Chapter 34

34 Mysterious Woman

Ko Byeong-gap skillfully created splints for the creature’s broken bones. He rolled the bandages out and fixed the affected areas neatly. Several chest bones were also damaged, but there was no way to fix those immediately.

‘What the hell did you do?’

Was it ambushed? Her limbs were shattered, but fortunately, the bones in her neck and spine were strong.

‘It wouldn’t be too helpful to just give it a low-grade potion. With fractures like this, I should use an intermediate potion.’

After administering first aid, Byeong-gap looked around the ancient shop. He remembered seeing a product suitable for this situation.

‘Found it.’

[Blood Dumplings]

-Price: 1,300 Crystals

-Description: A dumpling that regenerates blood. It can replenish blood. Side effects may occur if you overdose.

[Flesh Dumplings]

-Price: 1,300 Crystals

-Description: A dumpling that regenerates flesh. It can sprout new flesh. Side effects may occur if you overdose.

[Bone Dumplings]

-Price: 1,300 Crystals

-Description: A dumpling that regenerates bones. It can regenerate broken or missing bones. Side effects may occur if you overdose.

He had never used any of these items before because he found little use for them. He tried to buy the bone dumpling but stopped in his tracks.

‘I don’t have to feed her right now.’

He didn’t even know what the strange woman was yet. There was no reason to buy these dumplings and feed her if she was hostile.

Byeong-gap turned off the shop window and went to sit a few steps away from the woman, monitoring her closely.

‘It’s not a human being, and not a Goblin either. It’s not even a monster I’ve ever heard about.’

The appearance of the mysterious woman was very vague. Her height was neither large nor small, about 160 cm? Her skin color was lifelessly pale, of course. Her black hair was so long that it stretched past her hips.

The problem was her features.

The mysterious woman had really big eyes, huge enough to occupy her entire face. It was black with no whites at all, giving him the impression of a bee’s eye. Her other features, on the other hand, were concave. It was quite unnatural.

Also, except for the long hair on her head, she was hairless everywhere else. She didn’t seem to have eyebrows, armpit hair, or any hair on her body.

At first glance, the creature gave him a mysterious feeling, but the more he looked at it, the more it gave him an uncanny valley feeling.

“Where on earth is she from?”

Dorma asked him quietly.

“Well, I don’t know. That’s why we can’t feed her yet.”

“What a bizarre-looking creature. By the way, could it be from outside the fog that the Lord mentioned earlier?”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

Byeong-gap recalled the dark silhouette he had seen just inside the fog. It seemed to be as big as the woman before them.

“Dorma, is this your first time seeing something like this? Don’t you remember your past?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know. I can’t think of anything.”

“That’s a pain in the ass.”

“I’m glad it doesn’t look too dangerous.”

“You never know.”

Byeong-gap clearly remembered how the strange woman ate the raw chicken brutally. It didn’t look gentle to him.

“Well, its arms and legs are all over the place, so it won’t be any danger, at least.”

“Will it be able to communicate?”

“If it doesn’t work, then it can’t be helped.”

“Are you going to kill it?”

“Well, that would be easier. Let’s see first.”

“Alright.”

They calmly waited for the strange woman to regain consciousness.

After a while, the Goblins, who had been sent to explore, also gathered one by one.

Gobung reported to him as a representative.

“Lord, outside. Where we searched, there wasn’t anything.”

“Really? Nothing more that looks like that?”

“Yes, thoroughly. We looked around. There wasn’t.”

Byeong-gap nodded, smacking his lips.

“Yes, you’ve done a great job. Go ahead and eat.”

“Yep!”

“Dorma, you should go eat too.”

“I see. If anything happens, please call me right away.”

The Goblins all walked out, leaving him standing by the strange woman alone. The woman’s chest softly and continuously rose and fell.

He couldn’t go home because this strange thing had suddenly appeared. He spent a long moment complaining in his head.

“Cough!”

The strange woman coughed, and before long, she wriggled her arms and legs that were wrapped around a splint. She began to wake up.

Byeong-gap quickly got up and approached her. He was wearing his sword properly this time.

“Ugh…”

A soft moan crept out of its mouth. Byeong-gap kept a reasonable distance and waited for the mysterious woman to fully regain her senses.

It didn’t take long. Soon, her eyelids opened, and her pitch-black eyes were exposed without filtration.

“Huh?”

She tried to lift herself up, but she was like a tortoise overturned by the splints on her limbs. The strange woman looked down at her body with a terrified face.

“Are you out of your mind?”

Byeong-gap asked her in the Goblin’s language. Of course, it was unclear whether she would understand him or not, but at least she would more likely understand that than Korean.

The woman looked up at him, startled. Her mouth clenched, but she didn’t say anything. She wriggled her body again, and he felt the urgency in her gestures. She seemed terrified and wanted to run away.

“Oh! Aww…!”

The creature then let out a shrill scream. It was natural, her arms and legs were all broken, and she was bound to hurt herself because she was thrashing around violently.

“Don’t force yourself to move. You won’t be able to move anyway.”

“Huh!”

“Do you understand me?”

“Argh! Argh! Argh!”

“Are you out of your mind? Or you don’t understand?”

The woman was panicking.

Byeong-gap stood still, his arms crossed. He waited for the strange woman to calm down a little.

It was as he had expected. The strange woman dropped in exhaustion in less than a minute. Byeong-gap asked her again.

“Do you understand me?”

“……”

The woman looked up at him, her eyes dotted with fear. After a while, she nodded a little.

“Do you understand? Did you just say you understood me?”

The strange woman nodded again.

Fortunately, it was not an animal.

A chicken passed by them at a leisurely pace. Byeong-gap didn’t care at all, but the woman’s reaction was different. The chicken caught her eye, and she followed it with her gaze as it walked away.

Saliva flowed out of her mouth.

‘Is she hungry?’

It was not difficult to make such a guess. Wasn’t it the same when they had first met a while ago? The woman was quite hungry.

Byeong-gap suddenly turned and headed towards the Goblin’s dining area.

The Goblins who were eating all greeted him, and he called out to a Normal Goblin roughly.

“Hey, give me one piece.”

“Of what? This?”

“Yes, that one. Just give me one piece.”

“Oh, I see. Here.”

He was handed over a piece of well-cooked monster meat.

“Lord, are you going to eat it?”

“Why would I eat this? Finish your meal.”

“Okay. Goodbye.”

Byeong-gap returned to the place where the strange woman was and held the piece of meat right in front of her.

Sure enough, she rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together.

He quickly withdrew his hand.

“Haaaaaaaah!”

“You want to eat it, don’t you?”

She nodded enthusiastically.

“If you answer my question, I’ll give this to you.”

“What…?”

‘Oh.’

Byeong-gap gasped, surprised to hear the voice of the strange woman.

Her voice was awesome, like the rhythm of the finest harp. Of course, he had never even heard the sound of a harp, but this was how he imagined it would sound like.

It was a far cry from what she looked like.

He coughed a couple of times to calm his mind.

“What are you?”

“…I am Ea.”

“I didn’t ask for your name. I’m asking you what you are.”

“What am I? If you’re talking about my race, I’m a Nefi.”

“Nefi?”

“Yes, Nefi.”

He brooded over the word ‘Nefi’ for a while. There was no such thing he could recall in the Monster Book.

“And who are you? I don’t think you’re like them.”

Ea asked him a question out of the blue.

He returned the question with a hint of displeasure.

“I’m Ko Byeong-gap. What do you mean?”

“The monsters of gluttony. I’ve been running all this way to avoid them.”

“You speak well. Did you break through that fog?”

“That’s right.”

“What did you do? You can’t cross the fog.”

“That’s…”

Ea took a long time answering, so the meat that Byeong-gap was holding gradually cooled down.

“I don’t really like dilly-dallying. I want you to answer quickly.”

“Before that, tell me. What are you?”

“Me? I’m a human being.”

“Human!”

Ea was frightened and surprised.

“Are you really human? Aren’t humans extinct?”

“Damn. There will be no end to this.”

When a question begets another question, the story will become infinitely long. He didn’t like this repetition.

“I won’t allow questions from now on. Just answer what I ask you. How did you get here over the fog?”

“…I’ll tell you if you promise not to kill me.”

“Don’t get me wrong. You’re not in a position to ask for anything.”

“I can kill you, but I won’t do that. So promise me you won’t kill me either.”

“You can kill me? With that body?”

“Yes, sir.”

Byeong-gap snorted and replied.

“Try it if you can.”

“I don’t want to. It’s a bad thing for me, too.”

“You think you’re scaring me with a bluff, but you chose the wrong person to threaten.”

“I’m not bluffing. I’m really capable of doing that.”

Ea’s tone was determined. Her eyes shook endlessly, but she didn’t seem to be bluffing. Byeong-gap instinctively put his hand over his sword.

A moment later, he sighed.

“Okay. I promise I won’t kill you. Just get it over with.”

“I have the power to ignore the laws of the world, so I was able to get over the fog.”

‘What kind of bullshit is that? Please explain in detail.”

“It’s like this. For example, it is nature’s law that water flows from top to bottom, but I can make water flow from bottom to top. That’s what I mean by ignoring the laws of the world.”

She turned her head to the side as she spoke, gazing at the fog beyond the bushes.

“With that ability, I was able to break through the fog that refused to let others enter. Of course, there was a price to pay.”

‘Is there such a power in the world?’

Some of the awakeners had abilities he had never heard of before, but he had never heard of the ability to defy the laws of the world.

“Are you the only one here?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why are you here?”

“Didn’t I tell you already? I ran all the way here to avoid them. This was the only way to get out of there.”

“Why did those guys chase you?”

Ea looked at him with an exasperated expression, like asking why he had to ask such a thing.

“To eat me. They eat everything they want.”

He took his hand off the hilt of his sword.

It has become clear that the unidentified mysterious woman, Ea, came from outside the fog. She also wasn’t particularly hostile, so there was no reason to kill her. He had to extract information from her.

“…By the way, won’t you give it to me?”

Ea begged, looking at the piece of meat in Byeong-gap’s hand. She had such a pathetic voice.

“I’ve been hungry for a long time now. Please. I’m starving.”

“Is that why you bit my chicken?”

Ea’s face turned pale, and she avoided his gaze.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it. I was out of my mind at the time. I’m telling you the truth, believe me.”

“Ugh.”

He placed the meat on Ea’s mouth, and she moved her jaw like she was possessed. It took less than ten seconds for the fist-sized piece of meat to disappear.

“I have no shame. Could you give me more? This is not enough.”

“Wait a minute.”

He headed back to where the Goblins were to get a few more pieces of meat. Their mealtime was already over. The Goblins were organizing their positions in unison.

“Gobung.”

“Hmm? Ah! Lord. Did you call me?”

“Uh, is there any meat left? Are you done eating?”

“There’s some more left!”

“That’s a relief. Put some leftovers on a plate and give it to me.”

“Oh, yeah! Wait a minute. Please wait!”

Gobung hurriedly transferred the leftover meat to a plate. In the meantime, Dorma approached him.

“Lord, is it awake?”

“Oh, she’s up. It’s good. Let’s go see it together.”

“I see.”

“She called herself a Nefi. Do you know what a Nefi is?”

Byeong-gap asked without much thought, his eyes on Gobung. So he didn’t even see Dorma’s expression change.

“Did you just say Nefi?”

“Hmm? Why? Do you know the name?”

Only then did Byeong-gap turn his head.

Dorma was deep in thought, his forehead creased.

Finally, he opened his mouth just barely.

“As far as I know, a Nefi is…”