Chapter 10 – 010 Flood Damage
‘…….’
Hwanin, who opened his eyes, frowned at the unpleasant feeling of deja vu.
He is standing alone in a pitch black and dark space.
He was sitting resting among the corpses of the eight green monsters he had killed just a moment ago and…….
By this point, Hwanin was starting to get angry, but before he got angry, he tried to grasp the objective facts by examining his body and surroundings.
‘Immediately after the pain of tearing my head off, my vision turned black.’
Did the cardiac arrest come late because of the pain of being cut with a heated knife?
It was a pain I didn’t want to experience twice…… No, considering the headache, he could have died from a ruptured blood vessel in the brain.
So, is this the afterlife?
The surroundings are black as if they are absorbing all the light, but the fact that only their own color is distinct adds to the suspicion. Not only…….
‘There are no wounds.’
Not only the wounds from fighting 8 green monsters, but also the wounds from scratches and stings from wandering through the jungle for 6 days, and the blisters and calluses from wielding weapons are gone.
Even clothes soiled by eating dirt, leaves, sweat, and the blood of slain monsters are as clean as new.
Hwanin, who had experienced phenomena that could not be scientifically explained twice (transition to another world, green monster’s psychic ability), seemed to believe that this place was the afterlife.
Cause of death? Too many rides.
It could be that what you ate in the meantime was a problem, or it could be that germs entered the wound from being stabbed by a thornbush a few times and were dormant and triggered.
‘…….’
Hwanin, who began to accept death as a fait accompli, closed his eyes for a moment as if he had given up on himself, and then began to walk.
If I had known this was going to happen, I would have released the emergency rations.
Since they are tied tighter than watermelon strings, even emergency food will soon die of starvation or be eaten by monsters.
How am I now The reason why there is no such thing as a god of death or a grim reaper is probably because people made up stories. Then, walking like this and disappearing?
Or reincarnated into another creature?
It doesn’t matter either way, but if I were to be reincarnated, this time I was a Hwanin who wanted to be reborn instead of a human.
It is a bird that lives freely in the sky without thinking deeply.
‘…… ?’
Hwanin, who was walking leisurely, suddenly realized that the feet were glowing faintly.
Not just under your feet. To the front…… The faint light flows like a wave and moves like a river.
‘The river of Acheron?’
Recalling the river that appeared in Greek mythology and flowing through the underworld, Hwanin shook his head lightly and started walking along the light.
If it is mysterious, it is an experience that can be mysterious.
‘I’ll forget all of this when I’m reincarnated.’
Thinking that he would never be able to recall such a dreamy scene again, Hwanin slowed down his pace a bit, feeling a bit regretful.
Hwanin, who was walking along the dreamy river of light created by such faint light, felt something approaching in front of him.
‘…… Bug?’
A few worker ants approached along the river…… No, it came floating in the air and passed through Hwanin’s chest.
Hwanin looked back at him as he touched his chest where his ant had pierced through. The ant had already moved away and was disappearing into the river of light.
‘…….’
Feeling something approaching, I looked ahead and saw several types of bugs and insects approaching in pairs.
Butterflies, bees, mantises, stag beetles, crickets, cicadas, wasps, flies, spiders, mosquitoes, dragonflies, grasshoppers…….
Hwanin, puzzled by the situation he did not understand, began to walk again. However, just because they started walking did not make the insects approach them faster.
‘Does this mean that the next life is an insect?’
Hwanin muttered to himself as he watched all the insects pass through his chest, but stopped when he saw the next animal.
Black spotted dog on a white background like a cow.
A body that was thin enough to expose ribs, and eyes that seemed to be half-turned.
It is a stray dog that I met in the back mountain when I was a student and beat it to death.
It was the first living creature to have a clear will and take its life, so it was a Hwanin that I remembered clearly.
The wild dog also passed through Hwanin, and when the wild dog passed, I felt a little bit of pain and my body felt slightly heavy.
The pain was also peculiar. It’s not the pain you feel from getting stabbed, cut, or beaten anywhere in your body…… It was a strange sensation as if the pain had spread throughout the body.
Then, three cats who seemed to have barely escaped the kittens approached.
A tricolor, white and black cat.
‘…….’
In the winter of that year when he started his social life, Hwan-in, who was about to go to work in the car his father gave him, heard a strange sound and a cat’s tearing scream as soon as he started the engine.
Hwanin, who got out of the car and opened the engine room, could see three dead cats caught in his belt.
Those three cats were those cats then.
Like a pack of wild dogs, I felt a slight pain as the three cats pierced me.
Hwanin, who had closed his eyes, looked down and saw the faint river of light still flowing.
‘Is this river letting me face the lives I’ve killed so far?’
Are you asking me to face the life I killed and at least make atonement for?
Afterwards, Hwanin let out a light breath and moved forward with unstoppable steps.
After that, little things came to life.
It was mainly flies and mosquitoes, with mayflies mixed in, as well as ants that I must have stepped on a few times while jogging, and fish caught by the company’s fishing club.
‘Are there any plants?’
Hwanin laughed inwardly.
Plants are definitely living creatures, but only insects, animals, and fish appear.
‘…….’
Hwanin stopped walking in surprise at the fact that he had laughed at an unknown target.
After falling into a strange world, my emotions have diversified…… He is overcome with a strange sensation, as if he is becoming something other than himself.
Anyway, I’m dead, so what’s the point?
Hwanin, who started walking again, smiled at the things that started appearing in front of him.
Dozens of green monsters. A beast-headed monster interspersed with a gray monster standing out among them.
They are all monsters that they beat and stamped to death.
‘Well…….’
As the first green monster passed, I felt my body grow heavy with pain incomparable to that of animals or insects.
Do you feel a mild headache all over your body? It was a formidable pain as it continued several times, but the pain was not a big deal.
The problem was that when about 10 of them passed by, the body became as heavy as wet cotton.
‘Kuk.’
As I see it now, the pain increases proportionally as the number of passes increases.
When 20 of them passed, the pain, which was like a mild headache, became a pain like stabbing with an awl, and the body became heavy as if moving in water.
After 30 of them passed, it felt like being egged on with a knife. The movement feels like moving through the water with heavy weights attached to the whole body.
‘Whoa…….’
Just as the pain of being egged on with a knife turned into the pain of burning alive in the furnace, the 36th and final green monster passed by.
Nothing more approaches from beyond the River of Light.
My body is hot like burning. I wouldn’t have been able to stand it any longer if I had suffered more than ten.
Hwanin let out a small sigh and took one step at a time as he felt the chains wrapped around his body dragging him from behind.
‘Mmm.’
As I progressed, the burning feeling gradually subsided and instead, a refreshing feeling began to fill the place.
It was more refreshing than the feeling of refreshment I felt deep in my lungs when I drank clear water from the Great Lake yesterday.
The sensations that had been entangling his body and making it difficult to move every time also disappeared.
As the chains loosen one by one, the body gradually becomes lighter. Hwanin, who twisted his shoulder once with a sense of liberation as if flying, strode forward and raised one corner of his mouth.
‘It’s like a purification ceremony for the soul.’
It is the purification work for reincarnation.
If there was a process of burning and erasing the dirt in the soul, wouldn’t it be like this?
Hwanin, who was walking while enjoying an overwhelming sense of refreshment and liberation, realized that the world was gradually getting brighter.
Among them, Hwanin, who instinctively sensed that the end was approaching on the particularly bright road ahead, did not act impatiently and slowly walked into the light.
“…… ? Ugh.”
Hwanin, who opened his eyes at the sensation of waking up in his head, let out an unpleasant moan at the sudden surge of pain, the feeling that his whole body was in pain.
Aside from the pain, the aftereffects of the loss of a sense of liberation and refreshment loom large.
Just a moment ago, I felt as if I had spread my wings and soared into the sky, but now I feel a sense of displeasure as if I was bound by an inexpressible bondage.
“Kuk.”
While trying to get up, Hwanin moaned again at the excruciating pain he felt in his right thigh. He barely managed to get his upper body up while feeling severe joint and muscle pain and bruises.
My body trembles like an aspen tree.
After struggling to look around, Hwanin sighed when he saw the green monsters scattered all around him.
His head is confused. Wasn’t I dead? If not dead, what did you experience in the River of Light?
Raising his trembling arm, he looked at his watch and saw that it was 11:00 AM. He had been passed out for about three hours.
“…… Whoa.”
Hwanin, who let out a long sigh at his sense of desolation and deprivation, did not want to move his finger due to the complex emotions.
However, it was discovered that he was not dead. He can’t be left alone like this.
Hwanin barely got up, leaned against a tree, put on his clothes, and looked around.
“…….”
Moving limply and staggering, he grabbed a spear, a stone axe, a short sword, and a black club.
I thought I wanted to take it all with me, but I felt like I would collapse in the middle without being able to return to the hiding place if I increased the weight more than this with my current physical condition.
Hwanin, who was breaking out in a cold sweat and gasping for breath after he had moved a little, found the green monster in good condition and took off the skin covering it.
When I took it off, it was wider and bigger than I thought. If you use several of them, you can even use them as a substitute for a blanket.
Hwanin, who placed his weapon on top of the leather, rolled it up and roughly tied it with a vine stalk, broke through the bush to find emergency food.
Quack.
“You were alive.”
Since there was no sound, I thought he might have been trampled to death. However, the emergency food was safe, and as soon as he saw Hwanin, he cried as if he had waited, proving that he was fine.
Hwanin, who even packed emergency food, tried to return to the hideout using his spear as a staff…… His attention was caught by the staff of a green monster that used psychic powers.
“…….”
After thinking about it for a while, Hwanin silently took care of his cane and limped forward, using the spear and cane as trekking poles.
Hwanin kept thinking about the river of light. It was because he thought he wouldn’t be able to hold on without thinking about it.
Was it a simple hallucination? But for a hallucination, the memory and senses were too clear. If that was an experience of hallucination, the world today would dismiss it as hallucination.
Can not understand. To see something like that suddenly without any warning.
…… No, was there a premonition?
Hwanin’s eyes narrow when he sees the staff he’s holding in his right hand.
It must have been after his hand touched the cane. And the green monster swung this wand and used superpowers.
Could it be that this staff made the green monsters move twice as fast?
“Whoa, whoa, whoa…….”
When I look at the time, I think it will be more difficult, so I am only moving my steps like a machine, but I feel like my physical condition is getting worse.
Sweat dripped from my back, and the weight of the weapon and leather bag I carried on my back weighed down my shoulders.
The weight of the emergency rations hung on his right arm, which seemed to fall off.
The lower right thigh is numb, and instead of only the right side of the body creaking, now the whole body is creaking.
My vision blurs from how much heat has risen in my head. Amidst the blur, trees and grass appear reddish-earth and amber.
Turquoise, buff, grape, and turquoise paint seem to have been spattered over the forest.
Hwanin realized that his condition was serious.
Are you seeing hallucinations with open eyes? At this point, he even thinks that he might really die.
When I die, I will do as much as I can even if I die, so I took one step at a time and arrived at a crack in the ground where there was a hiding place.
Hwanin, who descended into a gap narrower and lower than a small valley, bumped into the left and right walls and finally arrived at the root of the tree that blocked the entrance to the hideout.
“Huh, huh. Heo-eok…….”
My body trembles with chills.
Let’s drop the weapon pack and emergency rations that he was carrying down his shoulders. Scream.
With his unbending fingers, Hwanin managed to break free of the vines that tied the leather, spread the leather where he had gathered leaves and made it soft, and lay down as if collapsing.
“Ugh, ugh…….”
In my daze, the thought came to me that I was glad I had brought the leather.
The leather is stiff, as if it had been tanned, but the leather will block the cold that the leaves couldn’t block.
Trembling, Hwanin pulled the rest of his skin to cover his body and crouched down like a shrimp.
Hoping that his body condition will improve when he wakes up from a sigh.
