The Human Breeding Farm
Finally, we arrived at the human breeding farm.
Truth be told, I'd pictured some kind of livestock barn, but the exterior looked no different from any ordinary building.
The only notable feature was the complete absence of windows.
Other than that, it simply stood tall like any other structure.
Is it meant to function as a prison?
Thinking about it, a prison made far more sense for confining high-intelligence beings like humans. An ordinary barn would be too flimsy—someone could easily call for help or slip away the moment the guards looked elsewhere.
A low wall surrounded the facility. It wasn't there to keep livestock from escaping, but rather to give the impression that "this is government property."
The resemblance to our own society was chilling.
Past the wall, four different doors were set into the building. According to the dwarves' information, every visitor had to use the door corresponding to their rank: one each for priests, rulers, laborers, and meat.
"Let's go!"
Baengnae led the zombies toward the meat door with an air of authority. It was a strategic choice. Among the four doors, which one offered the highest chance of meeting Altos? Obviously the priests' door. If a dwarf of higher rank than the mayor himself had arrived, wouldn't he come running barefoot to greet them?
But we weren't priests. We couldn't even fake it—the dwarven priests were all taller than me on average. So the next best option was the meat door. Given the value of human flesh, this route gave us the best shot at meeting the highest-ranking official.
Clack-clack-clack—
As we approached, the meat door rose with the sound of chains, like a warehouse shutter. From inside, a 1.3-meter-tall district ruler dwarf emerged with several guards. He yawned and frowned.
"Yawn… Who are you, showing up at this hour…?"
He didn't seem hostile. Even this low-ranking noble had bought into our "spoiled illegitimate child" act.
Baengnae looked down at him from atop her dog and said, "I'm Baengnae. Brought some meat."
She pointed at me. The dwarf tilted his head, then shifted his gaze to me. His eyes slowly widened. He looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"A human…? How? This isn't invasion season."
He walked over and poked my ribs, checking if I was real. My size seemed to make him a little wary, but when he spotted the handcuffs on my wrists, he grinned. Then he began a thorough quality inspection—squeezing my forearms, drawing a small amount of blood with a needle, and tasting it. Our eyes met.
Slurp—
"Top grade! But this one's still got some fight left in him."
He started kicking my shins repeatedly.
Should I kill him?
I swallowed my rage and closed my eyes. If I smashed another dwarf's head here, Baengnae would never let me hear the end of it.
Seeing how docile I was, the dwarf chuckled and measured my body with a tape measure. Watching this, Baengnae got to the point.
"Wanna see the mayor."
"The mayor? Right… This kind of haul definitely deserves his attention. But… right now, hmm…"
He rolled his eyes.
"Follow me for now. We'll store the meat. I'll pass the word along, but I don't know when he'll come."
He scribbled something on a piece of paper, handed it to a guard, and pointed upstairs. The mayor was apparently on the upper floor.
We left the zombies waiting outside and walked down the corridor to store the human meat in the breeding farm. The noble dwarf seemed fascinated by our presence and bombarded us with questions.
"By the way, where'd you catch him? This isn't invasion season. We haven't had any escapees. Did you steal him from another city?"
But Baengnae was firm.
"I'll tell the mayor."
As we walked through the meaningless exchange, I suddenly stopped in my tracks at the sight of the wall.
What I'd only imagined was actually here.
Clink—
The sound of stone handcuffs being pulled came from somewhere. The dwarf sneered.
"Kiki. The human's surprised. Kiki. Funny."
Beyond the massive glass wall embedded in the stone, creatures that looked human were being raised. Or perhaps "cultivated" was the better word. Their limbs were bound and fixed in place. Food was supplied through hoses in their mouths, while other hoses handled waste below. They were crammed into narrow spaces like gallery paintings or sculptures, kept alive by force.
And the clothes they wore. If there were many different worlds where humans lived, there would naturally be many different kinds of clothing. But still—
[Buk Seoul University, Department of Physics]
No matter how different the world, it made no sense for a Buk Seoul University physics department varsity jacket to exist here.
This is…
Have you ever been abroad? Culture has a strange way of revealing itself even without words—an atmosphere you can sense from a single glance or gesture. That man was clearly from the same time and space as me.
There really were humans here…? Then is he a user too? Even if he is, what the hell is this…?
A brief wave of panic hit me. I'd assumed the human breeding farm was just some kind of role-play setting. Even if humans existed here, I'd thought they would be fictional…
At that moment, the dwarf slammed the back of my head hard.
Thud—crash!
My head smashed into the glass. He kept pressing my skull against it, forcing me to look inside.
"Kiki. You'll end up just like that. Kikikiki."
Baengnae asked, "How many human meats are there?"
"Humans? Hmm… Including the one you brought, seventeen?"
"Got it."
Thud—
Baengnae's thorn sword—when had she drawn it?—pierced straight through the back of his head. The tip emerged from his right eye socket. Various fluids and liquids that made up the eyeball soaked his noble garments.
"Ki…?"
At the same moment, the zombie dogs lunged at the guards and turned them into corpses. Baengnae sheathed her sword and hopped down from her dog.
"Uh… Baengnae, what about the plan?"
If we'd just waited, we might have met the mayor. But Baengnae had gone and caused an incident.
Baengnae grinned. "Hehe, I caused an accident."
"…"
Looking at her dumb face somehow calmed me down a little. She'd probably disliked how the dwarf kept treating me roughly while I was distracted.
Whew… That wasn't like me.
"Yeah, role-play ends here. You remember the mayor's in this building, right? Let's go cause some chaos."
"Got it."
Of course, we had to free the captives first. I had questions that needed answering.
Bang! Bang! Crack—thud—
Using the Golem Ring, I turned the handcuffs back into gauntlets and smashed the glass walls to pieces. Then I yanked out the hoses connected to the man who looked like a college student. He screamed in pain the moment they came free, but gratitude filled his eyes once he was liberated.
"Th-thank… cough. Thank you. Urgh."
Familiar Korean. I couldn't remember the last time I'd heard my mother tongue spoken so fluently outside of a phone screen. It felt like my long-dead humanity and social instincts were slowly crawling back to life.
"Is there anywhere else that hurts?"
The man's voice was weak and faint.
"No… I think I'm okay. Kh."
"We need to free the others first, so I'll ask one urgent question. Are you a user?"
"User…? What's that? Like a game user or something?"
"No, never mind. That's enough. Just rest for now. We can talk more later."
I left the college student and broke the other glass walls, freeing people the same way. But there were only thirteen people in the space.
I counted the numbers and muttered, "He said sixteen besides me."
Three were missing. Then a woman pointed in a trembling voice toward a certain direction.
"Over there… that way…"
In the direction she indicated, a door blended perfectly with the wall. If you didn't already know it was there, you'd never notice the passage.
It was strange that they'd kept three people separate. I asked the woman, half-expecting the worst.
"What's in there?"
The college student answered instead.
"It's… the slaughterhouse."
Damn it…
I approached the door and pulled. It was locked. I kicked the area around the handle with all my strength.
Bang—
The lock shattered and the door swung open. Beyond it was a kitchen. It looked completely ordinary—white tables, ovens, burners, knives, and various utensils. It was spotlessly clean.
Before entering, I asked, "When were the people taken in there?"
"I'm not sure exactly… but based on the feeding cycle, it was probably about two days ago."
Shit…
I had to think realistically. I wanted to return the bodies to their families if possible, but the chances of the corpses still existing were slim. No—the meat was still here. When the dwarf said seventeen, he was including all the human flesh that hadn't been fully consumed yet.
But there's no way to tell it apart from the other meat…
Swallowing the curses rising in my throat, I called the survivors over. What couldn't be done, couldn't be done. But the living had to keep living, so I couldn't waste more time searching for the dead.
I gathered them and spoke. "Everyone, we have a serious problem. I've infiltrated this building secretly. That means the dwarves could notice something's wrong and swarm us at any moment. We need to get you back to Earth before that happens."
They responded with nonsense.
"S-so this really isn't Earth, huh? I knew it! I knew it!"
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
"W-we're all gonna die…! All of us!"
I understood. From what they'd said, these people had been imprisoned here for nearly ten days. But panic wouldn't help anyone.
I clashed my gauntlets together to make a sound.
Thud—thud—
"Alright, focus. If you don't want to die. We don't have time for panic. Getting killed by the same human would at least be better than getting eaten by dwarves, right? So if anyone keeps panicking, I'll have to make sure they get that honorable death. For everyone's sake."
"Right! Then I'm Baengnae's!"
I pushed Baengnae back.
"Assuming you all understand. What's most important right now? Getting back to Earth. If any of you remember how you got here, please raise your hand."
One man raised his hand slightly. I pointed at him to speak.
"I don't know how we got here, but I remember we never left this building. I was watching a movie and practicing memorizing sounds with my eyes closed—"
"Enough. I don't need the rest."
He wasn't an explanation freak. In extreme situations, it was natural for the useless to be discarded first. He was just trying to prove he was competent. But I didn't have the luxury to analyze their psychology one by one.
"Thanks for the information. From what I saw outside, this building only has five floors. If we go up floor by floor, we might find something. Let's move."
A man who'd been huddled in the corner suddenly spoke without permission.
"C-can we really afford to take it this easy?"
I suppressed the urge to slap him. It was inevitable that at least one idiot without any alternatives would say something pointless. They were mentally fragile, so I had to be understanding.
I summarized it simply. "You don't know this, but by now, hell's probably broken loose outside. My forces are dying to save you. Don't say useless things without offering alternatives. I'll leave you behind."
I pointed at the kitchen. From the way some of them were acting, if I kept spoon-feeding them, they'd cling to me endlessly. This was the time to foster independence.
"A single dwarf is something a weapon-wielding adult human can handle. Pick up weapons. It might not be enough payback, but don't you want to smash a few of their heads yourselves before you go home and sleep soundly? Go on."
Surprisingly, the first to move was the woman who'd been trembling earlier. She returned holding a pot and a kitchen knife.
She looked at me and said, "My little brother. They… that kid… I'm going to kill them. I… I will!"
I just nodded once instead of answering. This was perfect. Right now, it was better to let anger fuel their movement.
The others each picked up utensils that had been used to cook humans—tools that might have been used on them. I looked them over and said, "Let's go."
To preserve whatever humanity and social instincts I had left, I'd picked up these thirteen burdens.
Honestly, I was already extremely uncomfortable.