Episode 1370. Do you know what shame is? (5)
The man at the head of the approaching crowd was extremely fearsome.
Of course, my older brother, who has lived for a long time, knows. It is useless to judge people based on their faces alone.
But I also know. One person might not know it, but if a group of people give off the same vibe, the results are obvious.
The group entering the village gave off a dangerous atmosphere. It is an atmosphere that cannot be felt by ordinary people. A dangerous smell that cannot be smelled unless one has had human blood on their hands countless times.
It seems that it wasn’t just the old man who sensed this. The villagers all held their breath.
What was in the old man’s eyes was resignation, but what was in the villagers’ eyes was deep despair. I knew that they couldn’t have simply stopped by in passing. You must have come here with a clear purpose. Because I had lived my whole life watching out for others, I could sense it just by the approaching steps.
‘In the end… this is what will happen.’
The old man laughed in vain.
If nothing would change just by complying, if this was the end we had to face, then we should have raised our voices and tried to use evil at least once.
If that were the case, I wouldn’t have been embarrassed to see the bastard who left before me.
After entering the village and looking around, the monsters turned their gaze towards those gathered in front of the burial mound.
“There it is.”
The person in the lead walked toward them with long strides.
A rabbit facing a tiger could try to run away, but ordinary people facing a warrior could not even do that. The old man helplessly accepted the fate he would soon receive.
But not others. Those who had not yet lost a child and had a stronger will to live could not give up as easily as the elderly.
“Please save me!”
The man who had been making excuses for selling out Hyeong-wook a little while ago fell flat on his face as soon as he saw the approaching monsters.
“Didn’t I tell you everything! I have nothing more to give. “If you let me live, I will live in silence for the rest of my life, warriors!”
Even the man would know that it was pointless. But even so, I couldn’t give up and let him die. Isn’t the life that you tried to protect even by selling everything that can be sold? How could you easily let go of a life like that?
“Now that I think about it, they definitely went north! Up there! I saw it go up! “It’s the north, so if you search the north of that department, you’ll find the traces of the hypocrites of that political faction!”
The monsters who arrived in front of them narrowed their eyes and muttered.
“… Are political factions hypocrites?”
The man held his breath. I felt like I had made a mistake while picking it up without any hesitation.
“This is the nicest thing I’ve heard in a while.”
But fortunately, he got the answer he wanted. In an instant, the courageous man looked pleased and shouted louder.
“yes! yes! Those… political faction bastards who only seek out their own interests! How can such people be compared to the heroes of Sapa! If you let us live, we will help you too. “We can recognize their faces, warrior!”
“It’s their face…”
The monster let out a strange laugh and asked.
“Are you saying that if I take you with me, I can recognize those faces and confess to you?”
“yes! yes! If not, we can at least disassemble your appearance! Some of us are good at drawing, so this will definitely help! So please just save me!”
“Before that, let me ask you one question. “Is this really my brother’s village?”
“That’s true, but…”
The man gave a puzzled look at the somewhat unexpected question. Why are the people who stopped by here yesterday asking these questions?
At that time, someone who was looking around the village shouted.
“captain! “There are traces that someone has been here.”
“There are many. “It looks like it’s at least a few hundred years old.”
The monster who heard those words twitched his eyebrows.
He looked at the people lying face down in front of him, the graves, and all the traces left by the Maninbangdo members, then raised the corners of his mouth and sneered.
“It’s true that political faction bastards are hypocrites.”
“Yes yes! sure!”
“But… our leader is also in that political faction. “Looking at the situation, it looks like you sold our leader to the scammers.”
“⋯⋯Yes?”
The monster’s face was cold.
“It makes my stomach turn to think that I risked my life to cross the Yangtze River to save these trash.”
The man did not understand what the monster said and just stared at his face blankly.
Soon the monster spoke as if chewing.
“We have come to take you to Gangbuk under the orders of the Green Forest King. But… you can’t stand it any longer and repay the favor with vengeance? “They are worse than these beasts!”
Not only the monster who was speaking, but also the entire group, was filled with a bright red spirit.
These are Nokrim King’s direct subordinates. Their loyalty to the Green Forest King is second to none in the world. It was a natural reaction to hear that these people were going to sell the Green Forest King right in front of his eyes.
The man hurriedly tried to get up from the deadly force unleashed by the monsters, but fell flat on his back.
“I am…”
Why are they here?
The village people rejected Cheon Woo-maeng’s request for help. I thought that the promise that I initially believed to be impossible was completely over because of that rejection.
Who would want to show favor to those who received grace but coldly abandoned it? But strangely enough, the people who came to help the villagers arrived at this moment, and the man started babbling things he shouldn’t say in front of them.
When the man realized what he had done, he opened his mouth in despair, like someone who had fallen down a valley of despair.
“They’re like scum…”
In the lead, the Black Night Tiger Kwak Min, a confidant of the King of Green Forest and one of the Ten Spirits of Green Forest, distorted his face. Those who were watching the situation from behind said one thing at a time.
“It seems that the Green Forest King misunderstood the person this time.”
“The Green Forest King can’t do that! “I guess those volcanic bastards insisted.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just get it all done? “Why are we taking these guys all the way to Gangbuk?”
“Still, this is what the King of Green Forest ordered.”
“Who would know if they said it was after the scammers came and killed them?”
To be honest, betrayal is not that unfamiliar to the Green Forest Islanders. Forsaking grace is also not that rare.
However, because of that, the condemnation of such people was more severe. Because I know better than anyone else through experience that showing mercy clumsily can shake the foundation of a sect.
The Black Night Tiger narrowed his eyes as he listened to his subordinates’ words. His thoughts were not much different from those of his subordinates.
The name of the King of Green Forest is solemn. However, recently, the Green Forest King has tended to be too swayed by the volcano people. Wouldn’t the order to save them have been given by the Green Forest King of the past?
“Answer me.”
“yes?”
“Where have the scammers gone?”
“Well, we’re up to that…”
The Black Night Tiger laughed.
“Are you saying that you can sell your benefactor well, but you can’t sell Sapae-ryeon?”
“It’s not like that…”
The man’s face turned red. Now, blatant murderous spirit was coming out of the black night tiger.
“Sigh.”
“Do I need to say more?”
Slurp.
The Green Foresters pulled out the large swords they had on their waists. There was no longer any need to pretend to be kind, so the unique harsh energy of Nokrim came out without hiding.
The man closed his eyes tightly, thinking that everything was over.
But then one of the Green Forest Islands in the back opened its mouth.
“for a moment. But what is that burial mound?”
“⋯⋯Yes?”
“Who died?”
From what anyone could see, it looked like they had buried someone who had recently died. The villagers glanced back at the burial mound. The way we looked at each other was somehow complicated.
The black night tiger let out a sigh and looked at the burial mound with a stern face.
“Have you checked?”
When he asked, the person approaching nodded.
“yes. There were definitely signs of torture in the center of the village. “It looks like he was tortured very harshly, as the smell of blood still hasn’t washed away.”
“⋯⋯.”
“If the victim had been one person, it wouldn’t have been enough to drain all the blood from the body…”
The black night tiger is also a sapain. There is no way I have not heard that the torture practiced by Maninbang is so severe that it is unimaginable. Especially if it was Hu Ga-myeong who came here in person, the severity of the torture would have far exceeded the normal level.
‘You mean you endured it…?’
It was hard to believe that an ordinary citizen, not even a warrior, withstood that torture and did not open his mouth until the end. However, the traces left here and the expressions on the faces of the village people prove that this is true.
Even if you don’t dig up the burial mound and check the body.
“Huh…”
The Black Night Tiger lowered his head with a slightly tired face and looked around at the villagers who were looking at him with fearful eyes.
The Black Night Tiger, who had been silent for a while, slowly nodded his head.
“Load your weapons.”
“⋯⋯Yes.”
The subordinates also holstered their weapons without a word. It’s not that the ill feelings toward the villagers have disappeared, but we can’t do anything to them anymore. Even if you receive such an order, the discomfort once created will not go away.
Nokrimdo is a Sapa that eats betrayal and doesn’t know what humanity and righteousness are, but they know what spirit is better than anyone else in the world.
“Old man.”
“Yes…?”
“Get ready. “I will take you to Gangbuk.”
“Do you mean us?”
“exactly.”
The old man closed his eyes with a puzzled expression.
“Ha, but we…”
He should have covered it up and nodded first, but a strange feeling of discomfort made him hesitate. It’s an uneasy feeling that I wouldn’t have felt if it weren’t for what happened in just one day.
However, the Black Night Tiger simply shook his head and spoke strongly.
“We have been given orders, so we just follow them. Please choose. Either stay here or follow us to Gangbuk. “If you choose the latter, I will make sure you live in Gangbuk.”
The old man glanced back.
The village people looked desperately at the old man, but the place his eyes landed on was the burial mound where his son was buried.
The eyes of the old man became wet as he stared at the scene in silence for a long time.
‘You bastard…’
In the end, it was Hyeong-wook who saved this village.
If even Hyeong-wook had sold them out, everyone’s lives might have been saved for a moment, but in the end, they might have suffered disaster at their hands. Even if he was lucky and didn’t end up there, it wouldn’t have been able to stop him from eventually leaving without helping the villagers.
Because his son maintained his faith in Cheon Woo-maeng until the end, a way of life was opened up for the people of this village.
“The sooner you make a choice, the better. “Because you never know when those bastards will come back.”
“⋯⋯I’ll go.”
The old man nodded his head weakly.
“I have to live… “I have to survive somehow.”
“Then get ready. The lighter the load, the better. There is no need to take care of useless grains. “There is a lot of grain in Gangbuk.”
Those words pierced the old man’s heart even more painfully. If only I had known a little earlier that I would hear this…
“I will… I will do that.”
The Black Night Tiger nodded. One by one, the villagers, who had been watching, hurriedly ran to their homes.
The Black Night Tiger, who was watching them scatter, laughed bitterly.
‘What is the world…’
Those who remained loyal to the end were buried in the cold ground, while those who committed betrayal survived at the cost of their lives.
This is probably why it is difficult for goodwill to spread in the world.
But…
The Black Night Tiger muttered as he looked at the red mound where grass had not yet sprouted.
“⋯⋯At least you won’t have any regrets.”
It felt like someone he had never seen before was smiling at him.
