By Zephyria 
46
“…….”
However, Gil-sang didn’t respond. Ho-eun, wondering if he hadn’t heard, turned his gaze to him. But Gil-sang was looking ahead. The other soldiers around him were also staring ahead.
In that instant, Ho-eun felt a chill run down his spine.
They weren’t just looking ahead. They were looking at Tae-muk in front. It was a situation he had experienced often. And based on that experience, everyone looking at Tae-muk meant something had happened.
Then, Ho-eun belatedly realized. The Crimson Rain Brigade had stopped some time ago.
“…….”
Tae-muk, at the head, was staring at the village inside the wall, just as Ho-eun had done. His expression was unusually stern.
Ho-eun unknowingly gripped the reins tightly. He had a bad feeling. He was already worried about the villagers he had never even seen.
Then, Tae-muk lightly kicked the horse’s flank. With him in the lead, the Crimson Rain Brigade began to move again. But instead of going around the village as before, they crossed the fields and headed for the side gate connected to one side of the village.
The wooden side gate was wide open. The hinges were broken, but it was impossible to tell whether someone had broken them or whether they had broken from being old and worn.
Soon, all the Crimson Rain Brigade soldiers, including Ho-eun, entered the village. The village was much more desolate than it looked from the outside. As the sun began to set in earnest, a dry, cool wind blew. Dry leaves rolled listlessly here and there.
And… there was a strange smell. It was a smell that Ho-eun was now quite familiar with. A fishy, slightly sour, yet musty smell.
It was the smell of blood.
But there was no blood to be seen anywhere. No Devouring Ghouls, no corpses, no people, yet the smell of blood. It didn’t make sense. Ho-eun thought he must have misidentified the smell. But the hand holding the reins was damp with sweat.
The Crimson Rain Brigade went deeper into the village. The sound of horses’ hooves echoed louder and clearer on the flat ground.
The village was small. Even including the thatched-roof house that appeared to be a warehouse, there were only a dozen or so buildings. They were all small and shabby.
It was strange. Food was precious in this world, and the fields they had passed alone would be worth a considerable amount, so how could it be so shabby? Did the villagers eat all those crops?
Ho-eun was continuing his serious contemplation when.
“Save… me….”
A strange voice was heard. Ho-eun turned his head sharply towards it. In the center of the village, in an open space where several thatched-roof houses faced each other, a man was lying face down.
His hair was disheveled, but the silk clothes he was wearing and the topknot he had tied up clearly indicated that he was a nobleman.
Upon discovering the Crimson Rain Brigade, he struggled to crawl across the ground. Blood trailed along the path he crawled. Wondering where he was injured that he couldn’t walk, Ho-eun followed the blood with his eyes.
“Ah….”
The man’s ankles were gone. Both ankles were gone. The flesh was hanging raggedly, and the bones were broken, so it seemed he had been bitten by a Devouring Ghoul. Ho-eun looked for the starting point of the blood, but no Devouring Ghoul was in sight. That was fortunate. It seemed it wouldn’t be difficult to save the man this time.
“Sir, there’s a person over there. We must save him.”
Ho-eun was about to turn his horse around immediately. But.
“…….”
Gil-sang didn’t react at all. He was just staring at the man. There was an indescribable sense of distance in his gaze. It was impossible to say exactly what it was, but it certainly wasn’t the look one would give to an injured person.
“Sir…?”
“…….”
Despite Ho-eun’s urging, Gil-sang didn’t move. Ho-eun looked at the man again. His face, wet with what might have been sweat or tears, was desperately crawling towards them.
Ho-eun anxiously bit his lower lip.
He had to save him. He wanted to save him. He felt like he had to get him treatment quickly. It was urgent.
But no matter how much it was about saving a person, he couldn’t just leave the group on his own. There was a ‘Captain’ here. Everyone had to follow his orders. Of course, Ho-eun did too.
Ho-eun looked at Tae-muk far away. He would surely save this man. He had saved the Crimson Rain Brigade soldiers, and him, several times. So, of course, he would save this man too…
“…….”
But Ho-eun froze solid when he saw Tae-muk. Tae-muk… was smiling. It wasn’t a bright or cheerful smile, but it was still a smile. It was the same sneer he had shown when he first saw Ho-eun, as if he were mocking the man.
“Save me… please save me….”
The man crawled across the dirt ground, reaching out with his tattered hands with all his might. It wasn’t as if he could reach the Crimson Rain Brigade by doing so, but he reached out again and again. He seemed that desperate.
But at that moment, Tae-muk also reached out his hand. However, he didn’t reach out towards the man, but towards the soldier behind him. Then the soldier handed him something. A long, thin body. Tough string tied at both ends.
“A… bow?”
Ho-eun’s eyebrows narrowed at the object that didn’t fit the situation. It was the first time he had seen Tae-muk holding a weapon. He had always fought with his bare hands.
What was he going to do with that?
Why did he need that?
There were no Devouring Ghouls or beasts in sight, so why?
Ho-eun frowned at the incomprehensible situation. Tae-muk, who had also received an arrow, skillfully placed it on the bow. Then he drew the string back a long way. The large, tough bow creaked and bent under Tae-muk’s strength.
“Uh….”
At that moment, Ho-eun sensed a kind of ominousness. He turned his head creakily, following where Tae-muk’s arrow was pointing.
Sure enough. At the end of the arrow was the man. Not a Devouring Ghoul, not a wild beast, but a man.
“Why, why, why….”
Confusion filled Ho-eun’s eyes. Should he run and stop him? No, surely Tae-muk wouldn’t really shoot that man. That would be murder.
A wounded person, a person who was clearly wounded by a Devouring Ghoul, a person who, even if wounded, was still alive. Would he shoot him with an arrow?
No way. It couldn’t be. There was no way.
Ho-eun twisted the reins, looking anxiously back and forth between the man and Tae-muk. His dry chest rose and fell rapidly. His heart was beating at a rhythm he had never experienced before.
“Save me… save me, save me….”
The man seemed out of his mind. He seemed to have lost his strength. He kept waving his arms, but he couldn’t move forward. It was just a meaningless struggle.
It was a heartbreaking sight that made his nose tingle, but the soldiers were just watching it blankly. Their eyes were quite cold. No one felt sorry for the man or pitied him. No one empathized with his pain and fear.
Gil-sang, who was standing next to Ho-eun, Dong-ja, who was standing in front, and Man-soo were all the same. Ho-eun felt an indescribable strangeness from them. It was as if they weren’t the people he knew.
“…….”
Even as that was happening, Tae-muk’s bowstring became increasingly taut. Until then, Ho-eun had been stupidly frozen, thinking it couldn’t be, there was no way, Tae-muk must be seeing something he couldn’t see, like a Devouring Ghoul or an animal, or even a ghost, anyway, he must be seeing something, he must be aiming at that.
Ho-eun, who had grown up righteously all his life, couldn’t think of anything else.
And finally.
Tae-muk released the bowstring.
Whoosh.
The arrow, which flew like a shot, pierced the man’s forehead. The powerful arrow passed through the man’s head and out the back of his head. Blood glistened on the sharp arrowhead.
“…….”
The man died without even groaning. His head, which had been pushed back by the impact of the arrow, soon slumped forward. However, his head couldn’t be completely buried in the ground because of the arrow feathers sticking up above his forehead. Blood trickled down the arrow shaft. Blood pooled small and round on the dirt ground.
“Why, why….”
Ho-eun stared blankly at the nobleman, no, at what had now become a corpse. His breath was strangely tangled. His ears were muffled, and his eyes were dry.
It wasn’t the first time he had seen someone die. He had seen it in the bamboo forest. That man had his head torn off and died much more horribly.
But that was a death caused by a Devouring Ghoul. This, on the other hand, was murder. Murder committed by a person against a person. It was Tae-muk, of all people, who had killed a commoner.
While Ho-eun was standing there in a daze, Tae-muk gave some kind of order to the soldiers. Then the soldiers all dismounted and drove the horses to one side. They also took out their weapons. Gil-sang also dismounted and stood with his back to Ho-eun’s horse. Then he drew his sword and said.
“Young Master, please don’t get off your horse. These guys don’t seem to be very smart.”
“…….”
Ho-eun didn’t answer. It wasn’t that he couldn’t hear Gil-sang’s voice. His gaze was still fixed on the man who had been shot and killed by the arrow.
Perhaps, was he dreaming?
Yes, this couldn’t be reality. There was no way Tae-muk would have killed someone.
Ho-eun squeezed his eyes shut and opened them. But that didn’t change the situation. In fact, Ho-eun was feeling with his whole body that this was reality. And the more he realized that, the more he couldn’t understand Tae-muk.