Noisy sounds of soldiers' armor and weapons clas.h.i.+ng against each other resonated here and there.

“There broke out a war in the village of Otan, I hear.”

“d.a.m.ned j.a.panese invaders!”

Lots of people began to curse at the j.a.panese, and some praised the mayor.

“Mayor Kim! Defeat them once and for all this time!”

Then some of them began to shout General s.h.i.+n's name.

“We've got nothing to fear as long as General s.h.i.+n defends us.”

“Hooray! General s.h.i.+n!”

Indeed, he was a general widely known to the public. All the people gathered on the streets shouted his name in unison.

The marching soldiers quickened their pace amid their shouting.

Kanghyok felt a tangible change in the att.i.tude of the soldiers.

It seemed that the fortune of a war depended on the cheering crowds.

Mounted on a horse, Kangyhok stretched his back and thought, ‘Huh, I didn't expect it to be a big deal.'

In his mind, the j.a.panese invasion this time would not turn out to be a ma.s.sive invasion like Imjinwaeran.

Though he was a bit scared, he felt rea.s.sured to see Yoni and Makbong walking along his sides.

They compared favorably with General s.h.i.+n's deputies walking ahead.

“Will we be okay?” asked Dolsok, who was following behind. He got close to Yoju while walking.

“Well, as they are saying we'll be alright, I think we are.”

“j.a.panese invaders. I hear they are really scary.”

“Have you seen them before?

“No, not really.”

“Man, you're so chicken-hearted.”

On the other hand, Yoni seemed bold.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am. Thanks a lot for your decision.”

“How can I stay idle when your father's life might be at stake?'

“I just can't understand why these j.a.papanese raiders…”

Back in modern Korea, Kanghyok saw pictures circulating on the internet which depicted j.a.panese soldiers holding swords, who looked so small that he felt as if they were little students attending a school arts festival.

‘Are they so scared?'

Kanghyok couldn't imagine how they really looked like.

He asked Yoni on the side, “Have you ever seen j.a.panese raiders?”

“Yes, I've seen them before.”

“Oh, how do they look like?”

“Well, I saw them in the distance. The village was burnt down, with lots of people killed.”

“I see…”

The moment he heard Yoni's reply, Kanghyok wished he hadn't asked her.

A burning village and the villagers' bodies.

Even thinking of that made Kanghyok scared.

Dolsok, who was reluctantly following behind, felt even more miserable.

Given his haggard face, he looked like he was going to throw up at any time.

“Are you alright?”

Makbong, who was right behind him, came up to him and patted him on the back.

Though Dolsok was tall and stout, he was pretty timid.

‘Looks like Yoni and Yoju are more courageous than these guys,' Kanghyok thought.

Yoni was a strong woman as she went through ups and downs throughout her life. On the other hand, Yoju had an aura of a strong man though she was born to a n.o.ble family.

Even now, she was walking with a big sword on her back.

Somebody pointed at something in the distance. Everybody was speechless when they saw it.

There was a black smoke going up from the distance.

As they were heading toward that direction, obviously it was from the village of Otan.

As he became nervous, Kanghyok went ahead of the soldiers to speak with the mayor.

The mayor was meeting with General s.h.i.+n at the moment.

“Looks like they're burning the village,” said the mayor in an angry tone.

General s.h.i.+n said, “That's why it's good that we arrived here early.”

“You bet. By the way, is it still far from here?”

As the mayor said, the smoke was going up from a faraway place.

It would take at least several hours to reach there by walking nonstop.

“Let's move a little more and then camp out for the night,” said General s.h.i.+n.

“Camping out? Why don't we attack them right now?” asked the mayor.

“Well, fighting at night is disadvantageous not only to the enemy, but also to us. Our soldiers are tired now.”

That was true. There were quite a few soldiers exhausted already.

“Don't you think the nighttime is more advantageous to us?”

“Why?”

“Our soldiers here were all born here in Seoul, so they know the ins and outs of this area. They can fight well even during the night.”

“Humm…”

Kanghyok nodded his head subconsciously.

But General s.h.i.+n was stubborn. “I don't think so. Look over there!”

“I'm watching now.”

“There's smoke going up from several villages now. This means that there are lots of j.a.panese raiders. If we ambush them at night, we could be in trouble.”

In the end, the mayor decided to follow General s.h.i.+n's advice.

“Got it. Let's move as soon as the day breaks tomorrow.”

“Of course.”

General s.h.i.+n laughed, looking at his deputies standing on both sides.

“Let's march a little further. There is a village nearby here.”

“Good.”

Soon they arrived at a village.

“Oh my G.o.d…”

Kanghyok covered his nose with his sleeves.

Even before they arrived at the village, they could already smell a burnt odor.

He even smelled something familiar, which he immediately realized.

‘This must be the smell of burning flesh…'

As expected, he saw some burnt bodies in the empty area of the village.

“Son of a b.i.t.c.h…”

Rus.h.i.+ng to Kanghyok, Makbong began to curse.

Obviously, the j.a.panese raiders ma.s.sacred villagers and left quickly.

The mayor ordered with a gloomy face, “Try to check out if they have any ident.i.ty tags. Collect the bodies with no such tags and bury them.”

Some of them expressed sorrow, while others vented their anger.

Of course, there were some who felt scared at the scene.

At that moment, someone shouted, “Look! Over there!”

It was Dolsok who was the most terrified.

Three j.a.panese raiders darted out from a farmer's house with its wall almost collapsed.

When he looked inside, a woman was wounded bleeding, apparently taken advantage of by them.

“You brutes!”

At General s.h.i.+n's shout, his deputies dug their spurs into the horses' sides and swiftly drove to them. And then they beheaded two of them. The third man escaped into a forest nearby.

“Can I chase him?” asked one of General s.h.i.+n's deputies.

After thinking it over for a second, he shook his head.

“No, you don't have to. He won't be alive for long.”

“Yes, sir.”

In General s.h.i.+n's eyes, that raider seemed to have been severely injured.

But Kanghyok was a bit suspicious.

Given that raider's swift action, Kanghyok felt he would likely survive.

But he didn't tell it to the commanding general.

General s.h.i.+n habitually ignored the mayor's opinion. How could Kanghyok expect the general to listen to him?

‘I will just shut up. I don't know much about this military stuff anyway.'

As far as war strategy was concerned, General s.h.i.+n was the man to go to.

Kanghyok heard all along that General s.h.i.+n was really courageous, and that he was particularly competent in commanding cavalry troops.

It was difficult to cut off heads in one go.

Kanghyok knew it the most as he was a doctor.

‘The neck bone is very thick. Still, their heads were cleanly cut off.'

When Kanghyok came near, he found the j.a.panese raiders' heads were beheaded perfectly as if they were cut off by a saw.

Watching him with a curious eye, General s.h.i.+n came over to him and said, “You are not scared, are you?”

“Wow, your deputies cut off their heads perfectly.”

“Of course, they should. They fought with me when I suppressed a rebellion in the northern area. Each of my deputies could beat ten j.a.panese raiders.”

“I agree with that.”

“Take a break. We're going to be pretty busy tomorrow.”

“Yes, general.”

The soldiers were already setting up camps by using the houses nearby.

In no time at all, they set up strong encampments here and there.

“Please come this way, master.”

“Okay.”

“Fortunately, we managed to obtain a room, master.”

“Nice job.”

Though Kanghyok felt a bit uneasy because someone might have been killed here by the j.a.panese raiders, he still thought it was a great privilege to enjoy lying on a blanket on a heated room like this in the battlefield.

“Where is Makbong?”

“He took Dolsok outside to get some fresh air.”

“Good. How about Yoju?

“She went with them, too. She doesn't feel good now.”

“I see. I hope her father is safe.”

Kanghyok looked at the empty lot where lots of bodies were strewn around.

If the same thing happened to other villages, it seemed that Changkwon, Yoju's father, would not survive.

Maybe Yoni might have felt the same way.

“Let me take some rest now.”

“Yes, let me get out, master,” said Yoni.

But Kanghyok held her.

“Don't go out for trouble. Just stay here.”

“Really? But…”

“Why? Are you worried that I'll touch you? I'm not the same type as Makbong.”

“I know that, but…”

“They will come back here soon. So, take a rest here.”

With that, Kanghyok lay on the blanket and fell asleep.

He was so exhausted today, constantly moving from Chiljangsa Tempot to the mayor's office and then all the way to this place called Otan village.

Zzz.

Kanghyok snored during his sleep due to his overwhelming fatigue.

But Yoni was left lying in one corner of the room, feeling restless.

She could not go to sleep for the life of her, so she was just looking out.

At that moment, she felt something strange.

‘Did they put out the torch already?'