Even if we failed to arrive in Beijing on time, the salt retailers had already been determined.
Taking such a risk would accomplish nothing.
Even without us, the Trading Company still had Eun Jung-ho and the core strength of the organization remaining.
In other words, this appeared to be a personal vendetta against us.
Could it be the Murim Alliance?
I shook my head, dismissing the thought as quickly as it had formed.
The Murim Alliance had no reason to target us at this moment.
If they intended to cultivate and exploit us, perhaps—but there was no cause for them to make an enemy of the Imperial Palace without good reason.
Attacking the Golden Army was tantamount to treason against the Emperor himself.
Unless, of course, they had already made an enemy of the Imperial Palace.
Ah…
Suddenly, the figures most likely responsible for orchestrating this affair came to mind.
Those who had attacked Jin Woo-rim—the Dong Merchant Guild.
I sought out the Gold Robe Guard Warrior, the man most likely to possess knowledge of Beijing’s affairs.
“Honored warrior, I have a question I’d like to ask you.”
“Please, speak freely.”
The Gold Robe Guard Warrior’s demeanor had shifted since our departure.
Where once he had seemed like cold, unyielding stone, there now emanated a subtle warmth from him.
“I will share whatever information I am able to disclose.”
“I wish to know about the Dong Merchant Guild.”
“Ah… if I may ask, why do you inquire about them?”
I explained to him the events that had transpired in Sichuan.
Only then did his expression soften, and he nodded in understanding.
“So the benefactor who saved Jin Merchant Lord was none other than you, Small Merchant Guild Leader Eun! I am grateful once more.”
“I feel rather embarrassed by such praise.”
Had you not saved Jin Merchant Lord that day, the Geumui Guard would have faced considerable hardship.”
With those words, I understood why the Gold Robe Guard Warrior’s attitude toward me had changed.
Well, it was a fortunate turn of events for me.
“The Dong Merchant Guild can be considered extinct. All those involved in the affair have become guests of the executioner’s platform.”
“I see.”
“However, some managed to escape before capture, their whereabouts unknown.”
“There are those who remain at large?”
“Yes. Dong’s Second Son is among them.”

* * *

Deep within a forest in Henan Province.
A man’s fury erupted inside a cave there.
“Damn it! A failure!”
“We succeeded in drawing the guards’ attention and placing the Thunderburst Bomb inside the carriage.”
“Then? Then why did it fail?”
“Someone inside threw the Thunderburst Bomb back out of the carriage before it detonated. That’s why….”
“That’s absolute nonsense!”
He erupted in fury once more.
His name was Dong Woo-yeok.
He was the second son of Dong Merchant Lord.
He had been away on merchant business, but learned of the guild’s fate on his return journey.
By imperial decree, the guild had been annihilated.
His family members and several of the guild’s senior managers were all dragged into the Imperial Palace.
Seeing his father’s and elder brother’s severed heads displayed on pikes in the marketplace street near the Imperial Palace, his rage consumed him.
He could not fathom what they had done so wrong to deserve such cruel treatment.
Dong Woo-yeok resolved upon vengeance.
He established a base in Henan Province with those guild members who had escaped calamity by remaining with him.
And he began investigating the circumstances of his father’s death.
Through this investigation, he learned the truth.
His father had attacked Jin Woo-rim, and the assault had failed due to interference from someone of the Eunhae Trading Company.
The Emperor, upon learning of this, had grown furious and ordered the destruction of the Dong Merchant Guild.
They had committed a crime and received their punishment.
But Dong Woo-yeok refused to accept this.
‘Such things happen all the time during merchant operations, yet they responded so….’
There was another fact he chose to ignore.
Attacking an ordinary merchant lord and attacking one favored by the Emperor carried vastly different weight.
Consumed by vengeance, Dong Woo-yeok thought only of how to exact his revenge.
How to take vengeance upon the Emperor and Jin Woo-rim.
Then one day, he learned that salt retailers were traveling to Beijing.
The moment he heard this information, he made his decision.
He would attack the Eunhae Trading Company.
He had heard that the Eunhae Trading Company was a place where Jin Woo-rim owed a debt of gratitude, and that he held considerable interest in it.
And it was said that the Emperor himself felt grateful toward the Eunhae Trading Company for saving Jin Woo-rim.
What if the Merchant Guild Leader of the Eunhae Trading Company and his entourage, summoned to Beijing, were attacked and killed on the way?
‘Then perhaps they might understand even a fraction of this anguish in my heart.’
To accomplish this, he needed to attack the Eunhae Trading Company, and Dong Woo-yeok welcomed this situation immensely.
He harbored a grudge against the Eunhae Trading Company.
‘This is all of your own making. Had you simply not saved the Jin Merchant Lord, everything would have ended cleanly. You brought this calamity upon yourselves, so you cannot claim innocence!’
He procured Thunderburst Bombs using the guild’s remaining funds.
His intent was to kill them as painfully and cruelly as possible.
Yet that plan had failed.
“Master, if I may speak.”
At Haeng-su’s words, Dong Woo-yeok lifted his head to look at him.
“Do you have more to say?”
“Well….”
Haeng-su, who had been hesitating, continued.
“Must you pursue vengeance in this manner?”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“There is still money remaining. I wish you would use it to begin a new enterprise. The late Merchant Lord would not have wanted to see your life destroyed like this….”
Crack—!
Dong Woo-yeok swung his fist at Haeng-su.
Haeng-su stumbled backward, and Dong Woo-yeok spoke coldly.
“You overstep your bounds.”
“….”
“I decide my own affairs. Do not presume to interfere.”
“…My apologies.”
Haeng-su lowered his head and sighed inwardly.
‘If I remain here much longer, I too will not meet a peaceful end.’
.
.
.
Haeng-su emerged from the cave.
As he stepped from the darkness of the cave into the sunlight and fresh air outside, their presence struck him with renewed depth.
He slipped away from the cave, evading the guards who watched it, until he had put some distance between himself and the entrance.
He drew a deep breath.
Without doing so, he felt he could not endure much longer.
At that moment, someone approached him.
One of his subordinates.
“Haeng-su, what is to become of us now?”
“…I do not know myself.”
“We have touched a procession bearing the Golden Army’s banner—is this not a capital crime that brings extermination to three generations of one’s family?”
It was true.
A procession bearing the Golden Army’s banner meant those acting under the Emperor’s command.
To touch them was to commit treason against the Emperor.
Extermination of three generations was the usual punishment.
“But we did not know. We truly did not know. If we had known… if we had only known….”
Haeng-su patted the shoulder of the man who was trembling with emotion.
Seeing his state, Haeng-su’s heart grew heavy.

* * *

I am perched in a tree at this very moment.
I have come here pursuing the traces of the beast that hunts us.
Tracking the beast proved no difficult feat.
I possessed an ability granted by the Taiyin Ice-Sea Divine Art.
With such concentrated killing intent radiating outward, finding it was child’s play.
I told Palgap I was going to visit Sophie, then entered the forest together with him.
After instructing Palgap that I would return within this hour, I came to this place.
The Shadowless Footstep technique my Master taught me leaves no traces while concealing my presence entirely.
Moreover, it was extraordinarily swift.
Thanks to it, I arrived here in less than a quarter hour.
And I witnessed something wholly unexpected.
A conversation between someone who appeared to be Haeng-su and what seemed to be his subordinate.
I also overheard the exchange from within the cave earlier.
The situation could be summarized in a single phrase.
A complete mess.
I came here because I was enraged.
I had been granted a second chance at life. Yet I nearly squandered it in vain.
Moreover, Father and my Elder Brother nearly perished before my very eyes.
Can you imagine the fury that consumed me?
Yet these men would die miserably regardless of whether I soiled my hands.
I came merely to glimpse the true face of this mastermind.
But upon seeing them, my rage dissipated, replaced by pity.
Their only crime was acting upon orders from the Second Son who had fled.
They did so unaware that this was a procession escorted by the Geumui Guard and the Golden Army.
Even if they hired the Black-Clad Criminals and commissioned this deed, their guilt remains.
But what sin do their families bear?
In my previous life, no member of the Dong Merchant Guild’s family had fled.
Yet in this iteration, the Second Son has fled.
This occurred because I discovered the beast sooner than before.
And the consequence has returned as this assault.
Going forward, I will continue to alter the future, and through these ripples, countless causalities will shift.
But I despised the sight of blood spilled unnecessarily.
In my previous life, they would never have been entangled in such affairs.
I was angered by the use of the Explosive Thunder Orb, yet that could not have been their decision.
I made my resolve.
I would grant them a chance to live.
I descended from the tree and picked up a small stone from nearby, tossing it lightly toward them.
Thunk.
They startled and glanced around cautiously before approaching carefully.
“What is it?”
“Just a pebble, sir.”
“…A pebble?”
I threw another pebble.
After tossing pebbles three times or so, they crept closer with hesitant steps.
Their expressions betrayed curiosity—who on earth was throwing stones?
At that moment, I revealed myself before them.
“Gasp!”
“Shh!”
In an instant, I struck their vital pressure points.
They became utterly paralyzed—unable to speak or move a muscle.
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Eun Seo-ho. I am the Small Merchant Guild Leader of the Eunhae Trading Company…or rather, I was.”
“…!”
Their eyes widened.
“That’s right. I was traveling with the very procession you orchestrated an ambush against.”
“…!”
“So why have I come here? To offer you a chance.”
“…?”
“Truthfully, you are pitiful men. Your only crime was serving the wrong Merchant Guild Leader. Yet for that misfortune, your necks are about to be severed—surely you find that unjust.”
I let out a soft laugh.
Their eyes revealed their emotions plainly to me.
“Very soon, soldiers will come pouring into this place. I sent a Gold Robe Guard Warrior to request troops from Wei So.”
“…!”
It was the truth.
Since the Emperor’s own Gold Robe Guard Warrior went personally, Wei So could not refuse the request.
“By my reckoning, you have roughly two hours left. You can either stay here and die like dogs protecting that reckless fool, Dong’s Second Son, or you can gather your belongings and flee. The choice is yours.”
“….”
“Of course, you cannot escape the Golden Army’s pursuit. Hide diligently for about two weeks.”
This was their karma—they would have to bear it.
“Once I reach Beijing, I will have the pursuit called off.”
If I ask Jin Woo-rim, it can be arranged somehow.
“Why am I doing this, you ask?”
At my question, they nodded their heads.
“Because I pity you.”
I continued.
“I have given you a chance. So decide without delay.”
“….”
“However, Dong’s Second Son must not be among those who flee. The moment he is, I will strip away your opportunity to escape.”
At the same time, I released the pressure points I had struck on both of them.
With that, I flashed them a smile and rushed toward where Palgap was waiting.
I had given them a choice.
What they did with it was entirely their decision.

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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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