Target
How long had the battle been going on?
“What is this?!”
Takayoshi felt uneasy at the relentless resistance of the Koreans.
He was confident that he could break through their weak defenses if he charged in right away, but the problem was the arrows pouring like rain.
“No, not just me, even my subordinates can easily overcome such defenses. But the problem is that.”
Takayoshi’s gaze naturally fell on the nobles on the rooftops, showering down arrows.
In fact, Takayoshi had prepared a secret plan for this situation.
“Hey, are you not ready yet?”
“I finished loading earlier, but unfortunately, the fire went out in the gunpowder… I’m sorry.”
“Hurry up! Aren’t our comrades falling?!”
“Fuck, do you even know how hard it is to start a fire in this chaos?”
Despite his grumbling, the Japanese soldier diligently followed Takayoshi’s orders.
Kkiiiik!
“It, it’s lit.”
“Captain, it’s ready.”
“Ugh, bring it to me!”
Takayoshi snatched the matchlock with the lit fuse from his subordinate.
“Is everyone ready?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“After the next volley of arrows, we’ll climb the wall and catch those archers!”
The quick-witted subordinates were already crouching below the wall.
Thududududuk!
And then, the arrows rained down.
“Now!”
Takayoshi stepped on his subordinate’s back and climbed up. There, he saw the nobles on the roof who were shooting arrows.
“Of those guys, the loudest one is my target!”
Takayoshi aimed his matchlock at Baekgyeong, who was enthusiastically encouraging others.
Baekgyeong’s Demise
Hyeonmyeong did not neglect to observe the battlefield while shooting his bow.
“Hmm, I don’t see the man I missed earlier.”
Swoosh!
“Aaaagh!”
With one eye on the battlefield, Hyeonmyeong’s arrow severed a Japanese pirate’s breath.
After continuously firing arrows, his quivers were emptied.
Hyeonmyeong looked around and saw his nephew, who had just finished being treated.
“Nephew! Can you send some arrows up here?”
“Yes! Uncle.”
The notoriously nimble nephew, along with the servants, sent hundreds of arrows up to the rooftop.
“He must have struggled to carry them. Quite impressive.”
The arrows brought up by the nephew were passed on to the relatives on the roof.
His small, busy figure resembled a squirrel with its mouth full of acorns in the mountains.
“Father, at this rate, our defenses might fall first. What if we push them back with a volley?”
“Alright, let’s try it. Everyone, we’ll fire a volley at the Japanese!”
Shushushuck!
“Aaaaargh!”
Dozens of arrows flew at once, and the Japanese started to falter.
Before, when the arrows flew sporadically, they rushed in, not knowing when they’d be hit.
But now, after seeing their comrades fall, they shared the sentiment that if they stepped forward, they would die.
“Great Uncle, it’s working!”
“So, this is why the military trains with volleys.”
“The volley is effective! Everyone, shoot your arrows following my signal!”
Baekgyeong, having tasted success, enthusiastically directed the archers.
As they continued to shoot arrows with Baekgyeong’s command, the Japanese soldiers began to counter.
“Ugh, they’re firing volleys! Use the dead bodies to block the arrows!”
“Despicable! Using corpses as shields!”
Still, there were plenty of arrows, and some shot powerful arrows that even pierced through corpses, so they didn’t stop the volleys.
“We must kill at least one more of them while their feet are tied. Fire!”
As the adults fired volleys, the attacks of the Japanese invaders slowed down.
Thanks to that, our arrow consumption increased as the men had to shoot arrows several times.
I was so busy with supplying the men and treating the injured that even having two bodies wouldn’t have been enough, but I gritted my teeth and moved to save at least one more person.
Most of the men who were already forming a defense had reached the point where they wouldn’t be surprised if they fell, but somehow they survived.
“Phew!”
I sighed, thinking that everything would end with such a careless judgment.
But the situation wasn’t over yet.
The foreign invaders stubbornly withstood our barrage and waited for the opportunity to counterattack.
And suddenly, they appeared over the wall, armed with guns.
One of them, I could feel it, was aiming straight at Grandpa.
“Ka-Kang Cheol! Give me your bow!”
I urgently took the bow from Kang Cheol and checked the distance between the enemy and me.
Was the distance barely 50 meters?
Fortunately, the target was very close.
But most of the target was hidden behind the wall, and the only parts I could aim at were his arm and face.
Could I really hit him?
No, I had to.
If I didn’t kill that guy, Grandpa would die.
After suddenly waking in the Joseon era, I spent most of my time with Grandpa, even more than with Father or Mother.
Every morning, I was with my grandfather, practicing archery.
At that time, I thought archery was meaningless and a waste of time, but now I wanted to kill my past self for thinking such a pathetic thought.
As I made up my mind, I heard Grandpa’s voice instead of the ringing in my ears.
“Before shooting the arrow, you need to exhale and take a deep breath.”
It felt like Grandpa was whispering in my ear.
Alright.
Grandpa, I’ll try my best like you taught me.
“Phew!”
“Be careful with your grip and slowly pull the bowstring back.”
Kkiriik
I pulled the bow like Grandpa taught me.
“At this point, you must focus on the target, slowly exhale, and then stop breathing.”
“Heup!”
I heard this story countless times, but it was right.
“Carefully release the bowstring so that the bow doesn’t shake too much.”
Pwing!
The arrow I shot flew towards the enemy.
Twung~
Slowly, very slowly.
The arrow I shot swam through the air like a fish.
It’s impossible not to hit.
Soon, I’d be able to blow the head of the guy aiming at Grandpa.
Saving Grandpa with the archery skills I learned from him, it’s true that all techniques learned can be used somehow.
I’ve never hated a slow-flying arrow like this.
And after a short while…
A deafening explosion rang in my ears.
Baaam!
Black gunpowder smoke instantly covered the wall.
What about Grandpa?
It didn’t matter anymore whether the guy was hit by the arrow I shot.
I raised my head and looked up at the roof.
“Ha, Grandpa!!!!!!!!!”
…Grandpa was lying on the roof, bleeding from his chest.
I wished it was a dream.
No, it would be nice if it was just a scene from the novel I was writing.
If so, I might be able to get over it, albeit with some difficulty.
Even if I wrote this content as a novel and someone appeared in the comments saying they would unsubscribe, I could say “Yes, that’s understandable,” given the sudden turn of events.
Squeeeeeeeeeak!
This damn screeching noise was driving me nuts even in this situation.
“Gah!”
Having never experienced such intense noise before, I knelt down and covered my ears.
“Are you alright, young master?”
Kang Cheol’s voice was barely audible over the noise.
But I couldn’t collapse now.
After all, the foreigners were still attacking.
I clenched my teeth and treated the injured man.
As if it was something I had to do for someone else.
More precious than life
The nobles on the roof were knocked down by the gunfire.
But Takeyoshi couldn’t be happy.
Because his left eye was pierced by a stray arrow whose origin he couldn’t determine.
“Argh!”
“Captain.”
Among them, the nobleman Takeyoshi had been aiming for had fallen, and the seemingly endless hail of arrows had stopped.
“Now is the time! Charge!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
As soon as Takeyoshi gave the order, the pirates rushed in.
With no more cover from the nobles, the Koreans wielding spears began to be pushed back helplessly.
“Ugh!”
Takeyoshi wanted to give up because of the immense pain, but he knew better than anyone that the moment he showed weakness, his subordinates would tear him apart.
I have to show a stronger side of myself if I want to return to Japan alive.
Tsk!
With the arrow shaft broken, Takeyoshi gritted his teeth and commanded his subordinates.
“The arrows have stopped for now, but we don’t know when they’ll start raining down again. Reload your guns immediately!”
“Yes, Captain.”
Seeing the monster-like Takeyoshi, the pirates gained strength and fought even more bravely.
“Push them back a little more!”
“Once we get past those straw men, they’ll be like rats in a trap!”
At that moment, a distant cry was heard.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Everyone, follow me.”
Unable to accurately assess the situation because of his injured eye, Takeyoshi asked someone nearby.
“What’s going on?”
“Ca-Captain! It’s the Joseon army!”
“What? The Joseon army? Damn it. What the hell did Enma do!”
“Captain, what should we do? They’ve started shooting arrows from the rooftops again.”
…Is there nothing we can do?
“Dammit! Everyone, fall back. Let’s head to the coast where Kaido is.”
However, escaping was not easy.
Ssaeaeaaang!
As soon as the sudden appearance of Joseon soldiers threw the pirates into chaos, arrows flew from the ramparts, catching them while they tried to flee.
“Kuack!”
Takeyoshi got hit by an arrow in the back, stumbled a few steps, and collapsed on the spot.
“The captain is dead.”
“Everyone, run!”
The morale of the pirates plummeted with Takeyoshi’s death, while the spirits of the Joseon army, inspired by the bravery of Eonyang County’s magistrate, Woo Chijeok, seemed to soar sky-high.
Exhausted from looting and fighting, the pirates were no match for the energized Joseon army, who chased and relentlessly attacked them.
“Don’t let a single one of them live!”
“Yes, Milord!”
Because of Woo Chijeok’s relentless pursuit, the pirates fell one by one, and after an hour-long chase, they finally encountered the Kaido pirates waiting on the beach.
Seeing the Joseon soldiers from afar, Kaido frowned.
“Damn, I knew something was off since this morning! You all, raise the anchor.”
“Eh? The captain hasn’t returned yet, and neither has anyone else…”
“You fool! If the Joseon army have pushed this far, it means everyone who set foot on Joseon is dead. If we mess up, we’ll lose our lives too!”
Just as with all pirates, they were ruthless.
At that moment, the war ended.
I’d only been here for a year and a half—less than 10% of the time I had lived.
But in that short time, it seemed I’d grown quite close to Grandpa.
My already blurry vision got even blurrier.
Perhaps it was because of the sunset, but everything looked red.
“Young Master, your eyes are bleeding······.”
I couldn’t see well through the blood-stained view.
“Kang Cheol, I need to see Grandpa.”
“I shall escort you.”
With Kang Cheol’s help, I climbed up to the roof.
“Grandpa. Grandpa! Graaandpaaaa!”
“Hmm, is it Sangseung? Cough!”
Grandpa’s condition was quite serious.
The bullet that pierced through the armor turned Grandpa’s clothes into a crimson hue.
“Grandpa.”
I wanted to say many things, but it seemed like my language ability was paralyzed.
Fuck, this is kind of funny.
A novelist who losed his language ability, huh?
“…Sangseung.”
“Grandpa.”
I repeated the word “grandpa” like a broken cassette tape.
“Don’t be sad.”
That was grandfather’s last will.
“H-how can I not?”
How could I not be sad?
“You didn’t defeat those foreign devils.”
“Ugh!”
There’s a sense of relief that Grandpa lived in a situation where it wouldn’t be strange for him to pass away at any time.
Rather, that made me feel even more ungrateful.
Damn it!
I didn’t want to write this kind of scenario!
The novel I wanted to write was just a normal one where the protagonist lives a normal life until the Imjin War breaks out, becomes a hero like Admiral Yi Sun-sin, provides education to the king, and prevents the Chinese invaders from causing any trouble!
But why did I have to write a story where my grandfather had to die.
Wasn’t this different from the novel I had in mind?
“Smile.”
“I can’t.”
My words didn’t come out properly as I tried to hold back my tears forcefully.
“But you protected the family lineage, didn’t you?”
“Family lineage?”
“My life is only a little more precious compared to the family lineage.”
With those words, Grandpa closed his eyes for the last time.
Family lineage?
Why was that more valuable than your own life?
“Uwaaaaaa.”
All I could do was cry out like an idiot.
