Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

“Liar!”

It was my mistake to trust him.

It was my mistake to trust people!

Despite his words, Wei San-ho had not returned even after quite some time had passed. Wei Yan-ho couldn’t tell the exact time, but judging by the sun’s position, it seemed several Shijin had already passed, yet Wei San-ho showed no signs of returning.

Wei Yan-ho, who had been tossing and turning in the shade of a tree, looked at the corpses with an uncomfortable expression.

“Ugh.”

If there weren’t corpses nearby, he could at least sleep peacefully, but with dead bodies he’d never seen before right in front of him, Wei Yan-ho felt anxious and uncomfortable, unable to sleep well.

“If it was going to be like this, he should have just taken me with him!”

Of course, Wei Yan-ho knew this was nonsense.

Even if he was a pervert, someone who used demonic arts would be several times stronger than Wei Yan-ho, so going along would only be a hindrance. Moreover, with Wei Yan-ho’s Gyeonggong skills, he would be treated as nothing but baggage in urgent situations.

But if he said he’d come back early, shouldn’t he come back early?

The sun was already setting.

How dangerous nights in the mountains were—what would happen if the sun actually set?

For the frail Wei Yan-ho to navigate the mountain alone at night was a terrifying thought.

“…Are there tigers on this mountain?”

It wasn’t a situation where he could guarantee there weren’t any. Since it was such a deep mountain, it wouldn’t be strange if one or two tigers were roaming around.

Moreover, wasn’t this the perfect situation for wild beasts to attack?

The sun was setting, and there were corpses that wild beasts would love right in front of him.

Wei Yan-ho began to feel increasingly anxious.

“What should I do?”

Waiting for Wei San-ho to return would be the best course of action, but unfortunately, Wei San-ho had already been gone for several Shijin.

It was too long for the time it should take to catch and deal with one pervert.

Of course, there was no way the great Wei San-ho would be defeated by a pervert.

It wasn’t just because he was his brother—Wei San-ho was truly ridiculously strong.

Few people of his age could match him. Even looking at the entire Gangho, Wei Yan-ho couldn’t imagine there were many people with abilities comparable to Wei San-ho’s.

Sometimes it seemed like Wei San-ho might even be stronger than Wei Jeong-han. Wei Yan-ho, whose martial arts knowledge was shallow, couldn’t know for certain, but it was absolutely impossible for a mere lustful demon to threaten Wei San-ho.

“Ugh.”

But still, something must have happened. Otherwise, why would he be so late?

“Sigh.”

Wei Yan-ho dragged himself to his feet. He had to do something about this situation. If he kept being lazy, he might really become tiger food.

Laziness was fine when it was time to be lazy, but there was no such thing as laziness more important than life.

“First, I should at least get up in a tree…”

Just then, a sad sound reached Wei Yan-ho’s ears.

Rumble rumble rumble!

Wei Yan-ho looked up at the sky with a slightly stiffened expression.

In the distant sky, black storm clouds were rapidly approaching. Wei Yan-ho twitched his eyes and turned his head.

He could see two horses and two corpses.

“Really… I’m screwed.”

Wei Yan-ho grew increasingly despondent.

Whoooooosh!

Heavy rain began pouring down on Wei Yan-ho’s head.

“Ugh, what did I do to deserve this…”

Wei Yan-ho climbed the mountain, grinding his teeth.

Whinny.

“Ah, these useless horses!”

Wei Yan-ho kicked the horse’s rear as it shook its head.

“Are you horses or what? If you’re horses, shouldn’t you be carrying people around?”

Wei Yan-ho had already completely erased from his mind the fact that they had been carrying him until now. Once the heavy rain began, the horses became useless baggage.

“They say being nice gets you nowhere!”

When the rain started, what worried him most were the corpses.

If left alone, they would obviously become food for mountain beasts, but he couldn’t carry them either, so he had to do something. After hastily burying the corpses, the rain was already pouring down like crazy, and if he didn’t find shelter from the rain, he would surely fall ill.

Falling ill would be fortunate enough, but spending the night in the mountains after sunset while getting soaked was extremely dangerous.

His body temperature could drop rapidly and kill him, and if he were attacked by a pack of wild beasts in the dark night, truly terrible things would happen.

He had to find shelter from the rain as quickly as possible.

There was no way to find shelter from the rain around the open mountain path, so the desperate Wei Yan-ho climbed the mountain looking for a cave or at least a place thick with trees.

At first, he looked for a downward path, but when the horses kept slipping, he had no choice but to go up, up. The problem was that the horses, which had been the best means of transportation on the road, became complete fools once they entered the mountain.

The horses would slip and couldn’t climb even small hills, and Wei Yan-ho barely managed to climb the mountain by practically carrying the horses.

And that was while dragging two horses—his own and Wei San-ho’s.

“Damn it, I can’t just leave these things behind!”

A properly sane person wouldn’t think of climbing a mountain while dragging horses.

Of course, Wei Yan-ho had initially planned to leave the horses behind.

But when he saw the horses standing motionless in the heavy rain, getting soaked, he felt sorry for them and couldn’t bear to leave them behind.

“I’m such an idiot!”

Wei Yan-ho kept grumbling while pushing the horses’ rear ends upward.

“Go up! Go up! What did you eat to become so heavy?”

Whinny.

The horse shook its head, but it couldn’t resist the pushing force from behind.

Neighhhh!

After slipping several times, the horse resisted roughly and kicked with its hind legs.

Thwack!

Wei Yan-ho, struck by the horse’s hind legs, screamed and tumbled down.

“Ahhhhh!”

Having tumbled down the steep slope, there was no way he could stop easily.

Wei Yan-ho rolled for quite a while before finally stopping when he hit a cliff at the bottom of the slope.

“Ugh… Oh, my back. That damn colt!”

Here he was going through all this trouble so he wouldn’t abandon his master, and instead of being grateful, the horse kicked him!

Wei Yan-ho, who had decided to turn that colt into horse meat, slipped on the ground again.

He had put his hand down, but it sank right through the ground.

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho carefully examined where he had placed his hand.

From the outside, it just looked like a place where fallen leaves and branches had piled up, but there was nothing underneath.

Wei Yan-ho swept away the surrounding fallen leaves.

Then a large hole spanning the ground and wall was revealed.

It was a cave large enough for several grown men to pass through comfortably.

Wei Yan-ho stuck his head into the cave.

Finding a cave was good, but if there happened to be a bear sheltering from the rain inside, he might unintentionally have to risk his life.

“Is there nothing there?”

Fortunately, he didn’t sense any particular signs of life inside the cave.

Wei Yan-ho went up the slope to bring down the horses and entered the cave.

The inside of the cave was quite spacious, more than he had expected.

It wasn’t very deep, but the round hollow was much larger than most pavilions.

He had luckily found a place to shelter from the rain.

Whinny.

Whether they knew they had found shelter from the rain or not, the colts slowly approached Wei Yan-ho.

“Damn it, I can’t even hit these things.”

The horse that had kicked him looked at Wei Yan-ho with clear eyes.

He wanted to kick its rear, but it was also true that thanks to it, he had found this place. Since there was one merit and one fault, he had to cancel them out.

Wei Yan-ho entered the cave with the horses. As long as he could avoid the rain, it didn’t matter where this place was.

“Ugh.”

Wei Yan-ho, who had roughly tied up the horses, took off his clothes. His clothes were already soaked through and covered in dirt.

If he kept wearing these, he would catch a cold.

Wei Yan-ho unpacked his Botjim to find clothes to change into, but his Botjim was equally soaked.[TL/N: Botjim (보짐) is a traditional Korean cloth bundle used to carry or store personal belongings.]

“Now, let’s see. In cases like this, they said to find dry branches and start a fire…”

But where could he find dry branches in this downpour?

“Sigh, I’d rather die than suffer.”

Knowledge, no matter how plausible, was usually useless when you actually found yourself in that situation.

Moreover, Wei Yan-ho was a man quick to give up.

Wei Yan-ho roughly tied the horses to a stone protrusion on the ground, then sat down and pulled out some dried meat. He had no choice but to chew the fishy-tasting dried meat that had gotten wet and let out a pitiful sigh.

“What kind of situation is this… They say leaving home means hardship.”

And the fact that he hadn’t even wanted to leave that home made Wei Yan-ho feel even more despondent.

The rain grew heavier, and leaving the cave became increasingly difficult.

“…There’s no choice.”

It seemed he would have to stay here for several days.

In the meantime, there was nothing Wei Yan-ho could do except hope that Wei San-ho would return.

Wei Yan-ho left a simple marker at the cave entrance.

If it was his brother, he would be able to find where he was with just the footprints and this marker.

Wei Yan-ho took out a blanket from his Botjim and roughly wrung out the moisture.

Then he laid the blanket on the ground and lay down.

“I don’t know anymore! I’m going to sleep!”

Wei Yan-ho frowned, feeling the cool chill against his back.

But there wasn’t really a way to dry the blanket either.

It was annoying, but what could he do about it?

Wei Yan-ho was a man who knew how to be satisfied with the given situation.

Wei Yan-ho slowly fell asleep.

The fatigue from not resting for several days hit him all at once.

Wei Yan-ho slept like the dead.

One day passed and two days went by, but Wei Yan-ho showed no signs of waking up.

‘How much time has passed?’

It was still raining outside the cave.

And the horses he had tied up when he first went to sleep were nowhere to be seen.

‘This is why they’re called beasts…’

After all the trouble he went through to bring them here and shelter them from the rain, they couldn’t stand it and ran away…

This must be why they’re called beasts.

Of course, Wei Yan-ho never thought about the fact that during those two days, he hadn’t given them any grass to eat, let alone water to drink.

Wei Yan-ho closed his eyes again.

He couldn’t move until the rain stopped anyway. In that case, it would be more beneficial to sleep even one more moment during that time. Wei Yan-ho fell asleep again.

Another day passed like that.

Now only Wei Yan-ho’s breathing flowed softly through the cave.

Then, something strange happened.

Wei Yan-ho’s body began to slowly rise from the ground.

It was truly a supernatural occurrence.

Wei Yan-ho was still fast asleep, but his body, along with the scattered luggage around him, slowly rose from the ground. Then it began to slowly fly through the air toward the cave wall.

Whoooosh.

Wei Yan-ho’s body, having reached the cave wall, didn’t slow down and charged straight forward.

But strangely, he passed right through the cave wall. Only traces of his stay remained in the cave, and Wei Yan-ho’s figure had vanished without a trace.

Like a phantom, Wei Yan-ho disappeared as if he had never been there in the first place.