Jongchil glared at Dan Hyung-u with savage eyes, then noticed the sword hanging at his waist.
"Eh? Would you look at this guy?"
Jongchil hesitated for a moment. It wasn't that he was afraid just because the man carried a sword. But if he fought a reckless fool waving steel around, he couldn't help but tense up—and that meant he might use too much force. Jongchil's control over his inner power still wasn't perfect.
If he slipped up, he could seriously injure the other man. No matter what, that was absolutely unacceptable. After all, wasn't this someone the Chief Escort had personally brought in?
'Still, he's just a porter.'
Thinking that, Jongchil nodded to himself.
"Just sleep quietly tonight. I'll tell you what to do tomorrow."
When Jongchil said that and turned away, the other porters stared back and forth between the two men in surprise. This was the first time they had ever seen Jongchil hold himself back like this. Some of them even wondered if he'd gotten scared, and they stared at him intently.
"What are you staring at! Why aren't you sleeping!"
When Jongchil snapped, the porters quickly turned their heads away. No matter how they looked at him, he didn't seem frightened. Then there was only one answer. He was watching the Chief Escort's mood.
Lying down on his bedding, Jongchil ground his teeth. If he could just take the sword away, he was confident. And then he shook his head, thinking that maybe things would have ended much more pleasantly if he'd launched a surprise attack before the man even reached for the sword earlier.
"Whatever it is, it has to be safe and certain."
Muttering that, Jongchil closed his eyes. But he didn't fall asleep. There was no way he could sleep right now. He could only sleep after that rookie fell asleep first. And by then, of course, the sword at his waist would be gone.
Deep in the night, Jongchil slowly opened his eyes. The steady breathing coming from all around told him everyone was asleep. He carefully lifted his body. First, he needed to find where the rookie was lying.
"Gah!"
Jongchil nearly screamed in shock. Someone was standing in the middle of the room.
It was still dark, so he couldn't see clearly, but Jongchil had learned some basic breathing techniques and possessed a bit of inner strength. It wasn't bright, but he could roughly make out a silhouette. The figure stood completely still, without moving an inch.
Jongchil carefully got to his feet. Even then, the person didn't move. Gathering his courage, Jongchil walked closer. And once again, he had no choice but to be shocked. It was the rookie who had arrived today.
"Damn it. You scared me."
Jongchil muttered quietly and cautiously examined the rookie. His eyes were closed, and he didn't move at all—it looked like he was asleep.
"Huh. Don't tell me he's sleeping standing up? What a strange guy."
Jongchil stepped a little closer. He needed to make sure first, then take the sword. The closer he got to Dan Hyung-u, the more his body shuddered at the chilling, bluish killing intent leaking from the unsheathed blade.
"Damn it all."
Muttering under his breath, Jongchil brought his face close to Dan Hyung-u's. His eyes were definitely closed, and his breathing was steady—he really did seem to be asleep.
At that moment, Dan Hyung-u's closed eyes snapped open. Bluish rays of light burst from them, like flashes of lightning.
"Ugh—!"
Crash!
Startled out of his wits, Jongchil stumbled backward and fell flat on the floor in an undignified heap.
"Uhhhhh…"
Mouth agape, Jongchil pointed at Dan Hyung-u with a trembling finger, letting out meaningless sounds.
Dan Hyung-u looked down at him indifferently, then closed his eyes again. Jongchil stared at him blankly for a long while before finally forcing himself to his feet.
His legs were shaking, and there wasn't a shred of strength left in his body. The moment he met Dan Hyung-u's gaze, it felt as if that lightning had melted his brain completely.
"Ugh…"
A chill ran through Jongchil, and his whole body shivered. It was a gaze he never wanted to face again. Turning his head, Jongchil cautiously looked at Dan Hyung-u. He was still standing there, unmoving.
Jongchil shuddered once more. Come to think of it, no one could actually sleep standing up. He must have known Jongchil would come and was waiting for him. Which meant he was probably still awake even now.
Jongchil hurried back to his bedding and pulled the blanket over his head. But sleep didn't come. In the end, Jongchil didn't sleep a wink all night, only stealing glances at Dan Hyung-u. Dan Hyung-u didn't move at all until morning came.
While Jongchil lay awake all night, shaken by Dan Hyung-u, Jo Seolyeon was also unable to sleep, tossing and turning. Of course, her reason was entirely different from Jongchil's.
In the end, Jo Seolyeon abruptly sat up.
"What on earth did he mean by that?"
Dan Hyung-u's words from earlier kept echoing in her head.
"Never say you're sorry… what meaning does that have?"
She could have brushed it off as a meaningless remark, but she couldn't. Thinking back to Dan Hyung-u's expression when he said it, it was clear those words carried some deeper significance. But she had no idea what it was.
Perhaps it had something to do with the friend he had mentioned back then. Thinking of that naturally brought the earlier situation to mind.
When Dan Hyung-u said he was fine being alone, his face had looked unmistakably lonely to her. That must have been why. Why he could say something so bold without hesitation.
"Haa…"
Jo Seolyeon let out a quiet sigh. There was no answer. Or rather, there was an answer, but she couldn't know it. If she wanted to find out, there was only one way.
"Right. I'll ask him directly."
Jo Seolyeon lay back down. If she was going to ask him, she needed to sleep. Closing her eyes, she resolved to run to the Hanam Escort Agency first thing in the morning.
Dan Hyung-u sat awkwardly on a chair, thinking it would take quite some time to get used to this. He hadn't sat or lain down at all until now.
Back in that hell, there was never even a moment to rest or let his guard down. No wonder he had slept standing up.
Fortunately, the martial art he had mastered, Samjae Inner Energy, was fundamentally based on standing cultivation. Samjae—Heaven, Earth, and Human—united as one.
It was a truly extraordinary art that drew in the energy of both heaven and earth at the same time.
Thanks to that, Dan Hyung-u could circulate his energy even while sleeping or resting. At a higher level, he could even do it while walking, but he didn't bother. Cultivating while sleeping standing up was more than enough.
In any case, this place wasn't hell—it was peaceful. There was no longer any need to fear sitting or lying down. Even so, lying down was still impossible for him. Sitting like this during meals was the limit.
Dan Hyung-u stared quietly at the food placed on the table. Breakfast consisted of two large dumplings. On the way to the Hanam Escort Agency, he had tasted a wide variety of foods. From his perspective, every single one of them had been astonishing.
In that hell, there had been almost nothing to eat. The only things he could consume were the tough, blood-reeking meat of monsters. At first, he couldn't even cook it.
Only after he grew stronger did he gain a bit of leeway to cook it, but even then, he usually ate it raw. He had already become used to it.
Now that he was out of hell and eating food like this, even that alone lifted his spirits. Every time he sat in front of a meal, he thought it was a good thing he had escaped that place.
"Are you holding a ritual instead of eating?"
Dan Hyung-u didn't bother turning his head. He knew who it was without looking. One of the porters he had seen yesterday. He brought a dumpling to his mouth. No matter how much someone babbled beside him, the atmosphere right now was peaceful.
There wasn't just one porter standing beside him. There were three. When Jongchil showed no reaction, they figured they'd have to step in themselves. Discipline still had to be enforced.
"Does this guy think people's words mean nothing?"
One of the porters reached out toward Dan Hyung-u. His plan was to snatch the dumpling, slam it onto the floor, and make things ugly. But he couldn't accomplish that.
Dan Hyung-u suddenly lifted his head. More precisely, his eyes met the porter's.
"Gah!"
With his hand still outstretched, the man froze stiff. Dan Hyung-u hadn't subdued him. The moment their eyes met, it simply felt as if his soul had frozen solid.
An indescribable terror pounded through his mind, screaming at him to leave this place immediately.
Dan Hyung-u turned his head back and slowly savored his dumpling. Only then did the porter withdraw his hand and step back.
He could fully understand Jongchil's behavior now. This was someone who absolutely must not be provoked. Porters risked their lives during escort missions too.
Bandits rarely targeted porters, but escort work was unpredictable. Because they were trained that way, they were especially skilled at reading the aura a person gave off. Being weak had sharpened their instincts.
One porter backed off, but the remaining two couldn't understand it. They wondered what was wrong with him, so they tried to finish what they'd started.
But they couldn't. The porter who had stepped back grabbed both of their arms with tremendous strength.
They were quick to read the situation as well. There had to be a reason their companion was acting this way. The two of them quietly retreated. Dan Hyung-u didn't care whether they came or went, focusing solely on his dumplings.
After finishing them, Dan Hyung-u stood up with a look of regret. It was time to do what was called work. To earn money, he had to.
And he enjoyed it immensely.
"Yeah. I'm really glad I got out."
Muttering softly, Dan Hyung-u headed toward where the other porters were gathered.
There was plenty of work at the Hanam Escort Agency today as well. It was always overflowing with large and small requests.
The porters all decided to simply acknowledge Dan Hyung-u. Thanks to the porter who'd been taken down by a single glance, the others had learned their lesson. They weren't oblivious.
Even knowing Dan Hyung-u wasn't an ordinary man, they didn't have the guts to provoke him. So they tried to avoid him when possible—and to be polite. Thanks to that, Dan Hyung-u easily learned what he needed to do.
The work was simple.
All he had to do was load and unload cargo. Moving the loaded wagons was the other porters' job, guarding them was the escorts' job, and overseeing it all was the escort leader's job.
Dan Hyung-u began carrying the cargo.
And he made every porter's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets.
He lifted the heavy loads as if they were pebbles, then placed them onto the wagon with effortless ease.
Porters usually divide the work among themselves. One unloads the cargo, another carries it, and another stacks it on the wagon. But Dan Hyung-u carried the cargo by himself. And he did so with absurd ease.
It happened in the blink of an eye. All the goods were neatly stacked atop the wagon. Every bit of it had been done by Dan Hyung-u alone. The porters felt a wave of relief, realizing that their decision had been the right one. There was absolutely nothing to be gained from picking a fight with someone like that.
"But if he's that strong, why isn't he an escort instead of a porter?"
The porters whispered among themselves, careful not to let Dan Hyung-u hear. It made no sense to them.
"Do you think becoming an escort is that easy? Just being strong isn't enough."
"Well, sure, but… he's even carrying a sword…"
Come to think of it, he really was carrying one. A sword-wearing porter.
After finishing the work, Dan Hyung-u stood quietly beside the wagon, thinking it was fortunate that the job had been easier than expected. The escorts still hadn't shown their faces. By custom, they never appeared until the porters had finished loading everything.
As he stood there, he felt a familiar presence approaching. Dan Hyung-u turned his head out of habit and waited for it to arrive. A moment later, Jo Seolyeon appeared.
"Big Brother, I'm here."
Jo Seolyeon spotted Dan Hyung-u and beamed brightly. The porters went pale at the sight of her suddenly appearing and calling him Big Brother.
There wasn't a single porter who didn't know Jo Seolyeon. She was the only daughter of the Jo family head—the de facto owner of the Hanam Escort Agency.
If she was calling someone Big Brother and following him around like this, then it was obvious they were a pair with their futures already promised.
Just looking at the expression on Jo Seolyeon's face made it painfully clear. No one was better at reading the air than the porters.
'Damn it… so that's why they were talking about making him start from the bottom and "learn the work." We almost kicked a hornet's nest.'
That exact thought passed through all of their minds at the same time.
Jo Seolyeon, completely unconcerned with what the porters were thinking, walked straight over to Dan Hyung-u. She wanted to ask him about what had troubled her so much the night before.
But for some reason, the words wouldn't come out.
The same question had echoed in her head countless times, but by the time it reached her lips, it turned into something entirely different.
"How has it been? You haven't been uncomfortable, have you?"
Dan Hyung-u nodded. Jo Seolyeon thought this isn't it and steeled herself again—but in the end, she still couldn't ask what she really wanted to.
"W-what do you like, Big Brother?"
As she asked, her face flushed slightly. In her own mind, it was at least close enough to the real question. Dan Hyung-u stared at her for a moment, then turned his gaze to the distant sky and calmly spoke.
"Peace."
Jo Seolyeon's eyes widened in surprise. It was a completely unexpected answer. And a strange one.
Who in the world answered peace when asked what they liked?
Looking at Dan Hyung-u gazing at the far-off sky, it never once felt like a joke. Without realizing it, Jo Seolyeon asked another question.
"Then… what do you dislike?"
Dan Hyung-u didn't answer right away. After thinking for a long while, he finally opened his mouth.
"When that peace is broken."
Jo Seolyeon's lips parted slightly. The answer was far too consistent.
Suddenly, Dan Hyung-u turned his head and stared straight at her. Jo Seolyeon felt as though her breath had stopped. Her face grew redder by the second.
"And hearing a friend say they're sorry to me."
At some point, Dan Hyung-u was once again looking up at the sky. Jo Seolyeon couldn't calm her pounding heart. She couldn't tell whether it was because he had looked at her—or because of that last sentence.
In the end, Jo Seolyeon simply stood quietly beside Dan Hyung-u that day. And when the escorts finally appeared, she silently returned to her father's residence.