Chapter 8
The Youngest Son of Eunhaesang Trading Company Chapter 8
Chapter 8. Stop the Fire at Jaegyeong Hall (4)
Ajakwon responded to my words.
“No! If you betray them...”
“Ajakwon, you have already betrayed Eunhaesang Trading Company. What's wrong with betraying them one more time?”
“...”
“And betraying them now is also a way to atone for betraying Eunhaesang Trading Company.”
I looked him straight in the eye and asked.
“And will they really keep their promise?”
“...”
My words made A-gakwon's eyes flicker.
He was trying to guess the fate of himself and his family.
However, this was all he could cling to, so he was acting this way.
“You know, A-Gakwon, what are the two things that are most important to the Eunhae Trading Company?”
He nodded and replied in a trembling voice.
“People and trust.”
“Yes, that's right. Don't you trust us?”
“....”
“Then this is a serious matter. A member of the Eunhae Trading Company does not trust the Eunhae Trading Company.”
I asked again.
“Have you ever been late with your monthly payment?”
“... No.”
“Have you ever been denied vacation?”
“No.”
“And yet you don't trust us?”
There was a moment of silence.
A-gakwon asked cautiously.
“Are you really able to protect your family...?”
His words were long.
He was beginning to be persuaded.
I felt grateful to my father and ancestors who had built up trust over the years.
It was because of that trust that my words were being accepted.
“Yes. I promise. I will protect your family.”
A-gakwon's family was innocent.
But A-gakwon was not.
Regardless of the reason, he was an attempted arsonist.
Still, he didn't actually commit arson, so there was room for leniency.
“That's the chapter. Give it to me.”
“...”
“Come on.”
After repeated urging, A-Gak-won handed me the paper with trembling hands, and I took it.
Then, I breathed a sigh of relief and patted my chest.
At that moment, the members of the Eunpungdae entered the document storage room.
“Young master. Are you all right?”
A man standing in front of the Eunpungdae members asked me. I knew him.
His name was Jeong Chung.
He was one of the leaders of the Eunpungdae.
He would later become a Vice Captain.
I was glad to see him, but I didn't show it and just nodded.
“Yes, I'm fine.”
I said to the female officer behind me.
“You arrived much faster than I expected.”
“When you asked me to call the Eunpungdae, you looked very serious. So I requested backup as quickly as possible, but why are you here, Officer A?”
I glanced at Officer A, who was trembling beside me, and said.
“He is an attempted arsonist.”
“What?”
Everyone looked surprised at my words.
Jeong-chung quickly regained his composure and shouted to his team members.
“He's an arsonist! Handcuff him!”
“Yes!”
I said to Jeong-chung.
“He is an important witness. Please do not treat him roughly. And send Eunpungdae to protect A Gakwon's family.”
“What?”
Jeong Chung tilted his head at my question, and I continued.
“I promised him.”
At my words, A-Gakwon's eyes reddened, and he began to cry softly.
“Where are your family members now? Please tell me.”
* * *
The small meeting room of Eunhae Trading Company.
The members of Eunhae Trading Company's Eunwol Association were sitting there.
Captain Eun Gil-sang, Chief Administrator and Finance Director Yoo So-ak, Captain Eun Pyeong and External Administrator Go Il-pyeong, and even the Third and Fourth Directors.
These five people were the members of the Eunwook Association.
Eun Gil-sang sighed and said,
“What on earth is going on...?”
In response to his words, Chief Administrator Yoo So-ak said,
“Still, we are very fortunate. If that place had burned down... I don't even want to imagine it.”
You So-ak's face was filled with anger as he said this.
Seeing this, the others shuddered without realizing it.
One of the things You So-ak hated most was being disturbed while sleeping.
Even if it was for a valid reason, it couldn't be helped, but whoever was responsible would have to face Yoo So-ak's wrath.
“Hm, hm, but Seoho Dao has done a great job.”
Go Il-pyeong quickly changed the subject.
The Chief Administrator of Eunhae Trading Company was also the Captain of Eunpungdae and was responsible for external matters.
He was such a formidable master that he was called “One Sword Shakes the Sky” because the sky would tremble with a single swing of his sword.
He was also the martial arts teacher of the brothers Eun Jeong-ho and Eun Jin-ho.
Eun Gil-sang cleared his throat at Go Il-pyeong's words.
“Hm, hm, hm. He may be my son, but he deserves praise.”
“But... how did you know about this and stop it?”
Se-poong-gak asked.
His name was Jeok-byeong-cheol.
He was a middle-aged man with a quiet personality who did not like to stand out.
He took care of every detail of the Trading Company's affairs, and knowing that the company would not run smoothly without him, he had considerable influence.
The head of Sangyugak replied to his words.
“I heard a rough explanation, but I don't know the details...”
Sangyugak was in charge of everything related to commerce, such as selecting and distributing goods.
It is the pride of the Eunhae Trading Company.
The head of Sangyugak is a middle-aged woman named Yeon Dam-mi.
She is a strong woman who overcame numerous difficulties to bring the Eunhae Trading Company to its current position.
Eun Gil-sang replied to them.
“The parties involved will be here soon, so we can ask them.”
Just then, Eun Seo-ho and Yeo Chang-ui announced their arrival, and the door opened.
The two bowed to the five men.
Eun Gil-sang accepted their greetings and invited them to sit down, and they sat in front of him.
“First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for your help. Thanks to you, I was able to avoid a martial aunt.”
Eun Gil-sang waved his hand dismissively.
“All I did was call Eunpoongdae.”
“That was a big help. Come to think of it, I'm curious. How did you know there was sleeping pills in the car and not drink it?”
Yeo Chang-ui answered the question.
“It was thanks to Eun Seo-ho's keen eyes.”
Hearing that, Eun Gil-sang said to Eun Seo-ho, who was sitting next to him.
“Yes, I heard that you prevented a martial aunt. What happened?”
“Yes, Father. I will tell you.”
Eun Seo-ho took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
“Today, I was assigned to take the night shift on behalf of Minister In Dae-soo. So, I went to the Sammi Restaurant with Minister Ye Chang and had dinner, then returned to the night shift room. But something was strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“First, the lights in the duty room were on. As you know, Chief Administrator and Chief Administrator, there are many vehicles around the Jaegyeong Hall, so we are trained to always turn off the lights when we leave.”
Eun Gil-sang and Yoo So-ak nodded at Eun Seo-ho's words.
Eun Gil-sang knew this because he had experience working at the Jaegyeonggak, and Yoo So-ak knew this because he was the chief administrator in charge of the Jaegyeonggak.
However,
“Would you normally think something was suspicious just by seeing that?
It may be the habit of the Jaegyeonggak officials, but did you notice that in just ten days?”
The people there glanced at each other. They realized that they were thinking the same thing.
Eun Seo-ho continued his explanation.
“And there was a strange mark on the spout of the teapot. Upon closer inspection, it was a mark left by ink-stained hands.”
“What's strange about that? Someone else could have touched it when they were about to drink the tea.”
“If that were the case, there would only be stains on the handle and the top of the lid.”
Eun Seo-ho pretended to pour tea and said.
“When pouring tea, you don't hold the lid with your hand to prevent it from falling off.”
“Ah!”
“That means you opened the lid... Don't you only open it when there's no tea left?”
“That's right.”
“But isn't it possible that the tea was already empty when you brought it just before starting your night shift? That would mean someone opened the lid.”
“There's no way the servants and maids working in the tea room would have ink on their hands...”
Eun Seo-ho's grandfather, Eun Ji-bong, was very particular about tea.
Thanks to that, the tea business flourished.
Not satisfied with that, he built a tea room within the Trading Company and hired people to specialize in managing and studying tea.
That is still the case today, and those who work there must always keep themselves clean.
This was because Eun Ji-bong firmly believed that if the people who handled tea were not clean, the taste of the tea would change.
Therefore, if they failed Eun Ji-bong's surprise inspection, they would be severely punished.
That is why the employees of the tea room wash their hands to the point of being pathological.
It is impossible that they opened the tea lid with ink-stained hands.
“Is that how you noticed?”
“Yes. So I followed the tea and looked into the cup, and there was something strange, like white powder, mixed in. So I wrote a note to Yeochang's secretary telling him not to drink it and pretended to fall asleep.”
“Hmm...”
“Then someone ran carefully to the document storage room. So I asked Yeochang's secretary to call the Eunpung guards.”
“I see.”
Eun Gil-sang and the others nodded.
However, their thoughts were different.
“He is my son, but he is truly amazing!”
“He is very clever.”
“The future of the Trading Company is bright.”
“He is a young master with great potential.”
“Someone like him should learn martial arts...”
Eun Gil-sang continued.
“But why did you go after the criminal yourself?”
Eun Seo-ho looked puzzled at the question.
“Isn't it natural for me to go? I am the son of the captain and the successor of the Eunhae Trading Company.”
The five men, who had been through many trials and tribulations, were stunned by his answer.
It was a completely unexpected answer.
Eun Gil-sang quickly regained his composure and cleared his throat.
“Hm, hm, I understand how you feel, but that was too reckless. What if he had a weapon? What would you have done then?”
“Still, as the successor to the Trading Company, how could I just stand by and watch something like this happen?”
Eun Seo-ho continued cautiously.
“But it's also true that my actions caused my father to worry. I'm sorry.”
“Yes, be careful next time.”
“Yes. And unexpectedly, he had another chapter, so I made a deal to protect his family in order to appease him. Honestly, it was his fault for gambling and trying to set the place on fire, but his family is innocent.”
Eun Seo-ho bowed his head again and apologized.
“I'm sorry for making a decision without your permission.”
“No. You did well.”
Eun Gil-sang said.
“As you said, that family is innocent. And aren't you glad that you were able to negotiate and prevent a fire? I heard that oil was poured there. If a fire had broken out... Just thinking about it makes my heart sink.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The place where Asung Gakwon had tried to set fire was called the “red bookshelf” among the document storage rooms.
It was a place where very important documents were stored.
That meant that there were no copies of those documents.
The most important documents in a trading company are contracts and delivery confirmation documents.
This is because they were stamped with the seals of both parties.
The authenticity of the documents was verified with the seals, and the transactions were also proven.
Eun Gil-sang picked up the documents in front of him.
“Hwaryeonru...”
Hwaryeonru was originally a small brothel, but it grew rapidly thanks to the advice of Eun Gil-sang's grandfather.
It was converted into a brothel and employed many talented geisha.
Thanks to this connection, Eunhae Trading Company and Hwaryeonru had been doing business together for decades.
However, that relationship was now coming to an end.
“It seems that the owner of Hwaryeonru was desperate. How could he do such a thing?”
Chief administrator Go Il-pyeong's words made internal administrator Yoo So-ak explode with anger.
“If he had time for that, he should have found a way to pay for the goods!
At that moment, Eun Seo-ho cautiously stepped forward.
”Father, I have a question.“
”What is it?“
”What do you mean, money to pay for the goods? Are we in arrears?"