TCGAD 22

I wanted to go see the babies right away, but I was a mess. My originally sensitive skin was covered in red, angry marks left by Bulkan. My legs were trembling so badly that it was hard to even stand in one place for long, so I decided to go to their room when the sun came up.

Squeeze. Perhaps my tense body had finally relaxed. I drifted off into a light sleep without realizing it.

“Aaaahhh!”

Then, startled by a strange scream coming from the forest, I jolted awake. I carefully pushed my eyelids open.

“……”

Darkness had not yet completely receded from the surroundings. What was that sound just now? As I kept my eyes on the window, recalling the rather terrifying noise, an arm stretched out from behind me. It wrapped around me, binding me tightly.

“Are you trying to break through the window and escape?”

More nonsensical words flowed from my side. Me? I laughed weakly. It was truly an absurd thing to say. I didn’t have four legs like Bulkan, and with a life inside my belly, how on earth could I.

“No, I thought I heard a strange sound.”

All sorts of beasts lived in the forest. Even at this hour, before the sun had fully risen, they were constantly eating and being eaten, extending their lives, and then fading away from the world. It wasn’t strange to hear a cry. But the voice I just heard sounded strangely like a person’s… It was because it reminded me of one person I had been trying hard to forget.

“Bulkan, um…”

I, who was about to part my lips to say something, soon shook my head. I actually wanted to talk about my father. To ask where on earth that b**t**d had disappeared to.

It was a subject I had been deliberately ignoring. Ever since we were dragged into h**l together like that, I hadn’t seen him once. Even while knowing full well that he must be suffering an agony beyond agony, having been thrown at Bulkan’s mercy.

“It’s nothing.”

Nevertheless, I shook my head. Just thinking about all the hardship my grandmother went through because of that son of a b**ch, I felt like thunder was striking down inside my belly several times a day.

Squeeze. The light of dawn was seeping over my clenched fists. The day was breaking before I knew it. Now that the day would be fully bright, I would get to see the babies, so let’s only think good thoughts. I tried hard to clear my head.

“I won’t break through the window and leave.”

Only then did Bulkan’s tightly held breath loosen. Thump, thump. Feeling my rapidly beating heart, I waited for the day to break.

I kept pacing in front of the door. I fidgeted so anxiously it was as if I was about to wear a hole in the floor. Every time I heard a whimper or a yelping sound from inside, the blood vessels under my skin felt like they were tightening. Thump, thump. My chest trembled wildly with excitement.

All sorts of worries swept over me.

…Will they even recognize me? How much have they grown while I was gone? By now, have their claws grown in properly? What if they’re startled by a human who walks on two legs, unlike them? They might be disappointed. Maybe, maybe it would be better to just let them not know? My energy drained away, and my shoulders slumped.

“Is my bride in need of urinating right now?”

I heard a dissatisfied sigh from behind me. But at that moment, the door was pushed open from the inside.

“Woof!”

What revealed itself there was a dog with black fur. It was a really big dog. The overwhelming presence exuding from its front paws was on a completely different level from our babies.

It rushed over to me in a hurry, scratch, scratch, clawing at my knees with its front paws, and then flopped onto its back, exposing its belly.

“Whine, whimper, whiiiine.”

As it threw its whole body at me, I truly had no way to withstand it and almost fell backward. If Bulkan hadn’t been supporting me from behind like a cement wall, I might have tumbled over ridiculously. The dog, rolling its eyes back as if it were fainting, was clamoring for me to hold it.

“Your mother, who gave birth to you, is a human, and his body is weak from carrying a child. So do not pounce on him recklessly.”

Bulkan gave a stern warning in a voice unlike him. It was quite a surprising sight. He was, after all, the type to immediately bite the nape of one’s neck if something didn’t please him.

The dog, with its front paws planted on the ground, kept whining and fidgeting, wanting to climb on me. Faced with the dog acting as if it desperately had to go, I asked with a sliver of hope.

“Kkakkah?”

As I called its name, it lifted its snout toward the ceiling and awooo, howled sorrowfully. Then, the black eyes that looked back at me were moist, looking just like… Kkakkah.

“Kkakkah…”

I had only been gone for a few months, but he had really puffed up like a balloon. I hugged Kkakkah, filling my arms. He was so big I had to spread both arms wide to embrace him. But the moist eyes, the soft belly fur, and the round, black nose were definitely Kkakkah’s.

Thump, thump. I could feel his warm heart beating. I can’t describe how much I missed this little baby who rushed at me as if I were his entire world.

“Whimper… whine, whimper.”

Kkakkah couldn’t hide his excitement. He showered my cheek with kisses and wagged his tail wildly, not knowing what to do with himself. I held him in my arms to my heart’s content and patted him.

“You’re back?”

Hearing a high-pitched voice, I raised my head. From inside the room, Lemon came out holding Haengbokie in his arms.

“Lemon.”

Lemon, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, looked unharmed, thankfully. I felt so ashamed I thought I wouldn’t be able to look him properly in the eye. After kicking my way out of the cave like that, only to be caught and brought back in such a pathetic state.

“Lemon was waiting, my bride-nim.”

And yet, Lemon just smiled, emitting a burdensome radiance like a brightly lit lamp. It was a very bright smile, to the point where his pink gums were showing. He even gave a small nod, as if to say he understood me. A mix of apologetic and grateful feelings washed over me.

“But… where’s Bono?”

Everyone was gathered in the cave, but one was missing. I quickly looked inside the room. Only then did I see a shadow quickly hiding behind the door.

“Bono?”

As I called his name, he scurried away into the room.

“Bono…”

As I was muttering his name in vain, Lemon explained in a somber voice.

“He missed you terribly, but I think he’s shy now that he’s seeing you after so long.”

He had always been a timid and sensitive child. If there was even a slightly loud noise, he would immediately come under my leg and stay there for half the day. The being that had embraced him like a rabbit hole had suddenly disappeared, so he must have been startled.

Worried that he might find me unfamiliar, I couldn’t bring myself to get closer. I was just watching him with my lower lip pressed tight. The door creaked open. From beside it, an eye peeked out. A face fixed on me, eyes that seemed to be studying me, and a tail that was lowered with only the very tip wagging slightly.

It seemed he was showing great interest in me. At the same time, he was clearly on guard. It seemed a little more time would be needed for him to fully open his heart to me. I let out a small sigh. It was all my karma. Something I would have to erase bit by bit….

☀️

After I returned, there were big and small changes in the cave.

First, Kkakkah showed absolutely no intention of leaving my side. He ate the food Lemon piled up like a mountain right next to me and slept at my feet. He even played while stuck to me. It seemed he was only at ease if he had his tail glued to my stomach.

“Little master, you are tiring out the bride-nim. Come here and play with me? Lemon is right here.”

Lemon clapped his hands, clap, clap, trying to divert his attention. A madness lurked in his flashing, wide-open eyes.

“Come here now, please? I have a delicious bone prepared for you.”

However, Kkakkah completely ignored him. Whenever he had the chance, he would wag his tail, asking me to play, and rub his chin on my knee.

“It’s okay, Lemon.”

I pulled the corners of my lips up slightly into a smile for Lemon, who must have had a hard time.

Even though his body had gotten this big, he was still a baby who hadn’t fully grown. It was clear that he was acting this desperate because of my absence. That fact was so heartbreaking. I could give him plenty of comfort just by lying down and stroking his fur or rubbing his belly. So it wasn’t too much of a strain.

“Whine.”

Kkakkah whined and fussed. He was telling me to hurry up and coddle him again. Smiling faintly, I moved my hand. While Kkakkah was clinging to me like a koala like this, Bono was still finding me unfamiliar. I kept feeling a gaze from somewhere, and when I glanced over, it was Bono. I would be startled every time. He bore a striking resemblance to Bulkan, who used to peek at me through the crack of the door. He kept circling around me but couldn’t actually come near. His tail was tucked between his legs, which was incredibly heartbreaking to see.

Looking at them now, Kkakkah took after Bulkan in appearance, while Bono mirrored his actions and gestures.

“Bo.”

I was about to call Bono, but Kkakkah heard it first and came running, pant, pant. Kkakkah quickly curled up on my lap. He clung to me tightly, not considering his own size. He seemed to still think he was a baby. He might get his feelings hurt if I put him down from my lap like this. While holding the big-bodied baby in my arms, I grunted with effort and approached Bono.

“Bono.”

I called out carefully so as not to startle him.

“Whimper, whiiine.”

Bono quietly looked down at my hand approaching him. Since Bono used to run away as soon as I got close at first, today was quite a gain.

However, before my hand could even touch his fur, Bono quickly hid behind the door again. If I had my way, I would have snatched that pitiful body into a hug, but I was also worried he would get stressed if I forced my way through that wall. I decided to watch him a little longer for now. It was a matter of approaching him slowly.

…And finally, Bulkan.

Bulkan acted even more seriously than the babies. As if my body was coated in honey or something. He watched me with his eyes wide and glaring. He wasn’t turned into a taxidermy display like that, but he really seemed like a picture frame hanging on the wall.

“You could die if the wind blows.”

It was an anxiety that was truly close to an obsession. With just a little bit of exaggeration, it seemed like if I just took a breath, he would watch me, wondering if I was about to gasp my last.

Unlike with the puppies, my belly was growing very slowly and calmly, and it didn’t hurt like I was about to collapse as it did before. Yet, if the babies so much as tried to l**k my hand, he became restless. When I ate, when I slept, when I bathed, and even when I wanted to go to the bathroom. He circled around me like a dog with severe separation anxiety and showed no intention of leaving my side for even a moment. Even the babies couldn’t compare.

Even the slightest movement from me caused a huge fuss. He tried to carry me around in his arms, and I could not have been more embarrassed in front of Lemon. Since he showed no intention of letting me out of his embrace, Kkakkah and Haengbokie clung to him, thwack, thwack, hitting and scratching Bulkan’s thigh, demanding he put me down. After batting at him with their front paws, they expressed their sorrow by howling, awooooo.

“……”

After spending the entire day like that, the day would quickly come to a close. As I tried to lie down on the bed to rest, I found all four of my limbs were already captured by the babies.

Haengbokie was lying curled up by my side, and Kkakkah, as if fascinated by Haengbokie’s white fur, would occasionally bat at his head or back, thwack, thwack, while playing. Before, they were about the same size, but now Kkakkah’s build was overwhelmingly larger.

Above my head, Bono approached and quietly sat down. I wondered what he was doing, and it turned out he was gently s**king on my hair. Occasionally, he would tap my head with his front paw, thwack, thwack, as if asking me to look at him.

So when I would glance his way, he would tense up his body again. It was the posture of someone ready to flee at any moment, so I had no choice but to pretend I didn’t notice.

Purrrrr, purrrrr. Kkakkah started to fall asleep at my feet. A pins-and-needles sensation, as if my foot would get a cramp, shot through me from the heavy weight resting on my instep. Kkakkah was one to fall asleep anywhere even when he was a baby. Back then, his body was small so I could pick him up and lay him on the bed, but now that seemed truly impossible. If I tossed and turned even a little, he would wake from his sleep and look at me with drowsy eyes. That sight was so heart-wrenching and pitiful.

Just then, Bulkan picked Kkakkah up with one arm and laid him on the bed.

“…Thank you.”

As a matter of fact, my muscles were really starting to pull.

☀️

Once the babies had gone to bed, a stillness fell over the cave. The auditory void began to be slowly filled by contemplation. It was now time to open the box whose lid I had kept closed for a while.

Bulkan and I secretly crossed over to his room. I deliberately stood by the window where the moonlight shone in well, and faced him.

“The wound on your stomach, show it to me too.”

Bulkan blinked his eyes slowly. A beast was reluctant to show its weakness to others. The more wild it was, the more it would try to hide it.

“I’m not trying to do anything funny…”

He was one to be suspicious at every turn. In case he might mistake this for me trying to deceive him again, I was about to show him the medicinal herbs Lemon had given me.

Bulkan began to throw off the cloth covering his body. The hand tearing off the clothes was unhesitating. Well, Bulkan’s essence is that of a beast. Being in a state of nudity would be perfectly natural.

And then Bulkan, having completely returned to his primordial state, looked down at me. As if he didn’t care what I did to him…

The wound revealed under the moonlight was just as shocking to see again. It wasn’t just a simple stab wound; it was more accurate to say it had been truly gouged.

“Does it not hurt now?”

I carefully brought my hand closer. As if mesmerized, I was touching the wound, then looked up at Bulkan, wondering if it might hurt. Thankfully, he was expressionless as usual. I began to apply the medicinal herbs very, very carefully to the scar.

“When were you stabbed?”

The moonlight was mysteriously tingeing Bulkan’s sharply defined face.

“I was in bed when suddenly I could not feel you. I could not smell any scent. If you had run away, I would have opened my eyes in an instant to snatch your ankle. But my body would not move at all.”

I narrowed the space between my brows. So that’s why it took Bulkan longer to come find me, the thought flashed through my head.

“My insides were spilling out of my body. My chest was on fire, so I broke the window and rushed into the forest.”

With each word he added, the horror piled up layer by layer. My vision swam. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain Bulkan must have felt.

“How could that be?”

In the midst of the burning surroundings, I suffered from not being able to breathe properly. The smoke stung my nose, and my eyes felt so hot, as if they would burn away, that I felt like I would lose my mind at any second.

If it had been me who had stabbed Bulkan… I truly don’t think I would have the confidence to live on with a sane mind.

“Empusa had given me a knife. She told me it was from the goddess and that I should stab you and run away.”

That night, the image of Empusa flying away as a crow flickered in my mind’s eye. What if she had been hiding somewhere, pretending to run away, while watching me? What if, after realizing I had left the cave without stabbing Bulkan, she had stabbed Bulkan in my place….

Since Bulkan possessed a body that could not die, her purpose must have been to inflict a wound that could never be erased.

“While saying that the goddess would command me to be offered as a sacrifice…”

A sharp tone, as if it could slice the bridge of my nose at any moment, leaked out.

“You are mine, how dare the goddess try to steal you away?”

Ha! He snorted as if in disbelief and paced around in the same spot. He repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists, and slammed them against each other, bam, bam, seemingly trying to suppress his surging anger in his own way.

“While my body was blazing with fire, I was searching for you, and she came to me and kept pestering me to marry her. I told her I already have a wife, to stop bothering me and get lost.”

He stopped in his tracks, then yanked my waist, whoosh, and placed me in front of him.

“Then she said she would find you, r**e you, and kill you herself!”

Hot breath washed over my face. The reason I wasn’t so surprised to hear that was because Empusa had already said something similar to me once before.

‘Of course I want to kill you too. I want to have monsters r**e you and throw you to them as food.’

To think she had the nerve to spit out those words in front of Bulkan was utterly unbelievable. It was like taking a whole drum of oil and pouring it on a house that was already on fire and blazing furiously. If she knew how obsessively possessive Bulkan was of me, she should not have spoken of laying a hand on me in that way. It was truly no different from slapping him across the face and declaring war.

“Why on earth would she go that far?”

To dismiss it as mere love, her madness was far, far too excessive.

“That woman wanted to possess this land.”

One side of Bulkan’s lip twisted sharply into a sneer. The darkness embroidered by the moon settled deeply into the hollowed corners of his mouth.

“We fought the war together, but it was I who took the head of the enemy. That is why this land became mine.”

Come to think of it, when I first met her, she had definitely said something like that to Bulkan. That he must remember that this land was also hers.

“She wanted to take me as her husband, wait for an opportunity, and then swallow this land whole.”

The obsession writhing in her eyes was truly ambition itself. If that desire was not directed at Bulkan, but was literally aimed at this land…

“So?”

I had only heard up to the point where she threatened to r**e me in front of Bulkan. It was an incredibly crude thing to say, but I had not yet heard the price she paid for those words. And the words that followed were truly like listening to a scene from a horror movie.

“I ripped off her wings at the joint.”

Haaah, I drew in a breath. Covering half of my face with my palm, I asked the next question, almost screaming.

“And?”

“I opened the gates of h**l and pushed her in. I made her fall into the embrace of the things she herself had imprisoned.”

I cast my eyes to the ground beneath me. Empusa, that woman, is down here?

“You said she was the daughter of a goddess.”

Haaah, haaah. I panted slowly. That woman definitely said she was the daughter of a goddess. What if Bulkan gets into danger again? I became frantically afraid.

“You are mine, so she should not r**e and kill you as she pleases.”

I grew extremely serious and grabbed Bulkan’s arm, shaking it. A sense of foreboding filled my chest.

“Bulkan, what are you really going to do?”

I had seen him being captured by the goddess and whipped with lightning several times before. On top of that, he now had a scar like this on his abdomen. I was so worried it felt like my heart was being snipped to pieces by scissors. But the beast, filling his eyes with my reflection, spouted words like a curse.

“She almost brought chaos to the world of gods and humans, so for that sin, I will have her judged.”

“H-how?”

Khahaha, suddenly the large shadow heaved and laughed. He seemed endlessly amused, then in an instant, he stopped laughing and stared fiercely into my eyes. His emotions were truly riding a roller coaster.

“Can you really do that? Your opponent is a goddess, so how can you have her judged?”

I did not let go of my thread of doubt. It was because I wondered if he might be bluffing.

“The twelve gods of Olympus have absolute power. It is a level of authority different from the gods who dwell on the land.”

Suddenly, he puffed up his shoulders and boasted. His shoulders, which looked as large and hard as a stone door, flexed and relaxed their muscles like springs, showing off their might.

“…However, there is something they too fear.”

I wondered if he was perhaps talking about himself, Bulkan.

“If I disappear, chaos will return to the world.”

My guess was, as expected, correct. I listened with my eyes narrowed.

“The monsters buried in this h**l are extremely vicious and foul. When the war broke out, even the gods of Olympus fled in fear. That is when I stepped forward!”

Bulkan struck his own chest with his fist, bam.

“I tore them to shreds, and buried them here in this h**l.”

Next, he stomped his foot on the ground, thump. The floor of the cave rumbled like a beast, grrrr.

“What do you think would happen if I were to open these gates of h**l?”

He muttered grimly, thrusting his face right up to mine. I instantly felt a sense of pressure and instinctively took a small step back.

“That chaos would return. Therefore, even the gods have no choice but to fear me.”

I was truly and utterly dumbfounded. The goddess had been so willful, yet he could dare to have her punished. I was so confused that only my lower lip was trembling. At my gaze, which must still have been tinged with disbelief, Bulkan let the tension in his lips go, pfft, and sneered.

“That is why, when the power of Zeus, the god of heaven and earth, weakens at dawn, he had me turn into a dog and fall asleep.”

The words that followed carried a certain kind of chill, like the sharp nails of a hand lightly scratching the surface of my skin. It meant that a sort of restriction had been placed on Bulkan so that he could not possess excessive power.

“…Ah.”

I let out a sigh. Only then was the full story of the secret Bulkan had been keeping revealed. And next, I thought I understood why I had felt that Bulkan was like a fighting dog.

The sight of him in this dark, hellish world, turning into a four-legged beast at dawn and being forced into a d**gged-like sleep, had a strong resemblance to a fighting dog that had been injected with narcotics.

On the other hand, another thought occurred to me. For one who wielded a terrifying power feared even by the gods, the only thing he feared was… losing me. It felt as if something in my chest had dropped with a thud.

“Please stop doing dangerous things.”

Bulkan was like an unbridled colt let loose near the water. The moment I took my eyes off him, he would constantly cause trouble and invite danger. Thanks to that, my heart was always in my throat….

“I was disgusted with myself! Without sleeping, without going out to hunt, I followed your scent. But I could not find you at all. No matter what, no matter what kind of pig-like things I did…”

A deep furrow formed between Bulkan’s brows as he continued to speak.

“But thanks to the one who gave you his seed trying to kill you, I found you in the book of the dead.”

He stared fiercely at my face as if he was guessing something. His eyes narrowed more and more.

“I had suspected why Empusa would help my bride.”

That was the very thing I had been half-doubting, even as I got on the chariot. From Empusa’s perspective, tearing me to pieces wouldn’t have been enough. The question of why she would try to help me had remained with me like a layer of soot.

“If she had been trying to covet what is mine, I would have truly twisted her neck and ripped it off. I would have dug the eyeballs from their sockets and made them into an ornament to hang around your neck, and I would have pulled out her intestines to please the monsters of h**l.”

I let out a sigh as I looked at him rattling off a string of gruesome sentences. Worried that someone might be hiding in this darkness and listening, I placed my palm on the window and looked outside.

“But now I understand.”

“…Why?”

His pupils were widely dilated. It was difficult to see it as him putting on a pointless bluff, so I slowly lowered my hand. Bulkan’s eyes followed the white mark I had left on the windowpane. As if he were about to l**k the lines of my palm, which were etched on my hand like a crude spiderweb.

“She must have let you escape on purpose. So that you would be killed by the human who gave you his seed.”

I let out a gasp of realization, ah. Priest was Empusa’s subordinate. If Priest had given her a tip… she could have sent me to the other world without getting any blood on her own hands. My corpse would have fallen into Bulkan’s hands one way or another, but my soul would have already been wandering emptily through h**l. Having forgotten everything, turning it all pitch black….

“…That goddess, she definitely said she would offer me as a sacrifice.”

“How dare a thing like her.”

Grit. Bulkan ground his teeth. Fearing his jaw might dislocate, I reached out my hand and placed it gently on his chin.

“Of course she would have ordered you to be offered as a sacrifice. She would not be able to resist coveting your flesh and bones.”

That was a story that only applied to Bulkan, who had a screw loose in his head. It wouldn’t be much use saying something like this anyway, so I just kept my mouth shut.

“However, nowhere in that prophecy does it say that I actually offered you up, does it?”

Bulkan’s two eyes glowed a dark red. I slowly replayed the prophecy Priest had spouted at me.

‘After you pop out those brats, she will command you to offer your body as a sacrifice.’

If my memory wasn’t mistaken. He had definitely said this to me when we first met. And right before he died….

‘And the enraged goddess Hecate will command you to be offered as a sacrifice.’

As Bulkan said, nowhere in that prophecy did it say that I was offered as a sacrifice. But, even so, my heart was not at ease.

“That Priest, he even prophesied his own death.”

Will I really be offered as a sacrifice? I don’t know how many nights I tossed and turned with my eyes wide open after returning, out of fear. It was because every time I closed my eyes, the face of Priest screaming as he died back then would vividly surface in my mind.

“My bride has nothing to fear. I will never let you just die.”

His eyes were such that they seemed to pierce right through me and out the back of my head. Bulkan’s jet-black pupils were giving me a firm pledge that he would not let me just die.

“Yeah…”

I nodded my head quietly. To be honest, I wasn’t completely at ease. Nevertheless, I wanted to try and trust those eyes that were directed at me. And also this whirlpool of emotions that was rushing toward me now….

And one more thing. There was truly one last thing I wanted to ask, so my lips hesitated.

“…But by the way, what about my father?”

Suddenly, Bulkan gestured with his eyes toward the outside of the window. I wondered if there was something there, but what I heard was unexpected news.

“I let him loose in that thicket over there.”

My mouth formed a round O. If it was that forest, it was obvious how my father’s end would be. The one who had made a game of the lives of four-legged beasts being done in by a four-legged beast, it seemed like a very fitting end. I steeled my heart.

In truth, having grown up in a country called the Republic of Korea, where Confucian culture is ingrained to the bone, I felt a great deal of fear and doubt, wondering if it was really okay for me, his son, to stand by and watch his death. But…

I decided to forget it, thinking of it as the price for the lives that b**t**d had accumulated over time.

“Okay.”

I bit down hard on my lower lip and answered curtly.

A glimmer of a clue appeared, suggesting that the things that had been weighing down on my chest like a lead weight might finally be resolved. A single thread of relief mixed into the knot that had been tightly lodged in my solar plexus. I took a deep breath. It felt as if the tightness in my stomach was loosening, if only a little.

“……”

“……”

And for a while, we just kept looking at each other like that. Our gazes were viciously intertwined. How could someone stare at a person so fiercely? It was relentlessly pressuring, and seamlessly blind.

A strange feeling wrapped around me. How should I describe this? Should I say it feels like my heart is being pinched by the pincers of something like a rhinoceros beetle, or should I say it feels like a multi-legged insect is crawling around my heart.

The nerves all over my body are tingling beyond words. It feels like all the fine hairs on my body are standing on end, and I wanted to escape from his gaze right away. I wanted to avoid his gaze that seemed to be making a beast of me.

“I’m tired, I think I’ll go…”

I was trying to back away, rubbing my neck for no reason, but my wrist was immediately seized as if to say there was no way. I couldn’t move a single step and was dragged along.

“Why…”

I asked him what on earth he was doing. Moonlight was shimmering in his black pupils, like ripples on water. As soon as I met that gaze, I realized that I had long since missed my chance to escape. All I could do was to bite my trembling lower lip.

The distance slowly closes. Our lips drew close enough to kiss at any moment. I couldn’t even easily blink my eyes open or shut. As if I had become a dragonfly preserved in that moment, I couldn’t even breathe properly. It was because I had a very strong premonition that if I moved even a little from here, it would act as a catalyst to accelerate something.

“I have seen my bride in the past.”

Completely unexpected words flowed from Bulkan.

“Where?”

The corners of Bulkan’s eyes tore open sharply, sensitively.

“In the past, I was a son of a b**ch with absolutely no reason. The first time I met you was at the dog fighting ring you were at.”

My eyes widened more and more.

“You were at the dog fighting ring?”

As I fixed my gaze on Bulkan’s face, another face began to slowly surface over it. Jet-black fur, pupils as black as wild grapes, front paws as big as my head…. Was that really you?

Since he had suddenly disappeared, I didn’t even know if he was dead or alive. I had searched for him so desperately. To think that was Bulkan… At that moment, something Bulkan had said before flashed through my mind.

‘Just, at some point, a certain scent brushed past my nose.’

When I asked him why it had to be me, Bulkan had answered like that. The time I spent with Bulkan as a child was, at most, about two months. That short period of time had completely tied my fate and Bulkan’s into a single knot. What on earth was so special about that d**n scent….

While I was captivated by that dazed feeling,

“Love.”

The breath he held in was scattered over my face.

“I love you?”

Bulkan uttered the word once more. He savored the nuance of the word several times, as if l**king it with his tongue. Love, love, lo, ve….

After pronouncing it several times, he stared at me, capturing me in his eyes. He looked as if he was about to hammer my image into his retina.

“You humans call this kind of thing love, I suppose?”

At first glance, it took the form of a question, but it was closer to him muttering to himself, savoring the taste of the word on his tongue. Even though I knew it wasn’t a question directed at me, having to deal with him observing and dissecting me right in front of him made me feel like I had to give some kind of answer.

“Yeah, probably…”

My face, and then my neck, felt like they were flaring up like a lit match. As I answered in a murmur through my flushed throat, a silence followed.

A dense stillness bound us together. Like that, Bulkan and I exchanged only glances for a while without a word. I slowly blinked. A strange light appeared in Bulkan’s eyes. Gulp. He swallowed, then stuck out his tongue and swept it up my eyelashes. Then he smacked his lips as if tasting it.

A look of ecstasy seeped into his face. For no reason, my heart started pounding, and my cheeks felt like they were burning with fever.

I felt that this moment was too much to handle. If only something new would happen to break the dense air of this moment. I, who have never been good with words, was just stammering, uh, uh, with my lips trembling. Then, at a thought that popped into my head, I quickly spat out the words.

“There’s one thing I’m curious about. …Why didn’t you catch me right away?”

His lips, which had been moving so well until now, stuck together like a lump of hot glue had been applied. He looked at me directly in silence. If he thought I had stabbed him in the stomach, it would have made even more sense for him to do so, but I couldn’t understand why he had come and just watched.

“Because one of my arms was dangling uselessly.”

And at the words that followed, I couldn’t help but be horrified. Crazy b**t**d. To think he had been chasing after me with his arm not even properly regenerated. While the sheer tenacity of his obsession sent a chill down my spine, my heart ached with pity for the lonely beast who must have been submerged in pain.

“Are you sure you are okay now…”

I asked softly, cautiously extending my fingers toward his thick arm. I unconsciously stroked Bulkan’s arm, then flinched.

“Suddenly again… why are you doing this.”

When I looked up, he was looking down at me. The next moment, my lips were s**ked right into his widely opened mouth.

☀️

At a glance, they were peaceful days.

Bulkan did not spew any more harsh words at the baby in my belly. Instead, he would venture through the thickets and catch tender meat. Worried that they might harm the pups, he also caught and killed a few of the cruel predators that roamed the forest. Do not dare to act up, he did not forget to hang their corpses on the tallest tree.

The pups grew up strong and healthy under that aggressive protection, and for the first time in a while, only a gentle air flowed through the cave.

Of course, the fear of the prophecy hadn’t completely disappeared. It was just that I wanted to believe the words Bulkan had said to me….

“Kkakkah, what’s this?”

I spent time with the babies inside the cave. Kkakkah dropped something in front of me with a thud. I wondered what it was, and it turned out to be a single flower. It had a fragrant smell, and it was also Haengbokie’s favorite.

“For me to eat?”

Kkakkah and Haengbokie wagged their tails wildly. It seemed he had given it to me as a gift, thinking I would be happy to see Haengbokie eat it well. Kkakkah seemed to perceive Haengbokie and me as something similar.

“Thank you.”

His gesture of picking a flower for me was so lovely that I stroked Kkakkah’s head and rubbed my cheek against his. As I was stroking the belly of Kkakkah, who had flopped onto his back, I glanced beyond him and saw the shadow that had been behind the door quickly hide away.

“Bono.”

Kkakkah jumped up and wagged his tail wildly at Bono. It was a gesture that seemed to say, you should hurry over here and play with us too. I carefully approached Bono. So as not to startle him, I took one step, then two, and opened the door slightly.

“Whimper, whiiiine.”

And then Bono’s face was revealed. He hesitated and took a step back. He clenched his jaw tightly, squeeze, as if he was nervous. In Bono’s snout, too, was the same kind of flower.

Bono dropped the flower in front of me with a thud. Because he had been holding it so tightly, it was miserably crumpled. Bono’s face fell. His tail drooped even more with it. His crestfallen look was so unbearable and pitiful that my heart broke.

It was a flower he brought because he wanted to be praised. Even though its shape was ruined, the sentiment was so touching that I carefully picked up the flower.

“Come here.”

Bono hesitated for a long time. I waited for him without rushing. One step, then two… I waited for Bono to slowly come into my arms, then hugged him tight. Thump, thump. I could feel his beating heart. The body heat that touched my skin was warm.

“Thank you for the flower, I’ll eat it well…”

I could feel the tension in Bono’s very tense body gradually easing. His eyelids seemed to be closing drowsily, so when I gently pushed him sideways with my hand, he fell onto my lap. Flop, his belly was exposed.

His belly was still fluffy and soft, and there was nothing that felt better than gently stroking it with my palm.

“Whimper.”

Bono’s tail, which had been so tense, was now swaying gently like a kite. I gave one snack each to the good, well-behaved babies. The babies pushed and pulled each other with their front paws, playing around, and yawned leisurely, yaaaawn. It was a perfectly peaceful scene.

If only I hadn’t heard the sound of an explosion, BOOM!…

Startled, I quickly pulled the pups into my arms. It was a futile act given my size, but at my desperate struggle, the babies, not knowing what was going on, let themselves be held by me.

“Woof!”

Bono and Kkakkah, seeming to find it fun, jumped up and down. They circled around me. Once the aftershock subsided, I looked out the window. Even while such a serene daily life was continuing in the cave.

At a glance, it might look calm and quiet. But in reality, if you looked closely, it was no different from being in the eye of a storm. From outside, screams of kyaaaaaaah! could be heard from time to time. On top of that, there were even unexpected lightning strikes….

“Bulkan…”

I thought of Bulkan, who had gone out into the forest, braving the dawn wind. He had definitely told me he was going out hunting. Suddenly, a wave of anxiety washed over me. I had a feeling that the tingling sensation at my fingertips wasn’t just a baseless bad feeling.

“My bride-nim, today’s dinner will be warm lamb…”

I entrusted the babies for a moment to Lemon, who had just come into the room.

“Lemon, I’ll be right back.”

My bride-nim, I heard Lemon calling me from behind. But without a moment to look back, I moved my feet diligently. I couldn’t afford to waste time because my body had become sluggish.

“…Hah, heuu.”

I rushed out of the cave and into the forest. I had started walking without a plan, but where on earth should I go? I whipped my head around in all directions. A maze-like forest where I couldn’t even tell front from back. Mother Nature was violently vast. The probability of a insignificant human like me finding Bulkan here was close to zero.

So, I had to make Bulkan find me.

“Bulkan.”

As I called out softly, I could feel the air around my nose ripple.

“Bulkaaaan!”

Flap! The startled birds that had been dozing on the branches spread their wings and flew away. White feathers flew everywhere. Amidst the white feathers scattering like the inside of a pillow, black fur burst into my field of vision.

“Khahahahaha!”

The black dog, which had cut through the undergrowth at an unbelievable speed and leaped high into the sky, did a somersault in the air and landed in front of me. Whoosh. At that moment, a strong smell of iron hit my nose.

“What on earth is going on…?”

Under the fiercely beating sun, his scorched body was covered in blood. His black eyes glinted with excitement.

“I was hunting for my bride.”

It was a statement with the most important object missing. If it were Bulkan, he was the type to carry his prey on his shoulder to boast and show off as much as he wanted. But why was his shoulder empty now? An uneasy feeling naturally arose. I delved into Bulkan’s vagueness.

“…What were you hunting?”

Squeeze. His strong, straight jaw clamped shut. Whoosh. A somewhat dreary wind slapped my cheek and passed by. The fur of Bono that had so warmly enveloped me just a moment ago felt like a complete lie.

“I have caught the goddess who was hiding from me in the forest.”

Bulkan spat out the words as if vomiting. His broad chest heaved, huff, huff, continuously expelling breath. It was the remnant of violence that had not yet been resolved.

“So you’re going to have her judged now, right?”

He had promised me he would. I deliberately pulled up the corners of my lips and asked. I was eagerly waiting for an answer that would of course be yes.

“I will tear her to shreds with my own hands.”

The words lodged themselves in my ears, piece by piece, and became a complete sentence in my head once again. With my own hands, directly, tear to shreds. I felt like something inside me was collapsing.

“If I tear that goddess’s body to shreds. Where on earth would I offer a sacrifice?”

It was as Bulkan said. If the goddess, the object to whom the sacrifice was to be made, disappeared, the prophecy would be completely nullified. Then, perhaps, the anxiety that the prophecy might come true could be put to an end completely.

But….

“Then you might get hurt.”

Thump, thump, thump. My heart began a frantic pumping. The artery in my wrist throbbed painfully.

That scar was still clearly left on Bulkan’s abdomen. It hadn’t healed at all, even with medicinal herbs. That was quite a big shock. The fact that the scar wasn’t disappearing… meant that Bulkan could also be seriously injured.

“When I was a kid, after you disappeared.”

His arm, so thick and long like the foreleg of a beast, swelled up and then deflated. It seemed he was tensing and then relaxing his muscles. It looked as if he wanted to pull me into his embrace right away but was barely restraining the urge.

“I looked for you a lot. I was so worried I couldn’t eat or sleep well. I kept thinking about it, so you even appeared in my dreams.”

The fighting dog I met as a child became a source of pain for me. And in the end, it concluded with regret. If I had been a little older, if I had been an adult, could that fighting dog’s situation have changed? Could I have made him realize that there was another world, besides a life where a syringe was stuck in the nape of his neck and he had to extend his life by standing in a ring and tearing at his opponent’s throat? …I don’t know how much I blamed myself for that.

“But you’re going to disappear again?”

If some danger were to befall you, how am I supposed to endure it again? When I asked a favor for my grandmother, I had promised to give my ankle. What should I bring up now to get you to listen to me?

“As you know, I have nothing. There’s nothing I can give you as compensation.”

I am a human who has never properly had anything my whole life. I am just an ordinary coward who can’t even give away my ankle.

“It’s just… it’s just that I won’t be anxious about you anymore.”

That’s all I have. At times like this, all I can do is to rely on Bulkan’s feelings for me.

“So hurry back. Don’t do anything dangerous.”

The babies would be waiting for us in the cave. They would be longing for Bulkan to l**k their fur and for me to stroke and cherish them. And above all.