I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 17
017 There Are Bad Guys Everywhere in This World
After finishing the meal, Gus took Juhwan down the mountain.
Instead of heading toward the village, Gus walked along the boundary where the mountain met the plains.
The tall trees grew sparse, replaced by many small trees with skeletal branches. Foliage thinned out as well. In their place, gravel became more common, making the trek across the slippery winter mountain even more difficult.
Stumbling and nearly slipping several times, Juhwan followed diligently behind Gus along the forest path.
Unlike Juhwan, Gus moved lightly, as if he were walking on flat ground.
Even with a limp in one leg, he was faster than Juhwan. He felt like a true man of the mountains.
After walking for quite a while, tall trees began to appear sporadically again. The gravel gradually diminished. Upon reaching a small clearing, a dilapidated little house came into view.
“####.”
Gus pointed toward it and said something. It seemed to mean it was his home.
Gus had Juhwan wait in front of the house for a moment before stepping inside. An eerie creaking sound echoed from within. When Gus emerged a moment later, he held two long bows in his hands.
They looked strange. The bows Juhwan knew were curved into D or C shapes, but the ones Gus brought out were straight.
Rather than a bow, it looked more like a long, wide wooden plank that had been shaved down with a string attached.
He only recognized it as a bow because the center handle was carved inward; without that, it would have just looked like a board with a string.
Furthermore, it was incredibly long. It was tall enough to slightly exceed Gus’s height. Juhwan guessed it was nearly two meters long—roughly the same height as himself.
Gus thrust one into Juhwan’s hand. Then, he pointed back and forth between a nearby tree and his own bow. He repeated the gesture several times, signaling Juhwan to watch closely.
“##.”
“Watch closely.”
When Juhwan repeated the words, a grin spread across Gus’s wrinkled face.
After confirming Juhwan was watching, Gus gripped his bow and fixed his gaze on the tree.
Watching the tree, Gus breathed quietly. Inhale, exhale, then inhale again. After steadying his breath a few times, he finally raised the bow in silence.
He gripped the bow with his left hand and pulled the drawstring with his right, which held an arrow.
The arrow appeared to be made of bamboo. He could tell by the visible nodes. However, the nodes had been sanded smooth, and the wood was a deep brown. Given the slight sheen, it might have been coated with something. Two bird feathers were attached to the tail of the arrow.
The tip of the perfectly straight arrow was rounded.
It wasn’t the common triangular arrowhead. It looked like the wood had simply been carved into a blunt sphere. Perhaps it was for practice. Being a complete novice to both bows and arrows, Juhwan had no idea what it was used for.
Gus’s expression as he glared at the target made him look like a wax figure. Like a lifeless ancient tree, time seemed to have vanished from his wrinkled face.
It was as if time had stopped.
After holding the string taut for a moment, Gus released his fingers. The arrow aimed at the tree flew like a lightning bolt. It thudded into the very center of the trunk. Until that moment, Gus’s body did not move an inch.
Juhwan didn’t know much about archery, but he could tell Gus was an expert. The way he shot was upright and silent, far from what one would expect of an old man—it looked, quite simply, cool.
The arrow Gus fired stuck into the tree for a moment before falling to the ground.
Since the tip was wood, it likely hadn’t pierced deeply.
Gus demonstrated once more and then stepped aside, gesturing for Juhwan to try.
When Juhwan stood and gripped the bow, mimicking him, Gus adjusted his posture.
Recalling Gus’s actions, Juhwan pulled the string of the arrowless bow taut. After steadying his breath, he released the string, but Gus shook his head and demonstrated again.
“####.”
Watching Gus’s words and actions, Juhwan gathered that he meant not to move. That’s strange, he thought. I didn’t move at all; I only slightly shifted the fingers holding the string.
However, as he repeated the motion several times, Juhwan realized that his body was indeed shifting—ever so slightly. It was only as much as a hair swaying, but his body was trembling nonetheless.
Yet, knowing it didn’t mean his body would immediately cooperate.
He spent the rest of the afternoon practicing releasing the drawstring. He learned that to shoot a bow, one had to become a stone statue rather than a human. Archery is damn hard.
*
The sun was still high in the sky when Gus patted him on the back.
“####.”
As he spoke, he pointed toward the mountain. He seemed to be telling Juhwan to head back now.
It appeared Gus was letting him keep the bow. Through gestures, Gus told him to keep practicing. He also seemed to want him to practice the footwork he had learned while walking today. Well, Juhwan would have done that anyway, even if Gus hadn’t said so.
As Juhwan began to walk with the bow slung over his shoulder, Gus took the lead with a brisk pace. It seemed less like he was guiding the way and more like he was demonstrating the proper movements.
Juhwan watched Gus closely and followed, mentally reviewing the words, movements, and archery he had learned today.
I have to learn and master this quickly. I want to pull my own weight as soon as possible. I want to be a man who can provide plenty for my wife and daughter.
The sky is blue. Snow is white. Lij’s hair is sparkly. Juhwan’s hair is black. And meat is yellow.
Dorothy sprawled out on the bed. She looked at the wood of the high ceiling, then at the hole in the roof. Smoke drifted up and escaped through the hole.
In the hearth nearby, flames stretched out in red and yellow.
It was warm. She was sleepy.
“Burp!”
A sound escaped her mouth, and with a pop, something else escaped too. The smell was terrible. Dorothy pinched her nose and rolled over. When her stomach touched the bed, it became hard to breathe. Her belly was so full she felt like she might burst.
“Hwaaaa.”
As she let out a long breath, she heard Lij’s soft laughter as she moved about the house. Lij laughed often since Juhwan arrived. Before that, neither Lij nor Dorothy laughed.
I like it.
She liked it when Lij laughed. Every time she heard Lij’s laughter, it felt like something warm was entering her body. It felt just like sitting next to the hearth.
I’m full.
Her belly felt like it was getting rounder and rounder. It felt like the meat was growing bigger and bigger inside her stomach. Dorothy placed both hands on her belly and closed her eyes. It was delicious. She hadn’t known oats could be so tasty. She had always thought they were gross.
Normally, she ate nothing in the morning. When the sun was high in the sky and she became very hungry, she would wait a long time after that before eating a little oat porridge.
But today, they had eaten as soon as Juhwan left. Lij had looked troubled as she stared at the iron plate, muttering that there was too much. Dorothy didn’t understand why she was troubled. There was a lot of food on the plate. Why was having a lot of food a problem? In Dorothy’s mind, there was nothing to be troubled about. There was enough for both of them to eat and still have leftovers.
“Hehe.”
With her eyes closed, Dorothy gently rubbed her protruding belly. There was still a little food left. She hoped her belly would go down quickly so she could eat again.
Suddenly, Juhwan’s face came to mind. As he left, he had stroked her head with his large hand. It was something her father had never done. It made her so happy.
“….”
Since Juhwan arrived, she had already eaten her fill of meat twice. She loved it. But who was Juhwan? she wondered. She wasn’t sure.
Lij said she was her father’s wife, but no one told her who Juhwan—who came after—was to her. The Village Chief said he was Lij’s husband, but then what did that make him to Dorothy? She was curious. If he wasn’t her father or her mother, would Juhwan leave one day? Since Juhwan was Lij’s husband, would he only take Lij with him? Then what would happen to Dorothy?
“….”
During the night, she had dreamed that the meat grew rabbit ears and feet and ran away.
She had woken up startled, and though it was just a dream, she had scrambled to check the bowl of meat in case it really had escaped. Fortunately, it had no feet. The meat was sitting quietly in the bowl.
Thinking of that dream made her a little anxious. She worried that, just like in the dream, Lij might leave with Juhwan.
“Oh.”
It was strange. The sound of Lij’s footsteps, which had been moving around the house until just a moment ago, had suddenly vanished. Fear gripped her. Maybe she had run away. Maybe Juhwan had taken her. Maybe the two of them had left Dorothy all alone…
Suddenly, her father’s voice thundered in her head.
Useless thing! Her father had always cursed at Dorothy, calling her a useless girl.
It would have been better if you were a boy. Then I could raise you as a hunter or a laborer. Girls are useless. They just waste food. Be quiet! If you cry, I’ll throw you away someday.
He always said that. She didn’t remember it well, but there was a time she had actually been kicked out of the house. She had a memory of crying hysterically in the pitch black.
It was dark, and there were hooting sounds. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf had been howling too. Or was it? Was that a sound she heard from inside? She didn’t know. But she definitely remembered crying outside the house…
Dorothy sat bolt upright. She had to find her. She had to find Lij. She had to catch up before Lij—her stepmother—abandoned her and left.
She scrambled off the bed and ran first to the container holding the meat. Meat was important. Even if they abandoned Dorothy, they wouldn’t abandon the meat. They would definitely take it.
Fortunately, the meat in the container was still there. The wolf pelt was still there too. Then it was okay. They were probably just outside working.
“….”
Still anxious, Dorothy pitter-pattered toward the door.
But before she could open it, she heard the voices of men. It was strange.
It sounded like they were fighting. Men were saying something in scary voices.
She pressed her ear to the door and listened, but she couldn’t hear well. She thought she caught the word “meat.”
Dorothy ran to the side and cracked open the wooden shutter.
Three large men were standing near the door. Beside the men sat two large wooden crates.
They were men she had seen before. They had come to see her father. Her father seemed to be afraid of those men.
Back when her stepmother was still alive, when the men came, her father had abandoned her and her stepmother and fled somewhere. When he returned later, he had beaten her stepmother terribly—truly terribly. In the end, her stepmother had grown sickly after that beating and died.
Lij.
Would Lij be okay? What if she was beaten to death by Juhwan like her stepmother?
Did Juhwan hit people? He wasn’t her father, so would it be okay?
The men grinned as they looked at Lij. They held axes, sickles, and clubs in their hands. It was scary. She felt like something bad was about to happen. Her father’s terrifying face, her stepmother, and the faces of those men she had seen before flickered through her mind one after another.
The man at the front looked toward the house and spoke with a frightening expression.
“I told you to answer properly! What is this smell?!”
The man standing next to him added, “You stole the meat, didn’t you?”
Lij shook her head at the men.
“No. My husband hunted it.”
But the men didn’t seem to believe her. They shouted one after another.
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!”
“Do you think hunting is that easy?!”
“This girl… we found you a new husband and a way to live after your old one died, and you repay us with theft?!”
“Hah, this is unbelievable. To think we brought tools like hammers and nails without knowing you were a thief.”
“Hey! We should go inside and check. Let’s see what else she stole.”
“It’s really not like that. My husband truly hunted it.”
The men shouted with scary faces, and Lij shook her head with a look like she was about to cry.
When the men tried to force their way into the house, Lij spread her arms to block the door.
But the men pushed Lij, knocking her to the ground, and kicked the door. Thud! Thud! The loud noise echoed throughout the house.
I’m scared. I’m scared.
What should she do? What could she do? The men were coming in. Men even bigger than her father were coming inside.
Dorothy pulled away from the window and looked around the house. Her legs were shaking so much she couldn’t walk properly.
Hee, hee… Strange whimpering sounds escaped her. She wasn’t supposed to cry; if she did, they would hit her. But even when she covered her mouth with her hands, the cries leaked through her fingers. What should she do? She would get hit for being noisy. They would punch her like her father did. They would kick her. She was terrified.
Dorothy’s eyes fell upon the large bed. It was big enough for Juhwan, Lij, and Dorothy to sleep in with room to spare.
If I hide there, they won’t see me.
Dorothy crawled under the bed.
