HOMA18CL 02
Episode 2: To London with a Letter of Recommendation!
Samuel Scott asked again.
“Theo? What are you talking about? That you know the cure for scurvy?”
Tae-oh hesitated about how to answer. He couldn’t very well say he knew the cure from the modern era.
“I heard it from a reliable sailor who knows the cure for sure. He said that eating sour fruits like lemons and oranges, as well as vegetables and seaweed, not only prevents it but also easily cures it.”
“That terrifying disease can be cured with just that?”
“Yes! He says it can definitely be cured. He explained that the disease occurs after about three months without eating fresh fruits or vegetables. That’s why it hardly ever occurs on land. He said it’s absolutely not a curse of the sea. He is a truly trustworthy person.”
“…”
Of course, even at that time, eating fresh meat, especially the blood-dripping kind, was known to help with scurvy to some extent, but eating land meat during a sea voyage lasting several months or years was nearly impossible in this era without refrigeration. At best, it was salted meat, but since scurvy could only be prevented by eating fresh vegetables, fruits, or fresh meat, salted meat and fish were not effective treatments.
“Sir, think about it. The disease hardly ever occurred during short voyages of a month or two, right? That sailor said he and his crew never get scurvy.”
“Well, I don’t know.”
“Sir. There is a terrible shortage of sugar right now, leading to extreme scarcity. This is a golden opportunity to make a fortune just by bringing sugar from Jamaica, a British colony. Could you please trust me and invest just once? Please?”
“…”
Samuel Scott, who pondered for a long time, asked, “Can scurvy truly be cured that way?”
Tae-oh answered confidently.
“Yes! He said to consume plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables before setting sail and load some onto the ship. And it takes two months at most to reach Jamaica. By consuming fresh fruits and vegetables immediately upon arrival in Jamaica, there will be no problem on the way back either. All the ships that had scurvy problems this time were ships that had been out at sea for more than five months, right?”
“…Hmm. Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
Samuel, who was in serious financial difficulty because he couldn’t launch his trading ships, was already contemplating taking a risk.
Tae-oh, reading the change in his expression, seized the opportunity and pressed on.
“Sir! Right now, everywhere is in a frenzy because they can’t get sugar. On the other hand, mountains of unsold sugar must be piling up at the port in Jamaica. Let’s first load the ship with textiles, furniture, and various tools that can only be made in British factories and sail to Jamaica. Such necessities will be scarce there since ships haven’t been coming in. If we sell those things there for a large profit and then buy sugar at a low price to bring back to England, we can make an enormous amount of money.”
Samuel raised his head, surprised.
“Theo… Were you always such a smart young man? You sound so articulate, like an experienced merchant?”
The level of education for the lower classes in this era was generally poor. Many people couldn’t read or even do simple math. Theo Sanderson, who was born and raised in the slums, was merely an ignorant porter.
Thus, Samuel couldn’t help but be surprised to hear Theo speak so fluently about international trade.
“Sir. My father often told me when he was alive that if I ever needed great help, I should go find you. He said you would help me at least once.”
Samuel had nearly drowned at sea in his youth. He was saved by Theo Sanderson’s father at that time.
“Hmm… Yes, that’s right.”
“Could I use that one chance for this endeavor? I won’t ask for a second time. Please trust me and help me this one time.”
Samuel, after deep consideration, nodded decisively.
“Alright. Fine! I’ll take a gamble. I will lend you a small trading vessel. There are sailors who are willing to risk their lives to go, so that’s not a problem. If you succeed as you say, I will give you half of the net profit. Work hard.”
“Thank you, thank you, Sir! You will not be disappointed.”
**
Tae-oh’s operation to bring sugar from Jamaica proceeded rapidly with Samuel Scott’s help.
As soon as they prepared the ship and recruited a captain and crew, they headed to Jamaica and successfully brought the sugar back to England.
When the rumor spread that black sugar had been brought back from Jamaica, hundreds of merchants lined up at the Bristol harbor.
With a premium attached for being sugar obtained by risking their lives, the price literally became whatever they named.
One wealthy noble, whose daughter’s wedding was imminent, purchased the last remaining barrel of black sugar for over 20 times the price. This was because sugar dishes and decorations at a wedding reception were an indispensable way to flaunt the family’s wealth and prosperity at the time.
.
Having received half of the profits from Samuel Scott, Tae-oh purchased a large quantity of goods to sell to colonial settlers and headed back to Jamaica, the British colony in the Caribbean.
The cloth, textiles, furniture, and various household items brought from England sold like hotcakes in Jamaica.
Tae-oh invested all the money he received from Samuel and all the money he earned in Jamaica to purchase thirty barrels of black sugar.
In this way, Tae-oh made two round trips to Jamaica and quickly became a nouveau riche.
‘This is more fun than I thought! Maybe it’s because this society’s infrastructure and information are so rudimentary, but making money is really nothing. Wow… I didn’t know it was this easy to make money, and I just lived a bottom-tier life in my past life? Hahaha. Good! If I work hard for just one more year, I can live a truly comfortable life in a nice mansion with servants. I’ll make a huge amount of money, live comfortably, and then figure out how to return to the future.’
Tae-oh set aside some of the money he earned to buy a house and land for his stepmother and stepsiblings, and he himself acquired a decent mansion.
He then purchased a small trading vessel and embarked on his third voyage.
As he had invested heavily, Tae-oh was aiming for a different level of profit this time.
‘This time, it’s fifty barrels of sugar. Since sugar is still desperately scarce in the market, if I bring that back, I can become the wealthiest person in Bristol. Hahaha.’
However, the joy was short-lived.
The seemingly unsophisticated 18th-century world was not so easy to deal with.
While heavily loaded with sugar in Jamaica and crossing the Atlantic, they encountered a notorious pirate ship.
The ship’s captain and many sailors were brutally murdered by the pirates, and only Tae-oh and a few laborers barely survived, abandoned on an uninhabited island.
Fortunately, they were rescued by a passing warship and were able to return to England, but they were robbed of all their silver coins and sugar, returning empty-handed.
Even after returning home, Tae-oh was tormented by nightmares every night.
The pirates had hung the resisting captain and crew from the stern, disemboweled them, and set them on fire.
With the memory of the horrific slaughter he had witnessed firsthand, Tae-oh felt he could never set sail again, not even for a billion pounds.
‘This might be the Age of Exploration, but between the cruel pirates and accidents at sea, I can’t do this anymore. I need to quickly find another business with the little money I have left.’
However, no suitable business caught his eye no matter where he looked.
Tae-oh knew better than anyone that the triangular trade between Africa, Europe, and the Americas, centered around Black slaves, was the business that raked in money at the time.
However, since the fear of sailing had become overwhelming, he was too hesitant to enter the trade directly.
And if he tried to indirectly operate as a shipowner by purchasing vessels, he didn’t have enough money left, making that difficult as well.
‘Sigh—What can I do like this? Does this mean I can’t make money even with knowledge of the future?’
Tae-oh couldn’t help but sigh.
.
The mixed feelings of confusion and wonder after entering his past life were brief. As life increasingly became a reality, he felt the pressure of life, not unlike the modern era.
He thought he could easily make money by utilizing a bit of future knowledge, but having actually entered and lived as a lower-class person in the 18th century, he felt utterly lost, like being lost in a vast, dense forest.
‘I only remember the major events that were recorded in history books. But the gaps between those events are too big. Making money by using those events is not as easy as it sounds.’
Moreover, in a modern society where transport infrastructure, networks, and a free-market economy had not yet been established, every activity was blocked, which was utterly frustrating.
As his remaining money rapidly dwindled, Tae-oh grew increasingly anxious.
Pondering how to live in the reality that had become his past life, wandering the streets every day, became his routine.
‘This society is much worse than what I saw in movies or US TV shows. There’s nothing. It’s called business, but it’s the perfect environment to fail at anything you try.’
The consumer population itself was insufficient, and above all, the phenomenon of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer based on class was too stark.
In a society where the common people had virtually no spending power, typical businesses fundamentally could not make big money due to the economic structure.
In the end, there seemed to be no sharp means of making money other than the life-risking trade business.
Then,
“Jane… what are you going to do now?”
As Tae-oh walked along, deep in thought, he overheard a conversation between a middle-aged woman and a young woman.
They appeared to be mother and daughter.
The middle-aged woman’s voice was calm, but somehow agitated.
Tae-oh noticed the middle-aged woman’s thin lips in a quick glimpse of her profile.
‘A psychological state of anger…?’
When people feel anger, they typically first exhibit a thinning of the lips. Catching this, Tae-oh easily recognized that the middle-aged woman was in a state of initial anger.
Many psychologists are skeptical about reading emotions from facial expressions. They believe that a facial expression is just one factor to consider, and that the equation, ‘expression equals human emotion,’ is not valid.
However, as if scoffing at these criticisms from psychologists, AI-driven facial emotion recognition programs are reaching the stage of commercialization, showing considerable accuracy. They have successfully achieved a high level of emotion identification by training on the expressions of millions of people.
Tae-oh possessed an astonishing ability to perceive emotions that surpassed that of AI. Through innate observation skills and research, he could determine emotions with nearly 100% accuracy just by changes in facial expressions or gestures.
“…What are you talking about?”
“You’ve ruined your third social season. Marriage is practically out of the question. If you can’t marry and grow old as a spinster, it will affect the marriages of your brother and sisters. You will become a great shame to our family. Even Eliza, who is not as good as you, got married right away. How could you let yourself get into this situation? I am truly heartbroken…”
Being a ‘shame to the family’ for not being able to marry. Although the times were different, it was harsh to hear.
Curiosity piqued, Tae-oh quickly examined the young woman’s face.
Her complexion was dark with deep worry, but her well-balanced physique, fair skin, and sharp features were impressive.
‘Hmm… I don’t know the other circumstances or her personality, but based on her attire, she seems to be from a well-off family, and her looks are quite good. If a lady like her had registered with our marriage information company, she would have received favorable treatment…’
Suddenly, Tae-oh recalled a US TV series that sharply criticized the modern society’s custom of staking everything on marriage. It was a drama he had watched with great interest as a current matching manager.
Seeing such a scene with his own eyes made him realize that he truly was in 18th-century English society.
Tae-oh shook his head, lost in thought.
‘Oh, my! What am I doing right now? This is no time to be distracted by such trivial conversations. I should hurry up and find a business opportunity.’
.
◈ One month later, Hampstead, London.
Tae-oh sold the mansion he had bought in Bristol and moved to Hampstead, a quiet village near the Soho district of London.
He had concluded that there was no business he could do in Bristol. Therefore, he decided to move to London, the center of England, and plan a business.
Hampstead, where Tae-oh moved, was a quiet village located in North London, famous as an affluent neighborhood with beautiful scenery and good air quality. Because of this, many famous writers and artists frequented the area for their work.
The house Tae-oh rented was a quite luxurious residence with a yearly rent of 1,000 pounds (approximately 200 million KRW). He spent about 500 pounds (approximately 100 million KRW) on various items and a carriage.
He was a little anxious about his rapidly dwindling funds, but he considered it a necessary investment for his business.
‘In an era like this, where a proper capitalist economic order has not yet been fully established, business is ultimately limited to the classes who can afford to live comfortably. Therefore, I must be able to get as close to them as possible.’
To do this, he needed to have housing and clothing that were at least similar to the upper class. In this era, one’s residence and attire were essentially a measure of their social standing.
.
Clop. Clop.
Tae-oh was sitting in a carriage heading towards the Soho district of London.
In his hand was a letter of recommendation written by Admiral Matthew Bentham.
‘The Intelligence Club…’
Admiral Matthew Bentham was the captain in charge of the warship that rescued Tae-oh from the uninhabited island.
Tae-oh and Admiral Bentham often shared meals and had many conversations, and the Admiral seemed greatly surprised by Tae-oh’s extensive knowledge each time.
It was understandable, as Tae-oh’s statements, which were fully aware of historical events and the flow of world affairs, could only be perceived as extraordinary insight by Admiral Bentham.
A month later, on the day Tae-oh disembarked at Bristol harbor, Admiral Bentham personally handed him a letter of recommendation.
“Mr. Sanderson, if you ever go to London, please stop by a club called Intelligence. I think you will be a much-needed person there.”
It was a club he wasn’t particularly interested in, but the name that came out of the Admiral’s mouth immediately piqued Tae-oh’s attention.
“The people who founded this club are… I don’t know if you’ve heard of them, but they are the esteemed sociologist Adam Smith and the poet Samuel Johnson. They founded the club about ten years ago, and thanks to their reputation, it is now a place where a large number of the most prominent intellectuals in England, regardless of their status, gather.”
Adam Smith, the father of classical economics who wrote The Wealth of Nations, and Samuel Johnson, who compiled England’s modern English dictionary.
They were the first historically famous figures he had heard of since entering his past life.
Clop. Clop.
Tae-oh was currently heading straight to that ‘Intelligence Club’.
In fact, he was only curious about the famous historical figures when he received the letter of recommendation from the Admiral, and he himself never expected to actually visit the club.
However, the moment he decided to make money in London, the first thing that came to mind was Admiral Matthew Bentham’s letter of recommendation.
In a business targeting the upper class and the emerging capitalists, good connections were essential, and it was impossible for the porter Theo Sanderson to have any proper connections.
Tae-oh planned to build strong relationships with many intellectuals in London through the club recommended by Admiral Bentham.
And through his connections with them, he also planned to continue his interactions with the upper class.
‘It’s a good thing I kept this letter of recommendation safe. It would have been a disaster if I had just thrown it away.’
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