The Basement Is a Serious Matter
The day after he asked Medilla about heart methods.
A peaceful start to an ordinary day.
In the mixed-use complex where Gong Ryun was staying — the first floor a tavern, everything from the second floor up residential space —
"You'll have to leave."
"What?"
Gong Ryun received notice from the landlord that his lease renewal was being terminated.
"Ah… no, but why…"
"I looked the other way about you growing San-gong-cho in the house. Figured you'd just keep one or two, but when I found out you'd papered a whole corner of the place with the things, I took a bit of a shock — still, I let that slide too."
"…"
"Keeping something like that indoors is a residential code violation. I could've reported you and thrown you out whenever I wanted. But you kept overlapping with my youngest boy who came up to the city a few years back, so I just pretended not to notice."
"Ah…"
"Drying San-gong-cho by the window and turning it into namul to eat — I let that go too. A martial artist might need it for poison training, right? But…"
"But…?"
"Putting on a live public San-gong-cho tasting show in the first-floor tavern a few days ago — that really crossed the line. Word's already spread all over the neighborhood."
"…Ah…"
"If I don't throw you out, property values are going to plummet. They're already at risk. Customers are about to stop coming to the first-floor tavern, and there's even a rumor you've got a Sangongdok factory in the basement. The other tenants are flooding me with complaints, asking if the air inside the building is even safe."
"Hmm… I… see."
"Honestly I ought to kick you out this second, but as a man of faith I can't just put someone out on the street… so I won't be harsh about it. Rent's due this weekend, so I'd like you gone by then. I'll return the deposit in full, sharp as a knife. I'm truly sorry, but this is the best I can do. That first-floor tavern is run by my wife. She's been so furious lately she's taken up palm techniques. If I drag this out any longer, I'm definitely going to die under her rage-charged full-power back-smashing…"
And so Gong Ryun was kicked out of his monthly rental.
"Damn it all."
Gong Ryun sighed as he sucked sikhye up through a straw.
He was currently eating carbonara at a tteokbokki shop to settle his mind and body.
He needed a place soon, so he had no choice but to scroll through the monthly listings on the real estate app.
"Oh my~~~ Gong Ryun~~~ Moving~~~?"
"Ack! You scared me!"
As always, the tteokbokki shop owner appeared behind him without a sound.
Even after all the jump-scare games with Medilla, which he thought had sharpened his senses somewhat, he still could never detect the tteokbokki shop ajumma.
"Ah. Yes… I got kicked out of where I was living…"
"Oh my~~~ There's tenant protection law, so they can't just throw you out like that~~~?"
"Ah… well… the San-gong-cho issue…"
Gong Ryun explained the situation.
"Oh my~~ Well, nothing you can do then. The San-gong-cho must've been pretty scary~~~"
"San-gong-cho is perfectly safe. Listen, the thing is…"
"I've heard enough~~~ Whenever anything plant-related comes up, you always start that spiel~~~? Last time you launched into San-gong-cho talk while eating spinach namul~~~"
"Ahem…"
"Anyway~~~ Finding a new place won't be easy then, will it~~~?"
"For now I'm looking on the real estate app…"
"Your face is all over the place these days, so nobody's going to want to rent to you, huh~~~?"
"Ah."
That was possible. Before, only a handful of mercenaries had known Gong Ryun. Now he was the city's infamous villain.
And that wasn't all. The San-gong-cho he was growing kept getting bigger, their bulk swelling by the day. Seven pots. The largest, pot height included, stood as tall as a person.
Before, one or two tucked in a corner had been manageable. Now their presence was overwhelming — practically a mini tropical rainforest.
Gong Ryun sank into thought. As a last resort, he was considering keeping only two or three pots and stir-frying the rest into namul to dispose of them. Tears welled up, but there was no choice. Right. Eat the leaves as namul, dry the roots thoroughly, and make San-gong-cho powder. Time for a long-overdue powder giveaway to his acquaintances.
While he was mired in that sad dilemma, the tteokbokki shop owner spoke up.
"Then come live at my place~~~"
"Huh?"
"If you've got nowhere to go, you can live in this building~~~"
"This is a mixed-use complex too?"
"That's right~~~ I'm the building owner~~~ This whole building is mine~~~"
"What!!!"
"I've got lots of empty rooms, so I rent them out too~~~"
"Is that true!! What's the price?!"
"Between us, you think I'd charge you high~~~? About this much~~~?"
Checking the figure she typed into her personal device, Gong Ryun was shocked.
It was cheap.
Well, she sold tteokbokki that cheap too — why would rent be any different? Of course the shop was suspiciously quiet for the prices, but Gong Ryun figured that was because it was tucked a bit into a corner.
"Good heavens! Boss! How do you even turn a profit running a business like this?!"
"Of course~~~ It's a business of conscience~~~"
It's also not my main business~~
The Succubus kept the rest to herself.
"I'll sign the contract right away!!"
"You will~~~? I'll show you the room — come on up~~~"
Gong Ryun was shown one of the rooms in the building.
"This is it~~~ How is it~~~?"
"It's amazing…!"
Gong Ryun was overcome looking at his prospective new home.
Spacious, clean, and fully furnished.
He'd never heard of quality like this at this price.
Clearly the boss had so much money she was doing charity work as a hobby.
Gong Ryun nearly teared up. So this was connections? Aah. So this was the taste of connections. This sweet.
"By the way~ there's one condition~~~ Gong Ryun grows San-gong-cho, right~~~?"
"Ah… is it banned or something…"
"No~~~ It's fine, but~~~ there's a better space for growing them~~~"
With that, the boss took Gong Ryun to the room right next door.
It was a spacious storage-like room. Pots lined the shelves here and there, and one wall had odds and ends piled up.
"You can put them here~~ The room gets good light, so it's great for plants~~ I was thinking of bringing more pots in here anyway~~ Perfect, right~~~?"
"The light's excellent — they'll grow well! San-gong-cho needs a lot of sunlight!"
"Right~~? And since it's right next door, easy to come and go~~ But there are a few things you need to be careful about~~~"
"What is it?"
"See the mark on the floor here~~? It's a secret door~~! A secret door leading to the basement~~~"
"A basement…?"
"That's right~~~ Open it and there's a long staircase~~ That takes you straight to the basement~~~"
"What… do you keep in the basement…?"
"Hmm~~~ Well~~~ discreet things that shouldn't be found out~~~? How about it~~~?"
A secret passage leading to a secret basement. Hearing that, Gong Ryun…
"A basement for storing secret goods! How perfectly sensible!"
"Oh my~~ Really~~~?"
"Honestly, I've been wondering why none of the places I've lived had one. A basement is a household essential. How can you live without a basement in the house? I'd be too anxious to live there."
Memories of his old hometown house rose vividly. They'd put things in the basement that would get you executed if found — TVs, USBs, things like that. And all the spare food was stored down there too, so they could hold out when the ration supplies got cut off.
Just looking at the emergency food stacked on one side of the shelves used to fill him with such peace. And on holidays he'd watch TV and have a good time. Somehow the basement had been an incredibly precious and comforting space.
Nearly every house had one of these emergency storage rooms as an unspoken standard.
"So no problem then~~~?"
"What problem would a basement be?"
"Heehee~~~ Then can I put the San-gong-cho pots~~ right on top of this secret door~~~? It'd make perfect camouflage~~~?"
"Yes. No problem at all. Just move the pots carefully when you need to open the door."
"I'll be careful~~~"
And so Gong Ryun's new nest was decided.
The Succubus welcomed him with smiling eyes.
Just a few days ago Gong Ryun had sobbed that he missed his family, and it had hit too close to home — her chest had ached for him.
The boss genuinely liked Gong Ryun.
She only knew his circumstances roughly, not in detail, but the kid was so filial. Anyone who saw him felt proud. He worked incredibly diligently to make a living. Mature women, when they saw a tall, hardworking young man full of filial piety, naturally felt their hearts warm. If only her little son took after even half of Gong Ryun.
Plus he was the first disciple of her close friend Medilla, so he wasn't a stranger. Her relationship with Medilla had developed so far they were practically sworn sisters now, and if someone formed a master-disciple bond with her sworn sister, that made them truly close. Practically acquired family. Around the position of a nephew, maybe.
So she'd even given him the critical position of the room next to the secret passage.
Open the secret passage in the floor and a long staircase appeared. The stairs passed the first floor below and went straight down to a basement five meters underground. That long stretch the stairs passed through was naturally packed with all kinds of mechanism formations — top-grade mechanism formations commissioned from the absolute best experts.
You had to pass all of that to reach the basement. The real business of the "Korean restaurant." An intermediate storage for interplanetary black-market goods. Dealing in all kinds of high-grade medicines, spirit elixirs, weapons and arms, and more.
Even this was just something she did as a side gig.
She could scale it up as much as she wanted. But she only needed enough money for child-rearing, so she kept it small.
If the scale got too big it got messy. And she needed time to look after the kid. So she'd made it a members-only warehouse that only "membership" people could use.
The reason she was putting San-gong-cho at the secret passage entrance was also because of the kid.
Lately the kid's head had gotten bigger, and he kept showing curiosity about Mom's business. The lie "Mom is a tteokbokki cook~" had worked when he was little, but not anymore. Lately he'd been toddling around every corner of the house playing treasure hunt, saying he'd find Mom's secret warehouse, and the possibility had been giving her a headache.
But with San-gong-cho there, would he really dig around?
Even kids knew Sangongdok was scary, so he'd go hup!, hold his breath, and leave the room.
Plus, if she said, "If you make a fuss there, the scary San-gong-dok Freak uncle next door will get you~!", wouldn't he be too scared to go near it? She thought about that a bit too.
"Raising kids is hard…"
Why did the kid's dad have to leave first…
Even though she'd lived quite a long time, she was a beginner mom doing child-rearing for the first time, and she sighed.
And that night, Gong Ryun's move proceeded.
Strike while the iron's hot — action-oriented Gong Ryun pushed it through in one fell swoop.
He had so little stuff he just packed bags in his hands and made two round trips to move everything.
"A new house~~!"
Gong Ryun rejoiced, completely unaware of the circumstances.