Kofi thanks to: Flowersky
7 million hwan…
To Cheongyeon, whose heart was pounding even with 20,000 hwan, it was an unimaginable amount.
“Now, the auction of the sperm whale carcass begins! Starting from 200,000 hwan! Yes, 200,000 hwan came out right away!”
The prices of 300,000 hwan, 400,000 hwan, 500,000 hwan, the price of the carcass was skyrocketing.
“7 million hwan, what a fucking child’s play.”
Muwon’s eyes sparkled menacingly.
Cheongyeon looked at him in astonishment as he raised his hand despite the chaotic commotion, all attention on the dockside was focused.
He was riding a small bike that didn’t fit his body at all, but it wasn’t funny. Rather, he looked like a villain who had robbed the meager fortune of the apothecary standing next to him.
He raised his voice.
“10 million hwan, Tae Muwon’s bid!”
Tae Muwon flashed a charming smile that overshadowed all his evil deeds.
“Not the whale carcass, but the ambergris.”
The captain’s face, which had been uneasy ever since he noticed Tae Muwon, quickly became pale. Not a whale carcass, but ambergris? Hold on, he thought he said he was selling the whale carcass for 10 million hwan.
The sounds of onlookers whispering could be clearly heard.
“Mu- Muwon-nim, did you mean the whale carcass?!”
The captain was terrified, but gathered courage and asked. But who in the world would buy a whale carcass more expensive than ambergris?
“Everyone is antsy not taking advantage of it, aren’t they?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Muwon suggested, but Cheongyeon felt burdened by all the attention, so he lowered his head.
“Ktf jwyfguglr jemalbc lr jigfjvs bnfg! Snfc lo sbe jgf Kjf Zekbc, sbe mjc’a lcafgofgf lc jc jemalbc atja lr jigfjvs bnfg!”
Ycis Lkjcu Ejc, ktb oeiis ecvfgrabbv Kjf Zekbc’r lcafcalbcr, rtbeafv ibevis. Jtfbcusfbc kjr jyif ab olcv bea ktfgf tf kjr ja j uijcmf jcv qfbqif’r jaafcalbc ifoa atfw jcv obmerfv bc Lkjcu Ejc.
His servant was loading ambergris onto the cart, as if he was planning to take it straight to the first continent. The ambergris was covered in blood because it had been taken out of its internal organs, but the flesh beneath the blood had a rough, gray color, like stone.
“It’s a 10 million hwan bid. Didn’t you hear?”
The captain seemed at a loss as to Muwon’s harsh tone. He was afraid that if he started the auction again, there would be a credit problem with merchants from the 1st Continent, and that if he ignored Tae Muwon, he would have to deal with the consequences. But then again, life was more important than credit.
“N- now that we have the highest bidder for the ambergris, we’ll continue the auction again!”
The captain put his hands together like a megaphone and shouted loudly.
“Muwon-nim! What kind of situation is this!? This is nothing short of gangsterism!”
Just then, Hwang Ran shut his mouth instead of spouting out his anger, for Peira, who had camped on the dockside, surrounded Hwang Ran and his group. Hwang Ran hired mercenaries to enter Cheonghwa Town, where security was unstable, but it was to no avail.
The people who belonged to Peira all had unique physiques, probably because they ate so well. It looked like a menacing flower field as there were large crowds of people with colorful red asters tattooed on their necks.
The crew of the whaler gently placed the ambergris on the cart back on the auction table. Even though Hwang Ran was in a situation where his eyes were opened and his nose was cut, he could not stop it.
“Is there anyone who wants to bid higher?!”
The captain raised his voice again. Cheongyeon looked at Muwon with somewhat puzzled eyes. Unlike the carcass of a sperm whale that could be refined into oil, he wouldn’t really need the ambergris.
In fact, Muwon was just sitting leisurely, using his bicycle as a chair.
“If there are no more, I’ll count to ten, nine, eight…”
If things continued like this, Tae Muwon might actually win the bid. Did he really need ambergris? Or maybe he was trying to win a bid on a useless item just for fun, or maybe he just liked to watch the merchants bargain like this.
“Do you want to rest?”
Cheongyeon was startled by the sudden question. Muwon was still keeping his eyes on the captain, who was reducing the number.
“…No.”
“But why are you so restless?”
He wasn’t restless, but his stomach was in knots. It wasn’t even his money, but he was overwhelmed by the pressure of 10 million hwan.
Then, the captain finished his countdown.
“Te- ten million and one hwan!”
Hwang Ran, with his index finger raised tightly, bid a meager price. 10,000,001 hwan. It was truly an unprecedented amount. Laughter erupted here and there, but Hwang Ran shamelessly raised his head.
“Of course, you miser.”
It would have been quite unfair to be called a miser even after spending over 10 million hwan. Cheongyeon mentally estimated how big the winning bid was. There was no doubt that the price was enough to buy five luxury houses on high ground. It was also an amount that most people living in Cheonghwa Town would never touch until their deaths.
A smile bloomed on the captain’s face, which had been dead just a moment ago. At Hwang Ran’s dagger-like glares, he quickly counted the numbers again.
Muwon did not bid any further and willingly let the ambergris go.
“Oh, if I had just one more hwan, I would have bought it.”
When it was being sold for 7 million hwan, he said it was child’s play, but he seemed satisfied with 10 million hwan. From the beginning, Muwon only raised the bid and had no intention of buying the ambergris. Cheongyeon had no intention of siding with Hwang Ran, but he felt a little sorry for the merchant.
“Should I have borrowed it from the apothecary? You’ve got about one hwan, don’t you?” It was a teasing tone.
“I’m not in the business of lending money.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to pretend I missed it because you didn’t lend it to me.”
Muwon chuckled as if it was so funny.
With that, the ambergris auction finally ended and the sperm whale carcass auction began again.
The price of the sperm whale, which was larger and longer than 30 men lying down in a row, had risen more slowly than the ambergris, which was less than half the size of its fin. Cheongyeon felt a strange contradiction, but he quickly changed his thoughts to the hope that Muwon would return his bicycle.
“We have 950,000 hwan! Do we have any higher?”
There seemed to be at least 50 merchants who had come from the 1st Continent. Just by looking at their clothing, which consisted of expensive leather and cloth, they were clearly different from the people of Cheonghwa Town. However, perhaps their only goal was ambergris, they did not pay much attention to the sperm whale carcass. Muwon lifted the hand he had placed on the steering wheel.
“Tae Muwon-nim, would you like to bid?”
The captain, who had been glancing at him from earlier, quickly arrowed Muwon.
“1.3 million hwan.”
“1.3 million hwan! It jumped from 930,000 hwan to 1.3 million hwan! Do we have any more? This sperm whale is a whopping 1.5 times larger than the one caught half a year ago! Half a year ago, Tae Muwon-nim over there bought the sperm whale for 1.2 million hwan!”
The captain was going to be hoarse after today’s auction.
“Come! Do we have any more merchants? The winning bidder will also receive a giant squid as a bonus!”
Boisterous laughter erupted from the people of Cheonghwa Town. The merchants of the 1st Continent were just puzzled, not knowing why they were laughing.
The giant squid that died with its head chewed off by a sperm whale was not only large, but also useless. Since it was not edible, it was considered trash and had to be thrown into the sea. Still, the tentacles with suckers were still wrapped around the whale’s body, as if it was fighting desperately to avoid being eaten by the sperm whale.
“It’s unfair that it died, but it’s being mocked by selling its body.”
The words were so emotional that it was hard to believe they came out of Tae Muwon’s mouth. Cheongyeon was inwardly surprised, but did not show it.
The captain immediately counted the numbers to see if there were any bidders for more than 1.3 million hwan. The Peira would need a lot of fuel for its size, so it would not have been strange if Muwon had won the bid. They said he was the successful bidder who bought the sperm whale carcass half a year ago.
“1.35 million hwan!”
Hwang Ran, riding on a cart carrying ambergris, spread his hands wide and shouted. Phew, Cheongyeon could hear the sound of laughter as if the wind had gone out. It was Tae Muwon.
“Apothecary.”
He tilted his head towards Cheongyeon. The height of his saddle wasn’t right, so even though he spread his legs wide, the height difference was so big that they couldn’t make eye contact. Cheongyeon raised his eyes and met his gaze.
“Yes?”
“It’s so fucking fun, isn’t it?”
Did he mean that the auction was fun? Cheongyeon blinked a couple of times, feeling unsure.
“Maybe it’s because I’m a monk, but I don’t know how fun this is.”
Muwon returned his head, which had been tilted towards Cheongyeon, to its original state.
Thanks for the chapter!!
I don’t understand what’s going on anymore 😂 but I like Cheongyeon’s comebacks.
X2
I think he’s messing with the merchant because the merchant messed with the apothecary
Makes sense and future chapters seem to verify that even if Muwon doesn’t realize it he is somewhat protective and even a bit possessive of Cheongyeon