𝖬𝖾𝗆𝗈𝗋𝗒

2

A tall, thin, young man was standing in the shadows of the huge porch, looking mournfully out from under a dripping jacket. Everything else was about him seemed to be dripping as well. His nose, his glasses and the Survey map tucked under one of his arms. In the other hand he was holding a long metal rod, entwined with ugly metal leaves.

"You've broken the bell-pull!" Jeongin said, before he could stop himself.

The young man went pink. "I thought no one had heard me ring the doorbell, so I just gave it an extra tug and.."

Jeongin glanced at the broken end. Snapped bolt. That was nothing Minho couldn't fix. A pity, really. If the thing had been really smashed up, they would have had the excuse to fit a sensible, electric bell. "That's the original bell-pull," he said severely
"Put in when the house was built" he continued.

"I know." The young man looked even more miserable. "Sir jung Imsong designed it himself, with all the leaves. To show off what ilyong's metal extruder could do."

"He did..?" Jeongin went very still. That wasn't in the history book..

The young man nodded and pushed his glasses back up his nose. "He wasted thousands on that Metal extruder. Ilyong was the only person who ever took him for a ride. Everything else he touched turned to Gold." Suddenly he stopped lecturing and grinned. "But I bet you know all that already, don't you?"

Jeongin looked coldly polite. He was not interested in his great-great-grandfather. "Is there something I can do for you?" He Asked.

"Oh. I should have said." The grin vanished and was replaced by an apologetic frown. "But I thought you'd have guessed. I'm here to see Mr Ilyong. Mr Yang Ilyong."

Atleast that was easy to answer. "I'm afraid my uncle doesn't see visitors."

"But I'm Christopher Bang. I'm writing a thesis."

Jeongin went on looking polite and blank.

"Ive got.. wait a moment.. the letters in one of my pockets." Christopher began to burrow inside his pockets, showering over Jeongin.

"I'm not sure.. oh yes, here it is. Triumph!"

The moment Jeongin saw the shaky, uneven copperplate writing on the envelope, he knew the letter meant trouble. Uncle Imsong was bound to have forgotten all about it. Or changed his mind. But Christopher Bang was waving it around like a passport and it was impossible to avoid reading It.

It was worse than he expected.

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑀𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛,
𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑌𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝐼𝑙𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐼𝑙𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑔'𝑠 𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒. 𝐻𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ. 𝑀𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑤'𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑. 𝐴𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒.. 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠.
~𝐽. 𝐼𝑚𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔.

Jeongin read it twice, Playing for time. He could see that it hung together and actually made some kind of sense. To a stranger. But.. "𝑀𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢" .. No, it was impossible.

"Extraordinary, isn't it?" Christopher was saying. He looked anxiously at Jeongin. "It is alright, isn't it? I mean, I've come a long way, and I—"

"I think.." Jeongin cut him off. "That you'd better come in.."