Chapter 04 - The Invincible Porter (2)
On the way to Anhui, where the Howling Tiger Escort Agency was located, Chui spent several days recalling the past.
The Howling Tiger Escort Agency.
And the Hojung Gate, which ran the agency.
That place held a rather significant meaning for Chui.
‘…It was a good place. They were kind even to a drifter like me.’
The Hojung Gate Master, Ho Yeon-am, and his wife, Sa Ji-won, were inherently good-natured people.
They meticulously cared for everyone affiliated with the Howling Tiger Escort Agency.
This was true not only for the escorts, but also for the day-laboring Porter like Chui.
The Porters hired by the agency were responsible for loading and unloading cargo from the wagons, simple cleaning, and all other manner of trivial, menial tasks.
Ho Yeon-am and Sa Ji-won personally looked after each and every one of those Porters, always asking if they faced any difficulties in their work.
Naturally, they loved the Howling Tiger Escort Agency.
Their daily wages, which were so often withheld elsewhere, were never once late. They were given meals at every mealtime, and above all, they were treated like human beings.
Chui, too, had a favorable impression of the Howling Tiger Escort Agency from his time working as a Porter.
But that was not the only reason he was now heading there.
‘I wonder if he’s doing well. At this point in time, he should still be alive.’
Chui was picturing the face of an old friend and comrade he had met on the battlefield, a man with whom he would later become a sworn brother.
Ho Yeyang.
The senior soldier Chui met when he enlisted as a private.
A brawler who was as short and scrawny as himself, but who could use his fists with astonishing skill.
His face and throat were mangled by burns, which made his voice sound grotesque. For that reason, he was ostracized by everyone in the barracks, but he and Chui got along quite well.
Chui followed Ho Yeyang around, learning what he needed to survive, and thanks to him, managed to cling to life through several battles.
After that, Ho Yeyang and Chui became inseparable senior and junior—no, sworn brothers.
The two of them slept tangled together in the same barracks and ate from the same bowl.
They knew everything about each other’s pasts and could confide anything in each other.
Then one day, Chui met the Blood Demon.
Ho Yeyang was by his side at the time.
‘If you don’t let him go, I’ll fire this signal flare.’
Ho Yeyang had risked his life to threaten the Blood Demon, who had Chui by the throat.
In the end, the Blood Demon acknowledged Ho Yeyang’s spirit and released Chui. That night, Ho Yeyang and Chui became the Blood Demon’s disciples.
The cruel master drove his two disciples onto the battlefield, whipping them without rest.
Each time Ho Yeyang and Chui risked their lives to bring back medicinal herbs, the Blood Demon slowly recovered his body.
Then one night, the Blood Demon spoke to his two disciples.
‘This is the Final Quest.’
The Blood Demon said to Chui.
‘The herb you must fetch this time is a hundred-year-old snow ginseng. Can you do it?’
‘I will do it.’
The Blood Demon looked at Chui with a strange expression, for he had not debated whether he could or could not, but simply stated that he would.
Just then, Ho Yeyang interjected.
‘A hundred-year-old snow ginseng is difficult for us to obtain with our current skills. How about you first unblock our Ren and Du Meridians?’
‘…….’
The Blood Demon hesitated.
To unblock Chui’s meridians, he would have to use some of the herbs Chui had gathered, herbs that were originally meant to restore the Blood Demon’s own body.
Ho Yeyang continued.
‘If you use those herbs to open our Ren and Du Meridians, we will be able to procure the final ingredients you mentioned. We can simply replenish any herbs that were used up.’
At those words, the Blood Demon finally nodded.
Soon, Chui and Ho Yeyang sat facing each other.
Ho Yeyang spoke first.
‘Chui. You go first and have your meridians unblocked.’
‘No. You go first.’
‘You go first, and I’ll go next.’
‘You go first, and I’ll go next.’
‘Listen to me. You get your meridians unblocked this time, and I’ll go get the herbs. Then I’ll get my meridians unblocked, and you can go get the herbs. You know it’s harder for the person who goes to get the herbs last, right?’
At Ho Yeyang’s concession, Chui had no choice but to nod.
And that night, while the Blood Demon unblocked Chui’s Ren and Du Meridians, Ho Yeyang risked his life to procure the necessary herbs.
It was a perilous journey, so much so that even the newly strengthened Ho Yeyang returned with seven arrows embedded in his back and waist.
At last, Ho Yeyang entrusted Ren and Du Meridians to the Blood Demon.
Meanwhile, the Blood Demon ordered Chui to procure the final herbs needed for his recovery.
For Ho Yeyang’s sake, Chui risked his life and infiltrated the enemy camp.
Before long, he succeeded in stealing the hundred-year-old snow ginseng that a high-ranking commander had prepared for his own health.
‘It’s done. My brother, my master, everyone will get better now.’
But the journey back was longer and more arduous than the journey there.
He nearly had his arm severed twice and almost drowned four times.
He had to crawl on his belly to avoid flying arrows, losing an ear and three fingers in the process.
After crossing several rivers and mountains, Chui returned.
But the scene that greeted him was completely different from what he had expected.
The Blood Demon, dead with his throat slit.
And Ho Yeyang, bleeding from every orifice.
Toward the dazed Chui, Ho Yeyang smiled bitterly.
‘You knew, didn’t you? Hong Gong never intended to let us live anyway. I just made my move a little sooner.’
Immediately after Chui had left, the Blood Demon tried to kill Ho Yeyang.
Knowing this, Ho Yeyang had reversed the flow of demonic energy in his blood and qi, causing his body to explode.
He had sent Chui away first.
‘Don’t cry. Killing one crippled old man was nothing.’
Ho Yeyang brandished a chipped sword and gave a wry smile.
‘…….’
In the pouring rain, before his slowly cooling brother, Chui sat for a long time.
During that time, Ho Yeyang told him the old stories he had never finished.
‘Do you know why I saved you?’
‘I don’t.’
‘It’s because you were a Porter of the Howling Tiger Escort Agency.’
‘……?’
As Chui looked on, puzzled, Ho Yeyang confessed his past.
‘I am the last descendant of the annihilated Hojung Gate.’
‘……!’
Ho Yeyang was the son of the Hojung Gate Master, Ho Yeon-am, and his wife, Sa Ji-won.
‘You told me once. That you worked as a Howling Tiger for the Howling Tiger Escort Agency for a short time. That the Gate Master and his wife were good people.’
‘…….’
‘I think it was from that moment. That I started to think of you as family.’
Ho Yeyang smiled with a weary expression.
‘You were the only one who spoke of my parents with fond memories.’
‘…….’
Chui could say nothing.
After the Hojung Gate was annihilated, Ho Yeyang had walked an indescribably difficult path.
For the sake of revenge, he had seared his face with charcoal and swallowed it to change his voice.
To kill the enemies who had destroyed the Hojung Gate, he had submerged himself in the filth beneath an outhouse and burrowed into maggot-infested piles of corpses.
But despite all that, Ho Yeyang had failed to get his revenge.
Hunted by pursuers, he ended up joining the army and had drifted to this remote frontier.
‘I’m glad I met you. If you ever get the chance, please, avenge my grudge.’
Those were his brother’s last words.
“……”
Even in his madness, Chui never forgot the tears Ho Yeyang had shed then.
“This time, that grudge will never even have a chance to form.”
That is why Chui was now walking in the opposite direction of the Howling Tiger Agency’s escorts, heading toward the Hojung Gate.
To meet his friend from the past, his eternal sworn brother.
‘…First, I have to stop the annihilation of the Hojung Gate.’
By saving the Howling Tiger Escort Agency, the financial lifeline of the Hojung Gate, from the Green Forest, the future must have changed, however slightly.
But Chui intended to intervene in the Hojung Gate’s affairs far more actively than he had.
‘Ho Yeyang. I’ll be seeing him soon, too.’
With that thought, he quickened his pace and soon arrived in Anhui, where the Hojung Gate was located.
Beyond the bustling streets, the wall surrounding the Hojung Gate’s estate came into view.
Chui gestured to an attendant passing by.
“A word.”
“What is it?”
The attendant turned to look at Chui with an annoyed expression.
He was carrying a large bamboo basket piled high with ingredients, which made his face even more crumpled.
“Hey, kid. You talking to me?”
“I am.”
“Where does a pipsqueak of a brat like you get off talking to me so casually… Hah!”
The attendant smacked Chui on the head with a loud thwack.
Then, annoyed, he turned to leave.
“What a little beggar…”
But he could not take a step.
Chui had reached out and grabbed a fistful of the attendant’s hair.
“Huh? You little bastard, let go! Seriously—I’ll beat you to death…”
The attendant tried to throw a punch at Chui.
But Chui simply opened his mouth, showing no reaction.
“A.”
Simultaneously, Chui’s palm smacked the attendant across the face.
“Word.”
Just as the attendant’s head whipped around so violently it was about to snap his neck, Chui’s palm smacked his skull back to its original position.
“With.”
Chui’s palm struck the attendant’s cheek once more.
Just as the attendant, terrified that his skull would be ripped from his neck, was about to burst into tears.
“You.”
Chui raised his hand again.
The attendant hastily shouted.
“A-ask away!”
Chui lowered his raised hand.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been to Anhui. That small estate over there, that’s the Hojung Gate, right?”
“Yes, it is!”
“The name of the Hojung Gate Master is Ho Yeon-am, right?”
“Yes, it is!”
“And Ho Yeon-am’s wife is named Sa Ji-won, right?”
“Yes, it is!”
“The name of their son is Ho Yeyang, right?”
“No, it’s not!”
Chui, who had been about to nod absently, had to pause.
It was because of the attendant's final answer.
To the most important question, the attendant had given a negative response.
Chui asked once more.
“You’re saying their son isn’t Ho Yeyang?”
“Th-that’s right.”
As Chui's demeanor changed, the attendant nodded with an intimidated expression.
Chui felt a flicker of confusion.
Until now, he had believed with absolute certainty that Ho Yeyang was the heir of the Hojung Gate.
But that wasn't the case?
‘Did the facts I knew change when I regressed? No. That can't be. I confirmed several times on my way here that everything is the same as before. So why?’
It was an undeniable fact that Ho Yeyang was the child of Ho Yeon-am and Sa Ji-won.
And chronologically, he should have certainly been alive at this time.
In the end.
*Smack!*
Chui had no choice but to slap the attendant's cheek once more.
“Are you going to speak clearly or not?”
“I-it's the truth! This is unfair!”
“What will you do if I go to the Hojung Gate and find someone named Ho Yeyang there? It won't end with a slap next time.”
At Chui's question, the attendant shrieked.
“Ah, of course they're there!”
“……?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Unable to understand the attendant's answer, Chui furrowed his brow.
“A moment ago, you said no.”
“Of course I said no!”
Finally, the attendant continued, huffing indignantly.
“You asked if the Hojung Gate Master and his wife's son was Ho Yeyang!”
“I did.”
“Why would you suddenly turn an unmarried young lady into a man!”
“What?”
As Chui asked again, the attendant drove the point home.
“The Hojung Gate has no son, only a single daughter!”
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