Book 10: Chapter 17: Fury

“The Eldest Young Master ordered the families who want to become allies to sever and bring all of their heads?”

The Fourth Young Master's closest aide, the tactician Tang Ye-rin, wore an uncomfortable expression.

“I heard that this attack on the Third and Fourth Young Ladies' merchant groups was carried out with the widespread participation of members of the Luoyang business community?”

The Fourth Young Master, Yeon Bi, asked back briefly.

“And?”

Although the Fourth Young Master possessed a dual nature, he had never made such a cold face even to his own subordinates.

“…What do you mean, 'and'?”

Tang Ye-rin's expression became even sourer.

She spoke as if protesting.

“As you know, acts of sabotage like this are a common occurrence in the business world. We have also done similar things many times.”

She herself could not understand the situation where she was listing such basic stories to the Fourth Young Master.

“Besides, the teahouses of the Third and Fourth Young Ladies didn't go completely bankrupt, did they? Yet if we respond to this business fight in 'that manner,' a bloodbath will unfold all over the land of Luoyang!”

She spoke strongly.

“I mean that infamy will be added to the names of both my Lord and the Eldest Young Master! Just like the Second Young Master and the Third Young Master!”

The Fourth Young Master smiled.

“That manner…”

There was not a single emotion that usually constitutes a smile within that smile.

It looked like a mask mimicking emotion.

Just like his eldest brother.

“That manner is precisely what Eldest Brother wants. Of course, it is also what I want.” "……"

Despite that unfamiliar appearance.

Tang Ye-rin tried to speak bitter words once again.

“But—!”

“My Lord.”

Before the young Tang Ye-rin could make any more mistakes, an old woman intervened.

Just like Tang Ye-rin, she was the Fourth Young Master's closest aide, Elder Gwak, who was called the Crouching Dragon of Nanman.

“I will obey my Lord's command.”

Elder Gwak bowed her head deeply.

Yeon Bi spoke to the old woman.

“I will check the results myself and report directly to Eldest Brother, so proceed without a single hitch.”

* * *

Tang Ye-rin, who was practically dragged out by Elder Gwak, shouted at the old woman.

“This is foolish! It is tantamount to revealing our reverse scale to the enemies on our own accord!”

Responding with such excessive force to a mere economic act of sabotage?

It was an act equivalent to kindly confirming to the enemies that the Third and Fourth Young Ladies were indeed their weakness.

“A reverse scale.”

The old woman's gaze turned to the young tactician.

Tang Ye-rin, whose blood was up, flinched for a moment upon receiving that deep gaze.

“It is a term that appears in the 'Difficulties of Persuasion' chapter of Han Feizi. It was a precise expression suited to the situation.”

The old woman's tone was calm and gentle.

“A tactician of your level would surely understand the term 'reverse scale' well, wouldn't you?”

“Of course.”

Tang Ye-rin replied in a tone as if asking something obvious.

“Under the dragon's neck, there is a reversed scale about a foot in diameter, and if anyone touches that scale…”

Speaking up to that point, she closed her mouth as if realizing something.

Watching her, Elder Gwak finished the sentence she was saying in her stead.

“If anyone touches that scale, the dragon will surely kill them.”

Tang Ye-rin held her forehead.

“Just now, the one touching that reverse scale was me…”

Listening to her groaning long, Elder Gwak spoke.

“Though people commonly consider the reverse scale as a dragon's weakness, there is something everyone misunderstands.”

“…What is it?”

Elder Gwak spoke calmly.

“A human dies when stabbed in a vital point, but as for the dragon's reverse scale, the one who touches it dies.” "……"

Tang Ye-rin fell silent.

Elder Gwak raised her staff and pointed outside.

“You must have seen the people standing in a long line in front of my Lord's office since this morning, right?”

“…Yes.”

“To those who truly understand those two, it is absurd. It even looks like an act of having lost all fear.”

The old woman's tone was still calm and gentle.

“Looking at it this way, it is clear that many in Luoyang still do not know those two brothers, my Lord and the Eldest Young Master, well.”

The old woman's gaze turned toward the window where the morning sunlight was peacefully shining.

“With this matter, everyone will come to know.”

Elder Gwak's words ended there, but Tang Ye-rin could understand the omitted follow-up.

Those who thought of them as a weakness and touched the Third and Fourth Young Ladies will all meet destruction.

In that case, those brothers are not ordinary people with the weakness of a vital point, but—

'It means they are dragons.'

* * *

Luoyang, a conference room of a certain merchant group.

Ganghwa Merchant Association.

Unbefitting of the early hour.

The conference room located inside the merchant group's building was filled with alcohol and food, as if hosting a banquet.

“Somehow…”

One merchant spoke in a slightly anxious tone.

“It weighs on my mind that we touched the Third and Fourth Young Ladies' teahouses. Nothing bad will happen, right?”

Many merchants were gathered in that place, and all of them were the merchants who had participated in this matter.

“Something bad, you say.”

Other merchants giggled and mocked him.

“Of course something will happen. Could nothing possibly happen?”

“What a coward…”

“That is why your merchant group stays in the same place every year, is it not?”

The one who had first expressed concern flushed at their ridicule.

“No, did you all not see what the Eldest Young Master did over the past few days?”

At those words, those who had mocked him also shut their mouths for a moment.

The Lee family, an influential family that had seemed so solid, collapsed to pieces overnight, and their assets were all torn to shreds.

And it did not end there; the war among the influential families representing the successors of the Luoyang Sword Family was still ongoing even now.

“We certainly saw it.”

A portly merchant nodded.

“If we get caught in that, even if our Ganghwa Merchant Association bands tightly together, we will be torn apart like wet rice paper.”

Now that there was at least one person who sympathized with his anxiety, the one who had first expressed concern brightened.

“I-Is that not so? So even now—” the portly merchant raised a finger.

“But.”

“In the first place, their case and ours are different.”

At those words, the rest nodded.

“Those families are practically waging a full-scale war representing the successors, while are we not merely doing what commonly happens in the business world?”

Another merchant smirked and chipped in.

“We are simply trying to eat up the teahouse market share of the Ha family's Luoyang merchant groups.”

That was the public reason they put forward.

Another merchant shared that smirking smile.

“Is it not the other side that got scared out of their wits by a matter of only this level and is disposing of their merchant groups?”

One merchant grew serious for no reason.

“To think they disposed of their merchant groups after suffering only that much. Rather, it is embarrassing on our side.”

“…That may be so, but are they not the young ladies of the Luoyang Sword Family?”

“So that is why the Second Young Master's side of the Sword Family promised to suppress any internal backlash, did they not?”

It was so.

Behind them was the Second Young Master's side.

“So it is best to limit our worries to this much.”

The portly merchant shook his head.

“Indeed. It is all useless worry.”

The other merchants also waved their hands as if telling him to cut it out.

“Even if the Eldest Young Master takes some action, in the midst of confronting the Second and Third Young Masters' sides, he will lack the power to do anything to us as well.”

“Geez. Was this not all the conversation we shared beforehand?”

There was also someone who beat his chest as if frustrated.

“Even if retaliation comes back, it would only be in the business world.”

“To defend against that jointly, the merchants of our association must unite as one even more.”

“Moreover, it is not just our association that participated in this matter!”

“We are only a part of it!”

The portly merchant burst into laughter.

“If touching them only this much would cause something big to happen to all of these many people.”

His laughter was simply jovial.

“This Luoyang business community would have already become a bloodbath.”

Another merchant jumped up and raised his cup.

“Now! Instead of that, it would be best for all of us to have a drink together to celebrate the formation of our association!”

“Hear, hear!”

While everyone was filling each other's cups in excitement, the merchant who had expressed his anxiety stood up from his seat.

“My stomach is upset, so I must go get some fresh air.”

He slipped outside as if fleeing, avoiding those who scolded him.

The scenery unfolding in the luxurious garden seemed to calm his wavering mind.

'Right. Even if something happens, what big deal could it possibly be?'

The guard unit of the merchant group, standing watch outside the meeting pavilion, saw him and bowed their heads.

“On guard, nothing unusual.”

The merchant nodded vaguely.

He pulled out a tobacco pipe from his bosom and putting it to his lips, he repeated the words of the portly merchant he had just heard in his mind.

'Yes. I was thinking too much.'

If something big were to happen because of a matter of this level.

This Luoyang business community would have already become a bloodbath.

Finding difficulty as he searched his bosom with that thought, he frowned.

“Umm?”

The leader of the guard unit approached and held out a container with a spark to him.

It was a tinder box he carried in case of emergencies.

“Do you need a light?”

“Ah, thank you.”

The guard leader smiled.

“It is nothing—” his words could not be finished. "……!"

With his head pierced by an arrow, the guard leader slowly collapsed sideways.

The merchant standing close to him, with the guard leader's blood splattered on his face, dropped the tobacco he was holding in his mouth.

“W-What…?”

What on earth was happening in broad daylight?

“Ambush—!”

Just as the ordinary merchant was trying to understand the scene before his eyes with his head, the guards collapsed one after another.

“Kuh!”

“Heok…!”

Without exception, blood-soaked arrows sprouted from their heads and chests.

It was something that happened even before the tobacco the merchant was holding could fall completely to the ground. "……."

Before he knew it, the only one standing on his own feet in the garden was the merchant.

In his view, a group holding crossbows was seen climbing over the wall and entering the garden.

Judging by their state of armament and skill, they were clearly a renowned mercenary group. "……."

As the one who appeared to be the commander waved his hand, the members smashed the paper windows and broke inside at once.

“W-Who are you?!”

“Uh, uh?!”

It did not take very long for the initially flustered voices to turn into screams.

“P-Please spare my life!”

“Is anyone there?!”

With those screams and the sound of furniture breaking serving as a background, a middle-aged woman who appeared to be the leader of the mercenary group approached the merchant standing dazed.

“Hmm.”

She picked up the tobacco that had fallen to the ground, held it to her nose, and savored its scent.

“You smoke good tobacco.”

The merchant snapped out of it at that sight and hurriedly shouted.

“For what reason on earth are you doing this to us?!”

Putting the tobacco in her mouth, the mercenary leader shrugged.

“A mercenary group moves because of a request, what other reason would there be?”

Several merchants tried to flee outside but were caught and had their necks cleanly severed.

The hot blood sprayed by someone splattered long across the window paper.

“Do you think a mere mercenary group can commit such acts in Luoyang and remain safe?! Luoyang is not a lawless region like Jiangnan!”

“Right, it isn't.”

Replying casually, she picked up the tinder box that had fallen to the ground and lit the tobacco.

The merchant shouted as if having a fit.

“Even if not the officials who maintain good relations with us, there are no officials in this Luoyang who would simply overlook such a mass slaughter!”

Exhaling a long puff of smoke toward him, the mercenary leader spoke.

“Of course not. But.”

“But?”

She chuckled.

“I heard that the places where a bloodbath is occurring at this very moment are not just one or two. Everyone is so fucking busy that they won't even be able to pay attention one by one, you know?”

“Not just one or two bloodbaths?”

As if noticing something.

A horrified expression hung on the merchant's face.

“C-Could it be…?!”

“It's useless to speak to me so meaningfully.”

The mercenary leader shrugged.

“Because we only carry out the work as requested.”

Just then, her subordinate mercenaries began to come outside.

Without exception, they hung severed heads from their waists one by one.

“Leader! Work is finished on this side!”

The mercenary leader nodded.

“Good. This side is also nearing its end.”

The merchant repeated her words with a dazed expression.

“Nearing its end?”

The moment his words finished, his head was cut off. Picking up his head and casually tossing it to a subordinate, a cruel smile hung on the lips of the mercenary leader.

“Yes. Now it is finished.”

* * *

And just like her words a bloodbath like this place was beginning to unfold all across Luoyang.