113

Chapter 113 - The Bookstore - 5 

Do you think earning someone else's money is easy? 

From part-time work to full-time employment, it's a sentiment sometimes heard while making money. 

It's hard enough to earn money through legitimate labor, be it today's world or this place, but how much more so for the debts of a business? 

Can you just believe in your shabby little tongue, prepare nothing, and stand on the stage? Some might manage, but I certainly wasn't one of them. 

"What should we have gained today?"

I asked Dang Hwa Rin with a faint smile. 

"Gain the green forest. Lose the iron chains?"

"No.... That's the liberators."

This girl might cause a big problem if someone overheard her. 

"Chuckle. No? Then, is it about getting acknowledgment from the creditors regarding inheriting the bookstore and only taking on half the debt?"

When I showed confusion at her joke, Dang Hwa Rin laughed triumphantly, as if her mission was accomplished, and then shared her thoughts. Maybe it was because today's work ended successfully, she seemed to be in a good mood.

"No."

I shook my head, lightly negating her words. 

"Then what?"

"Our goal today was to get the creditors' seals on the debt documents."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"It's different. Words of acknowledgment can be spoken and changed at any time. We needed a document laden with responsibilities and promises that would never change."

Verbal agreements can always be changed. That wasn't my intention. You've misunderstood. I never said that. 

No. Manager. When did I say that? Why are you misunderstanding and getting angry at me? Please change the manager. Just through words, one can disavow previously asserted statements and betray trust. 

Unrecorded, unacknowledged.

Stamping a seal on documents is, regardless of the era, a means to prevent such issues, declaring infinite responsibility for the contents written therein. 

Today, it was necessary for us to receive all the creditors' seals to ensure Dang Hwa Rin's inheritance of the bookstore and the execution of half the debt. 

But there was a problem. 

Stamping a seal on the documents on the spot upon seeing them. 

Even in the modern world with its various remedies, casually sealing a blank promissory note from relatives can earn you scorn on the internet, let alone in this era. 

That's why some preparatory work was necessary today. 

"Hwa Rin. If you want to pay off the debt, how many years would you have to work using the earnings from this bookstore?" 

I asked her, bringing up a somber topic. 

"Forever?"

Dang Hwa Rin's response came in a somewhat powerless tone. 

"Exactly 150 years. That's what it looked like when I calculated the net profits. So, Hwa Rin, you'll have to practice martial arts diligently. You need to live long enough to pay it all off."

"Tsk. Are you teasing me because it's someone else's issue?"

Dang Hwa Rin pouted her lips, appearing to be piqued by my playful tone. 

"If the ledgers are accurate, that is."

"Eh? Don't tell me you manipulated the ledgers? Did you insert fake records?"

Immediately, she retracted her lips and looked at me, slightly opening her mouth in surprise. 

"No. The numbers written there were transferred from the original ledger."

There wasn't a single piece of false record noted in the abridged ledger that was created in pamphlet form. 

"Then how?"

"I touched on the net profits."

"Net profits?"

"Net profit essentially means the amount left when you subtract expenses from the earned money. No matter how big a store is, if the expenses are high, it will perform worse than a smaller store that earns money efficiently."

"If you didn't use fake records, how did you tamper with the net profits?" 

"Your maternal grandfather. He owned many businesses, remember? On the other hand, he managed them all in one ledger. When the overseer said he had to jot down separate ledgers for the businesses because of the sale, it suddenly sparked a great idea."

"What idea?"

"We found a way to vastly increase the expenses noted for the bookstore without touching the earnings and expenses of other businesses."

We had to make it seem as if the creditors were giving up on something minor by dangling the carrot of debt repayment. It was to showcase that the bookstore's net income was so minuscule, it hardly warranted full repayment each year.

The problem is that other business records were sold and transferred except for the bookstore.

If it were discovered that other business expenses were falsified as the bookstore's or that fake records were used, this would lead to serious issues later on. 

"What was it?"

Dang Hwa Rin urged me for an answer, her face full of curiosity. 

Hwa Rin. It just came to me all of a sudden. A way to drastically reduce the bookstore's net profits just with the ledger records.

"Your grandfather's good deeds."

I revealed the nature of my idea to her.

"Charity... Ah!"

Dang Hwa Rin exclaimed, as if she had an epiphany. She was quick to understand, which was good. 

"Yes. Donations, sponsorships, contributions. There was plenty of money spent in these acts of goodwill. That money doesn't belong to any specific business, but it does exist as an expense in the ledger. I asked the overseer uncle to transfer those expenses to the bookstore's ledger."

—That's a fantastic idea! If you divide the charity expenses without attracting attention and enter them into the ledger appropriately, the bookstore's net profit will drastically decrease. Of course, it would require a tremendous amount of expertise, time, and effort to enter it into the ledger without attracting attention.

The overseer uncle was impressed by my idea and nodded his head in admiration.

—Then I leave it in your hands.

—Ah...

Indeed, an overseer with decades of experience was not just competent but overly so. The creditors didn't realize it because the ledger had been given the appropriate accounting "massage."

When simplified further to the level of a pamphlet, it became even harder for experts to notice anything amiss.

"There was such a method."

Dang Hwa Rin looked at me, her eyes widened in amazement at my craft. 

It's still too early to be surprised. There was one more thing. 

"The issue was we had to get the seals before anyone could sense something fishy about that booklet."

If they felt something was off and asked to see the original ledger, they would realize with certainty. It was vital to have the seals stamped quickly before that happened. 

"It was Yoon Ho who managed to get those seals with smooth talking."

"How can mere smooth talking persuade money-crazed fools to stamp their seals?"

I looked at her with an expression openly hinting that there had been some prior craftiness involved.

"People who started a revolution shouldn't talk like that... What did you do?"

Dang Hwa Rin looked at me incredulously, pressing for an answer.

Stung by her gaze, I averted my eyes for a moment before revealing the second ploy I had executed in advance today.

"I hired a decoy."

"A decoy? But the people present were either creditors or bodyguards."

"I turned those creditors into decoys."

"How, exactly?"

"Not all creditors bear the same grudges or anger. I approached the ones who had maintained good relations for decades, promised them repayment first, and asked if they could act as decoys."

My second ploy.

Get a few creditors on our side. They sit there rightfully so no one is suspicious, acting as decoys.

—You should be begging on your knees! How dare you, a debtor, stand there so shamelessly! Someone, drag that woman here by her hair!

Stir up a creditor who enjoys exercising violence against debtors, prompt applause, and instigate fights during the auction announcements.

I dangle food before them, as though burdening them with debt, and create a sense of crisis. The decoys maintain a chaotic atmosphere so that other creditors cannot think deeply.

Deprived of time to doubt the books, ultimately they come to the end.

—I'll put my seal on this!

Once they seal it, the decoy's role is over.

When Master Jang No Ya of Mangum Exchange House noticed something odd in such a situation, my heart sank, but fortunately, Master Jang No Ya was an old friend of the maternal grandfather.

He ended up playing a crucial decoy role that allowed us to receive seals on all the documents.

"With frugality, 20 years should do it. You could repay it even quicker if you work as a broker as I mentioned before. It's much better than ending up on the streets, isn't it?"

Broker.

Master Baek's businesses may disappear, but Master Baek's personal connections remain.

Just because you've purchased a new fabric shop doesn't mean contracts like the silk agreement pass along with it.

Using the status as the only heir of Master Baek, if you start connecting people and earn a brokerage fee, the debt would surely reduce even further.

In a world where people bind themselves in 30-year mortgages on apartments, using all their credit, purchasing such a property along a main road is truly a lucrative deal.

Compared to blaming everything on Hwa Rin's departed mother, having the bookstore taken over, and ending up homeless, leaving her with a building and a manageable debt is far more ideal.

"You really are..."

Listening to all the details of the event, Dang Hwa Rin's eyes flickered as she gazed at me.

How's that for moving? If that's not a perfect resolution, then what is? So, employ me, will you?

I approached her, took her hand in mine, and covered it with my other hand.

"You did good, reaching out for help instead of giving up in despair, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

Why is she avoiding my gaze? Is she close to tears? Dang Hwa Rin lowered her head, avoiding my eyes.

"I'll keep helping you. Let's do well together."

With a tender voice, I effectively made her stamp her seal on an imaginary employment contract.

"How much will you help me?"

"For the foreseeable future?"

"…For 20 years?"

No. You'll need to build a name for yourself by then, won't you? Don't you have confidence in paying off your debt?

"Does it seem so difficult to pay off the debt?"

"No, it's not that..."

"I won't set a time limit but I'll keep helping you. If it really gets harder than expected, let's just throw everything away and make a night escape together."

If debt repayment becomes more difficult than expected, we can simply flee. If we put in enough effort and multiply its fame through the printing press, we're bound to succeed.

By then, I could take Dang Hwa Rin as a bodyguard and wander the world with her.

"Do you understand what you're saying right now?"

"Did I say something wrong?"

I'll help diligently, so you should help with my masterpiece. Was that too complex?

"Sigh. No. You wouldn't. It must be another bout of my wild imagination."

Dang Hwa Rin raised her head, her eyes now steady and not trembling anymore. She looked at me with a complicated, somewhat somber expression.

What's with her reaction?

"Chuckle. Yoon Ho."

Dang Hwa Rin, amused by my befuddled face, called out to me.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. Really. I will continue to repay this kindness."

She laid her other hand atop of mine, firmly gripping our hands together.

On her face, instead of the despair and defeat seen a few days ago, I could read a hope for the future.

------

"Aren't you going to sleep?"

In the bookstore attic, having finished cleaning, Dang Hwa Rin called out to me, lying on the bed, as I sat at the desk.

"You go ahead and sleep."

I replied while sharpening a blade.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm planning to write a novel."

"A book? Surely not the Tale of Hong Gildong?!"

She hurriedly tossed back the blanket and asked me.

"No. I want to write a storybook that could sell."

"Hmm… You have to work tomorrow, so don't stay up too late."

Disappointed that it wasn't the Tale of Hong Gildong, Dang Hwa Rin covered herself again and lay down.

I put the inkstick aside and started dipping my brush in ink.

It had been a long journey to get here.

Now that the incident had come to a resolution. All that was left was to manage the bookstore and write books.

'What should I write?'

If popularity is key, it makes sense to start with popular genres. But what could it be? In this world, another genre commercially more popular existed.

Erotica.

Should I write erotica? Would it be better to write modern, stimulating erotica first?

No.

I, Kang Yoon Ho, have not forgotten the day I wrote "The Legend of the Adventurous Warrior." I have not forgotten the day I screamed at the world. Unless the printing press didn't exist, I didn't want to completely give up writing martial arts novels in this world.

So, should I write a martial arts novel?

Would it be right for a true writer to challenge a genre that's bound to fail again?

No. A true writer should write something that satisfies me and the readers of this world.

I already had a genre in mind for months, and that's what I would write.

It's erotica, but not erotica; it's a martial arts novel, but not a martial arts novel,

That is exactly.

"Let's write a 'Cross-genre Fusion Martial Arts Novel.'"