What Kind of Bandit Is This? (1)
Baek Cheon’s eye twitched violently.
“What the hell, you bastard! Is that really what you say in this situation?”
But Chung Myung only rolled his eyes and snapped back.
“Of course I say that kind of thing in this situation! Then what the hell am I supposed to say?”
“Even so, you’re supposedly a disciple of the righteous sects, and now you’re standing in front of bandits and asking what? If they’re intellectuals? Intellectualsss? Hey, you bastard! If bandits are intellectuals, then beggars are cultured gentlemen!”
From behind them, Hong Dae-gwang, who had been listening in, gave a low cough.
“Ahem. Well, that isn’t exactly wrong….”
“Shut it.”
“Please don’t speak, Great Hero.”
Hong Dae-gwang, whose words had been cut off at once, looked up at the sky. For some reason, the heavens seemed hazy.
I think I’m being treated more and more like dirt these days….
He had once been called a promising talent and even a candidate for the Beggars’ Sect branch leader. So how had he ended up with this kind of treatment?
Whether Hong Dae-gwang was lost in sorrow or not, the two of them kept bickering all the way.
Baek Cheon glared fiercely and said, “Stop making a fool of yourself and draw your sword!”
“What, you think just drawing your sword fixes everything now? Hey, Jin Dong-ryong!”
“What? You want to go, Chosam?”
At that moment, a cold voice shot between them like a dagger to the ear.
“Both of you, shut up. Unless you want a knife in your backs.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m sorry.”
At Yu I-seol’s voice, which felt like a blast of arctic wind, the two of them flinched and clamped their mouths shut.
“Khhkhkhkh. These brats are joking around in front of us?”
Just then, a man as huge as an iron tower thudded forward and casually pulled the giant dao from the front of the cart.
“I’m curious whether you can still wag that mouth after I peel the skin off you alive!”
At the savage declaration, Chung Myung and Baek Cheon exchanged a sidelong glance.
“Sounds like one of those sales lines, huh?”
“Yeah. Pretty similar.”
The man twitched.
“Do you two bastards know who I am, and yet dare spout such nonsense?”
Then he roared with even greater mountain-shaking force.
“I am the master of this mountain, the owner of Daeho Fort! I am Unrivaled Great DaoLee Gwang!”
Chung Myung and Baek Cheon both sighed at the same time.
“Another tiger.”
“Yeah. Another tiger….”
What, did all bandits have some sort of tiger obsession? Why were they all so desperate to work tigers into the names of their forts?
And why did all of their nicknames have to sound so absurdly grand, too?
Chung Myung let out a long, tired breath and asked with a drained face, “So why’d you stop us?”
“Hah. What a slow-witted fellow you are. You dare ask that after seeing the situation?”
“This old man really is suffocating. Does he think I’m actually scared or something? I was trying to speak nicely to him, too.”
Chung Myung cracked his neck left and right, then rested his hand on the hilt of the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword. At that, Lee Gwang snorted.
“You intend to resist? You little punk, you’ve got no fear. Even after seeing this, you’re still putting on a brave face. I’ll make sure your life teaches you that your courage was nothing but recklessness!”
His murderous aura was no joke.
“Those bastards right now….”
Then it happened.
“Move.”
“Move.”
A low, cold voice rang out, and the bandits surrounding them began to stir.
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon tilted his head and looked that way. The bandits, who had been baring their teeth with vicious looks, instantly turned into frightened deer and hurriedly cleared a path.
Along the newly opened road came a group of men dressed in green uniforms.
At the force radiating from them, Baek Cheon narrowed his eyes.
They’re strong.
These newcomers were obviously on a completely different level from the bandits. If the men they had seen until now were clearly just bandits, these ones gave off the unmistakable air of martial artists.
Most eye-catching of all was the man at the front.
He looked to be about forty. Perhaps because the others had been so enormous, his slightly smaller frame stood out all the more.
The man swept his cold, ice-covered face over the area, then twisted his expression slightly.
And then he shot his gaze toward Lee Gwang.
When their eyes met, Lee Gwang visibly flinched.
“Fort Master.”
“Yes?”
“Didn’t I clearly tell you to receive them with proper courtesy?”
“Huh? W-well, I did exactly as you said….”
“What are you talking about?”
“You told me to treat them courteously, didn’t you? I figured that meant we should, you know, do business with them.”
“…….”
The man stared at Lee Gwang in silence, then lowered his head and let out a deep sigh.
The moment Baek Cheon saw those slumped shoulders, he felt an odd sense of kinship.
“I meant to treat them courteously, exactly as the words say. Not to receive them as customers.”
“Then you should’ve said it that way….”
As Lee Gwang muttered under his breath, grumbling, the man shook his head as though he couldn’t bear to listen.
“All of you, step back.”
“Huh? But the business….”
When the man shot him a frosty look, Lee Gwang jerked and flailed his hand.
“Back off! Everyone back off now!”
The bandits, watching the situation unfold, immediately retreated without a single complaint.
“Pull those too.”
“Take that away! That one too!”
The retreating bandits surged back and removed the weapons they had planted around the cart.
Yoon Jong turned to Baek Cheon with a baffled expression.
“Sasuk. What on earth is going on?”
“Beats me….”
Even for Baek Cheon, who had traveled with Chung Myung and experienced a great many things that even veteran masters of the martial world had never seen, the things he ended up dealing with kept becoming stranger by the day.
Once the bandits had finally withdrawn, the man in green stepped toward them.
“My apologies.”
He bowed deeply and clasped his hands in greeting.
“It seems there was a slight misunderstanding. I said to receive you properly, but they misunderstood my words….”
He stopped in the middle of his sentence and ground his teeth.
Each time he did, Lee Gwang behind him twitched violently.
“Phew.”
After taking a steadying breath, the man restored his expressionless face and looked at Baek Cheon again.
“My name is Kwak Min.”
“Kwak Min?”
At that moment, Hong Dae-gwang, who had been hiding his body behind the cart, shot up and cried out.
“Kwak Min? Then you’re the Black Night Tiger Kwak Min? One of the Green Forest Ten Shadows?”
The man called Kwak Min gave Hong Dae-gwang a brief glance and nodded.
“That is correct.”
“Ah….”
Chung Myung looked at Hong Dae-gwang and tilted his head.
“Is he somebody important?”
“The Green Forest Ten Shadows. The Green Forest Ten Shadows. They’re the elite among the elite of the Green Forest, the ones who guard the Green Forest King.”
“Oh?”
Meaning?
Chung Myung looked Kwak Min over again, newly interested. Then the man asked in a courteous voice, “You are the Mount Hua Divine Dragon, Chung Myung?”
“Yeah. And?”
“I have been rude. His Greatness, the master of this mountain, wishes to see you. Come with me.”
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung curled one corner of his mouth and said, “You told me to come to the Dang Family. So why are you waiting here?”
“……You should ask him that directly.”
“Fine, whatever. Sure.”
When Chung Myung shrugged, Kwak Min gestured toward the depths of the forest.
“This way.”
He didn’t give any real reply, but he didn’t wait either. He strode straight into the woods, and the men in green followed silently behind him.
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung hopped lightly down from the cart.
“Bold for bandits.”
“Hey. Chung Myung. Are you really going?”
“If they’re calling, we should go see what they want.”
Even at the worried voices, he only laughed.
“Who knows? Maybe this fort is stuffed with treasure too.”
“…….”
At this point, it was impossible to tell who the bandit was.
Even as they walked, Kwak Min kept glancing back at them.
Rumble. Rumble.
Thud. Thud.
The iron cart, which looked heavy enough to crush anything in its path, climbed the mountain road.
He had already endured twice out of sheer patience, but by now he couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“Um….”
“Yes?”
“……Do you really need to bring that cart?”
“Oh, yes. Well, technically we could just leave it by the road and come back.”
Chung Myung answered with a bright smile.
“But this isn’t some ordinary place—it’s full of bastard bandits, so leaving our stuff unattended makes me uneasy.”
“…….”
One of Kwak Min’s eyes twitched.
What on earth is this thing made of?
Just a moment ago, Hong Dae-gwang had clearly mentioned the Green Forest Ten Shadows. And then, helpfully enough, he had even spoken the name Green Forest King aloud.
And yet this guy was still tossing around those words so casually?
Is his nerve made of steel?
He had been told that the Mount Hua Divine Dragon was an unusual character and should be handled carefully, but this was beyond anything he had imagined.
“Do you always talk so carelessly?”
“Huh? Talk carelessly?”
“What you just said about bandits.”
“Ah, no. Usually I’m not so generous with compliments. I’m actually a little stingy about them.”
“……Compliments?”
Kwak Min repeated the word, unable to make sense of it.
“What are you talking about? Compliments?”
“What? Bandits are people who make a living by stealing other people’s money and goods. Saying I’m worried they’ll steal our things—doesn’t that mean I’m praising them for being good at their jobs?”
“…….”
Chung Myung gave an awkward little grin.
“Still, you seem like you came from a high place, so I figured I’d say something nice for once.”
“…….”
Kwak Min gave up on talking to Chung Myung any further.
His insides were boiling and his teeth grated together, but there was no way he could dare treat as he pleased someone the Green Forest King had invited as a guest.
Instead, he turned to Chung Myung with a slightly colder look.
“You may say whatever you wish to me.”
“Yes?”
“But in the presence of the Green Forest King, it would be wise to watch your words.”
“Good grief. Scary. Should I just go back?”
“…….”
Forget it.
Just forget it.
Kwak Min shook his head and quickened his pace.
“Come on, let’s go!”
Chung Myung called cheerfully and trotted after him.
Not long after they hurried along, a massive mountain fort came into view.
It was a typical bandit stronghold, with a wall built from huge wooden palisades. But its size and grandeur were on an entirely different level from the Jangho Fort they had visited before.
The Mount Hua disciples all gasped in admiration.
“Wow.”
“It’s huge! To build something like this in the mountains….”
“What are you talking about? Mount Hua builds halls on the mountaintop.”
“Huh? Come to think of it, that’s true?”
Jo Gul was reminded anew just how absurd a place Mount Hua really was.
“Is this where the Green Forest King stays?”
At Baek Cheon’s question, Hong Dae-gwang shook his head.
“Yes and no.”
“Pardon?”
“As I mentioned earlier, this is Daeho Fort. The Green Forest King’s residence is called Green Fort. But the Green Forest King hardly ever stays in Green Fort. Usually, he roams the world and manages the forts himself.”
“Ah, I see.”
“That’s why people of the martial world say this: wherever the Green Forest King stays is Green Fort. So this place is both Daeho Fort and Green Fort.”
Baek Cheon nodded and looked up at the grand fortress.
At that moment, Kwak Min reached the front gate and shouted, “Open the gate! Guests have arrived!”
As if they had been waiting for that very command, the huge main gate, woven from thick logs, swung open wide to both sides.
“This way.”
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung’s eyes shone as he sauntered into the stronghold.
“We’re really going in?”
“……What else can we do but go?”
The Mount Hua disciples followed him with uneasy faces and entered the fort as well.
“Hmm.”
In the wide courtyard inside the fort, Chung Myung looked around. Huge wooden buildings and huts stood here and there, and the bandits of Daeho Fort glared at them from all sides with hostile eyes.
“Old beggar.”
“Hm?”
“Make sure those bandit bastards don’t get near this. Guard it well.”
“What…? I-I’m not going with you?”
The answer came not from Chung Myung, but from Kwak Min.
“The Green Forest King requested to meet only the disciples of Mount Hua.”
“Ugh….”
Hong Dae-gwang groaned and looked around nervously.
“Then, uh, Monk Hye Yeon is staying here too, right?”
“Nope. The bald monk is Mount Hua’s guest.”
“Then what about me?”
“You’re the beggar in front of Mount Hua.”
Hong Dae-gwang’s face twisted miserably.
“How am I supposed to handle this place by myself, you brat!”
“Are they really going to kill you?”
Chung Myung laughed and urged Kwak Min onward.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and lead the way.”
“……This way.”
With a shake of his head, Kwak Min headed inward. Then he stopped in front of the largest building right before their eyes.
“I’ll say this one more time.”
His cold gaze swept over Chung Myung.
“If you show any disrespect toward the Green Forest King, don’t even dream of leaving this mountain with your neck attached.”
“You sure do talk a lot. Move aside.”
“…….”
Kwak Min swallowed the words he could not bring himself to say and stepped aside with a face full of boiling frustration.
“Ahem!”
Chung Myung clasped his hands behind his back and threw the doors open wide.
Baek Cheon gave Kwak Min a faintly apologetic look, then led the sect brothers inside after him.
And then….
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
“Wh-what the—?”
“……My heavens.”
A chorus of shocked cries burst from the Mount Hua disciples at once.
“Th-”
Baek Cheon blinked repeatedly, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Hahaha!”
Inside the inner chamber was a giant chair decorated with tiger pelts, and on it sat a gigantic brute whose size made the chair itself look small, lounging in an unbearably arrogant pose.
“Welcome! I am the king of the Green Forest, ruler of all mountains.”
A coarse beard like twisted wire.
Powerful arms thicker than most women’s waists.
A tyrannical man who looked, quite literally, as though Zhang Fei himself had stepped down into the world!
“……Are they brothers?”
“They say there are two people in the world who look alike.”
“We should’ve brought the Beast Palace Lord with us.”
“A tearful reunion.”
At that all-too-familiar appearance, the Mount Hua disciples found themselves feeling oddly warm toward him.