Longevity - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 1: The Final Furrow
Cheon Won

890 years into the age, early spring.
Dengzhou

In a mountain village, when the Second Watch arrived, the quiet wooden gate suddenly swung inward.

Jang Saeng’s eyes opened beside Nohwang. Dust billowed through the crack in the door, and dried grass from the roof scattered down.

He dragged his left foot toward the door. As he peered out, clutching the frame, he saw dark clouds swallowing the ridge and descending upon the roof itself.
Jang Saeng’s face went rigid.

“Here we go again…….”

It wasn’t merely a rain-bearing cloud. Lightning would fall soon.
Jang Saeng took down the rain coat and bamboo hat hanging on the wall. As he stepped over the threshold, he heard rough breathing catch and start again behind him.
Nohwang

lay prone on the straw, eyes closed. The water left out that morning remained untouched, as did the dried grass in the fodder trough.
Jang Saeng set down the rain coat and crouched before the beast.

“Nohwang.”

When he held his palm close to the animal’s nose, lukewarm breath brushed against it.

“You have to drink something. How many days has it been now?”

Nohwang’s ear twitched weakly once.
Seven or eight days without food.
Jang Saeng lifted the water bowl and held it close to the ox’s mouth. Nohwang only dampened his nose and turned his head away.

“You can’t collapse while I’m gone.”

There was no answer.

“I’ll be back soon. Really soon.”

When Old Man Wang had picked up Jang Saeng from the roadside, abandoned, it was Nohwang’s milk—freshly given after calving—that had kept him alive. Old Man Wang had long since turned to soil. Only this aged ox remained as Jang Saeng’s family.
And yet he had to leave Nohwang behind.

“You crippled fool!”

The Neighbor Woman’s shout pierced through the wind.

“Can’t you see the sky? Get out before lightning strikes again!”

A child’s voice followed.

“Jang Saeng! Run and take shelter!”
“Don’t ‘Jang Saeng’ me! Get inside this instant!”

Jang Saeng pulled the water bowl closer once more and rose. He closed the door as he stepped outside, but left the bolt undone.
If Nohwang happened to wake, he needed to be able to get out on his own.
The Neighbor Woman stood glaring at him with her young daughter behind her. Along the earthen wall beside them, fresh mud repairs were sharply visible.
The woman struck the wall with her palm.

“Last time your mess brought down our wall! What are you still doing here? Planning to burn something else this time?”

Jang Saeng closed his mouth.
In the fourteen years he’d lived in this village, lightning had struck more than seven times. It had never killed anyone, but it had shattered roofs and walls, burned chickens and dogs to ash.
When he was seven, a stone knocked loose by lightning broke his left leg. In a mountain village with no physician, the bone had healed crooked.

“Why are you standing there? Go on, get moving!”

At the woman’s voice, Jang Saeng turned toward the eastern path.

“Heaven itself is indifferent! If it’s going to strike, at least strike the guilty ones straight. Why make us suffer?”

Then the child screamed.

“Mother!”

Jang Saeng turned to look.
The child was pointing behind his house, lips trembling.

“There were eyes!”
“What eyes?”
“Red eyes! Something huge was looking at me from behind Jang Saeng’s house!”

The woman and Jang Saeng both looked past the crumbling earthen wall at the same moment.
There was only scrub brush swaying in the wind.

“Don’t startle people with talk like that. Get inside, now!”

The woman seized the child’s wrist.

“I’m not lying!”

The child being dragged away pointed toward the Eastern Forest.

“It went that way, I’m telling you! The red eyes went into the forest!”

The gate shut.
Jang Saeng stared into the dark forest. The direction the child had pointed was where he needed to go.
Something black seemed to slip between the trees.

“Of all places, why that way.”

Above, the clouds rumbled low.
Jang Saeng pressed his bamboo hat down and entered the forest.
He had to walk northeast past the Communal Graveyard, three li to a small cave in the mountainside.
Dry leaves whipped his ankles, and each time he put weight on his left leg, his body lurched sideways. As he passed between the grave mounds, branches snapped in rapid succession deep within the forest.
Jang Saeng did not look back.

“If you’re a beast, just go on your way.”

No answer came.

“Following me will only get you struck by lightning.”

Speaking it aloud struck him as absurd. He couldn’t tell if he was trying to frighten the animal or reassure himself.
When the first raindrops hit his bamboo hat, the cave entrance appeared.

“Just a little farther—!”

The moment Jang Saeng squeezed inside, the rain came down in sheets.
Lightning turned the forest bone-white. The mountainside heaved beneath him, trembling.
The cave was no more than five feet deep. Jang Saeng pressed his back against the far wall. Dust fell from the ceiling, clinging to his wet hair.
Lightning struck again.
Jang Saeng wrapped his arms around his knees.
There were several pounds of beans stored in the house beams, kept for spring planting. If he fed those to Nohwang, this year’s seeds would be gone. There would be no beans to harvest in autumn.

“But I have to feed him.”

Nohwang might not last until autumn.

“Once I get back, I’ll plow it all for you. So just… hold on.”

Above his head, stone cracked with a sound like thunder.
The shock drove him backward. Rubble cascaded from the ceiling, and the cave floor tilted sideways before settling with a shudder.

“Is it collapsing?!”

Jang Saeng crawled toward the entrance.
Lightning struck once more.
The world turned white.
He felt his body wrench free from the stone wall, and then consciousness shattered.
When he opened his eyes, the rain had stopped.
Jang Saeng sat up, clutching his splitting head. A thin metallic ringing persisted in his ears.

“Nohwang…….”

He pushed himself up with the wall’s support. His foot struck something hard.
It was a pale-black shard no larger than his palm. It curved in a graceful arc, its edges jagged and uneven. Cold and hard as stone, yet strangely light in his grasp.
It looked like an Armor Plate

that had fallen from armor.
Its surface was traced by countless hairline fractures, layered upon each other. When he wiped rain from it, a blue sheen flickered between the cracks.
When Jang Saeng rubbed his eyes and looked again, there was nothing.

“What is this?”

He had visited this cave countless times and never seen such an object.
He started to tuck the plate into his tunic but hesitated. Nohwang was waiting.

“I’ll come back for it later.”

Jang Saeng pushed the plate deep into a crevice in the rock to the right of the entrance, then set a white stone nearby to mark the spot.
Coming down the mountain, he slipped twice. Once his knee struck stone and bled, but he didn’t stop.
By the time he reached home, the Fifth Watch

was drawing near.

“Nohwang!”

He pushed open the gate, and a large shadow moved in the darkness.
Nohwang, who had not gotten to his feet for days, now stood on all four legs.

“You’re up?”

As Jang Saeng approached, Nohwang slowly stretched out his head and pushed against his chest.
Jang Saeng dropped his Bamboo Hat and threw his arms around the creature’s neck.

“Why did you wait so long to get up! Scaring me like that…….”

Under his palm, bone-thin ribs were clearly felt. Yet strength had returned to his neck, enough to lift his head.

“Hungry? Wait. I’ll have something ready in no time!”

Jang Saeng climbed onto the earthen bed and lowered a basket from the roof beam. He poured every last bean he’d set aside for spring planting into the millstone.
With each rotation of the mill, milky soybean liquid flowed out.

“Once you drink this, you’ll feel stronger. As for seeds—well, we’ll find more when the time comes.”

He didn’t mention that there was nowhere to find them.
Nohwang wandered outside.
As Jang Saeng lit the fire in the hearth, something heavy clattered to the ground in the yard.
Thump!
The plow that hung on the eastern wall lay sprawled on the earth. Nohwang stood before it, pushing the wooden shaft with his horns.

“Why are you touching that?”

Nohwang let out a low cry.

“The fields? Now?”

Another sound came in answer.

“No. The ground hasn’t thawed yet.”

When Jang Saeng tried to right the plow, Nohwang blocked his way.

“Move. You need to eat first.”

Nohwang didn’t budge.
As the soybean liquid began to boil, its savory aroma drifted over the low wall. Moments later, the neighbor’s child peeked through a crack in the door.

“Jang Saeng?”
“Come for another scolding?”

The child stepped into the yard while glancing back and forth between the rear of the house and the Eastern Forest.

“You didn’t see it last night? Those red eyes?”
“No.”
“It was a real monster, I tell you……”

Jang Saeng ladled some soybean liquid into a small bowl.

“Here. Drink this and be on your way.”

The child took the bowl in both hands, then noticed the empty basket.

“You ground all the seed beans?”
“Yes.”
“Then what will you plant in spring?”

Jang Saeng turned over the logs in the hearth.

“I’ll think about it when spring comes.”

The child glanced back at Nohwang.

“Is Nohwang very sick?”
“No.”

The answer came so quickly that even Jang Saeng heard the lie in it.
Beyond the wall, the neighbor woman’s voice erupted in a shout.

“Where are you going? Off to that house again?!”
“I’m going!”

The child hurried through the bowl, wiped his mouth, and bolted.
Jang Saeng transferred the remaining soy milk to a wooden bucket. He waited until the steam subsided, then set it before Nohwang.

“Go on. Eat now.”

Nohwang merely sniffed and turned away.

“Why won’t you eat? Is it still too hot?”

Jang Saeng dipped a finger in to test.

“It’s not hot. Look—perfectly cool.”

Nohwang pushed at the plow again.

“I can’t allow it!”

Jang Saeng snatched the yoke and cradled it against his chest.

“You’ve gone seven, eight days without food. How do you expect this body to work?”

Nohwang gazed at Jang Saeng.
His eyes were clear. Not the eyes of a long-suffering beast, but of one that had already chosen its destination.
The yoke slipped gradually from Jang Saeng’s hands.
The Hui Guang Fan Zhao.

A dying life burning bright one final moment before the dark.

“No…….”

Jang Saeng seized the rope and dragged Nohwang toward the house. Nohwang planted all four hooves against the earth.

“Come inside. Rest today, and tomorrow…… if you’re doing better tomorrow, we’ll go.”

Nohwang didn’t budge.
When Jang Saeng pulled harder, the scrawny neck tensed dangerously taut. He let go in alarm.

“You really want to go that badly?”

Nohwang let out a short cry.

“Because the field needs plowing?”

This time he nudged the plow with his snout.
Jang Saeng studied him for a long moment, then lifted the yoke.

“Just a little.”

His fingers slipped several times as he tightened the leather straps.

“If it becomes too much, you stop at once. Understood?”

Nohwang stepped through the door as though he’d been waiting.
Jang Saeng fastened a sickle at his waist and hoisted the plow onto his shoulder. He also carried along the half-full bucket of soy milk Nohwang hadn’t drunk.

“Go slow! Don’t run!”

Nohwang didn’t hesitate, heading toward the back of the village.
When he reached the field’s edge, he stopped and turned to look at Jang Saeng.
Jang Saeng held out the soybean broth one last time.

“Just one sip. Then I’ll hitch up the plow for you.”

Nohwang brought his muzzle close, then pulled back. He lowered his head toward the yoke instead.

“You’re really stubborn…….”

Jang Saeng bit his lip and fastened the plow.
Nohwang moved forward.
The hard earth cracked and overturned. Each time frozen clods caught on the plow blade, the handles bucked roughly in his grip.

“Slow down! Nohwang, take it easy!”

Jang Saeng’s left foot slipped into the furrow.
Nohwang lagged half a step behind.
Jang Saeng caught himself on the plow and rose again.

“I’m all right. Keep going.”

Only then did Nohwang return to his original pace.
Jang Saeng pressed the plow blade shallow and widened the furrow spacing, trying to make Nohwang walk less with each pass.
Yet Nohwang’s gait was faster than it had been last spring.
Though his legs were gaunt and his flanks sunken, the strength with which he pulled the yoke was fierce as a young ox’s.

“Why are you in such a hurry…….”

Nohwang didn’t answer.
His breathing grew ragged, but his hooves never once stopped. Jang Saeng limped along behind, gripping the plow handles.
Before the sun crossed the ridge, more than two plots’ worth of field lay overturned.
Jang Saeng’s palms were raw and bleeding, and Nohwang’s breath came in short, choppy bursts above the soil.
Jang Saeng pulled over the remaining vessel of soybean broth.

“That’s enough, isn’t it? Drink and let’s go home.”

Nohwang only sniffed at it and never extended his tongue.

“Please, just eat something…….”

As the last furrow finished, Jang Saeng immediately loosened the rope.

“That’s done. We’re finished for today.”

Nohwang didn’t turn back.
He lifted his head, gazing at the adjacent field, then walked slowly toward it, freed from the plow.

“Nohwang?”

That field wasn’t his.

“That’s not our field.”

Nohwang halted at the field’s edge and turned to face Jang Saeng. He lowered his neck toward the empty yoke.
Behind Jang Saeng lay two plots he’d just finished turning.
Before Nohwang stretched the village fields, still untouched, extending down to the foot of the mountain.
When Old Wang was alive, Nohwang had been the only ox to plow all those fields.

“Surely… you’re not thinking of plowing all the way to that field?”

Nohwang let out a low moan.
Jang Saeng looked down at the plow.

“I can’t do it. If we go that far, I’ll really die.”

Nohwang stepped past Jang Saeng and planted himself in front of the plow.

“They don’t even remember what you’ve done for them. They’re the kind of people who shout at you to leave the moment lightning strikes.”

Nohwang’s hoof scratched once at the hardened earth.

“And yet you have to do it?”

A low moan came back as if in answer.
Jang Saeng swallowed the words that had risen to his throat. Even when he suggested they return home, Nohwang did not move.
Nohwang had no intention of turning back after plowing only his own field.
With whatever strength remained, he meant to plow every field in the village.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————