By Zephyria 
“Cough, cough.”
Tae-muk, who had slumped down, let out a heavy cough. He beat his chest repeatedly. The lingering taste of fodder in his mouth was utterly nauseating. As he coughed, drooling filthily, he felt a gaze upon him. It was because the horses were watching him as if observing a spectacle.
“……What are you looking at?”
Feeling awkward for no reason, Tae-muk threw a handful of straw from the ground. The light straw didn’t even fly a span before plummeting back down. As if mocking him, a horse let out a loud, snorting huff.
Tae-muk gave a dismissive snort of his own and scrubbed his lips clean with the back of his hand. Just as he grabbed the water bucket to stand up—
Kieeeeeek!
That strange sound rang out again. This time, beyond the noise, the ground shook with a heavy thump, thud. It seemed the newly arrived horse possessed extraordinary strength. But was it really a white horse? There wasn’t a single white horse in the stable. How white would it be? Would it be white as snow? Curiosity welled up within him.
“I’ll be right back. I’ll break the frozen water once I return, so just wait a bit.”
After promising the horses, Tae-muk left the stable.
Outside, snow was pouring down. Fist-sized snowflakes pelted his face. Wiping his face incessantly, Tae-muk sprinted toward the courtyard where the sound was coming from. Puffs of white breath billowed from between his teeth.
A white horse. A white horse on a snowy day like this. What if he couldn’t find it? Would he be able to lead it to the stable? What if he lost it along the way? He decided he must hold the reins tightly. If he lost it, he’d be beaten on a straw mat. He was thinking this as he approached the courtyard.
Suddenly, he thought he heard footsteps beyond the corner.
“Aaaaagh!”
“Ugh, ugh, aaaa……”
“Move, move! Get out of the way!”
The servants working in the house came rushing past him. Every one of their faces was as pale as a ‘corpse.’
Ah, for the record, while Tae-muk had never seen a Devouring Ghoul, he had seen corpses. It was because the servants in this house died off from time to time. Some died of illness, but others frequently died of starvation, freezing, or beatings. Thus, corpses were quite familiar to him.
“Mister? Where are you going?”
Tae-muk grabbed someone and asked. However, the man didn’t even look at him; he slapped Tae-muk’s hand away and bolted like an arrow. Tae-muk rubbed his stinging hand and watched the man disappear into the distance.
Why is he acting like that……
Then, he realized belatedly. One of the man’s shoulders was drenched in blood.
Is he hurt? Why? Did Lord Dae-gam hit him? Is that why he’s running away? But even if he ran, where would a Lowborn go? He would eventually have to come back.
Ah, perhaps the horse Lord Dae-gam bought is a mad horse? Is that why everyone is running away like that? Fearing they might get kicked by its hind legs?
“A mad horse……”
Tae-muk scratched the crown of his head with his finger. If that were the case, it would be very troublesome. He would be the one to endure the temper of that mad horse. First the Young Master, now a mad horse. Even at eight years old, he thought quite clearly that his already exhausting life was about to become even more tiring.
With the corners of his lips drooping, Tae-muk trudged toward the courtyard with less energy than before. Misfortune was misfortune, but he was curious about the horse regardless.
And just as he turned the corner—splash. He stepped into a puddle.
“…….”
A bright red puddle had formed atop the white snow. It was slushy and viscous. Like muddy water made of blood.
Tae-muk let out a disgusted “ugh,” lifted his foot, and scrubbed his shoe against the snow. They were straw sandals riddled with holes, but they were the only shoes Tae-muk owned, so he didn’t want to get things like that on them.
But at that moment.
Krek, kak, kaak, kaaaaaak!
That sound rang out again. Hearing it so close, Tae-muk instinctively looked toward the courtyard and froze solid.
“What… is that……”
He had never seen such a thing in his life.
A body so massive it nearly reached the roof, hairless, jet-black, and tough skin; a head spread wide horizontally; blood-red eyeballs; and… a mouth studded with teeth as thick as Tae-muk’s forearm.
Standing upright on two legs like a human, the creature was stuffing something blood-red and slimy into its mouth. Similar lumps were scattered viscously at its feet. Consequently, the surrounding area was stained a vivid red with blood.
“…….”
Tae-muk stared at it, his mouth hanging open. That wasn’t a horse. What kind of beast was it? A tiger? But the tiger in the painting hanging in Lord Dae-gam’s room didn’t look like that…… He was lost in such thoughts when—
“L-Lord Dae-gam! Do something! Please do something!”
A shrill voice pierced his ears. It was Madam’s voice. Since she screamed like she was shrieking in every single sentence she spoke, he recognized her voice well.
Tae-muk turned his head toward the main house.
Madam, standing on the wooden veranda, was frantically slapping the shoulder of Lord Dae-gam, who was either fallen or perched on the edge of the veranda.
“Drive that thing away! Now! No, where—where did those wretches go!”
At this, Lord Dae-gam shouted, pointing toward the beast—the Devouring Ghoul. However, the servants had already bolted, and there was not a single soul left to follow his orders.
“Those Lowborn scum! How dare they flee and leave their master!”
Infuriated, Lord Dae-gam swung the sword he was holding wildly. He wasn’t swinging it at the Devouring Ghoul, but at the servants who had fled. He seemed to have no intention of doing anything to the Devouring Ghoul with that sword.
And clinging to Lord Dae-gam’s leg.
“F-Father, I’m scared. I’m scared, Father!”
The Young Master was dangling like a persimmon. Perhaps out of fear, his entire face was distorted, and he was sobbing so hard his cheeks had turned bright red.
Even in the midst of this, Tae-muk watched the crying Young Master. The Young Master’s crying face was more fascinating than the hideous beast. For he was someone who only knew how to make others cry, not how to cry himself.
It was then. Someone came rushing in and stood in front of Lord Dae-gam.
“Lord Dae-gam! Get back! Get back!”
It was Tae-muk’s father. He wasn’t holding a spear, a sword, or even a plow or a rake; he was holding a broom. A broom made of woven rice straw. It was truly a foolish, stupid act. Even in the eyes of eight-year-old Tae-muk.
“Get back! Go! How dare you come here!”
Fearlessly, Father swung the broom wildly toward the Devouring Ghoul. The sight was brave, befitting his title as the strongest man in the village. Though it didn’t seem to look that way to the Devouring Ghoul.
The Devouring Ghoul, chewing the contents of its mouth, approached Father.
“Ah……”
Tae-muk let out a sound that was either admiration or a sigh. To Tae-muk, his father had been a man as great as a mountain, but standing before the Devouring Ghoul, he looked truly small. It was as if Father himself looked eight years old.
Father threatened the Devouring Ghoul by swinging the broom with great force, but far from being intimidated, the creature opened its maw wide and let out a kaaaaaak! scream. Bits of whatever had been stuck between its teeth fell out filthily. Saliva mixed with blood stretched out in long strings.
Yet, Father did not back down. Facing the Devouring Ghoul’s red eyes head-on, he raised the broom even higher. At that moment.
“Tae-muk’s father!”
Mother appeared from the opposite side of the courtyard. At her call, Father’s head whipped around. In an instant, Father’s face turned as white as snow. Holding the broom, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Don’t come! You can’t come here! Run away! Take Tae-muk and run!”
Tae-muk flinched at the sudden sound of his own name. Only then did he realize that this was a situation where one must flee.
Suddenly, he became terrified. It felt as if that monster would eat him, or perhaps Father or Mother. He finally understood why the Young Master had been crying.
“Mother!”
Tae-muk began to sprint toward Mother on the other side of the courtyard.
“No, Tae-muk! Stay there, stay there!”
A horrified Mother waved her hands, but Tae-muk didn’t see it. How much discernment could a mere eight-year-old have? He simply needed his mother’s embrace right now. He just wanted to dissolve this fear by being held in her slender yet warm arms.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the Devouring Ghoul had no interest in Tae-muk. Tae-muk was small. He would be nothing more than a single bite. The creature’s eyeballs remained fixed on Father and Lord Dae-gam.
Thump, squelch, thump, squelch.
The beast walked across the slushy ground toward them. Every time its clawed feet stepped into and lifted from the blood-mud, it made a squelch, squelch sound.
The creature twisted its head left and right, looking at the people. It looked as if it were contemplating who to eat first.
“Aaaaah, aaaa……”
“Father! Father! I’m scared!”
Madam and the Young Master screamed like animals. Lord Dae-gam’s eyes darted frantically, searching for a way to escape. However, the Devouring Ghoul was massive and its arms were incredibly long; if he moved rashly, he would surely be sliced in half by those sharp claws.
Meanwhile, Tae-muk quickly crossed the courtyard piled with blood and snow. Mother, her face pale with shock, also ran toward Tae-muk. And the moment the two drew close.
“Mother!”
Tae-muk, throwing his short arms wide, leaped headlong into the folds of Mother’s skirt. Mother’s scent enveloped his entire body. The damp smell characteristic of old cloth, the smell of earth, the smell of cooked rice—feeling these things, his stiffened body felt as if it were melting.
But for some reason, Mother did not hug Tae-muk back. Instead.
“Tae-muk’s father!”
She called out to Father in a piercing voice.