Chapter 69 : Rebirth (4)

The main road did not lead to Sugujin. It went to a ferry, but it was quite a distance from Gosujin. It would take another half a day to get there.

Mongseol left the main road and walked towards Gosu.

Although it was a rough gravel road, it was wide enough for oxcarts to pass.

“I smell water.”

“It’s the river soon.”

“Have you been here before?”

“Once. There’s no place I haven’t been with Grandpa. I remember staying here for one night.”

‘One day?’

Mongseol was about to ask, ‘You remember staying here for just one day?’, but she shut her mouth.

She could not guess what kind of life Ah Geol and Grandpa had lived. As someone who knew Ah Geol a little, all she could say was that they had lived a very harsh life.

There must have been a reason why Ah Geol remembered Sugujin.

What had happened in Sugujin? Why had they stopped here? No one would remember a place they had stopped at for sightseeing, so something must have happened.

When they had walked on the gravel road for about half a two-hour period after leaving the main road, a river with a deep green color appeared before their eyes.

“Ah!”

Mongseol felt a refreshing feeling, as if her chest had been pierced.

As Ah Geol had said, Gosu was a pretty big river.

Since the river led directly to a mountain as soon as you crossed it, the river water looked deeper.

The shadow of the mountain was reflected in the river.

“The road is cut off. We’ll need a boat…”

“Go down a little.”

“Down? Here?”

Mongseol asked with her eyes, pointing to a place that was not a road.

“You just have to go down a little.”

Even after hearing Ah Geol’s words, Mongseol could not easily take a step.

The place Ah Geol had mentioned was in the river. Reeds that had taken root in the river were growing tall. She didn’t know how deep the river was, and it looked like a good place for things like snakes to live.

“It’s okay. It’s not deep.”

Ah Geol said with a smirk.

“W-Who said I was scared it was deep? Anyway, my shoes will get wet!”

Mongseol snapped and stepped into the river.

* * *

A boat was hidden in the reeds.

The boat was so worn out that it seemed it had been hidden for a long time. Could it even do its job? Looking at the boat, which was half-filled with water, it seemed that it had a hole and was sinking.

“Does this move?”

Mongseol laid Ah Geol on the side of the boat.

“The pole should be around here.”

Ah Geol said, looking at the big mountain across the river.

“A pole? Not an oar?”

Mongseol was about to scoop out the water in the boat, but after hearing the word ‘pole’, she looked around.

As Ah Geol had said, there was a pole right next to the side of the boat.

The pole, made of bamboo, was submerged in the water so that it could not be found unless you had been told in advance.

“This is fine, isn’t it?”

Mongseol shook the pole.

The pole made of bamboo was perfectly fine. It was so elastic that it seemed it had just been made. Compared to the worn-out boat, it felt quite out of place.

Mongseol immediately realized something.

There was someone by Ah Geol’s side. She didn’t know if it was an organization or a few people who were helping him, but there was definitely someone helping him. The boat was hidden, and the pole was made by a helper.

Mongseol got on the boat.

Although the boat was half-filled with water, she did not think of scooping it out. She felt that the boat would move even if she didn’t scoop it out.

A hidden boat had to be able to move at any time. It was not something that was used only in a normal state. On the contrary, it was mostly used in very urgent moments.

There was no time to scoop out the water. As soon as you got on the boat, you had to move immediately.

“Where are we going?”

Ah Geol pointed to the other side of the river with a nod of his head.

* * *

‘This is a fortress!’

Mongseol looked at the village with surprised eyes.

The village called Gusujin was small and cozy. The number of households was only about twenty.

It was no exaggeration to say that the entire village was one family.

Another characteristic was that the entire village was tied together as one house.

There was a distinction between each house. There was your house, and my house. But the houses were attached. It was to the point where you would think that they had deliberately built it as a whole from the time they had built the first house.

The narrow alley in front of the house was the yard. There was no yard inside the house, only a kitchen and rooms.

Mongseol stopped at one of the houses that were clustered together.

The house was very narrow. There was a lacquered door, and a plastered wall. And beyond that was another house.

Could this be called a house? Wasn’t it just a room?

“Here?”

“Go in.”

“Is there no one inside? Is it okay to just go in?”

“Hmph! You already know. Go in. Even if we can’t stay for long, we can rest for a while.”

“What kind of village is this?”

“The remnants of the Red Wolf Squad. The Red Wolf Squad was annihilated, but their families remained. The living have to live.”

“Ah!”

Mongseol nodded.

Ah Sam used the Tiger Claw Ripping Sword. He also used the Oil Wiping Step. They were all martial arts of the annihilated assassin sect, the Red Wolf Squad. From then on, she had thought that there must be some connection between Ah Sam and the Red Wolf Squad… and as expected, there was a connection.

Suddenly, she felt that her situation was similar to Ah Sam’s.

The annihilated assassin sect, the Red Wolf Squad, the scorched assassin sect, the Drunken Flower Garden.

There were almost no survivors who had escaped the fire. Although there were about ten people left in the Drunken Flower Garden, it was hard to say that they had escaped annihilation with that number. Because the Drunken Flower Garden was in a state of being unable to recover.

In the future, if a person who used the Dark Shadow Sword appeared in the martial world, they would think of the annihilated assassin sect, the Drunken Flower Garden.

The Red Wolf Squad and the Drunken Flower Garden were in the same position.

It seemed that the Red Wolf Squad had survived in this way.

They formed a village among themselves, and lived a difficult… but happy life, excluding outsiders.

How should the Drunken Flower Garden survive?

Creak!

She pushed open the wooden door and entered the house.

As she had thought, the house was very narrow. It smelled of musty mold, as if it had been empty for a long time.

Mongseol rolled up her sleeves.

“Rest well here. I’m very good at this. When it was cleaning day at the Drunken Flower Garden, I was the one who flew around the most.”

* * *

Knock! Knock!

The sound of knocking on the door was heard.

Mongseol’s eyes sparkled and she carefully grabbed her sword.

“Open the door. It’s the person from next door.”

Ah Geol said with his eyes closed and lying down. She had thought he was sleeping, but it seemed he had been awake.

Mongseol opened the door.

A Hui woman was standing outside the door. She was wearing a white cloth on her head, so she could be recognized as a Hui person at a glance.

“A newlywed couple?”

The woman asked, glancing inside.

“What? Ah, no.”

Mongseol stuttered. She was quite flustered by the question of whether they were a ‘newlywed couple’.

“It’s been a year since you moved in, but I haven’t been able to greet you yet. Have some of this.”

“What?”

Mongseol tilted her head and received the bowl that the woman offered.

The bowl was warm. It was filled with a bowl of delicious-looking meat noodles.

“A person has to come out of the door for me to greet them. How can you stay in your room for a whole year?”

“What?”

Mongseol just tilted her head at the strange words.

A year since she had moved in? She couldn’t even greet her because she had only been in her room? She was speaking familiarly even though she had just seen her for the first time?

“My husband went to carry people. I wonder if the sun will rise from the west tomorrow. A guest came to the other side. I’ve lived for decades, but I’ve never seen a guest come.”

The woman shook her head.

‘A warning!’

Mongseol’s eyes sparkled.

“My kids are mischievous, so it might be a little noisy. I don’t know what to do with their mischief. But I won’t let them hit the wall, so please understand if it’s noisy.”

‘This is also a warning!’

“Yes. I understand.”

Mongseol was about to bow her head and greet her. But she had missed the chance to greet her.

The Hui woman who had finished her words had gone straight into the house next door without looking back. Although she had said she had come to greet her, her words were polite, but her attitude was as if she were looking at an uninvited guest.

Mongseol’s party was not a welcome guest.

“If they hit the wall, does that mean to run away?”

“Shh!”

Mongseol looked at Ah Geol.

Ah Geol was terribly tense. He was frowning deeply and was concentrating all his attention on his two ears.

‘Have they already crossed the river? I thought there would be some time.’

Mongseol also became tense.

As soon as she had heard that a guest had come to the other side of the river, she had thought of the Third Lord, Shin Dopa. It was extremely natural to think that he had chased her. With his pursuit skills, it was not strange that he had chased her all the way to her chin.

At that moment, Ah Geol said quickly, “If you move the pile of firewood next to the kitchen stove to the side, there’s an underground secret room. We have to go in now.”

“Now?”

“Quickly!”

Mongseol moved immediately.

She had not yet felt a crisis or anything strange. But since Ah Geol was saying it, she believed him.

She went to the kitchen and moved the pile of firewood to the side. Then, a small wooden plank appeared on the kitchen floor. When she pushed the wooden plank to the side, a strong smell of earth wafted out.

Mongseol quickly hugged Ah Geol and pushed him into the underground passage.

“How do I close this?”

“We don’t have to close it. Someone will come and close it for us in a little while. But I think it will be too late to avoid it then. Come down quickly. The less movement, the better.”

Mongseol quickly jumped down into the underground passage.

* * *

Tak! Hududuk!

The sound of the wooden plank moving was heard. The sound of the pile of firewood being scattered was heard right after.

As Ah Geol had said, someone had come and had taken care of the aftermath.

Mongseol thought of the woman who had brought them noodles. It was clear that that woman had blocked the back for them.

The underground secret room was completely blocked on all sides.

The two held their breath in the darkness where not a single point of light entered, and observed the situation outside.

Clatter!

The sound of the door being pushed was heard.

Someone had kicked the door roughly and had entered.

“Huh? This is an empty house?”

“Aigoo! It smells of mold. Let’s go. Let’s search another house.”

It was not one or two. The sound of murmuring and footsteps were tangled and heard from all over.

It was not the Third Lord, Shin Dopa. Who had come?

“Boat owner! These things don’t have a single piece of gold. Shall we just set it on fire? Then it will be clean.”

“How many necks do you have?”

“What?”

“Just find that guy as you were told!”

“Ah, yes…”

They did not hide their conversation. No, rather, they raised their voices and shouted at the top of their lungs.

The water bandits had no scruples.

What kind of water bandits would they be if they were active in Gosu as their sphere of activity? Hearing the title ‘boat owner’, it seemed that there were at least two boats, so it was a pretty big group of water bandits.

‘Sacred Sword Sect!’

Mongseol now knew why Ah Geol had been so tense.

As she had guessed, the Third Lord, Shin Dopa, had chased her. But he had not come alone. The Sacred Sword Sect had mobilized a large number of sects that they could mobilize. The group of water bandits that was searching the village was also one of them.

From the Sacred Sword Sect’s point of view, the water bandits were a target to be eliminated, but they were only controlling them within a certain limit. Just as the Drunken Flower Garden and the Ghost Gate could still be active.

So they had to listen to the Sacred Sword Sect’s words especially well.

If the Sacred Sword Sect decided to get rid of them, they could be annihilated right now, so they took care of themselves.

Behind them was the Third Lord.

If Ah Geol was discovered, it was not just the Third Lord who would rush in. The water bandits, and the many martial artists who had been mobilized together, would rush in at once. There would be no way to escape.

It wasn’t that he was scared of them and was on guard. It was that if he was discovered by them, he would not be able to escape, so he was on guard.

Not being discovered was the best.

Mongseol held her breath and listened to the situation outside.

(End of Chapter)