Chapter 15
Eunseong opened his eyes amid a tickling sensation. The first thing he saw was a small yellow bird pecking at his cheek. It blinked its button-like round black eyes and moved its beak, trying to wake Eunseong.
‘It hurts…’
His eyes felt like they were burning. Even opening them slightly was too much, they stung and his vision was unclear. And above all, it was too cold. His back was stinging as if he were lying on a bed of thorns, and all the bones in his body ached. But he didn’t have the strength to move even a finger. His body didn’t feel like his own. It was enough to make him think he was dead.
‘What happened?’
He had clearly seen himself stab Mujin’s chest and the Hwanghwa flowing out. But he had no memory after that. A hunter’s five senses, which should be sharp, were all dead and he couldn’t even make a sound, making his chest feel stuffy.
Then a child’s cautious voice pierced his ears.
“He’s, he’s alive. I saw him move. I did.”
Following that, busy little hands frantically felt around Eunseong’s body. They roughly pried open his painful eyes and thrust their faces close. Eunseong shed tears from his stinging eyes.
They were all children who looked like they hadn’t washed their faces in months. Their cheeks were black with soot and their hair was disheveled and wild. Among them, a child with sharp eyes straightened up.
“First, let’s find something we can move this with. Everyone move. If we’re any later, the patrol will come.”
“Got it!”
At one child’s instruction, the small figures that had been crowded together scattered in all directions. Eunseong opened his painful eyes with difficulty and examined the face of the child standing firmly in front of him.
“Hanyeong, there’s a cart with intact wheels here.”
A girl’s clear voice could be heard from far away.
“But how do we move that person all the way here?”
“Hmm, should we roll him?”
“What if he dies doing that?”
At some child’s timid worry, Hanyeong looked up at the sky once. Then, like an adult making a major decision, he puffed out his chest and spoke in a confident voice.
“He’s alive even after falling from up there. He definitely won’t die from just rolling.”
At Hanyeong’s firm command, small hands gathered and began slowly pushing Eunseong’s body. When he was mercilessly rolled down the steep hill of the waste disposal site where garbage was piled up, Eunseong couldn’t even scream properly.
‘It hurts, I might really die this time.’
Where is this place?
What happened to Mujin?
The thoughts didn’t last long. His head was dizzy and his vision went dark, and he eventually lost consciousness.
* * *
When he opened his eyes again, Eunseong had forgotten his name.
He had forgotten who he was and didn’t know why his body hurt so much. His skin burned with such a high fever that his throat was blocked tight as if someone were strangling him. His head was dizzy and his vision was dark.
No, this was because he couldn’t see.
Surprised, he felt around his face with both hands to find that half his face was covered with bandages. Ah, fortunately he could move his hands now.
“Don’t tear it off! You have severe burns.”
The voice belonged to the boy who had planned to roll him earlier.
From where?
The sense of disconnection from his severed memories was tremendous.
Suddenly, a fear that his whole body would crumble and disappear washed over him. As he trembled, a warm presence approached and gently stroked his forehead. It turned out to be the yellow bird that had been pecking his cheek.
Even though his eyes were completely blocked by bandages, he could see the bird clearly as if it were inside his head. Its small body covered all over with soft yellow feathers, round black eyes, the small beak lightly touching his forehead. He didn’t know why he could see such things, but for now he didn’t have time to seriously examine it.
He had lost his memory. There was no problem recalling common-sense things needed for living, but regarding his own existence, he felt a huge hole had been carved out as if with a knife.
But he thought it wasn’t entirely bad. It was a strange feeling, but well…
He was alive.
That was enough. He even felt a peculiar sense of relief.
Thinking that far, he wondered if he had been afraid of dying, but â– â– consciously blocked the continuing thoughts.
The boy approached cautiously, giving notice of his presence first. He seemed worried that â– â– might be startled if he suddenly made a loud noise. He approached very carefully, like someone who had picked up an injured animal.
“Hey. What’s your name? I’m Hanyeong. Just Hanyeong without a surname, so you can call me Hanyeong.”
“…”
From just a few words and actions, he could tell the boy had a meticulous and kind nature. Judging by his young, high-pitched voice, was he over ten years old? He turned his gaze toward where the sound came from, but still couldn’t see anything. The yellow bird was definitely an exception.
“I’d like you to give me one.”
â– â– spoke somewhat impulsively.
“What? Me?”
Perhaps it was an unexpected request, as Hanyeong hesitated for a long time.
“…Really? Can I give you a name? Is that okay?”
Hanyeong’s voice trembled as if he had been entrusted with a tremendously glorious task.
Little Hanyeong who said he had no surname. This seemed to be a place where not having a name wasn’t very strange.
“This is the ‘Bottom,’ isn’t it?”
When â– â– muttered quietly, Hanyeong nodded vigorously enough to create a breeze, saying that was right.
“You fell from up there. I saw it. You must be a hunter, since you’re alive. If you were an ordinary person, you would have burst, right?”
â– â– thought that even a hunter wouldn’t have survived falling from that height, then bit his lip.
“Up there…”
That was definitely where he had lived.
“Hey.”
Hanyeong changed the subject, watching â– â– ’s mood turn gloomy.
“About your name. How about Geumseum?”
“Geumseum?”
“Yeah, I found you on a new moon night without any light.”
Without any light.
â– â– , no, Geumseum somehow thought that was a name that suited him. He silently moved his lips, rolling it around several times. He quite liked the pronunciation too.
“At the waste disposal site.”
“…”
“So let’s go with Geumseum.”
How considerate not to name him after the place he was found – waste or garbage. Having finally gained a new name, Geumseum nodded.
Hanyeong seemed excited just to be having a conversation, and he soon learned the reason.
“But did you know today is a new moon?”
“I don’t know, I can’t see right now.”
“That means you slept for a whole month. People kept teasing me for picking up a corpse. Ah, this is quite a large community even for the Bottom. There are many families living together. It’s pretty safe! You were lucky in that regard. Anyway, everyone bet that you wouldn’t be able to get up, but I won everything.”
“Did you bet money too?”
“Money? Haha, where would there be money?”
Geumseum felt puzzled by Hanyeong’s words. How could a person be fine after sleeping for a whole month? Of course, his current body was in a state where it was hard to find a place that didn’t hurt, but at least he was alive. Moreover, he had a vague confidence that he would fully recover and be able to walk.
“Really amazing, right?”
Hanyeong said with a bright smile, as if he had read Geumseum’s thoughts.
* * *
Winter, when the cold air seeping through the tent gaps pierced the flesh. Geumseum had lived a full three years of life at the ‘Bottom.’
“Wow, so shiny. Well done, Geumseum.”
An unpleasant voice like scraping metal echoed inside the tent. Geumseum was responding to the conversation while observing the other person’s reactions through sound and air movement.
The fugitive hunter called ‘Boss’ within the tent village community. The old tent that had blocked rain and wind for a long time swayed slightly every time he laughed. The damp smell of cigarettes and unpleasant laughter occasionally disrupted his concentration. The hard tapping sound was the man rolling rift byproducts between his fingers.
Rift byproducts with all toxicity removed looked somewhat like jewels at first glance.
Rift byproducts were literally things that came from rifts. The only way for those living at the Bottom to obtain them was by hunting the lowest-grade monsters that came through small rifts, but even that wasn’t a common opportunity.
It was difficult to find monsters that the patrol had missed first, and succeeding in the hunt wasn’t easy either. Moreover, compared to rift byproducts obtained from official subjugations, the quality was terrible, so even when sold through brokers, they often went for cheap prices.
But what the man was holding now was a bit different. Through Geumseum’s hands and breath, toxic waste easily transformed into gold. A fist-sized chunk could fuel a car and provide heating. Refined rift byproducts had many uses as pure energy sources, so they might be more valuable than gold.
The man with a vicious face full of mean laughter patted Geumseum’s shoulder generously with praise. Today, Geumseum had finished detoxifying a whole sack of rift byproducts.
“Here, this is your payment.”
“Thank you, Boss.”
“It’s precious. Eat it sparingly.”
The sweet potato that rolled out of the bag the boss threw was covered in dirt. What filled the bulging bag was mostly stems, and the actual potatoes were only as big as a child’s fist. Geumseum scraped and gathered the dirt with his gloved hands to clean it, then put the sweet potatoes back in the bag.
Every time he assigned detoxification work, he praised where such a blessing had appeared, but the payment was just seven sweet potatoes. With a shameless face, he pointed outside the tent as the next job, where toxic rift byproducts rippling with black energy were piled up like a small hill.
Seeing this, Hanyeong, who was sitting beside the workbench, got angry and stood up.
“Precious my ass! At least give him meat. You give a mountain of work to someone with eye problems and only give sweet potatoes! And not even ten, but seven? Don’t you have any conscience, Boss?”
“Hey you little shit, I provide food, shelter, and everything else. Just? There are kids outside who can’t even taste sweet potatoes everywhere. Want me to kick you out too, Hanyeong?”
While berating Hanyeong, he pushed Geumseum. When the blind Geumseum staggered, Hanyeong got even more worked up and screamed.
“Boss got rich all thanks to our Geumseum! Geumseum can’t do work outside… Mmph!”
One of the gang that followed the boss around like goldfish droppings clamped Hanyeong’s mouth shut. Roughly grabbing and lifting his small face, veins stood out stiffly on Hanyeong’s neck.
“This kid was born and raised in good times so he doesn’t know how scary it is outside. Should I throw him as monster food?”
Geumseum, who had been standing in front of the workbench, groped around and approached to grasp the gang member’s hand.
“Please let Hanyeong go. You know he’s just talking.”
Though the hand trying to stop him was weak, Geumseum’s expression was firm. The boss who had been glaring at him twisted his lips viciously.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
