The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

016 From Today, a Hunter

In this world, it seems everyone wakes up early. I thought he would come in the morning, but I didn’t expect him to come this early.

Juhwan nodded to the old hunter, indicating he would come out soon.

He didn’t invite him inside. Thinking about when he wasn’t around, he didn’t want to make a habit of letting someone into a house with only women and children.

‘But what a suspicious smile.’

Juhwan turned his body and glanced at the old man. The old man’s smiling face looked just like the HR manager’s expression during salary negotiations.

When he entered the house, Lizzy was busy preparing something. He came in to say he was going out, but it didn’t seem like the right time.

Lizzy, who was moving around busily, saw him and quickly approached, grabbing his arm. Her thin fingers gripped him tightly and pulled him along.

Following her lead, he sat on the bed next to the hearth. And then she busily moved again.

Lizzy was roasting oat grains on a wide iron plate over the hearth. There were finely chopped pieces of wolf meat in it.

Next to the hearth was a small, half-melted lump of fat. It was wolf fat. He thought it was used for lamp oil, but it was used for cooking. The smell was savory.

When it seemed almost done, Lizzy pressed the rice onto the iron plate to cook it evenly. While the rice was cooking, Lizzy filled a leather canteen with warm water.

Looking at the canteen, it didn’t seem like she was asking him to eat and go; it looked like she was making a lunchbox for him.

‘That’s nice.’

—

—

The unexpected lunchbox event warmed my heart. Since middle school until now, no one has ever cooked for me except the cafeteria lady. Other than that, it was mostly convenience store food.

‘Well, that was tasty too.’

I especially liked the triangular kimbap. It was perfect as a snack with drinks.

Juhwan sat quietly, watching Lizzy’s busy hands. The old hunter was waiting outside, so he had to hurry, but he wanted to sit like this forever.

Beyond the fire, Dorothy sat with her mouth open, watching the rice being fried. Transparent drool was half dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Suddenly, Lizzy’s eyes met his. Lizzy smiled.

The amount of oats seen yesterday was not much. He was quietly worried if it was okay to fry the rice like this without increasing the quantity like porridge.

Maybe Lizzy and Dorothy were planning to eat porridge while only giving him rice.

As if understanding Juhwan’s thoughts, Lizzy subtly gestured towards Dorothy and the fried rice. It seemed to mean that there was enough for Dorothy too, so he shouldn’t worry.

It seemed to be done. Lizzy diligently put the fried oat rice into a round wooden bowl. She packed the rice tightly until it filled the bowl. She hadn’t covered it yet, probably to let it cool.

Lizzy stood up and headed to the corner. Among the neatly placed items, she picked up a leather bag that slung across the shoulder.

It was something from the bundle of luggage. It was very old, as if someone had used it for a long time. He guessed it was probably something the hunter of this house used when he was alive.

Maybe all hunters carried such things. So, the villagers must have thought it necessary and put it back in the luggage.

But they wouldn’t just give back what they took, so it was probably a debt to be repaid later. Come to think of it, the villagers were really bad people.

“….”

While Juhwan was quietly watching, Lizzy seemed to ponder for a moment, then put a knife in a leather sheath, a small piece of cloth that looked like a handkerchief, and something like a rope into the bag.

Lizzy seemed to have thought of what a hunter might need. The knife would be helpful, but what was the rope for? Lizzy was still rummaging through the items in the corner. Her expression was very serious.

Somehow, finding her appearance cute, Juhwan looked away. His gaze turned to the iron plate.

‘As expected.’

He thought it might be the case, but the amount of rice left after packing the lunchbox was too little. It seemed enough for Dorothy, but not for Lizzy.

Juhwan took some rice from the wooden bowl and placed it on the iron plate, then covered the lid and stood up before Lizzy came back.

Dorothy’s eyes sparkled. Sucking in the drool that was dripping, the child murmured softly.

“Meat.”

Lizzy, who was coming over with the leather bag, heard it and giggled.

When he handed over the lunchbox, Lizzy carefully wrapped it in a square cloth and tied it. She put it in the leather bag and handed it to Juhwan, shyly saying,

“######.”

It probably meant ‘Take care.’

“######?”

When Juhwan mimicked her, Lizzy corrected him slightly and said again,

“####.”

—

—

“I’ll be back.”

When Juhwan repeated the words, Lizzy smiled brightly and said again,

“Come back safely.”

Dorothy, who was next to the hearth, hurriedly ran to stand beside Lizzy. She looked up at Juhwan with her round eyes and then shouted in an absurdly loud voice,

“Come back safely!”

Her eyes widened as if she was surprised by her own voice. It seemed awkward because it was her first time saying it.

Juhwan placed his large hand on Dorothy’s head.

“I’ll be back, Dorothy.”

As he turned to leave the house, Dorothy’s voice rang out loudly again from behind him.

“Come back safely!”

When he turned his head to look, Dorothy was waving both hands vigorously.

Lizzy stood quietly beside her, watching Juhwan. It seemed she was worried, thinking that he wouldn’t be doing any serious hunting yet. Her expression had slightly darkened.

This is a big deal. I don’t want to leave home. My wife and daughter, who were born yesterday, are so cute.

*

The old hunter’s name was Gus.

Gus took Juhwan up the mountain, making him observe his movements.

Juhwan watched Gus walk along the narrow mountain path as he gestured.

At first, it just looked like he was walking. But if you looked closely, Gus’s back and shoulders were slightly hunched forward. His legs were not fully extended but slightly bent as he walked. He looked like a gorilla in human form.

Gus walked forward and then returned to Juhwan. Then he turned around again and tapped the ground with his foot. This time, it seemed he wanted Juhwan to observe his feet.

When Juhwan nodded and lowered his gaze, Gus started walking again.

Although he said to observe his feet, all Juhwan could see were shoes. The way shoes touched the ground seemed similar. If he could figure out what was different, that would be amazing. With a bit of skepticism, Juhwan watched the old man’s feet.

For a while, he couldn’t tell what he was supposed to see. It just looked like walking. It didn’t seem like he was doing anything special.

But Gus, without getting annoyed or frustrated, repeated the same movements several times. He walked away from Juhwan and then returned. Once, twice, several times, he repeated the steps in front of Juhwan.

As he watched the same steps over and over, Juhwan realized that the force Gus applied to his feet was different each time.

Sometimes he left deep footprints, and other times he left none at all.

In winter, the hardened ground doesn’t easily show footprints. It would have been more difficult to leave deep footprints than to leave none.

‘Is this some kind of martial arts footwork? Or something like a thousand-pound weight or true step?’

But isn’t this just a medieval setting, not a martial arts novel world? I got a bit confused.

Juhwan followed the path Gus had left, carefully observing the ground.

Even when footprints were left, their shapes were all different.

—

—

Some footprints seemed to walk straight.

However, even though some footprints continued in a straight line, the shape of the shoes themselves looked like they were going to the right or to the left.

If there were only one or two footprints without a continuous trail, it would have looked like they were going in a completely different direction.

It seemed that Gus also knew what Juhwan had realized. He approached with a happy expression and patted him on the waist as if to say well done. He probably wanted to pat him on the back, but the height difference was too great, so he patted his waist.

There are many inconveniences when you can’t communicate.

Gus repeated the walking motion several times while saying something, but only a rough feeling was conveyed. It seemed that you had to distribute the strength of your body while walking.

And when leaving footprints, you have to put strength in your lower body.

Juhwan learned the walking motion by following Gus’s actions and words.

Good, stop, follow, lower your voice, bird, attention, caution….

Juhwan memorized the words the old man said one by one.

Sometimes it was confusing, but when people are in a hurry, they develop superpowers.

Perhaps because of the desperate feeling that he had to learn the language quickly, each word stuck in his head.

If he had been this good at studying, he would have been the top student in the school.

Gus took him around the mountain for a while. Sometimes he stopped walking and pointed around with his finger as if to say look carefully.

The old man drew the shape of the ground with his hand and made Juhwan touch the trees with his hands.

At first, he didn’t understand what it meant, but gradually he realized that it was to familiarize him with the terrain of the mountain.

High, low, here are these trees, there are those trees. They all looked similar, but by looking at the leaves that fell in the shade of the trees, he could tell they were different trees.

He still felt the insidiousness of the HR manager in this old man. It seemed like there was something hidden in his smile.

But even so, he was a very diligent person. Gus taught him step by step, repeating several times.

Juhwan diligently followed the old man, remembering his actions, words, and the shape of the mountain.

It didn’t seem like much time had passed, but suddenly time had flown by. He wondered if it was already past lunchtime. At some point, a loud noise was coming from inside his stomach. He didn’t know why thunder was in his stomach.

The two of them sat down between the trees and ate their meal while crouching. It didn’t seem like they had the habit of offering food to each other.

Gus sat down and took out thinly sliced jerky and water from the leather bag tied around his waist. He gestured for Juhwan to eat and then ate his own.

Juhwan also took out his lunchbox from the bag slung over his shoulder. A fragrant smell wafted out.

Suddenly, Gus’s face twisted. He glanced at Juhwan, pointed at the lunchbox, and shook his head.

“….”

He quickly understood what it meant. Juhwan’s shoulders drooped.

‘My lunchbox.’

The priest had worked hard to prepare it from early in the morning, but it seemed like the first time would be the last. He felt like crying.

But sitting quietly in this forest, he quickly realized. This lunchbox was not suitable. The artificial smell of the food was too foreign in the mountain. It quickly spread through the forest. It was like telling the animals that there was a hunter coming to catch them. It was not suitable food for a hunter, maybe for a woodcutter.

—

—

Juhwan placed a small lunchbox on his thick legs and stared blankly at the sky. The sky appeared blue between the tall trees.

He felt as if the smell of food was spreading through the branches. The savory scent of fried rice seemed to have reached the birds in the trees. The birds chirped softly.

It seemed as if the smell of food was spreading again through the birds’ chirping.

Ah, this smell, if a wolf with a keen sense of smell were here, it would know from far away. There’s no way around it. Such thoughts crossed his mind. What should I do with my lunchbox?

With a chuckle, the old man Gus laughed.

“####.”

He said something. Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed to mean something like, “Is there really a need to despair over a lunchbox?”

But he said it without knowing. If he understood the heart of a man whose taste standard was a convenience store lunchbox, he would understand the current despair.

‘Ah, come to think of it.’

Juhwan looked at Gus’s face and smiled. He felt a bit grateful. If Gus had said from the beginning that the lunchbox was not allowed, he wouldn’t have had this one chance.

The reason Gus didn’t say from the beginning that the lunchbox was not allowed was probably because today was about practicing movements instead of hunting.

And he probably thought that bringing him to the forest to experience it firsthand would be faster than explaining it in words.

But even if he acted with that thought, he was grateful.

Juhwan ate the fried rice with a bit of reluctance. Even though it only had a light touch of salt without any special sauce, it was really delicious. The rice went down smoothly like honey.

‘From tomorrow, should I also eat jerky pieces like that?’

Ah, but there’s no jerky. Since it’s still a new household, there was no time to make jerky. Hmm, should I starve then? Or eat raw rice? He felt a bit depressed.

───────────────