An Unfamiliar Ceiling, Again?
「Clip-clop. Clip-clop.」
“Phuhing~”
Autumn wind blowing pleasantly. I was taking my time, traveling on horseback.
It was all thanks to Garungda's last wish, not long before he left for the sky.
“Haneul-nim. Don't stay cooped up in the Temple—go out into the world more often.”
He lay in his quarters at the Temple, his voice already drained of strength. He had grown so old. They say thirty springs had passed since we first met and started sharing words.
“I do go out, you know...”
I'd already said goodbye to so many friends that I felt a little heavy-hearted, but I'd made my peace with it. I've died once myself, after all. All I could do was pray he'd be reborn somewhere good, just like I was.
“Not to the cities, my lady. To the wider world.”
“Then get up and come with me.”
“Hahaha. Yes, of course.”
He forced a bright smile, but in the end he never got up again. I'd known he wouldn't, which was why I'd laughed so much with him that day too. So he could go in peace.
“Still so much open grassland left. You're telling me we don't need farmland on this scale?”
Though it did have its perks. It was great grazing country.
「Tududududu—」
In the distance, a herd of wild horses went galloping past. They were a different breed from Jorangi, but no better name came to mind for them.
Everything's already gotten all mixed together over the years.
“Phuhing.”
“Haha, what? Don't feel like chasing after them?”
“Hing!”
That indignant snort seemed to say, why do you ask such exhausting questions?
I'd named this one Jorangi. When I stopped by the stables before setting off, she was the one who just kept staring straight at me.
On a journey, you have no audience. So I was simply following whatever roads had been made, letting the seasons roll by.
“Maybe I should check out China? Seems like something worth scoping out in advance.”
“Hiing?”
“Tsk, no map, so who knows where the Yellow River even is. Let's just head out and see.”
And if I really couldn't find it, I could always float up into the sky for a quick look around.
「Dagak dagak」
The peaceful rhythm of hoofbeats.
When evening came, Jorangi needed her rest, so I'd pitch the tent. Nothing fancy—just a few poles stuck in the ground and a ring of thick cloth around them.
Just in case, Jorangi came inside too, and we'd all settle down together for the night.
“Ppiyu-”
“Ah, I know. You're here too.”
Our traveling trio: Jorangi, Dambi, and me.
“Haha. What are we, the Bremen Town Musicians?”
Following the road, we crossed a river three times and walked a little farther—and far off in the distance, a village began to come into view.
“Is that Haseo?”
You could call it our sphere of influence, I suppose—the westernmost village of the tribal confederation. The first place anyone would run into if they invaded from China.
“But wait, isn't that... a fortress?”
I had told them it'd be good to fortify the place, but at that scale, no one in this era would even dare pick a fight.
“Whoa. They absolutely papered the outer walls over with stone and hwanghoe mortar.”
Up close, I could see they'd slathered stone and hwanghoe concrete on without restraint. The key facilities sat inside the walls, while farmhouses and homes formed small clusters of villages outside.
Presumably everyone would gather inside the fortress in an emergency—and honestly, wasn't it basically a medieval castle?
Until gunpowder shows up, this thing would be an absolute monster on any battlefield.
“Everyone, let's rest here tonight.”
It felt awkward to barge into the fortress, so I pitched my tent by the road again as usual.
The common folk only had potatoes to offer anyway, so dropping in felt pointless.
Roasted potatoes with salt again tonight.
Thank goodness the kids eat potatoes so well. No worries about provisions for these two the whole trip, right?
“Heuheng~ Heung heung~”
Roasting delicious potatoes had me humming without even thinking about it. A melody and rhythm of entirely unknown origin.
“Piya?”
Dambi, who'd been lying still, spoke up.
「Jeobeok jeobeok」
Sharp-eared Dambi had caught the footsteps first. Only now did the sound reach my own ears.
“Are you there?”
A sturdy young man appeared. Iron bands wrapped around his forearms and shins, bow and spear in hand—a hunter.
Not that hunters and soldiers were all that different yet. There didn't seem to be any group you could properly call an army.
“Oh. Yes.”
“Hmm. You look unfamiliar to me—where have you come from?”
Would it even mean anything, given there's no such thing as an ID in this era?
“I've come from Sinsi.”
Sinsi—our greatest city, the one Garungda and I built together. You could call it the capital, I suppose?
“Are you traveling alone?”
“Yes.”
“...”
He looked thoroughly baffled. It wasn't bandits so much as wild animal attacks that made traveling alone difficult and dangerous around here.
“Don't worry about me. I'm strong.”
“Well, still, that's...”
「Kwajik.」
I plucked a stone off the ground and crushed it with telekinesis for him. Up close, the trick would have looked a little off,
“Guhk!”
but he was too stunned to notice. No suspicion in these people at all. They'd be perfect marks for a con artist.
“Th... that's incredible.”
“Good enough for you? So, what do you do?”
“Ah. I'm with the patrol.”
Oh? So they do have an army?
“What's a patrol?”
“We patrol this region and watch for outsiders coming in.”
So not a hunter, then? Now this was a surprise.
“That's good work you do. Now I can rest with an easy mind, thanks to you.”
“Not at all. Haha.”
His face went red—he seemed embarrassed. Why isn't he leaving? Why's he just shuffling there awkwardly?
“Would you like a potato?”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Hey, weren't you on duty? Look at this fool, grinning like an idiot just because a woman offered him food.
「Nyam nyam.」
But wait? This guy's potato won't go in his mouth. Isn't that your nose?
He cannot take his eyes off me. Don't tell me—
Haha. Poor thing. I should let him go gently. Go on, go court some village girl, son.
“Finished eating?”
“Yes...”
Look at him sulking. He's making it way too obvious.
“Shall I walk you back?”
Oh my, look at this one?
“Wouldn't I be the one who's stronger?”
“Ah... forgive me.”
He looked about ready to cry. Can't be helped, friend—we're just not meant to be. And so I shattered a primitive young man's very first love.
Look at those heavy footsteps. There, there. What hurts is what makes it youth. Believe it or not, I'm technically an old-timer.
My destination was China, so I passed through Haseo and kept heading west. Since I didn't know the roads, I followed the coastline.
Villages and settlements would all be near rivers or the sea, after all.
“How many days has it been?”
“Piyu-”
“Hihing!”
Do you two actually understand me? All I do is talk, and yet you give me answers like you know what I mean.
No calendar, apparently—I must have just been counting the days as I went.
“It's getting cold. Is it winter?”
Then one day, on the road, snow began to fall.
In the end I floated up into the sky to survey China—still only the northern reaches. Far off I could see a great river, but nothing resembling a proper city anywhere.
“Ugh... should I turn back? Wow... how would I even get back?”
Deciding to sleep on it for a night, I pitched the tent and curled up with my animal companions.
And when I woke up—an unfamiliar ceiling.
“What is this?”
Pocket dimension intact, telekinesis working fine.
“Ppii!”
Dambi was fine too. And Jorangi?
Well, first of all, there's a roof? Quite a tall ceiling—must be a fairly large house.
“Where am I? Did I get kidnapped or something? What a strange house.”
Packed earth floor, a low-ceilinged thatched hut. The walls seemed to be mud, but they were awfully shabby—holes punched clean through here and there.
The door was, well, more like a curtain? A bundle of tree branches tied together with cord, apparently opened by rolling it to the side.
“Compared to the Chinese, if you lot ever crossed paths, you'd all be dead already. Please, just stay tucked away in here.”
No wonder I'd been fretting over the Chinese. Looking at this house set my mind at ease.
“Hihi.”
Remembering how needlessly tense I'd been alone in the dark made me laugh.
“Ppii-”
“Yes, sweetie~”
Dambi is honestly so adorable. How can something be so perfectly plump and round? So delightfully stubby.
Ah! Jorangi! Where's Jorangi? I need to go out and find her.
I pushed through the door and stepped outside.
“What is this?”
Ah... this was barely a notch above our own friends when we first met, wasn't it?
Still, these people seemed to make their own cloth, of a sort. Nothing like silk, but they went around draped in some kind of woven fabric.
“Wow. It's all so half-baked.”
There was something like a smithy, and bricks existed, technically—but everything was just sort of almost-right. I wanted to see what kind of bows they used, but none were in sight.
“Hiiing! Ihiihing!”
“Huh? Jorangi?”
That was Jorangi's whinny, all right.
I hurried over, worried something was happening to her.
Thankfully she was just penned up in something like a stable. Wasn't Jorangi female? Some brute was getting fresh with her.
“Jorangi, sweetie~”
“Hihhihing!”
She greeted me with wild enthusiasm. Frantically licking my hand—right, she wanted potatoes. Fair enough, one taste and grass loses its appeal forever.
People were watching from around us, so I pretended to pull them from my pocket and fed her one at a time.
But hold on—can't I just go home like this?
「Tok」
While I was pondering, a hand landed on my shoulder. Hairy. Fuzzily, densely hairy.
I turned around... what is this? Man or monkey?
A hairy pig-monkey with a head bigger than mine was looming over me.
Wow. The smell—our friends back home have come so far they don't smell like this anymore. First an assault on the eyes, now an assault on the nose.
“What do you want?”
“Eogukseu muheura?”
“How am I supposed to know your language?”
He kept babbling something or other, but I'd have to be able to understand it first.
“Hey! Back off! You stink!”
I was genuinely, truly irritated. Does this guy have weak teeth? Why are his teeth so black? Ugh, I can't even stand looking at him.
Ah! Forget it. Let's just go.
「Deolkong deolkong」
“How does this thing open?”
Where's the fence latched? I need to get Jorangi out...
“Eosura!”
The instant I was about to smash it, the guy starts shrieking.
“Ah! You startled me! Quiet down!”
His voice was enormously loud. I tried bellowing back and couldn't come close to matching it.
What now? Why are you walking over here grinning so disgustingly? Looking for a fight?
Ah. The smell! Ugh.
「Jumul jumul」
“Huh?”
I'd only turned my face away from the stench for a moment, and this pervert started groping my chest and rear?
“Do you want to die?”
「Peokeok!」
A kick straight to the crotch!
“Kkeuaaaagh!”
Oh? I felt something crunch. Did it burst?
“Oh! Nice. Actually, that's for the best. You're so ugly, you really shouldn't be passing your genes on.”
Somehow satisfying. But the screaming didn't stop, and people were steadily gathering.
Am I being too laid-back? Not that it matters—they could all charge me at once and I'd still win.
Should I just raise hell and leave? Watching them scurry around, someone who looked like a representative? A chieftain? came striding out.
Looking closer, he seemed to be papa monkey. He looked a lot like the guy currently sprawled on the ground from my kick.
“Nakak gojeunai!”
“What are you even saying. He's the one who grabbed me first.”
“Aseu jibiri!”
Primitive men threatening me with stone-tipped spears.
Heh. How quaint. Time to tidy this up.
Even if I just bolted off on Jorangi now, I'd be terrified she'd take a thrown spear to the flank.
“You'll get hurt, you know?”
“Iyaat!”
One brave soul swung a wooden club—not even a spearhead—at me...
「Pak」
From their side it must have looked like a solid hit, but there was no way it connected—a thin layer of telekinesis stopped it cold.
“You swung first. That makes this self-defense, right?”
「Kkook」
I clenched my fist and flexed it a little. I should at least signal that I'd hit back too, shouldn't I?
“Uhahaha.”
“Puhaha.”
Small compared to the fists you're all packing, and yet—these guys? They're laughing their heads off. Sure, I'd laugh too. Right up until I started knocking heads in!
「Pok」
The hand merely swung. The real payload was the telekinesis! Off you go~ you were dead the moment you swung, buddy.
“Kkeok!”
「Udangtang Ujikkeun.」
Spear-catcher number one, crashing clean through a neighbor's courtyard wall.
Huh? Something white went flying with him. Lost some teeth too? Hey, you're in for a rough time.
“Heok!”
“Meuna!”
Look at their gaping mouths. You reek badly enough as it is—you'll catch flies, you idiots.
“You all saw that? Hands off from now on, yeah? Big sis is leaving?”
Ugh, whatever. I've already caused plenty of trouble—one more broken fence can't hurt.
「Ujijik」
It was only a wooden fence, hardly any effort required, so I smashed straight through it.
“Let's go~ Jorangi, sweetie!”
“Hihhihing!”
「Pok!」
Once she was out of the pen, Jorangi looked positively thrilled. She kicked the fresh-upon-her stallion square in the hindquarters with her back legs and walked right out.
The moment I swung up onto her back, she—perhaps having learned some sense—broke into a run heading north.
Home we go~
「Dagudakdagudakdagudak」
“Wow! You can really run?”
It was my first time actually galloping with Jorangi, and the ride was unbelievably smooth. That legendary unshakable comfort. So this is it?
“Ihiihing-!”
“You're having fun too?”
I seem to remember hearing that horses release stress when they run, and she was clearly having the time of her life.
“Ppiya!”
“Haha. I know, I know, you're here too.”
Glancing back at the village we'd escaped, sure enough—several riders on the horse I'd seen at that fence were chasing after us.
They were gaining, little by little? Jorangi's ride is wonderfully smooth, but sadly, she's not exactly fast.
Hmm. But with a ride this stable, there's one thing I'm perfectly set up to do.
I drew a crossbow from my pocket. You lot know what horse archery is?
“Jorangi, sweetie, run on your own, okay?”
“Hihing!”
I turned around completely, sitting backwards in the saddle. I was planning to aim properly, after all.
“This is going to hurt if it hits you, you know?”
「Kkududuk」
Oof. Listen to that bow bending. Menacing, isn't it? Since I'm drawing it with telekinesis, I have to control the force carefully. Overdo it and the limb snaps.
「Dalkak-」
The bowstring caught in the trigger. Here's one nice thing about a crossbow: a real bow is genuinely hard to hit with, but this thing lets you actually aim.
「Tung- Shwik!」
The arrow flew at astonishing speed!
「Peokeok! Udangtangtang」
“@#!!@#”
“&@$!”
Someone tumbled off his horse and went rolling across the ground. Ouch, that's got to hurt. The riders beside him looked badly startled too, and the whole group came to a confused, noisy halt among themselves.
When I raised the crossbow again, they flinched hard and turned tail instead.
“What is wrong with these people?”
Unbelievable.