Mercenary Black Mamba

Time had passed, and the young girl turned into a mature woman. She had become a woman four years later from when her oppa had been taken away. Her oppa was only tough on the outside, but he had a fragile heart.

Adults would have classified Miss In as an affluent person. Her skin was as white as the inside of a gourd, and her face as small as a fist. She had well proportioned facial features and carried herself with grace and elegance. She was perfect in every way. Her eyelashes were especially extravagant. They were so long you could place 10 matches on top of it. Under her long lashes were teary eyes that glistened so brightly. Any man who looked at her would be left with their mouths hanging open.

Those very eyes had seduced her oppa. It made her insides boil, but she was the woman that her oppa had chosen. She had no choice but to accept her as a sister. Jin Soon would prepare meals for her and her oppa, then turn around to wipe the tears away from her eyes.

She had done all that and yet that woman had left her oppa to go study abroad. She had been ecstatic. She had raised both her hands and cheered. However, she had made a big mistake. Her oppa held deep attachments. He had eventually lost his way and became a wreck. Her oppa's residual pain tore into her heart.

Her oppa had lived such an unfortunate life that he deserved to find happiness. She wanted to take away all the unlucky things from her oppa and bear it herself. If she had known this would have happened, she would have grabbed that woman's hair by the roots and made sure she couldn't leave. She had endured the stake to her heart because her oppa had been happy. Alas, that woman had left her oppa.

How could she do that?

She could never have done it. She was not the short-haired 10-year-old girl who had tied her hair up until you could see her white neck. She was not the same girl who had cried because she was tired from a day's work of farming.

She was a grown woman with E cup sized breasts that thoughtless men had drooled over. She was a mature woman who her oppa had longed for upon leaving to a faraway place. Whenever her oppa wanted her, she wouldn't mind leaving her body in his hands and doing whatever he had requested.

"I love you oppa, thank you for letting me stay by your side. I won't be greedy. Just let me stay beside you until I die."

Jin Soon moved her lips onto his pursed lips.

I still want to be enveloped in your embrace. I don't want to grow into an old virgin.

You want to give as much as you love. She wanted to give him everything. Jin Soon was desperate.

Jin Soon could not fall asleep as she was drunk off the man's pheromones. Her all-encompassing love had pathetically disappeared into her dreams. He did not lay a hand on her. He was a man who didn't eat what a desperate woman was craving to give away. He should be punished with 25,000,000 stones for his inaction in this situation.

"Did you have a good night?"

Monk Dae Woo asked ploddingly after finishing a bowl of white porridge. Jin Soon sighed deeply.

"Oh, it was all wrong. I felt like a losing temptress trying to seduce Buddha."

Monk Dae Woo's eyes grew wide.

"Oh, that won't do! I intentionally kept my ears shut all night. Child, you will end up choking if you keep this up. It's not natural for a young man to hold back this much."

"Don't talk nonsense. Soon-e is like a little sister."

"Child, you are separated by 100s of relatives, so what is this nonsense about family? She's tall and pretty. She'll take care of someone useless like yourself, so what more could you ask for? Plus, she's got big hips, which are great for bearing children and large breasts, which will help with milk flow. You could travel all over the world and not find another match close to her."

"Ugh!"

Mu Ssang grabbed the back of his neck. At some point, Jin Soon had boiled his teacher in a shabu-shabu pot, which turned him soft in her hands.

"Grandfather monk is the best. I'll massage your shoulders for you."

Even upon listening to the embarrassing talk, she put on a bright smile. She ran over to him and massaged his shoulders.

"Oh, that's nice. Soon-e was the one who took care of me when you had left your old teacher. A loose man like yourself needs to find a tactful woman like Soon-e."

"Teacher, come to your senses. She is a temptress. You shouldn't get seduced."

"Shut up. You're one to give everything you own to everyone else and end up being hungry. Soon-e will have to take care of you."

"Ha, for someone who doesn't have a single grain of rice left, I don't think you should be telling me this."

"Child, I don't need worldly possessions. You, on the other hand, have many things left to do in this world. What can you do without money? However much you blab about mercy, it is no use. One bowl of rice and one piece of bread into your mouth is considered merciful enough. Even just taking a bath together in the front lawn is considered merciful. That is how a businesswoman would be able to feed herself noodles and buy condoms."

"Oh, teacher!"

At his relentless words, Mu Ssang grabbed the back of his neck and glanced over at Jin Soon.

"Wow, grandfather monk sure talks refreshingly. There's no difference to the lectures I hear in school. You're the best. The best!"

Instead of being embarrassed, Jin Soon took it even further. She shot up her two thumbs in response.

"Oh!"

A sigh escaped Mu Ssang reflexively.

"Quit acting like a bull and go out on a date with Soon-e. You'll also turn into a smelly old man if you continue staying around a smelly old man like me."

"What? A date?"

Mu Ssang's eyes got bigger.

"Uh-hum, a man and woman need to stay close together to bear children. Ku hu hum!"

Monk Dae Woo ended the conversation and turned around to go back up to the temple.

"Alright, we'll be back before it's time for the Chun Do ceremony."

Mu Ssang bowed deeply. His teacher's actions might seem childish, but he always had a deeper purpose. When time passed, he knew he would realize that there was a good reason behind everything.

In front of the straw bridge, there was a small alluvial zone made by the Nakdong River. It was only 100 meters wide, and once you passed the fields, it would suddenly reveal a creek beyond it.

They called it a creek, but at 50 meters wide, it was pretty substantial. Past the creek, there was a large river island. The Nakdong River curved widely before falling dramatically into the river island. It laid a large egg, then turned three kilometers out, ending in a trickle.

The river island of the straw bridge was 500 meters wide and four kilometers in length. It ended at the white sands, passing through the forest. It made the marine beaches look like a joke. If you followed the creek, you would walk past Sanggok village, Jonggok village, straw bridge, and finally to Hajok village.

After walking for about an hour, you would finally reach the bus stop. If you walked through the less populated path for about 20 minutes, you would reach the straw bridge.

That was the cheap 10,000 won bus. The passengers piled in until they were packed, up until the second step.

"Oppa, this is normal. The next one will be the same too."

Mu Ssang had on an uncomfortable expression, but Jin Soon had pushed her way up the steps and into the crowd. She couldn't easily push through. Only after Mu Ssang had told them to move, did the conductor girl quickly move to give them space to get onto the first step.

"We're going!"

The conductor girl pushed Jin Soon into the bus with a belly nudge. It did not look like it was her first time doing it. It was enough to go against the Ohgeumgong's body slam.

"Oh!"

Mu Ssang's face was full of pity. It was a young face of someone who had yet to pass her pimply adolescence. The job was too dangerous for a girl whose bones had barely hardened. However, that, too, was their reality.

"Hey, you b****. What were you thinking to let more people in here? You want to die?"

Rough curse words blasted out. He was a bald, unpleasant looking man. He had a knife scar across his cheek that seemed to identify him as a thug.

The conductor girl's face grew red, but she ignored his cursing. When she didn't react, the bald man raised his hand. He looked like he was about to hit her.

Mu Ssang shook his head back and forth. Wherever he went, there were always pathetic thugs. Many thugs had shaved their heads like him. It was a way to rebel against the long hair rule.

Mu Ssang used his hands to push the conductor girl's back inside, then walked up onto the step after slapping the chest of the bald man.

"Ack!"

The bald man let out a strange sound as he was shoved deep inside. His mean expression was extremely wrinkled. He looked like he was in a lot of pain and would not be able to sleep for a long time.

Tap tap—

"All right!" the bus conductor girl exclaimed as she pounded the bus.

Vroom—

The bus zoomed forward without even closing its door. It was a time when such a scene was natural to see.

The driver turned the handle hard once to the right and then to the left. Complaints poured out from everywhere. The passengers on the crowded bus were squeezed into the bus with no space in between them. It was a learned skill meant to control the passengers.

A smile crept up on Mu Ssang's face. The surroundings looked the same now as it did 10 years ago.

Jin Soon was wearing a two-piece outfit, but Mu Ssang was wearing a vintage pair of jeans and a pushed down Yankee hat. They were a strange-looking couple out in this countryside.

Plus, Mu Ssang was over 180 centimeters tall, which was rare at that time in Korea. Jin Soon with high heels on almost reached 175 centimeters. Every passengers' gaze was locked onto the two of them like a target.

"Yea!"

Mu Ssang's eyes went to the conductor girl. She only reached up to Jin Soon's chin. Short in height, she was wearing a red beret that was held in place by a hairpin onto her bob haircut. Under the beret, he could see a small mole. On her left temple, there was a small black mole the size of a pinky fingernail. It was his uncle's second daughter.

A lot of time had passed, but not too much that he would forget the girl he had called Jum(mole) soon-e. Based on her age, she would be in high school now.

It wasn't even anything special. Most girls stopped going to school after graduating from junior high. Girls around 15 to 16 years old usually worked at textile factories to start weaving fibers or dying fabrics.

Their delicate hands would allow their younger brothers to study, and their older brothers to attend college. They would buy red undergarments for their parents and save up diligently to purchase a calf. It was a heart-wrenching job.

She had been one of the only family members who had helped him when he was being abused at his uncle's house. Have 10 years passed since then? In the potato fields, when Jang had been making a ruckus, he had decided that he would someday repay her.

Mu Ssang was about to open his mouth when Jin Soon poked his side.

"Oppa, pretend you didn't notice. Call her when there isn't anyone around," Jin Soon whispered in his ear. She was extremely quick-witted.

"I see!"

A 17-years-old girl's emotions were strong. She was not in a glamorous state, wearing her blue uniform with droopy pockets and the silly beret on her head. She wouldn't be too happy with a bunch of nicely dressed students in their school attires around her.

Vroom vroom—

The old bus dropped off two people at the straw bridge and did its best to plow on. He was contemplating whether he should give it a push, but it suddenly whizzed away powerfully.

The bus disappeared after spewing cloudy black smoke behind it. Mu Ssang slightly activated his resonance. The dust dispersed away from the two of them, but Jin Soon didn't notice.

It had been the winter of his freshman year in junior high when he had visited Hadong's house before entering the Moonkyung barracks. It had been 10 years since he had come back home. The clock at the straw bridge seemed to have stopped during that time.

Other than the place where Shinjak street had been built, nothing else had changed. Even the mountains and the old pine tree that stood there remained the same. The stream that flowed in front of the village was no different.

He suddenly felt choked up. The times he had been hungry, sad, and depressed quickly unraveled before him. Jin Soon squeezed Mu Ssang's hand without saying anything.

An American army Jeep was speeding by. The driver, having seen the man and woman on the road, pressed on the accelerator hard.

Crash—

The rocks that were lying on Shinjak street sprang up onto them. With Mu Ssang's eyes, he could see the man's every move and intention. The punk holding the steering wheel was a thick-lipped black man. His lips were just thick enough for one serving if he were to slice it up with a sashimi knife.

Vroom—

The dust rose like a cloud around the two people who got out of the way and covered them.

Pang—

A rock shot out like a bullet as it bounced off the tire and flew towards Jin Soon. Mu Ssang kicked the rock away with his feet.

"Ooh, hahaha!"

The American soldiers in the Jeep laughed as they made grotesque gestures. One of them stuck up his middle finger, and another swung his lower appendage round and round.

They were American soldiers who had come out wearing Hawaiian shirts and Boonie hats. There was a place called Camp Carol out in the countryside. Even if it wasn't the weekend, there were a lot of American soldiers who came out to play there. Even that was no different from 10 years ago. There were a lot of idiotic and uncultured American soldiers.

"God damn!"

Jin Soon pounded her fist at the back of the Jeep as she cursed at it. She was annoyed by the dust that had enveloped her, but she didn't even realize that she could have gotten hurt by the rock that had been hurling towards her.

"Wah, haha!"

Mu Ssang smiled so wide, his gums showed. The well-built Shinjak street, the rundown willow tree, the flying dust, and Jin Soon's brazenness—that was home. It was the landscape of his home and the smell of its dust.

Mu Ssang picked up two rocks the size of eggs. If they hadn't done those dirty things, he could have just let it pass. The Jeep was about 70 meters away from him at the moment.

Mu Ssang put out his hand playfully.

Schwang—

The rock sped at a terrifying speed toward the Jeep.

Puk—

Puk—

Two of the Jeep's windshields shattered. Mu Ssang was a person who could place a grenade at a point, 400 meters away. Breaking the windshield of a Jeep from a mere 100 meters away was a piece of cake.

The driver, who had been whizzing away joyfully, slammed on the brakes.

Screech—

Thud—

The Jeep swerved, then stopped as it rammed into a street light.

"God damn!"

An American soldier got out of the driver's seat and yelled. The American soldier sitting in the passenger's seat got out and pulled out a gun. Mu Ssang and Jin Soon were the only ones on Shinjak street. They were only 100 meters away. The American soldiers looked around for a long time before kicking his tire.

"Son of a b****!"

The uncultured cursing made its way into Mu Ssang's ears. A black woman who had been in the backseat came out with her hands holding her head. Blood was dripping down from her head. The woman wagged her finger at the driver.