I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 38
038 I’ll kill every last one of them
Juhwan bent down and examined the ground closely. Several footprints remained in the areas where snow and fallen leaves had accumulated.
They looked similar to a human’s, but they were slightly different. The toes and claws were longer than a human’s. And they were small—much smaller than an adult male’s. Perhaps similar to Lij’s feet, or maybe a little larger.
‘They’re not human.’
If it were a person, they would have been wearing shoes. But it wasn’t an animal either. It was something that was neither man nor beast.
The tracks didn’t look old. Yet, Juhwan hadn’t heard a sound when he approached the area. They must have passed through quite a while ago.
Juhwan stood up. He felt an ominous foreboding. His heart began to stir with unease.
He walked along the trail of footprints. The tracks seemed to lead here from deep within the mountains. There wasn’t just one or two; there appeared to be at least twenty or thirty, perhaps even more.
Following the trail for a short distance, it looked as though they had wandered around in confusion. However, they weren’t just moving aimlessly. There was a specific destination they were heading toward.
It was a different path from the one Juhwan usually took, but he had a general idea of where it led. Though it was a roundabout way, it definitely led to…
‘Maybe they’re going in a completely different direction. There are no fixed roads in these mountains. There isn’t just one path.’
Juhwan veered away from the tracks and returned to his usual route. This was the fastest way home.
Before he could even think, his body was already sprinting through the air. Juhwan began to run like a madman, his feet barely seeming to touch the ground.
He didn’t know who the tracks belonged to. But they were definitely heading toward his house. Toward the home where Lij and Dorothy were.
Please, God—if there is a God in this world, in the universe, or back on Earth—don’t take anything more from me… If You’re going to take it away, don’t give it to me in the first place. Please, please, I beg of You.
He felt as though his heart might burst at any moment.
“Oz, it’s stew today. We’ll eat when Daddy gets back.”
The stew Mom made was full of meat. It was delicious. Dorothy’s mouth was already watering.
The baby rabbit wriggled, trying to escape from her pocket.
“No, Oz! Are you going to be a bad rabbit?”
Dorothy frowned deeply and looked down.
Lij Mom had made a pocket in her clothes. A big pocket.
The baby rabbit was tucked inside.
“Okay, perfect.” Dorothy nodded, repeating a phrase her late father used to say. Her father had said it many times when she was little. She didn’t know exactly what it meant, but it felt right for this moment. Dorothy nodded once more.
The baby rabbit was tucked so far into the pocket that even its face was hidden. Its ears poked out a bit, but that couldn’t be helped. Rabbits had such big ears. If she wanted to fit the ears in too, the pocket on Dorothy’s clothes would have to be too big. That wouldn’t do. It would make the pretty clothes Lij Mom made for her look ugly.
Dorothy pulled the pocket open and leaned her head down. Oz the baby rabbit looked up at Dorothy from inside the pocket with its black eyes.
“Oz, you have to stay still to be a good rabbit. Understand?”
“….”
There was no answer, but that was okay. Rabbits couldn’t talk. Oz was a baby, so he probably couldn’t talk even more than most. It couldn’t be helped.
Over the dress that had grown heavy because of the rabbit, Dorothy put on the new coat Mom had made for her. It was warm and pretty.
She repeated what she had already said several times to the rabbit in her pocket.
“Mom made this for me. It’s new. It’s mine. I’m the first one to wear it. She said nobody else has worn it before.”
She felt happy and proud for some reason. Dorothy puffed out her chest.
From the kitchen, Mom, who was tasting the stew, let out a giggle. Dorothy was happy because Mom was happy. Good. Dorothy felt so happy that she spoke up in a very loud voice without realizing it.
“Mom, I’m going to go meet Daddy!”
“All right, Dorothy. That’s a lot of work. Be careful.”
“Yes!”
“Ah, don’t forget what Daddy told you.”
“Yup! I know!”
Dorothy stepped outside, hugging the heavy pocket with both hands. Because the rabbit had sagged down below her belly near her legs, it was hard to walk. She ended up waddling.
As soon as she opened the door and went outside, a gust of cold wind blew in.
Even though the sun was high in the sky, it was very cold.
Mom said it every day. She said it broke her heart that Daddy had to go out and work so hard in this cold.
“It breaks Dorothy’s heart too.”
As she waddled along, Dorothy told Oz.
Oz must feel the same way. Because Oz was Dorothy’s rabbit. That meant they thought the same things.
Oh, she realized she’d forgotten Toto. Toto would want to meet Daddy too. Dorothy hesitated, wondering if she should go back inside to get the doll, but it was almost time for Daddy to arrive. There was no time to go back. It would be bad if Daddy came while she was gone.
“Daddy says he’s very happy when Dorothy says ‘Welcome home’.”
So she couldn’t miss meeting him. She told Oz that, but the baby rabbit only twitched its ears. It didn’t seem to understand properly.
“Oz, you need to study more!”
Sigh, Dorothy was just so busy. She had to meet Daddy and help Mom. Mom said the food could only be made right if Dorothy tasted it. Plus, she had to look after and teach the baby rabbit and the doll rabbit.
“Oh, I’m busy, so busy.”
Dorothy hurried to the fence gate. It was still a bit early for Daddy to arrive, but…
“Huh?”
She thought she heard a patter-patter sound from outside. Maybe Daddy was already here. Dorothy hurriedly clung to the gate while holding the rabbit.
The gate was locked by laying a wooden bar across it. It opened easily if you lifted the bar. Daddy had worked hard to make it so Dorothy could open it too.
He said it was a gate to keep bad animals out, but if something did get inside, Dorothy had to be able to escape easily. That was why the gate was easy to open. Even Dorothy could do it.
Dorothy placed her hand on the bar to open the gate, then let out an “Oh.” Mom had mentioned it too. She shouldn’t forget what Daddy said. Daddy had told her many times to be careful.
“I have to check if it’s Daddy before I open the gate. Understand? Daddy said I had to do that! I didn’t forget. I just didn’t think of it for a second. Really.”
After explaining this to Oz, Dorothy pressed one eye to a crack in the gate. When Daddy got home, he would lower his face to the crack so Dorothy could see him. Then Dorothy and Daddy’s eyes would meet perfectly. Right now…
“!”
Their eyes met.
But it wasn’t Daddy. It was completely different from Daddy. There were lots of red threads over the yellowish whites of the eyes. It looked just like a beast. A scary eyeball was looking at Dorothy’s eye.
“Hii…”
A strange sound escaped her breath. She was so scared that even a cry wouldn’t come out. Her body froze like cold ice and wouldn’t move. She knew she had to run away, but she couldn’t move.
A strange smell wafted from the thing outside the gate. A weird sound, like laughter, could be heard through the door.
Dorothy moved her eyes, unable to budge her body. A hand moved on the other side of the gate. Dorothy’s pupils followed the movement of that hand.
The thing raised its hand and brought it close to the gate. It had long fingernails.
The long nails came close to Dorothy’s face. They were moving to come through the crack in the gate.
She was watching it, but she couldn’t move. It felt as if someone had wrapped her body tightly with invisible ropes.
“W-waaaah.”
She started to cry. But her body still wouldn’t move. What should she do? What should she do? She had to run away, but her legs wouldn’t move at all. She didn’t know what to do.
“Waaaaaaah!”
A cry burst from her mouth, and the long nails poked through the crack in the gate.
It was then.
Suddenly, the nails vanished outside. The yellow eye disappeared too.
The strange-looking person was grabbed by someone and suddenly pulled away from the crack.
“Daddy!”
Dorothy shouted loudly. It was Daddy. Daddy came and grabbed that strange person and threw him away.
Hearing Dorothy’s voice, Daddy turned his face toward the gate for a moment. He gave a grin as if telling her not to worry. It’s okay, Dorothy. His lips didn’t move, but it felt like Daddy was saying that.
But Daddy immediately turned his body back toward the strange person.
Through the narrow crack in the gate, she could see many more strange people running from afar. They were monsters. She could tell because Daddy was there with those strange things. Those weren’t people. They were monsters. A whole crowd of monsters was running through the trees.
Whether she had heard Dorothy’s voice or for some other reason, Lij Mom’s scream echoed from the house.
“Dorothy!”
Looking back, Mom was running toward Dorothy like crazy.
“Mom, it’s Daddy! Daddy’s here!”
She had been scared just a moment ago, but she was okay now. Really, she was fine. Daddy was here. Since her incredibly strong Daddy was here, Mom didn’t have to worry either.
She tried to say that, but the words wouldn’t come out. For some reason, only sobs escaped.
Mom reached her and suddenly pulled Dorothy back. Dorothy was yanked away from the gate and pulled into Lij Mom’s arms. Lij Mom’s chest was pressed against her back. Her back felt warm.
Mom, holding both Dorothy and the rabbit, was trembling violently.
Dorothy looked at Mom’s hands in front of her stomach and realized that her own body was shaking terribly too.
It was strange. Daddy was here, so Dorothy wasn’t scared at all, so why was she shaking like this? It was really strange. Drops of water falling from her own eyes were dripping onto Mom’s hands.
“….”
What should they do? There were too many monsters. There was only one Daddy, but so many, many monsters had come. If Daddy disappeared like her father who died in the mountains, what would happen then? If Daddy was gone…
“Waaaaaaaah!”
An incredibly loud wail burst from her mouth.
When he ran toward the house, the first thing Juhwan saw was a monster standing in a hunched, awkward posture. It was standing in front of the fence.
He had never seen one in person before, but he knew what it was. He recognized it instantly. It was a sight he had seen many times in movies or cartoons.
The creature had skin that looked like a mix of green and brown. Its ears were slightly pointed. It was short—shorter than Lij, it seemed. But compared to its height, its feet were quite large. The thing wore a scrap of cloth around its waist that was too crude to even be called clothing.
‘A Goblin.’
Juhwan quickly scanned the area around the house.
The others were still far off. They were still in the forest. It seemed this one had arrived earlier than the rest.
The creature was hunched over, looking through a crack in the gate at something.
‘Dorothy!’
The child was always waiting at the gate to meet her father.
His chest felt hot, as if it might overheat and explode right now.
Right now, he had to get that thing away from the fence gate immediately.
Juhwan’s sprint grew even faster. It felt as if his feet were catching fire.
The Goblin seemed to smirk. Raising its hand, it thrust nails much longer than a human’s into the gap in the fence.
He heard the faint sound of a child crying.
Juhwan kicked off the ground and launched himself into the air. He reached out his hand.
He just barely managed to grab the creature’s head. The sticky, slimy scalp had a few patches of coarse hair.
In an instant, he wound the creature’s hair around his fingers and yanked it backward. The monster was pulled back like a paper tiger.
Glancing at the fence, he saw a round eye through the crack where the Goblin’s long nails had just been pulled out.
Thank god. He wasn’t too late. The child’s eye was wide with shock and terror, but she was unharmed. No red blood was visible on the small patch of skin seen through the narrow gap.
The child called out to him, “Daddy.” After giving her a grin to reassure her, Juhwan turned around.
The Goblins were rushing out of the forest. Even at a glance, there were dozens of them.
Juhwan drew the axe he had tucked into his belt. He was still unskilled with the bow and arrow. He wasn’t confident in his accuracy in such an urgent situation. It would be faster to fight with his body.
Gauging the distance to the distant Goblins, he ran a few steps toward the one he had just thrown.
I’ll kill these bastards. Every single one of them, I’ll kill them all.
