I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 12
012 A Strong and Gallant Man
The rope was tied at the perfect height for hanging a wolf.
It seemed the Hunter used to butcher animals both indoors and outdoors. Faint traces of what looked like blood remained on the nearby rock. He checked the rope; it was still sturdy.
Looking around a short distance away, he saw several spots where the ground appeared to have been dug up and covered again. It seemed the Hunter had buried the entrails to keep predators from gathering at the scent of blood.
Juhwan went back to the cabin and took a small knife down from the wall. Perhaps because it hadn’t been used in a while, the blade looked dull.
He splashed some water on the whetstone at the corner of the workbench and gave the knife a few quick strokes. Then, he shouldered the wolf and headed back toward the rock in the forest.
Juhwan placed the wolf on the rock and inserted the small knife near the anus. As he made an incision and pulled toward the belly, the thick skin split open, and some of the slippery entrails spilled out. The sensation against his hand was gruesome.
‘Seeing it done is definitely different from doing it yourself.’
Suppreessing a wave of nausea, Juhwan moved the knife again.
His grandfather had always insisted that if a rabbit’s bladder burst, the meat would be completely ruined. Naturally, he had to be careful around the areas containing waste as well.
At the time, he thought the old man was talking nonsense, but looking back now, perhaps his grandfather possessed some sort of foresight he hadn’t realized. Who would have known those absurd conversations would be this helpful?
“….”
A bitter smile played on Juhwan’s lips.
His grandfather had been a blunt and awkward man. Because the old man hadn’t been on good terms with his own children, Juhwan had rarely met him until his parents passed away.
When he suddenly ended up living with his grandson under those circumstances, his grandfather seemed to have struggled greatly. He hadn’t even managed a proper relationship with his own child, so a grandson who had suddenly rolled into his house must have been even harder to deal with.
In the end, the topic of conversation his grandfather found was rabbit butchery. He likely saw Juhwan watching him every time he worked and assumed the boy was interested in it. In truth, it was for an entirely different reason, but his grandfather never knew that until the day he died.
The sight of a small, elderly man explaining how to butcher a rabbit to a middle schooler twice his size must have been a bit bizarre.
However, that was his grandfather’s own way of communicating.
Recalling what his grandfather had done, Juhwan pulled at the Wolf Pelt with his left hand. If the blade accidentally grazed the entrails, they would burst.
He pulled the skin to create as much space as possible and slid the knife in between. He slit the skin while pushing the entrails away with his hand to make a gap. Despite the winter cold, sweat poured down his face from the tension.
He had only watched and never actually done it, so his hands were quite clumsy. A wolf was different from a rabbit, starting with its size. Relying solely on memory, he felt his confidence waver as the position and shape of the muscles differed.
His movements—cutting through the internal muscles holding the organs—grew slower and slower. He felt slower than a tortoise.
His left arm, where the wolf had bitten him, began to throb as if something were gnawing at his flesh.
His bones ached, making it difficult to apply strength. His head throbbed.
Whew. Juhwan took a deep breath. He couldn’t afford to let his focus slip here.
Pain isn’t real. It’s just something the brain perceives. He’d heard that even when the body is actually hurt, it can be blocked with anesthesia or painkillers, and some people can’t feel pain at all because of nerve damage. There were diseases like that. Ultimately, everything a person feels is controlled by the brain.
If he set his mind to it, the pain would vanish.
As he told himself this and took several slow breaths, the pain seemed to lessen slightly.
Juhwan moved his slowed hands once more. But the work was still difficult. His grandfather had made it look so easy, but the actual task was far harder than he’d imagined. When he finally removed the entrails, he felt a genuine sense of relief.
Blood had pooled inside the wolf’s abdominal cavity. He used the shovel from the workshop to dig a small hole and discarded the blood along with the entrails.
Next was the task of skinning it.
Juhwan hung the wolf upside down from the rope on the tree.
He inserted the knife from the belly—which he’d split to remove the organs—toward the legs.
After making a long cut down the inner skin of the legs, he made a circular incision around the ankles.
Once he had processed all four legs that way, he began pulling the pelt down from the hind legs. Whenever it got caught, he used the knife to separate the skin and pulled again.
Though he wasn’t as skilled as his grandfather, the skinning went easier than expected. He thought it would be quite difficult, but it peeled away from the flesh as he pulled.
Still, that didn’t mean the skinning was easy. The long incision on the belly seemed to make it trickier. He wondered if it might have been easier to skin it before removing the entrails.
What came after was easy compared to the skinning. He sliced off the white fat to collect separately and carved out the red meat. He stripped the flesh as thoroughly as possible so that nothing remained on the bones.
The pile of meat he’d cut and placed on one side of the rock was quite substantial. He wasn’t entirely sure, but with this amount, it would surely last them fifteen days, even if a full month was a stretch.
He felt truly relieved that his family wouldn’t have to fill their stomachs with only the flour and oats from their bundles.
To feed my family with my own hands. He hadn’t known it would be this joyful. A sense of pride filled his chest. His heart felt more fulfilled than it ever had when receiving a paycheck from his company.
Afterward, he lightly scattered snow and frozen soil to hide the scattered bloodstains.
Now he just had to take the meat and the pelt home—but he realized he hadn’t brought a basket for the meat.
Even so, he didn’t feel like leaving the meat here to go home and back. What if someone snatched it away?
As he was debating whether to carry the meat wrapped inside the pelt, he heard the sound of footsteps on the ground.
Turning his head, he saw Lij coming toward him, carrying a wooden bucket from the house. It was the smaller of the two water buckets. Seeing her run out as soon as he finished his work, it seemed she had been watching him the whole time.
Lij’s face, which had been twisted with worry, was now wearing a rare, bright smile. Even though she looked distressed because of the wound on his arm, she was clearly happy he had caught a wolf. Her eyes sparkled as she stole glances at the meat.
A smile naturally rose to Juhwan’s face as well. Ah, this is wonderful. In thirty years of life, he had never felt such a sense of accomplishment.
Perhaps he had been a little anxious.
Can I do this? In a state where he knew nothing—not the language, nor this world—could he really support two people?
It seemed that worry had been tucked away in a corner of his heart all along.
But now, he had gained a bit of real confidence. He could definitely provide for the two of them. He could support his family. He felt his heart grow as strong as a mountain.
“Juhwan! ####.”
Lij spoke as she held out the wooden bucket. Did she mean “Here it is”? Juhwan lowered his head slightly as he committed her words to memory. He looked into her eyes and spoke.
“Go-ah-ma.”
He was imitating what Lij had said before. Considering the situation, he assumed this meant “Thank you.”
However, the expression on Lij’s face was strange. Her lips were pressed tight and her cheeks puffed out slightly, as if she were suppressing a laugh.
“Go-ma-wo?”
Lij spoke slowly, as if asking if this was what he meant.
Juhwan looked into her eyes and repeated after her.
“Gomawo.”
“….”
For some reason, Lij’s face suddenly turned bright red.
‘That’s strange.’ Surely it meant “thank you.” Or perhaps it didn’t mean “thank you” but “I love you,” or something else? Something embarrassing? He lost a bit of his confidence.
Her husband seemed to be a clever man. Juhwan appeared to have remembered the words she said and the context. When she brought him the bucket, he said “thank you” with a slightly odd pronunciation.
It was a bit strange, but he definitely meant “thank you.” There was something oddly cute about him speaking clumsily like a child.
When Lij corrected his pronunciation, Juhwan immediately repeated it accurately.
“….”
This was likely the first time she had ever heard someone say “thank you” to her. She had never heard it from her parents or her siblings. Naturally, the same went for her late husband and others.
She was suddenly overcome with shyness. She didn’t know what to do with herself. It wasn’t as if she’d done something worthy of such words. Hadn’t she just brought a bucket?
Being with this man brought about so many “firsts.” They had shared their first kiss, and as that memory suddenly surfaced, her face became as hot as boiled meat.
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness… from those lips, from that man’s tongue… Her face was burning. It felt as if her blood were boiling, sending heat rushing through her body.
Juhwan looked puzzled, seemingly unaware of what was going on in her heart.
A strange emotion suddenly flickered within her. Had he done things like that—touching lips—with many other women?
As the sensation of his smooth tongue came back to her, her chest felt tight this time.
Had he done that with other women, too? Had other women tasted him?
For some reason, her heart ached. It was strange. It was definitely strange. She had never felt this way before, but her heart was wavering, and she felt like she might cry.
She didn’t even understand why she was acting like this. Her head naturally dropped. Finding her behavior odd, Juhwan lowered his head to look up into her face.
When she forced a small smile, Juhwan smiled back. Then, he began gathering the meat into the wooden bucket.
Startled, Lij quickly lent a hand. It was naturally a woman’s job, yet this man acted as if it were only natural for him to do it too. He was a strange man.
As she busily packed the meat into the bucket, she stole a glance at her husband’s face and their eyes met.
Suddenly, his face was close. Was he going to do “that” again? At the thought, she felt so embarrassed she thought her face might actually catch fire.
But Juhwan only pressed his lips lightly to her forehead before pulling away.
‘What was I thinking?’
Lij lowered her head in surprise. This made it seem like she had been expecting that embarrassing thing. How foolish. Foolish, foolish, foolish.
Even so, her hands moved diligently, putting the meat into the bucket. Once all the meat was inside, Juhwan draped the Wolf Pelt he had left on the rock over his shoulder.
Juhwan picked up the bucket of meat Lij had been holding.
Lij shook her head and tried to take it, insisting she would carry it, but the strong man’s hand didn’t budge.
Left with no choice, they stood side by side to head home, when Juhwan’s face suddenly lowered again. Was he going to kiss her forehead again? Just as she thought how embarrassing it was, something soft touched her lips.
“!”
Her eyes flew wide in surprise, but Juhwan’s face had already returned to its place. The sensation of his rough beard prickling her skin remained.
Her entire body turned red. From her fingers to her wrists, she was flushed.
As if he had seen it, Juhwan let out a low chuckle. For some reason, that was so embarrassing. It felt as if he had seen right through to the feelings she didn’t even fully understand herself.
She lowered her head and, without realizing it, started running. She ran toward the house alone, leaving her husband behind. She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t stay by his side. If she stayed there, her body would surely burn up from shame and turn to ash.
Though she had been told not to come outside, Dorothy was standing a short distance from the door. As Lij approached, the girl’s eyes went wide.
‘This child must have seen it too—the kiss.’
How embarrassing. She was so ashamed she wanted to crawl into a hole.
Lij walked right past the child and went inside.
Dorothy waited outside, and when Juhwan drew near, she seemed to run to him. Lij heard the pitter-patter of footsteps.
A moment later, she heard the sound of the child grunting with effort.
Wondering what was happening, she peeked through the window and saw the child adding her small hands to the bucket Juhwan was carrying. It seemed she wanted to help him carry it.
Juhwan reached the door, and she heard him say, “Thank you.”
But a moment later, Dorothy came inside with a slightly dejected face.
‘Ah! She was hoping to hear her name.’
Lij smiled in spite of herself and approached the child. She placed a hand on Dorothy’s head and spoke softly.
“Dorothy, well done.”
The child’s face brightened instantly. If she had known it would make her this happy, she should have given her the name a bit sooner.
‘But then again, the name he gave her must be better.’
Dorothy. It sounded truly beautiful.
Juhwan seemed to have been watching the exchange between Lij and Dorothy from the doorway.
Juhwan scratched his head and spoke to Dorothy.
“Dorothy, thank you.”
A huge smile broke across the child’s face. It was the best smile they had seen from her yet. She must have been incredibly happy.
Juhwan took the bucket, which was less than half-full of water, and went back to the spring. Watching him shoulder the large water bucket and walk off, he looked exactly like a Hero from a legend. She thought he was gallant.
