“In you go, you brat!”
“Aah!”
The boy thrown into the cell rolled on the floor and sprang up as if jolted, but before he could even turn his body, the cell door slammed shut with a thud.
The boy, Seok Han-Bin, quickly clung to the bars and shouted.
“No! Why are you locking up an innocent person!”
“Heh heh. Innocent, are you? So you’re saying you’ve never skimmed money from Lord Song?”
“How is that a crime! The loan sharks and the men behind them are all the same scum! Skimming a bit off the top—what kind of capital offense is that!”
“Tsk tsk. Look at this cheeky kid. Go on, shout all you want. Before, it might have ended with a flogging, but not this time. You’ll most likely get forced labor. If you come back alive, you’ll have suffered plenty.”
“Ugh!”
Seok Han-Bin opened his mouth wide and shook the bars gripping him violently.
“What did I do so wrong that you dump me in the mines!”
“The amount you skimmed isn’t just a coin or two. So don’t waste your strength; save some for swinging the pickaxe.”
“W-wait! Just a moment!”
As the chuckling guards started to turn away, Seok Han-Bin quickly called out again.
“Hey, hey! Don’t go! Just come over here a moment.”
“What’s this brat scheming now?”
“How can I be scheming locked up in a cell? It only takes a moment. I really have something to say.”
“What is it then?”
The guards, looking incredulous, nonetheless approached Seok Han-Bin again. He quickly scanned left and right to see if anyone else was around, then whispered softly.
“How much would you take?”
“Huh?”
“I mean your pay, your stipend. As guards, you probably don’t get much.”
“This little bastard, always trying to pry, damn!”
“Shh! Lower your voice.”
Seok Han-Bin grinned.
“Now, think about it. Why was I brought here?”
“Because you swindled someone, you rascal.”
“That’s right. I skimmed off some money. So where do you think that money went?”
“Hmm?”
The guards’ eyes narrowed slightly. Seok Han-Bin lowered his voice a bit more.
“They’ve caught someone, but they haven’t recovered the money. Doesn’t that mean the money is somewhere?”
“Well….”
“By the way, how much did I swindle again?”
The guards fell silent. The amount this kid had swindled was surely an enormous sum they couldn’t even imagine; after all, Lord Song, Henan’s richest man, had been in an uproar.
“Uh, um.”
As the guards made a sound of realization, Seok Han-Bin lifted the corner of his mouth and whispered even more conspiratorially.
“Don’t you need money? With that cash, you wouldn’t have to go through this. You could build a big garden out in some quiet place and live in luxury. Couldn’t you?”
Yes, if only they had that money, they wouldn’t have to endure this work…
“This brat’s up to his tricks again!”
One guard, lost in the sweet daydream, only snapped back to reality when another guard spoke. The kid was such a smooth talker they almost fell for it.
“Y-yeah! Trying to buy us off, huh? Do you think we’d fall for that?”
“Fall for it? Why would I trick you?”
“Why would we believe a swindler’s words!”
“Oh, a swindler only swindles when he’s out of a cell. How can a guy locked inside a cell pull off a con?”
“….”
“What’s the point of me having money while locked up like this? I’d rather give you some and get released. Isn’t that better?”
Before the guards could say anything, Seok Han-Bin tapped the cell bars sharply with his fingertips.
“Let’s split it cleanly into five shares. Take one each, and I’ll take two.”
“W-why do you get two? Even if we split it, it should be into three shares.”
“Come on, that’s not fair. You two could take the money, pretend you don’t know, slip away and live well, but I have to run away from now on.”
“Hmm.”
“C’mon, just that amount and you’ll feast for life. No trouble at all. Leave this cell door open and I’ll take care of everything.”
“How are we supposed to receive the money then?”
“How many exits are there? To leave the outer gate you have to go out the main gate. Wait there. When I come out, we can go fetch the money together.”
The guards’ eyes trembled even more.
He’s still small, so he probably can’t scale the high outer wall. He’ll have to go through the main gate. Jail’s outer gate doesn’t keep sentries at the door, so once he’s out of the cell he shouldn’t be stopped while trying to escape.
“Well?”
Seok Han-Bin rubbed his hands quickly. Judging by the dazed looks in their eyes, they’d mostly fallen for it…
Thud.
“Kuuweeeeek!”
Struck on the crown by a club swung from beyond the bars, Seok Han-Bin collapsed flat on the spot.
After writhing in pain for a moment, Seok Han-Bin sprang up like a spring.
“Why did you hit me!”
“Tsk tsk. Look at this insolent brat. Trying to bribe the guards, is he?”
“Ah, you really don’t get it! That’s why you’re still just guards!”
“Not a chance, kid. Did you think I didn’t know you’re penniless? Everyone around here knows you went bankrupt doing business near Xiangshan. Tsk tsk. A useless fellow with the nerve to speak.”
“Useless? What do you mean useless!”
Sparks flew from Seok Han-Bin’s eyes.
“How is that because I’m useless! How can a person stop a flood? It’s the county magistrate who’s incompetent for mishandling flood control!”
“Sure, sure. Go report that to the county magistrate next time, if you can. Tsk tsk. A little devil. Can’t relax around you for a moment.”
“No, I’m telling you I really have the money! I’m tired of being conned…”
Thud.
Flop.
The guards, having quieted Seok Han-Bin by bonking his head with the club again, clicked their tongues and turned away.
“Anyway, the kid seems crafty.”
“Wow, we almost fell for it even though it was obvious. Lord Song even called us aside and warned that the kid had no money, not to be fooled by his tricks, but for a moment…”
“No wonder that brat’s notorious across Henan.”
“Tsk. What a pity.”
“There’s plenty to regret. Let’s go drink. Since we caught that one, Lord Song will surely reward us handsomely, won’t he? Ha ha.”
Even as the guards grumbled and walked away, Seok Han-Bin lay sprawled. After huffing for a while, he turned over and stretched out flat on his back.
“Ah. It failed, failed.”
Staring up at the cell ceiling, Seok Han-Bin’s face contorted.
“Damn it. The plan was perfect.”
He had conned Lord Song and even scraped up a fat sum from the Black Fish Clan loan shark crowd. All that was left was to slip away and leave Henan.
“What the hell were those bastards!”
His plan fell apart because, when he returned home, strange men were waiting inside. Flustered, he had to act differently from the original plan.
“Aaargh! The more I think about it, the angrier I get! What were those bastards! Why did I get so flustered then!”
Seok Han-Bin scratched his head irritably.
What could he do? How could he not be startled to find several sword-wielding strangers sitting in his house when he’d never seen them before?
“Sigh.”
Seok Han-Bin let out a deep sigh.
“Forced labor, huh…”
Forced labor is the punishment of being dragged off to the mines or forced-work camps for years. But why is forced labor considered a harsher punishment than being beaten with clubs?…
“They said one out of three dies, didn’t they?”
Because few of those dragged to the mines ever returned. He’d heard that less than one in three came back alive.
And those who did return were ordinary folks; he’d already incurred the wrath of the loan sharks, so Seok Han-Bin was likely to end up a skeletal corpse in some remote mine. Even optimistically, nine out of ten would die.
So to sum up, the moment they drag him away, he’s as good as dead.
“Ugh. I have to use some kind of trick.”
The future is a problem, but the immediate situation is the bigger issue.
The prison cell’s condition was downright terrible—filthy, damp, teeming with rats and bugs.
Food? Even ordinary commoners often went hungry, so what country would bother feeding criminals? If the state paid for prisoners’ meals, plenty of people would intentionally commit crimes to get locked up.
“When I was locked up before I nearly starved to death.”
What would be different this time? He might die before even being sent off to forced labor.
“Ugh.”
Seok Han-Bin groaned in frustration and tossed and turned.
Just as expected, as soon as the guards left, rats began to scuttle about. Oh my, look at that one—it’s almost the size of an arm. An arm-thick white…
“A weasel?”
Seok Han-Bin rubbed his eyes in disbelief and bolted upright.
In the middle of the night… no, in a prison cell—what kind of weasel is this?
But the real reason he sat up wasn’t just the weasel’s appearance. The weasel was wearing dark clothes, like a person.
“Am I seeing things…?”
A clothed weasel—what’s next, a flying tiger? Not a dragon or phoenix either; none of this is even in my imagination…
Squeak!
But the marten that appeared walked straight toward Seok Han-Bin, as if to prove it wasn’t a hallucination. And it walked on two legs, not four.
“Uh…”
Martens don’t have expressions, of course, but somehow that tiny face seemed to radiate a ‘what a pain’ vibe.
The marten waddled up on two legs, plunged its forepaw into its sleeve, and pulled something out.
Something metallic, polished smooth by handling…
“Th-that can’t be… a k-key? The cell key? Really?”
Seok Han-Bin’s mouth dropped open.
If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, it was definitely the cell key the guard had on him earlier. How on earth did that weasel get it?
But the marten, as if too bored to explain, simply tossed the cell key to him.
Screeeek!
Then it stretched out a paw and pointed at the cell door, as if saying it didn’t want to waste words—open the door and get out quickly.
“…This is insane.”
Seok Han-Bin, as if in a trance, picked up the key and staggered toward the door.
Whack!
“Aaaah!”
And in that instant, Seok Han-Bin grabbed his behind and tumbled forward.
Screeeech!
“Okay, okay! Hurry up, will you!”
What kind of marten is so ferocious…
The marten wagged the tip of its hind paw forward and scolded him. Seeing that, Seok Han-Bin couldn’t help but shake his head.
“No, is this for real?”
Still dazed, Seok Han-Bin reached through the bars, grabbed the lock, and slipped the key in.
“Surely, unless I’m mad, this can’t possibly open…”
Click.
“….”
Ssshhhhh.
As he stared at the lock opening so anticlimactically, the soul seemed to seep out of Seok Han-Bin.
“…This actually works.”
This can’t be happening… This mustn’t work…
Creeeeak.
The unlocked cell door slowly swung open. As he watched in disbelief, the weasel leapt onto his shoulder in an instant.
Then it extended a forepaw forward.
“…Alright. Let’s go.”
What do I care—damn it. The priority is to get out now!
Seok Han-Bin bit his lip and without hesitation darted out of the cell.
And then…
“Aha. Look properly for it.”
“That’s strange. I definitely tucked it into my bosom earlier.”
“Why would something tucked into your bosom suddenly disappear? You must’ve dropped it somewhere while putting it in.”
“I don’t remember dropping it, though… huh.”
“….”
“….”
The guards walking down the prison corridor and Seok Han-Bin’s eyes met. They stared at each other in silence for a moment.
After standing frozen for a long while, Seok Han-Bin sighed and spoke.
“Honestly, even I wouldn’t believe it if I saw it.”
“….”
“It’s not that I stole it; the marten stole it and brought it here…”
Seok Han-Bin groped at his shoulder and tilted his head. The marten that had been perched there had vanished without a trace.
“….”
“Never mind.”
Seok Han-Bin smiled faintly.
“Let’s take it easy.”
The guards’ clubs flew toward Seok Han-Bin’s face.