The Black Mage of the Black Mist Forest 4
{The Black Mage of the Black Mist Forest}
Kang Jin-ho's declaration that he had the right to kill them.
Esmi's face drained of color at his words.
She shook her head furiously.
Then, as if unable to bear the weight of those words, her body trembled like a fallen leaf in winter.
"N-No...! K-Killing people...!"
"Why? You think that doesn't make sense?"
Kang Jin-ho gazed at Esmi and spoke coldly.
"Think about it the other way around. If it doesn't make sense for you to kill those bastards, does it make sense for them to kill you?"
"Th-They're... just misunderstanding. If I subdue them without hurting them and explain properly... they'll surely understand. K-Killing people... is wrong...!"
She clamped both hands over her mouth as she said it.
Killing a person.
It was as if even uttering those horrific words was too much to bear.
Just imagining harming another person seemed to choke the breath from her lungs.
It was a nature so purely kind it bordered on the extreme.
Tap.
Kang Jin-ho's finger lightly brushed Esmi's forehead.
One flex of strength here, and this beautiful woman would turn into a corpse.
But Kang Jin-ho had no intention of killing her—or even hurting her.
"Hey, you dumb girl. You think they'll stop just because you don't want to kill them?"
"Th-That's..."
Esmi couldn't bring herself to say yes.
Deep down, she knew the truth.
Even if she spared the villagers, they wouldn't stop.
"Back at the inn, those guys were ready to burn you alive. They're not driven by anger anymore. They just want to pick someone to kill and vent their frustrations while having a good time."
The ugly desire to find an easy scapegoat and tear them apart.
It was something that happened all too often on modern Earth under the guise of witch hunts.
Did those people really not know that the women branded witches were innocent? Were they just idiots?
No.
They enjoyed it.
"Those bastards just want an excuse to justify killing people—and to enjoy it."
Esmi had no response to Kang Jin-ho's words.
"They're not even human anymore. Just monsters."
To Kang Jin-ho, they were people who had abandoned their humanity.
If anything, they were closer to monsters.
And monsters were better off dead—for the good of everyone else.
"They're just monsters wearing human skins."
Kang Jin-ho reiterated, then addressed Esmi again.
"Remember this. If you try to harm someone, you have to be prepared to be crushed and killed by someone stronger. That's the law of this world."
Kang Jin-ho withdrew his hand from her forehead.
Then he cracked his knuckles with a crunch.
The sound was oppressively intimidating.
He clenched and unclenched his fist lightly as he spoke.
"Honestly? I could kill every last one of those inn bastards without batting an eye."
"W-What?!"
"They don't deserve pity. You wouldn't feel guilty exterminating monsters, right?"
He meant every word.
The reason he hadn't stepped in wasn't some moral qualm about killing people.
He was just too lazy.
Why bother hunting monsters when it wasn't even a paying job?
Besides, he was curious about this woman's choice—Esmi's.
It was an entertaining diversion from his boredom.
"But you're different. You're the direct victim here. The one they wronged."
"B-But... if I just... use my power to drive them away... won't they be too scared to come back?"
Kang Jin-ho listened quietly to her words.
Esmi seemed to gain a bit of courage.
She continued.
"If I show them the difference in our strength... they'll be too afraid to return. So... there's no need to take their lives... right?"
"Ha."
Kang Jin-ho let out a scoff of disbelief.
To think she'd survived this eat-or-be-eaten world with such naive thoughts.
She must have owed her life solely to her genius talent.
"Hey. Wake up."
"Huh?"
"This world isn't a fairy tale."
Right after he'd fallen into this world.
He'd thought it was just another place where people lived.
But that was a mistake.
This barbaric world was cruel.
And so, he'd adapted—changed to match it.
"Mercy toward the weak? You think those bastards will thank you for that? No—they'll just see it as weakness."
Kang Jin-ho laid out the harsh reality.
"You spare them? And what do you think they'll do? 'Oh, this witch is letting us off the hook—thanks!'?"
He laughed coldly.
A mocking, sardonic grin as he sneered.
"Not a chance. They'll think, 'This witch bitch isn't all that tough after all. She must be scared of us.' And then they'll come at you laughing."
"Ah..."
"Even more arrogant than before. Your half-assed mercy will just make them bolder in their crimes."
Esmi's pupils trembled.
She bowed her head deeply and fell silent.
She knew it, deep down.
But still, she couldn't accept it.
"......"
A heavy silence settled over the cabin.
Kang Jin-ho gazed down at Esmi for a moment.
Then, suddenly, he recalled the scene at the inn.
'Come to think of it, that village chief was odd.'
Amid the frenzied mob, there had been one old man trying to hold them back.
The man called the village chief had a different demeanor from the others.
He almost seemed to be trying to calm the villagers.
And what the villagers had said to him was strange too.
'It sounded like he'd been holding them back all this time.'
The chief's attitude didn't quite fit a leader just concerned for the village's safety.
The villagers had even suspected him of being in league with the witch.
"Hey, Esmi."
"Y-Yes...!"
Esmi jumped in surprise and answered.
"By the way, back at the inn, everyone was foaming at the mouth to kill you, but there was this one old guy trying to stop them. The village chief, right? You know him?"
At Kang Jin-ho's question, Esmi's shoulders stiffened.
She averted her gaze, lips twitching.
"Well... actually..."
Esmi fidgeted with her fingers, hesitating.
Unable to lie by nature, she finally confessed in a crawling voice.
"H-He's my great-uncle..."
"......?"
Kang Jin-ho's mind blanked for a moment.
In his seven years in this savage world.
This was the most shocking story he'd heard.
Even Kwonje Jin, who brushed off most incidents with indifference, was stunned.
"...What?"
For the first time in seven years, Kang Jin-ho felt like reality itself was hard to accept.
He might not have been this shocked even if someone told him a meteor would wipe out the world tomorrow.
"Your great-uncle?"
"Y-Yes... my grandfather's younger brother... my great-uncle."
At Esmi's words, Kang Jin-ho pictured the village chief's face from the inn.
A wrinkled old man, skin like crumpled parchment.
The picture of a typical rural village elder.
In contrast, Esmi had black hair like the night sky, amethyst eyes, and skin like white jade—an unparalleled beauty.
One of the most stunning women Kang Jin-ho had ever seen.
And paired with that voluptuous figure and her innocent face, the impact was devastating.
"...Insane."
Kang Jin-ho imagined their faces side by side.
No match at all.
'How the hell does the gene pool jump like that from that old geezer's line?'
Sure, he was her grandfather's brother.
Still family blood.
There should be some resemblance, even 1%.
But this? What was it?
Orc and elf levels of difference.
Kang Jin-ho fell into serious biological contemplation.
'Mutation? Or did the siblings pool all the looks? Or maybe her mother's genes hard-carried and overwrote everything?'
Nothing else explained it.
No overlapping traits, even if he scrubbed his eyes raw.
'This isn't carrying the genes—this is laundering them.'
Sensing Kang Jin-ho's grave stare, Esmi asked anxiously.
"W-Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nah, just... I've seen countless mysteries of the world, but I guess my horizons were narrow after all."
"...Huh?"
"Don't worry about it. You don't need to know."
Kang Jin-ho clicked his tongue and shook off the stray thoughts.
Genetics weren't the point.
The current situation was.
"So? If he's your great-uncle, that's close family. Why are you living out here alone?"
"B-Because I'm a Black Mage."
Esmi hung her head as she spoke.
"My late grandfather... told me to hide and live near my great-uncle. But... I couldn't hide that I was a Black Mage... so I decided to stay here to avoid getting him in trouble."
"Why couldn't you hide it?"
At Kang Jin-ho's question, Esmi continued, her voice choking with tears.
"Well... monsters attacked the village... so I took care of them."
"Monsters?"
"Yes... I subdued them before they could hurt anyone. I-It was scary seeing blood... but to protect the people..."
So she didn't hesitate to handle monsters—at least when it came to protecting people.
No, she didn't hesitate to protect people.
'Just like in the original story.'
Esmi the Black Mage, terrified of hurting anyone.
The moments she mustered courage were always to protect someone.
That's why she became such a great ally to Han Seol-ah.
'Even now, she was dealing with monsters to protect the villagers.'
Which meant, to them, Esmi was their savior.
The one who'd saved them from monster attacks.
And yet their behavior was the height of ingratitude.
"By the way, if things keep going like this, your great-uncle's life might be in danger too."
"What?!"
Esmi jolted in shock.
"W-What do you mean?"
"Isn't it obvious? If the villagers find out you're connected to the chief, you think they'll let him live?"