Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: No Off-Season for Beasts
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After patching the windows with bubble wrap or newspaper if needed and finishing all the house repairs to brace for winter—making pickled radishes or prepping kimchi and helping with all sorts of other chores—winter arrived before I knew it.
The icy sea winds whipped fiercely around the island, white foam surging with waves that rose like whales, crashing against the shore with thunderous roars.
The forest shed all its leaves to welcome winter.
The red tips of the branches glowed faintly, like a wistful farewell to the departed autumn.
Watching the bare, skinny twigs sway brought back a flood of memories from the year.
Like rummaging through the dawn mountains roe deer-style to pick pine mushrooms and goumi berries.
Or heading out with the grandpas, baskets on our backs, to forage for pumpkin greens.
In summer, whenever I felt too awkward mooching off Supermarket Grandpa, I'd climb the hills to pick plump little clusters of mountain strawberries or tart murung berries smaller than grapes but bursting with intense sourness.
There was that one time I gathered a bunch of poisonous mushrooms by mistake, so I had to teach the grandpas which ones were safe to eat.
Ulleungdo used to be a peaceful place without large mammals, but somehow wild boars had shown up—maybe they swam from the mainland, or perhaps someone released them after bringing them over.
I still remembered smacking down that wretched piglet who dared go after our precious cucumbers meant for cold noodle soup or seaweed salad with a roe deer-powered lariat, wrestling it in a test of strength, and finishing with a shoulder throw.
Now, it had come down to the village, no longer threatening the elders, reformed into a cuddly pet that just ate its food and put on adorable shows.
With a six-year-old bipedal roe deer senior living in the neighborhood, no mainland pampered wild boar would dare strut around with its head held high.
Didn't the Office Worker Uncle freak out back in early autumn when he saw the one and only quadrupedal baby in our village?
Supermarket Grandpa said the office even floated the idea of bringing over a female pig from the mainland so the two could start a family.
And besides that... I climbed Turtle Rock with my bare hands, and right before winter hit, Dad and I dove off Crayfish Rock for a fish party.
So many things had happened.
Ulleungdo's winter was a time for rest.
They said it was the season for hunkering down with the stores you'd saved up, quietly waiting to greet the new year.
Dad sure wasn't stepping foot outside now that it was freezing, turning into a total homebody.
Whiiiiiing.
"It really is getting a bit chilly, huh."
I stepped out alone into the quiet, cozy, warm streets of Tonggumi, gazing at the violently surging waves as I stood on the roadside.
Thinking about it, it was kinda funny.
In my past life, I'd never had this kind of leisure.
School was the one place I could go wild like a maniac, but the cram school craze had me grinding away at studies from age eight.
Maybe that's why I loved going nuts without a care for others' eyes... to blow off that stress somehow.
After over a decade of nothing but studying through my teens, when I finally got into college, I was thrilled at the fantasy of living freely without worrying about anyone.
But freedom comes with its own demands in skill and responsibility.
A 20-year-old college kid stepping out into the world for the first time had no way to earn money for that freedom.
Once I graduated college, could I finally get a job, make money, and have fun in my free time?
Fat chance. Straight to enlistment.
After discharge, it was work with no time to play—doing the daily grind like everyone else, crashing exhausted after work or boozing it up on payday Fridays like a dull, ordinary adult.
Running through life without goals, just working like others, chasing some vague future, but too busy scraping by day to day.
'Elementary school starts soon...'
I'll probably head to the city once I grow up.
Someday, I'll have to leave this warm haven of mine.
Not sure when, but that day will come.
Honestly, I'd love to spend my whole life here, living harmoniously with the elders, Mom, and Dad.
Maybe it's childish whining. Or maybe, having staggered like a reed through that society colder and harsher than this savage winter wind, I just couldn't bear to abandon this kindness.
"Still, this is my second go at life."
I've resolved to live freely, ignoring others' stares as much as possible, doing what I want—so I should stick to it.
Who am I? Huh? The Peerless Warrior of Tonggumi, second-life edition, with a top-tier TS body and roe deer-level recklessness.
"Losing the dick is kinda heartbreaking sometimes, though."
Eh, whatever. It's a fair trade for round two.
I slipped my hand into my pants, kneading the undies... and pulled out the crumpled, grimy wad of bills the grandpas had given me a few days ago.
Totaling 500,000 won.
Earned over two days helping repair roofs.
'Seed money for my freedom.'
2013. In five years, around this time, something will appear—my first stepping stone, my wings.
It debuted to public ridicule, dismissed as a fleeting fad destined to vanish, but packed with insane value and potential.
To live free like a roe deer in human society, I need the skills to match.
......
"Craving some spicy fish stew."
I tucked my precious seed money deep in my inner pocket, stashed my thick coat in a roadside nook, did some jumping jacks to warm up, propped my feet on the road railing, and hurled myself into the raging waves.
"Aaaaaaaah!!"
A young roe deer who didn't have to leave the fold just yet had no need to tremble in anxiety over surviving the merciless eat-or-be-eaten wilds of the future.
Just living in the now, savoring this moment—that was enough.
Maybe it was because I'm Hanbondo's outlaw who never hibernates even in winter, the roe deer herself.
"Uwaaaang!!"
"Please!! For the love of—!! Stop!! Doing!! Dangerous!! Stuff!!"
Winter, spring, summer, fall—no matter the season, I dove into the sea on my inner beast's command and came back with oysters for virility, chewy savory octopus, and rockfish.
Soaked head to toe in the briny chill, my hair and whole body sticky and stiff.
Having forgotten a basket, I stuffed the spicy stew ingredients in my clothes, and Mom screamed before unleashing the butt smackdown.
Smack!! Smaaack!!
Pants and undies yanked down, her hand crashing onto my plump buns—I flailed my limbs in dramatic reaction!!
"Honey, Yuna's face doesn't look like it hurts."
"......"
Damn, caught.
Tears instantly dried up as Dad peered down at me, mid-spanking on the dining chair.
No, it really didn't hurt.
"Our girl came home with sea urchins stuck to her butt last time too. No way your hand hurts."
"I didn't even know they were there!"
"......Who wouldn't notice?"
I'm telling you, I really didn't.
My bulletproof buns didn't feel a thing even with spines embedded—didn't know till Mom screamed at the sight after I got home.
The elders flipped out when Mom and Dad told them about their roe deer daughter's sea urchin saga, insisting the venom meant a hospital trip.
So the next morning, we took Dad's car to the Dodong medical center early...
- It's fine.
- Huh?
- No puncture marks... Oh, there's a tiny one. But no swelling, skin's intact.
- ??
It proved the nonsense that sea urchin spines don't hurt or spread venom if they just graze you.
Luckily, those sea urchins that toured the island village on my butt ended up happily in savory briny bibimbap with their innards~ clap clap.
"Think about it, honey. She beat a wild boar, shrugged off sea urchins, and last spring caught every bee by hand, hauling back a whole hive."
Spanking a kid like that... does it even count as punishment?
"......"
Mom rubbed her forehead with a sigh, recalling my achievements of the year.
Unable to deny Dad's words, she nodded quietly.
Hey, wait—pain isn't the only measure of discipline, right? That's some outdated thinking!!
Surprisingly, 2008 really was the old days.
Back then, corporal punishment was seen as top-tier discipline—schools whipped hands, feet, or butts with sticks in the name of "loving correction."
The hardcore teachers swung hockey sticks or pipes full-force.
When kids crossed lines or pulled suicidal stunts without valuing their lives, a butt smack or knuckle rap was... well.
It proved Suyeon's overflowing maternal love and top 0.1% character, unable to go hard on her daughter...
But to other kindergarten parents back then, she'd seem soft, and they'd point fingers: that kid raised by weak parents will cause trouble later.
"S-Still... I hate seeing Yuna hurt that bad."
"True. Our girl's got strength to spare but never causes real trouble."
"She... doesn't?"
"Right! Mom! I don't cause accidents!!"
"Minus that time she nearly wrecked a cultivator."
"......"
No, the cultivator was...
Infuriating, but I couldn't argue back.