Chapter 5. Toban
by Foreigner · 2026-08-21
He heard a sound first.
It was a human voice.
Gihun stopped in his tracks and listened for a long time. He searched Aron's memories for any instances of animals making human sounds. There were none.
The sound came again.
Toban: ...Hey.
Gihun went in that direction.
There was a person under the rock.
He looked about forty. He had a bushy beard and was wearing leather clothes. A bow lay beside him, its string broken.
He saw Gihun.
Toban: Oh.
And smiled.
Toban: It's a person.
Aron: ...Yes.
Toban: You're really a person, right?
Aron: Yes.
Toban: Wave your hand a little.
Gihun waved his hand.
Toban: Oh.
He leaned his head back.
Toban: It's really a person.
His right leg was bent at an odd angle.
Toban: It's been two days.
He said.
Toban: I rolled down from up there. I missed my footing, and there happened to be a rock.
Aron: Did you move?
Toban: I crawled all the way here. There's no water up there.
Gihun looked up. It was a slope about twenty meters high.
Aron: For two days?
Toban: A day and a half.
He raised a finger to correct himself.
Toban: Because I was unconscious for half a day.
Gihun looked at his leg.
The break was in the middle of his calf. The skin wasn't pierced. That was a relief.
Aron: It needs to be fixed.
Toban: Do you know how to fix it?
Aron: I've done it before.
Toban: Oh.
Toban was pleased.
Toban: Are you a doctor?
Aron: No.
Gihun searched Aron's memories out of habit.
Nothing came up.
'.......'
It was the first time.
Up until now, no matter what he searched, something always came up. Fruit names came up, monster names came up, and twenty-three sword forms came up. But there wasn't a single line about a broken leg.
'Right.'
A duke's son wouldn't have had to set someone else's bones.
Gihun cut a branch.
This was his own skill.
He had learned it in the Special Forces. He'd practiced it about a hundred times. He'd even done it twice in real life. Once for a junior whose ankle was sprained during parachute training, and once for a gym member whose shin was broken.
'You're not setting the bone.'
Sergeant Oh had said that.
'Just position it and fix it. The body will do the rest.'
His hands moved first.
Toban: Aargh!
Aron: Bear with it.
Toban: I am! Aargh!
Aron: Almost done.
Toban: This bastard is— Ugh!
Gihun tied the splint.
The man gasped for breath.
After a while, he spoke.
Toban: ......Thank you.
Aron: You're welcome.
Toban: I'm Toban.
Aron: I'm Aron.
Toban looked at him.
Toban: Aron?
Aron: Yes.
Toban: Isn't that a noble's name?
Aron: ......Isn't it a common name?
Toban: It's not common.
Toban said.
Toban: But, well, parents give names.
Then he scrutinized Gihun from head to toe.
Toban: Besides, a noble wouldn't be in this state in a place like this.
'.......'
Gihun looked down at his clothes.
He hadn't changed them in over 50 days. They were torn in three places, and unknown substances were caked on in several layers. His hair was past his shoulders, and his face was tanned. His fingernails were black underneath.
'.......That's true.'
Gihun understood.
Gihun carried Toban on his back.
Toban: Oh.
Toban was surprised.
Toban: Aron, I'm heavy.
Aron: It's fine.
Gihun stood up.
He supported Toban's legs with one hand and held the club with the other.
Toban: ...Huh?
Toban spoke again.
Toban: How old are you?
Aron: Sixteen.
Toban: ...
Aron: Why?
Toban: No.
Toban was silent for a moment.
Toban: Just wondering if you're really sixteen.
He didn't talk much on the first day.
Gihun walked, and Toban was carried on his back.
From the second day, Toban started talking.
Toban: Where are you from, Aron?
Aron: Far away.
Toban: Where far away?
Aron: Just far away.
Toban: Aron.
Toban said from behind him.
Toban: Answering like that just makes me more curious.
Aron: ...
Toban: Well, never mind. I won't ask anymore.
Then, thirty minutes later, he asked again.
Toban: But seriously, where are you from?
Toban talked a lot.
Gihun didn't dislike it.
He had been alone for over 50 days. When you're alone, it's comfortable at first, then you feel nothing, and then it feels like your own words are echoing back to you.
Gihun had reached that stage.
So he liked hearing a voice from behind him.
He didn't admit it, though.
Aron: Why did you come into this mountain?
Toban: Herbs.
Aron: Herbs?
Toban: There's something called white root. It only grows deep in this mountain, and one root fetches three silver coins.
Aron: ...
Toban: It's worth risking your life for.
Aron: How much do you earn if you dig that up?
Toban: If I'm lucky, ten roots in a season.
Toban calculated.
Toban: Thirty silver coins.
Aron: How much is that?
Toban: ...Aron.
Toban asked from behind him.
Toban: Haven't you ever spent money?
Gihun learned a few things that day.
Thirty silver coins could get a family of four through winter.
Grain was cheaper in the fall. It doubled in price in the spring.
Taxes were three-tenths of the harvest. But in reality, it was about four-tenths. The remaining one-tenth was for those who came to collect it.
The my lord was in Seton. He was old and not a bad person. He just did nothing because he was old.
Aron: Isn't it bad for the my lord to do nothing?
Gihun asked.
Toban: It's not bad.
Aron: Why?
Toban: A my lord who does things is scarier.
Toban said.
Toban: Doing things costs money, doesn't it? Where do you think that money comes from?
'...'
Gihun pondered those words for a moment.
Aron's memory tried to refute it. The my lord was the one who governed the territory, and governing required finances, and finances came from taxes, and the legitimate reason for that was...
Gihun dismissed that memory.
'Yes, you would have learned that.'
On the third day, the topic of his daughter came up.
Toban: Mina.
Aron: She's your daughter?
Toban: Twelve.
Toban said.
Toban: She's twelve, but she's better at math than me.
Aron: Oh.
Toban: If I say I sold something for three silver coins, she immediately tells me how much profit is left. I count on my fingers, but she just says it.
Aron: She's smart.
Toban: She is smart.
Toban was silent for a moment.
Toban: But I can't send her to school.
Aron: ...
Toban: Commoners can't go. Even if you have money, you can't go.
Gihun walked.
Aron: Does her mother teach her?
Gihun asked.
Toban was silent for a moment.
Toban: No.
Aron: ...
Toban: When Mina was six.
Gihun didn't ask what happened next.
Toban: So she learned math on her own.
Toban said.
Toban: I took him to the market, and one day he said he wanted to do it himself.
Aron: ......
Toban: From that day on, I haven't done the accounting.
Toban laughed.
Toban: I lost control of the household to a twelve-year-old.
Gihun laughed at that.
Something caught in his throat as he laughed.
'.......'
Sister Jeong-ah said that.
When Gihun was twelve, his sister was sixteen, and in the winter when Sister Saralucia fell ill, his sister cooked for all fourteen orphans.
Gihun once asked her why she did it.
His sister said,
'Then who will?'
Gihun pushed that memory away.
He pushed, but it didn't go away easily.
Toban: Aron.
Aron: Yes.
Toban: Can you read?
Aron: ......I can.
Toban: Oh.
Toban exclaimed.
Toban: Then Aron is also a noble, isn't he?
Aron: No.
Toban: Then what are you?
Aron: ......
Toban: Never mind.
Toban laughed.
Toban: I won't ask.
And then he asked again thirty minutes later.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, Toban talked about the village.
Toban: Our village is small.
Aron: How small?
Toban: Twelve houses.
Gihun's steps slowed ever so slightly.
Toban: There's a well in the middle, and a big tree next to it. In summer, everyone sits there.
Aron: ......
Toban: Mina climbs that tree well. Better than me.
Aron: ......
Toban: Aron?
Aron: Yes.
Toban: Why aren't you walking?
Gihun started walking again.
Aron: No.
That night, Gihun didn't sleep.
He sat by the fire and watched Toban.
Toban was sleeping, snoring.
'.......'
Twelve houses.
A well in the middle.
A large tree next to it.
Gihun remembered that tree. He had piled the bodies under that tree. The tree was large, its shade wide, so it was the widest spot.
'.......'
Gihun looked at his sack.
'.......'
Gihun agonized for three days.
Should he tell him?
What would happen if he told him?
What would happen if he didn't tell him?
Gihun calculated. Aron's mind was good at calculations.
If he didn't tell him, Toban would go to the village. He would go and see. Then he would know anyway.
If he told him, he would know now.
The result was the same. Only the timing was different.
'.......'
But the calculation kept going back.
Gihun knew why he kept repeating the calculation.
It was because he didn't like the answer.
On the morning of the seventh day, Gihun decided to speak.
He carried Toban on his back and walked for half a day.
At lunchtime, he set him down, gave him water, and then Gihun sat down.
Aron: Excuse me.
Toban: Yes?
Aron: There's something I need to tell you.
Toban: Yes?
Aron: ......
Gihun opened his mouth, then closed it.
He opened it once more, then closed it.
Toban looked at him.
And said,
Toban: You don't have to say it.
Aron: ......Huh?
Toban: You don't have to.
Toban pointed at Gihun's sack.
Toban: That sack, I mean.
Aron: ......
Toban: I made it.
Gihun said nothing.
Toban: The way the leather is patched is our village's way.
Toban said.
His voice was very ordinary.
Toban: I'm the only one who ties a double knot in the shoulder strap. My father taught me.
Aron: ......
Toban: That's a bag from Gerne.
Aron: ......Gerne.
Toban: It's the name of our village.
Toban drank water.
His hand trembled, and he spilled about half of it.
Toban: When?
Aron: ......
Toban: When was it?
Aron: ......About a month ago.
Toban: ......
Aron: When I passed by, it was already...
Gihun stopped there.
Toban nodded.
Toban: How many?
Aron: ......
Toban: How many were there?
Aron: ......Thirty-seven.
Toban put down the water bottle.
He dropped it as he put it down. Water spilled.
Toban didn't pick it up.
Toban: Did you burn them?
Toban asked after a long while.
Aron: Yes.
Toban: ......You did well.
Aron: ......
Toban: If you bury them, there are those who will dig them up again.
Toban said that.
And then he said nothing.
Gihun also said nothing.
That afternoon, Gihun carried Toban on his back and walked.
Toban didn't speak.
Gihun didn't either.
In the evening, when they had settled down and lit a fire, Toban spoke for the first time.
Toban: Aron.
Aron: Yes.
Toban: Were they under that tree?
Aron: ......Yes.
Toban: The shade is wide, isn't it?
Aron: It was wide.
Toban: That's why everyone sat there in the summer.
Toban said that and then fell silent.
Gihun looked at the fire.
After a long while, a sound came from behind him.
Gihun didn't turn around.
The next morning, Toban said.
Toban: Carry me.
Aron: ......
Toban: We have to go.
Aron: Where to?
Toban: We have to go and see.
Toban looked down at his splinted leg.
Toban: I must see it with my own eyes.
Gihun carried him on his back.
The next two days were like the first two.
Toban didn't speak.
Then, from the third day, he started talking again.
He spoke of Mina.
He told a story about her almost falling into a well when she was three. He told of her first time drawing a bow when she was eight. He told of how he bought her new shoes last winter because her old ones were too small, but she didn't wear them in the snow because she felt they were too precious.
Toban: She embroidered the instep.
Toban said.
Toban: Her mother did it. It's a flower, but I don't know what kind.
Gihun stopped walking.
Toban: Aron?
Aron: ......
Toban: What's wrong?
Aron: Nothing.
Gihun started walking again.
That night, Gihun didn't open the sack.
He thought about opening it but decided against it.
He didn't want to confirm.
They encountered orcs on the twelfth day.
It was on the outskirts of the mountain. The trees were sparse, and light began to filter through. One more day and they would be out of the mountains.
Toban: ......Aron.
Toban said from behind him.
Aron: Yes?
Toban: There.
Gihun looked.
There were twelve of them.
The front four were already running.
Gihun put Toban down.
He put him down a bit roughly in his haste.
Aron: I'm sorry.
Toban: It's fine.
Aron: Stay behind the rock.
Toban: Aron.
Aron: It'll be over quickly.
Gihun gripped his club.
Gihun killed twelve that day.
To be precise, he killed eleven and missed one.
It took a long time.
It had only been a few days since he fought six. His ribs were broken then and hadn't healed yet. His breath was short.
From about the third one, the club felt heavy.
On the sixth, the club broke.
He used his hands for the rest.
When it was over, Gihun stood, hands on his knees.
He couldn't breathe.
'.......'
Gihun gasped for air right there.
After a long while, he straightened up.
Aron: ......my lord.
He looked back.
He looked behind the rock.
He wasn't there.
Gihun ran.
Aron: my lord!
He went around the rock.
He wasn't there.
Aron: my lord!
He looked at the ground. There was a drag mark. It was the mark of a splinted leg being dragged. It continued between the trees.
Gihun followed it.
He went about two hundred meters.
He found him.
Gihun knelt down right there.
Aron: my lord.
Toban's eyes were open.
Gihun reached out a hand, then stopped.
He didn't know where to grab.
Toban: ......Aron.
Toban spoke.
His voice was very faint.
Aron: Yes.
Toban: I'm sorry.
Aron: ......For what?
Toban: For being heavy.
Aron: You weren't heavy.
Toban: Liar.
Toban smiled just a little.
Aron: my lord.
Toban: ......
Aron: Just stay there. I'll.
Toban: Aron.
Aron: I'll do something.
Toban: Aron.
Gihun closed his mouth.
Toban: Mina, please.
Toban said.
Toban: My Mina, please.