Chapter 1: Prologue
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1: Prologue
Morning sunlight streamed through the window, lighting up the bed.
Woken by the chirping of birds greeting the sun, I stretched and immediately sat up.
“Ughh…”
I wanted nothing more than to lie back down and get some more sleep, but things would get complicated if my teacher woke up before I did.
After lightly washing my face with water I’d set out earlier, I opened the window. Cool air filled the room.
Having shaken off the last of my sleepiness, I headed straight for the kitchen. I took a flame from the hearth—which burned 365 days a year—and began to fry eggs and bacon.
When I decided they were cooked enough, I moved the food to a plate, then took some bread from a drawer to arrange beside it.
‘Now, I just have to wake my teacher…’
This was the most crucial part of the morning—a moment where letting my guard down could spell disaster.
I took a deep breath and slowly entered my teacher's room.
“Teacher?”
“Mmm…”
Not a sliver of light entered the curtained room. The floorboards creaked as I approached the window and drew the curtains.
Bright sunlight immediately flooded the room. My teacher, a self-proclaimed creature of darkness, pulled the blanket over her head and began to groan as if the sun were poison to her.
“Time to get up.”
“Just a little longer…”
“No way. You were the one who asked me to wake you up early.”
I forcefully snatched the blanket away. Only after I'd taken it did I realize that this, too, was part of her scheme.
If I’d thought about it for a moment, there was no way a witch like her would let an ordinary person like me snatch her blanket away…
“…Teacher, what’s with that getup?”
“Ehehe…”
When I pulled back the blanket, a beautiful woman in a slip was revealed. Her silver hair shimmered so brightly it was dazzling, and her blue eyes were like the sky itself.
She had looks and a figure that no ordinary idol or movie star could ever hope to match. She was blatantly displaying her beauty.
In a house where a man and woman live together, something like this might spark certain ideas, but when the difference between us is this overwhelming, any such thoughts completely vanish.
“Nnngh— Is breakfast ready?”
“Yes. You just need to bring yourself.”
“Just bring myself, you say?”
As she stretched, showing off her already ample chest, she looked at me with a mischievous, knowing smile.
I was quite used to this kind of teasing, so when I simply ignored her, she pouted and stretched her arms out wide.
“Carry me.”
“Yes, yes, Teacher.”
I lifted the woman, who seemed to have no intention of ever leaving the bed, into my arms and carried her straight to the dining table.
She smelled the freshly cooked bacon and broke into a smile brighter than the sun.
“Thanks for the food, Yohan!”
“Enjoy your meal, Teacher.”
After watching her pick up her fork first, I belatedly started to eat my own bacon.
Just another day in the quiet witch's forest, inhabited by only the two of us.
Stranded
God, please grant me love.
Please, give me someone who can love even a person like me.
*
I was stranded in the mountains.
In the 21st century, where you can get Wi-Fi even on a deserted island.
It was something I'd never even imagined.
And that unimaginable thing was happening to me right now.
“Where the hell am I?”
I muttered in an annoyed voice, shoving the smartphone—which only displayed a "No Service" warning—irritably into my pocket.
I was sure I'd been following the mountain trail, but at some point, the path just disappeared. I'd heard that getting lost in the mountains was as good as being dead, but…
‘Shit, am I fucked?’
I didn't hold out any hope for a rescue team. I hadn't told a single soul I was coming to this mountain today.
I'd just come for a light hike to clear my head. I never dreamed it would turn into this.
“Should I just head down for now…?”
They say when you're stranded in the mountains, you should stay put. Wandering around when you're lost can get you killed.
But that only works if you're sure someone is coming to rescue you, and I hadn't seen a shadow of another person for an hour.
My smartphone was dead, and there was no hope of anyone coming for me.
“Ah, screw it.”
I decided to go down. Using the compass app on my phone, I got a rough sense of direction and started heading south blindly.
Not even thirty minutes later, I regretted that decision.
“Haa, shit—damn, why is it so steep…?”
Even though I was going downhill, sweat was pouring off me. I grabbed the collar of my shirt to wipe away the sweat, and when that wasn't enough, I chugged the bottled water I'd bought before the climb.
Maybe because I'd been drinking it freely before getting lost, the bottle was less than half full.
‘Am I really going to die out here?’
Just as I was thinking that, I spotted a cabin in the distance. Finding a trace of civilization, I felt an indescribable sense of relief and sprinted toward it.
A cabin made of whole logs. Strange taste for the 21st century, I thought as I knocked cautiously on the door.
“Hello? Is anyone there—!”
Knock, knock! Bang, bang—!
In my haste, I knocked hard enough to break the door, but there was no response from inside. I carefully tried the doorknob, but the locked door wouldn't open.
Fucked. Then again, it's not like anyone would actually live in a place like this. Unless they were some kind of naturalist...
“Who is it?”
Just as I'd given up and slumped over, a delicate voice came from behind me. I spun around quickly and met the eyes of a woman holding a basket full of herbs.
She was wearing a robe with the hood pulled up, so I couldn't see her face, but judging by the chest protruding from the robe and her voice, she had to be a woman.
“Oh! Hello! It's nice to meet you!”
“…”
“The thing is, uh—I'm stranded. Could I possibly borrow your phone?”
“Stranded? Here?”
The woman asked back, her voice full of disbelief. I guess it was hard to believe someone could suddenly get stranded on a mountain that wasn't even that big.
Embarrassing as it was, it was the truth. When I nodded, she tilted her head, muttering that it was impossible.
“That can't be right… And a phone? We don't have anything like that here.”
“…You don't have a phone?”
“Nope.”
At her words, I let out a hollow laugh and stared at her. Even orphans in an orphanage or welfare recipients who don't earn a penny have smartphones.
But she lives alone in the mountains and doesn't have a phone? Is she joking? Or is she really living out here with some kind of naturalist concept?
Either way, it had nothing to do with me.
“Th-then… could you tell me which way to go to get to the city?”
“…Just go straight down that way.”
“Ah, this way? Thank you.”
I bowed my head to her in thanks and quickly headed in the direction she'd pointed. I didn't want to stick around that strange, naturalist-concept woman any longer.
I tried to ignore the sound of her muttering something under her breath behind me as I walked toward the city.
I don't know how long I walked, but just as the sun was beginning to set, I arrived at a village.
And upon arriving, I froze, staring intently at the village.
‘…What is this, some kind of naturalist village?’
The village was excessively underdeveloped. It wasn't on the level of the tiled-roof houses you might see in the countryside; these houses were built with materials that looked like they wouldn't even be used in the Joseon Dynasty.
I'd only ever seen houses like these in games. In RPGs with a medieval fantasy setting.
As I cautiously entered the village, two strong men who had been slacking off near the entrance, yawning widely, approached me.
“Hey, you! Who are you?!”
“I…”
The two men looked me up and down, then asked with stiff expressions.
“You—no. Who are you, sir?”
“…I was hiking and got lost.”
“…Hiking? Here?”
“Yes.”
Just like the woman before, they looked at me as if I were strange. What, is this private property or something?
The two men exchanged glances, then, realizing this wasn't for them to decide, they conferred.
“Should we take him to the Village Chief first?”
“Let's. Follow us.”
“Ah, okay.”
I followed the two men into the village. But the word "Village Chief" echoed in my mind.
Village Chief? Not Village Head?
“…What? Stranded in the mountains?”
“That's what he says…”
A shabby old man who came out of the house the two men led me to glared upon hearing the story. His gaze, which scanned me up and down as if it were impossible, was repulsive.
Before long, however, he began to speak in a gentle tone, like a benevolent grandfather.
“Ho ho, I am the chief of this village. May I ask your name?”
“…My name is Yohan. I was stranded in the mountains—”
“You mean in that mountain just outside the village?”
The chief let out a gasp of surprise. When I tilted my head and asked why, he told me that the mountain I'd just passed through was teeming with wild beasts.
Things like bears and mountain wolves that could easily tear a human apart… Hearing that, I felt a chill run down my spine.
‘Shit… I almost died…’
Just as I was getting goosebumps at the absurd idea of wild beasts in the 21st century, the chief's eyes gleamed as he looked down at me.
It was as if he were licking my entire body with his eyes.
“By the way, seeing as you've come all this way, you must have had someone with you.”
“Someone with me? No.”
“…But there are no other villages around here. You came alone?”
“Yes. I just came out for a light walk, so I didn't tell anyone.”
“…Is that so.”
Hearing my words, the chief suddenly clamped his mouth shut and began to grin slyly. An inexplicable sense of dread began to rise in me, and the chief suddenly dropped his formal tone.
“So, to sum up what you're saying—you came from over that mountain, and no one knows you're here… Am I right?”
“Yes, well…”
Only after saying that did I realize the source of my unknown anxiety. Doesn't it happen sometimes, even in 21st-century Korea? People with no connections getting kidnapped and used as slaves for life?
In a village like this, with no phones, let alone any trace of modern civilization, something you'd only see on the news could actually happen.
And sure enough, as if to prove my intuition right, the chief spoke.
“You said your name was Yohan? I don't care about that. From now on, your name is Charles.”
The chief grinned from ear to ear.
It was a smile so demonic, only a human could make it.
A month passed since I arrived in the village.
“Fuck, fuuuck…”
“Shut up.”
“Yes, yes…”
In that one month, I learned firsthand what hell was. Over 18 hours of physical labor a day, a mixed gruel that even pigs would refuse, and villagers who toyed with me whenever they were bored.
What was even more fucked up was that I was starting to get used to this fucked-up life.
‘Shit, fucking shit…’
There is no freedom here. No abundance.
For me, who had lived in the free and abundant 21st century, there could be no hell more terrible than this.
My only pleasure was imagining beating every last villager to death every night. If I didn't even have that, I would have killed myself long ago.
And then, a villager came running from the distance.
“Ch-Chief—!”
“What is it?”
“B-big trouble! Big trouble!”
The villager, who had run all the way from the village entrance, gasped for breath as he mumbled something incoherently.
After hearing his words, the chief turned to me with a hardened expression. Something fucked up was clearly happening again.
To avoid drawing any aggro, I averted my gaze and focused on swinging my hoe. I'm working hard—so don't mess with me. That was the appeal.
Crack—!
‘Ah, shit…’
As I was swinging it so diligently, the hoe handle snapped in two. It wasn't my fault. Farm implements are consumables, and the one I'd been given was already rotting away.
But since these villagers were the type to get angry and violent over even such obvious things, I turned back to the chief, trembling slightly.
“Uh, Chief…”
“Hm? Ah—the tool broke.”
“Yes, I'm sorr—”
“Hmm—we've just run out of farm tools anyway… Can't be helped. That's enough for today. Go get some rest.”
It was the first time I'd heard such a thing in over a month of work. The same chief who was always trying to find more work for me to do was telling me to rest?
But if I hesitated or wavered here, the chief might change his mind.
“Th-thank you!”
I quickly bowed my head in thanks, gathered the tools, put them in the shed, and headed for my room in the chief's house.
Though calling it a room was a stretch; it was just a tiny, one-room shack infested with fleas, rats, and bugs.
That night, the chief and his wife showed me an unusual amount of hospitality.
A bathtub was filled with hot water—something I hadn't seen in a month—and sprinkled with additives to wash away the grime and smell from my body.
When I finished bathing and returned, a meat soup—something even the chief's family rarely ate—was prepared.
I could taste a hint of salt. That meant they hadn't just boiled meat; they'd added salt. In this mountain village, where salt was literally worth its weight in gold, it was an unbelievable gesture.
‘It doesn't seem like they're fattening me up to eat me…’
If they were cannibals, they would have eaten me when I first arrived, not now that I've lost all my excess fat.
My head knew they weren't trying to kill me, but my body began to tremble with anxiety. As I ate the meat soup with a shaking hand, the chief spoke.
“Yohan.”
The chief called me by my name. My name, which I hadn't heard once in a month. Trembling, wondering what on earth he wanted, I answered.
“Yes? What is it…?”
“I believe I've treated you well this past month.”
Starting with such an ominous tone, it had to be something serious. What could it be? Could the police have come all this way to find me? Finally?
But I couldn't rejoice. If I showed any sign of happiness, the chief might kill me and bury me on the spot. I just nodded silently.
Seeing me nod, the chief wore a satisfied expression.
“You'll have to go somewhere for me.”
“…Where?”
“You said you were stranded up on that mountain, didn't you? Then you might have seen it.”
The chief spoke with a look of faint terror, as if recalling a memory he didn't want to.
“The witch's cabin.”