WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ Raised by a Ruthless Swordsman ◈

Chapter 5: When Joy Turns to Sorrow

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The young men soon spotted us.

I saw them tighten their grips on what they held. One carried a club, while the other held a hoe with a short iron blade at its end.

Only then did Jang Sam raise a hand and wave.

"Hey! It's me, me. Jang Sam!"

Perhaps from screaming while fleeing the tiger, or from chattering all the way down the mountain, his voice came out a little hoarse.

The two young men tightened their grips once more and studied us for a long while. Then, seeming to recognize Jang Sam's face as he came closer, their fists around their weapons relaxed slightly.

Yet they still seemed wary of the stranger beside him. One spoke to Jang Sam in a sharp voice.

"Brother Jang. Who is this?"

Jang Sam gave a small grunt as he adjusted the load on his shoulder.

"He's the one who saved my life. I was about to be bitten to death by a tiger in the mountains, and he saved me."

Jang Sam briefly explained what had happened in the mountains. Only then did the two young men's gazes shift from my face to the hide slung over Jang Sam's shoulder.

"That's tiger hide?"

They could not hide their surprise. Jang Sam puffed himself up at the sight. Pointing at me, he mimed driving a sword into the tiger's brow, then rolled up his trouser leg to show the torn wound as if it were a badge of honor.

The two young men listened with their mouths hanging open.

A quiet laugh escaped me.

When his short performance ended, their gazes returned to me. Most of their wariness had faded, replaced by curiosity.

That was how we passed through the entrance and entered the village.

The village was smaller than I had expected.

A narrow dirt road ran straight through its center, with around ten small mud houses scattered along either side.

In one yard, a couple of chickens scratched through the dirt. Before another house, clothes swayed from a washing line.

There was a well in the center of the village. Beside it stood an old pagoda tree, casting a broad shade. We passed it and continued on.

A question came to mind.

"Why are there guards at the village entrance?"

Jang Sam sighed.

"Well, you see, it rained too much this summer, so the harvest was terrible. Our village is doing better than most, but I hear the other villages are on the verge of starving to death."

He pointed beyond the mountains.

"Do you think starving people will just sit still? One or two at a time, they gather together and become mountain bandits, they say. Was it about a month ago? I heard the village beyond the next mountain was completely devastated."

Then he pointed to the house right beside us. A woman was hanging laundry in its yard.

"Wang from this house has family on his wife's side in that village. He went there a few days ago..."

His words trailed off. When I glanced at him, Jang Sam's face had hardened.

"...He said it was a sight too horrible to put into words."

At Jang Sam's words, I suddenly remembered Hyeonam lying on his back with a severed wrist and a sword lodged in his chest. Had the people Wang saw in that neighboring village looked like that as well?

The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Soon, we arrived at Jang Sam's home. It stood nearly at the opposite end of the village from the entrance where we had come in.

Looking down the road toward the far end of the village, I saw another pair of young men there as well, standing guard with hoes and clubs.

Jang Sam stepped inside and called out.

"Honey! I'm back!"

A woman hurried out of the kitchen. She looked to be in her thirties. Her skin was dark from the sun, but her features were clear and distinct. Beneath thin brows, black eyes shone with a capable light.

She looked sharp at a glance. I could understand why Jang Sam bragged about her.

"Oh, honey! Why are you so late? You left at dawn to gather herbs, and now it's nearly noon..."

Her voice stopped. Her eyes moved to me.

Her gaze traveled over my disheveled hair and beard, then down to the sword sheath at my waist.

Fear rose on her face. Seeing it, Jang Sam hurriedly explained.

"Honey! It's not like that. This gentleman is the benefactor who saved my life in the mountains. I nearly got bitten to death by a tiger, and he saved me."

Her eyes searched Jang Sam before moving to the cloth tied around his thigh. Bloodstains marked it.

Her face went pale in an instant.

"Oh no! Honey! Are, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine. It's only a light wound. Didn't I say I survived thanks to this brother? More importantly, look at this."

Jang Sam lowered the hide he had been carrying. His wife's eyes filled with surprise when she saw the tiger hide.

Only then did she look at me again. The fear had not fully left her face, but gratitude seemed stronger.

She bowed deeply.

"Thank you so much for saving my husband's life."

Then she disappeared into the kitchen, saying she would bring out food and asking whether I was hungry. Jang Sam pointed to a raised wooden platform at one side of the yard.

"Brother, please sit over here. Wait just a moment, and my wife will show you what she can do."

Jang Sam went on about how his wife was known throughout the village for her cooking. Even with the same vegetables, she could blanch them far more tenderly. Adding this or that would deepen the flavor.

Then, perhaps feeling embarrassed himself, he scratched his head.

"...Still, the rain was too heavy this year, so the grain harvest is poor. At best, we can offer you vegetables and my wife's cooking. I can only apologize, brother."

"Anything will be fine. I'm looking forward to it."

I meant it.

For the past ten years, I had never lacked food. But I had never found food flavorful, either.

Naturally, I could not cook. Nor could Hyeonam. Whether Hyeonam was unable to or simply never bothered, I did not know.

We only roasted rabbit or pheasant meat over a fire without seasoning, blanched mountain greens in boiling water, or made porridge by stirring a handful of millet into water.

That had been my diet for ten years.

Vegetables with my hostess's cooking. Of course I could not help looking forward to it.

As I waited for the meal, I sat on the platform and quietly watched the yard.

A small chicken coop in one corner. Children's clothes swaying on a line. Busy sounds coming from the kitchen.

Nothing about the house, its location, or its people resembled my hometown. Yet an inexplicable longing suddenly spread through my chest.

Jang Sam cautiously asked, "But what were you doing in those mountains?"

I turned and looked at him for a moment. Once, I had wanted to complain to anyone who would listen. Why did I have to live such an unfair life? What had I done wrong to deserve this?

But that feeling had long since cooled.

It was not that I did not want comfort for what I had lived through, but that was something I would tell the family waiting for me someday.

It was not a story to tell here.

"I don't know either. Why I was there, I mean."

It was a roundabout answer, but it was also true. Hyeonam had never told me anything in the end.

Perhaps sensing my mood, Jang Sam did not ask further.

An awkward silence followed.

Fortunately, Mrs. Jang soon emerged from the kitchen, carrying a small table in both hands.

"You've waited a long time, haven't you? It is nothing special, but please eat."

Two bowls of mixed-grain rice that appeared to contain rice and millet. A plate of bok choy. And a plate of salted radish.

It was a simple meal, but one prepared with care.

At Jang Sam's urging, I picked up my chopsticks and put a bite of bok choy in my mouth. The tender texture of the greens came first, followed by the deep flavor of fermented bean paste.

The rough weeds I had blanched in boiling water in the mountains could not even be compared to this.

Next, I tried the salted radish.

A salty, sour flavor touched the tip of my tongue. Even in that small piece of radish, I could feel the care of hands that had prepared each ingredient for the family.

I looked at Jang Sam and gave him honest praise. He waved his hands at the compliment to his wife, but his face brightened visibly.

As the table was nearly emptied, I began preparing to leave. I still had a long road ahead. I needed to walk at least another two hours so I could get as far as possible before the sun set.

Noticing this, Jang Sam immediately tried to stop me.

"It will take at least two days of hard travel to reach Geonnyeong from here. And once you leave this village, there are no villages at all in between. If you take the wrong road, you might have to sleep on the road for three days."

He said that if I left early in the morning, I could save about a night's travel, so I should stay here today.

By the time he finished, Mrs. Jang had come into the yard to join him. She said they happened to have a small side room used for guests.

I should rest there for the night and leave at dawn. One meal was far from enough repayment for her husband's life, let alone such a valuable tiger hide.

The couple was so firm in their urging that I had no way to refuse.

Besides, it was not a bad offer for me. Once I had an excuse to sit still, my legs finally began to feel heavy.

Jang Sam left for a while, saying he would go see the village chief.

After the table was cleared, I rested briefly. Then I noticed three small shadows peeking at me from beyond the door on one side of the yard.

They seemed to be Jang Sam's young children. All three were staring at me.

"Big brother, who is that person?"

Unable to contain his curiosity, the middle child finally spoke. The voice was clear and childlike.

The eldest child started in surprise and tightly pulled his sibling's hand. But the middle child did not fall silent despite the gesture.

"Mister, who are you?"

The eldest reached out again to cover his sibling's mouth. At that moment, Mrs. Jang hurried over from the kitchen.

"You little rascals! How dare you bother a guest..."

"It's all right."

She glanced at me, then at her children. Receiving that look, the eldest took a step back while holding the younger siblings' hands, seemingly afraid his mother would scold him.

Still, all three kept looking at me.

Yeona suddenly came to mind. She, too, had been curious about everything. She had always needed to find out whatever she wondered about.

I gestured for the children to come closer.

The eldest hesitantly took a step forward. The middle child and the youngest followed behind. Once they reached the platform, the three stopped again. Their eyes were fixed on my sword.

I untied the sword from my waist and set it at an angle on the platform.

"Is this what you wanted to see?"

The eldest's eyes widened. I quietly placed the sword, still in its sheath, before the children.

Dirt from the descent still clung to the sheath here and there, and a thin tassel hung from the end of its hilt.

The eldest reached out, then flinched and stopped. He glanced toward his mother. Mrs. Jang was watching us anxiously from one side of the yard.

Even if I had saved her husband's life, it was only natural for a mother to feel uneasy leaving her children with an unfamiliar stranger carrying a sword. I smiled as gently as I could to soothe her unease.

"You can touch it."

After watching cautiously for some time, the eldest finally made up his mind and gently reached out to feel the sheath. The middle child extended a small hand beside him. After touching the sword once each, they looked at one another with excitement.

Then, two small heads popped up over the yard wall. They belonged to children from the next house. Soon, the children brought several more, and they chattered with only their heads peeking over the wall.

Jang Sam's children puffed out their chests as though they themselves had wielded the sword.

The sight was so adorable that I laughed.

* * *

Dinner was the same as lunch. Mrs. Jang must have been busy preparing another meal, but she wore a bright expression, as though she did not wish to show it.

Perhaps Jang Sam had already learned the tiger hide's price from the village chief and told her.

Whatever the case, dinner suited my taste perfectly as well. After I easily emptied a bowl, Jang Sam guided me to the guest room. It was a small side room at one end of the yard.

There was one small window in the mud wall. A set of bedding lay on the floor. A small oil lamp flickered beside the pillow.

Jang Sam left, and silence settled in. I removed my sword and laid it beside my pillow.

Sitting cross-legged on the bedding, I steadied my breathing.

Then I slowly sent the energy in my dantian along the route I followed every dawn and evening. From the dantian, up my spine to the crown of my head. Then past my face and chest, returning once more to the dantian.

Each time the energy completed a circuit and filled the dantian, my depleted Inner Energy recovered, though very slowly.

When I used it, it vanished like water leaking from a bucket full of holes. But recovering it was as slow as filling a well one bucket at a time.

Only once, at a truly crucial moment.

I reminded myself of that again.

How long had passed?

A commotion sounded outside.

Footsteps of someone running into the yard. Urgent shouts. Someone calling for Jang Sam.

I finished my energy circulation and rose.

I had a bad feeling. I fastened the sword at my waist and flung the door open.

When I stepped outside, the yard was dimly swaying in torchlight.

The man with the club who had guarded the entrance that afternoon stood in the middle of the yard, breathing harshly. He held a club in one hand and a torch in the other.

Jang Sam was pulling on his straw sandals before him. Mrs. Jang stood at the kitchen threshold, trembling with both hands over her mouth.

Jang Sam glanced at me.

Without time to explain, he gave a short nod and ran out of the yard with the man.

Something had clearly happened in the village. What Jang Sam had said about mountain bandits flashed through my mind. I quickly put on my shoes and followed after them.

Night had already fallen deep outside. Fortunately, besides the torches, the nearly full moon brightly lit the road.

Several torches flickered in the distance by the entrance. I could hear people fighting there.

Harsh curses and screams. The village men were opening their doors one by one and rushing toward the entrance.

I quickly walked along the dirt road through the village center behind Jang Sam.

Aaargh!

The closer we came to the entrance after passing the great tree in the village center, the clearer the fighting became. The rough shouts of men. Screams. I could also hear weapons striking each other.

At last, the situation at the entrance came into view.

Swords, hoes, and clubs were tangled together in chaos. Around fifteen men who looked like bandits brandished sabres fiercely as they tried to force their way into the village.

Before them, the village men, armed with clubs and hoes, struggled to hold them back.

Whenever the torchlight flickered, I caught sight of their demonic faces mixed together in the fray.

At that hellish sight, Jang Sam and the villagers running with him faltered for a moment.

Ignoring them, I ran ahead.

"Yu Sam!"

When the distance had narrowed to five steps, someone shouted. Looking toward the voice, it seemed to come from a middle-aged man standing beside a young man holding a hoe.

Beyond him, through the flickering torchlight, the young man's face came clearly into view.

His sun-darkened face looked barely over twenty.

It was the young man who had awkwardly returned our greeting at the village entrance that afternoon.

Unaware that something had touched his neck, the young man opened his mouth blankly.

Yet no sound ever escaped from it.

Then, as though replacing a scream, blood burst from the opened gap and sprayed into the air.

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