Dodging the Classic Travel Cliché
It had already been a full week since we left Sangam, heading for Chang'an where the Murim Alliance Leader Wiji Cheon's sixtieth birthday banquet was being held. But this story has one small catch: the land was so ridiculously vast that we still hadn't even fully left Sichuan Province.
In the modern world, a trip to China usually meant hopping on a plane, whooshing there and whooshing back. Here, though, the fastest transportation was a horse, so simply getting from one place to another devoured an absurd amount of time.
'It's needlessly huge, seriously.' I missed the KTX that only took four hours from Seoul to Busan one way.
I was gazing up at the blue sky drifting with fluffy clouds when it happened.
"Whoa, whoa."
The party led by the second young master suddenly reined in their horses.
"What is it?" I asked quietly from behind. Dokgo Rin, holding the reins, answered me.
"It looks like the Green Forest has shown up."
"Bandits?"
"...That's one way to put it."
Green Forest. A common name for bandit groups in wuxia novels. They usually appeared early on as combat power measurers to showcase the protagonist's strength. Since the land of China was so vast and its population so large, even bandits unaffiliated with the actual organization often called themselves Green Forest members.
In reality, though, most of them were farmers or villagers who'd fled to the mountains after suffering under tyrannical local officials, unable to make a living. Naturally, they hadn't learned any proper martial arts.
"Kwa ha ha ha ha! Leave everything you own and get lost!"
Soon bandits began appearing one by one from the mountain paths on either side.
Since it was obvious that children like me or Dokgo Rin wouldn't be joining the fight, I decided to watch safely from the sidelines to see how Dokgo Seok and the Dokgo Clan's escort warriors handled things.
"You dare lay hands on people of the great Dokgo Clan? Have you lost your damn minds?!"
One of the warriors guarding our group shouted, and the bandits immediately started whispering among themselves.
"If it's the Dokgo Clan, they're famous for their swordsmanship..."
"I heard those people are insanely strong. Is this really okay?"
The man who appeared to be the bandit leader, dressed in tiger-striped leather, bellowed at them.
"Ei! You idiots! There are only six of them and thirty of us! We outnumber them five to one and you're still scared?!"
But his scolding didn't seem to land at all.
"But boss, didn't the village chief say last time that numbers don't mean much against Murim people?"
"I heard the guys from the next mountain over got completely wrecked when they charged without thinking."
"Ugh!"
When even his strangely innocent subordinates kept holding him back and he ran out of things to say, the man decided he needed to set an example. He thrust forward his large saber and roared.
"Shut up! Once a man draws his blade, he has to cut something! If you cowards won't move, I'll go first!"
At that exact moment, Dokgo Seok—who had been listening intently to their conversation—suddenly clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.
"Now, now, brothers. Instead of all that, why don't you listen to what I have to say?"
The bandit leader, who had been about to attack, twisted his face and yelled.
"Bastard! When did we ever become brothers?!"
But Dokgo Seok smoothly deflected the words with his usual carefree attitude.
"Isn't there an old saying in the Murim that all men under heaven are brothers? Our origins may be different, but since we've all dipped our feet in the same currents of the world, isn't it fine to call each other brothers even if we only met by chance on the road?"
What the hell is this now?
If his goal had been to confuse the enemy with pure nonsense, it had worked perfectly. Both sides were hesitating, wondering what kind of ridiculous drivel they were hearing.
Dokgo Seok took it one step further and made a counteroffer.
"On a hot summer day like this, instead of wasting energy fighting, why don't we each just go our own way? In return, I'll generously provide enough money for all of you to enjoy a nice cold drink after work."
When he pulled out a small pouch from his robes and dangled it teasingly, the bandit boss snorted.
"Why should we? We could just ignore you and rob you anyway."
Dokgo Seok smiled with his eyes.
"It seems our boss here isn't the sharpest tool in the shed."
"W-what?"
The bandit leader looked flustered by the sudden, unprovoked insult. But Dokgo Seok continued laying out his logic without missing a beat.
"As someone living in Sichuan, you must know that the Dokgo Clan's name carries considerable weight. Even if you rob us here, the profit won't be worth the effort. Instead, you'll lose a bunch of your men and return to your stronghold empty-handed. After one botched robbery, you'll lose your subordinates' trust and your own position will become precarious. Are you sure you want to risk that?"
"......"
There was a slight leap in logic, but it wasn't an impossible scenario. While they were all ordinary people, nearly everyone on our side—except me—were Murim warriors who had trained in martial arts. Even with a fivefold difference in numbers, no one could predict the outcome if we overwhelmed them with pure skill.
Of course, even if the bandits miraculously won and captured or wiped us out, the Dokgo Clan's elite warriors would come raging after them with fire in their eyes. There was simply no reason for them to take such a risk just to rob us.
After thinking it over and apparently reaching the same conclusion, the bandit boss hesitated before asking.
"So... how much toll are you offering?"
Realizing the negotiation had succeeded, Dokgo Seok smiled brightly and tossed him the pouch.
"That should be enough, right?"
The bandit leader opened the pouch, checked the contents, glanced at Dokgo Seok's face, then sheathed his weapon.
"Boys! Let them through!"
The bandits who had been watching from behind slowly shuffled aside.
"Take care, then. Brothers."
And just like that, we passed the bandit group without spilling a single drop of blood.
After we safely descended the mountain and some time had passed, Dokgo Rin asked the man riding ahead.
"Older Brother, may I ask you something?"
"Of course. What are you curious about, sister?"
"Why didn't you kill the bandits and chose to negotiate instead? With your skill, you could have eliminated them all."
Dokgo Seok let out a small laugh and covered his mouth with his fully opened fan.
"The road ahead is still nine thousand li long. Why would I waste my strength so early? If there had been fewer bandits, I might have drawn my sword instead of negotiating, just like you said. But handling thirty of them while also protecting you would have been difficult, so I simply gave them some money to send them away."
"I see."
"Why? Does it bother you that I negotiated with bandits?"
"It's not that. I simply wanted to know why you spared them."
"Hehe. For someone who claims that, you look rather displeased that your brother let them live."
"...Honestly, I thought it was a rather soft mindset for a warrior. But since you did it for my sake, I'm hardly in a position to complain."
When Dokgo Rin slightly lowered her head after saying that, Dokgo Seok muttered "How dull" and turned to face forward again.
I had been quietly listening to the siblings' conversation and cautiously asked Dokgo Rin in a small voice.
"My lady, does it bother you that you were protected by your brother?"
She fidgeted with her lips for a moment before obediently nodding.
"To be honest... yes."
"Why? It's perfectly natural for an older brother to protect his younger sister."
I couldn't understand her psychology. In the original story, Dokgo Seok would use Dokgo Rin as a bargaining chip to hand her over to Wiji Cheon two years from now. Yet the current him was clearly a doting older brother by anyone's standards, so why did she treat him with such open distaste?
As I pondered the reason, I soon realized something.
'Ah.'
Dokgo Rin was currently twelve years old. In other words, she was at the age when puberty would hit alongside her second sexual maturation. It wasn't strange at all that she would strongly dislike her male sibling. It was a complicated time in many ways.
"...Chilbok, you're thinking something weird, aren't you?"
"No, it's nothing."
"Liar! You're definitely thinking something weird!"
With that, Dokgo Rin suddenly pinched both my cheeks.
"Tell the truth right now!"
"It hurts! It hurts!"
My pronunciation came out slurred because both cheeks were being pinched, but Dokgo Rin showed no sign of letting go. The people ahead—Dokgo Seok, his maidservant, and the escort warriors—watched us with fond expressions, apparently seeing it as nothing more than children's playful antics.
No, if you have time to watch, please stop this young lady!
I screamed inwardly while obediently offering my cheeks until her tantrum finally ended.