WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Episode 2: The End of Exile (3)

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The Exile Ends (3)

Having failed to turn up the slightest clue about the formidable master who had reduced the mountain stronghold to rubble, Jang Po-kwae had no choice but to return to the thatched hut that served as the place of exile.

A vague clue like "mismatched" wasn't enough to bring any particular master to mind.

One thing was certain, though: with the stronghold wiped out by that master, the threat from the bandits was gone.

Jang Po-kwae reported as much to Oh Ji-gang, the brigade leader of the peddler caravan, the moment he arrived.

"Wait, is that really true?"

"It is. A strange turn of events, but I can only call it heaven's blessing."

"Scholar Yeo must have stored up a great deal of good merit, for his fortune to turn so favorable all at once. Hahahahaha."

Oh Ji-gang said it with delight.

At his words, Yu Yeop-kyung let out a sigh of relief as well.

Yet something nagged at him in an odd way.

Slowly, Yu Yeop-kyung turned his head and his eyes toward his adopted son, Mumu.

Clap, clap, clap!

Mumu was clapping along with the constables, glad at the good news.

Watching him, Yu Yeop-kyung felt uneasy, then wondered if he was imagining things.

'......Well, with that bracelet on, there's no way it could be him.'

Just how strong Mumu was, he couldn't begin to guess.

But as long as the Ki-Restraining Bracelets kept the boy's power suppressed, Yu Yeop-kyung figured he could never pull off something so absurd.

So why did the image of Mumu tearing up a tree and hurling it keep rising in his mind?

He was still denying it, even as it gnawed at him, when Oh Ji-gang spoke again.

"Even so, my lord. If that great master did such a thing because they feared having their identity exposed, then we too could be in danger."

"We have Jang Po-kwae, do we not?"

"This humble one takes pride in his own martial arts, yet our opponent razed the bandits' base to the ground with his bare hands alone."

"My, my."

If Jang Po-kwae was warning them this strongly, it was worth listening carefully.

But there was something Oh Ji-gang absolutely wanted to share before they set out.

The brigade leader had been waiting for this very day.

Even here in this place of exile, Yu Yeop-kyung had lived simply and virtuously, raising an abandoned child, and Oh Ji-gang wanted to be the first to bring him this news.

He drew something from the back of his horse.

Yu Yeop-kyung, who had been watching without much thought, went wide-eyed.

"Brigade leader Oh. Th, that is...?"

A scroll of ornate design, bound with golden thread.

"That is right."

Oh Ji-gang nodded as he spoke.

This was a scroll inscribed with the command of the most august Emperor himself.

Oh Ji-gang unrolled it and spoke in a markedly solemn voice.

"I deliver the imperial command."

Thud!

The instant those words fell, Jang Po-kwae and all the constables threw themselves flat to the ground.

Yu Yeop-kyung too, despite his injured leg, prostrated himself.

"We receive the imperial command."

The only one who did not prostrate himself was Mumu.

Yu Yeop-kyung scolded his adopted son in a low voice.

"Mumu. Bow down."

"Why?"

"Before an imperial command, everyone must show proper courtesy."

"Ah... an imperial command."

Mumu lay flat on the ground too.

Then Oh Ji-gang read out the contents written on the scroll.

"In the seventeenth year of Jeongdeok. A new heir to the realm has been born to the Great Empire, so how could one fail to celebrate such an auspicious event? I shall reduce this year's taxes, and weighing the gravity of each case, I shall also grant pardon to those who have committed crimes."

"Aaaah."

Yu Yeop-kyung's voice trembled.

It came on account of a state celebration, yes, but this too was a pardon, was it not?

He had waited so long for this day that he couldn't contain his joy.

The day he could finally return to his hometown and see his family had drawn near at last.

"I receive the command of the most august Emperor."

Oh Ji-gang rolled the scroll back up and said,

"The command has been delivered, so you may all rise."

At those words, everyone who had been prostrate rose to their feet.

Oh Ji-gang steadied the swaying Yu Yeop-kyung and offered his congratulations.

"My congratulations, Scholar Yeo."

At this, Yu Yeop-kyung looked at him with an utterly baffled expression.

"Brigade leader Oh. Who exactly are you, to deliver an imperial command like this?"

For an ordinary brigade leader, such a thing could never happen.

On top of everything, hadn't Oh brought constables along?

He had already been wondering ever since he learned that the people he'd taken for caravan members were in fact constables.

At this, Oh Ji-gang looked a little sheepish.

"My apologies, Scholar Yeo. I had no intention of deceiving you, but I regret that I couldn't tell you sooner."

"Are you perhaps a government official...?"

Now taking Oh for a government official, Yu Yeop-kyung hastily switched to formal speech.

Oh Ji-gang smiled.

"You may speak plainly with me."

"How could a commoner stripped of office speak down to an official?"

"Even setting that aside, for the sake of the friendship we have built over this time, I would have you speak with ease."

"My, my. Then may I ask who you are?"

Yu Yeop-kyung was not the sort to refuse another's urging twice over.

At his question, Oh Ji-gang drew a wooden tablet from inside his robes and showed it to him.

The tablet read as follows.

[Surveillance Bureau Senior Fourth Rank, Deputy Commissioner Oh Ji-gang]

Yu Yeop-kyung's eyes widened at the sight.

The Surveillance Bureau was the office that oversaw the criminal cases and prisons of an entire province.

A Deputy Commissioner of that office stood just below the Commissioner, the second in command, one might say.

He had guessed Oh was an official, but the rank was so high that he couldn't help being startled.

"Are you not a Deputy Commissioner, my lord?"

It was a position before which he could not bring himself to speak casually.

Oh Ji-gang waved his hand in protest.

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