The man spoke with a baffled expression.
"What are you talking about? You just kicked me out!"
"Huh?"
Mun Eunji rubbed her eyes and looked at the man again.
But no matter how she looked, the person standing in front of her now was definitely not the freeloader who had been here moments ago.
That freeloader's grotesque appearance had been so intense, there was no way to confuse the two.
"Liar!"
Wi Yeonho let out a faint chuckle and replied,
"Believe it or not, that's up to you."
"...Really?"
"Really."
"How can a person change that much in such a short time…?"
Mun Eunji stared at Wi Yeonho with a dazed expression.
Gone was the skeleton-like figure with nothing but bones. Now, a man with well-defined muscles subtly visible beneath his clothes stood before her.
And although his face wasn't that of an unrivaled beauty, it was still undeniably handsome under his tightly tied hair.
Could a person really change this much in such a short time?
"What happened to you?"
"Well, I ate well and rested up. That's all."
"Liar."
"What a harsh world. I tell the truth and no one believes me."
"Are you even human?"
"I do have a few ghost acquaintances, sure."
Mun Eunji let out a deep sigh.
Whether he was human or not wasn't important.
What mattered was that the man in front of her was an outrageous slacker, and that his now-built body had been fed using the estate's food — without paying a single coin.
Thinking of it that way made him seem even more annoying than before. Just how many bowls of rice had gone into building those muscles?
It was an unbelievable situation, sure.
But Mun Eunji had grown up hearing about countless strange people across the land, so she could accept it with some resignation.
If anything, walking around with that horrible appearance before was even more surprising.
With a sharp turn that sent the wind whistling, Mun Eunji turned away.
"Follow me."
Wi Yeonho followed after her.
As bothersome as it was, it was only right to work off the meals he'd eaten.
This was not a household where he could laze around freely.
Mun Eunji took him to a well in a corner of the estate.
Surrounding the well were piles and piles of laundry stacked high in bamboo baskets — enough to make anyone groan just looking at them.
She smiled sweetly.
"All you need to do is wash this laundry."
"All of this?"
"It's not that much, is it?"
"Not that much?"
Wi Yeonho looked around at the massive piles of laundry.
Even if he did laundry every day for a year, it probably wouldn't add up to this much. No — definitely not.
He had always been too lazy to even change clothes, wearing the same outfit for an entire month unless someone forced him to change.
Back home, his mother or a servant had to come and forcibly change his clothes every few days.
"This is my meal payment?"
"Exactly."
"It's not like I ate gold dust or anything!"
"All the other boarders do at least this much!"
"Lies!"
Mun Eunji smiled.
"Don't worry. This is all you have to do today."
"Today?"
"What, were you planning on resting tomorrow?"
"..."
"Then I'm counting on you! Wash them thoroughly! If they're not clean, I'll make you redo them, so you better make sure they're spotless!"
With those words, she turned away.
'Let's see you suffer now!'
Mun Eunji smiled smugly.
She despised lazy people.
She couldn't stop him from staying since it was her father's order, but there was no way she'd let him idle around.
Especially considering their recent financial troubles, there was no room for freeloaders.
Having grown up among hardworking scholars who prized diligence, to Mun Eunji, Wi Yeonho was the embodiment of sin — a human parasite.
"If he can't finish, he'll have to keep working after sunset! Or better yet, just give up and leave!"
She hummed a tune as she walked away.
But she didn't see the expression on Wi Yeonho's face behind her.
'Trying to mess with me?'
Wi Yeonho smiled.
"You picked the wrong guy, miss."
He muttered under his breath, confident no one would hear — but his words rang loud and clear in Wi Yeonho's ears.
He looked at the laundry.
Messing it up to spite her was one option.
But he felt sorry for Mun Yuhwan, who had offered him shelter without asking for anything.
"I really have changed, huh."
In the past, he wouldn't have cared about Mun Yuhwan's situation.
But Baek Muhan's teachings, carved into his body with punches, had made him conscious of things he used to ignore.
In that sense, Baek Muhan had truly made the world a better place.
"Well, anyway… I've gotta earn my meals."
Wi Yeonho walked slowly toward the well.
Mun Eunji called Sumi, who was coming out of Wi Yeonho's room.
"Sumi."
"Yes, unni!"
Sumi quickly ran over to her.
Mun Eunji smiled and patted Sumi's head.
Sumi was a child who lived near the manor. After her father had recently passed away, she had been taken in and now worked there as a servant.
"I'm sorry, but could you take the meal that's going into that room over to the well?"
"Huh?"
"He should be working hard on the laundry right now. So can you bring his meal to the well instead?"
"But there was someone inside the room just now."
"What?"
"It didn't look like the guest from before. It was someone else."
"Oh, someone else…?"
Wait a minute.
If Sumi hadn't realized that the strange-looking man had changed, she might have mistaken him for someone else entirely.
Then… could it be that person is actually in the room right now?
Mun Eunji hurried to the room and threw open the door.
SLAM!
She shouted when she saw who was inside.
"What are you doing here?!"
Wi Yeonho was sitting on the bed, wrapped in a blanket, eating.
Shouldn't a person at least eat sitting properly instead of lounging in bed?
"It's mealtime."
"How could you come in and start eating before finishing the work! Were you afraid we wouldn't bring it to you?"
Wi Yeonho replied bluntly,
"I finished already."
"Don't joke with me."
"I'm serious. I really finished it."
"I said, don't joke!"
"Have I lived my whole life just getting tricked or something?"
He shrugged and went back to eating.
Mun Eunji narrowed her eyes.
"…Did you really finish everything?"
"I did."
"I bet you did a sloppy job."
"No way."
"I'll check. And if it's not perfect, you'll have to redo everything!"
"Go ahead."
Mun Eunji was fuming.
How could someone be so lazy and still manage to say every word in a way that completely got under her skin?
"Ugh!"
She stormed out of the room and ran to the well.
'He probably just dunked everything in water and is claiming it's done! I'll make him do it all over again!'
But when she arrived at the well, something completely unexpected had happened.
Her eyes trembled like there had been an earthquake.
The laundry was neatly hung in rows across ropes stretched over the well.
Everything was lined up perfectly, clothes in rows and columns, like it had been done with military precision.
"Huh?"
She walked closer, stunned.
In front of her was a large blanket.
"…Was this always this color?"
The once-yellowed fabric was now a bright, clean white.
No matter how hard she washed them, the old stains had never come out—
but now, they looked like newly bought bedding.
"How did he… do all this…?"
Mun Eunji looked around, speechless.
Bright white laundry was hanging all around. So dazzlingly white it almost hurt to look at.
"This can't be…"
She had chosen that laundry pile specifically to give Wi Yeonho a hard time.
On a normal day, she would call in several people over the weekend to tackle it.
Yet he had done it all by himself, in under a couple of hours?
Fine. Let's say he did finish it.
But what about the unbelievable cleanliness?
Even if she had spent three days on just one blanket, she couldn't have made it that clean.
What kind of method could make all that laundry come out looking like new?
Mun Eunji could never have guessed the truth.
Wi Yeonho had used a very simple method.
He dumped all the laundry into the well and used his Yeolyang Jinryeok to boil the entire thing.
Anyone without martial arts would be shocked by that.
And even someone with martial arts would likely faint in disbelief.
First, being able to heat the entire well was incredible.
But even more astounding was that he used that power just to do laundry.
Of course, Mun Eunji didn't know martial arts—so all she could do was be stunned.
She ran back to Wi Yeonho's room.
Without a word, she flung the door open and shouted,
"What did you do?!"
Wi Yeonho glanced at her and chuckled.
"Why? Is something wrong?"
"I'm asking how you managed to do all that laundry alone in such a short time!"
He replied calmly,
"Well, you told me to do it alone, so I did.
Was it something a person couldn't do? If so, why'd you assign it to me?"
"Th-that's not what I meant!"
"Then what's the problem?"
Wi Yeonho smiled brightly.
And that smile grated on her nerves.
"Did you… call someone to help you?"
"Well, that's not really the point, is it?
The point is, I finished today's task, and now it's time to rest."
He added with a smile,
"So could you leave now? I'm a bit tired and need to lie down."
"Ugh…"
"Why? Got something else to say?"
"No…"
"Then goodbye."
Wi Yeonho pulled the blanket over himself and lay back down.
Mun Eunji clenched her teeth as she watched.
She was furious, frustrated, and felt completely cheated—
but she had no argument.
She had been the one to say he only had to do that task today.
She couldn't take it back now.
Mun Eunji stepped outside and shut the door.
"Aaagh! So unfair!"
She was so frustrated she felt like crying.
"Just wait for tomorrow! We'll see then!"
As her curses echoed down the hallway,
Wi Yeonho smiled.
"She's a feisty one."
Well, what could she do?
There wasn't much else she could say today.
He calmly pulled the blanket closer and slowly drifted off to sleep.
But as with everything Wi Yeonho did, this too didn't end well.
That evening, the rice cooked with water from the well reeked so badly it was indescribable.
Everyone at the manor suffered because of it.
Of course, no one could even imagine that Wi Yeonho was the cause.
And Wi Yeonho, having finished his job, scolded Mun Eunji for serving him stinky rice.
Poor Mun Eunji could do nothing but grind her teeth in silent rage.