My Younger Siblings Are the Greatest Masters in the World - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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17.

 

Jang Jangsim, who had been watching Seol Ryeoseon’s expression, waved her hand dismissively as if it was out of the question.

 

“N-no! I’m fine!”

 

“The kids will get spoiled.”

 

Jang Jangsim, who had said ‘Should I then?’, took a sharp breath.

 

It seemed like killing intent was rising from Seol Ryeoseon’s sharp eyes.

 

When Seol Mujin turned around, Seol Ryeoseon quickly put on a smile.

 

‘I must never forget that those kids are possessed by ghosts! Never!’

 

Jang Jangsim awkwardly greeted them and pushed Hwanggeum-i’s back.

 

“Let’s go quickly. Quickly.”

 

“I don’t want to! I want to play with big sister!”

 

Jang Jangsim whispered something to Hwanggeum-i.

 

She must have said ‘You’re not playing with a kid possessed by a ghost.’

 

Seol Mujin patted the dejected Seol Ryeoseon’s head.

 

“Sorry for hitting you.”

 

“Getting a knuckle rap at this age. Sigh—!”

 

“When you’re five years old, you grow up getting hit.”

 

“I’m not really five years old…! No, let’s not talk about it.”

 

Seol Mujin suddenly lifted Seol Ryeoseon up and gave her a piggyback ride.

 

“Oh my! What are you doing!”

 

“Even if you lived two hundred years instead of a hundred, you probably never got to do this, right?”

 

Seol Ryeoseon, riding on Seol Mujin’s shoulders, chuckled.

 

“That’s true. It’s nice seeing things from up high.”

 

She was only about three feet higher up, but the scenery looked different.

 

It was probably because the person giving her the piggyback ride was Seol Mujin.

 

Seol Mantong, who was coming around the building, spotted them.

 

“Huh? That looks fun!”

 

“It’s absolutely amazing.”

 

“I want to ride too!”

 

Seol Mantong came running over.

 

“Saekgol! What are you doing!”

 

Seol Mantong jumped up, placed his hands on Seol Mujin’s shoulders, and climbed onto Seol Ryeoseon’s shoulders.

 

“You bastard! Get down!”

 

“Wow! The scenery looks different!”

 

Seol Changho also appeared with a book tucked under his arm.

 

“How childish, and you’re not even kids.”

 

Despite saying that, Seol Changho also stomped the ground.

 

“These bastards!”

 

No matter what Seol Ryeoseon said, Seol Changho lightly climbed onto Seol Mantong’s shoulders.

 

Seeing the three kids on his shoulders reminded Seol Mujin of his time with the Performance Troupe.

 

Of course, he was incomparably happier now than back then.

 

“Should we run while training?”

 

Seol Changho’s shout rang out from the very top.

 

“W-wait! The r-rooftop!”

 

***

 

Go Bongsu was looking around downtown Jinan with a satisfied smile.

 

“This really is a nice neighborhood.”

 

Jinan, abundant with water and also called Cheonseong (Spring City), was a town with excellent scenery that attracted many visitors.

 

The ancient poet’s expression “lotus flowers on four sides and willows on three, mountain colors of one city and lakes of half the city” was not an exaggeration.

 

After drifting through minor posts, he had finally become magistrate of such a fine place at the age of forty-four.

 

Though he still had ten days before taking office, his excited heart had brought him here early.

 

He toured the bustling downtown, looked around the market, and walked the quiet paths while imagining his life in Jinan.

 

With many people and abundant goods, there would surely be plenty of money circulating.

 

It was only natural that some of those coins would find their way into the magistrate’s pouch.

 

Of course, he had no intention whatsoever of becoming a corrupt official.

 

He wasn’t that bad of an administrator.

 

It would be enough to take a reasonable amount, implement his own policies, and be a magistrate who didn’t earn the people’s resentment.

 

Walking without destination, he reached a quiet part of Jinan.

 

Befitting a town rich in water, there was a stream and a wooden bridge.

 

Under the bridge, four children were catching fish, and from their appearance they looked like beggars.

 

“Tsk tsk tsk… Everywhere you go, there are orphaned children.”

 

The turbulent Central Plains saw constant fighting, large and small, everywhere.

 

The capital had factional struggles every single day, and uprisings frequently occurred throughout the provinces.

 

At this rate, it was worrying that the country might split into several pieces.

 

He was thinking ‘When I become magistrate, I should establish an orphanage’ when a carriage stopped on the other side of the bridge.

 

The carriage pulled by two horses looked strange with what appeared to be a large wooden box without windows loaded on it.

 

Two sturdy men in their thirties got down from the driver’s seat and descended to the streamside via the slope.

 

Each of the men carried two large wrapping cloths in their hands.

 

In an instant, Go Bongsu realized what the men were planning to do.

 

“Those utterly despicable bastards!”

 

They were human traffickers who kidnapped and sold children.

 

The kids were completely oblivious, absorbed in catching fish.

 

“Kids! Run away!”

 

But the men’s movements were faster than the children could notice.

 

Having done so many kidnappings, the men instantly threw wrapping cloths over the four children.

 

The men skillfully shouldered the struggling children and climbed up the slope.

 

“You bastards! Stop right there!”

 

Go Bongsu ran toward the bridge.

 

Janghan and his men, glancing back at him, threw the children into the box-like carriage.

 

As Go Bongsu crossed the bridge, Janghan sitting on the driver’s seat cracked his whip.

 

The two horses neighed and shot forward rapidly.

 

“You bastards! Won’t you stop!”

 

Go Bongsu shouted at the top of his lungs as he chased the carriage.

 

The carriage was fast, and his legs, having spent a lifetime only reading books, were powerless.

 

Even so, Go Bongsu didn’t stop chasing.

 

If the children were dragged away like this, it would be like reserving a lifetime of miserable existence.

 

Since there were people passing by occasionally on both sides of the main street, Go Bongsu shouted desperately.

 

“Someone go to the government office… report… children… kidnapped…!”

 

But people just watched as if enjoying an entertaining spectacle.

 

Most of the world’s human nature was like this.

 

Soon they would leave the winding residential area, and then catching the carriage would become impossible forever.

 

Just then, someone came running alongside Go Bongsu.

 

“Mister! What’s wrong?”

 

When he turned his head, he saw a handsome young man in his late teens.

 

Go Bongsu pointed at the carriage that had grown distant and shouted.

 

“Over there… children… kidnapped…!”

 

He felt like he might choke from all the shouting.

 

“Children were kidnapped?”

 

Go Bongsu could only nod his head.

 

“I’ll chase after them!”

 

Go Bongsu, who no longer had the strength to continue chasing, stopped walking and bent over.

 

Retching sounds came from his throat as if he might vomit.

 

The young man disappeared into the distance as quickly as the carriage.

 

“That fellow… is fast. Oh, I’m dying.”

 

Go Bongsu collapsed right there.

 

The carriage that had passed through downtown and the main road turned onto a path that wound around the mountain.

 

“Huff! Huff!”

 

Thanks to learning the Lightness Skill, he had managed to chase this far, but he was gradually reaching his limit.

 

At this rate, one hour would be his limit at most.

 

Seol Mujin, who had been chasing the carriage winding around the mountainside, turned his gaze to the mountain peak.

 

The slope was gentle, making it a mountain that wasn’t difficult to climb.

 

Instead of the path winding around the mountainside, Seol Mujin chose the slope thick with undergrowth.

 

His clothes caught on sturdy tree branches and tore, while sharp weeds scraped across his skin.

 

As he climbed the steep incline, his breathing quickly became labored.

 

“Huff—! Huff—!”

 

Seol Mujin, breathing roughly, squeezed out his internal energy and deployed his light body technique.

 

He had only learned it as martial techniques, but this was his first time operating lightness skill using internal energy.

 

Swoosh!

 

The fallen leaves kicked by his toes flew away like thrown daggers.

 

The internal energy and lightness skill that had been creating discord gradually found their place like gears meshing together.

 

When he reached the top of the ridge, he could see a carriage returning along the mountain path through the tree branches.

 

Since it was downhill now, he thought he might be able to overtake the carriage if he did well.

 

Seol Mujin launched his body toward the downhill slope.

 

“Hup!”

 

He hastily raised his arm to block a tree branch that suddenly appeared before his eyes.

 

With a thudding sound, he felt a sharp pain in his forearm.

 

The tree branch had broken and embedded itself in his forearm.

 

As his speed increased, the mountain’s dangers grew proportionally.

 

If he went down carefully, he wouldn’t be able to catch up to the carriage.

 

Seol Mujin ran down the slope, only blocking threats to his face with his arms.

 

He had to overcome several crises of nearly falling after hitting trees and getting caught on rocks.

 

The carriage that appeared in glimpses was rapidly getting closer.

 

The sound of tree branches and weeds hitting his body was as loud as falling hail.

 

The distance to the carriage narrowed to within twenty zhang.

 

After jumping over rocks and sliding to avoid tree branches, Seol Mujin hastily stopped his steps.

 

The place where his body, which had slipped on fallen leaves, barely stopped was a cliff about ten zhang high.

 

For a lightness skill beginner, even this height was dangerous.

 

The approaching carriage would soon pass beneath his feet.

 

If he let the carriage pass here, catching it again would be impossible.

 

‘Would I really die?’

 

Seol Mujin took a step back, confirmed the carriage’s position, and jumped off the cliff.

 

The carriage approached the falling Seol Mujin with surprising speed.

 

The plan was to attack the two Janghan sitting on the driver’s seat, but the carriage’s speed was faster than Seol Mujin had thought.

 

So he fell onto what looked like a box behind the driver’s seat.

 

Crack!

 

The weakly broken box swallowed Seol Mujin.

 

Bang!

 

When Seol Mujin, who had fallen inside the box, roughly hit the wall, the impact caused the box to tilt precariously and fall off the carriage.

 

“Ahhhhh—!”

 

The children inside the wrapping cloths screamed.

 

The box that collided with the ground broke apart, and Seol Mujin and the four children inside were thrown outside.

 

The place where Seol Mujin bounced to was a mountain ridge with a gentle slope opposite the cliff.

 

Thanks to the thick shrubs and weeds, he was able to stop without rolling much.

 

Seol Mujin jumped up and first checked on the children’s safety.

 

The four wrapping cloths were huddled together and wriggling about a zhang away.

 

Seol Mujin rushed over and untied the mouth of the bound wrapping cloth.

 

“Puha—!”

 

The children exhaled the breath that had been blocked.

 

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

 

One by one, they said ‘We’re okay.’

 

Seol Mujin also showed no major injuries except for a few scratches and a tree branch stuck in his arm.

 

Seol Mujin turned his gaze to those sitting on the driver’s seat.

 

Only the box had fallen from the carriage, but there was no damage to the carriage itself.

 

The two men on the driver’s seat exchanged glances, then immediately cracked their whip and drove away.

 

Seol Mujin didn’t bother to chase after them as they drove the carriage away.

 

His legs gave out from the sudden relief and he slumped down onto a tree stump.

 

The children were looking at him with bright, sparkling eyes.

 

“Thank goodness. I’m so glad I saved you.”

 

***

 

“You people! The children have been kidnapped! Shouldn’t we hurry and chase after them!”

 

Even at Go Bongsu’s shouts, the expressions of the guards protecting the Government Office were indifferent.

 

“You said they already escaped by carriage.”

 

“If they escape, won’t you catch them? Don’t you catch thieves when they run away?”

 

The left guard with an unusually large nose waved his hand dismissively as if annoyed.

 

“We got it, so hurry up and go. Really, children disappearing isn’t something that started yesterday.”

 

“What, what? People have been kidnapped…!”

 

“That fellow, just get lost! We don’t have time to worry about beggars! How busy do you think we are!”

 

“You bastards! Do you know who I am! I wasn’t going to reveal it right now, but…!”

 

Go Bongsu’s hand searching through his clothes stopped.

 

He had left his identification badge that proved he was the new magistrate at the inn.

 

“Hurry up and get lost! Do you want to come into the Government Office and get ten beatings with the beating stick?”

 

Even if he said with his mouth that he was the new magistrate, they wouldn’t believe him.

 

There would be no magistrate in the world who would come to his post ten days early.

 

“Just wait until I take office! Starting with the lax Six Departments, I won’t let any of you off!”

 

Go Bongsu’s heart was heavy as he turned around after making threats.

 

He wasn’t a benevolent official who loved the people like family.

 

He had no intention of becoming such a person either.

 

It would be enough to live comfortably as a moderately corrupt and moderately competent official and then retire.

 

Even someone like him felt his heart ache at the fact that children had been kidnapped.

 

“What crime did the children commit.”

 

He sighed deeply, then drank cool tea at the tea house, came out again, and wandered the streets.

 

His affection for Jinan, a town he had simply liked, completely disappeared.

 

“Haa—!”

 

Sighing out of habit, he headed toward the inn when he spotted some familiar beggar children.

 

They were definitely the kids who had been kidnapped by Janghan and his group.

 

“Huh?”

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