Book 1 Chapter 15: The Owner of Elixir Already Exist(2)
Translator:Hwarang
Editor: Jay
“It will cost Forty four thousand Nyang.”
s.h.i.t! I was still lacking fifteen thousand Nyang.
“I don’t know whether you know it or not, but there is a fixed price on every merchandise throughout all of the Black City Merchant Guild stores. If you think you are being swindled, then you can ask the other branches.”
This was a fact that I already knew.
There were two reasons why Black City Merchant Guild grew this big. One was because they will never betray the trust of their customer. Whether it be a selling counterfeit product, revealing secrets about their customers, or trying to swindle their customer, they will never do it. The second reason is because the price for the merchandise is fixed throughout all of the different branches.
Most who buy from the Black City Guild do so because even though the prices might be a bit more than the market price, the quality is guaranteed. This is the reason why Black City Merchant Guild was able to thrive for a long time.
“Even if it’s not to me, it will sell rather quickly, right?”
“Most likely it will.”
If you couldn’t buy the profound medicine when it is available, you won’t able to buy it for couple of months, if not years. What this old man said was true, I was lucky to arrive here on the day that the Thousand Year Basho Root was available. But there were some unfortunate circ.u.mstances.
“I don’t have enough money to buy it today, I guess I must come again another time.”
As I was about to leave the old man asked me, “Why do you wish to buy these profound medicines?”
“So that I could become stronger.”
“To become stronger?”
I had many reasons but this was the first reason that I thought off the top of my head.
“I have been unfilial to my parents my whole life and have grown up a bit late. So, I wanted to show them filial piety.”
After staring at me for a bit, he started laughing.
“Ha Ha Ha. This is the first time that I heard something so ridiculous.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because in Kang Ho there is no such thing as filial piety.”
I knew exactly what he meant because I was like that. If you are drunken in your desire to get stronger, you won’t be able to see anything around you.
In my past life, I wanted to show filial piety to my mother when I became the Strongest Under Heaven, but fate didn’t allow me to do that. My mother pa.s.sed on before I received my t.i.tle.
But in this life, things will be different. I will take care of everyone that is close to me.
“I guess I missed my chance to become a filial son.”
“I will give you ten days. If you can get enough money within ten days, then I will sell it to you. Exactly ten days.”
Whether it was because of my actions or because of his remembrance of his own parents, I wouldn’t know what changed his heart. But I did know that he gave me this opportunity.
“Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”
“This old man believed that the owner of this profound medicine already exists. Will you prove to me that you are that person?”
I bowed to him and left the store.
Could I really get fifteen thousand Nyang in ten days?
Even with the change in my actions, there were still some within the Clan that believed that I hadn’t truly changed.
“I still don’t trust you.”
It was Elder Jong. The financial officer who was treated my injuries when I woke up the other day.
“Could I ask you the reason why you don’t trust me?”
“Intuition. It’s my intuition. My intuition is saying that you will show your true colors and get into some major trouble.”
This stubborn old man. Rather than doubting me, why don’t you trust me for once?
This was exactly how the old weasels who sit on the Murim Council of Elders acts They are all greedy, full of doubt, and stubborn as mules.
Then I said silently to his ear, “Elder, Do you have some money by any chance?”
He opened his eyes wide and looked at me with a ‘see what did I tell you’ look.
“As long as I am alive, don’t even think about it!”
He marched away grumpy.
As he left I made a small smile. Such a stubborn old man, but he is someone that our clan truly needs. Especially his skills in the art of medicine and in financing money.
Anyway I had a very big problem ahead of me. Three days out of the ten already pa.s.sed. Time kept going, but I still didn’t have any means of obtaining fifteen thousand Nyang.
There was one solution, which was to go to the Yang Clan and squeeze them dry. But this would make my relationship with Jung Yeo pretty bad. He would think that I am only keeping him to take his money. Even though fifteen thousand Nyang may be a small amount, I didn’t want to lose one of my p.a.w.ns due to this. I had greater plans for the Yang Clan.
As I was pondering about the present situation, it seemed as if Kw.a.n.g Du got a scent of it.
“Are you worried about something?”
He was as perceptive as Kal Sa Ryung, but he still had ways to go.
“You want to see Lady Song again, right? Whether you hate her or not, you still want to see her, right?”
“I need some money.”
He made some distance between us.
“Now that we have gotten close, you want to borrow some money from me, right young master?”
“I didn’t say borrow yet.”
“Don’t kid me. How much do you need? All right I can let you borrow up to fifteen Nyang. But you have to promise me to return it.”
“I need fifteen thousand Nyang.”
“What!?!”
“And I need it within seven days.”
Kw.a.n.g Du just stared at me with a blank expression.
“It is something that I could only gain after being reborn maybe fifteen times. That is without spending money on my irresponsible master who makes me pay for all the food and alcohol.”
Then Kw.a.n.g Du sat beside me.
“Don’t you have some that you brought back from Yang Clan?”
“It’s not enough.”
“What? Are you trying to buy a garden or something?”
“Buying something more important than that.”
Since I never had to worry about my finances in my previous life, this was the one area where I was the weakest in. I thought it would more beneficiary if there was a younger financial advisor since I could talk him rather than this stubborn old Elder Jong.
“Talking about money reminds me of how you were in the past. Didn’t you get into some major trouble trying to make money? That’s the reason why we owed that debt to the Yang Gi Chul.”
“How did we gain the debt of twenty thousand Nyang?”
“Since you have gotten in so much trouble, Gaju-nim stopped the source of your money. You became a hostage to the man who you were trying to capture, since he had a bounty on his head. Rather than earning money, you made us lose even more money.”
Byuk Lee Dan have done all sorts of things.
“With Martial Arts as terrible as this, why would I even think of something like that?”
“Because back then you were trying to get the wind of Lady Kong.”
“Lady Kong?”
“Yes, she is the Director from Muriam Alliance Office who is a.s.signed to this Area.”
The Murim Alliance... how long had it been since I had heard that name?
“But, what do you mean I was trying to get the wind of her?”
“You got the wind of the Chivalrous Spirit.”
“Oh really?”
I had a bad feeling about this. Why would someone as esteemed as the Director lower herself to for a little brat.
“How was our family back then?”
“We were at our peak condition then. But after this incident, our influence started to wane.”
“I see. So Lady Kong is the Director of this area. Then who was the person with a bounty on his head?”
“Some bandit named Kwak Do Su. He is quite a character. He would raid anybody who gets in his way, strip them and kill them.”
This was the first time I heard this name. Of course, in my previous life I didn’t have the time nor the energy to deal with something as minor as this.
“How high was the bounty on his head?”
“At the time it was five thousand Nyang.”
Five thousand Nyang on his head meant he wasn’t some third-rate bandit.
“Isn’t it suspicious that he let me go after giving him the ransom?”
“It’s because of Lady Kong. She saved your life.”
“How did she save me?”
“Even I don’t know the full details.”
“Did Kwak Do Su request twenty thousand Nyang?”
“No, only fifteen thousand Nyang. The five thousand went to Lady Kong for her service.”
“So she put some money in her pocket.”
“We can’t call it that young master. Gaju-nim gave it to her.”
“My father could have given it to her as appreciation, but she shouldn’t have accepted it.”
With my father’s personality, he wouldn’t have been the one to offer appreciation money to her in the first place. Most likely she requested it from him. After hearing this story I got suspicious of the director. She could be working with this bandit.
Abusing your authority as a director to make money? Abusing the kindness of a parent’s heart to make money? Laughable.
“So have they brought in Kwak Do Su?”
“No, there hasn’t been any news about him, young master.”
Then he looked at me with a surprised look. “Don’t tell me you are trying to catch him.”
“Of course I must catch him. He is someone that I owe that debt of fifteen thousand Nyang to.”
“But it’s too dangerous! He is someone who is known for his cruelty.”
“Then why don’t you lend me everything that you have?”
“I’m sure you are more than capable of capturing him. Didn’t you take care of the business with the Yang Clan?”
“Ha. Ha. Ha.”
Then Kw.a.n.g Du said with a serious face, “Allow me to go with you. Even though I can’t lend you my money, I can still be of use to you.”
I understood his intention very well. I wanted to take him and make him experience different things, but this matter required urgency.
But I got a feeling that if I solve this problem, then our financial problem will disappear.
“This right arm is still a decoration. So just stay behind and practice your martial arts. Make sure you tell my parents something like I went to secluded training for couple of days.”
As I was leaving the house, my stare became cold. So you two played with my family to gain twenty thousand Nyang. You had better be prepared to feel my wrath.
That evening I arrived at the building that served as the Murim administrative building for this area. Usually small areas have a pretty small building with around fifty workers, and this place was no exception.
I bought some fancy clothes and applied a face-alteration mask.
The face-alteration masks are a very common and popular thing in the Murim world. They can be found in most Murim stores. Face-Alteration Masks don’t necessarily have to come from an actual skin of a person. A long time ago, they might have actually used real human skin, but now since skills have improved, they are thing of the past.
In Kang Ho, there is no one who is more informed about face-alteration mask than me. When I was at war against the Demonic Alliance I had to apply face-alteration masks every day to ensure my safety. There were many times when the Demonic Alliance sent multiple a.s.sa.s.sins on the same day. So, I became the master of disguises for my own safety.
There are four categories of face-alteration masks which are: low grade, medium grade, high grade and the highest grade. When wearing a low-grade mask, most people will be able to tell whether you are wearing a mask or not. When wearing a medium-grade mask, people with very good eyesight will be able to discern whether you are wearing a mask. For the high-grade, unless you are a master of masks, you won’t be able to discern whether someone is wearing a mask, and finally the highest-grade no one could tell whether someone is wearing a mask.
Even though it cost some money, I bought the high-grade mask.
Some might be surprised at the price of the mask, since most face-alteration masks are priced at around thousand Nyang a piece, but face-alteration masks are ordinarily a very expensive item.
Being able to change one’s face was something major in Kang Ho. Changing one’s face to save your life was priceless. So face masks were valued tools.
On top of buying a high grade face-alteration mask, I changed my voice and my clothes to look like a completely different person. I did all of this so that I could fool these people who swindled my family. I wanted to drag them by their heads and beat them up slowly and painfully, but I knew that I had to do this cleanly.
“Who are you looking for?”
As I entered, I didn’t hide my killing intent, to make them believe that I was an expert.
“I am looking for your director.”
One of the Martial Artists became very cautious of me. It seemed like he was intimidated by my pressure.
“Where should I say you are from?”
“Tell her I am from Heavenly Dao Gate.”
He was surprised when I said Heavenly Dao Gate. Heavenly Dao Gate was one of the Five Major Clans of the Central Plain. Of course, this meant that they were the major power within the Kang Ho. Regardless of their status as a major clan, they couldn’t do anything in front of me because they knew that if they went out of line, I would crush them like ants. So I suppressed these Five Clans with my fist and ran the Kang Ho with an iron fist.
“Who should I say that you are?”
“Does it matter who I am? Hurry up and lead me to the Director!”
“Please hold on a moment.”
One of the workers quickly went inside.
I knew everything about the Five Major Clans as if it was on top of my hand. The one that I knew the most about and the one that I liked disguising as the most as was the Heavenly Dao Gate.
The reason was simple. The Master of the Heavenly Dao Gate, Ma Bong Gi, was someone who had a very complicated relationship with women. He had over ten wives and over a dozen children. He didn’t even know who was who. On top of that, his children were just like their father, making their family even more complicated.
It didn’t matter to me how complicated the Heavenly Dao Gate became, since I was able to use their name to disguise myself. I could tell from their movement that my disguise worked.
Pretty soon I entered the office of the Director.