Wanderer of the Martial World - Chapter 20

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

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◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 20

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Had I been complacent?

Had I been blinded by my progress and failed to see clearly?

Had I been turning away from something I could have known if I had only thought about it?

As I packed, I reflected on myself.

I had not considered at all that if Yi Pyeong assassinated Gwak Ha-jun, the danger could reach me as well.

Right. It wasn't that I couldn't think of it. I had chosen not to.

I shouldn't let my guard down. This was a world where even the slightest misstep could cost me my life.

My reflection quickly turned into resolve.

It was better to quickly shake off any lingering regret over my mistakes.

Before it became a mental shackle.

What Yi Pyeong would do from now on, or more accurately, what I expected him to do, had a great impact on me.

Even so, I didn't particularly resent him.

Was it because this was revenge for Jang Wi? Or because I had vaguely expected something like this to happen someday?

I didn't know either.

My luggage was simple.

I had merely added martial arts manuals, spirit pills, and Yodans to the pack I usually carried when going out into the wilderness.

Since it was hard to predict how long I would be away, it seemed I only needed to add more food.

I tossed the packed bag onto my bed and went outside.

The first place I stopped was Jin Pal's inn.

More precisely, I climbed over a wall from an alley and secretly entered the storage room.

If anything happened, Jin Pal and Gu Deok could be harmed as well.

I left the letter I had written on the storage room floor.

Jin Pal and Gu Deok couldn't read, but they could learn its contents if they asked someone they knew.

Calling it a letter was generous. It only said that something had come up and I would be leaving Yeongheung County for a while, so it was unlikely to draw suspicion.

I climbed back over the wall into the alley and headed for the market.

I wanted to buy higher-priced provisions from Jin Pal's inn or another decent inn, but I couldn't spend recklessly when I didn't know how long the journey would be.

I had spent a great deal buying Yodans, so I didn't have much money to spare.

At the market, I bought jerky, dry rations, and dried fruit. They weren't completely cheap, but they were far from decent quality too.

Then I returned home.

Before long, night fell.

I had arranged to meet Yi So-gang and Baek So-ok outside the north gate at the Hour of the Rat, 1 a.m., so I hurried my steps.

Perhaps because I had forced myself to sleep after packing everything, my body felt quite refreshed.

When I reached the meeting place, Yi So-gang rose from a prone position to greet me.

"You're here."

"Yes."

"It's been a while."

Baek So-ok rose after Yi So-gang and greeted me. I simply nodded in response.

"Let's go for now. There's a cave I know a little farther on. It would be better to spend the night there."

Nights in the wilderness were dangerous.

Places within a county's protected area were relatively safe, but once outside it, danger immediately descended upon people.

The greatest problem was visibility.

People relied on their eyes for most of their perception, making them extremely vulnerable in the dark.

That was why so many people fell victim to sudden nighttime attacks.

The cave Yi So-gang led us to was not far away.

After walking for about thirty minutes and climbing the mountain to one side, we found it.

It was also near the place where Yi So-gang had been attacked by Jo Man-sik.

The cave was small, which made it cozy.

Its entrance was narrow as well, making it a good place to defend against enemies.

Normally, a cave like this had a fair chance of housing beasts or yokai, but fortunately, it was empty.

"Do you have a destination in mind?"

After settling in, I asked Yi So-gang.

Naturally, I kept my voice as low as possible.

"Hm... I've already discussed it with So-ok, but if you agree, I'd like to go to my hometown."

A hometown...

Something I didn't have in this world.

The word made my heart ache a little.

"Where is it?"

"Henan. Kaifeng."

"Kaifeng..."

When people thought of Henan, most thought of Shaolin Temple and the Martial Alliance. But Kaifeng, nearby, was also home to the main headquarters of the Beggars' Sect.

A sect of beggars that flew the banner of righteousness.

Of course, I knew those beggar bastards were nothing but thugs.

I had lived as a beggar before becoming a waiter at Jin Pal's inn.

I still vividly remembered being beaten senseless by them back then.

They called themselves beggars, but they weren't real beggars.

Begging was merely a means to bully people, while they got their real money in the form of donations from sects belonging to the local orthodox factions.

That was why the Beggars' Sect supposedly preferred places like Yeongheung County.

Places with lay martial sects but no prestigious orthodox sects.

It was probably easier for them to demand donations from lay sects than from famous sects directly.

Still, Kaifeng was not a bad destination.

Of course, having many masters around would be troublesome for me, but I could simply avoid cultivating within Kaifeng.

And since it was far away, I might be able to use all the Yodans I possessed by the time we arrived.

I had seven Yodans left.

I had been using almost one every three days, so there was plenty of time.

That remained true even considering I would have little time to cultivate during the journey.

"First, we can go to Sangdeok by ourselves. From there, we can take a boat to Yueyang, then travel up the Yangtze River. We'll have to go the rest of the way by land, but by then, it should be hard for them to find us."

It was not a bad plan.

Long journeys in this world usually relied on the help of escort agencies.

When they traveled to another region, people simply followed along behind them.

For a set fee, the agency would provide some protection, if not as much as for the goods they escorted. Wandering martial artists could join for free on the condition that they lent a hand if fighting broke out.

But since we were, in a sense, fleeing, it would be difficult to use an escort journey.

That meant we had to travel on our own, and in this case, waterways seemed better than roads.

With more people around, there would be less chance of being discovered.

"Understood."

"All right. Thank you."

Once the conversation ended, I looked at Baek So-ok.

She sat across from me. She looked a little haggard, but she sat with her back straight, as if trying not to show it.

"Miss Baek."

"Yes?"

"There's something I'm curious about. Why didn't you go to the Martial Alliance?"

When Yi Pyeong asked me to look after Baek So-ok and Yu Sam, I had expected them to refuse him and follow Gwak Ha-jun to the Martial Alliance.

But contrary to my expectations, Baek So-ok was here now.

Of course, I had another reason for asking.

We would be traveling a long way together.

I wanted to know what kind of person she was, and what she thought.

"Because Senior Jang Wi died."

A simple answer.

I didn't know how long Baek So-ok had been comrades with Jang Wi, or whether they had another kind of relationship, but that was the first reason she gave.

"And that bastard Gwak Ha-jun's sexual depravity was getting worse. Before he brought in another woman from somewhere, a corpse had already turned up."

"..."

Corpses...

So he had crossed the line after all.

"And at some point, the way he looked at me started to feel strange too. Like a beast eyeing its prey... I thought I might become a victim if I stayed with them, so I listened to Senior Yi Pyeong."

In the end, she had fled because she believed she was in danger.

And she seemed to have expected that danger to grow greater the moment Jang Wi died.

It wasn't bad.

Knowing when to run was an ability in its own right.

More than anything, I liked that she hadn't been blinded by greed and overlooked the danger.

When I saw her treating Gwak Ha-jun in the mountains before, I thought she was simply someone consumed by greed. Apparently not.

"Senior Yi So-gang, how long has it been since you went back to your hometown?"

At Baek So-ok's question, Yi So-gang fell silent briefly before answering.

"Almost... twenty years."

"..."

"I miss my mother."

Yi So-gang's quiet words filled the cave with silence.

Soon after, I heard Baek So-ok's muffled sobs.

When I closed my eyes, the face of someone I missed terribly came to mind.

'...Mom...'

Thus, the night passed.

I forced my stiff body onward as we walked.

With so few of us, even a few Yo beasts were dangerous now.

We moved quickly without letting our guard down.

Though Sangdeok was in the same province of Hunan, it was still far away, so it would take nearly ten days to reach it.

Naturally, we couldn't spend that entire time sleeping outdoors.

We needed to walk during the day and find villages to stay in at night.

Fortunately, Yi So-gang knew the way.

So we followed Yi So-gang's guidance.

No one spoke as we traveled.

Neither Yi So-gang nor I was particularly good with words, and Baek So-ok was too exhausted to speak much.

Still, I was used to it.

Perhaps this silence was better for now.

Before the sun set, we arrived in Anin County.

Anin County was slightly smaller than Yeongheung County.

It was probably where Jo Man-sik had intended to go after leaving the black market as well.

Since it was the first place one came to when heading north from Yeongheung County, that was only natural.

We entered the inn in town that seemed to have the fewest people.

Naturally, we wanted to stay somewhere nicer, but we had no choice because it was too close to Yeongheung County.

A decent inn would have many people, and there was a high chance that some of them knew us.

"We need rooms."

"We have single rooms and rooms for four."

At the middle-aged innkeeper's words, Yi So-gang turned to me.

"What will you do?"

"I'll take a single room."

I had no choice if I wanted to cultivate my inner-energy method.

It would cost more, but I couldn't give up cultivating.

There was no problem with Yodans, since I could absorb them while keeping them in my pocket. But letting the others see me cultivate my inner-energy method was a problem.

"I'll take a single room too."

Baek So-ok ordered a single room like I had.

"Heh heh. Single rooms are thirty mun each."

Yi So-gang held out one nyang of silver to the innkeeper and said to us,

"I'll pay first, so give me your share later."

"Yes."

We each went to our rooms.

The room was old.

The unpleasant smell that hit me as soon as I entered naturally made me frown.

I opened the window to air it out, then roughly set my luggage on the bed.

Then I realized there was a slight problem.

I was short on travel money.