How Could a Human Be Like This? (4)
“Mom, my legs hurt.”
“We’re almost there. Just bear with it a little longer.”
“But my legs hurt...”
The woman carrying a bundle on her back patted So-dong on the back to comfort him. Of course she wanted nothing more than to carry him herself, but the bundle on her own back was no small load, either.
No, it was far too heavy and large for an ordinary woman to lift.
“Damn it.”
The man who seemed to be the child’s father looked back with a face full of grief and regret.
“What is the world coming to...?”
They had only just left the Yangtze River region.
They had lived their whole lives farming the fields and casting their nets in the Yangtze, but before the war that had thrown the entire basin into panic, they could no longer endure there.
After all, didn’t everyone only have one life?
“It’ll be three days before we reach any village...”
The man let out a long sigh as he watched his wife rub the child’s legs.
Even if we do go...
It was not easy for people who had lived in one place all their lives to settle somewhere new. But neither could they simply keep holding out there aimlessly.
There was no guarantee that, just because this war ended, another one would not break out soon after. And so even those who had stubbornly remained by the Yangtze through the upheaval three years ago, when they saw this new war, had no choice but to leave their homes behind and set out on the road.
“Let’s find a decent place to rest for a bit.”
“...All right.”
Just as the man was about to sigh again, he suddenly frowned.
“Huh?”
Spotting something, he stared intently in one direction before his eyes widened.
“W-What is that?”
“What is?”
“T-There!”
The man lifted a hand and pointed. Something pale and hazy was rolling toward them.
“A sandstorm?”
“There isn’t even a breeze, so what sandstorm...? Wa-wait, isn’t that getting bigger?”
“Now that you mention it...”
The man’s mouth slowly fell open.
The pale dust rising at the end of the road they had come from grew and grew until it became a massive cloud that could be recognized at a glance, charging fiercely toward them.
“R-Run to the roadside, quickly!”
The man panicked and scooped the child into his arms. If the people stirring up that dust cloud were some band of Sapa crossing the Yangtze, then their lives were in real danger, weren’t they?
“Over there!”
The frightened trio hurriedly moved to the side of the road.
What do we do? Should we run?
As he wondered whether they ought to flee into the woods first, something strange came into view.
A cart?
A cart at least three times larger than one normally used to transport cargo was racing toward them. But what caught his eye was not the enormous cart itself. It was what was pulling it.
It was not a horse or an ox pulling the cart, but people.
“G-Good heavens...”
He was both stunned and shocked. It was absurd that people, not horses or oxen, were pulling such a huge cart, and astonishing that a cart loaded with that much cargo could move at such a speed.
What in the world...
Even as he failed to make sense of it, the cart did not slow. It raced on, and just when it seemed about to flash past them at a terrifying speed—
“Stooooop!”
CRRRAAACK!
At someone’s bellow, the feet of the cart pullers, all of whom had half-lost their minds, struck the ground in perfect unison, without the slightest error. The hard earth was gouged and sent flying upward.
Hoodududuk.
As the soil that had shot up rained back down, the carts, which had tilted so far forward they were almost lifted half off the ground, came back down with a series of heavy thuds.
“...”
The man stared blankly at the scene.
They don’t seem like Sapa...
Looking at those rather burly... no, excessively burly bodies made his knees go weak on their own, but there was none of that nasty, greasy feeling one got from alleyway thugs.
Rather...
“Cough! Cough!”
“I-I’m dying... I’m really dying...”
“Water... just one sip of water... Ch-Chung Myung, water...”
“Hey!”
There was an oddly familiar feeling to them.
Then the young man, who had been sitting atop a pile of cargo stacked higher than a man’s own height, clicked his tongue.
“I told you drinking water would make you sluggish!”
“If I don’t drink water, I’ll die!”
“You won’t die, you won’t die! I’ve tried everything.”
“What the hell haven’t you tried...? You damn lunatic...”
The snickering young man turned his head and looked at the man before greeting him.
“Hello?”
“Huh? Ah... yes! Yes!”
The man hurriedly nodded emphatically. It was clear these people meant no harm, but to his ordinary eyes, the long swords hanging at their waists were the first thing that stood out.
Anyone carrying a blade had to be handled with care. No matter who they were.
“Where are you headed? You look like you’ve got a lot of luggage.”
“W-We’re just people on the road.”
“I asked where you’re going.”
“Well...”
“Get on.”
“Pardon?”
The young man grinned. It was a clear, spotless smile, free of even the faintest trace of dirt.
Strangely enough, the smile felt genuinely pleasant. Without realizing it, the man’s guard began to loosen.
The young man spoke again.
“I don’t know where you’re headed, but we’ll give you a ride as far as you’re going.”
“W-We...”
“This cargo is headed for Sichuan. For now, we can take you as far as Wuhan.”
“W-We’re headed for Sichuan, too, actually...”
“I figured.”
The young man jumped down from the pile of cargo. Then he strode over to them, swinging his arms loosely.
“Looks like the kid’s legs are hurting, so there’s no need to walk. Just ride. We already carried some people once this morning.”
“C-Carried people...”
The flustered man glanced at the young man’s chest. A plum blossom emblem was embroidered there.
“A-Are you perhaps...?”
“Hm?”
“Are you from the Mount Hua Sect?”
“Kuhahahahaha!”
The young man looked absurdly proud and clapped his hands together.
“See? This is why you’ve got to get famous! You don’t even have to say it, and people recognize you right away.”
“...Lucky you.”
“You seem happy about it.”
Laughing, the young man, Chung Myung, came closer and roughly ruffled the child’s hair.
“Your legs hurt, huh?”
“...Yes.”
“All right!”
Chung Myung hoisted the child up and set him on his shoulders. Seeing that, the Mount Hua disciples tossed in remarks one after another.
“Wow, he didn’t cry.”
“Riding on that bastard’s shoulders is probably scarier than riding on a tiger’s back.”
“He must have amazing guts. That kid looks like he’ll grow up to be a general.”
“He must’ve been really exhausted... Poor thing.”
Then Chung Myung whipped his head around and shouted.
“What are you idiots muttering about? Load the luggage!”
“Y-Yes, yes.”
“He’s the one showing off all by himself! We’re the ones pulling the carts!”
Even while saying that, the Mount Hua disciples, led by Baek Cheon, quickly rushed in and took the couple’s bundles from them in perfect coordination.
“Y-You really don’t have to do this...”
Baek Cheon smiled gently at the bewildered man.
“It’s all right. The cargo on there is very heavy.”
“Pardon?”
“...So heavy that adding two more people barely makes a difference.”
“...”
That was a truly terrifying thing to say.
“Here, give it to me.”
“I’m not sure I should...”
In truth, if anyone else had offered them a ride in a cart, the man would never have accepted. How harsh was the world? As the head of a household who had to protect his wife and child, he could not afford to take risks just to make himself comfortable for a moment.
But the expressions on these people’s faces, and the plum blossom emblems embroidered on their chests, had drained the strength from his hands and shoulders.
Mount Hua...
At least for those who made their living in the Yangtze, the name Mount Hua was almost synonymous with righteousness and trust. If they were truly from the Mount Hua Sect, then perhaps his weary legs could finally rest.
More than that...
The man turned his head forward.
Seeing his child sitting obediently on the young man’s shoulders only deepened that trust. If his son, who was usually so wary of strangers, was sitting there so calmly, then surely they could not be bad people.
“...In that case, thank you, if you don’t mind our shame.”
With the help of the Mount Hua disciples, the couple climbed onto the cart and looked around awkwardly. It was the first time they had sat on such a cart, and on top of cargo stacked this high at that, so it felt strangely unreal.
“Hup!”
At last, Chung Myung, the last to board, set the child down in front of him.
“Hold on tight!”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go! Seniors!”
“You little bastard!”
“Just die already! Die!”
The cart lurched into motion again. The couple, now aboard, startled and quickly grabbed hold of the cargo beneath them.
The cart began racing forward at an absurd speed.
“G-Good heavens.”
It was terrifying. How could a cart pulled by human beings move faster than a horse?
The man squeezed his wife’s hand tightly. Even he felt his knees go weak as the scenery on either side flashed by in a blur at impossible speed, so how much worse must it be for her? Holding her hand tightly, he asked cautiously,
“T-Then, um...”
“Yes?”
Chung Myung turned his head slightly to look at them.
“Y-You said you were going to Wuhan, didn’t you?”
“Right.”
“B-But you said you’d already been there this morning?”
“Yep, we did.”
“To Wuhan?! Th-That’s a distance you can’t even make a round trip on horseback in a single day...”
“Pfft.”
Chung Myung waved a hand dismissively.
“Come on, we’re human, aren’t we? We’re not worse than a horse.”
“...”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get you there safely and comfortably. What are you doing? The sun’s going down, idiots! Run, don’t crawl!”
“You cock-sucking bastard!”
With someone’s howl, the cart shot onward toward Wuhan with even greater speed.
The front gate of the temporary lodging near Wuhan.
“We’re back!”
Thud. Thud.
At last, the Mount Hua disciples arrived and let go of the handles before collapsing flat on the ground.
“Senior brother.”
“...What?”
“Are you alive?”
“...Of course not. I’m dead.”
Yoon Jong had no strength even to turn his head, so he just buried his face in the ground and panted.
I really feel like I’m going to die.
Hauling cargo from near Jiujiang all the way to Wuhan?
Actually, it wasn’t that incredible a feat. For ordinary people, it was impossible nonsense, but they were the Mount Hua Sect, the special express delivery service of the Central Plains, weren’t they? They could haul such junk from the Northern Sea to Yunnan if they had to.
The problem was that they had to do it at full sprint.
- Time is money, and time is gold! Why the hell are you dragging your feet? The last bastard to arrive is getting his head shaved and sent to Shaolin... No, Hye Yeon, you’re exempt. Hey, don’t cry!
That demon from Mount Hua couldn’t stand the sight of people resting.
“I-I’m dying. Really... I’m really dying.”
“Those damn ghosts are gone, so why aren’t they taking that bastard instead...”
“I feel like I’m going to vomit...”
Chung Myung jumped down from the cargo with a click of his tongue and looked around.
“What, you’re already huffing and puffing after running that little? Back in my day, I sprinted from Chengdu to Beijing in one go and didn’t even know what it meant to be tired! Young people these days, tsk.”
“...You’re the youngest one here, you crazy bastard.”
“Please just die. Please...”
At that moment, the main gate of the estate opened, and a familiar face stepped out.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Looking at the cargo and people transferred by cart, Tang Gun-ak nodded.
“Is that all for today?”
“Huh?”
Chung Myung tilted his head as though he had no idea what he meant.
“Come on. It’s only just past the beginning of the You hour. We can make one more trip.”
“...You’re going again?”
“Of course.”
“But they look pretty worn out.”
“Haha. You’re worrying over nothing. We unload the cargo and ride back empty, don’t we? We can rest then.”
“...”
Tang Gun-ak silently looked toward the carts. There was no way one as versed in all things metal would fail to estimate their weight. Those iron carts with their dark, murky sheen must be incredibly heavy.
Lord of the clan!
Please stop him, just a little!
Save us!
The Mount Hua disciples who had been lying face-down lifted their heads in unison and gazed at Tang Gun-ak with pleading eyes. Tang Gun-ak looked at them with a pitiful expression, then finally hardened his face and spoke.
“...I’d be grateful if you did.”
And then he quietly looked away.
“Betrayer!”
“Demon!”
“Daaaad!”
That final cry stabbed straight through his chest, but Tang Gun-ak forced himself to ignore it with the heart of a man shedding blood tears.
The faster they moved even one more person, the fewer victims there would be.
For the sake of efficiency, Mount Hua was transferring the people of the Yangtze to Wuhan first, and the Tang Family was then moving them from there to Sichuan.
For now, the most important thing was to get the civilians out of that hair-trigger Jiujiang, which could become a battlefield at any moment.
“In any case, let’s have a little rest. No matter how you look at it, people aren’t made of steel.”
“Hey, I really don’t think you know much.”
“Hm?”
“Steel breaks and that’s the end of it, but broken bones heal.”
“...”
“People are tougher than metal, you know?”
This bastard was hopeless. There was simply no reasoning with him.
“Ahem.”
Tang Gun-ak cleared his throat, composed his expression, and said,
“Young man, Mount Hua Sword Hero.”
“Yes?”
“...News has arrived from the Yangtze. Would you care to hear it?”
The light in Chung Myung’s eyes, which had still carried a trace of amusement, darkened slightly.