episode_0021

Su-ryeong’s words were highly realistic and not incorrect.

But I couldn’t give up.

“I’m not trying to sail far out into the sea. The enemy will anchor near a deserted island today to recover from their defeat. They might finish repairs and attack again tomorrow. Do we have a plan in place? I’ve exerted too much energy today; I can’t fight like I did today.”

“What can a person as exhausted as you do out at sea?”

“We’ll set fire.”

“Fire?”

That’s right.

The plan I had in mind was pyrotechnics.

“We’ll set fire to the enemy ships and confine them to the deserted island.”

“How do you know the enemies are on the deserted island?”

“If we don’t find them after a night of searching, I’ll return.”

“No, I cannot allow it!”

Su-ryeong turned his head as if he wouldn’t listen anymore.

“…If I die, Su-ryeong, you can take over all the plans I’ve laid out today.”

Since persuasion wasn’t working, I had to bring up this statement.

“…Nonsense. There are many who have witnessed your actions.”

Su-ryeong hesitated for a moment but then spoke loudly.

“Then just scale back my plans. If you find the enemy and report it to the authorities, that should be enough.”

“Hah! That’s nonsense. How many have truly seen your feats amidst chaos? It’s a fact that you led soldiers and fought together, isn’t it? Even if my plans aren’t acknowledged, I have no complaints.”

Su-ryeong had only led soldiers onto the battlefield, shouting towards the enemy and shooting dozens of arrows, but that was still fighting.

“…”

Su-ryeong fell silent, his eyes shifting restlessly, seemingly tempted.

Seeing this, I felt a bit cynical and decided to push a little further.

I continued to persuade, eventually gaining acceptance.

#

Resting deeply until nightfall, I went to the harbor with Geobok and Bokjong, just like when I first arrived here.

Both seemed resigned to death because of me.

“Both of you, cheer up.”

“Ugh. Have you forgotten how close we were to death today?”

“Sir, isn’t this too harsh? If you shed so much blood, you should at least rest for a day.”

Although they seemed to care outwardly, the truth was they didn’t want to go out to sea because they were afraid of dying.

Honestly, going out to sea on a dark night was a reckless move.

“Narrator, why bother attacking the remnants of the enemy at night?”

“You could drown in the sea if the wind gets stronger.”

Despite their murmurs, I ignored them completely.

“You knew there would be more fighting since we still have preparations left.”

The preparations I mentioned were brought from Hanyang and were on the boat provided by Su-ryeong.

“Is everything loaded onto the boat?”

“Yes.”

“And the ropes secured properly?”

The ropes I referred to were coated with the grease I obtained from Hanyang, with pine pollen sprinkled on them. I also brought along dozens of worn-out cloths, treated in the same manner.

Additionally, there were several dozen nails, around a hundred stones, and a hundred or so pieces of flint brought from Hanyang.

It would have been better if we had gunpowder, but even if the authorities had it, there was no space on the small boat to carry it.

“Let’s set off!”

With the heavily wrinkled faces of Geobok and Bokjong, we headed out to sea.

Geobok and Bokjong trembled intensely, casting resentful looks at me.

‘I hope the waves are calm.’

Near the Do-do-um Gyeot, the uninhabited islands were closer than expected. However, in their small rowboat, there was a high risk of capsizing if the waves became too rough. This was a situation that couldn’t be resolved through strength alone. If the boat were to capsize, I, who had learned swimming in a past life, would not die, but after today’s battle, with my strength greatly depleted, I wasn’t confident in saving Ge Bok and Bok Jong.

“Row in the direction I indicate.”

As I directed the two, my eyes were fixed on the difficult-to-use telescope.

‘Ah, how great would it be if the game system supported a mini-map?’

Fortunately, my current latitude and longitude were marked on the internet map. Thanks to this, we could navigate towards the uninhabited island. However, as the internet map didn’t show enemy positions, spotting them had to be done through the telescope.

I didn’t know the exact magnification, but while scanning with the telescope, did we circle the island for an hour? Two hours? In the distance, I could spot lights resembling fireflies in the darkness.

“I found it!”

Raising my hand to point the direction, I steered the boat. In the dark sea, without turning on any lights, we moved towards the enemy line I had confirmed through the telescope, giving directions verbally—forward, left, right.

After about half an hour of travel, we finally neared the uninhabited island and reached where the warships were anchored. It was night, so although it was dark, with the proximity, the moon was up, and there were enough stars to distinguish the shapes of the large warships.

Rumble, rumble.

Seeing the dozens of massive warships, Ge Bok and Bok Jong turned pale, trembling like leaves in the wind. Despite wanting to regain composure, we couldn’t make a sound as the enemies were right in front of us.

Splash.

Anticipating a loud collision between the rowboat and the warship, I sat at the front, stretching the oar forward just before the impact, pushing the warship to minimize noise.

It was late, and the warships anchored near the uninhabited island were exhausted from today’s battle, laying collapsed with no one alert enough to notice us.

Now was the crucial moment. Grabbing the ropes brought along, holding a metal spike, I drove the spike into the warship’s surface through the rope, all done barehanded. The wet wood made little noise, easily accepting the spike with a thud.

Is this really wood? It felt almost like sponge, considering how easily the spike went in. Additionally, an old cloth was tightly wrapped around the rope.

Even though it was a wooden ship, setting fire to the water-soaked wood was no easy task. I wanted to set fire to the sails, but getting onto the ship posed a challenge. Dealing with a single warship would have been manageable, but having to set ablaze multiple warships in succession was the predicament.

After spreading the rope, I steered the rowboat towards the adjacent warship, securing it by driving spikes into its side. It took about twenty ropes to connect roughly twenty ships.

Despite these efforts, there were still around twenty warships unconnected by ropes. However, since they were anchored close to each other, it was certain that if one caught fire, the rest nearby would inevitably burn as well.

Connecting the ropes to the warships took at least half an hour. Yet, not a single enemy noticed us.

With the task completed, I retrieved flint from my pocket.

Tap, tap, tap~ Whoosh.

As soon as the sparks touched the rope, it ignited. Quickly, as the rope and the tightly wound cloth burned fiercely, I immediately directed the rowboat towards the sea.

At this moment, there was no one among the Japanese who had realized.

“Please, let even a few ships burn. If just a few catch fire and blaze up, the surrounding ships will catch fire as well.”

While ropes and cloth were burning, it was uncertain whether this would actually set the ship on fire.

As the ferry gradually drifted away from the Japanese ships, tens of meters away, a commotion erupted when they finally noticed the fire.

“Fire! Fire!”

“The ship is on fire!”

“Everyone wake up! The ship is burning!”

“Emergency! Fire! Fire!”

Many had gone ashore on the deserted island, but the Japanese who were still on the ship ran around shouting.

Waiting for this moment, I moved my hands and threw stones at the Japanese on the deck as they caught them.

Still not too far away, the distance was roughly about 50 meters.

Once again, the power of the man named Yi Jing-ok, his innate athletic ability, came into play.

Swish~ Thud! Swish~ Thud…

Even in the darkness, the stones were effective.

Even if it didn’t hit their heads, they fell down when hit on the body.

Due to the darkness, at first, they didn’t know where the stones were coming from, but the Japanese who discovered the ferry and me late screamed and shot arrows towards us.

However, the arrows they shot in panic towards the darkness posed no threat at all.

Most of them fell into the sea and disappeared without a trace.

Over a hundred stones vanished in an instant.