Hwi was sincerely moved.
He was grateful that Geom Mugeuk was willing to share the money with him, and grateful as well to the Cult Master, who had ordered him to accept it.
He was even grateful that Geom Mugeuk had called him the bodyguard with the highest price tag. He had thought he was not a vain man, but seeing how good those words made him feel, perhaps he had possessed some vanity after all.
But of all these pleasant things, what he was most grateful for was the Cult Master’s final remark.
‘So make sure you get as much as possible.’
It was a statement utterly unfitting for the Cult Master. Asking someone for money—and telling them to get as much as possible—was not something one would expect from a man like him. Yet the Cult Master had said it for his sake.
Yong Jamyeong felt the same sentiment.
If the man had been greedy for money, he would have come looking for him several times by now.
Yet this same man had boldly told him to get as much money as possible for his subordinate.
Yong Jamyeong looked back and forth between Geom Ujin and Geom Mugeuk. Every moment spent with them was new and astonishing. The Young Cult Master’s answer alone proved that. Before meeting them, could he ever have imagined that the Young Cult Master would give such an answer?
“Don’t worry. Who am I? Am I not the embodiment of avarice? I’ll make sure to get every last penny.”
After Geom Ujin nodded, he spoke to Yong Jamyeong.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, Cult Master.”
Leaving Geom Mugeuk behind, Geom Ujin and Yong Jamyeong began walking again.
Yong Jamyeong turned around.
Before he knew it, Geom Mugeuk was walking in the opposite direction. Unlike the playful figure he had shown moments ago, his back looked calm and composed.
When Yong Jamyeong turned forward again, Geom Ujin had already walked some distance ahead.
Yong Jamyeong quickened his pace and walked alongside him.
“I must have seen more incarnations of avarice than anyone else in my life. But that’s the first time I’ve seen one with such clear eyes.”
At Yong Jamyeong’s joke, Geom Ujin said nothing and simply continued walking, but Yong Jamyeong could feel it. The man was proud of his son. He had sensed it once during their earlier conversation, and now he sensed it again.
That meant Geom Ujin did not hide such feelings from him.
Yong Jamyeong thought that this emotion must be much the same as the honest sentiment Geom Ujin had revealed when he said he would not pass his family business on to his child.
Who could he show such feelings to?
To someone who would not carelessly repeat whatever he said, of course.
The trust required to share private and secret matters had little to do with how long one had known the other.
There were people one could trust after meeting them for only a day, while there were others to whom one could hardly open one’s mouth even after ten years.
Yong Jamyeong was happy to know that the Cult Master trusted him.
It was a trust they could feel without having to speak of it.
It was the kind of connection one might encounter only once or twice in an entire lifetime. He had liked the Cult Master from the beginning, but after feeling this as well, Yong Jamyeong came to like Geom Ujin even more.
Perhaps he had been lonely.
In all his years as the greatest merchant under heaven, he had never had anyone to whom he could comfortably voice his worries apart from matters of profit and connections, nor anyone on whom he could comfortably rely.
He had lived a life in which, whenever he looked at someone, his first thought was always, What does that person want this time?
And this Heavenly Demon had come to him—not merely as a benefactor anymore, but like an elder brother.
As they walked, the two men talked about this and that.
They had each reached the pinnacle of their respective fields. And not just any fields—the ends of all human desire: power and money.
The pinnacle of pinnacles.
Perhaps that was why they conversed so well.
He had thought the Demonic Cult Master would be nothing but taciturn, but that was not so. Whenever he had something to say, he said it readily, and he even asked questions.
They spoke of children, the merchant world, the martial world, and how Yong Jamyeong had felt when he received the Cult Master’s personally written letter. They talked without noticing the passage of time.
Yong Jamyeong thought this would be the last time in his life he would have the chance to take a walk while exchanging idle conversation with the Heavenly Demon. So he treasured this moment.
In the meantime, they arrived at the marketplace, and Geom Ujin stopped for a while to watch the people coming and going.
“Do you know what my son wants most from me on this journey?”
“What is it?”
“To stand here and watch the people.”
Yong Jamyeong looked at Geom Ujin with an expression asking what he meant, but Geom Ujin offered no answer. After a long while, Yong Jamyeong heard Geom Ujin murmur quietly.
“Indeed…”
He could not tell what words had been left unsaid after that “indeed.”
* * *
The next day, Geum Arin came to see Geom Mugeuk again.
“Let’s talk.”
“Very well.”
Geom Mugeuk did not invite her inside. He came out instead.
The last time, she had walked some distance away from him. Today, she walked a little closer, showing that her wariness had lessened.
Instead of heading toward the marketplace, they went in the opposite direction, toward the fields.
The fields stretched through the wide-open view all the way to the distant horizon.
The two of them stood silently for a long time, watching the grass and crops sway in the wind.
The first to speak was Geum Arin.
“Two million nyang is too much.”
She was asking him to lower the price. Geom Mugeuk could tell that she had made up her mind. Things were proceeding according to plan.
“It’s too much for anyone, not just you. That’s also why we joined hands with the Eunha Merchant Guild.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Geum Arin reluctantly spoke. It was something she did not want to say, but there was no helping it now.
“If you lower it, we can manage.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled.
“You mean you want me to lower it by about one million nine hundred seventy thousand nyang?”
He was joking about the thirty thousand nyang he had returned to her last time.
“Do it for one million nyang.”
One million nyang. She had come in asking him to cut the price in half. If he considered only the plan to infiltrate the heart of their organization, he could lower it, but unfortunately for Geom Mugeuk, he had been given the supreme mission of extracting as much as possible.
“Didn’t I tell you? We need a justification for refusing the Eunha Merchant Guild. If we say we’re going elsewhere for the exact same one million nyang, what do you think they’ll assume?”
“That we found someone better to work with.”
Geom Mugeuk turned to look at her.
“Am I really better?”
She did not avoid the gaze with which he stared at her.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what kind of person the master of the Eunha Merchant Guild is. You’ve met him, so you should know. Who seems like the better person?”
Though phrased as a question, it was a confident question from someone who had already decided on the answer. This was her momentum.
“At the very least, you’re more shameless.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s response, Geum Arin thought things might go more smoothly than expected. She realized that he clearly had a favorable impression of her.
“Whether it’s one million or two million nyang, you’re not the decision-maker anyway, are you?”
“Why do you keep assuming I’m someone’s subordinate? Because I’m young? Because I’m a woman?”
Geom Mugeuk shook his head.
“That’s not why.”
He revealed an unexpected reason.
“I don’t get the feeling that you’ve staked everything on the organization.”
Geum Arin flinched at his words. It was true. She had not staked everything on this secret organization. No—if anything, she wanted to finish this assignment as quickly as possible. She had hated the reason she had accepted it in the first place.
‘He saw through that?’
This man was exceptionally perceptive.
He was smarter and more eloquent than anyone she had ever met.
Geum Arin felt that it was time to stake everything on a single move. It was the biggest gamble of her life, one on which her very life and death depended.
“The organization you’re trying to destroy is the organization I lead.”
It was her life-or-death gambit.
If her honesty failed to get through to him, she might die right here.
She had expected him to be shocked, but Geom Mugeuk was not. In the end, she was the one who was surprised.
“Don’t tell me you already knew?”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“How did you know?”
“The Eunha Merchant Guild had already conducted a fairly extensive investigation into your group.”
He attributed what he knew about her to information obtained through the Eunha Merchant Guild.
Geum Arin watched Geom Mugeuk with trembling eyes. If he had learned it through the Eunha Merchant Guild, then that meant he had known even when they met last time.
“Why didn’t you kill me? This was a one-million-nyang job.”
She acted calm, but she was tense.
To her, Geom Mugeuk was an unpredictable man who might draw his sword at any moment and say, I was going to kill you anyway.
At least in that respect, she had judged him correctly. Once again, he gave an answer she had never expected.
“Because I thought you might be able to pay more.”
It was one surprise after another.
At the very least, she had never expected him to say that he wanted to extract more money.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“I didn’t think you’d say something like that. You seemed somewhat noble. Ah, I’m not being sarcastic. It’s a compliment, so don’t misunderstand.”
Geom Mugeuk countered her honest statement.
“Is someone noble simply because he has no interest in money? Then does that mean someone who cares greatly about money is vulgar and low-class? That’s not something a merchant should say.”
“That’s not what I meant. I only meant that it was unexpected.”
“If I ask for more money, will this person dislike me? If I ask for more money, will he think me lowly? I think that kind of thinking is mere annoyance and an escape from reality. You have to summon even the courage you never had when it comes to making money. Even if the coin has fallen into a pool of filthy water, you should roll up your sleeves and retrieve it.”
Geom Mugeuk spoke like the very embodiment of avarice, but in truth, the life he had led before his regression had been far removed from money. It had been a life devoted solely to martial arts and the materials needed for the Great Rebirth Art.
“Take that back.”
“I should. I’m negotiating instead of drawing my sword even though I’m facing a one-million-nyang enemy. Isn’t that the height of nobility?”
It was not a situation in which she should laugh, yet Geum Arin found herself laughing despite herself. Soon, she straightened her expression and changed the subject.
“If you consider me someone’s subordinate, can you really extract more money from me?”
“Because you have another identity besides being a subordinate.”
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk continued.
“I believe you’re a blood relative of the head of the Golden Dragon House.”
She was not surprised that Geom Mugeuk knew about her. He seemed like the sort of person who knew everything.
“Because if I weren’t a blood relative, I couldn’t have proposed this deal in the first place?”
“That’s part of it, but there’s a greater reason.”
Once again, Geom Mugeuk saw through her perfectly.
“I can’t sense any longing for money in you.”
“!”
That, too, struck precisely at the heart of the matter. How could a blood relative of the Golden Dragon House possibly yearn for money?
He had seen that she had grown up in abundance, without ever having to worry about money.
“How can you see that?”
She did not say “know,” but “see.” There was something about the gaze in this man’s eyes that made her feel as though he could look directly into a person’s heart.
“Give us two million nyang and join hands with us. I’ll take care of severing ties with the Eunha Merchant Guild cleanly.”
She truly wanted to give it to him. That was why she wanted to make someone like him her ally.
“I told you I can’t.”
“If two million nyang is impossible, doesn’t that mean one million nyang was impossible from the beginning?”
It struck the heart of the matter. Whether it was one million or two million nyang, the same storm of trouble would descend upon her either way.
“Please understand my circumstances.”
Despite her plea, Geom Mugeuk remained firm.
“Do you think the circumstances of the person giving the money matter any less than those of the person receiving it? So don’t appeal to the recipient’s emotions. I think that’s the worst thing you can do in a transaction.”
Geum Arin pressed her lips together. She thought the same. It was only because such a large sum of money was changing hands that she had no choice.
Regardless, she had to bring this man over to her side. Today’s conversation had made that even clearer. If she made him an enemy, she would certainly die. He was the kind of person who made her think that without even drawing his sword.
“Take proper care of me, and then collect as much as you give.”
Enter into a contract to pay two million nyang?
How would her father react? Surely he would not kill his only daughter.
The problem was her brothers. In particular, her second elder brother, who regarded her as an eyesore, would use this matter to drive her all the way to hell. Could this man really keep her second elder brother at bay?
Her gaze turned toward Geom Mugeuk’s clear, deep eyes.
Could I really trust you?
Perhaps he had read that question in her eyes.
“For the duration of the contract, I will unquestionably be on your side.”
“That’s only natural, isn’t it?”
“Isn’t the failure to uphold that natural expectation what causes all sorts of trouble?”
He said it not merely as a promise, but with genuine sincerity.
“Can you keep your promise to be firmly on my side?”
“Don’t trust my words. Trust your eyes as a merchant.”
Her gaze turned toward the fields.
I’m doing this because I trust you too much.
How long had she known him? How much did she really know about him? And yet this man was giving her his trust. He stirred her instincts and drew out her premonition. Choose me.
The grass swaying in the wind rippled like waves. Her heart, too, rose and fell with those waves. The last words that came to her mind before making her decision were these:
―Take proper care of me, and then collect as much as you give.
You—did you even know what I was planning to take care of?
At last, Geum Arin made the decision that would change her life.
“Let’s send the contract as soon as possible.”