The Battle of the Weak
The fight of the weak.
In the year 3990, at a spot where the land bent inward, about an hour's sail west of Pyeong-an Naru by boat.
"Morning chow, you wretched bastards!"
"Ate plenty!"
"Then shut up and get moving! My body's itching for it!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
A crowd that had been lingering along the coastline divided themselves among some hundred and twenty small and mid-sized vessels and set off. With three thousand men crammed aboard, the boats were so overloaded it seemed they might sink on the spot.
"Whoa! This thing's gonna sink!"
"Then swim your way over!"
"Then you get off, you jackass!"
Splash.
Half joking, half not, the sailors kicked the fat guy beside them clean off the boat. "HAHAHA!" "Nice one!" It was a gathering of lawless men with no discipline and no manners whatsoever — and these were the men swarming toward Pyeong-an Naru in brimming confidence. After all, a full three thousand had assembled; surely they could overrun a fortress that held barely three hundred.
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At the end of Pyeong-an Naru's breakwater stood a lighthouse that doubled as an observation tower, ten measures tall — high enough to survey a stretch of sea that a sailing ship would take an hour or two to cross.
"Hm? What's that?"
"What is it?"
The watch post was manned in pairs as standard.
"A whole mess of ships just showed up to the west."
"Armed vessels? What do you see? All I can make out is people."
"Hard to say. Looks like small ships, no cannons, but what's with all those people packed aboard?"
"Let's report it by telephone first."
Once the generator output had been raised and the magnet invented, truly everything became easier. No one had to go sprinting anywhere — word that suspicious characters had appeared went straight to the fortress.
"Huh? That many ships?"
"Yes. They're extremely suspicious. What should we do, Haneul-nim?"
"Whew.... Arm up and hold position at the walls for now."
Haneul let out a long sigh, muttering that the moment she tried to live in peace, those European fools wouldn't leave her alone. Considering today's lost sales, whoever these intruders were, once they were caught they might well be uprooted all the way down to the last family heirloom.
"Business is closed for today!"
"We apologize. Something has come up!"
And with that, Daehan's shops shut their doors and began preparing for battle.
"Huh? What's going on?"
"Oh my? You see everything, don't you? I don't think I've ever seen them close up before."
"Well, I might as well catch up on some sleep for once. I drank way too much yesterday."
"Sounds good to me!"
The visitors who had come to sightsee simply retreated to their lodgings to sleep the day away.
"Did something happen?"
"Is the Holy Maiden in danger?"
"Someone go ask at the hospital!"
Among the poor who lodged in the dormitories Haneul had built and helped Daehan's work as well, the sudden holiday spread unease like a stain.
"Is somebody out to harm this place?"
"We've got the invincible fleet, though. It'll be fine, right?"
Their wish was one and the same. They never wanted to wander the streets again. So they prayed with all their hearts that the Holy Maiden would be safe.
Then the man who had gone to check at the hospital returned.
"They say suspicious ships are swarming in, so they're on alert for a while. They told us to just wait inside."
"I see."
"Couldn't we fight too?"
"Hmm...."
People mulled over whether they ought to fight alongside them.
"No, hold on."
From among them stepped a man who handled the work of greeting guests at the city gates.
"Is there anyone among us who knows how to fight?"
Sharp-featured and gaunt, there was something alive in his eyes that made him look quite clever.
"Ah, no...."
"It's barely been any time since our bodies recovered...."
"I'm scared, honestly...."
The people gathered here were beggars, or those who had spent years bedridden with illness and could no longer function as human beings. Only now that their sicknesses had been treated and they were eating well could they move around at all. Their strength didn't even match an ordinary person's.
"Then we'll do something different."
"What could we do?"
"If those bastards are rotten, there'll be gangs hiding in the city too. Find them."
"But we can't fight...."
A gathering of the weak — no guns, and no one who had ever so much as swung a sword or an axe.
"We'll fight our own way."
"How?"
"Let's get some nasty medicine from the hospital. Everyone here knows how to make poisons, don't they?"
Years of long illness had taught them countless folk remedies — and the sum of that knowledge amounted to knowing which things made you sick if you ate them.
"Oh! I think I saw some of those plants in that forest over there!"
"Yes! I can gather mushrooms too!"
"Good. That's how we fight."
And so, under the command of the sharp-eyed young man, work began at the dormitory as well. Some scattered to the forest, some to the hospital, the rest to the village, watching the people around them.
Begging for a living — what skill does it demand above all? An eye for reading people. Knowing how to pick out the ones likely to have money.
Those guys are suspicious, aren't they?
Let's follow them.
I'll go report and come back.
Of the three moving together, one headed back to their headquarters at the dormitory while the other two began tailing the suspects.
What's that warehouse? Do you know?
That's not a warehouse — it used to be a stable.
What? That many people gathering there?
Into the building the whispering pair were watching, two and three at a time, people kept trickling in.
I'll keep watch and give you the exact location before I go.
Okay. Be careful.
If anything feels wrong, run — no questions. Don't worry about me.
Having sent off his companion, he drifted between nearby inns, keeping watch, and had already counted more than thirty people slipping inside.
Isn't there any way to figure out what these bastards are up to?
He wanted to get close and check, but he had no clever trick for it. So he loitered, making a slow circuit around the building.
Huh? A thicket, right there beside it?
Right up against the wall, trees and brush had grown so thick there was just enough space to hide a single person. He slipped straight in, pressed his ear to the wall, and tried to eavesdrop.
Splatter.
Ah.... these barbaric Europeans.... we have toilets, why would you do it here....
Holding his breath against the stench rising around him, he pressed his ear to the wooden wall and began to listen.
"...gunpowder barrels... those bastards..."
"...first... when..."
"...the moment it blows..."
He couldn't catch much, but with words like gunpowder barrels and explosions floating through, there was no doubt these were dangerous men. And just as he moved to rise — crouched so long, his body so weak — he lost his balance.
THUD.
"What was that!"
"Go look!"
Several men came bursting out. Their eyes locked directly onto his as he scrambled up from the ground.
"Who the hell are you?"
"...."
He felt cold sweat breaking over him. Running would get him caught for certain, and more than death itself, he was terrified of failing to deliver this news. Then, in that very moment, a smell brushed past his nose.
"Ugh! Damn it, I stepped in shit! If you're going to take a dump, clean it up or cover it over, come on!"
Smooth as anything, he began playing the act of a man who'd come into the bushes to relieve himself and stepped in the wrong thing.
The mysterious men approached, hands hovering at their belts — then recoiled.
Sniff, sniff.
"Gah! What is that smell!"
"Good lord! What have you been eating?"
"No! I told you, I just stepped in it!"
"Stop stinking up the place and get lost!"
"Tch!"
And just like that, he slipped free of them. A lifetime spent begging had its moments of use.
He hid nearby, keeping his eyes on the warehouse until his companion returned.
How'd it go?
Got close enough to listen. They're scheming something, no question.
Good. We've brought the people.... Say, what is that smell?
Never mind that, worry about them!
He'd scrubbed and scrubbed, but the stench still curled up around him — and he cursed whatever god had put it in his path. No, he was grateful, too. It had saved his life, after all.
There are too many of them, though. How do we deal with this?
I told everyone it's inside the building, and they said they'd smoke them out somehow?
About ten men were now moving toward the building under observation. Looking it over, it seemed abandoned — every window and door had been sealed shut, and there was only a single entrance.
And at a slight distance, they watched men stuff something into barrels, set them alight, crack the door open a little, and shove them inside.
"What is that!"
"What's that smell!"
"Fire?"
"Everyone out!"
Moments later chaos erupted as the men inside came scrambling for the exits.
"Block the door! Logs! Hurry!"
Now it was the besiegers' turn — they quickly propped logs upright and drove stakes of wood in, jamming the door fast.
"Hack, hack!"
"Uuurgh — what is this stuff!"
"Kgh—"
Though nothing could be seen, something tremendous was clearly unfolding inside.
"Save me!"
"Die! Just die!"
"AAAAAH!"
"Can't breathe!"
"Hieeeek! Demons! It's demons!"
Some seemed to be choking on the smoke, others appeared to be hallucinating — and the hellish scene dragged on and on.
"...."
"...."
Then, after a long while, the inside began to fall quiet.
"Let's try the door. Everyone get ready."
"Careful — open it and step back right away!"
Whatever they had stuffed in there was definitely bad for the body, that much was certain. Everyone cracked the door and scattered, wary.
Smoke billowed thick through the open door, and once it cleared, inside lay men tangled together — stabbed to death by one another's hands, strangled in each other's grips.
Seeing that no one was left alive, they shut the door again and trudged back to the dormitory under a gloomy pall. To these people, whose lives had never once touched the business of harming another, killing was a terribly heavy burden.
"Still... if it helps that person...."
"Yeah. Let's stay strong."
"For the Holy Maiden."
"If not for this place, there's nowhere else in the world that treats us as human, is there? We can't lose it!"
Finding the suspicious men who had infiltrated the city proved no difficult task. Slipping quietly toward them were these assassins in all but name, closing in on the dark warehouses in secluded corners — men and women of the forgotten classes, drawing on a courage all their own, for Haneul, who had shown them warmth when no one else would.
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Beyond those hiding in the warehouses, another suspicious group had taken rooms at an inn near the city gate and was lying in wait.
Knock, knock, knock.
"We've brought water and food."
The sinister-looking men waiting quietly in their room heard the knock at the door.
"Hm? We didn't order anything."
"Just a little snack for our guests, sir."
"Don't need it. Take it away!"
Whatever the reason, exposure meant nothing good — the guest waved the attendant off.
"Of course. I'll leave it at the door then. Enjoy your stay."
And the man withdrew.
"What's this? Are they really just giving it away?"
"I'm peckish. Check what it is and bring it in."
"Hold on."
Click.
He pressed his ear to the door, heard nothing, and gingerly opened it, carrying in the water and bread.
"Huh? It's just bread and water."
"Eat it while we wait, then."
"Suppose so. It's getting on my nerves, not knowing when those bastards are coming."
These were the men whose part was to blow open the landward gate and charge in the moment the pirate horde sailing in by ship stirred up chaos at the harbor. A pincer operation, carefully prepared.
"Munch, munch. Hm? This is pretty good. What makes it so sweet?"
"They say Daehan's got mountains of sugar? Probably that."
And so they ate away contentedly for quite some time.
"Hahahaha-m."
"Haaaahm."
Snore-r-r-e... snore-r-r-e...
Before long, the room was filled with the sound of snoring.
Creeeeeak.
Then, with an ominous creak of an opening door, a single figure stepped into the room, dagger in hand.
Creeeeeak.
When he came out again, the snoring from within had fallen silent — and a few drops of blood were spattered across his clothes.
The gathering of the sick and the beggars assembled at the dormitory. Because they had always been the weak, they fought the way the weak must fight.
This city was their last refuge — and by whatever means it took, they meant to keep it.