Chapter 130

Winter in the borderlands was harsh. A middle-aged man shivered violently as the knife-sharp wind cut through his collar.

“Ugh, it’s cold as hell.”

The man, Seokchil, was a porter for the Seongun Escort Bureau in southern Shanxi Province.

He had spent more than a day and a half hauling a cart loaded with over a hundred geun of cargo, soaking his entire body in sweat. Whenever he took a brief rest, as he was now, he had to fight against the brutal cold.

“Hyung, leave the cart and hurry over. Come warm yourself by the fire before you freeze to death.”

A fellow porter, already crouched in front of the campfire, called out. Seokchil answered gruffly as he walked over.

“Brat, I have five mouths to feed. I’ve got a long way to go before I can die.”

“True. You can’t die with a fox of a wife and rabbit-like children waiting for you.”

“What fox? She’s a bear. A bear.”

“Were those your last words? If your wife hears you, she’ll wring your neck.”

“You can curse the king behind his back. Didn’t you know?”

Seokchil moved closer to the campfire.

They used horse manure for firewood, so a foul smell spread in every direction. But after nearly twenty years as a porter, Seokchil was as used to it as he was to the smell of cooking rice.

“Ah, now I feel alive again.”

“But Hyung, aren’t you being a little stingy?”

“Huh? What nonsense are you talking about now?”

His fellow porter grinned and jerked his chin toward something.

“You should bring the rookie over, too. Where’s the sense in rushing over here to save yourself alone?”

Seokchil, who had been warming his frozen hands, turned his head. At the end of his gaze sat a young man on a snow-covered rock, staring blankly into space.

That kid’s doing it again.

The young man was a new porter they had picked up in Henan. According to Escort Chief Song, who was in charge of this escort run, the young man seemed capable enough to earn his keep, so they had taken him on.

Well, we’re always short on people.

The problem was that no one could tell what the young man was thinking. He often sat there in a daze, just as he was doing now.

As Seokchil clicked his tongue, his fellow porter asked,

“Why? Is he a little strange?”

“He does his work well. He’s surprisingly strong for someone who doesn’t look like much.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“What do you mean, what’s the problem? It’s frustrating to see a young fellow sitting around like that day after day. Back when I was his age…”

“You want to say you dreamed of making your mark on the world and worked hard every day?”

“Of course. A man should know how to set a grand goal and move toward it.”

“I assume that grand goal wasn’t becoming the greatest porter under heaven.”

“You little—”

At Seokchil’s furious reaction, his fellow porter quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, what’s that fellow’s name?”

“Cheongpung.”

“Now that’s a fine name. Suits him, too.”

“That’s true.”

Seokchil secretly disliked the young man, Cheongpung, but he had to agree completely.

Something about the young man’s open, pleasant features and clear eyes put people strangely at ease and soothed their anger.

“Hey, rookie!”

At his fellow porter’s shout, Cheongpung turned his head.

“Me?”

“Who else would I be talking to? Come over here and warm yourself by the fire. If you keep sitting there, your butt will get ripped right off.”

“An experience like that wouldn’t be bad.”

“An experience? What experience?”

“The experience of having my butt ripped off. I’ve never had that happen before.”

His fellow porter was silent for a moment before whispering to Seokchil,

“What kind of guy is he?”

“I don’t know. The kid’s a little strange. Maybe he ate something bad.”

Cheongpung tilted his head.

“I ate two dumplings this morning.”

“…Sharp ears, huh? Fine, just come sit down.”

“Should I?”

Cheongpung trudged over and sat down in front of the fire. The usual questions immediately began flying at him.

“Where are you from?”

“Henan.”

“So you’re from Henan.”

“I was in Hubei a month ago.”

“Hmm. Hubei’s nice, too.”

“Before that…”

The porter turned to Seokchil.

“This guy’s unbelievable.”

“Right? Talking to him makes me feel like I’m going strange, too.”

“How have you put up with him beside you for over a month?”

“That’s why I stopped talking to him lately. Has it been about three days since our last conversation?”

Cheongpung answered with a serious expression.

“Four days and three shichen.”

“…”

“…”

The two men barely suppressed the urge to smack him over the head.

“So where are you from?”

“I lived in the mountains.”

“That’s not what I meant… No, never mind. Thank you for answering that, at least.”

“You’re welcome.”

Strangely, Cheongpung’s bright smile made their anger subside.

His unpredictable, bizarre remarks were paired with an innocent smile like a child’s. Their curiosity about this strange young man, unlike anyone they had ever seen, continued to grow.

“But you said you lived in the mountains?”

“Just like it sounds. I grew crops and gathered medicinal herbs there from the time I was young. I did all sorts of other things, too.”

The two men jumped to the conclusion that Cheongpung was from a slash-and-burn farming community.

Most slash-and-burn farmers went into the mountains to escape the cruelty of vicious landlords or to avoid the authorities after committing one crime or another.

“You must have had a hard life.”

“But I had fun.”

“Oh, really?”

Could life as a slash-and-burn farmer really be fun? The thought briefly crossed Seokchil’s mind, but he saw no reason to ask.

“Then what made you come down from the mountain?”

“Life there got boring. I wanted to see the world, and there were people I wanted to meet.”

“So that’s why you came to Henan.”

“Yes. It turned out to be a wasted trip, but… things aren’t bad now, either. This escort work is pretty interesting, too.”

“You find escort work interesting?”

Cheongpung answered with a broad smile.

“Watching people is interesting. Looking at the land and the sky is interesting, too. Thinking is fun.”

To Seokchil, who had spent so many years as a porter, they were all sights he was sick to death of.

People worn down by exhaustion and worries about making a living. Damp earth and knife-sharp winds blowing like mad. The only thought filling his head was how much he would be paid for this escort run.

Well, he’s still young. That’s why he can say things like that.

Besides, he had lived in the mountains all his life and came from a slash-and-burn farming community. His attitude was understandable.

Wouldn’t he learn about the harsh realities of life soon enough and gradually become just like Seokchil as he grew older?

I used to be like that, too.

Seokchil looked at Cheongpung with a mixture of envy and pity before opening his mouth.

“Just listen to this as nonsense.”

He knew he was meddling where he wasn’t wanted, but he wanted to tell this innocent young man about the realities of life.

Wasn’t his life too promising to start as a porter and grow old and die as one?

“Anything seems worthwhile for a while. But after ten or twenty years, you stop seeing much of a future ahead of you. No matter how hard a porter works or how talented he is, he’s still a porter. You should learn even Third Rate martial arts at a local martial arts academy and start working as an escort. You’d be much better off.”

Cheongpung blinked.

“Oh, really?”

“Not ‘oh, really?’ I’m telling you to do it. You’re a little old to start learning martial arts, but who knows? Maybe you have exceptional martial talent and could become a successful First Rate master.”

“A First Rate master…”

His fellow porter, who had been listening quietly, clicked his tongue.

“Isn’t that giving him too much false hope? A First Rate master isn’t some dog’s name.”

“I’m speaking hypothetically. What kind of sense does it make for someone his age to be satisfied with being a porter?”

“Well, you’re right about that. If I were ten years younger, I wouldn’t be doing this either.”

“See?”

Seokchil patted Cheongpung on the shoulder.

“You heard him, right? Save carefully for a year or two and enroll in a martial arts academy. It’ll be much better for you. Until then, I’ll teach you everything I know.”

Cheongpung tilted his head.

“A year or two?”

“What? Is that too long? You don’t know how the world works, so I suppose you don’t realize how expensive martial arts academy fees are. Even with the lowest estimate, it’ll take at least a year…”

“No, because I’m going to quit before then.”

“You’re quitting? When?”

“Now.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Cheongpung smiled brightly.

“I don’t know the way to Shanxi Province. There happened to be an escort run heading to Shanxi, so I asked them to let me tag along.”

“…And?”

“We’ll reach Taiyuan after one more day, so I was planning to part ways around then.”

Seokchil and the other porter exchanged baffled looks.

“What the hell? Didn’t Escort Chief Song say he signed a one-year contract?”

“That’s what I heard, too. That’s why they assigned him to you, the most experienced porter, so he could learn from you.”

With a confused expression, Seokchil asked Cheongpung,

“When you joined us in Henan, you signed something, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yes.”

“If you have it, show it to me.”

Cheongpung pulled a yellowish bamboo slip from inside his clothes and showed it to them.

It was a contract stating that he would work as a porter for the Seongun Escort Bureau for one year and pay a penalty if he left before then.

“You can read, right?”

“I finished the Four Books and Three Classics when I was four.¹”

“Don’t say stupid things like that. Read this part. Yes, that section. Read it aloud, and make sure I can hear you.”

Cheongpung read the section Seokchil indicated in a crisp voice.

“Once signed, this contract cannot be revoked. In the event of unauthorized departure, the signer shall pay a penalty of fifty silver nyang or provide compensation of equivalent value.”

“You know how much fifty silver nyang is, right? Do you know what ‘compensation of equivalent value’ means?”

Cheongpung thought deeply for a moment, then slapped his forehead.

“Does it mean I’d have to work it off?”

“That’s right, you idiot. Did you think the Escort Bureau was full of nothing but kindhearted saints?”

Seokchil’s blood pressure shot up, making the back of his neck throb. He wanted to crack open the top of the kid’s skull and see what was inside.

How can someone like this even exist? Is it because he only ever lived in the mountains?

The dangers of transporting goods across the land were beyond imagination. Mounted bandits, river bandits, mountain bandits, every kind of bandit gang imaginable, not to mention interference from competing Escort Bureaus.

Even if they overcame every one of those obstacles, a single natural disaster could doom an escort run.

An Escort Bureau was every bit as thorough and hard-edged as most Murim sects, if not more so.

And this kid signed the contract, then says what? “I’m leaving around here”?

The young fool in front of him knew far too little about the world.

Seokchil spoke, determined to keep the boy from throwing his life away.

“I’m telling you this just in case, so give up any thoughts of running away. Work for a year and think of it as earning money. Understand?”

“A year is too long. I think I can work through tomorrow, though.”

“You little bastard!”

“Hyung, Hyung, calm down! If Escort Chief Song happens to see this, we’ll all be in trouble.”

“Let go! I said let go!”

It was just then, as Seokchil was about to snap.

“Uh, wouldn’t this be enough to cover the penalty?”

Clink.

The two men’s eyes widened at what Cheongpung held out.

The object was shaped like a horse’s hoof and gleamed with a silver light whiter than the snow.

“S-silver yuanbao?”

“And there are two of them!”

Two silver yuanbao, each worth fifty silver nyang.

A hundred silver nyang was an enormous sum that an ordinary porter would struggle to earn even after working himself to the bone for ten years.

And yet such a fortune had come from the clothes of a young man from a slash-and-burn farming community.

“H-how…?”

“I was given some traveling money when I left home.”

Both men’s mouths fell open at Cheongpung’s innocent reply.

What kind of family gave their son a hundred silver nyang as traveling money? And judging from the money pouch hanging limp like a bull’s testicles, this didn’t seem to be all he had.

“At least it looks like this should cover the penalty…”

The two men nodded frantically.

“It can. Of course it can.”

“Why did you suddenly start speaking formally?”

“It’s just more comfortable this way.”

“Exactly. It’s the most comfortable thing in the world.”

“Oh. If that’s what you prefer.”

Cheongpung looked at the two men as if they were strange and handed over the two silver yuanbao.

“I’ll be going, then. Please tell them this is the penalty.”

“A-are you giving us both?”

“It’s too much…”

“If there’s anything left over, you two can split it. I don’t really know how to spend money. Buy yourselves some warm clothes. Something with expensive fur.”

“…!”

As Cheongpung slung a bundle over his shoulder and prepared to leave, Seokchil hurriedly called after him.

“C-could I ask your name?”

“Cheongpung. Until half a month ago, I was from Henan. Last month, I lived in Hubei, and before that, I was in Shaanxi.”

With that, Cheongpung strode off toward Taiyuan.

The sky was blue, and early shoots were already sprouting from the damp earth.

“Maybe spring will come a little early this year.”

He smiled brightly as he thought about it. He hoped the plum blossoms would bloom in profusion again this spring.

Then, without warning, he thought of Lotus Peak on Huashan, from which he had secretly run away not long ago.