Chapter 29
Flashback
Following Baek Saebyeok’s guidance, they entered the deep part of the swamp, slowly making their way through a path so indistinct it was nearly impossible to distinguish.
Eventually, they arrived at Haeja Village before the sky had fully darkened.
The guards at the gate, following Jeon Dooha’s orders, did not demand that the rescue team disarm. They simply guided them to the right inside the main gate and allowed them to park the vehicle outside a wooden shed at the corner of the outer wall.
“You can sleep in this shed tonight. It doesn’t matter if the car gets a little wet from the rain.”
Jeon Dooha explained briefly.
“Don’t light a bonfire. I’ll have someone bring a brazier and charcoal. Consider it a gift for this deal. The guards will be patrolling and keeping watch, so I hope you understand that.”
Seong Geonwoo and Yong Yeohong looked around the interior of Haeja Village with eyes full of curiosity. Jang Mokhwa, however, responded with a smile, completely unshaken.
“Understood. Village chief, may we invite you to our dinner?”
At the same time, she pulled out a can of braised beef and a slightly yellowed tobacco leaf she had prepared in advance.
Jeon Dooha, eyes wide, grinned broadly with his wrinkled face.
“Absolutely fantastic!
Why? What is it? What do you want to trade?”
Jang Mokhwa smiled and said:
“I want to hear stories of the old world. As you know, knowledge itself is a kind of treasure.”
“Deal!”
Jeon Dooha laughed joyfully. Then, turning his head sharply, he gave instructions to a nearby guard.
“Balbari, quickly, bring the brazier from my house, now!”
The guard called Balbari did not dare to grumble and ran toward the building arranged in an inverted triangular formation.
As the sky darkened, people working in the fields behind Haeja Village began returning home, and those who had gone hunting nearby did the same.
The small village soon became bustling, and many curious eyes were drawn to the jeep parked in the corner.
Seong Geonwoo and Yong Yeohong noted two main things about the villagers:
Their clothes were a mismatched assortment, seemingly gathered from various places, often showing signs of wear. Their hands, faces, hair, and clothing were all dirty.
Most villagers also appeared fatigued, thin, and relatively short.
Some villagers, who had glanced at the outsiders a few times, noticed Jeon Dooha and, seeing him among them, seemed to feel no further curiosity or concern. They returned to their homes or took out braziers to cook. Some carefully scooped a bowl of grain mixed with husks into pots, while others ate half a leftover cornbread with cold water. Soon, smoke and food aromas began to spread throughout Haeja Village.
Observing the villagers, Jeon Dooha smiled and asked Seong Geonwoo and Yong Yeohong:
“So, what do you think?”
Yong Yeohong hesitated, feeling it might be rude to speak his mind outright, and kept his mouth shut before carefully choosing his words.
Seong Geonwoo, on the other hand, honestly replied after averting his gaze from the villagers:
“Messy.”
“Messy… huh.”
Jeon Dooha chuckled softly.
“Compared to you two, it definitely is.”
The team, including Seong Geonwoo and Jang Mokhwa, were covered in mud and filth from rolling around during the previous battle. Only their faces, habitually washed during water replenishments, remained relatively clean.
Before Jang Mokhwa and Baek Saebyeok could join the conversation, Jeon Dooha gestured toward the village square and continued:
“Our village has clean water sources, but we need to conserve charcoal. According to the books I’ve read, cutting down too many trees decreases soil fertility. That’s why we have to go far out for logging.
Occasionally, we might buy coal smuggled by traders, like around the New Year. You know that the White Knights have plenty of coal.
Ha, summer is tolerable—you can just wash with cold water. But from autumn onward, you have to endure as much as possible. It’s better to be a little dirty than catch a cold. Only when it’s unbearable do we wet a cloth with boiled water and clean ourselves.”
Pausing briefly, Jeon Dooha let out a smile tinged with complex emotions:
“Also, for villagers who work from morning to night, even taking a break is a busy task. They simply don’t have the time to bathe properly.”
Yong Yeohong recalled the past two months of training. He and Seong Geonwoo would train under Jang Mokhwa until utterly exhausted, then collapse into bed without the energy to do anything else.
Still, the Ban-Go Bio facility had a staff cafeteria, so they could simply take a lunch box or even eat there without preparation. No extra effort was needed to eat.
“Right,” he murmured, as if in understanding.
Seong Geonwoo silently nodded in agreement.
Jang Mokhwa looked at him with eyes tinged with a smile:
“I thought you might ask why you don’t take cold showers, which help circulation and immunity.”
“Because it doesn’t suit my body type,” Seong Geonwoo replied seriously.
At that moment, Balbari, the guard, returned from Jeon Dooha’s house carrying a brazier on his back along with a bag of charcoal.
He eagerly lit the fire and voluntarily took on the surrounding patrol, seemingly unwilling to leave the village.
It wasn’t because he wanted the braised beef; he couldn’t take his eyes off Baek Saebyeok and Jang Mokhwa, who looked much cleaner than the village girls. Particularly, Jang Mokhwa, tall with long legs due to genetic enhancements from fetal development, appeared angelically beautiful to the young guard. Naturally, he wanted to stay close to her.
In Ashland, relationships were completely open. Even if people had only just met, a shared glance could lead straight to the bed. As a result, the patrolling guards puffed up their chests, showing off their appeal.
Jang Mokhwa nearly stifled a laugh at their ridiculous posturing, then ignored them and retrieved four military rations from the jeep’s trunk.
Jeon Dooha’s eyes sparkled as he asked:
“Do you need a pot? And bowls and chopsticks too?”
Jang Mokhwa replied without hesitation:
“That would be nice. It would be more convenient than our lunch boxes.”
Jeon Dooha immediately raised his voice:
“Balbari! Quickly! Bring the pots, bowls, and spoons from my house! Count how many people there are!”
“Yes!”
The guard ran off and soon returned with a black pot containing enough bowls and chopsticks for five.
Setting the pot on the brazier, he glanced at Jang Mokhwa and cautiously said to Jeon Dooha:
“Village chief, could you stop calling me by my childhood nickname? I’m twenty now…”
“What? I’ve known you since your dad was a kid. Your father uses the nickname too!”
Jeon Dooha glared and waved his hands.
“Don’t disturb our meal—no, our conversation.”
Seong Geonwoo, who had been staring only at the pot, now noticed the bowls had delicate patterns and the chopsticks were ivory-white and flawless. They were far better than what most Ban-Go Bio employees used.
Jeon Dooha glanced at him and laughed:
“Why? Are the bowls not big enough?”
“They’re just so nice and pretty.”
Jang Mokhwa answered for Seong Geonwoo, worried he might be impolite. He merely nodded in agreement, unconcerned.
Seong Geonwoo then looked at Jang Mokhwa, pursed his lips, and made a soft “hmm” sound for a while.
Startled, she asked:
“Do you want to guess what I just said?”
Jang Mokhwa, with a slightly dazed expression, forced a smile:
“How would I know?”
Seong Geonwoo replied, slightly disappointed:
“You guessed correctly just a moment ago, didn’t you?”
Jang Mokhwa exhaled slowly:
“If it were anyone else, I’d definitely have thought I was angry about what just happened.”
As she spoke, she didn’t look at his eyes but at his head, as if wanting to directly see what he was thinking.
Jeon Dooha observed the pair with a slightly strange expression before bursting into laughter:
“The atmosphere of this team is… really relaxed and lively.”
“That guy’s head sometimes goes weird, nothing else,” Jang Mokhwa emphasized seriously, and Baek Saebyeok nodded in agreement.
Seong Geonwoo immediately interjected:
“Why wouldn’t you think I’m trying to lighten the mood?”
“…Fine, keep trying,” Jang Mokhwa gritted her teeth and said.
Jeon Dooha, still chuckling, held the bowls and chopsticks and spoke:
“These were all found in the ruins of Old World cities. There are plenty of such items there. Besides, they aren’t particularly valuable.
Who would want to haul heavy pots and chopsticks back after struggling across mountains and rivers?”
Jang Mokhwa, absorbed in the story, responded thoughtfully:
“Indeed, Old World city ruins hold many buried items. Hmm… but just because they’re useless now doesn’t mean they have no value.”
She poured five cans of rations into the pot.
“Village chief, before the cans are heated, please tell us stories of the Old World. What happened back then?”
Handing over a slightly yellowed tobacco leaf, she tossed the empty cans aside.
Jeon Dooha lit the tobacco with the brazier embers, inhaled the smoke, and said with half-closed eyes:
“My greatest wish now is to smoke at least three times a year. This is the second one this year.”
He looked around with a nostalgic expression.
“The Old World was destroyed when I was barely over ten. I was still just an elementary school student.
My mother was a teacher at the city middle school, and my father a government official. It had just been winter vacation, so the weather was slightly colder than now… Actually, probably colder, since middle school vacations started later, and my father got busier at the end of the year. With no one to watch me, my parents used the weekend to take me to my grandfather’s village, not far from here.
I remember clearly. My parents promised to return in eight nights to celebrate the New Year in the city with my grandparents.
Ha, I ran around everywhere but wanted to go home at night. Every night I checked the calendar, counting how many nights were left until my parents returned.
Two days before the promised day, my friends and I went fishing by the river. Adults said no, so we played in a shallow stream instead. Suddenly, an explosion sounded, and the ground shook violently.
I was startled and ran back to my grandfather’s house, never wanting to go outside again.
But the explosions continued, growing stronger. Even coughs… and I thought an enormous earthquake might be happening too.”
