Mountains Beyond Mountains
Tobi felt like time had frozen for an instant at the sharp thwack followed by a ear-splitting crack that tore through the air. It was the exact moment Kang Jin-cheol pulverized an Olrog's skull with his bare fist. But whatever shock gripped the kid, time marched on, and the headless Olrog's body staggered before crumpling to the ground.
Lightning-fast strike delivered, Jin-cheol straightened up and loomed over the corpse, staring it down. The campfire's flickering light danced across his face. The campsite fell silent, save for the fire's soft crackle.
"...Jin-cheol?"
Tobi's voice snapped Jin-cheol's head up. Through the tangled mess of his hair, eyes that had held a flicker of bewilderment reignited with focus. He approached the Kampoeni kids.
"You guys okay?"
"Huh? Us?"
"Yeah, you lot."
Tobi stared blankly at Jin-cheol's chest, his expression like his brain had short-circuited at the sight of the guy who'd taken a bullet worrying about the unscathed ones.
Jin-cheol caught the look and realized how absurd his question sounded, letting out a deflating chuckle. "What, did they load that balloon-muscle reject with defective bullets or something?"
He muttered nonsense while patting down his own chest. The searing, tingling pain that had burned through his body had vanished in moments. That's when he noticed his right fist, drenched in blood.
"...So this is another world, huh?"
A human fist was bone, flesh, and muscle too—yet here he was, smashing through the same with another fist like it was nothing. That was the only conclusion Jin-cheol could draw right then. And the gore coating his knuckles? Pure Olrog blood. His own hand was scraped at worst.
"Passed out in the war, wake up in isekai fist king territory...?"
"Fist king? What's that?"
"Good Kampoeni kids don't need to know."
Jin-cheol brushed it off, flicking bits of flesh and blood from his right fist. His body was fine—mocking his earlier resolve, his grim thoughts. And he'd dodged that pistol shot on pure instinct, without even trying. He was alive. Undeniably so.
"...Then I gotta survive."
He murmured it like a sigh. Tobi, gazing up at him, shook his head vigorously as if snapping out of a daze.
"Okay! Let's run now, Jin-cheol!"
"I already dropped 'em all. No point running—let's loot their shit first. They had a pistol. And why the hell did this guy's hair suddenly grow out—"
Bang! A gunshot rang out, something grazing Jin-cheol's jaw. He froze like a statue for a split second, then his head swiveled toward the sound.
There stood the Olrog whose nose Jin-cheol had caved in earlier, clumsily gripping a pistol in a shitty stance. The quiet one who'd snatched the gun from the ladle Olrog and fired.
"Gah!"
Locking eyes with Jin-cheol, the Olrog fumbled to eject the spent casing, rummaging desperately through the corpse's pockets. Fluff and bullets spilled everywhere. Even calm, reloading took seconds; at this rate, a minute wouldn't cut it.
Jin-cheol advanced with a stone-cold face.
"D-don't come closer! Stop right there!"
The broken-nose Olrog bellowed in a nasally whine, hands still shaking. Bullets kept clattering to the dirt. But then—Jin-cheol's steps halted. He even took a hesitant step back, face paling slightly.
The Olrog, sensing something off but pressing on, scooped up a bullet from the ground and finished reloading. He racked the slide with a click, aimed at Jin-cheol, and grinned triumphantly.
"Heh, hehehe... @#$$! I said stop and you actually did! What a moron?"
"Think the moron's you."
"What?"
A sound came from behind the Olrog. A sharp click-click-click, like a tongue snapping. Stealthy footsteps, muffled. Hot breath on his neck.
The Olrog's ruddy face drained white. He turned slowly.
A massive reptilian predator's eyes glared back.
"U, uwaa—"
No time for a full scream. The beast's jaws crunched down on the Olrog's head with a wet crack. Then it hoisted the body, gulping it down trunk-first like a snake.
Jin-cheol could only gape. It was a scene straight out of a movie, now real life, right in front of him. In the shadows, the thing stretched at least 7 or 8 meters long. Its head was huge enough to pulverize an Olrog skull. And those dainty little forepaws.
"Do they have goddamn T-rexes in this isekai...?"
"Jin-cheol! This ain't the time for weird talk!"
Tobi and the Kampoeni snapped to first, grabbing and shaking the dinosaur-struck Jin-cheol.
"We gotta run, Jin-cheol!"
"Huh? Oh, right. Can't get eaten... But that's a real dinosaur..."
"Jin-cheol!"
"Yeah, yeah..."
As Jin-cheol backpedaled, the dinosaur—Kaaltisa, in his eyes a T-rex lookalike, anyway—whipped its head around, locking on. Their movements froze.
"...One's enough, right? Yeah?"
"...Kaaltisa can chow down on a #$@#$ all day straight."
"How the hell am I supposed to know that? Convert it to Kampoeni units."
"Huh? Uh... like..."
As Jin-cheol and Tobi whispered, the Kaaltisa lowered its stance. Another click-click-click from its throat—not a beast's growl, more like a bird's call.
"...Roughly twenty? Like twenty Kampoeni?"
"Shit, it's a fucking magpie dino. So it's eyeing us for dessert now."
As its head dipped, Jin-cheol crouched too. Both poised like sprinters at the line. Flaming slit pupils met black eyes in a stare-down.
Then Jin-cheol said, "Bolt."
His hands scooped Tobi onto his head, Chakai and Dambha under his arms. He spun and sprinted.
Kaa-aaaak! A shredding screech erupted from the Kaaltisa at their sudden flight. It kicked over the campfire and pots with a thud-thud, thundering after Jin-cheol.
"Why's that fucker screeching like a crow?!"
"Crows—who knows—but Kaal-tisa, they, always, scream, like that!"
Tobi clung to Jin-cheol's hair, bouncing as he shouted back. Jin-cheol felt his childhood movie T-rex roar shatter, leaping a fallen giant tree. The Kaaltisa smashed right through it headfirst—crash!
Kaa-aaak!
"Goddamn! Where'd this bastard pop from?!"
"The noise! And blood smell! Olrogs, called the, Kaal-tisa!"
Blood smell? That's on me. Or nah, dismantling Dambha probably did it. Even with a pseudo-T-rex on his tail, stray thoughts spun in Jin-cheol's head. But his body danced over rocks, logs, pits—like wind itself. Chakai and Dambha buried faces in his sides, curled tight.
Chasing the pseudo-T-rex a bit, Tobi—riding shotgun on his head—yanked his hair in panic.
"Jin-cheol!"
"What!"
"Up ahead!"
Ducking a branch, Jin-cheol looked up. His face hardened.
"Ah. We're fucked."
A sheer cliff loomed like a guillotined blade— a rock wall blocking the path. That mountain we climbed earlier? He veered sideways, but the hesitation let the Kaaltisa close in. Sideways, and its bulk would catch them easy, jaws agape.
Back to the cliff, Jin-cheol faced it down.
"...Shit."
Trembles from the Kampoeni under his arms and on his head. The Kaaltisa, which had chased frantically, now lowered its head, sniffing terror—click-click-click. Mocking its cornered prey.
"..."
Meeting its eyes, Jin-cheol gently set the kids down. They stared up, quaking.
He lifted Tobi off his head too.
"J-Jin-cheol?"
From his belt, he drew the black-and-white hilt. Shing! A long white blade extended with a clear metallic ring.
"Get back."
"Jin-cheol! Kaaltisa ain't like one or two Olrogs..."
"Go. I'll be fine."
His quiet, firm tone sent the Kampoeni retreating slowly. The Kaaltisa's slit pupils tilted its head at the scene—kids back, but Jin-cheol stepped forward.
Grinning at it, Jin-cheol said, "Mountains beyond mountains, huh? Reckless gorilla, now a dinosaur? Knew it wasn't medieval fantasy, but primal fantasy? What genre is this shit."
Click-click-click from the Kaaltisa's throat—a threat. Jin-cheol wiped his smirk, slung the sword over his shoulder, and crouched low. Two beasts, seconds from clash.
"..."
The Kampoeni held their breath as man and monster stared. Then—
Kaa-ak! The Kaaltisa shrieked, jaws wide, charging. Jin-cheol met it head-on. Target: between those thick legs. Slide through, strike the rear—that was the split-second plan.
Problem: his body, awakened across millennia, outpaced his mind.
"Whoa!"
Straight runs were fine, but angling for a gap exposed it. Superhuman flesh, but his brain hadn't caught up. He slammed into the ankle way faster, harder, more panicked than planned. Twisting at the last, shoulder-first—lucky break.
Kaa-ak!
The Kaaltisa stumbled too—prey vanished, then smack to the ankle, tumbling forward.
Both hit dirt in a tangle of limbs, rolling in chaos. Soil and rotten leaves flew as they scrambled up. They righted fast, glaring, panting in mutual shock.
Jin-cheol glanced at the sword in his right hand. Somehow unscathed in the tumble. One slip, and he'd have gutted himself. He was green with long blades like bows— and even then, dino vs. human? Worlds apart.
So, trust instinct.
"...Hoo."
Breath steady, sunken eyes locked on the Kaaltisa. It shook head and body, snorting excitedly.
Jin-cheol charged.
Kaa-aa-ak! Jaws gaping, head low to block legs, it barreled back.
Thanks. Jin-cheol leaped. Its head tracked. At apex, he spun like a gymnast, thrusting down at its crown. The white blade pierced clean as mud.
Peak passed, he dropped—no clean landing. Sword slipped; he tumbled ass-over-end.
Pain be damned, he snapped his head up.
"..."
The Kaaltisa stood rigid, head high, eyes on the starry sky. Reptilian pupils swirled like spilling paint, galaxies flowing within. Then thud—its massive bulk crashed.
Confirming the kill, Jin-cheol exhaled hard. Isekai T-rex brains in the head too, huh. Whew, not 'mine's in my chest lol.'
Standing slow amid dumb thoughts, the retreated Kampoeni rushed back, whooping.
"Whoa! Awesome! Soloed a Kaal, Kaaltisa...!"
"Jin-cheol! Jin-cheol's so cool! $@%#!!"
"Shit! Jin-cheol's the shit! Fuck yeah!"
Last one's what? Jin-cheol's hand flicked, knuckle-rapping Tobi's crown.
"Ow! Jin-cheol! My head's gonna crack!"
He flinched—that fist had just smashed a gorilla skull. Panicking, he checked Tobi's head.
"...Hehe."
"Pfft."
The kid just stuck out his tongue and grinned. No anger left in Jin-cheol. Beating a pseudo-T-rex had drained him dry.
He plopped onto the dirt. The three pup-like Kampoeni encircled him, whooping into spins and dances.
The ex-soldier watched as the two-legged dogs sang and danced before a brain-holed dino corpse.
Glancing up, the sky was turning deep blue with dawn. Chill predawn air felt cozy somehow. Forest understory glowed softly as sunlight filtered through leaves and branches. Shadows that had beckoned dissolved in the light.
Staring blankly, Jin-cheol let out a hollow chuckle.
A new day dawned.