“Congratulations, Chief Jang.”
“I offer my sincere congratulations on your becoming the Grand Chief of the Escort Alliance.”
The Gyeongseong Escort Agency was truly a scene of celebration.
Today was the day the Grand Chief of the Escort Alliance would be elected.
The Escort Alliance was, in short, an organization created to advance the interests of the escort agencies. Naturally, the need for a Grand Chief to lead the Escort Alliance went without saying.
Among the seven candidates, Jang Cheon was able to become the Grand Chief by an overwhelming margin.
The reason the Gyeongseong Escort Agency could stand tall as the greatest escort agency in Luoyang after twenty years was entirely thanks to Jang Cheon’s efforts. It was an agency begun with nothing but credit and trust.
Now that he had become the Grand Chief, it was the happiest moment of his life.
People flocked from every direction to offer their congratulations, and the Gyeongseong Escort Agency was so packed there was barely room to stand.
Right in the middle of the feast.
The doors burst open, and someone came stumbling frantically into the main hall.
It was Chief Manager Sajin.
“Chief. The shipment… the shipment bound for Guangdong was plundered by bandits, and all the escorts are dead.”
“Wh-what?!”
Jang Cheon could not believe it. Yet before that shock had even subsided, another person came running into the main hall.
It was Vice Chief Yeom Gu.
“Chief. The Umun Clan’s cargo… all of the cargo was seized, and every escort has been killed.”
“Wh-what? Urgh!”
The shock was so overwhelming that Jang Cheon vomited a mouthful of blackish blood and collapsed on the spot.
From that moment on, he suffered a stroke and was reduced to a state in which he could never move again.
Unable to withstand the failure of two escort missions, the Gyeongseong Escort Agency collapsed overnight.
—Excerpt from Chapter One: Annihilation, from the Memoirs of Jang Geon.