Pay What You Owe
The reception room of the Jeong estate was steeped in a heavy silence. Jin Cheong-un sat with an utterly blank expression. Jeong So-so's face was tight with discomfort. Across from them, seated in perfect composure, was Baek Seo-gun.
Fwoop.
Baek Seo-gun took a sip of tea and stole a sidelong glance at his host. He looks in better shape than I expected. It was a far cry from what he'd heard from the Black Tiger Sect men locked up in the jail. They'd been beaten so badly they were half out of their minds, each babbling a different story — but on exactly one point, they had all agreed.
"That man is insane."
Yet the Jin Cheong-un sitting before him now was an ordinary, reasonably handsome fellow whose only unusual quality was his peculiar air. And yet...
Why does his face look so strangely familiar? Or am I imagining it?
Baek Seo-gun set down his teacup with care. "Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Baek Seo-gun, General Manager of the Black Tiger Sect. A pleasure to meet you."
"Jin Cheong-un, Master of the Cheongun Martial Arts Academy."
Then he added, flat as a stone: "The pleasure isn't mutual."
...Is he not quite right in the head?
Baek Seo-gun cleared his throat once and put on an easy smile. "Haha. It seems I've come rather abruptly."
"You have, indeed. Dropping by right at mealtime — on the one day I happened to skip lunch, no less."
"......"
Baek Seo-gun studied him for a long moment. I can't get a read on him at all. Usually he adjusted his approach depending on the person, but this time he had no foothold. Contrary to expectations, the man didn't seem hot-tempered, yet he gave off a vaguely unserious air that didn't fit a cautious personality either. Long experience had taught him that in situations like this, skipping the maneuvering and cutting straight to the point worked best.
"Then I'll be direct. I understand you had a certain... friction with some of our people recently."
"It wasn't friction."
"......?"
"I beat them. One-sidedly."
"......"
The answer was so far off script that Baek Seo-gun momentarily lost his tongue. In that brief hesitation, Jin Cheong-un smoothly seized the reins of the conversation.
"So a man of your rank came all this way himself?"
"That's correct."
Jin Cheong-un suddenly swept his gaze around the room, taking in every shadow and corner.
"Alone?"
"......"
The atmosphere shifted in an instant. Baek Seo-gun swallowed hard. What is that supposed to mean? So this man was dangerous after all — whether through backing, money, or martial skill, something had to be behind him.
"Haha... well, I've come to resolve a problem. Would there be any need to bring a crowd?"
"Came to resolve it, you say?"
"An apology comes first, I believe."
"......?"
Baek Seo-gun gave a slight bow of his head. "Our sect has been expanding its business rather hastily of late, and it appears my subordinates handled certain matters somewhat... forcefully. I trust you understand that their actions run entirely contrary to the Sect Lord's wishes. This is a token of his apology."
He slipped an elegantly folded packet of medicine across the table to Jeong So-so. "I hear your younger brother suffers from a chronic ailment. These are rare medicinal herbs, excellent for restoring the body."
"Th-thank you."
"Think nothing of it."
Jeong So-so accepted the gift in a daze. It was unexpected — almost absurdly so. She'd braced herself for a mob of men swarming in to intimidate them, not this impeccably courteous treatment.
Then it came.
"However."
Baek Seo-gun's air shifted with practiced ease. "You are aware that the matter of the debt remains outstanding?"
"......"
"By my accounts, even after selling off your ironworks, the Jeong estate still owes six hundred seventy silver nyang — and a few coppers."
Jeong So-so jolted upright. "A few coppers? It's grown again in just these few days?"
"The culprit, I'm afraid, is a certain thing called the King of Hell's Ledger. I merely repeat what is written in the books."
"......!"
"To state our sect's position plainly: we have concluded that the Jeong estate cannot repay this debt. That is why I've come in person."
"We can repay it. Don't worry about that!"
"Everyone says so. However, a look through the ledger shows that your repayment has fallen past due seven times now. I'm sorry, but we can no longer place our trust in you."
Jeong So-so's words died in her throat.
"The contract stipulates that upon the tenth missed payment, ownership of this estate — taken as collateral — passes to us. Were you aware of that clause as well?" Baek Seo-gun moistened his throat with tea and pressed on. "So. What will you do now?"
His voice was insufferably businesslike, utterly placid.
M-Master.
Jeong So-so turned to Jin Cheong-un without thinking. Baek Seo-gun's eyes followed hers — and then Jin Cheong-un opened his mouth.
"If you borrowed it, you pay it back."
"......?!"
"......!"
Jeong So-so wasn't the only one whose eyes went round; Baek Seo-gun's went wide as saucers.
"W-why, whatever do you mean?"
"Haha, you've taken me by surprise in any number of ways..."
"If you borrow money, you repay it. Obviously. And if you can't repay it, your collateral gets seized. Also obvious."
As Baek Seo-gun's face bloomed into a pleased smile, Jeong So-so stared at her master with a mounting sense of betrayal. Jin Cheong-un tilted his head.
"What?"
"Y-you said you'd help us..."
"That's a separate matter from this."
"......!"
"Borrow as much as you like when it suits you, then get picky about the terms when it's time to pay — that's shameless. Whatever else, the people who lent the money aren't the ones at fault."
Jeong So-so froze solid. The wave of hurt feelings made even her voice tremble.
"It wasn't me who borrowed it! It was my father! And the only reason it's gotten this bad is that the Black Tiger Sect bought up our debt notes from whoever was holding them and jacked up the interest on their own!"
Baek Seo-gun, listening quietly, narrowed his eyes. "Miss Jeong. Regardless, that was perfectly—"
"Even so, a debt is a debt."
At Jin Cheong-un's abrupt interjection, it was Baek Seo-gun who flinched and fell silent.
"You don't get to just bulldoze your way through life on excuses and grievances. If you only ever act according to your own circumstances, do you know what kind of person you end up becoming?"
"......I don't know."
"The kind of person sitting here in this room. The Black Tiger Sect."
"......!"
"If you want to become a proper adult, you have to shoulder what's yours to shoulder. Unless you intend to live like the Black Tiger Sect."
The unusually stern tone of his voice made Jeong So-so's eyes waver. Meanwhile, Baek Seo-gun — who had been quietly sitting there and taken a slap out of nowhere — frowned.
"I beg your pardon, Master Jin, but I really must object to your choice of—"
"Of course, that doesn't mean handing over the estate makes any sense."
Baek Seo-gun stopped mid-sentence. "I... beg your pardon?"
"Let's do this."
Jin Cheong-un leaned slightly forward, his expression the very picture of brazen confidence.
"The debt's too big. Shave a bit off."
"......?"
"We'll pay the money, so keep your hands off the estate."
Baek Seo-gun's face crumpled. Clinging desperately to his composure, he managed, "Your humor has gone rather far."
"I'm not joking."
"That would be... rather difficult for me."
"Difficult or not, make it happen."
What in the hell does this man think he's doing?
Baek Seo-gun's face turned grave. "There is no need for this pretense between two men who know exactly who each other is. Would you not come to regret it?"
"Ah — men who know each other, is it?"
Jin Cheong-un grinned, sly as a fox.
"Then let's be blunt about it. You've had your eye on this estate from the very start — that's what all this courting is, isn't it?"
"......!"
"And as I understand it, stirring up the livelihoods of honest folk like that doesn't end with a few whacks of a rod."
"Whatever are you—"
"Your interest rates already trample the law of the land. You set repayment deadlines however you please. And seizing an estate worth this much as collateral for such a pittance in the first place—"
Jin Cheong-un tilted his head all at once, as if a thought had just struck him.
"Oh, wait. Is that contract of yours even legitimate?"
"O-of course it's legitimate!"
"Goodness, you startled me. No need to shout."
Is he mocking me right now?!
Jin Cheong-un carried on with his little performance. "Though I suppose I was a bit harsh with that last remark. After all, if anyone suffered such an outrageous swindle, the whole village would run off to the magistrate or... the Murim Alliance to wail about it."
Baek Seo-gun's eyes stretched wide enough to tear at the corners.
Why? Why is the Murim Alliance coming up here?
Just who in the world is this man?
Had that oddly careless manner been an act all along? Baek Seo-gun stared at Jin Cheong-un, his expression darkening by the second. After a long silence, his face twisting like he'd bitten into a worm, he spoke in a low voice.
"The proposal you've made... does not appear to be a matter I can decide on my own."
"So it would seem."
"I will withdraw for today and call upon you again in due course."
"Ah — allow me to see you out."
Baek Seo-gun wanted to refuse, but Jin Cheong-un was already rising from his seat and opening the door of the reception room. Following behind him with a worm-eaten expression, Baek Seo-gun suddenly spoke up.
"Master Jin. What exactly is it that you do?"
"You didn't mention that just now — the 'Master' part."
"I heard you were a man of the Jianghu."
Baek Seo-gun trusted his eye for people. He was relieved he had come himself; he felt certain that if he'd dismissed the man and sent underlings instead, everything would have gone sideways.
"Just an ordinary hired bodyguard."
"A bodyguard...?"
"The pay was pitiful and the work was filthy. Couldn't make a living at it, so I quit."
So I was simply taken in by his peculiar air? A mere bodyguard?
Baek Seo-gun stole another glance at Jin Cheong-un's profile. That flicker of familiarity washed over him again — the man's face kept nagging at him.
Clack! Creeeak.
"Off you go, then. Safe travels."
Even as Jin Cheong-un held the door for him, Baek Seo-gun couldn't shake the feeling. He stepped halfway out — then turned back.
"Master Jin. Have we perhaps met somewhere before?"
"......?"
"Think hard. Surely there's some old connection between us..."
Jin Cheong-un narrowed his eyes and took a discreet step backward.
"Sorry, but I don't dabble in that particular persuasion."
"Huh? What on earth—"
"And even if I did, you wouldn't be my type."
Baek Seo-gun's face, momentarily slack with confusion, contorted at lightning speed.
"You—! What in the—"
"Off you go now. Ah, and thank you for the medicine."
"Now see here—!"
"Oh, and while you're at it, take your guards with you — the ones pretending to be pedestrians. I have to wonder what business they have loitering outside another man's house."
"......!!"
Thud!
The gate slammed shut. Baek Seo-gun stared at it, his soul seemingly departed from his body. The disguised Black Tiger Sect men who had been prowling the area hurried over.
"General Manager, is something wrong?"
"......"
Baek Seo-gun turned his head slowly. He looked at the men with troubled eyes, then asked quietly, "You were hiding well, I trust?"
"Pardon? Ah — of course, sir."
"......"
"What's the matter?"
"...No, nothing. Let's go see the Young Lord for now."
Baek Seo-gun set off without another word. Their footsteps led to the VIP room of the Yinghua Pavilion — the only upscale tavern in the entire village.
"Young Lord, it's the General Manager."
The moment Baek Seo-gun opened the door—
Crash!
A wine bottle came flying at the wall and shattered.
"I told you the wine had gone sour, so why do you prattle on and on? Fine then. You'll need another beating before you get it through your skull."
"Forgive me! I'll fetch a new one, so p-please—!"
On the topmost floor of the wrecked tavern, the workers of the Yinghua Pavilion lay prostrate, beaten black and blue, before a drunken young man.
"Young Lord, what on earth is going on here?"
At the stiff voice, the young man froze. "...Ah. You've arrived already?"
The young man — Yeop Gun-pyeong, the Young Lord of the sect — turned around, his face going sullen. "It's nothing. All of you, get out. You can thank our General Manager here that you're still breathing."
"Th-thank you! Thank you!"
The Yinghua Pavilion workers scrambled out of the VIP room. Baek Seo-gun kicked the strewn debris roughly aside and sat down. Bloodstains marked the floor here and there.
I put him up in a tavern specifically so he'd sit quietly and drink...
And he still couldn't last a day without causing chaos. Or was this, all things considered, the better outcome?
"In any case — did your errand go well?" Baek Seo-gun asked in a subdued voice.
"It did not go well."
Yeop Gun-pyeong paused for a beat, then curled his lip into a sneer. "Ho! Well now — just what sort of man could make our General Manager lose face like that?"
"......"
"This is why I told you we should simply crush them outright."
"He's no ordinary man. I'll report to the Sect Lord first, dig into the academy master's background, and then decide. You should return home."
At that instant, Yeop Gun-pyeong's expression hardened.
"You came all this way for the sake of one measly academy master, and you mean to go back empty-handed? Won't that put Father in a foul mood?"
"...Young Lord? What exactly are you saying?"
"Merely a concern I wished to share. Come, come — you've had a long day. Have a drink."
For some reason, Baek Seo-gun found the sight of those crescent-moon eyes curving with malice deeply unsettling.
Back at the Jeong estate, Jeong So-so fidgeted and avoided Jin Cheong-un's eyes.
"Master, has the guest left?"
"Forget the guest. Go sprinkle some salt."
"...Pardon?"
"Why the shock?"
"D-do you know how expensive salt is...?"
That's the part you're worried about?
She's a little odd too.
"Anyway, Master — I'm sorry I talked back earlier. Now that I think it over, everything you said was right."
"Hm? Talked back?"
"Yes? But earlier, when I made that sour face and..."
"That hardly counts as talking back. You'd have to throw a punch and curse at me before we got there."
Wouldn't that just be no quarrel at all?
Jeong So-so couldn't help but let out an awkward laugh. Perhaps Master had been looking out for her in his own strange way.
"Come on, let's eat. Is there a meat dish? There'd better be a meat dish. It absolutely has to be a meat dish."
Yeah... probably not looking out for me.
Jeong So-so nodded. "I just need to warm it up. But... Master, do you really think the Black Tiger Sect Lord will accept your proposal?"
"He might."
Or he might not.
Better to trust a con man than trust the Black Way.
"By the way — is there somewhere you all could stay for a few days? Somewhere other than here?"
"For a few days, I could probably put us up at the inn where I work. But why do you ask...?"
"I have somewhere to go, so don't stay in the house for a while. Go wait at that inn."
"Where are you going?"
Jin Cheong-un answered as casually as a man stepping out for a stroll around the village.
"The Black Tiger Sect."
"......!"