episode_0025

When I opened my eyes, it was dark outside the window.

He nudged Jules’ arm away and stood up.

Shiver!

“──────!”

The crushed joints cry and cry out in sorrow.

“Ahhhh···.”

As I relax my stiff body, I feel my blood circulation improves. Thanks to this, drowsiness evaporates in an instant.

But there really is nothing to do.

It looks like he just enjoyed his nap.

I took my bow and arrows and left the house.

The sound of a waterfall would be enough to hide the sound of the bowstring.

I immediately moved to the upper part of the village towards the waterfall.

Broken moonlight was seeping in from the broken cave ceiling.

Looking at the moon’s position, it is now around 9 o’clock.

In the square, returning hunters were dismantling what they had hunted.

─There were humans among them.

It was male.

A head that is half cut off and shaking.

The hair is shaking.

When I saw one of the hosots thrusting a knife into the man’s stomach, I couldn’t watch until the end so I looked away.

‘We’re both demigods, so why?’

···no.

There were many smart animals on Earth.

However, numerous non-human personalities were killed by humans.

Humans kill or raise them, cut out their upper jaws for ivory, or eat monkeys’ brains.

Elephants and monkeys, if trained, can draw pictures and communicate with humans through sign language.

─From then on, animals are treated as ‘human beings’.

Because through conversation, humans accept the fact that the other person is a person.

Like other people, I was just encountering a part of nature that I had ignored and neglected.

If the chicken I’ve been eating were looking into my head, it would peck at my brain because it would want to fry me in oil.

‘Eat and be eaten is nature.’

It’s ugly to protest there.

Juul said that Ain is a disgusting food.

However, it is a hateful ‘food’.

Even if someone eats it, they cannot be held guilty.

It’s not their problem. It’s a deep-rooted difference in perception. So forget it. It’s not something you’re involved in, and it’s not something you can do anything about.

─Never look at me.

I desperately tried to suppress my gaze.

Human instinct is perverted.

There is a tendency to focus on provocative things.

I know you’ll get angry and your heart will tremble when you see it.

I can’t wait to see it.

Let’s not do that.

It’s a place I’ll be leaving in two years anyway.

If you face that, you won’t be able to endure it.

I crossed the bridge holding the target made by Deberg.

Let’s think of something fun.

If an animal protection group that values animals more than people saw that scene, they would take out their cameras first, right? After copying the photo and writing ‘Yeokjisaji’ in large letters below───

“Where are you going?”

“Ugh───?!”

It was Shir who made a show of popularity that almost broke my heart.

‘Obviously no one was there?!’

Shir looks me up and down.

Then he began to approach me with light steps.

“Are you going hunting?”

His eyes are full of suspicion.

“I’m going to practice hunting.”

“Practice? Why bother when you can just go and get it?”

“Humans have slow feet and cannot hunt like hossots. I mainly use a bow for hunting, so I plan to practice it.”

“Really?”

When I look away, it seems like I’ve lost interest.

I left Shir, who no longer spoke to me, and set up a target in front of the wall. A crossbow is similar to shooting a gun, so you don’t need to practice it, but a bow requires practice.

Very consistent practice.

‘How did you hold your posture?’

I don’t know.

I only vaguely reproduce my father’s form in my memory.

I tried to follow along as best as I could, but I didn’t like the way he seemed to hesitate somewhere.

But I was told to dissuade him from returning.

If you keep doing this, you will eventually reach the extreme.

It’s better to do something even if you’re wrong than to worry about it and not do it.

On TV, archery players aimed their bows with one eye as if shooting a gun. But my father would open his eyes and hold an arrow in his bow hand.

─It was completely different from the form of an archer and a bow lifter.

Which of the two is right?

Isn’t it basic to aim with only one eye open?

…There must be some reason why.

From memory, he assumed the same posture as his father, opened his eyes, and pulled the bowstring.

Wow!

“──────?!”

The bowstring was extremely heavy.

I took a deep breath and pulled the bowstring a few times.

Pop!

The bow flew out with the sound of the bowstring exploding and hit the target.

At the edge of the target.

It was far from the exact center I was aiming for, but it was still right.

Because my hands are small, it is difficult to hold a bow and arrow with one hand.

Still, I caught it awkwardly.

My arms were shaking just by pulling the bowstring.

widely! Tadadak—!

The arrow that was not stuck was bounced with a heavy blow.

‘The angle of incidence is crooked.’

Although it was a fairly large target, there were arrows that bounced off the wall. Even if you hit, there are some that do not hit the target and fall.

‘Why is it so bad?’

Is it because the arrow is not fixed straight?

I’ve seen in movies that when shooting a bow, the arrow is held in place and shot as if holding a billiard cue.

If I shoot like that, will the bow fly straight?

I vaguely remembered the shape of my hand and tried shooting the bow.

Pop!

“──Ah ta!”

My hands feel hot.

‘···My hand was cut by an arrow.’

After all, it seems like you shouldn’t imitate what you see on TV.

I wanted to try shooting with the gloves my father made, but I was hesitant because I felt like I would die if I did that.

On the way back after retrieving the arrow.

Shir was sitting quietly watching me.

It feels uncomfortable to be aware that someone is watching.

I’m not shooting well enough to watch.

‘no way! What does it matter whether I see it or not?!’

I cleared my mind and repeated shooting and retrieving.

·

·

·

·

·

·

Before we knew it, Shir had returned, and the cave had become a little darker.

As expected, the answer was to practice blindly.

Now there were no arrows that stuck in the ground or didn’t hit at all.

It was the result of hundreds of rounds of practice.

‘There’s still a long way to go, but we’ve definitely made progress.’

It feels like learning to draw.

But I don’t know if I’m in the right position to shoot an arrow.

Like a gun, you could only pull the trigger, so you couldn’t have a flexible shooting posture.

The bowstring was heavy, like lifting a rock.

The image of women shooting arrows that is widely spread in the media?

‘It’s clear they’re all transgender.’

Seeing that my arms were shaking, I thought it would be harder to shoot today.

I was already worried about the anticipated muscle pain.

‘I hope it doesn’t hurt too much.’

I massaged my trembling arm, hoping to relieve the muscle pain.

There was no time to rest.

Next is sit-ups.

“Huh──?!”

When I was young, I really liked sports.

No matter what I did, I played around with my friends.

I exercised a lot, but I stopped exercising because my school teacher told me that if I exercise too hard, I won’t grow taller.

Because I had a complex about being short.

Then, I developed inertia, and at some point, I started hating exercise itself.

‘If I think about it now, it’s a ridiculous story.’

But at the time, I thought it was real.

It was a time when I was naive enough to sleep with the fan turned off.

If something like today happened every day, it’s clear that my current physical strength would be nothing.

As I held on through crunches, I thought about old times.

Before I enlisted, I thought the military was nothing special.

After enlisting without any preparation, I started training at the training center.

Push-ups? At ten, my arms were shaking.

The limit for sit-ups was 30.

After working so hard, my physical strength improved noticeably.

It was the most healthy time in my life, both internally and externally.

Lastly, I ran around the outskirts of town.

Until I can’t breathe.

‘This is a training center to adapt to another world.’

‘I will grit my teeth, hold on, and become independent.’

Finally, I stopped by the house, got a towel and soap, and washed my body in the canal.

It seems that it is okay to eat the soap made by Deberg.

I was distrustful when they assured me that I could eat soap.

Then he ate the soap on the spot.

I don’t know how embarrassing it was.

‘···It will clean better than cleaning with salt.’

I cleaned my teeth with soap.

It didn’t have a strong scent like toothpaste or make my gums feel refreshed. I felt a faint floral scent and sweet taste in my mouth.

‘Was it cleaned well?’

After rinsing my mouth, I tried pushing my teeth with my tongue, but I couldn’t clean them well and they ended up prickling.

Like dishes washed with detergent.

‘No matter what, I can’t eat soap.’

I had no choice but to rinse my mouth several times.

Still, it felt good to feel like it had been cleaned.

The light pouring from the open ceiling had suddenly turned blue.

‘Now let’s go in and sleep.’

After wiping my body with a towel, I washed it, retrieved all my belongings, and returned home.

* * * * * *

Jules may have woken up first, but his body feels empty.

‘Where did they go?’

Anyway, it’s time to wake up.

As I stretch, something comes upon me.

“Ughhh…?!”

My whole body aches!

I was so lucky that I didn’t get cramps while I was sleeping!

However, I felt like I would become more relaxed if I rested, so I got up quickly.

“Ughhh─?!”

My body was bent like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

‘no! ‘Not this!’

Only after lying on the bed and relaxing my muscles as much as possible was I finally able to walk.

‘···Let’s eat breakfast first.’

First, fried eggs.

Grill thinly sliced bacon and fry an egg on top of the pork fat from the bacon.

Lastly, I grilled the cheese.

It’s a shame there aren’t any vegetables to go with it, but where are they?

Never would I have thought that I would be eating a meal like this in a foreign country.

Sur seemed to like cheese quite a bit.

‘They might smell it and come find it.’

Even if it was somehow successfully mediated, it is better to wash away the bad impression as quickly as possible. Let’s just do one more.

Cheese doesn’t have a long shelf life anyway.

I fried all of the remaining cheese, which Sur likes, in pork fat, and grilled about three more servings of the bacon and fried eggs that I had received.

After I finished making it, I felt like it was grand.

···It would be a waste to throw it away, so I hope you come.

Sigh…

─It came!

The front door opened quietly and someone peeked inside.

Then, after meeting the amber eyes, the head slowly came up.

I’m glad.

Amber eyes nail me.

It was so cute that I smiled without knowing.

“Hello.”

After looking inside, Shir approaches the table.

My eyes were focused on the cheese.

“Do you mind if I eat a little bit?”

“Sure.”

Anyway, I prepared a separate meal for Shir.

Today was all mine—Shir ate the bacon from my bowl.

‘Look at this bitch?’

“···That’s what Shir will eat, not this.”

When I pointed to the generous breakfast I had prepared separately, Shir frowned.

“That’s my aunt’s.”

“Seolrang hates cheese.”

Shir tilts his head and looks at me.

Don’t you understand?

“Then why did you make it?”

“I thought Sir would come.”

Shir blinks and looks at me.

Eventually, he smiled brightly.

“Then it’s okay to eat all of that, right?”

“Yes. Eat everything.”

When I bring out a chair, Shir naturally sits there.

The tail was gently wagging.

“What is this?”

“It’s a food made from cow’s milk. It’s called cheese.”

Shir frowns.

“Cow milk?”

“Yes.”

“He eats all sorts of strange things.”

‘You just ate too.’

It’s harsh.

Can’t I just say it’s delicious?

Anyway, the meal started.

Shir’s eyes were on my bowl.

To be exact, using chopsticks.

“Didn’t you have a fork at home?”

“No. These are eating utensils called chopsticks, right?”

“Just use a fork. Don’t wake up.”

Shir sneered and laughed.

The funny thing is, I finished my meal earlier than Shir with my ‘cracked’ meal utensils.

I cried out in joy in my heart.

‘never! ‘Don’t ignore your chopsticks!’

“Look. It’s faster than a fork, right?”

“That’s right. But why do you treat me with respect?”

what? Of course, since I am a slave─── this is not the case.

Jules introduced me as ‘my slave.’

It probably means not to listen to other people’s orders and not to bow your head.

I am not their slave.

“It varies from region to region, but in the region I lived in, all people respected each other. That’s why we treat each other with respect even if we don’t have a superior-subordinate relationship.”

“To family and friends?”

Not all of them are like that.

I nodded.

“Yes. We both reach an agreement and talk comfortably.”

“Really?”

Shir’s eyes are shining.

“How old are you, Sir?”

“Fourteen years old.”

···What kind of fourteen year old is that?

Even though she is a woman, she looks like she is at least 170cm tall. Even his voice and facial expression seemed to be that of a high school student.

“You’re the same age as me.”

Shir’s eyes narrowed.

“Lie. Is it that small?”

“It varies from individual to individual, but humans can grow up to be over the age of 20.”

To be exact, twenty-two is the peak age.

Shir shakes his head.

“Wow, I’m so glad I wasn’t born as a human.”

I’m glad I wasn’t born as a human.

Although it sounded strange, it was true.

Because humans are not the best creatures in this world.

“······Are you angry?”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

I was just thinking about it.

If it were Juul, it would be overlooked, but perhaps because he is young, he is delicate. Is Jules just being insensitive?

“I was thinking about something else for a moment.”

“Really? What is your name?”

“This is Sihyeon Lee.”

─Lee Si-hyeon.

Now that I think about it, this name sounds like the name of a spy from North Korea.

‘I should have come up with a more stylish name.’

Shir looked away from me, paused for a moment, then leaned back in his chair and opened his mouth.

“Yes, Sihyeon Lee. It doesn’t matter if you don’t treat me with respect.”

“Yes.”

Is it because of the informal language that comes out right away?

Shir froze for a moment, then suddenly grabbed my bacon and ate it.

‘This bitch?’

“You just ate.”

“That was mine.”

‘You just have to eat yours, right?!’

I quickly grabbed my portion and ate it, fearing that Shir would steal the food.

The disappointment on his face seemed like he was planning on eating more.

I put some of the ashes left from the fireplace in a bucket, went out to the waterway, and dissolved lye in the bucket. Shir was following behind me and watching me.

“Why are you dissolving the ashes in water?”

I thought it would be a long conversation if I said things like the oil is easily wiped off or the sterilizing ability is excellent, so I held out the plate.

“The most effective way to remove oil is lye. Humans also make soap with this lye.”

“Washing with that?”

“Yes.”

At first, I couldn’t believe it either.

My mother used the fat she collected from animal skins to make soap and candles.

He used to make and sell oil.

As a result, there was always a lot of soap and candles piled up at home.

I’ve seen things like this made naturally.

I also learned how to wash dishes with lye from my mother.

After I finished washing the dishes, I went downstream, poured out the lye, and cleaned up the dishes. Shir, who was following me and watching what I was doing, pulls my arm.

“Let’s go out and play.”

“No.”

Because I have to learn to write starting today.

chin!

“?”

Shir took my hand.

“Let’s go~!”

“Wow───?!”

Just by pulling, my body floated away as if being towed.

I felt like I was going to fly away, so I grabbed whatever I could get my hands on.

It was the edge of the bed.

Gagagagak!

However, they started taking the bed with them.

“Now, wait!”

“Let’s go~!!!”

“Clothes! My clothes are torn!”

Only then did Shir flinch and take his hand away.

···I thought my arm was falling off!

“···I have work to do today so I don’t have time to play.”

“You say you have something to do?”

An unfamiliar figure caught my attention.

It was Jules. I asked why he let go of my hand, but it seemed like he wasn’t worried about my clothes, but rather Jules came and took his hand away.

Jules was shaking.

“I decided to learn how to write starting today…”

“The story is over.”

“Yes…?”

“You too will learn how to write with your father.”

I had a strong feeling that something was wrong.