LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 10 - The Mad Dog of Bingzhou, and Unryong (7)
Chapter 10. The Mad Dog of Bingzhou, and Unryong (7)
“My brother once told me that during battle, one must always remain calm.”
Thus, Haryeong had never once disobeyed that command.
Surrounded by fools obsessed with righteousness, she alone had to stay clear-headed and restrain them.
That’s why, in truth, Unryong’s mind belonged to Haryeong.
Everyone under his command knew this truth.
But even she was human in the end.
The trouble started when she spotted a child, lost in the chaos of the battlefield.
Only Haryeong, positioned in the rear, had noticed.
If the opportunity arose, she planned to rescue the child.
However, the situation wasn’t improving, and the child was steadily heading in her direction.
Logically, she knew it wasn’t the right time to act.
But her body moved before her mind could stop it.
The child would inevitably fall into the hands of the Black Mountain Bandits if she stayed put.
Or worse, be trampled underfoot and die, without anyone ever knowing.
So, she had taken a detour, slipping out from the rear, leading to her current predicament.
‘I’m such a fool…’
Haryeong grasped her dagger with trembling hands.
In front of her, the remnants of the Black Mountain Bandits sneered, twisting their lips as they looked at her.
And beside her, a young girl clung tightly to the hem of her skirt.
Why did she do something so foolish?
Haryeong looked into the girl’s eyes.
‘Ah, right…’
That was it.
It was for a simple reason.
The child reminded her of her younger self.
***
“What are you, exactly?”
“Good grief, what a vicious brat.”
Having lost her parents early and wandered the streets, Haryeong had once encountered a man while dressed in rags.
He had been a very strange person.
He handed her a steaming hot skewer of food, which he had been eating himself, despite her face being completely wrapped up in cloth.
“Why are you giving me this?”
It was the time of the Yellow Turbans Rebellion, when the world had fallen into ruin, and even food on the ground was treated as precious treasure.
Yet, this man handed over his food without hesitation.
And besides, the growling sound coming from his stomach…
– Growwwwl
He was clearly just as hungry as she was.
Yet, he scratched his ear, as if annoyed, and forced the skewer into her hand.
“…What’s your game? D-Don’t tell me… Are you expecting me to repay you with my body or something…?!”
Of course, Haryeong didn’t just take the food gratefully.
Since she was born with a fair face, she had grown sick of the lustful gazes men often cast upon her from a young age.
The little girl stared at him, her body trembling as she tried to cover herself.
In response, the man sighed deeply and answered.
“Stop spouting nonsense, will you?”
“…What did you say?!”
– Growwwwl
Despite standing her ground firmly, her stomach was painfully empty. It felt like her insides were burning, and she was on the verge of passing out.
In the end, Haryeong’s instincts took over, and she snatched the skewer, devouring it hungrily.
“So, you just helped me for free?”
“Eat first. Then talk. I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
– Gulp!
Only after swallowing the mouthful of food did Haryeong speak again.
“Why did you help me? There’s nothing in it for you.”
“You could just say ‘thank you’ and take it. You brat.”
Haryeong, still young, wasn’t used to being insulted, and her shoulders flinched.
The man scratched his cheek briefly and sighed once more.
“Can’t someone help without a reason?”
“…That’s weird. Aren’t you hungry too?”
“Starving. Painfully so.”
“That’s what I’m saying! That’s what’s so weird!”
Haryeong pointed her finger at the man, accusingly.
She had witnessed her parents being captured and killed by bandits.
She had also seen the people around her, unable to endure the shameful conditions, don yellow headbands and march off to the battlefield.
The once-blue sky was now overcast with black clouds, so thick it was impossible to see beyond them.
The earth, which should have been illuminated, was dark and dull.
In this world, where birds chirped beneath the screams of people, and crimson bloodstains marred the flowers blooming in vibrant colors, how could there be kindness without a reason?
To Haryeong’s small mind, such a thought was incomprehensible.
Hence, she suspected that the man in front of her would eventually strangle her to death, changing his mind in an instant.
But contrary to her fears, the man simply stared at her quietly before sitting down cross-legged on a nearby rock.
“…Uh, excuse me?”
Haryeong was utterly confused.
The man hadn’t even answered her question and was now ignoring her.
A little scared, but gathering her courage, Haryeong shouted.
“Answer me!”
“The code of the Martial Arts.”
“…???”
Martial Arts… huh?
The word had come out of nowhere.
It was something she had never heard before—this “code of the Martial Arts.”
While Haryeong was tilting her head, a big question mark hanging above her, the man spoke again.
“At the very least, children shouldn’t starve.”
“…”
Again, Haryeong tilted her head.
“…You don’t look that much older than me.”
“Ah…”
The man let out a small sigh, as if realizing his mistake.
“Anyway, kids shouldn’t go hungry. That’s part of the Martial Arts code.”
“Martial Arts, Martial Arts… What is that? Why does it have such strange rules?”
“You really don’t know?”
Haryeong shook her head.
“Tut, tut. A little brat who doesn’t even know about Martial Arts.”
The man looked at her with pity, clearly thinking she was some clueless street urchin, unaware of the ways of the world.
But the man had overlooked one thing.
The girl before him was far sharper than she appeared.
In Haryeong’s eyes, the man seemed like nothing more than a slightly crazy boy around her age.
“Stop with the nonsense and explain properly.”
“You’re stubborn, aren’t you? Well, it’s simple.”
The man grinned.
“It’s ‘righteousness.’”
“Righteousness?”
“It’s a core principle in martial arts.”
“…Oh, I see…”
Haryeong thought to herself.
This person must be an absolute lunatic.
And probably the biggest idiot in the entire world.
At least, that’s what she used to think.
But her thoughts were now floating away, and the scene around her had changed.
“Hey, kid, you okay?”
She spoke to the child clinging to her, despite trembling herself.
The girl nodded cautiously.
“Stay close.”
She said that, but in reality, there wasn’t much she could do.
As a mere woman, it was impossible for her to fend off fully-grown men wielding weapons.
Yet, Haryeong still clutched her dagger tightly.
“Heh, this bitch must be insane. Did she just walk into her own death?”
She wholeheartedly agreed with them.
Even she hadn’t expected to do something so foolish.
Perhaps it was because she had spent so much time with her older brother that his ways had influenced her.
Looking back, it made sense.
Whether it was when the once bright sky turned gloomy and plum blossoms fell, or when snow blanketed the ground like a pure white canvas, or even when she sweated under the blazing sun.
Haryeong and Unryong had always been together.
As time passed, more people joined them.
Just like he had helped her with his nonsensical “Code of the Martial Arts,” her brother continued to help others.
There was Baekrang, who had been starving and crawling on the ground like her, and Unsam, who had been beaten half to death by local thugs.
At times like that, Unryong’s compassion had spread to others as well.
Wanting to help her brother, Haryeong had stayed up late reading books, often pilfered from bandits.
Her constitution was too weak to help with physical tasks, but learning to read and filling in the gaps in his knowledge was her own way of trying to support him.
“Surrender your weapon and come here quietly.”
Her mind snapped back to the present.
Her brother never let injustice pass by, always standing up for what was right. He had done so in the past, and he was doing so now.
As his sister, wasn’t it her duty to persevere in moments like these?
Soon enough, one of the Black Mountain Bandits lunged at her.
Haryeong swung her dagger in a hurry and rolled her body.
But it wasn’t long before her neck was caught.
Then, *smack!*
Her head whipped to the side.
“Huff… Huff…”
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
Her consciousness was slipping away.
She glimpsed the sky. Still filled with dark clouds, there was no sign of the clear blue sky anywhere.
‘You don’t have a name?’
‘Nope.’
And her conversations with her brother swirled endlessly in her mind.
They say your life flashes before your eyes before you die.
“Damn it, this bitch… You’re such a nuisance.”
All of this, all for the sake of saving a single child, and she had ruined everything.
How could she ever face her brother and the others?
With one last effort, Haryeong swung the dagger still in her hand.
But in her already defeated state, there was no way it would have any effect on the men.
“You really are a foolish woman.”
Foolish.
Yes, he was right.
Her brother reaching out to help her, and then reaching out to help others…
It was all foolish and pointless.
And yet, that single act of kindness…
The hand that seemed so unnecessary and futile had brought warmth to those people.
It was that simple act of kindness that had kept them alive.
‘Then, I’ll give you a name.’
With the character for “high,” , and the character for “dragon,”.
Even in a world filled with dark clouds, he would keep moving forward.
The dragon born from the desolate earth would one day soar high above the blue sky.
“Run… away… Hurry…!”
With the last of her strength, Haryeong opened her mouth and spoke.
Startled, the child scrambled away, crawling as fast as she could.
In the end, she had become a pathetic sight.
She had vowed to follow her brother’s path to the very end, but all she had done was be a burden.
At that final moment, Haryeong tightly closed her eyes.
Then, it happened.
The hand holding her hair began to loosen. She fell to the ground with a thud, dazed, as she looked up at them.
The Black Mountain Bandits were no longer paying attention to her.
Their gazes were fixed ahead, seemingly entranced by something.
Clinging to the last remnants of her consciousness, Haryeong followed their line of sight.
There, a man was standing, holding the child securely in one arm.
“Man, finally. I found this damn brat.”
Blood was pouring from him, his body in tatters, but still, the faint smile never left his face.
It was the man who had lived that way all along.