Chapter 16: An Unexpected Connection (2)
What kind of existence was a beggar?
They were someone who begged for a living.
Lacking property and the ability to earn money, they were pitiful beings who sustained their lives by begging from others.
That meant that no beggar actually desired the life of a beggar.
Therefore, Harang's words, ‘I’m going to quit the beggar life!’, were enough to make Glen bewildered.
‘Was the beggar life something you could just quit whenever you wanted to?’
It wasn't like that.
Of course, he understood the desire not to remain a beggar better than anyone.
Even he himself didn't want to end his life as a beggar.
However, he didn't know how.
There was no way he had any property while living hand-to-mouth, and as for the ability to find a job… he thought he had it, but others didn't think so.
Indeed, where would you find a fool who would hire a street bum as a worker?
‘Does this Big Brother not know that?’
He thought it was possible that he didn't know.
Glen was naturally meddlesome and tended to look after this person and that, but he felt particularly concerned about the young man before him.
He thought that this Big Brother, who seemed as pure as a child left by the water's edge, or foolish if viewed negatively, might not know the circumstances of beggars well.
Of course, that was a misconception.
Because Harang had enough money and ability to escape the beggar life.
He simply hadn't had the chance to explain it.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
No, in the first place, he hadn't felt the need to explain.
It was the same now.
Harang was completely unaware of why Glen was staring at him with wide eyes.
“Hooo.”
The boy beggar sighed.
How should he explain?
From where to where should he tell the story to make this pitiful fellow give up and settle for the wretched, yet comparatively less dangerous, reality?
After pondering for a moment, Glen nodded his head and slowly laid out his thoughts.
“Big Brother, please listen to me for a moment!”
“Huh? Why?”
“No, how long are you going to keep using polite speech?”
“Ah, was that uncomfortable? You should have said something.”
“Yes, a little uncomfortable… No, but that’s not what I was trying to say…”
Glen, who had momentarily fallen into Harang's pace, shook his head vigorously and continued speaking again.
“It’s just, wanting to quit the beggar life… it’s not something you can quit so easily.”
“That’s strange. I thought becoming a beggar was a bit difficult, but quitting is difficult too? Why is that?”
‘What’s so difficult about becoming a beggar!’
For children, if they lost their parents, and for adults, if they lost their property and abilities, falling into the life of a beggar was automatic.
Seeing Harang describe such a beggar as ‘difficult to become’, Glen briefly wondered if he had injured his head.
Therefore, what subsequently flowed from the boy's mouth was extremely intuitive and provocative, designed to be easily understood.
“Because you might get beaten up… no, you could even die.”
“Why? No, why?”
“Why do you ask! I explained it at the beginning! The Boss and his gang… didn’t you see them?”
“Ah.”
Harang let out an exclamation as if he finally understood.
Glen was right.
The Ralph Gang were fellows who lived by sucking the lifeblood of the beggars.
To them, the more beggars who brought them money, the better.
In other words, him quitting being a beggar was itself a loss to them.
“That’s right. So, don’t think about unnecessary things. Fortunately, Big Brother, you haven't done anything to get on the Boss' bad side, right? If it were something like that, you’d have to leave the city or something…”
“But.”
Harang, cutting Glen off, continued speaking again.
“I want to quit.”
“……”
There was nothing left to say.
Hearing Harang's reply, Glen couldn't think of any way to persuade this incredibly pitiful, stubborn Big Brother.
It wasn't just the boy.
The other beggars were the same.
Watching the black-haired beggar youth declare in a strong tone that he would quit being a beggar, they wore the same bewildered and dumbfounded expressions.
However, what differentiated them from Glen was that, unlike the boy filled with worry and concern, their eyes were filled with emotions like interest and curiosity.
What was the most interesting spectacle in the world?
Watching a fire, and watching a fight.
For the beggars, it was even more so.
For them, living lives stained with hatred, anger, frustration, and malice without possessing anything, the ruin of others was no different from pleasure.
‘Idiot, he might actually die doing that. Well, if he dies, that itself will be an interesting sight.’
‘That kid Glen is just too meddlesome… I don’t know why he bothers looking after such an idiot.’
‘I wonder how the Boss will react. No, it’ll probably be over before it even gets to the Boss.’
‘Maybe it’ll end anticlimactically… Won’t it just end after he gets beaten up a few times?’
The beggars scattered sticky gazes mixed with eighty percent interest and twenty percent malice.
Watching them, Harang wore an expression of incomprehension.
‘Why do those beggars wish misfortune upon someone completely unrelated to them?’
He himself had never done anything to harm them.
Rather, it was the beggar Boss who did such things.
And yet, the concentration of darkness they were emitting now was much thicker.
Thicker than when they looked at Ralph and his gang.
“Hmm.”
Harang, who had been pondering for a moment, looked towards Glen this time.
Glen was also difficult to understand.
The three types of people he had classified while experiencing the outside world.
Those who act coercively from a high position.
Those who propose deals under equal conditions.
And those who help without expecting anything in return, truly rare individuals.
‘Glen belongs to the third category.’
It was fascinating.
That even though they were both beggars with nothing, one treated him with malice, and the other with goodwill.
Harang continued to ponder this a little more.
However, that time was not long.
Because there was something he needed to handle first.
“First, shall we go.”
The first task to escape the beggar life.
Having decided to handle that first, he muttered in a firm voice.
“Yes? G-going? Where?”
“To Ralph’s gang’s place.”
“Wh-… Why?”
“Why else? You said Ralph’s gang has to disappear if I want to quit the beggar life.”
“……!”
“I didn’t like them from the start anyway. If they want to earn money, they should work like Mercenaries. Why offer protection to people who don’t even want it?”
Regardless of whether Glen was stunned or not, Harang muttered arbitrarily, and the other beggars watching him grinned slyly.
But that too was brief.
When Harang suddenly spoke to them, they wore startled expressions.
“Hey, you there.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. The one with the beard. You’ve cursed Ralph’s gang before too, haven’t you? Saying they don't protect you at all, just hit you on the back of the head all the time, what kind of protection fee is that.”
“Wh-what is this…!”
“The person next to him too. Protection fee my foot, you don't even have money to buy bread, what a load of crap…”
“Aaaaaaaah! What nonsense is this! I never did that! I never said such a thing!”
“Really?”
“Yes, you bastard! Stop talking nonsense! Wow, how hard the Boss works to look after us! Of course, we have to pay the protection fee! Right, you guys think so too, don’t you?”
“O-of course! You’re saying something outrageous!”
‘Strange.’
Harang wore a puzzled expression.
He had definitely heard them.
All the beggars vehemently shaking their heads over there, cursing the beggar Boss.
But now, agreeing to collect protection fees, it was incomprehensible by common sense.
‘Am I lacking common sense? The outside world really is difficult.’
Of course, their opinions didn't matter.
‘I don’t like it, so what.’
Harang, nodding briefly, looked at Glen and spoke.
“Well then, I’ll be back.”
“……!”
Watching Harang's back as he walked away step by step, the boy looked like he was on the verge of tears.
* * *
Harang was grateful to the beggars as a group, for they had made him realize many things.
Through them, he learned and refined the technique of carelessness called ‘acting lowly’.
Not only that, but he also came to ponder how to formulate a broad battle estimate through the opponent's emotional state.
This was sufficiently usable.
Because analyzing and predicting fights from various perspectives significantly increased the probability of survival.
However, apart from that, Harang didn't particularly like the occupation of being a beggar.
That was because he was an existence belonging to the second of the ‘three types of people living in the outside world’.
“What? You’re uncomfortable receiving money without giving something in return?”
“In summary, that would be correct.”
“…So, because of that, you feel uncomfortable and can’t accept alms, therefore, you won’t beg anymore… Is that what you’re saying?”
“Exactly. Therefore, from now on, I am not a beggar.”
“……”
“So, I thought I wouldn't need to pay protection fees either, and I came here to tell you not to look for me from now on.”
Harang said, looking straight into the eyes of one of Ralph's gang members.
It was fortunate.
This person seemed quite sharp.
He instantly understood that Harang preferred relationships of the ‘second type’, that is, proposing or receiving proposals for deals under equal conditions.
For Harang, who lacked confidence in his own eloquence, this was truly welcome news.
“Pfft…”
“Hm?”
“What ‘Hm’? This bastard is a funny one. Puahahahahaha!”
However, it was a miscalculation.
Because understanding his words and accepting them were entirely different matters.
A member of Ralph's gang, letting out a hollow laugh, tapped Harang's cheek lightly.
“Ha, really… That was a pretty funny joke. I’ll let it slide this once, so get lost.”
“……”
“What is it. Why are you still standing there?”
“It’s not a joke.”
“……”
“Ah, did you mishear? It’s not a jo—”
“This fucking bastard…!”
Suddenly, the expression of the Ralph gang member twisted viciously.
It couldn't be helped.
Although he was a member of the beggar gang, he had never once thought of himself as a beggar.
And rightly so; unlike the other beggars, he didn't sleep on the streets, nor had he ever eaten bread as hard as a stone rolling on the ground.
The clothes he wore were also clean.
He had never begged even once.
And yet, a mere beggar was talking back to him like this?
‘How absurd, utterly absurd.’
What made him even angrier was that the fellow in front of him wasn't just any beggar, but the black-haired beggar.
This bastard was a guy among beggars who looked exceptionally pitiful beyond words, a vermin-like existence who should consider it an honor just to exchange words with him.
“Hey.”
Ralph's subordinate lowered his voice.
Putting on the most menacing expression possible, he took a step forward, naturally raising his hand. He continued with a powerful swing intending to slap his cheek…
Pow
…Thud!
But before that, the black-haired beggar's fist was one beat faster.
The beggar Boss' subordinate collapsed to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.
Watching him, the beggars who had followed Harang with hearts full of malice opened their eyes wide as if they would tear.
“Quitting being a beggar, it’s quite tiring.”
He paid no mind.
Harang, muttering softly, walked into the gang's den with confident strides.