Chapter 3
Wolyeong Sintu
He set it up right in front of the guards at the gate.
“To sleep… Why? Is this not allowed?”
“It’s not that there’s a problem, but…….”
At the words that there was no problem, Jin Hacheong, who had laid himself down on the leaves, soon fell asleep.
Kuuuu…….
Seeing him sleeping while even slightly snoring, a guard on duty spoke as if utterly dumbfounded.
“What in the world…….”
That was how the night passed, and the sun rose.
“Wake up.”
Roused by the guard, Jin Hacheong stirred his body.
Mmmmmm…….
Seeing him look as though he wouldn’t wake easily, the guard shouted.
“Get up already!”
“Got… it…”
Opening his eyes and rising, Jin Hacheong saw the line stretching behind him.
“There are a lot of people.”
“That’s why you need to finish quickly. What business do you have here?”
At the simple inspection, Jin Hacheong showed his feet and spoke.
“Buying shoes… seeing how people live… various things.”
“Alright, go in.”
Since it ended so simply, Jin Hacheong spoke as he passed through the gate.
“The procedure is simpler than I thought… It’s nice and convenient…….”
“Just get going already!”
Jin Hacheong entered the city as if being chased and saw people starting their day.
“Wow…….”
The smell of food announcing morning from here and there, and the sight of people coming and going with their lives, were everywhere.
Since it was his first time seeing so many people, Jin Hacheong looked around as if entranced.
“Ah! Shoes…….”
His feet were caked in mud, making it too inconvenient to walk any further, so it was a settled matter.
“Do you know where they sell shoes over there……?”
He asked a merchant by the roadside, and a middle-aged man, slightly frowning at his casual speech, said:
“Go straight down that road and turn right at the fork.”
Though he seemed to dislike the youngster’s tone, the middle-aged merchant had kindly answered, and Jin Hacheong said:
“Thanks.”
“Your feet look like a mess, so get going.”
Trudge, trudge.
While walking to buy shoes, Jin Hacheong moved his right hand at a presence he suddenly felt.
“Ah!”
What he caught was the hand of a woman who looked older than him.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Jin Hacheong spoke to the woman at her words.
“No! That’s mine.”
In the woman’s hand was the money pouch that Jin Hacheong had taken from the greenwood bandits.
“…….”
It was an obvious pickpocketing.
“Ahaha… Sorry. I thought it was mine…”
It was a poor excuse.
To the woman’s words, Jin Hacheong smiled and said:
“Anyone can make mistakes… Please be careful from now on.”
At Jin Hacheong’s appearance of taking those words at face value, the woman was blank for a moment before bursting into loud laughter.
“Ahaha! You have a kind heart. Your face, and that smooth, easygoing personality of yours—they’re just my taste. Next time we meet, I’ll buy you something.”
Jin Hacheong smiled at the woman’s words.
“I’ll remember that. What’s your name?”
To her, it was half a joke, but Jin Hacheong figured he needed to know her name to get a free meal, so he asked the pickpocket her name.
“You’re asking a pickpocket her name?”
“Is your name Pickpocket?”
“No. Just remember me as Wolyeong.”
“Wolyeong… That’s unique…….”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Jin Hacheong.”
“I see. They say in Buddhism, even brushing sleeves is fate. We’ve held hands, so I suppose we’ll see each other again soon.”
“I think so too.”
“Right?”
“Yeah.”
“I have something to do today, so I’ll be going.”
“Take care.”
Having sent off the pickpocket who called herself Wolyeong, Jin Hacheong opened his money pouch.
“Ah…….”
The single silver tael that had been in the wallet he got from robbing the bandits had disappeared.
In the wallet that now held nothing but coppers, as if taken by the pickpocket called Wolyeong, Jin Hacheong narrowed his brow and said:
“I got played…….”
* * *
Only coppers remained, but it was still quite a lot, so Jin Hacheong was able to buy some cheap shoes.
But after paying for a meal, what remained was two copper coins.
With this money, he couldn’t rent a room at an inn.
Having felt the cruelty of the world through pickpockets and poverty, Jin Hacheong thought he had to do any kind of work and wandered the city when he suddenly saw a wooden board with some paper pasted on it.
Seeing people gathered there, Jin Hacheong approached to see what was going on.
“The Wolyeong Sintu has appeared again!”
“He’s a righteous bandit who steals the properties and ledgers of high officials and exposes corruption, so everyone welcomes him, yet they’re all being cautious.”
“But because of that, the government guards are burning with determination searching everywhere, so what can be done…….”
“I heard even martial artists have come out.”
“To catch a righteous bandit? Rotten bastards!”
“Shh! Be quiet! If someone hears, you’ll get dragged away!”
From what he roughly heard, it seemed to be about a thief called Wolyeong Sintu who performed righteous banditry, and Jin Hacheong saw that a bounty was attached there.
“[Wolyeong Sintu, wanted for causing chaos. A bounty of ten gold taels to whoever captures him.]”
“Ten gold taels…….”
He counted on his fingers. Exactly ten.
He didn’t know how much a gold tael was worth, but knowing it was more expensive than silver, Jin Hacheong decided to capture that person called Wolyeong Sintu.
“How do I catch him?”
He had made up his mind, but all Jin Hacheong had was his monstrously large body.
Jin Hacheong, who hadn’t learned footwork, lightness skill, or even a single fist or kicking technique despite fighting barehanded, could be considered incapable of catching the nimble Wolyeong Sintu.
Hadn’t he failed to catch even the left and right hands of the greenwood for that very reason?
Moreover, in this wide city, who could know when and where Wolyeong Sintu would appear?
His heart was ready, but his head wasn’t; Jin Hacheong worried for a long time.
Then he suddenly remembered something.
“Ah, they said he only robs officials…….”
Seeing that even martial artists had been mobilized like this, he must be targeting not some small place but a high official like the Prefect.
Then if he just waited in front of that house until whenever, the chances of somehow meeting him were rather high.
Having finished his thought, Jin Hacheong asked around and arrived in front of the Prefect’s house.
Perhaps because the Prefect was still attending to official duties, except for a few government guards, no one was visible in front of the house.
“He’ll probably come out when night falls.”
It was barely around noon, so there was still a long way until night.
The moment that thought reached him, Jin Hacheong gathered branches and leaves again and made a bed in front of the Prefect’s house.
“Ah, that punk is at it again.”
The guard in front looked at him with a disgusted expression.
“Ah, at the gate yesterday…….”
Jin Hacheong continued speaking, seemingly glad to see a familiar face, but the guard cut him off and said:
“Yes, why in the world did you come here? Do you even know where this is?”
“Isn’t this the Prefect’s house?”
“Yes. I’m asking why you came here and are making that damned bed here.”
To the question asking his purpose, Jin Hacheong looked at the Prefect’s house and said:
“I’m trying to catch Wolyeong Sintu. I need money.”
“Wolyeong Sintu? Were you a martial artist?”
“Mmm… I don’t think so. Not yet.”
“Then how do you plan to catch him?”
“When he appears, I’ll chase him.”
“Can you chase him?”
“I probably won’t be able to, but I have to try first.”
“Oh my, he’s a complete madman.”
Despite the guards’ mockery, Jin Hacheong lay on his bed and fell asleep.
* * *
“Thief!”
Kuhk!
At the cry of “thief,” Jin Hacheong, who had been sleeping deeply, flopped up like a fish suddenly pulled from water.
Moreover, his breathing was strange; it seemed the cry of “thief” had been a great shock to him.
“What’s going on?”
He asked the situation with half-closed eyes, but at a time when a thief had appeared, there was no one to answer him.
It seemed night had fallen; seeing everyone moving busily with torches in hand, Jin Hacheong roughly grasped the situation.
“He appeared!”
Considering the busy movements, the Wolyeong Sintu who only robbed officials, and the cry of “thief,” Wolyeong Sintu had finally appeared at the Prefect’s house.
Therefore, looking around, Jin Hacheong saw some shape running as if flying across the roofs of the houses.
He was fleeing with a heavy-looking pouch on his back, and several people who looked like martial artists were chasing him.
“Wow…….”
It was his first time seeing a person move like a bird flying, so Jin Hacheong let out a brief exclamation.
“Ah! I have to go too.”
As his exclamation ended, Jin Hacheong remembered his original purpose and chased after them.
Tak-tak-tak!
Jin Hacheong was running hard; he was much faster than an ordinary person, but significantly slower than the martial artists from just now.
When he arrived in front of the gate, government guards looking busy were blocking the entrance.
“Halt!”
“Out of the way!”
Even though Wolyeong Sintu and the martial artists had already flown far away, the guards were blocking some strange spot.
At this rate, he wouldn’t see even the footprints of the martial artists chasing behind, let alone Wolyeong Sintu.
That situation was problematic.
But looking at those blocking the entrance, Jin Hacheong gathered strength in his legs.
Perhaps because the urgency in his mind reached his body, the internal energy and red energy within him suddenly squirmed and flowed into Jin Hacheong’s legs.
Kwa-bang!
A sound like something exploding rang out.
Jin Hacheong soared up to a height well over fifteen chang, far above the gate wall, and cleared the gate just like that.
“What…….”
“He seems to be one of the martial artists…….”
“How is it possible to fly that high without even being a bird…….”
Jin Hacheong, who had lightly cleared the gate and soared into the sky like a bird, was surprised by his own strength, but soon realized something more important.
He had no wings like a bird, and it was only natural for a wingless creature to fall to the ground.
“Eeeeek! Aaaah!”
Kwaang!
Though less than when he kicked off the ground and soared, falling from a height of over fifteen chang was no small impact.
He couldn’t even keep his balance and fell headfirst.
“…….”
“Is… is he dead…….”
“He fell on his head, so it seems so…….”
Having fallen headfirst from that height and embedded in the ground, he looked like a corpse that had died instantly to anyone who saw.
He looked as though he had died from a broken neck, so no one dared to approach him first.
“You go take a look…….”
“M… me, sir?”
“It is your superior’s order, so go quickly.”
“Yes…….”
Perhaps it was a crime to be low-ranking; a young-looking guard approached.
Stretching his body back and extending his spear long, as if trying to poke Jin Hacheong with it, he slowly approached.
And in that instant.
U-deuk-deuk!
“Puhah!”
Like pulling out a deeply rooted radish, like roughly pulling tangled kudzu roots, like shattering the ground—Jin Hacheong raised his head.
“Uwaaak!”
“Hueok!”
“Heup!”
The young guard sat down right there, and the other guards were no less surprised.
“I’ll be late…….”
Watching the back of Jin Hacheong, who immediately chased along the main road, everyone wore expressions of not understanding what on earth was happening.