Homecoming (2)
When the lamps were lit inside the dim inn, every corner stood out in stark relief. Dust lay piled in heaps, and spiderwebs hung thick wherever human hands had long since stopped reaching.
"There's an old saying about living with spiderwebs across your throat," Jo Hwan muttered, "but damn if they didn't actually spin some."
The middle-aged man gave an awkward smile and wiped the dust from a nearby table with his palm. It had sat untouched so long that his hand came away black as if he had just grabbed a fistful of soot.
"Haha..."
Color rose in Jo Hwan's face. Kang Yeon watched him and let out a quiet snort of laughter.
"What's the life of an inn?"
"Cleanliness."
"And the man who knows that let it get like this?"
Kang Yeon glanced around. Dust blanketed everything; spiderwebs draped every beam. He gave his hand a casual flick.
A sharp gust whirled to life from his fingers and swept through the hall. In an instant the dust, the webs, every speck of grime began to gather into a single swirling mass.
"H-huh? You... you..."
Jo Hwan stammered, eyes wide. The power Kang Yeon had just shown was nothing an ordinary person—no, nothing even a seasoned martial artist—could casually display.
Kang Yeon guided the wind with easy grace, drawing every impurity from the farthest corners into one condensed cloud. Then he set the dust-laden whirlwind alight.
Flames roared up. The dust burned away in a heartbeat and was gone.
Kang Yeon brushed his palms together as if it were nothing and looked at Jo Hwan. The older man stood with his mouth hanging open, staring in pure shock.
"Good heavens! What on earth was that? Yeon, when did you learn martial arts?"
He could not believe it. In Jo Hwan's memory Kang Yeon was still just a little boy—the ragged beggar child who had appeared one day by West Lake. Out of pity Jo Hwan had given him work at the inn. The boy had been a little strange, different from other children, but he had taken to the work well enough.
"Things just turned out that way."
Kang Yeon flashed a grin. The smile did not look as though it held only pleasant memories. Jo Hwan, long practiced at reading people, burned with curiosity yet forced himself not to press.
"Well... I don't know what you've been through, but I'm glad you're back, at least."
"Yes. I really did try my hardest to return as soon as I could. By the way, Uncle."
"What?"
"Is that possible? I'm starving."
Kang Yeon rubbed his stomach and grinned. Jo Hwan snorted.
"You come home after all this time and the first thing you ask for is a meal?"
"Is that a problem?"
At the sudden droop of Kang Yeon's face, Jo Hwan looked sheepish.
"Well, of course it isn't, but... as you can see... the state of the inn..."
Kang Yeon surveyed the wreckage and let out a long sigh. This place—West Lake Number One Inn—had once dominated the neighborhood, even if the "Number One" had been a bit of a boast. How had it fallen so far?
"Uncle, what in the world happened here?"
"Ah... it's a long story. You're hungry, so wait a bit. I'll duck over to the Plum Blossom Inn next door and grab something light."
"The Plum Blossom Inn? Their food's terrible."
"Hunger is the best seasoning. Who cares about taste? Just wait."
Regret flooded Kang Yeon's expression.
"Ah... I was really looking forward to your cooking... I held on thinking that if I just made it back, I'd get to eat it..."
Jo Hwan flinched and looked at him. He did not know the details, but the boy's face said he had endured something terrible to return.
"All right, all right. I'll buy some ingredients and..."
Jo Hwan trailed off with a heavy sigh. He wished he could cheerfully promise a proper meal, yet the first thought that rose was how to stretch what little living money remained. These past few years he had learned all too well what it meant for even a living man to grow spiderwebs in his throat.
"Hmm... then could I ask a favor?"
Kang Yeon reached into his robes and produced a fistful of silver taels. Jo Hwan's eyes narrowed at the amount. It was no small sum—where had the boy come by such wealth? In Jo Hwan's memory young Kang Yeon had been a penniless orphan with no one and nothing.
"Where did this money come from?"
"Ah... don't worry, it's clean. Just use it."
"You little rascal—what kind of life have you been living to get so twisted? Did I ask because I thought it was dirty money? I meant, aren't you handing over every last coin you scraped together the hard way?"
Kang Yeon winced.
"Ah... sorry."
"Just what kind of life did you live out there? The martial arts, this money..."
Kang Yeon scratched his cheek, looking sheepish.
"This isn't everything I have, so please use it without fretting."
"Hmm... really? Even if I'm hard up, I don't want to take your money, Yeon."
"It's true. And I'm the one who asked for the meal."
Kang Yeon held his hand out again, urging him to take it. After a moment's hesitation Jo Hwan accepted the silver.
"Well... then I'll put it to good use. But it's too much. There's plenty left over just for one meal's ingredients."
He sorted out only what he needed and tried to return the rest. Kang Yeon gently pushed his hand away.
"Ingredients alone? Looking at this place, I think we need a lot more than that right now."
Kang Yeon cast another glance around the wrecked hall and sighed. It was a complete disaster. Jo Hwan flushed again, embarrassed by the state of his own inn.
"Ahem... then I'll be off."
Standing before the door, Jo Hwan drew a deep breath.
"Huu..."
It had been a very long time since he had stepped outside.
He turned and looked back. Once the inn had bustled with guests; now only Kang Yeon remained. For an instant Jo Hwan saw the lively days of old, and the young boy who had once worked so hard among the tables.
"You little punk..."
Somehow he felt certain that with Kang Yeon's return everything could become as it once was. No—it was more than a feeling. It was conviction. Long ago, among the countless inns of West Lake, what had made this place special had been Kang Yeon himself.
"Go on. I'm not going anywhere now."
Kang Yeon waved. Jo Hwan let out a long breath and nodded.
"All right. I'll be back."
The door creaked open and a shaft of light poured over him. After so long indoors Jo Hwan scowled and raised a hand to shield his eyes. Once he adjusted, he carefully surveyed the street.
"Still the same."
West Lake remained as lively as ever, thronged with people. The shops, wine houses, and inns that swallowed those crowds were unchanged. While he had hidden away inside his ruined inn, West Lake—no, the entire Central Plains—had simply kept turning as if nothing had happened.
"Time to go."
Jo Hwan gathered his courage and set off, heading out to prepare a proper meal for the boy who had finally come home.
"Hmm... what could have happened?"
Once Jo Hwan left, Kang Yeon stroked his chin and looked around the empty hall. What disaster could have reduced a thriving inn to this?
He was curious, but he decided to wait until Jo Hwan returned.
"First, though—let's tidy up."
He could not leave the place in such a state. This inn held his childhood memories, and even when he had been swept into the affairs of the martial world and stared death in the face, the one thought that had kept him going was the promise of returning here.
A soft hum of inner energy rose from his body. He gave his hand another light wave.
A whirlwind sprang from his fingertips and began to suck every last speck of dust from the long-neglected corners. Small as it was, the vortex held terrifying power; not a grain escaped.
He burned the gathered dust clean with another flash of energy, then picked up a cloth that had been lying to one side.
"Dust's gone. Now for some real cleaning."
The moment he took the old table-wiping cloth in hand, a strange feeling washed over him. Memories of working here as a boy rose, and a gentle smile touched his lips.
He wiped the tables. He wiped the chairs. The seats that had once held so many guests, the tables that had borne countless dishes and cups of wine—all of them still carried the faint imprint of his younger self.
Memories of people filling the inn, laughing over good food and good wine, settled over him like a long-absent warmth and put his heart at ease for the first time in ages.
"Good. Now the kitchen."
He walked into the kitchen. It looked exactly as it had the day he left—or rather, the day he had been forced to leave. Yet the kitchen of West Lake Number One Inn had always been different from any other. It looked less like something from this era and more like a modern kitchen from Earth—closer, if anything, to the styles of the Western Regions. Not fully modern, of course, but the layout was the same.
"Ah... I missed this."
Kang Yeon smiled as he looked around. This kitchen had been built exactly the way he had wanted it.
"Uncle and I fought like cats and dogs while we put it together."
He set the old memories aside. What mattered now was getting the place clean enough to cook again.
He wrapped a towel in inner energy; the dust simply evaporated, leaving the cloth pristine. Then he set to work cleaning the kitchen far more thoroughly than he had the dining hall. He was in such a good mood that a little tune slipped out under his breath.
His body blurred, leaving afterimages as he moved. He cleaned at several times normal speed, as if time itself had been wound forward.
"Done."
In mere moments the kitchen was spotless. Looking at the gleaming surfaces, his hands already itched to start cooking.
"When is he getting back? He should be here any minute..."
The front door creaked open. True to form, Jo Hwan appeared the moment Kang Yeon mentioned him. Kang Yeon hurried out to meet him.
"You're back?"
Jo Hwan stood there with both arms full of ingredients. He glanced around and his eyes went round. He had been gone only a short while, yet the inn already looked almost like its old self.
"How did you clean all this so fast? Was this martial arts too?"
Jo Hwan asked in open admiration. He had never particularly envied martial artists, but an ability this useful suddenly seemed worth learning.
"Of course. Martial arts is incredibly handy in daily life."
Had any other martial artist overheard that, they would have burst out laughing. Using martial arts to clean an inn was a notion no proud warrior of the martial world would ever entertain.
"Amazing. Really amazing. Teach me sometime."
"If you want. But first, let's cook. I'm dying of hunger."
Jo Hwan chuckled.
"Same as ever—still got a beggar living in that stomach of yours."
He carried the ingredients into the kitchen and let out another gasp of wonder. The long-abandoned kitchen had been restored to its former glory.
He looked at Kang Yeon.
"It's been a long time... standing in this kitchen with you."
"Yes. For me too. Shall we begin?"
Kang Yeon snapped his fingers. Fire blossomed in the stove. There was no kindling to be seen, yet the flames leaped high; Jo Hwan could only stare in fresh amazement.
Warmth flooded the cool kitchen. Jo Hwan rolled up his sleeves and met Kang Yeon's eyes.
"All right. Let's get started."
"Yes. Today's dish is—"
They looked at each other and grinned.
Then, in perfect unison, they spoke the name.
"Don-gasu."