I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 11
011 The Hunter’s Workshop
Home was just a little further now. His pace quickened instinctively.
‘Will they be happy?’
On modern Earth, money was king. Getting a good job and seeing the numbers in your bank account grow every month was what mattered. The larger those numbers, the better you were treated as a prospective groom.
But here, the wolf he carried on his shoulders would be a significant asset.
Even if the quality was a bit low because he couldn’t process the hide properly, it would at least make a rug for the house, and above all, it provided a feast of meat.
Food was the most important thing.
Even if the dead wolf was lean, it was large enough to provide plenty of meat. Just one leg was quite substantial.
‘I wonder if wolf meat tastes good.’
He wasn’t sure, but it should be edible.
At the very least, he was certain that Lij and Dorothy would be happy.
They would definitely be more surprised than when he had left with the water buckets. He thought he might even earn some respect. Of course, that wasn’t what he was aiming for.
He just thought it might happen.
He was walking along in high spirits when the house finally came into view between the trees. Suddenly, a scream rang out. It was a child—Dorothy.
His heart began to thud wildly. Had a wolf made it down this far? Or a wild boar? Or maybe a snake? If it was a venomous one…
Without even thinking to set down the water buckets, he started to run.
Soon after, he saw Lij rushing out of the house, and she began to scream as well.
“….”
Juhwan kept running. He kept running just in case. A wolf might have appeared. But it seemed Lij and Dorothy were…
He saw a small body scurry over like a rolling ball and cling to Lij. It was Dorothy.
Lij held a knife in her trembling hand, pointing it into the air. More precisely, she was pointing it in Juhwan’s direction.
Dorothy was clinging to Lij’s waist, crying and shouting something.
No wolf was visible anywhere near the two of them.
Juhwan stopped a short distance away. It seemed he had been the one to scare Lij and Dorothy. Their crying was because of him. Was it because of the wolf? It wasn’t alive; it was dead, but was it still terrifying?
‘They’re both women, after all.’
He realized he had been inconsiderate. On modern Earth, one wouldn’t bring a beast’s carcass in front of women like this. But he had thought it would be fine here. He had thought Lij and Dorothy would be happy to see the wolf.
Juhwan set the water buckets and the wolf carcass on the ground. Come to think of it, he was covered in blood. Wolf blood and his own blood were intermingled, staining his entire body red. There was even some other fluid here and there. Likely something from inside the wolf’s head. Should he have shown himself looking like this?
As he took a few hesitant steps forward, Lij suddenly dropped the knife and began to run toward him.
“Juhwan! Juhwan!”
She cried out his name as she wept. He didn’t quite understand what was happening. As he stood there awkwardly, Lij tripped and fell forward while running.
Panicked, he rushed to her, and Lij reached out with her thin arms.
“Juhwan!”
She was sobbing. He didn’t know why—no, it had to be because of the wolf. Was it forbidden to kill wolves in this forest?
Was that why Lij was crying in fear? Maybe the wolf was a guardian deity of the forest or something. Or maybe it was an animal only high-ranking people were allowed to hunt.
He felt uneasy. If only they could communicate, he would have known the situation immediately, but the lack of understanding made him restless.
As he was thinking this, Lij saw the wound on his arm and screamed.
Sobbing, she began to frantically check his face, neck, and chest. Her small, slender fingers fumbled over his body, moving from bottom to top, then back to the middle.
Before he knew it, Dorothy had also trotted over to his side and was fumbling with his shoulder. She seemed to be imitating Lij.
Dorothy went around to his back to check for wounds, while Lij felt all over his front.
‘Were they just worried about me?’
It had been a very long time since anyone had worried about him. A ticklish feeling settled in his chest. He felt a bit embarrassed and a little happy. He felt his face grow hot despite himself.
‘Right. If someone who went to fetch water suddenly came back covered in wolf blood, of course they’d be shocked and worried.’
Lij was a person of this world, so she likely knew better than he did how dangerous wolves were.
In fact, if not for the sudden flare of fire, it would have been dangerous. If things had gone wrong, he could have been bitten to death or severely injured.
Juhwan gently took hold of Lij’s frantic wrists.
“It’s okay. I’m not hurt. No, I am hurt, but I’m fine now. It only bit my arm. It’s okay. I’m okay.”
As he repeated that he was fine several times, Lij finally stopped her fluttering hands. Ignoring the blood staining her, Lij threw her arms around his neck and wept.
“####. ####.”
Lij kept repeating the same words. It likely meant something like “Thank goodness” or “I was so worried.”
Whether she was imitating Lij or acting on her own, Dorothy also reached out for Juhwan’s neck and clung to his back, crying.
Occasionally, Dorothy patted his back with her hands. Seeing her say something with a similar pronunciation to Lij, it seemed she was repeating after her.
As he thought, it must mean they were worried.
After the three of them stayed huddled together for a while, Juhwan moved slightly.
He had to process the wolf. If he didn’t remove the entrails and drain the blood soon, the wolf meat he had worked so hard to get might become inedible.
His grandfather had told him many times. If you neglect to drain the blood, the gamey smell becomes too strong and the meat loses its flavor.
When he pointed at the wolf and made a cutting motion, Lij seemed to understand. She stood up hurriedly.
When Juhwan approached the wolf and hoisted it onto his shoulder again, Lij’s mouth fell open in surprise. Her eyes were round as she looked back and forth between the wolf and Juhwan.
At first, Dorothy looked at the wolf with a bit of fear in her eyes. She didn’t want to move.
But the child seemed to decide it was okay since the adults were calm.
After watching Lij and Juhwan for a moment, she trotted over and circled Juhwan once. She kept a bit of a distance as she made the circle.
Once she saw the wolf was completely still and limp, her fear finally seemed to vanish. She stepped closer. Looking up at the wolf with sparkling eyes, Dorothy shouted something. She hopped up and down in excitement.
Indeed, it seemed men remained boys at heart even after becoming adults. Seeing Lij and Dorothy’s amazement made his chest swell with pride.
He felt a bit foolish for feeling that way, but it didn’t dampen his spirits.
Heh heh, I’m pretty cool, right? With that thought, his lips curled into a slight smile.
However, Lij’s expression was not so bright. She kept staring at the wound on Juhwan’s arm. Her face, messy with tears, soon turned sorrowful again.
“….”
He decided he should try not to get hurt as much as possible from now on. Not that it was always within his control, but he would do his best.
*
Lij led him toward the forest. Not far from the cabin, near the edge of the woods, stood a shack-like structure. It was made of wood and wasn’t very large.
She pointed to the door, which was secured with a wooden latch. Then she pointed to the wolf and made a slicing motion. Yes, he understood what she meant.
The fact that the cabin was a home meant there was also a space for processing game. His grandfather had also kept a small space behind his country house for handling carcasses.
‘But…’
When Juhwan opened the door, a foul stench wafted out from the dark, cramped space. It was the smell of animal blood that had soaked into the building over a long time.
‘I thought this was an outhouse.’
He had seen this building when he first arrived, but because it was quite far from the house and a bit small, he had assumed it was a toilet.
They built one hell of a large outhouse, he had thought. He figured it was a combined toilet and storage shed for manure.
But if this wasn’t the outhouse, then where on earth did they do their business?
There were no other toilet-like buildings nearby.
‘Surely there isn’t no toilet. Then where…’
Juhwan shook his head as the thought crossed his mind. Strange images were starting to pop up. He had to stop.
Juhwan stepped inside and opened the wooden shutters. Perhaps for ventilation, the windows were larger than those in the cabin.
Light flooded through the large windows, illuminating even the dark corners. There were black stains visible here and there, likely remnants of blood or entrails.
In the corner sat a wooden barrel that smelled musty. It seemed to be a place to put the byproducts from butchering animal carcasses.
He didn’t know for sure, but that was the impression he got.
On one wall hung two knives. One was large and the other small. They looked like they were used for skinning animals and cutting bone. Unlike the ones on Earth, the blades were incredibly thick. They looked like chunks of thick iron that had simply been sharpened.
Beneath them was a workbench made of cut wood, shaped like a desk.
In the corner were a small water bucket and a flat stone. It seemed they were used for sharpening the knives.
On the front wall, several wooden pegs protruded like hooks. It seemed animal pelts or meat were hung there. It didn’t look like a storage area; they were likely used during the work process.
On the other walls, items he didn’t recognize were hung alongside familiar ones. Leather pouches, strangely shaped wooden sticks, things that looked like nets, ropes, and a long pole with a snare attached.
Why had the villagers taken everything from the house but left everything here untouched? It was a bit strange.
Maybe there was some kind of superstition. Like a curse if you touched the items.
Or perhaps the village economy functioned by periodically exchanging the animals the hunter caught for crops grown by the villagers. The hunter would supplement the meat that couldn’t be provided by the village livestock, acting like a butcher. Or maybe…
It would have been better if he could understand the language. Then he wouldn’t have to feel anxious because he didn’t know what was going on.
A sigh escaped him. No matter where you go, if you don’t know the language or script, you’re bound to be taken advantage of. Regardless of this situation, he needed to learn as soon as possible.
But while he could learn the spoken language from Lij, where would he go to learn the script? From the looks of it, people who could read and write seemed rare.
He wondered if the Village Chief knew. Even if he did, he didn’t know if the man would be willing to teach him. The saying “knowledge is power” applied especially well to literacy. If the only people in the village who knew how to read were the Chief and a tiny few others, they might refuse to teach him to protect their own interests.
“Haaa.”
Anyway, he had to process the wolf first. He had to get the entrails out. That was the most urgent task right now. He had to hurry.
After examining the workshop thoroughly, Juhwan frowned. It seemed it would be difficult to remove the entrails or drain the blood here.
He didn’t know how the hunter had handled it, but there was no drain for the blood to escape. Perhaps he had just caught the entrails and blood in a barrel and carried it outside. But if that were the case, it was better to just do it outside.
Furthermore, the smell was too intense, likely because it hadn’t been used in a long time. It probably crawled with bacteria. It looked like it couldn’t be used at all without disinfecting it, perhaps with boiling water. For the time being, he would have to leave the door and windows open to let the sunlight sanitize it.
Juhwan went back outside and headed toward the forest. As he scanned the area for a suitable spot, his eyes fell on a tree in the woods.
Someone had tied a rope to a thick branch and let it hang down.
Right next to the tree was a large rock. It was the perfect size for a workspace.
Juhwan looked at Lij, who was right behind him. She was following him closely, like a chick following a mother hen. She seemed concerned about his injured arm.
The forest was dangerous. Other wolves might come, drawn by the scent of blood. In that case, he wouldn’t be able to fight properly if Lij and Dorothy were outside.
Juhwan pointed toward the cabin. He gestured repeatedly for them to go inside.
She looked at Juhwan’s face with an uneasy expression, then at his arm, then at the wolf carcass in the distance, before finally nodding slightly as if she had no choice.
She then headed toward the house hesitantly. The way she turned back several times showed how much she was worrying about him.
After confirming that Dorothy, who had been standing near the house, and Lij had entered the cabin together, Juhwan headed toward the tree with the rope.
