---

Episode 57: The Fifteen Divine Dragons and the Apostle Prince (1)

Bright Flower Pavilion (formerly High Demon Pavilion) was an establishment that would not have been strange if it disappeared from Dongting Lake at any time.

There were no courtesans, and the building was old, so it had been a long time since customers came. But suddenly a new young owner appeared, changed the name to Bright Flower Pavilion, and customers started flocking in.

“See, it’s going better than expected?”

“I was really surprised. I didn’t think it would be this much.”

“So do I.”

Jin Myeong answered honestly.

“Yes? Weren’t you sure it would work out?”

“How can you be so sure of something like this? Even though it’s not like it’s a tavern, it’s a tavern that doesn’t even look like a tavern.”

A pavilion that doesn’t look like a pavilion. Yang Jeon thought that those words really suited it well.

How many pavilions in the Central Plains can’t hold a courtesan?

“I think it’s time to end the half-price reduction.”

“Then wouldn’t the number of customers decrease?”

“Well, I don’t think so.”

Even though they were unable to hold a courtesan, the number of customers continued to increase. The second and third floors were also opened, and the number of people spending a lot of money to find a quiet place gradually increased.

“That’s really strange. Unlike the first floor, the prices on the upper floors aren’t cheap either.”

“Yeah. Isn’t that weird?”

They can’t even hug the courtesan, they are just talking to her and listening to her performance. Of course, unlike the first floor, it feels like you have a monopoly on the courtesans, but customers didn’t feel the need to spend a lot of money.

“I guess that’s just how it is. I guess it makes me feel better to have someone listen to my story.”

“If that is so, then it must be so.”

Yang Jeon would not have believed Jin Myeong’s words before. But looking at the situation now, everything Jin Myeong said felt like it was correct.

“It’s a bit unfortunate that the fourth and fifth floors aren’t open yet.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

It seems that fifty and one hundred nyang of silver were quite burdensome, so no one easily went up there.

‘The real rich people should come.’

It wasn’t just people with moderate wealth, but people who could be called “golden spoons” or “diamond spoons” in this era had to come.

‘The children of the famous merchants of the Five Great Clans and the entire Central Plains. It would be nice if those people came.’

It was a shame that not a single person of that caliber came during the roughly three months that had passed.

“Let’s not keep all the prices the same as before, but first raise them to a level where we can sell them.”

“Still, it is a loss.”

“If we stop selling at half price right now, we’ll lose customers. We need to maintain a certain number of customers.”

If the fourth and fifth floors are busy with customers, the first floor doesn’t need to have any customers. However, since they could only accept guests up to the third floor, they couldn’t help but feel sorry for even one guest on the first floor. The rumor about Bright Flower Pavilion must continue to spread by utilizing the guests on the first floor.

“Let’s pick four more people, excluding Yuran.”

“We haven’t chosen the owner of the fourth floor yet.”

“Okay. Let’s pick five and spread the word.”

Among those five, Yuran, the owner of the fifth floor, will most likely be included.

“We should at least have a popularity vote.”

“Yes?”

“I’m just asking the guests to pick the best one.”

It has already been a hundred days since the tavern was started under the name of Bright Flower Pavilion. Now there will be some courtesans who are popular with the guests.

“This is the ranking of the courtesans chosen by customers.”

“It’s true that Yuran is the most popular.”

And about ten days later, Yang Jeon brought Jin Myeong the ranking of the courtesans chosen by the guests. And actually, Yuran was in charge of that job.

“I feel like I need to provide some protection.”

“From what?”

“Well, from other men?”

Although Yuran was popular for her beautiful appearance and refreshing aura, there seemed to be something about her that stimulated people’s desire to protect her.

“Isn’t that why you brought her here, Young Master?”

“No.”

“Yes?”

“I just brought her here because I felt sorry for her?”

Jin Myeong felt no desire to protect Yuran.

“But why did you bring her here for five nyang?”

“Really? Come to think of it, I gave you a lot?”

It’s not like Jin Myeong felt anything for Yuran either. What would Yuran have felt, whose face was swollen here and there from being beaten by her father and who was so skinny from not being able to eat properly?

“It just felt like it had to be done.”

When he brought Yuran, he paid five nyang of silver, but when he brought the others, he paid one nyang of silver.

“Is there any foretelling of the future?”

“Yes? Really?”

It was just a joke, but Yang Jeon somehow felt that it could be true.

In reality, isn’t there anything that Jin Myeong does that can be said to have failed?

From meeting the Vice Sect Leader to meeting the Elders.

“Don’t take jokes too seriously.”

Jin Myeong shook his head while looking at Yang Jeon with a serious expression. In reality, the only thing he gained from using his knowledge of novels was martial arts.

Other than that, isn’t it that you’re not getting any help at all because it’s content that isn’t in the novel?

The woman named Yuran never appeared in the novel either.

“There are five of them.”

Jin Myeong looked at the names of the five most popular courtesans.

“We need to give them names too.”

“Huh? You’re giving it a name?”

“It’s like a nickname. You have to make it a topic of conversation.”

Yang Jeon still had an expression on his face that said he didn’t understand. He couldn’t help but understand why a courtesan would be given a nickname.

“Is that so?”

“And since Yuran is the representative courtesan, let’s give her the name Myeonghwa (Bright Flower).”

“This is Myeonghwa Yuran, the representative courtesan of Bright Flower Pavilion.”

“…It’s not fun, so don’t do that.”

Jin Myeong looked at Yang Jeon, who had a dissatisfied expression on his face.

“Now you know what to do, right?”

“Why don’t you just go to the Hao Clan?”

“That’s right. Ask Oh Seon-ha to spread the word about the Five Flowers.”

“All right.”

Indeed, the Hao Clan’s power was tremendous. It was only yesterday that Jin Myeong made the story about the Five Flowers of Bright Flower Pavilion, but already the rumor has started to spread in Dongting Lake.

In fact, people started to flock to see those Five Flowers.

“From now on, don’t show yourself.”

But the more people gathered, the more Jin Myeong hid the five of them. It meant that in order to see even one of the five, one had to pay at least fifty nyang.

“Fifty nyang.”

“It seems a bit wasteful to spend fifty nyang just on drinking alcohol.”

“You can just drink alcohol with fifty nyang.”

How could it not be a pity?

“That’s right.”

Jin Myeong chuckled at Yang Jeon’s words as he listened to the guests’ conversation.

“There’s a saying: People who check the price of something don’t have the ability to buy it.”

“Huh? How can you buy something without looking at its price?”

“For the truly rich, the price of an item doesn’t matter. To them, fifty nyang or a hundred nyang is the same anyway.”

Yang Jeon, who was listening to Jin Myeong’s words, nodded and smiled. It wasn’t because he fully understood Jin Myeong’s words. It was because of the people who opened the door and came in.

“The people you have been waiting for have finally arrived.”

“Yeah. You finally got here.”

Five young men enter. Their clothes were so ornate that anyone who saw them could tell that they were children of noble families.

“Come on in. This place is quite famous in Dongting Lake these days.”

“Hmm. It seems like there are quite a lot of people.”

Unlike the young man who confidently took the lead, the other four men did not look happy.

“Don’t worry. The first floor is like this, but it gets much quieter as you go up.”

The rest of the young men reluctantly nodded their heads at the words of the young man standing at the very front, Seomun Jun-cheok.

“Brother Seomun, is this place really okay? I heard it’s pretty expensive.”

“Brother Namgung, are you worried about this Seomun Jun-cheok? I appreciate your concern, but since we’ve become close, please let me get away with this much.”

A smile appeared on Jin Myeong’s lips as he listened to Seomun Jun-cheok’s chattering words.

‘You’re finally here.’

Although he is not a member of the Five Great Clans, Seomun Jun-cheok is the eldest son of the Seomun Family who is eyeing the Five Great Clans. And he came here leading the successors of the other Five Great Clans.

‘Namgung Jin, Peng Ho-gun, Dang Gi, Jegal Ji-hwan. All the people from the Five Great Clans who entered the Fifteen Divine Dragons have gathered here.’

Except for Mo Yong-cheong, who is a woman.

“Welcome!”

After receiving Jin Myeong’s nod, the waiter immediately ran towards them.

“It’s five. Can we go to the fifth floor?”

“If you want to go to the fifth floor, it will cost 500 nyang. Is that possible?”

Even Seomun Jun-cheok couldn’t help but flinch at the mention of five hundred nyang.

“Brother Seomun, it seems more expensive than I thought.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I’ve come to meet Namgung hyung like this, so I can do this much.”

Seomun Jun-cheok was showing off by taking money out of his pocket, but his face was convulsing.

“The fifth floor is short on space, so how about going to the fourth floor? It will cost you two hundred and fifty nyang, but I will only accept two hundred nyang.”

Yang Jeon approached Seomun Jun-cheok.

“Hmm.”

Seomun Jun-cheok couldn’t answer easily. Unlike the Seomun Noble Clan, who was not included in the Five Great Clans, the four behind him were all from the Five Great Clans. If he followed Yang Jeon’s words and went up to the fourth floor, it seemed like they would ignore him and say that the Seomun Noble Clan was just that level.

“That doesn’t sound so bad. Seomun hyung, let’s do that.”

Namgung Jin’s voice came to Seomun Jun-cheok’s ears as he was thinking.

“It’s a bit unfortunate, but if Namgung hyung says to do that, then there’s nothing I can do.”

It seems that among them, Namgung Jin was the most influential, and the others who had been looking dissatisfied with Yang Jeon’s words nodded in agreement.

“They say the fifth floor is narrow, so wouldn’t it be better to play in a wider space?”

As if Namgung Jin’s words were correct, the other four nodded as if they would eventually follow his words.

“Is this the place that’s so famous these days?”

It was when Yang Jeon was about to take them to the fourth floor.

The door opened and a young man and a middle-aged man appeared.

‘That guy shows up here? This is going to be fun.’

A smile spread across Jin Myeong’s lips when he saw the young man.

The Apostle Young Master, Sima Ji. The grandson of Sima Do-sang, the Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance, has appeared.

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Hmm. It doesn’t look that great, does it?”

“There must be a reason why it’s famous.”

“But you can’t touch a courtesan here, right? What happens if you do?”

Sima Ji looked at the middle-aged Blood Demon Lord with a grin.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just leave quietly if possible?”

“Why has the world’s greatest Blood Demon Lord become so fearful?”

“……”

The Blood Demon Lord had to somehow swallow the words, “It’s because of you.”

If it weren’t for the fact that the Unorthodox Alliance Leader was protecting the Apostle Young Master whom he cherished, there would be no need to be so careful.

“Hey.”

Instead of waiting for the Blood Demon Lord’s answer, Sima Ji called someone.

“Hey, you there! Yeah. You! Foreigner (Saek-mok-in)!”

The person Sima Ji pointed out was Jin Myeong, who had been secretly observing the movements of the guests. He managed to find Jin Myeong among the guests.

“I still don’t like it. Why is a person like a Foreigner here?”

Sima Ji spat on the floor and gestured toward Jin Myeong.

“Can you come here and clean this for me?”

At Sima Ji’s words, Jin Myeong smiled and started to walk towards him.

---