Chapter 62
Hongseol had only just managed to fall asleep when she opened her bleary eyes again.
Is it morning now? Or evening?
Inside the earthen cave, where little light filtered in, there was no way to tell the passage of time.
The only indication that a day had gone by was when oatmeal porridge was brought in.
As Hongseol looked around to gauge the time, her eyes caught sight of markings carved into the wall.
These are for keeping track of the days, right?
She had been told that the beggar boy Yang Dojin, who had been here the longest, had scratched the dirt wall with a stone to leave those marks.
That very beggar, Yang Dojin, was now leaning against the wall with a gloomy expression.
As Hongseol examined the markings, she tilted her head.
Three X marks and one circle?
The pattern repeated at regular intervals.
And at the end, there are three X’s in a row.
If one mark was made each day, then today was the day the circle was drawn.
The first “circle day” Hongseol had experienced.
“Um… what does this mean, by any chance?”
After hesitating, Hongseol spoke to Yang Dojin.
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, the children all pressed themselves tightly against the wall.
“Someone’s coming!”
“It’s that day!”
They looked utterly terrified.
“W-Why? What’s going on?”
Just as the confused Hongseol turned around—
Creeeak.
The iron door, which had been tightly shut, opened with an eerie sound.
Did someone else get captured like me?
But what entered wasn’t a child dragged in for bloodletting.
Thud.
A foot wearing a worn leather shoe stepped in first.
Then a thick, muscular arm suddenly thrust inside, waving through the air as if feeling its way.
“Eek!”
“So scary!”
The children screamed and scattered. Of course, with dirt walls on all sides, there was nowhere to run.
A man’s grumbling voice followed.
“Damn it. It’s too dark to see properly.”
At that moment, something caught Hongseol’s eyes, already accustomed to the darkness. A black feather tattoo etched into the man’s arm.
That can’t be… the Heukchwibang…?
She recalled what Namgung Uigyeol had told her.
The Heukchwibang—a massive unorthodox faction led by the female master known as the Poison Flying Sparrow.
Its members were said to bear black feather tattoos on their arms.
They said the Poison Flying Sparrow had entered Hapbi… but why would the Heukchwibang be taking children?
While Hongseol was still trying to make sense of the situation—
Whoosh!
A steel grappling hook flew through the air like a fishing line.
“Watch out!”
Yang Dojin, who had been silent all this time, suddenly grabbed Hongseol and yanked her toward the wall.
“Ah!”
The iron hook struck the spot where Hongseol had been standing moments earlier, then slid back to its original position.
Scrrrape.
The sound of metal scraping along the floor sent chills down her spine.
“W-What… what is that?”
As Hongseol trembled in shock—
Whoosh!
The steel hook flew again.
“Aaah!”
This time, it caught the collar on the back of a small girl’s clothes.
It was Sorang—the little girl Hongseol had held and comforted on her first day.
“No!”
Hongseol didn’t even have time to react.
“Damn it!”
Yang Dojin shouted a coarse curse, far rougher than expected from a child, and ran toward the door. But Sorang, already snagged by the hook, was dragged through the gap in the door.
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
Then came the clang of a bolt being fastened, echoing through the silent room.
“I-I don’t want to! Please save me! Sister! Brother!”
From outside the door, Sorang’s desperate sobs faded away, lingering for quite some time.
Shaken, Hongseol turned back.
“W-What… what is all this?”
Deung Soso spoke in a gloomy voice.
“Every four days, that guy with the iron hook comes and takes one of us.”
“B-But why…?”
“No one knows. But so far, not a single child has ever come back.”
“They’re definitely using us to make medicine!”
The one who sprang to his feet was Yang Dojin, the beggar boy who had just saved Hongseol.
Tears streamed down his face, as if he couldn’t forgive himself for failing to help Sorang.
“I told you! They’re not randomly taking kids to sell them to brothels or mines. They’re using them to make some kind of twisted medicine, for sure!”
A shiver ran through Hongseol.
She was certain she’d heard somewhere that patients with incurable diseases sometimes devoured children.
She’d also heard that the Demonic Cult once made a drug called Hongsudan using people’s fingernails.
“That’s just your guess. And even if it were true, what can you do about it?”
Deung Soso’s sharp words made the beggar boy flinch.
“Are you going to let yourself be dragged away next time?”
“Damn it… damn it!”
Unable to answer, Yang Dojin wiped his tears with the back of his dirty hand.
“Just endure it a little longer. People from our Deung family will come looking for me soon. We just have to hold out until then.”
At Deung Soso’s realistic words, Yang Dojin lowered his head in despair.
“If… if I only had the strength… I wouldn’t let those bastards get away with this…”
“But you don’t. So stop wasting your thoughts and focus on staying alive.”
While the two argued, Hongseol stood there blankly, still in shock.
To think this was a place where children died every four days…!
If she waited here, she would eventually be rescued by the Deung family searching for Deung Soso.
But until then, she might have to witness the deaths of countless children.
She didn’t think she could endure that.
Hongseol spoke to Yang Dojin, who looked utterly dejected.
“Um… Dojin. The child who gets taken…”
She drew in a sharp breath and continued in a trembling voice.
“Do you know how long they stay alive?”
Deung Soso immediately snapped at her.
“Hey, that’s stupid! How would he know something like that?”
Regardless, Hongseol’s clear eyes remained fixed on Yang Dojin.
“You can know. Your hearing is better than everyone else’s, right?”
“What?”
Deung Soso scoffed in disbelief.
“You’re saying this kid really has better hearing than others?”
She looked at Yang Dojin incredulously.
He gave a barely noticeable nod.
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by his affirmation, Deung Soso was stunned. Yang Dojin spoke weakly.
“I can hear everything. With my ears.”
Hongseol stared at him intently.
“Then tell me. How long will Sorang, who was taken today, stay alive?”
“Usually about two days. After two days, the sounds stop.”
Deung Soso’s mouth fell open.
“No, what kind of ears does he have…? No—Hongseol, how did you even figure that out?”
Hongseol quietly raised a finger and pointed at something.
It was the knot hanging from Yang Dojin’s belt.
When Deung Soso recognized it, her eyes widened.
“One knot… an Il-gyeol Gaek (One-Knot Beggar)!”
“He’s a disciple of the Beggars’ Union. And not just that—after three full years as a probationary member, he earned that single knot.”
She was deeply grateful she had already heard about the Beggars’ Union from Namgung Uigyeol.
In fact, she’d only realized Yang Dojin was an Il-gyeol Beggar because she hadn’t held any preconceived notions.
Anyone with even a little knowledge of the martial world would never imagine such a young beggar to be an Il-gyeol Beggar—just as Deung Soso hadn’t.
Hongseol continued.
“A disciple of the Beggars’ Union lives on information, so I figured he’d naturally have sharp ears. And besides…”
She looked at Yang Dojin. Compared to the others, his face was unusually dark and gloomy.
“He’s more depressed than anyone else. And he was so sure they were turning us into medicine.”
She went on.
“I thought that was because he’d heard what was really going on. That’s why he always notices first when someone approaches.”
“Hongseol, you’re really… impossible to deal with! Are you sure you’re not from a martial family?”
“U-Um… yeah…”
At Deung Soso’s admiration, Hongseol blushed slightly.
But she couldn’t afford to bask in praise.
Even now, time was slipping away for Sorang, who had been taken.
“Dojin, you can tell, right? Is there a guard in front of the door?”
Yang Dojin shook his head.
“No. There’s no guard posted. They probably believe we can’t open this door anyway.”
Hongseol quietly stared at the iron door blocking their way.
