A Family of Vultures
The train car rattled and shook. In the first-class compartment, the scenery sliding past the windows was nothing but endless rice paddies and fields. Growing bored of just sitting there, I flagged down a crew member who was wheeling a cart down the corridor outside.
“What can I get for you?”
“Ah, just give me a newspaper. Anything’s fine.”
The morning paper I received was dated April 8, 1939. I unfolded it, but it was just as dull as everything else. The headline on the front page screamed about war: Italian Army, Navy, and Air Force Begin Invasion of Albania… This had to be about Mussolini. Europe was steadily marching toward the Second World War.
I turned to the next article. Fierce Hand-to-Hand Combat in Southern Shanxi.…Our forces, having begun the mop-up of remnant Chinese troops in the area around Jiang County in southern Shanxi, engaged the enemy—who possessed magic cannons and mortars—in a fierce melee… The enemy left behind one hundred and twenty-five corpses…
It was all about the Sino-Japanese War raging in China. Back in Joseon, the conflict still felt like something happening in a distant land, yet the war was in full swing. I let out a long sigh.
Even in a world with Gates, monsters, and hunters, it seemed the great currents of history like war refused to change. If that was the case, the Pacific War that would kick off in December 1941 was almost certain to happen too. And that timing would overlap dangerously with my graduation from the academy.
December 1941 would fall during winter break, right after I finished my final semester as a third-year and before the graduation ceremony. Thanks to my father, Baek Nopyeong, I was destined to be forcibly conscripted as a Japanese army officer.
This is seriously fucked. Only America can save me now.
But bolting for the United States the moment I got my diploma would require serious preparation. Right after war broke out, regular passenger ships would be out of the question, so I’d have to stow away. That meant researching routes in advance and saving up an absolute fortune compared to normal fares. I needed to start stockpiling money right away. The problem was that being a student made earning cash nearly impossible.
They only give me pocket change for living expenses…
It was enough to get by as a student, but for the son of a baron’s household, it was laughably meager. That was why Baek Chulyeon had been stuck living in that rundown boarding house. The main reason I was heading back to the family estate this time was to declare I had no intention of becoming a Japanese soldier, but I also planned to demand a serious increase in my allowance.
I’ll have to persuade him somehow and get more money.
Having made up my mind, I folded the newspaper and set it aside. Then I looked across at Takahiro Koji, who sat facing me in the four-person compartment. He had his arms crossed, eyes closed, sitting in silence.
What the hell is he up to?
After running into him at Gyeongseong Station, Takahiro had offered me a first-class ticket and even performed a full dogeza to apologize on the spot.
I accepted the apology, but…
That wasn’t the end of it. Now he was claiming he had to attend to me on the way to my family home because it was the young lady’s order. On the surface he said he was there to serve me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling he was actually there to keep an eye on me.
Hey. Takahiro.
At my words, Takahiro opened his eyes.
What… is it, young master?
…No matter how many times I heard “wakadanna” come out of his mouth, I just couldn’t get used to it. I shook my head internally and held out my hand.
“Let’s shake on it. You even did the dogeza, and I didn’t say much, right? This is me saying let’s make peace. Come on.”
Takahiro hesitated for a moment before finally taking my hand. Either way, maintaining a friendly appearance on the surface couldn’t hurt. And the real reason I’d asked for the handshake was to check his status window while I was at it.
Mana is B-class, and his awakenings are speed and strength reinforcement… It wasn’t far off from what I’d guessed during our little standoff on the first day. Those numbers were definitely high enough for someone in a leadership position within an organization like the Shimazu-gumi.
If I’d fought him back then, I would’ve gotten my ass handed to me…
But for now, his role wasn’t rival—it was subordinate. And not just any subordinate, but one who couldn’t defy me because the esteemed Renka had given the order.
Since things have turned out this way, I might as well make good use of him.
The train had left Gyeongseong Station at five in the afternoon, passed through Yongsan, Yeongdeungpo, and Anyang Stations, and arrived at Suwon Station a little before seven in the evening—less than two hours later.
Around the single-story, hanok-style Suwon Station were some paved roads, a few two- or three-story stone buildings, and the occasional bus or car, but not many. Everything else in sight was rice paddies and fields. Having lived in Suwon for a few years in the twenty-first century, the sight filled me with strange nostalgia.
One day a massive department store is going to stand here. That area over there will become Rodeo Street…
While I was lost in thought, Takahiro spoke up.
“Is the family estate nearby?”
Hmm. Let’s see… The address on my family register said it was inside Suwon town proper, so it shouldn’t be far from the station. When I told him as much, Takahiro nodded.
“Then instead of a carriage, let’s take a rickshaw. Hey! Coolie!”
At his call, one of the rickshaw pullers waiting near the station came over with his vehicle. When I recited the address from the register, the man immediately recognized it.
“Ah! You must mean the Baron’s residence inside the fortress walls…”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“Of course! I’ll take you right there!”
Baron, great man—why did it have to be “Baron great man”? Anyway, the rickshaw passed through the south gate of Suwon Fortress, crossed through the town where streetlights were beginning to flicker on one by one in the growing dusk, and started climbing a hill.
Eventually the rickshaw stopped in front of a grand, palace-like hanok surrounded by a long stone wall. I got down, paid the fare, and headed for the main gate with Takahiro.
We entered through a side door beside the large gate with its soaring roof. An elderly man greeted me.
“Aigoo! The young master has arrived! I’ll inform the master and madam at once… Master! The young master is here!”
He shouted across the courtyard toward the inner quarters. He seemed to be some kind of old servant or steward. We crossed the wide, haphazardly decorated courtyard—neither fully Korean nor Japanese in style—and approached the inner building. One room had the lights on and the sound of men’s voices murmuring inside. That must be the master bedroom.
“Wait here.”
Standing in front of the room, I took off my shoes and spoke to Takahiro.
“…Here?”
“Yeah. Stand right here, clear your throat once in a while, make your presence known.”
“…?”
I left him standing there and entered the room alone. The first thing that hit my ears was an angry voice.
“So that bastard finally shows up! Do you have any sense in that head of yours or not? Your father is ill, yet you dawdle and don’t come at once… *cough! cough!*”
The owner of the voice was an old man lying crookedly on a thick floor cushion in the place of honor. So that shriveled old geezer was Baek Nopyeong, the baron—my father in this body.
“Father, please calm down. Chulyeon had to wait until school let out. Here, drink some water…”
The man in his mid-to-late forties sitting beside him and trying to soothe the old man had to be my half-brother and the legitimate son, Baek Chulwoo.
“Aigoo, Uncle, you must be tired from the long journey. Come, sit down quickly.”
The slick-looking man in his mid-twenties who spoke to me with a greasy smile had to be Baek Chulwoo’s son and my nephew, Baek Namsu.
I sat down in one corner of the room and looked at the three generations—father, half-brother, and nephew—and thought to myself:
What a fucking mess of a family tree.
My half-brother was old enough to be my dad, and my nephew was older than me. All because the root of every problem, Baek Nopyeong, had taken a concubine late in life and produced a bastard son—me.
No wonder they look down on me.
A bastard younger than his own nephew, with no mother to take my side since she’d died early. That was why Baek Chulyeon had been completely ignored in this house, pushed around however the family pleased.
But that ends now.
*Ahem, hem!*
Right on cue, I heard Takahiro’s faint cough from outside the door, just as I’d instructed. My half-brother Baek Chulwoo glanced in my direction.
“Chulyeon. Who is that person outside? It looks like he came with you…”
“Ah, I should have introduced him sooner.”
I deliberately raised my voice in an arrogant tone and called toward the door.
“Oi! Takahiro! Kochira e haire!”
Takahiro, who had been waiting outside, removed his shoes and stepped into the room. The moment Baek Chulwoo and Baek Namsu saw him, they flinched. What shocked them was the gleaming Shimazu-gumi badge pinned to the lapel of his suit.
I ordered Takahiro, “Introduce yourself to the elders and greet them properly.”
“……”
Takahiro shot me a glare, but eventually bowed deeply and spoke with practiced politeness.
“I am Takahiro Koji, assistant section chief of the Gyeongseong branch of the Shimazu-gumi. It is an honor to greet everyone present.”
“Hmm…”
“Well, this is…”
Baek Chulwoo and his son looked distinctly uncomfortable as they shifted awkwardly in their seats and let out awkward sighs. Then Baek Chulwoo asked me cautiously.
“Chulyeon… why would someone like him be in a place like this…?”
I answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Oh, he’s just a guy I have running errands for me.”
“…!”
My words clearly startled the father and son. The Shimazu-gumi was a hunter syndicate that anyone with even a little knowledge in Joseon would recognize. The idea that a high-ranking officer from such an organization was acting as the lackey of a student who had only been at the academy for a few days was apparently hard to believe.
Good.
I had seized control of the room’s atmosphere. Riding that momentum, I spoke directly to the old man, Baek Nopyeong.
“I apologize for bringing this up while you are ill, Father. After attending the academy, I’ve come to think that becoming a hunter instead of joining the Japanese army wouldn’t be so bad.”
But unlike the father and son who had been cowed by the Shimazu-gumi’s prestige, the old man showed no sign of being intimidated. His face flushed red as he lay on his cushion and roared.
“What? A hunter? What nonsense is that?”
“The way for you to raise our family’s name is not by becoming a hunter, but by becoming a general in the Japanese army, achieving merit, and repaying the grace our house has received from the nation! Why do you still not understand? When will you finally grow up?”
“A hunter? In the old Joseon days, they were nothing but hired thugs and mercenaries… all men who only looked after their own interests! How can you compare such rabble to a soldier of the nation! And now you want to become one of them and tarnish our family name? Hmm? I won’t hear it!”
“Do you still not understand why I went through the trouble of sending you to that academy? If you plan to become nothing but a worthless hunter, then quit the school at once! I’ll just enlist you as an ordinary soldier instead…”
So that was how it was. The original Baek Chulyeon probably hadn’t suddenly decided to kill himself. He must have expressed his reluctance to become a Japanese soldier many times before, only to be ignored, and finally took his own life. And because of that attitude, the old man had come to see him as someone who ‘did not care for the family.’
That was why he had tried so hard to force Baek Chulyeon into the Japanese army as an officer. And if he refused, the old man was prepared to send him as a common enlisted man instead.
Fucking hell… what a piece of shit old man…
In the end, Baek Chulyeon had only had two choices: graduate from the hunter academy and become a Japanese army officer through the awakened special track, or enlist as a regular Korean volunteer soldier. No wonder he’d chosen death.
But let’s think about it differently.
Thanks to this old bastard, I was able to attend the academy at all. And there were still three years left until graduation. I could worry about what happened three years from now later. Thinking that way, it seemed wiser not to upset the old man right now.
I had already decided I would graduate no matter what. If I wanted to keep receiving tuition from him until then, I needed to earn his trust for the time being.
Right. Instead of opposing him now, it’s better to make him believe I’ll join the Japanese army.
Just as I was about to speak again, a voice came from outside the door.
“Master! Chunwol has arrived!”
It was the old servant or steward shouting. Chunwol? That name wasn’t on the family register. The old man’s expression suddenly brightened at the name.
“Chunwol?”
He looked around at his sons, then frowned again and barked, “All of you, get out!”
With no choice, we left the room and stepped into the courtyard. A woman was entering through the main gate. She looked about twenty, with sharp features, a severe bob haircut, heavy eye makeup, and a glossy jade-green coat.
As she crossed the courtyard toward the inner quarters, she passed me where I stood putting my shoes back on and gave a coy smile.
“Oh my, it’s the young master. Nice to meet you.”
She brushed past me, entered the room, and closed the door behind her.
…Who the hell is that woman?
As I stared after her, my half-brother Baek Chulwoo approached and spoke quietly.
“You probably haven’t seen her before. She’s been taking care of Father since you went up to Seoul. Well… now that Chunwol is here, Father won’t have much more to say. You should go to your room and rest.”
Taking care of him, huh…
With that, Baek Chulwoo and his son headed to their own rooms.
“Aren’t you going in, young master?”
“Just a moment.”
Takahiro asked, but I remained standing outside the master bedroom, eavesdropping on the conversation inside.
“So that young man earlier was the young master?”
“Mmm, that’s right, Chunwol. That boy… Yes, rub right there. Ah! That feels good…”
“Here. Does this feel better? …So the young master is causing trouble? He seemed well-behaved when I saw him.”
“That foolish child… *cough!* Chunwol, you’re a woman so you wouldn’t understand, but a family needs its men to go to war and achieve merit for the household to stand tall! Yet that boy only thinks of himself, only cares about his own life, and dares to rebel… *cough, cough!*”
“Aigoo, old master. Drink some water.”
Whether she was a gisaeng or a concubine, she spoke to him gently, massaged his arms and legs, and attended to him. Even while pretending to be on death’s door, the old lecher still chases women.
Things had gotten complicated. I had to convince the old man before returning to Gyeongseong tomorrow morning that “I want to join the Japanese army!” but I couldn’t see an opening.
If I go in while he’s alone with his concubine, he’ll get angry…
At that moment, I felt a surge of mana from inside the room, like a camera flash going off.
Huh?
Ordinary people wouldn’t notice, but thanks to my mana sensitivity awakening, I could feel it clearly. And there was something familiar about this mana pattern. It was exactly like the one from not long ago…
That Korean criminal!
It was nearly identical to the mana pattern of the Korean awakener who had released the paralyzing poison mist at the teahouse. In other words, a toxic substance emission type.
That bitch?
I carefully approached the door, poked a tiny hole in the paper, and peered inside. The room was thick with toxic gas. It didn’t affect me thanks to my poison resistance passive, but…
“But if the young master becomes a soldier, won’t he get dragged off to China? Aren’t you worried about that, old master? They say it’s absolute chaos over there right now.”
“You think life is too precious to go to war? Serving in this righteous war is an honor—how can mere life be more important? Mmm… *cough! cough!*”
“Righteous? Please. Here, drink this.”
“Chunwol, don’t say such things! Mmm…”
“Aigoo, you drink so well. There we go…”
While massaging his limbs and keeping him company, she was secretly injecting toxic mana and making him drink poisoned water.
What the hell is going on in this house?
The family was already a mess, and now there was a thieving cat of a woman attached to it. One who might even kill the old man.
The old man can’t die!
No matter how much I hated him, if he died, my tuition would be cut off immediately. There was no guarantee my wary half-brother Baek Chulwoo would pay it instead.
But if I burst in right now…!
If I went in and stopped this Chunwol woman, the old man—who was completely smitten with her—would fly into a rage. I couldn’t afford to upset him. Besides, even if I went in, what could I do? The poison was delivered through mana. If she simply withdrew it, there would be no evidence ordinary people could see. And the only proof I had that she was using poison was my own senses. To confirm her exact ability, I’d need to check her status window through physical contact, but I couldn’t just grab a strange woman’s hand.
Damn it, what should I do…
I was standing there frozen in indecision when I heard the conversation continue inside.
“Aren’t the Qing and the Russians all in league with the Reds? Those scoundrels are always eyeing Joseon with greed. The Japanese soldiers are the ones stopping this land from turning into a den of Reds. How can we not be grateful?”
“That may be true. But I heard there were many civilian casualties in Nanjing…”
I listened carefully to the exchange inside the room.
“Heh heh heh… *cough! cough!* Chunwol, you’re still too naive to understand! To catch Reds, sometimes harsh measures are necessary! Just like how a serious illness requires strong medicine! If we don’t, how will they ever listen?”
“But what crime did the Chinese people commit? If anything, the Japanese army has been too harsh…”
Perfect.
The moment I heard those words, I kicked the door open with my shoe still on and slapped her across the face—SLAP!
“Kyaaak!”
Chunwol screamed in shock at the sudden blow. The old man, who had been lying down, half-rose in surprise, eyes wide.
“W-what are you doing?! Have you finally gone mad?!”
But I shouted at Chunwol with a deliberately furious expression.
“You bitch! How dare you insult the brave soldiers of the Great Japanese Empire’s Imperial Army who risk their lives fighting on distant battlefields!”