“Ugh, my head. Is it always like this after riding a plane? Wait, are we there?”
Except this wasn’t inside a plane.
“What the hell! Where am I?”
Not that asking got him an answer. After blinking a few times, his surroundings began to come into view. There were traces of a fire, and what looked like tools used to start one—the kind of thing you’d only see on a survival-themed channel on a video site.
Beside him was a small pile of wood that could be used as firewood.
Come to think of it, the walls weren’t the kind of walls he knew. They were uneven, not cement, but something like a cave...
‘No, is this seriously a cave? They say a lot of crimes happen overseas targeting Koreans—was I kidnapped? But I don’t remember getting off the plane...’
He looked around once more. Fortunately, the bag he had brought with him was beside him. When he opened it, everything he’d bought was still inside. First, a sip of water.
‘If I go outside, will there be someone standing guard with a gun? Ha... But I don’t hear anything.’
For now, he decided to go out. With his bag on his back.
He was scared. Scared that someone would smash him in the head with a rifle butt and tell him to get back inside.
Of course, nothing like that happened. All he saw were dense trees and snow. He couldn’t even tell where the path was. When he turned to the side, there was someone collapsed on the ground. He ran over and saw that they were breathing, but their body was completely cold as ice. And what was with those clothes?
‘Just looking at them, they seem freezing. And why are they so filthy? Judging by the state they’re in, they don’t look like someone who was on the plane with me. A beggar from around here?’
Beggar or not, he had to save them first, so he went back into the cave.
‘They’re so skinny I can carry them easily.’
When he picked them up, their body felt like a block of ice.
‘First, fire, fire, fire. There were traces of a fire earlier. There are traces of one, but no lighter, no matches. Did they seriously start a fire with that? Ah, whatever, first I need to get a fire going. Oh right, I had hand warmers.’
He tore open two of them and placed one on the face and one on the chest.
‘Right, I had a tracksuit.’
When he actually tried to cover them, he didn’t really want to put his clothes over that grimy figure, but saving a person came first.
Still, to warm the body, he had to make a fire. Long ago, when he’d tried it after seeing it in a video, he’d thought he was going to die, but it had worked in the end, so he had to give it a try.
“Damn it. Ugh, this is rough. What the hell am I suddenly doing?”
How long had it been? Smoke slowly began to rise.
‘Did an ember form?’
He rubbed until there was a bit more smoke, then moved it to some dry grass and wood shavings and gently blew on it...
‘Oh, oh, it’s happening. Again.’
He blew on it. It caught fire. He quickly gathered small twigs and shavings to make the flame bigger, then lit the firewood too.
“Whoa, damn, it actually worked. Ha... ha... that was exhausting. Who would’ve thought I’d ever try this again?”
The hand warmers were gradually getting hot too. He took the one off the face and tucked it onto the other side of the chest.
‘Hmm... I think she’s definitely a woman, but she’s ugly as hell. Does she not wash? I can see the grime with my bare eyes, and her hair’s all matted—don’t tell me she has lice too?’
He had saved a person, but he couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.
‘Judging by the look of things, this is definitely overseas. With snow falling like this, it’s probably not a hot country.
Skin and bones isn’t my type. Anyway, what am I supposed to do now? My eldest brother wouldn’t have sent me to a place like this for a matchmaking date. Oh right, my phone.’
He searched for his smartphone, but it was gone.
‘The bag is here, but my smartphone isn’t. What the hell is this? Is there a pay phone somewhere? Judging by her state, I doubt she has a smartphone. How did you make a collect call again?’
Fortunately, there was exactly one number he remembered. His eldest brother’s phone number.
‘Should I go outside for a bit?’
He hadn’t been able to properly look around because he’d brought this woman inside, so he went out to check.
Had he walked for about five minutes?
‘Ha... this isn’t it. There’s seriously nothing. They wouldn’t be able to lower the temperature of an entire forest just to trick me. Which means this is reality...’
Slap!
He slapped himself across the cheek.
‘Ha... as expected, it’s not a dream.’
For now, he accepted that it was reality and returned to the cave.
The woman showed no signs of waking, but her ice-cold body seemed to have warmed up a little. Since he might have to spend the night here, he gathered some fallen branches around the cave entrance, piled them up, and decided to wait until she woke up.
He suddenly felt exhausted and kept nodding off. Who knew how much time had passed? A rustling sound startled him awake, and when he opened his eyes, the woman had woken up too. It had grown dark outside; the sun seemed to have set.
Fortunately,
‘She doesn’t seem particularly afraid of me or anything.’
“Are you conscious now? Are you all right?”
“Where is this?”
“That’s what I want to ask, but for now, we’re inside a cave. You were collapsed on the road, so I brought you in here. How do you feel?”
“Ah, thank you for helping me.”
The moment the woman raised her upper body to get up, the hot packs fell off.
“What is this?”
“Ah, those are hot packs. Your body was too cold, so I used them. I thought I might not be able to start a fire.”
“Hot packs?”
‘Ah... they don’t even have hot packs here. Or she just doesn’t know them. No wonder she collapsed dressed like that in this cold.’
“They’re things that keep your hands and feet warm.”
“This is...”
“Ah, that’s my jacket. Keep yourself covered with it for now...”
Grrrrumble...
Whether because she was hungry or not, a sound came from her stomach. For now, he decided they should at least eat a chocolate bar.
“You’re hungry, right? Have some water first. And eat one of these.”
He gave her a chocolate bar, but she only stared blankly at it as if she didn’t know what it was.
‘They don’t sell things like this here? Even a beggar should’ve had one from begging or something, no?’
“You tear it open like this and eat it. This is water. You drink it like this.”
He demonstrated and ate as well. She took a bite of the chocolate bar after him and looked surprised. Then she froze in place.
“What is it?”
‘Don’t tell me chocolate bars don’t suit her taste.’
“No, it’s just so delicious... I wanted to bring some to my sister.”
“Ah, I have one more, so just eat that. If we meet your sister, I’ll give it to her. Anyway, why were you collapsed dressed like that? And where is this? Ah, I’m Jaegeun. Lee Jaegeun.”
“Jaegeun?”
“Yes. That’s my name. My surname is Lee. I’m Lee Jaegeun.”
“Ah, I’m Rena. First, thank you for saving me. My sister had a high fever, so I was gathering medicinal herbs, but I rolled down and...”
“Ah, I see. Could you tell me where this place is?”
“This is a place a little way from Brenov Village.”
“Brenov?”
He considered himself someone who had studied geography a fair bit, but he had never heard that name before. It really seemed like some rural area.
“What country is this?”
“Country?”
She looked at him with an expression that truly seemed to ask what a country was.
‘Seeing her only by firelight with no other light makes her look completely terrifying. Anyway, don’t tell me she doesn’t even know what country this is. For now, let’s go to the village tomorrow morning. If I ask there, I should get some answers. It can’t be a place that eats strangers like in a horror movie, right? Looking at this woman, it doesn’t seem like it.’
“It’s already dark, so let’s spend the night here and go to the village tomorrow.”
The woman fell asleep beside the fire. As if the one who had received a blessing was not only the protagonist, the chocolate bar and water were quietly infusing another bit of vitality into her body.
He kept waking and falling asleep, waking and falling asleep all night in case the fire went out, so his body was a wreck. The woman seemed to have slept well, judging by how she was recovering.
‘She drank all the water too. Should I put some snow in?’
For now, they left the cave and walked toward Brenov Village. Had they walked for about thirty minutes? A wide lake came into view.
“Once we pass that lake and go around there, the village is right there.”
“So we’re almost there?”
“Yes. In winter, people from the village come here to draw water.”
Now that he looked, water was flowing down along one side of the lake.
‘Strangely, only that part isn’t frozen.’
“Wait a moment. I’m thirsty. I’ll go draw some water.”
When he went down to draw water, a portion where the water flowed down was unfrozen.
‘Looks like they draw water here. But is this water really safe to drink?’
For now, he filled it and came back up.
“This water is safe to drink, right?”
“Pardon? Our village draws water from here and drinks it too.”
‘Judging by their state, I do wonder if it’s safe, but I don’t have any water, so I’ll have to drink this at least.’
“Would you like some water?”
“No, I’ll drink when we get to the village.”
As soon as they turned the corner, there was a village? Or what should he call it? Several buildings stood there, like shabby storehouses in the countryside.
“Is this the village?”
“Yes. They’re over there. I’ll greet them and go give my sister the medicine. Thank you for saving me.”
“You were safe. We were so worried when you didn’t come back all night.”
“I fell and collapsed near the cave, and this man saved me.”
“Thank you. But where have you come from?”
“Ah... well, I think I’ve lost my way. Where exactly is this?”
People wearing clothes he couldn’t understand in this freezing winter stood with buildings behind them that looked like rural storehouses, not even something you’d see in a folk village. He truly couldn’t understand what kind of disaster this was.
“This is Brenov Village, in the domain of Viscount Matias Gorin.”
‘What the hell is Matias Gorin, and what’s a viscount? Wait, viscount—as in duke, count, viscount?’
“Um, by viscount, do you mean the viscount in duke, count, viscount?”
“Yes, that is correct?”
“Then this is the territory of someone called Viscount Matias Gorin?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
‘Ha, fuck, this is driving me insane. What era is this, talking about counts and viscounts? I saw news about Beckham receiving a knighthood, but what is this?’
“In any case, thank you for saving Rena. I am Radek. We were just about to have breakfast, so if you haven’t eaten yet, please join us.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
He regretted it immediately after saying that.
‘They live eating this? Even the mutt in my neighborhood would eat better than this. What the hell is this unidentified soup?’
“The lord recently gave us a generous amount of grain, so there are plenty of solid ingredients in the stew. Please eat plenty.”
“Yes, thank you.”
‘Stew? I can guarantee that even in countries said to be starving, when they eat, they eat better than this. Probably. Then, unless I’ve fallen into some remote village...’
“Um, what year is it right now?”
“??????”
“Does the village happen to have a telephone?”
“??????”
“Does a bus come all the way here?”
“??????”
‘No!!! Fuck. These people really look like they don’t know. They don’t know when or where this is?’
“Thank you for the meal.”
He ran toward the opposite side from where he had come, toward what looked like a road... He kept running... His breath rose to his throat... How long had he run...? There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. No buildings, no power lines. All he could see were trees and, far away, a mountain with snow piled on top. There was no guarantee anything would appear, so for now, he decided to go back and gather information.
“Ah!!!!!!! No!!!!!!!”
‘I went out for a matchmaking date, and what is this?
This isn’t on a scale someone could pull off as a prank. And I’m not the kind of person anyone would do something like this to. Something is definitely wrong.’
He arrived back at Brenov Village. Uncle Radek? Brother? He looked somewhat older than him. For now, he just decided to ask.
“You mentioned the lord earlier. How long would it take to get to where he is?”
“The village where the lord resides takes about five days on foot, but with the snow right now, it would probably take longer...
Even the nearest village takes half a day, and if you leave now, you won’t arrive until night, so I think it would be better to stay here for a day and go tomorrow.
They held a conscription not long ago, so all the young men have been taken away and there are empty houses. You can stay in one of those. You saved Rena’s life, and we don’t want you to leave like this and freeze to death.”
“Thank you. Then where should I stay?”
“The houses over there are all empty, so stay wherever you like.”
He entered the house closest to the entrance on the lake side. As soon as he went inside, a wooden spear beside the door caught his eye.
There were stones piled up so a small fire could be lit inside, and on something that looked like a bed made of wood, there was also something that might have been a mattress or a blanket, stuffed with cloth and what looked like reed stalks.
He sat down for now. It was better than the cave floor. Just as he was about to fall asleep, the door suddenly opened. He looked over in surprise, and Radek came in.
“I thought there might not be any living embers, so I brought some.”
Then he placed some wood and a bit of straw on top and lit a fire for him.
“You still seem out of sorts, but if there’s anything you’re curious about, ask. If there’s anything you need, tell me.”
“Looking around, there don’t seem to be many people in the village. Is this everyone?”
“It used to be a village of several dozen people, but there was talk that the neighboring count’s domain would invade, so the lord conscripted the young men as soldiers.
Along with the women who lived with them and the women who could work, that is. The only people left here are old people like me and women who look frail.”
As he said that, he told him various things. How he had retired after serving as a soldier and built this slash-and-burn farming village, and how there were several other slash-and-burn villages besides this one.
How the slash-and-burn villages came and went to the village where the headman lived, getting the things they needed, and so on. Even so, he still couldn’t get the slightest grasp of where this place was.