Chapter 105: Escape (1)
The next day.
The atmosphere in the Black Tiger’s Den was ominous yet quiet, like water on the verge of boiling.
I seized the moment to move towards a location usually accessible only to the fort’s leaders.
“Stop. This area is off-limits to non-leaders.”
As I approached from a distance, two bandit guards instinctively drew their swords to block my path.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
I approached the guards with a slight smile.
“Get lost, you madman… Huh! Lea-, Leader!”
“Leader! What brings you here?”
As I got closer, the guards, adorned with red headbands, were surprised and straightened their posture.
I was not their leader. I had to correct everyone I had met since yesterday.
“Would it be alright if I see the faces of the people inside?”
“Of course. Please, enter!”
The two bandits sheathed their swords and made way. It was fortunate to have targeted the time when the red headbands were on guard.
“For one party.”
As a greeting, I clenched my right fist and lightly tapped my left chest before entering.
After walking a bit, I could hear the emotional voices of the guards who had just made way for me.
“The Leader greeted me! He greeted me!”
“He greeted me!
“For one party! The Leader will lead us as one!”
The place I arrived at was reserved for VIP prisoners within the Black Tiger’s Den.
Of course, the only courier service in this town that could be captured without a fight by the bandits was the Okcheon Courier Service, so there was only one person here.
“Hey. Are you doing alright?”
I spoke to Tang Hwarin, who was crouching in a corner behind the bars.
“Why are you here?”
Tang Hwarin asked me with a defeated tone.
Tang Hwarin looked like a lady who had dressed up to go out, only to be drenched by a sudden downpour and mud, sitting at a bus stop with a soulless expression.
“Why do you think? I came because I could. Why do you look so down these days?”
I came here to escape together with her, but she looked so disheartened.
While speaking lightly, I looked at her with serious concern. Tang Hwarin glanced at me, then lowered her head and opened her mouth.
“…Because I’m an absolute idiot.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Because I can’t do anything right. Everything is just pathetic… Me.”
Tang Hwarin sighed softly, her head bowed.
She had every reason to be disheartened. For Tang Hwarin, recent events were a series of misfortunes.
Kicked out of the Sung family, abandoned by her mother, her servants insulted and ran away from her, people around called her a leper, she was sick, she had no money.
Fortunately, she met me, and I told her not to worry about the escort, but then we were easily captured by the bandits.
It’s understandable she felt useless and pathetic.
“It’s like that for everyone when they come into the world.”
“Hong Gil-dong didn’t.”
You too with Hong Gil-dong.
“Hong Gil-dong is a hero for a reason.”
“Until I left the Sung family, I had similar thoughts to Hong Gil-dong.”
“You?”
“Yes. I’ve been despised and looked down upon since I was young, just like Hong Gil-dong. Whether it was the servants or everyone else, they all insulted me. My mother, no, that crazy woman too. She would say I was the baggage of her life and throw wine cups at me while cursing when she was drunk.”
“Are those even parents?”
I sighed softly, letting a hint of anger show.
What kind of parent did that to their own child? The love of a parent was so important when you were young. No wonder the child turned into such a big foul-mouthed person.
Tang Hwarin glanced at my angry face again and then spoke with a gloomy expression.
“I wanted to go out into the world too. But with a face like this… I was afraid to leave the Sung family, but I thought things would be different once I did. …But what is this? Some become righteous outlaws or even establish countries. I have no money and can’t properly use martial arts. I’m such an idiot that I can’t even book a room without you. An idiot.”
Tang Hwarin continued her lamentation, burying her face in her knees.
I silently listened to her bemoan her life.
“Why am I such an idiot? Why do only I have to be this unhappy?”
I could finally hear the moisture in Tang Hwarin’s complaining voice.
It’s a tough question.
She must have been confident before facing the world. Growing up in a wealthy family, she lacked nothing, and her martial arts skills were far superior to those of her peers.
Her martial arts skills must have given her a lot of confidence.
But as soon as she left the protective walls of the Sung family, the trials she faced must have completely shattered her confidence.
What’s left for her now was her trampled confidence, low self-esteem, and the ensuing sense of powerlessness.
Some might think she was just whining now, but to me, it looked like the first real trial she’s facing as an adult.
The growing pains that came with adulthood.
‘It reminds me of my 20s.’
I remembered being 20, opening a can of beer, looking up at the moon, and sighing with sorrow.
The pain and trials I felt when I had just become an adult and had to take full responsibility for my life.
It was incredibly tough, but looking back with age, those trials seemed insignificant compared to what I’d face in life.
Yet, if asked when I felt the most difficulty and distress, I’d still mention my 20s.
The trials a child faced when they just became an adult and left the safety of their home.
I smiled bitterly inside, overlapping her current state with my own when I was just becoming an adult.
Having gone through that time, I knew what she needed.
I unlocked the prison door and entered.
“What, what? How did you?”
Tang Hwarin looked up at me with widened eyes, momentarily confused by my entry into the prison.
“Lie down. I brought some new bandages and ointment.”
I took out the items to treat her thigh wound from one side of my coat.
“Give it to me. I can do it.”
“Never mind. Lie down.”
Maybe I had the wrong idea about her.
A woman who always cursed, always suspected, and guarded against anything that happened. I think I might have unconsciously equated her with the original story’s villain, the poison expert Tang Hwarin.
In truth, she’s just a girl who’s new to the world.
A woman like a puffed-up hedgehog, but in reality, a girl waiting for someone’s touch.
“Shit! Ah. Really! What are you doing?”
When I gently pressed Tang Hwarin’s shoulder to move her onto the blanket, she grumbled but lay down.
Her reaction was like that of a hedgehog that bristles at the touch of a human hand but relaxed once it realized the touch was affectionate.
This was what she needed.
Someone who, no matter how much she pushed away, extended a kind hand and stayed by her side.
When I lifted her skirt in one go, I saw her thigh wound healing among the discolored skin.
Luckily, it seemed to have healed a lot in a few days.
“Hey! Are you, are you crazy?”
Tang Hwarin exclaimed in shock, turning her head away.
“I’m not crazy. Don’t be too embarrassed about the skin. I’ve done this a lot when experimenting with a friend’s medicine.”
To me, accustomed to countless bait-and-switch posts, Tang Hwarin’s skin condition was cute, almost like a panda’s.
Now, accept my tender care.
I sighed softly, clearly not angry but perplexed.
“Is it still not good? It seemed much better.”
Tang Hwarin screamed in pain as I applied the ointment.
“I’ll even give you a special massage.”
Maybe her muscles were knotted from being down all the time? She needed to be able to walk properly if we’re going to escape from here.
“Hey. Don’t t… Ah! Hey! Where are you tou… Huh!”
Tang Hwarin made a heated moan, perhaps because her muscles were very knotted.
“I want to die.”
Tang Hwarin said, her face flushed as she sat down again and looked at the ground.
Unlike before, there’s no gloominess or dejection, just an inexplicable embarrassment in her voice. Kindness truly was the answer.
Fortunately, it seemed we could have a conversation now.
I sat down right next to Tang Hwarin, crossing my legs.
“Haha. Do you really want to die?”
I asked, laughing lightly, then turned to her with a serious gaze.
“That’s not what I meant… What? Why?”
Tang Hwarin began to speak a bit irritably but stiffened up when she saw my face.
“Are you unhappy because nothing seems to go right in the world?”
“…Yeah.”
Tang Hwarin nodded passively, as if she felt I was genuinely listening to her troubles.
‘It’s not the time for mere comfort.’
I couldn’t start a freshman romance story where we empathized, drank under the moonlight, gazed into each other’s eyes, and ended up in the same bed with a headache.
‘I need to energize her and get her back on her feet.’
We had to escape and head to Yichang. I needed her help. If she remained drowned in depression and powerlessness, our escape would be impossible.
I needed to quickly inject some motivation into her, enough to make her want to escape.
“Right. Life is full of unhappiness. Suddenly, a well-to-do family can fall into ruin. Loved ones and friends can all die. Wandering the Central Plains, being despised as a barbarian, and starving like a beggar.”
I spoke to her in a light tone but with a face full of somber sadness.
Let’s induce empathy first.
“Is that… your story?”
“Whose story would it be?”
I said mournfully, looking at our ceiling as if I were a man bearing painful wounds.
“You’re also unhappy…”
“No. You’re the most unhappy.”
I interrupted her, speaking firmly.
“Are you mocking me now?”
“And I’m the most unhappy.”
“…What do you mean?”
Tang Hwarin’s expression sharpened momentarily before turning puzzled again.
“People always think they are the most unhappy. Someone loses their wealthy family overnight and becomes a beggar in the Central Plains, crying in despair. Someone else is hated by everyone, betrayed by the last person they trusted, and thrown into the world to cry.”
Tang Hwarin, I was as unhappy as you were.
“…”
“Everyone thinks their life is the most unhappy.”
So, as a senior in unhappiness, I’d teach you how to stand up.
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