Chapter 146
The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company Chapter 146
Chapter 146. Cleaning Up the Front Yard (6)
Chun-il decided to go to the Songbi Inn the next morning.
Since his employer was his father, not him, he had to talk to his father.
Now, his business at Daejin-ro was finished.
Chun-il left the private room, and Pal-gap rushed over to me.
“Young master! Was that geisha who just left here... a man?”
“Yes.”
“What... what...?”
“How is that possible? I don't know either.”
I continued.
“As you may have noticed, he has a somewhat unusual past, but he will be part of our family from now on, so please treat him well.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then call the waiter.”
At my request, Pal-gap pulled the cord and rang the bell, and a moment later, the waiter entered.
“You called?”
“Yes, I was having a very pleasant time, but I just remembered an important appointment, so I have to go now.”
“Oh, I see.”
“How much is it?”
I paid the waiter.
“And you can eat the rest of the food. Use different chopsticks to eat it so it stays clean.”
The waiter's face lit up at my words.
“Thank you, sir.”
It was too much for me to eat alone, so I had already divided it up.
Waiters and maids in taverns, as well as ordinary employees, are not usually provided with meals.
Therefore, those who work in places like this tavern often choose the best leftovers to eat in order to save money on meals.
Knowing this, I made sure to eat neatly.
I wanted them to have a day like this.
I could have left it untouched, but that might have aroused suspicion.
That's why the employees of Eunhae Trading Company like the welfare program that provides cheap meals.
* *
The next day.
As promised, Chun-il came to the Songbi Inn early in the morning.
After talking with my father, I decided to go with him to Eunhae Trading Company.
As soon as we finished breakfast, my parents left for the Eunhae Trading Company headquarters.
Of course, Chief Administrator Go Il-pyeong went with them, and my father left half of the Eunpungdae guards and the deputy commander to ensure my safety.
After seeing off my parents and their party, I looked around the suddenly quiet inn.
Before my parents left, Captain Saguchul and Captain Sagang had also left for the Hongryeon Trading Company headquarters in Shaanxi, so the inn was quiet.
“Huh!”
I took a deep breath and left the inn.
Now that I had some time to myself, I had to take care of everything I had planned.
A short while later
I arrived at the small bookstore I had visited yesterday on the bookstore street.
I asked my bodyguards to wait outside for a moment and went inside alone.
Just like yesterday, the old man at the bookstore was sitting in front of his desk, doing his work.
As soon as I entered, the old man looked up and saw me.
Then he asked me directly.
“So, what brings you here?”
“I came because I was curious about you, Elder.”
The old man smiled slightly and replied to my question.
“What could an old man like me be curious about?”
“Why did you recommend that book to my servant?”
“Because he has talent.”
It was clear.
The old man in front of me knew that Pal-gap was born with talent.
“How did you know that my servant has talent?”
“I could see it.”
I took a deep breath and asked with clasped hands.
“Who are you, Elder?”
In response to my question, the old man pointed to the books.
“Now I am just an old man who runs a small bookstore.”
With those words, I realized that the old man in front of me was once a person of great importance.
The fact that he was now just running a small bookstore implied that he had done something great in the past.
“I just thought it would be a waste of his talent, so I recommended those books to him.”
If I had pressed him further, I might have been able to find out who he really was, but I didn't.
He seemed to be a master even greater than my own, and he was kind to me.
In that case, there was no need to push him and upset him.
I bowed politely again to express my gratitude.
“I understand what you say, Elder. I am grateful that you did not overlook my servant's talent and recommended that book to him.”
The old man nodded at my words.
“Then I will take my leave.”
“Are you leaving?”
“Yes, I feel it would be disrespectful to keep you any longer. Good day.”
As he turned to leave, he heard the old man's voice.
“Before becoming kings, the kings of the Sal family were servants.”
“What?”
“The previous kings were also loyal servants.”
With those words, the old man returned to his work.
It was a clear sign that he wanted me to leave.
Even though he seemed like he wasn't going to tell me anything, he did give me some information, so maybe he's more friendly toward me than I thought?
A short time later
I returned to the inn and read the secret manual the old man had given me for Pal-gap once more.
Was it because I had heard that all Salwangs were servants before becoming Salwangs?
The contents of the secret manual seemed a little different from before.
When I replaced the words with “servant,” I could think of things like how to avoid being noticed and how to keep track of targets, which could be interpreted as how to stay quiet without disturbing the Liege and how to find the Liege's whereabouts.
Who was that old man?
Judging from the fact that he knew the previous Salwang, he was no ordinary person.
He withdrew obediently, but this was only a step back to take two steps forward.
If I let this talented person slip through my fingers, I would never be able to sleep.
By the way, was that tomorrow? Or was it the day after tomorrow?
My heart began to race at the thought of picking up the treasure that the Baekcheon Trading Company had discarded.
* *
Baekcheon Trading Company.
It is a trading company established with funds from the Martial Alliance.
It claims to be a trading company that practices cooperation, but in reality, it is nothing but a sham.
The Baekcheon Trading Company was established to divert the attention of the elders from the Martial Alliance.
The person appointed as the captain of the Baekcheon Trading Company was Namgung Gang.
He didn't know why he had to divert their attention.
But he didn't bother to find out. He had a gut feeling that he shouldn't know.
All he cared about was the sense of superiority that came with the title of captain.
The strange pleasure he felt when countless people bowed down to him under the name of captain made him happy.
He wasn't interested in running the trading company.
That was left to the agents hired by the Martial Alliance.
All he did was sign documents that the chief executive, the head of the executive officers, had signed.
And recently, the chief executive died.
The chief executive, who had run the Trading Company for a long time, had died, but instead of feeling regret or mourning, he felt annoyed.
He had died suddenly and caused him trouble.
Well, he had trained his successor well, so there would be no disruption in the trading company's operations, so he thought he must have had a conscience.
He felt like visiting other parts of the trading company instead of his office for the first time in a long time.
He walked aimlessly and soon arrived at the quarters where the trading company employees stayed.
“Oh! I'm here to see the captain.”
“Greetings, Captain.”
As soon as they saw him, the servants quickly bowed down, and Namgung Kang accepted their greetings with a pleasant smile.
At that moment, a young man caught his eye.
Next to the young man was a cane.
The cane seemed out of place with the young man's sturdy build, which is why it caught his eye.
Clop, clop.
Namgung Gang quickly approached the young man and noticed that his legs were different from those of ordinary people.
The young man was missing his right leg.
“What is this? Is this cripple also an employee of the Trading Company?”
An employee trembled and replied to his question.
“This young man is the son of the late chief executive.”
“The son of that old man?”
“Yes.”
“Did that old man use his position as the head of the guild to get his son a job here even though he's a cripple?”
“No, that's not the case. He works here because he does his share of the work.”
“What can a cripple do? He's just wasting food. Never mind, I don't need a cripple like him in my Trading Company. Send him away.”
“What?”
“Send him away right now.”
“But please consider the hard work of the former chief executive and show some mercy.”
“I beg you.”
Despite their pleas, Namgung Kang only laughed.
“A cripple talking about learning sword techniques. What hard work... He should have been happy to sit in the position of chief executive and live a good life. How dare you leave a cripple like that here to die?”
“...”
“What are you doing? Why aren't you kicking him out right now?”
He called the Trading Company's warriors and had him thrown out right in front of him.
As the employees looked on with pity, Namgung Kang said,
“If anyone thinks that guy is pitiful and tries to bring him back to the Trading Company, I will kick them out too, so you know what to do.”
Hearing this, the employees had no choice but to look away as he was dragged away by the warriors.
* *
The wind blew.
A young man sitting under a wall shivered in the late autumn chill.
“Hey, Dad. There's a strange man over there.”
“I see.”
However, neither the cold wind nor the piercing stares made any impression on him.
That was because he was filled with rage.
His name was Heo-Won.
He was the only son of the former head of the Baekcheon Trading Company.
His father was an orphan. His mother was also an orphan.
That meant he was currently all alone in the world.
On top of that, he had a disability.
He was missing his right leg.
He wasn't born that way.
He was injured in a carriage accident while working for the Trading Company.
The physician said it was a miracle that he survived, but Heo Yun resented the heavens.
He wanted to kill himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it because of his father.
His father worked day and night to support him and to prevent him from causing trouble for the other employees of the Trading Company.
Furthermore, the captain of the trading company was rarely seen, and he knew very well how hard his father worked to make up for his absence.
Then his father passed away.
His illness worsened due to overwork.
He was found dead, lying face down on a cold desk, and the employees of the trading company helped him hold a funeral.
After that, Heo-woon continued to work at Baekcheon Trading Company. Even though he was physically disabled, he was a hard worker.
However, yesterday, he was fired from Baekcheon Trading Company.
Suddenly, out of the blue, the head of the trading company, Namgung Kang, appeared and fired him.
He didn't mind being called a cripple, a derogatory term, and being fired.
Such derogatory remarks hurt his feelings, but he had heard them so often that he had become accustomed to them and they no longer affected him.
However, he was devastated by the insult to his father.
His sadness turned to anger.
He had worked so hard for the Baekcheon Trading Company and its captain, but all his efforts had been negated with a single sentence.
Gurgle.
His stomach churned. Come to think of it, he hadn't eaten anything since last night.
He had been thrown out by the guards in that state, so he hadn't been able to take anything with him from the trading company.
Baekcheon Trading Company had lodgings for its permanent employees, and Heo-woon lived there.
His father couldn't leave his post for even a moment, so his entire family lived there.
That meant all the money he had saved up was also in the trading company.
Even if the other employees wanted to take it for him, they couldn't do anything with Captain Namgung Gang watching them with eyes like ice.
He let out a sigh.
“How am I supposed to live from now on?”
He had become penniless in an instant, and his future looked bleak.
Even if he wanted to find a job, who would hire him in his current state?
He knew that even if he was highly skilled, people would be prejudiced against him because of his appearance.
Just then,
“Hey, brother.”
He turned his head and saw a group of beggars.
“Who told you to do business here?”
“What? I'm just...”
Bang!
The beggar kicked Hoon, and he fell to the ground.
“Hyung-nim, take it easy. He looks like a retard.”
Even though they were laughing, he couldn't say anything in his defense.
To anyone looking at him, he was a beggar and a cripple.
Then,
“What are you doing?”
When he turned his head toward the voice, he saw a young man dressed in luxurious clothes looking at them.
Behind him stood a man who looked like a bear and three bodyguards.
For some reason, he felt a chill from the young man's eyes.
“I asked what you are doing.”