By Zephyria 
38
“Of course they die. We’re people too.”
“They die a lot, every single day.”
Man-soo added. Then, with an inscrutable expression, he smacked his lips. In an instant, a shadow fell over Dong-ja’s eyes.
“……”
Ho-eun looked at the two of them. Then, for no reason, he looked around at the Crimson Rain Brigade soldiers around him. The thought that such a day might come for them too made his heart sink.
No one should have to die. He sighed and straightened his head. In the distance, he saw Tae-muk. He was striding into the dark forest.
Ho-eun, his eyes fixed on Tae-muk’s back, asked,
“Where does the General go every night?”
“To kill Eater Bugs.”
At those words, Ho-eun whipped his head toward Dong-ja.
“Devouring Ghouls? There are Devouring Ghouls here?”
“Since we’re here, there are Eater Bugs too. They have an amazing sense of people. And look here. There are bleeding guys all over the place, so why wouldn’t they come?”
“Then you’re saying Devouring Ghouls will come soon?”
“No. They won’t come because the Captain is here.”
“I don’t, I don’t understand what you mean.”
“The Captain goes around in advance and kills all the Eater Bugs. Then he scatters their blood all over the place. Then they don’t show up.”
“Not all Eater Bugs are like that, but most of the small fry get scared and don’t come.”
Man-soo added an explanation to Dong-ja’s words.
“……”
Ho-eun mulled over their words. He had heard of it before. When he had just left the capital, Gil-sang had seen the Devouring Ghoul that Tae-muk had nailed to a tree and said it was like a rabbit not attacking a tiger.
But Tae-muk was doing that every night? That was why he disappeared every night? And he was going alone like that?
“Is it okay for him to go alone?”
“He always goes alone.”
“Well, it’s not like we’d be of much help if we went with him…”
Dong-ja and Man-soo were nonchalant. It was always like this. They didn’t seem particularly worried.
“……”
Ho-eun craned his neck and looked at the forest where Tae-muk had disappeared. Now that he knew what he had gone to do, it felt like the forest had swallowed him up. Ho-eun bit his lower lip. Dong-ja and Man-soo were talking to each other.
“Besides, he needs us even less now, right?”
“That’s right, that’s right. Did you see it too? Our Captain was flying all over the place during the battle?”
“Right. That must be the Captain’s real power. What we’ve seen so far was just the tip of the iceberg.”
“I know, right? If it hadn’t been for the Captain today, we’d all be dead.”
Ho-eun heard their words, but he couldn’t register them. His head was already full of Tae-muk.
Even the God of War can die.
That meant that the man whose head had been torn off and killed earlier could have been Tae-muk. Die. He had imagined himself dying countless times, but he had never thought about Tae-muk dying.
Somehow, Tae-muk was, well, because he was Tae-muk. Because he was the strongest God of War in the world.
But even he, perhaps…
“……”
Ho-eun looked at the black forest again.
Ho-eun was walking through the streets of Hanyang with Deok-woo. It was a rare occurrence. He almost never left the house unless it was for the hospital or the herbal medicine shop. But it didn’t feel strange.
Because it was a dream.
Ho-eun chatted with Deok-woo. Sometimes he giggled and laughed, but he couldn’t tell what they were talking about. He couldn’t hear his own voice or Deok-woo’s voice.
How long had he been walking aimlessly like that? Suddenly, his wrist throbbed. Ho-eun tried to erase the pain by shaking his wrist in the air. But his wrist continued to hurt. It felt like it was throbbing, or maybe it was stinging.
No, actually, he didn’t know. It wasn’t real pain.
Anyway, Ho-eun continued to talk to Deok-woo. He was just happy to see Deok-woo after so long.
…After so long?
Why did he feel like he hadn’t seen Deok-woo in a long time? Deok-woo was always, without a single moment’s break, by his side. Come to think of it, was his leg okay? He had injured his leg.
…He injured his leg?
When? Why? How?
Ho-eun, frowning slightly, stared at Deok-woo. Deok-woo continued to speak in a muffled voice. He couldn’t understand what he was saying at all. Not only that, but everyone in the city was mumbling in a dull voice like him.
But Ho-eun, already firmly caught in the dream, didn’t think it was strange. He just smiled. He enjoyed the rare everyday life to the fullest.
But the pain in his wrist was getting worse and worse. It wasn’t so much painful as, well, heavy. Then, at some point, his legs became heavy too. Every step was so difficult. His heels dragged.
As Ho-eun gradually slowed down, Deok-woo passed him.
‘Deok-woo, let’s go together.’
Ho-eun called out to him. But Deok-woo didn’t look back.
‘Deok-woo?’
He called out again, but Deok-woo didn’t hear his voice.
‘Deok-woo!’
‘Deok-woo, let’s go together! Don’t leave me behind! Deok-woo!’
Ho-eun, somehow anxious, no, frightened, called out to him with all his might.
‘You know I can’t be alone, Deok-woo!’
Ho-eun felt his body growing cold. He was just being left alone, but he didn’t know why he was so afraid. He desperately called out to Deok-woo. But Deok-woo, who had been moving further and further away, soon disappeared without a trace, as if he had never existed in the first place.
Ho-eun tried to run to where Deok-woo had disappeared. But his feet became heavier.
No, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t that his feet had become heavier. His wrist was heavy. It was so heavy that it felt like his hand was about to fall off his body.
‘Why, why is it so….’
Only then did Ho-eun think to look down. Actually, he didn’t want to see, but he couldn’t put it off any longer. He looked down at his wrist with a pale face.
There was a man there.
That man. The one Ho-eun had tried to save but failed. The one whose face had been eaten by a Devouring Ghoul.
The man, who wasn’t a Devouring Ghoul but had his mouth wide open like one, was biting Ho-eun’s hand whole. His limbs were limply drooping, and there was a long trail of drag marks along the path Ho-eun had walked.
Ho-eun, terrified, shook his hand convulsively.
‘P, please let go.’
Then the man glared and bit down harder on his wrist. He could clearly feel the blunt teeth digging into his wrist. It hurt. It hurt so much. It was enough to bring tears to his eyes. At the same time, he was so scared that his whole body trembled.
‘Deok-woo…. Deok-woo….’
Ho-eun called out to Deok-woo in a frail voice. But Deok-woo, who had disappeared a long time ago, was not about to appear now. Ho-eun looked around for help.
‘Please…. Someone…. Please….’
Help me. Save me. Get this man off me.
But none of the people who had been bustling around a moment ago could be seen. The city was empty. Only Ho-eun and the man were on the wide road.
‘Ah….’
Heavy despair weighed down on Ho-eun. With the weight of that despair added to the weight of the man, his body began to sink to the ground. The ground was getting closer, and the buildings were soaring upwards.
Soon, Ho-eun was buried deep in the ground. Beneath the ground, an infinite darkness spread out. That darkness strangled Ho-eun’s neck. The man, who had been biting his wrist, rolled his eyes and glared at Ho-eun.
Why didn’t you save me?
Why do only I have to die?
Let’s go together.
Let’s go with me.
Let’s go into the Devouring Ghoul’s mouth.
Let’s be chewed up together.
Crush, crush, crack, cough, crunch, crunch.
The man imitated the sound of his own head being chewed up. Ho-eun stared blankly at the man. He couldn’t take his eyes off the man.
And so the two of them sank endlessly into the ground, into the darkness.
Ho-eun, having lost all hope, relaxed his legs. His knees buckled and his body was about to plunge downwards.
But at that moment.
Suddenly, his waist floated up. Something was grabbing Ho-eun and pulling him upwards.
‘Uh….’
With the soaring flight, the man, who had been desperately biting Ho-eun’s wrist, couldn’t bear his own weight and fell downwards. The man’s limbs fluttered like flags, having lost their support.
Where are you going!
Where are you going!
Where are you going, leaving me behind!
Leaving behind the man’s scream-like shouts, Ho-eun finally came up to the ground. But his flight continued. He passed buildings, went up to the top of buildings, and finally reached the sky. And at the moment he reached the end of the sky.
“Huh….”
Ho-eun woke up from his dream. At the same time, he met someone’s eyes. Hair that fell long over his eyes, black eyes.
“G-General?”
It was Tae-muk. Tae-muk was holding Ho-eun. No, it would be more accurate to say that he was holding him, as he had grabbed the clothes around his chest with his large hands.
Ho-eun, without even thinking about what was going on, bounced up and hugged his neck tightly. Very tightly, with all his might. Then he pressed his cheek against Tae-muk’s ear.
“General!”
“You….”
Tae-muk inadvertently supported his buttocks. It was like holding a child.
“General….”
Ho-eun kept calling out to Tae-muk, hugging him, rubbing his face against him, and tightening his arms. Deep wrinkles formed in his tightly closed eyes. He looked just like a whining child.