It’s been a week since we left Sangam to head to the celebration of Weijichun’s sixtieth birthday, but here’s the kicker: with the vastness of this land, we haven’t even made it out of the Sichuan territories!
In modern times, if you were headed to China, you’d just hop on a plane and zoom there in no time. Here, however, the fastest means of transportation is a horse, and just moving from one place to another eats up an incredible amount of time.
“Seriously, this place is unnecessarily vast,” I sighed.
I miss the KTX, which gets you from Seoul to Busan in just four hours.
While lost in that thought, staring up at the fluffy clouds in the blue sky, suddenly—
“Whoa, whoa!”
The group led by the second young master came to a sudden halt.
“What’s going on?” I asked in a small voice from behind.
Dokgorin, holding the reins of her horse, answered me, “It seems that some bandits have shown up.”
“Bandits?”
“Well, you could call them that,” she replied.
The “N록림,” or “Green Forest,” is a common name for bandit groups that pop up in martial arts novels. Usually, they appear early on as a gauge of the protagonist’s strength. There are so many people in China that even bandits not affiliated with this group claim to be part of it!
In reality, most bandits are just poor folks who have turned to a life of crime due to the tyranny of local officials, and none of them are trained in proper martial arts.
“All right! Throw everything you’ve got on the ground!”
Bandits emerged here and there from the mountain paths.
Since it was clear that neither I nor Dokgorin would be part of any fighting, we decided to safely watch how Dokgoseok and the members of the Dokgo family would handle the situation.
“How dare you touch people of the great Dokgo family! Do you have guts made of steel?”
One of the guards protecting us shouted, causing the bandits to murmured among themselves.
“The Dokgo family, known for their swordsmanship…”
“I heard those people are incredibly strong. Is it really okay?”
Then the leader of the bandits, a man in leopard-patterned leather, shouted back, “Hey! You fools! They have six people, and we have thirty! We have five times the numbers! Are you quaking in your boots?!”
But that bravado didn’t seem to do much to rally his men.
“But brother, didn’t the village chief say that numbers don’t mean much against martial artists?”
“Yeah, remember when the guys from Eungchil’s village charged in without a care and ended up in shambles.”
“Ugh!”
After being silenced by his men’s oddly honest worries, the bandit leader decided he needed to show some strength. He brandished a large broadsword and shouted, “Enough! If a man draws his sword, he needs to make some cuts! If you won’t attack, then I will!”
At that moment, Dokgoseok, who had been quietly eavesdropping on their chatter, suddenly clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Hey, hey now, brothers! Let’s listen to what I have to say!”
The bandit leader, who was just about to jump into action, contorted his face and shouted, “You! Since when did we become brothers?!”
But Dokgoseok, with his slick demeanor, simply brushed off the words.
“Isn’t there a saying in the martial world that all rivers meet in the east? Though we come from different backgrounds, we’re standing in the same wave, so calling each other brothers upon meeting on the road isn’t out of line, is it?”
“What’s this nonsense?”
If he was trying to fluster the enemy, it clearly worked. The bandits paused, confused at the odd comments.
Dokgoseok took it a step further and suggested, “Why don’t we spare ourselves the trouble on this hot summer day and just let each other go our separate ways? In exchange, I’ll make sure to provide you with a round of drinks once your work is done!”
He waved a small pouch enticingly in front of them, and the bandit leader snorted dismissively.
“Why the heck should we do that? We could just ignore you and rob your pockets.”
Meanwhile, Dokgoseok, smiling slyly, responded, “It seems our leader’s head isn’t as sharp as I thought.”
“W-what?”
The bandit leader looked completely taken aback by the sudden, unprovoked jab.
But undeterred, Dokgoseok continued his argument. “You know, as someone living in these Sichuan lands, you must be aware of the Dokgo family’s reputation. Even if you manage to rob us here, the effort you put in won’t be worth your gains, and instead, you’ll just return home empty-handed with a bunch of your men lost. Are you really okay with potentially losing your gang over a single robbery?”
“…”
There was a slight exaggeration in his reasoning but it wasn’t entirely impossible. Since the bandits consisted entirely of ordinary folks, while we were martial artists—minus me—all of whom trained in the martial arts.
Even with a five-to-one numerical advantage, it was hard to predict how things might turn out in a fight. Of course, if by some miracle the bandits won and we were captured or wiped out, the elite warriors of the Dokgo family would come rushing in, burning with vengeance.
Thus, the risk of targeting us didn’t seem appealing for them.
After a moment of hesitation, as if reaching the same conclusion I had, the bandit leader stammered, “So… how much will you pay for the toll?”
It seemed he realized the negotiations were working, and Dokgoseok smiled broadly while tossing the pouch into the air.
“Will this be enough?”
The bandit leader caught the pouch and checked its contents, casting a quick glance at Dokgoseok before sheathing his sword.
“Boys! Let them through!”
The bandits, who had been lurking in the back, slowly stepped aside.
“Take care, brothers.”
We managed to pass by the bandit group without shedding a drop of blood.
*
After making it safely down the mountain and some time had passed, Dokgorin asked the leading Dokgoseok, “Brother, can I ask you something?”
“Of course, what’s on your mind, little sister?”
“Why didn’t you kill the bandits and instead chose to negotiate? With your skills, you could have taken them all out.”
Dokgoseok chuckled and hid his grin behind a fan. “Why waste energy when we still have a long journey ahead? If the bandits had been fewer, I might have drawn my sword as you said, but with thirty of them, managing you along with the fight would be too tricky, so I decided just to give them some cash.”
“I see.”
“Why? You’re not happy with how I handled things with the bandits?”
“Not really; I just wanted to understand why you let them go.”
“Hmm, you seem a bit disgruntled about it.”
“Well, to be honest, I thought your compassion was a bit soft for a warrior. But considering you did that for me, I can’t really say anything.”
As Dokgorin said this and lowered her head slightly, Dokgoseok murmured, “That’s rather bland,” and turned his gaze forward.
Having listened quietly to their sibling conversation, I cautiously asked Dokgorin, “Miss, is it that you’re unhappy about being protected by your brother?”
At that, Dokgorin moved her lips a bit before nodding obediently.
“To be honest, yes.”
“Why is that? It’s natural for a brother to protect his younger sister.”
I just couldn’t understand her mindset.
In the original story, Dokgoseok only trades Dokgorin to Weijichun two years from now.
But here and now, he seems like any brother would, yet Dokgorin appears to reject him like something disgusting.
To find the underlying cause, I fell deep into thought and then, it hit me.
“Ah.”
Dokgorin is currently twelve years old.
That is, she’s at the perfect age for hitting puberty and dealing with the awkwardness of it.
So, having a male sibling being such a nuisance isn’t odd at all.
It’s a complicated time in many ways.
“…Chilbok, are you having some weird thoughts?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“Liar! You’re definitely thinking something strange!”
Suddenly, Dokgorin pinched my cheek.
“Just tell me the truth quickly!”
“It hurts! It hurts!”
With my cheeks pinched like that, I started to slur my speech, but Dokgorin showed no signs of letting go.
The people ahead—Dokgoseok, his maid, and the guards—gazed at us with fond expressions, likely seeing it as a playful exchange between kids.
But honestly, if they have time for that, they should be stopping this girl instead!
I was left with no choice but to stick my cheeks out and endure until Dokgorin finally stopped her antics.
