SLAM!
The government office gate closed behind them.
Trudge, trudge.
Walking out side by side, Jin Cheong-un and Jeong So-so stared blankly into space as if they had rehearsed it.
"......"
"......"
Was this not the look of people who had lost their country?
They had grabbed the official by the hem of his trousers and pressed him relentlessly, but in the end, they could get no help whatsoever.
—What do you mean, what should you do...... That is for the two of you to sort out. Tsk tsk! This is why young people need to be more careful when they buy things.
—Getting scammed is the victim's fault for being stu...... H-hey! You lunatic, who do you think you're grabbing by the collar?! L-let go! Guards! Guaaards!
GRIND!
Jin Cheong-un clenched his teeth hard enough to shatter them.
'......The Building King.'
A murderous gleam rose in Jin Cheong-un's eyes.
'Just let me get my hands on you. I'll grind your bones to dust and drink it down.'
He had never felt rage this intense in his entire life.
A sworn mortal enemy, the nemesis of a lifetime—that phrase was reserved for scum like that.
Jin Cheong-un swore an oath to the heavens that he would make the man pay in full.
'But still.'
What about right now?
'Should I send word to the Alliance?'
He may be retired, but given his connection with the Alliance Leader, the man would not turn a blind eye......
—You said you were retiring and already there is trouble? Hm? The Building King? What kind of master is that from where? What? Just a swindler? You lost your retirement fund? Ha ha! Do not worry. I shall help you. Of course I must! Indeed! Indeeeeed!
......He would sooner drown face-first in a saucer of water than accept help from the Martial Arts Alliance.
'Hoo, fine. I'll just chalk it up as an expensive lesson in how the world works.'
Jin Cheong-un heaved a deep sigh.
Other people lost their entire fortune to a single scam, so was his situation not comparatively better?
He may have lost the land, but the estate was confirmed as his, and he still had some money saved up for running the school......
"......"
Damn it. What the hell am I feeling relieved about?
Moisture welled in Jin Cheong-un's eyes.
That was when.
"Um, are you okay?"
Jeong So-so glanced over cautiously.
"......I'm fine. Pardon my display in front of you."
"Hang in there. I know exactly how that feels."
"......?"
"It's always like this at first. But time heals it, you know?"
"Now look here. I appreciate the comfort, but do you have any idea what kind of money that was?"
It was money wrung from his blood and sweat under a wretched superior called the Alliance Leader of the Martial Arts Alliance.
Not figuratively—literally his blood and sweat!
"That's true. But it all ends up the same in the end."
"The same?"
"At first, you can't accept reality and you're in denial. Then after a while, the anger rushes all the way to the top of your head. Then after a bit more time, you finally give up and compromise. 'Just chalk it up as a lesson in how the world works'...... something like that."
Jin Cheong-un was inwardly stunned.
What is she, a fortune teller?
"You cry a little in your sleep from the unfairness of it all, toss and turn for a few nights...... and in the end, it gets better."
Jeong So-so wore a smile like a monk who had achieved nirvana.
"So let the past go. You'll figure things out as you go along."
Jin Cheong-un had been nodding along, but a strained look crossed his face as a thought struck him.
"But how do you know all this?"
"Don't ask. I didn't want to know either."
"......"
Jeong So-so gazed at the distant mountains.
Silence hung in the air.
Jin Cheong-un let out one long, heavy breath.
'Right, just because the first button was fastened wrong doesn't mean the rest have to be wrong too.'
The Building King aside, he still needed to open the school, recruit students...... he had a mountain of things to do.
'Yeah, how can a person live only looking backward? You have to look ahead.'
Jin Cheong-un smiled and spoke.
"Thank you for the advice. It helped more than you know."
"Not at all."
"I showed an unsightly side to someone so young. It must be just as devastating for you, getting struck by lightning from a clear sky."
"It's okay."
Jeong So-so smiled as if she had reached enlightenment.
"For me, well, the debt is already a mountain, so what's one more stone on the pile?"
"......"
"I'm really fine. You're the one who lost a lot of money, sir. I hope you feel better."
My.
She seemed so young, and yet she could be this mature.
'Alliance Leader, you should take a lesson from this girl.'
While entertaining thoughts that would have made Yeo Un-baek burst a vein, Jeong So-so asked a question.
"So do you have somewhere to stay, by the way?"
"Somewhere to stay?"
"I never intended to let anyone in, but given the circumstances, you're welcome to stay at our house for a while."
"......What?"
"There are plenty of empty rooms in the estate, so it shouldn't be inconveni......"
"Hold on."
Jin Cheong-un's brow furrowed.
"What are you saying right now?"
"Don't be modest. This is fate, after all. I'll give you a few days while you find a new place."
"No, that's not the issue."
"What?"
"Why have you been talking this whole time as if I'm the one who needs to leave?"
The air went still.
That was the moment. The warm atmosphere froze over like a sheet of thin ice.
"Well...... because the land is mine?"
"And I'm the house's owner."
"That house sits on my land, which makes it my house."
"It's not your house—it's mine."
Both their gazes turned to steel.
Like starving beasts, the two snarled, unwilling to let their prey slip away.
"That house originally belonged to us, the Jeong family."
"The current owner is me. It was sold by the creditor."
"The land wasn't. Because you were scammed."
"......!"
"Where in the world does a landowner get kicked off their own land? And we've lived there our entire lives. Our entire lives! That's a whole lifetime!"
"By that logic, does it make sense for a house's owner to get kicked out of his own house?"
"......Excuse me. Why has your speech been getting shorter and shorter?"
"Has it? When?"
"You're doing it right now!"
"Come now, calm down. Why are you getting so heated? You're bothering the people around us."
"Wh-when did I get heated?!"
"Right now. The calmer we are, the better we can talk this through. What kind of person raises their voice like......"
"Hey, stop sneaking in informal speech!"
That was when.
BANG!
The government office gate flew open and a guard bellowed.
"Do you two know where you are?! You got thrown out and you still haven't come to your senses! Get lost!"
Jin Cheong-un and Jeong So-so's heads whipped around in unison.
"Be quiet! We're in the middle of an important conversation here!"
"We'll handle it ourselves, so stay out of it. I swear, I'll burn this damned government office to the ground."
The guard faltered, overwhelmed by their combined force.
After standing frozen like a stone, he meekly dipped his head.
"My apologies. Please, carry on with your discussion."
The guard backed away, shuffling his feet, and quietly shut the door.
His superior on the other side of the gate narrowed his eyes.
"I told you to chase them off. Why did you come back in?"
"They're lunatics."
"Huh?"
"They seem completely out of their minds, so I think it's best not to provoke them."
The superior blinked for a moment, then nodded.
"Hm, fair point. Best not to get tangled up with lunatics."
"Yes, sir."
"Kids these days. Tsk tsk."
***
A short while later, at Jeong Manor, on the far end of the northern street in Yinghua Village.
Seated before the dinner table, Jeong So-ryong looked left, then right.
"......"
"......"
Jin Cheong-un and Jeong So-so were sitting across from each other.
Jeong So-so had been the first to end the argument and return home so she could prepare her brother's dinner.
Jin Cheong-un had naturally come along, since it was the house he had bought......
"You really did just show up."
And so they found themselves sitting across from each other at the dinner table.
"I didn't come on my own. This kid invited me."
Jin Cheong-un pointed at Jeong So-ryong without an ounce of shame.
"That's right, sis. We have a guest—how can we eat separately? You're the one who always says that's bad manners."
"So-ryong, listen carefully. Just because someone's inside the house doesn't make them a guest."
Jin Cheong-un nodded.
"She's right about that. I'm the owner of this house, so how would I be a guest?"
"For the last time, the land belongs to me."
"Who said anything about the land? I said I'm the house's owner."
"......!"
Stung, Jeong So-so's eyes flared.
Jeong So-ryong sighed and spoke.
"Sis, let's stop. No matter what, he is a guest, and it's bad manners to raise our voices at the dinner table."
The bickering naturally ground to a halt.
Jin Cheong-un blinked.
'Is that really something a kid should be saying?'
Jeong So-so appeared accustomed to it and let out a heavy sigh.
Before long, she spoke in a sulky voice.
"......Just eat before it gets cold. There's not much, but if you need more, just say so."
In the end, Jeong So-so was the one to back down first.
Guest or not, she had set the table, and it felt like she had gone too far.
"Ahem. Well, I was wondering if I'd have to skip dinner, so thank you for this. I'll eat well."
"......You're welcome."
"Ah, by the way."
"Do you need something?"
Jin Cheong-un scanned the dinner table and asked.
"Are there no meat dishes?"
"......No?"
"Ah...... I can't feel full unless there's meat."
Jeong So-so blinked, then touched her ear.
What? Did I hear that wrong?
"Then again, you went through the trouble of preparing all this, so it'd be shameless to complain. I normally eat well even when the side dishes are sparse. I'll eat well."
Isn't that shameless already?
That was a whole lot of complaining.
She gaped, mouth opening and closing in disbelief.
'How can a person be that brazen?!'
Regardless, Jin Cheong-un surveyed the dinner table with a listless expression.
"Hmm."
Greens blanched in water, greens stir-fried in oil, greens dressed in seasoning......
This was a vegetarian spread so thorough that even Shaolin monks would nod in admiration.
He picked up some stir-fried vegetables with an indifferent air and popped them in his mouth.
"......!"
His eyes flew open.
'Did I just eat meat?'
No, he had not.
'This flavor from stir-fried vegetables?'
It was delicious.
Hunger may be the best seasoning, but even accounting for that, it was excellent.
The seasoning was exquisite, and the doneness of the vegetables in particular......!
TAP TAP TAP TAP!
Jin Cheong-un began working his chopsticks at a ferocious pace.
"So, is it to your taste?"
"This is amazing. How do you get a flavor like this?"
Jeong So-so puffed up ever so slightly with pride.
"Learned it hands-on at Yinghua Village's finest inn. My cooking always gets rave reviews from the customers."
"I'll give you that. This is better than the cooks at most high-end inns."
"Have you tried this braised tofu?"
"Wait, tofu can taste like this?!"
"Want some more rice?"
"Oh, thank you."
"Eat as much as you'd like!"
Beaming as she heaped rice into a towering mound, Jeong So-so suddenly paused.
'Is this right?'
An awkward feeling washed over her, and the rice would not go down.
By the time the meal was winding down, Jeong So-so finally opened her mouth again.
"If you're done eating, I'd like to have a serious talk."
"Sure. Let's do that."
The dishes were cleared, and the two faced each other across the table with ice-cold expressions.
"What are you going to do now?"
"Funny you should ask. I've been thinking about it."
Jin Cheong-un tapped the table.
"How about selling me this land?"
Jeong So-so bit her lower lip. Then she lowered her gaze slightly and spoke.
"......I can't sell it."
"Why not?"
"This is my home where I've lived my entire life."
"Then buy the house deed back from me."
"I-I don't have that kind of money right now......"
Jin Cheong-un let out a short sigh.
"Let's be frank with each other. I hear you've got some debts, and if you sell the land now, it'd solve several problems at once. The way I see it, I'm doing you a favor."
"......"
"If you have some other solution, I'm all ears."
Jeong So-so kept her mouth shut, staring at the innocent floor, then spoke.
"......I'm sorry. I know I'm being shameless. But we can't leave this house."
"Hmm."
Jin Cheong-un folded his arms and sighed.
Then.
"Then why don't we just live together?"
Jeong So-so was startled by Jeong So-ryong's words.
"So-ryong! What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Why? We have lots of rooms. The annex isn't even being used......"
"If we let a strange man into the house, what will the neighbors say? And you don't just let someone with a sword into your home."
"The sword-carrying person in question is listening right now, you know......"
"N-no, that's not what I...... I'm sorry."
Jeong So-ryong spoke in a clear, measured voice.
"Then what do we do? You said this mister bought our house deed."
"......"
"Who cares what the villagers think? And this mister is fine. He's different from the Black Tiger Gang people...... Cough! Cough!"
At that moment, Jeong So-ryong covered his mouth as a coughing fit seized him.
When he pulled his hand away, red specks of blood dotted his sleeve.
Jeong So-so gasped in shock.
"So-ryong! D-don't tell me you didn't take your medicine today?"
"No, it's just...... the medicine is expensive, so. I was going to take it after eating...... Cough!"
"S-stay still! I'll brew the herbal tonic right away!"
"I'm fine. I said I'm fine. Ugh!"
The next instant, Jeong So-ryong reached out to grab his sister—and collapsed right off his chair.
"So-ryong! So-ryong!"
Jeong So-so caught her brother and froze in horror.
'His body is burning up! He was doing better lately—why is it flaring up again......!'
Then Jin Cheong-un spoke in a calm tone.
"Move aside for a moment."
Without waiting for a reply, Jin Cheong-un seized Jeong So-ryong's wrist. For a boy, the wrist was far, far too thin.
In that instant, Jin Cheong-un's eyes went wide.
'Severed meridians?'