Translator: Nox

Chapter 14

016 Hunter from Today Onward

016 Hunter from Today Onward

It seemed everyone in this world woke up early. He expected the old man to come in the morning, but he hadn’t realized it would be quite this early.

Juhwan nodded to the old Hunter, signaling that he would be out in a moment.

He didn’t invite him inside. Considering the times when he wouldn’t be around, he didn’t want to establish a habit of letting strangers into a house where only a woman and a child lived.

‘That’s a suspicious smile, though.’

Juhwan glanced back at the old man as he turned away. The old man’s smiling face looked exactly like a human resources manager’s expression during a salary negotiation.

When he stepped inside, Lij was busy preparing something.

He had come in to tell her he was leaving, but the atmosphere didn’t seem right for a quick exit.

Lij, who had been moving back and forth in a hurry, caught sight of him and rushed over to grab his arm. Her slender fingers gripped him with surprising strength as she pulled him along.

Following her lead, he sat down on the bed next to the hearth.

She resumed her frantic pace.

Lij was roasting oats on a flat iron plate over the fire. Chopped wolf meat had been mixed in.

Beside the hearth sat a small, half-melted lump of fat—trimmed wolf fat. He had thought it was for lamp oil, but it turned out she was using it for cooking. It smelled savory and delicious.

When it seemed nearly finished, Lij pressed the grains down onto the plate with a spatula to ensure they cooked evenly. While the food sizzled, she filled a leather canteen with warm water.

Looking at the canteen, it was clear she didn’t intend for him to eat here; she was making him a lunchbox.

‘This is nice.’

His heart felt warm at the unexpected gesture. From middle school until now, no one had ever cooked for him except for the ladies at restaurants. Other than that, most of his meals had come from convenience stores.

‘Well, those were tasty too, though.’

He especially liked triangle kimbap. They were the perfect snack with a drink.

Juhwan sat quietly, watching Lij’s busy hands. He knew he had to hurry since the old man was waiting outside, but he found himself wanting to sit there forever.

Across the fire, next to Lij, Dorothy sat with her mouth agape, staring at the roasting food. A thin trail of drool escaped the corner of her mouth.

Suddenly, his eyes met Lij’s. She smiled.

He felt a flicker of worry. The amount of oats he’d seen yesterday wasn’t much. Was it alright to roast them like this instead of stretching the portion into a porridge?

He worried that she might be giving him a full meal while she and Dorothy ate thin gruel.

As if sensing his thoughts, Lij glanced toward Dorothy and the fried oats. She seemed to be telling him not to worry, that there was enough for Dorothy too.

It appeared to be done. Lij busily scooped the roasted oats into a round wooden container. She packed the rice in tightly until the bowl was full.

She left the lid off for a moment, likely letting it cool before sealing it.

Lij stood up and headed to a corner. From among the neatly arranged items there, she picked up a leather bag with a cross-body strap.

It was one of the items from their luggage. It looked very old, as if someone had used it for a long time. He guessed it had probably belonged to the Hunter who lived here before.

Perhaps all hunters carried something like that. That was likely why the villagers had included it in their supplies, figuring he would need it.

However, they wouldn’t have just given back something they’d confiscated; it was probably a debt he’d have to repay later. ‘Man, thinking about it, those villagers are real jerks.’

“….”

While Juhwan watched silently, Lij seemed to hesitate for a moment before placing a knife in a leather sheath, a small piece of cloth that looked like a handkerchief, and a length of rope into the bag.

It seemed Lij had put her own thought into what a hunter might need.

The knife would be helpful, but he wondered what the rope was for. Lij was still rummaging through the items in the corner, her expression incredibly serious.

Finding the sight strangely cute, Juhwan watched her for a moment before turning his head. His gaze fell on the iron plate.

‘I knew it.’

He had suspected as much, but the amount of food left after packing the lunchbox was far too small. It looked sufficient for Dorothy, but there didn’t seem to be enough for Lij.

Juhwan scooped a bit of the rice back out of the wooden container onto the plate, then quickly closed the lid and stood up before Lij could return.

Dorothy’s eyes sparkled. Sucking back her drool, the child muttered softly.

“Meat.”

Lij, who was coming over with the leather bag, let out a giggle as she heard the word.

When he held out the lunchbox container, Lij wrapped it meticulously in a square cloth and tied it tight. Handing it to Juhwan inside the leather bag, she spoke shyly.

“######.”

It likely meant, ‘Have a safe trip.’

“######?”

When he mimicked her words, Lij corrected his pronunciation slightly and spoke again.

“####.”

“I’ll be back.”

When Juhwan repeated it, Lij gave him a bright smile and spoke again.

“Come back safely.”

Dorothy, who had been by the hearth, came scurrying over to stand beside Lij.

Looking up at Juhwan with round eyes, the child shouted with absurdly high volume.

“Come back safely!”

She seemed surprised by the sound of her own voice, her eyes going wide. It seemed the phrase felt awkward since it was her first time saying it.

Juhwan placed his large hand on Dorothy’s head.

“I’ll be back, Dorothy.”

As he turned to leave the house, Dorothy’s voice rang out loudly again from behind him.

“Come back safely!”

He turned his head to look back, and Dorothy was waving both hands vigorously.

Lij stood quietly beside her, watching him. Though he didn’t think he’d be doing any actual hunting yet, she seemed worried. Her expression was slightly clouded.

This was a problem. He didn’t want to leave home. His new wife and daughter were just too cute.

---

The old Hunter’s name was Gus.

As Gus led Juhwan up the mountain, he made sure Juhwan observed his every move.

Juhwan stood on the narrow mountain path as instructed and watched Gus walk.

At first, it looked like normal walking. But looking closer, Gus’s back and shoulders were slightly hunched forward. His knees weren’t locked straight; he walked with them slightly bent. He looked almost like a gorilla in human form.

Gus walked forward a bit and then returned to Juhwan. Then he turned around again and tapped the ground with his feet. This time, he seemed to be telling Juhwan to watch his feet.

Juhwan nodded and lowered his gaze, and Gus began to walk again.

He said to watch his feet, but all Juhwan saw were shoes. One’s footsteps on the ground all look more or less the same. It would be a miracle if he could figure out what was different. With a hint of skepticism, Juhwan watched the old man’s feet intently.

For a while, he couldn’t even tell what he was supposed to be looking for. It just looked like walking. It didn’t seem like he was doing anything special.

But Gus didn’t get annoyed or frustrated; he repeated the same motion over and over. He would come to Juhwan, walk a distance away, and then return. Once, twice, many times, he demonstrated his stride in front of Juhwan.

As he watched the same footsteps over and over, Juhwan eventually noticed that the pressure Gus put into his feet was different every time.

Sometimes he left deep footprints, but other times he left none at all.

The ground was hard from the winter, so footprints didn’t form easily. It must have been harder to leave a deep print than to leave none at all.

‘Is this like some kind of footwork from a martial arts novel? Or something like the Thousand-Pound Weight or a Quake Step?’

Wait, this isn’t a martial arts world, it’s just the Middle Ages, right? He was getting a bit confused.

Juhwan followed the path Gus had taken for a few steps, examining the ground carefully.

Even when footprints were left, their shapes were all different.

Some looked like a straight stride.

But other footprints, even though they followed a straight line, looked as if the shoes themselves were pointed to the right or pointed to the left.

If there had only been one or two isolated prints instead of a continuous trail, it would have looked as if he had gone in a completely different direction.

Gus seemed to realize that Juhwan had caught on. He approached with a pleased expression and patted Juhwan on the waist in approval. He probably wanted to pat his back, but because of the height difference, he ended up patting his waist instead.

The language barrier was quite inconvenient.

Gus repeated the walking motion several times while saying something, but only the general sense was conveyed. It seemed he was supposed to walk while distributing his body weight.

And when leaving footprints, he had to put strength into his lower body.

Juhwan learned the walking motions by imitating Gus’s actions and words.

Stop, follow, quiet, bird, caution, careful….

Juhwan memorized the old man’s words one by one.

He got confused sometimes, but humans have a way of manifesting superpowers when desperate.

Perhaps because of the urgency to learn the language as quickly as possible, each word stuck in his mind.

If he had been able to absorb information like this back when he was a student, he would have easily been the top of his class.

Gus took him around various parts of the mountain for a while. Occasionally he would stop and point at his surroundings, signaling for Juhwan to look closely.

The old man drew the shapes of the terrain in the dirt with his hands and had Juhwan touch the trees.

At first, he didn’t quite understand the meaning, but he gradually realized that Gus was teaching him the layout of the mountain.

High ground, low ground, this kind of tree here, that kind of tree there. They all looked similar, but looking at the leaves fallen in the shade of the trees revealed they were different species.

He still felt that HR manager-like slyness from the old man. It felt like something was hidden behind that smile.

Even so, he was a very diligent teacher. Gus taught him step by step, patiently repeating things over and over.

Juhwan followed him earnestly, memorizing the old man’s actions, his words, and the layout of the mountain.

It didn’t feel like much time had passed, but the day had flown by. He suspected it might already be past lunchtime. At some point, a loud rumbling had begun in his stomach. He didn’t know why there was thunder inside his belly.

The two of them found a spot among the trees and crouched down to eat. It seemed there was no custom of offering food to one another.

Gus sat down and pulled a water skin and some thinly sliced jerky from the leather bag tied around his waist. He gestured for Juhwan to eat and then began his own meal.

Juhwan also took the lunchbox out of the bag he wore slung across his shoulder. A fragrant aroma wafted out.

Suddenly, Gus’s face contorted. Glancing at Juhwan, Gus pointed at the lunchbox and shook his head.

“….”

Juhwan understood the meaning immediately. His shoulders slumped.

‘My lunchbox.’

His bride had worked so hard since early morning to pack this for him—was the first time going to be the last? He felt like he might cry.

But sitting quietly in this forest, he could see the reason right away. This lunchbox was a no-go. The smell of prepared food was far too alien in the mountains. It spread through the forest instantly. It was like telling the beasts, “Here is a hunter coming to catch you.” It might be fine for a woodcutter, but it was unsuitable food for a hunter.

Juhwan sat with the small lunchbox on his thick thighs, staring blankly at the sky. He could see patches of blue through the tall trees.

He felt as if the scent of the food was drifting up through the branches. The savory smell of the fried rice seemed to have reached the birds in the trees. The birds let out low, cooing cries.

It felt as if the scent of the food was spreading further, carried by the birds’ songs.

‘Ah, this smell… a wolf with sharp senses would notice it from far away. There’s no way around it.’ He thought. ‘What am I going to do about my lunchbox?’

With a snort, old Gus laughed.

“####.”

He said something. From the tone, it seemed he was asking if it was really necessary to feel such despair over a mere lunchbox.

But he only said that because he didn’t know. If he understood the heart of a man for whom convenience store lunchboxes were the standard of flavor, he would understand this despair.

‘Ah, come to think of it.’

Juhwan looked at Gus’s face and smirked. He felt a bit grateful.

If Gus had told him from the start that a lunchbox wasn’t allowed, he wouldn’t have even had this one chance.

The reason Gus hadn’t forbidden the lunchbox from the beginning was probably because today was for learning movements rather than actual hunting.

And he likely thought it would be faster to bring him to the forest and let him experience it firsthand rather than just telling him.

But even if that was the reason, Juhwan was thankful for the gesture.

Feeling a bit regretful, he ate the fried rice. Even though it had no special sauce and was only lightly salted, it was truly delicious. The rice went down as sweet as honey.

‘Starting tomorrow, do I have to eat those jerky strips too?’

Ah, but they didn’t have any jerky. Since they were just starting their life together, there hadn’t been time to make something like jerky. ‘Hmm, then do I have to starve? Or eat raw grain?’ He felt a little depressed.