ISS-Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“……Branch Manager, Company Leader!”

“Hm?”

Lee Ryang, who had been lost in thought while tapping his brush against the inkstone, snapped to attention at the sound of someone calling him and looked at the man standing before him.

“What is it, Gayeom?”

The man called Gayeom’s voice unconsciously rose at his master’s nonchalant appearance.

“……What is it, you ask—do you truly not know what this is about? To give a Black Market entrance pass, and an upper-grade one at that, to a man you met not long ago!”

“Ah, you mean that.”

Realizing what he was trying to say, Lee Ryang chuckled, put down his brush on the inkstone, and clasped his hands together. Certainly, giving away a black pass was something the man had reason to make a fuss about.

“It won’t wear out just from using it a bit, so isn’t it fine?”

“……It’s true it won’t wear out from a bit of use, but if that person commits some wrongdoing there, we’re the ones who’ll suffer the loss.”

“That would be true.”

“That would be……!”

“Gayeom, Head of Security.”

“Even if you call me that, this isn’t something that can be simply overlooked. How important the black pass is to our company……!”

Tap. Tap.

“Gayeom.”

At the sight of Lee Ryang quietly tapping the table with his finger a couple times, Gayeom, who had been speaking passionately, stiffened his expression and hurriedly bowed his head.

“I apologize. This subordinate has overstepped his bounds.”

“It’s fine. I’m not trying to reprimand you. It’s just that the conversation wasn’t progressing smoothly. More importantly, this topic is what matters.”

Lee Ryang, who had picked up the brush from the inkstone and was tapping it in the ink, continued speaking.

“In the end, Gayeom is saying this because you see a high probability that this will result in a loss, isn’t that right?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Of course, the probability of suffering a loss isn’t zero. How could one live seeing only profit in all matters of the world? However, regarding this matter, you don’t need to worry.”

“Why…… do you think so?”

At Gayeom’s question, Lee Ryang smiled and smoothly handed Gayeom a letter he had tucked away in the bookshelf beside him. Soon after, the contents of the letter entered Gayeom’s eyes.

[Murim Alliance, Level Two Classified, Changcheon Corps, Activity Record]

“……Where on earth did you obtain this?”

Gayeom looked at Lee Ryang with a horrified expression after reading the letter’s title. That made sense, since the activity records of the Murim Alliance’s martial force corps were classified information, secret even within the Murim Alliance itself.

No matter how much he’s his master, it’s not information that would come into one’s hands unless deliberately sought out. And that means Lee Ryang investigated Baek Riyun’s background.

“That’s not what’s important. I’ll give you half a gak. Read it all and think about it.”

“Ah, yes!”

At Lee Ryang’s words, the startled Gayeom quickly read through the letter’s contents with his eyes. And after a while.

“……Huh?”

Gayeom’s eyes narrowed.

“There are instances of insubordination scattered throughout. And yet no disciplinary action…… what on earth…….”

Usually, orders given to martial force corps require absolute obedience even if it means carrying dry straw and jumping into fire. And yet, in the Changcheon Corps records Gayeom saw, there was quite a lot of insubordination.

‘With this much frequent disobedience to orders, wouldn’t it be right to disband the martial force corps itself?’

Gayeom, who had been lost in thought for a moment, rubbed the edge of the letter with his finger and came up with an answer.

“Ah, could it be……!”

“Could it be?”

“Is he the Murim Alliance Leader’s hidden son or something?”

“……That can’t be, can it?”

“Ah, yes……. It was a joke. Hahaha.”

At the sight of Gayeom laughing awkwardly, Lee Ryang smiled slightly and leaned back in his chair.

“Look carefully. At the missions the Changcheon Corps accomplished.”

“They’re not difficult, are they? Of course they’re excellent, but among the Murim Alliance’s subordinate martial force corps, there aren’t many with this level of ability…….”

“That would be true. Then what about this?”

“What do you mean?”

“The internal evaluation of the martial force corps conducted once a year within the Murim Alliance. I only obtained the one for the Changcheon Corps.”

“……That’s Level One classified, isn’t it?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never really paid attention to what level it is. More than that, don’t you feel anything from looking at it?”

At Lee Ryang’s question, Gayeom glanced at the document and blinked.

“Ten years ago, the Changcheon Corps’ martial force ranking was dead last.”

“Yes.”

“And ten years later…… 4th place?”

“That’s right.”

“……Is that possible?”

Thinking about it logically, martial force corps follow the phenomenon of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Strong martial artists are assigned to strong martial force corps, after all.

Unless it’s a case of demotion for checks and balances or disciplinary action, most martial force corps maintain their level, and with such a structure, naturally, changes in martial force corps rankings don’t occur easily. And yet.

Despite that, the Changcheon Corps surpassed dozens of martial force corps in just ten years and put their name in 4th place.

“Whether his commanding skills are outstanding, or his teaching skills are outstanding…….”

“Compare them. The two documents.”

“Pardon?”

“You’ll see what you couldn’t see before.”

Hearing Lee Ryang’s words, Gayeom once again raised his concentration and compared the two top-secret documents. And shortly after.

“……This.”

Gayeom let out a contemplative sound.

“If the martial force corps evaluation is accurate, this is extremely strange. For the Changcheon Corps’ level at that time, these are missions that couldn’t succeed or would be difficult to succeed at.”

“That’s right.”

“They were hiding their strength…….”

“That’s probably not it. There’s no way the Murim Alliance wouldn’t have thought of the cases we can think of. They must have properly inspected and clearly recognized ‘this level of martial force.'”

“Then.”

“Aren’t you curious? That teaching ability that can pull a subordinate unit to the Murim Alliance’s top tier in just ten years, plus command ability that’s reached a divine level.”

Lee Ryang finished speaking, formed a deep smile, dipped his brush fully in ink, and swept it across the paper with a single stroke. Characters completed with excellent penmanship in an instant.

[Awl in a Bag]

“It’s fine even if we lose a little. After all, an awl in a bag is bound to pierce through.”

It would be good if Uicheonmun grows, but it doesn’t matter if it fails.

What Lee Ryang is interested in now isn’t something like Uicheonmun but ‘Baek Riyun’ himself.

“This is Baek Riyun’s low point.”

At least, that’s what Lee Ryang firmly believed.

“I’m curious what he’ll do at the Black Market. By now, he’s probably doing something with that brilliant insight of his.”

***

“……Isn’t, isn’t that the low point?”

I asked Seohwa with my eyes turned bright red, and Seohwa shook her head.

“Haaa…… not yet.”

“But considering the price…….”

“You said you’d give me the decision-making authority.”

I flinched at the subtle pressure in Seohwa’s gaze and blinked my dried eyes. And at that moment, a voice was heard.

“The upper-quality silk from the Yu Family Workshop has been sold for two hundred twenty taels of silver! With this, we close the You Hour (酉時) auction! The next auction will open in half a shichen!”

Thud thud thud!

I let out a deep sigh at the auctioneer’s booming call and leaned back against the backrest. My mind and body already becoming exhausted.

One shichen since Seohwa and I entered the Black Market.

We still haven’t obtained proper silk.

“Are you tired?”

“……A bit tired. After all, it’s an environment I’ve never experienced.”

Black Market. The black market that’s said to exist only in the most prosperous cities throughout the Central Plains.

It’s not that I’ve never heard stories about it. Usually when some elixir or secret manual was released, most of it was released at the Black Market, and among the Changcheon Corps’ missions, there were those that tracked such stolen goods.

But it was the first time I’d directly entered inside the Black Market. And to think they’d use formations that warp space to construct streets inside a building.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m a little tired, but I’m fine.”

“……It’s nice being young. Overflowing with vitality.”

“Hehe.”

“Anyway, that’s not what’s important.”

I paused for a moment, then looked around and spoke.

“All the silks that came out so far, were they really all failures? To me, they all looked like top-quality goods.”

I don’t know much about silk, but I have quite good intuition. Being exhibited at the Black Market, which consists of a total of five auction halls, is proof in itself that it’s high-quality silk.

In reality, aren’t most of the silks that come out ones where you can see the sheen flowing at a glance? They all look like top-quality goods just by looking.

“They are top-quality. I looked, and it seems the auction house does its own quality verification. There should be at least one defect exhibited.”

“Then shouldn’t we just buy them?”

“No. They are top-quality, but that’s only by absolute standards.”

Sharp-eyed Seohwa sent her gaze down to the auction hall and continued.

“The quality of the silk thread that becomes the fabric material is certainly quite good, but the weaving level is low. If we just made it into outerwear to wear, it would be fine, but thinking about making martial robes from that…… it probably wouldn’t last more than a couple months. The durability is also poor.”

“I, I see.”

“Buying and using it wouldn’t be bad, but it’s too expensive for the skill level. It seems like the price is going up because people who don’t know much about silk are participating in the auction…….”

Looking at Seohwa, who was anxiously biting her nails and shaking her head, I nodded half-heartedly.

I don’t really know what any of this means, but I should agree with it for now.

“Anyway, there’s still one more auction remaining, isn’t there? Good silk will come out there.”

“Yes. Anyway, since they’re all high-quality silks, if I use them well somehow, it seems like I could make them wearable. If it really doesn’t seem like good items will come out, I’ll just compromise.”

“You don’t need to feel too burdened.”

“Yes.”

Looking at Seohwa who answered with a bitter smile, I was nodding my head when I blinked at the buzzing sound and turned my gaze to the stage. And at that moment, a voice was heard.

“Now, we announce a change in the next auction’s contents to the customers who have visited our Seolha Pavilion!”

“Hm?”

“What?”

At the sudden news of the auction change, everyone’s eyes turned toward the host. And under that gaze, the auctioneer continued what he had to say while breaking out in a cold sweat.

“The auction to be held around 8 PM will no longer be limited to silk but will now feature a range of fabrics!”

“……They’re suddenly canceling the silk auction?”

I frowned at the absurd situation. Usually when it comes to auctions, they coordinate in advance what items will come out.

Moreover, aren’t the people who came here those who came to participate in the silk auction? For them, other fabrics wouldn’t even be worth looking at.

“What are they thinking?”

“Well, it seems they still have more to say, so let’s listen a bit.”

I answered Seohwa’s question and glanced around. People showing signs of looking for another auction hall with frowns on their faces at the sudden change in auction items.

And the moment they grabbed the door handle.

“Hwangryongjang-!!!”

The auctioneer shouted urgently.

“Hwangryongjang has declared a secret auction! To the person who finds the item exhibited by the Hwangryongjang Master among this auction’s items and wins the bid, we will give ten bolts of silk personally woven by the Hwangryongjang Master-!!!”

“……Wh, what?”

“Hwangryongjang?”

At the sight of the audience suddenly buzzing, I blinked and turned my gaze toward Seohwa. Seohwa’s complexion was rigidly stiff.

“What’s wrong?”

“……Sect Leader, do you know what kind of place Hwangryongjang is?”

“I don’t.”

“Think carefully. It’s Hwangryong.”

“Hwangryong?…… Ah.”

In this Central Plains, there are countless martial sects or groups that use the dragon as their symbol. However.

On this vast continent, there’s only one group that can use ‘Hwangryong (Yellow Dragon)’ as their symbol.

“The place that has been weaving fabric for His Majesty the Emperor’s clothing for generations…… is Hwangryongjang.”

Looking at Seohwa trembling in tension, I collected myself.

“In other words.”

“…….”

“It’s the low point.”

I’ll buy it. That silk.