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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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God, please grant me love. Please give me someone who can love even someone like me.
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I was lost in the mountains.
In the 21st century, where even deserted islands have Wi-Fi.
It was something I’d never imagined.
Yet this unimaginable thing was happening to me.
“Where am I?”
Muttering in frustration, I shoved my smartphone, its screen flashing with a “No Signal” warning, into my pocket.
I had been following the mountain trail, but at some point, it had simply vanished. I’d heard that getting lost in the mountains was practically a death sentence…
‘Shit, am I screwed?’
I held no hope for rescue. I hadn’t told anyone I was coming to this mountain today.
It was just a spur-of-the-moment hike to clear my head. I never dreamed something like this would happen.
“I guess I should head down…”
Conventional wisdom dictated staying put when lost in the mountains. Wandering around lost only increased the risk of a fatal accident.
But that advice assumed someone would be looking for you. It had been an hour, and I hadn’t seen a single soul.
My smartphone was useless, and there was no hope of rescue.
“Screw it, I don’t know.”
I decided to descend. Using the compass app on my phone, I roughly oriented myself and started heading south.
Not even thirty minutes later, I regretted my decision.
“Damn it, what the hell—this is so steep…”
Sweat poured down my face despite the fact I was going downhill. I wiped my forehead with my sleeve and chugged the remaining water from the bottle I’d bought before the hike.
Perhaps because I hadn’t conserved it earlier, there wasn’t even half a bottle left.
‘Am I really going to die out here?’
Just as that thought crossed my mind, I spotted a cabin in the distance. The sight of civilization filled me with an indescribable sense of relief, and I ran towards it.
It was a cabin built entirely of logs. An unusual choice for the 21st century, I thought, as I cautiously knocked on the door.
“Hello! Is anyone there?!”
Knock, knock! Bang, bang!
My urgency made me knock hard enough to break the door down, but there was no response. I carefully tried the doorknob, but the door remained locked.
Damn it. Of course, no one would be living in a place like this. Unless they were some kind of hermit…
“Who is it?”
Just as I was about to give up, a faint voice came from behind me. I quickly turned and found myself face to face with a woman carrying a basket full of herbs.
She wore a robe with the hood pulled up, obscuring her face. But judging by the curves of her figure beneath the robe and her voice, she was definitely a woman.
“Oh! Hello! Nice to meet you!”
“…”
“My name is Johan, and I’m lost. I was wondering if I could borrow your phone?”
“Lost? Here?”
The woman’s voice was laced with disbelief. It was understandable. This wasn’t a particularly large mountain, and getting lost here seemed unlikely.
Embarrassingly, it was the truth. I nodded, and she tilted her head, still skeptical.
“That’s strange… And a phone? I don’t have one of those.”
“…You don’t have a phone?”
“No.”
I let out a hollow laugh and stared at her. Even orphans and the poorest of the poor had smartphones.
And yet, she lived alone in the mountains and didn’t have a phone? Was she joking? Or was she really committed to this hermit lifestyle?
Either way, it wasn’t my concern.
“Well, then… could you tell me which way to go to get back to the city?”
“…Just keep going down that way.”
“Ah, this way? Thank you.”
I bowed in gratitude and quickly headed in the direction she indicated. I didn’t want to spend any more time with this strange, hermit-like woman.
Trying to ignore her muttering behind me, I walked towards the city.
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After walking for who knows how long, I finally reached a village as the sun began to set.
And upon arriving, I froze, staring at the village in disbelief.
‘…Is this some kind of hermit village?’
The village was incredibly rundown. It wasn’t just old tile-roofed houses like you’d see in the countryside; these houses were built with materials you wouldn’t even see in the Joseon Dynasty.
I’d only ever seen houses like this in games. Medieval fantasy RPGs, to be exact.
As I cautiously entered the village, two men who had been lounging near the entrance, yawning loudly, approached me.
“Hey, you! Who are you?!”
“I…”
The two men looked me up and down, their expressions hardening.
“You, no. Who are ‘you’?”
“…I was hiking and got lost.”
“…Hiking? Here?”
Like the woman earlier, they looked at me with suspicion. What was so strange about it? Was this private property or something?
The two men exchanged glances, seemingly realizing that this wasn’t a decision they could make on their own.
“Should we take him to the village chief?”
“Let’s do that. Come with us.”
“Yes, sir.”
I followed them into the village. But the word “chief” echoed in my mind.
Village chief? Not village head?
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“…What? Lost in the mountains?”
“That’s what he said…”
A shabby old man emerged from the house the two men had led me to. He glared at me after hearing their explanation, his eyes scanning me up and down in disbelief. It was unsettling.
But then, his expression softened, and he spoke in a gentle tone like a kind grandfather.
“Haha, I am the village chief. May I ask your name?”
“…My name is Johan. I got lost in the mountains—”
“You mean the mountains outside the village?”
The chief gasped in astonishment. I tilted my head in confusion. He explained that the mountain I had crossed was teeming with wild animals.
Bears and wolves that could easily tear a human apart. A chill ran down my spine.
‘Shit… I almost died…’
The absurdity of encountering wild animals in the 21st century sent another shiver down my spine. The chief then looked down at me, his eyes gleaming.
It felt like he was licking me with his gaze.
“By the way, since you made it here, it seems you had someone with you.”
“Someone? No, I was alone.”
“…There are no other villages around here. You came alone?”
“Yes. I just came for a walk, so I didn’t tell anyone.”
“…Is that so?”
The chief suddenly fell silent, then started to grin. A sense of unease welled up inside me. He then dropped the formal speech.
“So, to summarize what you’re saying—you came from beyond those mountains, and no one knows you’re here… Am I right?”
“Yes, well…”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized the source of my unease. Even in 21st-century Korea, there were stories of people being kidnapped and forced into slavery.
In this village, devoid of phones or any other signs of modern civilization, such a thing could actually happen.
As if to confirm my fears, the chief spoke.
“You said your name was Johan, right? Well, I don’t care. From now on, your name is Charles.”
The chief grinned, a wide, chilling grin.
It was the devilish smile of a human.
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A month had passed since I arrived at the village.
“Damn it, damn it…”
“Quiet.”
“Yes, sir…”
Over the past month, I had learned firsthand the meaning of hell. Over eighteen hours of manual labor every day, slop that even pigs would likely refuse, and villagers who toyed with me whenever they felt like it.
The worst part was that I was starting to get used to this hellish existence.
‘Damn it, damn it…’
There was no freedom here. No abundance.
For someone who had lived in the free and abundant 21st century, there could be no worse hell.
My only solace was the nightly fantasy of slaughtering every single villager. Without it, I would have killed myself long ago.
Just then, a villager came running from the distance.
“C-Chief-!”
“What is it?”
“S-Something terrible has happened! Terrible!”
The villager, who had run all the way from the village entrance, gasped for breath, stammering incoherently.
The chief listened, then turned to me with a hardened expression. Something bad was definitely happening.
Trying my best to avoid attracting attention, I focused on swinging my hoe. I’m working hard—so please don’t bother me. That was my silent plea.
Crack!
‘Oh, shit…’
The handle of my hoe snapped in two. It wasn’t my fault. Farming tools were consumables, and the one I’d been given was already rotting.
But these villagers were prone to anger and violence over even the most trivial things, so I trembled slightly as I looked at the chief.
“Chief…”
“Hmm? Ah, your tool broke.”
“Yes, I’m sorry…”
“Hmm—I’ve just run out of tools… Oh well. You can rest for the day.”
It was the first time I’d heard such words in over a month. The chief, who always seemed to be looking for ways to make me work more, was telling me to rest?
But if I hesitated, he might change his mind.
“Th-Thank you!”
I quickly bowed, gathered the broken tools, and put them in the shed before heading to my room in the chief’s house.
It was a tiny, flea-infested, rat-ridden, bug-infested room, but it was mine.
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That night, the chief and his wife were unusually kind.
A bathtub filled with hot water, something I hadn’t seen in a month, was prepared, along with fragrant additives to wash away the stench clinging to my body.
After my bath, a meat stew, a rarity even for the chief’s family, awaited me.
I could even taste a hint of salt. They hadn’t just boiled meat; they had actually used salt. Considering that salt was practically as valuable as gold in this remote village, it was unbelievable.
‘They’re not fattening me up to eat me, are they…?’
If they wanted to eat me, they would have done it when I first arrived, when I still had some flesh on my bones, not now, when I was all skin and bones.
Logically, I knew they weren’t going to kill me, but my body still trembled with unease. As I nervously spooned the stew into my mouth, the chief spoke.
“Johan.”
He called my name. My real name, which I hadn’t heard in a month. What was he planning? I answered, my voice trembling.
“Yes? What is it…?”
“I believe I’ve treated you well for the past month.”
The ominous tone suggested something serious. What was it? Could it be that the police had finally come looking for me? Were they finally here?
But I couldn’t show any joy. If I did, the chief might kill me and bury me right here. I simply nodded.
The chief seemed satisfied with my response.
“You need to go somewhere for me.”
“…Where?”
“You said you were lost on the mountain, right? Then you might have seen it.”
The chief’s face flickered with a hint of fear, as if recalling an unpleasant memory.
“The witch’s cabin.”
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