The Training Camp Opened on the First Day of Employment (2)
"Is everyone assembled?"
"""Yes!!!"""
"You've all worked hard enduring the tough training today. But there is still one very important thing left."
What kind of training could possibly still be left at this hour?
"Everyone, what do you think is the most important ability for an escort warrior?"
They glanced around, hesitating awkwardly. Finally, one of them reluctantly raised his hand and shouted,
"Martial arts!"
"Wrong. Anyone else?"
"Patience!"
"Wrong. Next?"
The instructor tilted his head as if waiting for an answer. As if it even mattered—whatever we said, he was just going to call it wrong.
If you've already decided on the answer, then don't bother asking.
"I don't know! Please teach us!"
I let out a quiet sigh and raised my hand before shouting. If he wants that kind of answer, I'll give it to him. This is all part of surviving in society, after all.
The instructor folded his arms proudly and put on an arrogant expression.
"Exactly. Of course you wouldn't know. I understand. Since you haven't yet gone on an actual escort mission, there's no way you could."
"..."
What a smug jerk.
"The most important ability for us escort warriors… is none other than 'guts.'"
An awkward silence fell over everyone. But the oblivious instructor, seemingly delighted, continued speaking.
"As you travel on escort missions, you never know what kind of threats you'll face. Bandits in the mountains or pirates on the rivers are practically routine. The villagers in a town you stop at to rest may turn into thieves in the dead of night. Sometimes even martial sects will attack, targeting the goods you're escorting. And that's not all…"
For quite some time, the instructor passionately elaborated on the dangers of the escort profession. Somehow, the details felt a bit thin—like maybe only ten percent of it was actually his own experience.
Still, even after filtering out the exaggeration, it seemed like a much higher-risk job than I'd expected.
I wonder if insurance coverage is even possible.
"That is why 'guts' are important. The attitude of pushing through without fear, no matter what happens—that is the duty of an escort warrior! Today's test will determine whether you possess such courage."
"And what exactly is this test?"
The instructor puffed out his chest and replied proudly,
"A test of nerve."
The contents of the nerve test were simple.
Climb the mountain alone, pull out the flag at the top, and come back down.
Since I was last in line, it was already deep into the night—nearly dawn—by the time it was my turn.
The mountain wasn't very steep.
It was gentle enough to be nothing more than a typical hill behind a neighborhood.
Even at night, it didn't seem particularly difficult. But the reason it was considered a test of courage was that this mountain served as the communal graveyard for the entire town.
"Damn it…"
Caw— caw—
Somewhere, a crow cried out. It was the perfect background music—so fitting it was driving me insane.
It's hard to describe, but the atmosphere was genuinely eerie. As I climbed the dark mountain path step by step, I kept feeling chills, even though the weather wasn't cold.
"What does being an escort warrior have to do with guts anyway…"
It's nothing. There's nothing here. It's no different from standing night watch. I can control my emotions!
I kept brainwashing myself like that as I forced my heavy feet forward.
Even so, anxiety made me glance around—and graves kept coming into view.
Graves that were poorly maintained and quite desolate at that.
"..."
Whoooosh—
"Hyiiiyaaaah!"
A fallen leaf brushed against the back of my neck in the wind, and I let out an involuntary scream straight out of an erotic manga. At least no one was around to hear it.
After frantically patting my neck several times to make sure no ghost was clinging to me, I finally regained my senses.
"I seriously hate ghosts…"
To be honest, ghosts are the thing I fear most in the world.
Some people claim ghosts don't exist, but just like you only know something hurts once you're hit, you only know ghosts exist once you've experienced them.
Ghosts are real!
Because I've met one.
"Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā…"
Reciting the Heart Sutra I had memorized long ago, I continued walking toward the summit.
You might wonder why I memorized something like that—but once you encounter a ghost, you end up trying everything. For the record, I also know the Lord's Prayer by heart.
When was it? I think I saw a ghost not long after I became a university student.
My parents had gone down to our hometown for a relative's funeral, and enjoying my rare freedom, I stayed up late playing games while chatting with a friend on the phone.
It must have been around 2 a.m.
I was in the middle of energetically bragging to my friend.
—No, I'm telling you, that's how it happened. Seriously, if it weren't for me, everything would've been screwed. I totally saved the day.
—Hahahaha, you're killing me. My stomach's gonna split because of you.
—Of course it is. Heh heh.
—Hey, but your parents are home, right? Is it okay to talk that loudly this late?
—What are you talking about? They went down to the countryside.
—Huh? Then did you leave the TV on or something?
—What are you even saying?
—I mean, I heard a woman laughing behind you.
At that moment, I felt as if a pile of frozen dumplings were dancing down my spine. I still can't forget that sensation.
At first, I thought the bastard was just messing with me, so I yelled at him to quit lying and hung up. But the more I thought about it, the stranger I felt.
'Come on… ghosts? In the 21st century?'
In a country where VDSL is installed everywhere and you can download at 10 megabytes per second, ghosts?
Ridiculous!
That's what I kept telling myself. Still, I felt uneasy, so I gave up on staying up all night and got into bed instead, tossing and turning under the covers.
And then—
Something that could hardly be considered human—
Cold. Truly cold and chilling—
A thin hand touched my cheek.
—Kyaaaaaaah!!!!
I sprang upright with a scream like a high school girl who had run into a flasher, frantically looking around. But there was nothing there.
Nothing at all.
I immediately started trembling like a lunatic, ran to the master bedroom, brought out a cross and a Bible, laid them open, and—still uneasy—spent the entire night wide awake reciting both the Lord's Prayer and the Heart Sutra.
—That hand, that hand!!!
It was the longest night of my life.
Fortunately, nothing happened after that…
But even now, I can't forget the chilling sensation on my cheek.
Even now.
So ghosts really do exist.
Which is exactly why they must be avoided.
"So don't make us do stuff like this…"
I'm seriously terrified. For real.
Shivering uncontrollably, I forced my feet forward and barely managed to reach the summit. Looking down, it was a path that should've taken at most an hour to climb—but I'd spent more than twice that.
All I wanted was to hurry back down and sleep.
I grabbed the flag embroidered with Baekun Escort Agency and slowly began my descent. No matter how gentle the slope, a mountain path at night demands caution.
One careless step and you twist your ankle. Roll down the slope and you're stranded. Even a hill behind the village can kill you if you underestimate it.
Thinking that, I continued downward…
Then—
In the distance, I saw something like pale, whitish smoke.
'…No way.'
It can't be.
What ghosts would there be in the 14th century? This is an era that'll eventually see the Age of Exploration, for heaven's sake.
But it was strange. The smoke was roughly human-sized.
And not just one—several of them.
'…Right?'
And those wisps of smoke were…
Creeping toward me. As if they had a will of their own.
This is bad. Very bad.
No—this is extremely bad.
As the surreal sight filled my vision, I could feel the strength gradually leaving certain very important muscles.
"「「HAAAH!!!!」」"
"Kyaaaaaaaah!!!"
The moment the smoke opened its mouth, I threw everything aside and ran. Driven by the singular desire to live, I pumped my legs like mad.
"Don't come near me!! Stay back!!!"
Flailing my arms wildly, I bolted downhill.
I kept stepping on uneven mounds of earth—probably someone's grave.
'I'm sorry!'
The living should survive first, shouldn't they?
I fled in blind panic when I spotted a small stone pagoda ahead—about twenty to thirty centimeters tall. One of those little stacks devout Buddhists often build in the mountains. It was right in my path, so I kicked it aside without hesitation.
—Crash!
The pagoda shattered spectacularly from a single kick.
'I'm sorry, Buddha!!'
Surely saving a still-unenlightened mortal comes first.
But perhaps Buddha didn't approve, because the very next moment I stepped on one of the broken fragments. My foot slipped, my balance went, and I fell flat on my face.
Thud!
"A—ah… ah!"
The shock of hitting the ground sent me into a full-blown panic; I couldn't even form proper words. As I scrambled desperately to get up, I saw the white smoke had already reached right in front of me.
"D-don't come closer! Please! Spare me!!!"
I flailed my arms and waved the flag frantically.
Please… don't come near me.
Won't someone save this poor barbarian…
Save me…
At that life-or-death moment,
The white smoke opened its abyss-like mouth wide—
"—Khh,"
"Heheheheheh,"
"Puhahahahahaha!!!"
…Huh?
The white smoke fluttered down to the ground.
Looking closer, it wasn't smoke at all. It was—just white cloth.
And from beneath it emerged—
"You're the best, little brother!! Puhahahaha!!"
"Puhahaha!!!"
Sama Yul and the instructor.
I'm going to kill them all.
"The way you ran just now—so fast! Hahahaha!!"
"You looked like you were running for your life! Puhahaha!!"
"Did you wet yourself? Hahahaha!!"
Watching the two of them roar with laughter, I felt a genuine urge to commit murder.
As it turned out, this nerve test was… just that. A simple prank. A hidden-camera stunt.
'I want to kill them and then die.'
After making such a disgraceful spectacle of myself, I didn't even want to live anymore.
Unfortunately, I was the only one who'd embarrassed himself like that.
The others had apparently just flinched and bolted quickly. Gwak Dusaan had even charged at them with the flag.
'Why only me… sob.'
So this is what death by shame feels like.
After laughing until their sides nearly split, they finally caught their breath.
"E-eh… heh heh, wait. Right. Whew. You all demonstrated fine courage.
Except for one."
One day, I swear I'll stab you in the back.
"Though it's unfortunate that one person failed, the rest of you showed excellent composure. I am very satisfied."
Before the instructor even finished speaking, Sama Yul collapsed behind him in fresh peals of laughter.
You'd better watch your back too.
Thus ended the final week of what had been, in many ways, the worst week of training. At last, the completion ceremony was held.
That day—despite my disgrace—I, too, completed the program without issue.
If that was the case, why even put me through that?
"Now then, with this, the entry training at our Baekun Escort Agency has concluded. You are now official junior escort warriors. Congratulations!"
—Clap clap clap clap
Everyone applauded. The grueling month of training had finally come to an official end.
A small swell of emotion stirred within me as well. None of it had been easy.
"Good. Now let us conclude the initiation with our Baekun Escort Agency's traditional ceremony."
The instructor turned and pointed to one corner of the clearing. There, for some reason, was a pile of firewood that looked strangely familiar.
No way… it can't be.
"You—come forward and light it."
He handed a fire starter to one of my fellow trainees, who hurried over and set the wood ablaze. For a moment it seemed uncertain whether the flames would catch—but soon the pile roared to life.
They say fire has a kind of magical power.
As the flames flickered, the expressions of my fellow trainees grew hazy, almost entranced.
"I know this training has been difficult. But you are now official escort warriors of the great Baekun Escort Agency—honed into elites through this ordeal. Whenever times are hard, think of your mothers back in your hometowns…"
At those oddly familiar lines, goosebumps rose on my skin.
"…You are now family. And what is family? It is those who cherish and protect one another, who guard each other's backs. You have gained a new family. Therefore…"
The traumatic memories of those notorious Korean-style training retreats began resurfacing. Please… spare me the cringeworthy speeches.
As if on cue, the longer the instructor spoke, the more sniffles echoed from somewhere.
"Sniff… sniff…"
"Sob…"
"…And you must earn plenty of money—so your younger siblings can marry and study. Every difficult step of this training is for your family…"
At the mention of family, the place dissolved into full-blown tears.
"Sniff sniff…"
"Waaahhh…"
The sobbing burst forth in earnest. Everyone was crying. Though none had said it out loud, it seemed they had all been carrying something heavy inside.
With everyone sniffling and speaking through tears, it was hard to make out what anyone was saying.
"I want to get married…"
Well, I can guess who that was.
In any case—
With that, I officially became an escort warrior.