Return of Mount Hua Sect

“You are standing in line to make a reservation?”

“Yes. It was said here. But that person…”

“Just one minute.”

The man called Ma Cheol lowered his voice and then looked around as if searching for something. Suddenly, he let out a roar.

“Mok-oh! Where is that bastard, Mok-oh!”

“Oh my, big brother! I am coming now!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a man came running down.

‘What is that?’

A man with a huge knife wound on his face and a terrifying expression, unlike anything the merchants had seen before, ran in fear and stood in front of the large man.

“Kwang!”

Before he could finish speaking, the man’s fist struck Mok-oh on the head. Mok-oh, who was slammed into the ground, grabbed his head in pain.

“Kuaak!”

‘Woah…’

Did the ground shake for a moment when he was just hit?

“Get up, you useless moron!”

“Yes, yes, big brother!”

The man with the knife wound suddenly got up from the ground.

His rather long face seemed to have gotten shorter, but it wasn’t important.

“I told you to guide them, and you just left?”

“I really went to the office just for a bit! I mean it, big brother!”

“If you make one more mistake, I will peel your skin and use it as a snack for drinking! Got it?”

“Yes! Yes! That will not happen!”

“Such a useless thing!”

Jang Jeong glared at the man, threatening him, then turned his gaze to Ma Cheol.

‘Eik’

The moment he met those sharp eyes, his mouth went dry, and sweat started to pour out of his body. Anyway, it was true that he had caused a commotion, so he knew what was going to happen now.

But Jang Jeong’s actions this time were beyond his expectations.

“Oh my, I am sorry.”

“…”

“We should have informed you in advance, but this useless guy left… we will handle the situation right away.”

Jang Jeong began to bow, crumpling up his large body. Ma Cheol nodded in shock.

“T-thank you!”

“But.”

“Uh?”

At that moment, the man straightened his back.

“Whatever the reason is, you cannot fight or make a fuss on Plum Blossom Island. It seems like you are new here, so I will let this go, but please be careful in the future.”

“Uh? Ah… Yes! Yes! Of course!”

Not making a fuss.

How could you make a fuss when you saw those muscles? He had just seen people get knocked on the head and pinned to the ground.

“This is where the people who are going to the ship line up. The ship reservations are being accepted at the Pavilion in the back, so head there.”

“Uh? N-not here?”

No, that wasn’t the point, was it?

“Then, everyone here is leading today…”

Ma Cheol’s eyes widened.

There were so many merchants here that it was shocking. But that wasn’t all of them!

‘R-right! If I think about it, it is obvious.’

That was why there was a guesthouse and warehouse there, right?

“Yes. Go over there and make a reservation. Then we will set a date for your load to be moved.”

“T-thank you.”

Contrary to his appearance and size, like the prison guards of hell, his voice was incredibly friendly.

That was why it felt scarier.

“Yes, then.”

The man turned around and shouted.

“Don’t just watch and load! You moron! If the loading is delayed today, don’t even think about having meals at night! Get it?”

“Yes!”

“If you understand, then move!”

As Ma Cheol was watching the scene in confusion, he heard the talks around.

“That leader is in a good mood today. Look at this.”

“Right. Isn’t his expression looking so good today?”

“Hehe. I thought I was looking at Buddha. He must really be liking it.”

That? Was it his good look?

Were all these people’s eyes not working?

“Woah, is this how it’s always been?”

The merchant who was fighting with Ma Cheol was also shocked, opening his eyes wide and asking.

“What are you talking about?”

“Ah, no, that person…”

“Ah, that man? That is how it is.”

“…”

“He might look like an evil person on the outside, but he is incredibly kind to merchants. Actually, everyone here on Plum Blossom Island is like that.”

“… they say you cannot judge a person by their appearance.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Uh?”

The merchants were indignant.

“At the start, on Plum Blossom Island, people who treated merchants rudely got beaten up so badly by the Taoists that it ended up like this.”

“Ugh. I still remember that. I was watching from the side, and it was the first time in my life that I realized a person could be hit like that. What did he say? ‘This is how you beat people up as learned from the Taoist sect’?”

“Hahahah! That Taoist surely knew how to joke. He learned to beat people up from his sect. Hahahah.”

No, these guys! Was this a laughing matter?

“C-can a human be hit like that?”

“What is wrong with it? Those who got hit are lucky.”

“Uh?”

The merchant smiled and gestured to the mountain behind him.

“Do you see that mountain there?”

“… Yes. I have eyes, you know.”

“Some people got buried in that mountain after touching merchants’ goods.”

Ma Cheol’s eyes widened.

“B-buried?”

“Right. I heard it clearly back then. The Taoist smiled brightly and said, ‘Beat those bastards until they can barely breathe, and bury them alive.’”

“…”

“Then he apologized a hundred times to the merchants and paid them tenfold the price of their goods.”

“He could have just returned the goods, but he is such a great man.”

“Ah, the island lord is such a gentleman. He is a gentleman!”

Were these people insane?

Didn’t they understand what they were saying? People were buried, and they called him a gentleman? A gentleman?

“That… island lord must be a very scary person?”

“What did you hear? A gentleman? He is a great man!”

Ma Cheol gave up trying to understand them any longer.

Whether he was a gentleman or a backstreet man who buried people had nothing to do with him.

But the following words neatly shattered his thoughts.

“If you are curious, why don’t you just look at him?”

“Uh?”

“Didn’t you say you were going to make reservations?”

“Yes.”

“Since the island lord is the one taking reservations, go and have a look.”

“…”

“Ah, I am saying just in case. You have to be careful of what you say. The island lord is a gentleman, but the ones assisting him are not.”

“Hehehe, if you make a mistake, your throat should hurt!”

“That will be refreshing. Ah, right. Hahahah.”

Ma Cheol tightly closed his eyes.

On this Plum Blossom Island, there seemed to be no one in their right mind—not even a worker, merchant, or anyone.

“… this is huge.”

“Truly…”

“They say that the Plum Blossom Island sweeps up all the money in the Yangtze River.”

Everyone’s mouths dropped open in shock at the grandeur of the Pavilion before their eyes.

They couldn’t even see where the wall ended.

They had traveled all over the Central Plains and seen countless regions. Still, they had almost no memory of seeing a pavilion this big.

“The main merchant office also seems smaller than this.”

“R-right?”

“… and there are many people here too.”

People were bustling in and out of the Pavilion’s main gate. The only difference was that, unlike the docks earlier, no one had brought luggage there.

“It was right to find lodging and leave the carts behind.”

“I should have just done as I was told.”

The merchants who had been wasting their time looked at Ma Cheol with resentment. Ma Cheol’s face twisted.

‘Those people who didn’t even speak earlier…’

Whenever something went wrong, they always blamed themselves later. Merchants!

“Let’s go first.”

“Yes.”

When they passed through the main gate, a large main hall appeared. As they followed the guide in front of them and went inside, a rather unfamiliar sight unfolded before them.

In a large room, which must have been ten times the size of a decent house, there were rows of desks with people sitting in front of them, constantly writing something down.

“Where did the receipts that were here go?”

“Ledgers! Yesterday’s unloading ledgers! Who took the ones I brought in?”

“I told you today was collection day!”

“Oh my! I am losing my mind! The numbers don’t match up! Who was wrong?”

It was like a battlefield.

‘All those are ledgers?’

It was hard to imagine how many things had to come and go for all those people to be mobilized to write the ledgers. Even the biggest merchants in the Central Plains wouldn’t have to work on this many ledgers.

And they wouldn’t be working so tirelessly.

“This way. Line up here.”

After passing that place and going further inside, he saw people waiting in line, and at the end of it was a large desk.

“Oh…”

A large folding screen with ten symbols spread out behind the desk, and a man sitting between the desk and the folding screen was welcoming the customers with a gentle smile.

“…it feels amazing.”

“Really?”

A pure white scholar’s robe and a large crown on his head. The only flaw was that his eyes looked a little small, but thanks to the gentle smile on his lips, even that gave off a gentle feeling.

And there was a feather fan in his hand…

“… it looks like he is the incarnation of Zhuge Liang.”

‘Ah, right. It exactly feels like that.’

When he added those working in front, it really felt like that. It felt like the past works of the man would have been like this…

“But didn’t you say that the Plum Blossom Island lord was a bandit?”

Uh?

“Then they are all bandits?”

Uh?

Ma Cheol blinked and looked around again.

‘When I see it again…’

Something felt a little strange.

Everyone was wearing clean robes and diligently writing their accounts. Still, if one looked at their faces, they resembled more the kind of people you would see in a back alley than scholars.

‘No… did they all roll around on the ground with knives?’

Their wrists, slightly visible through the large sleeves, their necks visible through the collars, and even the sword marks on their faces made the onlookers feel uneasy.

‘What on earth are they doing here?’

Why were these people looking at the books? Why? Didn’t they do business in the back alleys?

“This side.”

Bewildered, they kept looking around, and soon, it was their turn.

“Yes!”

They went to the front as instructed, and a person in robes like Zhuge Liang greeted them with a bright smile.

“Welcome. I heard you are from the Great North Merchants.”

“Yes, yes! Right. It is my first time here, so I want to make a reservation for the ship…”

“Welcome. I am Im So-Byeong, the island lord of Plum Blossom Island.”

“Ah… Yes! I am Ma Cheol, the person in charge of the Great North Merchants.”

“Since it is the first time, I have invited you separately. I really welcome you to Plum Blossom Island. Wouldn’t it be great if we could have good ties, right? Please take care of me in the future.”

“Ah! Yes! Rather, we should be the ones requesting that from you! Please take care of me!”

“Haha. Don’t be so humble.”

Im So-Byeong smiled brightly.

There was absolutely no trace of anything gloomy or dangerous in that innocent smile.

‘Could it be a misunderstanding?’

This person buried someone?

How could a scholar who cannot even catch a rabbit do such a bad thing?

‘There must have been some misunderstanding….’

At that moment.

A man rushed into the hall and whispered something in Im So-Byeong’s ear. Im So-Byeong, listening to those words with a smiling face, raised his lips even more.

“Really?”

“Yes, island lord.”

“If you do something wrong, you need to pay the price. Just knead the person all night, and when the sun sets, throw them in the middle of the river to make him fish food.”

“He is so skilled at handcrafting, won’t he still get away?”

“Tsk, tsk. Do I even have to tell you that?”

Im So-Byeong’s face turned gloomy for a moment.

“Cut his tendons, tie his hands and feet with iron chains. Just in case, break his dantian. And put weights on his feet so he can never rise again. Ah, right, sprinkle salt on his wounds. It is too much sin to just wait around.”

“Understood.”

“Do it neatly, neatly.”

“Yes, island lord.”

“Well, they are born thieves, so if you are not careful, we will get in trouble. Tell them exactly what happens if they touch things recklessly. And tell them to watch everyone closely.”

“I will.”

Im So-Byeong waved his hand to send the man away, clicked his tongue, and looked at Ma Cheol with a bright smile again.

“I am sorry; where did we end our conversation?”

“…”

“Sir?”

“… please spare me.”

“Uh?”

It seemed… that they had come to a place they shouldn’t have stepped into.