“Ten silver taels?”
“Yes. Can you give it to me by tomorrow?”
The blood-lion naturally nodded.
“Of course. But, where are you going to spend that money?”
Geom Woo-bin grinned at Seo Seok-san’s question and answered with a question.
“This is the first time you’re earning money by working hard justly, right?”
Geom Woo-bin is right if the meaning of the word, ‘justly’ is not misinterpreted.
“I believe that’s how it is…. right?”
“I hope the money you priests earned just by sweating would be used for something worthwhile. If you give me the ten silver taels by tomorrow, I’ll spend the priests’ money like that.”
“You can also take it all and spend however you want.” Said Seo Seok-san.
“I cannot do that. You priests also must live like ordinary people by going out and spending money. Ahem! I’ll have to go and sleep first as I’m exhausted. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Do Pyeong-su reached out his hand towards Seo Seok-san as soon as Geom Woo-bin left.
“Seo Seok-san, give me only ten silver taels.”
“Hey! What about your mon-… Ah! You said you gave it as a commission to Shintu, right?”
“I thought I wouldn’t need money, but who knew I’d have to spend it for the abolition? Quickly give.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Huh? You don’t want to? Did you say that you don’t want to give just a piece of steel?”
“What do you mean just a piece of steel! It’s the money I earned through sweating. Ahem!”
“It’ll bring owls to Athens. Since when did you earn shedding sweat? You give it to me.”
“Why would I?”
“Why, what do you mean ‘why would I’? You could just give it to me, right?”
“Dig your way to the ground, you’ll find a coin. The money I earned by shedding sweat….”
“Do they really plan to become a flock of mynahs? Stop it!”
He wasn’t sure about others, but he believed Jang Man-dok would be happy to give it to him.
But the moment Do Pyeong-su looked at Jang Man-dok’s expression, his belief shattered just like thin ice on a spring day.
“Jang Man-dok, you too! These fellows! Did I spend the four hundred silver taels on crap? I paid it for stealing the thousand-year-old ‘fleece flower root’ that’s to be given to the abolition, but you’re being mean, saying you can’t give ten silver taels!”
Seo Seok-san said while digging his ears with his pinky finger.
“That’s your problem. You should’ve made the usual impression, why would you give him money?”
“As we don’t know how much more we’d ask him to steal in the future! Now that’s enough! I’ll just tell the truth to the abolition and ask him to just pay me twenty silver taels next month!”
As Do Pyeong-su turned, Yeon Geum-hong’s voice was heard.
“What would the abolition think if you say you paid a thief four hundred silver taels to steal things?”
It seemed like Geom Woo-bin’s voice that said, ‘Priest, I’m disappointed in you’ echoed in his mind.
“These fellows for real! Do you think I won’t be able to find just ten silver taels? I can even find one thousand silver taels right away!”
“Of course, you would. Since you can just go to places like the Dongssi-doga or the Western Transportation Company and threaten them once. But, what did the abolition say earlier? I think he said something like money earned by shedding sweat….”
Yeon Geum-hong replied to Seo Seok-san.
“He said he’d spend his fair-earned money worthwhile, that was it, right? The ‘fair’ that the abolition mentioned wouldn’t be robbery.”
“Su-, such wicked fellows!”
“You’re swearing, aren’t you?”
Seo Seok San’s lips that asked the question twitched as if he was going to burst out laughing any moment.
“These fellows! Let’s wait and see!”
Do Pyeong-su opened the door ferociously and walked out.
As expected, the moment he left the room, three of their laughter was heard loudly.
Do Pyeong-su who returned to his room huffing and puffing, felt worried that he sneaked his head out amidst his anger.
Ten silver taels.
It was no different than the stones rolling by the side of the roads. But now, he was desperate like a boy who had to figure out a way to pay his father’s medicine fee.
Do Pyeong-su was tossing and turning all night barely able to sleep, left the house even before sunrise. If he doesn’t offer ten silver taels Geom Woo-bin would ask why, and he’ll have no choice but, to tell the truth.
He didn’t even want to see Geom Woo-bin’s disappointed expression at that time even in his dreams.
“I’ll help you somehow!”
As he arrived at Hangzhou town, the diligent traders were just then opening the doors of their stores. Do Pyeong-su who was strolling on the streets where the stores were lined up on two sides, stopped in front of a restaurant.
There was a paper that had blah-blah-blah written, attached to the door of the boarding house.
He couldn’t read the remaining three words, but as it was written ‘job’ at the very front, it must be employee recruitment.
‘Hehehe! There is something fruitful learning to write with the abolition.’
Do Pyeong-su gallantly entered the restaurant.
The owner who let out a long yawn in front of the counter stared blankly at Do Pyeong-su.
“The post that’s written in there is an employee recruitment, right?”
The owner at his early fifties surveyed Do Pyeong-su from top to bottom dubiously.
“I guess so?”
“I don’t have time to work for a long time, but still, I’ll work for a day. How much is the daily wage here?”
“How much do you want?”
“Ten silver taels. You can give about that much, right?”
“Are you insane?”
“Why, what’s it?”
“I feel like I’ve won a mysterious victory since morning.”
“What are talking about?”
“Haven’t you come here to make a pun out of the word that starts with ‘Job’? No matter how much I look at you, it doesn’t seem like you’re here for work.”
“Of course, I came to work! That’s why I asked how much is the daily wage!”
The owner let out a deep sigh controlling his anger.
“It’s one hundred and fifty muns (Ancient Korean Currency) for a month, you do the calculations.”
“Let’s see, if it’s one hundred and fifty muns for a month, then for a day it is…. what? Just five muns?”
“Looking at your work, I can also raise it up to about ten muns after three months.”
“Are you going to use me at such a ridiculous price? Then, how much work do I have to do collect ten silver taels!”
“One silver tael is eight hundred coins, you do the calculations for that as well. Are you going to save for a decade without spending a single penny?”
“Don’t do that, just go with ten silver taels as the daily wage. You don’t know, but I’m a man of great value, to that extent.”
The owner swished his hand.
“All I need is just a value as much as a waiter! As I don’t want anything more or less than that, get lost immediately!”
Do Pyeong-su was eventually kicked out of the restaurant.
After that, he went to the clothing store, butcher shop, hardware store, etc, but he was only treated as a lunatic by all of them.
“What’s this? Why is it this hard to earn money? It’s just ten silver taels.”
It had passed noon with Do Pyeong-su’s deepening time of despair.
Rumble!
He was also hungry.
However, he didn’t have the money to buy even one dumpling.
The world-class Do Pyeong-su is starving due to a lack of money!
The desire to expose his true colors was flaring up. But each time, to a strange extent, Geom Woo-bin crossed his mind and poured cold water to the flame of his desire.
“Ten silver taels, ten silver taels, ten….”
Do Pyeong-su who was going muttering ten silver taels like a spell, stopped walking. It seemed like the ten silver taels flashed across his eyes.
No, to be precise, they were letters written as ‘ten silver taels’.
Do Pyeong-su suddenly turned his head.
He could see a glance of a wall in the Yamen (administrative office) that had a notice attached. There were several papers attached in there, and on one among those, the number ten could be seen.
“The word next to the number is silver, right? And next to the word silver is taels.”
Very rarely, all those were letters Do Pyeong-su could read. But, the contents of the paper were completely unknown.
“Oi old man!”
Do Pyeong-su called an old man who was passing by.
The old man who stopped walking looked around and raised the stick he had above his head.
“This young bustard is saying ‘Oi’ to an elderly person! Old man? Do you want to get hit by an old man’s cane to the dust on a rainy day!
He looked at least thirty years younger than Do Pyeong-su, but he couldn’t spend time arguing that he was over ninety.
“Oh no! Good old man, looks like you seem to have a fine hearing, how could I dare to say something absurd to an old person? Hehe!”
As he was in a rush such attitudes come out too.
Humans are also animals that are governed by circumstances.
“But, what are the contents written on this paper? As I’m illiterate….”
“What’s so proud about being illiterate?”
The old man looked at the paper and let out a sigh as of an old man.
There’s someone named Cha Dae-in in the Yangga-ro. He’s a good-hearted gentleman who returned home after serving as a public servant.
The old man’s story was long, but if one notes only the key points of it, it said that the youngest daughter of Cha Dae-in was killed.
The incompetent Yamen couldn’t catch the criminal, so, the person named Cha Dae-in placed a bounty himself, which is ten silver taels.
“Pheww! I’ll have to quickly go and catch that culprit. How pretty and kind the daughter of that family was. tsk tsk tsk….”
“You don’t even know the details of the culprit, do you?”
“If I knew that, anyone would’ve caught him already.”
He couldn’t blow away the opportunity to earn ten silver taels just because there was no clue to catch.
“By any chance, do you know the triad that’s dominating this neighborhood?”
“Why are you bringing up about those wicked bustards?”
Thanks to the disappearance of Yagwihoe due to unknown reasons, Hongmunhoe became the largest branch of Muyeonghoe.
The scale is large, but the actual profit was also considerable, so, they took over thirty percent of the area that was managed by the Yagwihoe.
Thanks to the huge income, Hongmunhoe’s administrator, Kang Chan-sik is going to the Wolha Kisaeng house and drinking the delicious Sagi wine on a daily basis.
As usual, he was drinking liquor with a Geisha (Professional entertainer) by his side on that day as well, and he went to bed around dawn.
And then, he suddenly woke up.
He felt a severe pain for sure, but as he was asleep, he couldn’t immediately figure out how and where he felt the pain.
He realized that he was not on the bed, but he was seated leaning against the wall only after he blinked his eyes five or six times.
“Oh, looks like he’s a person who’s fairly sensitive to sound when he’s asleep.”
After a while, a guy seated on a chair on the opposite side came into his sight.
A middle-aged man with big eyes and a rough beard had a tough impression that would be just perfect if he’s to use him as a subordinate.
“Who, who are you? What about the Geisha?”
“You were sleeping on the bed in there, right? As I got you a blood transfusion, even if I dropped you in the water for four hours you wouldn’t wake up.”
It was Kang Chan-sik who spent forty years of his life in the triad.
In that time, he has had near-death experiences countless times, and today was also one of them.
“Are you doing this to me knowing who I am?”
“You’re Kang Chan-sik, the administrator of the Hongmunhoe, am I right? If not, I’ll kill you.”
It was pretty much of a threat.
“I knew it well and came here, but….”
As the middle-aged man stood up, he pulled out the sword from the wall and sat on the chair again.
“You’ve got a good sword which is unlikely of a gangster.”
Shing!
The sound of the sword being removed from the sheath made him feel goosebumps on his throat.
“I’m embarrassed to talk to someone like you, but I can’t help it as I need ten silver taels right now.”
“Ten silver taels? I’ll give you.”
He’s a tough guy to just look at.
Rather than trying to rush into a fight, he, first of all, decided to get out of this crisis and find him later again and pare his skin off.
But…
Fling!
As the middle-aged man flicked the tip of the sword with his finger, something brushed past his ear along with a clear sound.
Thud! And what was nailed to the wall was a broken blade of the sword that was two inches long.
“Did, did you break the blade by flicking it with your fingers?”
He didn’t just break it, he even whammed it into a solid wall.
Even that sword is around ten silver taels.
‘Expert!’
A Moorim expert, who was said to be difficult to meet as rare as a red crow, was now in front of him.
“Why, why are you doing this to me? If you need money, I’ll give it right this moment. Not, not ten silver taels but a hundred….no, I can even give you up to five hundred silver taels.”
“I don’t need such dirty money, but clean money which is ten silver taels.”
“I’ll wipe it and give it to you.”
Flick! Thud!
This time the blade of the sword struck by the side of his right ear.
“Do you know Cha Dae-in who lives in Yangga-ro?
It’s a family that’s famous for other reasons these days.
“Ah! I know!”
“You’re the criminal who killed the daughter of that family.”
“Sorry? I have not even seen her face.”
He lied as much as a cow’s fur so far, but this time he swore that it was the truth.
“Is that so? That’s unexpected, isn’t it?”
What was unexpected is that another blade flew by and struck the wall.
This time, it was not even an inch away from the really important place.
Only after the blade was struck did Kang Cha-sik realize that he was naked.
“I missed the target. This time I will not….”
The middle-aged man tightened his fingers as if he was about to flick the blade of the sword.
“Ma, master! Pl, please tell me what you want! I’ll listen to anything that you say!”
“Anything?”
“Yes.”
“I have the habit of turning a man, who says two things with one mouth into a eunuch.”
Kang Cha-sik’s balls had penetrated deep into his flesh, that it was not even visible.
“Find the guy who killed Cha Dae-in’s daughter.”
Although he said ‘anything’, Kang Cha-sik was not even a government official, and he spent most of his life as a criminal than catching the criminal.
“How, how do I catch that guy?”
A bad guy knows bad guys well. As I’ll be giving you four hours, find the culprit. If you can’t find the culprit, then you’re the culprit. If I take you to the Yamen, don’t even think of denying it. As I’ll be showing how you can experience hell while being alive. Don’t forget to bring the evidence along with the culprit.”
The middle-aged man swung the sword into the air.
As he did so, the blade broke into hundreds of iron pieces and lodged around Kang Cha-sik.
He was not just an expert, but an ultra-expert!
“I’ll be waiting in the Yamen’s vicinity. You’ve got four hours.”
The middle-aged man left.
However, Kang Cha-sik did not even dare to run away. He couldn’t escape from such a human. Kang Cha-sik knew it instinctively.
“Darn it! Why do these happen to me!”
The Geisha didn’t wake up even for that scream. It really doesn’t seem like one would wake up even if he falls into the water.
“Drown him down!”
It was a waste of time venting out his anger. Kang Cha-sik called his henchman Wang Dae-pal.
“Daetu! Hey! Daetu!”