Chapter 29: My Beginning Is (5)
Translator: Hwarang
Editor: Coyo
Kwang Du lowered his voice and remarked, “Considering that it is someone who is going to be our financial officer, his house seems a bit run-down.”
This place was really about to fall down at any moment. It seemed as if I found the wrong place.
“It’s all right if the person inside is reliable. Go call him.”
“Yes”
Kwang Du used a loud voice, “Is anyone inside?”
Then a man in his mid-thirties opened the door. He was tall and skinny, unshaved with unkempt hair. He had the look of a homeless middle-aged man.
Kwang Du quickly whispered in my ear.
“I think this person is also a bit run-down.”
I comforted him by saying “All we need is for his head to be in good shape.”
“Are you teacher Kong?
“Teacher? What teacher? But I am Mr. Kong. Why did you come here?”
“Elder Jong from the Byuk clan recommended you to us.”
Kong Su Chan was a bit surprised. He would have never expected that Elder Jong introduced him to us.
“Come in, please”
We entered a small room. This room had books lying around everywhere.
“Excuse me but may I ask you what your relation is to Elder Jong?”
“He is my master”
Kwang Du and I were both surprised. Never had we expected that someone like Elder Jong would raise a disciple.
“How is my master?”
“He is well.”
“That is good. But why have you come here?”
“I am the heir of the Byuk Clan, Byuk Lee Dan and I need a financial officer, so I came to see you.”
He questioned me with an unexpected expression.
“So you want me to become your financial officer?”
“Yes, since your master recommended you.”
“Did my master tell you why I live in slum like this?”
“No.”
“So that’s how it is...”
“Everyone has their own secrets and problems.”
I didn’t question him but he said it anyway.
“I killed a person. I killed the person who hired me.”
He got up from his seat. It seemed as if he didn’t want to talk anymore.
“Please return home. I will not see you out.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary. I am not a weak person that will go down after getting hit a few times.” I stared at the confused Kong Su Chan and said, “I am sure he was someone who deserved to die.”
If not, he wouldn’t be in a place like this. If he killed someone innocent, he would be atoning for his crime somewhere else. And he would never admit something like this with his own lips.
“How was your previous master?”
He never expected me to say something like this. He answered me with a dazed expression.
“He was someone who deserved to die.”
“Then you did well by killing him.”
“Do you mean you don’t care about what happened?”
“Yes.”
“This is the first time. Everyone else criticized me after I said I killed a man.”
“It wouldn’t be a problem for me. But I have a question for you.”
“What is it?”
“Are you ready to start your work?”
After some silence he replied, “You trust me?”
I shook my head.
“It would be a lie if I told you I trust you since I don’t know anything about you.”
“Then why do you want to bring me with you?”
“Because I trust the person who recommended you to me.”
On top of that I trusted in my fate. Since Elder Jong personally came to me and told me about this person, I knew that this was fate.
“Will you come with me?”
“Let me ask you something as well?”
“Ask as much as you want.”
“What is the goal that you are trying to achieve?”
“To make the Byuk Clan the number one clan in all of the Central Plains.”
There was a moment of silence again.
Then Kong Su Chan said with a fire in his eyes, “I will come to you tomorrow with my things.”
“Thank you.”
After we got outside Kwang Du said something, “It seemed as if he caught your attention.”
“Refreshing, isn’t it? A financial official who reeks of blood.”
“Anyway, he needs to be good at his job, right?”
“Will he be though?”
“What?”
“He is an interesting one. He didn’t ask me what his pay was or where he will live but he asked me what my goal was.”
“Then why did you pick someone like him?”
“If my goal was to become the strongest in San Dong then I would most likely need a reasonable financial officer. But since my goal is the Central Plains I need a financial officer like him.”
Kwang Du acquiesced and said, “It’s hard.”
“There is nothing hard about it. If he is not cut out for it we just need to fire him and get another financial officer.”
“But that’s so cold.”
“It’s cool-headed.”
I didn’t even start my grand plan yet.
I knew what it meant to contest against those who were driven mad by power. It wasn’t something that people who follow a dream could contest against. They will crush anything that comes their way and trample on any dream.
To defeat them I must become colder and calmer than them.
The next morning Kong Su Chan arrived in front of the Byuk Clan’s gate with all his belongings.
After taking a bath, putting on new robes, being cleanly shaven and getting a haircut he looked a whole different person.
While he was unpacking his things Elder Jong came in.
“So you came?”
Kong Su Chan gave a bow to his master.
“It’s been a while.”
Through this I could tell that something happened between these two.
But all business aside the look that Elder Jong had on his face was a kind look that was welcoming his disciple that he hadn’t seen in ages.
Then Elder Jong told me, “Bring some wine.”
“Yes, of course.”
I could tell that he was thanking me for accepting his disciple.
It was beneficial for the Byuk Clan to accept Kong Su Chan during peaceful times like this since no one knows what the future might entail.
Since it was some time since they last met I was expecting them to talk a bit. But Elder Jong just said these words and left, “The person who will become your master is lacking in many ways. So, you must pay extra attention.”
He said it as if he was saying it to me.
This stinking old man.
I said while laughing, “Yes, it is as you heard, I am lacking in many ways.”
Then I handed him three thousand nyang.
“With this amount of money I need to run this Sword Sect. And of course, your wage is included in this.”
“Yes, I understand.”
He didn’t make any worried expression.
“Will you be all right?”
“You called me since you were in a tight spot, right?”
I liked his attitude. Rather than saying something negative he showed a confident attitude.
“In the future I am going to need more money.”
“I will do my best.”
“Thank you. I will trust that you will.”
I made my own sword sect and hired a financial officer who will take care of all finances.
Twenty martial artists and one financial officer.
This was a laughable number.
But the most important thing was that I have now started on my path.
There were news about the appointment of the new Mengju in the Murim Alliance.
It was said that they only sent invitation to the important clans of the Central Plains. The Yang Clan, the Song Clan and a few other clans got an invitation but our clan didn’t get one. This showed the sad reality of our clan.
If I hadn’t met with Kal Sa Ryang and Baek Pyo the other night I would have done everything to attend this ceremony.
But now I wasn’t interested in it since I knew that Baek Pyo will be running his new shop and Kal Sa Ryun will be fine on his own.
After dinner I went to see my father. Even though he might not show it I knew he was a bit bitter on the inside.
I understand the heart of the clan heads. He was disappointed about the fact that he didn’t receive an invitation like usual.
“Father, do you want to have a drink with me?”
I shook the bottle that I prepared beforehand. And father made a surprised expression. This was the first time that Byuk Lee Dan had ever done something like this.
“Since we are going to drink let's go out and have a drink.”
“Sounds good.”
So we went to the middle of the garden and sat down. It was the perfect weather in fall.
I poured him a drink and I received a drink from him.
“Now, let’s cheer.”
I toasted with him.
This was the first time for me. Having a drink with a father like this. It was a strange feeling.
“So how is your Sword Sect doing?”
“I think we are off to a decent start”
“It is not easy managing people. You should never disrespect your subordinates and you should get in the habit of looking at things from their perspective.”
“I will never forget that advice.”
Then father emptied his cup and I followed suit. Even though I usually don’t like the taste of alcohol I rather enjoyed it today.
While drinking we talked about various things but I never brought up anything about the invitation. I knew that drinking like this was the best way to comfort him.
A month later Kong Su Chan came to see me
“What is it?”
“With the money that you gave me I invested around two thousand nyang to various places.”
Then he pulled out a paper. It showed how much he invested in the different places.
There were two types of investments. The long-term investments and the short-term investments.
Usually most merchants spend the money that they earn but there are times when they take money from an investor and pay them back after they make a profit. This was a high-risk, high-reward business.
But what he showed me were only short term investments.
“This one is an investment in a merchant.”
“So how much did you earn?”
“I invested four hundred Nyang and made a hundred fifty nyang profit.”
“Oh! Not bad.”
“The result of my other investments will come back in a month or so. And the expected profit is around four hundred nyang.”
Investing two thousand nyang and making a five hundred nyang profit in three months was a pretty good achievement.
Even though he may be strange he showed with his skills that he was a good financial officer. And investing like this from the start showed that he was well-versed in investing and informed in the business world.
But the thing that I liked the most was that he never took any risky investment. He could have made a risky investment to look good in front of me but he didn’t do that.
“Even though I invested in only three places this time. I will slowly expand our investments.”
“I am not very knowledgeable in this field. Please do as you see fit. But you must report everything to me.”
“Of course. But you know, there are other ways to make money.”
“Like what other ways?”
“There are times when merchants need martial artists. They might need security or manpower.”
This was a way for a Murim-In to earn money. Usually they are hired by various people and organizations in the city.
Aside from the big organizations, it was hard for small sects and clans to support themselves with only this sort of work. So most of them usually start a business by making agreements with other merchants and other groups.
I was sure Byuk Clan would most likely be involved in this sort of work.
“I understand. However we still need time to grow. I will tell you when we are ready.”
“Yes, I understand.”
And training the Sword Sect continued.
Kwan He kept the mood very good. He did everything with dedication and took initiatives. And there weren’t any complaints about him being too young to lead.
Since our Sword Sect was running smoothly the main Sword Sect started getting influenced by us. Since there have been talks that the secondary sword sect was practicing hard it made the main sword sect under pressure to practice hard as well.
Yes, they now have competition that they have to worry about since our sword sect might overtake them.
Two months passed since the Sword Sect was created.
There were talks about changes in the Murim world.
Some of the older leaders retired and new leaders were instated. The new chancellor was Sa Ma Chun, was someone who had a close relation with the Heavenly Dao Gate for a long time.
There weren’t any news about what happened to Kal Sa Ryang. He most likely would have been demoted and working somewhere else.
But I wasn’t worried about him because I knew that he will hold out on his own.
I wanted to make Kal Sa Ryang and Baek Pyo my people again. But if they don’t want to follow me I will not force them. I am sure that if I become the person who they could share their dream with they would join me again.
But to do that I must become stronger. And my Sword Sect must also get stronger. It is said that the first step was the most important. Everything else in the Sword Sect will be influenced by my growth.
Thanks to the two months of training everyone in the Sword Sect made massive improvements. Especially those who took extra time to train in the morning.
I believed it was now time for me to act, so I called Kwan He.
“Chief Kwan.”
“Yes, Sect Master.”
I could see the fire in his eyes.
“It’s time now.”
It was time to experience real battle.
“Gather everyone.”