Chapter 3 : The Horse Stable Hireling Sosam

Chapter 3: The Horse Stable Hireling Sosam

Hireling.

It referred to someone who, unable to keep food on the table, had no choice but to live off another household as a dependent lodger and be worked at the whim of an employer. Put simply, a servant.

Although hirelings and employers were bound by contracts, most contracts were either meaningless or instead became the starting point of shackles. That was because the contracts were not managed by the authorities, but by the employers themselves. Employers could arbitrarily tear up contracts and redraw them whenever it suited them. In particular, hirelings belonging to martial sects were closer to slaves than servants. Under the principle of non-interference between officials and the martial world, the authorities, unless something exceptional occurred, paid no attention to the hirelings of martial sects.

They knew those people were being exploited, but that was already no longer within the domain of the authorities.

● ● ●

Sosam was a horse stable hireling of the Danri Family.

He had originally been the third son of an impoverished slash-and-burn farmer. Life had not been abundant, but it had been happy. Then one day, when he was five years old, a typhoon struck, killing his entire family and leaving him the sole survivor.

After that, Sosam lived as a drifting beggar without any registered household. Then, for the single reason that he knocked on the gate of the Danri Family to beg for food, he became a hireling of the Danri Family.

Since then, he had spent over ten years taking care of the family’s horses.

As was only natural, he took on all the dirty work within the family estate as a servant. Not only cleaning the estate, but sometimes doing menial tasks in the kitchen, and at times he even had to clean the latrines. Though his title was horse stable hireling, the only times he could truly feel that he was one were when he took the horses out for walks morning and evening, and when he slept. His sleeping place was the stable.

Living in the stable, his body naturally became soaked with the pungent animal stench unique to horses, the smell of rotting hay, and horse manure. Along with his lowly status, that foul odor made even other lowly people shun him.

For such reasons, the people of the family estate called him not by his real name, Sosam, but by Mabyeonsam[a].

Ma from horse stable hireling, Byeon because he smelled like horse manure, and Sam from Sosam.

Those three were tied together to become Mabyeonsam. To Sosam—no, to Mabyeonsam—the Danri Family was home, but on the other hand, it was also Fengdu Prison[b].

● ● ●

Just like any other day, Mabyeonsam was spending another grueling day.

One of the military hirelings, Machil, had requisitioned Mabyeonsam for his own personal errands and worked him hard. It was a frequent occurrence, and it was possible because no one ever paid any attention to Mabyeonsam. Among the hirelings at the very bottom, Mabyeonsam occupied the very lowest rung.

The two of them had come to a weapons shop in Bongyang to receive the weapons custom-made for the warriors of the Danri Family.

“Machil is here, is he?”

The shop owner came out and greeted Machil first. The Danri Family was the largest sect in Bongyang, so wherever one went in Bongyang, they were the biggest customer at any weapons shop. Naturally, this shop owner also supplied many weapons to the Danri Family and was well acquainted with Machil, a military hireling of the Danri Family.

“I’ve come to collect all the spear, halberd, sword, blade, and spike-type weapons we ordered a month ago.”

“Oh, you came at just the right time. I barely slept properly for a whole month, and only managed to finish them all yesterday.”

The weapons shop owner let out the usual merchant’s complaints as he brought out the finished goods. The quantity was enormous, and only after going back and forth to the storeroom several times did he manage to place all the weapons in front of Machil.

Machil gave them a rough once-over and paid the fee. Since he was not going to use them himself anyway, as long as they looked fine on the outside, he did not care.

“But is it really just the two of you? I don’t see a cart either. Will the two of you be all right carrying them all the way back to the Danri Family? It’s quite a distance.”

“What’s there to worry about? There’s such a fine horse right here.”

Machil sneered as he spoke and slammed his fist hard into the chest of Mabyeonsam, who was standing beside him.

Thud—.

Emaciated and little more than skin and bones, Mabyeonsam was sent helplessly tumbling across the weapons shop floor by Machil’s punch.

Even though he saw it happen right in front of him, the shop owner merely shook his head and turned away. No matter what he said, it would not be heeded, and it was an internal matter of the Danri Family. In Bongyang, there was no one who did not know Mabyeonsam’s situation, but no one stepped forward for his sake. People in such circumstances existed wherever one went in the Central Plains.

“Hey, Mabyeonsam. What are you doing? Get up right now and start moving the weapons. Unless you want to die just like that.”

“....”

Without letting out a single groan, Mabyeonsam got up and slung as many weapons over his shoulders as he could carry. Today would probably be spent entirely just hauling these weapons back into the family estate.

“I’ve got business at the Bongyang Inn, so I’ll be there. Once you’ve moved everything, come there. Got it?”

“....”

Mabyeonsam merely nodded without replying. With his poor nutritional state, conserving even his speech was a method of survival in its own way. However, not answering was hardly an excellent tactic for getting by.

Thud.

Machil punched Mabyeonsam squarely in the face. Mabyeonsam collapsed to the ground once more. A faint trace of blood stained the corner of his mouth, as if his lip had split.

“Hey, you bastard. Answer me, answer. Do you think I’m looking down on you just because you’ve got the same Ma surname as me?”

“N-no, sir….”

At last, Mabyeonsam opened his mouth. Just like his shriveled, tightly drawn body, his voice was utterly impoverished, dry and brittle like parched sand. Even as he spoke, blood streamed steadily out of his mouth. It was not only his lips that had split—his tongue and the roof of his mouth had been badly torn as well.

Thud.

Seeing Mabyeonsam bleeding, Machil kicked him in the face again. This time the impact was greater, and Mabyeonsam rolled helplessly all the way to the corner of the weapons shop before crashing into it.

Even with what little strength he had, he forced himself to lift his head and look at Machil. The whites of his eyes were streaked red from burst blood vessels, and his gaze seemed to say this.

Why? Why? Why…?

“Damn it, because of that bastard, blood splattered all over the weapons. What rotten luck. Useless piece of trash—no matter what you do, you’re never any help.”

Just for that…?

Mabyeonsam—no, Sosam—was truly miserable. Living day by day was unbearably hard, and he wanted nothing more than to die. But mustering the courage to die was not easy either. Every time he tried to kill himself, fear overtook him, and he gave up.

Each time, he swore again to live diligently with the courage it took to die… but before long, the desire to die would return. As this repeated over and over, even the will to keep living had mostly drained away.

Unable to die, yet unable to live either….

Sosam loathed himself for being such a coward, neither one thing nor the other.

Groping along the wall, he barely managed to pull himself to his feet.

Stagger, stagger.

Even as he tottered, he approached Machil.

Tap, tap. Machil lightly pushed Mabyeonsam’s forehead with his finger. Then came the sneering tone.

“Move all the weapons and wipe off every bit of the blood that splattered. I’ll check later, and if there’s even a single drop left, you’d better be ready to cough up a bucketful of blood from your mouth for every drop. Got it?”

“Yes….”

With that final threat, Machil left the weapons shop. Just as he had said earlier, he was heading to the Bongyang Inn.

Sosam knew well why Machil was going there. Nine times out of ten, he was going to see a courtesan. Machil would spend his time there fondling the courtesan’s bare skin until Sosam finished hauling all the weapons.

Wipe, wipe.

Using a scrap of old cloth the shop owner handed him, Sosam wiped the blood from his mouth. It was the only help the shop owner could offer. It was truly nothing much, but Sosam’s eyes stung with tears. Within the Danri Family, there was not even anyone who would do this much for him. He was nothing more than the most useless and foul-smelling hireling in the estate, lower than a bug.

He handed the blood-stained scrap of old cloth back to the weapons shop owner and offered his thanks. Then, with great effort, he slung two spears over his shoulders and left the weapons shop.

● ● ●

Huff, huff.

Ragged breaths spilled out.

Drip, drip.

Hot sweat poured down without pause.

By evening, Sosam was completely spent, but at last he managed to finish moving all the weapons. Seeing him like that, the shop owner spoke.

“Why don’t you rest for a bit? Your complexion isn’t good. It’s almost like….”

The shop owner swallowed the rest of his words—that he looked like someone about to die. He felt that saying such unlucky words might make them come true.

“I’m fine….”

After saying that, Sosam moved his body again. Every bone in his body creaked, and his muscles screamed for him to rest, but he had to keep moving.

Leaving behind the shop owner’s pitiful gaze, Sosam exited the weapons shop.

Staggering as if he were about to die, he took one step after another toward the Bongyang Inn. Perhaps because he had overexerted himself, his breathing grew dangerously rough, and sweat streamed down. If he pushed himself even a little more in this state, it felt like he might truly die.

Even so, he somehow managed not to collapse and arrived at the Bongyang Inn.

“Stop.”

“Wh-why… is that?”

“Why, you fucking bastard? If you were in my place, would you let something like you come in here?”

“....”

The inn attendant swept his gaze up and down Sosam’s filthy body, pinched his nose between two fingers, and denied him entry. He had always been dirty, but Sosam’s appearance now was truly beyond words. The blood he had spilled after being beaten by Machil and the sweat he shed while carrying the weapons had mixed with grime, leaving him looking like a complete beggar. In the end, he asked the attendant to tell Machil that the job was finished and then turned away.

It was obvious that later Machil would grill him over why he had not reported in person and had sent the attendant instead, but Sosam had no choice. If he did not hurry back and rest, it felt like his breath would truly give out.

“...I’m tired. I just… want to rest….”

His heart was running toward the Danri Family’s stable—shabby, but the place he called home—yet his body would not obey. He was so exhausted that he wanted to lie down right there on the road. At this point, it even seemed like it might be easier to just collapse from exhaustion and die.

Damn it, damn it.

Contrary to those thoughts, perhaps he still wanted to live, even now.

Though he staggered even worse than before, his two feet continued to carry him across Bongyang’s bustling streets, dyed red by the setting sun, toward the family estate.

Hk… heh heh.

A twisted laugh leaked out from between his torn lips without him realizing it. Sosam… Sosam, do you really want to cling to a bug’s life like this? He asked himself.

“Yeah… I do. Even like this….”

I don’t want to die.

Let’s live. Yes, let’s live. If I keep living, maybe one day a good day will come.

“Hey, Mabyeonsam.”

Someone called out to him when he was exhausted to death.

Sosam lifted his constantly drooping eyes to identify the owner of the voice. His vision was blurred, so he could not easily make out who it was, but he definitely raised his head.

Thud.

He felt himself bump into someone he assumed to be the owner of that voice.

[a](TL/N: 마변삼 = Mabyeonsam is a demeaning nickname combining “horse”, “manure”, and “Sam” implying someone filthy and less than human.)

[b](TL/N: 풍도옥= Fengdu Prison is a metaphorical name for hell or the underworld prison of Yeomra.)