Chapter 41: Fear, Blood, and a Stranger

Gamja followed me silently, and Bamtol continued to cling to my shoulder.

As I pulled the cart, I kept looking up at the sky. The countless twinkling stars looked almost like waves.

Was it some kind of optical illusion? The night sky, looking like a sea of stars, was so beautiful.

If only this night could have been one of those peaceful nights where you just feel grateful to witness such beauty—how nice that would have been.

When I arrived at the place where the men lay, I silently began moving them into the cart with Gamja, one by one.

We managed to stack three of them, but the fourth one ended up simply being placed on top of the others. There was no other way.

I tried to pull the cart, but Gamja didn’t let me take the handles. Instead, he stubbornly began pulling it himself. I had no choice but to help from behind, pushing.

It was heavy. Even with the two of us struggling together, it was still heavy. The weight of four people—so incredibly heavy.

How far had we walked, pushing together? Suddenly, the cart came to a halt. Gasping for breath, I looked up and saw Gamja looking back at me.

“Gamja?”

“Gu-uhk. Gu-euhk.”

Gamja let go of the handles and approached me. I just stared blankly, not knowing what he intended, and then he gently took my hand with his large paw, pulled it away from the cart, and let out a soft growl.

“Do I have to go from here on alone?”

“Gu-euhk.”

“Then I’ll wait here. Let’s go back together.”

“Gu-euhk.”

Gamja began pulling the cart alone into the dark forest beyond where the path ended.

I stood at the edge of the path, holding Bamtol tightly in my arms, trying to steady my breath.

“Kkiang. Kyaaang…”

“……”

Bamtol pawed at my face with his tiny front feet.

I wanted to smile at the affectionate and adorable gesture, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t.

The blurred vision I’d had while pushing the cart briefly cleared—then blurred again.

When I blinked, my weakness and self-pity rolled down my cheeks and dropped onto the ground.

‘Pathetic.’

I was so utterly pathetic. And yet, I couldn’t see myself changing.

I couldn’t even imagine improving.

What should I do to change? What do I have to do to survive here, to protect my younger brother and myself?

What should I…

“Kkiang? Kyaaang!”

“Huh? Bamtol? B-Bamtol!”

Suddenly, Bamtol leapt from my arms, landing on the ground and bolting away before I could stop him.

“B-Bamtol, where are you going? Come back!”

No matter how much I called out, Bamtol ran off into a different part of the forest than where Gamja had gone.

Startled, I chased after him and soon saw him perched on a bush not far away.

“Bamtol, come here. You’re a good boy, right? Come on.”

“Kkiang.”

Instead of returning to me, Bamtol gave a small reply and continued staring beyond the bushes.

“What? Is there something there? Is Gamja over there?”

As I slowly approached, I gently picked up Bamtol and looked past the bushes. It was too dark to see anything, but then I heard a faint noise from somewhere.

Startled, I quickly grabbed the hat from Bamtol’s paw, put it on, and scanned the surroundings.

Not far off, near a large tree, lay a collapsed man.

A faint bluish light shimmered around the man’s body—it was clear he wasn’t a monster.

Besides, he hadn’t shown up on the map.

Realizing he wasn’t a monster, I immediately started to approach him—but then stopped short to catch my breath.

‘But what if he’s a bad guy?’

What if I try to help, and someone hiding nearby attacks me?

‘No, there’s no one else around. It’s fine.’

Even using the hat to check my surroundings, the only living thing visible was the man.

“Kkiang. Kkiaang.”

“……”

Still hesitating, I felt Bamtol gently pat my cheek as if to reassure me.

‘Bamtol, Gamja—they can sense people. They immediately recognize and avoid people with tainted hearts.’

“……”

I remembered something Jubi-young once told us, back when she took us in. Yeah. These guys can read people.

And now, Bamtol kept whining, as if urging me to go to the man.

“Kkiang.”

“All right, all right. I’ll check on him.”

I took off the hat and stored it in my inventory, then approached the man. He was groaning as he lay there, with wild hair, a thick beard, and a large frame.

He looked like someone who’d been living in the mountains for 30 years.

“Excuse me, sir? Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

“Ugh… Please… help me…”

He seemed unable to support himself—probably injured—but it was too dark to see his wounds.

Not sure if I could move him safely, I decided to check for injuries first, but then he suddenly grabbed my arm.

“Urgh!”

“Please… help me… please…”

“Sir, where are you hurt? Let me check for you.”

Even as he clutched my arm, I did my best to examine him. But there were no visible injuries—no bleeding, no twisted limbs.

‘Could it be internal injuries?’

If so, moving him recklessly could make things worse.

“I should get the cart… Sir, please stay here for a moment. I have a cart—well, my companion took it somewhere nearby. I’ll bring it soon, so hang in there, okay? Did you fall? I don’t see any wounds, but where does it hurt?”

The man kept groaning in pain, and with every breath, he made a dry, rasping sound—his throat sounded completely parched.

His entire body was soaked in cold sweat, but despite not having a high fever, he was trembling.

“Sir, I’m going to lift your shirt for a moment to check for injuries. Is that okay?”

“U-uhh… ye-esss…”

With his permission, I rolled up his shirt—and was startled.

Even in the dark, I could clearly see the outlines of defined abs.

“……”

Has he been eating well?

Anyway, after carefully checking, I found no wounds on his stomach, ribs, or chest.

“Sir, could you try turning over? Just for a second.”

“Uuugh… okay…”

He groaned but slowly turned over as I asked. I slid my hand under his shirt to feel along his back.

All I felt were hot, firm muscles—no blood, no wounds.

‘What’s going on?’

Wondering if maybe he was hurt in the lower half, I checked his whole body—but still, no wounds at all.

So why in the world was this man trembling like this out here?

“Excuse me, sir? Sir?”

“I-I feel like I’m going to… pass out…”

“You haven’t passed out yet. It’s okay, sir. Please, open your eyes.”

“A-Are there… is there anything… around here? Like… like corpses or something…?”

“No, nothing. It’s okay. Please open your eyes.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. Really, there’s nothing.”

At my firm answer, the man slowly cracked open his eyes. His hair had been covering most of his face, so I couldn’t see well, but I could feel his gaze turn toward me.

“Can you sit up, sir? I don’t see any injuries, but if anything hurts, please let me know.”

Trying to stay calm, I gently brushed his messy bangs aside—and our eyes met. The man stared blankly at my face, and then slowly, his gaze dropped downward and stopped at my upper body.

“Uh… Uhh… Gasp! H-Hiiiik!”

“!?”

“H-Heuk, Gasp, ah, s-so scary, scary…!!”

“Sir?”

What the—he’s scared of my chest? Yours is way scarier than mine!

But the man didn’t seem to be joking. It wasn’t a prank—he was genuinely having a panic attack just from seeing my body!

Eventually, he squeezed his eyes shut, breathing heavily before going limp again. This time, he really seemed to have passed out.

“Sir?”

“…….”

“No way… Oh, what now… Bamtol, I’m sorry, but can you go call Gamja?”

“Kkyaang! Kyaa-aang!”

Bamtol confidently nodded and darted off in the opposite direction. Left alone with the unconscious man, I instinctively checked the map. Thankfully, nothing showed up nearby.

Maybe it was for the best that he passed out—it was quiet again. Still, I was completely taken aback.

Judging by the sheer mass under his shirt, his body looked way more intimidating than mine. What was he so scared of?

I didn’t bother hiding my sour expression as I looked down at my chest. Despite all my points in stamina, there hadn’t been any noticeable change.

I hadn’t drawn a weapon, hadn’t threatened him with a blade—so what exactly terrified him so much that he fainted?

The real problem was that he seemed to have gone into true shock—cold sweat was pouring off him nonstop.

I wanted to wipe it off, but there wasn’t anything clean to use. My own clothes were already stained with blood.

“…Could it have been the blood?”

I assumed it was too dark to see, but maybe he had been in the dark long enough to make it out. Or maybe it was the smell that made him uneasy.

‘Yeah… If I were him, I’d probably be scared too if someone covered in blood showed up.’

I’d heard that some people are especially afraid of blood—so much so that they can fall into a panic and faint. Maybe he was one of those people.

‘What should I do…?’

Would it be okay to take him back to the house? There was no one else around. Nearby was just a single backpack that seemed to belong to him.

It looked like a hiking pack—pretty full, with a rolled-up sleeping bag tied on top. He seemed to be wandering alone.

‘He mentioned corpses—maybe he ran into Gamja? But if so, most people would freak out just at seeing a bear. They probably wouldn’t even register that the bear was pulling a cart.’

I didn’t know. Still, seeing this man trembling even while unconscious oddly helped me calm down. My body, which had been shaking in fear just moments ago, finally relaxed.

My hands weren’t trembling anymore. I wasn’t crying either.

They say seeing someone more panicked than you can have a calming effect—maybe that was true.

Having regained some composure, I sat down beside the man and waited for a while.

About an hour passed—or at least it felt like it—when Gamja and Bamtol finally returned. I don’t know what Bamtol told him, but somehow Gamja had even managed to clean the blood-soaked cart.

“Oh my god, Gamja. You cleaned the whole thing?”

“Gu-uhk.”

Gamja gave a nonchalant reply, then parked the cart by the road and returned to the bushes. He picked up the unconscious man like a sack of potatoes and trudged off.

I picked up the backpack and followed them out of the forest. The man groaned the whole time he was crammed into the cart.

When I placed the backpack on his chest, he instinctively recognized it as his and clutched it tightly, groaning even louder.

“Ugh… Nnngh…”

“…Gamja, Bamtol. Let’s go home first.”

“Gu-uhk.”

“Kkya-aang!”

As we pulled the cart back, I checked the map again. The Kang siblings still weren’t showing up. How far had they gone?

They’ll come back safely. They promised they wouldn’t get hurt—they’ll be fine.

As I steeled myself against growing unease, the man in the cart groaned and furrowed his brows.

Seeing that, I felt strange. Just a while ago, I had used this cart to transport corpses—
and now, I was bringing back a living person.

‘You really never know what’s going to happen in life, do you?’

That didn’t mean I felt any better. But still, I couldn’t deny—being with a living, breathing person, even one I didn’t know, was far better than being with the dead.