In a lowly thatched cottage in the Namsan Valley there lived a poor couple, Mr. & Mrs. Huh Saeng. The husband confined himself for seven years and only read books in his cold room... One day his wife, all in tears, said to him: “Look here, my good man! What is the use of all your book reading? I have spent my youth in washing and sewing for other people and yet I have no spare jacket or skirt to wear and I have had no food to eat during the past three days. I am hungry and cold. I can stand it no more!”
Hearing these words, the middle-aged scholar closed his book, rose to his feet, and without saying another word, he went outdoors... Arriving in the heart of the city, he stopped a passing gentleman. “Hello, my friend! Who is the richest man in town?” “Poor countryman! Don't you know Byôn-ssi, the millionaire? His glittering tile-roofed house pierced by twelve gates is just over there.”
Huh Saeng bent his steps to the rich man's house. Having entered the big gate, he flung the guest-room door open and addressed the host: “I need 10,000 yang for capital for my commercial business and I want you to lend me the money.”
“Alright, sir. Where shall I send the money”
“To the Ansông Market in care of a commission merchant.”
Very well, sir. I will draw on Kim, who does the biggest commission business in the Ansông Market. You'll get the money there.”
“Good-bye, sir.”
When Huh Saeng was gone, all the other guests in the room asked Byôn-ssi why he gave so much money to a beggarlike stranger whose family name was unknown to him. But the rich man replied with a triumphant face: “Even though he was in ragged clothes, he spoke clearly to the point without betraying shame or inferiority, unlike common people who want to borrow money for a bad debt. Such a man as he, is either mad or self-confident in doing business. But judging from his dauntless eyes and booming voice, he is an uncommon man with a superhuman brain, worthy of my trust. I know money and I know men. Money often makes a man small, but a man like him makes big money. I am only glad to have helped a big man do big business.”
