Meat (6)

When my head slammed against the table, I was almost consumed by the burning desire surging from the depths of my chest. I even thought I wanted to be devoured as I was. Maybe I was even feeling envious of Hajin.

Still, there was no immediate pressure to do anything. Unlike Hajin, I had a mountain of things to do piled up.

“Aren’t you going to regenerate anyway? I won’t touch anything else, so just let me tear off and eat one arm.”

“Y-You’re going to eat me?”

“Is there any way a human who can commit such acts can’t regenerate their own body?”

“If I can commit such acts, what’s stopping me from killing you?”

If I put my mind to it, or even without going that far, with a single gesture, I could slaughter these bear bastards. Very easily, by simply twisting and expanding the Mana inside their bodies.

“One life for eating an arm. That’s quite the expensive trade.”

“Losing interest?”

“No. Well… maybe a little.”

It was a very simple task. And to them, the magic I performed seemed too simple. I had told them it was a divine miracle, but in the end, it was just plausible bullshit.

I said, smelling the fishy scent of blood dripping from my nose.

“I can give you an arm, but I’m a student of the Department of Theology, you know? Aren’t you afraid of divine punishment?”

It’s obvious, but they know it too. That my words are bullshit. The madness of butchering Hajin without a moment’s hesitation. The stinginess of running away without returning the money. To them, I was a treacherous monk and witch who sold out my own kind.

In fact, they hadn’t looked favorably upon me even before, but they could figure out that my smooth talk was sophistry if they had even a little time to think.

“Divine punishment? Hahaha! How terrifying!”

“Doesn’t really look like you’re scared, though.”

“That’s because the drug is still working.”

• Kung.

A nail harder than steel strikes next to my head. I indifferently observed the spot where it hit. The nails are really long. Able to freely adjust the length-wait a minute. The drug is still working? How did they realize that?

“Hmm. I wonder if it’s about time.”

Faster than I thought. Well, if I were drugged, there’s no way I could be having such a calm conversation. I twisted my body, conscious of the blood pooling under my lip. It didn’t make them let go, but maybe it felt a little good to be squirming like this.

“Keuheu. Looks like I’m the only one who’s come to my senses! My head is still spinning!”

The only Gaolise who had regained his senses shook his head, watching his brethren tear at Hajin.

“I really am dizzy!”

In his eyes, there was reason that the other bears didn’t have. Reason. Intellect. A look of regret. Clear eyes… and hostility. There was a deep hostility in the gaze directed at me.

I spoke to the bear who was glaring at me as if to kill me.

“You have a strong spirit. That stuff is really potent.”

“It was potent. Very potent. We don’t go wild like this even when we get stimulant shots. Haa.”

He quickly regained his senses as he broke free from the frenzy. Soon, he let out a bitter sigh. He must have remembered what he had done. Eating, violating, playing with, and eating again. Eating. Eating. Eating-

“-What have you done to that human?”

Logically.

It was utterly illogical for a human to ask to be eaten. No matter how hopeless a masochistic bitch Hajin was, it was still hard to understand.

He remembered when he first met Hajin, that she was drugged. A loose tongue. Hazy eyes. And even the scene of me giving her an injection from behind.

-No, that’s not it. That’s all wrong. None of that mattered. The only reason this guy was showing hostility was purely because I didn’t seem human. A student who could create a huge dome with a single step, a human? Does that seem likely? Does it seem likely that there would be a human who butchers humans in the name of God?

“Th-They’re strong. I didn’t do anything.”

“Bullshit.”

No. But here I am. So I felt wronged. But I calmly accepted the situation without much resistance. And, I cherished it. I cherished the feeling of being wronged. It was a feeling I rarely experienced.

-Aaaagh, heuk, a, aaaaagh!!!

Even in the midst of all this, Hajin was being eaten with glee.

-Aaaagh, hik, heeheuk, hee.

While laughing.

“You can see it too, can’t you? No matter how much you hit her, she’s fine, and when you trample and rape her, she’s happy to squirt Vaginal Fluid everywhere.”

“Well… we can’t really say anything about that, but more than that. You.”

“Yes. What is it?”

“You’re not a student of the Department of Theology, are you?”

He’s quick on the uptake. Lies are useless in the face of animalistic senses. I chuckled and replied.

“Yes. That’s right. I’m an outsider. Can you keep it a secret for now?”

“Okay. For now.”

“Thank you.”

The Gaolise replayed the previous conversation and asked.

“I heard you two know each other, what’s your relationship? Is that bitch’s masochistic tendency related to you?”

“Are you worried I might have done something strange?”

“Well, we’ve never seen a human regenerate like that before. Maybe you used some strange drugs, or maybe she’s a secret experiment of the Empire…”

“It’s not good to get caught up in conspiracy theories, you know? To put it bluntly, that’s not the case.”

Keueung. He groaned as he spoke.

“No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t seem like a divine miracle.”

There is no god who helps butcher humans. Neither the faith of the ancestor bear they believe in, nor even the cults that believe in demons or false gods, no god would help with such insane acts.

I don’t seem to be human, demon, or cultist. What is certain is that there was no hostility. So what are you? Since you have the form of a human, I’ll ask formally.

“Are you human?”

“Do I look human to you?”

“No.”

“Tsk. Too bad.”

A senseless laugh. My eyes are rotting away.

I suddenly felt depressed.

“First of all. Can you let go of my hand? It’s a little uncomfortable.”

“Are you going to kill us?”

“Aaa-niyo. You’ve been very wary of me since earlier, and I understand that feeling a hundred times over. But first, shouldn’t we make eye contact to have a conversation?”

“Haa. Fine. Do as you please.”

“Oh my, thank you.”

• Seureuk.

The Gaolise gave up and let go of my hand. Animal sense. Bear instinct. Everything pointed to me being dangerous. He realized that there was no point in doing anything more here.

• Ttudeuk.

I stood up, turning my stiff neck. There was a slight crack in my skull. My nose bone was completely shattered, and my bound arm was dislocated at a strange angle. I used simple reconstruction to loosen my body.

“Haa. What a sight. Right?”

Save me. It hurts. Stop. Unfinished short sentences lingered. Deceiving, ranting, hating, and at the same time, being cunning, arguing sophistry, and bitterly gnashing my teeth in all these evil deeds, I stood by and watched.

“Is it really okay to just leave her like that?”

“I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but it’s true that she asked me to do this. I’m the one who did the adaptation, though.”

“Adaptation? This big, round, um. I can’t think of a suitable word.”

“Hemispherical dome.”

“Yeah. Anyway.”

I sat on the table with the Gaolise who had regained his senses. The blood mist that had subsided began to rise again. Under the excessively white light, I watched eleven bears tear a person apart.

And, naturally, the conversation continued. I didn’t care, but he made his own efforts to break the awkwardness. Telling me stories about where he lived.

“…Akdagu was the strongest in the village where I lived. He even pulled carts instead of horses to earn pocket money. It was quite lucrative.”

“Helkun Gu. I know it.”

“Oh. You know my hometown?”

“I’ve been there. More importantly, did you make a lot of money? No, let me rephrase the question. Why did you save money?”

“To come here.”

We talked but didn’t make eye contact.

Because I felt ashamed.

Born in the forest, he dared to leave the village to protect humans. There was no grand mission in that adventure. He just said that living with humans was more fun than he thought. But now… it was too barbaric to watch.

I wasn’t feeling good either. There’s no way the me of the past would laugh while facing me. Definitely.

“At first, I didn’t know the way, so I wandered around a lot. Even when I tried to ask questions, they got scared by my size and ran away.”

He chattered on, waiting for the other members of the Yellow Tiger Tribe to come to their senses. If I were to evaluate his eventful life, it was literally a human story. A story more human than a human.

“…”

Listening to an endlessly human story made me feel down. My depression was acting up.

“Hajin. Can she change?”

“Hajin?”

“The woman being torn apart alive over there. You didn’t even exchange names?”

“I just called her ‘bitch’. She seemed to prefer being called that anyway. I didn’t think she’d reveal her name while doing something like this.”

Geez. You fucked her without even knowing her name?

I tilted my head slightly with a bland look.

“No, never mind. It’s just self-reflection.”

And I stopped talking.

Many words came and went after that, but there was no reply. I just nodded vaguely and added simple interjections.

-Keueuk, my stomach is bloated. Euk.

-The smell is foul, it is. This is.

After listening for about forty minutes, the other Gaolise gradually regained their senses. One, two, three. The more bears that finished assessing the situation, the fewer times Hajin was eaten.

“Hey.”

“Once, I was walking down the street-ah, um?”

“It seems like it’s about time to say goodbye.”

• Beolteok.

I jumped lightly off the table. I moved quickly before their gazes could turn to me.

“The conversation was fun. And I’m sorry.”

“Sorry, for what?”

“You said you wanted to eat my arm, right?”

• Seureung.

As I created a blade without warning, the Gaolise’s eyes narrowed. They seemed to have roughly guessed what I was going to do.

• Chwaaak!

I swung it. It was cut off. Not the bear’s arm, but my arm. A shower of blood scattered like flowers. I muttered, looking at the blood droplets soaking the ground.

“Aaaeeu… It hurts. I might get a little excited.”

“…I’m starting to think you might be the same fruit. You even have the same hair color.”

“You have a good eye. Here. Take it.”

• Hwik.

The Gaolise picked up the severed arm and just blinked.

“It’s a gift for the bear with the strongest spirit. Good things will happen if you eat it, so you must eat it?”

The shape is that of a human arm, but it’s roughly like a spiritual medicine from a martial arts novel. I made it so that Mana would be absorbed according to his Mana wavelength. There won’t be a dramatic change, but he’ll noticeably get stronger. I said with a faint breath.

“Hajin will keep coming here even after I leave, so please make her happy.”

• Ttak.

As I snapped my fingers, Hajin was pulled in front of me. Designated teleportation. I took a step, catching Hajin, who had fallen from the sky, in a princess carry.

“Well, then. Goodbye.”

• Pik.

With a short step, I disappeared.

My appearance, my shadow, my voice.

The blood mist that filled the dome, the red-stained platform, the table.

The sphere of light that shone brightly, the ceiling, the walls of the bent and divided back alley.

Like a dream.

Like an illusion, I disappeared.

“…I don’t understand.”

Only the voices of the bears echoed weakly.