The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

025 Securing Emergency Rations

The dead rabbit was skinned right there.

The arrows made from bamboo were thicker than expected.

Blood overflowed from the wound, which was as thick as Juhwan’s finger, and the rabbit’s fur, which had not yet cooled, was soaked.

The body, which had not been pierced by arrows, was relatively clean. The flowing blood was blocked by the fur, so it didn’t get too messy.

“….”

He had often seen rabbits being disassembled, but it was his first time doing it himself. There were many mistakes when handling wolves. He must not repeat the same mistakes. Juhwan focused on his fingertips, recalling what his grandfather had done.

—

—

Living with my grandfather lasted just over a year, when I was in middle school. My grandfather passed away after living with me for only that long.

After that, I wandered around a few relatives’ houses for a few weeks, but soon I got a small house to live in alone.

I was lonely, but I didn’t blame anyone.

Among the relatives, there were rumors that both my parents and my grandfather died because of me.

I thought so too. Everyone close to me, everyone I cherished, died.

It was natural for a child followed by death to live alone. I accepted it that way, but perhaps I was hurt in my own way, because in high school, whenever I bumped into someone, I would throw punches.

In this world, I don’t want to lose anyone. Lizzie and Dorothy… No, Santa vouched for them, so it should be fine. I’m sure of it.

While thinking about such things aimlessly and skinning the rabbit and handling its entrails, Gus quietly watched from the side.

Gus occasionally tapped my arm lightly to signal me to stop and taught me minor details, like how to hold the knife or make incisions in the skin. Other than that, he didn’t interfere much.

After handling the rabbit, we hung it on a tree for a while and removed the snare from that spot. The snare was simply a looped string, easy to set up and easy to remove.

Gus used a hook-like metal tool he brought to scrape the hard ground and bury the entrails. Covering it with some nearby snow was the final step.

Since it was far from the house, even if animals smelled the blood and gathered, it wouldn’t be a big problem. But why? Was there a reason to bury it? Suddenly, I had a strange thought.

“Is it okay to leave this blood?”

When I asked in clumsy pronunciation if it was okay to just leave the blood, Gus shook his head.

“Bad, animals###big##no.”

Not understanding what he meant, we exchanged a few more words.

During the conversation, I realized that I was confusing the words for big and wide.

Once I corrected the misunderstood words, the meaning became clear. Because the range of carnivorous animals is wide, it’s better to bury the traces after killing an animal, even if it’s far from the house.

Gus and Lizzie spoke the same language, but there were slight differences in endings or feelings when listening.

Perhaps the roughness of the language used by men and women differed, or the tone used varied slightly with age.

I wondered if I would be able to understand such subtle differences once I became completely accustomed to the language of this world. I was still far from reaching that level.

Seeing that I seemed to understand, Gus added more words.

“Hunters#####dangerous.”

I nodded in understanding.

As long as we were wandering in the mountains, hunters could also encounter dangerous carnivores.

Thinking about such things, it was better not to leave any traces anywhere.

Every action of a hunter had meaning, even in small things. I recalled each action Gus took when he was with me.

Even if Gus didn’t specifically say it, there must have been actions that should never be violated.

There might have been cases where I didn’t know but held very significant meaning.

‘I should pay attention to such things in the future.’

—

—

There is more to learn about being a hunter by watching and following than by learning through words. One should never neglect something just because they think they already know it.

Though he thought this in his head, it was still difficult in practice. There were still too many things he missed unconsciously.

Every time he shot an arrow, he recalled the eyes of the rabbit staring at him, filled with pain and fear.

He must not forget today’s events. Even though he could have ended its life in an instant, he deliberately caused pain. That was neither hunting nor a rightful act. It was a vile action, against the order of nature.

But there must be a reason why Gus insisted on doing it that way.

‘Those eyes will stay in my heart forever.’

Juhwan exhaled lightly.

Suddenly, he imagined a bear or a wolf breaking into his house and harming Lizzy and Dorothy. Biting their hands and tearing at their feet to immobilize them… The terrified eyes of his family overlapped with the eyes of the rabbit.

Stop.

Juhwan shook his head.

He had tools now. With the tools the villagers had brought, he could build a fence around his house. He would start today.

Hunting is not romantic. It is a matter of survival for both humans and animals.

And don’t forget. Humans are not the only ones who hunt. Animals hunt too, and often more skillfully.

Gus rummaged through his bag.

Gus’s bag was slightly larger than Juhwan’s, and it seemed to contain more items than expected.

From a corner of the bag, Gus pulled out a small, rolled-up bundle of cloth. When he unfolded it, it became a pouch made of old cloth.

Gus handed the cloth pouch to Juhwan.

“Here, put the rabbit in and take it.”

It seemed that all the rabbits they had caught today were for Juhwan. Without refusing, Juhwan bowed his head slightly.

“Thank you.”

“….”

Gus smiled silently.

Juhwan placed the naked rabbit body and fur into the cloth pouch.

He tied the opening with the long string attached near the entrance and then fastened it to his waist.

The weight of the rabbit made his waist heavy, and his heart felt a little heavier too.

There were a few more places where snares were set. Although nothing was caught last night, today another rabbit was caught in the second snare.

This time, Gus handled it.

After telling Juhwan to watch, Gus quickly killed the rabbit and skinned it.

His method was slightly different from Juhwan’s. It was faster and rougher. There were fewer traces of blood left where the naked rabbit and fur remained.

It would be better to follow this man’s method in the future. Juhwan mentally reviewed what Gus had done several times.

—

—

The rabbit became Gus’s. Gus, like Juhwan, put it in his pocket and hung it on his waist.

Nothing was caught in the next snare.

But when they went to the fourth snare, there was another rabbit caught. It was the last snare. Gus smiled as if today was a lucky day.

“You##rabbit###take.”

It seemed that the last rabbit was Juhwan’s share. To be fair, they should split it in half, but he didn’t bother with such formalities or concessions. He decided to accept it gratefully.

As Juhwan walked towards the snare to catch the rabbit, he suddenly stopped. He wondered if he could raise this rabbit.

Raising rabbits is not that difficult. As long as you feed them and clean the cage, it doesn’t take much effort. From what he remembered, the smell wasn’t that bad either.

Although they look slightly different, the ecology of this world and Earth is probably similar. Or maybe it’s the same since it’s a rabbit.

Rabbits give birth to many offspring. His grandfather used to grumble that rabbits gave birth to too many and too often, making it hard to cut grass to feed them.

In times when they couldn’t hunt or were starving, rabbits would be good emergency food. The thin bodies of Lizzy and Dorothy came to mind. He could prevent them from going hungry. If he raised rabbits, he could supply meat steadily.

“….”

His grandfather sometimes bought feed, but mostly fed them straw from barley or rice and grass from around the area. The mountain was full of trees and grass. There would be plenty of food.

“Are you okay?”

Gus asked, looking puzzled as Juhwan suddenly stopped walking.

Juhwan looked at Gus and opened his mouth.

“Gus, take the rabbit, kill it, no.”

He combined gestures to say he wanted to take it alive and raise it, and Gus finally understood and covered his mouth with his hand. For some reason, he seemed unable to hold back his laughter.

Gus nodded, saying okay, okay, without particularly opposing.

But judging by his expression, it was clear he thought Juhwan’s words were foolish. Since he said to do it, it didn’t seem to be forbidden or dangerous, but why? He didn’t know. Anyway, as long as it wasn’t forbidden to raise rabbits in the mountains, it was fine.

As Juhwan approached the rabbit, Gus gave him another pocket.

When he put the rabbit in it, it struggled a bit at first but soon calmed down. It stayed still, curled up.

He worried for a moment about attracting dangerous animals like wolves because of the rabbit, but judging by Gus’s reaction, that wouldn’t happen. There seemed to be something Juhwan didn’t know, but as long as it wasn’t dangerous, it was fine. Since Gus was laughing, it didn’t seem serious.

After that, Gus took Juhwan to his house.

Previously, he had waited in front of the house, but this time Gus led him to a warehouse behind the house.

The simple wooden warehouse was not much different from the one at Juhwan’s house. It was ordinary. Since there was a separate place for firewood, the items inside would probably be similar.

Not knowing why he was called there, Juhwan hesitated in front of the warehouse.

Gus opened the door and called him.

“Come inside.”

“….”

As he entered the warehouse as Gus called, the smell of wood wafted in. Even though it was daytime, the inside was slightly dark.

—

—

Juhwan opened his eyes wide in slight surprise.

On one side of the wall, there was a shelf with bamboo arrows laid out. There were quite a lot of them.

Some had tips, some didn’t. Some had blunt metal tips, while others had thorn-shaped metal tips.

There were also arrows made entirely of wood, with the ends simply sharpened.

Several large wooden barrels were placed on the floor next to the shelf. They were filled with bamboo sticks, each as thick as an arrow.

In the opposite corner, there was a barrel filled with bird feathers. It was full of long feathers.

Next to it, there was a small barrel containing only metal tips.

Juhwan shifted his gaze.

On the wall directly opposite the door, there were flat wooden planks as tall as Juhwan, stuck into a barrel. There were quite a lot of them too.

Unlike the arrows, which were all made of bamboo, the planks seemed to be made of different types of wood.

But they all had a similar shape.

Some still looked like plain planks, but the carved ones had the same shape as the one Juhwan was carrying. The middle part curved smoothly into a soft circle.

“A bow?”

Juhwan asked, and Gus nodded.

Gus pointed to a corner. There was a wooden workbench on the right wall, and an unfinished bow was lying on it.

Juhwan had thought that bows and arrows were bought from somewhere. But it seemed that Gus made everything except for the metal tips, which were hard to find in the mountains.

“Gus make? Bow? Arrows?”

“Yes. I make. I teach you.”

“Me, learn? Gus teach?”

“Yes.”

It seemed that Gus was going to teach him how to make bows and arrows.

Suddenly, Juhwan thought he understood why the bows were almost straight.

Even to someone who didn’t know about bows, it seemed that curved bows would be difficult to make.

For the wood to take such a shape, it would probably need to be bent for a considerable period. Maybe some kind of device was needed. It might not be possible to do it alone. He wasn’t sure, but it was surely a difficult task.

But with such a simple shape, it could be done alone.

“Me, see? Is it okay?”

Juhwan asked if he could take a closer look at the bows and arrows, and Gus nodded.

Juhwan slowly explored the inside of the warehouse, occasionally touching things with his hands.

He touched the arrows on the shelf and picked up the feathers in the barrel to examine them.

The feathers were slightly different in shape. Some were curved to the right, some to the left.

—

—

I thought feathers were straight, but it was different from what I expected.

Surely, the feathers in this world can’t be different from those on Earth, but it felt a bit strange. Aren’t all birds supposed to have the same feathers?

Juhwan wandered around, touching the long bow and the wooden planks that hadn’t been made yet.

It seems that the process of drying the wood is necessary to make bows and arrows. Perhaps that period is quite long. The moisture felt by touch seemed slightly different.

Since coming to this world, he realized how little he knew. What he learned living on Earth was mostly useless here.

A bitter smile appeared on Juhwan’s face.

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