Chapter 1651. It’s a Beautiful Day. (1)
“Step on him!”
“Bastard!”
A group of children gathered around a person, trampling and kicking him.
“Hah! Hah~!”
The children, who at first glance seemed to be in poor condition, were out of breath as if they had quickly exhausted themselves with just a few kicks.
“This... disgusting bastard.”
“Why are there people like this?”
They looked down in disgust and exchanged glances.
“...Let’s go.”
“Just like that?”
“Are you going to kill him then?”
Silence fell. Conflicted expressions appeared on everyone’s faces. But soon they all nodded nervously.
“Let’s go.”
“Tch! Bad luck.”
The children turned around, spitting with expressions of annoyance and frustration. However, there was an indescribable emotion in their eyes.
Someone murmured quietly.
“...Do we have to starve again today?”
“If those damned bastards hadn’t started the war, we could have begged for food.”
“You make it sound like we could beg. I’ve heard more than a dozen people starved to death in my neighborhood. What are they going to give us when not only beggars but even those wearing turbans are starving?”
“Damn it...”
There was a similar light in the faces of the children as they staggered away.
Perhaps it was due to despair or fear. Or maybe a sense of helplessness in the face of suffering beyond their control.
It is the powerful who shake the world, but the impact is felt by the powerless. The despair of those whose lives are shaken and shattered against their will is so deep and heavy that it is hard to describe.
“Why do you keep looking back?”
“...Wouldn’t he die if we left him like that?”
“Damn it, if he dies, he just dies. Why worry when I could die first! Stop talking nonsense, let’s go!”
In the end, the boy nodded and continued walking. But even so, he kept looking back as if something was holding him back.
Perhaps what made him constantly look back was the humanity he had no choice but to leave behind, as well as the guilt he had no choice but to erase in order to survive in this world.
After a long while, they all left...
Crunch.
A person who lay as if dead after being trampled by children suddenly stood up.
A thin and small body. It was a child who looked like he would faint at any moment even if not many people stepped on him.
The child, who had been subjected to such cruel violence with his whole body that even an adult would have difficulty enduring it, grabbed the ground with trembling hands.
With clothes so ragged that calling him a beggar was a luxury, and with hair growing randomly and scattered, he was more fittingly called an animal than a beggar.
“Tch!”
The child vomited blood. But the fishy taste in his mouth did not disappear.
The child, who looked around like a weak animal, searched his sleeve only after confirming that there was no one around.
It was a black lump of dough that had been trampled and crushed, but he still did not hand it over despite being so brutally attacked.
The child opened the dirt-filled lump with his small hands. Then he slowly put it in his mouth.
It tasted disgusting, with too much blood and dirt. However, the child simply chewed it well and swallowed it without much response. In fact, he seemed to be savoring an unparalleled delicacy.
His bony fingers searched for another lump of dough.
To get it, the child had to be beaten until no part of his body was intact, but the child did not resent it. It was better to be beaten than to starve.
The child knew this clearly.
Today too, someone would die. Among those who trampled him, someone would die within a few days.
If humans do not eat, they die. The same goes for children. In that case, this amount of beating in exchange for this lump of dough was very cheap.
Survival. Nothing is more important than that. At least here.
As the child wiped the blood from his mouth with his dirty sleeve.
“Are you okay?”
As soon as someone spoke, the child shoved the remaining lumps of dough into his sleeve and bared his teeth. The curled form was very fierce, like a beast wary of its surroundings.
Seeing this, the beggar who spoke to him from afar had an uncomfortable expression.
“No, I’m just worried... I wondered if everything was okay.”
“.....”
It was definitely the voice of someone worried. It was a kindness hard to expect in a world as cold as this.
But in reality, the child only gave a cold and emotionless look at that warmth.
Despite realizing that the child would not be easily approachable, the beggar did not easily give up on showing friendly concern.
“Don’t be so suspicious.”
The beggar approached the child slowly, as if genuinely worried.
“If your body is in that condition, sleeping in a cold place will freeze you to death. I just....”
The beggar took a few steps closer and then stopped. He realized that the boy was reaching into his sleeve and pulling out a sharp knife, not a lump of dough.
A moment of confusion appeared on the beggar’s face.
The beggar’s face, looking at the boy and the sharp knife alternately, turned extremely cruel, as if the person before him was a lie. It was hard to believe he was the same person who spoke kindly to the boy just a moment ago.
“This bastard kid...”
The beggar, glaring at the boy as if something weighed on his mind, gritted his teeth and staggered back a few steps. After all, it seemed he judged it too disadvantageous to risk dealing with a knife to snatch the remaining pieces of dough.
“How many more days do you think someone like you will last?”
“.....”
“Dying child... When you die, I’ll definitely boil and eat you. I’ll be watching you. Useless dogs like you.”
The beggar, throwing out insults and curses no one would expect to be directed at a child, turned away helplessly and quickly left.
The boy, who had been wary of the beggar for a long time, got up from his seat with determination. His steps limped, slow but firm, as he walked towards the deserted street.
The dark night.
The boy climbed halfway up the mountain, dangerous even in broad daylight, and stirred up the pile of fallen leaves with a familiar touch.
After a few touches, a space barely big enough for a person to squat in appeared.
The boy squeezed into it and collapsed exhausted.
Although he was almost unconscious, instead of succumbing to the running water (falling asleep), he took out the lump of dough he had in his hand, broke it into small pieces, and began to chew it.
The boy’s expression did not look like that of a child. As he chewed the lumps of dough, the boy looked towards the mountain.
This is the hell of the world.
The value of human life is not always the same. In a peaceful world, one’s life is worth more than anything, but in this world, one’s life is not worth even half as much as these stale dough balls.
The value of a child’s life is less than that.
The lowest person in the most terrible place would be forced to go to a place where no one else was.
In the eyes of the boy looking down, there was much light below.
It was the village. Still too far away and scary.
The boundary between the village where people lived and the mountain he was in was the light. Although it seemed fragile and almost extinguished, it was still beautiful and could not be ignored.
With an indifferent gesture, the boy tore off a lump of dough and put it back into his mouth without taking his eyes off the pool of light that looked like a river.
The dense taste of earth and the aroma of decaying dry leaves entered his nose.
The boy’s gaze traveled further.
The light there was much brighter, more beautiful, more colorful than what he could see up close.
Right now, it was a place where the boy couldn’t even set foot. The people enjoying that colorful light could not be compared to those living depending on the light that seemed to be going out.
The boy tried to grasp it with trembling hands.
The light felt so close it was almost within reach. It felt warm to the touch.
But, of course, the boy’s hand couldn’t reach it. He didn’t feel warmth, the only thing he could savor was the cold that pierced his bones.
But the boy did not become discouraged or disappointed.
Because now he knew.
In the first place, the light was not always there. They were the ones who stole the light from others and took more light for themselves. If they could take it away, so could he. Like the lump of dough he stole and hid in his sleeve today. That light too.....
The light in the boy’s eyes grew bigger and bigger.
His light, which spread warmer and warmer, soon enveloped the world as if it shone brightly. The dividing borders broke, and all places in the world were filled with bright light.
It was addictive. The boy reached out once more, knowing he wouldn’t reach its warmth.
But at that moment...
Crack!
The world the boy saw cracked. A spiderweb-shaped crack appeared in the seemingly warm world, and soon crimson blood flowed through the crack.
The boy’s pupils trembled.
The crimson blood quickly covered the world. There was no warmth. The cold and disgusting nothingness enveloped everything.
“Ah!”
A voice came out of the boy’s mouth for the first time.
But that was all, a voice that couldn’t speak well came out only as the groan of a wounded animal.
“Ah..... Aahh.....”
The entire world turned black. Leaving nothing behind. The boy's eyes filled with acute despair.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!”
--------------
“Ryeonju-nim.”
“.....”
“Ryeonju-nim?”
The long eyelashes that hung tightly over closed eyes swayed gently. The eyelids slowly lifted, revealing pale eyes.
His eyes, staring blankly at the room that seemed desolate, finally turned to the person standing in front of him.
“The preparations are complete.”
Instead of responding, he looked down.
The long, bright red fabric, the colorful dragon patterns embroidered with gold thread, the long fingers visible under the wide sleeves, and the colorful rings on top.
This was reality. He wasn’t dressed in rags and filth. He turned the hand he had rested on the armrest. Cold sweat ran down his open palm. He stared at it for a while and finally spoke. It was an expressionless, meaningless face.
“...Mirror.”
“Yes, sir.”
At his command, the servant quickly held the mirror in front of him. He looked at his own face reflected in the mirror as if it were a strange vision.
A face covered in luxurious makeup. Through the strands of the crown that covered his face, he could see an adult man, different from the animal-like child. A white, pure face, red lips, and somber, sunken eyes.
Had he changed?
Was the man reflected in the mirror now different from himself in the past? Just because his face and what he wore on his body had changed?
He finished looking in the mirror and slowly stood up.
The servants rushed to make final adjustments to his clothes, but he ignored them and walked towards the door in front of him.
Tuk. Tuk.
He grabbed the door handle and paused for a moment.
-Do you understand?
He still couldn’t answer that question. No, perhaps in the future, he still wouldn’t be able to answer it.
But....
His eyes, which had been closed, finally opened the door violently.
Brak.
He glimpsed the scene unfolding in front of the wide-open door, as if about to break.
Many people were lined up.
Suppressing boiling passion and lust, as if they were about to explode.
Armed with eyes like knives, they waited for this person.
The reddened corners of Jang Ilso’s mouth slowly turned into a deep smile.
His gaze shifted to the side. His eyes met Ho Gakmyung, who was standing next to a group of lined-up people. Ho Gakmyung stared at him for a moment and then bowed his head seriously.
“The preparations... are complete, Ryeonju-nim.”
“.....”
“The order, sir.”
Jang Ilso’s eyes slowly turned towards the sky. It was blue without a single cloud. The rising sun in the east shone brightly, as if welcoming him.
“It’s a beautiful day.”
His eyes became similar to those of a child looking at an unattainable light.
However, he didn’t get what he wanted. So...
“Let’s go.”
It was time to take it. The things he had only been able to see.
Tuk.
He took a step forward. A deep smile appeared on Jang Ilso’s lips.
The most beautiful place in the world. The place where the most powerful people in the world lived. The path to get there was clear.
“First.... How about we start with Henan?”
Both eyes curved like crescents.
“Let’s go. To rule the world.”
“Yes!”
The followers moved to his lead.
The sword that had been previously hidden was now unsheathed and ready to strike the world. It would not stop until it had finished.
