Chapter 101
The Sacred Hand Hall was packed with people day after day.
Originally, it was the most competitive medical clinic in Wuhan, so business couldn't help but thrive. But when the fake Sacred Hand Hall collapsed, it really caught the wind in its sails.
Common sense would say it was impossible and shouldn't happen, but right now, the Sacred Hand Hall was the only large medical clinic in all of Wuhan. So people with even slightly serious illnesses had no choice but to flock to the Sacred Hand Hall.
When Wei Yan-ho asked if it would be okay to raise the consultation fees a little, Ha Dae-bung immediately waved his hand in refusal. If they raised prices at a time like this, there was a risk of losing patients when latecomers appeared later. In the face of his philosophy that the most dangerous time is when things are going well, Wei Yan-ho couldn't find anything to argue against.
After all, Ha Dae-bung knew more about business than he did.
"I'm thinking of opening a branch at the original Sacred Hand Hall location."
"What about the money?"
"We're earning well. We should be able to pay it back soon."
"No, I mean the money for opening the branch?"
"If we don't open a branch now, we won't be able to handle the patients. Then other medical clinics will soon open their doors, and we won't be able to maintain our current position. It's obvious. Development or stagnation! The future of the medical clinic depends on this very moment."
"No, I mean the money…"
Ha Dae-bung, who had been staring intently at Wei Yan-ho, nodded his head.
"Then there's no choice."
"Yeah, well. If it can't be done, it can't be done."
"I'll borrow money from the trading house using the current medical clinic as collateral."
"W-wait a minute!"
Ha Dae-bung was endlessly serious.
"Since I have experience and connections, I should be able to borrow at low interest. Take out a low-interest loan to open a new medical clinic! Then use that clinic as collateral to take out another loan!"
"…How much do you need?"
Wei Yan-ho eventually surrendered.
Wei Yan-ho, who had been completely cleaned out of even the pocket money hidden in his clothes, shed tears of regret.
"I wondered why my luck was so good…"
Of course, his life couldn't go so smoothly.
Considering that heaven smiles upon those who help themselves, heaven would never smile upon Wei Yan-ho.
"Th-that's enough, right? You don't need anything more, right?"
"Even if I needed more, you don't have any more now."
Looking at Ha Dae-bung licking his lips, it was clear he knew exactly how much money Wei Yan-ho had.
'Scary man.'
Though Wei Yan-ho had brought him in, when it came to money, he was truly an outstanding fellow.
"Keung."
Now that he thought there was no money left, he felt sick to his stomach, but thinking about it, Wei Yan-ho didn't particularly need money anyway.
"I trust you'll manage it well."
"How could there be any doubt?"
"It would be quite interesting if you embezzled some."
"Of course not."
"Honestly, I'd like something like that to happen at least once."
"I'm not stupid enough to embezzle from a Royal Inspector. Who else would I deceive if not you? Besides…"
"Besides?"
Ha Dae-bung answered with a stern face.
"If making money was the only goal, I wouldn't have left the trading house. According to my plan, I could have moved up to the capital within a few years. Then I could have made incomparably more money than now. I chose this work because I wanted to do something meaningful, not just make money. Isn't that the same for you, Supreme Hall Master?"
"I did it to make money though?"
"…"
Ha Dae-bung, realizing their motivations differed but that it wasn't a big problem, cleared his throat awkwardly to dispel the uncomfortable atmosphere.
"Everyone has different goals. I aim for the best medical clinic, the Hall Master aims for the best doctor, and the Supreme Hall Master aims for money. When these align, we become the best medical clinic with the best doctors, raking in money, and everyone benefits."
"I think so too."
He couldn't hear anything else, but he could clearly understand the part about raking in money.
"Then please rest."
"Huh? That's it?"
Toward Ha Dae-bung heading outside, Wei Yan-ho voiced the suspicion filling his chest.
"So you came just to get money? Manager? Managerrrrr?"
Ha Dae-bung didn't answer.
The medical clinic was running busily and well, but Wei Yan-ho had nothing to do. In the end, Wei Yan-ho had no choice but to do what he did best.
"Haaaaam."
Lying down and passing time was as natural as breathing for Wei Yan-ho. While others might develop bedsores on their backs, Wei Yan-ho's sturdy back remained fresh and soft even after lying down for ten out of twelve shijin in a day.
"This is heaven."
Wei Yan-ho, lying in the Supreme Hall Master's office next to the Hall Master's office, felt heavenly.
Here, no one bothered him, and no one gave him dirty looks. After all, Wei Yan-ho was the Supreme Hall Master who had paid for everything – who would dare complain?
The only people who knew Wei Yan-ho were Jin So-ah and Ha Dae-bung. Jin So-ah was too busy seeing patients, and Ha Dae-bung was someone who knew it was beneficial for the clinic to leave Wei Yan-ho alone.
Thanks to this, Wei Yan-ho was left to his own devices.
But that neglect didn't last very long.
Crash!
The door opened and anxious-faced servants entered.
"Huh?"
When Wei Yan-ho looked at them with a blank expression, one servant spoke up.
"Um, the manager says there's a shortage of rooms…"
"Huuuh?"
Had they used up all the rooms in that huge mansion?
"So?"
"He's asking you to vacate the room."
"Keuuung."
Wei Yan-ho grabbed his blanket and rolled around on the floor. Even with many patients, was it right to kick out the Supreme Hall Master?
"Is the patient very sick?"
The servant silently pointed outside.
A patient with a yellowed face and unfocused, dead-fish eyes was staring at Wei Yan-ho.
"…I'll leave now."
No matter how lazy Wei Yan-ho was, he knew the difference between important and trivial matters. He should at least be able to distinguish whether he or the patient needed the room more.
Though some regret washed over him, Wei Yan-ho, rolling up his blanket, got up from his spot and leaped up to the roof.
"I keep getting kicked upstairs."
Regardless, below there was a commotion about clearing a room to lay down the patient.
"Wait! Let's clean the room first! There's a mark here!"
"There's a human-shaped shadow, isn't there?"
"What on earth happened here?"
"The door wouldn't open for so long, I thought this was a storage room."
Somewhat embarrassing words were being exchanged. Wei Yan-ho rolled away from that spot.
"Foolish. A gentleman doesn't move carelessly."
Wei Yan-ho casually spouted words that would have made Moon Yu-hwan, a gentleman among gentlemen, gently scold him to relearn the basics of Confucianism.
Standing on the roof and looking down, he could see well how the medical clinic was operating.
During construction, he wondered why they kept touching things, but it seemed they had considered even the movement patterns of patients. Looking down from above, the sight of patients lined up like ants, branching off at intervals toward their respective treatment rooms, was quite interesting.
And wherever many people gathered, problems always arose.
"Move aside!"
"I was in line first!"
"Can't you see the urgent patient?"
Three men who had rushed over were causing trouble. The men who had pushed to the front of the long line were trying to cut in, claiming their companion was an urgent patient.
"Tsk tsk."
Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue at the sight.
There were always people like that everywhere. What was so urgent that they had to torment others to get treatment first?
Wei Yan-ho, who was about to quietly get up from the roof, stopped when he saw the back of someone approaching the commotion.
"Eh?"
That back looks familiar.
The man who approached the troublemakers spoke in a polite tone.
"…Sir, you can't cause trouble here."
"Hey! This is urgent…"
The man with the fierce expression who was trying to cut in line shrank back and lowered his head when he saw who was approaching.
Fierce expressions are relative, after all.
The expression they thought was fierce was like a cute child compared to the man now in front of them.
The man's eyebrows twitched as he pointed toward the back.
"Please go to the back."
"Yes."
"If you just line up properly, everyone can receive treatment. However, anyone who cuts in line or causes trouble for others will immediately be moved to the very back."
When the man spoke while breathing heavily through his nose, the surrounding patients clapped and cheered.
Wei Yan-ho could only admire the scene.
The person who had instantly subdued the troublemakers was someone he had seen before.
Wei Yan-ho jumped down from the roof and approached the man.
"Did you end up working here?"
The man who spotted Wei Yan-ho flinched and bowed at a right angle.
"Hello."
"Yeah, long time no see."
The man was Jwa-geol, who had caused trouble at the Sacred Hand Hall before. He was from the Black Spider Gang and had bothered Jin So-ah and Jin Ye-ran. Why had he come to work here?
"How did you end up here?"
Jwa-geol smiled awkwardly.
"When you have no way to make a living, what choice is there? I applied to be a servant, but the manager spotted me and asked me to supervise the servants. Sometimes when things like this happen, I step forward to handle it."
"Oh!"
Wei Yan-ho nodded.
Since he was a kind-hearted person, he seemed like he would do well at such work.
"But doesn't So-ah dislike it?"
"The Hall Master said that people can always get food stains on their clothes, but you can wash the stains and make them clean again."
"…What does that mean?"
"Since I lived dirty, I should reform myself."
"Why didn't he just say that instead of being so complicated?"
"Educated people are like that…"
Seeing Jwa-geol laugh sheepishly, Wei Yan-ho felt better too.
"Is the work manageable?"
"Sir, is there anyone who does underworld work because they like it? I worked in such places because I had no education and could only do physical labor. If I can earn money using my body, I'd like to do good work. Fortunately, the manager understands my heart well, so I'm working under better conditions than before. Thanks to that, my wife nags me much less too."
"That's fortunate."
"Sir, you… Ah! You there! I told you not to cut in line! Go to the very back! You! You there looking elsewhere! Can't you hear me?"
Wei Yan-ho patted Jwa-geol on the back.
"Please keep up the good work."
"Yes, sir."
Wei Yan-ho nodded as he watched Jwa-geol rush toward the people, then looked around.
'This place is stable now.'
That meant Wei Yan-ho was no longer needed here.
"Then how about over there?"
Wei Yan-ho shuffled out through the main gate.