Surviving in the 121st Century - Chapter 49



Only Noblemtl

“I, that guy, is an orphan. He has no parents. Thanks to that, he, he lives like a wild animal···”

“···”

The innkeeper stammered his answer and glanced at the pistol on Ramien’s waist, as if he were afraid he might pull it out.

But even after hearing that answer, Ramien’s expression didn’t change. And Jincheol also felt that something was strange. There was something more hidden in the innkeeper’s expression.

At that moment, the stone fist that had been quiet until then stood up with a thud, pushing the chair away. Everyone’s eyes were drawn to him.

He spoke as if to show those eyes a good look, pulling out the dagger from his waistband.

“Liar, cut off your finger and the truth will come out.”

“···?”

A question mark appeared on everyone’s face. Stone Fist answered that question with action. He walked over quickly and grabbed the innkeeper’s ears as if he was pulling them out.

“Eww! What the heck are you doing all of a sudden…!”

“From now on, if we ask you questions, you will answer. If anything goes wrong, we will cut off your fingers one by one. Do you understand?”

“···!”

The innkeeper, who was about to scream, shut his mouth when he saw the dagger flashing before his eyes. Then, he looked at Ramien and Jincheol with trembling eyes without mercy. His eyes were telling him to stop them.

In fact, Ramien couldn’t hide his embarrassment and looked back and forth between Doljumeok and Jincheol. He thought the innkeeper was hiding something, but he didn’t think it was worth going that far.

But Jincheol was drinking his glass with a calm attitude. Sometimes, an ignorant and stone-fisted approach is the right thing to do.

Jincheol put down his glass and opened his mouth.

“What is your name?”

“···?”

The innkeeper did not realize that the question was directed at him, but when the stone fist that had grabbed his ear moved its dagger, he cried out in horror.

“Bati! It’s Batty!”

“Yeah, Batty. What’s that troublemaker’s name?”

“Ma, Maro··· It’s Maro···”

“Why does Maro steal food?”

“···That’s because I don’t have parents···”

Jincheol, who was fiddling with his glass, glanced at Doljumeok. Doljumeok recognized the look in his eyes and threw the innkeeper to the floor. Then, he pressed his knees on his back and pulled his right hand out to the side. The dagger approached his hand.

“Aww! Really! Really, he has no parents! No one in the village takes care of him! So! Sometimes he comes into the village and steals food! Really!”

The innkeeper shouted urgently in a suppressed voice. Doljumuk stopped his dagger and looked at Jincheol. Jincheol continued to ask questions while refilling his empty glass.

“Why don’t you have parents?”

“Dead, no, missing···”

“How did that happen?”

“···”

He looked at Jincheol, Ramien, and his own hand under the dagger with wide eyes. Such emotions flowed in his eyes. What is this? How did it come to this? Who on earth are they? Why am I being treated like this?

At that moment, Stone Fist’s dagger made a clanging sound and lodged itself between the innkeeper’s right fingers.

“Ahhh! They were Jasoins! They were Jasoins!”

He answered in fear, even though it hadn’t even touched his skin. And Ramien’s expression, which had been wondering if it was too much, also hardened coldly. She said.

“A Jasoin? A Jasoyeonbyeon person?”

“That… That, that couple was not Jassoin… They were immigrants three generations ago….”

The terrified innkeeper stuttered and told the story of Maro, the troublemaker boy.

A few decades ago, several families from Jasoyeonbang moved into this village. They had a lot of wealth, so they built the village dock and rented out large boats to fishermen. The villagers, who were initially wary, turned to welcome them as they poured money into the village’s public property. They naturally became the upper class of the village.

After that, the immigrant families became integrated into the village, and until just a few years ago, they were faithful members of the village.

But then war broke out in the South and everything changed.

Siapo, who had signed a non-aggression pact with Urata, began to persecute the Jaso people within Siapo for some reason. They were arrogant, greedy, and were bugs who stole Siapo’s money through insidious means.

The discrimination against Jaso people that started in the city quickly spread to the rural village of Amachi. Jaso people who had been natural villagers for decades also had their bloodlines verified for generations.

But the distinction was quickly made. Because the blood was already mixed to the point where it could be strictly classified, one-third of the villagers were classified as Jasoin. So the village elders classified Jasoin not by bloodline but by inheritance. As a result, one person emerged.

Owner of the fishing boats, docks, warehouses and buildings in the village. The man with the most inheritance from eldest son to eldest son. He was Maro’s father.

“···So? So you hanged him to death?”

Ramien looked down at the innkeeper with a face as cold as ice. Her hand was slowly feeling for the pistol on her waist.

“That··· doesn’t hang···”

“Then what? Answer me!”

The innkeeper trembled at her shouting and replied:

“They burned their houses… They nailed the doors so they couldn’t come out…”

“···!”

Ramien was speechless, perhaps because he was shocked by the news that they had burned down the entire house. Jincheol naturally felt thirsty and filled his empty glass and drank it. They looked like rabbits, but their actions were no less than those of humans. It was confusing whether we were in the 121st century or in the Middle Ages.

Jincheol asked after emptying his glass.

“Then how did that kid live?”

“I think there was a secret space just for one child. I found out later while cleaning up the debris… The couple was covering the space….”

“Who verified the identity of the person?”

“Now, Elder… the elder of the village…”

Jincheol, who had been quietly looking down at the innkeeper, gave a wink to Doljumeok. Doljumeok then pulled out his dagger and lifted the innkeeper up. Looking at his terrified face, Jincheol said:

“Call the elder.”

“···Yes? Well, Elder?”

The innkeeper, who had been asking questions, quickly nodded his head as he realized the gaze of Stone Fist glaring at him from the side.

“Yes, yes! I will bring the elder!”

As soon as Doljumeok got out of the way, the innkeeper ran out. Only Jincheol, Doljumeok, and Ramien were left in the inn.

She muttered.

“Locking people in their homes and burning them down…? These barbarians!”

“I guess this isn’t a common occurrence?”

“Common? How can it be common to corner people and burn them? All the people in this town should be judged!”

“who?”

“···what?”

“Who will judge?”

“···”

Jincheol gulped down the empty glass and downed it in one gulp. The alcohol tasted good, but the tip of his tongue was bitter.

“We are strangers passing through this town. We have no right to sweep this place away just because we heard a story a little while ago.”

“···but.”

“And if you judge them? What are you going to do? If what you just said is true, the reason they killed that kid’s parents was because they were the wealthiest people in the village. The boat and buildings he owned were probably divided among the villagers. Then should we line them all up and shoot them all?”

“···”

Ramien’s bright eyes sank and melancholy settled over her. She realized her current situation. A defeated soldier, a runaway, and even a fraud, though it was not her intention. She was far from a judge of justice. Now, she had to run away quickly, not expose the evils of this town and judge the guilty. Before the real Siapō soldiers or police showed up.

“···Then why did you call the elder?”

Jincheol smiled slightly at the question. He got up from his seat and approached the inn window. Then, he opened the small window to fit Rabito and reached out.

“Eww! Let go of me!”

With a short scream, what he was holding in his hand was the shabby little Rabito kid, Maro, who had run away a little while ago. The kid with the ear caught was struggling and biting Jincheol’s hand. However, Jincheol paid no attention and looked back at Ramien.

“We are just passersby, but this kid is different. Let’s ask him. What he wants to do for this town.”

*

“···”

Maro glared at Jincheol, Ramien, and Doljumeok, who were looking at him. There was a strange venom in the child’s eyes.

The guy didn’t run away once he was put on the chair. But he just stared at the three people without saying anything. Ramien asked in a soft voice.

“Are you Maroji? Are you okay?”

“···”

“It’s okay. You can tell us. We, uh…”

Her eyes blinked. Who should I say? A passerby? A straggler? A fleeing straggler?

“He’s your father’s friend.”

Jincheol suddenly intervened and said that. Then Maro’s eyes, which had been glaring at him with an axe in their eyes, widened.

“I came to get you out of this town. Before I leave, I sat you down to ask what you want to do with the people who killed your parents.”

“···Are you really my dad’s friend?”

“Okay. So tell me what you want to do with the townspeople.”

The strength in the eyes of the child who had been glaring at me gradually disappeared. He looked at the three people with a half-believing and half-doubting expression. The boy who had been taking a deep breath opened his mouth.

“I never heard from Dad that he had friends of other races.”

“I didn’t know I would have a friend like Rabito. Let’s talk about that later. What do you want to do with the villagers?”

Was it too sudden a question? The child sniffled and hesitated to answer. The eyes that had been staring at him had already widened and were looking at the floor. The stone fist next to him saw this and intervened.

“Should I do the same for you?”

“···yes?”

“They just put everyone in one house and burn it down.”

As the kid said. Indeed, the child’s facial hair stood on end and he trembled at those harsh words. The boy shook his head with a frightened expression.

“No, no…! I don’t like that…!”

“Why? Aren’t you the ones who pretended not to know while your house was burning?”

“No… Auntie Touba and Grandpa Shikara were against it. They even prepared food for us later…”

“What? So you’re saying you want to stay in this town?”

“No! I… I wanted to leave too….”

Stone Fist frowned.

“Tell me clearly. Is this revenge? Or do you just want to leave like this? Or do you want to stay? By the way, if we leave this time, we won’t come back again.”

The child’s eyes swirled with confusion. But soon, determination formed in those round eyes.

“···Elder, if you just scold that guy, I’ll leave too.”

“Only one elder? You are too soft.”

“Is that so?”

Then Stone Fist reached out and patted Maro’s head.

“But you’re smart, you know who to scold. It’s good to be smart, because you won’t be fooled.”

“···”

The large hand of the stone fist that seemed like it could easily crush Maro’s head gently stroked the guy’s head. Jincheol looked at the stone fist with slightly surprised eyes. This guy really is a guy who doesn’t know anything.

At that moment, Ramien tugged at his collar. When Jincheol looked at her, she moved aside and gestured for them to talk privately.

As we moved to one side of the inn, she whispered.

“Are you really going to take that kid?”

“Why? Just take him with you until you find the next town or somewhere to leave him.”

“Me, really? But carrying a child around···”

Jincheol smiled with his eyes narrowed.

“If you decide to take action, you must accept responsibility for it. If you want to punish the village elder who locked a person in his house and burned it, you must also take responsibility for the children who are left behind.”

“···”

“Why? You were angry, but didn’t you know you had to take responsibility for the child?”

Ramien hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

“···Will the child be able to follow our journey well?”

“Well, will you go with me until the end of the journey? There must be a place I can leave it in the middle. Don’t think too hard about it. If you live, you live.”

At those words, Ramien smiled vaguely.

“If you live, you live? That’s a strange thing to say.”

“It’s not that I can’t live today because I’m afraid of dying tomorrow. Two days ago, I couldn’t have imagined that the three of us would be together. But now, even Solkain has decided to join us. You don’t know what the future holds. So you have to be faithful to the moment you’re alive.”

Ramien nodded, making a vague expression. The two men’s gazes turned to the other side again. Doljumeok and Maro were talking. Doljumeok was talking about how he would punish the elder. Burning him? Stabbing him in the heart? Or splitting his limbs? It was a conversation like that, and Maro was like, “Huh? Splitting his limbs?” and he was like, “What?”

At that moment, the inn door opened wide and five or six Rabitos rushed in. They were men with stern expressions, each holding a wooden club – by Rabito’s standards.

However, they who had confidently barged in soon stopped in their tracks when they discovered Jincheol and the tight-haired Doljumeok inside the inn. They seemed particularly frightened by the sight of the muscular, tight-haired Doljumeok, who could only be described as a mass of rocks.

“···”

The guys who had come in so excitedly were frozen in place, so Jincheol, Doljumeok, and everyone else just watched quietly. Soon, a voice was heard from behind, wondering if they were really the leaders.

“What are you guys doing? Get out of the way! You should be going in!”

The one who pushed aside the Rabito soldiers and stepped in was a lanky Rabito with a long gray beard and a cane.

He, who had entered nervously, also looked at the scenery inside the inn and made a ‘what is this?’ expression for a moment. This was because even to him, the combination of Jincheol, Doljumeok, and Ramien seemed strange.

But his silence was broken by the innkeeper who followed him in.

“It’s them!”

When I sent to call the elder, it seemed like he came here with the intention of burying me instead. Jincheol was laughing in disbelief when the elder opened his mouth.

“You guys are Guardians of the Nation police?”

“Officer? Did we do that?”

When Jincheol asked again, the elder’s gaze turned to the innkeeper. The innkeeper shouted as if he was being wronged.

“You, you impersonated a Guardians officer and pressured me to fix the post! And you even tried to cut off my fingers!”

“I didn’t say anything about the police.”

“What is that··· huh···”

Only then did the innkeeper realize that he had not personally mentioned that he was a Guardian of the Nation, and he let out a loud noise. The elder shook his head as if he was disappointed in the innkeeper, and then hit the floor with his staff, making a thud sound.

“Be quiet. Anyway, we have received a report of an outsider impersonating a police officer and causing a disturbance. You are all under arrest!”

At that sound, the stone fist that had been sitting upright sat up. The Rabito men were frightened just by the fact that he had gotten up, and retreated to the corner of the inn while making a “uh-uh-” sound. The elder who had shouted proudly shouted again as if he was frustrated at the sight.

“What are you guys doing! There’s only two of you! If we join forces, we can knock them down!”

Are the Rabitos like that? They looked at each other. At that moment, Jincheol could feel it, the appearance of Rabito inciting and Rabito being incited by him. Is that their habit? The one with the loudest voice and the public being swayed by them. How could they have gathered only such bad points?

Then Ramien stepped forward.

“Are you the elder of this village?”

“···Yeah. Are you the girl who pretended to be a soldier?”

The elder who had been threatening the village elders glared at Ramien with those eyes. Ramien also did not back down and looked into those eyes.

“Did you really hammer nails into the house of the Jassoin couple and burn it down?”

“Where did you hear such useless talk···”

The elder’s eyes suddenly found Maro hiding behind the stone fist. His face distorted.

“That dirty little rat… I felt sorry for him living like a wild dog, so I watched him rolling around the village…”

“I’m not a rat! Grandpa is a rat! My dad was! He was always rolling his eyes and looking around for something to eat!”

“This guy···!”

The elder, leaning on his cane as if he was angry, tried to approach Maro. However, he stopped and hesitated when he saw the stone fist standing before him. He looked back again and made a sound with his cane.

“What are you guys doing! They’re just some vagrants passing by! Go and beat them up!”

“No, that’s… just a bum…”

The village elders couldn’t move. In their eyes, the stone fist looked too threatening. And Jincheol, who was sitting there leisurely, was much bigger than the average Rabito. In the end, the elder shouted, and the elders retreated further and further into the corner as if they were being scolded by him.

Ramien had a blank expression, as if the situation was different from what she had expected. This moment was too dull for a wonderful scene of passing judgment on the greedy power of the village. She whispered. Those people nailed down the house of a fellow villager and burned it to the ground?

At that moment, Jincheol stood up. His hand took something out from inside the leather bag he was carrying. It was a machine gun that was a little small for Jincheol, like a toy.

Jincheol aimed it at the inn’s bar table and hit it hard.

“Whoaaaa!”

“Wow!”

“Eek!”

Suddenly, the bottles of alcohol started to shatter and the sound of gunfire made the elders and the village men, as well as Ramien, fall to the ground. Only Doljumeok, who saw that Jincheol was already moving, remained unharmed.

Jincheol, who had just finished firing a magazine like that, spoke briefly.

“Everyone get out except the elders.”

“···”

The rabbits, who had been watching for a moment, soon ran away from the Utada Inn. The elder who saw this shouted in panic.

“Hey, where are you going! I told you these guys aren’t real Guardians! If we all join forces…!”

“You have a gun!”

“Okay, I’ve used up all my bullets···”

His mouth snapped shut at the sight of Jincheol’s gun pointed at him. He looked up at Jincheol with puzzled eyes.

Jincheol looked down at his face and said.

“What’s this fuss about in a village where I was just trying to find my way?”

“What, what···?”

“I’m dying of annoyance because of you.”

Jincheol reached out and grabbed the elder, pulling him towards him.

“It’s too late to spend a night in this town. Let’s go to Hog.”

The three people, the Rabito boy, and the old man left the inn. Outside the inn, there were already a lot of villagers who had heard the rumor and had gathered. At the sight of Jincheol with his gun and the stone fist wielding a sledgehammer, they let out a strange scream and ran away.

However, they were still observing Jincheol and his party from the windows of houses, alleys, behind walls, etc. Regardless, Jincheol dragged the elder out of the village. Their eyes followed them all the way out of the village.

When Jincheol reached the village border, he stopped walking. Then he turned around and looked at Maro, who was naturally following him.

He said.

“Have you decided now?”

“···”

The boy understood what Jincheol was saying. He was asking how he wanted to get revenge.

“···Throw it far away on the shore. Break its legs.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, that will be enough.”

Jincheol nodded and dragged the elder again. The elder struggled and shouted, perhaps not knowing that the conversation just now had been about his own situation.

“You! You guys! Do you know who I am and why are you doing this?! No, before that, who are you guys?! Why did you suddenly show up-”

The next moment, Jincheol’s fist lightly hit his nose, and he had to keep his mouth shut as blood flowed from his nose.

After that, Jincheol and his party took out the hog they had hidden and started it again. And after going up a little bit north, they arrived at the coast that Maro had mentioned.

Jincheol, who arrived at the cliff shore dragging the elder, realized why Maro had said that was enough.

“Haha. I’m going to get eaten alive.”

It was full of the corpse snails I had seen last time. They were bigger than a dog, wiggling and licking the rocks, like cleaners.

The elder also trembled when he discovered the huge snail colony. He forgot his scolding and now tried to persuade Jincheol.

“Here you go! If you spare my life, I’ll give you a hundred gold coins! A hundred gold coins!”

But Jincheol dragged him to the shore without saying anything. The elder’s screams grew louder.

“Why on earth are you doing this to me! All the other villagers agreed to this, not just me! And you! Who the hell are you to do this! Who the hell are you!”

Jincheol didn’t answer, but just threw the elder. The elder flew up as if it was a joke and fell and rolled on the rock.

“Eek!”

The elder, who had fallen wrong, was unable to get up and was flailing around on the stone floor. At the same time, the corpse snails around him began to wriggle and approach him. The groaning elder saw the snails approaching him and screamed as he crawled away.

Of course, crawling couldn’t keep up with the snail.

Jincheol, who had shaken off his hands, returned to the hog and sat down. As he was fiddling with the dashboard to start the engine, little Maro, a rabbit, approached him.

“why?”

“···Aren’t you and your older sister’s dad’s friends? I heard it from outside the window. You didn’t know my story in the first place.”

“You know that now?”

The child’s eyes were blank at Jincheol’s response. At the same time, the hog’s engine started and a whirring sound was heard. Jincheol asked the child, who was blinking.

“Don’t you have any relatives around you?”

“···no.”

“Okay. Get on first. I need to find a place to sleep today.”

Maro rode behind Jincheol without saying a word. Jincheol looked at Ramien, who was riding in the back of the Hog, or to be exact, Doljumeok, and said.

“Get a sense of direction. Where are you going?”

Ramien looked at the sky and the shore for a moment, then pointed in a direction.

The group consisting of a human, an Olog, and two Rabitos riding on two hogs immediately began to run towards the southeast.

The late afternoon sun, filling the distant horizon and stretching out to the shore, cast long shadows on the land, shining behind them, as if pushing them on their backs to go faster.

In the place they left, only the long shadows of snails gathered together remained.