Chapter 11. A Different Second Senior Brother
During the journey to the next village, Jaha sat silently inside the carriage, lost in thought.
Since he wasn't saying anything, Han Seol focused only on their master's condition, while Jo Unryong quietly stared out the window so he wouldn't disturb his senior brother's thoughts.
The coachman continued driving the carriage, vigorously cracking the reins.
Jaha knew for certain that the attackers would come again to seize the carriage.
But they weren't exactly in a position to avoid them.
With only twenty years of internal energy, I can barely deal with pursuers of that level. And next time, they'll probably send someone stronger. If that happens, even Banyang Pyeongong won't be enough.
Then I need another plan.
The only thing I can make use of is Byeokho's stubborn baek-spirit. What can I do with that?
Jaha carefully went through every martial art of the Demonic Cult that he knew.
Eventually, he remembered a martial art that could make use of the half of Byeokho's soul that remained.
Right. That should be effective enough.
And I can probably make use of that other thing I learned as a hobby.
Techniques that incorporated vengeful spirits into martial arts simply didn't exist among the orthodox martial world.
The Demonic Cult, however, was the origin of demonic martial arts.
Its libraries were filled with sinister and bizarre techniques.
Whenever Jaha searched through the Demonic Cult's martial arts repository, he often found himself surprised and impressed by techniques he had never imagined could exist.
Banyang Pyeongong was also something he had learned during the days when he frequently entered the martial repository to train.
Still, Jaha felt relieved that there was at least something he could do using Byeokho's baek-spirit.
If he had neglected martial arts training when he was the Young Cult Leader, he wouldn't even have had this solution now.
For the first time, he realized there really was a proper time and place for studying.
"Let's stop and rest for a while."
The sturdy men disguised as soldiers seemed exhausted after riding horses for such a long time.
The coachman had no choice but to stop the carriage for their sake.
If it were up to him, he would have continued straight toward the next village, but that was no longer possible.
"Let's do that."
Once Jaha agreed, the coachman climbed down from the driver's seat as well.
He intended to scout the surroundings.
At that moment, Jaha climbed onto the driver's seat and suddenly began tearing away the leather covering it.
Riiip!
The coachman saw him from a distance and immediately rushed over.
"What are you doing?!"
Jaha lifted the cowhide that had covered the driver's seat.
"You won't find much tougher cowhide than this. People have been sitting on it and pressing it down for years. Even a blade wouldn't pierce it easily."
"And what are you planning to do with it?"
"Wrap it around our stomachs to protect ourselves from the attackers."
Jaha called Han Seol and Jo Unryong over.
He used the cowhide to wrap around Han Seol's abdomen and then Jo Unryong's.
Jo Unryong looked confused.
"Senior Brother Byeok, why are we doing this?"
"The attackers will definitely come after us again before we reach our destination. This is to protect your bodies when that happens."
"Then shouldn't you be the one wearing it? You're the one who'll be fighting."
"Don't worry. I'll wear some too."
Jaha looked at both of them seriously.
"And neither of you is allowed to take this off until we reach our destination. Even if it's uncomfortable, wear it while you sleep."
Their senior brother had certainly changed.
He seemed more experienced with the ways of the world now, which made him feel unfamiliar at times.
But the way he cared about his junior brothers and sister hadn't changed at all.
Even in a dangerous situation like this, he still thought about protecting them first.
Han Seol and Jo Unryong couldn't help feeling touched.
Jaha continued.
"Even if the attackers come again, neither of you should even think about fighting them."
Jo Unryong asked,
"Do you really think they'll come?"
"They think we're carrying something important, so they'll definitely come."
Since Jaha already knew another attack was inevitable, he couldn't afford to sit around doing nothing.
Every little preparation they made would increase their chances of surviving.
Thanks to Jaha's scheme, they didn't encounter any attackers before reaching the next village.
However, that didn't mean the attackers had given up on the carriage.
They were already following it from more than a hundred jang away.
The only reason they hadn't attacked was because Jaha had stayed overnight at government offices and arranged for "soldiers" to escort the carriage.
They simply couldn't find a good opportunity.
But when the soldiers escorted the carriage all the way to the next village, the attackers were dumbfounded.
They were impressed by how cleverly Jaha's group was using the government authorities.
At the same time, they were furious.
They had already wasted several opportunities.
Their frustration had reached its limit.
Then, by coincidence, they overheard the six men who had escorted the carriage talking as they returned.
"Never thought I'd get paid for pretending to be a soldier. That Byeokho fellow paid us so much that I'll be able to have plenty of fun this month. Maybe I should start pretending to be a soldier for money full-time."
The attackers stared at the village thugs they had mistaken for actual soldiers.
Then they gave hollow laughs.
A middle-aged man in gray robes clenched his fists.
"I'll go kill those bastards."
Now that he knew Jaha had fooled them, his anger exploded.
However, the middle-aged man dressed in black stopped him.
"There's no reason to attract unnecessary attention."
"But I'm too angry to endure this. We were deceived by trash like them!"
The gray-robed middle-aged man still tried to follow the thugs, but the young man in red spoke.
"Calm down."
He looked at the man coldly.
"Now isn't the time to vent your anger. If you want to take it out on someone, take it out on the people inside that carriage."
The gray-robed man, who had even protested against the black-robed middle-aged man, immediately lowered his head after hearing the young man's words.
"My apologies. This subordinate lost control of himself for a moment..."
"I understand. But refrain from acting recklessly."
The gray-robed man bowed deeply.
The young man in red turned away from him and looked toward the two trackers who had originally attacked Jaha's carriage.
"You two. Find out where the carriage went."
"Yes, Young Master."
The young man in red immediately glared at them.
"Didn't I tell you already?"
His expression twisted.
"Don't call me Young Master. Call me Little Heavenly Demon!"
His voice turned threatening.
"If you get it wrong again, I'll tear your mouths apart."
The two trackers hurriedly bowed their heads.
"We'll be careful, Little Heavenly Demon."
At that moment, a light drizzle began to fall.
They looked up.
Thick black clouds were slowly gathering overhead.
It looked like heavy rain was coming.
"Investigate it and come to the inn afterward."
"Understood, Little Heavenly Demon."
The trackers knew their Young Master loved being called "Little Heavenly Demon," so they deliberately used the title whenever they spoke.
Soon, they headed toward the village in pursuit of Jaha's carriage.
Above them, the storm clouds continued growing darker.
Rumble—!
BOOM!
Lightning flashed across the sky, followed by thunder that seemed to shake the heavens.
The coachman looked outside uneasily.
"I'm worried now that it's raining too."
Ever since his companion had died, the coachman had become much more timid.
Originally, the two of them had been confident that they could deliver the carriage safely to its destination.
But after the trackers attacked them and killed his companion in a single encounter, his confidence had collapsed.
Once again, Jaha spent money so they could stay overnight in the guest quarters of the local government office.
Rural magistrates tended to be moderately corrupt.
As long as someone paid them enough money, there were many things they were willing to overlook.
Byeokho had learned that fact through years of working as an escort.
Jaha was simply putting that knowledge into practice.
If Byeokho's soul had remained completely intact, he would never have handled the situation this way.
Byeokho hated the very idea of bribing officials.
But Jaha was far more flexible in his thinking.
He had no hesitation about bribing someone if it was useful.
The coachman asked,
"Did the magistrate agree to lend us some soldiers?"
Jaha shook his head.
"This magistrate agreed to let us stay in the government guest quarters, but he refused to lend us soldiers."
"Really? Couldn't you have offered him more money?"
By now, even the coachman had stopped worrying about the money.
They had already exceeded their original expenses.
Spending a little more wouldn't make much difference.
Jaha replied,
"Even offering more wouldn't work. This magistrate is only moderately corrupt. He doesn't want to cross a certain line."
The coachman's expression darkened.
"Then tomorrow will be extremely dangerous."
"Even if the attackers weren't certain before, they've probably already discovered that the soldiers escorting our carriage today were fake."
Jaha continued calmly.
"And they'll assume we're close to reaching our destination. So tomorrow, even if real soldiers were escorting us, they'd probably attack anyway."
The coachman flinched and stared at Jaha.
"Do you know our destination?"
He reacted especially strongly to Jaha's claim that they would arrive tomorrow.
By now, the coachman treated Jaha with much more respect than before.
Even his manner of speaking had changed.
At first, he had looked down on Jaha as nothing more than a disciple from some countryside martial arts school.
That attitude was now completely gone.
