Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Gate Pass - Mission, Intelligence (3)
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Wang Sam, the gatekeeper in his third year on the job, thought to himself.
Gatekeepers at the pass were surely the most hardship-ridden souls in the world, more than anyone else.
‘This is exhausting.’
Exhausting. On top of that, grueling and painful.
Meeting countless strangers every day, checking them over and over—it was more torment than mere boredom.
Whoever called gatekeepers lazy idlers lounging by the gate deserved a fist to the face, Wang Sam was certain.
‘Shift change…’
Wang Sam glanced up at the sun hanging high in the sky.
By his rough estimate, there was still quite a while until the handover.
His face naturally soured at the thought.
Wang Sam waved another person through, then stopped the next carriage with a familiar motion.
“Halt.”
The weasel-faced coachman flinched at the command.
His eyes darted furtively toward the inside of the carriage, as if gauging something.
A dog learns to recite poetry after three years at school.
How much more so for a human, a trained warrior at that, after three years at the same post?
Wang Sam could tell exactly what kind of carriage it was just from that tiny gesture by the coachman.
‘He’s serving some lord.’
Someone of high status must be inside. And their temperament probably wasn’t the pleasant sort.
The anxiety flickering across the weasel-like coachman’s face was proof enough.
Wang Sam was convinced.
Whoever was in that carriage had a terribly volatile temper.
“What’s your purpose here?”
At Wang Sam’s question, the coachman shuffled over hesitantly.
Then, in a low voice, he said,
“M-my master’s come from Gangseo to tour this way. He’s not in the best mood right now… Could you just let us pass?”
Desperation flickered in the coachman’s eyes.
Wang Sam snorted derisively.
It was always like this. Servants of the highborn feared only their masters, blind to the terror of gatekeepers.
They ate the king’s rice as proper soldiers, yet failed to grasp that.
Wang Sam bellowed as if to say not a chance.
“No exceptions to inspection! Passenger inside, step out and show your face!”
His voice boomed loud enough to stir murmurs from the long line of travelers.
It was one of Wang Sam’s nasty little hobbies.
Dragging out some lofty noble with a single shout and humiliating them—that was the fuel keeping him going in this hellish gatekeeper life.
The coachman’s face went pale as snow.
His sleazy features twisted in dread, looking just like a weasel in a snowfield.
“H-hey! I told you my master’s in a foul mood…!”
The coachman stomped his feet in panic.
That was when the carriage door flew open.
Out stepped a mild-mannered-looking young man.
But Wang Sam was sure he wasn’t the master the coachman feared.
The man’s clothes were shabby, and his face bore a pallor of exhaustion.
Wang Sam caught a faint glimmer of resentment in the young man’s eyes as they met his.
The reason was obvious. The young man dropped flat to the ground, becoming a human stepping stool.
In three years as gatekeeper, Wang Sam had seen this spectacle fewer than five times. An astonishing sight.
Only then did unease start creeping over Wang Sam.
‘This volatile?’
Wang Sam’s eyes trembled like there was an earthquake.
Dry swallows raced down his throat.
His instincts screamed.
What was coming next was a true monster among monsters.
A noble monster who’d demand every ounce of a gatekeeper’s skill and more.
‘I won’t back down!’
Wang Sam steeled himself with that vow.
“Useless thing.”
A man’s voice rang out, thick with irritation. It had a deep, resonant timbre.
Then, from the open carriage door, another man emerged.
‘W-what the…!’
Wang Sam jolted in shock.
The man’s face was just so utterly ugly.
‘How can a person be that hideous!’
A flat nose, bulging cheekbones, swollen lips like he’d been stung by some insect, eyelids sagging so much the inner corners didn’t show.
And with that scowl, it was hard to tell if he was human or demon.
The expensive silk robes he wore only amplified the grotesque contrast.
“You the one who dared summon me?”
The ugly man growled.
Wang Sam felt a chill crawl up his spine but shook it off, straightening his back.
No matter how highborn the man, he was a soldier of the realm. No backing down.
“T-that’s right! As gatekeeper here, I need to verify the traveler’s identity!”
The man’s scowl deepened viciously.
Wang Sam stifled a hiccup despite himself.
He was mustering courage, but the nagging doubt crept in: ‘What if he’s some high official’s son?’
Something felt off.
As that thought surfaced, a ray of light descended upon Wang Sam.
“Chun-a. How undignified.”
An elegant woman’s voice flowed from inside the carriage, dripping with grace.
Wang Sam’s head whipped around.
But there was no light.
‘Gasp!’
What emerged was a woman with a venomous glare.
Her upturned eyes and tiny lips gave her the perfect look of a viper.
Wang Sam felt even greater dread than with the ugly man.
Their eyes met for a moment.
“So, now that we’re out, what do you want?”
The woman’s voice dripped with poison, and Wang Sam’s shoulders hunched involuntarily.
‘I thought I’d never hear a voice more vicious than my wife’s in my lifetime!’
He’d been wrong.
His nagging wife suddenly seemed like a fairy.
As Wang Sam gaped wordlessly, the woman’s eyes narrowed sharper still. How could they slant even more? Wang Sam was aghast.
“Why can’t you speak? Hm?”
Her brows furrowed.
Wang Sam jumped, repeating his earlier words in a fluster.
“A-as gatekeeper, I need to know the identities of those passing through…”
“Ha!”
The woman let out a hollow laugh. Her expression screamed, ‘You dare?’
Another dry swallow went down Wang Sam’s throat as the woman spoke.
“Fine. You dragged us out, so I’ll humor you. Though I won’t answer for the aftermath.”
What had her so furious?
She snapped her head back into the carriage.
“Hey! Hyeon-a! You come out too!”
‘Another one?!’
Those two were clearly siblings. And both had monstrous looks and savage tempers.
Two of them were draining enough—what if a third appeared?
Wang Sam felt the heavens turning indifferent.
“Understood, sister.”
But this time, the newcomer shattered Wang Sam’s expectations.
In the exact opposite way.
“Ah…!”
An exclamation escaped someone nearby. It spread like a contagion, echoing around.
Even Wang Sam felt his mind go blank.
‘W-what is this…’
It was the appearance of the man who stepped down from the carriage.
The one called ‘Hyeon’ had a face of breathtaking beauty.
His faintly furrowed, expressionless features were captivating. His long hair swayed like silk with each step, and even the ornate black robe he wore seemed dimmed by his stunning looks.
Was this truly human beauty?
Wang Sam swore he’d never seen anyone so handsome in his life.
He was convinced.
‘Half-sibling!’
This man who just emerged had to be a half-brother to those other two.
“What’s the matter?”
The man stared into empty space.
His voice was hollow, as if he cared not a whit for worldly affairs.
A pale woman followed him out, but Wang Sam couldn’t spare her a glance.
“That fool insists on seeing our faces.”
“Hmm.”
The man’s eyes rolled toward Wang Sam.
For some reason, Wang Sam felt like he’d committed a grave sin under that gaze.
His own eyes dropped instinctively.
In that instant, the man’s brows furrowed deeper.
A sound escaped him.
“Tsk…”
Wang Sam’s body jolted violently.
Now, at last, complete regret washed over Wang Sam.
‘This is bad!’
It was clear. That man was surely the son of some high official.
Word of this would reach the superiors, and he’d face discipline for sure.
He felt like bursting into tears.
Meanwhile, the woman spoke.
“ Satisfied now? Hm? Happy?”
Wang Sam’s eyes welled up.
His head nodded bigger and faster than ever.
“Y-yes, yes, all good!”
He stepped aside smartly.
The black-robed man tsked once more and retreated into the carriage.
Soon, the venomous woman, the ugly man, the pale woman who’d appeared unnoticed, and even the human stepping stool all boarded. The coachman shot Wang Sam a smug ‘See?’ look before passing through the gate.
Only as the carriage sounds faded did Wang Sam slump, exhaling in limp relief.
He thought again.
Gatekeeping was the ultimate thankless job.
*
“How was it?!”
Inside the carriage, Mok Ri-won—the one called ‘Hyeon’ in the black robe—asked Dang Hwa-seo with the face of a child seeking praise.
Dang Hwa-seo smiled brightly and nodded.
“You did splendidly.”
“I thought so too! I never knew I had such a talent for acting! Oh, and you were amazing, little sister! You played the villainess so well, I half-believed you were one from some tale!”
“Thank you.”
The mood inside the carriage was cheerful.
Except for two people.
“…Is it finally over?”
Namgung Jincheon wanted nothing more than to hole up somewhere and rip off this irritating human-face disguise.
They’d stuffed it with so many prosthetics that even sitting still brought waves of unpleasant foreign sensations.
No need to say it. The scowl he’d shown Wang Sam was just his face contorting from the discomfort.
“Bear with it just a bit longer. We have a reserved inn ahead. Ah, are the other two all right?”
Dang Hwa-seo asked Il-un and Hye-un.
Hye-un, who’d done nothing but tag along with Mok Ri-won, nodded easily. Il-un looked utterly dejected.
“…Did it have to be a stepping stool?”
Human stepping stool.
It hadn’t been part of the original plan.
The gatekeeper was so thorough that they’d hastily assigned the role from inside the carriage.
The idea had come from Hye-un.
With the two failures making Il-un the next most unreliable, they’d tossed him a job requiring no lines.
Naturally, he’d hate it.
But whining and refusing wasn’t an option in the moment.
Yes.
The resentment Il-un had shown Wang Sam was for the man’s diligence forcing him into that role.
Silence fell inside the carriage.
Only Hye-un hummed innocently, as if it were none of her concern.
Mok Ri-won glanced around slyly, then opened his mouth as if to lighten the mood.
“C-come to think of it! Brother Jegal’s acting was incredible! For a moment, I actually thought he was my real coachman!”
“Y-yes! If there’s one thing to praise, it’s his acting!”
Dang Hwa-seo chimed in.
Their tearful efforts changed nothing.
Namgung Jincheon’s irritation and Il-un’s gloom were beyond their power to fix.
“…Hang in there.”
In the end, that was all Mok Ri-won could say.