Surviving as a Maid of the Sichuan Tang Clan

The Water Dragon King blinked blankly, then clapped her hands and cried out.

“Ah, I get it! You’re going to reassure me first and then catch me and kill me!”

“......This is why I hate things raised in dens of the unorthodox factions. Every one of them is broken somewhere. There’s no such thing as trust between people.”

Beopgong grumbled.

Just then, Jinseong cut in with a blunt voice.

“Master Beopgong. The fact that the Water Dragon King suffered does not mean we can ignore the suffering she inflicted on others. The Water Dragon King is a criminal. Please reconsider what you just said.”

“Touchy, aren’t you? Somehow it sounds like if I let her go, you’ll personally throw her into the prison cells.”

Even at Beopgong’s indifferent reply, Jinseong did not back down.

“Today, more than ten innocent commoners died under the Water Dragon King’s orders. Not only that, she took Young Lady Tang hostage in order to escape. She must pay the proper price for her crimes.”

Jinseong pointed at me as he spoke. Yeon Ryang, who had been standing there blinking with a completely blank face, jumped in alarm.

“Hostage? What are you talking about? Are you hurt? Sohae, you aren’t hiding another wound, are you?”

As Yeon Ryang fussed and examined me, Beopgong suddenly shouted.

“Ugh! You bastard, cut it out already! Did you give birth to her? Did you?”

“I’m just worried a grown young woman might be left with a scar. People avoid you when you have scars.”

“People don’t avoid you because of your scars, they avoid you because of that bulk! A bear the size of a house is tearing through the street. Who wouldn’t get out of the way?”

After snapping at him, Beopgong pointed a finger at me too.

“Kid, I’ll deal with you later. How far out of your mind were you to get taken hostage? Unbelievable.”

Damn it. I was done for.

When Beopgong raised his voice, the Water Dragon King, who had been watching his mood, tugged at his hem.

“Do what that Taoist says, mister. I’m ready to pay for my crimes. As long as you let my people go.”

“Don’t try to bargain with me. You aren’t in a position to do that. Stop acting up and go release those people of yours who you said were locked up. Don’t make me do it. It’s annoying.”

“I can?”

“Yeah.”

When Beopgong waved his hand dismissively, the Water Dragon King’s eyes sparkled, and she limped toward the companionway. Chiyong, who had been hesitating as he watched her from behind, knelt in front of Beopgong.

“I was the one who advised attacking the merchant ship. Tear me apart and kill me. Please spare my mistress.”

“I believe I told you not to try to bargain. My mercy only goes as far as that kid. A river-bandit bastard getting arrogant with me......”

Beopgong spoke coldly and glared at Chiyong. Pressed down by Beopgong’s force, Chiyong trembled like prey before a predator, but still defended his mistress.

“T-today’s attack was for our escape. If we didn’t want them to suspect us before we escaped, it was unavoidable—aaaargh!”

Before he could even finish, Beopgong’s foot crushed the back of Chiyong’s hand. The sound of bones twisting made my brow furrow by itself.

Even as Chiyong rolled across the floor in pain, he stammered on.

“Once the plunder ends......! They divide the spoils and hold a feast! I prepared drugged liquor so we could flee after the feast was over, agh, cough, cough!”

“Shut your mouth unless you’re trying to test my patience. I’m not allowed to kill people.”

Beopgong put more weight into the foot crushing his hand, and Chiyong, unable to endure the pain, foamed at the mouth and went limp. Irritation crossed Beopgong’s face.

“What the hell? This makes me look like the villain. Leaves a bad taste.”

Muttering, Beopgong roughly rubbed his forehead. As if trying to calm his excitement, he rolled his prayer beads for a long while and steadied his breathing.

Soon, after composing his expression, Beopgong pressed down on one prayer bead with his thumb and raised his head.

“Jinseong. Do you absolutely have to arrest that kid?”

“I saw the sacrificed commoners with my own eyes. I cannot let this pass.”

“You heard him too. That one only pretended to be a river bandit for two months, and this was her first attack. If she can be led to a path of repentance without bloodshed, wouldn’t that be one method too?”

“Even if she has her circumstances, she is a villain who committed evil. I do not understand why you are concerning yourself with her, Master.”

Jinseong spat the words coldly, as if he truly could not understand. Swallowing a sigh, Beopgong began to persuade him calmly.

“Because there’s room for her to reform. She could have killed her husband and run away alone, but instead, she went so far as to act as the Water Dragon King and make a plan to escape with everyone. She has no martial force, but she still risks her life trying to protect her people. Seeing that, her nature isn’t evil.”

I, who had been watching the situation, cautiously joined in.

“Um...... It’s true she took me hostage, but she said she had no intention of hurting me and apologized. It seemed like her first time taking a hostage too. She kept trembling.”

“Sohae, you call that—!”

“You stay quiet. Your brother’s damn fits are going to start.”

“Yes, sir.”

I meekly closed my mouth and looked at Jinseong. He was clenching his fist with his brow furrowed. He seemed a little angry.

“Blood must be washed away with blood. It is right to have her investigated according to procedure, then executed.”

“Pardon? Executed? Wait, Taoist. I also don’t think we should just let her go, but killing her is a little......”

Wasn’t that too much?

I had thought they would lock her in the prison cells for a few years. I had not imagined they would kill her, so my eyes widened in surprise.

“Even if she borrowed another’s hand, the Water Dragon King killed people. Once is difficult, but the second and third times become easy. Regardless of the reason, the sprout of evil must be cut away. Once one begins compromising with absurdity, evil spreads endlessly like a thornbush.”

When Jinseong insisted firmly, Yeon Ryang muttered with a sneer.

“What a noble young Taoist you are. I suppose that precious Pine-Pattern Sword has never been stained with blood? Or does the sword of a Taoist sect clean itself even when blood gets on it?”

At his sarcasm, Jinseong’s gaze turned sharp.

“Even a beast bares its teeth if someone tries to harm it. Humans are no different. Letting yourself be struck without resistance isn’t goodness, it’s stupidity. The young Taoist swings his sword while telling everyone else to die without even struggling. Isn’t that hypocrisy? Well, I’m sure you have no interest in what a bastard from the unorthodox factions thinks.”

After snapping at him with a face as cold as ice, Yeon Ryang roughly turned away.

“B-Brother. Wait!”

“Leave him. He’ll come back once he calms down.”

Beopgong stopped me as I tried to chase after him. I worried my lip, then slowly dragged both hands over my face.

Maybe it was because of the Water Dragon King. Or maybe it was because Yeon Ryang looked upset.

Either way, my heart felt uneasy.

“Jinseong. I understand what you’re worried about. But not everything in the world can be divided into black and white.”

Even with Beopgong’s admonition, Jinseong was like a straight bamboo stalk. He shook his head and said,

“Even if one pours clear water into a gutter, the stench of rot does not disappear. The Water Dragon King will not change.”

Only then did I realize why Jinseong’s words had been grating on me so strangely all this time.

His argument was no different from denying Yeon Ryang’s entire life.

No matter how hard Yeon Ryang tried to live rightly, it sounded like a declaration that his essence was nothing but a Demonic Sect member.

In that instant, something boiled up in my lower belly. Choked with emotion, I snapped at Jinseong.

“Taoist. That was a little too much.”

“......Young Lady Tang.”

“Not everyone lives a life where they can freely choose. There are lives where people have to crawl along the bottom just to survive, even knowing it’s a sin, even suffering enough to die.”

“A person is only a person if they do not lose their humanity even at the bottom.”

“That’s something you can’t know unless you’ve experienced it. You shouldn’t place everyone on the same baseline as you and judge them by it. You need to think about what you’ve been able to enjoy.”

“I agree with that.”

Beopgong added his voice, chuckling as he crossed his arms.

“I think about that sometimes too. How would my life have gone if the old abbot hadn’t taken me in?”

“That is an unnecessary assumption.”

“No matter how I think about it, I feel like I would have become a monster. I would have become a great devil like Chae Honggyo.”

“......”

“Why aren’t you denying it this time?”

“......Th-that is not what I meant.”

When Jinseong flusteredly waved his hands, Beopgong’s eyebrow twitched. But he soon relaxed his expression and said,

“You and I were lucky enough to learn how to live like human beings, but that kid probably never had the chance. Even so, she knows what she did wrong. Someone like that can live decently with just a little help. Because she has something she wants to protect.”

Beopgong glanced at the Water Dragon King, who was pulling the people trapped in the lower hold up onto the deck, then scratched his head.

“But if you tighten the noose without giving her even one chance to be taught, she’ll definitely go crooked. If she loses what she wanted to protect, she’ll hate the world and try to break it. ......I’ve seen plenty like that.”

He closed his mouth, and a faint shadow fell over his face. Jinseong seemed somewhat flustered, but he did not bend his opinion.

“Even so, we cannot make only the Water Dragon King an exception.”

“As long as you’re born human, it’s impossible not to commit sin. We accumulate karma as we turn on the wheel of reincarnation. I commit sins every day myself. The important thing isn’t punishment. It’s rescuing sentient beings from suffering and guiding them toward immeasurable good.”

Jinseong, who had been opening and closing his mouth, called Beopgong with a strange look in his eyes.

“......Master Beopgong.”

“What.”

“You truly are a disciple of Buddhism.”

At that subtle admiration, Beopgong frowned.

“What are you talking about? Then what did you think I was?”

Looking back and forth between me and Beopgong, Jinseong fell silent as if lost in thought. After agonizing over it for a long while, Jinseong muttered weakly,

“......It is difficult.”

“What is?”

“What is right and wrong, and what the proper path is. I do not know anymore. Ever since I left Wudang, everything has been tangled up.”

“You think I know everything? I’m the same. You may be right and I may be wrong, Jinseong.”

Beopgong’s voice softened.

“I’m not a judge, and I don’t belong to the Law Enforcement Hall, so I can’t stop your decision. You’re also a proper decision-maker here, so if you’re going to punish her, do that. But......”

Beopgong lightly jerked his chin as if telling him to look over there. Surrounded by children her own age, the Water Dragon King was smiling brightly as she wiped the sleep from a little boy’s eyes.

“I’d like to advise you to give her a chance.”

When Jinseong saw the Water Dragon King, confusion seeped into his gaze. After hesitating, he barely forced out one sentence.

“......Please give me a moment to think.”

“You can take a long time. Judge slowly. Whatever it is, I’ll follow your decision.”

“Yes.”

Jinseong answered and pressed his lips tightly shut.

But as if his thoughts refused to organize themselves, he spent more than the time it took to drink tea repeatedly furrowing and relaxing his eyebrows.

Watching Jinseong, Beopgong patted him on the shoulder.

“The more I look at you, the more I like you. I like stubborn bastards. They’re so foolish and obstinate it gets annoying...... but watching them makes me feel proud.”

“Pardon? What does that mean......”

When Jinseong looked bewildered, Beopgong chuckled.

“Among the people I know, there’s one swordsman who struggles to live as a human despite being a butcher leashed by the neck. He’s similar to you. He keeps agonizing over the right answer.”

“......Did that person find the right answer?”

“Who knows. Probably not yet. But he’ll find it soon. Because he’s a solid bastard who never lost his own color even when everyone else was being stained by evil.”

Huh. Was he saying this for Yeon Ryang to hear......?

I stopped and turned my head. In the distance, I saw Yeon Ryang looking down at the ground as he scratched the reddened back of his neck.

At the corner of Beopgong’s mouth as he glanced sideways at Yeon Ryang, mischief was written all over his face.

......This man believes in Yeon Ryang.

I felt like I understood why Beopgong had accepted Yeon Ryang so casually.

He tried to see the essence of a person.

He did not judge Yeon Ryang by a past Yeon Ryang had never been able to choose.

He must have believed in the choices he had seen Yeon Ryang make with his own eyes. In the light Yeon Ryang had kept from going out, even through long loneliness and pain.

I came to like Beopgong a very little bit.