Chapter 353
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 353
Chapter 353. What Will Happen (4)
As soon as the Imperial Investigator stepped down in front of the emperor, he asked Master Jin for his cooperation.
“We must go to the study immediately, seize the evidence, and arrest the person who built the building. I ask for your cooperation.”
“I understand.”
“By the way, where are the people who wrote this report?”
Master Jin answered his question.
“They are locked in my house. I'm afraid they might reveal information.”
“You did well.”
“Then I will immediately lead my men and the imperial guards to the study.”
Half an hour later.
“All officials of the study hall, come out immediately!”
“Stop all work immediately!”
“If you try anything funny, you will be considered guilty of disobeying the emperor's orders!”
The officials of the study hall were startled by the fierce command and did not know what to do.
Then, they were chased out of the study hall by the imperial guards who rushed in.
“What on earth is going on...?”
“Isn't it because of the building collapse?”
“But there weren't any problems with the paperwork, were there?”
“That's right.”
“By the way, why haven't Son and Pung returned from their business trip?”
“Could they be eating something delicious?”
“Would Captain Eun do that?”
“...I suppose so.”
Due to Eun Seo-ho's coercion, Captain Son Myeong and Mr. Pung Do, who had gone on a business trip, had not yet returned, so they did not know the details of the situation.
That was why they were still unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
At that moment, the officials of the Daochao Office rushed in. The head official at the front stuck a red piece of paper on the door leading to the study.
[Sealed]
The words written on the red paper meant that all persons involved were prohibited from entering.
If anyone entered, they would be severely punished for disobeying the emperor's orders.
Under normal circumstances, an entire department would not be sealed off.
Only then did the officials of the study hall begin to realize the seriousness of the situation.
From somewhere, I could smell the strong stench of blood.
Sealing off an entire department by imperial order meant that anywhere from a few to hundreds of people could be killed.
At that moment, a group of people approached.
They were Royal Guards.
“You men, follow me.”
“...”
And so, they were imprisoned in a pavilion.
The officials began to search the study thoroughly.
They did not just look at the documents, but also visited each house with the documents to check whether the construction inspection had been carried out properly.
In the process, they discovered a fact.
“The owner of these houses is Eunhae Trading Company?”
“Yes, to be precise, they were purchased by the captain of Eunseoho.”
“He bought all these houses in just a few days! He must be very wealthy.”
“He wouldn't be the captain of one of the 100 greatest trading companies in the world for nothing.”
“Still, it seems he couldn't escape misfortune. Tell him to come take a look around here.”
“Yes.”
The man who delivered the message returned a short while later and said, scratching his ear.
“He said he'll come take a look in a few days.”
“Why?”
“He said he feels a little uneasy. He wants to wait a few days to see if anything happens.”
“Something might happen?”
“The captain said that all the houses he bought were built at the same time. And more than half of them were built by O-Gul-Gon.”
“That's a coincidence.”
“Wasn't there a big fire back then, so all the houses in this area were built at the same time? It seems that they bought mainly houses built by O-Gul-Gon.”
“Ah! I remember. There was such a thing.”
He nodded his head.
“What shall we do?”
“Hmm, let's investigate in a few days, as he said.”
Actually, he was going to ignore it.
However, there must be a reason why the emperor was concerned about it. Therefore, they decided to do as Eun Seo-ho said.
The next day
they heard that another house had collapsed during the night. It was one of the mansions owned by Eun Seo-ho.
“Captain Eun was right.”
“Yes...”
They talked about it and left for their business trip. Today's destination was near the mansion that had collapsed.
They found parts that were different from the blueprints and shook their heads in disbelief.
“This is too much.”
“You're right.”
“It's obvious that this is different from the blueprints, but they still approved the construction?”
“Ugh! These guys!”
The Dao officials seemed to know what was going on.
“Let's go to the next house.”
“Where was the next one?”
It was when they were heading to the next house.
Kwak!
Ugh!
A loud noise came from right next to them. And then.
Wah!
Dust flew everywhere, and the Dao officials were stunned.
“That place...”
“That's one of the buildings we need to investigate.”
“If things had gone as planned, we could have been inside there right now.”
“...”
They didn't say it, but they were all thinking the same thing.
“If we had been inside there...”
Cold sweat ran down their backs, and the thrill of nearly dying under the building quickly turned to anger.
“I'll get them!”
“These bastards! They're all dead!”
* * *
Ogelgeon.
The place was in chaos.
Two of the buildings they had built collapsed.
The head of the trading company remembered that place.
There was no way he could forget it.
It was a large-scale construction project, and it was where he had made the most money at one time.
He had used the money he had obtained by cheating on the materials and designs to invest in other businesses.
Thanks to that, he grew into a well-known trading company in Beijing, and the captain's family lived a life of luxury.
“What should we do?”
When the manager panicked, the captain severely reprimanded him.
“What can we do? It's been ten years! How can we prove that it was our fault now?”
“But...”
“The officials will cover it up. That's what we paid them for.”
“That may be true, but...”
“Unless several of the buildings we built collapse at once, do you think the heavy imperial palace will move?”
“...”
“So we are not at fault!”
“Yes, I understand.”
However, less than an hour later, news came that another building had collapsed.
“This is dangerous...”
He was well aware of the durability of those buildings because he had been involved in the evil energy himself.
They looked fine on the outside, but they were rotten to the core, so they would collapse if they received a big shock.
It would be like the shock of a neighboring house collapsing.
Feeling a sense of foreboding, he told his family to gather their valuables and pack their bags in advance.
He had to be ready to flee at a moment's notice.
However, his plan was thwarted from the start. The imperial guards surrounded Ogeol-sang.
“No! Why are you stopping us from leaving?”
“To prevent the escape of a potential criminal.”
“Criminal? What crime have we committed?”
“Be quiet.”
“No! You can't do this!”
The captain begged, threatened to call influential people, and even tried to bribe them with money.
However, none of his methods worked.
He felt his lips becoming dry.
“I think they've found out...”
Otherwise, the imperial guards would not have surrounded the trading company.
As the imperial guards continued to keep watch, the captain made a decision.
He would use the secret passageway he had prepared for just such an occasion.
As the head of a trading company specializing in construction, he was also knowledgeable about architecture.
That was why he had secretly built a secret passageway in his quarters at the O-Gul Trading Company for emergencies.
Late at night, he called his family members to his room.
He pushed his bed aside, revealing a wooden door.
He opened the door and said to his family, “Hurry up and get in. You too.”
“Hurry up and get in! You too, hurry up and get in.”
“Yes.”
They entered the secret passageway and walked down the solid stone steps.
After walking down into the basement for a while, they walked on, relying on torches.
After walking for a while, they came to a staircase and climbed up it.
Soon, they arrived at a door leading outside.
“Phew, we're here. Let's get out.”
The Captain broke the door lock with the hammer he was holding and opened the door.
Squeak.
Then, they felt the fresh, cold night air.
“Phew, let's take a break...”
However, he couldn't finish his sentence.
Suddenly, the area around them became bright.
Dozens of torches surrounded them.
“I thought so. It was real.”
A cold voice reached their ears.
In front of them stood Jin-yeong, wearing golden armor.
“Ugh!”
Seeing this, the captain collapsed to the ground.
* *
After eating breakfast and returning to my office, I suddenly looked out the window and fell into thought.
I wonder if they've been caught by now?
In my previous life, the captain's family fled in the middle of the night.
It was later revealed that they had a secret passage.
So, I told Master Jin about the secret passage.
“What I learned while working for the Trading Company is that people with something to hide always make an escape route.”
“An escape route?”
“Yes. And it's usually something they're good at.”
“That man is skilled in architecture... Ah! A secret passage!”
“I think so too.”
I don't know the exact location, but Master Jin-yeong will know what to do.
A voice interrupted my thoughts.
“I've finished organizing these documents.”
“Thank you.”
As expected, Ja-ryeong... No, Young Mistress Seo-hyang is incredibly talented.
“Liege, you have a visitor.”
At that moment, I tilted my head at the voice of Seo Woo, who was standing guard outside my office.
“A guest?”
The door opened and Seo Woo entered.
“The Clan Head of the Kyung family wishes to see you.”
Where is the Kyung family?
After thinking for a moment, I remembered that it was the original owner of one of the mansions I had purchased.
What could it be?
“Please ask him to come to the reception room.”
At my words, Seo Woo bowed with his hands clasped and opened the door and left.
I adjusted my clothes and headed for the reception room.
“Please come in. I apologize for keeping you waiting.”
“No, I'm sorry for calling you out when you're so busy.”
We exchanged polite greetings, and a maid in the reception room served us tea.
“What brings you here?”
“I heard the news. The mansion I sold you collapsed.”
“Yes... I heard.”
“In a way, I sold you a house with defects. I feel I should return at least half of the money I received for the house, so I came here.”
“....”
For a moment, I was speechless. It was something I had not expected at all.
“Why are you doing this?”
“It's just... I'm surprised. This is the first time someone has come to see me like this.”
He nodded as if he understood.
“It's human nature to be greedy. But thanks to Captain Soda's order to vacate the house quickly, my family and I were able to save our lives. In a way, you saved our lives, so how could I not come to see you? I'm sorry I can't give you back all the money.”
What I learned while I was in the upper world is that the more money you have, the more greedy you become.
The same goes for Dao.
He must have been even more greedy because it was a large building.
By the way, the price of the mansion I bought from him was 1,000 nyang.
It was originally 500 nyang, but I paid double the market price because I needed to vacate the house urgently.
Half of a thousand pieces of silver is five hundred pieces of silver.
That's a considerable amount of money, and he's going to give it back?
He took the receipt out of his pocket and placed it on the table. It's the receipt I gave him.
My goodness... There are people like this in the world.
I don't really know what he's thinking. There's a saying that you can't judge a book by its cover, right?
He may have truly felt that way and returned the 500 nyang to me, or he may have sold a house with defects and wanted to prevent any problems in the future.
Sigh, I am also at fault for not accepting people's kindness at face value.
This is because there are many people who will take advantage of you if they see any weakness.
Still, I couldn't help but be impressed.
Whatever the reason, it's amazing that he actually did it.
And it's worth getting to know people like this.
I wonder what this person was like in his previous life...
At that time, the emperor was in a state of confusion, and the bereaved families were in an uproar, so the emperor personally held a joint funeral.
There was one place where an unusually large number of people came to pay their respects.
It was where the memorial tablet of the Clan Head of the Kyung family, who is now sitting in front of me, was placed.
And people blamed the heavens for why such a good person had to die in such a tragic accident.
At that time, I didn't know the Clan Head of the Kyung family in front of me, but I understood why people said that.
If he was such a good person, I should have been closer to him.
I pushed the receipt toward him and said, “No, please keep this.”
“No, take it.”
“Come on, take it.”
“I can't accept it. You know there's something wrong with the house, don't you?”
“I didn't know. If I had known, I would have left right away.”
“That's right.”
“But my conscience won't let me take it all.”
“No, take it back.”
We argued back and forth, but couldn't come to a conclusion.
“Then let's do this. I'll consider these 500 nyos as an investment in our Trading Company.”
A person like him deserves to be called a gentleman.