Chapter 995: Live a Good Life (8)

There was a brief stir after the Treasurer-General fainted, but thankfully he came to his senses quickly, and the meeting resumed.

“Fifty strings. Treasurer-General, see if you can scrape it together.”

“Grand Leader... we’ve already exhausted all reserve funds. Realistically, there’s no way for us to secure that much gold.”

“No reserves? Then use the main budget.”

It was the kind of answer that slammed the Treasurer-General’s mouth shut.

What the hell?

The main budget meant money °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that had already been approved and assigned to specific uses. And taking that budget and using it for something else was called embezzlement.

Of course, in this primitive, ancient Central Plains, the government offices still weren’t in the habit of prosecuting such a crime. If the head of a given organization allowed it, that was the end of it.

But even so, that budget was money they’d earmarked because they genuinely needed it. And now they were supposed to spend that?

“We already lost eighty strings of gold. If we stop now, doesn’t that mean we just threw away eighty strings for nothing?”

It was the reason so many men ruined themselves.

If you took a loss, you were supposed to cut it clean and prevent further losses.

That was the principle of cutting your losses.

But because what they’d already put in—money and time—felt too precious to abandon, they would claw and scramble, desperate to see it through to the bitter end... and in the end, that obsession buried them deep underground.

The poison of sunk costs.

And on top of that—

“Treasurer-General, budgets can be replenished later, but the chance to acquire the medical academy is only right now. Even if we gather the gold later, who’s to say that northern-capital noble will still hand it over? If they refuse on the grounds of personal integrity, we’ll have no other options.”

Chief Strategist Officer Sun Ung added it in a tone that sounded like he was soothing a child.

This was the poison of scarcity.

Limited-time only. A limited edition. A limited pull—one of those terrifying sales tricks so effective that even the educated citizens of Qing’s highly advanced homeland couldn’t resist, until their bank accounts were destroyed.

And it didn’t end there.

“Assign two White-ranks, three Black-ranks from the Blood Guard Brigade, and make up the rest appropriately—tell them to comb Tianzi Mountain from end to end. If we catch those New Greenwood bastards, we can just take the gold back, can’t we?”

This was the poison of we’ll pay it back by winning it, and also the poison of we have to recover the principal.

Even if it hurt, you had to accept a loss as a loss and let it go.

If you said, we don’t know yet—don’t we have to get our money back?—that was exactly how you learned that below the underground was an even deeper underground.

“But, Grand Leader.”

“At first, I started this because Great Matron Senior pissed me off, but if we pull this off, it won’t be some ordinary matter. Chief Strategist—am I wrong?”

“Yes. Treasurer-General, you can see the strategic value of the medical academy just from this strategy map alone, but it isn’t only that.”

It wasn’t only about pushing into the Yangtze.

It would also do wonders for rebuilding the reputation of the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition.

A good person became a hypocrite from one bad deed—instant collapse.

But a bad person did one good deed and people said, I’m seeing you in a new light, and showered them with favor.

A charity clinic run under the Evil Path Alliance’s name—especially charity work carried out in righteous territory that had nothing to do with the Evil Path—would have an extremely positive effect on the reputation of the entire Evil Path.

And was that all?

A charity clinic was still a clinic.

The Tang Clan of Sichuan had continued leading the Central Plains’ medicine through charity clinics; even if treatment was free, the experience still accumulated, forming the foundation of medical skill.

In the first place, many charity clinics were founded and operated for exactly that reason.

And if they took all that accumulated medical expertise for themselves, the benefits would naturally flow to the Evil Path thugs.

This was the poison of rationalization.

The addiction of people who couldn’t quit—who kept digging up reasons they “had” to keep going.

Of course, even without calling it rationalization, it wasn’t an unreasonable argument.

At least, that was true under the assumption that the asset in question—Sasa Medical Academy—was a sound asset.

“So, Treasurer-General, take the hit for us. If anyone gives you grief, you can throw my name around.”

The superior’s resolve was already set in stone.

What was the point of a subordinate talking any further?

There was nothing left to do but bow his head and say, “Yes.”

For these reasons, a knife-wind swept through the Evil Path Alliance.

A terrifying wind that shaved down budgets.

All combat corps: June budget payments on hold!

Those budgets included the members’ wages—if you cut them in half, forget operations, you couldn’t even properly cover the kids’ monthly pay?

Hey, where’d the reserves go—reserves are for times like this—

Ah, right. No reserves.

All Command Hall departments: June budget payments on hold!

Our combat corps warriors go out and risk their lives, and we still cut their budgets with hearts of bone—so the bastards working under a sturdy roof, cool when it’s hot and warm when it’s cold, are saying they can’t cut theirs?

Yeah. Let’s do our best.

All pavilion repair and renovation projects: full suspension!

The roof leaks? Put a jar under it.

It’s creaking? Oil it.

A crack? Smear mud and brace it with wood.

It’s not collapsing right this second, is it? So what.

“Relationship-building sincerity budget” for local powerholders?

Keep it the same for the top-tier as before, and for the lower ones, make do with a proper excuse.

When times are hard, we help each other—what can we do? Later, when things are restored, we’ll pay it back with interest.

And honestly, wasn’t half your operating budget getting eaten by your own unit commander anyway?

You think we’d steal the family’s money?

This is to contribute, as Evil Path thugs, to the business of the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition.

It’s the Grand Leader’s order!

If you want to curse someone, curse the Golden Hawk Detachment that screwed up!

A brutal measure: next month’s budget not being paid.

The Administrative Hall had no choice.

After scraping together eighty strings of gold, every bit of slack cash was dried up. To scrape together fifty strings, they had to pull in every coin of incoming revenue and divert it into the acquisition cost.

And so, it was the moment the Evil Path Alliance’s belt tightened until it screamed.

*****

It would be nice if they could shake them down one more time, but according to Seolga-nom, it would probably be difficult.

The first gold transport had been easy to rob precisely because they’d trusted the Evil Path Alliance’s prestige and marched out openly.

They could roughly predict when the transport would arrive, and the Golden Hawk Detachment hadn’t bothered to conceal their location, so blocking the road had been simple.

But after being robbed once, it was obvious they’d be on high alert the second time.

They’d either attach multiple combat units, or move in secret, or both.

Still, just in case—since men who get hit once can get hit twice—Seolga-nom said they’d gather information tightly... but it was better not to expect much.

In truth, what mattered to Qing wasn’t that they’d stolen the bastards’ gold. The gold itself wasn’t her objective.

So there was no need to get greedy.

And so Qing went about her routine, while the Golden Hawk Detachment lay in the medical academy recovering, and time passed.

May ended, and mid-June arrived.

Then, without so much as a warning, fifty strings of gold abruptly showed up.

Those vicious bastards must have each shouldered a few strings apiece and crawled over the southern mountain range no matter what.

They could’ve run one more job. Qing felt regret—and also disbelief.

No, seriously. There were all kinds of stupid, stubborn bastards in the world. Why would you abandon a good road and haul yourself over brutal mountains?

It was the kind of thought only someone who’d experienced just how brutal those mountains were could have.

Anyway, unfortunately, this meant Qing’s second New Greenwood sortie would never happen.

But whatever. From the first gold transport onward, it had been: if we can rob it, great—if not, fine.

When word came that the gold had arrived, Hyung Taejak—who’d been tending his internal injuries and pulling himself back together—leapt up from his spot, delighted.

But that only lasted a moment.

“Ha. You’re smiling? After getting stripped clean by a bunch of freaks... either you’ve got a lucky fate, or you’ve got a strong stomach. Tsk.”

It was blatant mockery, right in front of the Blood Guard Brigade Unit Commander, Flying Shadow Ape.

The Blood Guard Brigade and the Golden Hawk Unit were both elite combat corps, always snapping at each other over merits—so of course Hyung Taejak’s temper surged.

“If it hadn’t been me, it would’ve been a corpse already. They had at least the same numbers, and they even used cowardly methods—”

“If you’d been a corpse, we could’ve at least mourned you. Just remember this: thanks to the Golden Hawk Unit Commander, everyone’s dancing on your shoulders right now. To plug that ‘eighty strings of gold’ breach, they slashed every combat corps—and even the administrative departments’ budgets. Everyone’s so grateful they could die. Got it?”

“.......”

“And thanks to you, we’re about to be forced to scour all of Tianzi Mountain to clean up your mess, so personally, I should thank you too. Oh, right. These days people are calling it the ‘Yellow-Shit Brigade.’ They’re saying there are shit-slingers spraying it everywhere.”

Hyung Taejak’s face flushed red.

It wasn’t just anyone laughing at him—it was Flying Shadow Ape, the rival he’d always measured himself against.

Humiliation like this didn’t come often.

“Even if you lose, lose with some dignity. But you kept getting beaten by some ridiculous bastard, and then you faked being dead because you didn’t want to die, huh? The whole rivers-and-lakes is buzzing about it.”

In that instant, Hyung Taejak’s mind went blank.

Sure, all those people had seen it, so of course the rumor would spread... but the reality he’d been forcing himself not to hear suddenly sank hooks deep into his heart and tore.

“Well, whatever. Maybe it’s for the best. Don’t follow your temper—just stay shoved in here and do something good for once. Chief Strategist Officer says we need to clearly state and widely publicize that this medical academy’s charity work is being overseen by the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition. Think of it as donning white and going to the front as a common soldier—try working hard.”

Flying Shadow Ape patted Hyung Taejak’s shoulder.

“Who knows? With time, people might forget. Or maybe they’ll say you got beaten and turned over a new leaf and judge you differently. Me? I’d rather die than live after something like that.”

After Flying Shadow Ape twisted the knife to the very end and left, all that remained was fifty strings of gold that wasn’t even Hyung Taejak’s money.

Hyung Taejak let out a long, deep sigh.

It was nothing but dreadful—dreadful, and then dreadful again—but what could he do, now that things had come to this?

At least they weren’t demoting the combat corps, or issuing an order like, Drag this bastard back right now.

It meant they wouldn’t hold him accountable. He was to keep the medical academy quiet and secure until things calmed down.

So what else was there?

For now, he had no choice but to carry out the mission.

Hyung Taejak went straight to find Yeom Hwiyoung.

“Now we can consider this medical academy to be under the oversight of our Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition, yes?”

“Now that you’re the money backer, for the moment, yes.”

“For the moment? What do you mean? Didn’t you say you’d hand over the medical academy if we brought fifty strings?”

“That was on the condition that the Evil Path Alliance keeps operating the medical academy as a charity clinic. I need to stay a little longer and watch. If you start charging patients, or shrink the charity care, what happens to my reputation? If people start saying I handed it over because I was short on money, I won’t even be able to lift my head in front of my friends.”

“Hmph. You don’t need to worry about that. This is a project we’re doing under the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition’s name, so our honor is on the line too.”

“Well, it won’t be a bad story for you either. If I wash my hands and leave right now, can you even run the medical academy? Looks like you have a cashier you brought in, but do you actually know anything about how the medical academy operates? Can you immediately handle the supply channels for medicine ingredients and how deliveries are done, all the accounting and management up to now?”

“Mm.”

“I’ll stay until the expansion work is completed, watch things, and help with operations while we proceed with the handover.”

Hearing it out, it made sense, and there was no downside.

The Evil Path Alliance wanted to run a charity clinic and use that as justification to establish a foothold in Jagwi County. In the first place, they had no intention of messing with the medical academy.

If anything, hadn’t they been threatened to not cause any incidents and just guard it properly?

And now the person who’d been running it well all this time was saying they’d stay and help?

If you set aside the irritating lack of respect in how he treated a master, it was almost to the point that Hyung Taejak should be the one begging.

But setting that aside.

Now that they had secured the gold, the very first thing to do was obvious.

“So—is there someone around here who can write a signboard? I want to hang a sign for the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition beneath the medical academy’s signboard.”

The first thing was to hang an additional signboard—bigger and more lavish—beneath Sasa Medical Academy’s signboard.

If they wanted to publicize widely that the Evil Path Alliance was operating the medical academy, then hanging the Evil Path Alliance’s signboard was the fastest and surest method.

At that, Yeom Hwiyoung answered with a strange little grin.

“There’s a famous signboard craftsman on the East Sunshine Road. Why—do you need a letter of introduction?”

They said you should pull an ox horn out in one breath, and Hyung Taejak went straight to the signboard craftsman.

“A signboard for the medical academy?”

“Yeah. Top grade. The lettering should be half a jang tall, and it’ll read—wait—Heaven Under Heaven Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition. Hold on. Heaven, Under, Heaven, Evil, Path, Thug, Grand, Coalition—right. Exactly eleven characters. Carve them in, big and majestic.”

“Heheh... then the price will be something. For a signboard like that, we’ll have to carve the wood from a whole timber, so we need lumber of that size. And for the calligraphy... we’d need to track down the person who wrote the medical academy’s existing signboard, but they’re not exactly cheap either.”

“Don’t worry about the cost.”

“Heheh... if that’s what you say.”

Maybe it was because it was a big job for the first time in a while—his grin spread wide.

But for some reason, there was something slightly unpleasant about that smile.

Like it was mocking him.

Was it just because Hyung Taejak was sensitive, with the rumors that had been spreading lately?