Hyeonjilmusin - Chapter 148



Only Noblemtl

148. Central Plains Merchants’ Association (3)

Time passed, and the day came for Yu Cha-ryeon, Jo Chung-heon, and I to leave for Beijing. In the meantime, I was busy handling the work of the upper ranks and playing with Myeongseong, Myeonggyeong, and Myeongjin, my direct disciples. Even though I played with them, it was only to the point of giving them a secret weapon.

Before the Master was locked up in the Confession Hall, he asked me to take good care of the executioners. Of course, even if he hadn’t asked me to, I would have taken good care of them.

Naturally, for the general disciples, it was concluded that Cheonghwado and Cheongsudo had gained the beginning of enlightenment and entered into closed-door training. There was no benefit in revealing that Cheonghwado and Cheongsudo were responsible for the leak of the Taegeuk Hyegeom, so Cheongui, the eldest disciple, made the right choice.

The day before leaving for Beijing, I told them that I was leaving, and Myeong-gyeong in particular made a fuss, lying down and flailing her arms and legs, saying that she wanted to go to Beijing with me.

It was fortunate that Myeongseong, who was the ambassador, stopped Myeonggyeong well, otherwise Myeonggyeong would have followed him out of the blue.

Autumn is slowly passing away from summer. It is now the season when the sound of red leaves rustling around tickles our ears.

As befitting a daughter of a noble family, Yu Cha-ryeon wore a green palace attire with a white robe, Jo Chung-heon wore a black light robe with a pi-pung-ui, and I wore a blue military uniform with a brass-colored long cloth.

“The young Taoist priests really like you, Danju.”

Yu Cha-ryeon said, slightly surprised.

This is what I said when I saw Myeonggyeong crying and rolling around telling me not to go alone right before I was about to descend from Mt. Mudeung.

“I’ve heard that in the martial arts world, there’s a clear line between lay disciples and mountain disciples, but I guess that’s not necessarily the case.”

“It just happened that way.”

I said with an embarrassed smile. I don’t know about the audience distribution, but I have a firm grasp on the audience distribution.

“That is all your ability, Danju.”

Jo Chung-heon suddenly interjected from behind. After he dramatically doubled my monthly salary, Jo Chung-heon’s surprise worship of me became more intense.

If it was just flattery, I could understand it, but it was so obvious that it was not sincere, so I was embarrassed to say anything in response.

“Please stop, sir. The owner is feeling embarrassed.”

Yoo Cha-ryeon noticed him quickly and said something to Jo Chung-heon, but Jo Chung-heon showed no hesitation at all.

“If you work with the Master, you will come to know how great he is. There is a reason why his name has the characters for “Hui” (輝), meaning shining, and “Yeong” (瑩), meaning bright.”

“That’s a bit… … .”

Even so, they worshipped the name given by their father. The methods of worship were truly varied.

“By the way, Miss Yu knows how to ride a horse.”

I quickly changed the subject. It was quite unusual for daughters of noble families to not learn horseback riding because they thought it was vulgar to ride a horse.

“My father wanted me to be above average in everything I did. He was such an outstanding person.”

“I see. Is your father by any chance… …?”

“He is a junior officer in the Ministry of Personnel.”

“okay.”

Sirang is the deputy head of the six ministries. He is a high-ranking official of the third rank. It was not for nothing that he was called a noble family.

“Then I guess I’ll see my father in Beijing too?”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t want to meet you.”

“Oh, are you not on good terms?”

“That’s not true. If you knew that I was divorced and was helping out with the upper-level work like this, you would be upset.”

“Don’t you know I’m divorced?”

“You must know now. The letter must have been sent from the head of the household.”

In fact, Yoo Cha-ryeon’s divorce was decided on the spot. Thinking back now, it seems like the marriage between the two noble families was a strategic decision, but judging from the fact that it ended that way, Yoo Cha-ryeon was no ordinary person.

“You are amazing.”

I said that with all sincerity.

As we chatted like that, we soon arrived in Hanam.

When entering Henan from Hubei, the next thing you had to do was to cross Mount Dabyeol. Of course, you could go back, but that was the fastest way to Beijing.

“But isn’t this Daebyeolsan Mountain where Nokrimchae is?”

As they entered Daebyeolsan, Jo Chung-heon looked around anxiously.

“Right?”

“Our schedule isn’t that tight, but we really need to… … .”

“Ah. There are paths that the Nokrimchae watches over, and paths that they don’t.”

“Do you know the way?”

“sure.”

I confidently beat my chest. This was top-notch information that only experienced, seasoned merchants among real merchants knew. Right now, Jo Chung-heon and Yoo Cha-ryeon were receiving an incredible experience that money couldn’t buy.

“Hahahaha! Where are you crawling like a rat without even saying hello to the owner of Daebyeolsan!”

And as soon as I finished speaking, we came face to face with a bandit holding an iron club.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Jo Chung-heon and Yoo Cha-ryeon looked at me as if I was dumbfounded, but I tried to ignore them. From what I remember, it was definitely not the kind of path that would lead to Nokrimdo, so I felt aggrieved as to why it was coming out.

Of course, bandits are a group that moves in groups. One by one, menacing-looking bandits began to appear around us.

“Haha. That girl is pretty, isn’t she?”

“I bet Chae Joo-nim will like it.”

The Nokrimdo people immediately started spewing out dirty jokes at the sight of Yu Cha-ryeon, who had outstanding looks.

It was at a level that made us frown in embarrassment, but Yu Cha-ryeon didn’t even blink.

“Great warriors of the Green Forest. All you have to do is pay the toll, right? Haha.”

Of course I tried to resolve it peacefully.

The Nokrimdo and the Sangdan are surprisingly in a symbiotic relationship. When the Nokrimdo builds a road in the mountain, the Sangdan pays the toll and uses the road conveniently. It was a more reasonable deal than you might think.

That’s why I didn’t hold a strong antagonism towards the Nokrim. It’s because I respected them, even though I could fight and win against them. It’s not like I’m weird, and there were actually quite a few upper-class people who drank with the Nokrim Chaeju.

“Hehehe. Normally I would have just let her go, but I can’t just let her go because of that woman’s looks.”

“Hmm. That’s a bit difficult.”

It was a variable. This was definitely something I hadn’t taken into account.

What the Nokrimdos like more than money is women. Since they live locked up in the mountains, they have no chance to see women. In fact, if you go to the Nokrimchae mountain house, the smell of a single father who is like trash spreads out like some kind of law.

“I’ll give you a lot of money.”

“Then I guess we can leave the woman behind and just you two pay the toll.”

“That’s a bit difficult.”

“Then I have no choice but to die.”

Nokrimdo took out his sword and licked the back of the sword with his tongue. He rolled his eyes and licked the back of the sword with his tongue, as if he was trying to create a sense of fear, but for some reason he just looked like a fool.

But unlike such a foolish behavior, the aura that emanated from it was not ordinary. I felt a strange sense of alienation and took off my brass-colored robe. Jo Chung-heon quickly approached and took my brass-colored robe with both hands.

My Songmungo sword came out into the world, cutting through the wind with ease. Nokrimdo laughed out loud when he saw it.

“Hahaha! I really wanted to get into the coffin early, so I made up my mind… … .”

But his laughter didn’t last long, because the guy next to him saw the water in my sword and whispered thoughtfully.

“… … Hey, does that make sense? You’re a disciple of the common people?”

“I don’t know. I could just wear it.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit odd for a non-partisan person to pretend to be a Taegeuk swordsman?”

I pricked up my ears and heard them whispering. They seemed to be quite knowledgeable, even though they were in the green forests of Hanam.

After all, Hanam and Hubei are close, and the shaman’s Taegeuk sword had a mark that was easy to recognize.

They looked around and noticed, and only then did I belatedly notice something odd in the passing remarks.

“Hey, elders of Nokrimchae?”

“What, what is it?”

“Who are you?”

“What, what, what, what, what are you talking about? Of course you are the owner of Daebyeolsan!”

Nokrimdo was very embarrassed by my question. I was dumbfounded. It wasn’t just yesterday that the unmanned people couldn’t act.

“I didn’t know that the owners of Daebyeolsan were so interested in me. How did you know that I was a disciple of the shamanist sect? I’ve never revealed my name here.”

The green forest people kept their mouths shut. It seemed like they had no idea that I would overhear them.

“Hmm. That’s… … .”

Nokrimdo scratched his head. His face looked like something was seriously wrong.

“What should I do?”

Nokrimdo ended up asking for advice from the person next to him in a stupid tone. It was a truly absurd situation.

Now it was clear that they had planned their attack on me. And since they didn’t seem to have any personal grudge against me, it was clear that someone had instigated it.

It became a situation where everyone was looking at each other before opening their mouths. Something was seriously wrong with the situation. I mustered up the courage to speak first.

“The situation is a bit awkward.”

I said. In my view, the author was not a Nokrimdo. I know the Nokrimdo of Daebyeolsan because I often see them. It just occurred to me, but in the first place, they wear sleeveless clothes and have the character “大” tattooed on their arms.

The man who had acted like a green onion also looked back and shouted with courage.

“Listen! I didn’t say anything about that guy being a Taegeuk swordsman! The contract is void!”

Then that’s right. After all, the author wasn’t Nokrimdo. I’ve never seen Nokrimdo personally contract with anyone and take them down in my entire life as a merchant.

Then, immediately, a voice full of resentment came from behind Nokrim Island.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! No matter what, it has to go according to plan! Are you going to ruin things like this?”

“If I rush in, it’s obvious I’ll die, so why do I have to do it according to plan!”

“Give me my money back! You piece of trash!”

“Why don’t you just refund me? Instead, since we paid for our disguise and business trip, I’ll only refund half of it!”

“What the hell are you talking about!”

“Look carefully at the bottom of the contract! Isn’t there a refund policy written in small print?”

The man in the green forest and the voice shouting from behind started fighting without permission. The voice shouting from behind must have been the one who ordered them to attack us.

I shot forward, leaving behind Jo Chung-heon and Yoo Cha-ryeon, who looked like they had no idea what was going on.

“Huh?”

Before I knew it, I had passed a person dressed up as Nokrimdo, and I heard a panicked voice from among the thick bushes.

“Who are you to try to harm me? Let me see your face.”

“Stop chasing me! It was my fault!”

The man ran away quickly while shouting. Judging from the way he was using the lightness skill, he was definitely a man who had mastered martial arts quite a bit.

But he eventually failed to surpass my speed and was caught up to me. As the distance became closer, I jumped and grabbed his scruff and rolled over.

“Eww!”

We were able to slow down only after rolling a few times in the direction we had been flying. I let go of the hand holding the back of his neck and immediately grabbed him by the collar.

“Who are you?”

When I lifted his collar, a smooth face appeared, as if he had never known hardship. His face had thick eyebrows that stretched toward his temples, giving him the impression of a cheerful man, but his cheeks were still slightly chubby, giving him a youthful look.

“… … I can’t say that even if I die!”

“Then should I kill him?”

“That’s a bit… … ?”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“Can’t you just pretend not to notice and let it pass? Because I was really wrong.”

The young man, who looked a little younger than me, closed his eyes. It was as if he thought that if he closed his eyes, I would disappear from the world.

It was definitely a face I was seeing for the first time. But somehow it felt familiar.

I frowned, caught up in that strange feeling, and then I realized where I had seen it. It turned out to be a face I had seen countless times in my past life.

“The best in the world, Na Hyeon-wi?”

“Huh, gasp! How did you know? No, it wasn’t me!”

Na Hyeon-wi easily admitted that he was Na Hyeon-wi.

Come to think of it, I’ve met many people from my past lives in this year’s Second Coming. It’s about time for the merchants who were my contemporaries to start to stand out.

“You’ve been a fool since you were little.”

“What?”

“Where is that loud noise coming from?”

I released the nape of his neck and hit him on the back of the head.

I crouched down and looked at Na Hyeon-wi, who had fallen forward, and sighed. Honestly, I decided to go to Jung Sang-ryeon without thinking much about it, but it seemed like it would be more important than I thought.

This is because it is a place where you go to meet your past lives.