The Female Teaches Him to Write
The day I brought Yeon So-yeon into the valley, the air inside froze solid. A face that refined and beautiful had appeared among a pack of filthy men. She even carried a scent that didn’t belong anywhere near blood-stained bastards. It was enough to drive people insane.
That night, a few of the bandits started sneaking glances. At first it was just stolen looks. Then one of the guys handing out rations began drawing on the ground with charcoal. Pale skin, black hair, and huge breasts. It was obvious who he was sketching.
“The boss gets to fuck a woman like that, but what about us? Don’t we have cocks too?”
Around evening, the ones loitering by the campfire finally opened their mouths.
“Ha, can’t you share her just once…? Even for a single day…”
“…You fucker. Your life ends today.”
The moment those words left my mouth—
I drew the sword at my waist without a second thought. Without even turning my head, I picked out exactly two of them.
A clean slice. Two heads tumbled to the ground with a heavy thud, blood spraying everywhere.
“Listen up, you sons of bitches. That woman is mine. If any of you look at her with those filthy eyes again—I’ll cut your throat on the spot. Got it?”
The bandits held their breath. Some nodded. Others stared at the dirt. I didn’t ask twice. I simply sheathed my sword and spat on the ground.
“Fucking insects daring to drool over my female?”
After that day, the area around Yeon So-yeon became a sanctuary. No one dared even glance her way. And yet—that silence didn’t last long.
“The boss gets to fuck a fine woman, but we…”
Another bastard started complaining. Quiet whispers spread among the men tearing into meat by the campfire.
“We need women too. At least one bitch who’ll spread her thighs without a word. Otherwise, what’s the point of living?”
I heard every word. Without turning my head, I spoke.
“Kidnap them, seduce them, whatever. If you can bring one in, do it. But if you can’t feed her properly, take care of her, and make sure she doesn’t run—then the moment she tries to escape, cut her head off.”
The complaints vanished instantly. A few days later, women began appearing around the valley one by one.
Once women arrived, people followed. First Yeon So-yeon. Then an old widow. After that, a young mother holding a child, and a young widow who had lost her husband and was wandering lost. The men who brought them pitched tents right beside their own, claiming the women as theirs. More and more tents kept appearing.
The number of cooking fires grew from one to five. A large hut for storing food was built, and even a space where children could run and play.
I was starting to feel that calling this place a bandit group was no longer accurate.
“Lord Jang Yeon. Current population is two hundred and thirteen. Among them, one hundred and fifty-two adult men, forty-three women, and eighteen children.”
Yeon So-yeon reported while holding a ledger. Behind her, several women were bundling straw, and a few strong men were plastering mud walls to frame houses.
“We have erected two watchtowers so far, and one outpost should be completed within this week.”
“What about the roads?”
“We have secured five routes,” Yu Byeok continued from behind me. “Including the large southern road that existed before the Yellow Turbans appeared, the northeastern market road, the western trail, the eastern path, and the newly secured route heading north toward Mount Tai.”
“Are the tolls being collected properly on each road?”
“Yes. Last week, a total of thirty-five merchant caravans passed through. All tolls—grain, dried meat, cloth, silver, and so on—have been recorded in the ledger.”
I nodded. Smoke was rising from the center of the valley. Women were hanging laundry, children were running around screaming. The mud huts were still crude, but they kept out the rain. The smoke from the fires rose quietly above the tents.
Ha… Fuck. I’ve actually built a damn village.
With my hand resting on my sword hilt, I looked down at the scene from the hill. In the past, we were just a gang that killed to survive and forcibly shared stolen food. But now—
“They eat, they sleep, they grope women’s asses, and the bandit bastards are even working.”
This wasn’t just a bandit group anymore. This was life itself.
“This character is ‘Jang’ The ‘Jang’ in Lord Jang Yeon’s name.”
So-yeon opened the ledger and explained slowly. The piece of charcoal glided across the ground like it was sliding on ice.
“And this is ‘Yeon’ Even the same name carries a different weight when written as characters.”
“…What a load of shit.”
I muttered as I stared at the paper.
“The weight changes with a single character? What kind of weight does writing even have?”
“A blade carries the weight of killing someone, but writing carries the weight of ruling someone.”
Yeon So-yeon answered neatly.
“From now on, you will have far more occasions to rule people than to cut their throats.”
“Ruling is done with blades and fists, you bitch.”
“That may have been enough until now. But don’t you need to protect and rule over everything you’ve gained with that power?”
I stared at So-yeon. That gaze of hers. She wasn’t ignoring my words, nor was she backing down. A strange pressure flowed from her eyes.
“So now I have to write on the damn ground?”
“You could become General Jang, Governor Jang, or even Your Majesty. Anything is possible.”
Fuck. Your Majesty? That’s way too far. Even General makes me think of that bastard’s bad ending and puts me in a foul mood. Still, I dragged my finger across the ground.
Jang . Yeon.
Crooked lines. Ugly strokes. Not a single part was straight. Yet Yeon So-yeon nodded.
“Better than I expected… You’re quite good.”
“Guess I’m a fucking genius.”
“…That is absolutely not the case.”
“Does it make you feel better to correct me every single time I speak?”
“So you won’t forget.”
I turned my head and let out a small laugh. Just scribbling a few characters made me feel strangely proud. Even though I cursed with my mouth, my hand kept moving.
Damn it. I only needed a woman who could read and write. Did I pick up the wrong one?
So-yeon quietly watched the characters I had written on the ground.
“Once you become more familiar, if you write your name on the wooden travel permits, the effect will be far greater than it is now.”
“…One set of handwriting can change that much?”
“Because your coercion will be infused into every stroke, remaining in the writing itself.”
A few days later, one of the merchant caravans passing through the road stopped.
“Here… is the travel permit.”
The man on guard handed a wooden tablet to the caravan leader. The leader, his straw sandals covered in dust, took it, unfolded it, and suddenly froze.
“…Did you write this yourself?”
“Who else would have written it?”
I wiped my hands after eating dried meat while sitting beneath the watchtower and looked down at him.
“I wrote it. Only those permitted by me, Jang Yeon, may use this road. That’s what it means.”
The caravan leader silently bowed his head. But his expression twisted strangely.
“Lord Jang Yeon… did you perhaps know how to write from the beginning?”
“Do I look like I come from some noble fucking family?”
“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant…”
The leader seemed flustered and fumbled for words. Then he spoke quietly but clearly.
“…There is spirit in the writing. It is an aura that cannot be produced easily unless one has studied.”
I swallowed a laugh inside. All that was written on the wooden tablet were two crooked characters of my name that I had barely managed to imitate. Yet the caravan leader looked genuinely overwhelmed by them.
Good. If two characters can make a man bow his head, then this writing has truly become a weapon.
I gestured to the caravan leader.
“Right. Keep that travel permit safe. Next time, if you don’t have this writing, you’ll be leaving your life behind as well.”
“I will keep it in mind…”
The caravan leader bowed deeply at the waist. I watched his retreating back and grinned.
“…The name Jang Yeon. It can now truly suppress people.”
“Ahem… Now that you can even write… the merchants’ eyes have completely changed.”
Yu Byeok cleared his throat beside me. He had watched the scene with the travel permit and clearly remembered how the caravan leader had groveled.
“Thanks to those two characters, the others have started calling this route ‘Jang Yeon’s Road.’”
I curled the corner of my mouth into a smirk.
“…It’s all thanks to that woman, isn’t it.”
When I turned my head the other way, So-yeon was still flipping through the ledger and writing something down. Her eyes were fixed on the wooden tablet. Without saying a word, she gestured to the men and women around her to keep working. A beautiful face and refined hand movements. In the middle of a bandit group, a dignified woman organized documents with pitch-black eyes.
At first it felt out of place. Now… it felt natural.
“Isn’t it strange?”
“What is, my lord?”
“I only brought her to fuck her and make her do some writing, but at some point she started working like she’d die if she stopped and even nagged me to learn how to write.”
Yu Byeok smiled silently. I muttered quietly.
“…Seriously. Did I really pick up a crazy bitch?”
At that moment, So-yeon closed the ledger and approached me.
“Lord Jang Yeon.”
She held out another wooden tablet and spoke.
“Based on this week’s records, thirty-two merchant caravans passed through our six secured roads. We collected fifty seok of grain, three hundred geun of dried meat, five bolts of silk, five taels of silver coins, and eleven refugees entered of their own will. Among them, four are women.”
“…Fuck. You’re reporting people along with the tolls now?”
“You must understand not only the tolls but the people as well.”
I let out a small laugh and looked at her.
“Be honest with me. What the hell are you hoping for by doing all this in a place like this?”
So-yeon thought for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth.
“I hope that Lord Jang Yeon will soar even higher.”
“…Isn’t that only beneficial for me?”
“And—I wish to remain by your side.”
For a moment, I couldn’t say anything. It could have sounded like wordplay, or it could have been too honest and irritating, but her eyes were clear. It wasn’t the gaze of a mere bandit’s ‘female.’ It was the will to run alongside me until I rose to the top.
“…Fuck. I really shouldn’t have picked her up.”
Even as I cursed, my hand quietly accepted the wooden tablet.
I silently turned my gaze toward the valley. Houses built with mud walls. Guards changing shifts beside the watchtower. Women washing laundry by the water. The glow of a fire grilling meat received as toll beside a woman holding a starving child.
It’s not quite a village, but calling it a bandit group feels fucking wrong too.
“So-yeon.”
“Yes.”
“If one day I throw all this away, raise a real banner, and stand before the city gates—will you still be by my side like you are now?”
She looked at me. Then she nodded and spoke softly.
“Yes. At that time, instead of a brush, I will be waiting for you to come and embrace me yourself, Lord Jang Yeon.”
I chuckled and wrote my name on the ground once more.
And at that moment, another bandit suddenly came running in and shouted.
“Boss!! Other bandit bastards are snooping around our territory from the west!”
“Took them long enough, you fuckers.”
I tapped my sword hilt. Then I grinned.
“Good. My stomach isn’t full yet, so it’s time to set the next table.”