episode_0027

I didn’t go back home right away.

Slurp-

I crossed the skybridge across the river and sat down with my back against a rock.

The cool wind and sound of the waterfall make me feel crazy and happy.

To clear my thoughts, I lay down and closed my eyes.

When I close my eyes, I naturally think of things on Earth.

‘I want to go back.’

If I go back now, I feel like I can do anything.

But you can never go back there.

Even when I go back, no one remembers me.

I have no home and no money.

I died there in the truest sense of the word.

When I realized it, I suddenly started hating the devil.

‘···You can’t blame the devil.’

Because I was the one who ultimately accepted it.

If I hadn’t made the deal, my mother would have died. A creaking sound was heard from the skybridge.

For some reason, I felt anxious and felt like I needed to get up, but I didn’t do it on purpose and just lay there.

‘Let’s take some time off.’

Heilang accepted me as a member of the village.

Now let’s live as ‘Ri Si-hyeon’, not ‘Rian’ or ‘Jeon Si-hyeon’. Let’s get lazy and find something to enjoy.

Because I got permission.

The person came close to me and stopped for a moment.

Before long, it passes me by.

I think it was probably a border crossing at the entrance where Juul and I first came in.

As if my guess was correct, soon the sound of other footsteps passes me by.

I understand why Heilang was interested in me.

For some reason, a child who was not even an adult followed the monster and arrived at the monster’s village.

It must be strange to see them not being scared and treating the monster with respect.

Of course.

This is because I thought that while I was here, I had to do what I had to do as a slave with all my might.

Otherwise, I might die or be eaten.

“Sihyeon.”

I’m already having trouble getting used to being called by my name in a friendly way.

Shir flops down on the rock next to me and pokes me.

“Let’s play together with the kids.”

It was a very shameless request.

You ruined my first impression, right?

“Why?”

“Why? You have to do something to have fun, right?”

It was extremely pure.

Amazingly enough.

I got up and shook off the wet dirt.

Normally, this is a proposal that I would not have even bothered to look at.

But now, I felt like I was on drugs.

‘okay. Let’s play somewhere.’

I don’t know if I can get along well with children.

“What are you going to play?”

How long has it been since I received such pure favor?

It’s like the scent of fresh wild flowers.

“Well?”

There is nothing worth seeing and enjoying in this world.

Things to do, things to do.

It is right for me to provide this.

“What do you usually do?”

“Go outside, grab something, read a book, play dice, board games, something like that?”

‘Is there no card-playing among the hosots? ‘

Chess is difficult and kids don’t like it, and they say it involves board games, so it would be better not to bring it up for no reason.

“No card games?”

“What is that?”

There is none.

Considering how difficult it is to make paper, it is worth it.

Due to its nature, it requires a lot of work, but paper with that much durability and strength will not come out unless it is glazed.

“Huh? huh? What is playing cards?”

The word ‘play’ seems to have stimulated Shir’s interest.

The wagging tail is uneasy.

Still, Shir looks at me like a child, and it’s cute.

“I can’t right now because I don’t have a card. I can’t make it.”

Those kids won’t welcome me, though.

‘I’ll have to make a card first.’

There is ink, but there is no paper and there is no glaze.

There isn’t even a knife or technology to cut paper to a certain size.

My dexterity wasn’t good either.

‘Maybe I should ask Deverg?’

I vaguely went down the river.

Shir was following me, gently wagging his tail.

On the surface, aren’t I and Dverg the same slaves? It felt awkward to ask, but it turned out well.

“Shir.”

“Why?”

“I have a favor to ask of the Debergs. Will you help me?”

“Huh? Yes.”

It was difficult to explain the pattern.

It’s not something to sell in the first place, it’s something to be played with and then thrown away.

You don’t have to make it right.

Hosotts’ sense of smell can even distinguish pigments.

Cards must be of a single color.

The patterns are O, X, Triangle, and Square.

Sur went to place an order for Deberg.

I sat down on the rock a little distance away.

The carcasses of hunted animals are piled up like a mountain in the square.

‘It’s likely to attract flies and bugs.’

It’s surprising that there are no signs of that happening.

The smell of blood was strong enough to make my head ache, but I didn’t feel like my internal organs were rotting.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that the internal organs had been neatly cut out.

“They say they can’t make it today, but they will make it by tomorrow?”

“I can’t help it.”

There is nothing to say even though it takes four days to apply glaze to over 40 sheets of paper. I wonder if the Dbergs are criticizing Sur because of me.

‘Well, I’m sorry.’

I nodded and stood up.

Guided by Shir’s hand, we arrived at a corner of the village.

Shir’s gang, who were messing with me, had gathered there.

The guy named Ujit who was beaten by Shir was nowhere to be seen.

The way the kids look at me isn’t nice either.

It’s clear that Ujit was kicked out of this group because of me.

And the kids who were close to Ujit probably turned their anger on me.

So, is that what I did wrong?

‘That’s not it.’

I know it’s something I can do when I’m young, but I’m not that young, so it’s just ridiculous.

“Hello guys.”

The hosots’ eyes turned round.

The way he was staring blankly was very cute.

“Ma, I said it…!”

“How can humans speak our language?!”

This kind of change of mind in an instant is also childlike.

What did you do when you were young?

I forgot how to get along with children.

I think I usually introduced myself when I entered school…

“My name is Sihyeon Lee. I am Seolrang’s slave.”

“uh…”

I gave a cursory greeting.

It’s cute how he hesitates because he doesn’t know what to say.

It was worth it.

Until just yesterday, you treated me like livestock.

“What is your name?”

This is what I said, but it’s so cliché.

I really can’t speak.

“I, I am Yuso…”

It was Hosott, a man with reddish-brown hair, who interested me the most. This child approached me first with a puzzled expression.

“Let’s get along well.”

I held out my hand.

Yuso looked at me as if he didn’t understand what was happening.

It seems that Hosott does not have a culture of shaking hands.

“It’s a humane way of greeting. We’re holding each other’s hands and shaking… No.”

Yuso clasped my hand.

“With the other hand.”

Yuso took back his clasped hands and bowed awkwardly.

It’s a funny idea to shake hands with kids when you first meet them, but they don’t know.

“I am Mira.”

The woman who identified herself as Mira was Hosott with platinum hair. Mira reached out to me first.

“Please take care of me.”

Plus, they even say hello first.

‘Your parents gave you a good education?’

I really liked it.

“Please take care of me too.”

Good attachment.

After saying hello, there was one other host left. This host was like that from the first time we met, but he was lying down as if he wasn’t interested.

“Hello?”

“Don’t talk to me.”

good. You are uneducated.

“Okay.”

It was also a good start with the two new players.

I was thinking about this as the races were different.

“Shir. What are you going to do today?”

“Let’s let the new person decide.”

Shir looks at me.

I don’t even know what you enjoy, so you’re asking me to choose?

In the end, Hosotts had no choice but to choose the popular one.

hunt.

It’s hunting, so what do you catch?

“Let’s go catch something and grill it.”

Children’s eyes become sharp when they hear the word hunting.

“Let’s grill it and eat it?”

Not hunting?

“···I’ll show you what humans eat.”

The hosots’ ears perked up.

This is what I felt after looking at the types of animals coming to the hunting festival, but there are almost no birds.

This may also be because hosots are not good at using bows. However, I am not confident in hitting the flying bird, and I do not have that many arrows.

The only things that taste similar to birds are the white meat of reptiles or the hind legs of frogs.

If you leave the cave and go downstream, crayfish and giant frogs live there.

They were people I found by chance while hiking at the river.

‘I was surprised by the size of lobsters available on the market.’

It must have been so scared of meeting its natural enemy that it didn’t even run away and threatened me with its pincers. It was about the size of my wrist, but since I only saw one, I don’t know if it was the biggest size or not.

‘I wish it was bigger.’

There were tadpoles bigger than bullfrogs scattered in the water.

Dozens of them clung to the tadpoles, tearing at the discarded intestines like piranhas, and there were quite a few fish that chased away the tadpoles and ate the intestines.

I asked the children for cooking utensils and basic spices.

I took a small dagger and a bow and came out.

I still have severe muscle pain, but I don’t want to rest.

‘I think I’ll become lazy if I rest.’

In an instant, preparations for a simple outing were completed.

The children—of course I was the smallest, but they were all prepared and waiting for me.

A few hosots rolled their eyes at the sight of me tying a bow.

But when they see me with the kids, they reluctantly look away.

“What should we bring when we go to the mountain?”

“Mushrooms, edible plants, fruits. Things like this.”

“What? ···What should I do if I eat something like mushrooms and get sick?”

Yuso asked a question without confidence.

“I can tell them apart.”

Hosots enjoy eating meat to the extreme.

I thought they were pure carnivores, but that doesn’t mean they can’t eat vegetarian. I learned this because Jules ate all the apples.

‘If the hosot tastes good, I’ll eat it all.’

I wanted to expose these children to various food cultures.

“There’s no guarantee that you won’t get caught, right? If you get caught, will you take responsibility?”

Hosott, whose name I don’t know, sarcastically says.

“I will only eat food that is edible.”

“You eat it yourself. I’m not going.”

The unexplained hostility that seems to have a root cause is just uncomfortable.

Did you have a special relationship with Ugit? Anyway, it was bad.

“Do you guys want to come?”

“I’m going.”

Shir must have sensed no signs of division, so he clung to me.

Then the children who were watching approached Sur.

“Me too.”

“I want to go too.”

‘It was sour.’

Rather than looking forward to experiencing a new culture, the children seem to just follow the sur. Because the children’s expressions weren’t very bright.

It is a place where medical science is not developed.

If you eat one wrong mushroom, you are in hell.

How many times did ancient botanists go to the netherworld after eating poisonous plants similar to edible plants?

‘I was complacent.’

When you reveal something you don’t know to others, you might feel rejected. When I was that age, it was important to play with friends, not what we did.

The grey-brown hosot, who was left alone, glanced at his departing friends and left somewhere.