Chapter 184
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 184
Chapter 184. Hwari Seonjeon (3)
Hwari Seonjeon successfully completed its move to a new store.
“Thank you very much.”
“Then you just need to work hard and make money.”
“Of course.”
We distributed moon cakes to everyone near Dongting Lake to announce our expansion and relocation.
Inside the moon cakes were notes with good wishes for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
“We've given them all out. Shall we eat the moon cakes?”
We took one moon cake each and began to eat.
“By the way, what was in the note in Mr. Kang's moon cake?”
In response to my question, Mr. Kang showed me the note.
[If you don't lose your conviction, everything will work out in the end.
Was it a coincidence?
It was a note with the words I wanted to say.
I said to him,
“To be honest, Daegon Trading Company will probably pick on you and interfere with everything you do.”
“I'm sure they will.”
“But you should stick to your principles and beliefs until the end, just as you have done until now. Then, as the note says, everything will work out in the end.”
I looked him in the eye and asked,
“Can you promise me that?”
“I have already made a promise to the captain. Trust is a merchant's life. How could I break it?”
“Thank you for saying so.”
.
.
.
As I had expected, Daegun Trading Company opened a new store in the same location as the store that had been reserved by Hwari.
The name of the new store was Daegun Trading Company.
To celebrate the opening, they offered a tour of Dongting Lake on a large boat at an incredibly low price.
It was only natural that people flocked to Daegun Store.
Listening to Lee Pil's report, I nodded.
“I see.”
“Young master, why don't you join the price war this time?”
Pal-gap looked curious.
I smiled.
“There's no need for a price war.”
With that, I got up from my seat.
“Where is Gang?”
“He's at Hwari Shipyard.”
I left the inn and headed for Hwari Shipyard.
As expected, there were no customers at Hwari Shipyard.
“Are you there?”
“Ah! You're here!”
Captain Kang greeted me warmly.
He must be in a difficult situation these days because no one wants to board his ship due to the unreasonable prices at Daegunseonjeom, but he doesn't show it.
“Captain Kang.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“I would like to board your ship today. Is that possible?”
“Yes, it is. When would you like to board?”
“I think tonight would be good, as the moon will be out and clear.”
“I will prepare everything for then.”
“I will see you later.”
I said goodbye to Kang and left the Dao's shop.
“Pal-gap.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Are you a good swimmer?”
“Of course. I used to be called the catfish of Sungyang County.”
Catfish...
That suits him well.
“That's good.”
As I recall, today is the day when the martial aunt incident occurred.
That is why I decided to board the boat at the boat rental shop.
All of those who died in that accident had tragic stories.
It couldn't be helped because none of them were well-off.
This time, I will definitely save them.
The best way would be to prevent the ship from leaving, but such a reckless method that disregards safety would surely cause an accident.
If we're not careful, it could lead to an even bigger accident.
In that case, it would be better to let the accident happen and rescue them.
It wasn't an explosion or anything, so as long as we were well prepared, we would be able to save everyone.
.
.
.
As the sun was setting, I took Pal-gap and my guards and headed for the shipyard.
“Are you here?”
“Yes. Is the ship ready?”
“Of course.”
I handed him a few pieces of silver.
“This is the fare.”
“No, it's not necessary.”
“Please take it. There is a fee for each trip, and I don't want to cause any trouble for the ship owner.”
“...I will accept it with gratitude.”
He put the money in his pocket and said.
“I will show you the way.”
The boat at the Hwari Boat Station was large enough to carry about fifty passengers, excluding the crew.
There were about ten other people besides our group who boarded the boat.
I wondered why they chose the Hwari Boat Station instead of the Daegun Boat Station.
“At first, we went to Dae-Geon, but their boat was similar in size and they were loading about a hundred people.”
“....”
“So we asked for a refund and decided to take this boat. I heard that they never exceed their capacity.”
said one passenger.
“Why do they say that old things are good?”
said another passenger.
“I used this boat before, and I had a good memory of it, so I decided to take it again.”
The customer said, etc.
The reasons varied, but they all said that they liked this boat.
A short while later
The captain asked the boat owner, who had boarded the boat to check for safety issues.
“Didn't you check earlier?”
“Just in case I missed something... I checked everything.”
The riverboat owner said to the captain.
“Let the passengers know the safety precautions once more and then we'll depart.”
“Yes, sir.”
The captain gave the passengers on board a loud warning.
“We'll be departing shortly!”
The riverboat owner bowed his head to me.
“Have a good time.”
“Yes.”
As the shopkeeper got off the boat, it immediately set sail.
Since it was nighttime, there were lanterns hanging everywhere, so we had no trouble seeing the moon reflected on the lake.
“If we had a net, we could catch the moon with it.”
“That's true.”
As we enjoyed the scenery, I approached the captain who was steering the boat.
“I understand that your route overlaps significantly with that of Daegunseonjeom.”
“That's correct.”
“You must feel uneasy when you encounter Daegunseonjeom's boat.”
“Not really. The owner said that if they try to overtake us, we should just let them go first. I agree.”
The captain continued seriously.
“In fact, the closest place to death is on this boat. It's only a wooden board that separates life from death, isn't it?”
“That's true.”
“It would be foolish to show competitiveness in a place like this.”
I nodded in agreement.
“I heard that Daegunsunjeon's ships carry too many passengers.”
“They say it happens every time because there are so many people.”
“In that case, where do you think is the most dangerous section of Dongting Lake?”
“There's nowhere far to go. It's there.”
He pointed in front of us with his hand.
“The current is strong there, and it's a section where the boat makes sharp turns. Therefore, all passengers must hold on tightly to the safety bars.”
The captain continued.
“However, if there are many passengers, there won't be enough safety bars for everyone to hold onto, and if the passengers who can't hold onto the safety bars are thrown to the side, the boat will lose its balance.”
“....
”Even so, there can't be any idiots who would load so many passengers that they can't hold onto the safety bars."
Yes, there are.
There is such an idiot.
At that moment.
Ding, ding, ding!
A loud bell rang from behind. When I turned around, I saw a boat similar in size to the one I was on approaching at high speed.
“This is a Daegunsun boat.”
“I see.”
It looked threatening, as if it would ram us if we didn't get out of the way.
The captain smiled bitterly and signaled to the crew, and our boat moved aside.
Looking at the boat passing by, it was obvious that it was carrying a huge number of passengers.
Seeing this, the captain clicked his tongue.
“That ship is carrying more passengers than usual today. That crazy bastard should have jumped in alone if he wanted to become a water ghost! What the ××× is ××× ×××...”
Harsh words came out of the captain's mouth.
“Huh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...”
“No, it's okay. I feel the same way. But don't the captain and crew of that boat know that it's dangerous to carry so many passengers?”
“Of course they know. But what can they do? If they don't do what they're told, who knows what kind of trouble they'll get into.”
“...”
“That's how powerful Daegun Trading Company is in this area. It doesn't matter to me because I'm not one of them. Hahaha.”
He looked at me and said.
“That's why I'm grateful to you. Thank you for not giving up our Chapter rights.”
“Don't mention it. I didn't want to give them up either.”
At that moment, Pal-gap shouted.
“Hey! Something's wrong with that ship.”
We all rushed to the deck and looked ahead.
The ship was rocking heavily.
The water was flowing violently.
It was the sharp turn the captain had mentioned earlier.
“Kaahhh!”
“Ugh!”
People's screams rang out, and before we knew it, the ship had completely capsized and began to slowly sink.
“Oh no! Let's go save them!”
“Of course!”
The captain nodded immediately and steered the ship in that direction.
Those who were familiar with the water jumped into the lake.
When rescuing someone who has fallen into the water, you must not approach them rashly.
This is because they will instinctively flail about, limiting the movements of the person trying to rescue them.
Therefore, I chose to knock them unconscious in order to rescue them as quickly as possible.
Thud!
I pressed their acupoints to knock them unconscious and brought them to our boat.
Those who remained on the boat pulled them up and checked their condition.
Those who had swallowed a lot of water were made to vomit by pressing their chests, and those who had only lost consciousness were laid down comfortably.
I glanced at his armour.
It seemed that he was not exaggerating when he said he was called a catfish in his youth, as he swam around in the water quite quickly.
He had learned martial arts well from Jin-yu, as he was using the same method as me.
Seo-woo, Yeo-eung-am, Lee-pil, and the sailors of Hwari-seonjeom were also busy.
As a result, I thought we had saved everyone who had fallen into the water...
“Oh! My son! I can't see my son In-seon!”
A woman's words caused her husband to panic and look around frantically.
A man raised his hand and said,
“I think I saw a young boy going down toward the fighters earlier.”
I asked him,
“Is that true?”
“Yes!”
The ship had already sunk so far that it was nowhere to be seen.
That meant they would have to dive underwater to search for them, which was difficult unless one was a skilled diver.
Even Seo Woo, an experienced warrior, looked perplexed.
But I was fine.
“I'll go.”
“Liege, it's dangerous.”
I said to Seo Woo, who was trying to stop me.
“I'll be fine.”
Then I sent a telepathic message to Seo Woo.
“I can use the martial arts I've learned.”
“But...”
“We can't just ignore the child, can we? This is an urgent situation.”
“...I will definitely learn martial arts.”
I smiled and jumped into the water.
Then, I used the Mental Technique for Freezing Water that my Master taught me and used the Freezing Water Technique.
I could see a ship sinking below.
I concentrated my ki as I approached the ship.
I could faintly sense a human presence.
It wasn't too late yet.
I hurriedly followed the energy and entered the ship.
Fortunately, I was able to find the child quickly, but he had lost consciousness after drinking too much water.
As I was rushing out of the ship, I saw a rock that looked familiar.
Huh?
It looks similar to the one I saw when I went to the North Sea a while ago.
But now was not the time to check.
I hurriedly took the child out of the water.
“Phew!”
“We're out!”
I handed the child over and climbed back onto the boat. People rushed over and began frantically pressing on the child's chest and slapping his back.
“Ugh!”
Fortunately, the child vomited the water and regained consciousness.
“He's alive. He's alive!”
“Thank goodness!”
“Thank goodness!”
Seeing that, I felt a sense of pride.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
I nodded at Pal-gap's words.
“Yeah, it was really hard.”
At that moment, the child's parents and several other people approached me and bowed their heads.
“Thank you so much.”
“Thank you.”
“Master, you saved my life.”
“As expected of Master Sun-hyuk and Master Dae-hyuk.”
Huh? Where did they get the name Sun-hyuk?
When I turned my head, I saw Pal-gap looking proud.
It was you.
Anyway, I'm glad no one died and everyone was saved.
Phew!
We prevented a martial aunt, and now I have to do my job.
I can't just let this go with the situation as it is.
At that moment, a passenger said to the captain.
“Excuse me, but please take us to Daegun Shipyard.”
“We must file a complaint about this.”
I was skeptical, but I told the captain to do as they wished.
Because their anger was necessary for what came next.