Chapter Text
Contrasting with the harsh scorch of the sun, the river’s water felt icy-cold on Cho Sam’s skin. A tinge of doubt surfaces after all the excitement subsides.
“Despite everything going on, I’m feeling the same as usual,” he ponders.
Living a beggar’s life, Cho Sam had experienced all sorts of ups and downs. The glorious life as a cultivator is just a dream for the young Deer to imagine during the day.
But now that might be possible?
‘Chung Myung Hyung-nim said he would build me a foundation…I assume he meant cultivation foundation?’
Does that mean I have those cultivator’s qi now?
Now that he has qi, Cho Sam couldn’t picture himself swinging swords to fight for justice like all of those cultivators in the stories.
Why would he care for someone else when he couldn't even care for himself? Even right now Cho Sam struggled to drag his body from the river to the land because of starvation.
“Well, it’s true that I feel much better now..,” muttered Cho Sam with disbelief clear in his eyes.
Chung Myung’s qi that flowed through his body when he helped Cho Sam build his foundation had left his body moments ago, but even after that…
‘Breathing in, the breeze seemed to carry a scent of flowers.’
The air that goes into his lungs felt so pure and warm, it’s as if they could wash away his pain.
He heard that cultivators are closely connected with nature, some experts are said can even command nature itself.
Cho Sam used to think it’s just a rumor created by common people to gossip.
“...I must follow him.”
He had a feeling that his life would change if he followed that guy to this Mount Hua Sect.
Because how could a mortal command nature? What is human in the face of tornadoes and earthquakes?
But the qi that Cho Sam received from Chung Myung truly felt like nature.
‘Wow, I feel like I didn't appreciate him properly until now.’
Feeling that he just now opened his eyes regarding Chung Myung, Cho Sam walks to their meeting point.
Although that Hyung seemed crazy and uncouth, demanding and bossy, but he’s a good guy overall,... hmmㅡ?
Actually, should he follow that violent guy around?
Cho Sam starts walking faster towards his destination, ignoring chills that brushes his back all of sudden.
‘...I think it's going to be fine.’
Right?
Right..?
…
“...”
“*munch*nom*gu u uu-ulp*...”
Two sets of identical eyes gazed at each other.
“What…is this?”
Chung Myung puts down his halfway eaten boar leg and looks around nonchalantly to say ‘Can’t you see?’.
On the ground below the huge tree, skewers of roasted meats—rabbits, boar, birds, and deer—are suspended over the fire, their juices sizzling and dripping onto the embers.
The air is filled with the mouthwatering smell of roasting meats, their savory scents wafting through the clearing.
The smell made Cho Sam's stomach protest with a hungry growl. (Author’s note: uwansum?)
“Why just stare there? This poor little beggar probably never had a lick of meat before, tsk. Hey, aren't you hungry? Come eat already.”
Chung Myung tsk-ed at Cho Sam some more before randomly grabbing random meat skewers from the fire pit and began to inhaling them.
‘What the hell?’
Cho Sam's stomach let out a pitiful squeak when he caught a whiff of the roasted meat.
‘No! We cannot!’ (stay strong brotha)
“...You aren't supposed to eat meat!”
That Chung Myung, we are Deer people! We can only eat grass! What’s wrong with this Deer!?
Chung Myung looked at Cho Sam with a strange frown on his face.
“Who? Me?”
“Yes! You! Me!”
Chung Myung wondered why he even took his precious time eating to argue with this feeble and skinny Deer brat.
“Why? I already cooked them, it’s a waste if I left them here in the wild for other animals to eat! If you don't want to eat them just say so! Hmph-!”
“Ah, it's not like that! We are Deers! Deers! We cannot accept meat into our diet!”
“Ahh, so what? Even if you are a herbivore you have to eat meat once in your lifetime to stay alive! Why is this beggar so picky? Even tigers and snakes can munch grass if they have to!”
“If you don't want to eat then don't eat! You go graze here, there’s plenty of grass, twigs, leaves. We need to continue going to Shaanxi after this, so you better not faint on me in the middle of the journey!”
And with that Chung Myung put another bird meat into his mouth.
Cho Sam looks up to the sky, feeling a sense of sadness dwell within him.
…There’s indeed lot’s of grass here.
But I'm also a person!
At least don't treat me like your neighborhood deer!
“Until the end, you only eat maybe 5 or 7 blades of grass. Should I shove fresh leaves straight from the trees into your mouth? Uhh? Uhhhh?? I did tell you we will be running full speed after eating don't I? I even graciously provided meat skewers, but noooo, your puny instinct prevents you from even staying alive.”
Cho Sam groans with his head on the ground.
They have traveled for roughly 5 and a half hours before Cho Sam starts hacking his guts out in the middle of the journey.
Now that inhuman bastard starts to nag even after they rest at a nearby village. Chung Myung didn't even shed a single sweat even after he had to carry Cho Sam while running.
“It’s only 2,000 miles to Shaanxi! It’s not that far, in the past I would've reached Shaanxi in half a day!”
‘Is he a dragon in his ‘past’?’
What kind of young bastard can run 2,000 miles in a half day? An average person would take more than two months to get to Shaanxi. It wouldn’t be too strange to believe that, with Cho Sam’s frail body, it could take up to half a year to reach Mount Hua.
Vigorously scolding Chung Myung in his head, Cho Sam failed to notice something shiny in front of him.
‘Huh?’
At the same time, the sound of metal clicking could be heard.
“Tsk Tsk Tsk. He’s still so young. How did he end up as a beggar?”
Clink.
Clink.
Coins started flying towards Cho Sam and Chung Myung.
“The twin on the right looks like he’s been beaten pretty badly; looks like he’ll die soon.”
“Such a terrible world. What a pitiful kid.”
‘What?’
Why do you guys throw coins at me too?
‘Ah.’
‘That’s right, I’m a beggar, aren’t I? I forgot for a second.’
To everyone else, Chung Myung looked like a beggar. No, he was a beggar in his own eyes too. He was a young child who hadn’t reached adulthood yet.
Cho Sam couldn't believe his eyes. He was beaten severely by Jong Pal before Chung Myung barged into the camp; even with Chung Myung treatment, bruises and wounds were still noticeable on his skin. After that he had endured a mind grueling journey with that inhuman Hyung…
And such a beggar was lying flat on the street.
“Ugh. He can’t survive without our help.”
“I can’t just watch a child suffer like that without help. What sort of person would do such a thing?”
A raggedy young beggar, with underdeveloped limbs and covered in dust, seemed to be dying.
No, it didn’t merely look like he was dying; Cho Sam was really dying.
How else could such a perfect beggar scene be witnessed from him?
Coin kept flying into view, one after another.
“Tsk. Tsk.”
“No matter how I look at him, he’s just a beggar. How did he get here?”
It seemed like the world still had kindness in it.
People were clicking their tongues as they passed by Cho Sam before tossing a few coins in his direction. Looking at the coins that came pouring in, Cho Sam couldn’t restrain the tears in his eyes.
“Oh my! He’s crying. Poor thing, it sure is pitiful.”
“Go and buy yourself some noodles with that money.”
The warmth was too much. However, the reason why Cho Sam was shedding tears wasn’t due to the kindness he received.
It’s because of the shameless brat besides him that began to quietly collect the coins thrown for Cho Sam.
“What’s with that look? I only do this for your own good! Aigoo, look at those weak arms! Even lifting a bowl of rice may be too much for you, hihi!”
“Ah, why there's flowers on that Deer’s antlers? They are radiant! You should take care of such good things you have.”
“A-ah! Thank you so much sir! You will be blessed! My dongsaeng and I haven't had a bite of even a single grain of rice in weeks! Oh my, the people here are all so kind! Thank you, thank you so much!”
The money is as overflowing as Cho Sam’s tears.
“The food here is so nice..”
Cho Sam caressed his bulging belly. He looked weird, like a tadpole with a slim body that held no charm and a convex belly.
Due to his small stature, he couldn’t eat much.
Just three dumplings were enough to make his stomach bulge out.
But it was the best food he had eaten in the past 15 years he lived.
It’s also the first time Cho Sam had been truly sated from hunger.
He still had three coins left up his sleeve.
Chung Myung had given some coins he collected to him as his ‘allowance’.
“Kids shouldn't handle too many coins! They'd spent it all in one spot. Moreover as a beggar, you are not too used to money. Aiyoo, it’s okay, luckily you have this big hearted Hyung that can manage your money for you!”
…At least that's what Chung Myung had said to him.
Cho Sam looked towards the guy in front of him that had been chugging cheap alcohol non-stop.
‘Ah, that kid had spent my money buying alcohol.’
“Kyaaaa~!”
Chung Myung truly felt the power of money now that he’s a lowly beggar.
Coins that he would have never picked up in his past life looked like treasures in this new life.
‘I never would have thought that money was so important.’
Chung Myung remembered the words of his Sahyung, who would always hold his head in agony on the last day of each month.
– Warriors need to be obsessed with wealth!
If possible, Chung Myung wanted to go back to those days and ease his Sahyung’s suffering!
‘My stomach is still not full yet.’
Even after gulping down a whole boar, some birds, some rabbits, some deers, some squirrels…
He can feel that his stomach is not full yet, but at the same time he can't feel any hunger at all.
But this cheap alcohol he bought using a beggars penny makes him feel full!
A young beggar was mouthing his complaints off to a ghost.
Chung Myung had to keep himself from crying when he thought of his hard-working, money-obsessed, Sahyung’s final moments in the battle with .
‘Anyway.’
Cho Sam is still looking at his bowl with longing in his eyes. Chung Myung started to search for something in robes.
“Here, don't say anything and eat.”
A few mushroom skewers wrapped in leaves.
“...”
“...Are you going to take it or not?!”
Cho Sam slowly brought the skewers to his smiling mouth.
‘I probably should say thank you, but that guy seems like someone who couldn't take a thank-you without being violent.’
Spot on.
While eating, they encountered three ugly beggars that wanted to rob Chung Myung’s money and Cho Sam’s half-eaten dumplings.
Oh course Chung Myung kindly refreshed them of a very important saying for those who lived in Kangho.
‘Be wary of the elderly, women and children.’
“… you people have no conscience. You bastards!”
Chung Myung patted his hands as if he was the one who’s getting hit.
Take this away? This little bit of food too? What was the kid supposed to eat!?
Take his money away?
…You brave beggar bastards!
“You beggar!”
Whoa, a beggar was cursing at another beggar for being a beggar. It felt like he was spitting on his own face.
“You're lucky I have no grudge against beggars. Tsk, if you are a regular martial artist, I’ll break all of your bones one by one!”
“… esteemed sir.”
“Does a beggar look like an esteemed sir?”
“Great beggar…?”
“Should I hit you again?”
The beggars, who had their asses handed to them, whined.
‘Where did this monster come from?’
‘It hurts so much that I could die.’
A couple hits were all it took for Chung Myung to subdue these beggars. It was shocking that a child knocked out three grown adults, and it was clearly a disastrous result for the three of them.
‘It’s going to take some time to get used to this body.’
It didn’t take much to subdue them. In his previous body, he would have turned them into rice cakes with just one finger.
But now, he had to kick, and even punch to subdue the beggars. One of them kept getting up after every hit, so Chung Myung had to slap him 12 times more.
Cho Sam applauded Chung Myung within the sidelines.
‘Wow, he really treating those three burly men like little brats.’
Of course as the three beggars might look burly on the weak Cho Sam’s point of view, well in Chung Myung’s eyes, the three beggars are as burly as beggars can be.
‘Cultivators really are the best!’
Unfair expectations for all cultivators rose within the clueless Cho Sam.
‘That Jong Pal bastard should also be taught like this.’
Nevermind that the guy had been ambushed by Chung Myung the first time he came into the camp.
Chung Myung scratched his head, why did he have the strange feeling that something had happened just now?
‘Probably just the wind.’
“Men.”
“Yes!”
The three beggars jumped up. Sweat trickled down their faces. All three of them looked at Chung Myung.
‘No matter how I see it, he looks like a beggar Deer who couldn’t even lift a bag of rice.’
‘This makes no sense!’
Totally incomprehensible.
Small, weak, and thin.
On the surface, the one in front of him looked weak and frail; no one expected that he could fight so fiercely. So, when they got close, they ended up seeing stars. Their fists never even touched Chung Myung’s clothes.
Chung Myung wasn’t very fast or strong, so why did they lose to him?
And there's even another one watching on the sidelines. That twin looked even more scrawny and pathetic, but given the context, wouldn't that mean that one is also a monster?
“Hey!”
“Yes!”
“Please give your orders! Esteemed sirs! No, esteemed beggars! Ah, no!”
What’s the point in understanding? It takes time to convince someone but beating them is quick. The only important thing was that the young beggar’s punches hurt like hell.
Chung Myung glanced at the beggars and opened his mouth.
“I am just asking; do you know how to reach Shaanxi quickly?”
The beggars looked at each other and smiled. Chung Myung began to feel like there was some hope when he saw their expressions.
“Hahaha. You are asking something obvious.”
“Oh? Really?”
“If we knew something like that, why would we be begging? At least ask something worthwhile.”
“…”
Chung Myung looked at the beggars and sighed deeply.
These guys weren’t wrong. At the very least, it was his mistake to seek a path from a beggar.
“Enough. Go away.”
“Thank you!”
“Be strong!”
The beggars bowed their heads and turned around, ready to run away. No, they tried to run away.
“Hold it.”
At that moment, Chung Myung’s words froze them in place.
“Yes?”
“It is fine to flee but take out everything in your hands and pockets and leave them here.”
“…”
“You came up behind me while I was drinking, so one coin… no, ten coins. Trust me, it is better than getting hit again.”
Realizing how sincere he sounded, the beggars relinquished the coins in their pockets and quickly escaped.
“Ugh, you.”
“Yes?”
“Take off everything aside from your underwear before I take them off for you.”
“…”
"Hyung, are we the robbers?"
It was a horrific scene where a beggar was being robbed in daylight.
