Chapter 27
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Scent of a Rare Herb
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"Not a dog, but better than a dog..."
Beom Gye-wi, who was about to flare up, flinched.
It was due to a sharp killing intent that had flown from somewhere. When he turned his head, Han Seol-hwa, who had appeared at some point, was staring at him intently.
It was then that Dan Ak-seon's exclamation was heard.
“It tastes amazing!”
Turning to look, he saw Dan Ak-seon munching on the angelica leaves in his hand.
"Just like a dog..."
Beom Gye-wi, who had spoken without thinking, hastily swallowed his words.
The gazes of Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa had grown even more murderous.
Dan Ak-seon, on the other hand, was so delighted he started picking more angelica leaves with excitement.
Beom Gye-wi, who had been watching for a while, suddenly spoke up.
"By the way, Brother Cho, is it alright for us to be doing this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Shouldn't this be a one-day journey? If we keep dawdling like this, we'll be slower than that woman walking over there with a baby."
"What does it matter? Isn't this nice in its own way?"
"I suppose."
Beom Gye-wi nodded, his eyes taking in the sight of Dan Ak-seon running around everywhere.
"It's quiet and leisurely... but strangely, it's not boring."
As if agreeing with Beom Gye-wi, Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa watched Dan Ak-seon in silence.
Just then, Dan Ak-seon dropped flat on the ground.
He then started sniffing and searching through the bushes. It seemed he had caught the scent of another medicinal herb.
"A real dog..."
Cho Ak-ryang, who had spoken without thinking, quickly shut his mouth. However, Beom Gye-wi, who was nearby, wore a meaningful smile.
Beom Gye-wi turned his head to look at Han Seol-hwa.
"Well, go on. Try and deny it."
"..."
Han Seol-hwa remained silent.
She couldn't bring herself to deny it.
"Come over here!"
Suddenly, Dan Ak-seon's voice came from a distant bush.
The three of them pushed through the dense thicket. Before long, they found Dan Ak-seon.
He was beside a small, concave spring, the kind you might see in a landscape painting.
Although it wasn't far from the main road, there were no signs of human footprints.
Moreover, the spring water was clear and pristine.
It was pure water of a quality rarely found in the Central Plains.
"Let's have dinner here."
At Dan Ak-seon's words, the three nodded and settled down by the spring.
Seeing Dan Ak-seon washing the angelica leaves in the flowing spring water, Beom Gye-wi shot to his feet.
"We're on a journey, after all. We can't just eat greens."
Beom Gye-wi's eyes met Dan Ak-seon's, and he spoke as if asking for permission.
"We need strength for a long journey. We should at least eat some meat to keep our energy up."
"Are you going to catch another rabbit?"
Dan Ak-seon flinched at Cho Ak-ryang's words.
"Wh-what are you talking about! I've sworn never to eat rabbit again for the rest of my life!"
Beom Gye-wi glanced at Dan Ak-seon, gauging his reaction.
"Don't worry. I'll get something other than a rabbit. I'll catch something delicious and hefty."
Leaving those words behind, Beom Gye-wi shot off into the mountains.
Then, Han Seol-hwa also rose from her seat.
"Where are you going?"
At Dan Ak-seon's question, Han Seol-hwa nodded silently.
Then, holding a basket, she darted off in the opposite direction from where Beom Gye-wi had disappeared.
"Shall we start getting ready, too?"
Cho Ak-ryang went around gathering dry grass and twigs, piling them up neatly.
He then took out a fire starter from his robes.
He opened the lid and blew on it a few times, and the end of the rolled-up paper inside the bamboo tube quickly caught fire.
Cho Ak-ryang tilted the fire starter towards the dry grass.
The embers caught on the hay and spread to the twigs, creating a campfire.
Not long after, Beom Gye-wi returned with a huge wild boar slung over his shoulder.
"Hahaha! How's this? A real hefty one, isn't it?"
"Wow!"
It wasn't just hefty; you could have called it a bear and believed it.
Thud!
Beom Gye-wi threw the boar on the ground and puffed out his chest with pride.
"When it comes to meat, pork is the best!"
Han Seol-hwa, who had returned at some point, also placed her basket, filled with fruits and mushrooms, on the ground.
Her expression and gaze were filled with a clear sense of self-satisfaction.
But it didn't last long.
Because Dan Ak-seon cried out in surprise.
"Ma'am! Those are poisonous mushrooms!"
Han Seol-hwa, who was picking up a mushroom, froze.
Seeing this, Beom Gye-wi burst out laughing as if to say, 'I told you so.'
Han Seol-hwa glared at Beom Gye-wi, then picked out the mushrooms from her basket and threw them far away.
It didn't matter if there were no mushrooms.
There were still plenty of other things in the basket.
But this time, too, Dan Ak-seon shook his head.
"That fruit is unripe..."
Whoosh.
Han Seol-hwa threw the fruit she had picked up far away, then picked up another berry and looked at Dan Ak-seon.
Dan Ak-seon gave a troubled smile.
"That's a berry people can't eat."
Han Seol-hwa, staring down at her basket, asked Dan Ak-seon.
"Is there anything edible in here?"
"Um... no."
Thwack!
Having lost face, Han Seol-hwa irritably kicked the basket and turned toward the forest.
But Dan Ak-seon stopped her.
"Aren't you going to eat?"
"..."
"Don't be like that. Let's eat together."
As Dan Ak-seon pulled her by the sleeve, Han Seol-hwa reluctantly sat down. In the meantime, Cho Ak-ryang had started butchering the wild boar Beom Gye-wi had caught.
He skillfully drained the blood, removed the hide and innards, then selected the tastiest parts and skewered them on branches.
While Han Seol-hwa took the skewers and started roasting the meat, Beom Gye-wi lifted their entire cart from the main road and brought it over.
A short while later, the meat was cooked, and the four of them began to eat.
The unique smoky aroma from the campfire masked the gamey smell, and with the angelica leaves as a side, it was a delicacy in itself.
After finishing their satisfying meal, a dim darkness began to settle around them.
"It's late, so we'll have to camp here for the night."
Cho Ak-ryang took out a tent from the cart to shield them from the night dew and set it up.
It was then that Han Seol-hwa took Dan Ak-seon's hand and pulled him toward the campfire.
Just as Dan Ak-seon was wondering what was going on.
Hwoooosh.
Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold wave swept through the area.
"What is this!"
Beom Gye-wi roared, glaring at Han Seol-hwa.
Cho Ak-ryang was the same.
The heads and shoulders of the two men, suddenly engulfed in the formidable chill, were covered in white frost.
Han Seol-hwa silently pointed a finger at the ground.
"...?"
Their confusion was brief.
Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi soon spotted frozen mosquitoes scattered on the ground.
Realizing the situation, Dan Ak-seon smiled warmly at Han Seol-hwa.
"Thank you."
On the other hand, the gazes of the two men who had suddenly been assaulted were not friendly.
Cho Ak-ryang, huddled close to the fire to thaw his frozen body, grumbled under his breath.
"Couldn't you give us a heads-up for something like this?"
Beom Gye-wi nodded and glared at Han Seol-hwa.
"My point exactly. We went to the trouble of fixing you up, so why don't you talk? Is she doing this on purpose? To mess with us."
Thinking there was some logic to that, Cho Ak-ryang cast a suspicious glance at Han Seol-hwa.
Whether they did or not.
Han Seol-hwa ignored them and prepared a place for Dan Ak-seon to lie down.
It was the best spot near the campfire.
Just then, Dan Ak-seon noticed something and stared at a particular spot.
"It looks like there are other people camping besides us."
In the distance, a single, faintly flickering light had caught his eye.
The three turned their heads to look where Dan Ak-seon was pointing. It was in the direction of the main road, quite a distance from their campsite.
Cho Ak-ryang smiled.
"We've finished eating. How about we go for a little night walk to aid our digestion?"
Dan Ak-seon nodded at Cho Ak-ryang's suggestion.
He was very curious about how other people camped.
"It's dark, so follow me carefully. Watch your step."
Cho Ak-ryang began to walk ahead, pushing through the bushes. Dan Ak-seon followed behind him, relying on the moonlight.
How long did they walk?
As they neared the main road, a cart parked on the side came into view.
It was a huge cart pulled by four horses, and a dozen or so people in matching uniforms were maintaining a tight guard around it.
The single campfire he thought he saw was actually four.
But what really caught Dan Ak-seon's eye was something else.
It was the ornate flag fluttering above the cart.
Seeing Dan Ak-seon staring at the flag, Cho Ak-ryang smiled and spoke.
"That's an escort flag."
"An escort flag?"
"It's a flag that escort agencies fly when they're transporting goods."
Dan Ak-seon looked at the flag and the escorts with interest.
Then, for a moment, his eyes met with one of the escorts guarding the cart.
The escort's expression changed in an instant.
He looked ready to blow the whistle in his hand at a moment's notice. Dan Ak-seon was flustered by the palpable hostility.
"It seems they don't like us."
"Uninvited guests encountered during an escort mission are never welcome."
"Is it always like that?"
"Security is directly linked to the safety of the goods and the escorts, so they generally dislike their movements being known. Besides, it's nighttime, isn't it? It's natural for them to be on high alert."
"Then let's go back."
But Dan Ak-seon was acting strangely.
He tilted his head a few times, then kept glancing back toward the escorts.
Cho Ak-ryang asked.
"What is it?"
"The smell of a precious elixir... huh?"
As he spoke, Dan Ak-seon quickly turned his head. He stared intently at the escort cart. Just then, he saw the head escort pull back the cart's cover to check the contents.
"This is..."
Dan Ak-seon's eyes sparkled.
"It's the scent of the Nine-Branched Immortal Leaf Herb."
"Nine-Branched Immortal Leaf Herb?"
Cho Ak-ryang had heard of it before.
It was a spiritual herb known to contain extreme yang energy, said to allow one to become an immortal just by consuming it.
Along with the Heavenly Yin Snow Lotus Fruit, known as the essence of yin energy, it was the elixir of elixirs that any martial artist would covet even in their dreams.
Unlike the Heavenly Yin Snow Lotus Fruit, which bloomed once every thousand years on a snow mountain, the Nine-Branched Immortal Leaf Herb was known to grow in the sulfurous regions of the Crimson Mountain, where lava boiled.
"You can smell it from this far away?"
Even as he asked, Cho Ak-ryang let out a dry laugh inwardly.
Hadn't he just witnessed Dan Ak-seon's incredible sense of smell for finding herbs only half a day ago?
All the way back to the campsite, Dan Ak-seon kept looking back with eyes full of longing.
"Should we ask the owner of those goods to sell us just the Nine-Branched Immortal Leaf Herb?"
Dan Ak-seon licked his lips and then sighed.
"They wouldn't, right? The price aside, the escorts would never trade the goods without the owner's permission."
Cho Ak-ryang felt sorry for the dejected Dan Ak-seon.
Cho Ak-ryang looked toward the escorts with a serious gaze.
Then, he suddenly had a strange feeling.
It was because the faces of two men among the escorts looked particularly familiar.
'Huh? Those guys?'
Cho Ak-ryang soon recalled their faces.
He did indeed know them.
'Wait a minute? If that's the case...'
It seemed a plan might be forming.
* * *
Late that evening, Cho Ak-ryang's eyes fluttered open. Beom Gye-wi, who had been lying on one side, also groggily sat up.
"Those two escorts you saw earlier, Brother Cho, are you sure it's them?"
Cho Ak-ryang nodded at Beom Gye-wi's question.
"The Three-Nothings Duo. It's definitely them."
They were twin brothers with the surname Wang, their single-character given names being Yeom and Gyeol.
But their appearances were polar opposites, making the word 'twins' seem meaningless.
Wang Yeom was stick-thin and extremely tall, looking like a swaying tree branch, while Wang Gyeol was a short five feet tall but over two hundred pounds, so at a glance, he looked like a large bouncing ball.
But despite their contrasting appearances, the two had something in common.
They possessed all the typical qualities of shameless scoundrels.
No Face, No Shame, No Sense.
This was why the people of the martial world called the brothers the Three-Nothings Duo and were wary and fearful of them.