Unexpected Encounter - 7
"They're pickpockets."
I snatched Young Hero Cheon-un's pouch from the boy's hand and tossed it back as I spoke.
Pickpocketing had largely vanished as a crime back in Korea, but in this world it remained a fairly common profession. What made Murim pickpockets truly dangerous was that even the lowliest among them had trained in specialized pickpocketing martial arts.
These ones worked as a crew. The decoys would scatter attention while the one with hands faster than the eye would clean out a pouch in the blink of an eye.
Of course you would never fall for it if you stayed alert, but fresh faces just entering the jianghu like Young Hero Cheon-un tended to let their guard down and get cleaned out before they even realized what had happened.
"Pickpockets…?"
Young Hero Cheon-un still gripped the scabbard as he looked at the boys with open disappointment. The decoy boys flinched.
"Sir! That bastard just couldn't break the habit—our big brother really did get dragged off!"
What a ridiculous excuse.
"If you follow them into the alley, the local ruffians will be waiting. That's another classic pickpocket trick—steal something minor right in front of you to lure you into a side street and then shake you down."
One of their standard plays was to openly snatch something trivial just to pull the victim into an ambush.
"No! Big brother really is getting beaten!"
The pickpocket, realizing he was one wrong move away from being cut down, spoke in a voice that trembled on the edge of tears.
Young Hero Cheon-un frowned in thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.
"Let's go together."
"Young Hero Cheon-un. It's a trap. They claimed the ones waiting are just ruffians, but they could just as easily be armed."
You couldn't fool my eyes, kid. That was fear of getting sliced open, not worry for an older brother.
"When someone asks for help, how could I refuse? Come."
You're going even though you know?
Young Hero Cheon-un nodded as if agreeing with me, then still followed the boy into the alley anyway.
"Keh-heh-heh. Nice work, you little shit."
Just as expected. The moment we stepped into the alley roughly ten ruffians closed in and sealed the exits. They didn't look especially impressive, but a few of them were carrying blades.
"Where is your older brother?"
Young Hero Cheon-un asked the boy with the easy composure of a tiger surrounded by neighborhood mutts.
The boy either felt guilty or finally realized something had gone terribly wrong; he fidgeted and couldn't get a word out.
"This brat's older brother? I'm that brat's older brother. If you want to leave with all your limbs attached, hand everything over and get lost!"
Their little brother seemed to have grasped the situation, but the one who looked like the boss of the pack still had no idea. He clearly thought Young Hero Cheon-un was just some green young master who had wandered out into the world with a sword on his belt.
"Haa… There is no one here who needs rescuing—only trash that needs cleaning up."
"Young Hero Cheon-un?"
Was he angry? Young Hero Cheon-un let out a deep, sorrowful sigh and muttered under his breath.
"What the hell is this bastard muttering about?!"
"Since you're nothing but petty criminals, I won't even draw my blade."
Young Hero Cheon-un gripped the scabbard like a club and made the declaration.
"Get them!"
Of course it came to this. All ten ruffians charged us at once.
In the old days I would have been busy running for my life—but I wasn't the Kang Yunho of the past anymore.
"Guh!"
I had the ultimate technique known as Heroic Intervention, after all. Young Hero Cheon-un instantly subdued the ones coming at me and strode straight into the middle of the enemy.
I couldn't afford to fall behind. I swept my gaze around looking for the softest targets.
"W-what the hell?!"
"What do you think?! This is Joseon martial arts—Death God Style, White Tiger Seven Continuous Strikes, you bastards!"
"Don't tell me… a foreign expert?"
No. I was just swinging wildly.
"Aagh!"
The fight was over in an instant.
While I roughly smacked one ruffian about seven times until he went down, Young Hero Cheon-un had already finished subduing the rest.
Watching the ruffians crawl around like broken-legged earthworms, I decided I had worried for nothing.
After all, this was someone who had walked alone into a mountain full of bandits. A handful of street thugs were never going to scare him.
People always say that when you lack strength your head has to work overtime—but when you actually have strength, you can just walk straight into places that look dangerous.
"Young Master Kang. Shall we go?"
Young Hero Cheon-un turned away with a face that had gone completely cold.
He's seriously pissed.
He wasn't making an angry expression, but every trace of a smile had vanished from his face.
Having the desire to do good exploited like this would anger anyone. Young Hero Cheon-un started to walk away as if sweeping something distasteful out of sight.
I had no intention of leaving yet.
"Young Hero Cheon-un. I understand how you feel, but wait a moment."
Unlike him, I walked deeper into the alley as I spoke.
"Young Master Kang?"
Young Hero Cheon-un called after me, puzzled.
To him this might end as nothing more than an unpleasant memory, but experiences like this stacked up until they became wounds on the heart.
The next time someone truly needed help, if he hesitated because of today it would be a problem. What had already happened couldn't be undone, so I would just have to turn this unpleasant experience into something a little more satisfying.
Not with a hero's methods—with Kang Yunho's methods.
"Hey. Snap out of it!"
I grabbed the arrogant boss by the hair and shouted.
"Y-yes? W-why are you doing this, sir? We were wrong. Please, just spare our lives!"
The pickpocket boss spoke with a face so ruined it was hard to believe he had ever worn a confident expression.
That face alone made a fine example, but didn't Young Hero Cheon-un and I deserve a little consolation too?
"You see, we got our feelings hurt pretty badly while trying to help people."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Saying sorry is enough? We deserve proper compensation for the emotional damage."
"What?"
"How much do you have?"
From time immemorial the price of trampled dignity has been money.
I smiled with the wicked delight of a wizard who enjoyed legally looting the accumulated wealth of the bandits he had just wiped out.
"We don't have any money."
None? I gave his clothes a quick once-over. True enough, no pouch was visible. But a guy like this not carrying cash? Impossible.
He was basically saying "go ahead and search if you want." If he wouldn't hand it over nicely, I had other methods.
"That so? Then we've got no choice. Hey. What color does my hair look like to you?"
"Huh? B-black, sir."
"That's right. Big brother here came from somewhere that isn't the Central Plains. Where I come from, if you get caught pickpocketing you either pay compensation or we chop off an arm. You said you have no money, right? Young Hero Cheon-un. I'll hold his arm—cut it clean."
I recycled the words Uigakju had once used and directed them at the pickpocket. It was complete barbaric nonsense, but strange rumors about barbarians already floated around, so the threat would land.
"Hiiiiek!"
The ruffian boss thrashed, but he couldn't break free of the arm I was holding.
"Young Master Kang."
Young Hero Cheon-un took a startled step toward me with a blank look of shock.
I angled my face so the pickpocket boss couldn't see and grinned at Cheon-un. Just a joke. I would never actually cut anything off.
"I'll give it! I'll give everything! P-please just spare me!"
Maybe Cheon-un taking even one step forward had felt like an enormous threat. The pickpocket boss went into full-blown hysterics.
"Whoa whoa whoa. Don't freak out. Who said anything about killing you? Just the arm."
"Hic… hiiic… P-please. I'll give it."
The pickpocket bawled with the force of every cry he had ever made since infancy.
"Listen carefully. Get up right now and collect every last coin from the others. If I find even one hidden pouch after that, I'll get annoyed and just take all the arms. Got it?"
That should do it. I released the thoroughly terrified man from the hold and spoke.
"Yes. J-just spare my life."
The pickpocket boss thoroughly cleaned out the money he had hidden on his own body plus everything his underlings were carrying and laid it all at our feet.
Young Hero Cheon-un watched me reverse-rob them with a look of pure disbelief, yet still cracked a small smile at the sight of the entire pickpocket crew sniffling and fretting with tears and snot running down their faces.
I hoped that counted as some consolation.
We took a more than adequate compensation package, used it to buy better food, and returned to the inn.
The journey was drawing to a close.
We spent the night at the inn and set out again at first light.
"We'll stay at an abandoned shrine tonight. Tomorrow or the day after we should reach Sichuan Province. Once we hit Dazhu County at the entrance, the Sichuan Dang Clan has a branch office, so we only need to rough it another day or two. As for you, Young Hero Cheon-un…"
"I will leave the moment we arrive at the Dang Clan branch."
So our time traveling with Young Hero Cheon-un was ending as well. A shame. Still, the fact that we only needed to stay tense for another day or two was welcome news.
My troubles wouldn't end just because the risk of ambush disappeared, but I was glad to have one less thing to worry about.
"First watch, huh. Lucky me."
I spoke to Young Hero Cheon-un, who was staring at the campfire with a gloomy expression.
"Indeed."
He answered in a subdued voice. Still not over yesterday?
It must have felt like making a charitable donation for poor children with the best of intentions, only to later learn the organization had thrown a luxury yacht party with the money and gotten arrested.
Even the thorough re-education we gave them probably hadn't been enough.
"The marshmallows came out perfectly. Have one."
I held out a skewer of roasted marshmallows to Young Hero Cheon-un. We bought these with the compensation money, so eat up and cheer up.
"Huh? These are… quite…"
Cheon-un accepted the marshmallow without thinking, took a bite, and his eyes went wide.
"Good, right?"
Roasted marshmallows were the absolute peak of camping snacks. Had he never tried them before? He looked like this was his first time.
"When I was at the Wudang Sect I spent every last coin on books, so…"
When I looked at him with open curiosity, Young Hero Cheon-un confessed as if under interrogation.
"Haha. I've neglected food plenty of times myself because I poured all my money into hobbies."
From time immemorial the proper budget ratio has been three parts gacha, three parts savings, three parts living expenses.
"Is that so."
Young Hero Cheon-un lifted the corners of his mouth as if pleased to have found a kindred spirit. Hopefully that had cheered him up a little.
"Doing chivalrous deeds means you get to eat delicious things like this. Don't take it too hard—cheer up."
All's well that ends well.
I watched Young Hero Cheon-un give a small nod, then started eating as well.
Marshmallows for sale at a Murim grocery store… I wanted to call foul, but since it had comforted Cheon-un I decided to let it slide.
After polishing off three marshmallows in a row, Young Hero Cheon-un seemed a little lighter. He stared into the campfire and spoke in a serious voice.
"Young Master Kang."
"Yes?"
"Forgive me, but would you mind listening to a worry of mine for a moment?"
Counseling after so long? This was my specialty.