Hyeonjilmusin - Chapter 39



Only Krnovel

39. Commercial Association (2)

“……why?”

“We don’t know that either. The company gave instructions like that.”

“Ugh.”

This was a bit tricky. It was bound to happen that the top would be marked in the company. But I had never done anything to deserve being marked.

Wait a minute. I suddenly remembered what Jin Mu-byeok, the Minister of Finance, said. If you don’t stick to your principles, Muhan Trading Company will be resentful.

It wouldn’t be a loss for them that I had little capital and didn’t pay the registration fee. But I understood. It’s understandable that I got in after doing this much, while others got in after falling short.

“Can’t we just talk it out?”

“It won’t work.”

“I also have the company registration fee.”

“That’s none of my business.”

It was quite a headache. I already had a base in Infinite. Not only the building and the grounds, but also the warehouse will soon be filled with goods.

But if you are so uncooperative at Muhan Sanghoe, you won’t even be able to sell your products.

“what?”

“Is the Infinite Challenger catching a living person again?”

As the atmosphere became tense, I could hear people whispering. Normally, I wouldn’t have been able to hear it, but as my inner strength built up, my overall senses felt stronger.

As more and more people started to show interest, the drones seemed to have received some kind of order. They hardened their expressions and pushed the people away.

“Go. Don’t end up in trouble like Iza.”

“No, why should I have to suffer like this?”

“I just do it because I’m told to. You damn businessman.”

Finally, harsh words came out of the mouths of the unmanned men. One of the unmanned men immediately grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up.

A fist flew straight towards my jaw. Before Myung-kyung could react or run over. However, the low-level warriors guarding this store were no longer my opponent.

I grabbed the wrist that was holding the collar and turned the arm away.

“100 million!”

My arm snapped back. Another unmanned man immediately lifted the club on his waist and aimed for my head, striking it down. Even if it wasn’t a sword, a club hit to the head could kill you, but they were truly merciless.

I turned the man who was holding my arm towards the club. The man who was swinging the club and the man whose arm I had grabbed shouted at the same time.

“Hey!”

But the acceleration that had already started did not decrease. The club struck the forehead of the unmanned man whose arm was broken.

“This son of a bitch!”

The unmanned man who had unintentionally beaten his comrades ran towards them, grumbling. After seeing only geniuses in the shamanist faction, seeing the unmanned man in the street was enough to make me yawn.

The club came swinging at me with the intent of cutting my waist horizontally. I raised my scabbard to block the club.

“He’s a master!”

People who were interested in the fight that suddenly broke out shouted. To be honest, I wasn’t at the level of a pro.

The man seemed flustered and even put a flag on his club. A blue flag was faintly fluttering on his club. I snickered.

Wearing ki on the outside was either for show or low-level. But that guy seemed like a low-level guy. Usually, if you know how to handle ki, you internalize it in your sword and prevent it from being released. That way, the ki is concentrated and becomes more powerful.

“With people who don’t even know the basics.”

I clicked my tongue. It was truly a world apart. I couldn’t help but laugh when I thought back to the days when I had to be afraid and pay tribute to these unmanned people.

I blocked the incoming club with my scabbard. The club slipped out of the man’s hand and spun around in the air before falling to the ground.

The two unmanned beings who were instantly subdued by me seemed to have immediately decided that they could not handle me.

“Damn it. Get inside quickly and bring the Great Swordsman!”

The unmanned man who had become the enemy spoke to the unmanned man with a broken forehead. The unmanned man with a broken forehead ran into the store while holding his bleeding forehead.

“Oh!”

The people watching erupted in cheers. At some point, people surrounded him and he became a spectacle.

“Come to think of it, isn’t that person the god of Hubei?”

“Are you here to stop Muhan Sanghoe’s evil deeds?”

Some people started to recognize me. By the way, Muhan Sanghoe was not popular with the public. At the time, I was working at a top position in another region, so I didn’t know exactly what Muhan Sanghoe was like. However, seeing the resentment so strong, I thought it was definitely not virtuous.

I decided to stay still and wait for that guy named Jeon Daehyeop. Then, one of the people who had been watching us came out in a hurry.

“Oh my God, you must run away quickly!”

“yes?”

When I looked closely at him, I realized that he was one of the people I had treated.

“Didn’t they say that Jeon Gil-sang (全吉祥) is coming out? He is a human being.”

“Who is that?”

This is my first time hearing the name Jeon Gil-sang. How can I know the people who were active at that time?

But everyone seemed to know the name Jeon Gil-sang.

“Please get out of here!”

The person who came out started to run while holding my wrist. I couldn’t shake him off, so I followed him. Myung-kyung, who was watching with interest, also ran after me.

So I entered a house without meeting a man named Jeon Gil-sang.

The house wasn’t a normal family home. It seemed like some kind of group, judging by the tired look on the faces of the men gathered there.

“Jeong Ga-ya. Who is that person?”

One of the people inside said. The man replied that he brought me here because he thought I would get into an altercation with Hubei Shengui and Jeon Gil-sang of Muhan Sanghoe.

People frowned as soon as they heard the name Muhan Sanghoe. But they also showed interest in me, Hubei Shenyi.

Among them, the one who looked the most tired approached me.

“My name is Song Hwan-yeong, the chairman of Dongho Trading Company.”

“A business?”

I was a little surprised. Since everyone only talked about Infinite Company, I thought there were no other companies. It was common for one company to be so big that no other companies existed. However, if there were other companies like this, there had to be some kind of twist and turn.

“Yes, it may not look like a store, though.”

Song Hwan-yeong smiled bitterly. In fact, compared to Muhan Sanghoe, it was so shabby. A thatched house without a yard was the hall.

“Anyway, Jeon Gil-sang won’t come here. Muhan Sanghoe treats Dongho Sanghoe as if it doesn’t exist, so he doesn’t even bother to come. So I think it would be okay if he leaves after some time has passed.”

“No. I won’t go.”

“… … ?”

With so many people working at the top, where would I go?

Immediately I looked at the faces of the people who belonged to the club.

One of the most important things for businessmen is appearance. Sales is about meeting people, and among the skills of dealing with people, dressing up appearance is the most essential of the core.

Someone I know purposely drank alcohol that didn’t suit his taste and gained a big belly to look relaxed.

If there is one thing that successful merchants have in common when they go to meet big shots, it is the following.

A neatly groomed beard.

Anyone can see that it is a garment made of expensive silk.

An ornament in which the jewels are directly visible.

A bodyguard who exudes strength.

There are probably a few more if we look into the details, but for now, here they are.

And in the Donghosanghoe, there was not a single person who kept even one of these. They all had bushy beards, wore clothes made of worn-out cotton, had no ornaments, and not only were there no bodyguards, but no one carried a sword.

“How many companies are in this company?”

“Ahem. You’re suddenly asking a painful question.”

Song Hwan-yeong coughed in vain.

“Oh, sorry. As you can see, I am unmanned and do not know much about the countermeasures.”

“I guess so. I don’t think you asked the question knowing the meaning.”

I asked knowingly. You have to dig into a wound to reveal its true nature.

They may not know it, but I was interviewing them. I was looking at their sensibilities, beliefs, philosophies, concepts, knowledge, and so on.

The company does not have a large number of people who can work at the top like a labor agency. It is just a group of people who work at the top, and I make job offers to them while looking at them. In a way, it is a waste of time, but if I didn’t do this, there was no place to find a career position. In that sense, the declining company was the best place to fill the top-level personnel.

“What are you talking about? You always say you’re a merchant.”

At that moment, Myung-kyung muttered. I quickly turned to look at Myung-kyung. Her eyes contained a warning telling me not to open my mouth any more, but Myung-kyung turned away.

I didn’t expect this either. Was it karma for me to have corrected my identity in the non-partisan group? The eyes of the people in the Donghosanghoe immediately changed.

“Were you a merchant?”

“Could it be that you’re a spy from Muhan Sanghoe? Are you trying to steal our manpower again?”

No. It’s true that they’re trying to take away manpower, but they’re not the ones who are part of Muhan Trading Company. It was quite an awkward situation.

“No, this person is a god of Hubei. He is not that kind of person.”

The person who brought me here protested hurriedly. Only then did the heat that seemed to be surging up finally subside.

“Ah. That’s right. If you’re talking about the Hubei god, isn’t he the one who recently cured the infinite plague?”

“I’m sorry. I was so excited by the word merchant that I forgot about it.”

“Haha. It’s okay.”

I let out a sigh of relief and pretended to laugh leisurely. Just as karma comes back to me, good deeds also come back to me. If I hadn’t built up a reputation as a Hubei god, I would have been kicked out right away.

“Actually, I am a merchant who has set up a shop. But I don’t know anything about Muhan Sanghoe or Dongho Sanghoe. I just came from Gyunhyeon.”

“Hmm. I see. Since that’s what the Hubei God said, I’ll believe it.”

“If I had a connection with Muhan Sanghoe, how could I have been treated so rudely?”

“That’s true too.”

People simply accepted what I said. Appearance is not just about the face you see, but also your reputation. In that sense, I had the upper hand.

“But I heard that Hubei Shen is a disciple of the Wudang faction. How can he be a leader?”

“Oh, I am a lay disciple.”

“I see. Why would a disciple of the shamanist faction bow to a bunch of thugs like Muhan Sanghoe? I guess I was wrong.”

“No. It was a situation that could have been misunderstood.”

I smiled slyly and then spoke cautiously. I wanted to find out their circumstances.

“He’s a merchant, but he’s actually an outsider in Muhan, so I guess I can tell you. It’s nothing special. Originally, the Dongho Trading Company was the first to establish itself in Muhan.”

Just hearing those words, the next story seemed to unfold in my head.

The power of a guild that dominates a region is strong. The chairman of a guild that deals with a single product has strong power, such as being able to negotiate directly with the city, but the power of the chairman of a guild that covers the entire upper class is much stronger.

As a result, many merchants tried to control and prey on neighboring merchants. This was a very common occurrence among merchants.

“But then suddenly they opened a store called Infinite Store. It was like they were openly challenging the Dongho Store that mainly operates in Infinite. We tried to negotiate nicely, but it seemed like they had no intention of negotiating with us in the first place.”

“Um, um. I see.”

It was a common story, but I listened with interest as if I was hearing it for the first time. As I seemed to sympathize, Song Hwan-young gradually lengthened his speech.

“I’ve been running a business here for thirty years and have met many thugs, but I’ve never seen such ruthless guys. From the beginning, they’ve been bringing in thugs and destroying our business’s upper management.”

“is it so?”

This was a bit of a tricky part. Usually, when a company takes on another company, they compete based on size or price. Of course, there are times when they bring in unmanned people, but that is something they do only at the very end. The proxy war that happened the other day was also a method devised to avoid going this far.

Unlike the martial arts world, merchants are sensitive to national laws. Merchants without power have nowhere to rely on but the state.

“Why don’t you try filing a complaint to the police?”

“I’ve done that too. But the lawsuit itself doesn’t seem to be progressing. They say it’s a common issue in the business world, so let’s handle it among ourselves, or something.”

“I see. You must have been very frustrated.”

“It’s beyond words. Well, what can I do? If I had no strength, this would be what would happen.”

“That’s true.”

I too have moved several times due to pressure, so I understand that feeling.

“Then what would you do if you had the power?”

I asked. Song Hwan-yeong blinked and slowly opened his mouth.

“What is the intent of your question?”

“What could it be?”

I smiled. It was a sales smile I had been honing for decades.

“I mean, I will be there to give you that strength.”