BSW 120

120

Unlike Man-soo, who at least had one shoe on, she was completely barefoot. What’s more, she had even forgotten her spear, clenching only her thick fists.

At the sight of the two of them, Ho-eun called out to them, his lower lip trembling.

“Sister… Brother…”

His sharply upturned eyes immediately drooped. Seeing Dong-ja and Man-soo, he felt relieved. At the same time, sorrow washed over him like a wave. Ho-eun’s cheeks twitched like a child about to burst into tears when another figure appeared.

“What’s all the commotion? What’s going on?”

It was Gil-sang. Unlike the previous two, he was in full military uniform, with a sword at his side.

With the appearance of these three, Ho-eun felt as if he had gained a thousand troops. It felt as if his parents, his brothers, and Deok-woo had rushed to protect him from his adversity.

His nose red, Ho-eun took a few, short breaths and shouted to the three of them.

“Those guys shot General Lee! They, they even said bad things to General Lee! Punish them!”

“Huh? Gun?”

Dong-ja blinked with a blank look on her face. It was a different reaction than Ho-eun had expected. She didn’t seem surprised that Tae-muk had been shot.

“Where? He looks fine to me?”

Man-soo was the same. He only tilted his head and stared at Tae-muk, not at all worried. Perhaps it was because Tae-muk was standing too tall, too firm, and too unharmed.

“……”

Gil-sang just stood there blankly. Confused by their reactions, Ho-eun showed them his palm, soaked with Tae-muk’s blood.

“Blood, there’s so much blood…”

But the three of them remained indifferent. Ho-eun was stammering, taken aback by the unexpected turn of events, when Tae-muk, who had been silent all along, pointed his chin at the group of young men, then at Ho-eun, and said.

“They’re trying to extort money from him. They’re going to take his clothes off, too.”

Ho-eun wondered what Tae-muk was suddenly talking about. But at those short words, the expressions of Dong-ja, Man-soo, and Gil-sang changed completely.

“What did you say? Whose money are they extorting? The young master’s money?”

“Oh, my, his clothes? Those are clothes I painstakingly acquired with my exceptionally discerning eye… And they said they were going to take them?”

“You tried to steal young master’s money? These bastards?”

Deep wrinkles formed on the foreheads of the three of them at the same time. Then they turned to look back at the men. Their eyes were flashing fiercely. Their aura was so menacing that the men unconsciously flinched and stepped back.

Ho-eun was finally satisfied with the reaction he had wanted, but at the same time, he was worried. The opponents had Guns.

“Be careful. They have Guns. You might get hurt-”

But before Ho-eun could finish speaking, Tae-muk pulled him away.

“Stop chattering and go inside, will you?”

“But…”

“Do they look like they’re going to die from a Gunshot? They won’t die even if a bomb goes off.”

“Still…”

Ho-eun kept looking back at the three of them as he was dragged away by Tae-muk. He leaned his upper body back as if he didn’t want to go. The dirt under his heels was being dug up in a line. Tae-muk let out a frustrated sigh.

“Haa…”

Then he picked up Ho-eun and slung him over his shoulder. With his other hand, he picked up the book wrapper that Ho-eun had dropped.

“General Lee!”

Ho-eun, startled by the sudden upside-down view, called out to Tae-muk as if screaming. But at that moment. Something whizzed past in front of his eyes. It was like an eagle, or rather, it seemed closer to a bear.

The owner of the figure was Dong-ja. Leaping up, she ran along the alley wall as if it were flat ground. As she kicked off the wall with her bare feet, there was a rustling sound. She was running with a heavy body, but her presence was as light as a mouse’s footsteps.

“Oh, what, what is it?”

The thugs, startled by the approaching Dong-ja, turned the muzzles of their Guns, which had been aimed at Tae-muk and Ho-eun, towards her and began to fire indiscriminately, bang, bang, bang! Bang!

But not a single bullet reached her. While they were distracted by Dong-ja, Gil-sang, who had already arrived in front of them, cut off their hands or fingers one after another. Each time he swung his sword, fingers fluttered down.

“Aaaaaah!”

“Uaaaaagh!”

“Keuk, aagh…”

Along with loud screams, thin streams of blood spurted out, pit, pit-pit. The burly men each grabbed their hands and collapsed to the ground. Some were digging through the ground, looking for their severed fingers or wrists, while Man-soo laughed, hee hee hee, and stabbed them with his spear as if skewering them on a skewer.

“……”

Ho-eun stared at it with his mouth open. Tae-muk readjusted Ho-eun and went inside the inn.

“……”

Tae-muk was sitting on a backless chair, shirtless. Ho-eun was standing behind him, quietly looking at his shoulder blades.

There was a hole the size of a thumbnail in Tae-muk’s back, and the blackness inside suggested that the wound was not shallow. Blood was constantly flowing from the hole. Whenever Tae-muk breathed, the blood gurgled and spurted out more violently.

“……”

Ho-eun bit his lower lip and gently wiped away the flowing blood with a clean cloth. He was careful not to touch the wound. But even though he wiped and wiped, the blood wouldn’t stop because he wasn’t blocking the hole.

Judging that this wouldn’t do, Ho-eun lowered the cloth and said.

“Y-You should probably go to the hospital.”

“No.”

“Is it because it’s a hassle? Then, um… uh… ah! There’s a doctor at the inn. A doctor from Ramjae Town. He’s skilled, so he’ll treat you quickly. I’ll, I’ll go and call him right away.”

“I said no.”

“But…”

Ho-eun was dying of frustration at Tae-muk’s constant refusals. He was so frustrated that he even stomped his feet in place. Even as they were arguing, blood was gurgling from the wound.

How much more blood was he going to lose? Of course, he knew that the wound would heal naturally over time. But there was no need to leave the wound unattended until then. Stitching it up, applying medicine, and wrapping it with bandages would make it heal faster.

At that moment, another stream of blood flowed down Tae-muk’s back. Ho-eun quickly wiped it away with a cloth. Tae-muk folded his arm backwards and groped his shoulder.

“Why? Does it hurt?”

“I have to take the bullet out.”

“Take the bullet… out?”

“Yeah.”

Tae-muk replied briefly and suddenly began to poke at the wound with his finger.

“General Lee!”

Ho-eun’s eyes widened as if they would pop out. The blood that had stopped a little was now pouring out again due to the rough touch. Ho-eun’s face, which had already been pale, turned as white as a sheet of paper.

“Don’t do it!”

Ho-eun grabbed Tae-muk’s wrist and pulled. But Tae-muk pushed Ho-eun’s hand away as if chasing away a fly, and continued to dig at the wound.

“It has to come out to heal.”

“No, but, but…”

He understood that the bullet had to be removed. It wouldn’t be able to heal with it inside. But it didn’t seem right to poke at the wound like that.

While Ho-eun was biting his lower lip in agony, Tae-muk continued to rummage through the wound. But even after quite some time, the bullet did not come out. It was because the place where it was lodged was his shoulder blade, so his hand couldn’t reach it well. If it had been his chest or leg, he would have taken it out a long time ago.

Tae-muk was annoyed. He was so annoyed that he just wanted to saw off his shoulder with a saw, then take out the bullet and reattach his shoulder.

Eventually, he failed to find the bullet and pulled his hand out irritably. As his fingers, which were tangled in the gaping wound, came out, there was a chilling sound. Ho-eun, feeling the pain, pulled his chin in and grimaced painfully.

“Take it out.”

Tae-muk turned his back to Ho-eun and said.

“M-Me?”

Ho-eun gasped and asked back, his breath filled with fear.

“Just take it out.”

Tae-muk said in a tone that seemed to say, ‘It’s easy, right? You can do that much, right?’ Then he hunched his broad back so that Ho-eun could easily see the wound.

“……”

Ho-eun hesitantly approached the wound. And he stared at it quietly. The wound was even bigger, perhaps because Tae-muk had poked at it with his finger a little while ago. The skin around the hole was shriveled, as if it had melted or torn, and blood was gushing out.

“Haa…”

Ho-eun couldn’t bring himself to touch the wound. It wasn’t because it was gruesome. It was because he thought Tae-muk would be in a lot of pain, and that he would make him even more painful.

“……”

Ho-eun remained still, without saying or doing anything. At that, Tae-muk glanced back at Ho-eun. It was to urge him on, asking what he was doing.

But Ho-eun’s face was too pale. His skin was lifeless and dry, and his cheeks were gaunt. He looked like he would foam at the mouth and faint if he was touched.

Tae-muk clicked his tongue. It seemed that he had asked too difficult a request of the delicate young master. He lightly shook his head to flip his bangs and said briefly.

“Go out and call Byeonguk.”

At those words, Ho-eun suddenly came to his senses. He looked at the back of Tae-muk’s head, his wound, and the blood splattered on his back in turn. Then he clenched his fist tightly and shook his head.

“No. I’ll, I’ll do it.”