The thugs groaned one by one. The tall guy was so annoyed that he even kicked the ogre’s head.
“All that trouble for nothing.”
They sat down, frustrated by the result.
After a while, they left, and I got down from the tree. I paused for a bit; I thought that Bang Woo-tak’s reaction couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about it.
I decided to look in the ogre’s stomach myself, and I carefully searched the ogre’s stomach. Lo and behold, there were beads!
Two beads were embedded in the upper part of the stomach. I was so happy to find them that I jumped in joy.
Jackpot!
Kim Byung-woo is looking for black beads, yet here I am, just stumbling into one. I kissed the black bead then ate it; I could feel something happening to my body.
Bang Woo-tak must’ve lied and said there were no beads so he could keep them all for himself, if I’m right then he’ll come back here soon. I need to leave before he sees me.
As I left, I looked at the yellow bead that came out with the black one. It was shiny, like honey, and it was so pretty.
When I arrived in the cave I was staying, I stretched my arms and shouted,
“Power up! Ability activate !”
Nothing happened, I know I’m supposed to gain an ability, but I had no idea what it would be.
“Maybe I’ll gain invisibility?”
Maybe I’ll get a useless ability like enhanced digestion and sturdier teeth for chewing, who knows?
I put the yellow bead in the palm.
“Don’t let me down.”
I wished myself luck as I swallowed the bead.
“Um.”
I started feeling dizzy, and my body started feeling hot like I had the flu.
“do yellow beads even give special abilities.”
My body continued to be in pain, and I started to get chills. It felt so cold that I thought I would freeze to death. When I exhaled, I thought I saw mist form. The entire area felt like it was below 30 degrees
“Shit.”
I curled into a ball and tried to warm myself up. Suddenly my body temperature returned to normal. It was as if nothing had happened. My body seemed to be okay, so I got up and stretched my arms. I was down for about thirty minutes.
“Let’s see!”
I tried to check if I obtained any abilities.
“Skill, soar!”
The silence was cut short by my stomach rumbling. Because of the beads, I missed lunch, stood still for a while, and then sat on the ground. I sighed. I knew that the only thing I had left was lizard meat. It was edible as long as you stayed away from where it stores its poison, the area between the throat and lungs.
After I finished eating, I packed my weapons and got ready to return to where the ogre was. If my suspicion was correct and Bang Woo-tak was coming back, I’m prepared to make him suffer like that yellow bead did to me.
The ogre’s body was still there, and it seemed like the spiders hadn’t feasted on its remains, they must be avoiding that area.
I climbed the same tree I was in earlier, then I waited. Soon it became dark, and I started thinking of giving up and just going back to the cave, just then I saw Bang Woo-tak arrive.
He was happily dancing around before putting his hand inside the ogre’s belly. His smile slowly turned into a look of confusion.
“I’m sure I tucked it somewhere under here.”
He took out his dagger and made an incision and started dissecting the ogre’s body. Each organ was pulled out, but still, he did not find the beads.
Bang Woo-Tak shook his head then looked at the sky and shouted,
“Who was it? Who took my beads!”
He looked like he’s lost his mind, and he began talking to himself. For a second, I thought he had someone with that he was talking to, but it looks like he was just looking for someone to blame. When he couldn’t find anyone, he started blaming the spiders.
“Maybe the spider ate the body and swallowed the beads?”
When Bang Woo-tak moved under the tree I was hiding in, I jumped down and stabbed him.
Puck.
The ax dug into the chest.
“Ahh.”
Bang Woo-tak screamed, but you could hear his voice struggling. I kicked him while he was down.
“Hello.”
I smiled with my mouth open, pretending to have fangs,
“Scared?”
“You, you, you!”
He mumbled some curses and died. It looks like the ax pierced his heart.
“It seems I didn’t know my own strength.”
I had some questions for Bang Woo-tak, but it seems I overestimated him.
I carried his body back into town.
No one was outside, and the town seemed peaceful. Of course, it only looked that way. The broken trees and damaged infrastructure was proof that no one here was safe. Monsters were still present and could attack you in your sleep. I can’t go back here.
I placed Bang Woo-tak’s body near a pile of fallen trees, and then I wrote a message on his forehead with his blood,
‘Leave me alone.’
I didn’t want to get caught, so I quickly returned to the forest.
* * *
When dawn arrived, Kim Byung-woo and Park Min-ji returned to the village. They were the first ones to see the body. Park Min-ji asked,
“Dong-taek is already dead, who could’ve done this”
“Only Chun-sam could have done this”
“Chun-sam!!”
Kim Byung-woo thought while rubbing his chin.
He recalled how Chun-sam was barely alive when they last met. If he hadn’t arrived, Dong-taek would’ve killed him. He pondered if this would affect his chances of survival.
He quickly stopped himself from thinking about it anymore. It didn’t matter if Chun-sam survived that time; he was still weaker than him.
Park Min-ji continued to stare at the dead body with a confused look.
* * *
The next day, I managed to hunt a lot of lizards, but only got one red bead. Maybe I should try hunting in other areas.
Ogres have beads in them too, shall I try hunting them?
Suddenly I hear a rustling sound.
“Who’s there?”
I grabbed my ax and prepared to attack.
“Hi, it ’s been a while.”
Park Min-Ji reached out with both hands; usually, this is to show they’re not hostile, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
I didn’t put my ax down.
“What about Kim Byung-woo?”
“I’m alone.”
“Why?”
“I have something to say.”
“What?” I asked bluntly.
“I didn’t feel good with how we parted. I felt like I betrayed you.”
“You did betray me. We were a team.”
“If you were in my position, you would have done the same.”
“Maybe, maybe not, you can’t hold me accountable for something I never did.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“Okay, but how did you find me?”
“This area is filled with poisoned lizards. No one would dare come here, well except you since you’re immune to them.”
She threw me a white bead. I caught it and scrunched my face.
“What’s this for?”
“In return for the beads you gave me.”
“I gave you three beads. One was even a valuable black bead like the one Byung-woo wanted.”
“White is also precious.”
As far as I knew, black was still the most precious type of bead. I was about to eat the bead, but then I stopped myself.
“Did you poison this?”
She looked sad.
“You don’t trust me? That makes my heart ache”
“You are with Kim Byung-woo, and I’m suspicious and scared of him.”
“The choice is yours.”
“Fine.”
I ate the bead; for a moment, a felt dizzy, but this feeling quickly fades. I looked towards the distance and noticed my vision had improved.
“Have you told Kim Byung-woo anything about me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“My ability. I still don’t know what the black beads gave me.”
“How many black beads have you eaten so far?”
“Two.”
“Two?”
Park Min-ji looked, and I smirked while teasing her,
“You didn’t notice, huh?”
“uh, yes, I did.”
I was so exhilarated that I grabbed her hand on impulse.
“Oh yeah? Then tell me what my ability is”
She replied with her hands out.
“Healing ability.”
“what?”
I was confused with her answer, so I asked a follow-up question,
“Me? Healing powers? Why do you think so?”
“Look at your face. It looked horrible when the lizard’s poison damaged it, you had wounds all over. But now your face is so smooth like nothing ever happened to it.”
“That’s thanks to a black and yellow striped bead.”
“Didn’t the black and yellow striped bead give you detoxification abilities? How could that help heal you? Detoxification and healing are two completely different things.”
I rubbed my face as if I was washing my face.
“Could this be because of my healing ability?”
“Everyone injured by the lizard’s poison still has damaged skin, but your skin is completely clear.”
Truth be told, I never thought about my abilities much.
“I think that the black and yellow striped bead gave you detoxification and healing powers at the same time. I remember Kim Byung-woo saying something like that was possible.”
When she finished speaking, she pulled out her dagger and made a small cut on her hand.
“uh! What are you doing?”
“Let’s test your ability.”
She gave me her hand.
“Now, treat me.”
I looked at her palm and placed my hand over it, and I tried saying something that sounded like a spell.
“Be healed?”
It did not heal. I tried once more, this time, I stayed silent and tried concentrating instead. Park Min-ji shook her head and pulled her hand away. She proceeded to wipe her blood on her pants.
“I guess you can’t heal other people, too bad.”
“Huh?”
“Healing abilities would have been nice, but it seems you can only heal yourself.”
I was disappointed, so my shoulders drooped. Healing others would have helped me gain allies since it was something everyone needed.
“ Do you know what’ll happen if I eat multiple black beads?”
“Well, if you get the same ability, it will probably strengthen said ability.”
“What about efficiency?”
“It is like other beads. The more you eat, the less efficient it is.”
This sucks, anyone who’s injured has a chance of getting healed, I’m not saying quick recovery is a bad thing. This ability allows me to be more resilient, but it’s not an offensive ability. It won’t help me win fights.
When I ate three blue beads, my strength doubled. When I wanted to get the same effect, I had to eat twelve blue beads, with that logic, it’s safe to assume I’ll need twenty-four to increase my strength again.
How many black beads will I need to eat until my resilience becomes useful in fighting?
If it’s similar to the blue beads, then it’s impossible, black beads are rare to find.
Maybe I should just give up?
I closed my eyes for a bit; I opened them again when an idea came into my head.