The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

005 The Old Man, the Hunt, and the Woman, the Rabbit

It was still dark outside.

Half asleep, Kim Joo-hwan, who had been keeping watch outside, immediately woke up and stood up.

His heart was pounding.

There were people outside the building.

He heard whispering voices, and then the sound of rattling at the door. It seemed they were removing the wood that had been placed to keep the door from opening.

‘What should I do now?’

—

The soldiers haven’t left yet. Judging by their past actions, they’ll depart only after dawn.

Kim Joo-hwan recalled the information about the village that he had stored in his mind.

The terrain he had observed while being brought in by the carriage, the approximate number of people, the locations of houses and the broken fence…

The place where the fence was broken was in the direction of the mountain.

Other places were too narrow or high for Kim Joo-hwan to jump over, but that place seemed like he could escape with a little effort.

Kim Joo-hwan remembered the hands of the men who had captured him.

They were strong. Probably because they were hardened by farming and various chores. Although they were thin, they were much tougher than the hands of modern men on Earth.

But he was stronger.

Even if the opponent came at him with a pickaxe or some metal object, he wouldn’t be easily defeated by three or four, no, even five or six men. He could shake them off.

‘More than that would be difficult.’

Even though Kim Joo-hwan was strong, it would be impossible to handle more than that number with his bare hands.

“….”

Kim Joo-hwan took a deep breath.

It’s okay. He could act after the soldiers left. As long as the soldiers with swords were gone, he could manage somehow. Don’t be nervous. There’s no need to be afraid.

They probably wouldn’t brand him as a slave. If they were going to do that, the soldiers would have already done it. Although it was a guess, the slave brand wasn’t something ordinary villagers could apply.

The bundle of papers the soldiers had seemed to be contracts imbued with some kind of magic in advance.

Seeing that the soldiers carried such things on purpose, it was rare for people to use magic on the spot like in novels.

Of course, there wouldn’t be such a magician in this village. It wouldn’t be easy for a poor commoner to get their hands on paper with magic on it.

Kim Joo-hwan looked at the door opening with a clattering sound in the pitch-darkness.

‘It’s okay. For now, just follow what they do. After the soldiers leave, if something seems off, then act. It won’t be too late.’

If necessary, even if he only grabbed a pickaxe or a fire poker, he could defeat a man from this rural village. He had always been stronger than others since long ago.

Kang Joo-hwan breathed lightly. Inhaling and exhaling, repeating several times.

Stay calm. Don’t rush. As long as he wasn’t restrained like a slave, it would be fine. First, stay in this village and learn about this world.

Even if he went somewhere else someday, he wouldn’t be able to live properly if he knew nothing like now. He might even face worse situations. What he needed to do now was to get used to this world as much as possible, that’s all.

“….”

With a creaking sound, the door opened.

Kim Joo-hwan slowly clenched his fist. Unconsciously, he put strength into his hand.

*

The first person to enter was the village chief. He looked slightly past middle-aged. He was short but seemed sturdy.

Behind the village chief stood about a dozen men.

—

—

There is a person holding a torch at the door. Because of the flickering light, shadows were cast, making people’s faces look like goblins.

“## ##### ###.”

The village chief said something with a smile.

Perhaps because he knew that Kim Joo-hwan couldn’t understand the words, he spread his arms wide as a gesture of welcome.

And several times, the village chief pointed to himself and the men and then spread his arms towards Kim Joo-hwan again.

Perhaps it meant, we are the same humans, comrades of the same village, welcome. It seemed to mean that.

“….”

Seeing him express it so elaborately, it was certain that he was not a slave. Relieved, Kim Joo-hwan felt a bit of tension leave his shoulders.

Kim Joo-hwan smiled slightly and nodded towards the village chief and the men.

And consciously moved his body in a hunched manner to appear friendly.

His large body often looked too intimidating. He wanted to reduce that even a little, to show that he was harmless.

The village chief seemed visibly pleased, thinking that his words had gotten through. Perhaps he thought that Kim Joo-hwan had a gentle personality despite his large build.

Anyway, like Kim Joo-hwan, the village chief and the villagers seemed to be relieved. They nodded or made slight eye gestures while looking at each other.

But it was unlikely that they accepted him out of pure goodwill. Naturally, these people had some ulterior motives as well.

‘It would be nice if they simply needed labor for the village.’

Kim Joo-hwan subtly moved his gaze so that the men wouldn’t notice.

Two men who hadn’t come inside were holding sticks made of carved wood.

Between the legs of the man standing at the door, the tip of something like an iron skewer was slightly visible. It seemed he had something that could be used as a weapon hidden behind his waist.

It didn’t seem like they intended to attack, but if anything suspicious happened, they seemed ready to pounce immediately.

Well, it’s natural to be wary of someone dragged along with slaves like a criminal. It would be scarier if they seemed to have no wariness at all. Because you wouldn’t know what was hidden behind that.

Kim Joo-hwan turned his gaze as if he hadn’t noticed anything.

After some signs that there was no hostility towards each other, the village chief suddenly started making hand and foot gestures. A triangle? A bow-shooting pose? He didn’t understand what it meant.

This time, the village chief drew something like a gourd in the air. He still didn’t understand what it meant.

As Kim Joo-hwan seemed completely clueless, the village chief looked troubled and glanced at the other men.

This time, a young man standing next to the village chief stepped forward. After catching Kim Joo-hwan’s attention, he moved his waist back and forth several times. Then he drew the gourd shape in the air again.

Ah! He seemed to understand. Perhaps these people were expressing the act of intimacy between a man and a woman.

As Kim Joo-hwan’s expression awkwardly stiffened, the village chief and the men burst into laughter. It seemed his guess was correct.

But he still didn’t understand what they meant by those gestures.

When the village chief shouted something towards the back, an old man came forward from among the people.

With his white hair tied back tightly, he was wearing a coat made of animal fur. He looked like a hunter.

—

—

The old man limped out slowly, then quietly looked at Kim Joo-hwan.

From noble mtl dot come

The village chief pointed at Kim Joo-hwan with his finger, then pointed at the old man. He repeated this gesture several times, mimicking shooting an arrow into the air.

The village chief raised his arms to make rabbit ears and mimicked shooting an arrow again.

“###. ###.”

He repeated the same words several times, pointing at the old man, then said the same words to Kim Joo-hwan. It seemed to mean hunting or hunter.

When Kim Joo-hwan repeated the village chief’s words, pointing at himself and then at the old man, the village chief nodded vigorously.

“## ###.”

‘Does he want me to learn hunting from this old man?’

The old man, hunting, and a woman, a rabbit.

I really don’t understand what it means.

No, if you exclude the woman, it makes sense. It seems to mean learning how to hunt animals like rabbits, but adding a woman makes it strange.

The sky was already turning pale. When the man holding the torch extinguished it, the village chief gestured for Kim Joo-hwan to follow him outside.

The men holding weapons moved to the outskirts of the group, keeping a slight distance as they followed.

Ignoring the men following him with wooden sticks and iron skewers hidden, Kim Joo-hwan leisurely walked after the village chief and the old hunter.

*

After the village chief left, his wife came to the house with a few men. The men were carrying food like flour and oats, and some daily necessities.

Liz stood still, listening to the village chief’s wife. The village chief’s wife pointed to the bundle of goods and said,

“These are a month’s worth of food. Those over there are daily necessities. Lamp oil, pots, and so on…”

Liz seemed to be in a daze. The village chief’s wife frowned slightly.

“As you know, these aren’t free.”

Liz lowered her head slightly, staring at the floor. The village chief’s wife clicked her tongue, seemingly displeased with her reaction. But she was too disappointed to care.

‘They took everything after all.’

She knew it, but seeing the reality in front of her made her heart sink.

These goods shouldn’t have been necessary. The ranger’s cabin already had everything needed for living.

But bringing these meant that the village chief and some others had taken everything from the house.

However, she couldn’t say that openly. In a small village like this, opposing the village chief meant you couldn’t survive. If it wasn’t just the village chief who took the goods, then the whole village was in on it.

Liz bit her lip hard.

Ignoring Liz’s reaction, the village chief’s wife continued.

“For a while, the village will continue to provide food and goods. Your future husband doesn’t understand our language at all, so you need to remember this well. You have to pay it all back later.”

The village chief’s wife sighed and signaled the men to leave. She approached Liz closely and took her hand.

—

—

“Hey, I know you don’t have good feelings towards our village. But it’s really hard for us to make a living too. Your village must be the same, right? So don’t take it the wrong way.”

Unlike a moment ago, the village chief’s wife’s voice softened. She glanced at the child in the corner.

“Besides, our villagers didn’t like that ranger, your late husband. He was an outsider too. The ranger’s job is usually done by hunters, and we had a hard time finding someone for it. He was very rough…”

The village chief’s wife sighed deeply.

“He had a bad reputation, but it was so hard to find a hunter that we had no choice but to make him the ranger.”

They say they married him to a village girl to settle him here. But the first wife died shortly after giving birth, and the second girl they gave him was beaten to death.

He was doing the ranger’s job well enough, so no one said anything, but the villagers were all angry at Lizzy’s late husband.

“I know it’s not your fault, but you can’t control people’s feelings. I couldn’t have good feelings towards you, who became his wife. I’m sorry about that.”

As she rambled on, the village chief’s wife looked intently at Lizzy’s face.

“It must have been hard for you because your first husband was like that. But it might be different this time. I heard that the man who will be your husband this time might not be a commoner. He looks a bit rough, but my husband says his hands are very delicate. He might be a noble from somewhere.”

The village chief’s wife gently stroked the back of Lizzy’s hand.

“If he’s that kind of person, at least he won’t beat you. Besides, rangers are allowed to hunt animals, so you might live much more comfortably than you think.”

The village chief’s wife smiled with her eyes lowered.

“….”

Could her words be true? Does she really think that way?

Lizzy knew that the villagers and the village chief’s wife were not acting for her sake. But she wondered if, even a little, they had thought of her. At least they were trying to send her to a man who wasn’t too violent, maybe they were looking out for her a bit.

‘If that’s the case….’

In her hometown, Lizzy had nowhere to place her heart. Despite her best efforts, her small and weak body only received cold stares from her father and mother.

Maybe that’s why. The village chief’s wife’s trivial words shook her heart a little. She felt that if they had thought of her even a little, it was worth considering.

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