Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign Novel - Chapter 92

Chapter 92

Money?

Did he say money?

You wonder what’s spread all over the world?

You’re from the Beggar Sect and you don’t know it? Hey, try traveling with that guy for a little while. You’ll want to cover your ears as soon as you hear the character “Wei” anywhere.

If you want to die of natural death, the second best option is to hear about it, but not to let it remain etched in your memory. Ideally, it is better not to hear about it at all.

What?

Don’t you have a desire for material wealth?

Clean and honest?

What the fuck!

This is going too far. Anyway, presenting that incarnation of desire as pure and honest… I thought not even wrapping it in gold paper would work, but how impressive.

That guy’s absolutely crazy about money.

How can a lazy man be crazy about money?

What are you talking about, fool?

What does laziness have to do with loving money?

He just doesn’t want to work, but who doesn’t like money? Everyone likes money. That guy likes money, but he just doesn’t dare work to get it.

And then how do you make money?

Well, that’s…

He finds someone who works for him, then hangs on to that person like a tick and sucks his money.

Is there really such a fool?

Kekekekeke.

Have you ever heard of a Divine Doctor?

***

“Wasn’t you going to pay for it instead?”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Jin So-ah with an empty expression.

“Pay it instead?”

Only with that tone of question that said what kind of nonsense that was, Jin So-ah began to sweat cold as he understood how the situation was changing.

“If you worked to die for a whole year, could you win a gold nyang?”

“…it would be hard, wouldn’t it?”

I had heard that successful doctors working in foreign offices received two gold nyang a year… but that was for experienced and high-level doctors. No one would pay Jin So-ah so much, who was still learning medicine. At best, he could earn half a gold nyang a year.

So, even considering future wage increases, twenty nyang of gold was money that would take at least twenty or thirty years of deadly hard work to earn.

“Are you telling me to give that back?”

What, you borrowed money from someone and planned to wipe your mouth without returning it, and what was that “your way”? Why should I pave your way with flowers bought with my money?

When I plant it like that, there’s nothing I can say.

Jin So-ah closed his mouth as if he had remained silent and ate honey. “Everything Wei Yan-ho said was totally true.”

So you’ve been talking about success without paying other people’s money all this time?

“…I apologize.”

When even Ha Dae-bung by his side nodded, Jin So-ah felt strongly that he had committed some sin and apologized unconsciously.

Do you have to pay back the money to get it fixed?

“If you could give me a little more time…”

“How long?”

Right now, how do you say…

It was the moment when the impression of Wei Yan-ho, who Jin So-ah had considered kind despite his inhuman behavior, changed instantly. How had he not recognized someone with such a cruel expression?

“When do I have to return it?”

Well, you don’t have any money, what can you do?

“Young Master Wei!”

Suddenly, Wei Yan-ho’s face began to look kind again.

A cruel expression? Where could such a thing exist?! Everything was Jin So-ah’s…

However, if you can’t pay the capital, interest continues to accumulate! Interests! That’s how money works! When you realize the terror of compound interest, it’s too late to reverse!

No.

This guy’s a demon.

“I will not be as hard as that gentleman. Still, I am one of those who keep what they need. Uncle Jang-ju, what is the interest rate recommended by the government?

“It’s 20 percent a year.”

Did you hear that?

“…Twenty percent?”

Twenty percent a year…

Since the capital is twenty nyang of gold, twenty percent annually means that four nyang of gold accumulate each year.

“Hahaha.”

Jin So-ah laughed willingly and then collapsed right there.

Open my belly, you bastards!

Jin So-ah’s cry of anguish echoed throughout the Battle Hall of Eunha.

“Sign it.”

“…”

Jin So-ah looked at the document in front of him.

– So this is a slavery contract.

It was a promise that, in exchange for being allowed to use the name of the Sacred Hand Hall, instead of reducing interest, he could not work anywhere other than the Sacred Hand Hall until he returned the twenty nyang of gold.

“Young Master Wei.”

“Yes?”

“Do we really have to be so calculating among ourselves?”

“It is precisely because we are close that I offer such exceptional conditions.”

Exceptional?

I’m about to be destroyed, what’s so exceptional about that?

“Then-ah.”

“Yes.”

“When it comes to money, there are no brothers or sisters.”

“…”

Money is what makes parents and children face each other. If you looked all over the world, I would be the only one who would tell you to return this amount without interest, when you can.

That doesn’t sound bad, but why do I feel like I’m being tricked?

“Abandon your silly hopes and sign it.”

“…If I work in the Holy Hand Room, what will my salary be?”

“Well, that…”

Wei Yan-ho smiled.

Exceptionally, I’ll give you a gold nyang a year.

“Are there wage increases?”

“Depending on how you perform.”

There won’t be any.

Since that guy would never come to see him work, he could assume there would be no increases.

So this is…

‘A twenty-year slavery contract.’

Jin So-ah turned his head to look out the window.

The sky was so clear that his eyes were constantly wet. Who would have imagined that by the age of fifteen he would be signing a twenty-year slavery contract?

Think about it with optimism, this is your chance to rebroaden the name of the Sacred Hand Hall by the Central Plains.

“I feel like I’m exchanging my life for the Sacred Hand Hall.”

“It’s good for you, good for me, good for everyone.”

Jin So-ah felt the urge to grab Wei Yan-ho’s smiling mouth and tear it apart. But Wei Yan-ho was an impotent teacher and doctor, so what could he do?

“Will you not sign?”

“I’ll sign.”

Jin So-ah let go of a groan and stamped his seal on the document.

“Head.”

Seeing this, Wei Yan-ho reached out and retrieved the document.

“Nevertheless!”

“Yes?”

Jin So-ah’s eyes were burning with fire.

Since we’ve come so far, you’ll invest properly in the Sacred Hand Hall, right?! What about the shortage of money right now? If you don’t open a real doctor’s office for me, I’ll go on strike, too.

“Why would there be a shortage of money?”

Didn’t you say the money you have wouldn’t be enough?

“But isn’t that enough?”

“You said sixty nyang wouldn’t even come near!”

“Who said the money I have is sixty nyang?”

“…what?”

Jin So-ah bowed his head.

No matter how he thought it, his calculation was correct.

“Did you have more original wealth?”

“Do I look like someone carrying money?”

Probably not.

And that guy didn’t look like someone who could make money either, he was one of those who slept to sleep even if they offered him a gold nyang a day, not a year, because he was annoying.

How could someone who doesn’t work make money?

“So you have hidden wealth?”

“There is no way such a thing exists.”

– So where did the money come from?

Wei Yan-ho snapped his tongue.

“When I left the gambling house, where did I go?”

“What?”

Coming out of the gambling house, you mean the Geumhwa Hall?

After leaving the Geumhwa Hall…

“You went to the Black Paper Tavern.”

“That’s it.”

“Ah…”

So that’s why that guy took the trouble to go to Black Paper Tavern and tore them away completely: he had a purpose!

Jin So-ah’s eyes trembled as if an earthquake had occurred.

The Black Paper Tavern was part of the underworld.

Was not the underworld a place that enriched itself with usury and collection of fees? No matter how much it was said that the underworld lacked substance in comparison with its appearance, it was impossible for the Black Book Tabernacle, considered the main faction of the underworld in Muhan territory, to lack money.

It was a place where money was raised through all kinds of illegal activities.

They had saved quite tenacity, didn’t they?

“Did you swallow all that?”

“Yes. Since I cleaned them up.

Jin So-ah shouted indignantly.

“Those bastards earned that money by sucking the blood of innocent people. How can you swallow it like that, young Master Wei?”

“And then what?”

“You should distribute it!”

“That’s the right thing to do, but…”

Wei Yan-ho snapped his tongue.

“These people also won that money through their own money games, so isn’t it legitimate?”

“What about the booth rates?”

Even the government doesn’t say anything about it, so it’s not up to me to say that charging the fees for the posts is illegitimate.

Although Jin So-ah wanted to protest, Wei Yan-ho continued without pause.

“Furthermore, the original owners told me to take it, so what’s the problem?”

“Did you threaten them?”

“Threat them? I just brought those guys in and asked them what they planned to do about it.”

“…with the safe open, weren’t all those people crawling around?”

“There was no one standing.”

That’s intimidation!

What else would be intimidating? Do you have to wield a sword to be intimidating?

Jin So-ah looked at Wei Yan-ho with new eyes. The more he looked at him, the more new aspects appeared, as if he was peeling an onion.

At first he thought he was simply the most vague person in the world, but surprisingly he was a teacher and he was also good at gambling…

“Demon.”

“That is slander.”

Wei Yan-ho shook his finger, denying Jin So-ah’s words.

Nobody got hurt. I burned all the usury certificates there. People shouldn’t suffer for these things.

“You tell the truth.”

Hey, what about me, you shouldn’t burn my loan certificate first?

“Hey, that’s why I traded yours for a normal one, with the interest rate recommended by the government.

“Wow.”

Leaving Jin So-ah, who had stretched out and buried his face at the table, Wei Yan-ho and Ha Dae-bung began talking.

“So, how much do you need?”

“I think it will take more than a hundred nyang.”

“Mmm…”

Wei Yan-ho nodded and said.

“I’ll give you a nyang as a service fee, so please handle all related matters.”

“How could I refuse?”

Watching the two working in perfect harmony, Jin So-ah sighed.

“Then I’ll go home for now.”

We’ve got a lot more to discuss.

“…The shock was too great.”

“Tsk tsk, young people have very little capacity.”

This is what Wei Yan-ho says, who constantly called others young despite not being much older.

Jin So-ah’s resentment increased, but thinking that continuing to converse with Wei Yan-ho would not make much sense, he rose in silence. He waved with indifference and stepped out slowly.

“Tsk tsk, today’s children are so weak.”

When Wei Yan-ho snapped his tongue, Ha Dae-bung, who had been keeping his mouth shut in silence, casually asked.

“Mr. Inspector.”

Hey, don’t call me that, I told you I’m not an inspector.

“Then, young Master Wei.”

“That’s a little delicate too.”

Ha Dae-bung asked in a serious tone.

Why did you do that?

What do you mean?

There is no more absurd contract than this. Why do you show so much favor to the young master Jin?

“Je?”

Wei Yan-ho smiled clumsily.

Jin So-ah, who had plummeted outside with his legs bent, was slightly startled by the sound coming from inside and pressed his ear near the door.

‘What the hell is this about?’

Favor?

What favour had Wei Yan-ho done him? He had only received a document that was no different from a slavery contract.

Jin So-ah listened attentively to the voices coming from within.