BW C38

Chapter 38

“Of course we die. We’re people too.”

“A lot of us die—day in, day out.”

Mansu added this, then smacked his lips with an unreadable expression. For a moment, a shadow fell over the corners of Dongja’s eyes.

“…”

Hoeun looked at the two of them. Then, for no clear reason, he glanced around at the Jeokudae soldiers nearby. The thought that a day like that might come for them too made his heart drop.

No one should die. As he sighed and straightened his head, he caught sight of Taemuk in the distance. Taemuk was striding into the dim forest.

Without taking his eyes off the man’s retreating back, Hoeun asked,

“Where does the General go every night?”

“To kill man-eaters.”

At that, Hoeun snapped his head toward Dongja.

“Man-eaters? There are monsters here?”

“Where we are, man-eaters are. They’ve a wicked nose for human scent. And look around—this place is crawling with the bleeding. Think they won’t come?”

“Then you mean monsters will be here soon?”

“No. Not with the Captain here.”

“I—I don’t understand.”

“The Captain makes a round ahead of time and kills the man-eaters. Then he splashes their blood here and there. Do that, and they don’t show.”

“Not all of them, but the runts won’t come—scared off.”

Mansu added to Dongja’s words.

“…”

Hoeun turned their words over. He had heard this before. When they had just left the capital, Gilsang had said, seeing a monster Taemuk had pinned to a tree, that it was like a rabbit not daring to attack a tiger.

But Taemuk had been doing that every night? That was why he vanished after dark? And he went alone like that?

“Is it all right for him to go alone?”

“He always goes alone.”

“Well, it’s not like we’d be much help if we went along…”

Dongja and Mansu were matter-of-fact. It happened all the time. They didn’t seem particularly worried.

“…”

Hoeun craned his neck and stared into the forest that had swallowed Taemuk. Knowing what he went to do, it felt as if the woods had eaten him whole. He worried at his lower lip, and Dongja and Mansu traded words between themselves.

“Besides, right now he needs us even less, I’d say.”

“Right, right. You saw it too, didn’t you? How the Captain was flying all over the field?”

“Sure. Must be that that’s the Captain’s real strength. What we’ve seen till now was just a drop in the bucket.”

“Tell me about it. If not for the Captain today, we’d all be dead.”

Hoeun heard them, but the words didn’t fix in his mind. His head was already full of Taemuk.

A Military God can die.

Which meant the man whose head had been torn off earlier might one day be Taemuk. To die. Hoeun had imagined his own death countless times, but had never thought of Taemuk dying.

After all, Taemuk was—how to put it—Taemuk. The strongest Military God in the world.

But no matter how strong he was, perhaps…

“…”

Hoeun stared into the black forest again.

Hoeun was walking through the streets of Hanyang with Deokwoo. It was a rare thing. He hardly ever left home unless it was the hospital or the apothecary. Yet it didn’t feel strange.

Because it was a dream.

Hoeun chatted quietly with Deokwoo. Sometimes they giggled, but he couldn’t tell what they talked about. He couldn’t hear his own voice, or Deokwoo’s.

How long had they walked aimlessly like that? Suddenly his wrist throbbed. Hoeun flicked his wrist in the air, as if to shake the pain away. But it kept aching—throbbing, stinging.

No, truthfully, he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t real pain.

Anyway, he kept talking to Deokwoo. He was simply glad to see him after so long.

…After so long?

Why did it feel like it had been a while since he’d seen Deokwoo? Deokwoo was always, without a single moment’s absence, at his side. Come to think of it, was his leg all right? He’d hurt his leg.

…Hurt his leg?

When? Why? How?

Hoeun knit his brows faintly and stared at Deokwoo. Deokwoo kept speaking in a muffled voice. Hoeun couldn’t make out a word. Not just Deokwoo—the people all over the city were all muttering in that same dull sound.

Yet, sunk deeply in the dream, Hoeun did not think it strange. He just smiled and savored the everyday return.

But the pain in his wrist grew worse. Not pain, exactly—heavy. Then, at some point, his legs felt heavy too. Each step became a trial. His heels scraped along the ground.

As Hoeun slowed, Deokwoo went on ahead of him.

‘Deokwoo, wait for me.’

He called to him. But Deokwoo didn’t look back.

‘Deokwoo?’

He called again; Deokwoo didn’t hear him.

‘Deokwoo!’

‘Deokwoo, wait for me! Don’t leave me! Deokwoo!’

Suddenly anxious—no, afraid—Hoeun called with all his might.

‘You know I can’t—can’t be alone, Deokwoo!’

He felt his body turn cold. It was only being left alone—why was he so afraid? Desperately, he called Deokwoo. But Deokwoo, receding endlessly, soon vanished outright—without a trace, as if he had never been there.

Hoeun tried to run to where Deokwoo had disappeared. But his feet grew heavier.

No—that wasn’t it. It wasn’t his feet. It was his wrist. It was so heavy it felt like his hand would tear off his arm.

‘Why—why is it so…’

Only then did Hoeun think to look down. He hadn’t wanted to see—but he could no longer put it off. With a wan face, he looked at his wrist.

There was a man there.

That man. The one he’d tried and failed to save. The one whose face had been eaten by a monster. That man.

Not a monster, and yet, like one, mouth gaped wide, he had Hoeun’s entire hand in his jaws. His limbs dangled limp, dragging furrows along the road where Hoeun had walked.

Terrified, Hoeun shook his hand in a spasm.

‘P-please let go.’

The man bulged his eyes and bit down harder. Hoeun could distinctly feel the blunt teeth gouging his wrist. It hurt. It hurt so much it brought tears to his eyes. At the same time, he was so afraid his whole body shook.

‘Deokwoo… Deokwoo…’

In a frail voice, Hoeun called to Deokwoo. But Deokwoo, long since gone, wasn’t about to appear now. Hoeun looked around, pleading for help.

‘Please… someone…’

Help me. Save me. Get this man off me.

But not a soul was to be seen where moments ago the streets had been thick with people. The city was empty. On the broad road, there were only Hoeun and the man.

‘Ah…’

Heavy despair crushed him. With that weight, and the added weight of the man, his body began to sink toward the ground. The earth rose; the buildings shot up into the sky.

Soon Hoeun was buried deep in the ground. Below the surface stretched unending darkness. It cinched tight around his throat. The man biting his wrist rolled his eyes white and glared at Hoeun.

Why didn’t you save me.

Why did I have to die.

Come with me.

Come with me.

Let’s go into a monster’s mouth.

Let’s be chewed up together.

Crunch, crunch, kak, kak, crack, crk.

The man imitated, in a human voice, the sound of his own head being chewed. Hoeun stared at him, dazed. He couldn’t tear his eyes away.

The two of them sank, without end, toward the ground, into the dark.

Having lost all hope, Hoeun let his strength go. His knees buckled; his body pitched down.

Then, in that instant.

Suddenly his waist lifted. Something was hauling him up.

‘Uh…’

At the sudden ascent, the man who had been clamped onto his wrist let go, unable to bear his own weight. His limbs, losing their purchase, flapped like flags.

Where are you going!

Where do you think you’re going!

Where are you going, leaving me behind!

Leaving the man’s scream-like roar behind, Hoeun rose to the surface at last. Even then, he kept rising—past buildings, to their rooftops, and in the end into the very sky. And at the moment he touched the end of the sky—

“Hah—”

Hoeun woke from sleep. At the same moment, he locked eyes with someone. Hair falling long to the eyes, black pupils.

“G—General?”

It was Taemuk. Taemuk was holding Hoeun. No—gripping the fabric at his chest in a great fist, to be precise—lifting him.

Without a thought for what this was, Hoeun sprang and wrapped his arms around Taemuk’s neck. Tightly, with all his strength. Then he pressed his cheek to Taemuk’s ear.

“General!”

“You—”

Taemuk, taken aback, shifted to support Hoeun by the buttocks—holding him like a child.

“General…”

Hoeun kept calling him, hugging him, rubbing his face against him, tightening his arms. His eyes screwed shut, creased with fine lines. He looked just like a whining child.