Picked Up (2)
After briefly considering—quite seriously—whether to send him back or dispose of him, I posted about the situation on the Gallery.
I wanted to let everyone know what was happening and decide what to do with him from here on out.
Title: A Blood Cultist showed up;;
Wild Grylls
(A photo of a man from the Central Plains lying there as if dead)
I thought there was no way it could happen, but it actually did. A Blood Cultist made it all the way to our shelter;;
The way he got here is ridiculous too. He was mixed in with the gorilla troop, and they threw him at me.
I’d like to send him back, but that won’t be easy. Should I use him as labor?
└ Heavenly Demon: I am sorry... I should have dealt with him myself.
└ Wild Grylls: It’s okay. I heard this happened because you were trying to save someone. The Blood Cult is at fault, so there’s no need for you to apologize, Heavenly Demon.
└ SwordMaster: I recommend banishing him. I’m not from the Central Plains, but the Blood Cult is a truly vile organization.
└ They’re everyone’s punching bag on the Gallery, but they’re genuinely terrifying in real life.
└ They’re an organization that practically destroyed half the public order in the Central Plains. Just kill him.
└ And don’t talk nonsense about using him as labor.
└ Couldn’t you put a restraint on him that suppresses his qi, like Kkobong’s?
└ Smart Demon: That wouldn’t do much to those people. They converted all their internal energy into external cultivation before entering the Forest of Four Seasons.
└ What does that mean?
└ Smart Demon: It means they can’t use mana or qi anymore, but their bodies have become tougher instead. They probably haven’t reached Vajra Invulnerability, but they should still be quite durable.
└ So they dumped all their points into raw physical stats.
└ Then why are his arms and legs broken?
└ Guess it didn’t do much after all, lmao.
└ No, that’s why only his arms and legs broke. Otherwise, they probably would’ve been torn clean off, lmaooo.
└ Princess Cheonggu: If you want, I can give you another suppressor.
└ Are we getting a human slave now too?
└ This is going to be pretty controversial, lmao.
└ When was slavery abolished again?
└ More than a hundred years ago, at least. But there are still places that secretly use slaves even now, lol.
└ Tenant farmers and serfs are still going strong in the countryside, lmaooo.
└ Wild Grylls: Tell anyone whining about human rights to come here. Let’s see whether they can still lecture me about human rights once they arrive.
└ Starlight Princess: You should probably throw him out. Even slaves need an overseer if you want to put them to work.
└ Wild Grylls: We have Kkobong.
└ Starlight Princess: That might make him resist even more. He could ask whether he’s worth less than a gorilla.
└ Wild Grylls: Since he’s from the Blood Cult, wouldn’t he actually be worth less than a gorilla? They were trying to make a gorilla their successor in the first place.
└ Starlight Princess: Hmm... I suppose so. What if the slave rebels?
└ Wild Grylls: In that case, I think Kkobong would beat him up before I could.
└ Heavenly Demon: My good sir, I have thought of a fine solution. Why not destroy his dantian?
└ Wild Grylls: I don’t know how to do that.
└ Heavenly Demon: Gather your internal energy in your hand, place it over his dantian, and send a shock through it. That should destroy it.
└ Wild Grylls: (A photo of a large and magnificent Aura Blade) I feel like I’d destroy all his internal organs along with his dantian.
└ Heavenly Demon: Come to think of it, you did say that you couldn’t control your internal energy. I had forgotten.
All sorts of opinions came up, but they mostly reached the same conclusion.
The Blood Cult could not be trusted.
Aside from their reputation for killing people as casually as they ate meals, they were an organization that had little regard for loyalty.
Apparently, the Heavenly Demon had only been able to eradicate the remnants of the Blood Cult because someone within their ranks had betrayed them.
Considering how important chivalry was in the Central Plains—or more precisely, the martial world—that was an enormous flaw.
’And it’s an even bigger problem in a place where survival is everything.’
I couldn’t rule out the possibility that he would run away to save himself. I couldn’t trust him to watch my back.
Of course, this man might be different from the average Blood Cultist.
I wanted to dismiss it as prejudice, but...
’In Earth terms, he’s someone who belonged to the Taliban, isn’t he?’
The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t prejudice at all.
He was simply a terrorist.
Moreover, he had entered the Forest of Four Seasons to search for traces of Bin X Laden and find his successor.
Although the fact that said successor was a gorilla was somewhat problematic, symbols were what mattered to terrorist organizations.
’Wow. When I put it that way, this guy really is dangerous.’
I gradually began leaning toward throwing him out.
Still, I might as well get whatever I could out of the situation first.
It would be like treating a wild animal caught in a trap before releasing it back into the wild.
No matter how badly I needed labor, I didn’t want to keep someone around who might stab me in the back.
It would be better to heal him and use him to negotiate with the gorilla troop.
"This might actually be the better option."
Since things had already turned out this way, establishing contact with the gorilla troop might not be a bad idea.
They had thrown this man at me, so I had the justification on my side.
After roughly organizing my thoughts, I asked Ludwig for his opinion.
"Mister, you know a lot about the Blood Cult too, right?"
"I do."
"This man is a Blood Cultist. What do you think we should do with him? I’ve already more or less made up my mind, but I wanted to hear your opinion."
"Throw him out."
Wasn’t that a little too decisive?
I was dumbfounded by his curt answer.
Still, I wanted to know his reasoning. Was it simply because the man was a Blood Cultist, or was there some other reason?
"#%ww.#$%"
[He says there’s no other reason. He simply feels uneasy because of what the Blood Cult has done.]
That was understandable. Ludwig must have heard about the Blood Cult’s infamy as well.
They had been considered so dangerous that the Holy Kingdom had officially designated them as "evil" and even debated whether to send forces against them.
Fortunately, the Orthodox–Blood War had erupted before that could happen, and the matter was dropped. Even so, it showed just how dangerous they were.
’It’s a shame, but I guess I’ll have to throw him out.’
How could the person who landed in my lap be such useless trash that I couldn’t even put him to work?
If he had been a criminal from El Dorado instead of a Blood Cultist, he might have been useful.
’No, wait. Wouldn’t Ludwig fly into a rage if that happened?’
Whatever the case, it didn’t look like I would be getting any new labor out of this.
Still, as a fellow survivor struggling to stay alive, I should at least show him the bare minimum of courtesy.
Of course, I didn’t forget to prepare in case he tried to stab me in the back.
"For now, let’s give him some basic treatment. His arms might be a lost cause, but we can at least heal his legs, right?"
[Even treating his legs would be a waste.]
"If he stays here, he’ll only eat our food. It’ll be better to get him out as quickly as possible."
[That is a fair point.]
"And..."
I decided to prepare for the possibility that this man from the Central Plains might betray me.
With Ludwig here—and Kkobong and Namu ppareumbo as well—he wouldn’t be able to harm me directly.
So I planned to set a "trap."
It would be a test to determine whether I should drive him out or treat him differently.
’To do that, I’ll need the elixirs...’
I moved the elixirs that had been sitting against the cave wall up to the ceiling, where they would be difficult to find.
In their place, I left a box filled with empty bottles.
I also set up the "trap."
That should be enough.
All that remained was to wait for the man from the Central Plains to wake up.
[Princess Cheonggu: Here’s the suppressor.]
[Wild Grylls: Thank you. When is Chae-U’s match?]
[Princess Cheonggu: Tomorrow. Tomorrow’s her most important match, so make sure you cheer for her!]
[Wild Grylls: Got it. Go, Chae-U!]
[Princess Cheonggu: Hehe. Thank yooou.]
First, I received another suppressor from Princess Cheonggu.
[Starlight Princess: Syringes? I have a few more. Do you need them?]
[Wild Grylls: Yes. I don’t trust the hygiene of the ones at the auction house.]
[Starlight Princess: Don’t tell me you’re going to treat that Blood Cultist.]
[Wild Grylls: I’m only going to heal his legs. That way, he can leave on his own two feet.]
[Starlight Princess: Hmm... All right.]
I also received new syringes from the Starlight Princess.
One might ask why I didn’t simply sterilize my old syringe over a flame, but that wouldn’t be enough.
More importantly, this man was groaning with illness. If I made even the slightest mistake, it could become dangerous.
’Healing his legs should be enough.’
I didn’t know who had splinted them, but they had done a good job, so the bones would probably knit together quickly.
Improving his illness would be much more difficult, though.
I would only make the minimum necessary effort.
I poured the remaining elixir into the man’s mouth and waited to see what happened.
"Like I said earlier, this is all the elixir we have left, along with what’s over there. Understood?"
My companions nodded at my words.
I then turned my gaze toward Kkobong.
The man’s mindset was the most important part of this trap, but Kkobong also had a crucial role to play.
Only if Kkobong subtly influenced his thoughts would we be able to discover his true intentions.
Of everyone here, Kkobong was the one who could get closest to this man from the Central Plains.
"By the way, Kkobong. Do you want to keep living here?"
"Full belly. Warm back."
"What if this man says he’ll take you outside with him?"
"Can he even get out?"
I had no response to that simple fact.
I scratched my head.
So I decided to frame it as a hypothetical where he actually could leave.
"I don’t want to. I’m not leaving."
"Why? If you went outside, there might be people who would worship you."
"Master told me about the group called the Blood Cult. Even he thought they weren’t normal."
By "Master," did he mean the Blood Demon, Wi Hochang?
Kkobong had barely ever spoken about Wi Hochang before, so the comment surprised me.
Partly because I hadn’t been interested, but mostly because it had never occurred to me to ask.
"Wi Hochang knew that, yet he still kept the Blood Cult going?"
"It was entertaining. That was his only reason."
"So he wasn’t exactly sane either."
That statement killed even the slightest trace of sympathy I might have felt for him.
He truly lived up to his title as the leader of the Blood Cult.
The Blood Cultists who worshipped a man like him were obviously just as abnormal.
It strengthened my resolve to reject this man.
"Ughhh..."
While I was talking with Kkobong, the man from the Central Plains let out a groan.
He had regained consciousness earlier only to faint again, but this time was different.
His body was moving.
I immediately signaled to Kkobong with my eyes.
I wanted him to stay beside the man, just as he had before.
Kkobong understood my signal and quietly waited beside the man’s face.
"Ugh...?"
Eventually, the man from the Central Plains began to open his eyes. Looking at him now, he was sweating less as well.
His vision must have been blurry because he blinked several times before his eyes met Kkobong’s.
"Awaken, warrior."
"Hey. You just spoke Korean."
"Ah. $%"%^.##$."
Was he more accustomed to Korean than the language of the Central Plains now? I let out a hollow laugh.
Meanwhile, the man stared at Kkobong’s face for a moment before jolting upright in shock.
He had been on the verge of death only moments ago, but whether it was thanks to the honey water or the elixir, he now looked quite energetic.
"#%%... Ughhh."
Of course, suddenly sitting up after lying down would make anyone dizzy.
The man clutched his head and lay back down. He had gotten up too quickly.
Still, he seemed to have regained consciousness, so we should be able to have a conversation.
"Are you awake?"
"#$%...?"
At my words, the man shifted only his eyes to look at me.
He still appeared dazed, but the elixir had left him in better condition than before.
"I’m Grylls. You know who I am, right?"
"Grylls...! Ugh!"
The man tried to bolt upright again, only to collapse.
There was something strange about this guy.
Then again, he had suffered greatly in the Forest of Four Seasons, so it was understandable. What he needed now was rest.
I held out a hand, signaling for him to calm down.
"Be careful. I used an elixir on you, but you haven’t completely recovered yet."
"#%%%^.##$$.#%%M."
Kkobong kindly interpreted from beside us. Come to think of it, he was surprisingly versatile.
The man looked around in confusion at me, Kkobong, and the other companions nearby before gradually calming down.
He then blinked as if gathering his thoughts, fixed his gaze on me, and spoke.
"#$$%... Grylls?"
"Yes, I’m Grylls. You know about the Gallery, right?"
"#@$.#$%%%$."
"He knows. He says he didn’t realize you were also from the Central Plains."
"Sorry, but I’m not from the Central Plains."
I might be East Asian, but I came from a different country.
Kkobong translated my words exactly.
The man nodded as though it didn’t matter. He had probably just concluded that we were of the same race.
"What’s your name?"
"Gu-chil."
"You’re from the Blood Cult, aren’t you?"
"%6."
I began asking him some basic questions.
The man’s name was Gu-chil, and as expected, he came from the Blood Cult.
He had entered the Forest of Four Seasons to search for traces of Wi Hochang.
He also planned to take either "Wi Heuk" or "Wi Baek," Wi Hochang’s successor, back with him.
Wi Heuk was the leader of the gorillas, while Wi Baek was Kkobong, so I understood what he meant.
"Yes, well... I already knew that. Oh, and I healed your legs. You know what an elixir is, right?"
I showed him the empty bottle as I spoke, with Kkobong interpreting for me.
Gu-chil’s eyes widened, and he raised his head to look at his legs.
He moved his formerly broken legs around, marveling at them. It seemed he hadn’t even noticed.
"I’d like to heal your arms too, but we only have one bottle of elixir left. We need to save that one."
"#$%%%.##$$%$%.##."
"...#$$%%?"
"He is asking where it is."
Would you look at this guy?
Perhaps it was only because of my prejudice, but he was already showing his true colors.
Even so, I concealed my thoughts. I needed to determine his true intentions.
"It’s inside that box. It should be glowing yellow."
"...$$%%."
"He says thank you."
At least he knew how to express gratitude. That was a relief.
I told Gu-chil to rest for now and that we would treat his arms gradually.
Even without an elixir, regularly drinking honey water should help.
"Blood Cult or not, we’re all survivors here. Let’s do our best together."
"#$%%.#$%%%.##$%."
"#$$%%%."
"He said he won’t forget this favor."
You’d better not.
I told Gu-chil to focus on resting.
Regardless of his condition, I still had things to do.
’First, I should hide all the tools.’
I hid the Heavenly Demon’s sword and everything else made from mithril-orichalcum alloy.
I left only the one "elixir."
Time passed, night arrived, and everyone went to sleep.
Rustle—
A rustling sound reached my ears.
I was already awake, but I deliberately pretended not to notice.
Ludwig and Namu ppareumbo were probably awake as well.
Clatter. Clatter.
I heard someone searching through the bottles in the box.
Wasn’t he making it a little too obvious?
I sighed inwardly.
Of course. I should have known.
They said you should never take in a black-haired beast, and apparently the saying was right.
A while later, I sensed someone leaving the cave.
When their presence had grown distant, the rest of us quietly sat up.
Sure enough, Gu-chil’s spot was empty.
They said people couldn’t be fixed, and apparently that was true too.
"Smack... At least he left on his own two feet."
"...."
Ludwig’s expression was almost completely blank. It seemed he hadn’t expected anything from Gu-chil either.
I checked to make sure none of our other tools had disappeared.
Aside from the "trap" I had deliberately left, nothing else was miss—
"Huh?"
Actually, one other thing was missing.
The syringe.
I wondered why he had taken the syringe, but then I realized.
Apparently, that man knew how to use one.
But there was a problem.
’He isn’t planning to inject it into his arm, is he?’
Because the liquid in that trap...
’His arm might actually rot.’
...was urine.
"AAAAARGH!"
A scream came from somewhere nearby.
It didn’t sound like someone being eaten by a beast. It sounded like the scream of someone who had experienced something truly horrific.
As I listened, I thought that if he really had injected himself with it, he wouldn’t be able to use that arm for quite some time.
"Hmm... Let’s just go back to sleep."
"Understood."
Why should I care?
He had brought it upon himself.
***
Gu-chil had been too hasty.
He deeply regretted it.
There was no possible way a Golden Elixir—an elixir—would smell like urine.
However, Gu-chil had never consumed a Golden Elixir before. He had never even seen one.
Naturally, he didn’t know what it tasted or smelled like.
Only now did he realize that failing to question its strangely overpowering stench had been his fatal mistake.
"Bleeergh! Blegh!"
Unable to endure the revolting taste, Gu-chil repeatedly spat from his mouth.
He stuffed nearby grass into it in an attempt to cope.
There was a good chance it was poisonous, but he couldn’t bear the taste without putting something else in his mouth.
’Damn it... Why would he collect urine? Is he completely insane?’
Gu-chil resented Grylls without realizing that the entire thing had been a trap.
Of course, Gu-chil had been the one who shamelessly tried to steal from him first, but that hardly mattered to him.
In any case, he had accomplished his primary objective.
He looked down at his legs.
The legs he had previously been unable to move were now completely healed.
’My arms... can’t be helped, but it doesn’t matter. One hand is enough.’
He had no idea exactly where he was.
The leader of the gorillas had told him that if he followed the river downstream, he would find Grylls’s shelter.
Conversely, that meant following the river upstream would lead him to the gorillas’ territory.
’Thankfully, the sun rises early.’
Since it was summer, dawn came early.
Thanks to that, Gu-chil easily found the river.
He had seen Grylls drawing water through a hose yesterday.
Having thoroughly read the Gallery, he quickly figured it out.
’This is the way.’
Eventually, Gu-chil reached the gorillas’ territory.
He knew because several gorillas had come to the river for a drink.
Gu-chil immediately strode proudly toward the gorilla troop on his own two feet.
The gorillas must have sensed his approach, as they turned their heads toward him.
"Uooh?"
"I have returned, you damned apes."
Gu-chil’s greeting was bold and arrogant.
The gorillas didn’t seem to care, however. They simply looked him up and down before—
"Uook?!"
"Kkuoooh...!"
They clutched their noses and hurried away from him.
It was only natural.
Gu-chil’s entire body reeked horribly of urine.
"Uoooh! Uoh!"
One of the gorillas pointed toward the river.
The gesture clearly meant that he should forget everything else and wash himself immediately.
It was an immense humiliation for Gu-chil.
Nevertheless, he obediently submerged himself in the river.
Only his own nose had grown numb to the odor. Judging by the gorillas’ reactions, he obviously still stank.
Unfortunately, the smell coming from his body attracted the fish.
Splash! Splash!
"Aaaaargh! AAAAAARGH!"
In an instant, Gu-chil was surrounded by enormous fish.
"Uhohoho! Uho!"
"Uooooh!"
The gorillas scooped up the fish as if they had stumbled upon an unexpected windfall.
They said even dog shit had its uses.
Gu-chil was living proof.
’I-I will never forget this humiliation...!’
Gu-chil suppressed his fury for only a moment before—
"Blub! Blub! Y-you bastards! Save me!!!"
He desperately struggled against the fierce current.
Gu-chil’s ordeal was far from over.