The old lady gave out a heavier chuckle. “Your parents did well, raising you up.”

Joohyun’s demeanor softened. It was the first time, since leaving the north barracks, that someone had praised her parents’ efforts in their parental roles.

“Those men were just doing their jobs.”

Joohyun raised her left eyebrow.

“They were guardsmen of the Okeydokey Brothel.”

“What business do you have with a brothel?” Nini spoke out this time.

“It started a couple weeks ago.” The grandma looked off into the distance. “My son was a gambling addict, he would spend days and nights at a gambling den. He wasn’t winning and only came home with this massive debt. It had gotten to the point where our family heirlooms were sold to pay off it off. But after the death of his wife, he began to change. He took on contract jobs in order to support the two of us that was left.”

“So you did owe them money?”

“Let me finish child.” The old lady threw her straw shoe at Nini. “A couple of nights ago. He came back in high spirits, and I was concerned. I thought he was visiting the gambling house again. When I confronted him, he told me he had met a young master of a merchant family. The young master offered him a contract with one of his shops and he was paid thirty days in advance! At first, I was really skeptical, so I secretly followed him to work. It turns out he became a servant at the Okeydokey Brothel. I was still really worried. The brothel was an influential business and there have been rumors about them, but he was coming home on time every day, some days with a bonus pay.”

Joohyun gently placed her hand on Nini’s arm, lightly shaking her head to stop the latter who was about to interrupt the grandma again.

“But then three nights ago, he didn’t come home. He didn’t come home the next day either. So I rushed to the magistrate’s office.” Tears began streaming down the old lady’s cheeks. “I wanted them to help me find my son. Not for me to find his dead corpse in the office.”

Joohyun gave the old lady her handkerchief.

“They said it was suicide. The night he was on shift, he had gotten drunk and molested a courtesan. Not able to handle the guilt, he committed suicide at the brothel.”

Nini moved to the bedside and patted the old lady to calm her cries.

“But they’re wrong. I know him. He’s my son, I know him better than anyone. He would never commit suicide. He’s been traumatized by his father and his wife, who had left us in the same way. There was no possible explanation he could have done so!”

Joohyun and Nini quietly moved to the next room after the grandma had cried herself to sleep, as the others returned from the pharmacy.

The five gathered around the center table of the room. “Young Miss, you wo