NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 139



Only Krnovel

Investment (3)

At Imjin River, bullets and shells rained down again today, and the nameless Tanaka and Ichiro were killed, but Incheon Midujang was still crowded with people.

-Ring ring.

“It came out!”

“How much is it!”

“Speak quickly! Quickly!”

People who were distracted by money games pestered the host who was on the phone.

From the noble gentlemen to the modern boys who were enlightened from head to toe, their clothes, speech, and behavior were all different, but they all had red eyes, waved their hands in the air, and spit in the air.

The presenter, standing in front of a crowd of people who were yelling and hollering like a herd of pigs gathered around a feed trough at mealtime, finally put down the receiver and adjusted his glasses.

Then raise both hands high and shout.

“100 seoks of rice for 30 won!”

“Ha, this is driving me crazy!”

“I can’t eat this, but it’s delicious!”

“31 cents out of 100!”

“31 won and 52 jeon for 100!”

The market soon became noisy with the cries of the ghosts chasing after vain hopes.

One interesting thing is that outside of the soybean market, things are not much different. Right outside of Incheon Soybean Market, people who didn’t have enough money to go to the soybean market or people who just came to watch people were gathered around one stall.

Everyone was looking at the person sitting at the table with anxious expressions.

“Okay, kids, go! Kids, go! This is the last time. If you want to bet, go. If you don’t want to bet, go home!”

“Surge! 30 points for a surge!”

“Then I’ll give you 50 cents for the plunge!”

“Me too! Me too! I’m 40 cents from the plunge!”

Most of the people gathered at this stall were people who had been kicked out of Midujang, which had lost its original purpose of investment and had now degenerated into speculation, becoming a gambling house half-licensed by the Governor-General.

Nevertheless, whether it was because they were thinking about the money they had lost or because they had a vain hope that they would get it back, they would often hang around outside the soybean market and hang out with the moneylenders.

Hapbaek (a hundred combined).

This is a general term for private trading that takes place near exchanges such as a soybean market or stock exchange.

Of course, the private transactions we are talking about here are private gambling establishments opened privately by individuals.

Even if you just look at the tables set up here, it is a private gambling house where people bet money on the rise and fall of the rice market.

Naturally, the Government-General strictly controlled and supervised these private gambling houses.

Police were constantly patrolling the area around the rice market to crack down on these thieves, but these cockroach-like people continued to do business(?) by avoiding the police crackdown.

And now.

Now, due to a fierce confrontation between the military and the police, the number of police officers in the Gyeongseong and Gyeonggi areas has been greatly reduced, creating a vacuum in public security.

“Okay! It’s not like they come every day. Even Chunsik next door and Kyungae across the street are so picky that they can’t come to their senses once they do!”

“Easy! Easy! Here’s a play board that everyone from newborns to seniors over 60 can learn and enjoy easily~”

“Oh, oh, come on! With both hands full of money and a light heart! Come on~”

As the number of police officers decreased, patrols also decreased and then stopped altogether, so soon the area around Midujang was overflowing with criminals who had flocked from all over the country.

“Hey, bro! Who the hell wants to do business here? Huh?!”

“Do you want to get some honey?”

“This is our territory!”

“Okay, get out now!”

And at a time when families are falling apart, societies are collapsing, armies are pointing guns at each other while governments are being toppled, and colonial troops and the Governor-General’s Office are fighting each other’s hair.

Just as flies swarm around shit and maggots swarm around a corpse, where illegal gambling was rampant, thugs and ruffians began to creep in, trying to make a killing, and the security of the gambling district began to deteriorate day by day.

“Where the hell did you guys come from!”

“Who are we?”

“Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know!”

“You don’t need to know?”

“We already know!”

Inside the rice market, those who are obsessed with money are fighting over money, and outside, parasites are lurking around trying to extort even a small amount of money from people. This place can truly be called a place of hell.

“Oh, really… … . It’s been a while since I came to the rice market to check out the taste of rice and the price trends.”

“It’s so chaotic, who would want to do business in a soybean market like this?”

“Hey, tsk tsk tsk.”

“It seems like it would be a bad idea to go to the rice mill today, so let’s go back.”

Although the soybean paste factory was not a clean place, not many people would come to a place where shit was being sprayed everywhere and chaos was created.

Even if a person had sold his soul to the millet farm, he would naturally turn away when he saw the thugs and bullies loitering around the millet farm.

Of course, people who were completely crazy about Midu and had completely destroyed their souls, houses, and ancestral graves, and had no interest in the affairs of their surroundings, still went about their business, so it was not easy to see the departure of people on the outside.

“I don’t want to… … I’m not going to do it, but something feels a bit… … .”

“My body feels so stiff… … .”

“Is there anything else?”

But just like a dog can’t stop pooping.

There was no way a speculator would stop speculating.

Because it was difficult to enter the soybean market due to the thugs and rioters who occupied the streets, speculators began to look for a substitute for soybeans.

An article from the Chosun Ilbo appeared before them.

[Do you know Chosun-Stock?]

[Low risk, high return guaranteed!]

[About the story of Mandeuk, who was a slave, making a fortune through stocks and buying a house for a nobleman.]

[Making money was the easiest thing in the world.]

The article, which was so eye-catching that it caught people’s attention, caught the interest of speculators.

“stock……?”

“What is a stock?”

“My staple food is rice, of course. I don’t eat if there’s no rice on the table.”

“Oh my. What ignorant writers with heads full of shit!”

However, for speculators who had been staking their lives on the tough futures trading in the soybean market, the stock market was a dull market with little volatility and low daily trading volume.

“what’s this?”

“A person who used to make thousands of won a day is now making a few tens of won a day. Wow.”

Was the disappointment as great as the expectations?

The sluggish stock market was a huge disappointment to those hoping to make a fortune overnight.

“Wow! If you’re going to do something like this, you might as well go back to being a bean curd.”

“I’ll pay taxes too.”

“I guess things will settle down later and the police will come back and the streets will be safe. I guess.”

At that time, one by one, they were leaving the stock market and going back to the rice market.

“uh……?”

A man who was leaving the stock exchange while grumbling suddenly stopped and looked at the dashboard with an expression on his face as if he had been hit in the head with a hammer.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Oh, oh… … .”

“What is this guy looking at that makes him do this?”

“Is it past time for that guy to take his medicine already?”

The person who was looking at the status board came to his senses and urged those who seemed to be his close friends.

“Hey guys! Over there! Look at the bulletin board!”

“Why is the status board… … ?”

“Is there a problem… …?”

“???”

The status board was a bit strange.

It’s not that there was anything wrong, but something… something was strange.

“Did I see things?”

“Uh… … . I guess my eyes are starting to get a little blurry these days as I get older.”

People rubbed their eyes and looked at the board again.

“uh?”

“The numbers… … are the same?”

The numbers on the board were exactly ten times higher than what I had seen a moment ago.

Then the exchange employee took off the number plate on the scoreboard again and put up a new number plate, and this time the number had gone up 15 times.

“… … .”

“… … .”

“You annoying people! Why are you just standing there and watching? There’s money rolling around on the ground right now!”

“Pick it up!”

* * *

A restaurant near Umigwan in Jongro.

Umigwan, the most famous theater in Gyeongseong, was always crowded with people coming to see movies.

Perhaps because of that, Daegal Daegam, who had left Deoksu Mountain Villa for the first time in a long while and entered the secular world, naturally blended in with the crowd without much disguise.

“Hmm.”

Daegal Daegam, who went out on an outing after a long time, just stirred his soup with a spoon with a listless expression.

I didn’t put it in my mouth.

“It looks like you don’t like Seolleongtang.”

“Ugh… … . It’s uncomfortable to eat.”

“Well, I guess I’ve only ever eaten the good food prepared by my personal chef, so eating street food just doesn’t suit me.”

“… … .”

At my words, the old man crumpled his face and forcibly lifted his spoon.

But after taking a few bites, he put down his spoon and changed the subject, as if he couldn’t eat any more.

“It’s really spooky.”

“What is it?”

“Stocks. Stocks.”

“Oh, that one.”

Daegal Daegam looked around with a slightly nervous expression, then opened his mouth cautiously.

“It’s been a while since you told me the stocks would skyrocket, and now they’re already starting to skyrocket… … Did you do it all, sir?”

“well.”

After finishing a bowl of seolleongtang, I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief that Madame had embroidered and Inspector Sasaki had personally washed, and acted coquettish.

“Where is the stock that goes up because someone is trying to raise its price, and goes down because someone is trying to lower its price? No!”

“This is something a ghost would cry about.”

“Shall I sing you a song?”

“Oh, no.”

There was a brief pause in the conversation.

However, the great lord Daegal still had more than one question he wanted to ask me, as he stirred and watched me closely.

“You must have eaten well. Should I get up now?”

“Oh, then, where to next… … ?”

“Before that.”

I pointed to the cash register with my finger.

“You have to pay the price.”

“Who? Me?”

“Then should I pay the bill?”

Daegal took out his wallet with a sad expression on his face.

After paying the price and going out onto the street, Umi-gwan Street was full of people.

“So what did you do with the stock exchange?”

The old man, who had an incredible sense of smell for money, asked me again.

So I silently wiggled my fingers left and right, and at the same time, the great lord Daegal’s gaze followed my fingertips.

I turned my head to the right and saw a family happily coming out of a theater outing.

This time, I turned to the left and saw a young man and woman shyly holding hands and walking down the street.

“What do you want me to see… … ?”

“What do you see?”

The great sergeant’s gaze turned back to the street.

“People are visible.”

“Then what can’t you see?”

“… … ?”

Daegal looked at me with an expression that said he still had a long way to go.

“I don’t see any police.”

“Ah… … I see.”

“How can it be that so many Koreans are gathered here and there are no police officers?”

“Uh… … . Then is that not okay?”

“… … .”

It really seemed like there was nothing else on Daegal Daegam’s mind but money.

Perhaps when you open the lid of the skull, instead of udon noodles, you will find a handful of wads of bills.

“What does the Government-General hate the most?”

“Isn’t that the ghost of Gyeongseong?”

It was a difficult answer to refute.

“… … Then what is the second thing you hate?”

“Uh… … Isn’t this the military?”

This is also a difficult answer to refute.

“Three, what’s the third?”

“Well… … Aren’t they the rebels who rebel against the rule of the Governor-General?”

“… … The Japanese Government-General of Korea hates Koreans gathering together.”

“Oh, is that so? Well… … I think there was a time last time when the streets were noisy with the Manse Movement and all.”

“Yes, since then, the Government-General has developed a pathological dislike for Koreans gathering together.”

However, there were no police officers to monitor the gathering of so many Koreans.

“Why is that?”

“Because they were all taken to the Imjin River and are fighting the military.”

“Ah… … I see.”

The reduction in police power soon led to a deterioration in public security.

On the streets, all kinds of thugs, beggars, gangsters, and even robbers were not uncommon, and pickpockets and con artists were running wild like fish in water.

“Thanks to that, the few remaining police officers are busy cracking down on these petty crimes.”

The Government-General’s Police Department was no fool either; they did not leave these criminals alone, and they tried to bring the local police still under their control to Gyeongseong to maintain public order.

“But while we were talking about stocks, why did the police… …?”

“I’m saying this because the two are related.”

“What’s the connection?”

“well.”

It seems that even though Daegal liked money itself, he was somewhat lacking in how to earn it.

“Your Majesty, just stay still and when I tell you to sell stocks later, you sell them, and when I tell you to buy something, you buy it and that’s it.”

“Oh, is that so? Then I will only trust you, teacher.”

The great lord Daegal was very happy and joyful.

They may not even know that they are pigs on a pig farm, fattening themselves up to be eaten soon.

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 140