Chapter 19
Translator: uly
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: The Black-Haired Barbarian of Hubei Province - 1
Among the following, what is something a black-haired barbarian can do?
Returning to a government post
Mount Hua Storm Sword
Chang Family Guard Warrior
Manual Laborer
"Hey, barbarian! Hurry up and bring the materials!"
A construction site. As I was drinking water, the foreman, who oversaw the entire site, shouted at me.
"I'll get right to it after just one sip of water."
"A barbarian brat talking back?"
The foreman immediately ran toward me and kicked.
"Gahk!"
I vomited the water I was swallowing and tumbled onto the ground. Damn it. I worked for two hours without drinking any water, and he does this just because I took one sip?
"If you're given work, a barbarian brat should run around so fast your feet aren't even visible. What water? Ha, damn, the world's gotten too comfortable."
"... I'll get right to work."
Curses rose to my throat, but I had to endure them if I didn't want to go hungry today.
"What's going on?"
A martial artist with a sword approached.
"Hehe. It's nothing. Just a barbarian slacking off, so I gave him a little discipline, that's all."
The foreman instantly changed from a menacing expression to a kindly face and spoke to the martial artist.
"This is the Chang Family's villa construction site. We do not tolerate disturbances."
"Of course, of course. I'll make sure nothing like that happens again."
The foreman rubbed his palms together as if possessed by a fly, bowing as deeply as possible.
"Be careful."
Once the martial artist returned to his post, the foreman opened his mouth again with his menacing face. "In the old days, I'd have just disposed of a corpse like you, damn it! You know you'd be dead by my hand if those warriors weren't watching, right?"
"I'll work hard."
"Anyway, black-haired brats only come to their senses after a beating! I've memorized your face. If you cross me again, you won't be able to work anywhere in this town!!"
The foreman pointed at me, poking his eyelid with his finger—a gesture to make sure he'd remember me.
I briefly rubbed the sore spot and ran toward the materials. Even if it was unfair, there was nothing I could do.
Here, I was not the eldest son of the Kang Family,
Nor the disgraced fiancé of the Murong Family,
I was just a black-haired barbarian.
------
"Hey. Barbarian, where are you from?"
After stacking all the materials and catching my breath for a moment, the man working next to me struck up a conversation.
It's already been a year since I came to the Central Plains, but I still can't get used to that damn "barbarian" talk.
"I'm from Joseon."
"Joseon? Where is Joseon? Do you know where the Chang family's Joseon is?"
"Isn't it somewhere north of Mongolia? Where's the Hwang family's Joseon?"
"If you're asking me, how would I know? Since the south is the sea, it must be one of the north, west, or east."
"Barbarian. Where is Joseon?"
We worked in teams of four, so after finishing a round, they asked me again. Just ask me directly.
"Do you know Goryeo? It's a country founded where Goryeo used to be."
"Ah! You should've just said Goryeo from the start. I know Goryeo. Isn't that the place where ginseng grows? I could tell right away you were a barbarian because of your black hair, but this brat here, you're a Goryeo barbarian."
Unlike cities near Joseon like Liaodong Fortress or coastal towns, the further inland you go, the more often you meet people who don't even know about Joseon.
Even though I consciously said Joseon, there were people who only understood if I said I was from Goryeo.
"Hey, stop calling him barbarian, barbarian all the time. The person hearing it keeps feeling uncomfortable."
Uncle Jang, who was listening nearby, interjected. Wow, a top 10% Chinese person.
"He's a barbarian, so what? Fine. If you're uncomfortable, what's your name?"
The guy who kept calling me barbarian checked my expression and asked for my name.
"It's Kang Yun-ho."
I thought about changing my name when I came to the Central Plains, but this isn't Joseon or Liaodong Fortress. Who would recognize me in a manual labor market? I just used my real name.
"Alright, Yun-ho. Why did you come to Hubei Province? This isn't the north or a coastal port."
"The village I lived in was wiped out by an epidemic. My mother passed away, my father passed away, and my siblings starved to death. I thought I'd die too, so I boarded a ship thinking I'd see the vast Central Plains once before dying, but somehow I ended up drifting here alive."
It was the story I always brought up whenever someone asked why a barbarian was in the Central Plains over the past year.
"That... I'm sorry."
When I pretended to recall the past with a serious face, the guy who called me barbarian apologized.
"It's fine. It's all in the past now."
I smiled bitterly.
Actually, nothing like that happened. It's just my go-to line to make the guys who call me barbarian feel a little uncomfortable.
"I, I, I knew that brat would cause trouble someday."
"Why would you poke at a sick person's wound!!"
The other laborers working nearby scolded the guy who called me barbarian.
"Ah, no, I didn't know it was like that! Bar, I mean, Yun-ho. Anyway, let's do well for the next ten days."
"Yes. I'll work hard."
And so, I began working as a laborer at the construction site.
------
It's already been a year.
Not something to light a candle and celebrate, but a year has passed since I escaped the Murong Family.
Back then, I performed a desperate act and walked out through the main gate of the Murong Family. Once I was out of sight of the Murong Family's warriors, I quickened my pace. Walking further, I found Dolsoe already waiting with the Guard Captain, guards, and a carriage prepared.
And my double, wearing a human skin mask, fast asleep.
"Young Master, do you really think this will work?"
Inside the moving carriage, Dolsoe looked anxiously at the sleeping double and spoke.
"It will. The Changbong Guard will never be able to tell."
"He really does look exactly like Young Master's unlucky face, but I'm a little worried."
Look at that guy Dolsoe, still making honest comments even in a crisis.
Indeed, the double wearing the human skin mask looked creepily similar to my face.
Originally, in martial arts stories, human skin masks are disguise tools that let you impersonate someone else, but if observed closely, you can notice something awkward.
But this isn't a martial arts story, it's a martial arts dating sim, right?
In the story, even the protagonist, who grows into a master, can't recognize someone wearing a high-quality human skin mask until the later parts.
Originally, you could tell right away if you were a master because the mask looked pale or expressionless, but here, it's treated almost like Hollywood computer-generated special effects makeup.
Gah! This really isn't martial arts!
It was one of the things I wrote in the feedback, so I remembered it clearly, but who knew it would be so helpful.
"It's not just any human skin mask. It's a top-quality human skin mask that even the Black Market can only acquire one or two of per year."
The Black Market. Simply put, it's a continent-scale black market. A place where all sorts of illegal items are sold cheaply and bought expensively.
"I don't know why the Central Plains' black market is so terrifying, I almost wet myself."
"Anyway, thanks for finding a double too."
"When I scattered gold coins at the Black Market, they took care of everything. Just in case, I'm telling you, he's a death row inmate who raped and killed a woman, so don't feel too sad."
"That's a relief."
Even if it was a life-or-death situation for me, I didn't want to take an innocent person's life as a substitute. So, I asked Dolsoe to find a double who wasn't innocent, no matter how much money it cost.
"We've arrived at the safe house we prepared. Will you get off now?"
Dolsoe said with an uneasy face.
"I should. Dolsoe."
"Yes, Young Master."
"The Guard Captain will take my double's body back to Joseon and bury it anyway. You get off somewhere along the way, take the gold coins, and live well. If you go back to Joseon, you'll just be sold off as a servant to another noble house."
"Young Master..."
Tears of emotion welled up in Dolsoe's eyes.
"Live well."
I got off the carriage like that and headed secretly toward the safe house.
"Thank you for everything!!"
If you're grateful, you should bow deeply and say how incredibly grateful you've been all this time. That guy has no sincerity.
I waved my hand without looking back and entered the safe house.
And so, one month passed.
When all the incidents had settled down and things were quiet, I headed for the Central Plains.
Pockets full. Sky clear.
"Hey, mister, why are you walking so hurriedly alone on this mountain path?"
And lots of bandits.
I said it felt like my luck was too good.
Do your best and leave the rest to heaven. I worked hard, and heaven was moved and spared my life, but that was the extent of it.
I was robbed of everything by bandits and became a beggar. After that, I slept in the mountains, slept in barns, sneaked into empty temples to sleep, and couldn't even sleep peacefully.
If only I could earn some money, I could eat and sleep properly. But the Central Plains folks treat barbarian discrimination as completely routine.
Their hair colors are all sorts of patterns, but there's no black hair, so I'm called a black-haired barbarian and can't even get proper work.
"Yun-ho's here. Come lie down in this empty spot."
Getting this construction job was truly a stroke of luck. Lately, there's a shortage of workers, so even barbarians have to be accepted, but the foreman's grumbling about it was irritating.
The laborers' dormitory after work.
When I opened the door, Mr. Ju, who had called me barbarian, was gesturing.
This is why manual labor is good. Since work starts early in the morning and it's hard to find people, they provide room and board to keep the people who worked the previous day on.
The smell of the laborers' sweat almost made me vomit what I ate for dinner, but a room with a place to lie down? I'm touched.
They give you food and a place to sleep if you work—this is truly a heavenly workplace.
"So I'm saying, when her husband wasn't around, I grabbed that woman's chest, crunch! Like this."
As I quietly lay down in a corner, the uncles' stories of infidelity reached my ears.
"Mr. Ju, how long are you going to tell that story? It's the story where you couldn't even get it in and got beaten by her husband."
Ah! Why spoil it.
I was listening with intense focus, like secretly listening to the cool kids' jokes while lying on a classroom desk.
"Well, who else is there to tell stories besides me?"
"That's true."
"..."
Silence flowed through the room where the uncles were gathered. What, no one else has a story?
"Doesn't anyone have an interesting story to tell?"
As the silence continued, a deep voice came from one corner of the room.
"Oh! Master Carpenter, are you awake? Was our voice too loud?"
"We're sorry!!"
"We were too noisy."
Everyone stood up at once and apologized to the Master Carpenter lying down. A Master Carpenter refers to the most experienced artisan among carpenters.
Unlike people like me who just carry loads and assist the uncles for wages, he's a top-tier technician whose skill commands a high price.
Moreover, while the foreman handled salaries and supervision at the construction site, the Master Carpenter was the one directing the actual work. That's why he was the most respected person on site.
"No, no. I wasn't sleeping. Don't mind me, everyone rest comfortably."
When the Master Carpenter uncle gestured, everyone sat down. Why isn't anyone lying down?
Is this the "everyone rest comfortably" state from a division commander?
Skill is power.
This is why people say you should learn a skill. Father. Even though I got hit in the back of the head while writing novels and didn't even listen with half an ear, you were right after all.
"Hah, why is it so quiet? I wanted to hear a story before sleeping."
"You do it."
"Hey. Who's going to tell a story in front of the Master Carpenter?"
The uncles kept pushing the task onto each other, and no one told a story.
How many people would step forward to perform in front of a division commander?
"I'll give a reward to whoever tells a story right away, depending on how interesting it is."
Since everyone kept pushing and no one came forward, the Master Carpenter uncle put up a prize.
Huh?
A division commander's reward?
I can't resist this.
"I'll give it a try."
I immediately raised my hand.
"A new face. Who might you be?"
"I'm Kang Yun-ho from Joseon. I'll tell you a story from Joseon."
You see, I used to be a web novel writer in Korea. Mass-produced, but still.
"A story from Joseon? Does the story have a name, by any chance?"
The Master Carpenter uncle asked with a curious face.
"The story's title is..."
The people in the room are all uncles older than me. Most are married.
Then the story to tell is?
"Winning the Lottery First Prize After Divorce."
This is it.