I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 150
150. Where the Evil God Was Born (Illustration)
150. Where the Evil God Was Born
The forest is weeping.
Tears well up in your eyes and mine. In this village, where only dry breaths were once exhaled, tears have finally returned.
Saliva pools on tongues that were once parched and rough, and throats that used to force down food like dry sand can finally swallow something soft.
‘Finally… finally… we can beg for forgiveness.’
The Village Chief of the village stumbled out of the temple, his arms as thin and spindly as twigs.
Since last winter, when the ground of the forest began to grow damp, his daily routine had been to enter the temple and pray the moment he opened his eyes. Morning, noon, and night, he remained shut away inside.
The other villagers were the same. Most of them were prostrate in prayer, either inside the cramped temple or on the cold bare ground outside.
Thinking that someone might come, some went out every day to the part of the forest that touched the outside world.
The entire village waited for someone. Not for a Lord or someone to distribute food, but for someone who would forgive them.
But there was no certainty anywhere. Whether such a being would truly appear, or if the time for forgiveness had not yet come, was something no villager could know.
Time flowed as hope and despair repeated every second. A single day felt as long as ten years. They thought they might have to wait another hundred, two hundred, or a thousand years in this state. They feared their descendants might also live in agony, unable to die.
But now they knew. They knew because the forest was weeping and tears had begun to flow from their own bodies.
The one who would forgive them was here. He was somewhere in the forest.
Others realized this as well and began to move their flailing limbs to walk.
Their bodies, deprived of moisture for so long, were withered like dry branches. As they moved in haste, their wrinkled, crinkled skin cracked open.
Thick blood was visible between the cracks, but no one cared. Everyone just stumbled forward as if grasping at the empty air.
As Juhwan moved deeper into the forest, he began to see people standing among the trees as if hiding.
“Gasp!”
Riji inhaled sharply. Flinching, she pressed herself close to Juhwan’s side.
Dorothy, who had been sitting on his lap facing forward, whipped around. She closed her eyes and threw her arms around Juhwan’s neck. She whispered softly in his ear.
“Daddy, is that a monster? A Magic Beast? What is it? It looks scary.”
“No, Dorothy. They are… people.”
“But why do they look like that? It’s weird. They look like monsters.”
“….”
Juhwan couldn’t find the words as he looked at them.
The appearance of the people hiding among the trees was grotesque. They had no hair at all. Not even eyebrows. Their skin was shriveled and clung to their bones like tree bark, and they seemed to have almost no muscle. The shape of their veins bulged out through their flesh.
It was as if tree branches had been turned into humans. All five or six of them looked that way.
‘Are they the residents of Tomb Village?’
The people’s eyes were wide as they stared at Juhwan. Their protruding eyeballs were bloodshot.
The people, who had been staring at Juhwan as if time had stopped, finally began to move their limbs in an odd fashion.
As if to avoid skin contact, they flailed with their arms and legs spread as far from their bodies as possible. They looked like moving spiders.
Slowly, the people emerged from the trees where they had been hiding and approached Juhwan. Though slow, they seemed to be hurrying in their own way. They were flailing their arms, which looked like they might snap at a touch.
“Daddy, Daddy, the monster people are coming this way.”
Dorothy whispered in his ear, her voice thick with fear. She hugged Juhwan’s neck tight with one hand and covered her eyes with the other, though she left a small gap between her fingers.
“Riji, stay here for a moment. I’m going to go talk to them.”
“Please be careful.”
Riji said in a frightened voice as she took Dorothy into her arms.
“Don’t worry.”
Juhwan spoke softly and stepped down from the carriage.
Oz and Yeonhwa still showed no reaction. While the villagers looked grotesque, they didn’t seem to have any intention of harming them.
Juhwan walked toward the approaching people and came to a halt.
“I am looking for a place called Tomb Village. Are you from there?”
“…Ye… ye… yes….”
A voice that sounded like gravel scraping against a rock leaked from one man’s mouth. He seemed to be a man.
The man clutched his throat as if surprised by the sound he had made. His fingers, thin as bone shards, gripped his layered, wrinkled neck as he went still for a moment.
After a short while, the corners of the man’s mouth twitched slightly. He seemed to be trying to smile. His dry lips tore, and red blood seeped out.
But he didn’t seem to notice. The man was smiling broadly without making a sound.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just his lips. The man’s skin was split open in places like torn paper.
Could a person even live with a body like that? With a heavy heart, Juhwan looked around at the people. Everyone was covered in those gaping cracks.
‘What on earth happened to these people’s bodies?’
As he wondered, the man prostrated himself on the ground. His arms flailed as they touched the earth. Following his lead, the others also slumped down like snapping branches.
“…Forgive… forgive… u… us… please forgive us….”
“…Pleathe… forgive uth….”
Everyone spoke in unison with their heads bowed.
Juhwan reached out to help the man up but stopped.
If he touched that rustling skin, it might tear. Juhwan kept his hand extended awkwardly and spoke.
“I think you’ve misunderstood something. I’m not an Administrator for the Lord or a bandit or anything like that. I’m just someone who… well, I’m not entirely sure why I came here, but I just happened to stop by.”
At Juhwan’s words, the man lifted his head. His gaze slid over the skin of Juhwan’s face, neck, arms, and legs before stopping at his feet.
Puddles of moisture had gathered only around Juhwan’s feet. Seeing that, the man bowed his head low again.
“…You are the one… we have waited for… Even this voice comes forth so that I may beg your forgiveness… Originally, only things that were not proper words came from our throats… Please forgive us… Please… have mercy and just one word… just one word saying you forgive us… Please… please… I beg of you….”
“….”
This was awkward. Juhwan sighed and crouched down where he stood.
“Look, I really don’t know what’s going on or what you’re talking about. I don’t know what kind of place this village is, or why the forest is in such bad shape. First, tell me the story of this place.”
At the edge of his Mana Detection, he sensed more people. They seemed to be coming this way. They weren’t fast, but they weren’t exactly walking either. Considering how slowly these people moved, they were probably running.
“Ye-yes. The story… right… please listen to the story of this place.”
It was a woman behind the man—or at least, he thought it was a woman. It was hard to tell because they were all hairless, eyebrowless, and gaunt.
To be honest, everyone here looked more or less the same. They lacked the characteristics that usually defined a person’s individuality.
However, the person prostrate behind the man was smaller in stature and had even thinner bones.
“…The….”
The woman opened her mouth and pressed her body flat against the ground. With her lips almost touching the earth, she spoke in a raspy voice.
“…It is humble… but there is a temple in the village… If you would go there… please… if you would go… th… th… thank… you….”
The others seemed to remember only after hearing her words and bowed their heads.
“We beg of you.”
“…To the temple… please go… please….”
“…We ask this of you.”
Juhwan glanced at Yeonhwa. Yeonhwa didn’t seem particularly interested in the people. She was just standing there blankly.
‘If Yeonhwa isn’t on guard, it should be fine.’
He didn’t know why the people looked like this, but it probably wasn’t some kind of contagious disease.
“I wanted to hear the story anyway… please lead the way.”
“Thank you.”
“…Thank you.”
After bowing until their foreheads touched the ground, the people scrambled up. Their movements were still clumsy and slow.
The villagers ran through the forest path as if they were flailing underwater.
Juhwan signaled for Riji to bring the carriage and followed the people on foot.
As they went deeper into the forest, dozens of people became visible among the distant trees. They all looked similar.
Hairless, gaunt, and covered in wrinkles. Their eyes were bloodshot and protruding.
‘Seriously, what happened here?’
A chill ran down his spine at the sight of them.
It was like a cursed village.
Suddenly, a bleak wind blew. He realized it was the first time he had felt a breeze since entering the forest.
“…Oh… oh… the wind… the wind is….”
Among the latecomers, the most wrinkled and oldest-looking man raised both hands to the sky and muttered.
He heard several people calling him the Village Chief.
With tears filling his bloodshot eyes, the Village Chief looked at Juhwan and spoke.
“…Time is flowing. Tears are flowing, and the wind is blowing… The time that was frozen has finally begun to move… The curse is flowing away… The curse that was stagnant inside our bodies is flowing….”
Muttering like a madman, the Village Chief bent his body to prostrate himself on the ground.
Juhwan quickly stopped him.
“We were on our way to the temple. Someone from this village said there was a temple here and asked me to stop by.”
“Ye-yes, that’s right. The temple… yes… we must go to the temple… You are right. You are right….”
The Village Chief hurriedly straightened up and began to head back the way he had come.
“Come, this way. Please, this way….”
*
The village temple was small and shabby. To call it a temple was an overstatement; it was merely a crudely built Cabin.
Juhwan had Riji and Dorothy stay in the carriage while he entered the temple alone.
The temple was so narrow that most of the villagers couldn’t enter. Only the Village Chief and a few others went inside with Juhwan.
Those left outside prostrated themselves on the bare ground and muttered prayers. If one listened closely, they were all asking for forgiveness.
Against the far wall inside the temple was a small grave. A rope made of twisted straw surrounded the grave to prevent anyone from entering.
Juhwan froze when he saw the grave.
There was no tombstone, no flowers.
It was just a simple mound of earth.
But that mound was entirely red. It looked as if blood had been poured over it.
“This is….”
Juhwan stopped mid-sentence and placed a hand on his chest. It was strange. His heart began to throb with an ominous beat.
Tears began to fall.
Before, tears had flowed without him realizing it, but this was different. He felt a sudden, poignant sorrow. It became difficult to breathe. His chest felt tight, and tears streamed incessantly down his cheeks.
Water droplets formed around Juhwan and fell like rain, pitter-pattering down.
The villagers prostrated themselves as if terrified.
“…Please… please… forgive us… forgive us….”
“…We beg of you… For a long time… we have lived here repenting for our sins… Please forgive us….”
“….”
While shedding tears, Juhwan turned his gaze toward the villagers.
“Whose grave is this?”
“….”
The villagers couldn’t answer for a moment. Terrified, they only rolled their large eyes.
It was the Village Chief who finally spoke.
“The owner of this grave is the Evil God’s Wife.”
“The Evil God’s Wife.”
“…Ye-yes.”
The Evil God was said to be a deity who loathed and detested humans. Juhwan had heard of him once before.
“…Was the Evil God’s Wife not a god? Why is she here?”
The Village Chief stole a glance at Juhwan’s face with his bloodshot eyes and then hurriedly bowed his head.
After bowing deeply until his head touched the floor, the Village Chief spoke.
“…The… the Evil God was originally a god who loved and cherished humans. He loved humans so much that he lived among them… It is said the Evil God loved humans… That is why his wife was also a human….”
The Village Chief trembled as he raised both hands while keeping his head bowed.
As if seeking forgiveness, he held his palms out cupped and said,
“…It was the humans who did wrong… Our ancestors did wrong… For a long, long time… we have lived here begging for forgiveness… Now… please… forgive us… Please… please… forgive our sins….”
The Village Chief continued through his tears.
“…This is the place… where the god who loved humans turned into an Evil God because of his wife’s death….”
