Chapter 43
Five days after leaving Gangneung.
"All right, line up! Line up!"
"Anyone who tries to cut in gets sent to the very back!"
Guards gripping their staves in one hand kept the people lined up in front of the city gate under control.
Those trying to enter the city held something out to the guards.
It was a rectangular wooden plaque, about half the size of a palm.
"...Move along."
"Much appreciated."
Once the guard who checked the wooden plaque gave a slight nod, the man who looked like a peddler was let inside.
What that merchant had just handed over was called a roin, a travel pass.
A roin was basically a kind of ID, and in this primitive age, you needed one issued by the local government if you wanted to travel to another region.
"Next!"
"Next person, step up!"
"Move it, move it!"
Every time the guards shouted for the next person, the line grew shorter, but one man's expression kept getting worse and worse.
Damn it, what the hell am I supposed to do now?
That man was me—Geom Mujin—whose turn was somehow almost here already.
Watching the line shrink by the second, I felt a stab of panic.
"Anyone without a roin can't enter, so keep that in mind!"
Which meant I—no, we—were screwed, because we didn't have a roin.
What, couldn't I just get one from the Gangneung office?
Yeah, sure. Easy to say when you don't know how this world works.
Getting a roin issued was simple enough, but for a black-haired barbarian to actually receive one? Not so simple.
These fucking racists turned into a complete circus the moment a black-haired person walked into an office.
-Ha! A black-haired person wants to travel to another region? Wow, the world really has gotten better, hasn't it?
Snide remarks.
-Now fill out this form and write down who you'll meet there and what you'll be doing.
Privacy invasion disguised as paperwork.
-This form doesn't go here, it goes to the administration office. They sent you here? Are you saying I'm wrong? You insolent barbarian bastard! Go check again yourself!
Departmental ping-pong.
I had once gone there ignorant of the whole mess and nearly fallen into qi deviation.
For the record, the officials I met that day were later attacked by an unidentified thug as they were leaving and ended up crippled.
Boom.
Just thinking about that incident made me feel weirdly refreshed.
Anyway, after that I hadn't even pissed in the direction of the government offices, so I came here again just like this.
Besides, there were plenty of ways to get into the city without a roin.
I should've just waited until evening.
The first way to enter a city without a roin:
Climbing the wall.
The Ming army's patrols were so lax they were basically a free pass, at least by my standards.
But I’d arrived earlier than expected, and waiting until sunset like an idiot seemed pointless, so I’d lined up and now I was stuck in a bind.
If I were doing this properly, I'd have gone in by the second method.
The second way to enter a city without a roin:
Bribery.
Also known as a little something extra.
The officials of this era were always hungry.
That was true no matter how high or low their rank was, though the lower-level ones were probably hungrier.
For example, guards like these who spent all day sparring with the crowd from morning till night.
For men and women grinding away like dogs on insulting pay, the extra income from bribes was like an oasis in the desert.
The small tokens of goodwill from citizens grateful for their labor were a huge help to their household budgets.
Moved by that kindness, the guards would conveniently turn a blind eye to minor issues.
Civilian and official.
It was the bottom rungs of the Ming bureaucracy, where everyone gave and took warmth from each other and helped one another out. The higher ranks weren't that different either; the scale was just bigger.
So I had planned to slip them a few coins and walk right in, but then something unexpected happened.
"Hehe. Sir, you must be tired. Take this and have a little drink after work..."
"Are you asking for death?"
"Gah!?"
The guard roared like an angry chimpanzee.
The man trying to stuff money into his pocket staggered back in shock.
"How dare you treat this guard like some cheap whore and try something like that!!"
The guard flung the pouch to the ground, scattering coins everywhere.
"N-no, that's not—"
"You actually tried to bribe a guard without shame. Bind this man and check whether he has a roin!"
"Yes, sir!"
"W-wait...!"
Before the man could say another word, the guards had already restrained him.
"He doesn't have a roin!"
"Just as I suspected. Trying to enter Hubei Province without a roin? He must be a fugitive who caused trouble in another city and ran off. Take him away!"
"Nooooo! Anything but that, please!"
"Come with us!"
The man, both arms pinned, was dragged away.
"I'm going to confiscate everything you own and hammer you with a massive fine!"
So the official had refused the bribe and started chewing the guy out!
It looked like something straight out of a Judge Bao drama, but Geom Mujin and the crowd around him were utterly unimpressed.
Everyone was thinking the same thing.
Looks like Ji-hyun needs money.
The only time these sloppy guards got that serious about enforcement was when this happened.
Some superior who'd been greasing palms all over town had run dry and was now collecting his due.
In a place like Hubei, where the foot traffic was heavy, policing people was a pretty sweet source of income.
Great. I show up right when the cooldown's up.
If Ji-hyun had already given the word, then bribes were useless.
At times like this, I really should've just joined the Martial Alliance...
The Martial Alliance kept close ties with the government, and a member badge there could stand in for a roin.
The Alliance Leader had once tried to recruit me, but I’d turned him down.
-How could a manly man like me belong to a herd? One sword is enough for my lot in life.
Back then, I’d been high on my own bullshit...
You idiot! Who cares about your stupid pride?
Regret came flooding in for my past stupidity.
"Next!"
Another person went inside, bringing my turn even closer.
If I ran now, I'd only draw more attention and look suspicious as hell.
So that left me with one option.
Perfect. There are two of them.
After checking the two people standing right in front of him, Geom Mujin circulated his inner energy.
Wooooong—
He sent the qi from his dantian down to Yongcheon acupoint on the soles of his feet.
...Quietly. Stealthily.
The qi flowing out from Yongcheon crept like a snake.
It was a feat only possible for someone whose control over internal power had reached a refined level.
Before long, the two strands of qi came to a stop near the heels of the two men.
Now!
I infused the qi with intent and triggered it.
Thukwak-!
It was a technique adapted from Myriads-Crushing Hand.
As the qi smashed into the ground, the earth supporting the two men's heels caved in.
"Wha—!?"
The two men, suddenly losing their balance, cried out in surprise and fell backward.
"Oops."
I immediately caught both of them with telekinetic force.
The moment their bodies froze in midair, my hands moved.
With their heads already tilted back from the fall and their gaze pointed toward the sky, this was the perfect opening.
The third way to enter a city without a roin:
Self-issuance!
Geom Mujin's hands darted out so fast they left no afterimage behind.
Recently, I'd seen a pretty good model.
I remembered the handwork of the beggars in Gangneung who'd slipped something into my sleeve.
Pickpocketing and sleeve-stuffing.
Two opposite skills, but they shared one thing in common: both required you to quietly approach someone else's sleeve.
Swish—
My hands slid into the men's robes like a snake slipping over a wall.
Sticking my hand into some guy's clothes was the worst, but I didn't have a choice.
...Got it!
The moment I grabbed what seemed to be the roin, I pulled my hand back out.
It had taken about three seconds.
To a civilian who knew nothing about martial arts, it was too fast to even perceive.
Swish-shuk-sak-!
"Are you all right?"
Geom Mujin asked casually as he hid the roin between his sleeves and steadied the two men with a hand on each of their backs.
"Ah, y-yes. Thank you. That was almost a disaster... tch!"
Just as the man who'd nearly cracked his skull was about to thank Geom Mujin—the cause of it all—he clicked his tongue instead.
For a moment I thought he might've realized I was the culprit, but thankfully that wasn't it.
"I wondered why you suddenly toppled backward. Turns out there was a barbarian behind you."
The man frowned at the black hair beneath my bamboo hat.
It was just plain old barbarian hatred.
"Pah! Bad luck, that's what this is."
"Let it go. Barriers are all the same anyway."
The two men spat on the ground and turned their heads away.
"......"
At that sight, Geom Mujin smiled quietly.
This is exactly why I like Central Plains people.
No matter what I do, I never feel bad about it.
"......"
Meanwhile, the child had watched the entire thing unfold.
When you need something and don't have it, you take it from someone else.
Today, too, the child was learning about the world.
* * *
"Take him away."
"B-but we definitely had a roin..."
"Quiet! Save your excuses for the cell!"
The two men who'd been fine just a moment ago, only to lose their roin somehow, were dragged off by the guards.
Tsk, tsk. That's what happens when you don't keep track of your stuff.
"Next, come forward."
At last, it was our turn.
"Here's the roin."
I handed over the roin I'd acquired about ten minutes earlier.
"Hmm..."
The guard examining it gave me a suspicious side-eye.
His eyes were full of doubt.
What the hell was his problem?
"Is this really yours?"
"It is. What, is there some problem?"
That only deepened his suspicion.
"The child's name is Wang Chun-sik?"
Never mind the surname; no matter how you looked at it, that wasn't a girl's name.
Sure, this was an era when infant survival rates were low and people just slapped any old name on a kid, but how the hell did a girl end up called Chun-sik?
"She was born in spring."
Geom Mujin stepped forward confidently. This was no time to act flustered.
Including the season in a child's name was one of the most common naming methods—
"That's not the Chun in spring."
"My parents weren't good with written characters."
Creeeak—!!
Emergency drift engaged!
Secret technique: exploiting nonexistent parents!
It did look like he was claiming to be the child's sibling, but Geom Mujin's face was young enough that there was room to take him for an older brother with a much younger sibling.
"...Fine, whatever. Move along!"
After glancing back and forth between the two of us for a moment, the guard finally handed over the roin and shouted for us to pass.
He figured he had no interest in some barbarian family drama.
Geom Mujin and Chun-sik—no, the child—passed through the city gate.
* * *
I have returned, oh Hubei.
Now—
Grrr...
I was just about to look for lodging when a small sound came from the child's stomach.
"Come to think of it, it's already lunchtime."
"...!"
The child, having let out the noise, looked flustered and let his pupils wobble.
"Let's eat first."
I ruffled the child's hair to calm him down.
By the way, on the way here the child had already started eating other foods too.
At first he resisted, probably from the aftereffects of living on blood alone, but once he stopped drinking blood, he gradually became able to eat regular food again.
There was no way I could cook pig's-blood soup for every meal, so that was a relief.
"Is there anything you want to eat?"
"...No."
The child shook his head.
Honestly, he wanted blood or pig's-blood soup, but he wasn't shameless enough to ask for that right now.
As I walked the streets with the child in tow, a savory smell of frying oil brushed past my nose, and my steps came to a halt.
"Ah! How did I forget this place?"
When it comes to lunch, this is the place!
I lifted my head and looked up at the signboard of an inn.
Painted in yellow and red, it read:
McDaria.
A super, super, super-sized inn chain favored all across the Central Plains, with branches everywhere.
McDaria was famous for selling buns piled with sesame seeds, two beef patties, a special sauce, bok choy, cheese, cucumbers, and onions, all tucked inside another sesame bun.
That was today's lunch!
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