Chapter 31
After he completely disappeared into the forest, I was left alone. No, not alone. I saw Hwang Jang-ju lying unconscious at my feet. He was passed out with a nosebleed, and I poked him lightly with my toe. When I confirmed he showed no signs of waking up, I contemplated my situation for a moment.
I didn’t feel like standing night watch anymore. I couldn’t stay by the bonfire, and I couldn’t stay with the men either. But I couldn’t go into the forest to look for Kim Doyun either… After confirming the existence of an unkillable monster, I was even more reluctant to throw myself into the forest.
I held my head in my hands, thinking hard, and then decided to return to the building where I had been sleeping. It seemed better to choose the option with a higher chance of survival than death. Surely the villagers wouldn’t come after me and try to kill me just because I beat up someone who had almost killed me.
I glanced down at the unconscious Hwang Jang-ju, then fell back into my thoughts. He was clearly a bastard who deserved to die and was obviously insane, but leaving him like this felt unsettling. I didn’t want to save him, but the thought of leaving him and having him get eaten by some other monster would make me feel bad.
“If I were more ruthless, I’d just…”
I was about to make a kicking motion while grinding my teeth when I heard groaning sounds. It seemed the men who had taken a beating were gradually coming to their senses. They were huddled by the bonfire, trembling. They would check their bodies, rejoice with loud voices, then look toward the forest and moan while clutching their hunting rifles. Seeing that the most lucid among them was looking after his companions, I turned away from Hwang Jang-ju.
His living colleagues would pick him up. If any of them remembered what Hwang Jang-ju had said, they might try to kill him… I stopped that train of thought. Even if someone remembered, it was Hwang Jang-ju’s karma for what he’d done. If he was lucky, he’d live. I threw away all thoughts related to Hwang Jang-ju and instead thought about the man who had disappeared into the forest with the monster, Jang Jae-gyeong.
* * *
Contrary to my expectations, the villagers didn’t harm me or hold me accountable. As always, a middle-aged woman came to check on my shoulder, and when she finished, she would leave. And it remained quiet throughout.
My surroundings had always been quiet since I arrived in this village, so there was no change, but I felt uncomfortable. The woman who had always talked to me during treatment now only smiled, and Han Jong-wook, who used to come by and provoke me, was nowhere to be seen.
I paced back and forth inside the building, wringing my hands anxiously. But since being anxious wouldn’t change anything and there was nothing I could do, I soon stopped. I tried to go outside for some fresh air but quickly came back inside. That was after I discovered Hwang Jang-ju standing guard around the building.
At first, I almost approached him because his face looked different. Then I quickly hid when I saw his hands fidgeting with a hunting rifle. Only then did I notice the scar that had been hidden by his swollen, discolored cheek.
I leaned against the wall and watched what Hwang Jang-ju was doing. He looked at the building where I was, bared his teeth, kicked the ground, and then would stand there for hours before leaving. After that, Han Jong-wook sometimes came to whisper something in his ear before disappearing, and Son Byung-chul would appear and the three would discuss something.
As these incidents repeated, I grew anxious. It felt like a distinctly different kind of fear than when the monster attacked was creeping up and weighing on my shoulders. I even thought about stealing just enough food and running away.
Climbing trees alone would be difficult, but if I used vines… if I was careful of shadows, it might be okay to some extent. While I was seriously considering this, Han Jong-wook’s words came to mind. Even if it was just a small amount of food, if it disappeared, would the villagers leave me alone?
No way. I sighed. Given the tense atmosphere in the village and Han Jong-wook’s temperament, and above all, even if others let it go, Hwang Jang-ju didn’t seem like he would leave me alone. Should I have hit him less hard? I regretted it briefly. But the fact was, it had felt satisfying to beat up Hwang Jang-ju, so I set my regret aside. As I was contemplating what to do next, someone knocked on the door.
“…”
The light knocking sound echoed as loudly as a hammer. I hesitated for a long time, unable to open the door. I almost had a vision of Hwang Jang-ju pointing a hunting rifle at me from outside. His swollen face was distorted like a monster, urging me to die.
Who’s bringing someone who doesn’t want to come and trying to kill them, damn bastards. At first I was scared, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. They say when you’re angry, you can’t see straight, and that was exactly right. The heat that surged up devoured both fear and reason.
I strode to the door and yanked it open. As I opened it, I was prepared to kick whoever was there.
“Oh my.”
But an unexpected person was standing at the door. The man who caught my leg with one arm squinted his sharp eyes. I folded my extended leg and called out to him.
“Jang Jae…!”
“Jang Jae?”
“…Jae…”
I called out in surprise but couldn’t continue. I suddenly couldn’t remember his name. I tried to call him, opening and closing my mouth, but I just couldn’t remember. The man mimicked my mouth movements along with me. I could see a smile slowly creeping into his sharp, slender eyes. Eventually, I closed my fumbling mouth and bit my lips together tightly.
“Jang Jae-gyeong.”
“…”
“Say it after me. Jang Jae-gyeong.”
He tapped his mouth, urging me.
“…Jang…Jae-gyeong-ssi.”
“Good job, Seongho.”
He patted my head as if I were a child. Honestly, it felt a bit unpleasant, but since he had pointedly called me by my name, I couldn’t say anything. Jang Jae-gyeong entered the building without asking for permission and closed the door.
The moment the door closed, I noticed an unfamiliar man watching us, but I erased that fact from my mind. It might look like I was showing off my acquaintance with Jang Jae-gyeong… But what did it matter now? Either way, Hwang Jang-ju would have spread all the details by now. And I didn’t want to be a terrible person who mistreated someone who had saved my life.
I looked at Jang Jae-gyeong, who had entered the house. After looking around here and there as if it were his own home, he sat down on the bed. Since there was nowhere else to sit or lie down except for the roughly made bed, I stood in front of him, staring blankly. Jang Jae-gyeong smiled with just the corner of his mouth and patted the spot next to him.
For a moment, I almost let out a laugh of disbelief. Who was the owner here…? No, come to think of it, I wasn’t the owner here either, just living here aimlessly and planning to leave. Rather, since Jang Jae-gyeong had lived in this village longer, acting like the owner seemed more fitting for him. I nodded and sat down next to him.
“Getting by okay?”
I almost sighed at the question he asked as soon as I sat down. It seemed Jang Jae-gyeong was somewhat aware of the current situation. That’s why he asked such a question. I buried my face in my hands and hunched my shoulders.
“I’m getting by, but I feel like death.”
“That’s too bad.”
Jang Jae-gyeong patted my shoulder. With a face that looked sympathetic, he even clicked his tongue. There wasn’t a hint of consolation, but rather than that, I pointed out the issue that had been continuously bothering me.
“Why do you keep speaking informally to me?”
“Don’t like it?”
“Of course I don’t.”
“Really? But from what I can see, I’m definitely older than you.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Seongho, you still have peach fuzz. Here.”
Then he pressed hard on my cheek. He pressed so hard that my cheek hurt, and I automatically grimaced. When I shook my head and glared at him, Jang Jae-gyeong withdrew his hand.
“I don’t have peach fuzz.”
“I can see it with my eyes.”
“What peach fuzz does a 24-year-old have?”
“24? That’s definitely an age for peach fuzz.”
“And how old are you, Jang Jae-gyeong-ssi?”
“29.”
“We’re only five years apart, what’s all this about peach fuzz…”
As I rubbed my poked cheek while speaking, Jang Jae-gyeong laughed. After grumbling for a while, I glanced at Jang Jae-gyeong’s face. When a faint smile spread across what had seemed like a sharp face, it looked quite handsome. With distinct features, pitch-black eyes, and a large build… he had a face that must have made many people cry.
Thinking of Kim Doyun, I glanced at Jang Jae-gyeong and grumbled inwardly. When people have it all—height, face, and physique—and on top of that, they’re skilled in situations like this, it’s impossible not to think about how unfair the world is. But I couldn’t show it, so I suppressed it firmly. I couldn’t tell someone who got hurt saving me that I was jealous.
“Are… are you okay?”
“What?”
“The monster.”
“Ah, that.”
Sensing that I was looking him up and down, Jang Jae-gyeong tapped various parts of his body—his chest, legs, here and there—as if to show off. It was a gesture to let me know there was nothing wrong, but remembering the torn hem of his pants that night and the side he had been clutching, I became serious.
Having suffered from an infection that spread from a shoulder wound, I couldn’t easily brush it off even when Jang Jae-gyeong said he was fine. Since most of the villagers were in opposition to him, I was even more concerned. I had also earned their dislike; would we even be able to get medicine? Perhaps seeing my increasingly darkening expression, Jang Jae-gyeong tapped his arm lightly and then showed me his side.
“It’s just a small cut. It doesn’t hurt, it’s fine.”
“…”
When I didn’t change my expression, Jang Jae-gyeong rested his chin on his hand and tilted his head.
“You still don’t believe me. What do I need to do to make you believe?”
“…It’s not that, I just remembered something.”
“Remembered what?”
“There’s someone who got hurt while saving me. That person also often said they were fine…”
“What? So you weren’t worried about me?”
Jang Jae-gyeong hit my nose as if in disbelief. Although it was just a light tap, my nose tingled. I held my nose and frowned at Jang Jae-gyeong.
“No! I am worried about you. I’m saying that person came to mind.”
“You’re prostrating yourself now. Thank you?”
“Ah, really.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
