Chapter 53: An Unexpected Visitor (2)

Just as Myeong-oh was about to mutter something more—

“Hey, Instructor Jeok! You only went to buy a horse, so why are you so late?!”

At the voice of a middle-aged man calling out to him, the dreary atmosphere surrounding Myeong-oh instantly shifted.

“Ah! Instructor Jang Deuk-soo! I’m sorry! There were a lot of customers!”

Jang Deuk-soo shook his head with a tired expression.

“Damn it, how is buying a damn horse this exhausting.”

“Here, some water.”

“Thanks. Ah, that’s refreshing. And the breeze is just right, too.”

As the wind blew, the head covering of the instructor called Jeok fluttered and flew back.

That revealed red hair—something rarely seen in the Central Plains.

Jang Deuk-soo leaned in and whispered softly to Myeong-oh.

“So? Anyone suspicious of you?”

“Not really? My martial arts are weak, so no one pays much attention.”

Not all the instructors of the Thousand-Day Pass were Master Level experts.

Even those with weak martial arts but skills in writing or other talents were sometimes specially appointed as instructors.

The Instructor Jeok in front of him was a prime example of such a special appointment.

“The horse transaction’s done. Are you finished with your business too, Instructor Jang?”

“Yeah. Damn Jin Yeomyung, that bastard. Just because I borrowed his name once, he’s making me run all over the place. We’re not even going outside the fortress.”

It was the first time in the history of the Thousand-Day Pass that a trainee had bossed around an instructor, but Jang Deuk-soo hadn’t been able to refuse the proposal.

Clink!

In Jang Deuk-soo’s hand, a coin pouch still heavy with silver jingled.

“They said I could keep the leftover money from the horse deal, but I feel like I need something stronger than cool water—something with alcohol. What do you say? A drink before we head back?”

Tip-tip!

Jang Deuk-soo mimed tipping back a drink.

“Hehehehe, I’d love that!”

Myeong-oh… no, the instructor of the Thousand-Day Pass, Jeok Ryeong’s face lit up.

Unlike the slightly forced smile from earlier, this was a more genuine grin.

Alcohol.

Alcohol was the only thing Myeong-oh truly loved after that day, the only thing that let him briefly forget reality.

***

Bang Manhu placed several thick ledgers in front of me.

“Here, this is the list of current businesses operated by the Nine Moons Blade Hall.”

“And the placement of the trainees?”

“It’s been completed perfectly.”

Thirty new inspectors from the Thousand-Day Pass and ten senior inspectors had been assigned directly to the Nine Moons Blade Hall’s business sites.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Bang Manhu asked,

“I’m only showing this to you because you’re the Young Master of the Jin Clan, but… why exactly do you need the business records of our sect?”

A sect’s business ledger was one of its most closely guarded secrets.

Especially in cases of illegal operations, the real owners would often hide behind front men to conceal their identities.

Getting caught up in a government investigation over this would be a massive headache.

“I need to know in order to be prepared.”

“Prepared for what, exactly?”

“For whatever shady tricks you might be pulling.”

“……?”

Bang Manhu looked at me as if to say, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

“Well, just watch. Nothing bad will happen to the Nine Moons Blade Hall.”

I casually skimmed through the records Bang Manhu had brought.

He had probably assumed that someone of my status wouldn’t know how to properly read a ledger, which is why he’d been so willing to hand it over.

‘Hehehe, now I can get a clear read on the Nine Moons Blade Hall’s condition.’

Reviewing ledgers was something I’d been thoroughly sick of since my past life.

‘It’s definitely much cruder than the ones I saw back then.’

Compared to the Nine Moons Blade Hall’s power when I reviewed it during my time in the Central Office, this was a mere shadow of its former self.

Even considering that over a decade had passed, it was clear the Nine Moons Blade Hall simply had no knack for business.

‘Which means they must’ve made a huge haul from raiding the tomb of Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden.’

Most importantly, there was one thing I noticed while looking over the records.

‘They blatantly doctored the books. They hid massive expenditures cleverly.’

There were clear traces of items being purchased for multiple times their market value—items that clearly weren’t worth that much.

There could be only one reason to deliberately falsify records like this.

‘These expenditures were used to raid Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden’s tomb.’

As expected, this operation was far too grand for a bunch like them.

Nine to one? No—maybe more like ninety-nine to one.

Promises? Who cares about those?

I walked the Demonic Path.

This definitely wasn’t retaliation for the way Bang Manhu smirked slyly and tried to provoke me earlier.

Suppressing my inner thoughts, I said calmly,

“I see there are no brothels or gambling dens among your businesses.”

Aside from large-scale ventures like merchant guilds or escort agencies, the most profitable businesses run by Murim sects were brothels and gambling houses.

At my words, Bang Manhu scratched the back of his head.

“Well, our sect’s guards aren’t really suitable for those places. Their appearances are kind of… plain, and they’re not exactly good at fighting either.”

The members of the Nine Moons Blade Hall all wore loose, black robes.

On top of that, their naturally slender builds made them look more like frail Taoist priests than capable warriors.

That was because, unlike typical sects that trained in swordsmanship, they focused mainly on meditation and internal cultivation techniques in the style of the Left Path.

“You could just hire mercenaries.”

“Eh-heh, even so, there’s still the matter of our reputation. And we are Demonic Path folk after all—we’re doing our best not to draw unnecessary attention. Brothels and gambling houses are prime targets for trouble.”

“Indeed, there’s no real need to assign guards to general stores and such.”

After scanning both the business listings and profit ledgers, I clicked my tongue.

“Still, the profitability is just too low. This part… no, a lot of it could be improved.”

“Eh? W-What do you mean?”

“Let’s go. I need to inspect the business sites myself.”

“……??”

Bang Manhu blinked in confusion.

“Y-Young Master?”

“If there are areas to improve, I’ll point them out. I can’t tolerate such a sloppy ledger.”

“W-Wait… sloppy? No, before that, why can’t you tolerate it…”

From the perspective of the Inner Administration of the Heavenly Demon Cult, just a glance at the ledger made it immediately clear why the Nine Moons Blade Hall’s finances were in such a state.

‘Even if the Evil Overlords of Heaven didn’t push in, they’d go bankrupt within ten years at this rate.’

In my past life, it had been pure heavenly luck that these fools had discovered Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden’s tomb.

If not for that, an ancient and storied Demonic sect would’ve folded during my generation.

I forcibly dragged Bang Manhu out and headed into the street.

Of course, inspecting the business sites under the pretense of “improvements” had another reason behind it.

‘If things go down, there’s going to be a river of blood flowing in this city.’

It wasn’t the bloodshed itself I was concerned about.

It was to cut off the spread of rumors and influence outside the city when that blood began to spill.

‘I need to find a suitable place to dig the trap…’

Our first stop was a fabric store.

I could feel the subtle glares of the new inspectors on patrol around the shop.

Their silent accusation was clear: ‘Why aren’t you working?’

But I ignored their stares and turned my eyes toward the display.

Just as the ledgers indicated, there were plenty of problems.

“Why is there so much silk here?”

Eighty percent of the store was filled with silk, and only twenty percent with regular fabric.

And this was in a rural outskirts area!

Bang Manhu blinked as if he didn’t see the problem.

“Well, obviously, we sourced it from merchants traveling the Silk Road…”

“One of the trade routes for silk goes through Wuwei, which is about four hundred li north of here, right?”

“Is that… a problem?”

“Of course it is. This isn’t the Central Plains.”

While it was true that the Silk Road wasn’t confined to one path and could reach here, that didn’t mean silk should be displayed in a place like this if you wanted to sell it at proper value.

“Hm, Whitewood Sect and Plum-Orchid Sect silks, huh. Not bad, but they’re not exactly in fashion these days. And how do you expect to sell high-grade silk in a place this remote?”

Sure, there were rich people and wealthy neighborhoods even in Eastern Sea City—but they had no reason to come here.

“T-Then… couldn’t we just take it to Everlasting Decree?”

His suggestion made me narrow my eyes.

“Everlasting Decree? Did you say Everlasting Decree? Isn’t that area completely dominated by the Evil Overlords of Heaven? And how exactly do you plan to sell it there?”

“……”

Bang Manhu’s face twisted.

“You don’t even have a proper trading company, let alone a merchant guild. And lone peddlers heading into the Central Plains might be interested in buying, but why would they come here? They all go to Wuwei.”

And even if they did come this far, they’d go to Everlasting Decree City—the top city in Qinghai Province—not all the way here.

“Just sell it off for slightly above the base price and completely change the inventory lineup.”

The silks were poorly maintained and mostly outdated stock.

“According to the ledger, the last time silk was sold was seven days ago. Isn’t that all the answer you need?”

“A-Alright, alright!”

Bang Manhu raised his hands in surrender, clearly overwhelmed.

But I didn’t stop talking.

“Eastern Sea City is a gateway to both Sichuan and Gansu. Instead of this kind of silk, it would be far more practical to stock sturdy fabrics for travelers.”

“……”

As my storm of criticism raged on, Bang Manhu’s expression deteriorated by the second.

But his misfortune lay in the fact that he had no counterarguments.

He only ever paid attention to the final amount of money that came in, never the detailed operational structure.

“Let’s head to the next business.”

As the sermon—which was bordering on scolding—ended, a quiet voice of resentment slipped from Bang Manhu’s lips: “Damn it, we need to replace the administrator bastard.”

From that point on, I continued to point out every problem and potential improvement across the Nine Moons Blade Hall’s business operations.

With each visit, not only Bang Manhu but also the martial artists who followed the Sect Leader and the inspectors from the Thousand-Day Pass began to wear increasingly strange expressions.

After spending half the day visiting every single business, I came to a conclusion.

“This won’t do.”

“W-What won’t?”

“The foundational distribution structure itself is broken. This isn’t something that can be resolved in a short time.”

“T-Then what should we do?”

“But there’s always a way.”

*Snap!*

I snapped my fingers and called out.

“Gu Chil.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Sssshk!

Gu Chil, who had been hiding and guarding me until now, silently revealed himself.

“Wh-What the—?!”

Those who hadn’t realized Gu Chil was even present were stunned by his sudden appearance.

But I ignored their reactions and immediately pulled out a writing brush, ink, and paper, scribbling something on the spot.

“Send messenger pigeons to the places I listed. Use the funds from the merchant groups to start restructuring the distribution network around Qinghai.”

“Pardon? Distribution network?”

“Yeah. Seems like the overlapping influence of various factions has created a mess. At times like this, you just have to steamroll it with money.”

“……”

Gu Chil silently sent me a look that asked, ‘Why go to such lengths?’

But I ignored his gaze and continued.

“It’ll cost quite a bit upfront, but if we can establish the network, it’ll generate consistent profit. Focus on the parts I wrote down and decide wisely.”

Since this was about the distribution network and not the internal affairs of a specific business, even the Evil Overlords of Heaven wouldn’t pay much attention to it.

In fact, they’d probably welcome it.

Considering how vast and desolate Qinghai Province was, no one would reject someone offering to pave the way using their own money.

“Understood.”

Gu Chil, who had appeared looking quite grim as if expecting an emergency, scratched the back of his head and vanished with a deflated expression—clearly not expecting this kind of order.

Anyway, I planned to wipe out the Evil Overlords of Heaven in Eastern Sea City soon enough.

Once that happened, the place would essentially be a land without a ruler, and it’d be far easier to plant a flag here.

After Gu Chil disappeared, I spoke to Bang Manhu again.

“Sect Leader. Once the merchant groups secure the new distribution network, sign exclusive contracts with them. You should be able to cut raw material costs by at least a third.”

“Y-Yes, I understand.”

“With this much, there’s nothing else we can address on the profit side for now.”

“Th-Thank you for your grace, Young Master?”

Bang Manhu was still dazed, having no idea what had just happened over the course of the past half day.

Of course, the sect’s finances had been steadily deteriorating lately, and they’d been trying everything to plug the holes.

He’d been delighted at the news of the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan Young Master arriving, hoping that forming a relationship with the Jin Clan might bring in some crumbs of benefit.

“But still, this… wasn’t the solution I was expecting?”

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