There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 28

I once heard a story from Jinhyuk that I wasn’t at all curious about.

– People often lump peddlers and merchants together, but they’re not the same kind of merchant.

Peddlers deal with expensive crafts and rare luxury goods, while merchants mainly handle heavy daily necessities, salt, and dried seafood.

Was it when I was forced to buy something from a *jap-sangin* [miscellaneous merchant] who came into the store while I was drinking?

Anyway, I also heard a few words about the legend of the founder of the peddlers and merchants at the end.

“I am Baeg Dalwon.”

I remembered when I heard the name.

He was said to be the founder of the peddler and merchant group.

“This friend carried me on his back when I was injured and escaped from the battlefield. He also spent a lot of money to supply materials whenever I went to battle.”

Lee Seonggye patted Baeg Dalwon’s waist.

“I was so grateful that after establishing the country, I set up the Busan Office to monopolize fish and salt, but I was kicked out before I could even do it for a few years.”

“Y-Your Majesty, the Supreme King.”

Baeg Dalwon was at a loss.

Lee Seonggye had also *tuiwei* [abdicated] due to the Revolt of the Princes, and all factions that did not participate with his father were eliminated, so there was no way Baeg Dalwon would be safe.

He managed to save his life, but he had to give up his position as the head of the 5 provinces overseeing the Busan Office and retire.

It was packaged as a voluntary resignation, but in reality, it was forced.

“After that, I lived idly by doing this and that, and then the Supreme King called me to go hunting together, so I was staying in Hanyang.”

So he came as soon as Lee Seonggye called him.

Because he was in the same Hanyang land.

“There aren’t many people left to share old stories with now. It’s just old people wanting to chat.”

Lee Ji-ran, Jeong Do-jeon, and many other officials also died.

Those who had built friendships with Lee Seonggye before he advanced to the center, like Baeg Dalwon, would hardly remain.

‘Nobility doesn’t mean much to an old man who wants to reminisce.’

Lee Seonggye was not particularly bound by such things.

Among Lee Seonggye’s subordinates were monks and commoners.

No, from the beginning, wasn’t he an outsider from the Goryeo-Mongol chiliarch?

Lee Seonggye, who was introducing Baeg Dalwon, now pointed at me.

“This rascal is my mischievous grandson.”

“Hello.”

I suddenly bowed deeply.

“Oh, this.”

Baeg Dalwon was greatly embarrassed.

Even he, who had experienced all sorts of hardships, would be seeing such a sight for the first time.

The eldest son of the king bowing to a merchant.

Baeg Dalwon, who was restless, hurriedly returned the bow.

“No, how can such a precious Crown Prince bow to someone like me?”

“He is the Supreme King’s friend, so he is a distant elder to me. How can being a merchant be a reason not to bow?”

“His Majesty’s friend? How dare I…”

Baeg Dalwon couldn’t continue speaking.

‘Looking at the old man’s expression, he seems touched.’

“Haha, that’s right. What’s wrong with this guy who always used to be impudent?”

Lee Seonggye also burst into a hearty laugh, and Baeg Dalwon closed his eyes tightly.

‘The plan worked.’

I felt it when I met Song Sang, but merchants are basically cold-headed, so it’s hard to impress them with simple lip service or encouragement.

But praising him as the Supreme King’s friend and even bowing deeply is a different story.

I wouldn’t have bowed if I didn’t intend to score points with Lee Seonggye.

After taking some time to compose himself, Baeg Dalwon bowed his head and opened his mouth.

“I am only now meeting the Crown Prince, whose rumors are rampant in Gaeseong. So, what brings the Crown Prince to seek me out?”

Baeg Dalwon didn’t forget the fact that I had called him because I had something to say.

I nodded.

‘Good, he gets to the point quickly.’

“My grandson is suffering in relation to commerce, so please lend him some wisdom. Merchants know best about merchants’ affairs, don’t they?”

Lee Seonggye said before I could say anything.

“I heard that there was no greater merchant than you in all eight provinces of Joseon. Please listen to the situation and give us your wise opinion.”

“A great merchant? I am just an old man buried in a remote village now.”

Baeg Dalwon showed humility, but he did not refuse my request.

I told him everything about what kind of *jit* [gangster act] Song Sang was trying to do.

Baeg Dalwon, who had been listening quietly, sighed deeply when I finished speaking.

“Merchants, especially peddlers, are not those who trade with their feet on the ground, so they are bound to be treated with disdain wherever they go.

Of course, there were many who had problems with their behavior, so when I was in charge of the Busan Office, I established four principles: *mulmang’eon* [do not make reckless remarks], *mulpaehaeng* [do not commit bad deeds], *muleumran* [do not commit lewd acts], *muldojeok* [do not steal].

Even now that I have become a mere wild man, I am proud of that.”

Baeg Dalwon continued.

“But it is truly lamentable that those Song Sangs, who are not mere wandering peddlers and have a history of hundreds of years, are doing this.”

‘That’s right, that’s right.’

I felt a sense of *schadenfreude* as Baeg Dalwon, who was also a merchant, condemned Song Sang’s professional ethics.

“It is not difficult to strike Song Sang, but it is difficult to handle them carelessly because they virtually monopolize the distribution of goods. Would they have done this if there was just one more merchant group comparable to them?”

“That is correct.”

Baeg Dalwon said.

“But surprisingly, it is also easy to solve.”

“Easy?”

When I asked, Baeg Dalwon nodded.

“I heard that a man named Oh Jong-soo came up with a clever trick. He cut off the tail by using the fact that Song Sang is not a single business entity but an alliance of several merchants.

However, this is tantamount to revealing their own weakness.”

“Revealed their own weakness?”

Lee Seonggye interjected.

Baeg Dalwon smiled and took a sip of tea.

“There is no need to strike the entire Song Sang. Just exclude those treacherous people who abandon the way of commerce and only seek profit.”

Only then did I think I knew what Baeg Dalwon was trying to say.

‘Song Sang is not a single entity, huh.’

Oh Jong-soo used that point very well, but in reality, it was nothing more than a weakness.

“You mean to divide Song Sang.”

“That’s right. If you put forward a merchant with high reputation and consciousness, and give them various profits, merchants will flock to him on their own.”

“Anyway, I’m planning to create about 800 stores in Jongno. We can sell the stores to those who cooperate…”

“Or you could say that you will supply the goods that the Crown Prince made. If it’s the popularity of *baekjabu* [white porcelain powder], many people will rush in.”

Ugh, that damn *baekjabu* [white porcelain powder].

I said I wouldn’t sell it in Joseon.

Baeg Dalwon smiled when he read my expression.

“You don’t actually have to supply it. There will be many who will be tempted by the rumors alone.”

This person is more conscientious than Song Sang, but a merchant is a merchant.

He says to spread false rumors without hesitation.

‘I like it even more.’

It means that he has his own business principles and gets through it flexibly.

“Then who would be good to put forward?”

At my question, Baeg Dalwon named a few people.

But there was no one I particularly liked.

‘Is it because I’ve only heard of them?’

I don’t know what it would be like if I met them in person.

“Hmm…”

I was listening to Baeg Dalwon’s story with my arms crossed.

At that time, Lee Seonggye, who had been watching quietly, shouted.

“Hey, why are you so worried? Isn’t he right in front of you? A merchant with high reputation and consciousness who can stand against Song Sang!”

“!”

I looked at Baeg Dalwon.

‘Come to think of it.’

I hadn’t been aware of it because he was called as an advisor, but if Baeg Dalwon, who left his name as the father of Joseon’s peddlers and merchants, took on this task, there would be nothing better.

However, Baeg Dalwon waved his hand with a flustered expression.

“I am a failure. I have almost no remaining assets. I have lent you my rusty head once, but it is impossible to run as a merchant again.”

It’s just that he doesn’t have the same wealth as before, but he still has enough to live comfortably.

The passion that should have burned brightly seemed to have completely cooled down.

“But…”

When I was about to step in and try to persuade him, Lee Seonggye opened his mouth.

“Hey, I’m saying this for you, not my grandson.

You used up almost all of the wealth you had accumulated through business to supply my Gabyeolcho, and you were deprived of the monopoly rights you were given as a privilege after the founding of the country, and you were kicked out of the Busan Office, right?

Are you going to grow old and die as a country old man with a little money like this?”

Baeg Dalwon’s eyes, which had seemed to have no regrets until just now, shook at Lee Seonggye’s words.

My grandfather had made a small crack, so it was my job to enlarge it.

‘I’m going to bombard him with famous sayings from now on.’

“There may be trials, but there is no failure.”

“······!”

Baeg Dalwon’s pupils dilated when I said something that Korean businessmen couldn’t possibly not know.

“Business is something that can fall and stumble any number of times. The important thing is how to get up when you fall.

The reason why you fell was because of the court’s attack. But now you can have the court on your back.”

I conveyed the words I had been holding back.

“If you sit still like this, your end will be decided as a failure.

But if you get up again and seize victory, the experience of falling will be remembered not as a failure but as a trial.”

I attached all the good words.

It was fortunate that I had encountered these phrases a lot when I was in the modern era.

“Heo.”

Baeg Dalwon listened to my words and then stared at the ceiling.

“There may be trials, but there is no failure, is it.”

Baeg Dalwon muttered.

The light began to return to his desolate eyes.

He jumped up and bowed to me.

“When I served the Supreme King, the times were unlucky and I tasted a trial, but now I can serve his grandson and run again.

This seems to be a fortune given by heaven, so if you accept me, I will give my loyalty.”

It wasn’t a bow as a greeting like before, but a bow as receiving a new lord, so I didn’t bother to return the bow.

Instead, I just grabbed Baeg Dalwon’s small hand and pulled him up.

“Please run hard until your name resounds again in all eight provinces of Joseon.”

“Yes, Crown Prince!”

As Baeg Dalwon left, saying that he would start working from now on, Lee Seonggye smiled at me.

“How is it? Everything was resolved well when I did as I said, right?”

“It turned out that way unexpectedly.”

“Inseok, unexpectedly!”

Lee Seonggye grabbed my head and squeezed it.

Tears welled up in my eyes at the stinging fist.

“With this, you owe me one.”

I covered my head and protested to Lee Seonggye, who subtly declared that.

“No, I helped the Supreme King’s friend, so my grandfather owes me one.”

“······.”

“Shall we just say we helped each other this time too?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

The two of us, who had been staring at each other quietly, burst into laughter before either of us could say anything.

===

Baeg Dalwon, who had stepped out of the Crown Prince’s presence, felt his heart pounding.

He never thought that his dream, which he thought had already faded away, would rise again.

‘There may be trials, but there is no failure.’

Isn’t that something that only those who have tasted both the sweet and bitter tastes of the world, and only those who have finally won, can say?

‘Certainly, when I was young, I had a dream of becoming the best merchant in Goryeo.’

When I finally made Lee Seonggye the king after spending thousands of gold, it felt like that dream was within reach.

But before a few years had passed, everything had gone to waste.

All that remained was a little wealth and a faded reputation.

If I admitted that, I felt like I would regret my past, so I may have been comforting myself by saying that I had done enough.

“I’ll run until I’m breathing. Because I intend to do that too.”

When I turned around, I saw the Supreme King following behind me.

“You too, Supreme King?”

“Anyway, he’s a nasty guy, haha. He’s breathing new fire into an old man.”

Baeg Dalwon said to Lee Seonggye’s words.

“It seems that the Supreme King is also fascinated by the Crown Prince.”

Then Lee Seonggye became serious.

“Hey, that’s disgusting. He’s lost his mind in the few years I haven’t seen him.”

Baeg Dalwon smiled at Lee Seonggye’s grumbling.

Seeing the Supreme King like that made him feel like he had returned to his youth.

‘Yes, let’s run until I’m breathing. There’s no such thing as a failed life until the coffin is closed.’

End

ⓒ 핏콩