The Old Man, Hunting, and the Woman, the Rabbit
It was still pitch dark outside.
Half-asleep while keeping watch, Kim Juhwan immediately woke up and sat upright.
His heart was pounding.
There were people outside the building.
He heard hushed whispers, followed by the sound of something rattling at the door. It seemed they were removing the wooden brace that had been wedged in place to keep it shut.
What should I do now?
The soldiers had not left yet. Judging from their movements so far, they would only depart after sunrise.
Kim Juhwan recalled, one by one, the information about the village that he had stored in his mind.
The terrain he had observed while being brought in on the cart, the approximate number of people, the positions of houses and collapsed fences…
The broken section of the fence had been in the direction of the mountains.
Other places were too narrow or too high for him to jump over, but that spot looked like he might be able to escape with a bit of effort.
Kim Juhwan remembered the hands of the men who had captured him.
They were strong—likely hardened by farming and various labor. Though lean, their hands were much tougher than those of modern men on Earth.
But he was stronger.
Even if they came at him with pickaxes or metal tools, he could handle three or four—no, maybe even five or six. He could break free.
More than that would be difficult.
No matter how strong he was, facing more than that barehanded would be too much.
“….”
Kim Juhwan took a deep breath.
It’s fine. He could act after the soldiers left. As long as there were no armed soldiers with swords, he could manage. Don’t panic. No need to be afraid.
He probably wouldn’t be branded as a slave. If that were the case, the soldiers would have already done it. It was just a guess, but a slave brand wasn’t something ordinary villagers could apply.
The stack of papers the soldiers carried seemed like some kind of pre-enchanted contracts.
The fact that they carried them around suggested that, unlike in novels, people who could use magic freely on the spot were rare.
Naturally, a village like this wouldn’t have such a mage. And magical items wouldn’t be easy for poor commoners to obtain.
In the darkness, Kim Juhwan watched as the door slowly creaked open.
It’s okay. For now, just go along with what they do. After the soldiers leave, if something feels off, I can act then. It won’t be too late.
If necessary, even grabbing a pickaxe or a fire poker would be enough to deal with men from a remote village like this. He had always been stronger than others.
He breathed steadily—in and out, over and over.
Stay calm. Don’t rush. As long as he wasn’t bound like a slave, it was fine. First, he needed to remain in this village and learn about this world.
Even if he moved elsewhere someday, he couldn’t survive properly knowing nothing. It might even put him in a worse situation. What mattered now was adapting to this world as much as possible.
“….”
With a creak, the door opened.
Kim Juhwan subtly clenched his fists, strength gathering in his hands without him realizing it.
The first to enter was the village chief. He looked to be slightly past middle age. Though short, he seemed sturdy.
Behind him stood about a dozen men. One person near the door held a torch, its flickering light casting shadows that made their faces look almost goblin-like.
“## ##### ###.”
The chief smiled and said something.
Knowing Kim Juhwan wouldn’t understand, he spread his arms wide in a welcoming gesture.
He pointed at himself and the other men several times, then spread his arms toward Kim Juhwan again.
We are the same kind, fellow villagers—welcome.
That seemed to be the meaning.
“….”
The effort he put into expressing it made it clear—this wasn’t about slavery. Relief loosened some of the tension in Kim Juhwan’s shoulders.
He gave a slight smile and nodded at the chief and the men.
Then, consciously trying to appear friendly, he slightly hunched his posture.
His large build often made him look intimidating. He wanted to lessen that, to show he meant no harm.
The chief’s face brightened noticeably, as if pleased that his message had gotten across. Perhaps he thought Kim Juhwan was gentle despite his size.
In any case, like Kim Juhwan, the villagers also seemed relieved. They exchanged glances, nodding or signaling subtly to one another.
But they weren’t accepting him out of pure goodwill. Naturally, they had their own intentions.
It would be nice if they just needed labor…
Kim Juhwan shifted his gaze slightly, careful not to be noticed.
Two men who hadn’t entered were holding wooden sticks.
And between the legs of the man at the door, the tip of something like a metal skewer was visible—hidden behind his waist, ready as a weapon.
They didn’t seem intent on attacking, but if anything suspicious happened, they were ready to strike immediately.
Well, it was only natural to be wary of someone brought in alongside criminals and slaves. It would be more unsettling if they showed no caution at all.
Kim Juhwan looked away as if he hadn’t noticed anything.
After some silent exchange of non-hostility, the chief suddenly began gesturing. A triangle? Shooting a bow? It was hard to tell.
Then the chief traced something like a gourd in the air. Still incomprehensible.
When Kim Juhwan clearly didn’t understand, the chief looked troubled and glanced at the other men.
This time, a young man stepped forward. He got Kim Juhwan’s attention, then moved his hips back and forth several times, before drawing the gourd shape again in the air.
Ah! Now he understood.
They were probably mimicking sexual intercourse.
Kim Juhwan’s expression stiffened awkwardly, and the chief and the men burst into laughter. It seemed his guess was correct.
But he still didn’t understand what they meant by it.
When the chief called out, an old man stepped forward from the group.
His white hair was tied back tightly, and he wore a coat made of animal fur. He gave off the impression of a hunter.
Limping slightly, the old man approached and stared at Kim Juhwan.
The chief pointed at Kim Juhwan, then at the old man, repeating the gesture several times while mimicking shooting a bow.
Then he raised both arms like rabbit ears and again pretended to shoot a bow.
“###. ###.”
Repeating the same words, he pointed at the old man, then said the same word while pointing at Kim Juhwan. It probably meant hunting or hunter.
Kim Juhwan repeated the word, pointing at himself and then the old man. The chief nodded vigorously.
“## ###.”
Is he telling me to learn hunting from this old man?
The old man, hunting… and then the woman, the rabbit.
He really couldn’t figure out the meaning.
Well, if you removed the “woman” part, it made sense—learn to hunt animals like rabbits. But adding “woman” made it strange.
Dawn was beginning to break. The man holding the torch extinguished it, and the chief stepped outside, gesturing for Kim Juhwan to follow.
The men with weapons moved to the edges of the group, keeping some distance as they followed.
Pretending not to notice them trailing behind with hidden sticks and skewers, Kim Juhwan casually walked after the chief and the old hunter.
After the chief left, his wife came to the house with several men. They carried flour, barley, and small daily necessities.
Rizi stood blankly, listening to the chief’s wife. She pointed at the bundles and spoke.
“This here is a month’s worth of food. And those are things you’ll need for living—lamp oil, a pot, and…”
Perhaps Rizi looked dazed, because the chief’s wife frowned slightly.
“You know, this isn’t free.”
Rizi lowered her head slightly and stared at the floor. The chief’s wife clicked her tongue, displeased with her reaction, but Rizi was too disheartened to care.
So they took everything after all…
She had known it, but seeing it confirmed made her heart sink.
These items shouldn’t have needed to be brought at all. The mountain hut had already been stocked with necessities.
The fact that they brought them meant the chief and others had taken everything from the hut.
But she couldn’t say that openly. In a small village like this, opposing the chief meant you couldn’t survive. And if it wasn’t just the chief, then the whole village was complicit.
Rizi bit her lip.
The chief’s wife ignored it and continued speaking.
“For a while, the village will keep providing food and supplies. They say your new husband doesn’t understand our language at all, so you’d better remember everything well. You’ll have to pay it all back later.”
With a sigh and a glance, the men left. The chief’s wife stepped closer and took Rizi’s hand.
“Listen, I know you don’t have good feelings about our village. But we’re struggling to survive too. Your village was probably the same, right? So don’t take it too badly.”
Her voice softened compared to before. She glanced toward the child in the corner.
“And besides, the villagers didn’t like that mountain keeper—your late husband. He was an outsider too. The mountain keeper is supposed to be a hunter, so we searched hard to find one, but he was very rough…”
She let out a long sigh.
“He had a bad reputation, but hunters are hard to come by, so we had no choice.”
To make him settle here, they had married him to a village girl. But his first wife died shortly after giving birth, and the second—another villager’s daughter—was beaten to death.
Since he did his job as a mountain keeper reasonably well, no one said anything, but the villagers had all been angry at him.
“I know it wasn’t your fault, but feelings aren’t so simple. People couldn’t help but feel negatively toward you as his wife. I’m sorry about that.”
As she rambled on, the chief’s wife looked intently at Rizi’s face.
“Your first husband was like that, so it must’ve been hard. But this time might be different. I heard your new husband might not even be a commoner. He looks a bit rough, but my husband says his hands are very refined. Maybe he was a noble somewhere.”
She gently stroked the back of Rizi’s hand.
“If that’s the case, at least he won’t beat you. And as a mountain keeper, he’s allowed to hunt animals. You might live more comfortably than you think.”
She smiled softly.
“….”
Was that really true? Did she really mean that?
Rizi knew the villagers and the chief’s wife weren’t acting for her sake. But even so… was there even a small part of them that considered her? Had they at least tried to send her to someone less violent?
If that were true…
Back in her hometown, Rizi had never had a place where she belonged. She had tried her best, but being small and weak, she had only received cold looks from her parents.
Perhaps that was why—even those trivial words from the chief’s wife made her heart waver just a little.
Maybe, just maybe, someone had thought of her, even if only a little.
