There’s a Monster Inside Me Chapter 3

There’s a Monster Inside Me

Chapter 3

The hulking men were well-known troublemakers in the neighborhood.

“This little runt is the one who left you lot helpless? Are you joking?”

“Did  I hear that wrong, or are my eyes deceiving me?”

The three men that Dolbae’s group brought were known in the village as Ilpae, Ipae, and Sampae .

The neighborhood ruffians could never be a match for me, but the problem was that I was just a skinny twelve-year-old.

Thanks to my awakened senses, I could see their attacks, but strength and stamina were issues.

Even if I could see them, could I block them? How many times could I dodge, and how far could I run away?

“Boy, even the neighborhood dogs wet themselves when they see us. You’re quite something, aren’t you?”

Ipae clicked his tongue in amusement upon seeing that I wasn’t cowering despite facing three grown men and three young thugs.

“Hey kid, where do you live and who are you?”

Ilpae asked, and I answered without hesitation.

If I hesitated, they would think I was sinking into fear.

“I live at the village tutor’s house.”

“Oh, so you’re that kid?”

Ilpae, Ipae, and Sampae exchanged glances.

‘That kid’ seemed to mean the student who had been admitted to the Thousand-Year School, the first from the town in years.

“Are you the one who sold wild ginseng to the pharmacy elder?”

Wait….so that’s what this was about?

It seems I’ve become known as the lucky one who found wild ginseng a few days ago.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Ha! It really is him.”

Once again, the three exchanged glances in mid-air.

“Did you give all that money to the master?”

“Did you buy new shoes for his granddaughter?”

“And saved one ginseng root to brew medicine for him, huh?”

Smiles appeared on the faces of the three rough men.

Their dark complexions turned an ill-fitting pink.

“Oh my, I truly owe the master so much. I was so mischievous that other children’s parents demanded I be expelled, but the tutor secretly called me in and taught me.”

“Oh, brother, you think you’re the only one? It was the same for me.”

“Without the master, would we ever have read a letter? Would we have ever written our own names?”

“So I’ve always felt in a corner of my heart that I must repay the debt, must repay the debt.”

“Oh, brother, you think I don’t know about you secretly filling his rice jar?”

“Shut up, you fool!. If my wife hears about that, I’ll be thrown out for sure!”

The situation took a strange turn.

It seems our kind-hearted master had touched even these ruffians.

As students, they must have hated and resented the master who forced them to study and beat them, but as adults, they realized his kindness was incomparable.

I understood why I never went hungry at the tutor’s house in my previous life.

To think these troublemakers were the ones who secretly brought rice and firewood whenever supplies ran low!

It was truly astonishing.

“You fool, were you trying to mess with this kid?”

“Get your act together, you idiots!”

“What are you trying to become when you grow up? Like us?”

With that, Ilpae, Ipae, and Sampae each landed a firm flick on the foreheads of Dolbae and his gang.

“You should go now, okay?”

“Yes, don’t worry about these guys.”

The three personally escorted me to the alley entrance.

“Then, brothers, goodbye!”

I bowed demonstratively at the waist.

“Yes, yes, when you go to the Thousand-Year School, let them know widely that there are talented people even in this palm-sized village.”

“And never forget the master’s kindness. Understand?”

The three men smiled, wrinkling their rough faces.

I bowed to them several times.

SCRATCH! SCRATCH!

I don’t know why the bridge of my nose kept tickling.

***

Even lying in bed, my eyes remained wide open.

There was still over a month until admission to the Thousand-Year School. Building stamina and copying books during that time wouldn’t be difficult.

But I know that taking only easy and comfortable paths leads to nothing.

If time flows as before, the world will eventually be covered in hellfire.

The living would have their souls devoured. 

The dead would be skewered on stakes, trapped in eternal torment.

Though time was turned back because a crazed food spirit gobbled up the King of Endless Hell’s body, but at this rate, the same events will repeat.

I want to live. 

I wanted to survive in a world where good people could live in peace.

My will to live grew endlessly during times when my life was constantly threatened.

Even while carrying a terrible spirit in my stomach, what grew stronger was my desire to survive.

I felt to my bones the truth of the saying that even rolling in a field of dog excrement is better than the afterlife.

I want to live. If possible, well…

While protecting those dear to me.

That desperate feeling made me recall a forgotten memory.

It was clearly the best choice available to me now!

***

It was about three months after entering the Thousand-Year School. 

One day, there was a commotion about a centuries-old serpent appearing in a mountain village to the east.

The academy’s sorcerers and officials were making a fuss about who would go, and even the professors and academic officials who taught the students abandoned their lectures and disappeared.

As a result, the students had to blankly focus on meditation for a week.

The serpent was said to have been discovered by a child in the mountain village.

They thought it was a white snake in hibernation since it didn’t move at all, but they found it strange when it still didn’t move after the weather warmed and spring came.

I heard that they took the unawakening white snake to a larger village, where someone who could see supernatural creatures recognized it as a serpent.

Winter had passed and spring was approaching.

By now, the hibernating serpent would either be underground or discovered by a child in the mountain village.

It was the perfect opportunity to acquire the serpent before anyone recognized it!

I told master after eating breakfast.

“What, A journey?”

“Yes, I wish to travel around the world during my remaining time.”

Master kept stroking his beard. He was certainly concerned about me, who was weak and rarely went outside.

But after my earnest pleading, he finally gave permission.

“No dangerous places. And don’t stay away too long. It would be best to return ten days before entering the Thousand-Year School.”

“Yes, master.”

I nodded obediently.

“Brother, do you really have to go? What if it’s dangerous, do you really need to go now!”

Yeolmae’s eyes twisted slightly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”

“HMPH, who’s worried about you?!”

I looked sympathetically at her drooping eyebrows and gently stroked the top of her head.

Though my younger sister was only two years younger, perhaps because I had lived a life before, she felt like a much younger child.

“W-what are you doing?”

Yeolmae shuddered with disgust.

Before, I might have been hurt, but now I understood. She didn’t know how to express her embarrassment.

Looking at her snail-like hair braided on both sides, I thought.

When I return, I mustn’t forget to buy her a hairpin.

***

It was after crossing two mountains in a day, and while crossing another.

As dusk approached, I detected the pungent smell of wild ginseng.

The stinging sensation in my nose indicated it was an old wild ginseng.

“That’s great!”

I would need money to acquire the serpent. 

Even for an ignorant child, I would need to pay a suitable price.

I proceeded, sniffing the air.

Intoxicated by the scent, I failed to notice the reddening sun descending beyond the hill.

“Found it!”

The bright red berries were ripely luscious.

Perhaps because of the dimming light, they appeared almost dark red like blood.

Blood-colored…

Blood…

Blood scent!

In an instant, everything around me froze. An eerie feeling covered my spine.

My face wrinkled at the thick blood smell that penetrated my nostrils.

I could tell without seeing. Something covered in human blood was there!

…A demon!

And a man-eating demon at that!

I needed to flee immediately!

I stepped backward to distance myself from it.

RUSTLE!

Dry leaves made noise under my feet.

And then….

The blood scent stopped.

The creature must have sensed my presence.

Damn, damn, damn!

I don’t want to die such a meaningless death…

A life reborn. Just as I was trying to live a bit harder, a bit better, to think I’d encounter a man-eating spirit deep in the mountains!

THUMP! THUMP!

I pinched and hit my innocent stomach.

‘Wake up! Wake up! Get up and eat that thing!’

Had I ever so desperately wanted the food demon that rolled its long tongue around, savoring its appetite?

‘You damned demon! You stick around when I want you gone, and when I need you, where have you run off to?’

Despite cursing inwardly, the food demon remained silent.

I had no choice.

All I could do was step backward as lightly, carefully, but quickly as possible. Hoping this terrible ginseng scent would hide my body odor…

“GRRR…”

Though invisible, I could tell.

Its nose, sniffing in all directions, had finally found my trace.

The terrible mouth odor, initially wandering aimlessly, now aimed precisely at me.

“Damn it!”

The curse escaped my lips.

I could no longer hope for luck.

With no spiritual power whatsoever, all I could do now was run away.

“AAAHHHHH!”

There was no reason not to scream. A spirit sensitive to smell could find me regardless of sound.

I ran.

I ran like mad.

Twisting my foot, tumbling on the ground, getting pricked and cut, I was frantic but got up again and ran for my life.

I want to live. I want to live!

In this reborn world, I don’t want to die so meaninglessly!

I want to live!

I kicked off a large rock and leapt up.

WHOOSH!

A sharp sickle sliced the air toward my airborne body.

By a hair’s breadth, I avoided the spirit’s long claws.

But that was all.

TUMBLE!

My body rolled endlessly.

THUMP! THUMP!

The approaching footsteps of the spirit grew louder.

I barely stood on trembling legs but couldn’t find my balance. It seemed both feet had twisted when I landed.

‘DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!’

I didn’t even have the strength to curse aloud.

“Oh!”

Suddenly, as if by miracle, a faint spiderweb sparkled before my eyes. A strange, barely visible thread…

The edge of a transparent membrane slicing through space shone silver.

“A barrier…!”

I had seen something like this before.

I recalled the barrier technique taught at the Thousand-Year School. This was the clumsy marking that novice students created when forming and transforming space!

Right in front of me, a thread-thin gap in the barrier had opened!

There was no time to think further.

I grabbed the silvery edge of the barrier and ripped it open. Simultaneously, I twisted my body into the distorted space and collapsed.

“You damned bastard!”

The person who created the barrier, or beast… no, a man?

Whoever he was, he was definitely human, given how fluently he swore.

Anyway, an unidentifiable man cursed and frantically moved his fingers.

Like stitching a torn space by force, he sealed the boundary above and below with what looked like a dull stone tool.

Where did he learn that? I had never seen a barrier cast that way before.

I stared blankly at his back.

His coarse, unkempt hair was tangled with leaves, as if he hadn’t bothered to brush them out.

What he wore was animal fur.

If you think of animal fur as expensive materials like fox fur windbreakers or leopard fur coats, you’re mistaken.

It was a bizarre fur garment made by taking the wide back of a beast and weaving together the scraps… in other words, it looked like all kinds of animal fur jumbled together.

Moreover… sniff sniff…

The leather couldn’t mask the smell. Though faint, the body scent clearly belonged to a demon, distinctly different from that of humans.

“GRRRRRR…”

A blood-covered monster appeared outside the barrier.

The huge giant was gray all over. Red eyes flashed between its long fur.

What dripped from its mouth was someone’s blood.

A Jangjeokgwe…

I recalled the terrifying giant I had seen at Mount Tai in my previous life.

They said the Jangjeokgwe that lives deep in the forest is most ferocious when pregnant.

“GRRRRRR…”

Its belly was bulging as it flared its nostrils. It was pregnant.

At times like this, the Jangjeokgwe devours everything in sight, as if nothing is ever enough.

Getting caught means instant death.

The barrier’s owner was clearly as tense as I was. If the Jangjeoggoe discovered the gap in the barrier, neither he nor I would survive.

“Grrrrrr…”

The white breath it had been exhaling under the dark night sky subsided.

The Jangjeokgwe, having lost its prey right before its eyes, crashed its thick body against a tree with a thud.

The sturdy roots were instantly uprooted and the tree collapsed with a crack.

Damn it, and it fell right toward the barrier where we were hiding!

CRACK!

BOOM!

The tree that should have fallen to the ground bent strangely. As if floating in mid-air.

Seeing this, the Jangjeokgwe’s red eyes rolled wildly.

THUD! THUD!

Footsteps that seemed to shake the earth approached right up to us.

‘Damn, damn, damn!’

One of the brilliant abilities I’d gained through countless dangers was quickly assessing my strength against opponents.

I would face those I could defeat and flee from those I couldn’t. I didn’t care if people called me a coward.

I was a fugitive, and a fugitive’s ultimate goal was to survive without getting caught.

My instinct screamed.

‘Instant death!’

My current body had no strength to face the Jangjeokgwe. 

I couldn’t even run away with my twisted legs.

What about the barrier’s maker? 

Would he have the ability to face the Jangjeokgwe?

Just looking at his trembling back, 

I could guess. 

He might know how to cast a makeshift barrier, but he had absolutely no fighting ability.

The Jangjeokgwe, flaring its nostrils, finally reached the edge of the barrier.

SNIFF,SNIFF…

Its face twisted strangely, clearly smelling something but seeing nothing before its eyes.

“GRRAAARGH!”

It finally discovered the gap in the barrier.

RIP!

The barrier that had been concealing us was torn like paper.

A scalding white breath and a terrible smell of blood rushed in.

“Damn it, dieeeee!”

The man in animal fur threw his stone tool.

It hit the demon right between the eyes, but the Jangjeokgwe didn’t even blink.

Even a stone thrown with all his might seemed to only tickle the Jangjeokgwe’s thick skin.

The man pulled out an axe from his side, but the Jangjeokgwe’s hand was faster.

WHACK!

The quilted animal fur flew far away.

With one slap from the gray monster, he fell sprawled out with limbs stretched.

“GRAAAAARGH!”

The red mouth dripping with blood turned toward me.

A massive throat that could swallow a person whole gurgled before my eyes.

Damn it!

I had survived even the King of Endless Hell, yet I’m to be killed by a mere Jangjeokgwe!

I felt like going crazy with resentment and frustration.

That’s when it happened.

GURGLE!

GURRRGLE!

My stomach churned.

Something inside me was waking up.

A feeling I knew all too well.