“What’s wrong with you?”
“No, no problem.”
“But why do you ride a horse like that?”
“What’s wrong with my riding?”
“You’re riding on your stomach.”
“Is that so strange?”
“Very much.”
“Excuse me, Head Jang.”
“Yes.”
“I think you’ve already noticed, can we take a little break? I’m afraid my balls are going to pop.”
“No. During the delivery, we set sections in advance that we have to go every day. No matter what happens today, we’ll have to get to Jangsagok before dark. We can’t be delayed because of you.”
That was a lie. Starting last year, they had been exploring a new path, and we would get to Jangsagok in about three hours.
I told this because I already knew it. Jang Liang-gi was trying to fuck me right now.
Who would I blame? Because I was not able to ride a horse.
I never knew that riding horses would be so hard.
I felt like I would fall when I straighten my back, and I would crush my balls when I was lying on the horse.
“Why don’t you get off the horse and drag it?”
“Why would I bring a horse if I wanted to drag it?”
“That’s true, too. Then I’ll leave you alone.”
Jang Liang-gi rode his horse wonderfully to the front. Then he rode side by side with other messengers.
Damn Lee Jeong-ryong. I wouldn’t have been this hard if he had been good at horseback riding.
Body, not head, remembered it.
According to Jang-sam, Lee Jeong-ryong broke his arm when he fell while learning to ride a horse when he was 13.
After that, he was scared and never rode a horse, and I was suffering.
In fact, in my previous life, if I were to drive a carriage in a horse seat, I would get tired of having uncomfortable legs.
But there was no chance for me at all to learn horse-riding.
The messengers looked back and giggled about what the Jang Liang-gi had said.
“Motherfuckers!”
Namgung So-so approached and put the horses’ heads side by side.
She was so good at riding a horse.
“Then it won’t last long because it’s hard.”
“It’s still tolerable.”
“Not you, but the horse.”
“……!”
“Stretch your back and put your weight on the inner left side of your hip. Legs are naturally tightened as if you’re hugging the body of a horse. The reins should pass through your fists and hold them gently, like milking a sheep. Try it.”
She must ride the horse well because she was from the Namgoong family. There was no time to argue about pride. I should learn quickly when I had a teacher.
“Okay. Good job.”
“I’m afraid I would fall.”
“All four-legged animals have their unique movements, and now your body is learning it. Over time, your body will naturally adapt.”
“Just telling me the instruction without teaching me?”
“Because I can’t teach you everything in a short time. Just like you can’t tell me all the secrets you got while we have dinner together.”
“8 bowls of noodles plus dumplings.”
“Isn’t dumpling supposed to be added?”
“Add bamboo leaves liquor.”
“Try to adjust the movement of your arms in a tight rein to the horse head. Then the upper body’s movement to the back and waist will naturally align with the horse.”
I did as I was told.
Oh, my God. I was able to balance myself relatively stably with a single try as if I had taken some antidote.
“How is it?”
“I think you did a good job for the dumplings.”
“Then shall I pay for bamboo leaves liquor?”
Namgoong So-so came close, and suddenly, with her reins, she slapped my horse in the buttocks.
“Giddyap!”
“Uh!”
The horse suddenly began to run madly.
The balance I had managed to hold on to was about to collapse in an instant.
Behind me came the sound of the messengers and porters laughing.
There was also a shout from Namgoong So-so.
“Lower your shoulders and leave your body to the horse!”
I did quickly as I was told.
A little better, but still in danger of falling, but I had a secret weapon.
‘Let’s concentrate!’
As time slowed down, the movement of the horse was felt as it was.
Thinking twice as fast, I adjusted my body little by little to the movement of the horse.
On the first day, I rode a horse fast and fell five times.
Four times the next day, two times the next day, and finally, on the fourth day, never fell from morning till evening.
On the sixth day, I was able to ride from side to side of the saddle on a running horse and even picked flowers blooming along the road.
“You’re learning very fast.”
“It’s because of a good teacher. Thank you.”
“I’d like to take credit to myself, but if it is all due to me, I think I have no conscience. I’ve never seen anyone learn how to ride a horse so fast.”
“I am too flattered.”
It was not only Namgoong So-so who was surprised.
They were dumbfounded by my ability to learn even rudimentary horsemanship in just six days.
No one laughed at me now.
“I’ve heard that horseback riding is basically like learning martial arts. Why haven’t you mastered martial arts when you’re so good at it?’
“Let’s call I am lazy.”
“Isn’t it because you’re the big fan of brothels and casinos?”
“The rumors are exaggerated.”
“What about the rumor with Cho Young-young?”
“How do you know that?”
“Everyone in Hangzhou knows it.”
“It’s not karma…….”
“What did you like so much about the Cho Young-young?”
“Have you seen her?”
“No, I didn’t see it.”
“Then, see her next time.”
“Why?”
“Not that beautiful.”
“I was told that she is one of the three great beauties of Hangzhou…….”
“Of course, she’s beautiful, but the bees will smell and fly, not for the appearance of flowers.”
“Are you saying that Cho Young-young has no scent?”
“If a person likes someone, it means that he or she likes his or her universe, thoughts, habits, voice, eyes, way of speaking, personality, values……. But these things are not in the word ‘appearance’, and these things are bound to be very subjective.”
“……?”
“I agree that Cho has a very beautiful appearance, but if you ask me if I like her as a woman, my answer is no.”
“You’re firm.”
“If so, you won’t ask the same question again.”
“Okay, I won’t ask you again.”
“Thank you.”
“And about our contract. While we’re on the delivery, can I at least see the answers you wrote in your answer sheet?”
“It’ll be public soon.”
“I went to the largest bookstore in Hangzhou, and they would get it even after 15 days. I know you, and I don’t have to wait around. Am I right?”
“I am not sure that I can remember them all.”
“You’re not going to get away with this now, are you?”
“If you teach me blood islands, I’ll remember it.”
“Blood islands?”
“I saw your Pangwan pen at the test site. It’s used by martial artists to strike the enemy down by stabbing his or her blood islands.”
“I just learned it for self-defense in martial arts academy. I cannot teach someone. Furthermore, it is not to ask other people recklessly to teach their martial arts. I think you know that.”
“I’m not asking you to teach me the method of blood islands attack, but to teach me the blood islands and how to read them. For example, blood spot for death, dumb, or quadriplegia. Well, that’s not a big secret.”
“You didn’t even know that? You are the fourth son of the Lord of Cheonryong Pyoguk.”
“Forget it. I can’t remember it at all.”
“Okay. I’ll teach you.”
“Thank you.”
“But why do I keep feeling like I am just giving you something or being stolen?”
“Because of your mood.”
***
On the seventh day, the delivery team suddenly stopped.
A porter carrying the flag of the Cheonryong Pyoguk found something.
The signs naturally gathered forward, including Jang Liang-ki, who was responsible for the marking.
Me and Namgoong So-so were also messengers, so we ran forward.
It was the branch of the thorn tree that laid in the middle of the road that stopped us.
A bundle of small branches that seemed like nothing wrong with kicking them.
“Why did you come here?”
Jang Liang-gi asked me with a look that seemed to have found me belatedly.
“All the messengers were gathering, right?”
I did not think it was a big deal, but the messengers giggled.
The only non-smiling messengers were Namgoong So-so and Ga Bul-yeom, who specially joined the delivery.
Ga Bul-yeom had been the messenger who died with me in my previous life. Now, of course, he was a normal messenger in the Cheonryong Pyoguk.
It was a great pleasure to see a thirty-year-old young Ga Bul-yeom again.
However, it seemed I had seen this situation somewhere.
“Why is everyone laughing?”
“Oh, don’t get them wrong. They think you don’t know the industry of delivery at all.”
“Please let me know if you think I don’t know.”
“Maybe that’s a little rude, but is it okay?”
“Of course.”
“If you do, I’ll be honest with you. Originally, they don’t think an elite messenger is a real messenger. It is the same in the Pyoguk, so during the delivery, it is unnecessary to doubt it.”
“Why?”
Namgoong So-so in an incisive voice. She seemed to be a little annoyed by the fact that she was hired as an elite messenger.
“Of course, they are not helpful at all. Because the porters are helping messengers by carrying goods, pushing wagons, cooking the rice during the break, doing laundry, etc. But elite messengers are just messengers literally, but they do nothing.”
I hold cursing him unlike my habit in the previous life.
Words of the leader were law from the beginning of the delivery.
It was even ahead of the order given by the Lord at the time of departure.
The Lord couldn’t know all the matters of delivery, which was done a hundred miles away and full of unexpected cases.
Thus, it was not right in any case to undermine the dignity of the head, but I didn’t want to let it go.
“I think two of us and other messengers are the same in terms of being lazy. How can you guys decide first without knowing whether I know about the delivery or not.”
“Then, shall we play a game for fun?”
“A game?”
“You like it, don’t you?”
It was a remark that Lee Jeong-ryong was once crazy about gambling.
Look at this man talking.
He was crossing the line slightly while talking gently.
“Head Jang.”
“Yes.”
“By any chance, do you have any bad feelings for me about the last case of White Fox? You were excluded from the delivery, got some trouble by my second brother. If it is true, I am so sorry…….”
“Never. It’s all my responsibility of neglecting my subordinates. You don’t have to be sorry at all. It’s not going to happen.”
It was true that bad feelings remained.
I tried to forget all, but I could not. I must teach him.
“So what game do you want?”
“From now on, if you answer correctly to my two questions, I’ll grant one of your requests. I don’t care whether you or your friend answer”
“What if I can’t answer?”
“You two should cook tonight. Including food for all the messengers and porters. Oh, even boiling the beans and feeding them to the horses. What do you think?”
The delivery team consisted of six wagons, six normal messengers, two elite messengers, and twelve porters in total.
Fourteen horses. Cooking for them would be very tough.
In addition to making dinner, it was the work of the porters, not the messengers, to boil the beans and feed the horses.
Jang Liang-gi intended to humiliate me, an elite messenger, by making me do what the porters do.
Look, you were only here……. with the nuance…….
It was okay. I could do it.
I had been doing this for 30 years, and why not today. But I needed to listen to the question first.
“What’s the question?”
“The thorn tree in the middle of this road is commonly referred to as black talk, a mark left by martial artists for those who follow or face it. There are many different kinds of black talks, depending on the industry, and depending on cases. It’s the black talk shared among messengers, and that’s what a messenger should know. Do you know what the name of this black talk is?”
Head Jang especially emphasized the phrase that messenger should know.
The Namgoong So-so, who was listening, broke in with a fit of rage.
“Dear Jang, isn’t this too much? This is the first time for Jeong-ryong and me to join the delivery. How could he know the black talk between messengers…….”
“Dangerous Tiger coming road.”
The eyes of the messengers, including Jang Liang-gi, widened.
The porters who were watching the game from behind were also very surprised.
“…… he can answer.”
Namgoong So-so belatedly finished what she had said.
Jang Liang-gi asked again.
“Do you know what it means?”
Again, Namgoong So-so stepped in.
“Head Jang, that’s too much, to be honest…….”
“It’s a sign that bandits are ambushed.”
“……it wasn’t too much. Hahaha.”
Namgoong So-so couldn’t stop laughing.
There was no surprise that there were bandits, and she looked so happy for winning the game.
Jang Liang-gi turned pale as ashes. The messengers couldn’t say anything because their mouths were wide open.
This time, the porters turned around and giggled a lot.
I got up and said, brushing off the buttocks.
“Dinner for all the messengers and porters will be cooked by the Head Jang. Don’t forget to boil the beans and feed the horses.”
He was messing around me. How long had they been a messenger?