Prison Break (2)

The next day, Neung Je-gang stood by the lakeshore with Bibun and Majil. The others, distrustful of their words, had already fled through the tunnel long ago.

“Why didn’t you go with them?”

Neung Je-gang looked at Majil as he asked.

“I’ll go with you, Boss. Once someone’s my Boss, he’s my Boss to the end.”

“Hehe!”

Neung Je-gang chuckled. He never imagined such loyalty from someone like Human-Faced Leech, Majil.

“Not simply because you don’t want to die?”

“Well, that too… can’t say it isn’t part of it.”

And he was honest about it. What kind of life had twisted him into becoming Majil, a man condemned for such crimes?

“What’s your real name?”

“I never had one. At some point, people just started calling me Majil, and it stuck.”

“There are people without names?”

“If you’re abandoned young enough to forget everything, it can happen. If anyone had given me a name, do you think I’d have lived this way?”

His words were calm, but the meaning was anything but.

Neung Je-gang could not reply. He simply grabbed Bibun by the scruff and strode across the water.

“What about me…?”

Majil called out in alarm.

“You swim. Nothing to grab onto for you, is there?”

The tunnel Bibun dug was now fully exposed.

“Damn bastards! They’ve ruined it.”

Those who left first had rushed without order, leaving the tunnel battered. Luckily, being hewn through iron ore, it neither collapsed nor caved in.

“I’ll lead the way. Follow close behind.”

At Bibun’s words, Neung Je-gang shoved him inside. Majil crawled in after, while Neung Je-gang floated forward leisurely in a seated lotus posture.

The tunnel was long, stretching endlessly.

“How long is this tunnel?”

Majil winced as he crawled, knees raw with pain.

“About five hundred jang [ancient measure, roughly 1.5m per unit]. Four hundred more and we’ll be there.”

“Hah! C-could we rest a moment then?”

“Why?”

“My knees hurt…”

Barefoot and naked, his knees bled, toes split, and palms and elbows rubbed raw.

“Let’s pause.”

At Neung Je-gang’s words, Bibun halted. From his breast, he pulled out shackles and thick knee guards, offering them to Majil.

“What’s this?”

“Meant for him, but what use to a master like that? I forgot. This should help you.”

“Tch! You should’ve given them earlier.”

“I could just take them back.”

“N-no! Thank you. I’ll never forget this favor.”

“One word shuts you up. Fool.”

Majil pouted.

“Can I ask something?”

“What?”

“All the soil from digging — what did you do with it? Five hundred jang of tunnel should’ve made a mountain of dirt.”

“That’s my secret. I don’t dig dirt out — I compress it with my inner energy, pressing it into the sides and roof. That way the tunnel’s solid, nearly like stone.”

He spoke with pride.

Majil gaped, but Neung Je-gang thought of something else.

“So you’ve mastered True Earth Energy?”

True Earth Energy, one of the legendary Five Element Energies, was whispered of in legend.

Strictly speaking, it was not true martial arts. Inner energy could be cultivated, but it was weak in combat. Useful with soil and stone, but little else.

But if one mastered all Five Element Energies, he would be truly invincible — then it became real martial arts.

“You… know of it?”

Bibun leapt in alarm.

“I only know the name. Nothing else explains such power over earth.”

“Now listen… promise you’ll never speak of this elsewhere?”

“Of course. That’s not difficult.”

“T-thank you. If it were known, half the martial world would try to kill me. You understand?”

“I do. But others here heard too, didn’t they?”

“Well… if so, we’ll silence them.”

Such was a martial artist’s way — ensure silence permanently.

“Oh please, Boss! Brother! Sir! I’ll be your slave for life. I’ll be mute. I never learned letters, so cut my tongue out if you must. Just don’t kill me! I barely escaped that darkness, don’t make me die here!”

Majil lunged, clutching Bibun’s backside and wailing.

“Let go, damn it! Fine! I won’t kill you, so let go!”

“Really? You promise you won’t?”

“Yes, damn it, I said I won’t! Satisfied?”

“Thank you! Hiiing!”

Majil was truly Majil. Grabbing another man’s rear in desperation — of course Bibun flinched.

“Filthy bastard. Let’s move.”

Bibun shuddered and hurried ahead.

“Stay back. Get close again, and you die.”

Still wary of Majil right at his back, he barked threats.

“I don’t like men’s butts either.”

“Heheh.”

Neung Je-gang could only laugh — their strange antics oddly suited them.

“Light ahead.”

Bibun stopped.

“Rest here. After darkness so long, sunlight will blind you.”

“How do you know that? Amazing.”

Majil had shifted his flattery from Neung Je-gang to Bibun. Once sworn to his Boss, now dreaming of learning True Earth Energy. Perhaps he thought grave-robbing alone could make him rich.

So now he showered Bibun with flattery.

Humans were strange — even when they knew it was flattery, hearing it often still felt good. Bibun now felt that way.

When Majil praised his tunnel as art, called him unique, said the nation should protect him — how could he frown?

“It’s my life. Sometimes when I come out after long underground, my eyes can’t open. Experience teaches it.”

“I see. Then what of those who left earlier?”

“Likely Nam Yeong killed them. If not, their rash exit blinded them. Fools. In that sense, you’re smarter, though uneducated.”

It was repayment, after hearing so many sweet words. Anyone would respond with at least a little.

But he did not realize the parasite that was clinging to him.

“Thank you. Please teach me much.”

Majil bowed low.

“All right, all right, enough.”

That was the mistake.

“You heard him, Boss? He said he’ll teach me.”

“Yes, I heard.”

Neung Je-gang read his intent. He had worried how to deal with Majil outside. If Bibun took him as pupil, all the better.

“Master! Please accept my bow.”

Majil suddenly prostrated himself.

“What? Why should I— Stop that!”

“You promised to teach me! Teaching and learning makes us master and disciple. Men keep their word — or are you not a man?”

If he denied it, he’d be branded dishonorable. Worse than having his True Earth Energy exposed. If he admitted, he gained a disciple — a hairy, naked thug.

“Uh… shall we move on?”

Bibun tried to change the subject.

But Majil was relentless. Clinging had carried him through prison, and he would not let go now.

“Yes, Master!”

He answered swiftly, then turned to Neung Je-gang.

“Boss! After I learn all from Master, I’ll come back to serve you. Don’t be upset if I’m gone till then.”

Using others as witnesses — he sealed the pact.

“All right. Learn well.”

With Neung Je-gang’s words, Bibun was trapped.

Now he could neither abandon him nor silence him — not without becoming the disgrace of all martial artists.