If It Can't Be Helped, It's Fate
Jincheon frowned.
Request out of nowhere? He wondered what this meant.
The middle-aged man said in a calm voice.
"Send one item to a certain place. If you deliver it properly, I promise a quite decent reward."
Jincheon sighed.
"Entrust such things to an Escort Agency (Pyoguk). Although I started peddling..."
"I cannot trust Escort Agencies."
The middle-aged man cut off Jincheon's words.
"And there is no guarantee I can reach an Escort Agency either."
The man was pressing his side gently.
Perhaps because his clothes were dirty, blood wasn't visible, but it was clearly unusual.
"Are you alright?"
"Seems I'm going to die."
Frowning, the middle-aged man continued.
"After about a hundred years pass."
Jincheon smirked without realizing it. And felt sarcastic at his own laughter.
"Is this the time to make such jokes?"
But the middle-aged man was grinning. He seemed proud that his joke made Jincheon laugh.
"...You were a sillier person than you look."
"Well, dying is a joke, but the reward being decent is real."
Jincheon frowned.
"Wouldn't it be better to wait for your companions? Entrusting something to me, a stranger..."
"I cannot do that."
The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and looked down at his side.
"This wasn't done by an enemy's sword."
Jincheon's expression hardened.
Those words mean the man was betrayed.
And by someone he trusted at that.
"So you, whom I met for the first time today, are paradoxically the only opponent I can trust. And the best one available too."
Jincheon let out a hollow laugh.
"Isn't there no one here but me anyway?"
"That is true."
Watching the middle-aged man smiling broadly, Jincheon was dumbfounded.
He thought he was truly a sillier person than he looked.
"...So, what is the item to entrust?"
A peddler is not an Escort Agency.
But if the reward is decent, there is no reason not to do it.
Actually, many bundle peddlers delivered letters or goods, and Jincheon also had thoughts of gaining profit like that.
Shouldn't he make a profit somehow so as not to disappoint the friend who trusted him and gave him money?
Swish.
The middle-aged man put his hand into his bosom. And took out a small wooden box.
Small enough to fit in one hand and decorated with jade and gold, it was a box that looked expensive even at a glance.
"Looks expensive."
"It is expensive. This is no less than rosewood (Jadanmok), decorated with jade carved meticulously in several layers. Someone said just this alone could buy a city."
Jincheon smirked.
Because hearing such bluffs isn't a first or second time.
But it really looked expensive. The decoration is also exquisite enough to bring out admiration.
"However, the item to deliver is not this. What you will take is only the contents."
Jincheon frowned.
No matter how expensive the box is, it cannot be more precious than the contents. But there is only one reason not to give the box while entrusting the contents.
"Perhaps, you intend to pretend to keep possessing it? While siphoning off the contents?"
"That is so. Since I need this to at least bluff in case of emergency. You are smarter than you look."
"Even if I look like this, I am a person who challenged the provincial examination. Though I failed."
"If you failed, aren't you unemployed?"
"Isn't that why I started peddling?"
Feeling a surge of emotion, Jincheon added.
"If things go wrong, I might just quit and leave."
"Hehehe. Sorry. Originally my way of speaking is a bit... rude (Ssagaji)."
Jincheon frowned.
Although it was words one could just pass over, perhaps due to his circumstances, it sounds exceptionally harsh.
"Rude, you say, there is no need to speak of yourself to that extent, is there? Because there is no need for me to self-torture just because the world tells me to die, die."
"Is that so? Indeed it is. Right."
The man, silent for a moment, said.
"As expected of a talented person who took the provincial examination, you speak well. Though you failed."
"You also speak well. Though you failed to be polite."
The man held a smile.
"What is your name?"
Speaking comfortably means he liked Jincheon.
"It is Cheon. The surname is Jin. And you, sir?"
"Suddenly sir, what... I am Ju. The surname is Gung."
Jincheon, thinking it was a unique name, frowned suddenly.
"Are you joking now?"
There is no way there is a name called 'Gungju (Palace Master)'. Since the escort warrior shouted 'Protect the Palace Master' earlier, it is probably something like his title.
"Kuku. It is a joke but not only a joke. Actually, I don't know my name either."
Jincheon did not relax his frown.
But the middle-aged man was serious.
"It is true. When I was young, my mother called me 'Jang-a', but undergoing the coming-of-age ceremony, I didn't receive a name. No, it was taken away. Since then, I haven't given my name."
Jincheon thought something was unusual.
Taken away a name, if it involves something like a strange secret group, he absolutely declines.
"Well, enough with the gloomy story."
The middle-aged man who introduced himself as 'Gungju' moved his hand.
Click.
The wooden box opened.
Jincheon marveled without realizing it.
"Oh."
A red bead was sparkling in the moonlight.
It was a quite thick-looking bead about the size of a thumb, and its appearance was quite brilliant and beautiful, enough to captivate anyone's gaze.
"What I entrust is this."
Jincheon, coming to his senses at the man's voice, cleared his throat.
"It really seems tremendously expensive... will it be alright?"
"Kuku. Suddenly honorifics, you are also quite a shallow person."
"Well, what can I do? I read the writings of ancient sages but didn't become a sage."
"So I like you more."
Letting the man's words flow in one ear, Jincheon asked.
"Will it really be alright? To entrust it?"
"Actually it is not alright but... If it can't be helped, isn't it fate?"
Jincheon let out a hollow laugh.
If it can't be helped it's fate, he thought it was a very convenient excuse.
"No, I mean really is it okay to entrust it to me. If by mistake I run away with it or lose it..."
"Then it must be fate."
It means it can't be helped.
Jincheon sighed.
"Where should I send it?"
"You intend to undertake it?"
"Doesn't it end if I deliver it?"
"Right. It ends if you deliver it."
The middle-aged man nodded. That appearance being suspicious anew, Jincheon asked.
"It really ends if I deliver it, right?"
"Oh my, this person. Have I ever lied to you? I swear it is the truth. I stake the name of my mother who hasn't passed away yet."
Jincheon was confused for a moment.
Thinking about it, he joked but seemed not to have lied, and the words of staking the name of a mother who hasn't passed away yet were also unfamiliar.
'Anyway, he staked his mother's name...'
"I guarantee clearly."
With a confident expression, the middle-aged man said.
"No matter how good a price you sell it for, the reward you receive for delivering this to the 'Palace' will be greater than that. Staking the name of my mother who hasn't passed away..."
"Please stop selling your mother's name."
As Jincheon got annoyed, the man grinned.
He seems to find the intense reaction rather fun.
But the man's words had a point. In the first place, Jincheon doesn't know the value of this red bead, and meeting a proper owner is also not an easy task.
Rather than handing it over at a bargain price, if he can obtain a large reward with a little trouble, that would be a much wiser choice.
"So, where is it?"
"Ah, wait before that."
Tap.
The middle-aged man turned the wooden box over and dropped the red bead onto his palm.
While wondering if it's okay to handle it roughly like that, the man continued.
"This must be delivered and received with bare hands. It doesn't matter to carry it in a pocket or pouch, but when delivering to another person, it must be handed over placed on the palm like this."
Jincheon frowned.
"Did you perhaps apply something like poison?"
"Oh, looking now, you are quick-witted too."
The man laughed.
"Correct. If an outsider touches it recklessly, they get poisoned instantly."
Making a gesture of slitting the throat with a finger, the man said.
"They go straight to the other world. Probably won't even have time to scream 'Argh!'."
It was a playful tone, but Jincheon felt chills.
While thinking if it's really some secret group, the man gestured as if urging.
"What are you doing? Give me your hand."
"You said you applied poison."
"So I intend to give you the antidote."
Indeed, there must be an antidote. Isn't the middle-aged man right in front of him rolling the red bead on his palm?
Jincheon reached out his hand.
Then the man tries to pass the red bead as if he was waiting.
"Ugh!"
As the startled Jincheon withdrew his hand, the man laughed.
"Being surprised like that. It's just a joke. Good wits but a bit timid. Tsk tsk."
Jincheon couldn't bear to say harsh words and glared at the man.
The man urged nonchalantly to give the hand.
'Groan.'
Jincheon reached out his hand.
The man grabs that hand abruptly.
"Oh my, look at this hand, white and soft. Literally unemployed. Your parents must be suffering a lot at heart."
"Hey, let's not touch others' parents and children. While your own hands are white and soft too, what..."
"Do you have children too?"
"Isn't it etiquette to ask if I have a partner first?"
"Do you have a partner?"
"...Groan. I don't."
"Really? If you had, it would have been fun. Since there would be more material to tease."
Jincheon considered having no partner fortunate for the first time.
It was then.
The man placed the red bead on Jincheon's hand abruptly. Then suddenly grasped Jincheon's hand tight with two hands.
"Ugh!"
Jincheon was startled.
But he could neither open his hand nor shake off the grasped hand.
"How is it?"
'Uh?'
Jincheon realized only then.
It is fine.
"...You said you applied poison, was it a lie?"
"No? It's real?"
"Then why am I fine?"
"So do you dislike it?"
"No, not dislike or like..."
"Words say so but the hand is honest. It became very soft."
The man pressed Jincheon's relaxed hand firmly with two hands.
Then suddenly said in a soliloquy.
"...Was it something like this?"
Jincheon frowned.
"What is it really? Staking the name of the mother who hasn't passed away yet."
"You said let's not touch others' parents and children."
"My mother. She is still hale and hearty."
"Ah, your side? Then I acknowledge."
Not knowing what is acknowledged, the man nodded his head and said.
"The antidote is not medicine but something like energy (Giun). You heard of Inner Power (Naegong), right? Something similar to that."
If it's Inner Power, he has heard of it.
Isn't it the story of martial arts experts who split rocks and jump over mountains?
"Did you possess Inner Power?"
Recalling the appearance of the middle-aged man who fled to the inn kitchen without fighting, Jincheon asked.
"Not Inner Power but just a similar kind. I just passed it to you."
He couldn't believe it. Both the fact that such energy exists, and the fact that he passed it to Jincheon.
'It feels like he just fumbled though.'
Anyway, the hand holding the bead is fine, and he doesn't feel any particular abnormality in his body either.
Jincheon looked at the bead in his hand.
A vivid red jewel was sparkling under the moonlight.
The surface was smooth enough to feel transparent, and perhaps because it was red, it even felt somewhat voluptuous.
'Is this why women like jewels?'
Although it's not only women who like jewels, Jincheon understood in his own way.
"How is it? Pretty?"
"Yes. It is pretty."
"It must be pretty. It is truly pretty indeed."
Jincheon looked at the middle-aged man repeating the same words with a pathetic expression.
The middle-aged man gazed blankly at the red bead placed in Jincheon's hand.
He seemed lost in some remorse and also seemed to recall old memories.
Because that appearance was somewhat meaningful, Jincheon couldn't bear to open his mouth.
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