Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Part 3: Even a Thorny Path is Walked in Being Alive (1)
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When dawn broke, only Bang Jinbo and the merchants trapped in the pens had survived. Not a single bandit remained alive.
Though they had escaped with their lives, the merchants' faces were pale with fear. They stood in the center of the clearing without even daring to breathe loudly, their eyes fixed on Damho.
He stood alone on the blood-soaked earth.
The bandits' corpses were scattered around him. There was no other way to describe it.
No one struck by Damho's fists had kept their form intact. They had burst open as if hit by a thunderbolt or been torn apart, flesh and bone ripped away in an instant.
These were men who prided themselves on having seen it all in their years of traveling the roads, but they had never witnessed a scene like this.
"A... demon..."
Someone muttered under their breath before hurriedly clamping a hand over their mouth. He lowered his eyes, worried that Damho might have heard him.
But contrary to his fears, Damho stood motionless in the clearing.
His gaze was sunken deep.
This was the carnage he had wrought. Over a hundred people had met gruesome ends by his hand. Yet there was no turmoil in Damho's heart.
Damho closed his eyes for a moment. Only then did he realize what was wrong with him.
*Is this what I've lost?*
Twelve years in the underworld had clearly stripped him of normal human emotions.
The corpses strewn at his feet were proof of that.
Damho opened his eyes and looked at the merchants in the pens. They averted their gazes in terror.
Damho smashed open the gates of the pens one by one. Though freed, the merchants hesitated to step out. Damho's overwhelming presence had crushed them.
After breaking all the gates, Damho approached Bang Jinbo. Up until then, Bang Jinbo had stood there in a daze, lost in shock.
Damho's hand rested on Bang Jinbo's shoulder. Only then did Bang Jinbo look up at him.
His bloodshot eyes welled with tears, which soon flowed endlessly.
"Waahhh! Brother!"
Bang Jinbo broke into sobs.
Damho silently watched over him.
He was a child who had lost his father. It was impossible to fully grasp the depth of his loss and grief.
All Damho could do was watch.
In the meantime, the merchants peeked out cautiously and slipped from their pens one by one.
Once free, they too began to weep, influenced by Bang Jinbo's emotions.
"Waahhh!"
In an instant, the clearing turned into a chaos of wailing voices.
It was a long while before their crying subsided. Some began to stand and move about.
They loaded the goods plundered by the bandits back onto the carts and sorted them out. Seeing this, the others joined in.
Their actions seemed bizarre amid the scene. But Damho watched them in silence.
Finally, after loading everything onto the wagons, one of the merchants approached Damho and bowed deeply.
"We merchants thank you on behalf of all for saving our lives, great hero."
"Mm."
"Thanks to you, we survived. How can we ever repay you?"
"No need."
"But..."
"I didn't come to save you. I did it for that child."
Damho's gaze turned to Bang Jinbo, who was still weeping.
"So don't worry about it."
"Whew! Understood."
With Damho speaking so plainly, the merchant could say no more. In a way, he felt relieved.
He was the eldest among those present. With the caravan leader Jo Su-gwang dead, the responsibility now fell to him.
He had a duty to lead the survivors back to the Central Plains. He had to cast aside petty cleanup or emotions.
He needed to resolve things quickly and take responsibility even for the families of the dead. That was the way merchants lived.
The merchant clasped his hands in salute to Damho before approaching Bang Jinbo.
"Jinbo, that's enough. Let's go now."
He soothed him, but Bang Jinbo wouldn't stop crying. He tried pulling his hand, but Bang Jinbo stood rigid as a statue.
In the end, the merchant gave up consoling him and returned to the group. After consulting with the others for a long time, he came back to Damho and Bang Jinbo.
"Great hero! We must be on our way now. So, if I may ask a favor—could you perhaps escort us to the Central Plains? We won't stint on the reward."
"I refuse."
"Great hero?"
A troubled look crossed the merchant's face. But facing Damho's resolute eyes, he couldn't bring himself to press further.
He seemed utterly ordinary now, but moments ago, he had slaughtered over a hundred living bandits. If he wanted, he could kill them all before they finished a meal.
The merchant changed his mind.
"I'm sorry for imposing on you, great hero. We'll make our own way to the Central Plains."
His plan was simple.
They would return to Toro Castle, hire more ronin and escorts. Fortunately, most goods were intact, and there were the bandits' horses—more than enough to afford it.
The merchant approached Bang Jinbo again, urging him to come along. But Bang Jinbo still wouldn't budge, leaving the merchant perplexed.
They couldn't waste time like this forever.
"If you keep this up, we'll have to leave you behind. Is that what you want?"
"I... I... Waahhh!"
Bang Jinbo burst into tears again.
That was when Damho stepped in.
"I'll take Jinbo with me."
"You will, great hero?"
The merchant looked at Damho in surprise. But only for a moment—he soon bowed his head.
"Understood. Then we'll leave Jinbo in your care."
"And..."
"Yes?"
"Leave one horse behind."
"Understood."
The merchant agreed without asking why. There were over a hundred bandit horses; giving one away was no loss.
Besides, with Bang U-gwang dead, taking an orphaned child to the Central Plains was a burden.
Even once there, they'd have to compensate and provide for him separately. The cost for Bang Jinbo, now unconnected to the caravan, would be too high.
Handing him over to Damho was the better option.
"Jinbo, go with the great hero. He'll take good care of you."
He pressed a few silver coins into the still-weeping Bang Jinbo's hand. It was mere show, but he couldn't bear the guilt otherwise.
Without waiting for a reply, he hurried back to the group and swiftly departed this hellish place.
The merchants drove their wagons without looking back. In moments, dozens of carts and horses vanished from Damho and Bang Jinbo's sight.
Damho made no move.
Neigh!
Black Ghost approached, rubbing its head against Damho's cheek. Damho gently stroked its neck.
Exhausted from crying, Bang Jinbo eventually collapsed.
Damho loaded him onto one of the horses the merchants had left—the finest one, chosen out of deference.
Damho mounted Black Ghost and led the horse away from the clearing. An eerie silence lingered in their wake.
Soon after, wolves drawn by the scent of corpses arrived. They tore ravenously into the bodies.
Crows followed the wolves. The bandits' corpses became food for beasts.
As wild animals feasted on the human remains for a time.
Swoosh!
Kyaaak!
A chilling whistle cut the air, followed by a wolf's agonized howl. Startled wolves scattered in all directions, and crows burst into flight.
Those who appeared were a band of warriors.
Each exuded an extraordinary aura. They frowned at the gruesome scene in the clearing.
They dismounted in unison.
The leader's eyes gleamed coldly. A man in his late thirties radiated an intimidating presence that made onlookers flinch.
A sword sheath etched with a ghostly pattern hung at his waist, ominous to behold.
The leader stood before what seemed to be Dong Ja-chu's corpse. His eyes flashed menacingly.
"Dong Ja-chu, dead and sprawled here."
A subordinate approached.
"The entire Blood Wolf Squad is wiped out."
"And the goods?"
The subordinate shook his head. The leader's expression grew icier.
"How many culprits?"
"The beasts have mangled the bodies too much to tell."
"Find them, no matter what."
"Yes, sir!"
The subordinate saluted and rushed back to the scattered bandit corpses, inspecting them closely.
Meanwhile, the leader knelt on one knee before Dong Ja-chu's body.
"A useful hound, wasted. This will disrupt the mountain stronghold's event."
Dong Ja-chu himself had never realized it, but he was quite important. His handling of dirty work had smoothed things along until now.
Gazing down at Dong Ja-chu's corpse, the leader's eyes shifted slightly. He spotted something gleaming at the waistband.
The leader reached out and picked up the shining object.
"A... mystic gemstone?"
His voice trembled faintly. The stone was precious enough to unsettle even his ironclad composure.
His gaze turned back to Dong Ja-chu.
This was no item for the likes of him. It meant Dong Ja-chu had ambushed and robbed someone who possessed it.
"Perhaps he picked the wrong prey."
Someone carrying such a gem could be no small figure.
The world had its untouchables. Dong Ja-chu might have crossed one.
"Even so, killing my stronghold's hound is unforgivable."
The leader stood.
His name was Gyeong Cheon-saeng, the Ghost Sword Blood Demon—a man known for his cruelty.
Murderous intent blazed in his eyes.
Damho had brought Bang Jinbo to the large rock where Bang U-gwang's body lay.
Seeing his father's corpse, Bang Jinbo crumpled.
"F... Father! Hic!"
Bang Jinbo flung himself onto the body and wept endlessly. Damho watched in silence.
He had to face and overcome the reality of grief. Turning away now would only bring greater pain later.
Bang Jinbo spent the night beside his father.
As dawn approached again, Damho finally spoke.
"Now, it's time to let your father rest."
"Brother?"
"It's time to let him rest."
"But..."
"He deserves it."
Damho's words carried an oddly persuasive power, and Bang Jinbo nodded unwittingly.
Bang Jinbo rose unsteadily. After gazing at his father's body for a moment, he gathered nearby stones and piled them over it.
His palms bled and torn, his nails loosened. Yet Bang Jinbo said nothing of the pain, building his father's grave with the stones.
Watching him, Damho murmured.
"Still, you're fortunate. At least you can build your father's grave yourself."