Episode 349. How much will it cost?
Yeonjeok-ha was upset, but Manhwang-ju went one step further.
“Isn’t that the situation? The person who went out with the Bangmu Taoist priest came back at midnight. The Q&A is just around the corner, but the two of them aren’t close, so let’s share the good things together.”
“There’s nothing good about it, but even if there was something like that, why should I share it with you? You took ten nyang for telling me the name of one person.”
“So you’re telling me to give you money now?”
The conversation returned to its origins.
They say that a dog only sees poop, but when he opens his mouth, he talks about money.
Yeonjeokha, finally growing more and more annoyed, growled softly.
“Hey, mister. Let’s go speak nicely. Can’t you see that I’m reading the sutras diligently right now? I haven’t talked to the monk Bangmu, and I have nothing to tell you. So get out.”
When Yeonjeokha let out a slight breath of life, Manhwangju was startled and stepped back.
I thought he was an easy opponent, but I was taken aback when he suddenly showed his teeth.
“You, you’re talking badly to your senior from the same hometown. Don’t think I’ll let this slide.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Interest until the end.”
Manhwangju ground his teeth, but was overwhelmed by Yeondubi’s momentum and was unable to take any further action.
“If you have nothing more to say, go. I’m a busy person.”
At the mocking words of the guest, Manhwangju clenched and unclenched his fist and then quietly turned around.
As soon as Manhwangju disappeared, Yeonjeok turned his gaze back to ‘Namhwajinkyung’.
“I don’t know why people look down on me when I hang out with them for a little while. Do I look like such a pushover?”
When I think about it like that, I start to regret, thinking, ‘Did I send the Manhwangju so nicely for nothing?’
“No. I have to endure it. He might become my classmate.”
If it’s someone passing by, getting beaten up a few times is fine, but it’s different for my classmates.
We had to see each other’s faces for a long time, and it was awkward for both of us.
Moreover, the Nokrim Taesanghobeop Yeonjeokha is fighting with a practitioner from the Mudangpa?
It would be embarrassing for a shaman or a merchant to know this.
***
But the real headache happened the next day.
Ten female disciples were sent as trainees from Baekhwa Palace in Hogwangseong Golmosan.
Including the seven existing female practitioners and the female disciples of Baekhwa Palace, there are a whopping seventeen.
A major change has come to the practitioners’ quarters at Oryong Palace.
The Taoist priest Cheonmyeong, the lord of the Oryong Palace, dispersed the fifteen male practitioners in ‘Haseongo’ to ‘Nam Chaehwa’, ‘Lee Cheolgoe’, ‘Han Sangja’, ‘Jang Gwaro’, and ‘Jo Gookgu’.
And the training camp was filled only with female practitioners.
Suddenly, the couple had to move to ‘Namchaehwa’.
But, for some reason, due to a stubborn bad relationship, Manhwangju and Cheon Sangdong were also assigned to ‘Nam Chae-hwa’.
The atmosphere of ‘Nam Chae-hwa’ was cheap.
Even though Yeonjeokha, Manhwangju, and Cheon Sangdong came, the other practitioners didn’t even pay attention to them.
The practitioners of ‘Namchaehwa’, who had become close friends with each other, showed no interest in new people.
No, I blatantly ignored it.
Since it was the same in ‘Haseon-go’ anyway, I accepted it without any problem.
However, Manhwangju and Cheonsangdong were different.
They were busy running around meeting new people.
Meanwhile, a strange rumor spread among the practitioners of ‘Nam Chae-hwa’.
After breakfast.
A man in his thirties approached Yeon Jeok-ha, who was leaving Namchae-hwa to attend a lecture.
“Little brother.”
“yes?”
“Do you have a moment?”
“why?”
The man grabbed Yeonjeokha by the collar of his shirt and pulled her to one side.
I followed him behind the pavilion, as he hurried without even knowing what was going on.
“What is the matter with you?”
“I am Lee Cho-ryang from Hogwangseong.”
“Ah, I… … .”
“I know. You mean the green onion from Gaebong?”
“yes.”
When Yeonjeokha nodded, Lee Choryang spoke with a mean expression as if complaining.
“I know it’s hard to say this when we first meet, but please help me.”
“You need help?”
“I absolutely have to pass this exam. I’ve been standing still for six months now.”
“Excuse me, my nose is three feet long, so I don’t know what you are asking for help with.”
Yeonjeokha looked at Lee Choryang with a puzzled look.
Are you asking for help from someone who is as ignorant of Taoism as you are?
“I know you are getting information from the priests of the Five Dragons Palace.”
“Me?”
“There are so many rumors about ‘Nam Chae-hwa’, so are you going to deny it?”
“Not at all? Who said that?”
Even as I asked the question, I felt uneasy.
I was wondering if anyone had found out about my meeting with the merchant of heaven and earth two days ago.
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“No, really. You spent money to find out the names of the test tubes, didn’t you?”
Yeonjeokha looked at Lee Choryang with an ambiguous expression.
It is true that he found out the name of Cheongbulno with ten nyang. However, it didn’t feel like he was saying that.
“Who said that?”
“That’s not important. Do you know who the examiner for this month’s Q&A is? Or not?”
“i know.”
For a moment, Lee Cho-ryang’s frozen face brightened.
“I knew it. Let me know. I don’t have the money to stay in ‘Namchaehwa’ any longer.”
Yeonjeokha tilted her head.
What do you mean by ‘Nam Chae Hwa’ and the money to survive? I don’t know what you’re talking about.
“Do I have to pay to stay at Namchaehwa?”
“Didn’t you know? If you want to stay at Palseon-gak, you have to donate to Oryong-gung every month. Did you really think Oryong-gung would feed you and let you stay there for free?”
“… … .”
I looked at Lee Cho-ryang with a puzzled expression.
He came at the recommendation of his uncle, the King of Swords, and does not know such intimate details.
I just came here because I was told to go and learn.
Neither the shamanic leader nor the thousand-man Taoist priest spoke of donations.
But it seems like other people were getting by by donating money every month.
Meanwhile, Lee Cho-ryang clasped his hands together and pleaded.
“I beg you, please. Please be considerate of my circumstances. I have an old mother and family in my hometown who are eagerly waiting for me to learn magic and return.”
“I understand the circumstances, but I didn’t find out for free either.”
Yeonjeokha stared at Lee Choryang with hardened eyes.
He couldn’t just tell her the name since he had paid ten nyang for it.
“… … Uh, how much would it be?”
“No, before that, after six months, you should have met most of the Five Dragons, right?”
“Yes. I’ve been through them all, except for Cheongbulno.”
‘Tsk tsk! What an unlucky person.’
How depressing it would be to know that that Cheongbulno is the examiner for this month’s Q&A session.
“Then can you roughly understand the question?”
“I want something definite, not just a vague answer. If I know who the examiners are, I can give them the answers they want. Please, help me.”
Despite Lee Cho-ryang’s continued entreaties, Yeon-jeok did not waver.
It was a story that would not make sense to him, who had been living among thieves who had no mercy or compassion.
“I would like to help, but as you know, we need to raise money.”
Of course the donation is a lie.
I have no intention of giving it to you, but I won’t ask for it either.
He wanted to recover even a little of the ten nyang he had paid.
“Ugh! How much will it cost?”
“Five nyang.”
Because of the dire circumstances, I decided to sell it at half price.
After sighing deeply and struggling for a while, Lee Cho-ryang’s hand went into his bosom.
That wasn’t the end of it.
Starting with Lee Cho-ryang, three more people came to see Yeon Jeok-ha that day.
There was an atmosphere where they believed that they were paying the Taoists to get information.
I knew that it was the work of Manhwangju and Cheon Sangdong, but I pretended not to know because I didn’t have anything to lose.
In that way, he earned twenty nyang from four people in one day.
That evening.
While Yeonjeok-ha was rejoicing over the unearned income, Manhwang-ju and Cheon Sang-dong called him out.
“why?”
Yeonjeokha looked at the two people with crooked eyes.
Every time I saw them, they were the ones who tried to rip me off, so now even just making eye contact with me made me feel irritated.
It was the same with Manhwangju, who skipped the conversation and just reached out his hand.
“Hand it over. You’re not planning on eating it alone, are you?”
“What?”
“I sold you out to four people. Give me half. Then I’ll send you more people in the future.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What did I sell and what are you sending me?”
This time, Cheon Sang-dong suddenly intervened.
“Brother, are you going to ignore us while we are wide awake? If you made twenty nyang by selling the name of Cheongbulno, then you should split it.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. If you want to make money, don’t put me out there and do it yourself. When did I ask you to send it to me?”
“Huh! If you’re going to come out like that, we won’t stay still either.”
“What if I don’t stay still?”
“You’ll know when you see. Let’s go! Man-hyung.”
As Cheon Sang Dong turned around, Man Hwang Joo, who had been hesitating, followed him and disappeared.
“Anyway, there are people like that everywhere. I thought this place would be a little cleaner.”
I walked towards Nam Chae-hwa, who was shaking her head.
The next day, three more people came to find Yeonjeokha.
But after Manhwangju and Cheon Sangdong did something, no one stuck to them like a fly.
He sold the name of ‘Cheongbulno’ to seven people who were his rivals for two days and earned thirty-five nyang.
***
A day before the Q&A session.
Oryong Palace.
Geumjeonggak.
Around noon.
A sigh flowed out from Geumjeonggak, which was used as the office of the princess of Oryong Palace.
“Huh! What kind of strange thing is this? Even if they are fools, how can this be? Tsk tsk!”
The Taoist monk Cheonmyeong, who had been clicking his tongue, put the letter down on the table.
It was a complaint without any indication of who wrote it.
Is Nam Chae-hwa’s Yeondubi doing immoral business targeting practitioners?
The Taoist monk Cheonmyeong, who had been tapping the table with his fingers, shouted outside.
“Who’s there?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. This is Gowol. What brings you here?”
“Go and summon the Taoist monk Bangmu of ‘Haseongo’ and the Taoist monk Yuun of ‘Namchaehwa’.”
“yes.”
The sound of footsteps in the yard faded away along with the answer.
Not long after, Taoist monk Bangmu and Taoist monk Yuun entered Geumjeonggak.
The elder, Taoist monk Yuun, asked on behalf of the group.
“Have you found it?”
Instead of answering, the Taoist monk Cheonmyeong held out the complaint he had received a little while ago to the two people.
Taoist priests Yu-un and Bang-mu, who had been silently reading the petition with their eyes, frowned.
It was the first time for either of them, so they didn’t know what to say first.
“Did you see? A practitioner named Yeondoo-bi found out who the examiner for the Q&A session tomorrow was and sold that information to the practitioners of ‘Namchae-hwa.’ They each received a whopping five nyang.”
“… … .”
Master Yuun felt responsible and bowed his head.
The Taoist monk Cheonmyeong, who had been watching the Taoist monk Yuun, continued speaking.
“Even if it is useless to know the examiner’s name, you shouldn’t use it to make a deal. I called Master Bangmu because I wanted to hear about the person called Yeondoo-bi. He must have observed you longer than Master Yoo-un. Master Bangmu, in your opinion, what kind of person is he?”
“What kind of person are you?”
“I’m just asking what kind of personality you have.”
Since the Taoist monk Cheonmyeong was accepting a disciple from the Oryong Palace, he wanted to check his character first.
“He had an ugly face, but he was very diligent in his reading and lectures, and he was never lazy in finding people. I never thought he would cause such trouble.”
“Are you saying that he didn’t seem like a traitor?”
“How can you know what’s on a person’s mind? But he doesn’t seem like the type of person who would cause trouble. Honestly, that’s why I’m even more shocked.”
