Episode 79. Are there people who are picky when it comes to fighting?
Yeonjeokha, who had been watching the ronin move the food, sat down on the window seat.
“Good work. Go over there.”
“Oh, yes… … .”
An awkward smile appeared on Red Blood Sword’s face.
Now I see that they weren’t sharing food, they were just switching places.
Still, I thought it was fortunate that it ended like this.
But that was just the beginning.
As I was about to sit down in the corner, Yeonjeokha called out to me.
“hey!”
Chugong quickly moved to the window seat.
“Call me Jeomsoi.”
“yes.”
Chugong walked to Jeomsoi, who was standing in front of the checkout counter.
Jeom So-i, who had been watching the two of them since a while ago, hurriedly approached them.
“Give me some more tea.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jeomsoi returned holding the empty bottle.
Chugong, who had been standing there hesitantly, returned to his seat when Yeonjeokha said nothing.
After that, Yeon-eok would often call Chu-gong.
Bring more vegetables, bring more alcohol, heat up the soup, etc… … .
Because of that, Chugong didn’t even know if the food was going into his mouth or his nose.
Later, he even made me sit next to him and asked me all sorts of questions.
As Chugong was captured, the five ronin were unable to leave even after finishing their meal.
Yeonjeokha asked, looking out the window at the sunset.
“Where are you guys going as a group?”
“Yes, I heard there is a lot of work in Nanyang… … .”
“What happened?”
“I’m gathering ronin from Nanyangsangbang.”
“Why? Just tell me everything at once. Don’t make me ask you multiple questions.”
“Oh, there’s going to be a fight between Nanyangsangbang and Cheongungwan in Luoyang. Nanyangsangbang says, ‘Let’s do a major reshuffle of the bodyguards, and Cheongungwan is picking a fight,’ and Cheongungwan says their disciples were insulted by Nanyangsangbang… … Well, it doesn’t matter who was at fault first anyway.”
“What does the escort of Namyangsangbang and Cheongungwan have to do with each other?”
“That’s right, Namyang Sangbang used to employ people from Cheongungwan as bodyguards. I heard that they changed it to Hongbang this time. I heard that there was some controversy during the process.”
“Aha! So which side of the line are you going to stand on?”
“They say there are more experts in Namyangsangbang… … I’m on my way to Namyangsangbang.”
He was on his way to Nanyangsangbang, where there was a disciple of the Hwasanpa, the swordsman Lee Mu-ryang.
“Don’t people who like fairness go to Cheongungwan?”
“No. I made a big mistake earlier because I didn’t know that a puppy was afraid of a tiger. Please forgive me.”
“So how much do they give you for the day?”
“I heard that it costs one nyang every ten days.”
“That’s a lot of money, so why did you say, ‘Even if you work hard, it’s hard to buy one dumpling’?”
“I was just saying. It’s true.”
“Oh, you were just saying something to start a fight?”
“yes…….”
“This is fate, so have a drink.”
Yeonjeok-ha filled an empty glass with Hwangju (an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice or millet).
Chugong accepted the drink politely with an embarrassed look on his face.
As Chugong drank, Yeonjeok refilled his glass with yellow wine.
“Hey, friends, come over and have a drink too.”
The five ronin approached each other, timidly, and each drank a glass.
“I personally like the saying, ‘The four seas are brothers.’ What about the Ronin uncles?”
“Yes, that’s right. The four seas are brothers.”
“Yes, we think so too.”
Yeonjeokha nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Yeah, we’re not strangers. So we eat together and drink together. Right?”
“of course.”
Chugong nodded his head with an exaggerated gesture, although it was a little strange.
We ate separately, but what do you think?
Now was the time to please this weirdo.
“Go and finish eating. We’ll get up first.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Thank you. Anyway, I ate well. See you next time.”
“yes?”
Chugong raised his voice without realizing it at the greeting, “I ate well.”
“What? You’re not asking us to eat together and pay the bill, are you? Are you saying you’re going to wipe your mouth clean? Old Man Shim and I aren’t fools. You’re suddenly trying to make me feel bad.”
“Oh, no. Of course we should pay the bill. I was a little surprised when you said you’d see me next time.”
The quick-witted Chugong quickly took control of the situation.
“I’m not saying we have to meet on a specific day. If we’re meant to, we might meet again. Or should we go to Namyang together? We have to go there anyway.”
“No, we have to run through the night. Actually, we plan to sleep out tonight too.”
“They are hard workers. That’s how you make money. Okay. See you later. We plan to stay in this house for a day. Over here! Mr. Owner!”
At Yeonjeokha’s call, the owner of the cash register came running.
“The accountant here is this ronin, what’s your name?”
Without saying a word, Yeonjeokha glanced at Chugong.
“It’s Chugong.”
“That’s a nice name. My brother Chu has decided to pay the bills. Brother Chu, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
When Chugong nodded, Yeonjeokha spoke to her master.
“We’re going to stay here for a night. If Brother Chu doesn’t pay the bill, just let me know. I’ll take care of it right away. Old Man Shim here is an expert at that.”
“Yes, yes.”
The owner bowed and looked at Chugong and Simyanggak.
Sim Yang-gak glared at Chu-gong with fierce eyes.
“If you don’t want to see me again, do your math right.”
Chugong nodded vigorously, surprised by those murderous eyes.
“Yes, yes, I will do it right.”
Only then did Yeonjeokha and Simyanggak go up to this floor with their master in front.
The crow that returned to the ronin collapsed and fell to the ground.
Chupunggeom Dong-in-bae, one of the five ronin, asked in a low voice.
“Brother Chu, are you really going to pay for what they ate?”
“You can still say that even after seeing that old man’s martial arts skills? Let’s just think of him as stepping in shit and give him a 10:10 award.”
“No, shit, all we ate was dumplings and noodles. Just look at that dish. If you add the Hwangju, it would easily cost a silver nyang.”
“You know my name, and you even know that we’re going to Nanyang, so you’re saying we should run away? Are you saying we should give up our jobs in Nanyang just because we’re worried about losing a single nyang?”
At Chugong’s words, Dong-in-bae tightly closed his eyes.
As he said, I couldn’t give up my job in Nanyang for a single nyang of silver. For these ronin with no tomorrow, Nanyang was truly a land of opportunity.
The other ronin sighed deeply and said.
“Ha! Let’s just do it. If I go to Nanyang and stay there for ten days, I’ll get one nyang of silver. What’s the big deal about paying two or three hundred more? Let’s consider it a blessing.”
The other ronin also nodded their heads.
In fact, if you think of it as the price of having healthy limbs, two or three hundred won is not a waste.
After a while, Dong-in-bae, who was chewing the cold dumpling in his mouth, asked.
“But what do you mean by saying we should sleep out?”
“I said that because I don’t want to go all the way to Nanyang with them. I want to get away from them even if it means sleeping on the streets. I don’t want to see them again. Ugh… … .”
Chugong’s teeth chattered.
The other ronin did not object as if they sympathized.
The next morning.
Yeonjeokha and Simyanggak took their time eating and left Shinheung Restaurant.
Maybe because it was close to Nanyang, I saw quite a few ronin among the people passing by.
Yeonjeokha, who was walking along the road, opened his mouth.
“I think we’ve met at Namyangsangbang before. Right?”
“I don’t know for sure because it happened before I entered the mountain. The leader is the Gyeongcheon Swordsman Lee Mu-ryang, a disciple of the Hwasan faction, right?”
“Yes, I remember now. The Swordsman of Kyungcheon. I almost cut off both my arms by mistake. At that time, I had no control over my strength at all.”
“Has that happened to you? You’re a lucky person.”
“Still, it seems like he kept his promise. Judging from the fact that he didn’t attack the mountain again.”
“It seems like you were treated badly by Confucius?”
“I’m not that scary.”
At those words, Sim Yang-gak just laughed heartily.
He wasn’t a scary person to deal with, but he wasn’t a gentle person either.
If he had been gentle, the thieves of O Bong San Chae would not have been oppressed and lived without making a sound.
“Why are you laughing? Are you saying I’m wrong?”
“No. Confucius is a gentle man, but once a fight breaks out, he is a man who will do anything.”
“No, are there people who are picky when it comes to fighting?”
“Hehehe, aren’t there many people who end things at an appropriate level because they worry about the aftermath?”
“Why worry about the aftermath when you’re fighting? You should do that before or after the fight. My older brother said that if you think about useless things while fighting, you’ll get stabbed and die.”
“That’s true.”
Sim Yang-gak couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.
That only applies to low-level people like Pungyeoncho. Once you reach a level like Yeonjeokha, you won’t have to fight so recklessly.
The reason why experts are praised is because they keep the proper line.
Of course, in a fight between the right and wrong factions, there is no such thing as a proper line.
“But why did Namyangsangbang suddenly change the escort of Sangbang? It’s hard to understand why they even fought with Cheongungwan, with whom they had a relationship.”
“What do you care? Whether it’s the upper or lower ranks, it doesn’t matter to us, right?”
Even if a sword fight breaks out next to him, he is a great man who would just watch if it had nothing to do with him.
Strangely enough, this had something in common with Sim Yang-gak’s usual way of acting.
Sim Yang-gak looked completely convinced and no longer wondered.
***
It was originally a distance that could be traveled from Bangseong-hyeon to Namyang in one day, but it took two days to travel to Yeonjeok-ha and Simyang-gak.
I thought there was no rush anyway, so I walked leisurely and ended up being late.
The two arrived in Nanyang around lunchtime and looked for a restaurant to fill their stomachs.
Simyanggak pointed to a restaurant called Mangganghong that was bustling with customers.
“Sir, shall we go there? It looks like they have a good chef since there are a lot of customers.”
“I don’t know if there’s any room.”
I walked towards the person I was dating, tilting my head.
Yeonjeokha opened the door to the restaurant and stepped inside, flaring her nose. The fragrant smell of food wafted into her nostrils, but it was incomparable to that of Bang Seonghyeon.
As the two were looking around, a girl who looked like she was in her teens, Jeomsoi, approached them.
“Hehehe, there are no seats available right now, but if you wait a little bit, a vacancy will open up soon.”
Yeonjeok, who was hesitating whether to go out or not, just leaned against the counter because it was too much trouble. Jeomsoi, who had turned around, was busily moving around the customers.
Sim Yang-gak stood upright beside Yeon Jeok-ha as if he was guarding her and looked around.
Perhaps because the fight between the upper class and the lower class was imminent, most of the guests were martial artists.
In the old days, they would have taken any seat they could find.
But after experiencing life as a loser, I didn’t really feel like doing that.
Moreover, I couldn’t dare do that in front of Yeonjeokha.
As I wait blankly, I naturally start listening to the customers’ stories.
The main material, of course, was the fight between Namyangsangbang and Cheongungwan.
Through the conversation between the two ronin sitting nearby, I learned quite a bit about Sim Yang-gak and his rivalry.
The two ronin from Luoyang were more interested in talking than eating.
A man with a red dot on his forehead like a bean grumbled.
“… … Anyway, it’s not like there’s a fuss because of a famous church.”
Then the crow said in a calm tone.
“But thanks to that, ronin like us have a chance. The Seven Great Gate Sect may not like it, but we should be thankful.”
Unlike the red dot, the shaggy beak didn’t seem to have any animosity toward the famous church.
“But if you think about the cause… … .”
“What’s the big deal? Honestly, people say that famous religions are bad, but no one has ever seen them do anything bad. People think it’s because the Justice Alliance says they’re bad.”
In the past, the Dark Ages were terrifying, but if you didn’t fight them, nothing would happen. So, from the Ronin’s perspective, the famous religion and the Justice Alliance were equal.
Wuxia,
