BW C20

Chapter 20

But there was no time to catch a breath. Another monster immediately sprang at Gilsang from behind.

Even as he fought the monsters without pause, Gilsang never strayed far from the boulder where Hoeun hid, as if to guard him. And Hoeun…

“Please, please…”

He only prayed. It was all he could do. He wanted to help Gilsang, but he knew that if he stepped out he would only get in the way. Because of his floundering, Gilsang would only be put in greater danger.

Hoeun clenched his fists tight, held his breath, and followed Gilsang with his eyes alone.

Then, while Gilsang grappled with one monster, another appeared behind him. It spread five humanlike fingers wide and drove the claws at their tips down into Gilsang’s shoulder. Then it began to drag him away.

It happened in an instant. Hoeun had no time to shout a warning.

As massive as a house, the monster was just as strong; it dragged Gilsang easily with one hand. Each time Gilsang’s body struck the uneven rocks, it thudded dully.

“No!”

Terrified, Hoeun thrust his head out from the crack in the rocks to go save Gilsang. But Gilsang shouted, tendons standing out at his neck.

“Young master, stay right there!”

“…”

“I said stay put!”

“…”

Hoeun froze. Fingers that could barely grasp the rock clenched it as he wrestled with himself—then he shoved himself back into the crevice. Tears reddened the corners of his eyes.

The battle raged on. Far and near, soldiers fought monsters. Someone’s screams mixed with the monsters’ cries.

A monster bit into a soldier’s wrist. Another stood gnawing, blankly chewing a hunk of flesh torn from who knew where.

One soldier straddled a monster’s back and stabbed down with a knife over and over. Another, weapon lost, smashed a rock down on a monster’s skull. Yet another limped with a monster’s teeth dangling from his thigh.

Hoeun, neither covering his ears nor closing his eyes, was crushed beneath it all. Then—

“Ugh…”

A red chunk of meat, the size of two fists, washed up at his feet. Hoeun quickly drew back his foot. Not from disgust—but from fear.

He was afraid the flesh might belong to someone he knew. To Gilsang—or the cook who had served him scorched rice water that morning—or else… to Taemuk.

As he bit his lip and swallowed the sob that kept leaking out—

A pitch-black shadow, backlit by the red afterglow, slowly fell over Hoeun’s head. In the suddenly chill crevice, with a faint iron scent pricking his nose, Hoeun went rigid. He swallowed dryly and creaked his head up.

“…”

Right there—at his nose—at his eyes—were teeth. Jagged teeth, slick with red blood. Teeth stinking so foully it seemed his nose would rot. Beyond them, blood-red eyes rolled and scraped. Above them, the leaf-shaped helmet ornament rattled—chrrr, chrrr—like a rattlesnake’s tail.

Kaaaak… kkak…

The monster’s sharp, rasping cry settled over Hoeun’s brow.

“…”

He was so terrified his head trembled, but still he met the monster’s eyes and quietly felt at his waistband, searching for his pistol. It wasn’t on the left or on the right.

Then he remembered. The long stretch of riding had made the pistol uncomfortable; he had put it into the bag at the horse’s flank.

Idiot!

How could he be so stupid!

What fool goes to a battlefield and leaves his weapon behind!

“Haa…”

With a soft groan, Hoeun stared wretchedly at the monster. The teeth were closer than before. Death was that much nearer.

He had steeled himself to die, but hadn’t thought he’d die so soon. Nor that it would be so meaningless.

What would become of his parents, if he died.

His brothers.

Deokwoo.

…Taemuk.

He felt more hollow than afraid. He even had the philosophical thought—had he lived only for this moment.

He saw the monster’s jaws spread—crack—yet he did not close his eyes. He meant to face his death squarely. In a flash, his parents’ faces, and Deokwoo’s, crossed his mind.

Just as the teeth came up to his brow—

Crunch!

A rock the size of a head flew from somewhere and smashed into the monster’s cheek. It struck so hard that several teeth broke; they pattered down—thud, thunk—like hail onto Hoeun’s face and shoulders.

KAAAAK!

As the monster turned with its jaws gaping, enraged—at that instant, a fist moving at tremendous speed crashed into its face. Not a thud—more like a slam.

At the brutal force, the monster’s whole body hurled backward. But the hand that had punched it caught its neck and yanked it back into place. Then the other hand shoved between the helmet and the mouth. And—

Trd-d-d-d-dik.

With a sickening sound, the helmet lifted open like a crab shell. From the gap, blood poured—shhh—down. With it fell shreds of flesh, big and small—splatch, splatch.

“…”

Right below, Hoeun had to take it all—there was no avoiding it. The body chilled with tension warmed with monster blood. The flesh stuck to his cheeks, shoulders, chest was loathsome as worms.

As he stared at the blood that drenched him, disbelieving—thunk. The torn helmet dropped at his feet. The overlapped leaf-like antennae squashed—crunch!

And the monster, with half its face blown away, slid down the rock. Its limp limbs didn’t twitch; with its neck half-cut it had stubbornly lived on, but with its skull cap blown off, it could not.

That death was faster than Hoeun could count to ten in his head. So swift, so sudden. Who on earth could kill a monster so fast—so easily—so brutally.

Wiping his face with his least bloody hand, Hoeun lifted his eyes. The monster’s corpse, sliding, had painted a red trail on the white rock; following that line up with his gaze—

“…”

He saw Taemuk standing there. One foot on a higher rock, standing cocked, he looked down at Hoeun with dry eyes.

“…”

Hoeun stared at him, dumbstruck. Perhaps because Taemuk stood above, perhaps because he was backlit by the afterglow, he looked larger than usual.

Panting raggedly for a while, Hoeun finally opened his mouth.

“Th-thank y—”

But without hearing the thanks, Taemuk vanished, as if he had flown away.

The battle ended only after the red sky turned pitch black. By then, every last white rock was dyed red. With monster corpses sprawled any which way, the once-clear stream had become a pool of blood.

It was a field worthy of the name Jeokudae.

“…”

Turning from the all-red landscape, Hoeun looked to the soldiers gathered and sitting. All groaned with injuries, great and small. Medics hurried among them, treating wounds.

Jeokudae was strong. Among the Daehan Empire’s units, it was no exaggeration to call it the strongest still standing. And yet more had been hurt than he’d expected.

He hadn’t thought Jeokudae would handle monsters “like rabbits,” easily—but even so, the outcome was grim. If Jeokudae looked like this, he could not imagine the other units.

Then Gilsang, lounging against a rock, groaned.

“Ugh…”

Hoeun quickly dropped to his knees before him. Pulling on a bandage he’d gotten from somewhere, he examined Gilsang’s shoulder. The monster’s five fingers were still embedded there. With hands shaking, Hoeun pulled them out one by one.

Five black holes opened in the shoulder. Blood welled and gushed again and again. Seeing it, Hoeun’s lips trembled, and Gilsang gave a short laugh.

“Young master, are you crying?”

“N-no! I’m not.”

He swallowed a sob at once—but his eyes flushed red again. It hurt, as if Gilsang’s injury were his fault. It felt as though his own chest were riddled with holes.

Gritting his teeth, Hoeun did his best to wrap Gilsang’s shoulder. But shoulders are round, with arms attached; the bandage kept slipping.

Hoeun frowned. He himself had no rival when it came to being sick—he was used to fevers and colds—but he had no experience of injuries like this.

In the end, the bandage tangled into a mess. As he struggled to undo it, Gilsang snatched it away.

“I’ll do it.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Hoeun apologized in a shrinking voice.

“Ah, we don’t usually even bother with bandages. Too much trouble.”

All the same, Gilsang’s hands were deft as he wrapped the shoulder. Watching him, Hoeun let out a quiet sigh. How could he be so hopeless at everything.

Swallowing back another sob, he glanced around. There were many wounded—and all were paired up. Embracing, holding hands, even exchanging kisses. It wasn’t hard for Hoeun to understand what those relationships were.