CLS-Chapter 44

Chapter 44:

I once had a conversation with that Peng Family fellow.

I was quite bewildered when I first saw him, but that Peng Family fellow was equally formidable.

Bewildering, indeed. Of course it was bewildering.

Anyone would be bewildered seeing such a thing.

“What am I talking about? You ask?”

Well, it’s about that escort mission.

During that escort mission, the Peng Family fellow first met Wei Yan-ho, and the circumstances of their meeting were extremely strange.

What was strange about it?

How should I explain this…

It’s simply inexplicable.

***

The man was lying sprawled out in a spread-eagle position, fast asleep.

It was an utterly brazen act, as if he were asking to be treated not as a person, but as cargo.

“How long has he been sleeping?”

“Well, continuously since leaving Hanrim Grand Academy…”

“Here?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Gok Bi-hang looked at Wei Yan-ho with curious eyes.

The place where Wei Yan-ho was lying was on top of a freight wagon.

A freight wagon was literally a cart for transporting cargo.

It wasn’t a carriage for people to ride in, but a cart made for loading goods. Since it wasn’t crafted with precision, anyone riding on it would inevitably feel constant jolting.

As such, the ride comfort was embarrassingly poor, and even experienced escorts would get sore all over their bodies after riding for a while.

To be able to sleep lying on top of that, especially on the bumpy cargo, was not something an ordinary person could do.

‘Doesn’t he get sore?’

For an ordinary person, sitting would be uncomfortable in a place where the cargo bounced around, yet this fellow could sleep like this—what were his nerves made of, whale sinew?

‘In some sense, he’s impressive.’

Gok Bi-hang clicked his tongue.

“What did they say at the academy?”

“Well… they said to feed him three meals a day like livestock or chickens, and he’d behave without causing trouble until arrival, so not to worry.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

It was even more incomprehensible.

There were occasionally people who wanted to accompany cargo escort missions for urgent business.

He had thought this would be another such case, but what the academy said was quite strange.

“The payment?”

“They gave four times the cost of transporting a person.”

“I don’t understand at all.”

Gok Bi-hang shook his head from side to side.

Anyone who tried to view matters involving Wei Yan-ho through the lens of common sense was bound to taste great despair.

Gok Bi-hang made a decision.

He didn’t know how the situation would unfold, but first, he had to wake this man up.

“I say there.”

“……”

“I say there!”

“Mmm.”

Wei Yan-ho rolled over.

Gok Bi-hang sighed and shook Wei Yan-ho awake.

“I say there!”

Wei Yan-ho frowned and slightly lifted his head.

“What?”

“……”

Being asked ‘What?’ so directly, Gok Bi-hang fell into confusion about how to respond.

“Ahem, I am Gok Bi-hang, the escort leader in charge of this mission.”

“And?”

“This escort mission is not for accompanying people but for transporting cargo, so it might be quite uncomfortable if you come along. Would that still be alright?”

Wei Yan-ho answered nonchalantly.

“Don’t worry. I’m registered as cargo, not as a person.”

Gok Bi-hang glanced at the escorts who had brought him.

They nodded silently.

“Ahem, but how could we treat a person like cargo?”

“You don’t need to worry about it. Just give me one meal a day and I’ll sleep without causing trouble.”

“On top of this?”

“Where else would cargo be loaded if not on the cart?”

“……”

The words were correct.

“But it must be very uncomfortable.”

“Well, I have to endure that much. They said if I just lie still, they’d take me to my destination.”

“You’re quite a positive fellow.”

Gok Bi-hang decided to think as favorably as possible.

Since things had turned out this way, he might as well have a good attitude—that was his philosophy.

“But Hanrim Grand Academy said to give you three meals… did you just say you’d eat only one meal?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“How can a person manage to eat three full meals? People are busy too.”

At first glance, it sounded like something a very busy person would say. If not for the words that followed.

Gok Bi-hang was confused.

He too was someone who had made a living through escort work until now. He had met many people and formed friendships with many. Nevertheless, he couldn’t figure out what kind of person this young man before him was.

Gok Bi-hang nodded reluctantly.

Whatever the case, he was cargo, registered for his escort mission. His job was to transport him safely and perfectly.

“Then we’ll depart.”

“Yes, please take good care of me.”

The freight wagon carrying Wei Yan-ho headed toward Hubei for three days without incident.

Wei Yan-ho slept on the cart during the day and ate with the escort company people at night before sleeping.

At first, people worried and paid attention to him, but after about three days, no one paid Wei Yan-ho any mind. From the moment Wei Yan-ho got on the freight wagon, he slept very comfortably, as if he had truly become cargo.

Later, people forgot his existence to such an extent that Wei Yan-ho was cargo, and cargo was Wei Yan-ho. He had reached a state of unity between object and self.

“I don’t know whether to call it impressive…”

Gok Bi-hang was amazed.

He had never even thought there could be someone who could sleep so comfortably on top of that jolting freight wagon.

Wei Yan-ho wasn’t simply sleeping on top of it—he truly had no movement, as if he himself were cargo, to the point where no one was conscious of him.

“My word, at this rate we’re really transporting cargo instead of a person.”

“Isn’t there something even more surprising?”

“What’s that?”

“That young man sleeps all day except for meal times.”

“Could he have some illness?”

“It seems so, judging by his destination.”

“What’s his destination?”

“Probably Seongsu-jang.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, then he must be ill indeed. That would explain it—how else could a person sleep for so many hours? Being able to sleep all day or even on a freight wagon turns out to be because his health is very poor.”

“Won’t his illness flare up if such a person rides this kind of cart?”

“Hmm, there could certainly be such a problem. It’s his own choice, so it’s not our place to say anything. However, tell the cart driver to be a bit more careful when driving from now on.”

“Understood.”

“At such a young age, poor thing… tsk, tsk.”

Thus Wei Yan-ho instantly became a pitiable young man with poor health who had taken a freight wagon to seek a famous doctor.

A misunderstanding that would make those who knew Wei Yan-ho clutch their stomachs with laughter was gradually intensifying here.

On the fifth day since leaving Hanrim Grand Academy.

“Yaaaawn.”

Wei Yan-ho was very tired.

‘This job isn’t worth doing either.’

When he was awake, he slept, and when he slept, his fraudulent master appeared in his dreams to torment him.

He was quite pleased to be able to see his master again, but the master who appeared in dreams only made him repeat training in a dry, mechanical way. Moreover, since Wei Yan-ho’s will was somewhat restricted, he couldn’t really feel any enjoyment.

The problem was that this training in dreams affected reality too.

On days when he overtrained in dreams, that fatigue wouldn’t leave Wei Yan-ho all day.

So when he lay down to sleep a bit more, he had to meet his master in dreams again.

It was a repetition of situations where he could neither do this nor that.

‘How long do I have to do this?’

He was told that the Dream Training Method would disappear once he completed his martial arts, but he had no idea when that completion would be. He also had no idea what level of mastery that completion referred to.

He had asked his master about it once, but each time he only heard that he would know when he completed it.

‘At this rate, won’t it really last a lifetime?’

Wei Yan-ho’s body trembled.

That was truly a horrifying thought.

That’s why Wei Yan-ho couldn’t stop this training.

Even if his body wouldn’t burst and kill him as his master said, he couldn’t live his entire life this way. The only way to live the rest of his life peacefully and beautifully was to quickly finish the training his master spoke of and escape from this damned Dream Training Method.

Or maybe find and eat some dragon’s inner core somewhere.

‘I’m really going to die.’

Wei Yan-ho sighed deeply.

After looking up at the sky for a long while, Wei Yan-ho lay down again and tried to sleep.

Even during this time, the cart rolled along well without incident.

“Wait.”

Then Gok Bi-hang stopped the cart.

Thud.

The carts came to an abrupt halt.

Gok Bi-hang got off his cart and shouted loudly.

“Which hero is it! Gok Bi-hang of Swift Dragon Escort Company requests an audience!”

Wei Yan-ho opened his eyes.

Then the cart driver sat up and whispered quietly to Wei Yan-ho.

“It seems there are people. Don’t come down from the cargo.”

“Bandits?”

“We don’t know the details yet. The escort leader will handle it, so keep your body low.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

Whether bandits or whatever, it was primarily Gok Bi-hang’s problem to handle. Gok Bi-hang watched the forest with a serious expression.

This was not a good situation.

If they were bandits, they would have blocked the road. If they didn’t intend to make enemies of the escort company, they wouldn’t attack the carts either. Delaying time like this meant either novice bandits who didn’t know anything, or a truly dangerous person targeting the carts… it was one of the two cases.

‘I hope it’s the former, but…’

He could tell they were in the forest, but judging by how their presence was hard to detect, they were definitely not novice bandits who knew nothing. That point made Gok Bi-hang even more anxious.

“I’ll say it once more. I am Gok Bi-hang, escort leader of Swift Dragon Escort Company. Please come out from hiding in the forest. Otherwise, I’ll consider it an intention to attack Swift Dragon Escort Company.”

Rustle.

After a moment, the forest shook and one person slowly revealed themselves.

“Hmm?”

Gok Bi-hang frowned.

The person who appeared was unexpectedly a young man who still retained some youthfulness. On the back of the red clothing the young man wore, the character for blade was embroidered large.

Gok Bi-hang guessed the identity from the young man’s clothing.

‘Red clothes, the blade character embroidered on the back… Peng Family?’

Hebei Peng Family.

A renowned blade family located in Hebei and one of the Five Great Families.

In other words, a family with fame and prestige in the Hebei region that was no less than the emperor’s.

The problem was that this young man who appeared to be a member of Hebei Peng Family was currently covered in wounds all over his body.

Gok Bi-hang’s complexion darkened.

It seemed he had gotten involved in some unpleasant business.

The young man, clutching his deeply gashed chest with one hand, opened his mouth with difficulty.

“I am Peng Daoji of Hebei Peng Family.”

“I am Gok Bi-hang of Swift Dragon Escort Company. What brings a descendant of the Peng Family on this journey?”

Peng Daoji continued with a dark expression.

“I’m being pursued by enemies. I cannot shake them off by myself. Please help me. This could become a crisis for the martial world.”

Gok Bi-hang swallowed hard.