Pudding and Popcorn: A Silent Confrontation
It seems Pudding never sleeps.
The little slime is in constant motion almost the entire day.
Most of the time it crawls along at a leisurely pace, but the moment it spots an insect its movements quicken.
It springs up like a rubber ball to snatch flies and mosquitoes out of the air in the blink of an eye.
When you watch it long enough, the sight becomes strangely mesmerizing.
I have no idea how it detects them with no eyes.
I even peered inside, wondering if there might be some kind of core, but I couldn’t see anything like that.
The village children found Pudding just as fascinating. Even while working they would abandon their tasks the first chance they got and chase after the slime.
They kept poking their fingers at it, begging it to eat them.
Pudding would envelop the children’s bodies a little longer than it did mine before eventually spitting them out and continuing on its way.
Slow or not, its tireless movement meant that in just a few days Pudding had crisscrossed the wide field countless times, devouring every bug it found.
It left small, ash-like droppings scattered across the soil.
The droppings were hard to spot at first, but every so often you’d notice a suspiciously glossy patch of earth. Turn it over and you’d find something that looked like fine ash.
It appeared Pudding’s waste possessed fertilizing properties—remarkably fast-acting ones at that.
Whether it was actually break time or not, the children swarmed over again today.
“Mister, can we play with Pudding?”
“Can we give Pudding something to eat?”
They asked with shining eyes.
Popcorn only sparkled and wasn’t properly visible to the children. Besides, it didn’t appear every day, so their interest had naturally shifted from the elusive spirit to the ever-present slime.
When the kids arrived, Popcorn fluttered away in a huff, but today seemed to be one of the days it remained invisible. The children didn’t notice it drawing close at all.
“Sure, but stay away from the forest.”
“Okay!”
“Don’t worry!”
“We’re not scared even if a wild boar shows up!”
They boasted so confidently that I had to remind them once more not to wander too far. The children answered with energetic nods.
“Yes!”
“Got it!”
With my permission, they rushed over to Pudding.
“Pudding, try this!”
They pulled something from a little basket woven from reeds and held it out.
I craned my neck for a look and saw the basket was crammed full of insects. They must have collected them while working.
Pudding swallowed the bug one child offered, then immediately accepted another from a second child.
It gulped them down one after another.
The slime’s transparent black body filled up in seconds until it was packed with insects and there was no room left.
“Pipi pipi pipi pipi! Pipi!”
Popcorn shot through the air and delivered a flying kick to Pudding.
A soft part of the slime dented inward by the exact size of Popcorn’s foot. Pudding flinched.
“Did you see that?”
“It almost got a hole punched in it!”
“There was a flash of light just now.”
“I know what this is. The spirit and the slime are in love.”
The children stared at one another, eyes round as coins.
“Does that mean… a baby is coming?”
“A spirit slime?”
“That’s so cool.”
No, that is not what is happening at all.
Popcorn was simply jealous that Pudding had stolen the children’s full attention.
But the kids’ imaginations had no brakes. In the span of a heartbeat, Popcorn and Pudding had become husband and wife and were already raising a hundred—or was it a thousand?—spirit slime children.
Hey, that would completely wreck the ecosystem.
I smiled at their wild fantasies and straightened my back. A loud crack echoed from my spine after hours of being bent over in the field. I was starting to worry it might actually give out on me.
Come to think of it, today was the day we were supposed to clear stones from Zeke’s field. The men would be gathering soon, so I needed to head over.
After a big stretch, I called out to the children, who were still lost in their imaginary family drama.
“Kids, stay close and play right here. I’m just going to visit Zeke’s father for a little while.”
“What? But this is our playtime!”
“We’re not skipping work!”
They must have thought I was coming to scold them; their eyes widened in alarm.
“It’s not because of you. Today’s the day we clear the stones from Zeke’s field.”
“Oh!”
“That’s right.”
They looked at each other and broke into bright smiles.
“Have a safe trip!”
“We’ll guard the fields while you’re gone!”
“We won’t let anyone damage them!”
“We’ll catch all the moles and kill them!”
“Kill them!”
They thrust their little fists into the sky.
Moles ruin crops, so catching them is one of the regular chores for farmers’ children in this world. The ones they catch are either eaten as meat or boiled into stew broth.
I’d eaten one once without realizing what it was and found it surprisingly decent. Still, when we had wild boar or other game, I had no desire to eat mole.
Seeing them up close, they looked oddly cute, so I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for the creatures. I never said that out loud, though.
To the people here, any animal that harmed the fields was an enemy that threatened their survival. I couldn’t afford to be sentimental about it with my modern Earth sensibilities.
While the children shouted excitedly behind me, Popcorn continued kicking Pudding with relentless determination. It seemed deeply resentful that its spotlight had been taken.
When I reached Zeke’s field, the men were already gathered in small groups. Half-buried stones lay scattered everywhere.
The parts sticking out were only a little larger than a fist, but the farther down you dug, the bigger they became. Many turned out to be full-sized boulders.
As soon as I arrived, the villagers bowed their heads in greeting.
“There really are a lot of stones here,” I remarked.
It looked like nearly twice as many as the other fields.
Zeke’s father, Warren, gave a bitter smile.
“I never expected this many. It’s been difficult.”
This was the field Zeke himself had chosen. The boy had wandered the land, testing the soil and carefully planting branches as markers, so we had picked this spot at least partly for his sake.
“Still, the soil quality is better than anywhere else,” Warren said, gazing at the ground with a gentle smile.
“Actually, that reminds me—I have something to tell all of you. The slime in our field seems to eat insects and produce excellent fertilizer. Take turns borrowing it each day and leave it in your own fields.”
After watching for several days, I had concluded that Pudding’s droppings were definitely not harmful to the soil. We would need to see the sprouts and fruit to be completely certain, but since a spirit had brought the slime, I doubted it would cause any trouble.
At the very least, I didn’t think strange creatures would come bursting out of the crops.
In that case, it should be fine to share Pudding with everyone.
“Is… is that really all right?”
“We can have it on our land too?”
“But the chief’s own fields aren’t fully restored yet.”
The men’s eyes widened.
“It’s fine. I observed it for several days to make sure it wasn’t causing any strange effects. The children say the same thing, and you’ve all mentioned the soil seems improved. The sooner we enrich every field, the better.”
Just a few days of Pudding’s presence was enough to give the soil a healthy sheen. If we placed the slime in the fields right after sowing, we should get excellent yields.
“It doesn’t do any good if only my fields improve. What matters is increasing the entire village’s harvest.”
The seeds we planted now and the wheat we would sow in autumn had to carry us through winter. The rations provided by the kingdom were barely enough to keep us from starving.
We had begun setting traps for small game, but food was still desperately scarce.
I hadn’t taken the title of village chief too seriously at first, but once I actually held the position I realized it carried far heavier responsibilities than I had imagined.
In this world, a chief’s authority was nothing like that of a class president or village head back on Earth. Every decision in the village rested on my word.
I even acted as judge, which meant someone’s life could literally end up in my hands.
This coming winter would be no different. If I failed to manage things properly—if I acted greedily and only protected my own fields—people could starve when food ran out in the depths of winter.
I had heard that such tragedies were not uncommon. Some families sold their children to slave traders to save the rest. Others abandoned those beyond hope on the mountain.
I had to prevent that kind of misery from happening here.
My stomach already ached from worrying about winter so early.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, Chief.”
“We really made the right choice asking the magician to be our chief.”
“The chief of the village I used to live in was…”
The men removed their hats and bowed deeply.
“Come now, this isn’t the time for compliments. We have stones to dig up.”
Embarrassed, I grabbed a shovel. The men chuckled and joined me.
While we hauled out the heavy rocks, we talked about whatever came to mind—accidents on farms, unfair treatment from previous chiefs, wives stolen by others, family members beaten to death.
Everyone had their own painful stories.
Listening to them, I suddenly thought of my ex-girlfriend, Jeong So-hee. Compared to what these people had endured, my own experience felt smaller than a speck of dirt beneath a fingernail.
After gathering the larger stones, we loaded them onto the wooden handcart the villagers had built. Its wheels were made from hollowed-out logs—only a single wheel, unlike the carts I remembered from Earth. Still, it worked surprisingly well.
We hauled the stones to the village outskirts, where a low wall of rocks both large and small was already taking shape.
Most villages used wooden fences, but we had decided to build with stone. Where stacking stones proved too difficult, we would use wood instead.
The village hall, the fields, the stone wall… None of it was truly finished yet, but the place had begun to look like an actual village. Anyone who saw it now would recognize it as one.
The sight filled me with quiet wonder and pride. I paused beside the half-built wall and simply looked out over everything we had made.
One of the men seemed to sense my feelings. He came to stand beside me, gazing at the village in silence. After a moment he let out a small sigh.
“There’s still a long way to go before it feels like a real village. I understand how overwhelming it must feel.”
“…”
I had actually been feeling proud, but I kept that to myself.
Realizing his mistake from my expression, the man gave an awkward laugh.
When I finally returned from Zeke’s field, the children were completely absorbed in mole hunting.
“We caught two!”
“They’re so fat!”
“These are the biggest ones yet!”
They proudly held up the moles. The poor creatures were already limp and dead.
“Good job,” I praised them.
Zeke suddenly shouted and dashed back into the field. After looking around, he spotted Pudding, scooped it up, and came running back.
“Mister, Pudding ate a mouse.”
“…”
Sure enough, a small mouse was visible inside the slime’s transparent body. It wasn’t moving—dead, most likely.
“You should probably put that down.”
I gently took Pudding and set it on the ground. Even if the germs wouldn’t spread to the child, the sight still felt unpleasant. Maybe I should stop the kids from holding Pudding altogether.
While I was debating this, Pudding shifted slowly, almost as if it were looking up at me. After a moment it began creeping toward me.
It had been cute when it was just transparent, but seeing it with an actual mouse inside made my skin crawl.
I took a step back. Pudding paused, then trembled as if hurt.
Popcorn flew over and kicked it again, but Pudding didn’t even try to dodge.
“Um… Mister… I think Pudding is sad.”
“It’s because you backed away.”
“Poor Pudding.”
“Are you sad, Pudding?”
The children had clearly taken Pudding’s side.
But kids—there’s a mouse in there. A literal mouse. Doesn’t that gross you out?
After standing still for a while, Pudding pushed the mouse toward the edge of its body. From the way it moved, the creature had already been broken down into something like ash.
With a wet plop, the mouse’s husk shot out toward Popcorn, who was still flailing its feet.
I had thought it only excreted waste, but apparently it could weaponize the things inside it too.
“It hit!”
“It hit the spirit!”
“The light got smacked by the mouse and flew away!”
Just as the children described, Popcorn was sent spinning through the air after being struck by the dried-up mouse remains.
Having expelled the mouse, Pudding began creeping toward me once more.
Sorry, but I need a minute. I just watched you swallow a mouse. My brain can’t switch gears that fast.
I took another step back.
Pudding’s body drooped and flattened completely against the ground like a defeated amoeba.
“That’s too mean!”
“Poor Pudding…”
The children cried out in unison, but I could only shrug. Sorry. Earth people have fragile mental fortitude.
Popcorn fluttered over and clung to the back of my hand. Though it had no eyes, it seemed to understand the situation perfectly. Pudding wobbled, then spread itself even flatter against the dirt.
It looked thoroughly heartbroken. I sighed.