Chapter 142
"It was a tough journey..."
"Hey, man! But isn't the pay amazing? I've been in this business for 17 years, but this is the first time I've seen such a reasonable payment system!"
"Indeed. To think that they calculate and pay the monthly salary based on the amount of ore mined."
"This way, the idiots who just kill time and get their monthly salary will disappear."
"Let's all do our best to mine as much as possible."
"Let's do it!"
"Let's do it!"
The procession of people was a grand sight.
Among the procession, which consisted of a total of about 170 people, there were 100 miners, 30 hunters and cooks to prepare for sleeping outdoors, 3 doctors to take care of their health, the remaining 30 laborers, and about 10 highly trained martial artists.
They were the first ice spirit stone mining team organized by Yuk Jeong-ran under So-ah's supervision.
The time it took for the group to reach this place, the North Sea, was a whopping half a year.
But considering the distance, the size of the mining team, and the weight of the mining equipment, this was a very encouraging achievement.
Of course, at the base of this feat lay the plan of So-ah and Yuk Jeong-ran.
So-ah had informed his sworn brothers, the King of the Green Forest and the King of the Waterways, of the situation in advance and had taken measures so that the mining team would not be interfered with in any way as they passed through the mountain and water paths. (In fact, they were even provided with lodging and meals through the consideration of the Green Forest and the Waterway Fortresses from time to time, and they were even able to relieve their travel fatigue.)
Furthermore, Yuk Jeong-ran's wit in bringing along laborers and doctors so that the mining team could focus on their labor was a godsend.
Also, it was common sense for miners to be paid a fixed wage according to their contract before starting work.
But the Moyong family's mining team adhered to a different calculation method from the wage calculation.
That is, they had decided to pay an additional monthly salary according to the amount of ore mined.
Through this performance-based system, it was clear that the group would devote themselves to mining with their own enthusiasm.
The moment they arrived in the North Sea, their determination for a high monthly salary heated up the cold wave of the snowfield with their passion.
"Now! Let's go!"
"Let's go make money!"
"Kehkehkeh! I won't have to worry about making a living until I marry off my Young-ok!"
***
"Hah! It's a bigger scale than I thought. To deploy such a solid group of people to the North Sea in just half a year! As expected, our Young Hero Jin has good skills."
The mining team members were inwardly worried.
Because they were not familiar with the martial world, and they did not know what kind of person the palace lord who led the foreign North Sea was.
But the group was soon relieved after observing the palace lord's demeanor.
Wasn't the Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace not only providing meals and drinks as soon as they arrived, but also repeatedly showering praises on their employer, So-ah?
Just then.
A woman as beautiful as a jade came forward and opened her mouth in an extremely gentle tone.
"You must have had a hard time on your way here. As soon as you're settled, please let me know, and I will guide you to the deposit point of the ice spirit stones. Please rest well today. If you need anything, please let me know."
At that.
"Thank you, young lady. Then are you the working-level staff?"
"Ah... that's not it."
"Then?"
"A friend of your employer, Young Hero Jin?"
"Ah!"
The beautiful woman was none other than Wang So-yeong.
In that moment.
"Kehkehkeh! What do you mean, a friend! Is there such a thing as a friend between a man and a woman? She is a person who might become the daughter-in-law of the Moyong family in the future! Kehahaha!"
The Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace, Wang Bang-tae, burst into a loud laugh and joined the conversation.
'Of course. She is a fairy-like person who suits Young Hero Jin well.'
'Young Hero Jin is so blessed. To get such a family-in-law!'
'They are a well-matched handsome man and beautiful woman.'
It was when all the mining team members were thinking such thoughts.
Glare-glare—
A terrible anger was embedded in Wang So-yeong's eyes as she looked at her father.
"S-So-yeong-ah. That's not it... I just..."
"Dad, are you really going to be like this!"
Today too, the widower, Wang Bang-tae, was being scolded by his tiger-like daughter and was feeling dejected.
***
'This is an unprecedented jackpot event. Wow...! My heart is pounding!'
So-ah's current feelings were beyond description.
In fact, it wasn't that he hadn't thought of making money, but the reason he had caught Eunuch Han was largely due to the pure purpose of fundamentally blocking the mastermind behind Myo-seon and finding the connection between the Eastern Depot and the White Lotus Cult to create a justification for a national-level subjugation.
But!
Something unexpected had happened.
Just obtaining the dharma treasure called the 'Divine Skill Wooden Box', which could store things in a subspace of power, was an amazing windfall.
The things that started to come out of it were all 'treasures' that he had never even seen in his life.
'It's not the gold ingots that are the problem! The bank notes, jewels, and valuables... and!'
What was truly surprising was the diamond.
Diamonds could not be produced in the Central Plains in the first place.
Why?
Because no matter how hard you looked, you couldn't find a place where they were buried.
Therefore, to obtain diamonds, one had to go through the Tianzhu Kingdom, and the distribution process was also so difficult that no great merchant would touch the business related to diamonds.
So much so that a few years ago, even Chairman Lee Kun-hee had given up on importing diamonds because the profit and loss did not match.
In other words, it meant that there was no standard for the value and price of diamonds in the Central Plains at present.
And that was.
'I don't know either. At this point, the words of Elder Baek and Brother Woo-chi, who said that I was born with a destiny that the heavens help, are a foregone conclusion. What can I do? The heavens are helping, the heavens! I just have to enjoy it! Kikikik!'
...it meant that So-ah had met the great fortune of his life.
And...
What came out last from the 'Divine Skill Wooden Box' was.
...a book.
But So-ah had no way of knowing if that book was the long-awaited <Sunflower Manual>.
Because on the front of the book, not Chinese characters, but the Sanskrit of Tianzhu was engraved.
***
Sanskrit was, in fact, the traditional language of the ancient Tianzhu royal court, and scholars who could interpret and translate it were rare even in the vast Central Plains.
Therefore, it was natural that So-ah could not read Sanskrit.
"Old man. This is the <Sunflower Manual>, right?"
"That's... right...(That's right.)"
"Do you even know how to read this?"
"Of... of courshe I do!(Of course I do!)"
In that moment.
"Kuek!"
A lightning-fast flick on the head divine art was unfolded, and Eunuch Han, with a contorted face, collapsed.
"You're a eunuch bastard, but you're so arrogant!"
Now, Eunuch Han was not even angry.
The emotion of anger was a complex mental image created by a mixture of injustice and f*cked-upness.
But, to Eunuch Han, So-ah was no longer an injustice or a f*cked-upness, but an irresistible natural disaster.
There are not many humans who would feel anger at the punishment of nature, where thunder and lightning strike from the sky and floods or landslides occur.
Thinking that he had no choice but to tremble in fear and submit, Eunuch Han silently accepted the disaster called 'So-ah'.
"You're really amazing! This isn't a slush fund, it's enough wealth to found a country on some deserted island or in some remote area. Is the Eastern Depot this much? Then how much do the Imperial Guards, who are said to be even more amazing than you guys, take? It's scary... so scary. Phew!"
In front of the immense wealth spread out before him, So-ah repeatedly clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Of course, he was going to swallow all this wealth now.
But then, finally.
Grit—
For some reason, So-ah, despite the windfall, gritted his teeth and frowned.
"You shameless eunuch bastard. I want to split your head in half right now and feed your brains to the crows, but I'm letting you live because your position and background reach the imperial court. I hope your neck will be sliced by Lord Bao's dog-headed guillotine."
So-ah recalled the two orphan boy and girl of Deokyang-hyeon whom he had taken in a while ago.
In a world where countless orphans died of starvation after losing their parents to a bad harvest and a plague, the fact that a high-ranking official like Eunuch Han had created a huge slush fund, when he chewed on it, a rage that made him want to beat him to death welled up.
"I'm shorry... I'm shorry... sob, sob..."
Eunuch Han knelt down and bowed his head to the floor, shedding tears.
He had long since forgotten the power and honor of being second only to one and above ten thousand.
Because now, surviving in this place, which was more hellish than hell, was the top priority.
***
"Hey! Over there, you have to spread it out properly. Ah! These guys must have never slept outdoors. When you sleep outdoors in a wild mountain, you have to do the leveling work so that your back doesn't get sore, the leveling work! You're not doing it properly? What, you punk!"
"H-Hee-ik!"
"I... I'll do it!"
At So-ah's roar, the hostage man and Eunuch Han were terrified and prepared to sleep outdoors.
"If we lie in ambush for about two days, the remaining Eastern Depot trash who retreated from Liaoning will arrive, right?"
"Th-That's right!"
The reason So-ah had decided to sleep outdoors was to annihilate the remaining Eastern Depot members who had retreated from the Liaoning branch.
Of course, he could have prepared the grounds to subjugate the White Lotus Cult just by interrogating Eunuch Han and the hostage man, but as they say, the more the merrier, and the more witnesses and evidence, the better.
But...
'Ah! I want to go back quickly...'
So-ah, who had actually decided to lie in ambush, his heart was already in Liaoning.
'First, I'll pay back the 1.5 million silver coins I borrowed from the Daewon Bank... and I'll add a couple more annexes. Should I just lure the Moyong clan members scattered throughout the Central Plains with money and bring them over?'
It was because he wanted to return to his family right away and share this windfall.
Besides, since the <Sunflower Manual> was written in Sanskrit, he was planning to ask Teacher Bao, who was a scholar of the family and Bao Qingtian's older brother, to interpret it, and to settle the debt of the Daewon Bank, and to set the direction of the huge investment with Yuk Jeong-ran, the chief steward, and others, and the things he wanted to do were flashing through his mind like a revolving lantern.
The explanation was long, but in a word, So-ah was now.
'I want to spend money!'
...he was in a state of being anxious to spend this huge amount of money.
'I'll give my disciple, Yi Baek, fist guards and soft-armored mail as a gift, and I'll stop by the Martial Alliance and buy a few spiritual pills for my junior sister and junior brother as a gift! Kekeke. Their jaws will probably drop, right? I'll also get something for Brother Woo-chi and Elder Baek. I can also give a nice set of clothes to each of the family members. What should I do for Geomdung-ie and Huindung-ie? Ah!'
Currently, So-ah was showing the typical behavior of a 'nouveau riche'.
People who have lived without and suddenly come into a large amount of money overnight are bound to have their hearts pound.
Of course, it wasn't that So-ah had lived in poverty.
Although he was an orphan, after being taken in by the God of War at the age of nine, he had lived a relatively comfortable life.
Besides, recently, hadn't he been earning a considerable amount of money by exercising his business-like disposition?
But accumulating assets step by step through effort and reaping a huge unearned income like today were bound to show completely different psychological aspects.
'Hehehe. Buddha, Lord! Thank you so much. Based on this money, I will expand it and catch up with the capital power of huge families like the Namgung, Tang, and Zhuge families in three years!'
How happy must he have been to even pray, which he had never done in his life?
But in that gap where he was distracted.
A disaster had occurred.
***
"Hah... I'm speechless, so speechless."
So-ah's gaze, filled with futility, was directed at the ground where Eunuch Han had been doing the leveling work just a moment ago.
"How can you do this with that body?"
It was because Eunuch Han, while digging and tamping the ground, had used a ghostly technique and had disappeared into a tunnel.
"You son of a bitch!"
So-ah cursed.
But this was a sense of futility that stemmed from a lack of knowledge.
The reason Eunuch Han could dig into a tunnel and escape was the effectiveness of the earth-hiding art.
The earth-hiding art was a very unfamiliar technique in the Central Plains, and it was a high-level technique usually used by the masters of ancient martial arts called 'ninjas' of Dongyeong (Japan).
But from the perspective of So-ah, who had no way of knowing that, it was just absurd.
"He's not even a mole. Phew! This eunuch old geezer."
So-ah once again remembered the old saying of the ancient sages that if you gain something, you also lose something, and let out a sigh at the empty air.
But then, finally.
"You! You knew that old geezer was going to run away, right?"
The spark of anger flew to the innocent hostage man.
"N-No! How could I have known that Eunuch Han, whose bones were crushed and couldn't even stand properly, had the energy to use the earth-hiding art!"
But unfortunately, the man's protest failed to change So-ah's mind.
"Aww! You're a smooth talker, a smooth talker!"
Suddenly, a sledgehammer flick on the head was slammed into the man's head.
'Die! You son of a bitch!!'
Today too, he was shouting a silent cry with all his heart.
(End of Chapter)