Chapter 19 – Comrades at the Sickbed
"Wooooah, wooooah, what is this?"
"How does the great Daejeong look so crippled today?"
So Cheol-ryong came swaggering in as he spoke.
Cheol-un and Gyeong-taek followed behind him.
"At this rate I really might become crippled."
"No—let me use a nicer word."
"I might end up maimed."
"That's the same thing."
"Cripple sounds insulting."
The men sat around Yeong-woo's bedside.
"I hear you settled things quite spectacularly."
Yeong-woo let out a weak laugh.
"Spectacularly?"
"I got beaten half to death."
"They promoted me just so they could crush me."
"That was the plan from the start."
"I'd already been a thorn in their side."
"Then suddenly I became a Daejeong."
"So they decided to teach me 'discipline' in front of all the junior officers."
"And you crushed one of them anyway."
"I got crushed worse."
"There were more than ten of them."
"No matter how hard I fought, it didn't matter."
"You still wrecked one of them."
Yeong-woo smiled viciously.
"That bastard's finished."
"He'll be sent home."
"He probably won't live like a proper man again."
Gyeong-taek frowned.
"Why did you do it like that?"
"Because those bastards were going to gang up on me."
"I was going to lose no matter what."
"But I decided I wouldn't just take it."
"I'd drag one of them down with me."
Cheol-ryong exhaled.
"You damned fanatic."
"They could kill me."
"But one of them would die too."
"And if that happened…"
"Well, I wouldn't feel so wronged when I went."
"Fanatic," Cheol-ryong muttered again.
"Can't you just yield a little and live more gently?"
"That's why they keep trampling people," Yeong-woo snapped.
"Because everyone yields."
Cheol-un nodded immediately.
"That's right."
"You did well."
"It cleared my chest just watching it."
Yeong-woo raised an arm weakly.
"I didn't mean for thisto happen."
"But I think my life in the army is over now."
"My ribs are broken."
"It feels like they stabbed into something inside."
"I'm not recovering."
Cheol-ryong clicked his tongue.
"Then die already, you little bastard."
"If you're going to fight back, at least do it halfway."
"How can a man have no middle at all?"
Yeong-woo laughed bitterly.
"I hate everything now."
"I hate this world where petty little men swagger around."
Cheol-ryong's voice softened.
"General Lee doesn't explode openly."
"He binds responsibility in advance."
"But Park Geun-su put shackles on himself with his own hands."
A senior was never merely a senior.
He saw farther.
That was the kind of insight that seemed beautiful, almost like the wisdom of a sage.
"So what do I do?" Yeong-woo asked.
"You're the winner."
"Just recover."
Yeong-woo grimaced and clutched his belly.
"Hyung…"
Cheol-ryong burst into laughter.
"Listen to this bastard. He gets hurt and suddenly I'm hyung."
"I always thought of you that way."
"I've always respected you deeply."
Cheol-ryong leaned back.
"Well, if you put it like that, I can't pretend not to care."
"I just don't want to die meaninglessly like this."
Cheol-ryong tipped his head back.
"What choice was there?"
"More than ten officers from the same organization attacked you together."
"There were even Chonggis among them."
"What could anyone do?"
Yeong-woo looked up.
"What about Lord Baek In-gyeom?"
"Or Han Ji-un?"
"Would they have lost like that too?"
Cheol-ryong snorted.
"And what does that matter?"
"You are not them."
"I have to study," Yeong-woo said.
"I won't be humiliated by trash like that ever again."
"I got beaten by men who are nothing."
"Oh, stop it," Cheol-ryong muttered.
"Those men are still officers of the northern army."
"After looking closely, they were nothing," Yeong-woo said flatly.
"They were just hollow men desperate to bully a newly promoted Daejeong."
Cheol-ryong narrowed his eyes.
"So what are you planning?"
"I want to ask Lord Baek In-gyeom."
"I want him to teach me."
"Please arrange one meeting."
Cheol-ryong stared at him.
"Have you gone mad?"
"They're the sky."
"People like us cannot even look directly at them."
"I want to become like that," Yeong-woo said.
"Help me."
"Even if I recover, they'll come again."
"And I won't be able to bear it."
Cheol-ryong shook his head.
"No."
"I saw those bastards yesterday crawling under headquarters, dripping sweat and tears."
"They've already had the fear beaten into them."
"This time the General clearly took your side."
"You should repay that by doing well."
Yeong-woo shook his head.
"There's always a reason."
"People do what they need to do."
"They are not doing it for me."
"I know that."
"So don't tell me to repay kindness."
"I am only myself."
"I just don't want to be beaten again."
Cheol-ryong knew Yeong-woo's stubbornness.
Once he set his mind on something, he would do it.
"They won't accept you," he said.
"There's a saying—Biinbujeon."
"One does not pass the Way to just anyone."
* Biinbujeon: A principle meaning that important teachings, skills, or truths are not transmitted to those who lack character or moral worth.
Yeong-woo nodded faintly.
"I know what it means."
"If I lack the ability, or the character, then that's that."
"But I still want to ask."
"I can't move."
"So please ask for me."
"Just once."
Cheol-ryong sighed.
"They don't come just because someone asks."
"Even the highest warriors of the Northeastern Army can't summon them."
"I'll try."
"But don't expect much."
"I understand."
Cheol-ryong added,
"I left medicine behind with the physician."
"What?"
"Antler and wild ginseng."
"Where did you get that?"
"Where else?"
"I picked it in the mountains and hunted it there."
He laughed.
It was obviously a lie.
To get antler, one had to kill a stag.
To find true wild ginseng, you would have to search the mountains like a madman.
What he meant was simply that he had paid for it in some way Yeong-woo should not ask about.
Yeong-woo laughed too.
That kind of lie no longer bothered him.
It was as beautiful, in its own way, as shared truth.
Something valuable had clearly passed from hand to hand.
"Thank you."
Cheol-ryong jabbed him hard in the side.
Right in the painful place.
It felt as if a broken rib stabbed into his lung.
"Repay me later."
"Aaaagh!"
As Yeong-woo writhed in pain, his comrades laughed and filed out.
Later, So Cheol-ryong went to the quarters of the Immortals.
They lived together in a cluster of thatched huts in a quiet corner of the fortress.
No walls.
Just a few straw-roofed dwellings gathered close together.
When he approached, a guard stopped him.
It was a familiar face.
Cheol-ryong bowed politely.
"I've come to see Lord Baek In-gyeom."
"Why?"
"Yeong-woo has something to ask."
"That troublemaker?"
"He may be troublesome, but we lived because of him."
"So I heard."
"He has a head on his shoulders."
"He just sees widely."
"That's the same thing."
The guard was bored with his duty and prone to chatter.
Cheol-ryong asked again.
"Is he here?"
"He is."
"But men like us aren't usually granted audience."
"He generally avoids people like us."
"Still, since it's you, I'll at least tell him."
Cheol-ryong sighed theatrically.
"Cold rice here, cold rice there."
"That's the life we live."
The guard went inside to report.
Then returned and led him in.
It felt as if there were an invisible boundary drawn around the cluster of huts.
Cheol-ryong bowed deeply before Baek In-gyeom and explained everything.
He began with how they had nearly died.
Then how they survived.
Then what had happened with the other Daejeongs.
Finally he spoke of Yeong-woo's wish.
It was an absurd request.
If it had been his own desire, he would never have spoken it aloud.
But it was Yeong-woo's request.
So even knowing it would likely be refused, he asked.
"He wishes only for one meeting."
"He cannot move right now. Several bones are broken."
Baek In-gyeom did not answer.
He looked toward some distant point, as if thinking.
Time passed.
Then at last he put a hand on his knee and rose slightly.
"If a soldier asks to be taught martial skill…"
"There is no reason I cannot."
Cheol-ryong blinked.
"…There is a condition?"
Baek In-gyeom looked away.
"I do not know how the officers will see it."
Cheol-ryong answered at once.
"I have no desire to crawl into the valley of death worrying about their opinions."
Baek In-gyeom nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"That is true."
"Very well."
"Tell him we begin when his body has healed."
Cheol-ryong sprang to his feet.
Then bowed again and again.
"Thank you."
"Truly, thank you."
He bowed so many times that the guard finally grabbed his arm and dragged him back outside.