episode_0008

“How long are you guys going to stay here?”

When I sprinkled powder on the end of a long wooden tobacco pipe and lit it, a faint spicy scent wafted out. Cigarettes were also circulating in Gangho. Even though there was no simple biting and sucking method like in the era when I lived, the sight of smoke spewing out of a long pipe like a factory chimney was familiar.

“Chaeju becomes a drunkard and drinks all day long. The debt owners are trying to win over the creditors. From what I can see, it looks like the wild vegetables are now in ruins.”

In a corner where neither the creditor nor the debtor could hear, this conversation always continued. Although they looked at me with reluctance as a newcomer, they continued their critical conversation without hesitation, like people who had risked their lives.

“But where is there anywhere to go? I just have to follow it and live.”

I asked, standing between them.

“What happens if the debtor wins over the creditor?”

said one of the remnants, smoking a pipe.

“Then the debtor becomes the creditor. Dick, what is it? Sixty-eight seats?”

“Sixty-eight seats? Our Chaeju, it was higher than I thought.”

“Anyway, yes. You’re eating that bond position. The strongest one becomes the lender.”

“So are they all aiming to become creditors?”

The Green Foresters’ gaze changed at my question. Rather than being wary of me, they seemed to be checking each other’s reactions the moment the question was asked. They were wary of each other, as if someone was about to stab them, and then they stared at each other with a nervous look on their cigarette pipes or avoided eye contact and said this.

“Well, there are a lot of people who think like that.”

He spoke in a tone as if it wasn’t him. However, it was natural that the man who said this was also aiming to become a creditor.

“There is only one rule in green forests. The strongest among wild vegetables is Chaeju.”

The other man said that and pouted like a carp. Smoke rose like a fish in a pond spitting out water droplets. Although it seemed like a somewhat distant story, the meaning of the story was clear. one of the men asked.

“Are you also aiming to become a creditor?”

“No. I’m not interested.”

I wasn’t really interested, but they seemed like they didn’t believe me. Some people snorted, while others smiled openly and bit the end of their cigarette pipes. Cigarette pipes made of wood easily cracked at the slightest movement.

The long cigarette pipe was blowing out smoke from both sides. The man stood up, clearly showing off his breathing, and looked down at us.

“Even if we talk about these things among ourselves, isn’t it all meaningless in the end? You, too, have learned martial arts. And us too. You can’t beat creditors or debtors, right?”

Telling them that I wanted to become a borrower of wild vegetables seemed to be an act of expressing a kind of admiration. They knew that even if they trained hard from now on, they had no chance of winning against Chaeju, who had natural dragon power, or Chaeju, who had reached the level of third to second-rate.

Of course, I didn’t have the confidence to beat creditors or debtors in a head-to-head match right now.

“That’s right. That is.”

However, the desire to become lenders and make more money was clearly boiling in their hearts.

******

“So what are you going to do?”

Meal time. I ate the meat soup from the bowl while facing Sanyeo. There didn’t seem to be a separate cook, but the meat soup made with the blood of the surrounding people was quite tasty. Since Sanyeo was handcuffed, she was uncomfortably using a spoon to eat the meat little by little.

She seemed more curious about my escape plan than about her own discomfort.

I said, roughly tearing the meat off the bone with my hands.

“It feels like a picture is being drawn. Since they are all wild vegetables, they are all filled with greed.”

“Specifically, what are you going to do?”

Sanyeo said that and moved the spoon. The spoon I was trying to put in my mouth was tilted to the side and the meat fell. Sanyeo quickly moved the spoon again and caught the meat, but the soup in the spoon splashed everywhere.

“Ah really.”

The smell of oily meat soup permeated the warehouse for a moment and I clicked my tongue.

Sanyeo said as she put the meat into her mouth.

“There’s nothing you can do. The handcuffs are so big that it’s inconvenient to eat.”

I looked at Sanyeo’s wrist. Her wrists were handcuffed in a rectangular shape that was tight and tight. It was as if a criminal was being sentenced to death in a historical drama. I looked at her hands for a moment, then put down my bowl and dragged myself forward.

As Sanyeo approached me, she lowered her hand holding the spoon and said,

“What is it?”

“What are you eating so frustratingly? Give it to me.”

And I took the spoon from her hand. Although Sanyeo was a master, she did not react at all to my movement of taking away the spoon. She seemed to be observing what I was doing. As she blinked and tilted her head, looking down at me like a bird, I scooped up the meat and broth from her bowl.

“character.”

And he held out the spoon to her. She seemed to have belatedly understood my actions as she pushed her head back and squinted her eyes.

“……What is it?”

However, Sanyeo asked a question that was far from her understanding. She wasn’t asking questions about the situation.

“Are you not going to eat it?”

I asked her. Sanyeo looked at me with a somewhat reluctant expression, and then looked at the handcuffs again. Then, he rolled his eyes and remained silent, then cautiously opened his mouth towards the spoon I was holding, like a baby bird receiving food.

I watched as her lips touched the soup and became moist. He looked up at me with strangely wary eyes, took a big bite of his spoon, and watched his lips gently stick to the smooth surface and slide away.

Pursing her lips, savoring the taste, and still giving me a subtle look, she swallowed, blinked, and said.

“…..It’s delicious.”

I said while making meat soup again.

“You say you’re a martial arts expert, but you can’t even take off handcuffs?”

In response to my question, Sanyeo nodded and said.

“These handcuffs are made of a very hard material. I can’t solve it.”

“Who filled it for you?”

“I don’t know.”

I couldn’t help but tilt my head at Sanyeo’s words. When I squinted and looked at her, she took the food from the spoon I was holding with a nonchalant expression.

She, who was mumbling her mouth, shook her head, savored the taste of the food, and said with a smile.

“I lost consciousness while running away from the village, and when I came to, I was wearing this. Because it cannot be unraveled and cannot be broken. After that, I just stayed like this.”

“This was not filled by the creditor.”

“How could a single creditor hold onto something like this?”

I nodded and silently opened the soup with a spoon. Sanyeo took the food and continued talking.

“You could say that a moment of complacency caused a great obstacle, but Confucius also said this, right? Don’t say this or that about something that has already ended. ”

I laughed out loud because it was so absurd.

“You didn’t say anything?”

Sanyeo didn’t respond to what I said, just took the food and ate it. But a strange smile remained on her face.

I looked at her like that and silently gave her food, and each day passed like that.

*****

The picture of the mountain vegetables was gradually taking shape. I was learning the herbivores of the Taisanbu one by one, and also researched how to use them in practice against the green forests of the mountain vegetables.

On days when I wasn’t out plundering, there was nothing to do in the mountain quarters, and some of the Green Foresters were familiar with Taesanbu, so it was a bigger help than I thought.

“The timing of publication is important. I decided to move my feet faster and take advantage of the moment when I recovered the attack.”

“I think it is more important to hit the opponent as hard as possible so that they cannot move.”

Even though it is a third-rate martial art that is not that special, the interpretation of this martial art varies from person to person. However, none of the directions they interpreted each other accurately penetrated the mystery of Taesanbu that I was curious about.

I still didn’t understand why Taesanbu was called Taesanbu. Why is Taisanbu a martial art that lunges forward, then falls back, and fights like a tentacle?

“Isn’t it just a name you chose because it’s cool?”

“It would be weird to name him grandfather, so I guess I just named him cool.”

Their opinions also had a point.

Maybe I was wasting my time worrying about useless things. But while I was thinking that, strangely, the thought of Taesanbu’s name stayed like an echo in one side of my head.

After training, I collapse on the floor, drenched in sweat. On the other side, the Green Foresters who had helped me with my training collapsed with refreshed expressions.

“You worked hard.”

And, the debtor’s wife winks at me and brings me water.

At some point, the situation after my training ended became standardized.

Seeing her smiling, the other Green Forest members winked at each other or smiled mischievously at me.

She always seemed to be like this when a fair-faced or tall guy came in.

I smile at them and extend my hand to my wife.

Then he pretends to hold a glass of water and carefully caresses her fingers.

The wife made an expression of disapproval,

The painting of wild vegetables is now just waiting for the moment to make a point.

“Tomorrow. That person is going out to rob.”