By Zephyria 
“Ugh….”
Tae-muk was dragged and thrown in front of someone.
“Major, we found a survivor.”
“A survivor?”
A coarse voice rang out. Tae-muk lifted his head toward the sound. Sitting atop a horse was the man called the Major. He was so plump that it was difficult to tell if he was a pig or a human. His thighs spread out like dough, and his belly bulged out from between the gaps of his ill-fitting military uniform like the stuffing of a burst pillow. It was almost pitiful for the horse carrying him.
The Major pulled his chin back, creating thick folds of fat, as he looked at Tae-muk and frowned.
“Why did you pick up something like this? Throw it away, throw it away. I might catch a disease.”
At those words, the soldiers who had brought Tae-muk laughed awkwardly.
“Our apologies. We just thought we could find out what happened….”
“Everyone’s dead anyway, so what does it matter what happened? I told you to find food, you idiots….”
The Major clicked his tongue, looking at the soldiers as if they were insects. Every time he did, his sagging cheeks wobbled. The soldiers bowed their heads and lifted Tae-muk, intending to ‘throw him away’ as the Major had ordered. But just then.
“Excuse me, Major.”
A soldier standing behind the Major rode his horse closer. He held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; he appeared to be in his mid-to-late forties, had a thick beard, and his face, neck, and hands were covered in scars of all sizes. Unlike the Major, his physique was disciplined.
The Lieutenant Colonel whispered something to the Major. As he did, he carefully scanned Tae-muk’s appearance—Tae-muk, who was drenched in blood and wearing tattered clothes, yet whose body was clean and without a single scratch.
Following his lead, the pig-like Major also scanned Tae-muk. He then flicked his hand, signaling the soldiers to stop.
“Wait.”
The Lieutenant Colonel soon dismounted. He walked toward Tae-muk with heavy steps and pulled a small knife from his coat. Arriving before Tae-muk, who was held by the neck like a beast, he grabbed the boy’s small arm and—slash. He sliced right through the forearm.
“Aaaah!”
Tae-muk screamed at the sensation of his flesh being torn. He shuddered at the sharp, hot surge of pain. Though he had lived through all sorts of beatings from the Young Master and Lord Dae-gam, this was his first time being cut by a knife.
Tae-muk, his youthful face contorted, struggled violently. However, he could not escape the Lieutenant Colonel’s grip. Tae-muk was only eight years old, and the man was a grown adult.
The Lieutenant Colonel stared at the wound without blinking. Red droplets of blood beaded along the long cut. And just as they were about to flow down, the wound suddenly closed in on itself and healed completely. The Lieutenant Colonel’s eyebrows, which had remained expressionless, twitched upward.
“Major! He is indeed a God of War.”
He reported to the Major. At this, the Major raised his drooping eyebrows in surprise.
“How can a brat that young be a God of War?”
“He definitely is. The wound healed.”
“Hah….”
The Major let out a hollow laugh as if it were some bizarre occurrence. Meanwhile, Tae-muk continued to struggle. He didn’t know what the adults were saying about him, nor did he want to know. He simply found the touch of the strange adult man uncomfortable. It was a different kind of discomfort than when the Young Master grabbed him by the hair.
“Shall we take him?”
The Lieutenant Colonel asked. The Major glared at Tae-muk with suspicious eyes.
“…Isn’t he just going to be a useless waste of food? Brats eat more than anyone.”
“But regardless, he is a God of War. Wouldn’t he be an asset to our military strength?”
“What could a brat like that possibly do?”
“He’ll die anyway if we leave him here. Let’s take him and put him in a battle at least once.”
The Major scratched his greasy hair. He let out a sigh of annoyance through his nose and then pulled the reins.
“Do whatever you want.”
As the Major slowly departed, the Lieutenant Colonel examined Tae-muk’s forearm once more. He did so because the way the wound had healed instantly was not just surprising, but eerie. It was also strange that such a tiny thing had already undergone Manifestation as a God of War.
Was he a monster? Or… something else?
As the Lieutenant Colonel looked at Tae-muk with a profound expression, Tae-muk twisted his arm free and shouted.
“Let me go!”
The Lieutenant Colonel looked surprised.
“You… you can speak?”
“…….”
Tae-muk frowned and glared at him. To be surprised that he could speak when the man hadn’t even addressed him—was he an idiot? It was irritating.
“I said let me go!”
Tae-muk struggled with his limbs again. The Lieutenant Colonel leaned his face in and asked.
“Do you know that if you are a God of War, you must enlist and fight the Devouring Ghouls?”
Tae-muk knew nothing of what a God of War was or what enlisting meant. Even so, he just hated it.
“I don’t know! I hate it! Let go!”
At the piercing scream, the Lieutenant Colonel let out a smirk. He then grabbed Tae-muk’s cheek, which was smeared with clotted blood, and spoke.
“Whether you hate it or not, it can’t be helped. That is the law of the Korean Empire. We will take you in. Come with us.”
And so, at the age of eight, Tae-muk became a soldier.
* * *
In the unit, they didn’t treat Tae-muk as lowborn, but they didn’t treat him as a child either. They treated him strictly as a soldier.
Whenever the Devouring Ghouls attacked, or when they attacked the ghouls, Tae-muk had to participate in the battlefield as a soldier. Forced into a military uniform that dragged along his limbs, he went out to fight the ghouls carrying a spear larger than his own body or a sword with missing teeth.
Calling it ‘fighting’ was a stretch; ten times out of ten, he was usually eaten. His arms were torn off, holes were punched through his head, and his stomach was ripped open. He saw the roof of a ghoul’s mouth more often than he saw the clear sky.
Tae-muk was in pain. He was also terrified and sad.
He wanted to die, but he couldn’t even do that. Even if he lost consciousness after having his body torn apart by a ghoul, he would soon open his eyes again. On the battlefield, in the mud, in pits of blood, or amidst piles of abandoned corpses, he was brought back to life dozens of times.
“Father…. Please save me… please save me….”
One day, Tae-muk would cry out for his father.
“Mother, it hurts…. Sob, Mother….”
Another day, he would weep, calling for his mother. He would clutch his torn arms or legs and curl his body up, crying and crying. Sometimes he would hide in a corner because he didn’t want to go to the battlefield, but strangely, the ghouls would invade the camp and chew him up whenever he did.
Thus, for a full year, Tae-muk continued to die. Cruelly, the speed at which his torn body recovered only grew faster. Thanks to that, there were times when Tae-muk had to die twice in a single day.
It was a horrific existence, but the thought of escaping never occurred to him. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he couldn’t. Tae-muk was in a war zone, and the moment he left the camp, he would face the swarming Devouring Ghouls.
Tae-muk was terrified of the ghouls.
Their teeth, their red eyes—everything was terrifying. Since his body was torn apart by them every day, it was impossible not to be afraid. While ghouls occasionally appeared in the camp, it was still safer than the outside.
Therefore, to Tae-muk, the camp was a hell that was simply less terrifying than the world outside.
And after another full year of dying and dying, around the time he vaguely turned ten, Tae-muk happened to see the Lieutenant Colonel in the camp.
It was the first time he had seen him since that day in the town. Tae-muk was a recruit worth less than a pebble in the camp, while the other was a Lieutenant Colonel, so it was only natural.
The Lieutenant Colonel was talking to someone with a cigarette in his mouth. His face appeared and disappeared repeatedly through the thick clouds of smoke. Then, as if something were amusing, he let out a short laugh.
At that sight, Tae-muk was consumed by rage.
That son of a bitch!
The son of a bitch who dragged me into this hell!
And he dares to laugh like that!
Tae-muk grabbed his spear and lunged at the Lieutenant Colonel. Did he want to kill him? Yes, he probably did. He wanted to make the man pay for his pain and terror.
However, the spear did not reach the Lieutenant Colonel. With a flick of his hand, the man knocked the spear downward and slid his hand down to grip the shaft. Then, he looked at Tae-muk with a surprised expression.
“You… you were alive?”
Those words were so heartbreaking that tears flew out.
“Because of you! Because of you! Why did you bring me here! Why!”
Tae-muk screamed and cried like a child—no, as a child should. He shook the spear wildly, trying to stab the Lieutenant Colonel somehow.
“…….”
The Lieutenant Colonel stared intently at Tae-muk. He looked at the Tae-muk who had grown a span taller, had become gaunt, had a face streaked with grime, and eyes as piercing as a beast that had starved for days. He felt Tae-muk’s strength as he toyed with the gripped spear.
Then, he suddenly pulled the spear toward himself. Tae-muk fell flat on his face toward the Lieutenant Colonel. The mud forming the ground soaked Tae-muk’s face in a sticky mess.
As Tae-muk sputtered and rubbed his face frantically with his hands.
“Do you hate getting hurt?”
“…….”
“Are you afraid of the Devouring Ghouls?”
The Lieutenant Colonel asked. It wasn’t a condescending gaze. He didn’t seem to be trying to torment him like the Young Master did. It was simply the gaze of an adult.
“…….”
Smeared in mud, Tae-muk glared at the Lieutenant Colonel. He hated getting hurt and he was terrified of the ghouls, but he didn’t want to agree with the man’s words. It was because of his pride.
However, the Lieutenant Colonel seemed to like the look in Tae-muk’s eyes. He slowly crouched down in front of Tae-muk. Then, meeting his eyes, he spoke.
“Then kill the ghouls.”
“…….”
“You have the power to kill the Devouring Ghouls.”
After saying that, the Lieutenant Colonel looked at Tae-muk for a moment, tossed aside the captured spear, and walked away. He didn’t tell Tae-muk how to kill the ghouls or what kind of power he possessed.
“…….”
Tae-muk could only stare with a blank face at the receding figure of the Lieutenant Colonel.
And it was from a few days later. That he began to swing his sword at the empty air.