Hyeonjilmusin - Chapter 72



Only Krnovel

72. Aftercare (3)

I was kneeling in front of Cheonghwa and the elders in a posture that seemed to be a bit of a mess. The elders lined up on the left and right of Cheonghwa were arrogantly crossing their arms. Among them, I could see Myungjin’s elder brother slightly behind me, as if he had come too.

“You seem to have gained some weight over the past few months. Haven’t you been practicing hard?”

“Cultivation… … .”

I rolled my eyes and thought about it. To be honest, I have never really trained. But I did get stronger naturally. I also experienced a life-or-death fight, which was even better than training.

“Still, I think I’ve gotten stronger.”

“Huh. You seem confident.”

“sure.”

“That’s right. You were always like this.”

Cheonghwa nodded. When it seemed like things were going smoothly, Myeonggyeong let out a “Gyaaak” sound.

“Master, shouldn’t we be scolding the priest more? He hasn’t come to the main temple for months without any contact.”

“Isn’t that what a lay disciple is like?”

“Well, that’s true! It’s annoying!”

Myungkyung turned her face away when I looked at her. It felt like I was seeing my cousin on a holiday.

“Priest, don’t be like that. Hwiyoung must have had some circumstances.”

“No, even the death penalty… …!”

In the meantime, Myeongseong tried to protect me, and Myeonggyeong’s eyes rolled back. Myeonggyeong grabbed Myeongjin’s shoulder, who was quietly killing his presence right behind her, and shook it.

“Priest. Did I do something wrong? Am I the only one who is annoyed by this situation?”

“… … I think so.”

“Ahh!”

Myung-kyung trembled as she looked at me. I even received a look of slight resentment, as if to say, “How dare you act like this toward me?”

“Still, it’s annoying. Even though you were out, you didn’t even send a letter to the executioners.”

“Oh, that really hurt my feelings.”

“Not at all? I was just pointing out what a priest should do.”

Cheonghwa smiled brightly after hitting the nail on the head. Only then did I understand why Myeonggyeong was yelling like that. However, I couldn’t help it because I didn’t have time to send a letter.

I roughly rubbed my palms together and tried to soothe Myeong-gyeong.

“Death penalty. Let’s go eat something delicious later. You too, Master. I’ll pay.”

“I heard somewhere. You made quite a bit of money, didn’t you?”

“You weren’t spying on me, were you?”

“Where is the Shamanist faction? How noisy must you have been for news of you to reach the Shamanist faction?”

Cheonghwa then proceeded to recite a series of rumors about me. The story of me taking over the Infinite Black Sea floor, defeating the Infinite Company, and even possessing the mysterious power to make Admiral Dongchang disappear.

“I don’t know about anything else, but you shouldn’t believe the ending. How can a Taoist believe in a supernatural being?”

“You could easily do that.”

“Even the teacher… … .”

“Anyway, we didn’t come here to eat delicious food. The Shamanist faction is now turned upside down because of you.”

I frowned. What was that story? Cheonghwa and the brothers didn’t come down just to see me.

“why?”

“Zhuge Liang ordered that you be excommunicated.”

“yes?”

Even though I am ignorant about martial arts, this is a story that I cannot help but find laughable.

“What the hell is that?”

“You are spreading bad rumors and damaging the reputation of the nonpartisan group, so I am giving you advice as a member of the same party.”

“Oh, me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. I didn’t know that the so-called Odaese, who are considered prestigious, would do something so childish.

It is now unnecessary to say anything about the fact that Jegal Se-ga is behind Muhan Sanghoe.

In this infinite, the Whiyoung Group survived steadfastly and the status of the Dongho Trading Company it belongs to also rose significantly. On the other hand, the Infinite Trading Company was repeatedly struggling and self-destructing.

In particular, reducing the number of items handled and focusing only on the Nokrim 12-style was the worst possible handshake.

Since the Nokrim Ship-2-Sik was a book and not a consumable, demand was bound to decrease, and since all the printers in the Central Plains were attached to it, supply was bound to skyrocket.

In the end, all the Nokrim Ship-2-shik products that were filled to the brim with extra money in the warehouse of Muhan Sanghoe became dead stock. In the meantime, the market share of the products that were previously handled was also pushed out by Dongho Sanghoe.

In addition, the relationship between Whiyoungsangdan and Hubei Pojeongsa was so good that even the people knew about it. So the people’s preference naturally shifted to Whiyoungsangdan and Donghosanghoe, and Donghosanghoe quickly gave up its entire market share.

“That’s ridiculous. So that’s why you came to investigate.”

“No? What kind of investigation is this?”

“yes?”

I was confused. Didn’t you come here to confirm the facts about the slander?

“The long-suffering monk was furious. How dare he excommunicate our disciple. It was an extremely unpleasant experience for me as well.”

“oh.”

That’s a bit touching. I guess that’s why the Muin think of the sect as their home.

“So, the formations that we had set up were all taken away by Zhuge Liang’s people, and all internal and external cooperation was cut off.”

“……yes?”

What a sudden story. In the meantime, Myeong-gyeong nodded as if it was very reasonable!

“Where are the ignorant people who only know how to borrow money?”

“That’s right. I guess they thought we were people who would listen to other people’s stories and abandon their disciples. It was a huge insult.”

Myeongseong also accepted the words. Myeongjin also seemed to have said something, but I couldn’t hear it well.

Everyone seemed relaxed, but I was the only one who was anxious.

“No, no, no. Isn’t that a bit different? Is it really because of me that the relationship between the Wudang faction and the Zhuge family will get worse?”

“You are different from other lay disciples. In fact, since you have caught Jang Moon-in’s eye, you are the same as a disciple of the main temple. But how cowardly and petty is it to secretly send someone like that away? It is right for us to filter out such people. I thought you were decent people, but I didn’t know you were like this.”

“Ah, still, haa… … .”

My heart felt heavy for no reason. I also belonged to the Gokjeongak, so I know roughly the relationship between the Wudangpa and the Jegal family. Since they were the two big names of the political factions in Hubei, the relationship between the two was close.

The Wudang faction was a Taoist sect, so they were not well-versed in the principles, and so the Zhuge family supplemented them. The Wudang faction supplemented the Zhuge family’s relatively weak military power. Of course, in peaceful times like these, this was something that was not often revealed.

So, from the nonpartisan’s perspective, the sweet relationship where I could unilaterally receive help has ended. But it’s because of me.

Of course, it’s awkward to say it’s because of me, and I didn’t expect that to happen. I had expected that the Zhuge family would plot against me behind my back, but I didn’t expect the Wudang faction to get so angry that they cut off ties.

The aftermath that I thought was almost over was suddenly growing like a snowball. But Cheonghwa was just laughing. This guy from the martial arts world. He doesn’t know anything.

“It’s okay. What could happen?”

“I think there will be a lot.”

I took a deep breath. I sent someone to Jo Chung-heon. I told him to cancel all the plans I had for today.

“First of all, why would you think about something complicated? It’s not like it happened right away. So, why didn’t you just come?”

“I came to see how busy you are to the point of putting off even coming to the office. But you don’t look particularly busy.”

“I’m so busy. My schedule was already full, but I canceled everything.”

“why?”

“The Master and the executioners have arrived.”

I grumbled and went outside. The drunkenness from yesterday had subsided after a short drink.

“Let’s go out and eat something. I need to get rid of my hangover.”

“Let’s do that.”

As I watched the Cheonghwa and the Sasangs follow along without a care, I couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly. Maybe it was because they were Taoists, but even in this emergency situation, their gestures were relaxed.

***

“Does this make any sense!”

Zhuge Yan shouted evilly. The paper she threw hit the faces of the people carrying the load on their backs.

“Sanghoeju. Please explain yourself.”

Infinite Company owner Cheon Yeong-in lowered his head and trembled. It was humiliating to be pressured like this by Jegal Yeon, who was his daughter’s age, but what was more humiliating was that he had made a rookie mistake.

“It was my mistake.”

“Of course! If it wasn’t a mistake, this result wouldn’t make sense!”

The paper that Zhuge Yan had thrown fell to the floor. It contained a list of reasons why the Infinite Company had to be dissolved.

Declining market share. Unpayable debt incurred to bring in Nokrim Ship-2-Sik. Bad inventory. Declining market confidence. If things continued like this, it would last a few years, but it would slowly wither away. Jegal Se-ga had no reason to support such a company.

“From now on, Jegal Se-ga will stop working for Muhan Trading Company.”

“Oh, Miss!”

Cheon Yeong-in knelt down. The dissolution of the company during his reign was truly a huge stain on his career.

That is why Cheon Yeong-in tried to save Muhan Sanghoe and then take responsibility and escape. But Jegal Yeon did not even give him time to do so.

“Why? Are you thinking of moving somewhere else?”

“That, that’s not it… … .”

Cheon Yeong-in, who was hit hard, continued to stammer, but Jegal Yeon continued to lash out even more.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Do you think Zhuge Liang is funny? You can’t work anywhere anymore. Find a job carrying bricks.”

“Miss, miss!”

Cheon Yeong-in cried out, but Jegal Yeon nodded to the warriors outside. The warriors of Jegal Se-ga grabbed Cheon Yeong-in’s two arms as he screamed and dragged him outside.

The remaining foreigners trembled because they had no idea how far Zhuge Yan’s wickedness would go.

“What are you all doing?”

“……yes?”

“Go to work! Work! Fighting the shamans is no joke!”

People nodded in surprise and went outside.

There is a misconception that Zhuge Yan was angry because he wanted to improve the efficiency of the organization in his own way. It is not because he was simply angry.

Now was not the time to kill people’s efficiency by venting unnecessary anger. Being in conflict with the shamans was a huge burden for the Zhuge family as an external source.

When the Murim Alliance heard that there was a conflict between Jegal Se and the Mudang faction, didn’t they recommend an apology and offer to mediate?

However, the Sega and Munpa factions that are attached to each other cannot help but have conflicts like this from time to time. Just look at the Hwasan and Jongnam factions that are attached to Shaanxi at the moment, and they are enemies.

The Murim Alliance would naturally want to mediate the fight between the people of the Jeongpa faction, but originally, there were no two mountain armies on the same mountain.

“Phew.”

Zhuge Yan hit his own cheek hard. His white cheek turned red and swollen, and he became numb. That was how much she had to come to her senses.

Of course, Jegal Se-ga was already preparing for a fight with the Wudang faction. That was why he sent a royal decree to expel Mokhwiyeong.

“Those fools who can’t do anything alone.”

Zhuge Yan’s eyes lit up. He was going to show the harshness of this reality that the Taoist priests neglected and despised.

The very next day, all the merchants who had been dealing with the shamans made excuses and stopped doing business with them.

It was the moment when the fight between the Zhuge Liang family and the Wudang faction was truly beginning.