WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Oblivious

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Murim in my Hometown ◈

Chapter 5: My Home

──────

Finding the Jeongun Trading Company wasn't difficult. I went into every cloth shop and herbal medicine store along the road to ask, and they all pointed me to the same place.

The building they directed me to wasn't a trading company, but a brokerage office.

When I entered, a broker named Oh Seong, a man in his mid-forties, gave me a warm welcome.

He was short and slight, with no beard on his face. He looked exactly like a eunuch.

“Jeongun Trading Company? Of course I know it.”

“You do?”

“They operated here until five years ago.”

“Then where are they now?”

“They went under.”

Oh Seong studied my suddenly frozen face and continued cautiously.

“The head of the company was killed by bandits while traveling on business. Their children divided up the inheritance and left Seochon. I took over this building then and started working as a broker.”

“Do you know a broker named Yeon Jinwon or Yeon Jinhyeon?”

Oh Seong scratched his chin and shook his head.

“Well... I've never heard either name. They may have quit and left long ago.”

Oh Seong also examined the scrap of cloth I had pulled off the gate of Soso's house.

“This was definitely put up by the Jeongun Trading Company that used to be here. Where did you find it?”

When I described the location, Oh Seong immediately understood.

“Ah, that house. It's a properly built tiled house, rare for this neighborhood.”

“Do you happen to know where the people who lived there went?”

“I don't. They supposedly couldn't endure the famine and left, so they probably went to one of the large cities nearby.”

“Is that house for sale too?”

“Of course.”

“How much?”

“Just a moment, sir. Let me check the ledger.”

Oh Seong took a thick ledger from a shelf and opened it.

“Ah, here it is. At the current market rate, it's five taels of silver. That's quite cheap. For a house like that, this much is...”

“How is a crumbling abandoned house worth five taels of silver?”

I scowled and questioned him informally. I casually shifted the saber hanging at the small of my back to my side.

He looked older than me, so I'd been polite. Where did he get off trying to fleece me?

My face was ordinary, nothing handsome about it, but I was a young man who had made his living with a blade.

I also knew very well that fists were the best medicine for those who mistook youth for weakness and tried to pull something.

When I openly growled at him, Oh Seong flinched and hurriedly began making excuses.

“Sir, please calm down and hear me out! The owner of that house is a government official living in Chengdu. When the escort agency came to town and the place began booming, the owner saw what was coming and bought it in advance. It should originally sell for twenty taels of silver, but the deal has dragged on, so the price dropped considerably. Several people have asked about buying it, but the owner flatly refused to accept anything below five taels...”

I silently stared at the broker as he went on and on about why the price couldn't be lowered by even a single coin, then walked outside.

Buying something from the first shop you visited was the fastest way to get overcharged.

I sought out other brokers.

It was easy enough to find vacant houses suitable for living. Purchase prices ranged from ten to two hundred taels of silver. Monthly rent ranged from half a tael to three taels.

The brokers told me we should first look at the houses before talking, but I turned away at once. Even if the population had increased, those prices were ridiculous.

Only Oh Seong's brokerage had put Soso's house up for sale.

Should I just sneak in and live there?

Seeing as nobody had lived in that abandoned house until now, it didn't seem likely anyone would come looking for it in the future either.

The problem was if the house somehow got sold.

If its owner really was a government official, or if the buyer had powerful backers, I couldn't simply dig in my heels.

If I used my blade there, I might become a fugitive and have to turn my back on my hometown forever.

If five taels of silver could completely prevent that risk, it wasn't a bad price.

All the money I had was seventeen taels of silver and seventy copper coins.

This was my eighth year making a living as a blade-for-hire.

It might seem like I'd saved too little, but this line of work was just like that.

For wandering martial artists, diligently saving money and retiring was as difficult as a gambler hitting it big and quitting for good.

Dangerous work left me injured all over, and medicine cost money without end.

When fighting for my life, it was common for my swords and sabers to get chipped or cracked. If a blade broke, I had to steel myself and buy a new one.

If I didn't want to die some pointless death to a stray blade or hidden weapon flying at me from behind, I had to wear something beneath my clothes.

I couldn't even dream of buying expensive chainmail, but I at least needed a pigskin vest.

Those who had never lived this way wouldn't understand how many expenses came with being a blade-for-hire.

Even so, compared to other wandering martial artists who squandered everything on drink and gambling as though there were no tomorrow, I had saved diligently.

Even after spending five taels of silver on the house, I could manage for about two years if I was careful.

There was a pleasure house and an escort agency in town, so I would surely be able to find work somehow after my money ran out.

After quenching my thirst at a roadside teahouse and making up my mind, I returned to Oh Seong's brokerage. When I said I would buy the house, Oh Seong beamed and made a great fuss.

“A wise choice, sir. The house is a little remote, but it's not a bad place to live. Even if wild animals come down from the mountain, a man of your martial skill would find them no more than dinner ingredients. Let's make the contract tomorrow. I'll have all the documents ready.”

I looked around the streets before returning to the inn. A wooden bathtub had been placed in my room when I went upstairs. The inn attendant promptly filled it with bathwater.

I loosened up in the hot water, washed myself clean, and had a drink.

Before I got too drunk, I barricaded the door with the table. I placed my saber within reach and went to bed.

I had worked so hard to return home, yet sleeping at an inn left my heart unsettled.

I decided that tomorrow, I would make the contract somehow and repair Soso's house.

* * *

When I met Oh Seong again the next afternoon, he immediately told me we couldn't make the contract here.

“We have to go to the government office?”

When I glared at him with murderous eyes, Oh Seong flinched and explained.

“We need to check the registry ledger and receive the government's notarization. All house and land transactions are handled at the government office.”

“The registry ledger?”

I had never heard of such a thing.

Was it the name of some hidden weapon? A martial sect that was doing well in this town? As a martial artist, my thoughts naturally went in that direction.

That couldn't be it. I frowned and shook my head inwardly. Still, if I asked what it was, he might look down on me as an ignorant easy mark.

At times like this, the best thing was to fold my arms and stare silently.

Oh Seong must have dealt with quite a few martial artists, because he was quick to read the mood.

“As you surely know, sir, a registry ledger is a government record that registers the owners of houses and land. It's how the government formally recognizes ownership.”

“Why?”

“Isn't that obvious? They need to know who lives where and how many people live there in order to collect taxes. They can impose a military service obligation too.”

For a moment, I was dumbfounded.

Having wandered around as a martial artist, I had forgotten. A government official's main duty was to raid the people's granaries.

So if my name went into the registry ledger as the owner of the house, I would be subject to taxes and a military service obligation.

Ever since the previous emperor pacified the north, the military service obligation had long been commuted to payment in silver. Still, the taxes I had to pay the government would increase.

I had come here determined to settle down, but thinking of the government taking my money made my head hurt.

Steadying my wavering resolve, I brought up something that would surely be a problem at the government office.

“I don't have an identity plaque.”

“What? Ah, that's fine. You can have a new one issued while we're there.”

“It won't be free, will it?”

“Of course not. It's the government, after all. You have to pay a fee.”

“How much?”

“One tael of silver should...”

When I widened my eyes and glared at him, Oh Seong trailed off and swallowed hard.

“...That's too much, yes. I'll strike a hard bargain and get the house transaction and identity plaque issuance done together for six hundred copper coins.”

“What about the broker's fee?”

“For that, you really should give me at least half a tael of silver...”

“One hundred copper coins.”

“What?”

“One hundred.”

“Oh, sir, I can't possibly do it for that...”

Oh Seong pulled a miserable face and began whining at length.

I folded my arms and stayed silent with a cold expression. When I didn't budge and continued glaring at him, I finally got the answer I wanted.

Apparently, I had made it clear that if he tried to fleece me, no one would find his corpse anywhere in the Central Plains.

“...Then just this once. Whew, I won't make a single coin this way... Oh dear, I don't know whether I'll even be able to pay this month's rent for the shop...”

He seemed to be trying to make me feel sorry for him, but he had no chance.

I had never seen a merchant who didn't make a profit. If anything, men who acted like their margins were thin took even more for themselves behind the scenes.

Some of those six hundred copper coins going to the government office would end up in this broker's pocket. Once the house got sold, he would also receive a fee from the owner.

When you think about it, he owed it all to me for buying an abandoned house that hadn't sold and had been left to rot for five taels of silver.

He ought to have been giving me a gratuity. Giving him one hundred copper coins was more than enough.

That was how I ended up at the government office, a place I wanted to enter about as much as a latrine with an assassin hiding inside.

The damned government office was the same as those in every other city. Even the guards at the gate openly demanded bribes.

When I stood there with my hands behind my back, Oh Seong quickly took out a few copper coins.

The official in charge of the registry ledger was a wily-looking middle-aged person whose goat beard suited them perfectly.

“It's been a while, sir.”

“Ahem. Yes, what business brings you here?”

“We've come regarding a house sale.”

Oh Seong explained the purpose of our visit and handed over the letter of authorization he had received from the house's owner.

The official examined it with an indifferent expression. Only after a small coin purse slipped neatly into their hand did a pleased smile spread over their face.

The official tucked the purse into their robes as if nothing had happened and spoke.

“Ahem. You said it was a house sale? I'll bring the registry ledger, so wait here.”

After the official completely disappeared into their study, I muttered without realizing it.

“All the thieves in the country have gathered here.”

“The salaries of low-ranking officials aren't much, are they? If they want to put even one bowl of meat soup on the table for their families, they have to take bribes.”

I had expected Oh Seong to agree with me, but he instead defended the official as though he understood.

When I looked at him, Oh Seong grinned slyly and joked.

“Hehe. Give me a generous broker's fee too, sir, so I can buy some meat on my way home.”

The sight of him bowing and flattering someone young enough to be his son gave off the unmistakable misery of an ordinary man struggling to make a living.

No matter where you went or what you did, making a living was such a pathetic business.

I didn't know whether he had children, but I hoped they were dutiful. It would be terribly sad if he worked so hard to earn money, only to be treated like an afterthought at home.

The official returned carrying a thick ledger and placed it on the table. It had been left untouched for so long that dry dust rose from it in clouds.

They flipped through several pages, then pointed to one with a finger.

“Here it is. Sign and place your hand seal here.”

“May I read it first?”

“You can read?”

“I have learned the Thousand Character Classic.”

“Ho. Impressive, very impressive. Are you perhaps from a fallen martial sect?”

When I began reading the characters in the ledger, even the broker looked at me with surprise. He seemed more astonished than when he had seen the saber at my waist.

That was understandable. Martial artists were expected to be ignorant and illiterate.

With all those admiring eyes on me, my shoulders rose a little.

The house's original owner in the registry ledger was Soso's father. After several sales, its current owner was Gwang Jikhyeon, who lived in Chengdu.

It was the same name written on the letter of authorization Oh Seong had brought.

In front of the official, I handed over the money and bought the house.

After I signed and placed my hand seal, my name replaced the previous owner's.

I also had an identity plaque made for the first time in my life. It was a small wooden tag with my three-character name on the front and my address and identifying features on the back.

Having one of these couldn't tie a martial artist to one place. I could burn it and leave whenever I wanted.

I had never seen a blade-for-hire carry an identity plaque. No matter how thoroughly you searched the corpses after a bloody battle, all you found were silver, copper coins, daggers, poison, Gold Wound Medicine, and erotic pictures. Never an identity plaque.

The only inconvenience of not having one was when government officials inspected travelers. Even then, most of them could be dealt with by slipping them some money. Otherwise, you could simply take a hole in the wall or a side path around them.

For the time being, I wouldn't have to worry about that. I had a home now.

It would have been nice if my childhood wish of becoming a live-in son-in-law had come true, but I was fortunate to return this way at least.

For everyone, their hometown was an object of longing.

There was once a blade-for-hire called the Butcher, so named because they killed even women and children without mercy.

Even that cold-blooded murderer would long for their hometown in a thick Western Liang accent after a few drinks.

They would go on in lament about the rough, steep mountains of Western Liang, where dust blew through the air, and their childhood tales of martial prowess, when they had gone out thieving while clutching an empty stomach.

That was what a hometown was.

No matter how splendid or wealthy the great city you lived in, when you lay down to sleep, your mind always turned toward home. Memories of childhood were more dazzling and precious than gold or silver.

I didn't know where Soso had gone. Even if I asked around and searched for her, we would only keep passing each other by.

If Soso, Uncle, and Auntie were alive, they would return someday. As long as they were alive, we could meet again.

Until then, I would protect this house.

It wasn't as if I had anywhere else to go. I no longer wanted to wander the Central Plains as a martial vagabond, and I was sick of killing people to earn money.

Men who sold their blades for money easily betrayed others for more money. That was why they could not earn anyone's trust wherever they went.

Even if I was fortunate enough to join a martial faction or merchant group, I would obviously be used as a blade-for-hire until I lost my teeth, then thrown to the blades as expendable fodder and discarded.

No matter when or how I died, I wanted to finish my life on the soil of my hometown.

I gave Oh Seong the promised one hundred copper coins for his broker's fee, plus another thirty. That was enough for three generations to sit around a table and feast on pork with plenty left over.

I went to Soso's house, which was now my home, and began cleaning.

I cut away the vines that climbed the outer walls and reached the roof, tore them off, and threw them beyond the wall. Just making the exterior look neat made me feel refreshed.

Starting with the main room, I carried out all the furniture that remained. I removed the cobwebs and dust, then swept and scrubbed the floor.

I pulled out every weed in the yard too.

I called a carpenter and ordered replacements for the broken gate, wooden floor, windows, and bed. Even with an extra fee for rush work, it would take at least a day, so I had no choice but to stay at the inn again.

By the following afternoon, my house was no longer a haunted ruin.

With a proper gate installed, everything cleanly repaired, and bedding, pillows, and dishes bought, it finally looked somewhat like a home people could live in.

I ate a simple dinner of food and liquor brought from the inn, then lay down on the bed. After tossing and turning for a while, I gradually fell asleep.

I woke pleasantly beneath the warm blanket heated by my body.

Beyond the paper window, which had been swallowed by darkness, the light had turned a hazy gray.

Birds sang on the mountain behind the village, while a distant bamboo grove rustled with a refreshing sound.

Only then did I feel that I had truly returned to my hometown.

It felt as though Soso might open the door at any moment, come in, and slap my backside to tell me to get up. I stayed there for a long time, listening.

When I opened the window, my hometown stretched before me between the familiar walls and mountains, changed as much as I had changed.

I couldn't return to being the eleven-year-old boy who had not stained his hands with even a drop of blood, but I chose to believe, just once, that the days ahead would be different.

After all, I had returned home.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried