Chapter 189
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Chorong
Pommy didn't die after falling off the cliff.
"Kyaaang!"
Landing in the forest below the cliff, it caught on tree branches several times, dispersing the impact repeatedly. Thanks to the swollen stream from yesterday's rain, it barely survived.
"Kiiing...."
Pommy, who wasn't badly hurt, crawled out of the stream and wandered through the forest to find its owner again.
It never once thought it had been abandoned.
He must've lifted me up high to show me the view below and accidentally dropped me.
He's probably worried sick right now.
Just wait a little, I'll be back soon!
To get home, it endlessly retraced its memories.
It recalled the scenery outside the road at the time and backtracked along that path.
Days passed like this, filling its belly with earthworms or small bugs and quenching its thirst from streams or puddles.
"Woof! Woof woof!"
"Grrrrowl!"
If it encountered other dogs that had been abandoned by humans and gone feral, it fled desperately.
Pommy was too small and frail to join their pack. To those wild dogs, such a creature wasn't a companion—it was just food.
I want to see my owners again.
With that single thought, it traveled for months and finally arrived in the city where it had lived.
I remember! Our house is that way!
Pommy raced toward home on its skinny legs, starved and gaunt.
Owner, I'm back!
Hug me again!
I forgive you for dropping me last time!
Don't ever do it again!
"All loaded up."
"Nothing left behind?"
"Probably not?"
Hearing those familiar voices, Pommy's paws sped up.
"Alright, let's go!"
Far off in the distance, it saw its owner and the car.
"Kyaaang!"
"Ow, is our Jjanggu scared?"
"Shiba Inus are such cowards."
"So what if it's a bit timid? It films videos great, right? Thanks to that, we're moving to a better place. How awesome is that?"
"True. Finally escaping single-room hell!"
And a dog it'd never seen before.
The car sped away right in front of it.
Thinking they'd be back soon, Pommy sat on the stairs in front of the house and waited.
But days passed, and they didn't return.
"What the? A stray? Shoo! Shoo!"
"Woof!"
"Get lost!?"
It held out for ten days but was eventually chased off with the landlord's broom.
To survive, it rummaged through trash cans, getting filthier each time.
"Ugh, a stray."
"Looks like a poodle, but filthy. Probably got fleas."
"It's coming over? What if it has rabies?"
Its dirty appearance wasn't welcome among people.
And one day, while scavenging trash in a back alley.
"You see the Ballon d'Or last night? My bro won it?"
"Pfft, flash in the pan. Messi's taking it back."
"Yeah, no way. Puke off, my bro's the best now."
Students in school uniforms passed by.
"Hey, stray dog."
"That thing bites?"
"In times like this, strike first!"
One charged at it, and Pommy just stared blankly.
Maybe it's coming to hug me?
Or to give me food.
"No-spin shot-!"
"Kyaaang!"
A suffocating pain.
The sensation of floating again.
"Siuuuu!!!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Chorong watched her past self collapsed in the alley, gasping for breath.
Her past self, barely awake, staggered to leave the alley but vomited blood and collapsed again.
"Kyaaang, kyaaang! Kyaeeeng...."
"Huh? A dog! No, ugh! It's hurt bad."
A man approached her like that.
He carefully took off his school uniform jacket to wrap around the dog, but her past self, now terrified of humans, bit his hand.
"Grrrrrowl!"
It was desperate.
She still remembered.
Biting as if to break bone, screaming not to hurt her anymore.
An attack that could've gotten her thrown away on the spot.
But the man caught her with his knee and gently stroked her with his other hand.
"Good girl, it's okay, don't be scared. I'm trying to help."
That touch felt like the one from when she was a puppy, and the tension melted away.
The vision shifted to the hospital, after surgery and treatment, being discharged.
"Good thing. No aftereffects, right?"
"Yes, as long as it takes meds consistently and we take care."
"You hear that? Chorong? You're gonna be fine now."
What kind of name is Chorong from there?
Back then, I was just a normal dog. You think I'd understand?
The vision didn't stop, continuing to change.
"Happy birthday! Happy birthday to our beloved Chorong!"
The first time at his house.
His family gathered, lighting candles on a dog cake and singing.
"Chorong! Let's go! Isn't it cool?"
"Hey, careful! Chorong might get hurt!"
"Chorong swims better than me?"
With the family at the valley.
"Chorong, don't move!"
"Be done soon."
At the animal hospital with him.
"Aw, why's our old girl wheezing like this. Gotta perk up quick."
Lying on his lap, being petted.
"Mom, is Chorong okay?"
"Dunno. Looks like it could go anytime. Too old..."
Even just being in his room.
Every moment since meeting him had been happy.
"You're lucky. Was wondering who to give this to. You understand me, right?"
This moment too.
Chorong looked at the man approaching her dying self in the vision.
"You get what I'm saying? This thing nearby lets animals understand human speech, so I figure you will."
It was the same back then, and now.
The faceless man held out a white bead and proposed a deal.
"There's this famous fixer called Lee Seung-hoon. Kill him for me. Do that, and I'll let you live with your family forever. How? The moment you eat this, your lifespan shoots up big time."
A pure white bead on his palm.
"What do you say? You in?"
Past Chorong nodded.
The man put the bead in her mouth, and as she swallowed, she felt connected to every animal in the world.
"Gonna hurt a bit."
She felt all their senses.
All their experiences.
All their emotions.
"Don't go mad."
Her mind exploded awake.
She could grant all animals their original power.
She was connected as one with all animals.
"Failed again?"
The first thing she felt was overwhelming pain.
Pain of being cooked alive.
Pain of being ground in a shredder alive.
Pain of rotting flesh and bursting guts in cramped cages.
Pain of being netted, gutted alive, entrails ripped out.
Pain of dying from pesticides.
Pain of being crushed under a finger for fun.
The pain of countless animals tormented by humans flooded in.
Pain from being hunted or toyed with by other animals in nature was there too, but compared to humans', it was less than a single grain on a beach.
That pain turned to rage, transmitted along the connection to every animal's soul.
"Sigh, this thing—humans just shit it out, animals can't handle it and die. Useless..."
"No, it works."
Chorong's bloodshot eyes fixed on him as she spoke human words.
"I'll take the job."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The vision faded.
Chorong recalled her final moments in it.
'The deal must be done. Beyond promises, it's the only way I keep living.'
Her lifespan had already ended.
She lived only thanks to the white bead.
If she didn't complete the deal, the man might come back and take it.
'I want to kill not just the target—all humans.'
From the moment she gained power, she hated all humans.
She wanted to wipe out humanity right now.
Not just the target, but everyone around too.
'But that would drag my owner down.'
Of all places, her owner and the target lived in the same city.
A wide-area humanoid attack could harm her owner.
She didn't want her owner dead.
Nor his family.
She wanted to stay with her owner.
'Control is slipping.'
The hatred built over time.
Recently, even her owner seemed hateful for a moment.
If this continued, she'd use the humanoid's power to sweep away the target and everyone around, owner be damned.
"Did you see? The happiest times of your life."
Chorong glared at Lee Seung-hoon's response.
She already knew the answer.
But since gaining human intelligence and ego, she'd been agonizing over contradictory human emotions.
She hated humans.
She wanted to stay with her human owner.
Irreconcilable emotions clashed, delaying her decision—but Lee Seung-hoon's vision hardened her resolve.
"Kek-!"
Chorong vomited the white bead.
"Right... now..."
The staggering poodle collapsed limply.
"Take me... to my owner."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Chorong's just weak from old age. That's why it kept barking—it was in pain."
"Huh? Oh... uh, alright. Got it."
The customer seemed to suspect something as he picked up Chorong and left.
On the way out, Chorong's glare from his arms showed she still had human intelligence.
"Been influenced long-term by the entity, developed traits."
But the moment she spat the bead, her heartbeat weakened. Probably...
"Impressive, though."
『Why do you say that?』
"This bead—feeling it the moment I touched it."
Like the flower of Eden, influenced by Adam's soul, it affected me too.
But unusable; I could only vaguely sense its power.
"Animals were originally Adam's army. What's the most important thing in an army?"
『Chain of command?』
"Right. An undisciplined army is rabble, worthless. This restores animals' original power and binds them mentally as one."
Eyes closed, bead in hand.
Beyond it, paths connected to countless beasts.
『Mental connection sounds risky. Sharing emotions and pain could cause big issues.』
"Wasn't that Chorong's case?"
Wild cattle near extinction, but farmed ones over 1.5 billion.
Wild pigs few, but farmed over 1 billion.
Wild chickens barely surviving, farmed over 26.5 billion.
"Most animals are farmed. Sea life too. Even wild fish get mass-caught yearly. Attempt mental connection in that..."
『They'd have no choice but to hate humans.』
"Probably same for other humanoids."
Even without much human contact, becoming humanoid and connecting mentally—they'd hate humans inevitably.
"With this power, and not wiping out humanity immediately."
The moment first hugged by her owner.
Chorong went limp, nestling in.
"She really loves her owner."
Now, finally, it was over.
With a truly happy expression.