Chapter 283
Chapter 283
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 283
Chapter Title: Dog and Wolf (8)
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“What were you saying?”
Oh-jin’s party focused their attention on Liru.
Liru hesitated, her eyes darting around before she carefully opened her mouth.
“The village elders are currently…”
Just as Liru was about to continue.
*CRASH!*
The door was violently thrown open.
“Liru! Liru, are you in here?!”
Leo entered, breathing heavily.
Upon spotting Liru with Oh-jin’s group, Leo collapsed to the floor, letting out a sigh of relief.
But that was short-lived.
Leo shot back to his feet and stomped angrily toward Liru.
“Didn’t I tell you not to wander off without telling me?!”
Leo raised his arm as if to strike her cheek.
“I-I’m sorry, brother.”
Liru squeezed her eyes shut and flinched.
Leo, his arm still raised, bit his lip hard.
“Haa.”
With a deep sigh, Leo pulled the cowering Liru into a hug.
“…I was worried.”
“I-I was just trying to deliver the fruit I picked from the stream earlier.”
“You should have told me beforehand.”
“…Sorry. I thought it would be fine since it was right next door.”
Liru hung her head, looking dejected.
Leo patted her back as if he had no other choice.
It was such a heartwarming sight that Oh-jin and his party let out small smiles.
“So, Liru. What were you about to say before?”
“Huh? Say what?”
“Ah, th-that was.”
Liru frantically shook her head.
“I-I was just saying that I told the village elders about you, Oh-jin, and the others.”
Liru mumbled, forcing an awkward smile.
“…Is that so?”
It was obvious to anyone that she had hastily changed the subject, but they decided not to press the issue.
It might have been something she was uncomfortable saying in front of Leo.
“Let’s head back quickly, then. The chief might be worried.”
Leo used the title ‘chief’ instead of ‘dad’ as he took Liru by the shoulder.
Liru nodded and turned to leave.
Just as the two siblings were about to step outside.
*Groooowwwl.*
A cry of hunger erupted from Leo’s stomach.
“Ah, th-this! It’s not because I’m starving or anything!”
Leo’s face turned red as he frantically shook his head.
Isabella let out a soft chuckle and pointed to the bubbling pot.
“Want to have dinner with us?”
“…B-But at home.”
“We’ll let Leo-ru know.”
Their home wasn’t far, so it wouldn’t take long to go and come back.
“Ugh.”
“I want to eat with them!”
Liru’s eyes sparkled as she bounced on her feet, while Leo was lost in thought.
The smell of pasta filling the house was already pushing the salivary glands of the two growing children to their limits.
“W-Well, I suppose I can join you for dinner.”
Leo mumbled, his face flushed, as he slowly made his way to the table and sat down.
Isabella covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking with laughter as if she found the two of them quite adorable.
“Then I guess I should grill some meat, too.”
“Meat is the best for growing kids.”
Ha-eun cackled and pulled a slab of pork belly from her backpack.
“I’ll grill the meat, then.”
“…Are you sure you won’t burn it, unni?”
“Hey! I may not be a great cook, but I can grill meat now, you know?”
Ha-eun placed the meat on a frying pan and flicked her finger.
A small flame ignited, beginning to heat the pan.
*Tssssssss!*
The fantastical sound of meat hitting a hot pan.
“W-Wow.”
“I-It’s meat, brother.”
Leo and Liru practically drooled as they watched the meat cook.
When the pork belly was mostly cooked, Ha-eun grinned and pulled a red container from her backpack.
“Watch closely, kids. This is the ultimate combination you can only taste in Korea.”
“Korea…?”
“What’s in the container?”
Ha-eun puffed out her chest proudly and opened the container.
The sour smell of aged kimchi instantly filled the room.
“Ugh! Wh-What is that rotten smell!”
“Y-You eat something like that?”
As beastmen with sensitive noses, the unfamiliar smell of kimchi seemed repulsive to them.
Leo and Liru shot up from the table, staring warily at the container of kimchi.
“Ah, I guess the smell can be a bit much the first time.”
Plenty of foreigners found kimchi off-putting, so what would it be like for residents of another world?
“But.”
Ha-eun triumphantly raised a pair of tongs.
She grabbed a handful of kimchi and placed it on the pan, which was still sizzling with pork fat.
*Tssssssss!*
The kimchi sizzled as it fried in the pork fat.
She took out some sesame oil and sprinkled a few drops over the kimchi.
“…Huh?”
“S-Suddenly, it smells good!”
Once fried in pork fat, the sour, repulsive smell of the kimchi had almost completely vanished.
“Here, here, try wrapping the meat with the kimchi! Try it, try it!”
Leo and Liru’s eyes sparkled as they lunged for the meat and kimchi.
Holding forks instead of chopsticks, the children speared a piece of kimchi and meat together and put it in their mouths.
“It’s delicious!”
“Wh-What kind of meat is this?”
They were completely captivated by the pork belly and kimchi combination.
Isabella, who had just finished the pasta, spoke with a hint of disappointment.
“It seems there’s no room for what I made.”
“Why? I’ll have some.”
Oh-jin took a plate of pasta from Isabella.
Isabella smiled sweetly and hugged Oh-jin’s arm.
“You’re the only one who thinks of me, Oh-jin.”
“Haha. Let’s all eat before it gets cold.”
After the lively meal, they packed the leftovers for Leo and Liru to take to Leo-ru, and Oh-jin’s group enjoyed a comfortable night’s sleep in a bed for the first time in a while.
And the next day.
“You’re leaving already…?”
Having prepared to depart early in the morning, Oh-jin’s group stood at the village entrance.
Liru and Leo, who had come to see them off, had teary eyes, looking disappointed.
“We need to head to the Khan Kingdom soon.”
“That’s…”
“We’ll come visit after we’re done, so stay safe, alright?”
He gently stroked the head of the downcast Liru, and she beamed like a sunflower.
“Yes! I’ll be waiting!”
“You make sure to protect your sister, squirt.”
Ha-eun patted the back of Leo, who had turned his head as if trying to hold back tears.
“I-I’m not a squirt!”
“What do you mean you’re not? You’re the one who was gawking at a girl’s chest.”
“I-I am a proud wolf of the Silver Mane Tribe!”
Ha-eun burst into laughter at the indignant Leo.
“The Silver Mane Tribe will always welcome our benefactors.”
Leo-ru offered a faint smile and extended his hand toward Oh-jin.
The moment their hands clasped.
“……”
A flicker of conflict appeared in Leo-ru’s eyes.
He looked down at their joined hands with trembling eyes, then sighed and shook his head.
“I have matters to attend to, so I must be going.”
Leo-ru turned and walked away.
Oh-jin narrowed his eyes as he watched his retreating back.
‘He’s been acting a bit strange since yesterday.’
It was as if he wanted to say something but was forcing himself to hold back.
Come to think of it, Liru had also tried to tell him something, just like Leo-ru.
‘If I stayed here a few more days, I could probably figure it out.’
But he didn’t have the time.
“Liru.”
Instead, Oh-jin gestured for Liru to come closer.
Liru scampered over to Oh-jin.
“What is it, brother?”
“Here, take this and keep it with you.”
“What is this…?”
Liru tilted her head as she accepted the blue, glowing orb.
“It’s a communication orb.”
It was one of the relics Oh-jin had been most careful to prepare before coming to the Demon Realm.
If they got separated in this vast realm, they would have no way to meet again without a means of contact.
“The range isn’t that great, but it should be enough to reach the kingdom from here.”
Of course, it wasn’t like the communication devices on Earth that could connect over tens or hundreds of kilometers.
It was closer to a walkie-talkie than a smartphone.
“If anything happens in the village, contact me with this.”
“Yes! I will!”
After gently patting the head of the vigorously nodding Liru, Oh-jin’s group set off for the Khan Kingdom.
***
Just as Baek Mu-gang had said, it wasn’t difficult to enter the Khan Kingdom once they equipped the fake ear and tail models.
Of course, the Khan Kingdom had guards at the gate to check identities.
But without a systematic process like on Earth, they were completely swayed by Oh-jin’s silver tongue and readily opened the gates.
Upon arriving at a nearby inn, Oh-jin’s party paid with the money they got from the hunters and began their investigation in earnest.
After a week of gathering information separately, the group reconvened at the inn to share their findings.
“Alright, who wants to go first? Don’t hesitate to share anything you’ve found, no matter how small.”
Oh-jin took out a pen and notepad and looked around at the group.
“I’ll go first.”
Isabella raised her hand like the bright model student you’d find in any class.
In her hand was a bundle of papers filled with the information she had gathered over the past week.
“First, the beastmen currently holding real power in the Khan Kingdom belong to the ‘pro-demon faction.’”
“That makes sense.”
“But what’s hard to understand… is that Horus himself is apparently not part of the pro-demon faction.”
“Horus?”
The regent of Khan, who sold out his country to the demons and seized power, wasn’t part of the pro-demon faction?
“Yes. Even while under the rule of the demons, he apparently didn’t follow their orders very well.”
[Could it be that he was afraid of his own power weakening?]
“Hmm… I’m not sure about that.”
Isabella frowned as she flipped through the papers she had prepared.
“Do you remember when the hunters mentioned taking Leo to the ‘Fighting Pit’?”
“Ah, yeah.”
He definitely remembered hearing that.
“It’s an underground fighting arena that operates secretly within the kingdom… and Horus was the one who legally banned it.”
An underground fighting arena where members of the Silver Mane Tribe were secretly kidnapped and forced to fight.
Just like the Colosseum of the past, duels of blood and flesh have always been a prime form of entertainment.
For beastmen, who still possessed primal instincts, it would have been an even more popular form of amusement.
From a ruler’s perspective, a colosseum served a purpose beyond mere entertainment.
‘It allows the people to vent their built-up frustrations and stress through entertainment.’
Hadn’t there been something similar in Korea in the past, the 3S Project, to reduce public discontent?
That’s how significant a role ‘entertainment’ played in running a nation.
“But Horus banned it himself?”
“Yes. And that’s not all.”
Isabella narrowed her eyes and continued.
“You’re aware that buying and selling members of the Silver Mane Tribe is illegal, right Oh-jin?”
“I know.”
It was easy to infer, considering how the hunters couldn’t openly state who they were planning to sell Leo to.
“Horus was the one who created that law.”
“……”
Oh-jin’s brow furrowed.
‘Horus.’
What purpose could he possibly have, the man who betrayed the kingdom and sold it to the demons, for protecting the Silver Mane Wolf Tribe?