Chapter 416
The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company Chapter 416
Chapter 416. A New Start for Yangyang Martial Arts Academy (2)
His face turned red as he listened to me, and he shouted, “What the hell are you talking about?
And show me proof that this contract is genuine!”
“I just told you. It was notarized by Lord Jihyeon.”
“How much did you pay to get this ridiculous contract notarized?”
Now you're showing your true colors.
The polite attitude you had toward me just a moment ago is nowhere to be found.
“And what is your relationship with Yangyang Martial Arts Academy that you are getting involved in this?”
“We have a very special relationship. Don't you know that? Didn't you send someone to watch me when I was at the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy?”
“....”
“Are you saying that Jihyeon is a corrupt official who takes bribes?”
“Of course, he gratefully accepted the bribes I gave him....”
“You gave him bribes?”
“...!”
He paused for a moment, then came out with a counterattack.
“What are you talking about? Everyone who needs to know already knows, doesn't they?”
“So you're saying you can't return the land?”
“Hmph! How can I trust Ji-hyun's certification?”
“Then whose certification do you need to believe?”
“If it's certified by the imperial court, then maybe.”
Hearing that, I smiled and took something out of my pocket.
“I knew you would say that, so I brought this.”
I unfolded it and placed it on the table.
“This is certified by the Minister of Justice.”
“...!”
At my words, silence fell over the reception room of the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy.
The first to react was Principal Yeom.
“Is that really from the Minister of Revenue?”
“Yes.”
Seong Jang-ju's mouth fell open.
Huhuhu.
You're very surprised, aren't you?
When Ji-hyun got this document notarized, he cautiously expressed his concerns.
“Actually, the Dao family is very powerful in Hangzhou. So, I often have to listen to them without saying a word. The same goes for you, Chairman. Therefore, it would be better to get this notarized by someone higher up.”
So, he had the contract notarized by the Minister of the Household Affairs earlier.
He was glad he listened to Jihyun's advice.
Ho Bu-shirang is the second-in-command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The reliability of his certification is almost the highest level.
Even the village head would not dare to argue with him.
To be honest, I wanted to get the certification from the Minister of Internal Affairs, but he is a very busy man.
“Please settle everything and return it to me within five days.”
“Then what about the tavern building? I paid for that building with my own money!”
“Of course it must be demolished.”
“What?”
“The former Yangyang Martial Arts Academy building was also built with the academy's money. You demolished that, so is there a law that says you can't demolish the tavern building because it belongs to the chairman?”
I slapped my knee and said.
“Ah! Come to think of it, you received demolition costs for tearing down the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy, right? Then you can either give us the demolition costs or have the city lord tear it down.”
When the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy was demolished, we received thirty nyang in demolition costs.
If a one-story building like the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy cost that much, tearing down an eight-story tavern building would cost several times that amount.
Moreover, as it is a high-rise building, it will cost much more.
The Chairman must have calculated that much, which is why his face turned pale.
“But where would I get that kind of money...?”
“Why not? You say you don't have money, Chairman? Even the ants passing by would laugh at you.”
Ah, he really might not have it.
That's why he rushed over here to sell Kahoru to me.
He may have a lot of land, but what he needs right now is cash.
You need cash flow to be a healthy rich man, but that wasn't the case for Chairman Sung.
“Please make a decision quickly. We are busy.”
“Please... consider my situation.”
“Didn't you take the martial arts academy into consideration? Didn't you tell them to leave in the cold winter?”
At my words, the chairman's lips closed, and his head gradually dropped.
I watched him and leisurely drank my tea.
It was time to get to the point.
“How about this?”
“...?”
“Just give us the tavern building. It's been a year, but it's still a new building, so it would be a waste to tear it down, wouldn't it?”
“That's true.”
“So let us just use the building.”
“You mean you're going to take my tavern building for free?”
“Then you can give us the demolition costs or demolish it yourselves.”
After thinking about my words for a moment, Chairman Sung sighed and said.
“I understand. I will do that.”
“You made the right decision.”
With that, Chairman Sung left the martial arts academy, looking as if he had lost everything.
“Is it over now?”
I nodded in response to Yeom's question.
“Yes.”
He would try to fight back to keep his tavern, but my plan would prevent him from doing so.
“But why didn't you give it to him?”
Yeom was pointing at several other pieces of paper.
They were letters left by the previous chairman, Sung Ji-myeong, to his son, along with the actual contract.
I smiled bitterly and shook my head.
“Even if you give this to him now, he won't listen to the words of the previous chairman written here.”
“Then when?”
“The time will come soon.”
* *
Sung Jang-ju returned home.
“How did it go?”
The person who was waiting for him the most was the chief administrator.
However, he did not hear the answer he wanted to hear.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Why did my father leave such a contract! Damn it!”
“What?”
“It means that the land and buildings in Kahoru are no longer ours.”
“Then, will Eunseoho, the junior captain, take it over?”
“Ha! Would I look like this if that were the case?”
The chief administrator flinched at his words.
His face literally showed that he had lost everything.
“Your father left a contract for the land of the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy. Ha ha ha.”
The Chairman of the Seong Clan laughed in disbelief and explained the whole story.
It was something he should have known about.
“Is that what happened? Huh...”
After sighing for a moment, the Chief Administrator opened his mouth after much deliberation.
“Did you say that the contract was notarized by the Minister of Justice?”
“That's right.”
“Then let's file an appeal.”
“An appeal?”
“Yes. As far as I know, when something unreasonable happens, you can file an appeal through Jihyeon, and it will be reviewed again, so there is a possibility that you will be vindicated.”
“Oh! That's a good idea! Let's go to Jihyeon right away.”
Seong Jang's face brightened, and he hurried to the provincial office to meet Jihyeon.
“I know about that. I certified that the contract is genuine.”
“Are you sure it's genuine?”
“Yes.”
“How much did he give you to do this?”
“Whoa! Watch your mouth. How could you say that about him?”
“Him?”
Ji-hyun changed the subject, looking flustered.
“Um, anyway, I don't understand why you came here, Chairman. You have the contract right here, so why are you being so stubborn?”
“If you keep this up, you'll have to give back everything I've given you so far.”
“Ugh!”
Ji-hyun looked troubled at those words. That was because he had received quite a lot from him.
However, he hadn't received anything since he was caught by Eun Seo-ho.
But suddenly, he felt angry.
His opponent was only a chairman, while he was a government official appointed by the emperor.
“Are you threatening me?”
“Threatening... Yes, that's right.”
“Well, I did take some of your money. But am I the only one who will die?”
“....”
Seong Jang-ju was speechless.
This was because not only the recipient of a bribe, but also the giver was punished.
“There is no business here. Please leave.”
With that order to leave, Seong Jang-ju had no choice but to leave the county office.
“Damn it!”
Gritting his teeth, Seong Jang-ju glanced at the county office and thought.
“I'll have to ask the other chairmen for help. Even if he acts tough like that, if the other chairmen join forces, he won't be able to prevent me from submitting my petition.”
Seong Jang-ju said to his attendant.
“Let's go to Ma Jang-ju.”
“Yes.”
Seong Jang-ju was on his way to Ma Jang-ju when a sudden thought stopped him in his tracks.
“He agreed to give us a tenth of his business profits for ten years. There was only one condition. He had to protect the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy!”
Given the special relationship between Eun Seo-ho and the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy, it was reasonable to set such a condition.
However, for some reason, Eun Seo-ho seemed to have seen something more and set such a condition.
Could he have predicted this and recruited the chairmen in such a way?
Cold sweat poured down Seong Jang-hoo's back.
At the same time, he remembered his father's last words.
“Joon-ah, if you want our family to continue for a long time, don't get involved in entertainment businesses, whether it's taverns or anything else. Our family is not capable of handling such businesses.”
Now he understood.
He understood why his father had left him such a message.
His father had long ago foreseen that the Seoho chairmen would be unable to maintain their businesses and would have to hand them over to someone else.
He didn't want the Seoho family to find themselves in such a difficult situation.
That's why he didn't say, “You are not capable of running such a business,” but rather, “Our family is not capable of running such a business.”
“Father...”
Only then did Sung regret his decision.
But there was nothing he could do now.
* * *
The next day.
In the morning, I headed to the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy to discuss the Sect Leader of Emei with Yeom Kwan-ju.
While we were discussing, a disciple of the martial arts academy came and announced that we had a visitor.
“A visitor?”
“Yes. Seong Jang-ju is here.”
What could it be?
I tilted my head and told him to show him into the reception room.
As we were not on very friendly terms, we did not exchange long greetings.
“We met yesterday, and now we meet again. What brings you here?”
At Yeom Kwan-ju's words, Sung Jang-ju rose from his seat and bowed his head to him.
“I'm sorry for what happened.”
“What?”
His behavior was so unexpected that I was taken aback for a moment.
“I was blinded by my own stubbornness and indulged in unreasonable desires. As a result, I did something that a martial arts academy should not do. My father told me to treat the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy well, saying that they were our family's benefactors.”
“...”
I calmed myself down and looked into Chairman Sung's eyes.
For some reason, his eyes seemed clear.
“I have no right to that land. I lost it because of my own mistake, so who can I blame?”
I even sensed a hint of sadness.
“Therefore, I will officially recognize that land as belonging to Yangyang Martial Arts Academy. I will also give up my rights to the building. It may sound shameless, but please consider the building as an apology for my mistake.”
I tested him a little.
“That is a big decision. Honestly, won't that be a considerable loss for you, Chairman?”
“It's not okay. It hurts quite a bit. But what can I do? What's done is done.”
He was truly remorseful.
“My late father told me not to get involved in the entertainment business. But I ended up doing it anyway. So I'm going to think of this as punishment for disobeying my father's wishes.”
He continued.
"Anyway, I'll clean up the tavern within three days. However, may I sell the furnishings inside? It's the only way I can give my employees a little money, so I hope you understand.“
”Of course, you may do so.“
The building is important, not the furnishings.
To be honest, the furnishings inside Kahoru were for running a tavern, so they are overly luxurious and useless to martial arts academy students.
”Thank you."
With that, the chairman stood up.
I knew that it was time to hand him the letter left by his father.
“Chairman.”
“Is there anything else you need to say?”
“Actually, we found something else in the place where the previous chairman kept the real contract.”
I handed him the envelope.
“Actually, there was no envelope, but I put it in one so that you could keep the letter safely.”
“Why did you wait so long?”
“I thought you wouldn't tear up the letter now. It is a precious memento of your late father. You must treat it with care.”
Seong Jang-ju smiled bitterly at my words.
He knew that I was right.
“Thank you.”
Seong Jang-ju bowed to me and left the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy.
* * *
Seong Jang-ju returned to his home and let out a sigh.
Once he had sorted out his thoughts, he felt refreshed.
He took the letter he had received from Eun Seo-ho out of his pocket.
The first sentence of the letter made him feel ashamed.
“My son, Jun. When you read this letter, you will probably have acted on your own without listening to me and gotten yourself into serious trouble.”
Every word was a rebuke.
Each sentence pierced his heart and caused him pain.
“As Captain Eun Seo-ho said, in the old country, I would have torn this letter up.”
[Finally, if you have decided not to take my words lightly, I will give you another chance to live a righteous life. Look for a stone turtle statue in the middle of the pond in the garden.
He tilted his head, got up from his seat, and headed for the garden.
The pond in the garden was only waist-deep, so he could easily enter it alone.
He could have asked a servant or attendant to do it, but since it was his father's will, he entered the pond himself.
He found the stone turtle statue in the middle of the pond and lifted it up.
“Huh!”
The moment he saw what was hidden underneath, he gasped and stopped breathing.