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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: How to Deal with a Merchant Guild, Part 4
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Shuangliu County was close to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan where four rivers were said to flow. With the Min River passing through, it served as the heart of Sichuan's logistics, boasting excellent distribution channels throughout the province.
Its easy access to waterways spreading into the Central Plains and major roads made Shuangliu an essential location for many merchant guilds and banks to establish branches.
Any merchant conducting significant business in Sichuan had to have a branch in either Shuangliu or Chengdu.
Naturally, with countless merchants passing through, the transient population was large, and the development of a culture of inns and courtesan houses was inevitable.
Connoisseurs of pleasure would say that if Hangzhou was the jewel of the east, then Shuangliu was the gem of the west, so well-developed was its entertainment culture.
The street of courtesan houses, stretching so far that one end couldn't be seen from the other, was a sight unique to Shuangliu. Interestingly, the left side was lined with blue pavilions, while the right side, directly opposite, was filled with red pavilions, all competing for business.
"Interesting. Usually, you have to pass through the blue pavilion district and venture into a secluded alley to find the red pavilions."
"..."
"..."
The expected replies from Cheol-muk and No-sak to Mujin's comment never came.
Turning his head, Mujin saw the two young men looking around with expressions of pure bliss, as if they had discovered a new world.
They were smiling with such childlike radiance—a sight Mujin had never thought possible—their eyes glued to the women who had come out to solicit customers.
"How about it? Want to go in for a drink?"
"Yes! In that case, we'll call it a day here..."
-*Thwack!*
No-sak, who had been answering cheerfully, was struck on the back of the head and doubled over.
"You can't even dodge this? Snap out of it. Stay sharp."
Mujin shook his head, watching No-sak get hit so easily by an attack he would normally have reacted to.
Cheol-muk, being a few years older, managed to step back and dodge Mujin's strike.
'If they fall for a honey trap, they'd probably sell out the family.'
A sigh escaped Mujin as he watched No-sak follow, rubbing the back of his head.
In their youth, they had lived frantically just to survive. After meeting their Master, they had entered Mount Jung and spent their lives training in martial arts as part of the Four Demons.
They had briefly re-entered the world only to get into a fight at the Red Wolf Society, missing any chance to learn its ways. It was no surprise they had no experience talking to women.
Though they looked like middle-aged men who had seen it all, they were still hot-blooded youths in their early twenties. For them, the courtesans in their sheer, flowing garments were a difficult obstacle to overcome.
While keeping an eye on Mujin, the two men still stole glances at the courtesans who offered them flirtatious smiles.
"This is the place, right?"
This time, Cheol-muk answered Mujin's question sharply.
"They said there's only one Pungwol Pavilion in Shuangliu, so this must be it."
Mujin nodded, looking up at the five-story building. All its windows were shut tight, and its exterior was adorned with numerous red lanterns.
As they gazed up at Pungwol Pavilion, the courtesans soliciting customers out front noticed Mujin and his companions and beckoned to them.
"Here at Pungwol Pavilion, we have a *very special*..."
Before the courtesan could finish, several rough-looking men guarding the establishment rushed over and bowed low.
"We heard you were coming and have been waiting!"
The courtesans took a step back as the men, who had been hiding in a dark alley beside the building, ran out.
"Is he inside?"
At Mujin's question, the man nodded and gestured. A waiter scurried out from inside the pavilion.
"This boy will guide you."
"Let's go."
The waiter led the way at Mujin's command.
Mujin, Cheol-muk, and No-sak followed him into the pavilion.
Most courtesan houses had an open first floor with tables where everyone could face each other and drink.
This red pavilion, however, was filled with claustrophobic partitions right from the first floor.
The interior was a network of narrow, alley-like corridors, making it feel like they had entered a maze.
-*Ah!*
-*Ooh!*
Hearing the sounds from beyond the thin partitions, Cheol-muk and No-sak kept glancing around, their eyes straining as if trying to see through the walls.
As they finally climbed the stairs to the next floor, No-sak, unable to hold back any longer, spoke up.
"That 'very special' thing only Pungwol Pavilion has... what comes next? What on earth could be so special?"
A vein bulged on Mujin's forehead at No-sak's words.
Cheol-muk frowned and added.
"I've been wondering about that myself. I'm dying of curiosity to know what's so special."
The waiter walking at the front answered their conversation.
"Shall I explain the ecstatic service exclusive to our Pungwol Pavilion?"
The moment the two men shot the waiter an intense gaze.
"That's enough. Just lead the way."
"Yes, sir."
Mujin, having cut the waiter off, turned to look at Cheol-muk and No-sak.
*-Feeling energetic these days, are we? We'll see about that when we get back.*
The waiter guided Mujin all the way to the fifth floor, where only four rooms existed.
It was a space elegantly decorated with thick walls, creating just four exclusive rooms.
This floor was reserved for Pungwol Pavilion's most esteemed guests.
Each door was guarded by a waiter and two grim-faced men. When their guide gestured, the guards on the fifth floor—waiters and underworld thugs alike—hurriedly descended.
"The person you're looking for is in that room."
The room the waiter pointed to was extravagant, its doorway decorated with golden fabric.
As Mujin slid open the heavy wooden door and stepped inside, a wave of hot air washed over his party.
"Huh?"
A scrawny man who looked to be about thirty, sporting a clumsy catfish mustache, stared blankly at the three men who had entered without permission.
He had been running around the spacious room with six scantily clad courtesans, wearing only a pair of trousers. He tilted his head in confusion.
"Everyone out, except for that bastard."
Mujin's cold voice echoed through the room.
While the singled-out man in trousers covered his chest and groin in embarrassment, the courtesans scrambled out of the room.
"Wh-who are you to do this...?"
The man's voice trailed off as he saw the faces of Cheol-muk and No-sak, and he slumped down on the soft floor beside the liquor table.
"Th-there seems to be some misunderstanding. I think you have the wrong person."
As he desperately tried to explain, Cheol-muk and No-sak, who had been standing behind Mujin, approached him.
Seeing the two men striding toward him, he hastily continued.
"I-I am the deputy director of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild! If you lay a hand on me..."
Before the man could finish, Cheol-muk and No-sak grabbed him by both arms and pulled him to his feet.
Mujin righted a luxurious chair that had been knocked over to the side and sat down. Cheol-muk and No-sak brought the man before him.
"I know. I know you're with the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild. I am Hwa Mujin of the Yeomhwa Family."
-*Thud.*
As soon as Mujin finished his introduction, the man's knees gave out, and he collapsed.
"From what I understand, you're the highest-ranking member of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild in Shuangliu right now. Is there anyone else?"
"..."
Mujin frowned, looking down at the man who could only tremble his lips, unable to speak.
"Our Young Master doesn't like to repeat himself."
Even at Cheol-muk's words, the man's mind went blank, and he couldn't figure out what to say.
The story of the Red Moon Sword's recent death near Ganluo had spread not just through Shuangliu but across the entire Central Plains, setting Sichuan abuzz.
And the fact that the one who cut him down was Hwa Mujin, the Young Master of the Yeomhwa Family standing before him, was now common knowledge in Shuangliu.
If one were to pick the most talked-about martial artist in Shuangliu lately, it would undoubtedly be Hwa Mujin, thanks to the incident on the cloth merchants' street.
It had even reached the point where, every evening, puppet shows were performed for local children and adults, depicting the story from the Hidden Dragon of Xichang's tragic childhood to his heroic slaying of the Red Moon Sword.
The Red Moon Sword, infamous for his lechery.
The reason he could be so infamous was that he was a master.
As a peak master of the Moon-Slaying Sword Sect, no one dared to cross him despite his age, which was why he could commit such heaven-defying atrocities and remain unscathed.
The man who cut down such a peak master.
To have slain a peak master of the martial world at the mere age of twenty-three held many implications.
"So you'll keep your mouth shut out of loyalty to the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild?"
At Mujin's words, No-sak scowled deeply and lifted the iron staff he had been resting on the floor.
"Shall we start with the knees?"
Seeing No-sak's iron staff positioned directly above his knees, the man's mind finally snapped back to reality.
"N-no, sir! That's not it! I'll talk. I'm a great talker!"
Despite the man's words, No-sak didn't move the iron staff.
Only when Mujin gestured did No-sak finally lower the staff.
The man forced himself to stay sharp as he realized that the men flanking him, Cheol-muk and No-sak, were the ones who had beaten his guild's escorts to a pulp.
A sense of crisis, the fear that a few wrong words could lead to a terrible fate, stimulated his survival instincts.
"Cutting off everyone else's livelihood. You seem to be having a good time."
The man quickly spoke up at Mujin's words.
"I-it's not about cutting off livelihoods, it was for our guild's business expansion..."
"No-sak. It seems this gentleman has no intention of talking to me."
-*CRACK!*
"This son of a bitch."
No-sak slammed his iron staff on the floor to intimidate him.
He looked just like a common street thug.
But when the staff he slammed down dented the floor, punched through the bluestone, and created a hole to the floor below, it could no longer be dismissed as a simple threat.
"I-I'm sorry!"
"I may not know much about merchant affairs, but even I know that buying something cheap only to sell it for even cheaper isn't normal."
At Mujin's words, the man's mind spun faster than ever before.
"We did it to take control of Shuangliu's cloth market."
"So, why? Why are you trying to take control of Shuangliu's cloth market? You'd better answer carefully. Those two aren't patient enough to listen to your word games twice."
At Mujin's prodding, the man spilled the truth.
"The Muryeong Trading Company and the Pungyang Merchant Guild invested most heavily in the cloth business in Shuangliu. It was the first step in our plan to pressure them, as well as the Geumeo Bank."
"Finally, a straight answer. So you were trying to cut off their livelihoods, while you were here drinking and fooling around with courtesans."
"I'm sorry!"
The man pressed his forehead to the floor.
Feeling the alcohol he'd drunk today evaporate instantly, the man clung to his sobriety with fierce mental fortitude, as if refusing to allow even a hint of intoxication.
"The reason you're targeting those three powerless businesses is obviously because of me, right?"
"I-I was just following the director's orders, so I don't know the full details..."
Seeing the deputy director of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild trying to backpedal, Mujin smirked.
The man, slowly regaining his senses, was trying to distance himself, to avoid directly linking the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild with the Yeomhwa Family.
'Too late for that.'
"The Cheonghwa Merchant Guild must be quite powerful. I hear you boast of your influence all over the Central Plains. You must think you can crush a small martial family stuck in the backwaters of Sichuan with force. Is that it?"
At Mujin's words, the man felt the situation spiraling out of control.
Of course, just six months ago, the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild wouldn't have given a second thought to the collapsing Yeomhwa Family.
A martial family whose eldest son was mad and prone to erratic behavior during his fits, and whose legacy had failed to be properly passed down for two generations, was nothing to be afraid of.
But not anymore.
Rumors were rampant that the madman who lived with seizures had cut down a peak master with a single strike.
Dealing with a martial family that had a master who could overwhelmingly cripple even a lay disciple of the Kongtong Sect was no easy task.
Above all, the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild was an orthodox guild with ties to the righteous factions.
Such a guild couldn't recklessly pick a fight with a righteous martial family without just cause.
Having finished his thoughts, the man hurriedly spoke.
"H-how could that be? Who in Sichuan would dare to disrespect the Yeomhwa Family?"
It was an obvious lie, but he had to make this point clearly, even if it cost him his limbs.
If he mishandled this situation, the entire Cheonghwa Merchant Guild could find itself in serious trouble.
"If not. Then why did the warriors of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild attack the warriors of my family?"
!
'Here it comes.'
The biggest reason he had withdrawn all the martial artists conducting operations in Shuangliu.
It was because the man before him was now in Shuangliu.
The fact that his own escorts had preemptively attacked Mujin's warriors was a truth witnessed by numerous merchants on the cloth street, something he couldn't possibly hide.
"Th-that was a misunderstanding... A very deep misunderstanding, it seems. Those escorts couldn't possibly have known that these warriors were from the Yeomhwa Family."
At the man's words, Mujin glared at No-sak and Cheol-muk.
"You two. Did you attack without even identifying yourselves? How dare you act without honor, like some unorthodox ruffians?!"
As Mujin roared, the man trembled even more than the two warriors.
"That's not true, Young Master!"
"Yes! How could a righteous man's hands move faster than his words? That day, we clearly warned those warriors three times and identified ourselves as warriors dispatched from the Yeomhwa Family to assist the owner of the Muryeong Trading Company's cloth shop."
'Lies!!'
He had confirmed this multiple times with his beaten-up escorts.
They had no idea their opponents were warriors from the Yeomhwa Family.
How many times had he heard that their speech and actions were as foul as the lowest of the underworld thugs?
It was common sense that with the Yeomhwa Family's prestige on the rise, they shouldn't clash with them directly. His escorts couldn't have been ignorant of that.
Wasn't that the whole reason they had come all the way to Shuangliu to pressure some backwater merchants like the Pungyang Merchant Guild, the Muryeong Trading Company, and the Geumeo Bank?
But the man couldn't voice such thoughts.
"I-I apologize. Our escorts must have been hard of hearing. But I assure you, their mistake was not the intention of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild. It was truly a misunderstanding."
Mujin drove the final nail in the coffin of the man's defense.
"A misunderstanding and a mistake, yet they used killing techniques? I heard they stabbed from behind with a dagger. Is that right?"
Mujin asked, looking at Cheol-muk.
"Yes. If our defenses had been even slightly delayed that day, we would have been on a long journey to meet our unknown ancestors."
At Mujin's words, the deputy director's face began to turn deathly pale.
The back-and-forth between Mujin and his two warriors was all based on facts.
With so many witnesses to that day's events, there was no hiding it.
'This is not good.'
It wasn't just 'not good'; he was completely trapped.
"Enough. I can't get through to someone like you, who wastes all day in a brothel doing useless things. I'll give you fifteen days. You'd better bring someone I can actually talk to by then. Otherwise, I will consider this incident a declaration of war against the Yeomhwa Family."
!!!
With those words, Mujin stood up and started to leave. The man scrambled after him on his knees, calling out his name.
"Y-Young Master! I! I'll tell you everything! Young Master!!!"
-*Thump!*
-*Crash!*
As the man crawled after Mujin, No-sak casually nudged him aside with his knee as he walked past.
It was a small touch, but it was laden with internal energy. The man was sent tumbling backward, upending the liquor table.
"Tsk, tsk. Drinking so much you can't even stand properly."
With that, No-sak and Cheol-muk left the room.
Left alone, the man was covered in all sorts of food, his face as white as a sheet.
'This is a disaster.'
That night, five carrier pigeons took flight from Shuangliu, heading for Hubei.
As soon as Mujin returned to the Pungyang Merchant Guild, he sought out Pung Gwan-o.
"There's someone I need to find urgently. I know the circumstances aren't ideal, but you must find them within a few days, no matter what it takes. Also, please send a carrier pigeon to Xichang and get Dong-jeok and Jang-tae moving."
That night, several carrier pigeons also flew into the night sky from the Pungyang Merchant Guild, and its members had to set out busily into the darkness.
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