Socrates Dies
"Those Gwanghwamun vermin, parasites, the lot of them…."
Mr. Hwang the postman's voice drifted farther and farther off, and the carters' footsteps went with it. They seemed to have sat down to rest some ten meters away. Unfortunately, not a word of the conversation carried.
What did carry was a whisper pressed right against my ear.
"You the kid from the rumors?"
"You can answer. Doesn't look like anybody's around."
I couldn't see why I should.
"I know you're awake, all right? We've got to work together if we're getting out. Once the Gwanghwamun crew drags you in, that's the end of it. No chance. We break loose before then."
"You have a plan?"
"See? Knew you were awake!"
How nice for him.
"Do you have a plan."
"What an honor. You know how famous you are? The genuine article, I'm telling you!"
"The plan."
"The plan, well. I'll have to think one up."
Mouth shut. Bank the strength.
"Kid! You've got nowhere to go, right? I'll help you bust out, so how about joining our outfit?"
Bank it. Bank it.
"Little shit, playing hard to get. Truth is, I don't need to think of a plan, which is why I'm not. You don't know who we are, do you?"
Don't want to.
"We're out of Dongdaemun, that's who! Just you wait. Our main force is lying in ambush somewhere. Guaranteed."
Hm.
"When they hit, I'll pull you out too. So how about it? Come with us?"
If that was true, I didn't have a choice. The carters, the men waiting in ambush, or the Gwanghwamun crew on the receiving end of the delivery—if none of the three meant to simply let me go, then I stayed merchandise either way.
"If I come with you?"
"Then you're one of us! You can fight, from the sound of it. No settlement that'll take you, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then this works out perfect!"
"And what are you? Coming out of Dongdaemun…."
"Gallant outlaws, you might say?"
Best case, a mercenary band. Otherwise, an ordinary pack of raiders.
"What's the Gwanghwamun crew? I heard you poked the wrong people and got yourselves hauled in."
"What else would they be? Just another raider pack."
Ah. So these were the gallant outlaws.
"You messed with them without even knowing that? Heard earlier you wrecked one of their aces."
"He shot first."
"Hm?"
"I think he wanted my gun."
"A gun?"
I gave him the rough shape of everything that had happened. The old man and the cabin, I left out.
"Self-defense, huh. You really are unlucky. Of all people to hand a badge to, a fence."
"A badge?"
"That thin metal plate you were trying to sell."
The unmarked slip of metal fixed inside a raider's bag. I hadn't known what it was, only that it might be worth something, so I'd tried to take it to a shop.
"…You borrow this one yourself, too?"
"Yeah. Why?"
The same plate, stuck inside every single bag. It turned out to be proof that you belonged to a raider crew. And the settlement merchant I'd dealt with was a fence who moved stolen goods. There was a reason his shop was the only one an outsider could walk into.
In other words, I had cleaned out the fence's regulars and then strolled in to show off the loot.
"They put an assassin on you and botched it. A thing like that, they could've buried it and called it square. But you went and set the fire right out in the open, didn't you?"
Hmph. Let them.
"That badge is the mark of the Dongnimmun crew."
"You people sure love your gates."
"Well. Not that there's an actual gate standing there."
"No?"
"All smashed. Nothing left."
So that was how it was. I'd wanted to see one for myself, someday.
"You didn't know? You've been out where the Dongnimmun crew holes up, haven't you?"
"Ambushed them on a mountain path."
"Ah—Mount Ansan, the one behind Independence Gate? Anyway. Every crew that's staked a claim just took the spot where a gate used to stand. Doesn't mean the gate is still there."
"Didn't know the air raids went after things like that."
"What are you talking about? People tore them down. Every one."
"Huh?"
"Well, take care, Mr. Hwang."
"You ought to look into some other line of work yourself."
"Easier said than done."
Break was over.
"Don't you forget! Kid, you're with us. Something goes down, you fight on our side. Remember that!"
As if anything of the sort would actually happen.
Clatter.
How much farther we rolled, I couldn't say. The cart stopped.
Flap.
"All right, goods. Time for your baby steps."
With that he set to slapping cheeks without mercy.
"Faking sleep shows all over you, you little shits. Drug wore off ages ago. Everybody up, and make it quick!"
He was right. Every one of us was awake.
The carters came in close and started looping rope collars around our necks. Linked leashes cinched tight on twelve throats. If anyone meant to run, all twelve of us would have to run at the exact same speed. At last the ropes around our legs came loose. Arms and wrists stayed bound.
Legs alone, I could probably stomp these guys flat….
The neck was the problem.
I was sixth. The one who'd been talking to me stood directly behind me, dead center of the slave line. I flicked him a look—any way to cut the rope at my throat?—and got only a shake of the head. No help.
"Don't trip. Follow along nice and straight. Get yourselves hurt and you drop the price, so don't."
I had no idea where we were. I'd lived my whole life in the cabin; you had to know the land to know the land. No way to guess how far a place called Gwanghwamun still was.
"Don't even think about bolting left or right."
We had entered a narrow back alley of the dead city, high walls rising on either side. Even if I'd wanted to bolt, clearing those with a leash on was hopeless. The alley was so tight the handlers had to walk single file themselves, and so they sealed us in, front and back, as we moved. That put me—dead center of the line—farthest from their eyes.
"Hey, kid."
The one behind me.
"Fate threw us together. About time we traded names, don't you think?"
Not really.
"Name's Socrates. And the kid?"
I turned at once. I hadn't cared in the slightest what kind of face he had. Now I needed a proper look.
"Hm? Oh—the name? I'm Korean, yeah. Just changed it."
A man who looked to be in his late thirties, head shaved clean and gleaming. An old-world book from the cabin came back to me. Socrates had been on the cover.
"The name suits you. Nice and breezy."
"Ha! I get that a lot!"
"…You do?"
"It's a famous guy's name, actually!"
"You two goods! No chatter! Kid, eyes front and walk!"
Impeccable timing, cutting him off. I could almost thank the man.
"It's a famous guy's name, actually."
He had started whispering. Relentless bastard.
"Ever heard of a philosopher? A philosopher."
I've read a book or two.
"You haven't? Well, truth is, I don't really know either."
He knows that he doesn't know. Not bad.
"A fortune-teller told me a five-syllable name would let me live a long life, so I did some digging. Socrates—five, the way you say it."
"…That's the reason? You renamed yourself Socrates?"
"Pretty philosophical reason, right?"
"You know what a syllogism is? There's a famous example."
"Huh?"
"All men are mortal. Socrates is a man…. Never mind."
"What? Keep going!"
"You two goods! Last warning!"
I could almost thank him.
The narrow alley opened, and enormous ruined buildings rose into view. One of them leaned as if it meant to fall, and it seemed to be looking down at me.
"Everybody keeps slowing down! We've still got a long way before we get there, so move!"
Nagging bastards.
"Heh."
Socrates, whispering again after a long while.
"Don't fall for it. Gwanghwamun's close now. They're putting on an act so we don't try anything."
Close, then. And once we arrived, getting out would only be harder.
Dongdaemun, he'd said.
What had become of the ambush by "our side" that Socrates had promised?
"Kid. You didn't forget. Get ready. It's about time."
Ruined buildings stood high on every side, and the men around us were worn down from the long haul. A fine moment for a surprise. Maybe.
"Right before arrival, their reinforcements might show up, no?"
"They might. Which is why they might let their guard down."
He was thinking the same thing I was. I'd taken six raiders the same way. That was why I'd hit them just before they made it back to the hideout.
There.
The top floor of the ruin straight ahead. Two eyes peeked out a window, and then a hand crept up after them. Some signal I couldn't read. I looked around. Other buildings had eyes at the windows too. Not one or two.
An ambush on this scale, they'll have seen it coming.
They'd be ready. I'd been bothered all along by whatever they had sitting on their heads. Helmets, most likely. Gear that stopped bullets. The full-body armor looked like ballistic vests as well. And they had twelve hostages right beside them. Ah—they wouldn't spare a thought for me, so call it eleven. Either way, spraying gunfire wouldn't be easy.
Then there's only one way.
The eyes at the windows vanished all at once. It was time.
Whssh!
Nets came flying in from every side.
"Ambush!"
"Dongdaemun?!"
"Stay calm and answer it!"
They saw the ambush and hardly looked shaken. Well trained.
"Drop every piece of goods!"
Knock us down before they set themselves to counterattack. Sensible. Every neck was tied to the next, so the collapse took a single instant. In that same instant, wide nets in overlapping layers settled over all of our heads. Throwing them off wouldn't have been hard. There was no time for it.
"Counterattack!"
Submachine guns came out at once. They sprayed the ambushers bursting from every direction, and the rounds sang off.
Ting!
Full-body armor, and the faces sealed under protection as well.
"Tch!"
"Blades out!"
The Dongdaemun crew hadn't brought guns to begin with. Close quarters had been the point from the start.
"Cut them down!"
At a glance the Dongdaemun side had them outnumbered two to one, and this side was wearing the nets besides. If the skill wasn't far apart, the outcome wasn't worth watching.
"Come on!"
"Hah!"
They met the rush head-on even tangled in the netting, and there was a reason for the courage. A blade sank dead into a gut and stopped. It would not go in.
"Damn it…!"
Stab plates over the weak points, too. Professional couriers of merchandise, sure enough.
"Kid! Hurry!"
Socrates and the goods had started to move. Roped to one another, they needed me.
"This way!"
No choice. For now, they were our side.
"Good! Hit them!"
"Wh-what the fuck is this!"
A body check, of all things, from inside the net. Arms were useless, but twelve bodies piling in at once were enough to bowl one or two of them over.
"Shit…!"
"You crazy bastard! Don't cut the goods!"
"Boss! What the hell are you—"
"They're tied up! Just shove them off!"
"Fuck! We've got to live through this first!"
Ssk.
"Gaaah!"
"Hey, you asshole!"
"Anybody who comes at us—goods or not, cut them all down!"
"You little shit! Don't touch the goods!"
A mess.
"Kid! Behind you!"
Thud.
· · ·
Something hit me and I went down. Before I could tell what was happening, something else dropped onto my head, and the weight dropped me all over again. An arm slid down. A corpse, draped over me. No telling whether it was our side or a courier. Blood ran. Mine, or leaking out of the body on my head, I couldn't say. I tried to get up and fell again. This time I didn't even know why.
Hurry!
Someone was shouting at me. Socrates? A hand caught mine. A knife was pressed into it. A small knife. Not the kind you hurt a person with.
Cut it!
The rope at my neck, then. I cut. Blood came. A mistake. I'd been cutting my finger. Again, properly this time, at the rope. It took a long while.
CRACK!
A gunshot, enormous. My body pitched forward. Had I been hit? No. Then why did it land like that.
"Sniper!"
A sniper?
CRACK!
Out where the shot had come from, the sun was going down. Dozens of troops. At their center a sniper held his firing stance where everyone could see him.
"It's Gwanghwamun! Everybody, run!"
Crack!
"Boss, I think we can go in."
"Hm."
The boss lowered the sniper rifle.
"Good. Sweep them. Handle the goods so they aren't hurt, if you can manage it. If you can't, kill them all. The kid from the rumors, though—take him alive. No exceptions. When it's done, we eat."
The Gwanghwamun crew charged, and Dongdaemun ran without a single look back.