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Chapter 24
Book 1 Chapter 24: When Spring Arrives at the Crossroad (3)
Translator: Hwarang
Editor: Kidyeon
The next day, Song Hwa Rin visited me once again.
“Did you tell your father?”
I could tell from her rash behavior that her heart was uneasy. It seems that Song Wu Kyung is going to make a decision either today or tomorrow.
“No, I didn’t tell him.”
Her face expressed her disappointment.
“Eh? Oh well. I’m sorry that I asked you a favor then.”
She turned around, about to leave.
“Your way of thinking is wrong.”
“What?”
“The more that you prevent someone from doing something, the more that they’ll want to do it. Let’s say that my father were to talk him out of it; it would leave a lasting impression on your father.”
She couldn’t say anything back, considering the fact that she hadn’t thought that far through.
“Not only that, but it could create a crack in their relationship. You don’t want that, right?”
“Of course not. I definitely don’t want their relationship to change because of this.”
“Therefore, I think that this isn’t the proper way to go about this. We should make your father give more thought to this—like giving him a reason to decline the offer.”
“Giving him a reason to decline the offer?
Yeah, you’re right, but 
 how do we go about finding that reason?”
“Have you looked any further into it?”
“What?”
“Have you looked any further into the people involved and the hidden resentment that they bear? Have you found a proper reason to stop these people?”
“What do you mean?” She tilted her head and gave me a funny look.
“I decided to look further into it. I learned more about it from our Financial Officer, Elder Jong.”
“What did you find out?”
“A couple of months ago they were about to make a big financial breakthrough. However, it suddenly came to a halt.”
“What financial breakthrough?”
“I don’t know, as there weren’t any ways to look further into it. However, I have a feeling that we need to investigate what happened. If we know what happened then, we might know what they’re up to now.”
“But we don’t have time! My father said that he’ll give them his answer today!”
“There’s a way to look into it before then.”
“How?”
“By buying information from the information brokers. This is both the fastest and most reliable way to learn what happened.”
“Information brokers?”
Her voice was shaky. It seems that she’s never used an information broker before.
“However, to do so, I need some money.”
“How much?”
“A thousand nyang? Two thousand? Even I don’t know. However, I’m sure that the more you pay them, the more accurate the information will be.”
“Are you crazy? Two thousand nyang is a huge sum of money!”
“I’ll leave the final decision up to you.”
Two hours later she came back with the money. I didn’t ask her where she’d gotten it from. Since she was the heir to the Song Clan, getting two thousand nyang shouldn’t have been a problem for her.
While we were on our way to the information brokers, I bought two straw hats and cloaks to disguise ourselves with. She must’ve been a bit scared considering this was her first time doing this sort of thing.
She didn’t have a good impression of the information brokers, as she thought that they lived in dark places and did dirty things . She thought that they were greedy, dirty people who would try to trick her. It was understandable since she had never used their services before, and there were still people who would try to trick you. However, if the price is right, they’ll give you whatever information you need.
Kang Ho had a few different types of Information brokers. They ranged from private merchants all the way to large broker guilds. However, I knew all about them since the sect that Kal Sa Ryang manages is the information sect.
There are many information guilds in Kang Ho, but the three major information broker guilds in Kang Ho are The Heavenly Net Guild, The Ghostly Eye Palace, and The Thousand Crossroads Guild.
I had already looked into the different information merchants of San Dong, asthere were two things I needed in order to enlarge my Clan: Money and Information.
Without these two things, there was no way for me to enlarge the Clan. Thus, I’d already looked into the information network of San Dong.
Because of this, I knew where the Heavenly Net Guild was, and took her with me to one of the Heavenly Net Guild’s offices.
When we arrived at the entrance, she was hesitant.
“I’m nervous since this is my first time here....”
“Don’t be.”
“What?”
“Don’t show that it’s your first time here.”
“...Ok.”
After taking a couple of deep breaths and slapping her cheeks a couple of times, she managed to calm down.
A man with a goatee met us. He seemed very uptight, and didn’t seem to have any flaws, making him have the perfect appearance for this sort of work.
“What sort of Information are you looking for?”
“Information about the San Dong Merchants.”
There’s a price on all information. Just like other merchandise, the price of the information will fluctuate rather quickly. What was a hundred nyang the day before, could very well rise to be a thousand nyang the very next day.
“A thousand five-hundred nyang. Originally it was only worth two hundred nyang, but it just rose a little while ago.
His words weren’t without reason. Which meant that this information was worth its price.
Song hwa Rin looked at me hesitantly.
I turned towards the Merchant and told him, “Give us some time.”
“Of course.”
The merchant left in a rather excited mood, as if he’d already sold the information.
“Is this information worth its price?”
“I don’t know”
You would never know if the information was worth it until you heard it from the merchant.
“What would you do?”
“I’d buy it.”
Then she asked me, “Why?”
“Since it has something to do with my father. I don’t want to leave anything to chance when it comes to my family.”
She made her resolution this time and nodded at me.
When the merchant came back, she directly gave him one thousand five-hundred nyang.
“We’ll buy it.”
“Good. I’ll tell you about it then.”
I asked him which Clan the San Dong Merchant was going to work with
“A couple of months ago, the San Dong Merchants were in the middle of making a deal with the Yang Clan.”
“The Yang Clan?!”
We were both surprised. This was a name that we weren’t expecting.
A couple of month ago means that Yang GI Chul was still the Gaju of the Yang Clan.
“As you know, it’s harder for a Merchant Guild to enter the Murim than a Clan.”
“So they were going to trust that the Yang Clan would become bigger, and force their way into the Murim....”
“Yes. During the process, they had numerous conflict with other merchant guilds. And if things went their way, there was going to be an even larger conflict.”
This was a surprising piece of news that had never spread.
“But ever since Yang GI Chul died, the San Dong Merchant guild have received some backlash, and the new Bangju of the Yang Clan has cut all ties with the Merchant guild. Therefore, the formation of the San Dong Alliance was postponed.”
“And what were the other merchant guild’s reactions?”
“They, of course, are waiting for an opportunity to take revenge. This concludes the information about the San Dong Merchant guild.”
If this information hasn't been any useful to us, he wouldn’t have made the price a thousand five-hundred nyang. Thus, she didn’t complain about the price.
After listening to everything that the information merchant had to say about the San Dong Merchant guild, she became angry.
“Everything the San Dong Merchant guild said was a lie. They were just using us to divert the attention away from the other merchant guilds.”
I nodded in agreement with her.
“You’re completely right. They were using the San Doing Alliance as an excuse to get under the radar of the others.”
Because Song Wu Kyung was focusing his attention on the creation of an Alliance, he hadn’t paid much attention to the San Dong Merchant guild. He hadn’t understood their true intentions.
“
scary”
“Yes, it is very scary.”
She must have been pretty shocked. She never thought that Kang Ho-In would scheme this much.
“You should hurry and tell your father about this.”
She turned back towards me and said, “Thanks.”
“You bought the information with your money. There’s no need to thank me.”
She left after giving me a second glance.
Even though I had some feelings for her, the true reason I had helped her was because of my father. I truly wanted to protect his and her father’s relationship.
***
Song Wu Kyung declined the offer from the San Dong Merchant guild. I’m sure he declined it in a nice way that didn’t reveal his hands.
After that, both Song Wu Kyung and Song Hwa Rin visited our house.
Song Wu Kyung gave thanks with everyone present.
“Thanks to you, we were able to discover what they were scheming.”
“No, it’s not like that. It was Rin-ee who found out about it. I just escorted her.”
“That’s not what I heard. Without you, this situation could’ve become quite complicated.”
It seems that Hwa Rin had told her father that everything that happened was because of me.
Song Wu Kyung grabbed my hand. His hand was full of callouses, but warm.
“Thank you very much.”
I could feel his true feelings though his eyes.
I had only helped him because of the close relationship that he and my father shared.
“No, all the credit should to go Rin-ee.”
I gave her all the credit to the end.
Since Hwa Rin remained silent, I didn’t know what she was thinking.
Then Song Wu Kyung said to my parents, “We were able to escape this calamity thanks to our son-in-law. Thank you very much.”
My parents couldn’t hold back their excitement either.
I could that my father was especially proud that I had help Song Wu Kyung avoid this crisis. However, he wasn’t the type to boast about me.
“This all happened because Rin-ee was able to gather enough money.”
My father added more as a compliment, “You have a very good daughter.”
Afterwards, Song Wu Kyung looked at me and Hwa Rin couple of times and said, “Now that I look at you two, it truly seems that you two are match made in heaven!”
My mother didn’t miss the chance either. “Yes, they complement each other well.”
It felt like they were going to hold a marriage ceremony tomorrow, so I took Hwa Rin and left the room. That was how we were able to get out of that.
I was surprised that everything that happened was related to me. If I hadn’t killed Yang Gi Chul, this wouldn’t have happened. If I hadn’t died, there wouldn’t be any of this nonsense about Alliances.
This was the first time Hwa Rin apologized to me as sincerely as she did. “I’m sorry that I asked you for this kind of favor, when I was the first one to cancel our engagement.”
Then she lowered her head and said, “Thank you. Really.”
I gave her a light smile since I didn’t have any significant feelings for her.
If it was the younger me, I would’ve wanted to chase after her and make her mine simply because of her beauty. I wouldn’t have been able to control my emotions and wouldn’t have cared about anything else in the world. I’d have caused a scene just like Byuk Lee Dan had. But I was someone who’d lived seventy odd years. I understood her all too well. I understood why she’d wanted to cancel our engagement, and how she wanted to help her father.
“Like I said before, this is something that you did.”
She turned and looked at me. When I waved at her, she gave me a little smile and quickly left.
I was rooting for her springtime of youth.
Praying that she’d achieve what she wanted to achieve.
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