***
In the afternoon, the scorching sun blazed down so fiercely it seemed the earth itself was smoldering.
A massive zelkova tree revealed its majestic form before the two men crossing the field.
Its trunk was so thick that three or four grown men would have to join hands to encircle it, and its height seemed at least a dozen zhang tall.
"Guardian Spirit."
Sima Geon gazed at the zelkova tree with a face brimming with nostalgia.
The villagers called the tree at the village entrance by that name, gathering every year to hold rituals and treating it as sacred.
The Guardian Spirit was also the neighborhood kids' playground, their gathering spot. He too had taken every chance to drag his younger siblings there, playing beneath it day after day.
"Whoa! What a huge tree."
Diamond Yaksha Cheol U couldn't hold back his admiration as he stared up at the tree towering into the sky.
Zelkova trees could be found in every village, but he'd never seen one this enormous.
"That's why they call it the Guardian Spirit."
"Oh, the Guardian Spirit! This is the one the captain mentioned sometimes?"
Cheol U looked at the tree with renewed interest and asked.
"Yeah."
Sima Geon grinned brightly and approached the children playing under the tree.
The kids were clearly on guard at the sight of strangers.
"Don't be scared. We're not bad guys."
Sima Geon spoke gently, but the children's wariness didn't ease.
It was because Cheol U, following behind him, looked the very picture of a villain.
Sima Geon smiled at the kids as they edged away from him bit by bit.
"He might look scary, but he's not a bad guy. Well, he can get fierce like a bear sometimes."
At the word "bear," the children widened their eyes and scrutinized Cheol U, only to look even more terrified.
Sima Geon inwardly scolded himself for saying something unnecessary and asked in the gentlest voice he could muster.
"You kids are from Peach Blossom Village, right?"
"You know our village?"
The biggest boy among them asked. His eyes were still wary.
"Of course. This is Peach Blossom Village's Guardian Spirit. I used to live here when I was a kid."
"Ah!"
The children seemed a bit relieved that the stranger not only knew the village name but also that the tree was their Guardian Spirit.
As the mood lightened slightly, Sima Geon quickly pressed on with his questions.
"There's a small pond to the north of the village, right?"
"Yes."
"And a thatched hut a little ways to the left of that pond. Well, it might not be thatched anymore."
"That's right."
The boy nodded vigorously.
"That's my house."
"Really?"
One of the kids they'd been talking to widened his eyes in surprise.
"Yeah, really."
It was right then. The little girl who had been clutching the boy's sleeve piped up in a sharp voice.
"Don't lie."
"Lie?"
"That's Grandma Ado's place. Grandma Ado doesn't have a dad or a brother."
"Could be an uncle."
The boy lightly swatted the girl's arm. She shook her head firmly.
"Never heard anything about an uncle. This guy's lying. Let's go."
The girl glared at Sima Geon with deep suspicion and tugged the boy's arm.
The boy got dragged along in a daze. The other kids, who had been watching anxiously, turned and fled as well.
Sima Geon couldn't grab them. A foreboding thought struck him: the house by the pond, his childhood home, might no longer have any family.
Moments later, Sima Geon hurriedly set off in the direction the children had vanished.
"Whew! So sweet, really sweet. Now I get why they call it Peach Blossom Village, Captain."
Cheol U spat out the peach pit and reached for another.
True to its name, peach trees were everywhere around the village, each laden with plump peaches ripe for harvest.
Cheol U rubbed the peach in his hand on his sleeve and held it out.
"Try one, Captain."
"No thanks."
"Ah, sorry."
Seeing Sima Geon's grim expression, Cheol U sheepishly lowered his hand. But he quickly glanced around and took a bite anyway.
"Mmm!"
As Cheol U savored the burst of fragrant juice in his mouth, Sima Geon's steps quickened.
Upon reaching the pond, Sima Geon caught his breath and slowly turned his head.
A dilapidated thatched hut.
The house of his dreams.
It's just as I remember.
Seeing his childhood home unchanged from memory brought a smile to his lips.
"This the place?"
Cheol U wiped his mouth and asked.
"Yeah."
Sima Geon nodded and strode toward the house without hesitation.
"Who goes there?"
A gruff voice called from behind, making Sima Geon turn.
A middle-aged man was staring at him with cold eyes.
Villagers began gathering behind the man, their numbers quickly surpassing ten.
Sima Geon spotted the little girl clutching the man's robe hem and understood at once. She'd run to the adults claiming suspicious men were chasing them.
"This is Grandma Ado's place. What do you want here?"
The middle-aged man spoke in a threatening tone. He refrained from rudeness only because of Cheol U's fearsome look as he munched a peach behind Sima Geon; otherwise, he'd have been ready to throw punches.
"It's not like that, this place is..."
As Sima Geon tried to clear up the misunderstanding, he trailed off, studying the man's face closely.
"Village Head Jang... Uncle Jang?"
At Sima Geon's greeting, Jang Lok blinked in confusion.
"Jang from the village head's house, right?"
"Y-Yes, but who might you be..."
As Jang Lok answered cautiously, Sima Geon rushed forward and seized both his hands.
"Uncle, it's me. Sima Geon, who used to live here."
Jang Lok tried to pull his arms free but couldn't budge; his face showed clear discomfort.
"Sima... Geon? Who's th..."
Suddenly recalling something, Jang Lok's eyes widened like saucers.
"S-Sima Geon? The little kid from back then?"
"That's right. It's me, Uncle."
"No way!"
Sima Geon swept back the hair covering his forehead for the stunned Jang Lok.
"My God!"
Spotting the small lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, Jang Lok clapped a hand over his mouth in shock.
"Remember now?"
Sima Geon's voice rose naturally.
"That scar... Uk left it on you with a rock when you were kids..."
"Yes. You remember. After losing the fight, that punk bashed me with a stone out of nowhere."
"Right, that's it. So you're really the boy who left with the escort agency twelve years ago and went missing?"
Jang Lok stammered, his face a mix of disbelief and joy.
"I was on that Silver Star Escort Agency job for Master Gok Ja Yu. You tried to talk me out of it several times, saying it was dangerous, Uncle."
Jang Lok pulled Sima Geon into a fierce embrace.
"You rascal! Where have you been all this time? What on earth happened?"
Sima Geon said nothing, just hugged him back tightly.
The sudden turn of events left Jang Lok's daughter Jang Min—who had been glaring daggers from behind her father—and the villagers who had rushed over believing the kids utterly bewildered.
"You're really Geon?"
A middle-aged man who looked about Jang Lok's age asked in a trembling voice.
Sima Geon patted Jang Lok's back, glanced at the man, and nodded vigorously.
"Yes. You've gotten on in years too, Uncle."
"You remember me."
Wang Gae said, his eyes reddening.
"How could I forget you all? I remember every blade of grass here, every single rock."
Sima Geon's eyes were already moist as he looked at the gathered villagers and scanned his surroundings.
"Uncle So Heung?"
Sima Geon asked, startled.
"Yeah. Four or five years ago, I think."
Jang Lok tilted his head, but Wang Gae shook his in disbelief.
"Four or five? It's been exactly six years this year."
"Heh! Already? Time flies."
Jang Lok let out a hollow laugh.
"When you vanished like that, your family was out of their minds. It was heartbreaking to watch. But they never lost hope, insisting you'd come back for sure."
"Then why did they leave for So Heung?"
Sima Geon asked, his voice full of worry.
If the family who believed their missing eldest would return had abandoned their hometown, there had to be a serious reason.
"The youngest got really sick."
"The youngest... You mean Jin-a?"
He thought of his baby sister, whom he loved more than his own eyes. The four-year-old with braids swinging as she chased after him.
"Yeah. She was always healthy, but suddenly she fell ill. After she turned eight, she started weakening noticeably and just pined away. Your family, and the whole village too, tried everything to figure out what was wrong, but nothing worked. We even sought out renowned physicians, but none could diagnose her."
"So they moved to So Heung."
"Exactly. Figured a big city would have better doctors than this backwater. And the medicine wasn't cheap. They bought every good remedy out there, and the costs were insane. They sold the cherished ox, even the house eventually. Sold everything they could, but it still wasn't enough. And in a rural place like this, farming's the only income, barely enough to fill your belly, let alone make real money."
The more Wang Gae explained, the more Sima Geon's heart ached imagining his family's desperate life.
Seeing Sima Geon struggle to hold back his grief, Wang Gae and all the villagers looked on with pity.
After composing himself, Sima Geon gave a faint smile to the worried villagers watching him.
"I'm fine. My family will be too. Don't worry. I'll save Jin-a, no matter what. I'll spend a fortune if I have to—thousands of gold taels. I'll cure her. And I'll make up for all the filial piety I owe. Our mother, who raised us four siblings alone through all the hardship. I'll make sure she lives better than anyone."
Sima Geon smiled brightly, vowing not to the villagers, but to himself.
"Geon."
Jang Lok called him in a subdued voice, thick with sorrow and pity.
Sima Geon's heart sank.
Jang Lok's expression was deeply troubled.
"What? Is there something else I should know?"
Sima Geon forced a bright tone to shake off the dread.
"..."
Jang Lok hesitated, unable to speak. Sima Geon grabbed his arm.
"Why make me anxious like this?"
"Well..."
"Tell me. What is it?"
Sima Geon's face was already contorted.
"Your mother..."
Those two words drained the strength from Sima Geon's grip on Jang Lok's arm.
That night, Sima Geon wept and vomited blood in the room Jang Lok had given him.