Chapter 24

Baek-ah pushed against Hisa’s back with his black nose and muzzle.

As if telling her to go to the human calling her, he nudged her forward.

“Baek-ah, are you okay?”

– Go. I don’t want to see either of you.

Her gentle eyes, filled with worry, looked at him.

Seeing that expression, Baek-ah felt a little relieved. It didn’t seem like she had deliberately taken the human’s side.

The wound the human made healed quickly.

As if to show off, Baek-ah lifted his chin.

Then he turned and walked back into the cave where he stayed.

“Baek-ah!”

– You chose the wrong sacrifice. Get rid of him and come back to me.

With those words, Baek-ah disappeared deep into the cave.

If he didn’t allow it, Hisa couldn’t enter.

She stood hesitating at the entrance, watching the beast vanish into the darkness until Hong Yeom-rang grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.

“Why…”

She was about to ask why he attacked Baek-ah, but stopped.

Baek-ah attacked first.

Hong Yeom-rang only defended himself.

Even though his wound healed quickly, he still wasn’t fully grown.

To Hisa, who had known him since he was very young, Baek-ah was still just a child.

Ignoring whatever she might say, Hong Yeom-rang turned her and checked the hand the beast had bitten.

It was only damp with saliva.

No blood.

“What’s so important about that place that you had to step in.”

His voice was quiet, flat.

He wasn’t shouting, but it still sent a chill down her spine.

In this place, Hisa could feel his presence even more clearly.

“You’re human. How did you cut the mountain deity?”

Normally, it should’ve been impossible.

Especially in his own domain.

“Mountain deity, my ass. A beast gets cut with a blade. That’s how it works.”

Hong Yeom-rang curled one corner of his lips.

Now even that so-called mountain deity had shown up.

That thing?

Thinking of it lying on Hisa’s thigh, purring, made it hard to take seriously.

Still, he couldn’t deny it.

Now he understood what she was.

The villagers had called her a messenger of the mountain deity.

Even if it was hard to believe, this strange forest made it undeniable.

If this had been outside, not here, would he have been able to fight like that?

He rolled his sore shoulder where the beast had crushed him and thought coldly.

There was no guarantee he had the upper hand.

The blade landing was pure luck.

And even then, could it even be called a proper hit?

It barely tore the surface.

If the beast had opened its jaws and bitten his head before he could aim for a vital spot, he would’ve died without a chance.

“He’s still… not fully grown…”

“Bullsh*t. I’ll kill it before it grows.”

“Yeom-rang, you’ll get punished by heaven if you do that.”

“Then it shouldn’t have come at me before it was ready.”

So that’s why it worked.

Hong Yeom-rang admitted it.

The only reason he could fight at all was because Baek-ah wasn’t fully a mountain deity yet.

No matter how strong the energy here was, once he realized this was the beast’s domain, he wanted to leave immediately with Hisa.

– I’ll grow first and kill you!

A furious voice echoed from deep inside the cave.

“Oh yeah? Let’s see how big you get. You haven’t even been weaned yet. Grow faster.”

ROOOOAR!

Baek-ah roared as if he might burst out at any moment.

Hisa gently pushed Hong Yeom-rang back.

Then she grabbed his sleeve and almost dragged him as they ran toward the boundary of the forest.

The black edge came into view.

The moment they crossed it, the deep night forest he knew returned.

“Even if Baek-ah says that, he can’t kill you.”

“Oh? You were worried about me?”

“A mountain deity can’t harm others.”

“Seemed like it was doing just fine.”

“…He was just trying to scare you.”

“F*ck, I almost pissed myself.”

With a completely unbothered face, Hong Yeom-rang muttered as if playing along with her.

The goblins opened the path quietly.

They didn’t chatter like before.

They had all heard the mountain deity’s roar.

No one wanted to provoke a man who had cut even the mountain deity.

If he could cut that, goblins like them would be split in two.

Their murmurs reached only Hisa’s ears.

A dangerous human had entered the forest, they said.

They begged her to send him away quickly.

“Why.”

Since she followed silently, Hong Yeom-rang turned and asked.

“Hm?”

“You’ve got that look. The goblins are making a fuss, aren’t they. What are they saying to you?”

The whispering in her ears stopped instantly.

The restless forest fell silent.

Hong Yeom-rang smiled coldly, realizing his guess was right.

“…You can hear them?”

“More or less.”

He couldn’t actually hear them.

He was just pretending.

But he had a sharp sense.

When the goblins chattered among themselves, the forest stirred.

When they all fell silent at once, it became like this.

That was enough to tell.

“…Can I really go to the cave?”

“Why do you think I brought you here?”

He had come all the way to where the mountain deity rested.

Hisa couldn’t guess his intention at all.

If there was a phrase like his mood swings wildly, it must’ve been made for him.

She brought her finger to her mouth and chewed at the healed skin.

“…Ah.”

Her wrist was suddenly grabbed.

Then Hong Yeom-rang brought her bitten finger toward his lips.

She watched calmly, wondering what he was about to do.

He parted his lips and ran his red tongue once over the wound.

And then—

Crunch.

“Ah!”

He sank his teeth into her finger hard enough to make her cry out.

Deep enough to leave clear bite marks.

Sharp enough to snap her dazed mind back into place.

Tears welled at the corners of her eyes.

“Try putting it in your mouth again.”

He let go of her hand and smiled gently, as if nothing had happened.

It was the same polite smile he used at formal gatherings in the capital.

Knowing his nature, Hisa forced an awkward smile back.

Her finger throbbed.

She checked for blood.

Thankfully, there wasn’t any.

But it would definitely bruise where his teeth had sunk in.

When they reached the cave, Hong Yeom-rang didn’t go inside.

He sat on a rock at the entrance and watched Hisa approach.

One foot propped up on the rock, he tilted his head.

“Miss.”

“Mm.”

“This servant laid out your meals morning and night. Why aren’t you eating?”

What kind of servant would threaten and pressure his lady like this?

Even Hisa, who had nearly forgotten human ways, knew this wasn’t normal.

Hong Yeom-rang tapped lightly on the rock he had used to weigh down the hair.

“If you’d just eaten properly every morning and night, I wouldn’t have had to go looking for you. I wouldn’t have cared. Right?”

“I did eat.”

Hisa protested quietly, feeling wronged.

“The hell kind of lie is that…”

A crude curse slipped out of Hong Yeom-rang’s mouth.

He had spent plenty of time among thugs in the capital.

By now, Hisa wasn’t even surprised.

He was a man who tried to cut down a mountain deity.

It made sense the goblins were terrified of him.

“I came morning and night… and ate.”

“How many. Count them.”

He removed the rock and gestured with his chin at the bundles of cut hair.

“…I took five strands each time.”

“What?”

Hong Yeom-rang rubbed his ear.

She had spoken so softly he thought he misheard.

“Five in the morning, five at night.”

Hisa held up five fingers.

In her own way, she had been careful.

She only ate a little each time.

He already seemed angry.

She didn’t want to make things worse.

Right.

She had handled it pretty well.

Thinking that, she lifted her chin proudly.

Her dark eyes sparkled.

“Hah.”

A hollow sound slipped from Hong Yeom-rang’s mouth.

F*ck.

So she’d been sneaking five strands at a time.

Of course it looked like she wasn’t eating.

He wanted to curse her out properly.

But she looked at him like she had done a good job.

So he swallowed the words rising in his throat.

“…Do you eat like a bird?”

After holding back everything else, he asked quietly, trying to suppress his irritation.

For someone who used to cling to him and take a full bite of his hair, the amount was absurdly small.