Tales Of The Nine Dragons [EN]: Chapter 202

The Great War (1)

“Good work today, everyone.”

At Nine Dragons Inn, the work environment consisted of three shifts, with each person working four sh辰 [a traditional Chinese unit of time, approximately two hours], (eight hours).

Employees working from the beginning of midnight (11:30 PM) to the end of dawn (7:30 AM) at Nine Dragons Inn finished their shifts and headed to the Nine Dragons Inn.

The Nine Dragons Inn they were going to was not an inn that catered to the general public, but an inn provided by Nine Dragons Plaza for people working at Nine Dragons Inn who came from provinces other than Shanxi, or from other regions, to stay and eat.

Having worked all night, they would eat breakfast at Nine Dragons Inn, take a short break, sleep, wake up late, take another short break, and then go to work at night, their daily lives revolving like a wheel.

“Hey, we’re here.”

As one person entered the inn and shouted loudly towards the kitchen, another person peeked out, checked the people entering the inn, and said, seemingly annoyed.

“Eating and sleeping will make you fat. Can’t you skip breakfast?”

“We need to eat breakfast to feel full, don’t we? We can eat breakfast, rest, and then take a nap. Hurry up and give us food.”

“Damn guys, it’s not like you’ll die if you skip one meal.”

The cook working in the kitchen grumbled as he prepared breakfast for them.

Different foods were generously placed in five large bowls, and people would take the amount of food they wanted onto a slightly larger plate and come to the table to eat breakfast.

After finishing their meals, they would put their plates in a container filled with water and go up to their assigned rooms to rest and spend personal time until their next shift, which was their daily routine.

“Hey, the food seems a bit more plentiful today.”

“The people after us have to eat too, so take only a little. Otherwise, I’ll ration it out.”

“Haha, stingy.”

“Stingy, my ass. You try wrestling with the hot fire in here and making food. You’d be worse than me, you rascal.”

The cook said, looking from the kitchen towards the dining area, and smiles appeared on the faces of the people eating.

Looking at them, the cook said quietly.

“It’s the last supper, so eat a lot.”

The people eating in the inn now were all members of the Hao Moon clan working at Nine Dragons Inn. In order to get Nine Dragons Inn, the Hao Moon clan had employed many disciples, which touched Hwa-Rin’s reverse scale [something that provokes extreme anger or retaliation].

Hwa-Rin planned to kill all the Hao Moon disciples working at Nine Dragons Inn, except for the courtesans, to set an example to the Hao Moon clan, and Yi Do-Moon carried out the plan.

The cook checked to make sure that everyone was eating and then went to the entrance of the inn and locked the door.

“Hey, why are you closing the door?”

Someone asked the cook, finding it strange that he was closing the door, and he said nonchalantly.

“It’s nothing. Just going to do some cleaning.”

No sooner had the cook finished speaking than people appeared beside him, and the Hao Moon disciples were startled by this sight, but suddenly their eyes widened in surprise as they looked at the cook.

“Poison?”

“There won’t be much pain.”

“Why are you doing this to us……”

“That’s why I’m saying, you guys should have been moderately greedy. Didn’t you learn anything from seeing the Lord fight with the Blood Oath Alliance?”

Their eyes widened even more.

“Did you think we wouldn’t know that you were trying to make the Lord a figurehead and act as the real owners of Nine Dragons Inn?”

“How did you know……”

The Hao Moon disciples fell one by one.

“Looks like our relationship ends here. Thanks for your hard work.”

With those words, the Hao Moon disciple, feeling dizzy, leaned to the side and fell off the chair onto the floor.

He stared at the cook until the end, but died without closing his eyes.

“Clean up quickly. Other guys will be coming soon.”

The people who received the cook’s order picked up the Hao Moon disciples who had been poisoned, went to the warehouse behind the kitchen, and roughly threw them down.

* * *

“Where did they all disappear to?”

Mi-Ok, who was in charge of educating and managing the courtesans at Nine Dragons Inn, felt an inexplicable anxiety about the whereabouts of the Hao Moon disciples who had disappeared overnight.

Moreover, among the disappeared Hao Moon disciples was Nam Seon-Young, the head of the Hao Moon clan’s Shanxi branch.

“Could it be that the Nine Dragons Plaza Lord did something?”

Ye-Ryeong, the branch leader of the Hao Moon clan who assisted Mi-Ok, said.

“The Nine Dragons Plaza Lord? He should be in Yunnan right now.”

“Could it be that he ordered Chief Seo to do it before he left?”

“Hmm……”

“I feel a bit uncomfortable saying this, but I think the Clan Lord was too greedy this time.”

She was referring to the Hao Moon clan’s plan to take over Nine Dragons Inn.

“We watched the Blood Oath Alliance and Nine Dragons Plaza fight. If it gets exposed, do you think the Nine Dragons Plaza Lord will stay still?”

“I think so too, but we can’t help it since it’s the Clan Lord’s order.”

“Why didn’t you try to stop him, Branch Leader?”

“What power does a branch leader like me have? It’s Nam Seon-Young, the branch head, who was blinded by greed and spoke as if he would give up everything.”

“Exactly. It’s not like Nine Dragons Inn would become his.”

“Hey, that’s not the problem right now. Shouldn’t we find out where the disappeared disciples went?”

“That’s true, but all the disciples working in the field have disappeared. The only disciples working at Nine Dragons Inn now are the courtesans.”

The number of Hao Moon disciples working at Nine Dragons Inn was not very large at first. They gradually increased the number as needed, stopping at one hundred and twenty-nine for a while, but after the Hao Moon Clan Lord decided to use Nine Dragons Inn as the Hao Moon clan’s headquarters, the number of disciples gradually increased.

They systematically made life difficult for the existing employees, making it impossible for them to endure, and when that person quit, they would hire a Hao Moon disciple, gradually increasing the number of disciples.

In addition, they hired disciples under the pretext of a shortage of manpower, and the number of employees working at Nine Dragons Inn was approximately five hundred, of which about eighty percent were Hao Moon disciples.

“And they acted too obviously. Branch Head Nam Seon-Young didn’t even do the work of a gardener, as if he had become the owner of Nine Dragons Inn, and only gave instructions to the disciples.”

Ye-Ryeong complained to Mi-Ok, gossiping about the disappeared Nam Seon-Young.

“Stop it. If we report this…, I don’t know how the Clan Lord will react……”

“Mi-Ok!”

When they heard a voice from outside, Ye-Ryeong and Mi-Ok exchanged glances.

“What is it?”

“Chief Seo is here.”

“Chief Seo? Bring him in.”

As her door opened and Seo Dae-Young entered, the two stood up from their seats and slightly bowed their heads.

“You were here.”

“What brings you here?”

“I was working at the Plaza, and the employees who were supposed to come to work at Nine Dragons Inn haven’t arrived, so I came here. I went to the inn, and it seems like they’ve taken all their belongings. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know either.”

Mi-Ok glanced at Ye-Ryeong and said to Seo Dae-Young.

“I just received the report. I was about to go out and check, but you came, Chief.”

“Have we treated the employees unfairly? Otherwise, how could more than two hundred people disappear at once?”

“I’m sorry.”

Seo Dae-Young was also in charge of finding people and getting them jobs in the businesses operating in Nine Dragons Plaza, including Nine Dragons Inn, but most of the people working at Nine Dragons Inn were recommended by Mi-Ok or chosen by her, and these disappeared people were also recommended or chosen by Mi-Ok, so she had nothing to say.

“There’s an immediate disruption to business……”

“Then, how about we do this?”

Ye-Ryeong said, listening.

“First, we dispatch the employees working at Nine Dragons Inn to Nine Dragons Inn to work, and then we hire more people and teach them……”

“Do you think that’s possible? Then are you saying we should close the other businesses? The operating profit we get from Nine Dragons Inn is as good as Shanxi’s, so why should the Plaza suffer losses to benefit Shanxi?”

Ye-Ryeong’s mouth snapped shut.

“How did you find people to cause such massive damage?”

Mi-Ok had no choice but to bow her head to Seo Dae-Young.

“I have something to talk about with Mi-Ok, so you can go out and do your work.”

“Ah, I understand.”

Ye-Ryeong lightly bowed her head to Seo Dae-Young and left the room.

Seo Dae-Young released his energy and created a barrier in the room.

“What are you doing?”

Mi-Ok asked, surprised by Seo Dae-Young’s sudden action.

“I’m here to make a deal with Mi-Ok.”

“A deal?”

“If the conversation we’re having leaks out, Mi-Ok’s safety could be at risk, so I’m trying to have a quiet conversation.”

Mi-Ok didn’t know what Seo Dae-Young was up to, but she knew that it was the Nine Dragons Plaza Lord’s intention, not Seo Dae-Young’s.

Mi-Ok wondered if what Seo Dae-Young was about to say was related to the Hao Moon disciples who had disappeared this time and asked.

“Is it related to this incident?”

“You’re quick to notice.”

“Hmm……”

Inferring from Seo Dae-Young’s words, it also meant that Hwa-Rin, the Nine Dragons Plaza Lord, already knew everything.

“I don’t know if the Hao Moon clan is arrogant because they have excellent abilities to obtain information, but this time it was a bit too much. Don’t you think so?”

“Did you know?”

“The Plaza Lord was going to pretend not to know and go along with it if it was helpful to each other, but the Hao Moon Clan Lord’s greed seems a bit too much to just pretend not to know.”

Thinking that there was no need to deceive since he knew everything, Mi-Ok told the truth.

“Only punish the branch head and me. The children under us don’t know anything.”

“Punishment? I’m just trying to have a conversation with the Branch Leader for the future relationship between us and Nine Dragons Plaza.”

“A conversation?”

“The Plaza Lord is already planning to punish the Hao Moon Clan Lord. And he’s planning to seat Vice Clan Lord Gwi Young-Shin as the Clan Lord. This issue is not related to Mi-Ok because if the Plaza Lord kills Am-Heun Shin-Young, the Hao Moon Clan Lord, Gwi Young-Shin will naturally have to manage the Hao Moon clan, so he will become the Clan Lord.”

Mi-Ok listened to what Seo Dae-Young was trying to say until the end.

“The Plaza Lord said that he would make Mi-Ok the Shanxi branch head and allow her to use Nine Dragons Inn as the branch.”

“Me, the branch head?”

“That’s right.”

“I don’t think the Plaza Lord would make such an offer without conditions.”

“Please think of it as providing convenience to each other rather than a condition.”

“Convenience?”

“Just tell us the information the Plaza Lord wants. Whether it’s the Murim [martial arts world] or the Sangrim [business world], having information is advantageous and makes it easier to approach.”

“Hmm……”

“It will never be a loss for Mi-Ok. If Mi-Ok agrees, the Plaza Lord will firmly protect the Shanxi Hao Moon clan branch, even if he doesn’t protect other places.”

“Then what should I do?”

“You don’t have to do anything special. Just add what former Branch Head Nam Seon-Young did to what you’ve been doing.”