"Heh heh, that Baekgang kid. His eyes are going to pop out, aren't they?"

"I know, right? Do you think he even thought about eating meat?"

It was a grueling training session that lasted until midnight.

It was a day where a new training was added under the pretext of strengthening finger strength, following the Hidden Flow Art mind method training, horse stance, Liuhe, fist training, and stone throwing.

Normally, the children would have returned with faces as if they were dying.

But the children returning from the mountain had smiles on their faces, and their hands were heavy.

"Captain, you're really amazing. How are you so good at hunting?"

"Well... I was lucky."

"Come on, how can you catch so many with just luck?"

Hwangsam holds up the rabbits in each of his hands.

It's not just Hwangsam.

Yongcheon's hands, and Chunil and Sanghui's hands also held plump rabbits.

Since they each brought two.

It was a plentiful amount that would be left over even if the six-member Cheonyeong gang, after Makgae left, ate one each.

"This is a real feast."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. Have we ever eaten this much meat? Even when we went begging at a feast, all we got were a few leftover meat pancakes."

"Damn it, that Makgae bastard ate almost all of it."

"Exactly."

At Chunil's words, the children nodded in agreement.

"That's right, it's a feast, a feast." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Shall I go get some rice wine lees?"

"Rice wine lees?"

"Yeah."

At Chunil's suggestion, the children swallowed their saliva and showed curiosity.

Rice wine lees are the dregs left after brewing rice wine.

Even if they are discarded dregs, they are originally grains.

You can get drunk if you eat them because of the remaining alcohol, but there's nothing better to soothe hunger.

So, sometimes vagrant children would pick them up and eat them, get drunk, and fall asleep on the streets.

Of course, there are side effects like not recognizing your parents, siblings, or even your gang brothers...

"Can you get that precious thing?"

"Of course. Who am I?"

"Who are you, you're just little Chunil."

"This guy?"

"But can you really get it? Where?"

"The brewery at Lord Geum's house."

"Lord Geum's house?"

"Yeah, I saw the Ucheol gang picking up the discarded rice wine lees before. I heard they sometimes eat it instead of alcohol at night."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah. I heard that if you squeeze it a little... you can get quite a bit of alcohol out of it."

"Wow! Those sons of bitches, they always take all the good stuff for themselves."

"But... how do we go get it now? The city gates are closed because it's night."

"You idiot. Do you think the dog hole is there for nothing?"

"Ah..."

At Chunil's words, the children nodded.

"What do you think, captain? Shall we have a drink? I'll be right back while the meat is grilling."

At Chunil's words, Cheonyeong grimaced.

This brat is already trying to drink alcohol at such a young age.

But... his mouth is watering.

When was the last time he had a drink?

He didn't want to eat the rice wine lees discarded after brewing, but if you squeeze it... it comes out, doesn't it?

"Shall we?"

"Let's do it. Huh?"

"Well, if you can get it... but won't it be dangerous?"

"It's okay. It's okay. I've been caught a few times by the patrolling guards after going through the dog hole, but all they do is hold you for a day and then let you go."

Chunil grinned.

"Caught?"

"Yeah."

"Then it's not okay. You might get flogged."

"Come on, is there something the captain doesn't know?"

"Huh?"

"Why would I get flogged? No matter how scary the guards are, they don't hit young kids like me. If anything, they'd pity me for being pitiful."

"Pity?"

"Of course. If you just act a little pitiful, they'll give you good food... and sometimes even meat side dishes. In a way, prison is better. It's warm, and the food is good."

"Ah..."

He hadn't thought of that.

Chunil was a kid who knew his situation well and knew how to use it to his advantage.

"The captain doesn't have to worry about anything. I'll take care of everything."

At those words, the children nodded.

"That's right. If it weren't for the captain, would we have known about the edible grass?"

"And the hunting method."

"What about running? It was hard at first... but after learning the breathing method the captain taught us, it's not hard at all."

The children all defended Cheonyeong.

You bastards... who's worrying about you guys.

But do you think I don't know your dark intentions?

"Hey guys."

"Yeah?"

"But I'm not forgiving your debt."

"Tsk!"

"Damn it!"

At Cheonyeong's words, the children grimaced as if their joy had been cut short.

"Heh!"

"Heh heh!"

"Hee hee!"

Was the situation so funny?

The children burst out laughing without realizing it.

Of course, Cheonyeong laughed along with them.

How long has it been since he laughed so carefree?

He felt like he had really become a child.

Back to when he was thirteen.

It seems he did well to teach them.

"Let's go, Baekgang, who has been starving all day, must be hungry."

"Yeah!"

At Cheonyeong's words, the children quickened their pace. It was a very light step.

"Baekgang! Baekgang! Look at this~!"

Hwangsam, who arrived at the vagrant village, holds up the rabbits in both hands and looks for Baekgang.

But he wasn't there.

The straw mat where he always lay was empty.

"Huh? Where did this kid go?"

"I know, right?"

"You bastard, did his diarrhea get worse?"

"I guess so. I'll go look for him quickly."

Hwangsam handed the rabbits to Yongcheon and ran off.

The surroundings were fields, so there was no designated latrine, but the place where they pooped was always the same.

"Yongcheon."

"Yeah!"

"Boil some water and brew some plantain. His diarrhea seems to be quite severe."

"Alright."

"Chunil, you..."

"Shall I go now?"

"Yeah. Be careful."

"Yeah!"

Chunil prepared for his night excursion.

He wasn't dressing up, but he needed a bowl to put the rice wine lees in.

Meanwhile, Cheonyeong began to skin the rabbits with a knife made from a sharpened piece of metal for the children.

Sanghui couldn't help but admire his skillful hands.

"Wow! Amazing. The captain knows how to do this too?"

At Sanghui's words, Cheonyeong smiled wryly.

She was the only girl in the group.

You couldn't tell because of the grimy dirt from not washing while living as a vagrant.

But even though Cheonyeong had been through all sorts of hardships, he returned to his thirteen-year-old puberty and felt proud at the praise of a girl. This must be the instinct of yin and yang that has existed since ancient times.

"We have to eat what we hunt. Watch carefully and learn."

"Yeah!"

Just as the scattered children began to do different things as if they were organized.

"Captain! Captain!"

Hwangsam, who had gone to look for Baekgang, ran over in a hurry.

"What's wrong?"

"Baekgang... is gone."

"What?"

"He's not at the pooping spot... no, he's nowhere."

"Nowhere?"

"Yeah!"

Cheonyeong tilted his head.

Nowhere...

Where could a guy with severe diarrhea go?

When he saw him in the morning, he looked like he was having trouble even lifting the straw mat.

Moreover, he couldn't even go out to beg because he was worried about the other gangs, so he must not have eaten anything all day.

"He's not a guy who would go anywhere..."

Chunil made a worried expression.

"Huh? By any chance..."

As Sanghui, who was deep in thought, trailed off, the children whipped their heads around and looked at her.

"By any chance what?"

"Well, this happened before."

"Before?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"He was a guy who was in the gang before me... one day he suddenly disappeared. And he never came back."

"What? What does that mean?"

The children made bewildered expressions, but Cheonyeong, at the thought that suddenly flashed through his mind, grabbed a burning piece of wood from the bonfire.

It can't be.

It can't be.

It's not time yet.

They were kidnapped when winter was just around the corner and they were entering the blacksmith's street.

Considering that it's late summer now... there should still be a couple of months.

And at that time, they had kidnapped him and Yongcheon at night.

He had definitely fallen asleep in the vagrant village, and when he woke up, it was a place he had never seen before.

There was no way they would have moved in broad daylight.

Also, even if it was night, since they hadn't returned, there was no way Baekgang would have been asleep.

But... it's not certain, is it?

It could be something different from what he remembers...

"Cheonyeong, why?"

"Just a moment..."

Leaving the puzzled Yongcheon behind, Cheonyeong held the burning wood like a torch and carefully examined Baekgang's spot and its surroundings.

The shape of the lifted straw mat.

If he had lifted it himself to get up... it wouldn't be in this shape.

And the messy footprints scattered around it.

They're not from the gang's children.

Also, they're too small to be an adult's, and too big to be a child's. An age in between.

Then, someone... came by.

His senses as a former assassin began to sharpen.

The organization's kidnappers?

But seeing the bare footprints without shoes... it means it's a vagrant gang.

And the dried bloodstains scattered here and there.

Cheonyeong imagined a situation in his head.

A guy who came to see Baekgang, who was lying down suffering from diarrhea.

The resisting Baekgang.

And a fight, no, a sign of resistance.

Who the hell are they?

Cheonyeong, who had frowned deeply, said to the children.

"By any chance, are there any kids around who would harm our gang?"

"Huh?"

The children, intimidated by Cheonyeong's lowered voice, couldn't answer readily.

"None?"

"No, that's... there are more than one or two gangs of kids."

"Roughly."

"Um... about five gangs?"

"Five?"

"Yeah. Excluding the east and north gates where the adults are, just in the west and south gates where we are."

"The west and south gates."

Yongcheon, who found Cheonyeong's deep thought strange, asked.

"Cheonyeong, but why are you suddenly asking that? What does it have to do with Baekgang being gone?"

"I'm not sure."

"Huh?"

"But, I have a feeling that Baekgang was kidnapped by someone."

"Kidnapped?"

"Hmm, no. It would be more accurate to say he was dragged away."

"What's that?"

"Hey guys."

"Yeah?"

"You must be hungry and tired, but you guys have to do some work now."

"Work?"

"Each of you split up and check all five places."

"Huh?"

"You don't have to get close. Just check if Baekgang is there or not."

At Cheonyeong's words, the children, who were looking at each other, nodded with determined expressions.

"Alright. We'll check."

"If you get caught, don't get caught, run away. With your current running skills... it should be enough."

"Yeah!"

"Then go."

At Cheonyeong's words, the four children ran in different directions.

Cheonyeong, who was left alone, quickly skinned the unfinished rabbit and began to roast the meat on the bonfire.

To eat alone?

No, he has to eat and fill his stomach, even if he's alone.

To fight, he has to secure enough stamina.

Cheonyeong took a big bite of the rabbit meat that was roasting golden brown on the bonfire.

He doesn't know who it is yet.

But it doesn't matter who it is.

Baekgang was already a guy who had entered his fence.

If they kidnapped Baekgang and hurt him...

"They'll have to pay the price dearly."

Cheonyeong's eyes, chewing on the rabbit meat, began to shine with a blue light.

The past, no, the future.

Just like any other time when he was an assassin.

(End of Chapter)