Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 231

I was born as the daughter of a low-ranking concubine.

Moreover, he’s now even trying to create ministers to his liking through Siyoungwon [a type of academy or institution] under the guise of scholarship projects.

“If we try to plant people in Siyoungwon now, its roots are quite deep, making it difficult to plant clumsy spies…”

“I heard that the guys we tried to plant in Siyoungwon were also strangely clumsy and not helpful.”

“Right. I tried to tighten their leash with gambling debts, but they only incurred debts and hid in Siyoungwon, not showing up at the gambling den.”

Perhaps that was the problem.

“After trying to get their hands on the scholarship money, news was cut off, and seeing Suyoung Ongju [a royal title, roughly ‘Princess’] taking action today…”

“Wouldn’t it be that they were caught trying to tamper with the scholarship money?”

And they would have spilled all the facts because they have loose lips.

As expected, those who gamble cannot be trusted.

“Judging from Suyoung Ongju’s attitude… it seems that’s the case.”

“To deliberately open a new store across the street, what else could it be but a declaration of war?”

“It seems Suyoung Ongju is quite angry. Was there any other news from the people planted within Siyoungwon?”

The man bowed his head, looking embarrassed.

“I apologize. Internal control is stricter than expected. Especially, the number of people who can access the inside where important information is located is quite limited, so it’s difficult to know what happened inside.”

“Exactly. They say they accept anyone, but in reality, they discriminate internally. They don’t let anyone inside unless they are long-time members.”

So, those who know the internal affairs of Siyoungwon are tight-lipped.

That scholarship student didn’t know much either.

“It would be good if those who have entered inside are helpful, but I don’t think we should expect much. How can they not know such important things at all?”

“I apologize. What should we do then?”

“First, we need to save ourselves. Persuading the Ongju… it may be difficult with our power, but there may be other ways.”

The one called Elder looked at the darkening sky and then down at a letter in his hand.

“Soon, that person will come.”

***

After the day I said I would open a new store, it didn’t take long to know how they would react.

“Ongju, have you heard?”

“Heard what?”

The answer was conveyed to me through So-Woon, who was helping with the newspaper work with Soi.

“Rumors are spreading throughout the capital that Ongju is deliberately oppressing ordinary people and interfering with their business.”

“Oh, really?”

I stopped working on organizing news from the provinces for a moment upon hearing the rumor, but soon I focused on my work again.

I was too busy to be surprised by such words.

“Now they’re openly picking a fight with me? They’re bolder than I thought.”

“Yes?”

In contrast to So-Woon, who was puzzled because she didn’t know much of the intermediate process, Soi was just silently working next to me.

The source of the rumors was obvious.

It was so obvious that I said they were bold.

‘They must have realized that I was pointing a knife at them and immediately took action.’

It seemed they had decided to go in the direction of belittling me since they couldn’t bring me to their side.

Since it’s just a rumor, it’s easy to deny that they did it.

Perhaps they’re now trying to make the Crown Prince draw a line by questioning my conduct or morality. Anyway, they want to separate me from the Crown Prince.

‘But there’s no reason for me to just accept such slander.’

They must have been quite embarrassed to spread such rumors about me.

If they start playing the media like this first, I have no choice but to return the favor properly, right?

I finished my work and took out what I had prepared in advance.

After skimming through the content to see if it was correct, I handed it to So-Woon.

“I’m going to put this in this issue of the newspaper. Check if there are any typos.”

“Yes… but is this real?”

The paper that So-Woon received read:

[Illegal Gambling Rampant Despite Royal Prohibition]

I made the title a bit bigger.

The content, of course, was just a statement of facts stating that they are secretly operating a gambling den while pretending to be a healthy restaurant, committing illegal acts, and so on.

I didn’t write about which restaurant it was in which location. Of course, it’s not because I’m afraid of being sued in this era.

‘If you read the content carefully, people with a little bit of sense will immediately realize where I’m talking about.’

Finding out directly is more memorable than pointing it out directly.

If people don’t seem to notice, it’s not difficult to have the Siyoungwon people spread rumors appropriately.

I nodded without hesitation to So-Woon’s question.

“Of course. We don’t publish fake articles.”

“But it says here that the article is based on anonymous tips.”

“It also says that it’s published anonymously to protect the informant.”

So-Woon narrowed her eyes.

“Who is the informant?”

“It’s a secret, remember?”

“Ongju, you didn’t write it, did you?”

“Only the outline.”

“Were you angry because of the rumors after all?”

“Maybe.”

The content of the rumors is one thing, but frankly, I’m the victim here. But do I have to hear these words?

‘Above all, the media is mine, so why should I put up with it?’

It’s not like I made up a story, and they threw the first punch.

Just taking the hit is not my style.

“Now that it’s come to this, I have to hit them properly with impact.”

“Ongju, did you perhaps lose money because of this gambling den?”

“Similar…”

Soi timidly agreed to So-Woon’s simple question.

The article didn’t end with just the first one.

I started with the premise that innocent people have recently fallen into traps and started gambling, and I made it obvious in the newspaper that I was exposing and sniping the fact that they were deceiving people into gambling with cunning methods and creating debts through trickery.

‘They were the ones who intentionally got the Siyoungwon kids into gambling first, so they won’t feel wronged.’

I just wrote down the route that the children who actually suffered financial damage went through. It’s a sad thing, but the patterns were generally similar.

And of course, the articles published in the newspaper spread faster than rumors.

“Is this true?”

“I’ve heard rumors too.”

“Well, everyone knows that you can’t catch gambling done in the homes of high-ranking officials. It’s scary that they pretend to be a large restaurant and look for prey.”

“And they say you can’t win because they cheat among themselves in the gambling ring?”

“They let you win the first game, so you can just get out then, right?”

“Usually, people who say things like that ruin their families…”

“Hey, what’s wrong with that? But can we really believe this story?”

The newspaper has been highly trusted because it has only published verified news so far.

‘And because of my past records so far.’

People’s reactions followed as I intended.

“Suyoung Ongju wouldn’t do this for no reason, would she?”

“But there aren’t many restaurants that are large enough to be called a gambling den… right?”

“That’s right. If it happened in a restaurant related to Ongju, this kind of article wouldn’t have come out.”

“There’s a new restaurant that opened, I wonder if it’s there.”

“Wow. I heard the rumors weren’t good.”

“And Ongju is building something across from there, right?”

“Ah. Isn’t that the one about oppressing innocent people or something?”

“Ongju deliberately opened a new restaurant right in front of it, so there was a reason?”

“Wow, is she doing this on purpose? To show those gamblers who’s boss?”

“Well, she’s never acted carelessly so far.”

“That’s right. She’s the one who took in all the beggar children on the street, fed them, clothed them, and taught them.”

Of course, there were people who said this.

“Shall we go take a look? Is there really a gambling den there?”

“The store that Ongju is opening right in front of it is preparing to open, are you going there? Really?”

“Ah… that’s a bit…”

The general public’s reaction was something like this.

‘I’ve only heard the stories that people who buy newspapers share in front of the newsstand, so I don’t know if this is really the mainstream opinion, but…’

For now, the fact that the rumors about me and the newspaper article are mutually attacking and cursing each other has been clearly conveyed to the public.

There were even people who visited out of curiosity because they didn’t know much about gambling dens, but the people who had enough money to go there for that reason were the people who frequented other restaurants or Siwolgak [a type of high-end restaurant or establishment] that I ran, so they only felt the qualitative difference.

And the biggest difference they felt was in another part.

‘The courtesans still serve alcohol there!’

As that fact spread, the atmosphere heated up and the number of men visiting increased.

It’s a pathetic thing, but it was true.

However, the gambling den was a bit intimidated by the rumors, and information was conveyed through the Siyoungwon people who were infiltrating.

It seemed they were conscious of the public eye.

‘I don’t know why they’re suddenly conscious of it, but are they worried about a sting operation?’

I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but the place that started as a restaurant eventually began to be called a gibang [a traditional Korean house of entertainment, similar to a geisha house].

Thanks to this, the female customers who used to be there occasionally disappeared altogether, and the store only operated with courtesans, so the trend of viewing going to that store as more frivolous than going to the old gibang became stronger, as if most of the courtesans working there had poor artistic skills.

In other words, if you’re a sane person who thinks about the future, you wouldn’t dare to go there.

In that situation, Jia was still disguised as a man and observing the atmosphere there.

The elder doesn’t seem to come to the gambling den or the restaurant, but the man with the mole can be seen rarely.

Jia had a connection with a courtesan through the infiltration at that time, and she was getting information by contacting her while using gambling as an excuse.

I thought it would take time to gain trust with each other because the courtesans are suspicious, but as the situation flowed that way, the courtesans couldn’t stand it and started to explode.

The courtesans are the ones who are being overworked, but for some reason, the treatment is getting worse.

Thanks to this, the things that the courtesans revealed through Jia were being conveyed to me.

‘I can’t say this is a good thing.’

The more I heard the story, the more depressing it became, so I could understand why she didn’t want to tell me much.

The new restaurant was being prepared as planned, and those who were suddenly forcibly employed seemed dumbfounded, but no one said they didn’t like it.

‘Because many people were promoted because of this.’

Everyone was happy because they were suddenly promoted and their salaries went up after not having a promotion for years.

This incident created a tremendous amount of employment, and thanks to this, a tremendous amount of money was going out.

I was worried about what to do if I failed this time, but… I put it aside for a while because there was a bigger worry than that right now.

And after a little more time than I thought, I was able to ask Gai about the man with the mole. It was because Gai was so busy.

Gai, who always checks how much bigger I’ve grown since he last saw me when he comes back after being away for a while, sat in front of me today after finishing his fixed routine.