Chapter 105: Area of Expertise

A long journey, traveling back and forth between the mild Sichuan and the perpetually humid Nanman.

And by the time we returned to the cool air of Beijing, winter had passed and spring had come, and we had all grown a year older.

Fifteen and sixteen, returning to Beijing a bit more mature, a bit more grown up, perhaps even “youths” now.

“Boss.”

“Mm, what is it?”

“This troubleshooter business… was it always this hard……?”

The imperial gates of the capital loomed ahead, the golden dragon carvings writhing faintly in my vision.

Ilhong, face utterly exhausted and dazed, asked me that question.

“……Normally, it isn’t like this.”

A newly opened office usually stayed quiet, waiting for rumors to spread before requests arrived.

But to have our very first case drag us into the succession struggle of one of the Five Great Clans of Murim?

That was far beyond wrong.

By chance, I had acted as a wanderer and struck up a friendship with a person named Tang Yeo-hye, which had set off a butterfly effect of sorts.

In any case, we had managed to wrap up our turbulent first job and return to the office.

“Boss, what will you do with the reward money?”

“I’ll use it to pay off debts.”

I wasn’t like that old cloth-shop owner Jang, who ate and drank off his friends’ backs.

After resting for a day to shake off travel fatigue, I headed straight for the Eunseong Trading Company’s Trading Lord’s Office.

When I opened the door, as always, the elegant and refined Eun Hwaran, one of the Five Flowers of Beijing, greeted my eyes.

Her sleek, dark hair swayed gently as she discussed matters of the company with Chief Steward Jin.

The dark circles under her eyes were gone—business seemed to be going well these days.

“…Oh my, isn’t that Mujin?”

She raised her head in mild surprise, and when she saw it was me, a bright smile spread across her face.

Her characteristic crescent-shaped eye smile.

Someone in Sichuan had once claimed themselves to be a mature woman, but this—this was what true maturity looked like.

“I heard a rumor you went to Sichuan for business……”

“Yes, I just returned from finishing it.”

As I spoke, I placed a small chest, heavy with gold, on the desk with a thud.

Eun Hwaran and Chief Steward Jin both looked at me in surprise at the sound.

“This chest came from Sichuan. It’s about half the amount I borrowed from you, Noona.”

With a click, I opened it, revealing piles of gold and silver coins.

Chief Steward Jin’s face brightened immediately, while Eun Hwaran looked startled, even a little uncomfortable.

She tapped the chest lightly with her folded fan.

“Mujin, I never asked you to repay it so soon……”

She hadn’t urged me even once, patiently waiting. For me to suddenly return half, as if chased by something, had left her a little disconcerted.

“I can’t live owing money.”

After all, working as a troubleshooter meant I had dealt with debt cases often.

No matter how close the relationship, if debts lingered too long, a strange atmosphere always settled in.

Over time, people stopped being Noona and Dongsaeng. They became debtor and creditor.

That was why friendships often shattered over money.

And to me, maintaining my relationship with Eun Hwaran—the leader of one of the Ten Great Trading Companies and the only sane person of this era—was far more important than gold.

“Please, keep it, Noona.”

I slid the chest toward her.

“Are you sure? Won’t you need it for your business?”

Her face showed worry as she nudged it slightly back with her fan.

“Hey, Trading Lord, what are you doing? When someone gives, you take it quick!”

Chief Steward Jin, seeing this, nearly jumped out of his seat.

Their reactions could not have been more opposite.

“Yes, before I change my mind, please take it.”

As the saying goes, a man’s heart is like when he goes to the restroom—different going in and coming out.

I was human, after all. A part of me regretted handing it over.

Whether she knew it or not, Chief Steward Jin snatched it away like a cat stealing a fish and vanished.

“Fufu, forgive him. When he first heard how much I lent you, he nearly fainted.”

She giggled behind her fan.

For someone like me, barely a beginner in society, she had invested a huge sum.

And when she learned I’d started a dubious troubleshooter business with unclear profits, she must have thought repayment was hopeless.

“But seeing that you’ve realized something more valuable than money, I’m glad.”

She tapped my shoulder with her fan, pride in her expression.

“…More valuable than money?”

Did she mean inner arts or dreams of longevity?

“I mean credit. Once lost, you must pay double, even triple the cost to win it back—it is wealth of the heart.”

She smiled warmly as she said that.

Then she once again tried to persuade me to work by her side, saying I had the makings of a merchant.

“I like what I do now.”

Our first case had been quite spectacular, yes, but normally it wouldn’t be.

I shook my head slowly. She pouted slightly at my refusal.

“Then tell me, what kind of work had you gone through, to be away for so long and to gather this much money in one go?”

“Well, it’s… kind of a long story.”

So long that nearly two full seasons had passed.

“That’s fine, Dongsaeng. I have plenty of time.”

For a story this interesting, she said, she’d make time.

“Are you really not busy? Before I left, you barely had a moment to breathe.”

I remembered her always shadowed by dark circles alongside Chief Steward Jin.

“Well, the Man Geum Trading Post still eyes us greedily, but now that sericulture and escort work are steady, I’ve gained some breathing room.”

Even the Imperial Household was quiet for now—though who knew what storm awaited behind the calm.

“In that case.”

I pulled a chair and sat beside her.

She smiled, then opened a drawer and set out some sweet, salty snacks before me.

“When did you prepare these?”

“You like them, don’t you? I always keep some ready.”

If I liked them, she wanted me to visit more often.

Though she was always busy as Trading Lord, she still wished to see her one and only younger brother figure.

Crunch, crunch.

The special candied treats sweetened my now-poor mouth.

But… where should I even start this long story?

I glanced sideways at Eun Hwaran, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Ah, right. I could start there.

“I got married, Noona.”

Crash…!

A sudden fastball of a confession.

Eun Hwaran sprang up from her seat, her face more shocked than I had ever seen.

“W-what did you just say……?”

On my way out, having unintentionally thrown the Eunseong Trading Company’s office into chaos.

I was told, again and again, to keep my distance from Tang Yeo-hye, that she was a woman of questionable tastes.

After that, having stopped by, I got an earful from Hwang Geolgae as well.

Only then did I return to my office on the outskirts of Beijing.

My very own building in this vast city. Home sweet home.

But instead of the silence I had expected after months away, I found uninvited guests waiting inside.

Ilhong was serving them bitter, cheap tea.

The guests were none other than Eunseong Trading Company’s third-class escorts, Yangjo and Yangwi.

“So tell us, why did you bully our innocent little ones back then?”

“…Ahem, ahem.”

“I already explained that it was a misunderstanding……”

Looking closely, it wasn’t tea service at all—they were interrogating him for the sins of his beggar days.

“Uncles, what are you doing in my office?”

When I stepped forward, the two escorts finally sighed in relief.

“Oh, just the man we were looking for.”

Why in the world would they be looking for me? I tilted my head in puzzlement.

“We received a small request from Lady Jo Harang.”

“She asked us to hand this to you once you returned to Beijing.”

The two escorts handed me an odd pair: one, a picture of a second-rate gang of wanderers, and the other, a strange drawing of beasts laced with seduction.

“…So this is your taste, eh?”

“Beasts, really? I just can’t understand it.”

“……It’s a misunderstanding.”

So this was something sent by Chairman Gam Un?

Why would that woman hand such an ominous gift to others to deliver?

“And Lady Jo Harang also left you a letter.”

I received a neatly folded square note in my hand.

When I opened it, the words written inside appeared.

‘You can’t live life like that, you bastard.’

The contents of the note filled my head with question marks the instant I read it.

“…Boss, what did you do to Lady Jo Harang?”

“No, nothing at all.”

This time, I was truly innocent.

I had no memory whatsoever of doing anything to deserve this.

“She handed it over with a hurt expression. Tsk, tsk.”

“You’re a sinful man, you know. That handsome face is the problem.”

Should I just smack their asses to drive them out?

Yangjo and Yangwi only fanned the flames of misunderstanding.

“Stop talking nonsense and go, if you’re done.”

I’d have to meet Jo Harang separately and ask her what in the world she misunderstood.

“But Boss, how about leaving that with them? You can’t keep abandoning the office for long stretches.”

Ilhong grabbed my arm then, pointing to the wooden chest in the corner and suggesting we entrust it to the escorts.

“What exactly are we leaving?”

In answer to Yangjo’s question, I silently pulled out the preserved heads, soaked in special fluid.

“…Ugh, feels like my lunch is coming back up, young master.”

Good. That was the proper reaction.

“They’re the heads of Blood Cult warriors. Judging by appearances, they held fairly high ranks. Ilhong, did you check?”

“Yes. They seem to be the Blood Cult experts who attacked Celestial Sword instead of Thunder Sword. Their faces match wanted posters.”

It seemed Ilhong had once again used the Pavilion Master of the Mysterious Pavilion to access the Hao Sect’s latest information.

“If they’re stabbed with the Demon-Slaying Unit’s needles, it’ll be certain. Anyway, we can probably get five silver coins per head.”

At the mention of silver, something third-class escorts could rarely even touch, Yangjo and Yangwi’s eyes gleamed.

“You want us to transport these to Shaanxi?”

“We’ll deliver them quickly. Just give us fifty percent.”

Had it really been so long that these uncles had started spouting such nonsense?

When I shook my head, they tried again with another offer.

“Alright then, forty percent.”

“Have some conscience. We’re the ones who caught them.”

“Then thirty percent……?”

“Should I tell Eun Hwaran Noona about this?”

“You shameless brat…!”

Yangjo and Yangwi flared up at once.

“Twenty-five percent! We have to make something if we’re going all the way to Shaanxi!”

Their mustaches even trembled as they barked this last stand.

“…Fine, then.”

I tossed them the heavy wooden chests.

Clearly used to this kind of job, Yangjo and Yangwi each slung one onto their backs.

“Don’t forget, make sure you deliver them properly to the Demon-Slaying Unit.”

“Of course. Isn’t that the very duty of escorts?”

“We’re good at that much.”

They spoke confidently, then left the office.

Thus, the trophies we had acquired by chance in Nanman were now on their way to Shaanxi.

“Boss, what do we do now?”

“Find new clients.”

I muttered this while staring out the window at the sea of potential customers.

Back when we’d made such a splash in Sichuan, I had expected our newly opened office to be swamped with clients.

After all, the name Dog-Beating Dragon was so famous in Sichuan that nobody there didn’t know it.

I was the lunatic who smashed through the main gates of the Tang Clan of Sichuan and stormed inside. Of course I became infamous.

Not only that, but the Tang Clan Head, Tang Yangcheon, had also dropped my name in a gathering of Sichuan’s high dignitaries, saying he owed me his life.

When someone with that much influence praised you in front of powerful people, the effect was always immediate.

‘Ah, that Dog-Beating Dragon fellow? He’s good. Saved my life, even.’

Just one comment like that, and the people around him would perk up, eager to hire. That was how it worked.

Every office I had ever opened had grown along that same path of word of mouth.

So I had thought this one would be no different.

But……

“Why is it that our exploits in Nanman and Sichuan haven’t spread here in Beijing?”

It was absurd. Our notoriety had pierced the heavens in Sichuan, yet here in Beijing, where I had sunk all my savings into setting down roots, there was nothing but silence.

“Boss, we’ve been here less than a week since arriving from Sichuan.”

Damn this Central Plains. Why wasn’t there internet, social media, or KakaoTalk?

Such dazzling deeds ought to spread swiftly into the ears of the elites.

“They say rumors travel faster than feet.”

“…How could rumors be faster than feet? Even the gossipers spreading them still walk on two legs.”

Ilhong had been poking holes in my arguments all day with logic that kept shutting my mouth.

Truly, having an overly clever subordinate was a pain.

I let out a deep sigh and sprawled across the long bench in the middle of the office, just to pass the time.

It was a habit I’d had even back on Earth, whenever there were no customers.

Ah, though it wasn’t as if no clients came at all.

Jingle, jingle.

“Um… do you really take on absolutely anything?”

The door suddenly opened and a little brat walked in.

“Then please find my cat!”

“……”

He must have read the sign outside that said we took on any request.

“Boss, it’s not like we have anything better to do.”

Well, it wasn’t as if sitting still would accumulate good karma. So, for five silver coins, I spent a few days combing Beijing and found the cat.

Once I did, the kid was so pleased he brought a friend the very next day, introducing him as a new client.

“At the academy, some bad guys keep hitting and bullying me.”

“……”

But really, this kind of request wasn’t so unusual, even in modern times.

At that age, stern lectures from teachers or administrative punishments had far less effect than a single word from a scary older brother figure.

“You just need a scary uncle, right? Let’s go, I’ll sort them out.”

“But… um…”

“What is it?”

“…You don’t look very scary. Actually, you look… handsome.”

Right. I wasn’t the rough, intimidating figure I had once been.

“Watch this.”

I crushed one of the silver coins from the previous client with a squeeze of my grip.

“T-that trick was a little scary.”

“See?”

Thus, I intimidated the academy bullies, successfully completing our third request.

And when the kids thanked me with sincere gratitude, my chest felt faintly ticklish.

Then, one evening as the setting sun fell over Beijing—

A mature beauty, perhaps in her late thirties, hesitantly opened our office door, her attitude one of uncertainty.

Jingle, jingle.

“Is this truly… the place that grants any request…?”

Every single client asked me the same thing.

I really needed Troubleshooter Dan Mujin to become famous already.

“Yes, of course.”

“Even matters too delicate for the Wanderers’ Guild to handle?”

I nodded silently. That was exactly our niche.

She swallowed once nervously, then raised her chin, her resolve hardening.

“I… I think my husband is having an affair……”

“…Oh.”

This was it.

The very field in which I once excelled so much… I nearly lost my life over it.

My area of expertise had finally appeared.

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