Episode 1542. Isn’t that good? (2)
My hands are cold.
“Haa…”
I tried to blow on it, but it only lasted for a moment, and my fingertips were still bright red and frozen.
“ha.”
The boy, who was constantly blowing on his hands alternately, started crying without realizing it. Even if I didn’t have something on my back, I could have put my hands together and melted them with my breath….
After all, warming your hands won’t improve anything. Once this stabbing pain goes away, hunger will stab your intestines.
“Haa…”
The boy, who blew his breath on his numb hand, put his feet made of reeds together and entered the hut.
Inside, a man and a group of boys a head shorter than him were sitting around a fire lit in the center.
Each one was as dry as a tree branch. In particular, the man sitting in the center looked particularly thin and nervous, perhaps due to his age.
Bubbling.
There was a pot on top of the fire. Looking at the boiling porridge, the boy swallowed his saliva without even realizing it.
“Are you here?”
“…yes.”
“Did you get something?”
“That…”
The boy’s whole body stiffened with tension.
“I don’t really have anything to salvage…”
“What? “There was a lot of damage, but there was nothing to salvage?”
“…yes. It looks like they’ve already taken it all away. “Not only did I have anything to eat, but my clothes were all taken off.”
“Urajil….”
The man’s face distorted. More than a hundred people died in a stabbing, and not a coin or a handful of grain was left.
This means that those who were busy fighting wouldn’t have bothered to search for the body, and others had already rushed in and taken it away like an anglerfish.
“What’s that on your back?”
“This…”
The boy winced and put down what he was carrying on his back.
The man wrinkled his face when he saw what was roughly wrapped in a dirty cloth.
“you…?”
The boy spoke hurriedly as if making an excuse.
“Oh no, it felt like I was holding something in my hand… I tried to open it, but I was holding it too tightly.”
The man’s face turned bright red.
“But it looked like it was alive. Ah, he’s still young… he’s alive, so I can’t just throw him away…”
Ahhh!
Before he could finish speaking, the man rushed up and hit the boy harshly on the cheek. The boy’s sore body flew away like a dry stick and landed in the corner of the hut.
“You idiot!”
Still, the man seemed to have lost his temper and began to mercilessly kick and stomp on the fallen boy.
“You’re such an idiot that you can’t even participate in everyone else’s share! what? Pick up someone? what? “Are you still alive?”
“You’re wrong…”
“Shut up!”
A hail of kicks hit the boy’s face.
It is not a beating for discipline or education. It is literally violence that is close to venting one’s anger by saying that it doesn’t matter if one is kicked randomly and dies.
“Oops!”
In the end, the inside of the boy’s mouth seemed to have burst, and blood flowed down the corner of the boy’s mouth. After that, the boy fell limp after being beaten for a while before the man stopped kicking. The sound of heavy breathing echoed in the hut.
“You have become a saint. Does a person who can’t even take care of his own food worry about others? You fucking idiot! “We’re all starving to death already, so don’t you know what will happen if there’s one more mouth here?”
The boy was droopy and couldn’t give any answer.
The man, who wasn’t expecting an answer in the first place, glanced at the young guy still wrapped in the stained cloth. He looks no older than ten years old.
Of course, his actual age may be older than that. It is common for poor people to look young because they are unable to grow properly due to starvation. Especially in this area.
Just by looking at his complexion, he is a guy who works hard today and tomorrow.
In a world like this, a boy who is powerless is worse than a dog or a pig. If you feed livestock, they can catch and eat you later.
“What should I do?”
A boy whose skin and bones were as bad as the one who had been beaten asked cautiously.
“what?”
“…Should I throw it outside?”
The man glanced towards the entrance of the hut, his face distorted. The reeds are shaking in the cold wind. The cold is so bitter that even just curling up inside the hut will make your bones ache. If you throw it outside, it probably won’t be able to survive even one hour and it will freeze to death.
“Throw it in the corner over there.”
“Why don’t you…”
“If you have to leave it alone, leave it alone, you idiot!” Is it because you don’t know how heavy a frozen person becomes? “Who’s going to move someone who’s so frozen that they can’t hear?”
“Ah…”
Several boys nodded quickly. Because he had experience moving frozen bodies, he immediately understood what the man said.
“Anyway, if you leave it alone, you’ll die. “More than that.”
As the man looked back at everyone with cold eyes, the boys shrank their necks in fear.
“What are you doing?”
“…yes? “We…”
“Can you see it?”
The man gestured towards the entrance of the hut. Every time the reeds shake in the wind, a swirling snowstorm is visible. In the first place, snowstorms themselves are rare in this area. It was such a harsh winter.
“It’s not going to stop snowing in a day or two, is it?”
The boys nodded without realizing it. Since this was the first snowstorm I had ever seen in my life, I had no way of knowing when it would stop, but I knew clearly that throwing up at the man’s words was to hasten my fate.
“What do you want to eat in the meantime?”
“Outside…”
“Oh, so we’re going to stay here hungry for three or four days?”
The boys could not bear to answer.
I’d like to say that it’s okay to eat the boiling porridge sparingly and endure, but they also know. That’s not the kind of porridge that will ever enter their mouths.
“get out. Climb over someone else’s wall, catch and kill a dog, or if that doesn’t work, break the ice and catch a fish! Do whatever it takes to get something to eat! Don’t even think about coming back if you can’t save it! okay?”
“Someone’s eyesight should calm down a little….”
Ahhh!
The boy’s head, who had been speaking incoherently, turned to the side.
“what?”
“I’ll come save you! please!”
“Jump out now!”
The boys, who were very frightened, hurriedly rushed out of the hut, carrying the boy who had fallen after being kicked.
The man muttered in an annoyed voice.
“Those idiotic things… damn it.”
All of this is not just because his disposition is vicious.
It’s already been over twenty years since I’ve been living this damn life. That’s why I knew. How harsh will this winter be?
The war between the Sapa bastards, who brandished their swords whenever they made eye contact, was becoming more and more severe. Those who cannot dare to farm run away to the mountains and become slash-and-burn farmers, and then become thieves who rob the slash-and-burn farmers. It’s already been ten years.
The streets are littered with bodies that have been stabbed to death and those that have starved to death, and the winter has been so harsh that it is difficult to find any precedent.
The man removed the pot from the fire with nervous hands. It is a porridge made by pouring a lot of water into less than a handful of sorghum and boiling it in a pot.
It was somewhat embarrassing to even call it porridge, but even this was precious to him.
‘Many people will die before winter is over.’
It doesn’t matter how many young beggars like that die. This is a world where people die countless times, and the easiest thing to save in this world is an orphan.
Even parents who were alive and well were abandoning their children to keep their mouths shut, so the man had nothing to worry about.
The problem isn’t that they die, the problem is that he might die. I can still survive somehow, but in the end, there is no way to live without eating.
I looked down at my hand holding the pot. The wrist, to be exact. Seeing it so dry that it looked like it was going to snap and break at any moment made me feel more than annoyed, I was filled with fear.
Damn it, damn it. Can I survive this winter by eating something like this? No, will we be able to get even porridge like this in the future?
To some, it’s a beggar. For some, it’s a crushing defeat. A thief to some and a robber to others. I’ve been doing everything I can to survive, but this winter is especially scary.
Has there ever been a winter like this before? It seems like there was.
How did you survive before? At that time, more than now…
at that moment. The man remembered something and slowly moved his gaze to the side.
A child thrown into a corner.
It’s a guy that’s going to die soon, but strangely enough, it doesn’t dry out like other guys.
The man swallowed dry saliva without realizing it. A spark of conflict appeared in his eyes, but he quickly calmed down.
“Tsk.”
If it’s your first time, you’ll worry, and if it’s your second time, you’ll worry. However, if this is not your first or second time, there is no reason to worry.
The man slowly took out a sharp kitchen knife from the cheap sheath on his waist.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel nervous, so I licked my dry lips with my tongue. The eyes of the man approaching the child were meaningful.
The moment the man’s stretched shadow fell on the child, the child’s hand, which had been stiff enough to stop bleeding, twitched slightly inside the sleeve.
“…Are you okay?”
The boy who had been beaten nodded his head weakly.
Even at a glance, the condition is not that good. However, the boys who asked if he was okay saw the nod and quickly lost interest.
There are many people who are beaten to death and those who starve to death. To these people, death was not something that was particularly far away and something to be avoided, but something that they had to carry on their backs at all times.
“damn. “Where are you going to hunt in this weather?”
One of the boys complained.
Even animals wouldn’t hunt in this weather. I can’t even see a human being, so where on earth can I get food?
“It’s better to keep doing this….”
“Arthur.”
Before he could finish speaking, the other children shook their heads. I completely understand how you feel, but I have no choice but to dissuade you.
If you kill him, you won’t get beaten up, but in this world, if you don’t join a gang, even the handful of tree bark you hold in your hand will be taken away and you will lose your life.
There is no place that is an easier target than a group without adults. In order for them to survive, that damned bastard has to stay alive. At least until they can stand on their own.
The boy who had been beaten at that time spoke calmly.
“Wait a moment.”
“…what?”
The children, shivering from the biting cold wind, asked with puzzled faces. I was wondering if there was a way to get something to eat.
The boy spoke calmly.
“Just wait a moment and then go in.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Why are you saying this when you clearly know it? “I guess I’ll put something in my mouth today though.”
The children, who were looking at the boy blankly, flinched after a while. It was only later that I realized what the thing I was putting in my mouth meant.
“No way….”
“Once again. Is it just us? “Didn’t you hear the rumor about Wang Ho-pae before?”
Rumors about Wang Ho-pae. The boys swallowed their saliva as they remembered the terrible rumor that they could not bear to mention.
“Then really…”
“There’s nothing good about going early, and there’s nothing good about going late. “Just wait a little longer.”
Different emotions flashed across the boys’ faces.
Eerie, gloomy, resigned and anguish…
But no one criticized this. If you worry about whether you will die or whether someone else will die, isn’t the result obvious?
“…how much longer do I have to wait?”
“It’ll be soon. “How long will it take to deal with one little guy who’s all dying?”
“Couldn’t there be hesitation?”
“That bastard?”
The boys fell silent.
Sik-gyeong endured the harsh wind under a bare tree. The boys headed back to the Teolle Teolle hut.
Soon they could clearly feel it.
The smell gets stronger as you get closer to the hut. A bloody smell penetrates the tip of my nose through the bitter winter wind.
One of the boys swallowed dry saliva and carefully put the foot of the hut back. And then it froze in place like ice.
“Uh…”
Blood is splattered everywhere.
Actually, this is not strange. Although it was louder than expected, I expected there would be a lot of blood anyway.
What was beyond their expectations… was the owner of this blood.
“The two leaders…”
The man who had kicked them out was lying helpless. The sight of his eyes wide open, unable to even close, was miserable.
Her chest was punctured and her face was covered with long scars. And his neck… was pierced by a short dagger.
The dagger, which appeared to have had its handle torn off, was very small. So much so that even a child can’t see it if they hold it tightly.
“Ugh…”
Everyone became thoughtful as they recalled the scene that must have occurred inside the hut.
Dalgak. Dalgak.
An eerily peaceful sound could be heard next to the corpse, which had not yet cooled down. When I turned around, I saw a small child sitting next to the bodies, almost as big as the boys’ chest.
‘Is that…?’
What the child was hearing was the sound of an old spoon hitting the pot.
Inside the bowl was the porridge the man was trying to eat.
The one eating the porridge was the child who had been wrapped in a dirty cloth and thrown into the hut.
The boys couldn’t move, as if they were frozen.
Who killed the man? How did that child wake up? How is that child so calmly eating porridge next to the corpse?
I wasn’t curious about any of that.
They were simply overwhelmed by the sight. The dead cool off and the living eat. The colder reality than the harsh winter chilled the boys’ blood.
And then.
Sweet.
The child puts down the pot he was holding and slowly turns his head.
The lips were visible beneath the half-covered face.
Perhaps it was because of the warmth of the porridge or the strange heat of this space, but those lips, which had turned blue as if they were about to die, were stained as red as blood.
The boys couldn’t even think to exhale.
Just before being suffocated by the fleeting but eon-like silence, those red lips gently curved and burst into laughter.
It looked flawless and bright, but for some reason, it was a bright smile.
* * *
Jang Il-so opened his eyes and slowly stood up.
He slowly looked around at the gorgeous bed, the silk needles draped gently over the body, and the softly scented candles burning and lighting up the surroundings.
As if he had sensed his presence, the door to the barracks opened and the rebels came in.
“Are you coughing, Lord Ryeon?”
Jang Il-so, who was looking at them without answering, suddenly looked out of the barracks blankly. Then he shifted his cool gaze to the rebels.
“Is it snowing?”
The rebels, who flinched for a moment, looked at each other with puzzled faces.
Snow in this weather?
Jang Il-so chuckled and waved his hand slowly when he responded that he didn’t understand the meaning.
“no.”
Jang Il-so drank all the water he brought him in one go, put down his glass and said.
“porridge.”
“…yes?”
A fresh smile appeared on her pure white face. A bright smile that felt so pure.
“Let’s have millet porridge for breakfast.”
