The Delivery Man From the Martial World
Chapter 3. A Stranger Arrives at Yangchun Pavilion (1)
Yangchun Pavilion was busy as ever today.
Because Gu Sangok had quit making deliveries yesterday, Im Soyeong had to apologize to every customer who called for delivery.
"I'm sorry. We don't have a delivery person right now…."
Click.
Im Soyeong sighed, and Yu Suntae came out from the kitchen with an apologetic expression.
"I guess I shouldn't have told that kid to quit."
At his words, Im Soyeong shook her head.
"No. You made the right call. It was a decision we had to make someday; yesterday just happened to be the day. We'll be able to find a better delivery person than him."
"Are you trying to comfort me?"
"Yes."
Im Soyeong smiled faintly.
"Then I'll go upstairs to clean and do some laundry."
Im Soyeong, who had gone up to the second floor, came down after an hour or two, ready to go out.
"I'll take Ha-yeong to the dentist."
"Go and come back safely."
Their only daughter, Yu Ha-yeong, was five years old this year.
Even though they made her brush her teeth diligently morning and night, she had said her tooth hurt since last night—perhaps because she had a cavity.
So they had made a dentist appointment for today.
Im Soyeong headed to the kindergarten Yu Ha-yeong attended.
"Ha-yeong's mother, you're here."
"Yes, teacher. Thank you for your hard work today as well."
Im Soyeong greeted the kindergarten teacher.
"Please wait a moment."
The teacher went inside and brought Yu Ha-yeong out.
"Mom!"
Yu Ha-yeong ran over with pattering steps and clung tightly to Im Soyeong's leg.
"Did my girl study hard today?"
"Yeah! Today I learned to say fruit names in English! The teacher praised me!"
The kindergarten teacher said,
"Ha-yeong has a really good memory and is very smart. She memorizes things that other kids can't and gets them right often."
No parent dislikes hearing their child praised.
Naturally, Im Soyeong felt happy.
"Hohoho, it's because you teach her so well. Then we'll be going now. See you tomorrow."
"Yes. Take care."
"Teacher, goodbye."
Yu Ha-yeong did an energetic bow, and the teacher waved at her.
"Well, then."
Im Soyeong said to Yu Ha-yeong,
"We have to go to the dentist."
At those words, Yu Ha-yeong's face quickly turned tearful.
"We can't. If we go to the dentist today, Daddy and Mommy will cry…."
Im Soyeong tilted her head at those words.
"Daddy and Mommy will cry?"
Yu Ha-yeong nodded.
"Yeah. You cried a lot at the hospital."
Yu Ha-yeong had predicted the weather well since she was little.
Even on days when the sun was blazing, if she said it would rain, it rained.
But Yu Suntae and Im Soyeong thought it was because of a child's uniquely sensitive senses.
They thought now, too, that she was making excuses because she didn't want to go to the dentist.
"If Ha-yeong doesn't go to the dentist and we see all your teeth rotting away, Daddy and Mommy might cry a whole lot."
"Sob… but we still can't go…."
Im Soyeong sighed.
She had no choice but to dangle bait.
"If we go to the dentist today, I'll buy you the hat you wanted."
"A hat?"
"You wanted the hat with the fluttering bunny ears, right?"
It was a new product that had just come out—a pink hat with a brim, and the bunny ears attached to it moved freely thanks to an F-rank magic stone.
In fact, F-rank magic stones were scraps left over from processing magic stones and had been discarded in the past, but these days, with the advancement of magic stone processing technology, they served as cheap and efficient batteries.
"Bunny hat!"
Yu Ha-yeong, who had been conflicted, ultimately bit the bait.
"Okay! Ha-yeong wants to go to the dentist!"
Shortly after, Im Soyeong and Yu Ha-yeong came out of the dentist's office.
Dental treatment these days was different from before.
Although to children it looked like they used all sorts of scary tools, there were healers who could restore teeth to a perfect state right on the spot.
And without pain, at that.
Im Soyeong bought Yu Ha-yeong the bunny hat as promised, after she came out from treatment.
Watching Yu Ha-yeong excitedly hopping around wearing the hat, Im Soyeong smiled warmly.
A young man was watching that mother and daughter.
His hair was disheveled, he wore no shoes, and his clothes were no different from rags.
But instead of a foul stench, a clear, refreshing fragrance emanated from him.
His name was Gang So.
Having crossed over to the Republic of Korea for an unknown reason, he was still wandering the streets of Seoul.
Unable to find a way back to the world he was from, Gang So had wandered here and there and ended up in an alley of a residential area off the main road.
The alley was quiet compared to the area around the Silver Tower.
Naturally.
Because the area around the Silver Tower was the hottest place in all of Korea.
Then, Gang So's eyes caught a little girl wearing a pink hat with bunny ears and a woman beside her who looked like her mother.
That sight looked so affectionate that he smiled without realizing it.
'A mother….'
In fact, to Gang So, the existence of a mother—no, of parents—was something far more than mere affection.
'I sense something different from internal energy in that child.'
Having wandered here and there, he had occasionally seen people possessing an energy similar to what he felt from the girl.
'In this place, do they cultivate that energy rather than internal energy?'
Soon, these various thoughts gradually faded.
Because as he looked at the girl, her cute appearance overlapped with the childhood image of another girl he knew.
At the same time, longing for that girl began to surge.
'I must hurry and find a way to return….'
Then.
Swish-!
A sudden gust of wind blew.
"My hat!"
The child—Yu Ha-yeong—surprised by her hat flying away in the wind, instinctively ran to pick it up.
Until now, every time she went to kindergarten, she had listened enviously to her friends bragging that they had bunny hats at home.
Yu Ha-yeong had wanted to ask her parents for a bunny hat too, but because they were busy every day, she couldn't bring herself to beg.
But finally, she had a bunny hat of her own!
At the thought of losing it, she couldn't see anything else.
"H-Ha-yeong!"
Im Soyeong shouted, startled by Yu Ha-yeong's sudden action.
"If you run so suddenly like that—"
Honk! Honk honk!
Startled for a moment, Im Soyeong couldn't finish her sentence.
Because of all places, the hat had fallen in the road, and a truck was barreling toward Yu Ha-yeong, who had jumped out to pick it up.
"Huh?"
Yu Ha-yeong, relieved after picking up the bunny hat, froze on the spot in shock upon seeing the truck rushing toward her.
"Ha-yeong!"
Im Soyeong's scream echoed through the air.
The truck was already right in front of Yu Ha-yeong's nose.
In urgent situations, ordinary people couldn't help but freeze as their minds went blank.
But Gang So, who had been watching that sight, was no ordinary person.
Swish-!
Gang So moved immediately.
In the blink of an eye, he reached Yu Ha-yeong, snatched her up, and leaped to the other side of the road.
It all happened in an instant.
Screech-!
The truck slammed on its brakes and stopped, and the driver opened the window and shouted at Yu Ha-yeong in Gang So's arms.
"Hey! You! Want to die?! Where does this brat get the nerve to jump into the road?!"
The truck drove off just like that.
Shocked by the near-accident, Yu Ha-yeong couldn't even respond to the driver's cursing and simply remained blankly in Gang So's embrace.
He flowed a bit of energy into Yu Ha-yeong's body to calm her down.
Because her energy was quite irregular, she could have had a seizure at any moment.
In that time, Im Soyeong ran across the road.
"Ha-yeong!"
"Mommyyy-!"
Only then did the tension seem to release, and Yu Ha-yeong burst into sobs in her mother's arms.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. *hic* I'm okay."
"See, what did Mommy tell you? When we're outside, hold Mommy's hand tight! If you do that again, I'll really scold you!"
"I'm sorry! Waaah-!"
Tears welled up in Im Soyeong's eyes as well, though she was scolding her daughter.
The horrifying thought that she had nearly lost her daughter right before her eyes made her dizzy, and the thought that her daughter was safe reddened the corners of her eyes.
Im Soyeong quickly bowed at the waist to Gang So, who had saved Yu Ha-yeong.
"Thank you so much! I don't know how I can ever repay this grace…."
"I'm glad the child is safe."
Although he looked like a beggar, he was a benefactor who had saved her irreplaceable daughter's life.
To not know that grace would make her no better than a beast—no, a demonic beast.
It was then.
Rrrr-!
A sound like thunder was heard from somewhere.
Yu Ha-yeong realized what that sound was.
It was the sound coming from Gang So's stomach.
"Huh? Are you hungry? Was that a rumble?"
At Yu Ha-yeong's question, who had stopped crying at some point, Gang So felt embarrassed for some reason.
Come to think of it, the last time he had eaten….
'So the last meal I had was a single dumpling before coming here. Hah! I must have grown complacent from living comfortably! Back then, I could go over seven days and nights without eating while lying in wait for a mission, but now my stomach rumbles after merely starving for about four days!'
Yu Ha-yeong grabbed Gang So's sleeve and said,
"My daddy's a chef! Let's go eat!"
"Huh?"
Im Soyeong said to Gang So, who was bewildered by those words.
"Please at least have a meal with us, as Ha-yeong said. You saved my daughter; how could I just let you go without treating you to at least a meal?"
"Ah, i-it's fine…."
Rumble.
His stomach sent the signal again that it wanted rice.
It was a truly tactless belly clock.
"Hahaha."
Gang So had no choice but to follow Im Soyeong and Yu Ha-yeong.
After walking for about ten minutes, Yu Ha-yeong stretched out her hand and pointed at a red signboard.
"That's our house!"
Written in yellow letters on that red signboard were the characters Yangchun Pavilion (陽春閣).
'A house of warm spring….'
Gang So felt a strange connection.
In fact, the first place he had met the girl he cherished was also a teahouse (茶樓) named Yangchun Pavilion.
Im Soyeong opened the restaurant door and said,
"Our family runs a small Chinese restaurant."
Ding-a-ling.
As the bell hung in front of the door rang cheerfully, Yu Suntae came out from inside.
"We're back."
"Why are you so late? I was worried because you were later than I thought."
At Yu Suntae's words, Im Soyeong's eyes reddened again.
"Wh-why? Did something happen?"
Yu Suntae asked in surprise, and Im Soyeong spoke carefully.
"Well, Ha-yeong almost got hit by a car."
"What?!"
The startled Yu Suntae quickly looked at Yu Ha-yeong.
"Is Ha-yeong okay?"
"She's safe thanks to this person. He saved Ha-yeong."
He looked at Gang So, whom Im Soyeong had brought along.
His long hair was disheveled, and dirty sweat dripped down his face.
The clothes, which looked like he had picked them up from who knows where, were so covered in dust that their original color couldn't be told, and he wasn't wearing shoes, so he was barefoot.
And it was still February, so the weather was cold.
Strangely, he didn't smell, but even beggars didn't look as wretched as him.
But Im Soyeong didn't care about such things and was immensely grateful.
"So I brought him here to treat him to a meal."
"I see! Well done! Of course you should!"
There was not a hint of reluctance in Yu Suntae's eyes as he said this; only gratitude filled them.
He took Gang So's dirty hand and said,
"Thank you so much for saving my daughter."
Gang So smiled.
'Good people!'
He couldn't cause trouble to kind people.
Gang So also knew full well what he looked like, so he put on an awkward expression.
"This is a restaurant that holds hygiene in the highest regard; I am ashamed to enter dressed in such ragged attire."