Dreams, Debts, and a Knock at the Gate
Let him review the events of the past few days.
He had poured his retirement savings into a manor, only to be swindled out of it.
Then it turned out that the manor belonged to an old senior martial brother from his hometown.
That senior's family had gone completely bankrupt, leaving nothing behind but the children.
And now he was locked in a dispute over whose land was whose, whose house was whose, with those very children.
And remarkably, all of this had happened in the span of just two days.
How on earth did I end up here?
Retirement was supposed to mean peace and tranquility, leisurely days, contentment in simplicity — wasn't that the whole point? He had slogged through years of misery under a corrupt superior, even earned the merit of saving the Jianghu along the way, so why had it all become a bolt from the blue, a bitter disillusionment, a dumbfounded stupor?
Unless someone was cursing his future with sinister sorcery, there was simply no explanation for this.
Could it be you, Alliance Leader? Are you secretly conducting some vengeful blood sacrifice in your chambers with Esoteric Cult rites?
"……What have you been muttering about this whole time, Uncle? Blood sacrifice……?"
"You're better off not knowing."
Jin Cheong-un deliberately turned his gaze skyward and heaved a sigh.
"Whew. Don't ever retire, kid."
"……?"
Ever since the boy had called him uncle, he'd been avoiding eye contact — and only now did their gazes finally meet. So-so was squinting at him as if he were some strange creature.
Still, thinking it over, this couldn't have been pure, dumb coincidence.
His senior martial brother had been the eldest son of a thriving merchant family. Of course the Jeong family manor was the finest property in the village.
So it was only natural that a man looking for a livable manor in his hometown would settle on the Jeong estate.
What I failed to anticipate was that Senior Brother would still be in the village — and that the family would collapse, putting the deed into a swindler's hands.
And so, where inevitability and coincidence overlapped……
his fate had become entangled with the Jeong siblings.
Jin Cheong-un studied Jeong So-so with a complicated expression.
They say daughters take after their fathers. Now that I look, I suppose she really does.
Honestly — if things got hard, the man could have at least sent word.
No, wait. He probably didn't even know how to reach out. And even if he had known, he likely wouldn't have.
I was the one who came too late.
He had forced himself to stop caring about Yinghua Village.
He'd told himself, vaguely, that he would return someday — while turning his back on everything connected to the academy.
And that probably went for the others too…… the others?
"Hey."
Jin Cheong-un pointed at the table where a memorial tablet rested.
"Those dried flowers, the incense, the liquor sitting in front of that tablet. What's the story there? Did you put them out?"
"Pardon? Ah, that — every so often, for the past few years, things like that would just appear there. I figured the former caretakers were leaving them secretly, so…… I would just tidy them away whenever I came to clean."
For a moment, Jin Cheong-un's face went blank.
He turned slowly toward the tablet, and a hollow laugh escaped his lips.
And here I thought no one would ever come…….
How many had visited over the years? Whoever they were, maybe if he lingered here, the day would come when he'd find out.
Whether it would be a happy reunion, though, remained to be seen.
"Anyway, about the state of the academy……"
Jin Cheong-un swept his gaze around the grounds and let out a short sigh.
Shabby.
The floorboards creaked with every step, a musty smell of mold hung in the air, and the walls and pillars were peeling, cracked here and there.
"You've been maintaining this place all by yourself all this time?"
"Yes — well, I've only done it alone for the past four or five years…… Why do you ask?"
"It's worn down badly. Strange, the inside looks even worse than the outside."
At that offhand remark, something in Jeong So-so's chest lurched.
This was a place she had cleaned with painstaking care, squeezing hours out of days that had none to spare.
Countless times, with no money for repairs, she had wrestled with hammer and nails herself.
Since her father ran away, how hard had she fought — all alone — just to keep the academy standing?
"……Even so, I did my very best to take care of it."
"Must have been hard on you."
Jeong So-so froze.
"I'm sorry?"
"I said it must have been rough. A house can last a hundred years if it's well kept, but left untouched, it falls apart fast."
Jin Cheong-un crouched down and pressed firmly against the cracked section of wall.
"Earning money at your age, running a household, nursing a sick little brother — keeping a place this run-down standing couldn't have been easy."
"Ah……"
"Tsk tsk. You've been through it. Whew, look at all this dust."
"Th-that's not — I mean, it was nothing."
Suddenly finding her throat tight, Jeong So-so clutched the hem of her skirt.
It was the first time. The first time you've been through it had sounded like praise instead of pity.
The words had been tossed off carelessly…… no, maybe that was exactly why. Out of nowhere, the tip of her nose stung.
"Thanks to you, I'll have an easier time of it. I figured the whole place would've collapsed by now, but at this state……"
Jin Cheong-un rose, brushing the dust from his hands, and turned to survey the grounds.
"We could keep it usable with renovations alone — no need to build from scratch."
Rebuilding would be a last resort; if it could be preserved, he wanted to preserve it.
After all, this place was steeped in his own memories too.
More importantly……
Jin Cheong-un's fist clenched tight.
It saves money.
The most important issue of all!
With no income coming in anymore, if there was anything to be spared, every last coin had to be!
Jeong So-so's face brightened.
"So you really are reopening the academy?"
"Merely reopening it won't be enough."
"Of course not?"
"If we're doing this, shouldn't we make it the finest martial arts academy in the world?"
Jin Cheong-un looked up at the sky.
The green mountains behind the academy, the clear sky spread above them — gazing at it all, he felt his heart open wide.
Cheong-un. Will you now look after the children and keep our academy safe?
It was late, but that was exactly why he had come back.
Yes — he bore the responsibility of carrying on the Cheongun Martial Arts Academy. And yet he had cast that responsibility aside. For more than ten long years.
No words could serve as an excuse. If he wanted to deflect even a sliver of blame someday, he would have to rebuild the academy into something far grander than it had ever been.
"The finest academy in the world? But we're just an ordinary academy in the countryside……"
"What law says a country academy can't become the best in the world?"
This was, after all, Jin Cheong-un — the man who had started out as a nobody from a rural academy, brushed past all the great sects and prestigious bloodlines who sneered at his origins, and climbed all the way into the innermost circle of the Supreme Alliance Leader.
Granted, he was retired now!
Granted, after smashing the Esoteric Cult to pieces, he'd been taken in by a two-bit swindler!
And granted, his beloved academy was currently a crumbling ruin! But still!
The man had taken the Esoteric Cult Leader's head — surely he could manage becoming number one in the martial academy business!
"So-so. You said your dream was to reopen our academy, didn't you? Now that I'm here, that dream is guaranteed to come true — so it's time you dreamed bigger than that."
"Ah……!"
The eyes that met Jeong So-so's were brimming with absolute conviction.
Seeing that fire, her own heart began to burn.
"Yes! I'll help with anything I can!"
"That's the spirit!"
"The world's finest academy — Cheongun Martial Arts Academy!"
"Oho, now that's fire!"
"Just give the word! What do we start with?"
"Repairs first, I suppose."
"Right!"
"And recruiting students."
"It is an academy! And then?"
"Mm."
"……?"
"……."
Silence fell.
"You don't actually have a plan, do you……"
Creak! Creak!
The torn window paper rattled in the wind.
The decrepit building.
The weed-choked yard.
The smashed front gate.
The light in Jeong So-so's eyes, which had been shining so brightly, slowly dimmed.
Back at the Jeong family manor.
Seated before the dinner table, Jeong So-ryong stole a glance at Jin Cheong-un.
So he had a connection to Father.
Could such a coincidence truly exist in this world?
His sister had her lapses, sure, but when it came to suspicion, she trusted no one — and if she said something was certain, then it truly was certain.
A man who will fix my body, and open the academy that is my sister's dream.
Jeong So-ryong's eyes sparkled.
They shared no blood, of course — but wouldn't he be far more dependable than the so-called real relatives who had heartlessly turned their backs on the two of them?
I finally have an adult I can truly trust. An uncle.
And yet……
something about this felt off.
"A plan! Everything needs a plan, Uncle!"
"If we pay people, they'll do the job right. Why would we need a whole plan……"
"And that's exactly how accidents happen. We must be thorough. I know a carpenter, for one. It'd be cheaper to hire the stonemason separately, and……"
"……."
"You're listening, aren't you? Oh, and I'll find a paperhanger to redo the interiors too."
"……."
"There's a smithy in our village, but the Jeong family smithy in the next town is more famous. We should go with them, and……"
"Fine, fine — can't we at least eat our meal first?"
"You can eat while you listen."
"……."
Jeong So-ryong looked back and forth between his sister and his uncle.
Why was the uncle getting so thoroughly steamrolled by his sister's words, not daring to make a peep?
Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?
"You'll want to draw up a budget first. And have you filed the notice with the county office about opening the academy? Surely you haven't neglected that?"
Jin Cheong-un gave a dry cough and put on an air of grave dignity.
"Each to his own domain. As the saying goes, government and the Jianghu do not meddle in one another's affairs."
"Weren't you retired?"
"……."
From the manor to the Jeong family house.
And now, seated at the dinner table once more.
Jeong So-so's words — each one slicing into his vitals with several times the precision of a master swordsman's blade — were carving Jin Cheong-un to ribbons.
Wait, isn't she supposed to be at the age where she doesn't know anything?
This could not go on.
At this rate, his dignity as academy master and uncle would crumble entirely!
Jin Cheong-un drew a deep, deep breath and thundered.
"You — little one!"
"……?"
"Is that any way to speak to your elder?! The more I listen, the more I'm being disrespected in my own house!"
"You told me earlier not to treat you like an uncle because you looked old."
"……."
His masterstroke lay utterly crushed beneath So-so's counter. It was, one might say, a single-strike kill — delivered in reverse.
He felt a flicker of bitterness.
Wasn't the old warning about guarding against children, women, and old men meant for exactly this situation? And So-so was both young and a woman — a veritable unbeatable foe.
"Cheer up."
"……?"
Jeong So-ryong, still eating beside him, offered the comfort with a perfectly placid face.
Jin Cheong-un's expression turned sour.
Senior Brother. What on earth is going on with your children?
They'd said the boy was only ten — was this really what that meant?
The Jeong siblings…… honestly, they were starting to genuinely frighten him.
"By the way, Uncle — what did you used to do at the Supreme Alliance?"
At So-ryong's abrupt question, So-so also flicked her eyes over.
Jin Cheong-un answered offhandedly.
"Escort warrior."
"Were your martial arts strong?"
"Passable."
"Then…… why did you retire so early? The Supreme Alliance is the place every martial artist in the Jianghu dreams of joining."
Dreams? Was the Alliance really that kind of place?
Hard to say.
Maybe for some people.
Just never for him.
"Nine out of ten warriors retire because they got hurt. That's just how it goes."
He had actually made the decision before that — but he figured a rough excuse would do.
Jeong So-so's eyes went wide.
"You were injured? How?"
"Fought one rotten bastard and his few hundred lackeys."
"……I'm sorry, a few hundred?"
"Enough to blanket an entire mountain. Only twenty of ours were left standing, so I'd cut down four or five with every stroke of my blade……"
"Wow, I see."
"It's true."
"I believe you!"
"……."
A few hundred people. How was anyone supposed to fight a few hundred with only twenty on their side?
"Now let me ask you something."
"By all means."
"Where exactly is your senior martial brother, that you two are all alone here?"
In that instant, silence filled the room.
Then So-so resumed moving her spoon and spoke as if it were nothing at all.
"He ran away."
"……Ran away?"
"Yes. In the dead of night. Leaving just the two of us behind."
In a calm, even voice, she laid out everything that had happened.
"So, let me get this straight."
"Yes."
"Debts piled up, your father ran off, and not long after, the debt collectors got vicious?"
"Yes."
"……."
That's not the man I knew.
He almost said it aloud — then immediately realized that these children must have thought exactly that, more than anyone.
It's not my place to say it.
Compared to him, who hadn't seen them for over ten years, these children had lived alongside the man from the day they were born. They knew him better than he ever could.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Jin Cheong-un drummed his fingers against his crossed arm.
Still, there are limits.
Debts, he muttered to himself. Debts.
Hold on. Debts?
……On this house?
"Wait. Don't tell me the collateral on that debt is……"
"Ah, that's, well……"
"Don't."
Jeong So-so gave a heavy nod.
The land's been mortgaged?
After everything else, now there was debt too?
He suddenly felt the small of his back stiffen, tension flooding up his spine.
But at that very moment —
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A rough pounding erupted from the direction of the front gate.
"Jeong So-so! Come out here! This is the Black Tiger Gang!"
Jeong So-so's head snapped around.
Her face had gone deathly pale.