There’s a Monster Inside Me Chapter 5

There’s a Monster Inside me

Chapter 5

Near the bonfire, there were polished wooden bowls, a small pot, and other miscellaneous items scattered around.

Originally, Gokdu would boil porridge in oddly-shaped earthenware. The taste was decent, but it had cracks at the bottom and seemed inconvenient in many ways.

So I bought bowls and a pot…

I felt sorry for meddling with someone else’s household affairs.

“Oh, um… I went to the village below, and someone was throwing these away, so I picked them up.”

Gokdu looked around the house and clicked his tongue.

“What kind of person are you?”

“Oh, well… I’m sorry.”

I prostrated myself flat on the ground.

I had completely overturned the household he had painstakingly managed, so I had no right to complain if he got angry.

The lady intervened between me, who was fidgeting nervously, and Gokdu, who was glaring at me.

“Gokdu, you should say thank you when you receive such nice gifts.”

The lady soothed Gokdu, who had become prickly.

“Isn’t it strange? There are a lot of things people throw away in this neighborhood.”

When I spouted such nonsense, Gokdu sniffled as if his nose was congested.

“TCH, since you brought them on purpose, I can’t throw them away.”

He turned his head sharply and grabbed the large dumpling that had been placed by the fire. That too was something I had bought from the village below during the day.

“Ma’am, please try some too.”

I served it in a wooden bowl and handed it to her.

I also brewed royal jelly for her, which is said to be consumed only by queen bees and can make even the elderly spring to their feet.

“HMPH!”

Since I was practically acting like her son in Gokdu’s place, it was no wonder he was snorting in frustration.

“Um… I’m doing this to repay your kindness. Since you saved my life, I’m doing my best to repay you somehow. Please understand.”

I handed Gokdu a bowl of honey water as well, making excuses.

“Hmph, does someone who received kindness speak informally to their benefactor?”

Gokdu snapped, then drank the honey water in one gulp.

“HOT HOT…”

As he waved his palms, his expression somehow became more relaxed.

Master once said that one should fill a person’s stomach before saying difficult words… it wasn’t nonsense after all.

“Neither of us even has a beard yet, so why do you want me to speak formally to you?”

“Hmph, and how old are you?”

“Oh, well…”

I belatedly realized that during my treatment at Gokdu’s hut, I hadn’t revealed my age, or even my name or hometown.

They clearly didn’t want me to feel uncomfortable and had no intention of making me feel indebted.

“I’m twelve years old, and my name is Badamaru.”

“Hmph, what? You’re younger than me. I’m two years older than you. Show some respect.”

“But that might not be true.”

“What do you mean?”

Gokdu looked suspicious, wondering if I was trying to lie about my age.

“Well… when my master who raised me first found me on the roadside, no one knew my exact age.”

“He said I just looked about six years old, so that’s how my age was decided.”

“But street orphans are small because they’re malnourished. Since he took me in just before I was about to starve to death, I might actually be older than that.”

“…EH, what’s that?”

“Yes, I’m saying I was an orphan abandoned on the street.”

“UH…?”

Gokdu somehow had a dumbfounded expression and just kept munching on his dumpling.

His bright blue eyes couldn’t seem to find their bearings and rolled around.

He seemed unable to find the right words.

The lady spoke up instead of Gokdu, who didn’t know what to do.

“I see. Since they raised Maru so well, your teacher must be a wonderful person.”

“Yes, that’s right. My master is truly a good person.”

“…TCH, are you saying you turned out well?”

Gokdu muttered, but I could only smile brightly.

I might not have felt this way before, but for me, who had lived one life and awakened again, being an orphan was no longer a source of sadness or pain.

In my previous life, there were times when I felt greatly inadequate as a person just because I had no parents.

Living taught me otherwise.

There are countless people who ruin their lives even with parents.

Above all, I know well that Master and Yeolmae are my true family now. It doesn’t matter if I don’t have blood-related parents.

“By the way, what’s this smell?”

Gokdu asked with a frown.

The bitter wild ginseng scent pierced the nose.

Since the wild ginseng needed to be boiled for 3 days, I made a stone pile outside the house.

“OH! Gokdu, come here.”

I dragged Gokdu by the nape of his neck and went outside.

“There are two more roots, so you make the rest.”

“According to Yeolmae,who’s way smarter than both of us you need to extract it once and then do second and third brews to get all the essence out.”

I already bought a sack of dried jujubes to boil with the wild ginseng.

“So this is… wild ginseng, huh?.”

Gokdu looked at the wild ginseng as if seeing it anew.

Perhaps searching for wild ginseng might be better for Gokdu than gathering wood or dangerously hunting wild animals.

“Thanks to you, Gokdu, I got this without dying. Don’t worry, I sold my share for a good price.If you happen to smell wild ginseng while in the mountains, make sure to dig it up. You can go down to the village and sell it to get whatever supplies you need.”

“Hmm….”

Gokdu half-answered, as if his thoughts were elsewhere.

“…Hey, so Maru, you don’t have parents at all?”

It seems that question was still lingering in Gokdu’s mind.

“No, I don’t.”

“You don’t even know their faces?”

“No, not at all.”

I answered casually, but Gokdu looked serious.

“…I don’t have a father either.”

His suspicious answer came out while tilting his head and glossing over it. Why is he suddenly mentioning not having a father?

“Gokdu, did you… feel sorry for me? Did you pity me?”

When I grabbed his collar, his blue eyes shook frantically.

What an undeniable expression.

“No, that’s not it….”

“Bullshit! I have Master and Yeolmae, you know?”

“Who said anything? I have my mother.”

“Look at this guy? Bragging about his mother in front of an orphan?”

“….”

For a moment, Gokdu couldn’t find a retort and just blinked.

“You idiot! Just make sure the fire doesn’t go out.”

WHACK!

I hit the back of Gokdu’s head hard enough to make his eyeballs pop out because I was afraid he might feel sorry for me.

It’s absolutely not because he was bragging about his kind and gentle mother.

“Ah shit, this bastard.”

Though I grabbed his wrist, pulled his hair, and kicked him, we were both snickering.

Somehow, it felt like I had a brother for the first time. It was probably the same for Gokdu.

…For some reason, my back felt ticklish.

***

Gokdu didn’t leave the hut for a while.

He and I spent time boiling medicine, taking care of the lady, and catching small animals nearby.

The lady brushed my hair. She was happy saying I looked like a young master with my hair meticulously braided with a fine-toothed comb.

After tightly braiding it, she attached a hair ribbon. Touching it felt bumpy yet smooth, which was very fascinating.

It was a hairstyle that could never be achieved with Gokdu’s thick and stiff hair like tree branches.

Although I felt somewhat embarrassed, seeing the lady smile brightly made me feel satisfied.

Whenever we had free time, I dragged Gokdu along to train him in martial arts.

Having seen him get flattened by one blow from Jangjeokgwe, I couldn’t just leave him be.

He needed to become stronger. For himself, and for his mother.

“Here! You need to draw out your power from here.”

I pressed firmly below Gokdu’s navel. What gathered below the diantan was divine power.

In his past life, Gokdu who entered the Thousand-Year School had innate divine power. And that too, in an immense quantity that couldn’t even be compared to a misaeng like me.

For humans, those born with divine power are only one in a thousand, or one in ten thousand.

On the other hand, most monsters above a certain level possessed monster power.

When humans use this invisible mighty energy, it’s called divine power (shinryeok), when monsters use it, it’s called monster power (yoryeok). When netherworld demons use it, it’s called demonic power (maryeok).

Of course, there are stark differences between them.

Divine power operates by receiving the energy of heaven, while monster power uses the energy of darkness.

In that respect, Gokdu’s power was somewhere between divine power and monster power.

In other words, Gokdu was born with the quality to utilize both the energy of heaven and earth.

Perhaps because of this, his achievements were astonishing.

When I taught him how to circulate the divine power gathered in his dantian throughout his body, he followed immediately. His comprehension was unbelievable.

I also taught him how to imbue objects with the divine power accumulated in his body. I had him throw stones infused with divine power.

WHOOSH!

Somehow the sound of it flying was different from the start.

CRACK!

When a stone slightly larger than a fingernail split a boulder the size of a back, both Gokdu and I couldn’t close our mouths.

“With this… I could beat a bear.”

Gokdu looked at his palm in disbelief.

“Is a bear the issue? If you practice a bit more, you could actually beat Jangjeokgwe, you know.”

I felt the unfairness of the world.

Despite my pitiful body constantly scraping together divine power, I couldn’t reach even a quarter of a quarter of Gokdu’s achievements. It was truly unfair.

“I’m truly glad.”

Still, I could smile brightly.

This should be enough for him to protect his mother.

Although my limping leg had completely healed, I didn’t think about leaving.

Gokdu didn’t ask me when I would go either.

Though he didn’t show it, I could understand Gokdu’s feelings.

For someone who had never had a friend in his life, I seemed to provide considerable comfort.

To be honest, I felt the same way.

I had lived my entire life as a fugitive and never made a lifelong friend.

Therefore, I too received emotional comfort through Gokdu.

But time passed, and eventually the postponed time of farewell came.

I had to return to Master and Yeolmae now.

With just one day left before my departure, Gokdu said he would prepare a special meal for me.

He left the barrier early and returned only at dusk.

He was carrying a grass basket with a lid at his side.

“I scoured the mountain to get this for you.”

Gokdu proudly opened the basket lid.

In the center of the tightly woven grass was a snow-white snake curled up.

“HUH…?”

A snake as white as a cloud.

It was a pure white silk snake without even the slightest blemish.

“I heard from the hunters that eating a snake that emerges in spring is good for the body. They said white snakes are especially potent.”

“Since you need to study at a difficult school, shouldn’t you have one thoroughly boiled and eaten?”

Because the weather had warmed up, Gokdu said he couldn’t find a snake despite digging through the ground all day.

Then he stopped by a small waterfall to wash off his sweat.

He checked behind the waterfall just in case, and that’s when he discovered something white and glossy like porcelain beyond the darkness.

Every time the water reflected, the color changed gloriously, and it turned out to be this silk snake.

Perhaps it hadn’t awakened from hibernation yet, as the snake didn’t move at all even when placed in the basket.

“I’ll boil this one for you…”

“NOOOOO!”

I firmly grabbed Gokdu’s wrist as he was about to bring down the kitchen knife.

My two hands were trembling.