559."Stop."
After following the mountain path for more than an hour, even the wind changed.
A stench of rot mixed together struck the nose first.
Park Seong-jin took hold of his reins and slowed.
"Stop."
The column spread out silently, surrounding the village entrance.
Burned-out thatched houses appeared first, their pillars left standing.
Beneath the scorch marks, a stone mortar in the kitchen lay shattered.
Beside it, every storage jar had been overturned.
Song I-jeong spoke quietly.
"People lived here."
Park nodded.
Debris showed that the village had been inhabited until recently.
One small straw shoe—an child's—caught his eye.
Anger surged as he imagined what had happened to that child.
Nearby lay a half-burned wooden pillow.
Whose headrest had it been?
The image of someone hugging it carefully as they slept brought a sigh.
In one yard, only farm tools remained.
They had not been taken.
Beneath a clothesline lay the scattered bones of a dog.
Its neck had been severed.
Entering a nearby house, he saw the rafters collapsed.
Black ash lay in thick layers over the earthen floor.
One of the warriors muttered under his breath.
"They're not soldiers. They're beggars—bandits."
Park pinched a bit of ash between his fingers.
Rice bran clung to his skin amid the black dust.
His gaze sharpened.
"They're soldiers."
"Yes?"
"To scrape everything clean like this means food procurement was the objective."
He pointed to an overturned grain chest in the center of the room.
It was empty.
The bottom had been scraped bare.
The marks left behind by stolen grain.
Nearby, a burned basket remained only in outline.
At the village well, a soldier shouted with a pale face.
"General! The well's been filled in!"
Park went to look.
Stones, dirt, shards of pottery—even a dog's corpse had been thrown in to clog it.
Hands that meant to make it unusable.
Soldiers muttered in anger and disbelief.
"Why do this…"
Park spoke with a hardened face.
"They were furious at the villagers who escaped."
He pushed at one of the stones blocking the well.
"They're thorough. They take the food and destroy the traces.
Even if survivors return, they make life harder for them."
The soldiers fell silent.
Behind the village, footprints ran neatly along the mountain path.
Not animals.
Not bandits.
The passage of trained troops.
Park dismounted and examined the tracks.
"They moved in step."
Song I-jeong asked,
"General, after what they did, you still call them soldiers?"
"Yes. Animals don't leave things like this."
Park lifted a broken spearhead lying beside the dog's carcass.
"Good steel. Japanese make.
The grain goes back to their homeland."
Song I-jeong frowned.
"They're transporting it?"
"Yes. They strip the land here and ship it out by sea."
Park's voice sank lower.
"Now their purpose is clear."
Soldiers sifted through a corner of the ruins and found charred pig bones.
Torn clothing surfaced.
A discarded walking stick—an old man's—lay thrown aside.
Then, far up on a ridgeline, a few small silhouettes peeked out.
People who had hidden in the mountains through the night.
Park whispered as he looked at them,
"…They survived. That's good.
As long as they live, we live another future."
The weight of that line settled on the soldiers' chests.
Park said,
"Stay sharp."
He pointed to the path behind the collapsed huts.
"They moved along that road.
They stripped grain, scattered people, erased traces, and went on to the next town."
His hand tightened on the reins.
"We pursue."
"Understood!"
The reply came as one voice, mixed with anger and resolve.
Park swung back into the saddle.
---*
Leaving the ruins below the mountain, Park's unit urged their horses on.
A deep forest swallowed the road, the smell of earth and leaves thick in the air.
Wind cut between steep ridgelines.
The path was too narrow for even two men to walk abreast.
Along that narrow trail, hundreds of riders stretched unbroken like a thread—
a long snake formation.
Moving in such a formation was dangerous.
One ambush could bind both front and rear.
Park thrust his hand forward.
"Recon unit, ahead."
A dozen scouts shot forward like wind.
They leapt over roots and uneven ground like beasts.
After they vanished, the scouts' flag soon reappeared, waving.
"General! The enemy has increased speed.
They're fleeing in haste.
The tracks are heavier than before—
twice as many."
Tracks meant they knew they were being pursued.
Park narrowed his eyes.
"They know we're after them."
Song I-jeong shouted from behind.
"General, it's forest terrain—we can't go faster!"
Park answered,
"Trust the horses.
They're infantry.
We're cavalry.
They won't escape before we clear this ridge."
He nudged his horse's flank with his heel.
The horse tore into the ground and leapt forward.
The cavalry surged after him.
The trail grew clearer.
Crushed leaves thickened.
Branches snapped like firewood littered the way.
Grain dust spilled in a continuous line—
food dropped as they ran.
Abandoned leather water skins lay scattered.
Things no one would discard unless desperate.
Haste lay written on the ground.
The scouts returned again.
"They're moving fast. Like hunted prey."
Park said simply,
"They are being hunted."
He let out a low laugh.
"We have their backs."
The ridge suddenly steepened.
A stream cut across the path.
The charging cavalry faltered for a moment.
Park raised his hand sharply.
"Across."
His horse plunged into the water.
Others followed, splitting the current.
Spray rose as hooves struck stone and climbed the far bank.
The scouts returned once more.
"They're running too. We can see their rear.
They're abandoning their loads."
Their loads were food—
their objective.
They shed weight to gain speed.
Song I-jeong shouted,
"General! At this rate, the pursuit line will stretch too thin!"
Park's voice was low.
"It won't break.
They can't push deeper inland.
Over this ridge leads to Nangju.
We take them before that."
Hooves tore into the earth again.
As the sun climbed overhead and noon approached, the scouts came racing back, faces tight.
"General! Enemy sighted two to three ri ahead!
They're forming up at the forest exit!"
The end of the forest path.
They could run no farther.
Park's mouth hardened.
"They mean to fight.
They've made up their minds."
"Slow everyone down."
The horses eased their pace.
Silence flowed.
At the boundary between forest and open ground, well-polished weapons gleamed.
Park let out a quiet laugh.
"So we finally meet."
He leveled his spear.
"All units, form up."
"Understood!"
The wind rose.
From within the forest came the low, rough beat of drums.
—thuk, thuk, thuk.
The enemy was waiting.
They had formed hastily, but it was orderly.
They did not look like men still in flight.