Chapter 394. Go Youngchang on Edge 2
"What kind of support do you need?"
Bae Junho answered as though he had been waiting for the question.
"I'll call in Salmak."
"What's that?"
"An assassination outfit that's been gaining a reputation lately."
Go Youngchang frowned.
"An outfit? That's what people call them?"
"They're too secretive to be called an association, and too commercial to be called a sect. So they prefer ordinary terms."
"Are they any good?"
"They've never failed."
Go Youngchang snorted.
"That's impossible. They probably only take jobs they know they can handle."
"They take anything. And they always finish it. If they fail, they don't take the fee. They even return the advance."
The part about returning the advance if they failed caught Go Youngchang's interest.
"Where do you find people like that?"
"That is why they're called Salmak."
Bae Junho lowered himself slightly.
"Please give me twenty silver bottles."
Silver bottle (銀甁): a gourd-shaped silver currency first minted during the reign of King Sukjong of Goryeo. Also called hwalgu (闊口), one silver bottle was a high-value unit worth roughly fifteen to twenty seok of rice.
Go Youngchang's eyes widened.
"Twenty? That much?"
Bae Junho asked quietly,
"You don't have it?"
Go Youngchang's face hardened.
The moment he admitted that he did not, he would lose face.
A man who had taken Liaoyang and was talking about becoming king could hardly afford to have rumors spread that he hesitated over twenty silver bottles.
"No, that's not what I mean… If that's enough to make it succeed, then of course we should do it."
Bae Junho bowed deeply.
"Leave it to me."
He kept his head lowered and his eyes down.
Go Youngchang saw loyalty in that posture.
But Bae Junho's thoughts were already heading elsewhere.
Twenty silver bottles.
That much money could summon Salmak.
Or it could buy horses and carry him far away.
More than anything, it could give him another path before he was discarded first.
Go Youngchang suddenly asked,
"You're not planning to run off with it, are you?"
Bae Junho put on an offended expression.
"What do you take me for?"
Go Youngchang waved a hand.
"It's happened before. That's why I'm asking."
Bae Junho's mouth tightened.
It's happened before.
So someone had once taken the money and fled.
And now Go Youngchang was saying that to him.
He claimed to trust him, yet suspected him first.
He called him one of his own, yet did not believe him.
Bae Junho lowered his head even further.
"I am not that kind of man."
Go Youngchang watched him for a moment, then gestured for the silver to be brought out.
"Fine. I trust you."
The words were too light.
The kind of words spoken by a man who did not truly trust anyone.
Hearing them only hardened Bae Junho's resolve.
Twenty silver bottles.
That money could hire Salmak.
Or it could save his own life.
He had not yet decided which way he would use it.
But one thing was now certain.
Go Youngchang was not a man who would protect him to the end.
Go Youngchang called toward the door.
"Bring in the keeper of the treasury."
A short while later, the treasury keeper entered.
A ring of keys hung from his waist, the metal pieces knocking softly together whenever he walked.
Go Youngchang said,
"Give him thirty silver bottles."
The keeper's eyes widened.
"Thirty?"
The question What do you need that much for? rose all the way to his throat.
He swallowed it.
One look at Bae Junho standing there gave him a rough idea.
This was probably money meant to seal someone's mouth.
Perhaps to send a man far away.
Perhaps to have him take the blame for something.
Either way, it was not clean money.
Even so, thirty silver bottles was an enormous sum.
One silver bottle was said to be worth fifteen to twenty seok of rice.
Thirty of them could feed a small village for quite some time.
If Sim Cheong had sold herself for three hundred seok of rice, this was a sum heavier than even that.
The keeper swallowed hard.
Bae Junho had asked for twenty.
Go Youngchang had added ten more.
"Thirty! Did you hear me?"
At Go Youngchang's shout, the keeper hurriedly bowed.
"Loyalty."
This was no ordinary business transaction.
There was clearly something behind it.
The keeper asked no further questions and withdrew.
A short while later, he returned carrying thirty silver bottles packed into a wooden chest.
The chest was small, but heavy.
His arms tensed as he supported it with both hands.
Go Youngchang pointed at the box with his chin as though it were nothing.
"Do it immediately."
Bae Junho bowed.
"Loyalty."
"If it fails, you take the blame."
"Loyalty."
The answer was the same, but its meaning had changed.
The first "Loyalty" meant that he accepted the order.
The second meant that he was lowering his head in order to survive.
Bae Junho took the wooden chest.
The weight pressing into his fingertips felt strangely real.
Heavier than loyalty.
More certain than any promise.
Go Youngchang called over two subordinates.
"You two go with him and help."
The men bowed.
"Loyalty."
Bae Junho looked at them.
There was little difference between being told to help and being told to watch him.
Go Youngchang did not trust him either.
Which meant there was no reason for Bae Junho to trust Go Youngchang.