Tales Of The Nine Dragons [EN]: Chapter 180

The birthday celebration for Prince Heung began, and a large crowd gathered in the courtyard of the Prince’s residence to congratulate Ju Young-guk, Prince Heung, the man of the hour.

“Your Highness, congratulations on your birthday.”

“Thank you all for coming. To be honest, what is there for me to celebrate? The late Emperor and the Queen Mother, who dedicated their lives to raising me, deserve all the credit.”

“Then, to express our gratitude to the late Emperor and the Queen Mother, I propose a toast,” someone announced, rising from their seat and raising their glass. Immediately, everyone in the gathering followed suit.

“To the eternal peace of the late Emperor and the Queen Mother!”

He led the toast and drank, and the others shouted “Hurrah!” before emptying their glasses.

“This old general [Hwangmo is likely a title] can’t stay still on a day like today. As the head of the Heungchin Royal Guard, I’ll offer a drink to the health of His Highness Prince Heung!”

Starting with this, people got up and drank one by one, and each time, those sitting down had to drink along.

Those with a low alcohol tolerance were already flushed, their eyes glazed over, and some even started nodding off.

“This old man too…”

Nevertheless, there was no sign of it ending. However, no one stepped forward to stop it, and everyone celebrated Prince Heung’s birthday with smiling faces, as if it were great fun.

Hwa-rin was also present, but he was sitting separately, not with the other princes.

“Did a ghost who died of thirst possess them? They’re practically drowning themselves in alcohol.”

“That’s the twenty-fifth toast already.”

That meant that twenty-five people had made various excuses to lead a toast and drink, and those sitting down had followed suit.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I can’t get drunk even if I wanted to. My inner energy [internal energy cultivated through martial arts] automatically burns away anything harmful that enters my body.”

“Is that like being immune to all poisons?”

“It is immunity to all poisons. Poison can’t harm me. I might be better than Ilmaihwang [likely a famous physician or alchemist] in this regard.”

-Junior, how have you been?

At that moment, a telepathic message reached Hwa-rin. Hearing the voice, Hwa-rin was overjoyed and looked around to see who it belonged to.

He saw someone looking at him from the opposite corner. He barely recognized him, as it wasn’t the Baek Jeong-in he knew.

-Senior is targeting me, so my back is tingling and I’m paying close attention.

-Haha, is that so?

-Please let me get some sleep.

-You’re still exaggerating… Anyway, let me ask you something.

Baek Jeong-in wanted to ask about the conclusion he had reached after observing Hwa-rin for a long time.

-Is the weakness you’re showing now intentional?

-Why do you think so?

-I’ve been watching for about five days, and you always show a gap only on the left side. But I hesitated because of an unknown sense of incongruity.

-Did you know? I heard that Senior accepted the commission.

-So you were creating a weakness to lure me in, and you were planning to counterattack when I took the bait?

-That’s right.

-Even if you catch me, you might lose an arm or a leg.

-If I can win, arms and legs are not important. Isn’t it a worthwhile deal just to save my life?

-A worthwhile deal…, listening to you, it seems so. Then I should demand more money from Hwa Jeong-soo.

-Get as much as possible. But are you really going to assassinate me?

When Hwa-rin asked, Baek Jeong-in paused for a moment before replying.

-At first, I was, but after watching you and thinking about it, I don’t think the probability of success is even 50%, so I’m still considering it [고민중 – gominjung].

-Haha, then extort more money from Hwa Jeong-soo and then think about it slowly.

-I think I’ll have to do that. So, I’m going to ambush you when you leave the Prince’s residence, so show me your reaction.

-Will that be alright?

-That’s right. To get more money, you have to show some action and then talk, so the other person will believe it, right?

-I understand. I’ll do that.

The two of them made a plan via telepathy to fleece Hwa Jeong-soo.

-But you have to give me 10% of the commission.

-I will. But are you going to leave Hwa Jeong-soo alone like that?

Birds of a feather flock together.

Killer Sword Emperor Baek Jeong-in was also an assassin and was writing the history of the assassin world in the current martial arts world, and Hwa-rin was the person who would lead the assassin world in the next generation.

It didn’t make sense from the beginning that he would kill such a Hwa-rin. Baek Jeong-in just wanted to know if Hwa-rin had the ability to lead the assassin world in the next generation, as Hwa-rin claimed.

-No. However, if I hit Hwa Jeong-soo now, I won’t be able to fully absorb his business, so I’m planning to bring him down after preparing to some extent in the Nine Dragons Stronghold. I’m still working on cutting off his funding.

-Is that so? I understand. Then I’ll extort as much money as possible and send it.

The telepathic communication ended there.

Killer Sword Emperor Baek Jeong-in got up from his seat and left, and after a while, a person with the same face came and sat down, but Hwa-rin could tell at once that he was not the Killer Sword Emperor.

“Why are you sitting apart? You seemed to be having an interesting conversation with Yeong-ok yesterday.”

The Fifth Prince, Ju Young-ho, approached Hwa-rin and spoke to him.

“Try letting it be known that I’m a member of the Imperial Family. From that day on, there will be people who are so anxious that they can’t sleep soundly.”

“Are you talking about the Blood Oath Alliance?”

Hwa-rin nodded.

“Only you know this, so don’t tell the other brothers or sisters.”

“If I did, would those guys sleep soundly? My heart was pounding too.”

He spoke with a smile, but when he heard the rumor that Hwa-rin was smashing the Blood Oath Alliance’s sects and treating people’s lives as lightly as flies, he was also afraid that he would harm him.

“Even if I’m a bad guy, would I use violence against my brothers and sisters? Even now, if my brothers and sisters harass me, I just let it go.”

“Are you saying you’re not worth fighting?”

“That’s also true, but His Majesty told me to forget everything and leave the Imperial Palace. And since it’s not a good memory, I don’t want to remember it.”

“His Majesty did?”

Hwa-rin nodded.

“Then if I say I’m leaving the Imperial Palace, will he let me go?”

“I don’t know about that. You haven’t done anything particularly hateful, have you?”

“That’s true, but it doesn’t seem like the Imperial Palace is the place for me.”

Hwa-rin was reminded of Namgung Soo-yeon at Ju Young-ho’s words.

“You’ll suffer if you leave home for no reason. So stay in the Imperial Palace. If you’re bored, ask His Majesty to enter the Imperial Guard and learn martial arts.”

“Martial arts?”

“If you tell him that you want to assist the eldest brother and enter the Imperial Guard to learn martial arts, you won’t have any other thoughts for a few years.”

“Hmm…”

“Restless thoughts [雜念 – japnyum] arise because the body is comfortable, so if you learn martial arts and train with the Golden Uniform Guard, you’ll stop talking about leaving the Imperial Palace.”

Ju Young-ho nodded and smiled at Hwa-rin.

“I’ll have to do that.”

“It seems like you’re going through a midlife crisis.”

“I don’t know. It seems like there’s a lot to do outside the Imperial Palace, but it’s frustrating [답답하니 – dapdaphani] because I’m only in the Imperial Palace.”

“Then why don’t you get married and move out?”

“Doesn’t it make sense to leave the Imperial Palace at the cost of freedom?”

It made sense, and Hwa-rin sympathized.

“Still, it would be reassuring to have someone who always supports you by your side.”

“You have to have something to offer to support you. It’s a relief if I don’t get criticized [욕 – yok] as a loafer.”

Hwa-rin smiled at those words. Come to think of it, he realized that the princes and princesses didn’t know how to do anything on their own.

“You can’t function as a human being if you leave the Imperial Palace, so just stay in the Imperial Palace.”

“So that’s the problem. As you said, I should learn martial arts.”

Hwa-rin nodded.

‘I see why the officials are trying to influence [바람을 넣는지 – barameul neoneunji] the princes.’

They are born as princes and study a lot, but that’s only studying from books, not studying necessary for life.

So he thought that they were dull to reality and didn’t know anything, so they were swept away by the officials’ words and couldn’t come to their senses [정신을 차리지 못한다 – jeongsineul chariji mothanda] by the flatteries of the sycophants [간신들 – gansindeul].

‘That’s why there’s no peace [바람 잘 날 – baram jal nal] in the Imperial Palace.’

“Hwa-rin.”

“Tell me, brother [형님 – hyungnim].”

“Whether you hate it or not, we’re brothers, so help Crown Prince 형님 a lot.”

“I don’t think the Crown Prince has been appointed yet.”

“Eventually, the eldest 형님 will be appointed. So I hope you help him a lot.”

Disappointment flickered across Young-ho’s face when he heard Hwa-rin’s answer.

“Well, the Imperial Palace isn’t a place you can come and go as you please.”

“Don’t worry too much. Everything will be alright.”

* * *

The celebration of Prince Heung continued all night. Even without the main character, Prince Heung, Ju Young-guk, people gathered in groups of three or five to talk, which was also the reason why they came to celebrate Prince Heung’s birthday.

“That’s right. I got it with difficulty. These days, the demand is high, so it’s all going to waste [왜 – wae], so it’s hard to get even in Haedong Kingdom [해동국 – Haedongguk].”

Hwa-rin was giving a box wrapped in gray packaging to one person and was grandly explaining how he was able to get the sea dog penises [해구신 – haegushin], and Seo Dae-young, who was watching this, was making an absurd expression.

‘The reason he told me to get dog testicles [개부랄 – gaebural] was this?’

Seeing Hwa-rin trying to win people’s hearts by deceiving them that dog testicles are sea dog penises, he even wondered how people could be deceived.

“Why don’t you try it tonight and check the effect?”

“Why are you giving this precious thing to me?”

“I heard that you cultivate crops on a fairly large scale in Sichuan [사천 – Sacheon].”

“That’s right.”

“I’m Ju Hwa-rin, the head of the Nine Dragons Stronghold. You’ve heard of the Nine Dragons Stronghold, haven’t you?”

“Of course [허엇 – Heot]!”

There hasn’t been a place as noisy as the Nine Dragons Stronghold recently, so most merchants knew about it.

“We’re lucky enough to supply grains [곡물 – gongmul] to the Eight Route Army [팔로수로군 – Pallo surogun] this time.”

“팔로수로군? Isn’t that what Hwamyeong Merchant Guild [화명상단 – Hwamyeong Sangdan] does?”

“You’ve probably heard that Hwamyeong Merchant Guild’s situation hasn’t been good recently.”

The merchants’ information is as good as the Beggars’ Sect [개방 – Gaebang] or Hao Mun [하오문]. However, this information is limited to Sangrim [상림], so it has limitations, but they were the fastest to come into contact with [접하는 – jeophaneun] the things that happened in Sangrim.

“Our Nine Dragons Stronghold exploited [치고 들어가 – chigo deureoga] the gap and was fortunately able to supply. And the Heungchin Royal Guard [흥친어림군 – Heungchin Eorimgun] is also trying to supply, so they’re talking to His Highness Prince Heung.”

“Hmm…”

“You probably know that the Nine Dragons Stronghold operates the Nine Dragons Tower.”

“That’s right.”

“In terms of cash mobilization and financial power, it’s as solid as the top ten merchant guilds [상단 – sangdan].”

“Are you asking me to sell the grains I cultivate to you?”

“That’s right. There will be existing transactions. If you trade with your existing clients [거래처 – georaecho] and give me the remaining amount of grains, I’ll buy it all.”

“The remaining grains?”

“That’s right. I’m thinking of buying a little from each landlord [전주님 – Jeonjunim] and buying grains from other landlords under the same conditions. And if you like trading with our Nine Dragons Stronghold, it’s enough for us if you trade with us when your relationship with your current clients goes wrong in the future.”

It was a condition that was not at all disadvantageous [손해가 – sonhaega] for the landlord who cultivates crops [작물 – jangmul].

“I’ve unintentionally gained a little fame due to the fight with the Blood Oath Alliance. I guarantee that you will never suffer losses [손해가 – sonhaega] with that fame and the merchant’s credit.”

“I understand. I’ll do that. If I write a contract for the transaction, I’ll transfer all the remaining grains as you said.”

Hwa-rin smiled brightly at the landlord’s answer.

“It will never be a transaction you’ll regret [거래가 – georaega].”

When the landlord left, Seo Dae-young approached Hwa-rin and asked.

“Are you using [운용하면서 – unyonghamyeonseo] fame and credit to cheat like that?”

“What am I cheating?”

“Didn’t you deceive them that dog testicles are sea dog penises?”

Hwa-rin answered confidently with a carefree expression.

“Have you heard that saying?”

“What saying are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the saying that those who don’t know anything about dogs [개 좆도 – gae jotdo] are always arguing [설왕설래 – seolwangseollae].”

Seo Dae-young thought about Hwa-rin’s question for a moment and then looked at Hwa-rin with a doubtful [설마하는 – seolmahaneun] look. Hwa-rin nodded as if his thoughts were correct and said.

“Those people don’t know how to distinguish between sea dog penises and dog testicles. They just think it’s good because they say it’s good for the body. Tomorrow, they’ll probably be amazed [기가 찰 – giga chal].”

Looking at Hwa-rin, who was saying it without any hesitation, Seo Dae-young thought that he was a person who would cause big trouble.

‘No, he’s already caused [치렀지 – chireotji] big trouble. Ah, will I be able to live out my life under 장주님 [Jangjunim – likely a title]? I don’t know if I should seriously think about going back to the Imperial Palace.’