Chapter 22: When Spring Arrives At The Crossroad(1) (2/2)
Just by seeing their faces, I could tell that they had a close relations.h.i.+p for a long time. Byuk Do Jun was thankful to Song Wu Kyung. When his family had been in crisis, his friend hadn’t canceled their engagement. This showed how much of a bond these two shared.
When our family wasn’t doing so well, he wanted to lend us some money, but since he wanted to save his friend some face, he didn’t mention it. My father was very thankful for this.
They had a friendly conversation as they exchanged drinks.
“Now that the Mengju has pa.s.sed away, Kang Ho is starting to become chaotic.”
Byuk Do Jun nodded and replied, “It seems so, considering that it was under the control of a single person for so long.”
“Couple of days ago, Ko Soon Kyung visited our house.”
“Ko Soon Kyung?”
Ko Soon Kyung was the owner of the San Dong merchant shop. It was the biggest shop in San Dong.
“What did he say?”
“He proposed that we gather everyone from San Dong and create a San Dong Alliance.”
“A San Dong Alliance?”
Byuk Do Joon was surprised to hear something like this.
“The previous Mengju banned the formation of Alliances.”
The Strongest Under the Heavens had banned the formation of Alliances since it would bring more chaos to Kang Ho; mainly because there would be internal power struggles between different alliances.
“But now the Mengju is gone. Other places have already started creating alliances. We should also make a move before a new Mengju is decided. Even if a new Mengju is decided, his influence won’t be that great immediately.”
This was something that Byuk Do Joon had never thought about. He knew that he wasn’t very good at dealing with political things.
“I’m not saying to create an alliance right now. Right now I just want to set the groundwork for one. Working with different merchant groups and clans. I came here to get your advice.”
His words showed signs that he had already been somewhat persuaded by Ko Soon Kyung. If he had refused Ko Soon Kyung there was no way that he’d have come all the way here.
My father understood him well.
The most important thing needed to create an alliance was influence and money. Currently, the Song Clan had the most influence in San Dong.
“Although the Yang Clan has the most influence normally, you know that they are still recuperating from their internal strife. Since they’re not able to do anything right now, isn’t this a great opportunity to become the strongest clan in Sang Dong? Therefor, I need your help.”
He was just showing my father face. Even without our help, the Song clan had enough power and influence to become the strongest in San Dong.
“To tell you the truth, I can’t resist the thought of becoming the strongest clan in San Dong.”
“I understand how you feel.”
Everyone has at least some level of desire to become the greatest power in their respective region. Byuk Do Joon had already risen to this position once.
“I respect your thoughts and want to help you. However, I want to warn you about something. Once you grab hold of their hands, you will experience things that you have never experienced before.”
“I am prepared for that.”
“How long did they give you to make up your mind?”
“They gave me a couple of days to think it over.”
After emptying the wine bottle, Song Wu Kyung added, “Kang Ho is changing by the day.”
***
Before Song Wu Kyung left, he visited me.
“Have you been well?”
“Yes, I’ve been well sir.”
We were still in an awkward position. Since we hadn’t canceled the engagement, he was still my father-in-law.
“I knew that you were in your rebellious phase.”
“I am ashamed.”
“It’s all right. Everyone goes through this. It’s better that you go through this now, since it will help you grow in the future.”
I was thankful towards him since he was saying these things to me. His actions showed the close relations.h.i.+p held between him and my father. I was quite jealous of their relations.h.i.+p since I had never experienced something like it in my previous life.
“Did you meet Hwa Rin-ee today?”
“Yes, by chance.”
“By chance? Why would you use words like that when you two are engaged.”
“...I apologize.”
“Is what she said that day bothering you that much? Don’t mind what she said too much. She’s just a girl.”
“But you know those were her true feelings.”
“Hey!”
“I think that what Rin-ee said is right. We should at least be able to decide who we want to marry.”
Song Wu Kyung stared at me with a disappointed look. However I didn’t mind it too much since I didn’t have any thoughts of marrying her. I just didn’t want him get his hopes up too high.
“I still won’t give up on you.”
He left after saying that. Afterwards, Kw.a.n.g Du, who’d been waiting outside, came in.
“Why did you say something like that? You should’ve just said that you will do better in the future.”
“You still want me to be marry Song Hwa Rin?”
“Is that even a question young master?”
“What?”
“‘What’? Haven’t I told you many times before? Because she is beautiful. And beside her beauty, she is from a good clan, she is intelligent, and her father also has a lot of face. What other reasons do you need? Since you’ve been blessed with so much luck, I think that you could be a hero of Kang Ho that’s reincarnated.”
Eh? You think that I’m a reincarnated hero of Kang Ho?
“But something important is missing.”
“What? Her personality? I think that it’s alright. So what if she has some personality issues? I think it’s better to marry someone who has some personality issues, since it won’t make your life too boring. Just bear with it!”
“But there’s no love between us.”
Kw.a.n.g Du seemed pretty surprised.
“We don’t love each other.”
Kw.a.n.g Du still looked at me, dazed.
“What, did I say something wrong?”
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that”
“I just think that you’ve really grown up, young master. Just a minute ago, you really… acted like an adult.”
I replied with a big smile.
“By the way, what did you come here for?”
Kw.a.n.g Du said, “Oh, Gaju-nim called you.”
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