A Land of Opportunity
The courtyard before the inn looked like a gift nature itself had laid out.
The sunset stretched long across the sea in a majestic sweep that made a person want to linger, unhurried, and simply stay. It was the only reason the forever-struggling inn had managed to cling on this long.
“Ah. This is nice.”
In a space where time itself seemed to slow, only one man wore a look of pure disgust.
These damn brats.
Gu Donggu could hardly believe it.
He had come running the moment he heard the inn had suddenly been sold. Waiting for him there were one familiar little brat and another he knew only by rumor.
In truth both of them were taller than Gu Donggu, but that was hardly the point.
“Listen… Lord of the Manor. Why buy a half-collapsed inn?”
He did not want to call the boy Lord of the Manor, but he scraped every last scrap of patience from his dantian and forced the words out.
“Just because I had the money.”
Ja Gangcheon, seated on the wooden platform beside Cheongu, answered without taking his eyes from the sea.
“Pardon?”
“I happened to have money, and someone happened to be selling. So I bought it. Looking at this sunset, I got it for a steal.”
Gu Donggu imagined dredging up the filthiest curses in the world and flinging them freely. In that fantasy, Ja Gangcheon became the most pitiful, wretched, filthy, and miserable creature under heaven.
“Just how much did you pay that you call it a steal?”
“Two thousand nyang.”
At Ja Gangcheon’s answer, Cheongu flinched.
Didn’t we agree to say fifteen hundred? He swallowed the words at the back of his throat. Fortunately he was also facing the sea, so his expression went unseen.
“What—what kind of nonsense is that? Two thousand nyang? An inn worth eight hundred at best—”
“Buying a thousand-nyang place for eight hundred is skill, and selling it for fifteen hundred is skill too. Is there a problem?”
“And now where did this fifteen hundred suddenly come from—”
Ja Gangcheon kept his gaze fixed firmly on the water and pretended not to hear.
Just then the waiter arrived, carrying teacups on a wooden tray.
“Please have some tea. And here is the completed bill of sale.”
Ja Gangcheon unfolded the document, seals and all, for all to see.
Hm?
He spotted the figure written as fifteen hundred nyang and hastily folded it again.
“Waiter.”
“Yes, Innkeeper.”
The waiter switched titles with practiced ease.
“Please look into estimates for interior work. We’ll convert this place into an annex of our manor—a rest space for the people of the manor and the merchant company. Remodel the structure if you have to. I want every guest room to face the sea. This view is too good to keep to myself.”
“Understood.”
“And starting today we’re closed for a while, so kindly and politely send any guests on their way.”
He spoke to the waiter, but the real eviction notice was aimed at Gu Donggu.
“Lord of the Manor. If I could just speak with you a moment—”
“Ah. The view really is something.”
When Ja Gangcheon played deaf, Gu Donggu turned instead.
“Cheongu. A word.”
Gu Donggu snatched for Cheongu’s wrist.
“Huh?”
What he caught was empty air. Cheongu had pulled free by pure instinct an instant before the hand closed.
Assuming it was chance, Gu Donggu scowled.
“Just talk with me a moment.”
Ja Gangcheon was about to speak when Cheongu beat him to it.
“Please observe proper courtesy, Stationmaster.”
Cheongu rose from his seat and faced Gu Donggu head-on, making no effort to hide his open disgust.
A ghost of the past, and he still acts like this.
Gu Donggu was that past.
A living past was glaring at him now, thick with rage and contempt.
Worthless thing! You don’t even deserve to eat!
That was the face that had shouted those words.
Somehow, remembering it made Cheongu’s gaze want to drop to the floor.
Pull yourself together.
Cheongu crushed a habit trained into him over long years and met Gu Donggu’s eyes.
“Cheongu. You dare look me in the face?”
He had been five when he first arrived at Haejeonggol. Five full years he had endured there before entering the Donghae Merchant Company. Every day had been a nightmare. Every day had been despair.
That nightmare was pressing him again.
“Can’t you hear me? You’ve grown insolent while I wasn’t looking.”
“If you wish to speak with me, then ask politely.”
“What?”
Gu Donggu was speechless.
“Have you forgotten the kindness of five years of raising you and sending you somewhere better? Calling myself your father would not be an exaggeration—”
It was the same line he always used. And today, for the first time, Cheongu spoke what he truly felt.
“What father in this world sells his child for money? If that is your idea of heaven’s bond, then I reject it. So stop clinging to a past I have already discarded, and show some manners.”
Cheongu’s eyes held the steadiest pride in the world.
“They say a seat makes the man. Fine. I’ll grant you that. But remember this. I am no longer the boss of Haejeonggol either. I am the branch chief of the Shandong Escort Agency, appointed by the great Hwangbo family. Who has changed more—we’ll find out soon enough.”
“What reason is there for us to wait and see? We can simply ignore each other and live. The Lord of Deungmyeong Manor is resting, so please take your leave.”
“You dare compare a manor built on mere money to the Hwangbo family—”
“Have you met him?”
“What?”
“The Family Head of the Hwangbo you praise so highly. Or at the very least—have you even exchanged greetings with the Young Family Head?”
Gu Donggu’s mouth shut.
Greetings? He had never so much as seen their shadows.
They were not people someone like Gu Donggu could meet.
The highest person he had ever dealt with was the master of the Shandong Escort Agency, and that had been limited to entertaining him at a pleasure house.
As Gu Donggu’s silence stretched after that clean blow, a suppressed snort of laughter drifted from somewhere nearby.
“Pfft—sorry. I tried to hold it in. It’s just too funny.”
Ja Gangcheon bit down on his lip until it wrinkled. At that blatant mockery, Gu Donggu’s body began to shake.
“There will come a day we meet again.”
Grinding his teeth and promising a later reckoning, he strode away from the inn with heavy steps.
A short while later.
“Aaaagh! You sons of bitches!”
Once he reached an alley out of sight of the inn, Gu Donggu let out a raw howl.
“Rootless little bastards—who do you think you’re talking to!”
With every ragged breath, his belly heaved hugely.
“Aaaah!”
Someone sent him an uncomfortable look at the racket he was making.
“Well now. Judging by that performance, the deal didn’t go well. So what about the hundred nyang you promised me?”
It was the loan shark from whom the inn’s previous owner had borrowed money.
Scuttling the sale and then using the loan shark to demand repayment—all of it had been Gu Donggu’s doing. In return he had made the man one promise.
Help me buy the inn for five hundred silver nyang, and I’ll give you a hundred as a service fee.
The loan shark had agreed and had even watched the inn from a distance just now. Seeing Gu Donggu storm out fuming, he had followed.
“The innkeeper already paid his debt. Looks like the whole thing’s fallen through.”
“If you know that, get lost.”
“Heh heh. Can’t do that. You’re the one who botched the job, Boss, so I’m still owed my fee. I’ve got a conscience, so I won’t take the full amount—just half will do.”
The lean, fifty-something loan shark cut the fee as if he were doing Gu Donggu a favor.
Thud!
The answer came in the form of violence.
“You little shit! You still think I’m some alley boss? You think I’m the kind of man who sits at the same table as trash like you? Die! Just die already!”
A heavy foot crashed again and again into the face of the loan shark, who had already gone limp and unconscious.
“Kids or grown men—anyone who looks down on me dies!”
The one-sided venting in the back alley went on for a long time.
Early morning.
New family members arrived at the manor.
To greet them, six people including Ja Gangcheon came out into the courtyard: Cheongu, Panseok, Yang Mosu—who produced the core ingredients for the manor’s elixirs—and his two assistants.
“Welcome. We’re glad you’re here.”
Those receiving the greeting numbered five in all.
“Thank you for taking in people with nowhere else to go. Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Jang Geon.”
The man who named himself Jang Geon was the waiter from Yeonok Inn. Beside him stood the four others who had worked there with him: the cook and his helper, and the handyman who handled cleaning and all manner of repairs. The cook and the thirteen-year-old helper were father and son; the woman in her forties who had managed the rooms and the handyman were husband and wife.
Aside from the boy, every one of them had worked at Yeonok Inn for at least seven years.
They were people who could be trusted that much.
“At last we’ve filled the empty places in our manor.”
There were only six of them now, but ten laborers from the Donghae Merchant Company came to the manor every morning. That made sixteen people staying through the evening—yet there had been no staff whose sole work was meals and basic upkeep.
Panseok and the merchant hands had been splitting the chores in a slapdash fashion, and finding people to take those posts had not been easy. Anyone hired would have to live on the grounds with them.
The positions had stayed vacant while they delayed—until Yeonok Inn closed its doors, and they brought these people over. Their diligence and character had already been proven enough for Cheongu to recommend them.
“The manor’s going to be lively now! Looking forward to working with all of you!”
At Ja Gangcheon’s informal shout, the new family members quickly relaxed.
In particular, the thirteen-year-old boy who had been half-hidden behind his father looked at Ja Gangcheon with open curiosity.
“Hey, little brother. What’s your name?”
“So Cheon… sir.”
“All right, So Cheon. If you’ve got questions, ask.”
After a hesitant glance around, So Cheon finally spoke.
“Um—is it true that the Lord of the Manor is the one who killed the Twin Fiends of Guimyeon and the Five Evils of Shandong?”
The others’ faces stiffened.
Truth be told, they too had been tense after hearing the rumors before coming to the manor. A martial artist with many grudges meant a dangerous household—that was the common view. Jang Geon had persuaded them to come, but fear of the manor’s lord had been real. Only, the boy’s open, smiling face was so likable that they had begun to wonder if the stories could really be about the same person.
“That’s right. That was me. But I’ll make you one promise.”
“What kind of promise?”
“Now that you’ve joined the manor family, nothing will hurt you because of me.”
He was somewhere between boy and young man, yet in that moment he was every bit an adult.
“Yes, Lord of the Manor!”
Only then did the boy step fully out from behind his father’s back and bow his head deeply.
“I’m So Cheon—who’ll one day be the greatest cook under heaven!”
The others covered their mouths to hide their laughter.
“Welcome!”
Thanks to the youngest newcomer’s charm, everyone finished the greetings with broad smiles.
“Then I’ll handle the tour!”
The most excited of them all was, of course, Panseok.
Lately change had found him too—there was so much work that his training time had grown scarce.
“For a while we should just leave Big Brother Panseok alone.”
“He needs the time.”
“He’ll do fine. He can’t parse formulas, but he picks things up fast with his body. If he’d been taught properly as a child, he’d already be a master by now.”
“Can’t be helped. Opportunity isn’t fair.”
Cheongu felt the same way, and wanted to protect Panseok’s chance.
Listening to them, Ja Gangcheon thought for a moment, then made a quiet resolve.
“All right. Then let’s make our manor a land of opportunity.”
“A land of opportunity?”
“Yeah. Anyone who wants martial arts learns martial arts. We raise the greatest cook under heaven. Anyone who wants to get rich gets to make money.”
“You really do hand out opportunity like it’s nothing.”
“Hm?”
“I mean it’s amazing. People like us usually have to risk our lives just to grab a chance like that.”
“That’s a little sad.”
“Nothing to be sad about. Most people never get a fair chance at all.”
“Yeah. That’s still sad.”
They were speaking of life’s darker side when a voice rose from the open main gate.
“Is no one here?”
A man stepped through the open doors, planted himself in the courtyard, and raised his voice.
“Finally. I can take it out on that guy.”
“Good thinking. You’re starting to understand how life works.”
The man with his arms barely clasped behind a thick waist was Gu Donggu.
“What do you suppose his life is like?”
“Filthy.”
“That bad?”
“Experience it yourself. You’ll learn that even his words reek.”
Ja Gangcheon sniffed the air, then said to Cheongu,
“If I can’t hold back and try to kill him, stop me.”
“Why? Because of the Hwangbo family?”
“No. We still have to sell the inn. We need the money.”
Cheongu nodded—and felt a faintly guilty prickle of conscience.
“Gangcheon. Have I corrupted you?”
“Hm?”
Ja Gangcheon blinked his pure, clear eyes, not understanding the question at all.