The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 729

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Youngest Son of the Eun Hae Trading Company Chapter 729

Chapter 729. Marriage Preparations (1)

I asked Seo Hyang, “Pardon me, Young Lady. Who exactly are you referring to? I don’t see any female warrior.”
“Over there—the warrior with the red tassel hanging from the sword at her waist.”
Only after she pointed so specifically could I discern whom she meant.
The warrior had her hair tied up high and wore a hero’s crown, yet appeared unmistakably masculine at first glance.
“Does this warrior appeal to you?”
“There’s something about her gaze that draws me in… I suppose you could say my heart is pulled toward her?”
Seo Hyang possessed the Icy Heart Eye.
Therefore, she could instinctively perceive the truth about that person.
No matter how favorable an impression someone gave, if she sensed something amiss, they might as well be a charlatan.
I instructed the Yeo Eung-am Warrior to summon that warrior.
“I greet the Third Sub-unit Leader.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. May I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“What is your name?”
“I am Kang Chung.”
Kang Chung? The name stirred a faint recollection, though I couldn’t quite place it.
As I struggled to retrieve the memory, Seo Hyang smiled and asked, “How old are you?”
“Ah, I turned twenty this sixth month.”
“My! Then I’m your senior.”
“Ah, is that so? Ha… ha…”
Kang Chung’s expression hardened, and she spoke sharply, “What do you mean by that? I am a man.”
“There seems to be a story here. My apologies. I’ll treat you as a man.”
“…”
Finally, Kang Chung sighed and asked, “How did you know I was a woman?”
“What?”
Seo Hyang appeared genuinely startled.
I interjected, “It seems you’ve employed transformation magic or perhaps Kimul’s assistance.”
At my words, Kang Chung surrendered and confessed, “It is transformation magic.”
“What?”
Rather, it was Seo Hyang who was flustered.
I butted in the middle of it.
“It seems like I received help from Byeon Yong-sul or Kimul.”
At my words, Kang Chung confessed as if the Warrior had given up.
“It’s a transformation spell.”
“Is there a particular reason? The Eun Pung-dae doesn’t exclusively recruit men.”
“Ah, well, there’s nothing especially unusual about it. It’s simply a family law of ours.”
Kang Chung scratched her cheek.
“In our family, there is a condition that women must disguise themselves as men in order to study martial arts.”
Upon hearing those words, I could recall where I had heard the name Kang Chung before.
“Are you perhaps from the Jinpung Kang Family?”
“Ah, yes. That’s correct.”
If so, her words were no lie. That family indeed had such a law.
I remembered the name Kang Chung because when she reached the pinnacle realm and became a squad leader of the Eun Pung-dae, her gender had to be corrected to female.
I learned of the Jinpung Kang Family’s peculiar law at that time as well.
I heard that they bore sons in succession, making daughters rare, yet those daughters showed exceptional talent in swordsmanship.
Thus, to protect their daughters from men with ill intentions and to allow them to focus solely on swordsmanship, they raised them as boys and even used transformation techniques to alter their faces to appear male.
However, once one reached the pinnacle realm, the transformation technique could no longer function, so their true gender would be revealed.
“You won’t have much longer before the transformation technique ceases to work.”
“Pardon?”
“Your skill is already quite exceptional even among the first-rate realm, is it not?”
At my words, Kang Chung flinched.
“You’re a frightening person.”
That was likely a reference to my recognition of both the limits of her transformation technique and her current realm.
Instead of answering, I smiled quietly and spoke to her.
“I apologize for inadvertently revealing your secret. The truth is, I was searching for a guard warrior for my wife. So I must ask—would you be willing to serve as a guard warrior for my wife?”
“Pardon? Me, you say?”
I nodded.
“The young lady who will become my wife has taken a liking to you, Warrior Kang.”
“If I become the lady’s guard warrior, what would my employment conditions be?”
I explained the employment conditions to Kang Chung.
“First, your monthly salary will increase. And….”
Upon hearing my terms, Kang Chung readily nodded.
“Understood. I will become the lady’s guard warrior.”
Thus, Seo Hyang also gained a guard warrior.
At merely twenty years old, she had already reached the first-rate realm and was an exceptional warrior destined to reach the pinnacle within years.
To discern such a warrior at a glance.
Seo Hyang’s ice-clear eyes were more formidable than I had anticipated.

* * *

Even in West Street, known as the entertainment district of Chongyang County, there were places people avoided—those located in the western reaches of West Street, which earned them the name Seoseoga.
Within one of those buildings.
The Red Bean House Master stood gazing at silver taels arranged upon a table before him.
His face etched with deep concern.
“Master, what troubles you?”
“Can you not see I’m wrestling with something serious?”
“What weighs so heavily on your mind?”
“These silver taels.”
“Isn’t this the debt the Hyerim Sect owed, which the Eunhae Trading Company repaid on their behalf?”
“Yes, twelve hundred taels of silver. But we already received five hundred taels from them as advance payment for their land.”
“Ah, those five hundred taels? You spent them all that very day at the pleasure house. Hehehehe.”
Crack!
The Master struck his manager across the back of the head.
“Ow! Why did you do that!”
“I’m in serious distress, and you laugh? You fool!”
“Gasp! My apologies.”
“Sigh… In any case, since the Hyerim Sect’s land has now passed to the Eunhae Trading Company, there’s nothing more I can do about it….”
According to recent reports, the Hyerim Sect Master had surrendered all his wealth to the Eunhae Trading Company.
“Then shouldn’t we return the land price to whoever wanted to purchase the land?”
Crack!
The Master struck him again across the back of the head.
“I know that’s what I should do—that’s precisely why I’m so troubled!”
“I-I’m terribly sorry.”
The manager bowed his head deeply.
“Get out.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once he’d dismissed everyone, the Master sank into contemplation, and soon reached a decision.
‘Flee.’
Twelve hundred taels of silver—a fortune.
A tile-roofed house cost roughly three hundred taels, so twelve hundred taels was more than enough to transform his entire life.
Having made this decision, the Red Bean House Master gathered about five taels and made his way to where his managers were gathered.
“Here!”
Clink.
He tossed the money to the floor, and the managers looked up in surprise.
“Where did this money come from, sir?”
“Use it to buy meat and wine.”
“Sir?”
“Since I’ve come into fortune, we must feast until we’re stuffed.”
“Wooooah!”
“Master, you’re the best!”
And so the managers of the Red Bean House quickly picked up those five silver coins and hurried out, returning with an abundance of meat and alcohol.
That evening, a feast was held at the Red Bean House.
They lit a fire in the courtyard to grill the meat, and poured wine into bowls for everyone to drink their fill.
Watching this scene, the Red Head Gang Leader smiled with a sinister gleam.
‘Hehehehe. Foolish bastards.’
His subordinates were too preoccupied with eating and drinking to realize he intended to flee with the money.
He could easily foresee that once he disappeared with the funds, those left behind would certainly face the wrath of the man who had promised to buy the land.
But he harbored no sense of loyalty whatsoever.
After all, they were merely gathered for profit.
‘Ahahaha! Farewell to you all!’
Once he confirmed his subordinates had drunk themselves into a stupor, the Red Head Gang Leader hefted the heavy sack of silver coins onto his back and quietly slipped away from the Red Bean House.
Though the sack was quite heavy, the thought of all that money being his made his steps feel light as air.
By then, darkness had already begun to settle around him.
That was when it happened.
“Master! Where are you going?”
Turning at the sound of his name, he saw one of his managers calling out to him.
“Master, are you perhaps… running away with that money?”
“…What nonsense is that? I’m simply taking this money to the Money Exchange House for safekeeping.”
“The Money Exchange House is in the other direction, sir.”
“Damn! You’re being a nuisance!”
The master approached the manager and spoke curtly.
“Honestly, you’re tired of being stuck here too, aren’t you? I’ll give you a cut, so keep your mouth shut.”
“Pardon?”
The manager spoke.
“But without that money, won’t we be unable to repay the landowner?”
“Tch, that’s right. Who told him to give the money in advance?”
“…”
“The world is simply designed so that fools suffer the consequences. He’ll learn his lesson from this.”
Saying this, he pretended to reach into his money pouch while drawing his blade, which he then pointed at the manager’s throat.
“And you, fool, are included in that assessment.”
The master laughed wickedly.
“You should have simply pretended not to see and stayed silent. Why did you have to be troublesome and call out to me?”
Then he swung his blade.
“Don’t resent me for this.”
Whoosh—!
Clang!
But his blade stopped mid-swing. The manager he had tried to kill had caught his sword.
“Wh-what…?”
Startled, he tried to reclaim his blade, but found he could not.
Swish.
The man pulled his face down with his other hand, and a completely different face was revealed beneath.
It was a face I recognized.
It was the very man who had offered payment for the Hyerim Sect’s land.
“How troublesome….”
He spoke to the Red Head Gang Leader.
“Had you shown even a shred of intention to repay the debt, I would have spared your life.”
Thump.
The Red Head Gang Leader fell to his knees and pleaded.
“P-please, spare me.”
“I’m already irritated that I couldn’t acquire that land, and now you attempt to steal the money as well….”
“I beg you, please spare my life.”
“Because of you, I nearly faced severe rebuke from that person. It’s only fortunate that I noticed something suspicious about you and lay in wait here.”
He withdrew a pouch from his garment and tossed it.
“Fill it with exactly five hundred silver taels.”
“Y-yes!”
The Gang Leader counted out five hundred silver taels with trembling hands and placed them in the pouch.
“H-here it is.”
The man took the pouch and fastened it at his waist.
Despite its considerable weight, his movements remained light and effortless.
“Don’t you need the remaining money?”
“I need only what is mine.”
His tone was cold and composed.
“Now I must clean up this mess.”
In that moment.
His eyes glowed crimson red.
The instant the Gang Leader saw those red eyes, his gaze grew clouded and he began to move slowly.
He drew his sword and entered the Red Bean House, beginning to slash at the managers.
“Kyaaaah!”
“M-Master! Why are you doing this! Master!”
“Gaaaah!”
The joyous banquet hall transformed into chaos in an instant.
Though there were managers comparable to the Gang Leader in cultivation, the heavy drinking had left them unable to control their bodies, and they could only suffer helplessly.
Whoosh!
Soon flames began to rise from the floor.
The red-eyed man picked up the human skin mask that lay on the ground and threw it into the inferno.
Then he lifted his gaze toward where the Eunhae Trading Company stood and murmured softly.
“I await the day you entertain me.”

* * *

I rose as I always did, performed my breathing exercises, and began my training.
If my Master had returned to Hubei Province, he would have come to the separate pavilion for my training.
It seemed he had not yet returned.
“Young Master. I’ve brought water for you.”
“Thank you.”
I accepted the water from Palgap and drank.
“It is said that a calamity befell the Red Bean House last night.”
“A calamity? What do you mean?”
“Last night, the Red Head Gang Leader went mad, killed all his managers, and set the building ablaze himself.”
“What?”
“Everything else burned away, but the Red Head Gang Leader’s corpse was found in a place untouched by flames, in the posture of having driven a sword into his own belly.”
Something felt off.
The Red Head Gang Leader I had seen was the type to flee with the money, not someone who would kill everyone and then take his own life.
“And the money he left behind amounts to six hundred and ninety-five silver taels, with a letter inside stating that he returns this money as an apology to Eun Seo-ho.”
Palgap continued his account.
“So the County Office sent word asking how it should be handled.”
No matter how I looked at it, something was amiss.
The Red Head Gang Leader was absolutely not the type to return that money.
Moreover, roughly five hundred taels seemed to be missing.
Something was definitely wrong. I would need to investigate the scene myself.

A short while later.
I headed toward West Street and soon arrived at the location where the Red Bean House had stood.
Constables were guarding the place, and upon seeing me, they offered their respects.
“Are you not the Third Sub-unit Leader of the Eunhae Trading Company?”
“I pay my respects to the Seonhyeop Mirang Great Swordmaster.”
“Thank you for your efforts. I came upon hearing that money was left for me. Would it be possible to examine the scene?”
“I shall inform the Patrol Officers.”
Shortly after, a Patrol Officer emerged.
“I pay my respects to the Seonhyeop Mirang Great Swordmaster. I am O Eul, serving as a Patrol Officer.”
“Thank you for your efforts.”
I explained my purpose to him, and he readily nodded in agreement.
“Of course. Please, come inside.”
I entered the half-burned building.
The scene was far more gruesome than I had anticipated.
In the center of the courtyard lay charred meat, and broken wine bottles lay scattered about.
And the bones visible here and there must have belonged to the dead managers.
“At first, we had testimony that the managers of the Red Bean House had purchased meat and wine here, so we thought the fire had spread while they were grilling. However, it was strange that no one escaped, so during our investigation, we discovered the Red Head Gang Leader.”
He led me to what appeared to be the Red Head Gang Leader’s office.
The pouch placed upon that wooden table was the very pouch I had given to carry the money.
And before the wooden table, I could see the Red Head Gang Leader slumped in his seat, a sword driven through his chest, lifeless.
The ominous aura emanating from him caused me to furrow my brow involuntarily.
There was no doubt about it.
It was the aura of the Sura Blood Sect.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————