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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“It’s huge~”
“It’s the largest unit, so it’s only natural.”
It wasn’t just empty words when they said the Patrol Unit was responsible for maintaining order. It was because they had a ridiculously large number of members.
And to manage such a large number of people, their headquarters, which also served as their living quarters, had to be large. He knew they had separate dormitories as well, but… he didn’t need to see those right now.
He had to find Dan Mokgyeong while pretending to tour the Patrol Unit Headquarters under the pretext of observation.
William tried to recall the description of Dan Mokgyeong from his hazy memory.
Was he… an innocent-looking, handsome young boy?
He wasn’t an adult yet when he joined the Patrol Unit, so he must still have a youthful appearance, closer to a young man than a boy.
What other characteristics did he have?
There had to be at least one clue that could help him identify Dan Mokgyeong.
He racked his brain. The biggest clue had to be in the original story he had read. But how many readers actually paid attention to the physical description of the protagonist?
It didn’t matter to the readers whether the protagonist was handsome or ugly. As long as the story was interesting, that was all that mattered.
…And so, William couldn’t find a decent clue in his fragmented and hazy memories.
He vaguely recalled Dan Mokgyeong having something with him.
A cat? A dog?
No, was it a spirit beast?
He seemed to remember a pet appearing in the story, but he couldn’t be sure.
There were so many wuxia novels in the world. How could he possibly remember the characteristics of a generic protagonist?
He wasn’t even a particularly memorable character.
“Mister?”
“Ah, what were we talking about?”
“We were talking about how big the Patrol Unit is.”
Her slightly sullen voice suggested she was sulking because he hadn’t responded. William turned to Hye-ryeong, who had puffed out her cheeks, and said,
“Sorry, my mind is a bit preoccupied.”
“Why is your mind preoccupied?”
“…I was reminded of something from the past.”
He gave the easiest excuse to use when he couldn’t come up with a proper explanation, and Hye-ryeong’s expression changed. Knowing that he had been a soldier, she looked apologetic.
“A bad memory?”
“Not really.”
He glanced around. The gazes of the Patrol Unit members were fixed on them. Most were filled with curiosity, but some held hostility.
No, maybe it was more like jealousy.
William folded his arms and said,
“The first unit I was assigned to was similar to the Patrol Unit.”
Soldiers who held the front lines.
His beginnings were humble.
It was only natural.
He wasn’t the son of a noble knight; he was just a peasant conscripted into the army.
He had survived by gritting his teeth through grueling training, racking his brain to come up with strategies, getting noticed by the Captain, and fighting on the battlefield.
…How did he even survive?
To think he had risen to the rank of knight on a battlefield where hundreds died every day. It was a battlefield where 99 out of 100 died.
And all his comrades were dead, except for him.
“Tsk. There really should be a Heaven.”
That way, at least, it wouldn’t be so unfair.
“Heaven?”
“Think of it as a paradise.”
“Is there a paradise in the West too?”
“Of course. People think the same way no matter where they are.”
He wondered if there was one in this realm.
“Shall we go further inside?”
“Yes!”
William headed towards the inner areas of the Patrol Unit Headquarters. There was no one who looked like Dan Mokgyeong in the front yard. It was fortunate that Dan Mokgyeong was repeatedly described as a ‘handsome’ young man, making it easier to narrow down the candidates.
He could rule out all the ugly ones.
As they passed the front yard and reached the outer wall, they came across a simple training ground. Was this where the Patrol Unit members trained? It seemed to be break time, as the training ground was filled with people sitting around and chatting.
It was fortunate that they weren’t training. If they had arrived during training hours, they would have had to leave immediately.
Of course, they might have been informed of their visit and deliberately stopped training, but they weren’t important enough for that to happen.
“Mister, everyone is staring at us.”
“They seem to be staring at you.”
“I’m scared~”
Hye-ryeong exaggeratedly feigned fear in an awkward, robotic voice and hid behind him, pretending to be intimidated by the stares.
“Should I put my bamboo hat on you?”
“Your bamboo hat?”
William took off his bamboo hat and placed it on Hye-ryeong’s head. She immediately covered her face with it and looked up at him.
“I can’t see your face, Mister.”
“You said you were uncomfortable with the stares.”
“…A foreigner?”
“I’ve only heard rumors…”
“The Blue-Eyed Lion?”
“Who is the young lady next to him?”
“Can’t you tell? She’s wearing the uniform of the Haenam Sword Sect.”
He wasn’t sure if covering her face would actually reduce the stares, but it was better than nothing.
He, on the other hand, was now even more conspicuous. But few would dare approach him.
Xenophobia was rampant here as well.
“I don’t want to wear it.”
“Suit yourself.”
William took the bamboo hat back and put it on his own head. The sunlight shining down from above was blocked by the hat.
“Let’s move on. They have to train.”
“Okay~”
They passed the training ground and entered the backyard.
“Wow…”
“I guess they really do have a lot of people.”
A wall of clotheslines stretched endlessly before them. Numerous clothes hung on the lines, fluttering in the wind, creating a spectacular sight. And there were Patrol Unit members diligently hanging clothes among the lines.
Were they not allowed to hire laundry services?
Well, it made sense to have the Patrol Unit members do the laundry since hiring someone would cost money. He recalled that the protagonist also started out doing chores in the early chapters.
Though, like a true protagonist, he quickly got promoted and stopped doing chores.
“It must be hard to hang all those clothes…”
“That’s why there are so many people doing it.”
He had been there too. Cleaning the blood and guts from the knights’ armor was an important task. Sometimes, the stains were so stubborn that he wanted to throw the armor away.
As he reminisced about his less-than-fond memories, he scanned the people hanging laundry. Maybe Dan Mokgyeong was among them.
Once again, he narrowed down the candidates.
Handsome, handsome, handsome, handsome…
…There was one.
William spotted a young boy who stood out among the crowd of men.
A young boy with black hair and black eyes, with a youthful face, just like in the original story. He had a rather androgynous look, perhaps because he was still young.
“Mister?”
“Is that kid a runaway noble’s son or something?”
He pointed to the androgynous-looking young boy, trying to come up with a plausible excuse. Hye-ryeong followed his finger and looked at the boy with a puzzled expression.
“Isn’t that a girl?”
“What?”
A girl?
William looked back at the person he had pointed to. A young boy wearing a slightly loose-fitting Patrol Unit uniform, hanging laundry. The baggy clothes made it difficult to discern their gender based on appearance alone.
And their face was androgynous, making it even harder to tell.
“Doesn’t he look too delicate to be a man? He doesn’t even seem to have any muscles…”
To confirm whether Hye-ryeong’s words were true, William strode towards the young boy who he suspected was Dan Mokgyeong. He was aware of the gazes directed at him, but it couldn’t be helped.
Finding out whether this person was the protagonist of the original story was his top priority.
“Mister?!”
A mix of curiosity about meeting the protagonist of this world and relief that he was in the world he knew propelled him forward.
“Hey.”
“…What do you need?”
A wary gaze.
The young boy turned to look at him, placing the laundry basket on the ground.
He wasn’t very tall.
No, maybe William was just tall?
He raised both hands to appear non-threatening.
“I have a question for you. Can you answer it?”
“…Why are you asking me?”
“Because I think you can answer it.”
He was quite wary.
It wasn’t strange.
Anyone would be wary if a foreigner suddenly approached them and started talking.
“Do you have something to ask a mere member like me? If you have any questions, you should ask someone else…”
“No… this is a question only you can answer.”
What should he ask?
William carefully considered his question.
There was no need to complicate things. He would ask directly.
A question that might be the biggest turning point in this world.
“Do you perhaps know someone named Dan Mokgyeong?”
“…No, I don’t.”
His reply, tinged with a hint of fear, echoed in William’s ears.
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[damn mc sounds like he was a cool dude maybe ill read this eventually]
Guuuuuuuurl
Well things seem to be getting interesting now.
Of course, it would be a girl lololol