Chapter 12: 12

With a face filled with aging pigmentations and droopy eyes, he was a gentle-looking old man . He didn’t look like anyone to be cautious of .

“I heard that you were looking for me . What is it?” The village chief was wary of Su-hyeun, just like the rest of the villagers .

“I was just passing by and saw a village here . I would like to stay for a few days . Is it possible?”

“…You don’t have any other motives?”

“What?”

“There’s nothing to take from us . Not even a speck of dust, so leave . ”

Su-hyeun seemed to be regarded as an uninvited guest who was here to loot the village . Persuasion was required .

“No . I don’t want anything; I just hope for a place to sleep . I brought rations with me . ”

“…Really?”

The village chief’s eyes brightened at the word rations .

Su-hyeun nodded, answering, “Yes, of course . I’m willing to share my rations, too . Even if the monsters are here…”

“The monsters don’t come to our village!” a child screamed .

Su-hyeun turned his head immediately . The child’s mother hugged him close to her chest . Then, the village chief spoke . “If so, alright . There are a few empty houses, so you can use one of them . As for the food…”

“I’ll give it to you . ”

“…Thank you . ”

He was greeted with thanks . Do they have problems with food, too?

There were a few severe issues in the destroyed world, and one of them was food . In a world where neither rice nor wheat could be grown again, food became scarce to the point when cannibalism began . This village had yet to arrive at that stage, but it might arrive there soon due to limited food resources .

But… Su-hyeun looked at the child who screamed earlier . The monsters don’t come .

As Su-hyeun went deep into his thoughts, the village chief turned around and spoke, “Follow me . I’ll show you an empty house . ”

“Ah, thank you . ” Su-hyeun bowed and followed the village chief . His worries did not end .

* * *

The empty house that the village chief brought him to was a shabby tent that could not even keep the wind out . Its shabbiness was worse than his semi-basement apartment . One had to wonder: how could this be called a house?

I didn’t know our house could feel so luxurious . Su-hyeun left his bags in the tent . Su-hyeun took out bread, nuts, beef jerky, water, and more rations that filled his small pouch .

“Ah . ”

As Su-hyeun stepped out, the child from earlier was waiting for him . It was a little girl, about six or seven years old . She looked at Su-hyeun with her filthy face .

“Were you waiting?” Su-hyeun bent down .

She looked at the bundle in Su-hyeun’s hand as she nodded . “You want to eat this?”

“Yes . ”

Su-hyeun offered a piece of bread from the bundle .

It was when the girl reached out . “What are you doing now?!” The village chief roared .

It was an unbelievably loud and high-pitched voice coming from such a small build . “Didn’t you promise me?! If I provide you with a bed, you’ll hand me your rations!”

“Isn’t she from your village?” Su-hyeun asked, dumbfounded .

The village chief’s gentle expression was suddenly replaced by an intimidating look .

“What does she know?! She only knows to fill her stomach, and that’s it . You might not know this, but food is equivalent to our lives here . ”

It wasn’t an incomprehensible remark . But…

Su-hyeun looked back at the little girl . “Don’t cry . ”

He patted the little girl’s head as she silently sobbed and held the bundle out towards the village chief .

“Take it . The food that I promised to give you is here . ”

“Hmm . Don’t be too upset over this . It’s all for the villagers . ”

The village chief came up to Su-hyeun and took it . His eyes went huge as he verified the contents . Su-hyeun hated the sight of him, and not just because of the gatekeeper’s words . He seemed indifferent, at least to the feelings of others .

“Please leave . ”

“Uh-hmm . Hmm . ” The village chief left, making a few exaggerated coughs . The little girl soon burst into tears .

That moment, her mother walked up quickly . “Don’t hate the village chief . ”

She seemed to have overheard their conversation earlier while looking for her daughter . The mother looked in the direction where the village chief left and said .

“It’s quite tiring on him . He worked hard for this village his whole life… . And I believe he has something else on his mind . ”

“You mean he is so preoccupied that he can’t share a piece of bread?”

“Yes . I — no, we — believe so . ” Her voice wavered at the end . There might have been something else that made her hesitate while she said that .

What could it be? Just what did the village chief mean to them? That thought did not last long . Su-hyeun took out a piece of bread and handed it to the little girl who wouldn’t seem to stop crying . “Here . ”

The child’s mother was startled .

“Is, is this alright? What if the village chief finds out…”

“Don’t worry . I took it out from my own rations, so the village chief can’t say anything about it . ”

“But still…”

“If you still feel uneasy, you can take it . The village chief can’t possibly say anything if an adult accepted this, right?”

Whether given to the child or the mother, the little girl would still get to eat it . Su-hyeun forced the piece of bread into her hand . Su-hyeun patted the little girl’s head again and stood up .

As he walked around the village, Su-hyeun looked at the mother who was nagging her daughter . It feels kind of weird .

The villagers had much faith in their chief, but he felt another feeling besides belief from her eyes . It was nothing other than fear . The village chief felt almost like a fishbone stuck in his throat .

I’ll need to verify it .

Protect the village and survive . The trial’s subject was still vague about what he was supposed to protect the village from and what he had to survive .

* * *

There were divided opinions on the village people by those met from the trials .

Some said that it was like a program made for each floor of the trials, much like a Non-Player Character (NPC) . The rationale was that when they attempted the trial again after failing it, the people could not remember them .

Some others said they were probably real people living in another world . Their rationale was that the appearances and mindsets did not look like they were made from a program .

Indeed… Su-hyeun thought while looking around the village .

I’m not sure yet .

Were the villagers’ expressions, speaking, lifestyle, and civilization all made up? Or could they be real living humans? Nothing could be confirmed, but Su-hyeun was certain of one thing .

They are, at the very least, reacting based on their thoughts and emotions . So, he would have to treat them the same as humans .

Su-hyeun tried finding out about the village chief — what kind of person he is, how had he lived his life — but everyone’s response to those questions was cold .

“Why do you ask that?”

“You have something up your sleeves, right?”

“Don’t you dare harm our village chief, otherwise I’ll—!”

Full-blown reactions . Nevertheless, Su-hyeun was able to hear a rough story when he approached a mild-looking middle-aged lady .

“Please understand . We react this way because our village got looted by outsiders quite often . Although I do not know what the village chief is thinking, we do feel uneasy accepting outsiders . ”

He had expected that . Weak villages would only get looted in this world . But Su-hyeun was curious about something else .

“Why does everyone trust the village chief so much?”

“That is because the village chief is a hero to the villagers . ” Su-hyeun’s eyes wiggled at her answer . It was a word so familiar that it felt annoying .

“…Hero?” That old man? Su-hyeun asked about the details . He wanted to know what had happened to make everyone here regard him as a hero .

“Ah, I don’t know . I can only tell you this much . ” Even the lady who was less wary about Su-hyeun shook her head and turned away . Su-hyeun’s mind got complicated .

Hero . There were a couple things he was sure of if the village chief was called by that title: the village chief saved the villagers, and it must have been through an extreme method .

…He didn’t seem to be that kind of person . It was something he would come to know without the gatekeeper’s warning . As he went deeper into his thoughts, Su-hyeun’s mind got more complicated .

Either the gatekeeper’s warning was wrong, or the villagers are blind . It was one or the other, and Su-hyeun was betting on the latter .

Su-hyeun had observed the village for a while . It wasn’t long until he started to widen his area of search . There was nothing else he could fish out from the villagers . They were definitely with the village chief . He could only find out new information by himself .

First, I’ll need to find out… From what did he have to protect the village from? He required an answer to that .

But as he left the village’s entrance, a strong smell stimulated Su-hyeun… a familiar smell . “It couldn’t be . ”

As soon as he smelt it, Su-hyeun’s face cringed . Su-hyeun looked around him, and the doubt soon became the truth .

“…Damn it . ”

Su-hyeun had seen the ugly side of men for a long time . As the world was collapsing, he learned that even good men would turn evil, and their smell was evidence .

“Beware of the village chief . ” He needed a little more verification .

Somehow… Su-hyeun’s eyes narrowed at the source of the smell .

I have got to be more assertive than this .