Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: The Suspicious Cargo
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Lee Seon looked around him.
"Now we can travel together, right?"
The escorts glanced at Yoo Yeong-mok.
He was the one in charge of this escort mission, so adding a new member was entirely up to his authority.
Even if everyone else approved of Lee Seon joining, it wouldn't happen if he objected.
Yoo Yeong-mok appeared to be pondering the matter carefully.
He had proven his abilities.
But that didn't automatically mean he could join them.
Being an excellent physician didn't make one an excellent escort.
"We have to move quickly. Sorry, but we can't slow down for you. Still want to come?"
Lee Seon accepted gladly.
"No problem."
Until now, if anyone got injured, they'd leave the wounded at the nearest village and continue without them.
Now they had a healer, so there wouldn't be any stragglers.
Moreover, his skills were guaranteed, making it an ideal situation.
From Yoo Yeong-mok's perspective, he practically wanted to beg the man to join.
"Then there's no reason to refuse."
Yoo Yeong-mok extended his hand.
"Looking forward to working with you."
Lee Seon grasped it without hesitation.
"...Didn't you say you were a physician?"
Yoo Yeong-mok had been repeatedly surprised by the young man before him.
"That's right."
"Then why are you so good at climbing mountains?"
Lee Seon simply smiled without a word.
He had grown up riding the mountains since childhood, after all.
The mountains were his front yard and back yard.
Blood Gate Mountain might have been impossible for others to scale, but to him, it was no different from a playground.
When it came to simply climbing mountains, he wasn't the least bit inferior to the escorts.
"Oh, that reminds me—I have one question."
In the midst of traveling together, Lee Seon realized he had forgotten to ask something.
"Where exactly is this escort caravan headed?"
At that moment, Yoo Yeong-mok lost his balance and staggered.
"You didn't even know that and still begged to join us?"
Yoo Yeong-mok was dumbfounded.
Given how he'd stuck to them like glue and pleaded to come along, he'd assumed their destinations overlapped.
"We're heading to Shaanxi."
Shaanxi.
It wasn't all that far from Sichuan.
Of course, it wasn't exactly close either.
"And where were you originally planning to go?"
"Sichuan."
Sichuan was certainly a region teeming with people skilled in medicine.
Any physician would want to visit it at least once.
"Do you have business in Sichuan?"
"No business. Just someone to meet."
Yoo Yeong-mok's eyebrow twitched sharply.
"What kind of person? A lover, perhaps?"
Lee Seon gave an awkward laugh.
"A friend. Just wanted to see their face."
A friend.
Yoo Yeong-mok nodded.
After the Willow Escort Bureau's prestige had plummeted, all his so-called friends had vanished in the blink of an eye.
He had plenty to say on the subject of friends.
"Friends are here one day and gone the next. They can fall apart over the pettiest things."
"I see."
Lee Seon chimed in agreement.
He knew well that interrupting an elder mid-speech never led to anything good.
Yoo Yeong-mok raised his voice.
"Truth be told, friends might as well not exist in this world. Sure, very rarely—extremely rarely, with abysmally low odds—you might meet a truly good one, but that's next to impossible."
At that point, even Lee Seon showed some curiosity.
"What kind of person would that good friend be?"
Yoo Yeong-mok answered without hesitation.
"Someone who empathizes with your pain. Someone who listens when you're in crisis. Someone who rolls up their sleeves to solve your problems."
Lee Seon sank into thought.
One face came to mind.
A girl with sharp eyes, her green irises glaring fiercely.
"Then what about someone who'd risk their life for you? Would that qualify as a good person?"
Yoo Yeong-mok clapped his hands loudly.
"Exactly! That's the kind of person you'd call good—admirable, even."
Lee Seon smirked.
Guess that makes me pretty lucky.
"What do you think?"
Ga Jin, who had been listening nearby, let out a sigh.
"...Don't talk to her."
Her attitude had softened somewhat after receiving medicine through Yoo Yeong-mok.
She was still pouty, lips pursed as always, but at least she wasn't drawing her sword—an enormous improvement.
"Wasn't the medicine effective?"
"...What?"
"Isn't it a bit rude to the physician who got the chief's permission to join?"
Ga Jin's mouth fell open as she stared at Lee Seon.
Yoo Yeong-mok smirked at the sight.
So he wasn't one to just take it lying down.
It was rare for the prideful Ga Jin to be left speechless like that.
"The effect was fine."
"Then what besides the effect was so bad?"
"......"
Ga Jin whipped her head away.
Her resolve not to say another word was clear.
Yoo Yeong-mok nodded in admiration.
"Are all physicians such smooth talkers?"
I only know one.
It wasn't something easy to answer.
As Lee Seon pondered how to respond...
"Damn it! I'm gonna die at this rate!"
The caravan came to a halt.
"Hold up!"
Lee Seon craned his neck to see what was happening.
The escort carrying the box was seething with rage.
Bloodshot eyes blazing, he spewed curses with fierce intensity.
He set the box down on the ground and plopped right there.
"That guy's pretty pissed."
Upon closer look, it was a familiar face.
He was sure they'd exchanged words a few times.
From what he'd sensed then, the man seemed decent.
He'd even thanked Lee Seon profusely for easing his foot pain.
Now he looked like a completely different person—utterly ferocious.
"With this forced march dragging on, complaints were bound to surface."
Yoo Yeong-mok sighed deeply.
Even on flat terrain, constant movement demanded occasional breaks.
The foot relief had helped a bit, but it was just a stopgap; the root cause was chronic fatigue.
"Is that really all there is to it?"
Something felt off.
Even assuming it was just the grueling pace, he'd spotted a few others struggling excessively.
And they all shared one trait: they were positioned in the middle of the caravan.
Lee Seon examined the seated escort's condition.
Yeah, he definitely couldn't move right away.
Mentally and physically drained to an unnatural degree.
But considering they hadn't been traveling all that long since the clearing...
This level of fatigue accumulating so quickly was suspicious.
"Truth be told, there is something a bit strange."
"Strange how?"
Yoo Yeong-mok hesitated before confessing.
"The other cargos are fine, but the escorts handling this particular one keep complaining of fatigue."
Huh.
Lee Seon's eyebrow twitched.
"Only this cargo causes it?"
Yoo Yeong-mok nodded.
"......"
Not a contagion.
No disease that selectively strikes only those carrying a specific item existed in this world.
Not poisoning either.
If it were poison, he'd have noticed first.
That left just one possibility.
'It reeks.'
A stench so foul it had drawn him from afar.
And at this point, guessing the reason wasn't hard.
As the silence stretched, Yoo Yeong-mok's expression darkened.
"You don't know either, huh."
Lee Seon finally spoke.
"I do have one guess."
"Really?"
Yoo Yeong-mok brightened.
"Even a guess is welcome. Give me your thoughts."
The fatigue among those handling the cargo was visibly building.
Simply rotating carriers wouldn't cut it.
At this rate, they might miss the deadline.
They had to prevent that.
But Lee Seon couldn't speak easily.
He had suspicions, but no proof.
To confirm the cause, he needed solid evidence.
"What exactly were their symptoms?"
"Symptoms? Nothing special. Just extreme fatigue across the board."
Not enough to judge.
"Mind if I take a turn carrying that cargo?"
Yoo Yeong-mok looked troubled.
"Contract won't allow it. Adding a member to the escort is within my discretion as chief, but handing the cargo to an outsider is another matter."
"Can't tell me what's in it either, right?"
"Sorry. We don't even know ourselves."
Escorting herbs without proper care—could that be called a success?
The answer was no.
Normally, knowing the cargo's nature was part of managing it as escorts.
But this mission was oddly secretive—no details given.
The clients demanded only the shortest, fastest route to the destination.
Unusual, but the pay was too good to question.
Who knew it'd come back to bite them.
Yoo Yeong-mok felt frustrated.
A solution seemed in sight, yet safety rules blocked it.
He clutched his head.
"Got a proposal."
"...As I said, you carrying it..."
"No, not me."
Yoo Yeong-mok looked puzzled.
"Then who?"
No need for me to carry it personally.
As long as it's someone from the bureau handling the goods.
Lee Seon's finger pointed at someone.
"Huh?"
The person at the end of that finger let out a bewildered sound.
"Could Warrior Ga Jin take it for a bit?"