Chapter 78: Chapter 78

On a plain where not a single tree taller than the waist could be found, Jojo was strolling carrying Jang Geon on his back.

Swaying in rhythm with the guy’s steps while sitting on the saddle, Jang Geon closed his eyes as if having no intention at all of hurrying that slow walk, lightly humming a song in a voice barely audible. The sun had descended near the horizon, but was still warm, and the breeze of the plain blew softly and brushed past them.

Jang Geon, who had experienced chaos with Yang Goeng and Li Yeon in the south, was now slightly up in the north. There was no particular reason. Merely his aimless steps led him to this side.

Swaying in rhythm with Jojo’s steps and humming an unrecognizable melody like that, Jang Geon gently opened his eyes.

The world was clearly divided into two based on the horizon. Of course, that horizon was not smoothly flat. It was a horizon with jagged crooked teeth rising with towering mountains far off. Unconsciously starting from the center of his vision and sweeping his eyes to the right, Jang Geon looked around that horizon like improperly grown molars.

Since Jang Geon was also a human, his head didn’t turn completely a full circle. Having looked around all the way to the back, he slowly turned his head to look at the sun dying the world in reddish hues on the left.

Vast and grand nature told him by itself that he was a mere human, but simultaneously Jang Geon knew that even those natures were ultimately dust of a larger universe. How small would life atop this dust seen from a sea of stars be. However, come to think of it, that too was merely a human’s perspective. Being larger and wider didn’t mean it was more grand. Perhaps being able to leave a mark on this world in whatever manner with that tiny will could be true grandeur.

Looking at the setting sun with slightly knitted brows, Jang Geon lightly tapped Jojo’s flank and spoke somewhat grumpily.

“Hey kid, it’s camping again today.”

Jojo shook his head and pulled the reins as if asking if that was his fault.

“If you had run faster, we might have found at least a village.”

Jojo’s walk grew even slower. Now it was a speed where one couldn’t tell if he was walking or crawling.

“…Wouldn’t you like sleeping under a roof better too? Don’t be like that and let’s run a bit. You never know.”

Jojo stopped his steps completely, turned his head to the side, and glanced at Jang Geon mounted on his back. It was a suspicious glare. Jang Geon shrugged his shoulders looking at him, and Jojo let out a deep sigh with a snort, then began trotting.

A short while later, that movement that seemed like light trotting soon became a sprint. Jojo galloped across the plain as if flying on the wind, or as if he had become the wind itself.

Though one might be flustered by that sudden burst of speed, Jang Geon immediately lowered his posture and took a stable stance. Strong wind brushed past his face, frantically swaying the hem of his clothes. Seeing him run like this, Jojo also seemed to have strength to spare.

Enjoying Jojo’s sprint for a moment like that, Jang Geon discovered something and lightly tugged the reins. At that signal, Jojo slowly reduced speed and looked around. And soon he was able to see what Jang Geon had discovered.

In the plain to their right, a wagon setting up a campsite was visible. Smoke was also rising as if they had just lit a fire. Jang Geon spoke.

“Shall we check it out?”

Jojo snorted lightly as if agreeing, and began walking toward that place.

A stranger in the wilderness always harbored uncertainty. In that campsite, there might be bandits who killed others and robbed property, or there might simply be farmers seeking a new pioneering land. Or it could be a campsite set up by merchants selling special products of the eastern interior to coastal cities.

However, whoever they were, they were people Jang Geon didn’t know, and meeting those unknown people presented novelty to Jang Geon and expanded the world he perceived. Knowing this star and that universe in his head, but his heart telling him that the people visible before his eyes right now were the real world, and believing that true martial arts were created and reproduced in such an expanded world rather than dark caves, he might be wandering like this.

Approaching toward that place trudgingly like that, someone who was sitting stood up and stepped out in front of the campsite. He was sipping from a teacup held in his hand with arms half-crossed.

Having the leisure of a cup of tea even while traveling the wilderness. As Jang Geon drew closer, he was able to tell that the campsite’s wagon was quite a high-class item, and the clothes of the man stepping forward were also of good quality despite being plain. Put simply, he looked to have quite a bit of money. Sipping a mouthful of tea, he spoke first.

“Hello there?”

Jang Geon held the tip of his conical hat and lightly tipped his head. Seeing that greeting, the man gave a faint smile. He had a well-groomed beard and hair neatly combed back. His appearance and clothing matched quite well, simply put, looking wealthy. Sipping a mouthful of tea, he said.

“You are coming up from the south. Is there any special news from over there?”

“Well. There was a bit of commotion in Sinsacheon.”

“Oh.”

At Jang Geon’s answer, his expression brightened.

“A new story, that’s great. Have you eaten by any chance? I have a few eggs, would that be acceptable as a story fee?”

Eggs. Thinking about it suddenly, it seemed quite a while since he had eaten them. If he wanted to eat them in Sinsacheon he could have eaten as much as he wanted, but thinking that he would eat them outdoors like this, his mouth watered.

“That sounds decent.”

Jang Geon dismounted from the saddle, pulled the reins, and approached him, while the man turned around and approached the campsite. Simultaneously, Jang Geon scanned the presence at that campsite. The man leading ahead didn’t seem to have practiced martial arts, and there was no particular hidden human presence in the wagon either.

Approaching the campfire, another man was sitting, holding a porridge bowl, chewing, and looking up at Jang Geon. His skin and appearance were slightly different from Central Plains people. In Jang Geon’s eyes, he was a native of the New Continent.

The neat man retrieved an iron teacup from the wagon side, blew on it to roughly dust it off, poured tea water heating over the campfire, and held it out to Jang Geon. And he also refilled his own and sipped first. His greeting warmly first and drinking tea water ahead appeared like a person accustomed to meeting strangers in the wilderness.

Setting Jojo beside other horses, Jang Geon received that teacup and sipped. Of course, before the tea water touched the tip of his tongue, internal energy arising from his dantian was lightly sprinting through his entire body. However, even after drinking tea, there was no special abnormality in his body. It was just tea water.

Jang Geon nodded his head because the tea’s aroma was not bad. Seeing that nod, the neat man also smiled pleasedly and sat on one side of the campfire.

“Now, please sit down. I am called Jeo Ryang. I write books, and usually write calligraphy as well.”

“Jang Geon. A wanderer.”

Jeo Ryang’s eyes opened slightly wider.

“Jang Geon? That’s a good name. Someone I know also has the name Jang Geon.”

“It is a good name to remember. Is that person a New Continent person too?”

“Ah, I’ve never actually met him. Just someone I heard of through a few connections. But to me, he’s a truly thankful person.”

Sipping tea water, Jang Geon sat in his place and asked back.

“Thankful to a person you haven’t even met?”

“Haha. Didn’t I say just now that I write books? Hearing stories about that person, inspiration struck and I published a book, and that sold quite well in the Central Plains.”

“A book?”

Jeo Ryang waved his hand as if embarrassed.

“Ah, I won’t tell you the title. Because it feels like boasting for nothing. But my being able to travel in such a custom-made wagon after starving every day was all thanks to that box-office success. So even without knowing his face, isn’t it natural to feel gratitude?”

At the words ‘custom-made,’ Jang Geon looked back at the wagon once. Certainly the wagon looked plain yet subtly like a luxury item somewhere. Just like his clothes. Originally such things are more expensive than blindly flamboyant ones.

“It seems you made quite a lot of money.”

“Hahaha! Well, thanks to books published after that succeeding consecutively as well.”

Laughing loudly once, Jeo Ryang introduced the native eating silently as if he had forgotten.

“Ah, this side is called Hun-ma. My bodyguard. Thanks to Hun-ma, I am traveling without worry.”

Hun-ma, who was shoveling in porridge, lightly tipped his head to Jang Geon.

“Pleased to meet you. Horse in the Smoke, in your words roughly Hun-ma.”

“Jang Geon. Pleased to meet you.”

As expected, he seemed to be a native. However, looking at the large saber set on one side, clothes well-dressed in Central Plains style, and pronunciation barely distinguishable from mainland Central Plains people, he appeared to be a native living in the city side. And his well-trained body revealed above his clothes showed that he had practiced martial arts.

While the two greeted, Jeo Ryang fiddled beside them and pulled out an iron plate with a long handle and eggs. In the New Continent with much camping to do, many used portable griddles shaped like that rather than pots.

“Now, I’ll fry these eggs for you, so please tell us about that commotion that happened in Sinsacheon.”

Jang Geon gave a chuckle at that natural appearance.

“Is the reason you travel to find material for books by any chance?”

“Haha, I originally like traveling a bit. Of course, that is partly part of it as well.”

Having asked because a princess hiding her name somehow came to mind, Jang Geon nodded and began telling the story of the Treasure Map pursuit that unfolded in Sinsacheon. Of course, he didn’t tell that he himself was that Treasure Map thief, but spoke in a way that he heard the full story later after everything ended.

Thanks to that, Jang Geon’s story sounded like a dry enumeration of events with much vividness removed. Yet while that plain tone and story could be bland, Jeo Ryang listened to the story with a serious face, nodding his head and making ooh-aah sounds alone, subtly adding interjections.

When the short story ended, he held out a well-fried egg atop the bowl containing porridge, and he himself pulled out a small booklet and a fine-tip brush from his breast pocket. And tilting his head alone, falling deep into thought, he wrote things down frantically.

Jang Geon ate the received porridge and egg, chewed, and asked.

“Does a concept seem to come to mind?”

“Huh? Uh-uh, yes, thank you.”

Jeo Ryang roughly answered so and kept fiddling with the fine-tip brush. Rather than getting angry at that rudeness, Jang Geon was slightly amused by his dazed appearance.

“He’s often like that. In my view, if that person traveled alone, he would have been completely robbed upon reaching some city.”

Hun-ma beside him spoke as if making an excuse on his behalf. Jang Geon gave a faint smile showing it was okay, and Hun-ma, having finished his meal, set down his bowl and continued speaking.

“It seems you travel alone. Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“There are also things comfortable because I’m alone.”

Jang Geon answered so while eating porridge. Looking at him with subtle eyes, Hun-ma turned his head to look at Jojo tied together with other horses on one side. Jojo was currently in the middle of subtly hitting on the two horses pulling the wagon upon realizing they were both female.

“That’s an impressive horse.”

At those words, Jang Geon also saw the guy acting slick, and let out a light sigh unconsciously.

“…He’s an impressive guy indeed.”

“No, I’m not speaking as a joke. Even looking roughly, he’s no ordinary horse. Where did you obtain such a guy?”

Jang Geon asked back at the appearance of Hun-ma with his gaze fixed on Jojo.

“Do you know horses well?”

“Until your ancestors brought horses a hundred years ago, there were no horses in this land, but they too are ultimately one form of spirits expressed in this world… Of course, my father and grandfather worked in horse breeding.”

Jang Geon gave a chuckle back at the appearance of Hun-ma turning his head back to look at him and smiling subtly. And setting down his empty porridge bowl, he lifted his teacup.

“No ordinary horse… That is true. Before he crossed the sea with me, that guy was also a guy who flexed quite a bit of clout.”

The sky was being dyed from red light to dark blue, and in the eastern edge of the sky, hasty stars were already starting to twinkle. Jang Geon looked at Jojo in front of the swaying campfire and unfamiliar yet unmalicious people.

Jojo, who was hitting on the two mares back and forth, turned his head to face him upon feeling Jang Geon’s gaze. Jang Geon saw playfulness and slyness full in those bright eye corners. Normally he was a guy with annoyance smeared heavily rather than that.

However, Jang Geon knew that beyond that playfulness slept pure ferocity, a frenzy sprint that would run until the moment blood across his whole body dried up.

Jang Geon spoke.

“That guy is the son of the Yellow River Dragon. Half of his blood belongs to a dragon.”

“That guy is the son of the Yellow River Dragon. Half of his blood belongs to a dragon.”

Jeo Ryang, scribbling alone, subtly lowered his booklet and brush and looked at Jang Geon. He seemed to gain interest when a new story came out. Jang Geon gave a faint smile because that appearance was funny again.

“At least in the Hunan Horse Market, he was a guy violent enough for such a legend to be attached.”