What can the black-haired barbarian do among the following?
– Regression Pattern
– Volcanic Storm Sword
– Spear Peak Band guard unit
– Laborer
“Hey, barbarian! Aren’t you going to hurry up and deliver the materials?”
At the construction site. While drinking water, the site supervisor, Shijang, yelled at me.
“I’ll just finish after taking a sip of water.”
“Is the barbarian talking back?”
Shijang ran over and kicked me.
Thud!
I spat the water I was about to swallow, rolling on the ground. Damn! I worked for a whole hour without drinking water, and now I’m being treated like this just because I took a sip?
“Aren’t you supposed to run around like you can’t see your feet if you’re allowed to work? What? Water? Ha, damn, the world has changed.”
“……. I’ll get back to work right away.”
I was ready to curse back, but I had to hold my tongue to avoid going hungry today.
“What’s going on?”
A martial artist with a sword approached.
“Hehe. It’s nothing much. Just a barbarian slacking off, so I gave him a little reprimand.”
Shijang instantly switched from a fierce man to a friendly face, speaking to the martial artist.
“This is the Spear Peak Band’s vacation home construction site. I won’t tolerate any trouble.”
“Of course. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Shijang acted as if he were in Paris, rubbing his palms together and bowing as much as possible.
“Be careful.”
Once the martial artist returned to his place, Shijang opened his mouth again in his fierce tone.
“If it were my old self, clearing away a corpse would be nothing. Damn! If your martial artists weren’t watching, you’d be dead by my hands, you know?”
“I’ll work hard.”
“Those black-haired bastards only get their wits together after getting hit! I remember your face. If I catch you again, you won’t be able to work in this town!!”
Shijang rubbed his eyelids with his fingers, making a gesture that he would definitely remember me.
I briefly rubbed the area I was hit and ran towards the materials. No point in getting resentful.
Here, I wasn’t Kang family’s eldest son, nor Murong family’s reckless fiancé, but simply a black-haired barbarian.
——
“Hey, barbarian, where are you from?”
After stacking the materials, taking a brief rest, a guy working next to me struck up a conversation.
It had already been a year since I came to the Central Plains, but I still wasn’t used to being called a barbarian.
“I came from Joseon.”
“Joseon? Where’s that? Do you know where the Jang family Joseon is?”
“Isn’t it in the area above Mongolia? Where is the Hwang family’s Joseon?”
“How would I know? It’s probably north, west, or east since the south is the sea.”
“Barbarian. Where’s Joseon?”
Since we were working in teams of four, after finishing a round, he asked me again. He could’ve just asked me directly.
“Do you know Goryeo? It’s the country that was established where Goryeo used to be.”
“Oh! Just say Goryeo next time. I know Goryeo. Isn’t that where ginseng grows? I could tell you were a black-haired barbarian since there aren’t any here, but you’re actually a Goryeo barbarian.”
Unlike Yodong Province or coastal cities near Joseon, fewer people in the inland areas knew about Joseon when I mentioned it.
I was trying to say Joseon intentionally, but sometimes people understood if I said I was from Goryeo.
“Hey, stop calling me barbarian. It makes me uncomfortable to hear.”
The Jang uncle, who was listening, chimed in. Wow, a member of the top 10% of Chinese people.
“Well, I’m a barbarian, so that’s what I am. So, if it bothers you, what’s your name?”
The guy who kept calling me barbarian checked my expression and asked for my name.
“I’m Kang Yoon-ho.”
I thought about changing my name when I came to the Central Plains, but this isn’t Joseon or Yodong Province. Who would recognize me working in labor? I just kept my name as is.
“Well, Yoon-ho, what brings you to Hubei Province? This isn’t a northern area or a coastal port.”
“My village suffered a fatal plague. My mother died, my father died, my siblings starved to death. I thought I’d die too, so I decided to at least see the vast Central Plains before I go. Somehow, I’ve made it here.”
I always pulled this line out whenever someone asked why a barbarian was in the Central Plains.
“Uh… I’m sorry.”
When I pretended to recall my past with a serious face, the guy who called me barbarian apologized.
“It’s nothing. It’s all in the past.”
I forced a bitter smile.
Actually, that never happened. I just used that line as a typical response to the people calling me barbarian.
“I knew that guy would eventually cause an accident.”
“Why touch the wounds of someone who is hurt!!”
The other laborers working nearby scolded the guy who called me barbarian.
“Ah, I didn’t think it was like that! No, Yoon-ho. Anyway, let’s do well for the next ten days.”
“Yes. I’ll work hard.”
And thus, I started working as a laborer on the construction site.
——
It’s already been a year.
It wasn’t something to celebrate with candles, but it had been a year since I escaped from the Murong family.
Back then, I acted desperate and walked out the Murong family’s main gate. As soon as I was out of the sight of the Murong family’s martial artists, I hurried my steps. As I walked, I encountered the chief of the guard unit, some guards, and the laborer Dolsoi preparing a carriage.
There was also my sleeper double, wearing the Impeachment Gate.
“Young master, do you really think this will work?”
Inside the running carriage, Dolsoi anxiously looked at the sleeping double.
“It will work. No one at the Spear Peak Band will recognize it.”
“Honestly, this double really resembles your unfortunate face, but I’m a little nervous.”
Look at Dolsoi still speaking his mind even in a crisis.
The double wearing the Impeachment Gate indeed had a chilling resemblance to my face.
Originally, in martial arts stories, the Impeachment Gate could disguise someone else, but if you looked closely, you’d notice something off about it.
However, this wasn’t a martial arts story; it was a martial arts visual novel.
Even the protagonist, who grows to be strong in the story, fails to recognize someone wearing even the most advanced Impeachment Gate until the end.
It should have been clear at first sight if they looked pale or expressionless, but here it’s practically treated as a Hollywood special effects costume.
Wow! This is definitely not martial arts!
I remembered this was one of the notes from my feedback, but I never expected it to be this useful.
“This isn’t just any Impeachment Gate. It’s the top-tier one that’s rarely found in Black Market!”
Black Market. In simple terms, it’s a large-scale underground market on the continent. It’s a place to buy and sell all sorts of illegal goods cheaply and sell them at a high price.
“What’s so scary about the Black Market in the Central Plains? I almost peed myself.”
“Anyway, thanks for finding a good double.”
“They just did everything for me once I threw in some gold coins. Just saying, but the double was a convict who raped and killed a woman, so don’t be too sad about it.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
Even in a life-threatening situation, I didn’t want to take the life of an innocent person. That’s why I had asked Dolsoi to get me an innocent double no matter the cost.
“We’ve arrived at the safe house I prepared. Are you getting off now?”
Dolsoi said with a nervous expression.
“Yes, I should.”
“Well, since the chief of the guard unit will take my double’s corpse back to Joseon to bury it, you should just drop off somewhere and grab the gold coins and live well. What will you get from returning to Joseon anyway but being sold as a servant in someone else’s house?”
“Young Master….”
Dolsoi’s eyes glimmered with tears of emotion.
“Live well.”
Thus, I got off the carriage and secretly headed towards the safe house.
“Thank you for everything!!”
When showing gratitude, you ought to bow deeply and express just how grateful you’ve been. This guy lacked sincerity.
I waved my hand without looking back and walked into the safe house.
——
A month passed.
When everything settled down and quieted, I headed toward the Central Plains.
My pockets were full. The sky was clear.
“Hey, brother, why are you rushing alone on this mountain path?”
There were many bandits too.
—————-
I thought I was really lucky.
“Do your best, and wait for heaven’s will.” I worked hard, and heaven seemed to take pity and saved my life, but that was about it.
I got robbed of everything by a bandit and became a beggar. After that, I slept in mountains, barns, and even hidden empty temples, unable to rest comfortably.
If only I could make money, I could actually eat and sleep well. People from the Central Plains, the discrimination against barbarians is just everyday life.
With my colorful hair, I couldn’t get a proper job because there were no black-haired people.
“Yoon-ho has arrived. Come lie down in the empty space here.”
I got extremely lucky working construction; it felt like heaven. Nowadays, they needed workers, so even barbarians were welcome. The complaints of Shijang were unpleasant, but…
After work, at the laborers’ lodging.
As I opened the door, the guy who called me barbarian, Joo, was beckoning me over.
That’s the beauty of labor work. Since they need to start reviewing early in the morning, they provide lodging to keep people working from the day before.
The smell of sweat from the old laborers almost brought up what I had for dinner, but it’s a room where I could lay down. I was grateful.
If I work, they feed me and give me a place to sleep; this truly is a divine job.
“I held onto my husband by the chest and said…”
As I quietly lay in one corner, the stories of the old men’s affairs filled my ears.
“Joo, how long are you going to keep telling that story? Didn’t it end up with you getting caught by your husband and beaten?”
Ah! Why the spoiler!
I was so focused, like eavesdropping on insiders, with my head resting on the classroom desk.
“Well, who else is there to talk other than me?”
“That’s true.”
Silence fell inside the room filled with old men. What’s going on? No one has a story to tell?
“Is there anyone out there with an interesting story to tell?”
As the silence continued, a deep voice came from one corner of the room.
“Oh! Master Carpenter, are you awake? Did we disturb you too much?”
“We’re sorry!!”
“We apologize for being too noisy.”
Everyone jumped up simultaneously to apologize to the Master Carpenter. The Master Carpenter is the most experienced craftsman among carpenters.
Unlike me, who shifts boxes and assists the uncles for pay, he is the top craftsman whose skills are worth a lot.
Although Shijang oversees the salary and management at the construction site, the Master Carpenter is the one who leads the work. Therefore, he was the most respected person on-site.
“No, I wasn’t sleeping. I just thought it would be nice to hear a story before going to bed.”
“How about you tell one?”
“Hey, how would I dare tell a story in front of the Master Carpenter?”
The uncles just postponed each other, and no one spoke.
Who would dare put on a show in front of the Master Carpenter?
“Anyone who tells a story that I find interesting will earn a reward from me.”
Since everyone kept postponing and no one was speaking, the Master Carpenter put a reward on the line.
Oh?
A reward from the Master Carpenter?
I can’t resist this.
“I’ll give it a try.”
I raised my hand instantly.
“A face I haven’t seen before. Who are you?”
“I’m Kang Yoon-ho from Joseon. I’ll share a story from Joseon.”
You see, I used to be a web novelist in South Korea. It was a generic one, though.
“A story from Joseon? Does it have a title?”
The Master Carpenter looked at me curiously.
“The title of the story is…”
Inside the room were older uncles than me, most of whom were married.
So what story could I tell?
“It’s about winning the first prize in the lottery after a divorce.”
This is it.
