"I'm back."
When Jin Cheong-un opened the door and stepped inside, Jeong So-so flinched and turned her head.
"Th-that was fast."
She would not meet his eyes, and when he took a closer look, they were faintly red. Before long, she composed her expression into something resolute and spoke.
"I've cleaned up most of it. If we just take care of the large debris......"
"Right, let's do it together. Finish up and get some rest."
Jin Cheong-un put on his most visibly reluctant expression and began lazily clearing debris.
Jeong So-so, quietly sweeping the floor, spoke up.
"What...... should we do now?"
"About what?"
"The Black Tiger Gang is close with the local officials. Now that you've handed them over to the government office, they'll find out about this soon enough, and they won't let it go......"
Jin Cheong-un answered with disinterest.
"Whether they find out or not, it'll be the same."
"What?"
"From what I gather, they've set their sights on Jeong Manor. In that case, no matter how today had gone, it was never going to end well."
Jin Cheong-un flung a large plank of wood over his shoulder and continued.
"Whether I buried the men who came today where no one would find them, or let them leave peacefully with a nice talking-to. They'll probably keep pushing until they take the estate, even if you pay every last coin of the debt."
"......"
Jeong So-so bit her lip.
If so, there was no escape no matter what she did.
'If that's the case......'
Jeong So-so stared at Jin Cheong-un's back as he crouched, clearing debris.
And she spoke in the most even voice she could manage.
"Then please leave Yinghua Village right away, Uncle."
Jin Cheong-un stopped what he was doing and turned his head.
Jeong So-so continued, her voice calm.
"What they're after is Jeong Manor. If you leave, they won't bother chasing you over this."
The air went still.
Before they knew it, the sunset had faded and the sky was darkening.
Jin Cheong-un regarded Jeong So-so in silence, then tossed out a single remark.
"Is this how you're trying to kick out the house's owner?"
"......What?"
"Nice try. But not a chance."
"N-no! That's not what I meant!"
"Either way, I'm not going. Actually, I can't go. Do you know how much money I poured into this estate?! Do you know what kind of money that was?!"
After a stunned pause, Jeong So-so let out a deep sigh.
"There have been a lot of disturbing rumors about the Black Tiger Gang lately. No matter how important money is, it's not more important than your life."
"Disturbing rumors?"
Jeong So-so nodded, her expression guarded.
"Things like a gang member quietly killing someone and no one finding out, or kidnapping someone's family to blackmail them......"
"Hm."
"If this were before, I would have said let's try to work things out. The Black Tiger Gang used to settle things amicably, in a way you wouldn't expect from the underworld. But even then, those who crossed them were the exception...... and how do you think it is now?"
Just then, Jin Cheong-un cut in.
"Then what about you two?"
"What?"
"If anyone should be running, should it not be you and your brother first?"
"I-I have to protect the house. Unlike you, Uncle, I have nowhere else to go."
Nowhere else to go.
That was much the same for him, though.
"Why are you so attached to this estate?"
"Because it's the home I've lived in my whole life."
"So what?"
"What?"
"At your age, you should be running away from home on a whim, making bad friends on the outside, causing trouble, and even getting hauled in by the constables once in a while on the way to becoming an adult. Tsk tsk tsk!"
What kind of path to adulthood is that?
While Jeong So-so was thrown off balance, Jin Cheong-un said flatly.
"Right, I'm sure you have your reasons too. Fine, I hear you."
"Then please leave first thing tomorrow morning. Don't worry about what happens after."
Jin Cheong-un tilted his head.
"I never said I was leaving."
"......You're not going to leave?"
"What I'm saying is, stop worrying and just hurry up and clean this. Good grief, why is there so much?"
His reaction was so carefree that Jeong So-so's voice shot up for a moment.
"Uncle! I'm not saying this as a joke! You have no reason to help us—if you stay here for no good reason, you'll be the one who pays for it!"
That was when.
"Student."
"......?"
"Not uncle. Master."
An air of gravity she had never seen before emanated from Jin Cheong-un. Jeong So-so was struck speechless.
"I-I...... never agreed to that."
"I decided it."
"Th-that doesn't even make......"
"You wouldn't know, but the Blue Cloud Martial Arts School has always been like this."
Jin Cheong-un smirked.
"I'm new to being a master too, but at the very least, I know a master can't abandon his students. Leave the rest to the adults and stop worrying."
Why.
Something surged up inside her, suddenly and all at once. Before she could swallow it down, Jeong So-so choked out her next words.
"You said you were hurt...... You said you fought so hard just to retire......"
Jin Cheong-un heaved a deep sigh.
"I'm burning up inside too. Burning. I regret this, and it's miserable. What kind of retirement is this—I haven't had a moment's rest...... Ah, heavens above."
He grumbled for a while, then looked at Jeong So-so and cracked a grin.
"But I've decided to become a master, so what am I supposed to do? My student is in trouble. I have to help."
Jeong So-so stared blankly at Jin Cheong-un.
In that moment, the face before her wore the gentlest smile she had ever seen.
"......Um."
Her nose stung out of nowhere, and she bit her lip hard.
She had absolutely no idea what to say, so she simply bowed her head.
"I'm sorry."
"......?"
"I actually wanted to say this first, but I ended up just shouting instead...... What I mean is......"
The words tumbled out, tripping over themselves.
"I didn't want to burden you. But you've been dragged into our family's problems, and the school too—you even said you'd cure my brother—and I can't repay any of it, I just keep needing help...... What I'm trying to say is...... I'm truly sorry. I will repay this kindness someday, no matter what."
Jeong So-so bowed her head again.
Jin Cheong-un gazed at the neat part in her hair for a moment, then chuckled.
"Little thing, already pretending to be a grown-up. Kids shouldn't talk like that."
Jeong So-so raised her head in a daze.
"A k-kid? I'm eighteen."
"That's a kid."
Speechless, Jeong So-so opened and closed her mouth like a fish.
Jin Cheong-un stretched into a long yawn and tapped his lower back.
"When an adult helps you, you just say 'thank you' and leave it at that. Got it? Now get back to cleaning. At this rate we'll be up all night."
Jeong So-so's eyes wavered.
'Master......'
Until now, no one had ever stepped forward for a reason like that.
No—she had never even wished for it.
Nothing in this world comes free.
There is no help without a price.
Behind every kindness lies a calculation.
And even if such a thing existed, it could only happen between family bound by blood. But her own father—the very family she had—had abandoned her.
From the moment she resolved to face this world alone, she had repeated those words to herself, over and over.
And yet.
"......Thank you."
Jeong So-so bowed her head low.
"Thank you for helping us, Master."
So there were adults like this in the world.
A relationship too thin to call a bond, only two days of knowing each other—and those days had not even started well—and still he chose to help. An adult like that.
......A master like that.
"There we go."
To that, Jin Cheong-un simply answered with his usual disinterest.
***
The heart of Yichang County.
Atop a lavish, multi-story tower, Yeop Ji-chang—the Black Tiger Gang Master—took a sip of his drink and spoke.
"Everyone deserves one chance to explain. Let us hear it."
The gang member before him was pressed flat against the floor, drenched in cold sweat.
"W-well, the thing is......"
When the man stammered through his report, Yeop Ji-chang let out a dry laugh.
"A martial arts school master?"
"Yes! He—he appears to be a man around thirty. It seems the Jeong girl brought in a martial artist from somewhere."
"Some stray has wandered in, it seems."
Given the man's age, opening a school in some backwater village—the picture was clear enough.
"So you are telling me four of you were beaten by a nobody like that."
The man flinched and blurted out.
"Th-there is a reason for that!"
"A reason?"
"Did you not give strict orders never to cause a commotion, sir? S-Squad Leader Song was trying his best to avoid a fight when he was caught off guard!"
Song Un-chan, of course, had entertained no such thought. He had picked a fight on impulse and gotten thrashed.
But the man was desperate to say something—anything—so he had thrown it out there.
"He was struck down while trying to follow my orders."
"Y-yes!"
Yeop Ji-chang glanced to the side.
"Steward, it seems my orders were the problem. How have the other districts fared?"
The chief steward, standing at attention beside him, bowed his head and answered.
"Smooth going, save for one or two."
Only then did the man realize his blunder, and his face went ashen.
"G-Gang Mast—!"
CRACK—!
Without warning, the man's head snapped backward.
THUD!
Blood pooled beneath where he fell.
When had it been thrown? In the silence, only the sound of a bloodied cup rolling—clink, clink, clink—continued.
The gang members outside the door entered with practiced ease, dragged the man out, and left.
"Shall I send word to the county magistrate?"
The steward set down a fresh cup and poured.
"No need. I would rather not waste the money to bail them out."
Yeop Ji-chang drained his drink in one gulp and clicked his tongue.
"The locals I inherited when I took over this area are simply not up to standard. This is what happens when the work is this shoddy."
"They did fill the ranks quickly, at least."
Seeing the empty cup, the steward reached for the bottle again.
Yeop Ji-chang waved him off and filled his own cup to the brim.
"When I think about it, that fool was not entirely wrong."
"Sir?"
"Following laws, citing justifications...... Lately I wonder whether I have mistaken myself for one of the righteous. Well? Have I not?"
The steward broke into a cold sweat under Yeop Ji-chang's sardonic gaze.
The words sounded self-deprecating, but given the Gang Master's temperament, they were not to be taken at face value.
"......It is precisely because of your restraint, Gang Master, that we have been able to establish ourselves so quietly."
Yeop Ji-chang chuckled.
"What a grand way to dress up hiding like a coward."
"G-Gang Master."
"Ha ha, the great Yeop Ji-chang has practically become a toothless tiger. Pests like the Golden Palm Sect and the Youth Society keep sniffing around...... and now some outsider has the nerve to lay hands on my men."
The steward swallowed hard.
It was true. After seizing control of Yichang's underworld, Yeop Ji-chang had kept things as quiet as possible.
He charged only half the usual protection fees. He avoided the use of force wherever he could. When he did act, he ensured there was justification.
Whenever his men caused trouble, he had even gone so far as to personally bow his head to local officials and dignitaries.
'Remembering what the Gang Master used to be like...... it is almost miraculous he has endured this long.'
Yeop Ji-chang had once been a master feared for his ruthlessness.
Perhaps his long patience had finally reached its limit.
"Give the order, and...... I shall swiftly clear away anything that has been an irritant."
A brief silence passed.
After rolling the cup back and forth across his palm for a long while, Yeop Ji-chang spoke.
"No need. Something big is on the horizon."
"......"
"As it happens, the Martial Arts Alliance has finished mopping up the war and is starting to poke its nose into various affairs. Best to avoid drawing attention."
The words sounded almost like an excuse he was making to himself.
But the steward exhaled with private relief and spoke.
"We are one step away. Once the current operation is complete, this entire county will be yours."
"......"
"I shall go and finish this personally."
Yeop Ji-chang downed his drink as if he could not be bothered to care anymore.
"Do as you see fit. But that school master fellow seems to have more fire than sense and no qualms about starting fights...... Just make sure there is no commotion."
"No commotion...... Understood."
The steward nodded with a meaningful smile.
Yeop Ji-chang spoke suddenly.
"Where is Pyeong-i right now?"
"The Young Master should be devoting himself to training at the moment."
"That boy, training? He is drinking himself stupid, more likely."
Yeop Ji-chang clicked his tongue lightly and tossed the words out.
"Take him along."
"The Young Master...... sir?"
"Good-for-nothing or not, he is my only son. I cannot let him idle forever. Start him on something simple and see how he does."
As if the Young Master were the type to learn obediently just because he was taught.
Yeop Ji-chang likely considered this a trivial matter and thought nothing of assigning his son. But for the steward, taking the Young Master along on a job that needed to be handled quietly was the last thing he wanted.
"Very well...... I shall take him with me."
But he lacked the nerve to refuse the Gang Master's order.
The steward bowed, already planning to park the Young Master in some drinking house along the way.
"Go."
Yeop Ji-chang waved his hand dismissively and reached for his cup once more, as if he could not be bothered with the matter any longer.