The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Jang So-gil grinned, shaking the credit ledger.

"There's a saying among merchants not to put all your eggs in one basket. It means that when you invest, if you invest everything in one thing, you can go bankrupt if you're unlucky, so you should divide it up. But it seems Elder Seok Pacheon didn't know that saying. He only traded with one pawnshop. I don't know why he did that."

Watching the giggling Jang So-gil, Seok Pacheon gritted his teeth. Enjoying his silence, Jang So-gil sneered.

"Your married younger sister is the great lady of the Geumho Merchant Guild, isn't she? Thanks to that, the work was very easy."

The Geumho Merchant Guild, where Seok Pacheon's younger sister had married into, had prospered with Seok Pacheon's support and had become the best merchant guild in Nanyue. Since it was a large merchant guild with a blood relative, it was impossible not to use it.

"You must have used your head quite a bit, but you only knew one thing and not the other. Money, you see. The more rationally you use it, the easier it is for the one tracking it to find it. Thanks to your very smart spending, it didn't even take a day to track it."

"Ughhhh..."

Leaving the groaning Seok Pacheon, Sama Hwi blinked his eyes. It seemed he needed an explanation again.

Jang So-gil's shoulders slumped.

"Brother, can't I explain it to you later?"

"Anyway, it seems Elder Seok is not in his right mind to answer right now, so take this opportunity to explain. You said it was easy to track because he used it rationally. How did he use the money that you say it was rational?"

"To put it simply, it's an efficient circulation structure."

"A circulation structure?"

"Let's say the Hengshan Sect bought about ten thousand taels worth of supplies and spiritual medicines from the Geumho Merchant Guild. If a large sum of ten thousand taels moves at once, it will be noticeable, so they first write a ledger on credit. Once the transaction is established like this, the goods would have come from the Geumho Merchant Guild to the Martial Alliance, right?"

"I suppose so."

"Usually, the transaction ends here. Since they have given and received, there is nothing more to talk about. But this is not a usual case, so it continues a little more. Then let's talk about the Geumho Merchant Guild."

Strictly speaking, the beneficiary of this matter is not only the Hengshan Sect.

Both the Hengshan Sect and the Geumho Merchant Guild are beneficiaries. They were accomplices.

"The Geumho Merchant Guild is a merchant guild where Elder Seok Pacheon's younger sister is the great lady. So they think like this. 'While we're sucking the money of the Martial Alliance, I think we can suck a little more without being noticed.' This is like the nature of a merchant, so it's as natural as rain falling when dark clouds gather. If there are a hundred merchants, a hundred of them will think the same thing. So they use a little more trickery. Instead of sending ten thousand taels worth of goods, they only send about eight thousand taels worth of goods."

The purchase is ten thousand taels, but the goods that arrived are worth eight thousand taels.

A gap of a whopping two thousand taels is created.

"If it were a normal transaction, this would be a huge problem. There's a limit to how much you can embezzle. Where in the world is there a crazy transaction where you embezzle twenty percent in one transaction? It wouldn't be strange if your head were split with an axe, but it's an exception for the Hengshan Sect and the Geumho Merchant Guild. Do you know why?"

"Because they're all in it together."

"That's right. Whether it's the Hengshan Sect or the Geumho Merchant Guild, they are all mosquitoes playing with money using the Martial Alliance's money. Is there a need for blood-sucking mosquitoes to fight each other? The black ox called the Martial Alliance is so foolish that even if mosquitoes are stuck all over it, it doesn't even swing its whip-like tail and just eats its feed. So it's enough if they suck the blood together."

Even if the goods are insufficient, the Hengshan Sect does not protest to the Geumho Merchant Guild.

Because they can just suck more from the Martial Alliance.

It's a happy picture for both the one who embezzled and the one who was embezzled from.

"A perfect circulation structure, as if drawn in a picture, has been completed like this. A structure where the Hengshan Sect and the Geumho Merchant Guild happily exploit the Martial Alliance."

Sama Hwi's eyes widened and he looked at Seok Pacheon. As expected, he shouldn't have stopped when he was told to stop on the duel stage. He should have at least broken one of his limbs. So Sama Hwi opened his fan with a heart filled with regret and annoyance. If Seok Pacheon showed even a slight sign of attacking or resisting, he was planning to cut off his head.

Perhaps feeling that momentum, Seok Pacheon could only mumble his lips and could not say anything. With such perfect evidence, he was at a loss for words to make an excuse.

He had a question. How did he get the credit ledger from the Geumho Merchant Guild? Was it his sister's betrayal?

"You wicked woman. I treated you so well, but you betrayed me!"

"She didn't betray you. You two seemed quite close."

"What?! Then how do you have that ledger!"

"It wasn't a very difficult task. I am an inspector, after all. While you, brother Hwi, were running to Hengshan, and while you, Elder Seok Pacheon, were away, I rode a blood-sweating horse to the Geumho Merchant Guild. As I said, Elder Seok Pacheon's actions were so rational that I had already grasped the collusive relationship with the Geumho Merchant Guild during the investigation stage. If you ask when, it was around the time Wu Jeongchu died."

Yang Gwan and Sama Hwi let out a cry of admiration at the same time.

"After arriving at the Geumho Merchant Guild, I pressed them with the authority of the Alliance Lord by brandishing this White-Clear Divine Sword, the divine object of an inspector, and then I brought up the story of salt smuggling, a completely different case, to distract the great lady's attention, and then I demanded the ledger. And among all those ledgers, I found the transaction ledger with the Martial Alliance, memorized it, and brought it back by writing it down like this. So strictly speaking, this is not the original ledger. The content is the same, but I wrote it."

Seok Pacheon's eyebrows trembled. If it wasn't the original, there was still a chance.

If he went to the Geumho Merchant Guild and burned the ledger-!

"Even so, you have no chance, Elder Seok Pacheon. Even if you didn't smuggle salt, you did a little tax evasion, didn't you? One of the brothers I know has quite a bit of power, so I asked him to investigate the tax evasion. The Geumho Merchant Guild is probably being thoroughly shaken down by now. It's absurd that the best merchant guild in Nanyue is being shaken down for a mere one hundred and twenty silver taels, but what can you do? If you've committed a crime, you have to be shaken down. I also asked them to obtain the original ledger while they were at it, so there is no chance of a reversal. Resign yourself and let's end this long story."

The long flow that had started from an internal investigation, had led to a suicide for tail-cutting, and had even required a duel, was coming to an end. Jang So-gil took out a new document and unfolded it.

"Here you go, it's a debt transfer agreement stating that the money used by the Hengshan Sect's Invincible Group will be paid by the Hengshan Sect, not the Martial Alliance. Sign it, stamp it, and get it notarized by the official waiting over there, and this matter will be cleanly finished. Ah, the young sect leader, who doesn't know what a debt transfer agreement is, is rolling his eyes. What that means is."

Jang So-gil smiled brightly.

"It means, 'You clean up your own shit.' Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes..."

"You, you, you dare-! Ugh-!"

Mo Xihan quietly agreed, but Seok Pacheon made a loud noise and fell backwards.

This situation, after the extreme consumption of internal energy and mental energy, was a difficult thing for the old him to endure. Watching the bubbles coming out of Seok Pacheon's mouth, So smiled brightly.

"It's the same now."

"Yes?"

"The elder has collapsed. You have to clean him up, Young Sect Leader."

"..."

Yang Gwan rolled his eyes and was inwardly disappointed at the Guild Master's heartlessness, but Sama Hwi was indeed different. He threw away his usual dignity and clapped his hands, delighted at Jang So-gil's remark.

* * *

There was the Invincible Group under the Hengshan Sect, and the three battalions under the Invincible Group.

The seventy thousand taels they owed was promised to be paid by the Hengshan Sect instead.

The Hengshan Sect and the Geumho Merchant Guild were practically one body, so it was like paying off one's own debt, so there was no big problem. The pillars of the Hengshan Sect might be greatly shaken, and a crack might form between the Geumho Merchant Guild and the Hengshan Sect, but that was none of Jang So-gil's business.

"He said the one who shat the shit cleans it up, so let's just play and eat."

"Uh, Guild Master So. Isn't this a little too extravagant?"

"Gwan-ah, Gwan-ah. You don't skimp on what you wear and what you eat. Isn't that right, Cook Heo?"

Hearing Jang So-gil's words, Cook Heo smiled benevolently and held up a fish. He steamed the plump fish and braised the beef. He cooked rice with white rice and made side dishes with freshly picked herbs and vegetables. The number of side dishes was in the dozens, so the eyes of the gathered children widened.

"It's-it's delicious! So delicious!"

"I've never eaten anything like this before, Guild Master So!"

"Really? Is that so! Of course. Eat up. Cook Heo, bring that too."

"Is there any doubt? The whole roasted pig is coming in!"

"Wooooow!"

They had caught no less than three pigs and had roasted them whole.

The children, their faces red with excitement, opened their eyes wide and stared at the pig.

They had never seen such a thing even at a big feast!

Jang So-gil said with a feigned smile.

"Don't tell me you're thinking of leaving food behind?"

"No! No!"

"Then move your hands quickly."

"Yes!"

Hurriedly, as if someone were chasing them, the children ate, and Jang So-gil also moved his chopsticks. Yang Gwan also got excited and ate, and as expected of a martial artist, the amount he ate was amazing. He single-handedly finished off the portion of five grown men, so Cook Heo was startled and ran back to the kitchen.

"Eat like that. That's how you grow up strong like Gwan. Got it?"

"Yes!"

The door of the noisy academy opened. Yang Gwan reflexively looked that way, and it was Sama Hwi holding a small box. He, too, had been invited to this modest meal to celebrate the successful conclusion of the matter. Jang So-gil, who was drinking slightly frozen rice wine, asked casually.

"What's in that box?"

"It's alcohol. It's called Gongbugaju..."

"Oh, isn't that a very rare alcohol?!"

"You know this alcohol?"

"Of course. It's an expensive alcohol used for ancestral rites for Confucius in his hometown of Qufu. I heard that one bottle costs fifty silver taels, but this is the first time I'm seeing it in person."

Sama Hwi shook his head.

"You know all sorts of things."

"It's basic knowledge as a merchant. By the way, if it's one of the five great families of the world, the Sama family, they must drink Gongbugaju."

"No, I've never seen it before either. If you were in your right mind, would you drink a fifty-tael bottle of alcohol?"

"That's true. But I wanted to try it before I died, but I didn't know you would bring it as a gift, brother Hwi."

"So don't call me brother... no, no, it's fine. Do as you please. It's troublesome now."

He was so persistent that he had no choice but to give up. Sama Hwi sighed and sat down next to Jang So-gil. Then he opened the box, took out the Gongbugaju, and clicked his tongue.

"This is not my gift, but the Alliance Lord's gift."

"The Alliance Lord's? Wow, what's the occasion?"

"If you think about it, this matter has nothing to do with your work, does it?"

This matter, if you dig into it fundamentally, was not about cracking down on embezzlement, but about normalizing the circulation of money that was leaking out unnecessarily. Since it was about internal reform, it was not a matter that Jang So-gil needed to get involved in. It could not be counted as a collected amount, so he could not receive a twenty percent reward, and although the related amount was well over two thousand taels, since it was not a collection, he could not enter the martial library.

"Well, that's true, but it was something that had to be done for the Martial Alliance."

"Yes. That point seems to have moved the Alliance Lord very much."

Sama Hwi was sparing with his words, but there was one more reason he was moved.

The sight of Sama Hwi and Jang So-gil, who were not on good terms, facing the old monster Seok Pacheon with one mind and one will was very beautiful.

The Alliance Lord, Gu Munryong, loved such stories like crazy, so he was excited and happy like a child.

[I had a brief thought that Strategist Sama might be a spy for the Demonic Cult, but seeing that, it seems he was just being a petty person because he was stingy with his money back then! Wahahahaha-!]

"Ah, anyway..."

Sama Hwi pressed down on the vein that had popped up on his forehead and opened the stopper of the Gongbugaju.

Then a deep fragrance flowed out.

"Oh."

Even Yang Gwan, who had been inhaling his food, turned his head as if possessed. It was a fragrance that would fascinate any adult who knew the taste of alcohol, so even Jang So-gil swallowed his saliva.

"So you gave me alcohol? Well, this alcohol is only offered for ancestral rites to Confucius. It's not sold separately, so it's not an alcohol that anyone can get even if they have money. I'm very grateful that you recognize my hard work."

"The alcohol is not all."

"Yes? Then what else is there?"

Sama Hwi cleared his throat and said in a low voice.

"As a reward for this matter, the Alliance Lord has said that he will personally take care of you for a week."

"By taking care of me, you mean..."

"Yes. For a week, you will become the disciple of the number one under heaven and learn martial arts. Know it as an honor."

Jang So-gil's eyes widened in bewilderment and he looked at Sama Hwi, and the pork Yang Gwan had been eating got stuck in his throat and he coughed violently. It was that shocking of a story.

(End of Chapter)