Cho-sam, a native of Yichang, had been the lowest of the low in the Black Tiger Gang.
Originally a beggar, he had fallen in with the local older boys and ended up becoming a gang member almost by accident.
And now, he was leading Jin Cheong-un and the two siblings down a mountain trail.
"I did every odd job there was. Being the youngest, I did everything from menial errands to cleaning out the latrine......"
"I didn't need to know that much."
"S-sorry."
Cho-sam scratched the back of his head.
"But how old are you that you're still the youngest? You look at least thirty."
"Thirty? I don't know exactly, but I'm either fifteen or sixteen."
"Now, now. Lying about your age? You're telling me you're younger than So-so?"
"I-it's the truth."
Cho-sam looked genuinely aggrieved, on the verge of tears.
The expression did seem sincere.
With his massive build and a face like a bear, there had been a slight misunderstanding.
"......When the years come for you, you should at least dodge. Why did you take them head-on like that?"
"Huh?"
"Stay strong."
The trail was quite rough.
It was a shortcut that even locals would rarely take unless they had urgent business.
"So how much farther?"
"I'm sorry. It was years ago, so my memory's a bit hazy......"
Jin Cheong-un sighed and glanced back at the Jeong siblings.
Both wore blank expressions. But Jin Cheong-un could tell that they were not feeling nothing—they were feeling too many things at once and simply didn't know what expression to make.
"Ah, I think that's it."
Past a path strewn with rocks, just as a wide clearing opened up, Cho-sam pointed ahead.
Jeong So-ryong glanced over his shoulder.
"Noona, we're here."
"......"
"Noona?"
After a moment, Jeong So-so drew a deep breath and took a step forward.
"Mm, okay. Let's go."
Fallen leaves and branches had piled up so thickly that anyone passing through without looking closely would have mistaken it for ordinary ground.
But a careful eye could tell. Nature did not produce a terrain like that on its own.
One spot in the overgrown clearing rose in a slight mound.
It was...... a grave.
"......Father."
Jeong So-so parted her trembling lips.
A student of the Blue Cloud Martial Arts School.
Jin Cheong-un's eldest hyung.
And the father of the Jeong siblings—Jeong Baek-heon's burial mound.
***
She still remembered.
Her father's smile, the one he wore no matter what hardship came.
When their mother passed away, when her younger brother fell ill, when they had to sell off the family's possessions and the household grew destitute—her father always smiled and said the same thing.
-Don't worry, So-so. Your father will find a way somehow.
That night had been no different.
A deep night when even the sound of insects was distant and the moonlight was hidden behind clouds.
Rubbing her eyes as she woke, Jeong So-so found her father just about to open the front gate and leave.
-Daddy?
Her father took her hand and held it tight. As though worried his young daughter might catch cold in the night air.
-I hear they've gotten hold of a rare herb that's good for So-ryong's illness. If I go too late, it might be sold, so I need to hurry. I'll be right back.
-I know your good-for-nothing father always fusses over your brother and you must feel left out. When I come home this time, I'll bring that trinket you've been wanting, so wait up for me.
Even then, her father had been smiling.
Like a man who would return.
With warm eyes.
"......"
Jeong So-so quietly opened her eyes.
From behind came Cho-sam's voice.
"A few years ago, a top-grade spiritual medicine came into the gang's possession. This man came to see the Gang Master first thing in the morning to buy it."
"How do you know that?"
"The Chief Steward happened to be away that day, so I was serving the Gang Master his tea."
"You were serving tea?"
"W-well, I do have a bit of a knack for the tea ceremony."
With a build that looked like he'd guzzle liquor by the bowlful, what tea ceremony?
Jin Cheong-un was about to toss in a quip as usual, but a quick glance at his disciples' faces made him close his mouth instead.
"Back then, the Gang Master always demanded a manor or land as collateral before selling anything valuable...... I recall this man put up the manor he owned to take out a debt. He said he was buying it because his child was gravely ill......"
"......"
"After the deal was done, the Gang Master called in several of his men. A-and then......"
Jin Cheong-un closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He didn't need to hear the rest to know what had followed.
"He ordered them to follow quietly...... take back the spiritual medicine, and make sure the man couldn't repay the debt."
The words were as gentle as he could make them, but no one failed to grasp their meaning.
"......"
Jeong So-so pressed a trembling hand over her mouth.
'He didn't run away.'
Her father had not abandoned his children and fled.
They had not been cast aside by their parent.
Quite the opposite.......
'Father.'
Jeong So-so sank down beside the grave, her hand upon it.
"Dad......"
A heavy silence descended.
Even as the girl knelt weeping before her father's grave, the surroundings remained still.
"......"
Jin Cheong-un, who had moved to console the siblings, could not bring himself to speak and kept his silence.
What could he possibly say?
These were children who had already learned to cry without making a sound at their age. Jin Cheong-un knew all too well that clumsy comfort was nothing more than cheap pity.
He turned back to Cho-sam.
"Let me ask you one thing."
His face was its usual indifferent mask, but there was something strangely submerged in his eyes.
"Were you one of the killers?"
"No! I wasn't! How old do you think I was back then?!"
"Then how do you know this place?"
"W-well, the older guys did make me come along, but I couldn't go through with it, so I got beaten and just stayed in the back."
Jin Cheong-un's eyes narrowed.
No matter how he looked, the boy didn't seem to be lying.
"Then who were the killers?"
"Th-they're dead."
"Dead?"
"Yes, you killed them, School Master...... The Three Killers of Yichang—do you not remember?"
The three brothers he had fought at the inn before.
They had been the ones responsible?
No—more importantly, dead?
"I heard they were locked up in prison and died a few days ago because their broken bones went untreated."
"......Well, then."
A hollow, absurd conclusion.
The one who had ordered the deed and those who had carried it out were all dead now, and the Black Tiger Gang itself had fallen.
"......"
Jin Cheong-un gazed at the slight figures of the Jeong siblings from behind.
How could he ease the directionless resentment of those children?
Or was it perhaps better for them that things had turned out this way?
"Who buried him?"
"I did."
"Why?"
"No matter what......"
Cho-sam stole glances at the siblings' backs as he spoke.
"As a matter of basic human decency, you can't just leave a dead man lying in the road."
Guilt seeped through his voice.
Jin Cheong-un looked down at Cho-sam in silence. For some reason, a chill ran up Cho-sam's spine.
"You'll spend the rest of your life being grateful to the boy you were that day."
"What?"
"You were supposed to die today, but the child you once were saved your life."
Cho-sam blinked for a moment, not comprehending—then the color drained from his face.
He realized that he had just come back from the brink of death.
It was then.
"......Thank you."
Jeong So-so's eyes were still wet, but her gaze was clear.
"Thank you for making a grave for my father."
"N-no! How can I accept your thanks......?"
Jeong So-so shook her head calmly.
Cho-sam faltered, pressed his lips tight, and once more hung his head low.
"And, Master."
Jeong So-so bowed her head with deep formality.
In that bow was a sincerity beyond measure.
"Thanks to you, Master, I can finally say it. That I'm not a child abandoned by her father. That my father was someone who cared for his children to the very end......"
"......"
"Father...... kept his promise and came home after all."
Quiet insect song.
A low breeze.
A sky cleared to blue.
At the center of it all, Jeong So-so smiled.
A smile that was endlessly sad and yet warm.
"Cho-sam."
When Jin Cheong-un called his name as casually as one would summon a servant, Cho-sam sprang to his feet.
"Yes!"
"Let's set out what we brought."
"What we brought...... ah! Understood!"
All the way up the trail, Cho-sam had been carrying a bundle on his back.
Standing before the grave, he carefully unwrapped it.
Inside were dishes of food, a bottle of wine, and incense.
Jin Cheong-un spoke to the bewildered Jeong So-so.
"If you've come to visit your father, you should pay your respects. I need to pour a drink for your father too. So-ryong, you come here as well."
The Jeong siblings looked at Jin Cheong-un with eyes brimming with emotion.
The four of them hurriedly pulled weeds, tidied the area around the burial mound, and made their offerings with proper decorum.
The children had never done this before, so Jin Cheong-un had to guide them through each step.
After the siblings finished their respects, Jin Cheong-un took the bottle last and poured it over the earth near the grave.
'Eldest Hyung.'
He called out to Jeong Baek-heon in his heart.
'I'm sorry. I was far too late.'
Trickle, trickle.
Yinghua Wine, the specialty of Yinghua Village, soaked into the dry earth of the grave.
'Don't worry about the children. I'm not that good a person, but......'
In the jianghu, it was said that a master was both a teacher and a father.
'I'll try to be a good master, at least.'
Drip. Drop.
From the emptied bottle, a few clear droplets fell.
'Rest in peace, Hyung-nim.'
***
Jeong Manor, where construction was in full swing.
Amid the sound of hammering, Jin Cheong-un sat facing his disciples.
"I'll sell it to you, Master. The land deed."
Jeong So-so spoke with a look of relief on her face.
The time had come.
Now that her reason for holding onto the house was gone, she wanted to repay at least a small part of the debt she owed.
But.
"Hm."
The master she expected to be pleased was just idly scratching his chin with a flat expression.
"Wh-what's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing, really......"
Jin Cheong-un mumbled evasively, eyes drifting to the side.
"If you're repaying a debt of gratitude, you should just give it—is selling really the right move? How is selling something repaying a debt...... Hm."
"......"
"Ah, I'm just saying. That's definitely not what I think, but you know, from an outsider's perspective. I mean, I believe the deal for treating So-ryong's condition was the land deed in the first place, so......"
Jeong So-so's brow twitched.
'How petty.'
How could a grown adult be so small-minded and petty?
Jeong So-so gripped the hem of her clothes.
'No. He's my benefactor.'
That's right—he's my benefactor! My master......!
"Of course! That would be the proper thing, but please, have mercy on our situation."
Jeong So-so secretly pinched her own thigh.
"I'm an orphan now, all alone in the world with no one to turn to. If I don't even get the price for the land, So-ryong and I will...... hk."
She followed up by covering her mouth and dropping her head at just the right moment.
She had dealt with every kind of difficult customer while working all manner of jobs, and until now, no one had ever resisted this technique!
But her opponent was Jin Cheong-un.
"I'm an orphan too."
"......?"
"And you have your brother, so 'all alone with no one to turn to' is a bit of a stretch, isn't it? Kind of hurtful to someone who was actually an orphan."
"Oh, come on—what grown adult is still an orphan? I'm the real orphan here!"
"I never even knew my parents' faces and grew up on the streets, so the real orphan is me."
"I've got no parents left either and I'm about to be out on the streets myself! I'm the real orphan!"
Jin Cheong-un and Jeong So-so descended into a battle over who was the truer orphan.
Jeong So-ryong, who had been silently picking at the snacks beside them, watched with a peculiar look in his eyes.
'What in the world kind of conversation is this?'
He had a feeling this wasn't great for the emotional development of a child his age.
Was it really alright for a sheltered boy like himself to be witnessing this?
"Enough. Here's what we'll do."
Jin Cheong-un cut the argument short.
"I'll take the land deed. In exchange, you enroll in the Blue Cloud Martial Arts School along with So-ryong."
"Enroll? I thought I already had."
"Tsk, tsk. You don't know about this, do you?"
Jin Cheong-un's eyes gleamed.
"Do you know the difference between a sect and a martial arts school? It's the tuition—money!"
Jin Cheong-un's eyes flashed.
"You only became my personal disciple—you never paid, so how can you call yourself a student of the Blue Cloud Martial Arts School? No exceptions! You two owe tuition!"
"Don't tell me you're going to charge us?!"
"That's right, so."
Jin Cheong-un cut himself off and said:
"From now on, help out around the school and the manor."
"......?"
"I needed someone to look after the manor and the school anyway. Better someone I know than a stranger."
"I-I'm sorry, but I'm not quite following."
"I'm saying I'll hire you. I'll pay you every fortnight. Room and board stays at the manor as before. If I had to put it in terms, you'd be becoming an inner disciple."
Jeong So-so's eyes went wide.
'That's......'
Nothing would change at all.
No—if anything, it was Jin Cheong-un who would be spending money.
"But how can I impose on you again, Master......"
Jeong So-so trailed off.
Jin Cheong-un was staring straight at her.
In that moment, the first lesson her master had given her flashed through her mind.
Jin Cheong-un had told her.
That at times like these, that wasn't what she should say.
That all she needed was one simple phrase.
After a long moment of hesitation, Jeong So-so followed her master's teaching.
"......Thank you."
"......"
"I'd like that, Master."
Jin Cheong-un cracked a faint smile.
"Good. I'll be counting on you."
The words of gratitude that had once felt so impossibly awkward now flowed from her as naturally as breathing.