Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: So Why Are We Going There?
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The next day.
As soon as the morning sun rose, I finished preparing to depart.
All my subordinates came out to see me off. And leading them at the front, Dong Ryong looked at me with a worried expression.
“Boss, are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“What’s there to worry about?”
“Well..., you’re not even taking a bunch of guys with you, just the youngest to that far-off land of Sichuan. How could I not be anxious?”
That’s right.
We were heading to Sichuan today to sell off the treasures we’d looted from the Shanxi Yu family.
With just the one youngest in tow.
I waved my hand dismissively at Dong Ryong, who was looking at me like I was some lost child by the riverside.
“Come on, if I take a bunch of the guys, we’ll just attract attention. I only need the youngest with me. Right?”
When I turned to the youngest and asked, he answered spiritedly.
“That’s right! Don’t worry too much. I’ll serve you faithfully, Boss!”
I patted his head at his plucky response and spoke up.
“See? Our youngest says he’ll protect me.”
“Sigh... Still, I’m anxious...”
Oh man.
Dong Ryong really worries too much. I flicked his forehead once and said.
“You take care of yourself, you punk. Teach the guys proper martial arts and guard the place well.”
“Ah... Yes. I’ll do my best while you’re gone.”
I turned to Bang Sam and Bong Chun beside Dong Ryong and spoke.
“You guys assist Dong Ryong well too. While I’m away, he’s the boss, so obey him properly.”
“Of course, Boss.”
“I’ve always liked the second-in-command more than you anyway, Boss.”
This little shit...?
26 years old. After smacking Bang Sam, who’d hit puberty late, once, I turned next to Jeok Yeom and Eung Chil. And then to the Wuak Mountain Brothers crew behind them.
“You guys learn martial arts properly from Dong Ryong in the meantime. Listen to him well.”
“Yes, got it!”
They seemed thrilled at the prospect of learning martial arts, their voices brimming with enthusiasm.
“Anyway... you all answer well enough.”
Truth be told, I wasn’t free of anxiety either.
With these clueless idiots, who knew what trouble they’d stir up without me... whether they could even train properly in martial arts... It worried me.
But I couldn’t just stay put. After all, money was the most important thing to bandits.
“Alright, then I’m off. It’ll take about ten days to get to Sichuan, so... give or take, you won’t see my face for a full month.”
“Woohoo!”
“Woohoo my ass... Bang Sam, we’ll talk when I get back.”
Leaving behind Bang Sam, who was acting extra cocky today, I waved grandly to the group.
“I’m really going now. Everyone take care.”
“Come back safe, Boss!”
As I turned around, the guys all bowed at a perfect ninety degrees in unison.
Seeing that scene made me feel like some nationwide gang boss.
Ah, but I am a bandit boss, so maybe it’s similar to a gang boss?
Whatever. Having someone see you off wasn’t a bad feeling. I waved to them for a good while before hitting the road.
“Youngest, shall we get going?”
“Yes, Boss.”
Off to Sichuan we go.
**
With just two of us, unlike when we came, I was carrying luggage on my back too. It wasn’t heavy for me, but the youngest was slimmer than me, so it looked burdensome on him.
“Hey, Youngest. Isn’t the luggage heavy? Want me to take some more?”
“No, Boss.”
At my question, the youngest just grinned without a hint of strain. I smiled back at him and said.
“Call me big brother when we’re out here, punk.”
“Huh? But...”
“Are we supposed to advertise to everyone that we’re bandits? Just call me big brother.”
“Ah... In that case...”
The youngest hesitated a bit before beaming and saying.
“I will... Big Brother...”
The way he shyly called me “big brother,” like confessing to his first love, really lifted my spirits.
And it made sense.
The youngest was the one among my subordinates who liked me the most.
I didn’t know why. From the moment we first met, he’d just liked me.
And I liked him back.
Not just because he liked me.
“Youngest, you said you’re turning twenty this year, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. Big Brother. Hehe.”
He was the only one among my subordinates younger than me, so he felt like a real little brother—always positive, always smiling.
And that was just the start.
He was good at work, the best-looking guy in our bandit crew aside from me, and his martial arts progress was incredibly fast.
‘It even surprised me.’
He absorbed every lesson like a sponge—what a genius.
‘Listing it out, he’s a total cheat character.’
I’d once wondered if our youngest was maybe a novel character too, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall anyone with his name.
So I decided to think of him as an extra cheat character who didn’t appear in the novel. Maybe because he wasn’t from the story, he felt more like a real person than the others, which made me feel even closer to him.
I poked the youngest’s cheek playfully and asked.
“But, Youngest. Why’d you become a bandit?”
“Huh? Why do you ask so suddenly...”
“Just curious. The Wuak Mountain Brothers had their reasons, so I wondered if you had something similar.”
There are no bandits in this world without a backstory.
They all flee to the mountains for unavoidable reasons, escaping something—and that makes them bandits.
Me, Dong Ryong, Bang Sam, Bong Chun—we all have our stories, even if we don’t talk about them.
I thought now, with just the two of us, might be a chance to hear his.
“Because I like it.”
“Huh?”
“I’m a bandit because I like this life. Big Brother, Dong Ryong brother, Bang Sam brother, Bong Chun brother... I like everyone. That’s all there is to it.”
The youngest just smiled his usual beaming smile, face unreadable as to whether he meant it or not.
“Sigh, if you don’t wanna say, don’t. Punk.”
“Ahh, I mean it for real...”
Something about his attitude annoyed me, so I put him in a gentle headlock, and we fooled around like that as we headed toward Sichuan.
Then, out of the blue, the youngest asked me.
“But Big Brother. Why are we going all the way to far-off Sichuan? Aren’t there places nearby in Hubei or Hunan where we could sell these goods?”
I clicked my tongue at his innocent question and answered.
“Jeez, tsk tsk. Youngest. What do you think would happen if we just sold off the Shanxi Yu family’s stuff anywhere?”
“What would happen...? We’d make a ton of money, right?”
I’d noticed this before, but the youngest was so pure about this stuff. If anything, you could say he lacked a bandit’s instincts.
I explained slowly for him.
“To martial artists, what matters most is their affiliation and traditions. Now look at what we’ve got from the Shanxi Yu family.”
“Um... secret manuals and elixirs and such, right? Ah...!”
“Yeah, secret manuals containing their family’s techniques and precious elixirs infused with their essence. These symbolize the Yu family’s affiliation and traditions. So what if we naively sell them off? Those guys would lose their shit, right?”
“Yeah... probably?”
“And these items are so rare that the moment we sell them, we’d get tracked down, and they’d chase us to the ends of the earth. We’d be screwed.”
Talking about the Shanxi Yu family brought Yu So-myung’s face to mind after a while.
She’d loved her family so much—probably cursing me for looting their secret vault.
Imagining her furious face as she chased me down to kill me made me chuckle.
Thinking of Yu So-myung brought a smile to my face, but the youngest, who’d heard my explanation, looked anxious.
“Then Big Brother... if we can’t even sell them, what’s the point of keeping them...?”
“That’s why we’re going to Sichuan.”
“What’s different about Sichuan?”
“Yeah, there’s a place in Sichuan where we can sell them.”
The youngest tilted his head and asked.
“Like... a black market? Somewhere we can sell them without the Shanxi Yu family noticing...”
“Black market... kinda like that, but a bit different. You’ll see when we get there.”
I stroked the youngest’s head, full of curiosity, and grinned.
“Perfect, we’re the two best-looking guys around. Since we’re descending the mountain after so long, let’s wrap up the deal quick and have a blast in Sichuan.”
“Have a blast... in Sichuan?”
“You’ll find out when we arrive. You’ll love it.”
They say the quiet cat is the first to jump on the stove.
Kids who seem pure on the outside are sly on the inside.
I was certain the youngest would have the most fun in Sichuan of anyone, and I chuckled to myself.
Not getting my meaning, he just tilted his head in confusion.