episode_0027

I thought he was dead.

Whether I opened my eyes or closed them, the world was completely dark.

I thought I was dead this time because I couldn’t hear the wind blowing past my ears or the smell irritating my nose, but the world didn’t let me go, and I opened my eyes in a low place once again.

I don’t know if it was humans who moved me while I was lying down, but I opened my eyes in a low place once again.

The floor there was as cold and hard as an ice rink.

“What should I do with this…”

A man who had been looking closely at my face looked down at me with a pitiful expression.

That person… his face doesn’t look unfamiliar.

However, I couldn’t quite remember where I had seen him, and after thinking back for a while, I was able to figure out who he was. He was one of the humans who had been hiding to survive while other humans were fighting for their lives.

I snorted and turned away at the sight of such a person.

I couldn’t tell exactly what the human was saying, but I had a feeling that the human was worried about me.

I turned away, thinking it was an overstepping topic.

The human who was looking at me with compassionate eyes didn’t look that strong and was also very scared, so he didn’t attack me and I didn’t feel any killing intent, so I closed my eyes.

So I spent several days in a place like a cage where humans were kept.

There were many animals like me there, but their condition seemed much better than mine. The man who was watching me was walking around here and there as if he was managing the place.

They were isolated one by one in a narrow cage-like space and fed once a day. Of course, I, as a man, also gave them food and water once a day.

‘I don’t even have the strength to move…’

Because the poison had spread throughout my entire body, I didn’t have the strength left to eat or do anything.

I was lucky to survive that time, but I was injected with poison several times while fighting those guys, so I was slowly dying in pain while still conscious.

It was clear that soon I would die.

Maybe that’s why I had no appetite even though I starved for several days.

I was just lying there, chewing over the day I would die like a death row inmate. Because when I die, this suffering will end.

So I waited for the day I would die without putting up any resistance.

Then one day, I met a person who changed my life completely.

The human visited this place with two females younger than himself, and he looked at them locked in narrow iron cages as if he was pondering something.

The man looked around as if he wanted something but it wasn’t there.

I was briefly interested in the man’s actions, but since it had nothing to do with me anyway, I tried to close my eyes.

“………”

My eyes met with the two little boys the man had brought with him.

The little girls that the man had brought were curiously looking around here and there, and then their eyes met with mine, locked in the iron cage alone.

“Mister!!”

The little redhead with blood-red hair who met my eyes shouted loudly.

Suddenly, when the little boy screamed, the man who had brought me here and the man who had been talking to me came running here in a hurry.

“Why are you like that?!”

The man who heard the child’s voice came running here with a pale face.

The screaming little boy turned his head and pointed at me.

The man who brought me here and the man who appeared to be their parents both turned their gazes and looked at me because of the little girl’s behavior.

After that, the two men looked at me and talked to each other.

They just stared at me blankly, as if they had no intention of attacking me, so I tried to get their attention as well.

[Tup]

A small hand rose above my head as I was letting my guard down.

At that moment, I felt an indescribable feeling. The hand that touched me was clearly a small child’s hand, but it was warm like sunlight.

It felt warm, as if it would cure all the poison in my body.

Of course, that joy was soon interrupted by the man who brought them here, but I was satisfied that I was able to feel someone’s warmth for a moment.

The two little children, seeing me like that, grabbed the man’s hand and started saying something.

I couldn’t understand human speech, so I didn’t know what they were saying.

A moment later, the man who had been watching me stepped into the iron bars where I was and approached me.

“………”

I could only watch that human behavior without saying a word. I didn’t feel any particular sense of life, and above all, there was no weapon in his hand.

However, I was thinking that if that person was thinking of doing something foolish, I would ask him without mercy.

“Let’s go to my house.”

The man fearlessly placed his hand on my head and said:

No matter how weak my strength was and how old my body was, the man approached me without any fear.

I was about to react to this, but I gave up resisting the warmth I felt from the human.

The same warmth I felt from the little boy earlier was transmitted through my head.

The human acted as if trying to calm me down by patting my head.

‘warm….’

I began to feel less and less pain from the warmth from that human hand, and eventually I fell asleep.

So I closed my eyes, feeling the warmth coming from the human hand.

***

“…………!”

When I opened my eyes after that, my body felt so light.

My body felt incredibly light, as if the poison that had been tormenting me had never existed in the first place, and my mind, which had been dizzy, became clearer, so things I could see with great clarity.

‘What…what is this…am I dead?’

My body felt so light, as if the pain had never existed in the first place.

Soon I could feel something alien flowing through my body.

My body, which had been filled with poison, felt lighter as if something else had entered instead of the poison, and the internal injuries from the fight seemed to have healed, as I could no longer move my body.

While Charla was confused as to what on earth was happening, a familiar voice was heard from behind him.

“Sir..! Come to your senses!!”

The voice I heard behind me was that of a young child whose eyes had met mine, and the moment I turned around, the scattered pieces of the puzzle began to fit together, and I was able to understand what had happened.

The man who had been stroking my head had collapsed as if he had exhausted himself, and the two kids who had come with him were shaking the collapsed man and trying to wake him up.

And inside that man’s body, I felt something familiar.

For some reason, the poison that had spread to my body was in the man’s body, and I knew it when I saw myself, who was fine, and the man who had suddenly become poisoned.

That he transferred the poison that was in my body into his own. And that he injected something of himself into my body.

I couldn’t say anything because I didn’t know this.

It was clear that he was the one who saved my life, but I didn’t know why he saved me.

Even now, as time passes, I still don’t know why I made that choice.

But I am truly grateful to him.

Aion, the man who risked his life to cure me.

I lived by his side because I couldn’t forget his name.

“Hand!”

“Head!”

“Sit down!”

I quickly became friends with the two little ones and spent time with them, leading a peaceful life. As I spent time with them, I was able to understand human speech to some extent, although not perfectly. I lived by listening to the little ones and my master’s orders.

So I lived a peaceful life with three people. We ate and slept together.

It was the first time. A life so peaceful and stable.

Here, there was no one to harass me anymore and I didn’t have to risk my life to survive.

Sometimes the two little ones would tease me and play pranks, but I was reassured because they were never intended to attack me.

Today I accidentally ate something the owner brought me…

I couldn’t understand why I was acting that way, but after smelling the meat, I started acting as if my body was being controlled by someone.

After I came to my senses belatedly, I had already eaten the meat the owner had brought.

However, despite my mistake, my master did not get angry, but forgave me with a worried look in his eyes. Even now, as time has passed, I cannot forget his smiling face as he looked at me.

“Huh…”

I stared intently at my master’s face, who was sleeping soundly, and made a soft sound.

And then I carefully got up from my seat so as not to wake up my sleeping master.

I lay down and looked at my master who was fast asleep, and I buried my face in his arms.

Not wanting to miss this warm warmth, I carefully held my master in my arms so as not to wake him.

So I fell asleep feeling the warmth coming from my master.

The full moon outside the window was shining brightly and pouring down on me and my master.