Hwa Jung-soo sought out the hot spring inn on Mount Lushan, which had once served as the Hao Moon’s [a secretive information network] Shaanxi branch.
Seeing the coffin neatly placed in the empty courtyard, he asked Nam Seon-young, the head of the Hao Moon’s Shaanxi branch, who stood beside it.
“What is that?”
“Open it. It’s swollen from the water, and sea creatures have gnawed at the flesh, but you should still be able to recognize him.”
At Nam Seon-young’s words, Hwa Jung-soo trembled slightly and took a step, but his feet felt like they weighed a thousand pounds.
One step, then another… Hwa Jung-soo, having slowly reached the coffin, calmed his trembling heart with deep breaths and pushed the lid aside.
Hwa Jung-soo stood silently for a long moment, gazing at the corpse within.
The skin was blue and bloated, as if it had been submerged in the cold sea for a long time.
And as Nam Seon-young had said, sea creatures had gnawed at the flesh, leaving it barely recognizable as human. Yet, he knew instantly who lay in the coffin.
A wave of fury washed over Hwa Jung-soo at the sight of Hwa Jung-guk’s body, but he suppressed his emotions.
Controlling himself, Hwa Jung-soo covered the coffin again and took a deep breath.
He struggled to maintain his composure, taking several long breaths to calm himself. Nam Seon-young watched quietly, waiting for him to speak.
Finally, after regaining some control, Hwa Jung-soo turned to Nam Seon-young and bowed slightly in gratitude.
“Thank you for finding my brother’s body.”
Nam Seon-young returned a slight bow, offering no reply.
“Can you tell me how the Hao Moon learned of this?”
“That’s a trade secret, so I can’t divulge it. As you know, our people are everywhere on the continent, so we naturally obtain various information. We likely found your brother by piecing together those details.”
Hwa Jung-soo, perhaps expecting this answer, asked another question.
“Then, can you find out who leaked the information about the changed smuggling location?”
“I can’t know for certain, but I can make an educated guess.”
Hwa Jung-soo gestured for him to continue.
“The merchant group maintains a close relationship with General Bae Cheong-man of the Eight Banners Navy [Qing Dynasty military forces].”
“That guy?”
“He was arrested by the Eight Banners Inspectorate, the supervisory body of the Eight Banners Navy, and confessed to his corruption. He admitted to obtaining information about your merchant group’s maritime smuggling. He went to the location, but it seems he deduced that the smugglers had moved due to the bad weather. After that, he issued an order to investigate the ships entering each port.”
“So, that’s how we got caught?”
Nam Seon-young nodded.
“It would have been possible to avoid suspicion if you had docked the ship, but trading while at sea was a mistake.”
“What about him?”
“Who are you referring to?”
“Bae Cheong-man.”
“Ah, he is currently imprisoned in a military prison of the Eight Banners Navy in Jiangsu Province.”
Hwa Jung-soo, deciding he’d learned all he could from Hao Moon, bowed to Nam Seon-young.
“Thank you for finding my brother’s body. I will not forget this favor. If you don’t mind, could you send this coffin to my home?”
“I will.”
As Hwa Jung-soo turned to leave the inn, Nam Seon-young spoke to his back.
“But there was something strange.”
“Strange?”
“Whether it was coincidence or fate, the Nine Dragons Chief [referring to Hwa-rin] was said to be in the military territory of the Eight Banners Navy at that time.”
Hwa Jung-soo spun around.
“Nine Dragons Chief?”
“That’s right. When I checked, I discovered that the Nine Dragons Stronghold was supplying the military provisions that your merchant group was supposed to be supplying to the Eight Banners Navy.”
Hwa Jung-soo trembled at those words.
“Thank you. Again, I will not forget this favor.”
* * *
After finishing his work in Zhejiang Province, Hwa-rin traveled to Anhui Province via the waterway in Jiangsu Province. After a day in Anhui Province, he moved to Hubei Province, stayed there for another day, and then returned to Shaanxi Province, where the Nine Dragons Stronghold was located, by land.
The Nine Dragons Stronghold had been burned down and was under reconstruction, so Hwa-rin took So-cheon and So-woon to the branch in Sangnam County.
As they arrived, the children playing outside saw Hwa-rin and greeted him with bright smiles.
“Did you study hard today?”
“Yes. Dal-soo was praised for doing well.”
“Really? Then I should buy Dal-soo some delicious sweets.”
“What about us?”
“What good deeds have you done?”
“I cleaned the room.”
One child spoke up, and soon everyone was boasting to Hwa-rin about their accomplishments.
“Okay, then I should buy sweets for everyone.”
“Wow!”
The children were excited at the prospect of sweets.
“Go play now. I need to meet with the Chief Manager. He’ll bring you the sweets later, so have fun.”
“Yes.”
So-cheon and So-woon hesitated, watching the children play.
“You two go and play with the kids. Don’t fight, and get along well.”
“Yes. But, Mister.”
“Yes?”
“Will we live here with these older brothers and sisters?”
“Yes, you’ll be living together. You’ll live here for a few years to discover your talents, and then you can help me a little.”
“How?”
“If you study hard, you can get a government position and show them how well you live. Then the children here will follow your example and study hard.”
“I want to be a merchant.”
“Really? Then you have to learn what you need to learn here and become a great merchant. Then the children will follow your example and try to become great merchants.”
So-cheon nodded.
“If you learn martial arts or anything else well and show them how to succeed, that’s how you help me. So, get along well with the kids here and learn from them.”
“Yes.”
As Hwa-rin and So-cheon spoke, Seo Dae-young approached them.
“You’ve arrived?”
“These are the kids who will be living with us. Take good care of them. They’re going to be my disciples.”
“The Chief’s disciples?”
“Yes. So-cheon’s dream is to become a great merchant, so you could say he’s my disciple in that regard. And So-woon is very smart and will excel at everything, so teach him well from the basics.”
“I understand.”
“Introduce So-cheon and So-woon to the children and help them settle in. Then come see me.”
“Okay, I’ll introduce you to the older brothers, sisters, and younger siblings who will be helpful to you in the future. Let’s go with the Chief Manager.”
As So-cheon and So-woon joined the children playing with Seo Dae-young, Hwa-rin turned toward the inner garden of the manor.
“I’ll be at the Nine Dragons Pavilion, so come after you’re done.”
“Okay, I will.”
Baek Gun-seong also returned to the Nine Dragons Pavilion, as there was no need to follow Hwa-rin now that they were back in Shaanxi Province.
Hwa-rin smiled at the sight of Baek Gun-seong.
“It’s easy to manage these fools who are just wearing the empty shell of the Ten Dragons and Eight Peaks [referring to the leaders of the Nine Dragons Stronghold].”
After watching Baek Gun-seong’s back as he left the branch of the Nine Dragons Stronghold, he turned and entered the inner garden.
Hwa-rin, Seo Dae-young, and Lee Do-moon were seated together.
“Read this. If there’s anything you missed, made a mistake, or feel uncomfortable with, tell me.”
Hwa-rin showed the two men his proposal for a non-official communication system connecting each province in the northeastern region of the Central Plains, asking for their feedback.
“It’s innovative because we can utilize both the military’s and the Hao Moon’s non-official lines simultaneously. However, if anyone is eligible for the non-official line, they should be able to use it, but according to this data, that’s not the case.”
Lee Do-moon, having read the entire document, spoke first.
“Really?”
“I have a slightly different opinion. If everyone knows about it, it can’t be called a non-official line. One of the reasons why the Hao Moon’s information system has been so successful is its compartmentalized structure. No one except the branch managers and branch leaders knows the location of the Hao Moon’s bases, right?”
Seo Dae-young explained that the Hao Moon’s system worked by having members inform their branch leader, who then organized the information and passed it on to the branch manager, who then transmitted it to headquarters. In the event of an accident where the branch manager died or was absent, measures were in place to allow the branch leader to contact headquarters directly, but generally, information was transmitted through the branch manager.
Seo Dae-young used this system to argue against Lee Do-moon’s idea, stating that if everyone knew about it, the non-official organization could be easily compromised.
“The lower and middle-class assassins don’t need to know about our non-official system. What if we limit it to the special-class assassins?”
“That’s worth considering. After all, the tasks assigned to special-class assassins are special or very dangerous, so smooth information exchange through the non-official line would be a great help in handling their work.”
Hwa-rin listened to Seo Dae-young’s words and looked at Lee Do-moon.
“If we do that, the leaders of each sect will also understand.”
“Then let’s limit it to the sect leaders and special-class assassins.”
“What about the young sect leaders?”
“Exclude them. It’s fine if they’re like Sa Do-joon, who rose to the rank of special-class assassin through their own abilities, but I think it’s wrong for them to enjoy many positions thanks to their parents’ influence.”
“Then?”
“When the sect leader retires and formally passes on the sect, they can learn about the non-official network and how to use it from their predecessor.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with Hwa-rin’s logic.
“Make sure to notify the sect leaders of the affiliated sects that they must possess the skills to justify their positions and benefits within our alliance.”
“I understand. I will.”
“Then, Protector Lee, inform the sect leaders of each sect of this and gather their opinions. Then summarize the feedback and let me know.”
Lee Do-moon bowed to Hwa-rin and disappeared.
“This time, while we were fighting the Four Bloods Alliance [a martial arts alliance], we destroyed the heretical sects and seized their assets.”
“Yes. There’s quite a bit.”
“We need to organize those assets and create one base in each province.”
“A base?”
“We can disguise them as trading posts to facilitate long-distance travel for the Nine Dragons Merchant Group, while actually using them for other purposes, right?”
“It’s a good idea, but the more bases we have, the more people we need to protect them, so it won’t be easy to manage.”
“What if we don’t manage them directly, but entrust the management to the assassin sects in each province?”
“To the assassin sects?”
“Yes. Then we only need to send one person, right?”
“One person?”
“It’s our merchant group’s base, so we have to conduct business. So, we’ll send a salesperson. They can hire employees locally.”
Seo Dae-young considered this for a moment and nodded.
“Then there’s no need to create all the bases at once.”
“We’re under surveillance for five years, so we need to make good use of this time.”
“I understand. Then I’ll organize what we’ve obtained first. But…”
“What is it? Is there a problem?”
“What we got from the White Horse Temple in Shandong Province.”
“Ah, I’ll organize that when Dong-chun comes.”