Treasure hunt

Chapter 18

De voe's search party had rid the entire realm in search of what seemed unknown to everyone else. They searched the temple, the houses, the tombs, and even the house of the late priestess, but they didn't seem to have found what they were looking for. Recently, they had bundled a large multitude of men, both old and young, who were regarded as law offenders, forcing them to excavate the Rocky hard button of the southern mountains. The prisoners who excavated made use of sletch hammers, and axes to break through the surface of the rocks. Some of De voe's men were mounted on horses, holding long whips in their hands, observing and coordinating the prisoners in labor. Zealous Raja, De voe's committed right-hand man was in the saddle, overseeing the work in progress. He had a constant malicious and vicious look on his face, which gave him a frightful appearance.

"Harder!" he shouted with a harsh voice, patrolling around the sides of the mountain, on the saddle of his horse. He and the others of De voe's men, made use of their whips to mercilessly victimize and severely punish any of the prisoners that stopped working for even a second when the work was on. The prisoners were forced to work non-stop, despite the Sarah weather conditions they encountered. Be it burning sunshine, the stormy downpour of rain, and even during blizzards, they worked.

Janzo was soon brought to join in the excavation. This was so hard for him, as he wasn't much of an extreme laborer. He was even having a hard time lifting the heavy hammer handed to him. He smote his knees together in fear and terror in sight of the physique of the mighty Raja, who showed no sign of pity at all. No doubt, Raja would break him in half, limbs by limbs, if he spotted him battling with his hammer, instead of focusing on the task. So Janzo tried his possible best to avoid being noticed by him or any of the others that might call his attention. Janzo was successfully undetected on the first day, the second day, the third, fourth and fifth. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hide forever and that one day he may be spotted by Raja himself, struggling to lift a hammer. Imagine how devastating that day would be if he doesn't buckle up. Janzo began to devise a strategy and a survival strategy on how to handle the bulky tool with ease. He knew that he had to adapt to every bit of the situation, so he made out time to train himself on handling the tool. As days passed, Janzo started progressing in the task. The challenges he passed through at the time he was just a new convict, forced him to finally man up. The day that he just arrived at the labor camp at Busan, he still had his timid and nervous attitude. After work that day, he stood still, looking stranded, as people passed him by. Where they were going to, or what they were going to do was a mystery to him. He had no clue what was next at this point in his life. He didn't know what he was meant to do, or what the future held in store for him, he just stood there, gazing into the unknown as they passed him by, wandering what amused those that saw him. As he stood motionless, someone anonymous grabbed him by the arm, directing him to follow the others. It was one of the guards.

"What are you waiting for you?" he asked.

"It looks like you're part of the majority that wouldn't make it alive in this camp," he said. Janzo wasn't even paying attention, he looked so lost and confused. After a long trek, they reached the camp situated at the center of the Busan woods. All the prisoners formed a straight line as they approached the camp. They were over a hundred prisoners in number.

"Here's a tip," said the soldier to Janzo, "Do as others do".

Janzo joined in the line, even though he was clueless about why he was to be in the line.

"Excuse me," he said to the person in front of him, "What's this line for?" he asked. The man looked surprised at the question he asked.

"Are you alright?" asked the man, irritatedly.

"Sorry if I might have offended you sir, but I'm just new around here," he said to the man.

"Let me just do you a favor, this is the queue for dinner".

"Thank you so much, sir," replied Janzo.

"Hay, don't even think about making me your friend," he said to him.

"And let me make it clear to you, I wouldn't want anyone seeing me hanging around with such an excuse for a man like you," he said harshly.

"I don't care if you don't, but I want to make it out of this alive," he added.

When it reached Janzo's turn to be served dinner, the appearance of the food made him want to throw up. It was a thick brownish soup, with boiled lizards as meat. It also had a foul smell, plus it was served in rusty bowls. Janzo could no longer bear this anymore, he rushed to a nearby barrel, where he stooped down and emptied all the contents of the vomit in his guts. Coming back to receive his food, the caterer serving the food shook her head, and said with a look of disappointment on her face.

"Look at you," she mocked.

"Either you eat or you die". Janzo paid no attention to her. He took his bowl of soup and went away to a corner where he sat, staring at it with sorrow in his eyes. He tried to eat, but the food had a greasy feel and was annoyingly tasteless. He tried to imagine what the food was made of. As he looked down at the food, he noticed that shadows had darkened his table. Lifting his face, he saw four men standing before him. The looks on their faces said it all, they were totally up to no good. They appeared so intimidating to him, that he prayed that they would just take the food and leave his presence for good since he wasn't going to eat it anyway.

"It looks like we have a new inmate in our midst," said one of them.

"I remember you, you're the man in charge of food aren't you?" asked another, "But now, the food's no more," he mocked.

"Please just go away," he pleaded, " I've seen enough already".

"Enough? It looks like you're among the losers that aren't gonna last long," said another.

His prayers seemed to have worked out for him because the fourth one took the bowl of soup from him.

" We're just gonna have this one to ourselves," he said, as they all went away with the bowl. The way they voraciously devoured the food as they went marveled at him. He wondered what made them eat such an awful distasteful food in such a manner like that, it could only be starvation. He felt relieved now, finally free from the horrible excuse for a portion of food. Some other men sat in a circle around the burning fire, in the moonlight. He was getting sleepy now, so he found his way into the tent, where he laid down on his uncomfortable bed which seemed short to him despite his height.

The next morning, they were all woken up by the thunderous roar of commander Raja.

"Get up everyone, and get back to work!".

The manner in which they all ran outside and formed a line displayed urgency. Everyone was up in the line, answering 'present' as the attendance was being read by a soldier. Meanwhile, Janzo was still inside, lying comfortably in his bed. One of the soldiers came and whispered something to Raja, who rushed into the tent at once. He approached Janzo where he was, snoring loudly on his bed, and gave him a resounding slap by the side of the face. This made Janzo jump out of bed, like someone who saw a ghost. He was surprised to see the tent empty and terrified by the presence of Raja.

"Move out," he said to Janzo, who raced out of the tent like a hare. They all moved to the southern mountains with their axes and hammers, to start the day's work. They worked non-stop throughout the day, without any break or food. Janzo almost fainted. He was so worried to the extent that he staggered along like a drunken person on the way back. Also, he was severely hungry. He hadn't eaten the entire day, but he had overworked himself to that extent. Today he didn't mind how the food would be, he needed it now. He even regretted why he let those men take his food the previous night. Now he knew why they devoured his like hungry dogs. It was starvation at its peak. As he stood in the line for food, his mouth dripped with saliva, and hunger was activated within him. They were served seafood, a thin slice of fish each. He looked so impatient. After waiting till what seemed like an eternity, his turn finally reached. He was so joyous, finally, he'll be relieved of his hunger. He took the plate of food and hurried up to a corner to eat comfortably. He sat down about to eat, but raising his face, he saw standing before him, the same men who took his food the previous night. He prayed that they should just go away.

"Not so fast fellow," said one of them, "Hand it over".