Chapter 19
“Your responsibility will be determined according to your answer.”
“……!”
The usually benevolent expression on Im Sang-ok’s face had hardened completely.
Just moments ago, this had been a place where casual conversation and jokes had been exchanged. Some had thrown jokes at Hayun, while others had boasted about their business dealings.
But things were different now.
When Im Sang-ok revealed his anger, everyone held their breath and quietly watched his mood. Even Hayun, who rarely felt intimidated no matter the situation, was cowed by it.
But that lasted only for a moment.
“Reception Chief Yoon. Please come in.”
Hayun did not offer any excuses or explanations. Instead, she quietly brought out the move she had prepared.
A short while later.
“Ungh-cha—!”
A loud commotion came from the entrance of the main hall.
“Goodness, this is heavy.”
Reception Chief Yoon groaned as he set something down. What he had placed on the floor was none other than the wooden box Hayun had commissioned.
“Here is the item you requested.”
Hayun looked at Reception Chief Yoon and asked,
“Thank you, Reception Chief Yoon. But what about the rest of the items?”
“Could I possibly carry all that by myself? So I borrowed a few hands.”
“Borrowed some hands?”
Reception Chief Yoon pointed behind him.
Then a booming voice began coming from the entrance.
“Ten wooden boxes coming through!”
“Ten here as well!”
“Another ten wooden boxes!”
Porters filed in one after another, carefully placing the wooden boxes on the floor in neat rows.
Seeing this, the haengsu began murmuring among themselves.
“W-what in the world are all those?”
“Why all these wooden boxes all of a sudden……?”
“What on earth could be inside them……?”
In an instant, nearly one hundred wooden boxes filled the main hall.
Im Sang-ok asked with a puzzled look.
“Haengsu Im.”
“Yes, Daebang.”
“What are all those?”
Hayun paused for a moment. Then she glanced over the others before opening her mouth.
“They are the one hundred dureum of gulbi that I am sending to Minister Min’s residence today.”
“What?”
“You mean there’s gulbi inside those wooden boxes?”
The gazes of all the haengsu simultaneously turned toward the wooden boxes.
They looked unable to believe it. But the unmistakable mark of Man-sang was stamped on the boxes.
“It’s real? It says ‘Man-sang, Yeonggwang Gulbi’ right there.”
“No way… You’re joking, right?”
“You put gulbi in something like that?”
“You sold gulbi for twenty nyang just because you put it in a wooden box?”
“Good grief. This is unbelievable.”
Everyone still seemed half-convinced and half-doubtful.
In response, Hayun silently picked up one of the wooden boxes sitting at the very top. Then she opened it.
Click.
A subtle paulownia scent spread through the air, revealing the gulbi inside.
“Gasp……!”
“H-how luxurious!”
“Wow, look at that color!”
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my entire life…!”
Everyone was unable to hide their admiration for the presentation Hayun had created.
The gulbi, tied neatly with brilliantly colored silk thread, lay arranged on fine straw. From the wooden box’s design to every other detail, there was not a single unsophisticated element.
They were all luxury goods touched by Hayun’s hand. Such exquisite handicraft would have been difficult to find even in modern times. It was a masterpiece born from the combination of a modern person’s sensibilities and the craftsmanship of Joseon artisans.
Then someone who recognized the silk thread shouted,
“Wait a minute! Isn’t that silk thread?”
“It is, isn’t it? It really is silk thread!”
“This is crazy… You tied gulbi with that precious silk thread?”
“Haha! I simply cannot understand it.”
Leaving the commotion around her behind, Hayun calmly began to speak.
“As you can see, these are gulbi specially arranged in paulownia wooden boxes and tied with silk thread. In other words, you could say the price includes the wooden box and skein of silk thread in addition to the gulbi. So twenty nyang isn’t particularly expensive, is it?”
At Hayun’s explanation, the haengsu gradually began nodding.
“The cost alone must be quite high if it’s made like that.”
“If you think about it, she isn’t simply selling gulbi, is she?”
“Hmm, at that level, it’s certainly worth twenty nyang.”
“Selling two products at once… That’s a good idea.”
“Hmm……”
Im Sang-ok also approached as though his anger had subsided and examined the wooden box.
“The craftsmanship is flawless…”
Im Sang-ok prided himself on having seen virtually every kind of object that existed in Joseon over the past several decades. Yet even he was seeing something like this for the first time in his life.
“The gulbi and silk are ours, so there is no question they must be the finest quality.”
The wooden box’s form, quality, composition, and durability. Everything was perfect.
No matter how closely he examined it, it met a standard beyond his expectations.
“Hmm.”
After examining the wooden box, Im Sang-ok gave his honest assessment.
“You have made it well.”
It was a short remark, but there was unmistakable admiration in it.
“It is an excellent item.”
Im Sang-ok looked at Hayun with his gentle expression restored, as though his earlier anger had never existed.
“It certainly appears to be worth around twenty nyang.”
“Thank you, Elder.”
Only then did Hayun finally feel a weight lifted from her shoulders at Im Sang-ok’s praise. Im Sang-ok looked at her and asked,
“This was naturally another idea that came from your own mind, was it not?”
“…Yes. Every single item was made by hand. It was absolute chaos for the past month while I was making all of this.”
The haengsu, now aware of Hayun’s circumstances, nodded.
“So that was the story!”
“So that’s why you never showed your face!”
“The new recruit is quite something, isn’t he?”
Before long, the way the haengsu looked at Hayun had changed.
From jealousy and envy to respect and admiration.
It was difficult to find such an aesthetic sense even throughout all of Joseon.
But there was something else that truly astonished Haengsu.
That was Hayun’s ability to execute.
Thinking of something in one’s head and turning it into reality were completely different matters. There were countless merchants who could spin impressive-sounding stories with nothing but words.
But Hayun was different.
From planning to production, selecting materials, and completing the finished product. She had personally overseen every step of the process.
Rather than merely selling an item, she had demonstrated the qualities of a great merchant who knew how to set the stage herself and create the flow of a business.
To go beyond being a mere merchant and become a true great merchant, one needed precisely this kind of ability to oversee the whole picture.
Having discovered such qualities in Hayun, the haengsu looked at her with reverence.
Hayun continued her explanation.
“I made an agreement to send one hundred boxes of these to Minister Min’s residence every holiday from now on.”
The moment she finished speaking, the mouths of the haengsu fell open.
“One hundred boxes every year?”
“No, if it’s every holiday, wouldn’t that be two hundred boxes?”
“And that… at twenty nyang each?”
“That’s four thousand nyang in total.”
Once someone finished calculating, admiration erupted from all around.
“This is insane. Absolutely insane…”
“How did a newcomer manage to land a deal like that?”
“Even Haengsu Song wouldn’t be able to compete with this, would he?”
“Exactly. Who could possibly beat that?”
“…Tch!”
Song Do-hyeon’s expression, which had remained composed until just moments ago, crumpled like a sheet of paper.
The color drained from his previously confident face, and his lips trembled ever so slightly.
It was enough to leave even Im Sang-ok, known as one of the greatest merchants under heaven, unable to hide his astonishment.
He looked at Hayun and asked,
“Is what you have said true?”
“Yes. I personally made the agreement with Madam Choi, the mistress of Minister Min’s household.”
“Ha, haha.”
Im Sang-ok let out a hollow laugh.
He had known that her talent was extraordinary, but he had never expected her to demonstrate this level of ability from the very beginning.
‘My eye for people hasn’t grown dull after all.’
Im Sang-ok looked at Hayun with an incredulous expression.
“I shall be honest. This is astonishing.”
“Actually, there is one thing I would like to ask of you, Daebang.”
Then Hayun cautiously opened her mouth.
“What is it?”
“I would like us to offer these wooden boxes as tribute items from now on.”
“Tribute items? Why?”
Tribute items could not simply be presented whenever one felt like it.
They had to undergo complicated procedures and inspections, and the process itself was far from smooth. The cost would also have to be borne entirely by the merchant guild. Furthermore, they had to actually hand over the goods themselves.
It was essentially volunteering to take a loss.
Even so, Hayun explained her reasoning.
“After all, ordinary commoners cannot easily come into contact with gulbi that costs twenty nyang.”
“That is true.”
“So we need to increase its value. Until it reaches the king’s royal table.”
“Oh-ho.”
Im Sang-ok looked at Hayun with an intrigued expression. Then Hayun drove the point home.
“The moment this gulbi reaches the royal table, it will be as if the fact that our Man-sang Yeonggwang Gulbi is the finest in all of Joseon has been proclaimed to the entire world. So how could anyone argue over whether it is cheap or expensive?”
“……!”
The moment Hayun finished speaking, the noisy main hall became silent as if by magic.
A silence descended, as though a ghost had just passed through.
“……?”
For a moment, Hayun turned around with an expression suggesting that perhaps she had made some kind of mistake.
But the exclamations that erupted moments later made her realize that her concern had been unfounded.
“……O-oh!”
“What a truly ingenious idea!”
“Wow, I lost. I lost. There’s simply no way I can keep up with this!”
“How could she possibly come up with something like that?”
“Tch, this time I admit complete defeat. You win, Haengsu Im!”
“Hey, newcomer! I won’t tease you about the tavern anymore!”
The crude criticism directed at Hayun turned into enthusiastic cheers.
It was all the more meaningful because this was not something someone else had helped her accomplish, but something Hayun had achieved entirely through her own efforts.
Im Sang-ok watched the scene with a satisfied gaze.
“Good. We shall do as you wish.”
“Thank you! Elder!”
Amid the cheers pouring over her, Hayun desperately swallowed down the emotions welling up inside her.
Only now did she truly feel that she had finally become a member of Man-sang.
One month.
Although she had pretended outwardly that everything was fine, it had been a period during which she had to steel herself countless times on the inside.
She ate alone, went to bed alone, and sometimes even muttered to herself because there was no one for her to talk to. And all of that in the Joseon land thousands of miles from home.
For Hayun, who had nowhere to return to, those had been days that were difficult to endure. But Hayun had endured those days to the very end, and at last, through her own strength, she had changed everything.
“Long live Haengsu Im! No, long live Man-sang!”
As though rewarding Hayun for all the hardships she had endured, cheers continued to pour toward her.
For quite some time, the heat showed no sign of dying down. And intoxicated by that excitement, at some point, no one noticed that Song Do-hyeon was no longer there.
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