Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: How to Survive in a Strange Place
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"Ugh...."
'Where... am I....'
My consciousness returned bit by bit at the sound of my own groan echoing in my ears.
'Heaven? Hell? Ahh, I don't want to open my eyes.'
Considering all the misdeeds I'd committed in the past, the odds leaned 0.1% more toward hell than heaven, so I didn't want to check.
The only filial thing I'd ever done for my parents since birth was the 100-million-won cruise trip they'd sent me on this time.
Beyond that, there was the kindergarten runaway incident, the elementary school brawl, the middle school porn scandal, and once I hit high school, the field trip disappearance followed by my near-death collapse—I had no defense even with ten mouths.
And that wasn't all.
The dirty thoughts I'd harbored toward countless women, and the prank I pulled on my master at the end... a hundred lashes and an endless 365-day hell course were mandatory.
'Why is this so soft? And that fresh grassy scent?'
I'd been sighing deeply, afraid to open my eyes lest yakshas come charging in, when various synesthetic sensations flooded my mind.
It was hard to believe this was hell, with its eternal sulfur fires burning without worry of the heating running out.
'No way... heaven?'
The hot stab of the first knife still lingered in my gut.
The thought suddenly struck me that it might be heaven, not hell.
"He's still not up?"
"Shh, he's a hurt mister."
"Hurt my ass! Hmph! He even used up our village's precious potion!"
"Deron, don't say that. Dad said we have to pity those even more unfortunate than us to be embraced in the arms of the merciful goddess Neran after death."
"No way! Deron wants to eat a full belly and play today rather than be happy after dying!"
'What... what is this? What's going on?'
Amid recovering my senses, unfamiliar words rang out crystal clear.
Words I'd never heard on Earth were perfectly translated in my head, as if an auto-translator had kicked in.
"Deron, is that how Dad and Sis taught you? Everyone's struggling, not just you! How can you... you...."
A woman with a clear, beautiful voice trailed off, unable to continue.
"S-Se-Secil Sis, sorry. I just... sob sob."
When the woman called Cecil faltered, the bratty boy apologized through tears.
'Kid's got no manners, but he's well-raised. Wait, isn't this about me?'
I'd been half-listening, but they referred to me—the one who'd eaten their precious village potion—as more pitiful than themselves.
My eyes snapped open.
"Gasp!"
And a scream burst out.
"Ack!"
"Uwaaak!"
It wasn't just me.
My scream startled the two, and their shrieks filled the unfamiliar log cabin.
'Where is this place! Uwaaaah! Why the hell am I lying here!'
The tidy interior reeked of grinding poverty at a glance.
The log cabin, less than ten pyeong, was small enough to take in at once without walls.
A hearth and a few large pots marked the kitchen area, while beast hides and a few odds and ends hung on the walls.
And there: a girl about my age and a little kid around ten.
We stood screaming, staring at each other with wide eyes, frozen in place.
"Uwaaaah! H-He's up! The pervy panties bro is up!"
Clatter.
Before I could say a word, the kid bolted out the wooden door yelling about pervy panties.
"H-Hi...."
Even amid the chaos, I pulled myself together and waved at the fairly cute blonde girl.
"....."
But she stared back in horror, like she'd seen a ghost.
Clatter!
While my mouth hung open in shock, the log door flew open roughly.
"Huff!"
"H-Heavens, he's awake."
"The potion must really work well."
Suddenly, several Western-looking men and women crowded into the cramped room.
Dressed in rough clothes straight out of a medieval movie, they muttered among themselves as they looked at me.
"H-Hello?"
I wasn't sure what was going on, but it was clearly tied to my survival.
I got up and greeted them.
Slurp.
"Eh?"
"Oh! Oh my!"
'Ugh!'
But amid the aunties' screams, I plopped back down.
Shockingly, all I had on under the blanket was a bizarre loincloth of rough fabric I'd never seen before.
'Where the hell is this! Mom! Dad!!!!'
I pulled the blanket up to my chin and desperately called for my parents.
Like the saying that you become a filial son in the army, I always turned filial in unfamiliar places.
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"So... this is Luna Village in Piyor Viscount Territory of the Dafis Kingdom... right....?"
I confirmed again in a voice I couldn't help trembling.
"Sigh, young friend, you took quite the hit to the head. I'll say it once more: I don't know where you're from, but Yans found you collapsed on the beach and brought you here. This is Luna Village in Piyor Viscount Territory of the Dafis Kingdom on the southern continent. And I'm Village Chief Abes. Sigh!"
"....."
Village Chief Abes explained slowly, word by word, like teaching a kindergartener.
After several repetitions, the chief—with his missing front tooth—let out a long, weary breath.
'G-Good lord! Why am I here! Uwaaaah!'
I couldn't scream, but the absurdity left me reeling.
'WHY, WHAT, WHERE....'
Countless questions tore through my chest.
I remembered getting stabbed by the Triad thug, my master's disciple.
But nothing after that. Words like kingdom and viscount territory were foreign to me.
'M-Master, you!! Kuuh!!'
And all those questions converged on one person.
The culprit who'd turned my life into Alice in Wonderland.
The 200-year-old mage Idal.
'Damn it, so this bracelet was the key to dimension travel?'
In a world where rice had become cooked meal, begging it to turn back to raw rice wouldn't change reality.
Even in my daze, the silver bracelet on my left wrist screamed "master's doing."
The inscription "Connector of time and time, space and space" finally made sense.
"Yans."
"Yes, Village Chief."
"This friend still seems out of it, so take good care of him. I'm swamped with taxes... sigh!"
"S-Sorry, Village Chief. This is all because of me...."
Yans, the burly bearded man in his late forties, scratched his head and bowed repeatedly to the chief.
"No need. Since when has Luna Village been stingy with kindness? It's a shame about the potion... but what can we do? It's the will of the gods."
Like a saint, Village Chief Abes nodded, invoking divine will.
"Let's go."
"Huh?"
With that, Yans grabbed my shoulder and hauled me up.
According to the chief, this Yans guy in his late forties was my lifesaver.
"Dinner time. Time to eat."
"D-Dinner?"
Grrrowl.
At the word "dinner," my stomach roared fiercely, announcing it was alive.
'If you're sending me off, at least do it right—why the beach! I could've drowned! Grahhh!'
I'd known my master lived without a plan, but I never realized he was this irresponsible.
'I'll get back no matter what! To my paradise! My home, South Korea! Grahhh!'
I swallowed my wail.
Dragged by Yans's thick arm out of the chief's house, I gritted my teeth and vowed.
To definitely return to Earth from this absurd world!
And to repay today's grudge in full.
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'T-This is dinner?'
In the rough wooden bowl before me floated a few small potatoes in watery soup.
And on the table: a black hunk of barley bread that clanged like a rock—you couldn't tell bread from stone.
"Wow! Why so many potatoes today?"
'What the— what's with this heartbreaking stench of utter poverty?'
When the kid Deron's exclamation rang true, a thudding shock hit me.
Until I woke, I'd feasted on top-tier seafood and gourmet meals by master chefs, yet now this unfamiliar pauper's fare appeared.
"Eat up. It's not much...."
Yans, whose face was beard enough to shame a bandit, looked apologetic.
"N-No, it's fine. Haha! These look heartier and tastier than the potatoes I eat at home."
They were the gracious people who'd saved me despite my master's irresponsibility.
Throwing a fit over side dishes would make me less than a dog.
'Let's try it.'
My stomach was rioting, so I ladled a big scoop of potato like a madman and shoved it in.
"Hoh! Delicious!"
'How does it taste like this!'
It looked like watery soup with a few potato chunks.
Yet an exquisite flavor clung perfectly to my tongue.
"D-Delicious?"
The blonde girl called Cecil asked with expectant eyes.
"Haha, it tastes just like my parents' cooking. Really delicious!"
'She's got serious potential to be a top chef.'
I peered into the bowl again. Still just potatoes and a few veggie bits in soup.
"Hehe, even the pervy bro fell for Sis's cooking? Cecil Sis is the acknowledged chef of all Luna Village."
The kid grinned, praising his sister.
'But why keeps calling me pervy?'
"Yans, why does Deron keep calling me a pervert? Did I do something before waking up?"
"Uh, w-well... heh heh."
Yans stammered instead of answering straight.
'Why's Cecil's face so red?'
When Yans couldn't reply, I turned to Cecil, who stared down with her face beet-red.
"Wow! Bro's so shameless! How can you ask that so boldly?"
'What?'
Deron was the only one left to answer honestly.
"You don't remember? The panties you were wearing?"
"P-Panties?"
It meant underwear, but my auto-translated brain rendered it as "panties."
'My clothes... no way, the floral shorts?'
"Hmph! How can a guy—not even a girl—wear such lewd floral panties? When Dad carried you in, covered in blood, those floral panties nearly kept you out of the village! Everyone said you were a shipwrecked pervert pirate!"
'B-Bloody floral panties....'
My head rang.
In the 21st century, what everyone called shorts was mistaken here for panties.
No wonder—Cecil wore a long skirt despite the heat.
'Pervy... yeah, guilty. Sigh!'
Kids' eyes see true. If Deron judged me pervy, the whole village might too.
'And Cecil saw everything?'
Highly likely.
Yans had carried me into this very house.
And its residents: Yans, Cecil, and little Deron.
Plus, my current outfit: rough-fabric underwear and one oversized garment clearly Yans's.
'Ugh!'
The thought made me scream inwardly.
"Ahem, the soup's getting cold. Let's eat."
The table grew awkward.
Yans dunked his bread in soup and changed the subject to eating.
'But isn't this too much? Seaside village, and not even an anchovy in sight?'
Even in famine, coastal folk stay plump, yet no fish head graced this table.
Chewing the hard barley bread, I wondered if Yans was a Scrooge-level miser.
'And I have to sleep here tonight?'
Cecil ate silently, head down.
Her sun-kissed skin kept catching my eye.
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Crunch.
"Ugh...."
'Ow, my bones.'
I'd only known the plush mattresses from Neiss's "bed is science" ads.
Now, under Cecil and Deron's bed, I lay on a thin blanket atop hard dirt.
After groaning all night, I woke to morning.
My unadapted bones cracked and popped with refreshing screams.
'Why's everyone up so early?'
The dim light through the open wooden window showed dawn breaking, yet Cecil and Yans had slipped out quietly before I woke.
I knew they meant not to disturb me, but my sensitive ears caught it.
"M-Mom~ Mom!"
Then, the kid Deron—who'd spent the long night jealously nestled in Cecil's arms—bolted up calling for Mom.
"Uwaaaang! Mommmmyyyy!"
And wailed pitifully.
'Tch.....'
The desperate cry for Mom suddenly recalled my own childhood.
In my hazy early memories, waking to find Mom—not always by my side—crushed my world.
I'd wailed like that kid, then crawled around the house till I found her.
Snug in Dad's arms, cowardly sleeping through it all.
"Deron, wake up. It's me. Kaiyer bro."
After dinner, when Yans finally asked my name, I'd said Kang Hyuk. He nodded and pronounced it Kaiyer.
Thus, my name became Kaiyer, not Kang Hyuk.
"Bro? Waaah! Bro! Find Mom for me! Mom! Pleeease!"
I hugged him, and he sobbed for Mom.
'But no auntie around.'
"Deron, where's Mom? Tell me so I can find her."
"R-Really? Bro will find Mom?"
A cute blonde kid, bratty streak aside.
"Of course! Bro here's super strong!"
"Wow! So you're a knight?"
"N-No, not a knight...."
"Not a knight, then a mage?"
Deron's curious eyes shifted from Mom like it'd been nothing.
"Y-Yeah. Bro's a mage. Trust only me. I'll find Mom with magic."
'Smart kid, saw right through me.'
I admired how he'd(?) pierced my mage identity.
And pictured him gazing at me, the mage, with respect.
"Pfft, whatever. Think I'm some gullible kid fooled by lies? Done now. Let go— you stink of sweat."
But the unexpected barrage hit my ears.
"Huh?"
Deron's sudden flip left me speechless.
"Ahh, refreshing. Hehe. What to play today?"
He wriggled free and toddled out.
The innocent lamb seeking Mom was gone, replaced by the neighborhood demon.
'D-Damn it! Grahhh!'
"Kaiyer bro!"
The little devil Deron called as he headed out.
"What!"
"Thanks. Hehe."
Turning instinctively, I caught the kid's smile.
He wiped tears with his sleeve, left a heartwarming grin, and dashed outside.
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"Haaah, feels good!"
The crisp morning air—feeling like a September dawn in Korea—filled my lungs as I stepped out.
'Picture-perfect.'
Too chaotic last night at dusk to notice the village.
But morning revealed a peaceful pastoral scene straight from a painting.
Cotton clouds floated lazily toward the sea; distant waves beyond the village soothed like oxygen for the ill; and the sizable peaks behind cradled vital energy.
'Back to mountains, facing water! Prime feng shui spot.'
The village crammed over a hundred log houses.
Yans's home sat higher, giving a full view.
'Like a mini fortress.'
Sea, mountains, broad fields—and ringed by logs, mud, stones for defense.
Roughly three meters high, solid against most attacks.
'Huh? What's with those folks?'
Like the early bird gets the worm, villagers worked fields as the sun rose.
'Why are frail women plowing instead of strong men? No animals? People plowing fields?'
To my 21st-century mechanized eyes, the scene was baffling.
Plenty of people, yet no oxen or horses.
People did the heavy work; men mostly shouldered bows and spears, guarding the perimeter.
'Gotta earn my keep. Feel bad freeloading.'
I wanted to repay the simple folk who'd healed me with their precious potion.
My life was worth more than the heavens.
'Luckily, just a small scar, nothing else.'
I inhaled, checking my mana hall—no issues beyond depleted circles.
'As Master said, mana density incomparable to Earth.'
Not all 4th-circle mages were equal.
Circle size, mana reserves, focus, willpower syncing with ambient mana, spell formula differences—mages ranked by many metrics.
'Prepare for the worst! Who knows when another Triad knife-wielder shows up!'
I shuddered at the hard-learned lesson etched in my flesh.
'But why plow fields ignoring the fine sea? No boats in this fishing village.'
The nearby shore sloped gently—prime for fish, shellfish, more.
Yet no one neared the beach.
'Might as well lend a hand.'
I'd helped Grandpa in the countryside fields as a kid.
Recalling that, I headed to the busy field.
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"Hello!"
Always bold anywhere, I greeted the hardworking villagers loudly.
"Kaiyer, you're up!"
"Oh my, the black-haired lad."
"Still wearing those undies?"
Yans, pulling the plow instead of chatting, acknowledged me; neighborhood ladies gossiped and giggled.
'Sigh, if that's undies, what'd they say about a T-back?'
Curious what they'd make of 21st-century trendy underwear.
"Everyone's busy."
"Busy alright. Tax time's near, harvest's iffy."
"Come on! No slacking—move it! Luna's moon rises in days; finish harvest before then!"
At someone's reply, overseeing Village Chief Abes urged them on.
'Luna's moon? What do moonrise and harvest have to do?'
No clue beyond language and magic knowledge.
'Anyway, Yans looks beat. Other men won't help?'
Strict vigilance from last night dotted everywhere.
Heading to the chief's at dusk, I'd seen ten-plus armed men with torches.
Dozens overall.
Able-bodied men ignored the toiling women, glaring into nearby woods.
Tense as battle.
'Monsters?'
I'd never seen one—curious about fantasy novel/movie beasts.
"Kaiyer, don't just stand—help out."
"Y-Yes? Yes, Village Chief!"
He scolded me for idling while others harvested potatoes busily.
"Yans, let me try."
I stopped sweat-soaked Yans.
"You? Too soon...."
"I look it, but I'm strong. Leave it to me."
"Alright, then. Thanks."
"Yeah, Dad. Take a break."
Cecil, who'd gripped Yans's plow, looked relieved.
'Kind-hearted girl.'
Sixteen, a year younger—fully womanly like Western girls.
"Like this."
Bandit-faced but kind Yans apologetically shouldered the plow on me.
'Gah! H-Heavy!'
Far heavier than expected; newfound respect for Yans.
'No choice.'
Dragging like this, my poor stamina might earn "not even a man" jabs.
Village first impressions already soured by pervy panties fiasco.
As I took Yans's plow, folks paused, eyeing curiously.
'Lighten spell... this one?'
3rd-circle Lighten recalled; I silently formed the formula and incanted.
"Light."
"Hm? What?"
"Nothing. Haha! Lighter than I thought."
"Lighter? Huh, stronger than you look?"
'Than I look....'
At 185cm, 75kg—fit by my lights—yet to Yans, a chicken-plucker weakling.
'Mana to legs too?'
Farming with magic first thing in isekai bugged me, but I couldn't ignore my saviors.
That potion was precious to them; I owed multiples back for conscience.
"Cecil!"
"Yes?"
She replied cautiously, worried eyes on me.
"Grip tight! Hup!"
Lighten spell strong, plow weighed like sneakers.
Like a horse, I charged with a hearty "hup!"
Pababababat.
"Whoa!"
'Hyah, this is why Rudolph runs endlessly.'
First time as beast, I roughly plowed virgin soil.
And the rush instinct surged.
Soft earth underfoot refreshed utterly.