Chapter 77
"Black hair costs 1 million gold per person, and the pet is 400,000 gold."
And there it was, a price tag right beside him that clearly said 200,000 gold per head. What kind of daylight robbery was this?
"Why the sudden silence? Is that an amount you can’t even imagine for some barbarian?"
"Mwahaha! Quit messing with them!"
"Exactly. Aren’t they so shocked they’ve gone mute?"
As the bearded bastard sneered, the martial artists behind him laughed along.
"Hoo..."
Watching that, I let out a long breath.
The patience stack in me had already filled up to the maximum three times over.
I was already in a bad mood from a string of recent dead ends, and this clown had really picked the perfect time to show up.
As a hero of the martial world, one of the Seven Martial Stars, my era of patience and tolerance was over.
"Kid. Close your eyes and pinch your nose."
"Oh? Look at that bastard getting serious. Don’t I look pretty when I keep them open?"
"Is this where we teach you some manners, then?"
The moment the men saw Geom Mujin’s eyes, they pulled clubs from their belts.
"I closed 'em."
The child quietly squeezed his eyes shut and pinched his nose with his hand, speaking in a nasal little voice.
Click.
My hand went to my sword hilt.
From here on out, it was let’s-freaking-go time.
You guys are getting carved into cute little stars, special edition.
Twinkle, twinkle, little stars.
Shining beautifully in the eastern sky, and in the western sky too.
Just as the bright midday stars were about to rise—
"Aigoo!"
Some man suddenly stepped in between me and my soon-to-be stars.
The fellow, already past middle age and drifting into his twilight years, greeted me as if we knew each other.
"There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you."
"Huh?"
I tilted my head.
No matter how I looked at him, he was someone I was seeing for the first time today.
His hair was mixed with white and looked gray at a glance, but he was an old man with black hair, just like me.
"Wrong person—"
"Tsk, tsk. How many times have I told you? This is Churyeong Fleet, not Guryong Fleet."
The old man kept clicking his tongue and shoving at my back.
"Ugh..! Move it, move it. You’ve already made everyone wait a long time."
Was this old man out of his mind?
I was just about to turn around, wondering what the hell he was doing, when I saw it.
"Whoa... did he eat bear meat or something? What is this weight..."
The old man’s face, blinking madly with one eye as he tried to push me—me, who wasn’t budging one bit, rooted to the ground like an ancient tree.
Wink-wink! Wink-wink-wink!
Cr, crap!
An old man with a face full of wrinkles, winking like that?
The effect was devastating.
"Kkiiieee!"
Sodam, who had been perched on his shoulder, took damage too.
Wobble, wobble—
My legs gave out before I knew it, and the old man’s pressure physically shoved me forward.
"There, there, let’s move along. And you there too, little miss—come along."
"......"
The child followed after him.
"Sorry for the interruption. Carry on, then."
After offering that apology, the old man was just about to lead Geom Mujin and the others away when—
"Hey, old man from the So family."
"What is it?"
The bearded bastard called him back.
"People have been talking a lot about you lately, from behind."
He glanced back and forth between the old man and Geom Mujin’s group as he spoke.
"...I’ll keep that in mind."
With that, the old man turned and walked off.
* * *
"Hoo... this should be fine enough."
From the middle on, we had followed the old man on foot, and eventually we arrived at the harbor.
Were we not already at a harbor before?
We were.
But if that place had been a first-class harbor, this one was the bargain-bin version.
The harbor was small, and the storage facilities looked like they were held together by sheer resignation.
"Hey, old man. Why in the world did you drag me here?"
I looked around and asked.
"That’s rich coming from you. Why were you lurking around there with a child in tow? Do you have any idea what kind of situation this is right now?"
My question came back at me as a question.
I didn’t want to waste time playing taegukquan with this guy, so I just answered.
"Why else would I be lurking? I’m trying to catch a boat, obviously."
What a ridiculous thing to ask. He’d barged in acting like he knew everything, so I’d started to suspect he might have a screw loose.
But then, surprisingly, the old man looked at me like I was the one with the problem.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"What are you talking about?"
Don’t keep it to yourself. Explain it to me too, will you?
"There’s been a black-hair restriction order issued at the Wuhan harbor."
"What!?"
What the hell kind of nonsense was that?
A black-hair restriction order?
I’d never heard of such a laughably racist piece of shit in my life.
According to the old man, that order had sent ship fares for black-haired people through the roof.
On top of that, they’d driven out a large number of black-haired workers who had been working at the harbor, and if anyone was caught hanging around, they’d be lynched on the spot.
Some of them had even been unlucky enough to get half beaten to death.
Are these bastards Nazis or something?
Only then did I realize the old man hadn’t stepped in because he’d lost his marbles, but because he’d been trying to help me.
Not that I really needed it.
Sure, I appreciated the thought, but even if the bearded bastards came at me, they’d be the ones smelling incense behind the folding screen, not me.
No, wait, more importantly...
"The government did this?"
The basic stance of the Ming Empire was that if you paid your taxes properly, even black-haired people were still subjects of the Son of Heaven.
Though in the real world, they don’t exactly keep that promise worth a damn.
Still, they’d at least have to pretend to follow the Son of Heaven’s orders, so I couldn’t imagine them pulling something this blatant.
"It wasn’t the government. It was decided by the Wuhan Merchants’ Association."
"Ah!"
Geom Mujin let out an understanding sound.
Just as warriors gathered into sects, merchants gathered among themselves and formed their own organizations.
"Going by that reaction, I take it you’re not from around here."
The old man stroked his thin beard.
Black-haired people from Zhongyuan were the most common in Wuhan.
For black-haired folks, Wuhan was the closest thing to a promised land beyond the red ocean—more like a blood ocean, really—because the doorway to employment there was at least somewhat open.
Of course, it was not exactly a secret that most of those jobs were the kind nobody sane wanted.
"Well, that’s right."
Strictly speaking, I’d come from the year 2025 in glorious South Korea, but there was no way I was about to say that out loud.
"Then why would the merchants’ association issue such an inhuman and immoral restriction?"
The old man sighed like the world was ending.
"Hoo... because of a pirate band that’s been running wild lately."
"What’s a pirate band got to do with this?"
What, did pirates show up and the harbor just start charging a piracy tax?
"Those pirates are made up entirely of black-haired people. Haven’t you heard? They’re called the Black-Haired Pirate Band."
"Haa...?"
My mind went a little blank.
Oi, omae, become my nakama!
* * *
Like I said before, a great many black-haired people lived in Wuhan.
All of them worked here as laborers.
And the place where they were used most heavily was, of course, the harbor.
Wuhan, sitting right beside the Yangtze River, was the transportation hub of all Zhongyuan.
Countless shipments came and went through the harbor every single day, so there was always work to be done.
If a black-haired person were hired at an inn or a café, people would look at you like you’d lost your mind. But not here.
As long as you could load and unload cargo, hair color didn’t matter worth a damn.
For black-haired people with no home base, no connections, and no safety net, this was supposed to be the place where the Chinese Dream could spread its wings...
-Hey! Barbarian, move your ass faster!
-B. A. R. B. A. R. I. A. N. Since that’s three syllables, you’re hauling three loads at once.
-What? The pay isn’t enough? Then go file a complaint with the authorities if you’re so tough.
...Yeah, right.
In this savage world, where there were no human rights, no labor laws, no labor bureau, and no embassy, black-haired outsiders were just food. Food.
A seven-day workweek, eighty-four-hour weeks, and no lunch provided sucked the blood dry from black-haired workers.
-The workload is too intense? If you can’t do it, then don’t do it, okay? We’re not stopping you.
Just like they said, if you couldn’t handle it, you could quit.
It’s not like you were being forced into labor at swordpoint or locked in a cell.
But when your livelihood was being held hostage, could you really just go, “Okay, fine, I quit,” and actually do it?
Everyone gritted their teeth, held back tears, and showed up for work the next day anyway.
Report them to the authorities?
Sure, go ahead and try.
-Where do you barbarian trash think you’re going? The government offices are off-limits!
-Hold it right there! The magistrate is out! Get lost!
You’d just have to break through the club-wielding constables first.
And even if you somehow managed to file a complaint, that still wouldn’t be the end of it.
-This magistrate deeply regrets the labor exploitation of non-Han peoples, laser beam!
From the start, the magistrate had never been on the black-haired people’s side.
The magistrate and the Wuhan merchant bosses were already bound together by golf and entertainment services.
-Hey, aren’t we brothers?
Their bond was deeper than the legendary trio of the big-eared one, Gonau, and the rage-monster.
The black-haired people’s petitions were worth less than a shred of toilet paper.
So they lived on, unable to get help from anywhere, until someone said it.
In chaotic times, heroes are born.
-This damn nonsense! We will not become slaves!
From among the oppressed black-haired people, someone rose up.
He’d been accompanying a merchant caravan, and aboard the ship, he started a rebellion.
"Alone?"
"No way."
A one-man rebellion.
Normally, that should’ve been cut down immediately, but this time it was different.
-Follow the boss!
-You motherfuckers, get on your knees now!
The black-haired people aboard that merchant vessel were all in on it with him.
He hadn’t launched the revolt on a whim.
Before the voyage even began, he had gathered others who shared his cause.
Tasks like preparing meals during the journey were usually handled by black-haired workers.
Using that blind spot, they had slipped laxatives into the food that day.
(Poison is more expensive than you’d think.)
Rumble—
The signal for an emergency dump came right as the revolution began.
-Aaaagh! Please, anything but my stomach! Punch me in the face instead!
-Screw you!
-N-nooo!!
Flap—! Flap-flap—!
The martial artists aboard the merchant ship had their last shred of dignity trampled and were forced to spawn pigeons out of their rear ends like mad.
-We will not become slaves!
-We will not become slaves!!
The black-haired revolution ended successfully, buried under the filth they had swallowed the day before.
"But do you really need to describe that part in such detail? It’s not even lunch yet."
"I’ve already eaten, so I’m fine."
"......"
With the revolution successful, all they had to do now was split the wealth they’d taken from the merchant ship and then vanish underground.
There were plenty of places to hide in this vast Zhongyuan.
A normal criminal would have been satisfied with that.
But the man was still hungry, and so he took one step further.
-Are you satisfied with this?!
-Think about it! How much were we exploited by those filthy bastards who didn’t even wash properly?!
-We will take back what was stolen from us... no, more than that!!
With what?
Well, they had just acquired a fine little foundation—ships and people.
The black-haired revolutionaries were reborn as the Black-Haired Pirate Band.
"When that news first spread, everyone thought they’d be wiped out before long."
The merchant ship had been robbed; there was no way the merchant house would just sit on its hands.
They’d either form an extermination force or hire an escort agency and go take revenge.
This was the kind of place where, once you were looked down on, you were finished.
But then, what was this?
"That was before word came out that they’d beaten the extermination force."
The Black-Haired Pirate Band went from victory to victory.
When the black-haired workers in the harbor heard the news, every one of them felt a secret thrill.
How could they not? The people who oppressed them had just had their heads smashed in by others with the same black hair.
Even Jesus Christ would have to admit that much.
But their satisfaction didn’t last long.
-From today on, black hair is banned from Wuhan harbor!! Banned!
-Get out! You bastards!
A state of emergency black-hair restriction had been declared in Wuhan.