Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: The Chieftain's Curiosity
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‘They told me to wait, so I'm waiting, but...’
Crunch-!
The sound of Do-jae biting into a fruit echoed through the quiet room.
Since his level had gone up, skipping a single meal barely made him feel hungry, but the taste of the fresh fruit instantly whetted his appetite.
Wanting something more substantial than fruit, Do-jae opened his Subspace.
Zzzing—.
Zzing—.
Pfft-.
The Subspace snapped shut.
Do-jae focused his mind and tried opening it again.
Zzziiiing—.
Zzing—.
...
Again, the Subspace closed in an instant.
The slightest lapse in concentration and it would immediately close.
‘Looks like it'll take some time to get used to this.’
Do-jae barely managed to keep the Subspace open long enough to pull out a triangle rice ball and a bottle of water.
At least it was easy to retrieve things; he just had to think of what he needed, and it would appear in his hand.
Munch, munch-.
‘How much time has passed?’
He felt human again after finishing the rice ball.
To feel this hungry, a fair amount of time must have gone by.
It would be nice to know the time, but inside the Subspace, both analog and digital watches were frozen at the moment they were put in.
He even took out his smartphone just in case, but it was in the same state as when he'd put it away with Young-jin's phone before leaving for China.
If there were a signal, the time would have updated.
‘This is definitely another world.’
Shhhk-.
Do-jae unwrapped the cloth from his torso.
Once he removed the bandage compressing his thigh, it was much easier to move.
‘What kind of medicine did they use?’
On his bare torso, a long wound stretched from his shoulder, past the Heart of the Golem, down to his navel.
But it had already healed enough for a hard scab to form.
Similarly, the holes in his shoulder and thigh were filled with new, pink flesh.
‘I should get dressed.’
Do-jae picked up the clothes neatly folded by his head.
But when he unfolded them, they were in no condition to be worn.
Even if the dirt and blood weren't noticeable on the black fabric, the clothes were torn so badly that his chest and abdomen would be completely exposed.
‘There's no way I can wear this... I'll have to find something else.’
Tossing the shirt aside, Do-jae opened his Subspace.
He pulled out a new set of clothes.
It was the Suppression Corps uniform he'd worn every day in Kaesong.
‘This uniform is surprisingly comfortable.’
Do-jae decided it was time to leave.
He had no idea what to do, but he couldn't just wait forever.
His plan was to go outside, look around, and find a way back to his own world.
Creak, creak-.
Just then, he heard footsteps outside, and someone opened the door.
***
A female of the Gray Folk, smaller than the others, with silver hair.
She entered the room with a stern expression.
Then, she waved her hand in the air.
As a bluish mana flowed from her gray hand, Do-jae's face brightened.
"Are you feeling better now?"
The silver-haired woman's lips formed words entirely different from Korean, yet Do-jae could understand her.
The meaning was delivered directly to his mind at the same time he heard the sounds.
Finally able to communicate, Do-jae couldn't hide his joy.
‘I knew it! There was one of the Gray Folk who could communicate!’
Do-jae looked at the silver-haired woman again.
Her hair wasn't the faded white of an old person, but a perfect, lustrous silver, braided into two pigtails.
Her distinctively animal-like black pupils could have been intimidating, but the round shape of her eyes made her look rather cute.
"Seeing that you've changed into clean clothes, you must be feeling much better."
"Even with the medicine made from Surta leaves, his regenerative ability is astonishing."
"Wow... a human... But do humans normally have regeneration on par with a troll?"
"You're still young, so you've never seen them, but before the Great Cataclysm, humans were much weaker than us."
Four more of the Gray Folk followed the silver-haired one inside, chatting amongst themselves.
They were the same ones who had been watching him earlier.
Now, he could understand their conversation as well.
"Kuhtan. Is this the human you found?"
The silver-haired woman asked the stern-looking one who had entered last, her voice reverent.
The one called Kuhtan began to answer her question respectfully.
"Yes, that is correct. We found him collapsed on the Tiura Plains on our way back. I ordered Uktati to treat his wounds."
"I found him! I, Hamar, found him when even Lord Kuhtan didn't see him!"
A female of the Gray Folk, who called herself Hamar, stepped forward next to Kuhtan.
She was a curvaceous woman with black hair tied in a ponytail, the shortest of the group aside from the silver-haired one.
But being the shortest among them still meant she was a finger's length taller than Do-jae, making her tall for a human female.
That's how tall the Gray Folk were on average.
"Good work, Hamar."
The silver-haired woman gave Hamar a gentle smile.
The one called Hamar beamed at the silver-haired woman's praise.
Then, Hamar tilted her head, looking Do-jae over.
"Humans are smaller than I thought. He doesn't look very muscular, either. I wonder how he ended up abandoned on the Tiura Plains all alone."
Besides the particularly interested Hamar, the other Gray Folk were also quite curious about Do-jae.
However, with Kuhtan standing guard, they couldn't show it openly.
"Kuhtan, can't we get a little closer? The spell is cast, so we should be able to talk to him now."
"Hamar, the Chieftain is here. Behave yourself."
"Tch."
Leaving them behind,
the silver-haired woman slowly approached Do-jae.
From their conversation, Do-jae gathered that this silver-haired woman was the highest-ranking person here.
Just as Do-jae was about to speak to her,
"I will be here now. Would you all please leave?"
The silver-haired woman gestured to the other four.
With a solemn expression, she ordered them out of the room.
"Yes, ma'am."
The Gray Folk nodded in unison.
Then, without a single question or word of concern, they left the room.
Only one of them, Hamar, cast a longing glance at Do-jae, but when Kuhtan's eyebrow twitched, she too quietly followed the others out.
A moment later, once the creaking footsteps had completely faded, the silver-haired woman's expression changed entirely.
Her face was now dazzlingly bright.
"Whoa! A human, a real human!"
The silver-haired woman stomped her feet excitedly as she approached Do-jae.
She began to circle him, observing him, even standing on her tiptoes at times to get a better look.
"It's been so long since I've seen a human! Can I get a little closer?"
The silver-haired woman strode right up to Do-jae.
She sniffed him, her nose twitching, and rubbed his clothes with her slender hands.
"How strange. It's not cloth, and it's not leather, but it's both tough and soft. But the human I saw back then wasn't wearing clothes like these..."
With sparkling eyes, she thrust her face right up to Do-jae's chin.
She was like an adorable puppy.
Feeling overwhelmed by her actions, Do-jae took a small step back.
Then, he slowly asked in Korean,
"You... can you understand me?"
"Yes, of course!"
The woman of the Gray Folk replied with a bright smile.
She took another step closer, following him, and continued speaking.
"The spell is working, so we can understand each other! So this is what a young human male looks like... This is the second time I've seen one since I was a child. Has it been about 200 years?"
The silver-haired woman poked Do-jae's forearm.
When Do-jae didn't react, she grew bolder and started kneading his arm.
‘Why does she keep touching me? It's making me uncomfortable.’
Pushing her fiddling hands away, Do-jae questioned her.
But she paid him no mind and continued to touch his body.
She didn't seem to have any hostile intent, but it was incredibly strange.
More than that, Do-jae was stunned by the unexpected number and asked her,
"Two hundred years?"
"Yes! The Great Cataclysm happened after that, so I haven't seen a human since."
"Then how old are you?"
"Two hundred and forty-five!"
At first, Do-jae thought he'd misheard.
Two hundred and forty-five... it sounded more like a shoe size than an age.
To anyone looking, she appeared to be in her late teens or, at most, her early twenties.
She looked nothing like a grandmother who was over 200 years old—no, she said it was 200 years ago when she was a child, so she was much older.
Do-jae vaguely recalled reading somewhere that the Gray Folk had long lifespans and slowly nodded.
"I... I see..."
Thump, thump-.
Rustle-.
Finally done touching him, the silver-haired woman began to wander around the room.
With eyes full of boundless curiosity, she examined every trace of Do-jae's presence, offering a running commentary.
"What are all these things? Ugh! It's spicy! Hmm... is this just water? Whoa! It's not glass or wood, but you can make a bottle this thin...!"
Swoosh-!
"Oh, my, look at this blood... How can it be such a vibrant red? Humans are so fascinating. To think such a pretty colored liquid flows inside your body!"
She touched the plastic wrapper from the leftover rice ball and shook the plastic water bottle.
She also touched the unwrapped bandages, marveling at the sight of Do-jae's red blood.
"Wait, wait. Stop! I have a question."
Do-jae stopped the silver-haired woman.
She looked at Do-jae like a puppy awaiting its master's command, waiting for his question.
"Ahem. I have some questions. A mountain of them, actually, but first, I need to know why you saved me."
The silver-haired woman tilted her head.
Her expression seemed to ask why he would even ask such a thing.
"Isn't it obvious? It's only natural to save a human in danger."
"What?"
Do-jae was appalled.
A monster was saying it was natural to save a human.
What was the logic of this world?
Could it be a world where humans and monsters lived happily, helping one another?
Do-jae's question was answered by what the silver-haired woman said next.
"It's hard to find humans now after the Great Cataclysm, but in the past, humans and our kind were on friendly terms! It might have been different in the very distant past, but for the last thousand years, we've lived respecting each other's territories."
Do-jae squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
The idea that monsters and humans had been friendly for a thousand years felt utterly absurd.
"The Great Cataclysm, two thousand years... What kind of world is this?"
"Oh? Are you curious about the outside? Shall we go out, then?"
The silver-haired woman, who had been sniffing the blanket on the bed where Do-jae had been lying, shot up and replied.
She grabbed Do-jae's hand and began to pull him out.
"Alright... let's go outside..."
With his fingers interlaced with the Gray Folk's, Do-jae felt a profound sense of ambiguity as he followed her out of the room.