Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!
“You son of a bitch! You’re playing a prank on me when I promoted you as a porter head? Even if Bokryongdang’s reputation is ruined, you are still oily. You ungrateful bastard!”
After five or six seasoned kicks, Ko Jung-tae was covered in blood and he fainted.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The person who suddenly appeared and beat Ko Jung-tae was a middle-aged man with a sword around his waist dressed in light clothes. He seemed to be starting a long journey.
It was horrifying to see the blade scar from the left earlobe to the bottom of the chin.
A little away from the man, there were about five or six more swordsmen believed to have come with him.
All of them were armed with swords, dressed in light clothes.
The man then turned around and shouted to the porters, having worked with Ko Jung-tae.
“You guys were in the same boat?”
The violent temper poured out through his raised eyes. It was real energy that only the fighters who were willing to kill people could have.
But in my eyes, it seemed that he was trying to frighten the porters into silence. Warning that if they don’t talk too much, they will end up like Ko Jung-tae.
The porters shouted while kneeling their knees in unison.
“Save me. Messenger head Chang!”
“Save me. Messenger head Chang!”
“Shut up, you bastards. I’ll never let it go this time, especially once you’re done with this delivery.”
I don’t know, but those porters won’t be involved with deliveries for the next few months. If they don’t take the mark, their salary will be cut in half.
If they have a wife and children to support at home, the problem can get worse.
The man named Messenger head Chang told messengers to compose the tumult.
Then he passed by me without saying a word and approached Jeon Lip-seong and said politely, “I’m sorry, Janggwe Jeon.”
“I’ll withhold my release approval until they change all the packages and rearrange the marching group. Also, be aware that I will never let this go either.”
Although the head of messengers had the authority to set up a marching group by selecting messengers and porters, it was the authority of the Janggwe to approve that it was okay to start the delivery after the final inspection.
“You mean this? Since he has a long career and he is good at dealing with porters, I entrusted him with such a position. I never know how he will betray me.”
“I think the head porter got stabbed in the back.”
I murmured loudly deliberately. If he pretends not to know even after he has done this, he wants it to be out of control.
Messenger head Chang had been looking back at me belatedly, pretending to know me.
“Hello, I’m late. How are you, Sagongja?”
“Who am I meeting?”
“I’m the messenger head of the Bokryongdang, Jang Liang-ki.
“Are you in charge of this delivery?”
“Yes.”
“The old saying is that when the wind blows, light a fire and kill on a dark night. It means you have to jump in and out at the right timing to be successful. However, since you keep focusing on pocket money, you are going to be busted by a fool like me.”
“Gongja, you seem to have a misunderstanding…….”
“… …Tell Ko Jung-tae when he wakes up.”
“……!”
“Why, do you have more to say?”
“No.”
I could feel indescribable anger on his red face. As nothing other than a sagacious person, I humiliated him, and he should be filled with anger by now.
Jang Liang-ki turned around after the Kangho-style greeting, in which he raised his hand to his chest.
The panthers who came with him also disappeared afterward. People began to roar everywhere.
They were dumbfounded because I had no idea about Pyoguk’s life, but suddenly I embarrassed the experienced porter and even the messenger head was flustered.
Some people quietly disappeared somewhere. Everyone was going to report to their bosses.
Following the superior officer’s superior, you will find the sovereign, the Il-gongja, the Yi-gongja, and the Sam-gongja.
All the unusual things that happened within the Pyoguk were reported to them through their respective information pipelines.
There was only a difference between who listened faster and who listened in more detail.
Jeon Lip-seong told me.
“Some of the new Janggwes seemed to be related to this. Once we settle the matter, we will inform the court and take disciplinary action along with a thorough investigation. Of course, including me, since I couldn’t supervise properly.”
“Report to the court for such a small issue? I’m not that naive…… However, many people have already seen it.”
In a moment, the number of spectators increased to a hundred or so. Most of them were porters, but the sword-holding messengers and the Janggwes also didn’t look that simple.
The swordsmen looked at this with a curious look with swords in their chests, and their mouths were wide open when they heard what had happened from the surrounding porters after joining late.
“By the way, have there been any lame early twenties in the last couple of years? His name is Jo Yeon-saeng.”
I asked again just in case. Others may not know, but Jeon Lib-Seong would surely know because he hired me.
“There may be cases of a limp while working, but it is very rare to hire a limp from the beginning without any special talent. What’s more, it certainly hasn’t been within the last 1 or 2 years. I’ve never heard of Jo Yeon-saeng before.”
I could relax after his answer.
“But what’s wrong with you?”
“I’m just asking if a distant relative of my acquaintance came because he wanted to come join our Pyoguk. I guess he didn’t come. Would you please let me know if someone I just mentioned shows up and let him pass?”
“I can’t guarantee he will pass. But I’ll make sure to inform you when he shows up.”
“I’m sorry to hear that you humiliated me in front of people because it’s not so hard to hire a single porter. Do you think I’m that easy for you?”
“That’s not it…….”
“Hahaha. I’m kidding. Joke.”
“……!”
Jeon Lib-seong’s panicking made me almost burst into a laugh. In my previous life, there were many hard experiences from Jeon when he had been learning how to work in Pyoguk.
But I always gave in and respected him with my heart. He never bothered me with personal feelings.
“Can I ask you a question?”
This time Jeon asked me.
“Please.”
“How did you know that the porter changed the packaging?”
Suddenly, the buzz around me stopped and everyone’s eyes were on my mouth in unison because Jeon asked what they were curious about.
How did I know this? I knew because Pyoguk lost a lot since the bastard, Ko Jung-tae, embezzled in my previous life.
“I sensed it from the smell.”
“With the smell?”
“Doesn’t oil paper smell savory? It usually disappears in a month or so, but it looks like it’s just been made.”
As soon as I finished speaking, a few exclamations of “Ahhhh” flowed from the crowd. It was mainly where the old porters were.
Then the porters, messengers, and Janggwes asked the old ones if they really were, and when the old ones said they were, once again there was an “Ahhhh.”
Then, everyone started sniffing around the carriage.
I laughed inwardly. I don’t know why, but unlike applying oil to cotton cloth, paper had a slightly savory smell.
But it was only when I brought my nose very close to the cloth that I could smell it, not to the point where I could suddenly notice it on the road.
“By the way, you owe me one.”
I said the last significant word toward Jeon and walked into the crowd after a sudden turn. The people cleared the way, splitting like an ebb.
Again, there came the murmur.
“Go back to your work, no bullshit talking. All the carriages leaving today will be inspected by me!”
By the order of Jeon, the porters scattered like a herd of dogs that had been struck by lightning.
***
Coming out of the villa, I walked along the West Lake with Jang-sam. The lake where the boat was leisurely floating and the row of weeping willows along the road looked so beautiful.
“I’m hungry because I didn’t have breakfast.”
“Right. LOL.”
“If I had known, I would have eaten something.”
“You mean this? LOL.”
“Is this such a funny thing to you?”
“It’s so exhilarating.”
“What?”
“A short while ago, did you see the head of Ko Jung-tae spinning when Messenger head Chang hit him? I felt like a ten-year-old burden was going down in one shot. What if the bossy porters beg for a favor by kneeling?”
“Was it that cool?”
“It’s cool. The destiny of a slave is to go after his master. Gongja can’t imagine how humiliated I was by the porters.”
“What the hell is that…….”
As a porter in my previous life, it was slightly hard for me to agree. First of all, I had no memory of harassing Lee Jung-ryong or Jang-sam. It was hard to believe that the porters of the lowest class could bother him.
“You still have a position, so porters can’t give you any slapstick. But they curse me with things that I can’t even put into my mouth. When I met them on the street, I was dragged by them into the alley and they extorted money from me many times.”
“They even took your money?”
“Why would I lie?”
Since the work of porters was so hard and tough, low-income people usually gathered around them. That was why it was called an insult for fighting big and small crimes. All kinds of trouble happened.
I’ve lived with such people for 30 years.
“Don’t worry. From now on, they’ll be wary of you.”
“Will that day really come?”
“You’ve only been tricked so far?”
“What an old man says is not wrong. It is said that he would change once a man has a near-death experience, and now you are.”
“How have I changed?”
“Can I be honest with you?”
“Always, always.”
“Would he be a little… …brutal? You don’t care about people talking,” I said after I smacked my lips.
“So, you don’t like it?”
“Of course not. I hope you live just like you do now. When you threw yourself into the West Lake after sending me on an errand, it felt like the sky was falling.”
Since I wasn’t the real Lee Jung-ryong, I had never been with Jang-sam for so long or talked to him.
There seemed to be some deep affection between the two that no one else knew.
“You should be brutal too. That’s the only way to make yourself comfortable.”
“Dear Gongja.”
“Yes.”
“I’m afraid I can’t say this, but I think you’re mistaken. I’m not ashamed at all. You were the one who tried to take his life away for a woman, not me. It’s just a little uncomfortable.”
At that moment, something seemed to come up. However, I had no choice but to swallow my anger.
“By the way, did something get on my face?”
“Why?”
“Young women have been glancing at me since a long time ago.”
“So, what?”
“Have they noticed?”
“What?”
“That I’m Lee Jung-ryong. Then they will know that I jumped into the West Lake and was about to die. Is that why they are glancing at me? Oh, this is a bit embarrassing.”
“You don’t look embarrassed at all. And there aren’t many people who know your name or your face. People at the brothel or casino may recognize you.”
“But why do they keep glancing?”
“Oh, my God, it’s not your first time, but why are you doing this?”
For a moment, I understood what Jang-sam was saying. Wouldn’t it be similar to how I felt when I saw Lee Jung-ryong in my previous life?
‘So, this is what living with a handsome face is like.’
I’m just thankful that my legs are fine, even with such a handsome face. I really didn’t want anything more. I only wanted one thing: not being a messenger.
“We’re here. Dear Gongja.”
Where we stopped, a gate with a high wall appeared. It was the Hangzhou government office where the Hyangshi (state exam) was held.
The gate was tightly guarded by security soldiers, but not many Confucian scholars had not yet gathered, perhaps because it was early in the morning.
“Are you really going to take the Hyangshi?”
“What? Is that your way of speaking?”
“It’s because you’re working on something that won’t work. You said you’d learn how to work for Pyoguk, so I was so happy, but you suddenly wanted to be a great messenger…….”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. 10,000 people will get together for the Hyangshi (state exam) at the Hangzhou government office. All of them are Confucian scholars who have devoted their lives to studying with dreams of good luck. But you spent your life at brothels and casinos…… I’m sorry.”
“Give me the package.”
“Yes.”
It was when I first entered the Cheonryong Pyoguk in my previous life. My uncomfortable legs continued to be a problem even after I became a porter.
To make a large sum of money, one must be selected for risky and troublesome delivery.
But in the first few years, no head of messengers was willing to take me.
Not all porters carried cargo on their back.
He who is good at handling horses will drive the cart and he who is good at dealing with dogs will carry dogs.
Even though they can’t walk well on a complicated mountain path, they carry a 70-year-old porter on a donkey that knows the way well.
I was hired as a porter because I knew a lot of writing in a world where nine out of ten people did not know.
However, my talent was very active within Pyoguk, but it was of little use for deliveries.
I took a chance with my spare time to help the bookstore with the introduction of Jeon.
Fortunately, I studied quite well as a child prodigy, and I wrote small letters that were as small as chick footprints in my own handwriting, though I was not a master calligrapher.
I copied all kinds of books, but the most frequently written ones were those that won first place in the state exam.
Especially during the state examination season, the demand skyrocketed, and the number of manuscripts alone would be thousands.
I naturally memorized the answers written by this year’s first-place winner.
As extra information, he was originally a fucking poor Confucian scholar. And after nine trials, he did the challenges by surviving with the money with his young pretty wife, and finally, he won the first place in the state exam.
Other than this beautiful story, as soon as he was promoted to government service, he became a corrupt official and he sucked the people’s sweat and blood with his wife.
He did not destroy just a few families, nor were there a few people who were dragged unjustly and killed while being bullied by him.
He was so infamous that I still remembered his name. Yang Kun-byuk.
“If you’re so sorry, do what I tell you to do.”
“What’s that?”
“From now on, you will walk around here to look for a Confucian scholar with a sharp jaw and a black spot under his left eye the size of a fingernail. Tell him you are from Soju, ask if he is Yang Kun-byuk, Mrs. Yu’s husband, who sells fish at the Changchon Market.”
“Who’s Yang Kun-byuk?”
“You don’t need to know who he is, just ask. And if he says yes, tell him this with a sad face: ‘There’s a rumor in the neighborhood that your wife ran away at night with Mr. Bang of Buju-gan.”
“Yes?”
“Then don’t talk anymore and go away. If he comes after you and asks you, keep running away. Let him be curious.”