4 – The Invincible Porter (2)

While heading toward Anhui City, where the Hojil Escort Agency was located, Chui spent several days recalling the past.

Hojil Escort Agency.

And the Hojung Sect that operated it.

That place held considerable meaning for Chui as well.

“…It was a good place. They treated even a drifter like me well.”

The sect leader of Hojung, Ho Yeon-am, and his wife, Sa Ji-won, were people of innately kind disposition.

They took meticulous care of everyone affiliated with the Hojil Escort Agency.

That included not only the escort warriors, but also day laborers like Chui, who worked as porters.

The porters employed by the escort agency handled loading and unloading cargo onto wagons, simple cleaning, and all manner of small menial tasks.

Ho Yeon-am and Sa Ji-won personally looked after each porter one by one, always checking whether there were any difficulties with their work.

Naturally, all the porters liked the Hojil Escort Agency.

Their daily wages, which were often withheld elsewhere, were never delayed even once, meals were provided regularly, and above all, they were treated like human beings.

Chui, too, had held a good impression of the Hojil Escort Agency during the time he worked there as a porter.

But that was not the only reason he was heading there now.

“I wonder how that guy is doing. At this point in time, he should still be alive.”

Chui recalled the face of an old friend and comrade he had met on the battlefield, a man with whom he would later swear brotherhood.

Ho Yeyang.

A senior soldier he met when Chui enlisted in the army as a low-ranking foot soldier.

He was short and scrawny like Chui, but his fists were exceptionally good—an excellent brawler.

His face and Adam’s apple were scarred from burns, and his voice was strange because of it, so he was ostracized by everyone in the barracks. Yet he and Chui got along remarkably well.

Following Ho Yeyang around, Chui learned the things necessary for survival, and thanks to that, he barely managed to cling to life through several battles.

From then on, Ho Yeyang and Chui became inseparable—no, they became sworn brothers.

They slept tangled together in the same barracks and ate from the same bowl.

They knew each other’s pasts completely, with nothing held back.

Then one day, Chui met the Blood Demon.

At that time, Ho Yeyang was by his side.

“If you don’t let go of him, I’ll fire the signal flare.”

Facing the Blood Demon, who had his hand around Chui’s throat, Ho Yeyang threatened him with his life on the line.

In the end, acknowledging Ho Yeyang’s resolve, the Blood Demon released Chui, and that night, Ho Yeyang and Chui became the Blood Demon’s disciples.

The cruel master drove his two disciples into the battlefield and lashed them relentlessly.

Each time Ho Yeyang and Chui risked their lives to bring back medicinal ingredients, the Blood Demon slowly restored his body.

And one night, the Blood Demon spoke to the two disciples.

“This is the final bargain.”

Turning to Chui, the Blood Demon said,

“The medicinal ingredient you must obtain this time is a hundred-year Snow Ginseng. Can you do it?”

“I can.”

Rather than debating whether it was possible, Chui answered that he would do it. The Blood Demon looked at him with a strange expression.

Then Ho Yeyang interjected.

“A hundred-year Snow Ginseng is difficult for us to obtain with our current abilities. Before that, wouldn’t it be better to first open our Ren and Du meridians?”

“…”

The Blood Demon hesitated.

To open Chui’s Ren and Du meridians, he would have to use some of the medicinal ingredients Chui had gathered so far.

Those were originally meant to restore the Blood Demon’s own body.

Ho Yeyang continued,

“If you use those ingredients to open our Ren and Du meridians, we will be able to procure the final ingredients you mentioned. We can make up for whatever ingredients are lacking together afterward.”

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 open your Ren and Du meridians.”

“No. You go first.”

“You go first, and I’ll go next.”

“You go first, and I’ll go next.”

“Listen to me. This time, you open your meridians first, and I’ll gather the medicinal ingredients in the meantime. After that, I’ll open mine, and you’ll gather the ingredients. You know the one who goes out last has it harder, right?”

Faced with Ho Yeyang’s concession, Chui had no choice but to nod.

That night, while the Blood Demon opened Chui’s Ren and Du meridians, Ho Yeyang risked his life to gather the necessary medicinal ingredients.

Even after growing stronger, Ho Yeyang returned with seven arrows embedded in his back and waist—it had been that dangerous a journey.

Then it was Ho Yeyang’s turn to entrust his meridians to the Blood Demon.

In the meantime, the Blood Demon ordered Chui to procure the final medicinal ingredients needed for recovery.

For Ho Yeyang’s sake, Chui infiltrated enemy territory at the risk of his life.

And soon, he succeeded in stealing a hundred-year Snow Ginseng that a high-ranking commander had prepared as a tonic.

“Now it’s done. Brother, master—everything will be better.”

But the journey back was longer and more perilous than the journey there.

Twice, he nearly had his arm severed. Four times, he nearly drowned.

While crawling prone to avoid flying arrows, he lost one ear and three fingers.

Crossing several rivers and mountains, Chui finally returned.

But the sight that greeted him was completely different from what he had expected.

The Blood Demon lay dead, his head severed.

And Ho Yeyang was there, blood pouring from holes all over his body.

Facing Chui, who wore a blank expression, Ho Yeyang gave a bitter smile.

“You knew it, didn’t you? Honggong never intended to let us live. I just moved a little faster.”

Right after Chui left, the Blood Demon tried to kill Ho Yeyang.

And knowing this, Ho Yeyang reversed the demonic energy flowing through his meridians and caused himself to explode.

That was why he had sent Chui away first.

“Don’t cry. Killing one crippled old man was nothing.”

Ho Yeyang waved his chipped sword and let out a weak chuckle.

“…”

In the pouring rain, Chui sat for a long time before his brother, whose body was slowly growing cold.

During that time, Ho Yeyang told him the stories of the past he had never finished.

“Do you know why I saved you?”

“I don’t.”

“It’s because you were once a porter at the Hojil Escort Agency.”

“…?”

Seeing Chui’s confusion, Ho Yeyang revealed his past.

“I am the last surviving descendant of the Hojung Sect, which was exterminated.”

“…!”

Ho Yeyang was the child of Ho Yeon-am, the sect leader of Hojung, and his wife, Sa Ji-won.

“You once told me. That you had worked briefly as a porter at the Hojil Escort Agency. That the sect leader there and his wife were good people.”

“…”

“I think that was when it started. When I began to think of you as family.”

Ho Yeyang smiled wearily.

“You were the only one who spoke of my parents while recalling good memories of them.”

“…”

Chui could not say a single word.

After the Hojung Sect was exterminated, Ho Yeyang had walked a path of indescribable hardship.

For revenge, he burned his face with charcoal and swallowed it to change his voice.

To kill the enemies who destroyed the Hojung Sect, he submerged himself in sewage beneath latrines and crawled through heaps of corpses crawling with maggots.

Yet despite all that, Ho Yeyang failed in his revenge.

Hunted by pursuers, he joined the military and eventually drifted all the way to this distant frontier.

“I’m glad I met you. If you ever find the leeway someday, please resolve my lingering resentment.”

Those were his brother’s final words.

“…”

Chui never forgot the tears Ho Yeyang shed that day, even in madness.

“This time, that resentment won’t even come into being.”

That was why Chui now walked in the opposite direction from the Hojil Escort Agency’s escort warriors, heading toward the Hojung Sect.

To meet his past friend, his eternal sworn brother.

“…First, I have to stop the extermination of the Hojung Sect.”

Having saved the Hojil Escort Agency—the financial lifeline of the Hojung Sect—from the bandits, the future must have changed at least a little.

But Chui intended to intervene far more actively in the affairs of the Hojung Sect than that.

“Ho Yeyang. I’ll be meeting that guy soon.”

With that thought, he quickened his pace, and before he knew it, he arrived at Anhui City, where the Hojung Sect was located.

Beyond the bustling streets, the walls enclosing the Hojung Sect’s estate came into view.

Chui gestured to a waiter passing by.

“Let me ask you something.”

“What?”

The waiter turned to Chui with an annoyed expression.

He was carrying a bamboo basket piled high with ingredients, which only deepened his scowl.

“Hey, kid. Were you talking to me just now?”

“Yes.”

“You little runt, where do you get off talking down to me—hey!”

The waiter smacked Chui on the head with a sharp crack.

Then, grumbling, he turned away.

“What a damn beggar brat—”

But he couldn’t take another step.

Chui had reached out and grabbed him by the hair.

“Huh? You little punk, you won’t let go? Ha, I’ll smash you to—”

The waiter tried to throw a punch at Chui.

But without reacting, Chui spoke.

“Answer.”

At the same time, Chui’s palm slapped across the waiter’s face.

“Me.”

The waiter’s head snapped around so violently it nearly broke his neck, before Chui’s slap struck again and forced his head back into place.

“Properly.”

Chui’s palm struck the waiter’s cheek once more.

Just as the waiter was about to burst into tears from the terror of feeling like his skull was about to be torn from his neck—

“Now.”

Chui raised his hand again.

The waiter hurriedly shouted,

“I-I’ll answer!”

Chui lowered his raised hand.

“I’ve come to Anhui after a long time. That small estate over there—is that the Hojung Sect?”

“Yes!”

“The sect leader of Hojung is Ho Yeon-am, right?”

“Yes!”

“His wife’s name is Sa Ji-won, correct?”

“Yes!”

“And their son’s name is Ho Yeyang, right?”

“No!”

Chui, who had been about to nod absentmindedly, froze.

It was because of the waiter’s final answer.

On the most important question, the waiter had given a denial.

Chui asked again.

“You’re saying their son is not Ho Yeyang?”

“Y-Yes.”

As Chui’s aura changed, the waiter nodded with a cowed expression.

Chui felt a slight sense of confusion.

Up until now, he had firmly believed that Ho Yeyang was a descendant of the Hojung Sect.

But that wasn’t the case?

“Did the facts I knew change when I returned to the past? No. That can’t be. I confirmed several times on the way here that everything is the same as before. Then why?”

It was a clear fact that Ho Yeyang was the child of Ho Yeon-am and Sa Ji-won.

And in terms of time, he should unquestionably still have been alive and present in reality.

In the end—

Smack!

Chui slapped the waiter once more.

“Are you not going to speak straight?”

“I-It’s really true! I swear!”

“What if I go to the Hojung Sect and Ho Yeyang exists there? Then this won’t end with just a slap.”

When Chui asked, the waiter screamed,

“H-He would, of course!”

“…?”

What was this supposed to mean?

Chui frowned, unable to understand the waiter’s answer.

“You said earlier that wasn’t the case.”

“Of course not!”

At last, the waiter continued angrily,

“You asked if the sect leader and his wife’s son was Ho Yeyang!”

“Yes.”

“But why would you suddenly turn an unmarried young lady into a man?!”

“What?”

When Chui asked back, the waiter drove the point home.

“There is no son in the Hojung Sect—there’s only a single daughter!”

 

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