Chapter 167 — A Companion
There was nowhere to go, east, west, south, or north.
Across the vast plain, a thick mountain range rose as though someone had drawn a line across the earth.
Before long, a small grove appeared.
A few houses huddled together there.
It was a good place for travelers to press their bodies against shelter and rest.
So Cheolun was standing there.
"Hm? What are you doing there?"
"I am waiting for you, Jungnangjang."
"What? Is that not desertion from duty?"
"I resigned too."
"I did not see your resignation."
"I submitted it to Kim Yoon-gyeong."
"Why would you do that?"
"To accompany you. We have always been together."
"You were always with your older brother. What do you mean you were with me?"
"My brother told me to go. He said he had to take care of the Fifth Detachment."
"This is bad. At this rate, the whole Fifth Detachment will vanish. We already have many new soldiers."
"They are not new soldiers anymore. They have already been through three or four battles. Ningjiangzhou, Buyeobu, all of it."
"You want to come with me?"
"You will be uncomfortable alone. Think of me as an attendant."
"You are a comrade. What attendant?"
"There is a clear difference in rank."
"I have resigned now. There is no difference in rank. Only awkward men keep talking about rank even after resigning."
"Then…"
"This useless stubbornness of mine is inconveniencing too many people."
"No. We agree with what you said. Who wants to become a wicked man? The problem is that they do not know it is wicked."
So Cheolun had always followed So Cheollyong like a shadow.
Youngwoo had never seen the two brothers move separately.
Cheollyong went first, and Cheolun followed.
That rhythm had continued naturally for years.
Today was the first time they stood apart.
Cheolun asked,
"Where are we going?"
"I do not know. I have no plan either. I only thought I had to get out of here."
"Did you hate it that much?"
"Hm. It was cruel. How should I put it? It felt like looking at pig entrails. A human corpse rots so quickly. Why does it rot so fast? The smell, the nauseating shape of it, and the expressionless murderers. I was ashamed that I had fought beside them."
"You were not like that before."
"The Goryeo army buried the dead at once, even when they were enemies. There is courtesy toward the dead. Those men dragged corpses behind horses as they rode around. Children followed behind, crying. No one stopped it. I was sickened by the sight."
Cheolun smiled faintly.
"We feel the same. We were afraid that if we stayed longer, we might become like them too."
"Someone called it a difference in culture. As if a difference in culture means we must accept even contempt for human life."
"Culture exists because we are human, Jungnangjang. They crossed the line of being human. Even beasts do not go that far."
Cheolun's words reached Youngwoo's chest.
The feeling that he was not alone became clear.
"That is right."
Youngwoo took the reins.
"Let us go."
"Yes."
The two mounted and set off slowly.
Once they left the village grove, a long road stretched ahead.
Two or three tracks ran side by side.
They were paths that had formed simply because people had ridden across the empty plain for so long.
The grass lay pressed down in thin lines, and pebbles had been kicked aside until the ground ran slightly lower in long strips.
One person had taken that way, then another had followed, and then others had gone the same way again.
That was how the road had formed.
As they rode side by side, Cheolun asked,
"But where are we going?"
"I do not know. We must find that out now."
"You mean you left without even having a place to go? You must have had some kind of plan."
"I must find my master. Hm. First, let us go to Huiling Prefecture."
Huiling Prefecture: The area around present-day Acheng near Harbin. The heartland of the founding.
"Is he there?"
"I do not know. I saw him there and paid my respects there."
"Do you think he will still be there?"
"He is like the wind. There is a high chance he is gone."
"What if he is gone?"
"Then we go to the places he stops by from time to time."
The dwellings of the seonin were difficult for ordinary people to understand.
Not all of them were like that, but many had no fixed place.
Cheolun kept asking, and that was suspicious.
"What did your brother tell you?"
"About what?"
"About where we are going."
"He told me to send word once the destination is decided."
"And if you send word?"
"He might bring everyone. Everyone likes you, Jungnangjang."
"Does liking someone mean staking one's life?"
"What life are you talking about? We are just living through an interesting season. It is nothing grand. You live and then you go. No one knows when they will die anyway…"
"War has ruined you."
"Yes, it has. It is hard to keep a normal mind while doing that kind of work."
"That is true. I… I mean, I would like to sweep everything away just once, and then have peace settle afterward."
"Wake up from that dream."