I laughed out loud.
“Hahaha. I need to preserve my good looks, so I thought I’d get a beauty nap once Byung-woo sleeps, I guess I thought wrong.”
I saw Do-Gyun Han’s expression change. I closed the door and put a chair in front of the window.
After a while, Min-Ji Park looked out too, but nothing, she asked.
“What are you looking at?”
“I am monitoring the behavior of Kim Byung-woo.”
“Why are you spying on him?”
“I’m going to see what he is doing.”
“Are you going to follow him?”
“Yes.”
“That would be dangerous.”
“He can’t hurt me for ten days straight.”
“So, the self-proclaimed beauty assessed the general situation. If he catches you, Byun-woo could justify his retaliation as a means of self-defense.”
“No. Murder cannot be justified.”
“But breaking your leg can be, and breaking a leg here is as good as dying. You can’t fight monsters while injured.”
“You don’t have to fight until you’re injured. You just have to hide.”
“If I don’t participate in hunting, I won’t get beads. and I’ll get weak then eventually die.”
She was right. Severe injuries are likely to lead to death; survival was vital. Especially since Dong-Taek was monitoring me, but I couldn’t give up on spying on Byeong-woo.
As more time went by, my questions about Kim Byung-woo only continued to increase.
He knew something that we didn’t. I was sure that uncovering that secret would increase our chances of survival. Even if I fail to discover the secret, just observing and imitating Byeon-woo’s actions would greatly help.
“I won’t get caught.”
“Kim Byung-Woo must have eaten well to sustain his senses. Can you overpower him?”
“I know you feel uneasy, but please stop discouraging me.”
It gradually darkened. A giant spider crawled out to eat the Auger caught today. Spiders have no beads, so people have left them alone. At least they were edible, so they served some purpose.
“Byeong-Woo’s leaving, and I’m going out to follow him and see what he’s doing.”
“Should I go with you?”
“No, It’s too dangerous.”
I jumped out of the window and followed him. Byeong-Woo Kim almost got away while I was talking to Min-Ji.
I distanced myself from Kim Byeong-Woo because Min-Ji was right; he has better-developed senses than me. He went deep into the forest.
I almost screamed in surprise when a gorilla-like monster fell off the beautiful tree. The beast seemed like it was as big as a truck, and looked to be a lot stronger than the Auger, but Kim Byung-woo handled it quickly.
While watching him fight, I learned that Kim Byung-woo hid his powers when he was fighting the Auger.
Byeong-Woo Kim plowed through the gorilla’s stomach. I wondered how many beads came out and what colors they were. I extended my neck to try and see more, but all I could see was his back.
Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Kim Byung-woo suddenly turned his head and growled in a low tone.
“Come out.”
I couldn’t breathe…
“If you don’t come out, I’m going to crush your limbs.”
I bowed my head and came out; then there was a cracking sound from behind me. I turned my head, and saw Han Do-gyun had stepped on a branch and stood with an awkward expression.
He followed Byeong-Woo too; or he might have followed me, while I was monitoring Kim Byeong-Woo.
My curiosity about Byeong-woo had been building up since noon.
“Did Gang Dong-taek order send you?”
I didn’t answer, but my face gave it away. I bit my tongue and slapped myself mentally.
“I was worried that you’d get yourself into danger, so I was ordered to follow you.”
“Don’t… Crap, crap, crap.”
The voice of Han Do-gyun trembled like a crying goat as if he was afraid of Kim Byung-woo. To be honest, I was also scared.
Kim Byung-woo looked irritated. He drew a line on the floor and declared.
“If you cross this line, I will pull out your eyeballs.”
Me and Han Do-gyun closed our eyes in fear. And when we opened them, Kim Byung-woo had disappeared. I felt my throat tightening, so I unbuttoned my collar. Then I moved towards the giant gorilla monster.
“Hey, he told us not to cross the line!”
Han Do-gyun shouted from behind.
“I won’t.”
I looked at the gorilla. The fangs protruding from under the curled lips looked terrifying. Just looking at its body made me shiver.
At that time, Kim Byung-woo disappeared.
“Kurrre.”
An ominous sound was heard.
Tuk-tuk.
Light footsteps followed.
“What, what, what?”
As I was wondering what was going on, Han Kyun Han murmured about hearing something.
A dangerous monster had appeared. A Komodo lizard-like from the famous movie Jurassic World was waving its long tail from side to side.
“Heo-eo-kuk.”
Do-Gyun Han was frightened and screamed while trying to escape.
“Ahh!”
The lizard wasn’t alone, another lizard appeared from the back, biting Do-Gyun, causing him to fall on the ground. Whether he was stunned or dead, the lizard bit his head and then returned into the forest. The lizard that appeared first glance came up.
I moved the ax in my left hand to my right hand then threw it at the lizard’s head. The ax was struck the lizard’s left eye.
“Nice!”
The lizard shook its head while yelling, causing the ax to fall out, and it was flung to the side. When I threw the ax, I quickly armed myself with the knife I had. When the lizard opened its mouth, I swiftly stabbed its head.
“I’m not as weak as Han Do-Gyun.”
I avoided the lizard’s teeth and moved my upper body away. The lizard closed its mouth.
Parr.
The lizard gaged and spit. The part of my skin was hit by the saliva slowly peeled off. What the lizard I realized that it was releasing poison, not saliva.
“Ow!”
I fell to my knees.
Goddamn it, my face will peel off.
Choi Yoomi called me ugly before, what more if my face peels off?
Wake up. Now is not the time to worry about your appearance.
Things got worse over time. As the poison penetrated my skin and spread throughout my body, my limbs became stiff.
Damn, it even had paralyzing properties.
I don’t want to be eaten by the lizard. I looked at the knife I was holding.
If only I could move to stab the lizard’s neck.
Surprisingly, my hands moved.
What!? I thought I was paralyzed!
At that moment, I learned the effect of the black-striped yellow beads from the goblin meat, which was said to be toxic, that I ate alone earlier. Hyenas and wolves bit me, and a goblin’s rusted ax even cut me, but I wasn’t infected. Even without medicine, the beads gave me the ability to avoid infections. It had strong detoxifying abilities to fight potent viruses.
When Byun-hoo heard that I ingested goblin meat, he must’ve immediately realized what it could do, and quickly kicked me out. He was an incredibly intelligent man.
Ah, save those thoughts for later, now concentrate.
I kept acting paralyzed and waited for the lizard approach nearer. The lizard became relaxed. The moment it opened its mouth to bite me, I jabbed the knife into its mouth. The knife penetrated through the roof of its mouth and was pushed into the brain, and the lizard stopped moving.
“Haaa.”
I exhaled and pushed the lizard.
“I almost died.”
I took off my coat and wiped my face. It was stinging as if I was lasered.
I have to go back and wash.
I took out the dagger and stabbed the lizard’s belly. The scales were stiff and hard, so the blade had a hard time penetrating through. I pushed the dagger into the gap under the overlapping part of its scales, peeled the scales one by one, and then plowed it.
“I did it.”
I laughed and pulled out a black marble. This was the black marble that Kim Byung-woo wanted.
I would be dead without the black-striped yellow beads. This bead will bring me incredible power.
A noise sprang behind me, and at that moment, someone hit the back of my head.
Puck.
I fell and glanced behind me. Dong-taek’s assistant, Jeong Ho-Bun, threw a stone to my head.
He hit me.
Jung Ho-Bun took the bead from my hand.
“No. It’s mine. Give it back.”
I begged.
“I don’t want to.”
I can’t reason with a bully. Still, I did not give up persuasion.
“Extortion is a great sin. If the angels find out, you’ll be punished.”
“He won’t know.”
His mouth formed a cruel smile. His smile seemed natural but have off an eerie and anxious aura.
“What do you mean?”
“The dead are silent.”
My heart sank.
“The angel will know.”
“Since the first day, the angel has not cared.”
He had a knife. I staggered backward. My back hit the lizard’s carcass.
“Wait!”
When you watch a movie or read a novel, this is usually when something changes the entire situation, so I just shouted.
Why is that?
Even in a crucial moment, I thought differently.
“What?”
Jung Ho-Bun raised his tip slightly and asked. While he was distracted, I planned my counter-attack. The enemy is holding a weapon, and I am empty-handed. My condition was terrible, and my head hit something hard, making me dizzy and slow. I was at a complete disadvantage.
I opened my mouth slowly, hoping that the dizziness would subside.
“I will teach you the secret of Kim Byung-woo.”
“Hahahaha.”
Jung Ho-Bun laughed like a villain.
“You’re just trying to trick me.”
“Aren’t you curious?”
I chuckled, trying to act confident.
“Kim Byeong-woo is actually an angel. He’s an angel subordinate.”
“Okay? I’ll report to you.”
“You can try.”
Jeong Ho-bun glanced at the bead in his left hand and said firmly.
“No.”
It seemed to me that he was worried that Dong-Taek would take the beads. I flinched as I saw him move the knife again.
“Will you teach me to laugh like a villain at Dong Taekpa?”
“I understand why my brother hates you. You’re a horrible liar.”
“You speak so eloquently. Are you a new generation villain?”
He tilted his head to the left and tilted it to the right.
“Are you joking in this situation? weirdo”
“Since I’m about to die I might as well ask, When Do-Gyu Han revealed himself, why didn’t you do the same?”
“Of course not I’m not stupid.”
“That’s fair.”
“But why didn’t you follow Kim Byung-Woo and caught me instead?”
“I lost him because he was so fast, besides you had the bead.”
Jeong Ho-Bun kissed the bead.
That’s supposed to be mine.
I was heartbroken.