Rivals on the Street Corner

Hayun was making her way back down with a light step, her business with Carpenter Hwang concluded, when it happened.

"Oh?"

"What the—?"

The moment she rounded the corner of the alley, she ran smack into Song Dohyeon, who was out walking the street.

Flinch!

Both of them recognized each other at the same instant, and their footsteps froze in unison.

Song Dohyeon had a thick bundle of ledgers tucked under one arm; in Hayun's hands hung a cloth bundle of salted yellow corvina.

Song Dohyeon was the first to frown and speak.

"What are you doing around here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Hah?"

When Hayun fired right back without a hint of retreat, the corner of Song Dohyeon's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

"A new haengsu with no manners for her seniors, I see."

"Maybe you should ask who abandoned courtesy first."

"Running a tavern must have taught you quite the sharp tongue."

"Coming from someone who spends his days gossiping behind people's backs, that's just delightful."

"You don't yield an inch, do you."

"Look who's talking."

The tension between them was taut as a bowstring, neither willing to give a single step.

Passersby actually noticed the staring contest and stole nervous glances as they hurried past.

So she's got something to back up that confidence, does she?

Song Dohyeon looked Hayun up and down.

She was far too bold for a rookie. However she'd been recommended by the Daebang himself, it was rare to see a newcomer with this kind of nerve.

Hmph. Insufferable little—

Hayun, for her part, glared right back at him.

He'd rubbed her the wrong way from their very first meeting, and now he was openly sizing her up for weaknesses. Hayun never struck first—but if someone came at her, she never let it slide either.

"Move. I'm busy."

When she tried to brush past, Song Dohyeon crossed his arms and deliberately blocked her path instead.

"Why should I?"

"You're the one standing there blocking the road—what exactly do you want me to do about it?"

"Then whoever wants something more can be the one to walk around."

The standoff dragged on, thick with hostility.

At last, Song Dohyeon's eyes dropped to the bundle in Hayun's hands.

"What's that supposed to be?"

"That would be a secret, obviously. You think I'd tell you?"

Hayun hugged the bundle to her chest and urged him to step aside.

"Honestly, what a sight you are."

Whoosh!

Song Dohyeon promptly fell into step beside her and kept needling her.

"Looks to me like you haven't sold a single one. Why not quit while you're ahead and go back to hawking soup?"

"And how exactly would you know how many I've sold?"

Hayun stopped dead and looked him square in the face. The height difference meant she had to crane her neck a long way up—but not an ounce of her gave ground.

"Well, it's as plain as the nose on your face."

Song Dohyeon's voice was dripping with mockery.

"What talent could a brand-new hire possibly have for selling gulbi?"

And with that, he began picking apart her weaknesses one by one.

"Do you have even a single business contact for gulbi?"

Ouch.

The jab hit dead center, and Hayun couldn't summon a single rebuttal.

"Or do you even know when and where the markets open?"

"......"

This time too, Hayun's mouth stayed firmly shut.

Seeing it, Song Dohyeon's sneer only deepened.

"Naturally, you have no connections whatsoever."

Song Dohyeon circled behind her, hoisting the ledger crammed full of client names. Tap, tap. He prodded Hayun's shoulder with it.

"Well? If you want, I could introduce you to a few places...."

He gestured at the ledger with a smug, self-satisfied expression. The outcome of this contest was obvious—his victory. No matter how Hayun flapped and squirmed, she couldn't hold a candle to someone who'd grown up in this world his whole life.

Song Dohyeon had every reason for that confidence. The best performer in Mansang was always him, without fail. He routinely sold multiples of what the other haengsu moved, and brought in profits to match.

And yet, for some reason, Daebang Im Sang-ok had never fully trusted him—kept him at arm's length, refused to set him apart from the other haengsu in any meaningful way. It had always gnawed at Song Dohyeon. He believed his compensation never matched his ability.

Then into that situation came Im Sang-ok, heaping expectations on this newcomer. Of course Hayun rankled him. That unnervingly pretty face—too delicate for a man—grated on his eyes too.

Hayun, who had endured the humiliation in silence for a moment, finally spoke.

"Introductions? Spare me."

She brushed off her shoulder as though something filthy had touched it.

"No thanks. I'd sooner bite off my own tongue and die than take introductions from you."

With that, Hayun gathered up her bundle.

"I'll do things my way, so don't trouble yourself."

Then, as if for him to overhear, she muttered to herself as she walked away.

"God, what a piece of work. Absolutely revolting."

Song Dohyeon stared blankly at her retreating back.

"Her own way, is it.... Heh. This should be entertaining."

He spread open the ledger in his hands and murmured,

"Fine. Go on then—sell to your heart's content, your way. The results will prove which of us is the better haengsu."

With a satisfied look, Song Dohyeon snapped the ledger shut and headed for his next destination.

The closer Hayun got to the Min Seungji estate, the more her steps slowed.

"Hmm. It's even bigger than I imagined."

She'd been walking along the wall for several minutes already. It was far too large to be the fence of a single house. A grayish-white wall stretched on endlessly, and above it tiled rooftops soared as if to pierce the sky.

The finest yangban household in Uiju. That single stretch of wall was proof enough the rumors were no exaggeration. Even the lone old pine visible beyond it spoke of the family's dignity.

"The lady of the house was Lady Choi, if I remember right."

Min Seungji, a minister of the royal court, was most likely not at home. Which meant the person Hayun had to win over today was the mistress of the inner quarters—Lady Choi herself.

Having picked up a few scraps of information about her, Hayun quickened her pace.

"So this is the place—!"

At last the main gate of the Min Seungji estate came into view, and Hayun drew near.

That was when it happened.

"Halt."

A burly gatekeeper stepped into her path. Arms crossed, he loomed over her imposingly.

"What business brings you here?"

Hayun answered honestly.

"I've come to see the lady of the house."

"The lady? And why would you want that?"

"Because I have business with her, of course."

"Business?"

The gatekeeper looked Hayun slowly up and down—and his eye caught the object wrapped snugly in its careful cloth bundle.

"Hmmm?"

He waved a dismissive hand and said flatly,

"You've got the look of some petty peddler come to flog your wares, and this is no place for that. Turn around and clear off."

Hayun met his words head-on.

"I am not a petty peddler."

"Then what are you?"

A petty peddler she was.

Whatever she'd said, as things stood, Hayun had no real right to object to the label. The only difference was that she worked for Joseon's greatest merchant guild. At the end of the day, she was a peddler who had to sell goods—goods that were nothing more than a humble foodstuff called gulbi, at that.

The moment he finds out I'm here selling dried fish, I'll be tossed straight out.

Gulbi—not silk, not jade. If she pulled out a thing like that in front of the premier yangban house in Uiju, she'd earn a torrent of abuse and have no one to blame but herself.

But Hayun had faith in her product, and she stood her ground.

"Just let me meet the lady once. If anyone will recognize this item's true worth, it's her."

"Ha! So you admit it—you're a peddler after all."

With her purpose laid so plainly bare, the gatekeeper moved to shove her away even more roughly.

"I don't know what trinket you've dragged here, but unless it's something extraordinary, the madam won't bat an eye. Now get lost."

"Well, we won't know until we try, will we? She might take a liking to what I'm carrying."

"You think you're the first peddler to try this? Give up and go home."

Hayun knew one thing for certain: if she could just secure a meeting with Lady Choi, she could win the woman over with words alone.

Pitching to a client was one of Hayun's greatest strengths. Every advertisement began with persuading the advertiser, after all.

Despite the continued rebuff, not a trace of retreat showed in her.

"Please, just once—let me see the madam. I promise I won't cause the slightest trouble. Please?"

"Aigoo, didn't you hear me say no?"

"Please! I'm begging you like this!"

Hayun pleaded desperately. She couldn't back down now—not after the blow her pride had just taken from Song Dohyeon. She had to close this deal, whatever it took.

"If you don't leave this instant, you'll be sorry!"

"Hyah!"

Rejected again and again, Hayun finally grabbed hold of the gatekeeper's trouser leg.

"Hey—hey! You little—let go of that!"

"Not letting go! I'll die before I let go!"

"You truly are beyond reasoning with!"

With his trouser leg dragged all the way down to his hip, the gatekeeper snatched up his club.

He was just about to bring it down on Hayun when—

"What is all this commotion outside?"

A low, composed voice drifted out from within. At the sound of it, the gatekeeper froze solid.

"Madam!"

A middle-aged woman with hair elegantly pinned up, dressed in a perfectly neat chima-jeogori. The mistress of the Min Seungji estate—Lady Choi.

"What cause is there for such shouting?"

Lady Choi asked calmly. Her voice was soft, but a firm resolve lay beneath it.

"W-well, you see, I...."

Caught off guard by the sudden appearance, the gatekeeper stammered. Hayun, meanwhile, still had a fistful of his trouser leg.

Now's my chance!

Seizing the opening without hesitation, Hayun sprang up and slipped in smoothly.

"Good day to you!"

She bowed deeply, greeting her with full courtesy.

"It is an honor to meet the lady of the Min Seungji household."

"And who might you be?"

"Im Haseong, of Mansang, at your service."

"Mansang?"

Lady Choi's eyebrows rose a fraction. No one in Uiju had never heard of Mansang—and the same went for the yangban.

The moment Hayun's identity was confirmed, Lady Choi's tone grew noticeably gentler.

"Hm. A merchant of Mansang, behaving with such a complete lack of decorum."

Chill dripped from her voice, and Hayun bowed her head once more.

"I deeply apologize. There is something I simply must show you, madam, and I had no choice but to commit this discourtesy."

"Something you simply must show me?"

Lady Choi's tone shifted ever so slightly. There was curiosity in her eyes now.

"What on earth could it be, that you'd raise such a ruckus over it?"

Door-to-door selling was a rarity in these times. Most people bought at the market, or from peddlers who made the rounds through the villages. The more famous the yangban house, the more their servants handled the purchasing themselves—so a scene like this was practically unheard of.

"Well, you see...."

Hayun lowered her voice cautiously, as if proposing some secret deal.

"Think of it as a new brand we are launching—something fresh to the market. That should make it easy to understand."

"A brand? Launching?"

The unfamiliar words made Lady Choi furrow her brow, and Hayun swiftly corrected course.

"Ah—forgive me. Simply think of it as a rare and precious new offering from Mansang."

"A rare and precious offering?"

"So rare, in fact, that if not now, you will never be able to obtain it anywhere."

"Hmm."

Lady Choi's gaze drifted to the bundle in Hayun's hands.

What on earth could be inside it, that a haengsu of Mansang would beg on bended knee for an audience? And it was only obtainable right now, she said?

Curiosity stirred. Hayun's strategy had landed.

Before long, Lady Choi gave her consent.

"Follow me."

"Yes, madam!"

Hayun hurried after Lady Choi's retreating figure.