“Did I really make the wrong choice?”
Returning to the mansion after selecting the Impossible Ledger, I muttered, feeling overwhelmed.
“Hey! Kang Yoon-ho! Are you trying to make me anxious?”
Jeon Gil-san. I told him not to follow me, but here he was, tagging along and nagging me.
“It’s just that the difficulty is absurd.”
“Weren’t you supposed to have a solution in mind?”
“Well, it’s not that I had nothing in mind, but the reason I chose the Impossible Ledger was for another reason.”
I didn’t just grab it thinking I would get my money back without question.
“What?! You didn’t have a solution?!”
I was taken aback. Chuckling to myself, I shook the ledger at Jeon Gil-san.
“I saw the intention of Lord Man Geum-jeon.”
I wouldn’t just blurt that out in front of him for the sake of showing off. There was, of course, a logical reason for choosing the hardest difficulty level.
“Your grandfather’s intention?”
“When I first looked at the ledger and saw ‘Head of Guards!’ it felt too difficult for a black-haired barbarian! I thought of giving up and looking at another ledger, but all of a sudden, the situation became clear.”
Actually, I realized it when I locked eyes with Lord Man Geum-jeon. A look of disappointment flashed by, followed by a gaze that felt all too familiar.
That look when a well-laid plan starts going right.
Lord Man Geum-jeon must have some hidden agenda.
“What situation?”
“The hourglass. Didn’t it seem like there was too little time to review all the ledgers?”
The hourglass was set in front of us to impose a time limit on our ledger selection. The trick was right in front of us.
“Isn’t it because you need quick judgment to become Lord Man Geum-jeon?”
I shook my head vigorously at Jeon Gil-san’s comment.
“That’s wrong. One of the ways to cloud a person’s judgment is to impose a time limit. Present them with an enticing offer, then say if they don’t buy now, they can’t buy. It makes them rush their decision, causing anxiety.”
“Are you saying that your grandfather intentionally clouded our judgment? Why?”
“Jang Noya was hanging over us at that moment.”
He would impose a time limit. You all will act according to my intentions.
A method that straddles the boundaries of fraud and marketing. With just one hourglass, everyone who passed the exam quickly became pawns for Lord Man Geum-jeon.
What an impressive elder.
The only silver lining was that I had a little talent in that area.
“Does that mean your grandfather had another meaning?”
“If you barely grasped his intention, now you need to figure out the situation. When did the Head of Guards say the test would begin?”
I was on the game board that Lord Man Geum-jeon had set up.
When you realize it’s a scam, the best course of action is to withdraw immediately. But if you can’t pull out right away, you need to understand the situation without falling for the opponent’s intentions.
“When the ledgers were distributed for the first time.”
“When exactly was the hourglass placed?”
“After we were given the Impossible Ledger, huh?”
So, you finally noticed something odd.
“Right. The previous ledgers allowed us some time to review them. But the moment we were handed the Impossible Ledger, the hourglass was placed almost immediately. Why the time difference?”
“Um… It was to keep your head from working while looking at the Impossible Ledger?”
Good job, Jeon Gil-san!
I gave a little clap. He really is Kang Yoon-ho. I’m impressed he understood that. It seems my tutoring days in college weren’t for nothing.
“Yes. If the ‘Head of Guards’ is written as soon as you open the Impossible Ledger, wouldn’t your head naturally turn toward an easier problem instead of a seemingly impossible one? The other ledgers we looked at slowly seemed easy when there was no time limit.”
It felt like glancing at the last question of a college entrance exam math test the moment you start. My heart sank. When your judgment is clear, your eyes can’t help but gravitate toward what seemed simple.
“Looking at other difficulty levels isn’t a bad idea, is it?”
“The hourglass served more than one purpose. It didn’t just prevent you from rethinking the problems.”
There was hardly enough time just to review the ledgers. Naturally, there was no time left to ponder the problems.
“Problems?”
“The Head of Guards clearly said before starting that he divided the difficulties for you young masters based on their level.”
“For the young masters? What does that mean?”
“It was a difficulty created just for the test. Even if you take your time, it’s not going to turn into a dangerous problem nor the Impossible difficulty. If you understand that fact, now think of something that Lord Man Geum-jeon said.”
There was no need to contemplate other difficulties. All I could do was appreciate just how easy the easy problems were.
Choosing a game difficulty level, whether to go for normal or hard mode, is just a matter of preference.
“Something he said? Ah!”
Right. You heard it from the back.
“One’s ability also includes judging whether the person lending money is likely to pay it back or not by looking at their background. Judge by looking at the ledgers.”
Mix a little truth with a lie. Or tell the truth but make the other person only believe what they want to believe.
Since this is my area of expertise, I was able to grasp it.
If Lord Man Geum-jeon’s statement didn’t mean to look at all three ledgers, but had another meaning?
“The differentiation of the difficulties among the ledgers was made from the start. According to Jang Noya, what do I need to discern?”
“Only one thing.”
I nodded.
The hourglass wasn’t enough to thoroughly review three ledgers, but it was sufficient for one.
The levels of the other ledgers were predetermined.
As said by Lord Man Geum-jeon, I needed to judge based on the person’s background regarding whether I would recover the money or not, and there was only one ledger to do that with.
“The Impossible Ledger. Will I choose it or not? To begin with, there was no option to select any other ledger.”
Our Man Geum Battlefield had deemed it impossible. To become the successor, we must solve the problem that we think is impossible to get the money back.
If I want to be Lord Man Geum-jeon’s successor.
To start with, the only decision was to succeed in accomplishing this.
——
“Is it really Kang Master…”
“So, one of the three had to unconditionally choose the Impossible difficulty. I would probably fail this test.”
Miss Zhuge and Jeon Gil-san looked at me with astonished eyes.
“Recovering money from the Impossible Ledger? That’s the real content of the test, right?”
“Impressive, but it’s true that the Impossible Ledger is difficult. Do you have a method?”
That was a valid point. I had only passed the first gate. Even if I got the correct answer, the issue of how to recover the money still remained.
“There are ways that other young masters can’t accomplish.”
Of course, I had a solution in mind.
“Should I create a ruckus with Ho Pil? That won’t be easy.”
“If it’s against street vendors, then maybe. But if it’s with high-ranking officials, not only my position but my life would be on the line.”
Even if debt collection isn’t under Ho Pil’s duties, public authority can still intervene. The problem is that public authority is always blocked by an even greater public authority.
Hello, I am Ho Pil. Please repay your debts, Lord Head of Guards. I’d be fired immediately and probably arrested for some reason.
“Kang Master. What about the Inspector?”
When I gave a troubled expression, Miss Zhuge, who had been quietly listening, asked.
“That’s a very tempting offer, but unless it concerns corruption, you might have to risk your position when speaking on private debt matters, even for an Inspector.”
Huh? Look at this guy. He’s misusing a position appointed directly by the Emperor. This will surely be called out.
It’s similar to how a seventh-level prosecutor can uncover a bureaucrat’s corruption, but if they touch something personal, problems arise.
“What do you plan to do?”
“I’ll use both正攻法 and 편법 (straightforward and circumstantial methods). I’ve got a few candidates in mind for the job, but let’s first check out the most promising one. Deokbae!”
At this point, I decided to employ the newly hired general manager.
“Yes. I’ve made it into a big poster to hang on the wall.”
Deokbae wrote the contents of the ledger in a large font on paper and hung it on the wall.
My first target. The paper contained information about the goal I had reached after much deliberation.
“Three-Eyed Sword, Cho Cheol?! Wait, the ledger had Three-Eyed Sword too?”
Jeon Gil-san jumped back in surprise upon seeing the name.
“Do you know him?”
Why the surprise?
“Don’t you know? He’s a well-known ronin. Known for having eyes on the back of his head and called the Three-Eyed Sword! What is your grandfather thinking, getting you involved with such a character…”
Looks like he’s more famous in the Martial Arts World than I thought. Still, there’s no reason to change my target.
“Look closely at the paper.”
There was a reason I designated the Three-Eyed Sword as my first target.
“Black-haired? A Joseon person? That’ll be easy! Good!”
“Read what’s marked beneath it… It’s important.”
“Gray-eyed? Oh, crap. So close! He’s not even Joseon! Where it says he borrowed money—Man Geum Battlefield, Hyeongmun branch? Not Wuhan? Notable circumstance: went missing?! What on earth does that mean?”
Jeon Gil-san looked at me as if to say, “What the heck is this?”
“I found something interesting while looking at the Impossible Ledger.”
I had to retrieve the borrowed money. It was undoubtedly a list with an immensely high difficulty level. Still, it wasn’t completely devoid of hope.
“Hey! Stop dancing around and get to the point! It’s frustrating, just say it already.”
Jeon Gil-san frowned at me, thumping his chest. Who does he think he’s talking to? Doesn’t he know the joy of conversation? I’ll be the adult here and let it slide.
I’ll have to tell their mother that Gil-san is here later.
“Right. Aside from the Head of Guards, the difficulty is fairly consistent.”
“Consistent difficulty?”
“As far as the highest difficulty goes, maybe the Head of Guards. After all, it was purposely created for this test. The candidates are given the Impossible difficulty, but it doesn’t mean the Man Geum Battlefield has the Impossible difficulty.”
It was akin to challenges on cooking shows where they ask you to make an omelet with a dragon’s heart and dragon’s whiskers from what’s in the fridge. It implies it’s not that high of a level.
“Indeed.”
“Plus, I found something interesting in common among the Impossible difficulties. Miss Zhuge, do you remember the names on this ledger?”
I opened the ledger and showed a few familiar names to Miss Zhuge.
“What?! These people are…?”
Upon seeing the names, Miss Zhuge looked stunned and locked eyes with me.
“Yes. They’re all officials currently in Wuhan. There are even people who are in Wuhan who don’t belong to that location.”
I had been hunting down bureaucrats with insatiable greed, wondering whose house to rob tonight and who I could bring sorrow to for months.
Thanks to that, I had memorized enough names of officials residing in Wuhan.
“Yes, that’s right. These people seem familiar.”
Miss Zhuge pointed at some names, and they were all in Wuhan.
“The second exam period is one month. Naturally, they would give a problem that could be solved in time. This leads us to a very interesting conjecture.”
“Interesting conjecture?”
Jeon Gil-san interjected between us. Look at him interjecting while I was having a moment with Miss Zhuge.
“The case of the Three-Eyed Sword, since he’s not an official and doesn’t belong to an organization, the most important thing to note is that he could be hiding after going missing.”
What if the problems all have the maker’s intentions revealed?
“Could it be…?”
Miss Zhuge and Jeon Gil-san’s faces brightened with a peculiar light.
“The Three-Eyed Sword is a black-haired person. Hubei Province is inland, so a black-haired person would stand out everywhere. Miss Zhuge, if he hasn’t repaid the money and is going missing, where would he hide in Hubei Province?”
“Ah, to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest?”
The city with the most Joseon inhabitants in Hubei Province.
“Is the Three-Eyed Sword in Wuhan?”
“Exactly. The Three-Eyed Sword is likely in Wuhan.”
The Impossible Ledger is a type of nonperforming asset. And the reasons for nonperforming assets include death, prison, and going missing, among other things.
What if the Man Geum Battlefield has a guess about where the Three-Eyed Sword is hiding? If the intention behind the question is to see how to find someone missing?
Then I’d be the one who notices the maker’s intentions and becomes the student who quickly finds the solution.
“In such a vast Wuhan, how would one find someone going missing in a month…”
Of course, there’s a problem.
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province. Even if I know they are hiding in this vast city, it wouldn’t be easy to find someone going missing in just a month.
Unless it’s me.
“There’s a group that would look for any black-haired person passing by in Wuhan.”
“…!”
Why are they all looking at me like that? It’s perfectly logical.
“Man-sik, Chun-sam, Deokbae!”
The Joseon Expatriate Association.
“Yes! Order away.”
“I’m giving you a day. Find them.”
Now was the time to use my hands and feet.
