Episode 416
: “Ugh….”
I felt my consciousness slowly coming back.
Starting from the toes to the fingers.
I moved, reflecting on each sensation.
It was always the case that I couldn’t move as I wanted, but at some point my senses returned and I slowly regained consciousness.
Bicheonwoong slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing you see is the shabby ceiling.
It felt like a place I had been in as a child when I was a slave.
Because it was torn and worn here and there, it couldn’t even stop the raindrops. The wall didn’t seem to be doing its job properly, to the point where it would completely wrap around my body when the wind blew.
Also, there was an extremely bad smell everywhere.
I wondered if people could live in a place like this. I wonder if the shabby warehouse where I slept as a slave would have been better.
Why are you in a place like this?
But first, what captures Bicheonwoong’s spirit.
“You’re alive…”
A dry voice rang out.
My mouth felt so stuffy and dry that I desperately wanted to drink water.
It felt like I was in the middle of the desert.
“sleep!”
At that time, a loud voice stimulated my ears.
Bicheonwoong, who was startled without realizing it, turned his head.
Next to him was a young girl. A child so small that it seems like he must have just turned ten.
The clothes he was wearing were shabby and tattered, and had a foul odor as if they had not been washed for a long time.
His hair was so clumped together that it didn’t look like a person’s appearance.
Everywhere on my skin was red, as if I was sick.
The sight of this child was so pitiful that anyone would want to kick him out the moment he saw him.
Bicheonwoong stretched out his hand toward the water offered to him by the child.
“I was sleeping for a very long time. “I think it’s been more than ten days.”
The child smiled while saying that.
Even his smile was ugly due to the red spots on his face, but Bi Cheon-woong was calmly nodding his head and sorting out the situation.
“Where am I?”
“It’s Hochon (虎村).”
“Hochon?”
I’ve never heard of it.
Therefore, Bicheonwoong, who did not know exactly where he was, frowned.
Then the child said, ‘Ah!’ He let out a short moan.
“It’s Sacheon!”
“…Sacheon? “You’ve come a long way.” I rode a horse from the beginning.
The horse ran for days until it collapsed from exhaustion.
Even so, I thought it wasn’t a long way to go to Sacheon, but it seemed like I went further than I thought.
After organizing his thoughts, Bicheonwoong turned his head.
It’s a bit of a rough place for a child to live alone. I looked around to see if there were other adults
, but there was no sign
of anyone other than the two people present .
Are you an orphan?
I didn’t feel any sympathy for him because he was an orphan.
To begin with, Bicheonwoong was also an orphan, and children who lost their parents due to war or poverty or who were abandoned by their parents are common everywhere.
Bicheonwoong’s heart is not easily moved to the point where sympathy arises due to such things.
I got up from my seat.
“Ugh!”
However, my whole body was throbbing and it was difficult to even stand upright. Since the wounds were inflicted by no one else but Cheon Moo-gwang, they were not light enough to recover in a few days at best.
Internal injuries are also not words.
If it is not treated with luck, it may become crippled.
Bicheonwoong frowned.
“Are you okay?” Bicheonwoong did not answer.
I couldn’t see the child’s worried eyes or expression. He had never let go of the sword ever since he picked it up.
The fact that he is unable to even stand properly is the same as sacrificing his head to the enemies who are targeting him.
Bicheonwoong looked around and found his sword.
But no matter where I look, I can’t see it.
“Where did my… sword go?”
“Um… that’s…”
The child hesitated and couldn’t answer properly. He kept looking at Bicheonwoong’s eyes as if he had done something wrong.
“I… sold it…”
Then he lowered his head.
As those words pierced his ears, Bi Cheonwoong let out a bewildered laugh. Thank you for saving me, but you sold me a weapon?
I was so shocked by the absurd sound that I was speechless.
“Sold it?”
“Yes… because I have nothing to eat… if I don’t sell it… you and I too… we’ll all starve to death…” Bicheonwoong saw him lowering his head as if he felt guilty. I laughed. If you’re a warrior, you don’t sell swords because it’s just a meal.
Even his sword was given as a gift from Emperor Tianwu, so it is an item so precious that it cannot even be put on a price.
“…How much did you get paid?”
“Well… ten nyangs of iron coin.”
“Ha…”
A treasured sword that cannot be bought even if you give hundreds of millions of dollars costs only 10 nyang of iron coin?
Bicheonwoong’s eyes were filled with death. I wanted to twist this kid’s neck right away.
But is it because I was angry? I was crying and blood was rushing out.
Blood soaked the floor, and for a moment, my head was spinning and I collapsed. Bicheonwoong, lying down on the shabby bed, gritted his teeth, barely able to hold on to his blurring vision.
“Damn it…”
His words rang out softly and he closed his eyes again.
“It’s a quiet town.”
“Isn’t it bigger than you think?”
Jang Sam-tae entered the village and looked around. I thought it was just a small slash-and-burn village, but the overall size of the village was considerable and everything seemed to be missing.
It contained high-quality guest cups and the grounds were quite large.
Why didn’t I notice until now that there was such a large village on the road from Sacheon to Gwiju?
“Hochon? “The name is interesting too.”
“It is said that people here lived long ago by hunting tigers. “That’s why it got its name.”
Ju Ji-yak explained with his eyes shining.
In fact, Jujiyak was also a village she discovered during her last trip to Sacheon with her father.
It was a story I heard from people in the surrounding villages at the time, but I didn’t even think that the explanation, which wasn’t even remotely interesting, would be used in a place like this.
“okay? That’s interesting. “It’s a village where tigers were hunted.”
“So is that so? “Not everyone is big.”
A village that made a living by hunting tigers.
That’s why the young people in the village looked stronger than those in other villages. Just looking at that fist, it seemed like it could easily suppress one or two Parakho nearby.
Also, the attire of people passing by the street was interesting, and I saw quite a few people wearing tiger fur. Even if it was not a tiger, it was covered in animal fur everywhere, perhaps because there were many hunters.
Most of them seemed to be living quite well. Even the ordinary people who were occasionally seen had nice faces, so it seemed like they were not making a living.
These are people who lived by hunting.
Of course, I am not hungry for things like meat.
“Everyone seems to be doing well.”
“That is not necessarily the case. Look over there.”
Sadohak pointed to the scenery outside the window.
It seemed true that most people wore nice clothes and their lives were not difficult. But if there is a bright side, there is also a dark side.
At the end of their gaze, a child appeared.
His entire face was red, possibly due to a severe skin disease, and he had not been able to eat proper food for a long time, so his throat was as dry as the inner ear.
The figure walking unsteadily looked very anxious. I tried to approach the people around me to see if it was begging, but people didn’t even look at me.
On the contrary, there were some who even tried to wield clubs.
If the child had not been startled and ran away, he would have already received several blows.
“It’s too much…”
Dansomi clenched her fist as she looked at the scene.
This is because the child’s appearance once seemed very similar to his own. She wanted to run out and help right away, but the carriage passed by faster than Dansomi expected and ran away.
“Isn’t that too much?”
Dan Xiaomi huffed and looked at Ju Ji Ruo and Hong Jin Lang.
The two children also nodded without thinking.
“It looks like you have some kind of illness.”
Dan Woo-hyeon also opened his mouth, remembering his child.
The skin was severely damaged.
Still, I think the reason people can’t get treatment is because they don’t have money. A face that makes even people around them turn away is no different from an abomination, so it is natural to chase them away by beating them.
Dan Woo-hyeon just looked at Dan So-mi.
He must have been so angry that he was grinning and holding on to the window. Her eyes were constantly focused on the child who had already disappeared and could not be seen.
“It’s really too much for everyone to hit a child like that.”
Dan Woo-hyeon recalled something that happened a long time ago.
When I first met Dansomi, she was naked and hungry, and her eyes were lifeless.
It occurred to me a little while ago that the child might be most similar to Dan So-mi at the time.
Dansomi also knows this well, so she may be paying more attention to it.
Dan So-mi, who had been staring out the window for a long time, turned her head and looked at Dan Woo-hyeon.
With shining eyes, he came to me and hugged me tightly.
He didn’t say anything and didn’t get angry.
It seemed like an action to calm his racing mind while thinking about the past.
Dan Woo-hyeon also accepted it without saying anything.
He patted my back and stroked my head.
With that alone, Dansomi was regaining some stability.
“That child… will we be able to meet again?”
“If there is a relationship, we will see each other again.”
“…I want to buy you something delicious.”
“Haha yeah. “Because sharing feels good.”
Dan So-mi cooed and grabbed Dan Woo-hyeon’s collar.
It felt like I was suppressing my desire to run right now.
As if he knew how she felt, Dan Woo-hyun soothed Dan So-mi’s bad feelings with a smile.
“I’ll be staying soon!”
At that time, I heard Jang Sam-tae’s voice. I glanced out the window and saw a large guest cup. Although it is large, it is not flashy and has a nice atmosphere.
There was a stone statue in the shape of a tiger at the gate, which seemed to be a symbol of Hochon.
Dan Woo-hyeon looked at the guest.
“A good wind is blowing.”
I opened my mouth like that, feeling the wind blowing gently.
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