Episode 13. Closure of the Mountain Village
by God of Music Ā· 2026-08-31
One and a half days to the volcano.
Mu-hyeon vowed this time to go quietly, abandoning the main road and choosing the mountain path. If there are no people, there are no rumors. The mountain path was rugged, but to Mu-hyeon, it was no different from flat ground, and he could reach the foot of the volcano in a day by crossing three passes.
As he crossed the first pass, a rope was hanging in the path.
To be precise, four bandits were hiding behind a rock with the rope.
'Again.'
Mu-hyeon let out a sigh. The herbalist's words were right. After the valley fight, the world was half bandits and half commoners.
The rope was pulled, and the four bandits jumped out.
"Halt! To cross this pass, you must pay a tollā¦."
The leading bandit's words were cut off. They had seen Mu-hyeon's appearance. Dark blue robe. Gentle face. Empty hands.
The four bandits exchanged serious glances among themselves, and one of them cautiously asked.
"Um, sir. Do you happen to haveā¦ chopsticks?"
"ā¦I left the inn's chopsticks behind."
"Then, you didn't come from below the cliff, did you?"
Mu-hyeon fell silent for a moment. Even though he had come by the mountain path, the rumors had already arrived first.
As the silence lengthened, the bandits' faces turned pale. They interpreted the silence as a confirmation.
"P-please spare us!"
All four knelt down in unison. Before Mu-hyeon could say anything, they began to confess among themselves.
"We belong to the upper mountain village, but we were originally farmers!"
"I had a small plot of land! When I was dragged into the valley fight and returned, my land had become someone else's!"
"I had two cows, but they were taken for provisions! If you return my cows, I will go back to farming right away!"
"I have an elderly mother, and I haven't eaten a single grain of the rice I stole! I will only give my motherā¦."
"I have done so many wrong things... I don't even know where to start!"
"What exactly did you do wrong after entering the mountain yesterday?"
"The atmosphere is like this!"
"That's enough."
When Mu-hyeon raised his hand, the four fell silent. It felt more like a petition than a confession of a bandit. All four had calluses on their hands, but they were not from swords; they were from hoes.
"In our mountain village, there are forty of us! Only the chief is a real bandit!"
"We came out because the chief ordered us! We haven't stabbed a single person yet!"
Amidst this, Mu-hyeon was troubled by the last statement. A bandit boasting about never having stabbed anyone.
"...Could you guide me to that mountain village?"
The four froze for a moment, exchanged glances, and cautiously asked.
"Are you... going to confront us?"
"We'll see."
"Then, could you just take care of the chief?"
One of the four quickly spoke up, and the other three vigorously nodded. It was clear that the subordinates were ready to betray their chief even before they arrived.
The mountain village was located halfway up the second hill.
In the yard surrounded by a wooden fence, there were several thatched huts. It was a pitiful living situation for forty people. On the way up, they peeked into the granary, which, for a bandit hideout, contained only two jars of pickled radish, three sacks of millet, and a single hen that seemed to have been stolen from somewhere. The hen appeared to be in no danger of being eaten, as it strutted around the yard as if it owned the place, waiting for the day it would lay eggs.
In the yard, a few bandits were practicing with spears, but the spear tips kept missing the scarecrow. It was the farming folk's way of handling spears.
Mu-hyun, watching the scene, unconsciously opened his mouth. He tried to hold it back. He really tried to, but the moment the spear missed the scarecrow for the twelfth time, his mouth had already spoken.
"Your left foot is too slow when you thrust."
"Huh?"
"Your left foot should go out before your right hand. And relax your shoulders."
The bandit holding the spear, taken aback, did as he was told. For the first time, the spearhead struck straight into the scarecrow's chest. The bandit, surprised himself, looked down at his spear, and Mu-hyun quickly shut his mouth. Teaching a bandit how to throw a spear. This habit of giving advice knew no bounds, from Go to spears.
The more troublesome situation came next. One by one, the bandits who had been practicing began to gather with their tools.
"Um, guest. If you could also take a look at my sickle work."
"I'm a lumberjack."
"There's nothing to see. Just go back to farming as you did before."
"That's the hardest advice of all."
"It is difficult. Still, using a sickle is meant for rice, and using an axe is meant for firewood. These tools are not made for people."
The bandits looked down at their tools in a new light.
The leader was different.
With a pockmarked face and a large sword slung over his shoulder, he exuded a murderous aura as soon as he saw Mu-hyun entering the yard. It was a dark aura that had been nourished for a long time.
"Which one are you?"
"Just a passerby."
"Why is a passerby crawling into a mountain village?"
"I came to suggest you close your business."
"...What?"
"This mountain house, are you closing today?"
The leader laughed in disbelief and drew his great sword.
"The crazy guy has come to prepare his own coffin!"
The great sword sliced through the air. It was indeed a blade that had seen more than its share of blood, unlike those of his subordinates.
Muhyeon dragged the fight out to thirty moves when it could have ended in three. This was because the forty thieves in the yard were watching. It was necessary to show those who knew how terrifying the leader's great sword was, the sight of that great sword being parried like a child's stick by an unarmed traveler.
By the tenth move, sweat had formed on the leader's forehead. The great sword hadn't even brushed against him, let alone touched his collar.
By the twentieth move, the leader realized. This traveler was not avoiding, but rather waiting. He stood aside in advance for the path of the great sword, and once the wild swings were over, he politely awaited the next move.
"Y-You! Are you mocking me?"
"Mocking? I'm being considerate."
"What?"
"Since it's in front of your subordinates, I suggest you give it your all."
The leader had never experienced such a polite insult in his twenty years of life as a bandit.
His twenty years of life as a bandit flashed before his eyes. At eighteen, he caused trouble in his hometown and entered the mountains. He earned his living with a single sword, and the more he earned, the further the path back home became. During the valley fight, he was dragged as a lowly member of the Sapa Alliance and narrowly escaped death, and he gathered scattered farmers to establish this mountain house. He made excuses to rob, claiming he had to feed his forty subordinates, but he knew the truth. He knew where this path would ultimately lead.
That end was now right in front of him, even giving him advice to relax his shoulders while parrying his great sword.
At the thirty-first stroke, the great sword rose into the air, and the leader knelt down to hear the sound of his great sword striking the ground.
"Yes."
Muhyeon brushed his hands and looked around the yard.
"Let's close the business."
That day, a peculiar blue mountain procedure was underway in the mountain stronghold.
The stolen goods were divided into three piles. Items that were clearly taken were returned, those that were uncertain were handed over to the lower village office, and the grains were to be shared among forty people as they descended the mountain. Muhyeon sat on a bench and oversaw the calculations. Having a knack for counting from his time as a gatekeeper, counting stolen goods was no trouble at all.
The calculations were not without difficulties.
"Whose hen is this?"
"I, I can't remember."
"Is there no record of the stolen goods?"
"Do thieves keep records?"
"You should. It would be troublesome when returning them."
"What thief thinks of returning what they steal!"
"There is one right here. Right now."
The thieves, left speechless, eventually put their heads together and recalled the memory. The hen was identified as belonging to Widow Park from the village across the stream three months ago, and the fact that it had laid twelve eggs since then became an issue. A debate arose over whether to return the eggs as well, and it was only after Muhyeon ruled that the hen would be returned but the eggs would be considered payment for the feed during that time that the matter was settled. The forty people were genuinely moved by this ruling. It was said to be the most just trial since the establishment of the mountain stronghold. Indeed, it was the first trial since the stronghold was established.
"Um, Great Hero."
A former bandit asked timidly.
"If we go down the mountain, what will we eat? The village is in ruins, and there's no land to farmā¦."
"Do you know about Manbosangdan?"
"I've heard of it."
"The elder Pyodu there is currently struggling with a shortage of hands. Three of his workers have been injured. He pays generously for labor, so just say that the Cliff Traveler sent you."
"The Cliff Traveler? Is that you, Great Heroā¦?"
"Just say that you were sent."
Forty men simultaneously bowed down. Mu-hyeon had become accustomed to receiving bows, accepting it calmly. If it had been thirty years ago, he would have been bowing back.
The procession down the mountain was magnificent.
In front, forty men carrying grain lined up, in the middle were those holding hens and those with stolen goods, and at the very back stood the leader Wang Deok-gu, who had taken on the burden himself. No one had forced him to do so, but he insisted on carrying it. He felt he had to maintain the appearance of paying his dues in front of his elder brother.
Passersby encountered on the mountain path were startled by the procession of forty bandits and jumped into the bushes, only to be startled again as the procession passed by, bowing and saying, "We apologize for startling you."
The front of the county office in the lower village was in great chaos. Forty-one bandits had come to surrender on their own, but there were only eight cells in the jail. The young magistrate, after wrestling with the situation for half a day, decided to imprison only the leader and instead punished the forty others with flogging and labor. Additionally, he assigned two soldiers to formally return the hen to Widow Park. This was the warmest official business that had taken place in this county recently.
The problem was the leader.
He had planned to tie him up and hand him over to the county office, but this hunchbacked giant crawled over and lay flat on the ground just as the calculations were being finished.
"I will serve you as my elder brother!"
"...Excuse me?"
"I, in twenty years of black martial arts, have never seen such skill! Please take me in, elder brother!"
"I have never had a younger brother."
"Then you can consider me your younger brother starting today!"
"And no matter how I look at it, I appear to be younger than twenty."
"What does age matter in front of martial arts! To my eyes, you look like a mountain!"
"You need to go to the county office."
"It's not too late to go to the county office after meeting you, elder brother!"
The back-and-forth continued for a long time.
"Elder brother! Do you know how I came to recognize you? That great martial art is something I obtained after rolling around in the black martial arts for ten years! I did it barehanded, and even with consideration!"
"Please don't say consideration. It makes me feel embarrassed."
"I want to learn how to become a person under you!"
"The county office teaches better how to become a person."
"If I learn at the county office and come out, will you accept me?"
"...There is something called manbo sangdan."
In the end, the leader voluntarily confessed to the authorities, and it was decided that after serving his sentence, he would work as a new person at Manbo Sangdan. The signboard of Manbo Sangdan was becoming the new position of a former professional thief, the head of rehabilitation, whom he did not even know. Mu-hyeon thought that there would be a time to apologize someday.
The leader shouted loudly enough to echo in the mountains at Mu-hyeon's back as he was leaving.
"Brother! I, Wang Deok-gu, will not forget this grace!"
"You can forget it."
"I will not forget it!"
"Deok-gu brother has defeated our leader!"
The last remark was made by one of the subordinates, and it was incorrect in two ways, neither being Deok-gu nor brother, but it felt inappropriate to go back and correct it, so he left it as it was. That echo followed him to the third peak. It was the sound of another rumor being born.
As expected, in the future, there would be rumors in this area that a cliffside traveler had become sworn brothers with the great thief Wang Deok-gu, but Wang Deok-gu himself became the angriest upon hearing that rumor after coming out of prison. Sworn brothers, how dare they. That person is my brother, and I am the younger.
At dusk, Mu-hyeon stood on the last peak's ridge.
And he stopped walking.
Beyond the sunset, distant peaks were visible. It was an unforgettable ridge. The mountain he had looked up at every morning and evening for several years. The mountain path he had walked in dreams for thirty years.
It was a volcano.
Mu-hyeon stood there for a long time.
It was said that the mountain gate had burned down when seen up close. The guesthouse was said to be full of the injured. However, the volcano seen from here was just a volcano. A large, silent mountain, stained red by the sunset.
The evening smoke of the villages was rising below the mountain slope. One of those smokes must be from the village at the foot of the volcano. The village where a weary mother, a sixteen-year-old girl, and a twelve-year-old boy were waiting for someone who would not return.
As his throat grew warm, Mu-hyeon took a moment to catch his breath.
It had been a road filled with whispers and nicknames, but the moment the volcano came into view, all of that receded into the distance. There was a promise to be fulfilled beneath that mountain. It was not a place one could approach with a smile.
'We're almost there, brother.'
Tomorrow, he would arrive. He just needed to go down this pass, stay the night, and in the morning, pass through the market at the entrance before reaching the mountain gate.
Mu-hyeon moved his steps toward the lights of the village below the pass.
At the entrance of that village, he did not yet know that a man was sitting on a platform, gathering people around him. On the man's lap, a set of chopsticks was carefully wrapped in a silk cloth.