I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 64
064 Only the Living Feel Hunger
“Wha—Wha—What is this!”
“Agh! My ears!”
The Fire Magician covered his ears with his hands, but it was no use. The sound from the magical beast was so loud it felt as if it were piercing through his very flesh. He thought it might be better to simply go deaf.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much! There were no wounds, no blood was flowing, yet the pain felt like a skewer was being stirred inside his brain.
Without realizing it, the Fire Magician began pounding his own ears with his fists.
The agony was so intense he couldn’t even feel the impact of his own blows.
“Make it stop!”
At the Fire Magician’s scream, the Wind Magician forced his huddled body upright. He seemed to be trying to conjure a wind, but it appeared impossible. The pain from the sound was so overwhelming that he couldn’t focus his mind.
That was the inconvenience of wind magic. While fire magic could be used simply by letting mana flow, wind required intense concentration.
Even so, he couldn’t use fire magic right now. If the tamer girl or the magical beast died, all their hard work would go to waste.
The Fire Magician lunged toward the magical beast, almost falling over. He reached out for the Horned Rabbit, intending to muzzle its mouth.
“!”
At that moment, the Horned Rabbit, which had seemed unable to move, suddenly leaped at his face.
Thud!
A tremendous force struck his face. It felt like he’d been kicked by the Horned Rabbit’s feet.
The shock was so great he couldn’t tell what had happened. His vision simply went dark, and it felt as if a bolt of lightning had flashed before his eyes.
The Fire Magician tumbled backward.
The magical beast climbed onto his face and began kicking with incredible speed.
It hurt. His nose felt like it was on fire, and thick blood began to flow down.
He grabbed the small ball of fur with his hands, but the creature clung to his face with immense strength. He couldn’t tear it off. It just kept kicking.
However, thanks to that, the magical beast stopped screaming. The sound that had been burrowing into his brain ceased, and a sudden silence followed.
It seemed the Wind Magician was finally able to use his magic. The air inside the carriage began to stir restlessly.
A breeze brushed past his face and gathered toward the clinging beast. He could feel the air moving gradually, coiling around the Horned Rabbit like a snake.
He felt the Horned Rabbit’s body shrink slightly. But even in that state, the creature held onto the Fire Magician’s flesh and continued to pummel him with its hind legs. His brain vibrated, and the entire world seemed to wobble.
He felt like he was going to die. Magical beast or tamer, he had to be alive himself for any of it to matter.
The magician gripped the beast with one hand, trying to shake it off, while his other hand reached for the whip at his waist.
Just as he was about to ignite the flames—
The door suddenly burst open, and someone grabbed him by the hair.
With a violent tug, his body was dragged out into the bright outdoors.
Before he could process what was happening, he hit the ground with a heavy impact.
The Horned Rabbit that had been tearing at his face and kicking him was gone.
The Wind Magician fell on top of him as if he’d been thrown.
A strange, strangled scream erupted. He didn’t know if it was his own or the Wind Magician’s. Perhaps it was both.
Lying on his back toward the sky, the Fire Magician clutched his stomach. Not knowing where it hurt exactly, he just held his belly first.
“Gasp!”
An airy sound escaped his lips involuntarily.
Through a blood-red haze, a massive man was bringing a fist down toward him.
’Oh god!’
A fist wreathed in flames struck his face with terrifying force.
As soon as Juhwan opened the door, he grabbed the man inside the carriage by the hair.
Oz let out a sharp sqee and detached himself from the man’s face. He then hopped back into the carriage to sit beside Lij and Dorothy.
It’s okay, they’re alive.
It felt as if Oz were saying that. Or perhaps it was just his own desperate hope.
He tossed the two men outside as if they were nothing. With the men gone, the interior of the carriage came into full view.
“….”
The moment he saw Lij and Dorothy collapsed, it felt as if his head had been split open. Rage surged instantly, swelling like a massive balloon. He lost all control. In an instant, Juhwan’s mind transcended space and time, hurtling back into the past.
His father died. His mother died. His grandfather died. Everyone was dead. If you love them, they disappear. They are nowhere in the world. Once.
His heart stopped. A cold chill ran from his head down to his toes. All he could see were the slumped forms of Lij and Dorothy. They lay limp and motionless in the dark space.
They’re never coming back.
Memories can be recalled forever, but a person’s life cannot be restored.
“Die.”
The words seemed to escape him of their own accord.
Juhwan turned and sprinted toward the men crumpled on the ground.
He drove his fist down.
His fist was a brilliant crimson. He hadn’t even consciously tried to use magic, yet his entire arm was suddenly ablaze.
It wasn’t a small flame. A thought flickered through his mind—if Dorothy had seen this, she would have cheered and called her dad amazing. His heart twisted, and the flames roared even higher.
Even if they weren’t dead, even if nothing had happened, and even if they were safe because Oz had protected them, the fact remained that he had failed to protect them himself.
He had finally gained power to protect his family, yet they had been put in danger the moment he stepped away. He had put them at risk. He knew that once people die, they don’t return, yet he had failed.
It was the same this time. Always, without fail, he was someone who could lose his family at any moment.
He slammed his flaming fist into the man. The man… was he the Fire Magician? That filthy body didn’t deserve to live. Just die.
He must have been hitting him for a long time. Eventually, the man’s body went limp. The area Juhwan had been striking was mangled, as if the flesh had melted away.
Only then did his reason begin to return. He took in his surroundings.
People had gathered around, but it was silent. It felt as if even the sound of breathing had vanished. He heard the sound of someone swallowing hard.
“Ugh… ugh… ah…”
The other magician made a strange sound. When Juhwan turned to look at him, the man’s face was smeared with tears and snot, trembling violently.
The Wind Magician was trying to push himself away from Juhwan with his backside. He had been in the carriage too. He deserved to die.
Juhwan stood up and kicked the man in the face. Brilliant fire erupted, sparks flying as the flames engulfed the man’s body.
What had happened to his own body? Just like when he was punching the Fire Magician, his leg was now a mass of flames.
He dragged the Wind Magician over and threw him on top of the Fire Magician, then grabbed a water barrel attached to the side of the carriage.
When he poured the water over the two fallen magicians, a sizzling sound erupted from their bodies. A foul stench wafted up from their scorched and blackened flesh.
The limp Fire Magician groaned as he regained consciousness.
“Which one of you was it?”
The man didn’t seem to understand the words. His half-melted lips quivered as he started to sob. He shook his head while making unintelligible sounds. He seemed to be begging for his life.
“Who was the leader? Who suggested doing that to my family? Who brought it up first?”
Only then did Juhwan’s words register, and the Fire Magician’s face went pale. Even though his skin was so charred and mangled that it was hard to tell, Juhwan could see the blood drain from his face.
“It was you.”
At Juhwan’s words, the Fire Magician’s body flailed as he tried to slide backward. The Wind Magician cried out in slurred, broken speech.
“H-he told me to do it. I… I didn’t do anything.”
Juhwan didn’t even look at the Wind Magician. He grabbed the Fire Magician by the collar and struck him again. Before his fist even connected, the fire lashed across the man’s entire body.
Once, twice… as he continued to strike, the man’s face lost all semblance of a human shape. It became nothing more than a lump of mangled flesh.
Yet the fire within Juhwan didn’t go out. Rage continued to burn fiercely, charring his heart black.
“Hey, Juhwan! That’s enough. He’s dead. He’s been dead for a while. Stop.”
Someone grabbed Juhwan’s shoulder firmly.
It was Leonard, the owner of the Miller Merchant Company.
“He’s dead. You need to check on your wife and child. This isn’t the time for this.”
“….”
Before he knew it, the flames burning on Juhwan’s body had vanished. He didn’t even know when it had happened.
When Juhwan glanced at the Wind Magician, Leonard spoke.
“Leave him to me. We need to get information about the bandits. If I’m right, they aren’t just ordinary bandits.”
“….”
“I promise you, that man will not have a peaceful death.”
“….”
Juhwan headed toward the carriage without a word. His legs felt tangled in his haste.
Through the wide-open carriage door, he saw Oz. The rabbit was sitting quietly next to Lij and Dorothy. There was no one else inside or around the carriage. Oz had kept watch.
Juhwan scrambled into the carriage and pressed his ear to Lij’s and Dorothy’s chests.
Their hearts were beating.
Their skin was warm.
Their clothes weren’t disheveled.
They looked as if they were simply in a deep sleep. Both of them had peaceful expressions, breathing softly like sleeping princesses.
Juhwan channeled healing magic into them, but they didn’t wake.
However, they weren’t poisoned. He couldn’t explain how he knew, but he just did. He could tell by feeling the flow of his mana. They had simply been put to sleep.
‘I’m sorry.’
He should have checked on them first. He’d gotten his priorities backward. Beating those men wasn’t what mattered most.
He laid them both on the straw bed inside and lay down beside them on his side. He watched their sleeping faces in silence.
“….”
Oz hopped over and lay down on top of Dorothy.
It was as natural as if nothing had happened.
When Juhwan reached out, Oz nibbled gently on his finger.
It was as if the rabbit were telling him it was okay—that the two would wake up soon.
Thinking of everything Oz had done—warning him of danger, staying by Lij and Dorothy’s side, and now comforting him—Juhwan whispered softly.
“Thank you, Oz.”
Oz stopped nibbling and tilted his head before letting out a small cry.
“Sqee.”
Juhwan turned his gaze back to Lij and Dorothy. The two remained motionless. Only their thin, rhythmic breathing proved they were alive.
“….”
He was exhausted.
He was truly exhausted from losing things.
‘Don’t scare me. Please wake up. Please open your eyes soon.’
But it wasn’t until a full day and a half later, when their destination city was right before their eyes, that the two finally woke up.
She was hungry. Her stomach felt hollow, just as it always had during her childhood.
“….”
Suddenly, her eyes snapped open.
That’s right, Dorothy! Someone had come to the carriage. Someone who wasn’t her husband had tried to open the door. Oh my god! What happened? This was no time to be sleeping so peacefully.
As she sat up abruptly, she saw someone in the dim space.
“Eek!”
A small scream escaped her. But the dark shadow didn’t move. It just sat there.
Her vision was blurry, as if she’d been pressing on her eyes for a long time. Everything was hazy and hard to see. But that silhouette was a familiar shape. Could it be her husband?
“Juhwan?”
There was no answer from her husband, who always responded when she called.
A sudden fear gripped her. Was it not him?
‘But that big frame is definitely Juhwan.’
As she huddled there, staring intently, her vision gradually cleared.
Lij leaned forward tentatively, startled. Her husband was crying. Light from the driver’s seat filtered into the dark carriage, illuminating the glint of tear tracks on his face.
“What’s wrong?”
She tried to crawl across the straw bedding toward him, but her body swayed and tilted forward. There was no strength in her arms.
Juhwan’s large hand reached out and caught her. He pulled her directly into his embrace. Holding her tightly, Juhwan simply let the tears stream down his face.
“Juhwan, are you okay?”
As she leaned into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, Juhwan spoke in a choked voice.
“…I think you were drugged with sleeping medicine. You and Dorothy. You’ve been asleep for over a day. I’m sorry. I should have been by your side. This is my fault.”
“….”
She felt a flicker of anxiety. What had happened? Surely, not by another man… She felt as if the blood were draining from her face.
As if sensing her thoughts, Juhwan tightened his hold on her.
“Nothing happened. Oz sent me a warning, so I came back immediately. Dorothy is fine too. You both just fell asleep.”
Thank goodness. What a relief. As her mind eased, a loud growl suddenly erupted from her stomach.
“Wait a moment. I’ll get you something to eat. I didn’t know when you and Dorothy would wake up, so I’ve been keeping water with boiled jerky ready.”
Juhwan spoke, his voice still thick with emotion, and reached for a water container in the corner.
As if her stomach understood the words, it let out another series of loud rumbles. It seemed to be demanding food immediately. She felt a little embarrassed.
Juhwan poured some of the meat broth into a bowl and handed it to her.
“Since your stomach is empty, start with this.”
She took a sip as he instructed. As the lukewarm broth hit her stomach, she felt even hungrier. The rumbling grew more frequent.
As she took another sip, Dorothy suddenly sat bolt upright and shouted.
“Meat!”
At the same time, a loud growl erupted from the child’s stomach. Lij couldn’t help but laugh, but Juhwan didn’t smile. For some reason, her husband looked like a frightened child. He looked like a boy who had simply grown into a massive body.
“Juhwan.”
Lij took her husband’s hand. When she leaned in close and looked up at him, the tear tracks were still shimmering.
“I’m sorry. You were worried, weren’t you? But we’re okay.”
“….”
Dorothy stood up and threw her arms into the air with vigor.
“Daddy, Dorothy saw it. I saw Daddy shooting a huge, huge fireball like this! It was super big. Super strong. So cool!”
Even in the dark carriage, Dorothy’s eyes sparkled brilliantly.
“Haha.”
Her husband managed a weak laugh. But there was no strength in it. His laugh sounded almost like a sob.
“But, Daddy. Dorothy is super hungry. Give Dorothy meat too.”
The stomachs of both the child and Lij growled simultaneously. Only then did her husband’s expression finally relax, as if he were truly at ease. He whispered in a very low voice.
“Because only the living feel hunger.”
His voice was so quiet it was barely audible. It was so faint she could just barely make it out. Why was that? Her husband’s words pierced her heart like a thorn. They felt like such terribly sad words.
