TL: RuinsTranslator
Zhongyang County
The marketplace was crowded with people.
A lady selling snacks at a stall, a man precariously carrying a shoulder pole, children playing with their friends, and various passersby—all had their attention drawn to one place.
A procession stretched long through the center of the village street.
-Creak! Creak!
The sound of thick wooden cage cart wheels rolling could be heard.
Among the escort procession of the official army, prisoners with restrained hands and feet could be seen inside the wooden cages.
“Look at that.”
“Ah, they’re completely covered in blood.”
Faces weary and scarred from harsh torments.
Their white prison uniforms were stained red.
Perhaps for this reason, the atmosphere among the villagers watching the transport procession was ominously grim.
It was during such a moment.
Someone grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it into the wooden cage.
“These damn bastards!”
-Thud!
“Ugh!”
The prisoner, bound hand and foot, couldn’t dodge and was hit directly.
The sight of the suffering prisoner.
Seeing this, some of the onlookers began to throw whatever they could grab at them.
-Plop, plop!
The prisoners inside the cages had no choice but to endure being hit.
“You wretches!”
“Damn you all!”
“Die from this!”
Among those escorting the prisoners, not a single official tried to stop this.
Instead, they simply watched with sneers.
The purpose of publicly transporting prisoners was precisely this intention.
To proclaim their crimes to everyone under the sky.
“Hmm.”
There was a middle-aged man looking down from a second-floor window of an inn.
Facing a government official in official robes, he drank tea and asked, “What’s the matter?”
They were criminals.
The man in front of him was not the kind to feel easy compassion for prisoners.
The middle-aged man then looked at one particular cart.
Among the prisoners, one was isolated by himself.
It was a prisoner whose chest and abdomen on his prison uniform were stained red.
“He’s young.”
The prisoner sat straight, with his hair wildly unkempt.
Though his face was half-covered by his disheveled hair, at a glance, he was a boy.
He seemed to be only sixteen or seventeen at most.
‘…Perhaps the same age as the young master I serve.’
Seeing the young prisoner reminded him of the young master he served.
Then, he shook his head.
What does age have to do with committing a crime?
The government official, watching him, said with a seriously concerned face, “It’s difficult to reveal before the execution, but among those transported this time, that young one committed the most heinous crime.”
“What do you mean?”
“You said he looks young, but that guy among the prisoners is the most vicious.”
“The most vicious?”
The middle-aged man couldn’t hide his astonishment.
How could this young prisoner be considered the most vicious?
“…Did he commit murder?”
In the eyes of the law, the worst crime is known as treason.
However, those who commit treason are publicly transported with their crimes announced, so that couldn’t be it.
Then, the only other most vicious crime could be murder.
“That’s right.”
At the official’s response, the middle-aged man sighed softly.
To ordinary civilians, murder was a grave crime, but for martial artists like himself, killing and being killed was often part of their world.
Seeing him, the official clicked his tongue.
“Tsk tsk. It seems it doesn’t quite hit home for someone not from the murim.”
“Killing and being killed is commonplace here.”
“I suppose so. But if you knew the identity of that brat…”
-Thud!
Before the official could finish speaking, a stone flew straight into the head of the boy inside the cage.
The surroundings buzzed.
Blood flowed down from the boy’s head.
Yet, unlike the other prisoners, the boy did not move or groan in pain at all.
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“That young one is quite the tough breed.”
“Isn’t it painful? How can he… after being hit in the head like that?”
The middle-aged man’s eyes sparkled with curiosity at this sight.
‘That boy…’
Those who have internal strength or are trained can bear a certain degree of pain.
However, that boy was an ordinary civilian.
Yet, he didn’t make a single sound of pain even after being hit directly in the head by a stone.
Even more, his lack of any reaction was notably stoic.
-Swish!
As the flowing blood wet his head, it seemed bothersome, so the boy tilted his head back.
Then, the face hidden by his hair was revealed.
Instantly, exclamations of awe came from the onlookers nearby.
The official reacted similarly.
“Wow.”
Despite the blood-stained face, its beauty was undeniable.
The face, tall and with fine features, held a peculiar charm.
What was peculiar was that, at a glance, his expression seemed almost kind.
“How could someone with that face do such things…?”
The official was puzzled.
The middle-aged man stared at the prisoner boy, looking extremely shocked.
“What’s wrong?”
Startled by the question, the middle-aged man shook his head.
“…It’s nothing.”
“Nothing?”
Though he pretended it was nothing, his face just moments ago seemed as if he had received a shock.
Just as the official was about to ask again, the middle-aged man stood up.
And said, “The tea was good. I must leave due to urgent matters.”
“Ah, we’ve finally met after so long…”
“I’m busy, that’s all. Next time, I’ll treat you grandly at Moon Fragrance Pavilion.”
“Moon Fragrance Pavilion? Hmm.”
At his words, a smile tugged at the official’s lips.
Who wouldn’t be pleased with an invitation to the most luxurious brothel in the county?
* * *
Around dawn, during the hour of the Ox,
In the basement of the Zhongyang County official building’s Golden Jade Hall Prison.
Most of the imprisoned prisoners were asleep, and even the guards keeping watch over the Golden Jade Hall were nodding off against the wall.
In the midst of this, there was one who was not asleep.
It was the boy with disheveled hair, the prisoner.
The boy trapped in the Golden Jade Hall stared blankly at the wall.
‘…….’
It’s been four days since he thought he was dead and then awoke.
A lot had happened in that time.
It was fortunate that he miraculously survived, but upon waking, he found himself imprisoned as a criminal.
Moreover, the date for his public execution had been set.
His sentence was to be quartered.
A punishment where his arms and legs would be tied to different carts, pulling him apart until death.
‘…….Is this the expected punishment?’
He was called the Scythe Killer Demon, having brutally killed many.
Regardless of the punishment, escaping the death sentence was unlikely.
Yet, in the boy’s eyes, there was no sign of regret or any anxious emotion.
Instead, his mind was preoccupied with something else.
[What? Martial arts? Hey, kid. Did you happen to meet a martial artist?]
That was what one of the prisoners transported with him had said.
Because of that, the boy was able to solve a question he had been pondering.
‘Martial artist…’
He had often heard about them when he went to the village with his grandfather.
They could run as fast as a horse and had surpassed the strength of ordinary people by cultivating something called “Qi.”
What he had heard only as rumors was true.
That person had driven him to his limits in the blink of an eye.
‘…….Even if we meet again, the result will be the same.’
No matter how much he stayed awake and thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a way to kill that person.
Would a surprise attack or setting a trap really work?
After all, that being was a monster in human form.
‘Are martial artists originally that strong?’
If that’s the case, avenging my grandfather’s enemy might become an impossible task.
No matter how much I struggle, I’m up against a being I can’t kill.
Lost in thought for a while, the boy suddenly had an epiphany.
‘Martial arts.’
The only difference between that person and himself was just one thing.
The difference between having learned martial arts and not having learned them had led to such a result.
Then, the solution might be simple.
‘I need to learn martial arts.’
If the conditions are the same, the outcome could change.
It feels like I’ve finally found an answer.
But there was a problem.
‘Or should I say two?’
The first is that I need to get out of here.
If I stay put, I will be subjected to quartering and die a gruesome death.
The second is how to learn martial arts.
‘Who should I learn from?’
I need to find someone to teach me martial arts, but it’s vague how I might find such a person.
Moreover, even if I manage to escape from here, I am still a prisoner.
If I escape, a wanted order will undoubtedly be issued against me.
Then, who would want to teach martial arts to a criminal like me?
‘…It’s a dire situation.’
My head became cluttered once again.
I suddenly realized that my grandfather’s advice was right.
No matter the cause, I should not have easily revealed my hidden nature.
‘Have I dug my own grave?’
Even if I’ve come to realize this, it’s already too late.
The outcome has already unfolded.
The only silver lining is that despite being alive, that person seems not to know it yet.
Or maybe they know but think it’s unnecessary to bother since I’m already sentenced to death.
It was while I was deep in thought.
-Swooosh.
A faint sound came from somewhere.
At that, the boy turned around.
Feeling something odd, the boy held his breath and focused on the sounds around him.
‘What’s that?’
Just when he was curious, something caught his eye.
A faint mist, like a haze, was spreading from underneath the right side of the cell he was locked in.
The boy’s eyes narrowed.
‘Is there a fire?’
He wondered if a fire had broken out in the Gold Jade Hall building.
But soon, that suspicion faded away.
There was no particular commotion for a fire, and it was too quiet.
Then,
-Thud! Thud!
Sounds of something falling were heard.
Judging from the sounds, it seemed to be where the guards were stationed.
‘This is…’
The smoldering haze was spreading into the cell where the boy was.
A faint scent tickled his nose, and several herbs came to mind.
‘Lizard’s tail… Purple parsnip, Valerian root, and Birthroot…’
It had been nearly ten years since he started gathering and cultivating herbs following his grandfather.
The boy, extremely sensitive to scents, immediately recognized what herbs were mixed in the faint smoke.
‘…Sleeping incense.’
Valerian root, and Birthroot were herbs that induced sleep.
With such a mixture, those who breathed in this smoke wouldn’t wake up for about two hours.
But the boy was different.
‘The mixture is crude.’
Unless it was his grandfather’s mixture, the boy, who had been building resistance to various herbs since he was young, wouldn’t fall asleep from this level of sleeping incense.
‘Hmm.’
The boy judged that something was happening.
Sleeping incense had spread inside the Gold Jade Hall of the government building at a time when everyone was supposed to be asleep.
Leaning against the wall, the boy focused on the sound.
-Swish, swish!
Sounds of someone moving stealthily were heard.
It was a level of sound that ordinary people might not notice, but it faintly reached the boy’s ears.
‘Who is it?’
Someone had spread sleeping incense and entered.
It meant they had a purpose.
The very quiet footsteps moved back and forth around the cell.
‘What are they trying to do?’
It was unclear who had intruded and why.
Then, the footsteps headed towards his cell.
At this, the boy lowered his head, pretending to be asleep.
-Swish, swish!
The footsteps that stopped in front of his cell showed no sign of moving.
‘Could it be?’
-Click!
The sound of the lock on the cell being opened followed.
‘…Was it me?’
The target was clearly the boy himself.
This realization brought many thoughts to his mind.
Perhaps that person came to the Gold Jade Hall to deal with him, knowing he hadn’t died.
But why would someone bother to visit a person who was already sentenced to death?
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Regardless of the intent, it was clear he was the target.
The boy breathed as evenly as possible.
So that it wouldn’t be noticed he hadn’t fallen victim to the sleeping incense.
-Swish, swish!
Again, the sound of someone moving stealthily inside was heard.
A stranger carefully sneaked in.
Even with his eyes closed, he could feel the presence right in front of him.
-Thud!
The intruder slightly nudged the boy with his foot.
It seemed like a check to make sure he was indeed asleep.
The boy relaxed his body and remained still.
Convinced that the boy was asleep, the intruder suddenly lifted the hair covering his face.
The intruder’s steady breathing paused for a moment.
‘……’
There was a sense of emotional disturbance.
Having learned from his grandfather how to read ordinary people’s emotions, the boy could sensitively understand the emotional state of others through their expressions, actions, and breathing.
‘Now’s my chance.’
Such disturbance was an opportunity to strike at the enemy.
The boy abruptly lifted the wooden frame restraining his hands upward forcefully.
-Thud!
“Ugh!”
The unguarded intruder got hit in the jaw and staggered backward.
Seizing the moment, the boy tried to slam the wooden frame down onto the intruder’s head.
At that very instant, the intruder kicked the boy’s abdomen.
-Thud!
And in the moment of being pushed back, he quickly pressed his fingers against the chest to hit his pressure point.
-Tatatatatat!
Then, the body felt as if it had stiffened, unable to move.
Unsure of what was happening, the intruder muttered in disbelief,
“How is he not asleep?”
****
