The House That Wasn't His

A conversation from long ago with the Alliance's Chief Strategist flashed through Jin Cheong-un's mind.

It was the tale of swindlers who abused the law itself — buyers who paid for land only to discover the registry was duplicated, or that the land itself had never existed, or that it came saddled with debts woven through it like rot through timber.

Jin Cheong-un had answered without a second thought.

"Why would the Alliance bother with that sort of thing? Getting scammed just means the victim was a fool, doesn't it?"

And yet.

That fool is... me?

His mouth went bone-dry.

Stay calm.

Not yet. There was no way. That was it, surely?

It has to be some trivial misunderstanding.

Maybe he'd simply gotten the address wrong in the first place. The moment he decided to believe that, an eerie calm settled over his heart.

"Sir, is something wrong?"

"Not sir — big brother. It seems I've been away from my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hometown ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so long I mistook the house."

"It's all right. People come looking for our house all the time."

"...All the time?"

Why on earth would people come looking all the time?

No. Right. That could happen. Sure.

Jin Cheong-un forced a smile onto his face.

"Well then, looks like we'll be neighbors. See you around."

He moved off, poring over the deed one more time and asking the villagers for directions, half-convinced he'd misread the address, wandering the alleys of the village as he went.

And then.

"Huh? You're back again?"

...This was the right house after all.

Jin Cheong-un sank into quiet despair as he regarded the little head poking out through the gap in the door.

"Hey, squirt."

"Not squirt — Soryong. Jeong Soryong."

"Fine, fine, got it. Is there an adult inside? I'd like to come in and pay my respects, have a little talk."

"No. Big sister said not to let strangers in."

This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is going to give me a brain hemorrhage.

Jin Cheong-un drew a careful breath.

"Then I'll wait right here, so if there are any adults inside, ask them to come out."

First things first — he had to confirm what in the world was going on. In the worst case, maybe he had bought the house fair and square, and these people were the ones squatting in someone else's home. That was possible, wasn't it?

But the child answered with a perfectly blank face.

"There are no adults at home."

"What do you mean, no adults?"

"It's just me and my sister."

A girl emerged from an inn in Yinghua Village, bowing repeatedly with a bright smile.

"Thank you for all your hard work today!"

"You're the one who worked hard. Here — take the leftover food. It'd only go to waste."

"Thank you, boss!"

"Yes, yes."

Seo Do-seok, proprietor of the Baekun Inn, watched the girl's retreating back with a bittersweet smile.

"So-so headed home?"

His wife came out and asked. He nodded, his expression growing rueful.

"Just now. Gave her some food to take along."

"Good of you. Aigoo, that poor child — barely eighteen, in the very bloom of her youth, and already..."

Seo Do-seok nodded with a wry laugh of his own.

The girl's name was Jeong So-so.

Eighteen this year, born and raised in Yinghua Village, there wasn't a soul on this street who didn't know her.

"Her father still hasn't sent word, I take it?"

"Don't even get me started. Tch, worthless bastard. Says life's too hard, so he throws his own children away..."

"Stop it. He'll hear you."

"Oh dear."

Around then, a bitter smile crept across Jeong So-so's lips as she padded down the road.

She'd heard every word — she'd have had to be deaf not to, with voices that loud.

It's all in the past anyway.

She rubbed her calloused, work-worn hands together and smiled a smile that wasn't much of a smile at all.

These days she did every manner of odd job, but it hadn't always been this way. Only a few years ago, her life had looked entirely different.

It had all started when her younger brother, Jeong Soryong, fell ill with an incurable disease. Taking after the mother who had been taken from them early by sickness herself, the boy had scarcely left his sickbed since infancy. Perhaps his father had decided he couldn't bear to bury a child too — because he abandoned everything, every duty and every obligation, to focus on the sick boy alone.

After that came a story you could hear anywhere, common as dirt. A betrayal by the very person they'd trusted, then a scam, then debt, then the household's slow collapse... until the family was ruined to the last coin. That kind of story.

She didn't hate her brother.

Not her brother — she might have hated the father who'd slipped out in the dead of night and abandoned them both.

"Hah!"

Smack! Smack!

Jeong So-so slapped her own cheeks, driving out the tangle of dark thoughts.

"I got extra wages today, so the medicine money is handled! Just keep going like this!"

Work hard and honestly, and somehow, some way, you'd live to see another day. Wasn't that how it always went?

So-so was striding along at a brisk pace, nearly home, when the sound of an argument reached her ears.

"I'm telling you, I'm not a strange person."

"Saying that only makes you seem stranger."

"This is genuinely frustrating."

The blood drained from So-so's face.

Soryong?

She sprinted the rest of the way — and stopped dead in her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tracks.

Someone was standing in front of their house.

Tall. Clad in travel robes the worse for wear and dusted with road dirt. And... at his waist, an old scabbard swinging loose with every shift of his weight.

The man radiated danger at a glance. He heaved a long sigh, then reached into his robes and drew something out.

"Hey, squirt. You like sweets?"

And with that, he held out candy, wearing the most suspicious smile imaginable.

"I'll give you this. In exchange, keep it secret from everyone else, and have a nice, honest chat with your big brother here, hm?"

What in the world was she looking at?

Anyone with eyes could see that this was—!

"Soryong!"

So-so flung down the basket she'd carried from the inn and bolted.

"Big sister's here?"

"Are you all right? Why are you outside! What's going on!"

That was when it happened.

"Ah, perfect timing. You're this child's sister, I take it?"

"Th-that's... wh-who in the...?"

"Allow me to introduce myself first. I'm a man called Jin Cheong-un. The thing is..."

Jeong So-so froze solid, staring at the man.

Gasp!

His hands were riddled with scars, and his eyes — his eyes were so sharp and piercing it felt as though a wild beast stood before her.

And above all — that smile!

It was the ravenous grin of a villain, the kind of man who could bury a person or two without so much as blinking!

"K-kidnapper!"

"...Huh?"

"Y-you're from the Black Tiger Gang! Did you think I wouldn't know?!"

"No, now hold on—"

"What are you planning to do to our Soryong! Absolutely not! Did you think I'd just hand over this house? Take me instead!"

"..."

Jin Cheong-un tilted his head back and gazed up at the sky.

So after everything, he'd become a kidnapper now, had he?

Heh heh heh.

"This is Uncle Jin Cheong-un. He says he wants to talk with you, big sister."

The space between Jin Cheong-un's brows twitched.

"Not uncle. Big brother. How many times."

"And how old might you be, exactly?"

"Certainly not old enough to warrant being asked my age."

"I'm ten. Aren't you at least twenty years older than me?"

"...So what if I am?"

"Then you're practically my son, so calling you big brother is a bit..."

Jin Cheong-un's expression went slack.

Were those the words of a ten-year-old?

Just then Jeong So-so's eyes blazed with twin flames as she rounded on her brother.

"Soryong, you! I told you not to open the door for anyone, no matter who comes!"

"I knew they weren't Black Tiger Gang people."

"And how exactly would you know that?!"

"I can just tell by looking... cough! Cough!"

The moment Jeong Soryong coughed, So-so jolted in alarm and rubbed his back.

"Why are you so cold? Were you outside again, ignoring everything I said? Inside. Now!"

"But..."

"Now!"

Jeong Soryong trudged into the house, deflated. Halfway through the doorway, though, he paused, turned back, folded his hands neatly at his navel, and bowed to Jin Cheong-un with perfect propriety.

Sharp little thing, isn't he.

Though... cold? On a day this warm?

Then Jeong So-so, looking deeply embarrassed, shuffled her feet for a moment before bowing low.

"I'm so sorry. I was rude to you in every way imaginable."

"...It's quite all right. Though might I ask — what exactly about me made you conclude kidnapper?"

So-so stole a sidelong glance at him.

What about him isn't kidnapper...?

In fairness, up close he was handsome — strikingly so, a rare sight in a village like this. The problem wasn't the face. It was the atmosphere.

How could a person's eyes be that deep and that cold all at once? Looking into them was like peering down a well at midnight — something in the pit of her stomach shriveled just from meeting his gaze.

"You're... truly not from the Black Tiger Gang, then?"

"I don't have the faintest idea what that damn Black Tiger Gang even does."

"Talking about the Black Tiger Gang that way in Yinghua Village marks you as an outsider for certain."

Jeong So-so let out a breath of relief.

"Then... what business does a warrior have at our house?"

Jin Cheong-un murmured, almost to himself.

"Our house..."

"...?"

"The truth is, I've come to my own home."

"Your... home?"

Only then did Jin Cheong-un explain the whole affair, step by careful step. Jeong So-so listened with both ears — and at last managed a smile of relief.

"Oh dear, it seems there's been some kind of misunderstanding. We've lived here since practically the day we were born. And you bought it, you say... well, that simply doesn't make sense, does it?"

Having said her piece in the politest possible tone, she dipped her head.

"I'm sorry I can't be of help, but I do sincerely hope your matter resolves itself."

So-so turned to leave.

Jin Cheong-un did not budge an inch.

"This house is mine."

"As I said, we've lived here since practically—"

"I already have my identity tablet issued by the county, and the deed to the house as well."

Jin Cheong-un drew the tablet and the deed from his robes and held them out. Dazed, So-so took them, read the documents — and her eyes went wide as saucers.

"Wh-what is this... this is impossible!"

"Tell me about it."

Jin Cheong-un nodded emphatically.

"Th-there's no proof this is real!"

"There's the official seal of the Yichang County office right there, isn't there? I went and received that stamp myself."

"Wh-what is this! This is fraud!"

"That's exactly what I've been saying!!"

The moment Jin Cheong-un burst out in impassioned agreement, So-so flinched hard.

What is wrong with this person?

Flustered, she stammered on.

"I-I'm sorry for shouting. But by that same logic — I have a land deed too!"

At long last, Jin Cheong-un got to say the words he'd been waiting to say.

"Wonderful. Then let's go to the magistrate's office right this instant and settle it."

"...?"

Sorry to disappoint, but he had nothing whatsoever to be ashamed of here. He'd checked everything that could be checked, and paid the money on top of it. This house belonged to him — to Jin Cheong-un!

The result was exactly what he'd expected.

"Hmm. The deed of sale is genuine, and the seal shows no trace of forgery. And the household register lists the owner of the estate as the Jin family."

Thud.

Jeong So-so's legs gave out and she sank to the floor.

"Th-that can't be..."

Watching her sit there in stunned defeat, Jin Cheong-un felt a flicker of genuine guilt.

But it couldn't be helped, could it? He cleared his throat and asked.

"Then the estate is now officially confirmed as my property?"

"Of course it is. The estate, you see—"

Jin Cheong-un froze mid-breath.

"The estate... is?"

Jeong So-so's head snapped up from the floor.

The clerk tapped the household register with one finger.

"The land is not yours, you see."

Jin Cheong-un's eyes bulged.

"What in the—what nonsense is this?"

"Look here. It reads the Jeong family, not the Jin family."

"...!?"

Only now seeming to grasp the situation, the clerk chuckled and stroked his beard.

"It appears the Jeong family's estate and land had been put up as collateral for a debt... and the creditor went and sold you the deed to the house, and the deed alone. Unlucky business."

"How does a case that absurd even exist! Then what is this! This land deed in my hand! You're telling me it's a forgery?!"

The clerk clapped his hands together.

"Oh, precisely that."

What the hell is wrong with this guy?

"It's cunningly forged — clever enough to fool most anyone at a glance. It took an eye like mine to notice the tampering at all. Hahaha!"

Laughing? This bastard is actually laughing?

Wait. Hold on. More importantly — if it was forged, then that meant...

It really was a scam?

Jin Cheong-un felt the back of his neck turn to stone.

The peaceful, comfortable retirement he had dreamed of for so long? His retirement savings, scraped together through well over a decade of living like a dog?

"Tsk tsk. You got hit good and proper, my friend. Judging by the method, it was that fellow. Just tell yourself it was bad luck and be done with it."

Jin Cheong-un's voice trembled with rising fury.

"That fellow? What fellow?"

"You haven't heard? There's a swindler of extraordinary skill roaming the Central Plains these days, forging deeds of sale. What was his name again... he'd even taken an alias, like a proper Jianghu man..."

In that instant, the conversation with the Chief Strategist flashed through Jin Cheong-un's mind once more.

"The Building King, he called himself."

As if the words were some dark omen of the future waiting to unfold.

Jin Cheong-un's retirement had gone catastrophically, spectacularly wrong — from the very first step.