Chapter 1 – 1. Distress

God, please give me love.
Please give me someone who can love me like this.

* * *

I was shipwrecked in the mountains.
In the 21st century where Wi-Fi explodes even on uninhabited islands.
It was something I had never imagined.
The unimaginable happened to me now.

“Where are you?”

He muttered in an annoyed voice and nervously shoved his smartphone into his pocket, which kept popping up only with a warning window saying that he was out of the call range.

I was definitely walking along a mountain road, but at some point the road disappeared. I heard that getting lost in the mountains is like dying…….

‘Fuck, isn’t it fucked up?’

He had no hope that rescuers would come to rescue him. Because I didn’t tell anyone that I came to this mountain today.

It is a mountain that I went to for a light refreshment. I never dreamed that something like this would happen.

“I have to go down first…….”

When you are in distress in the mountains, you are told not to move from the spot. It is said that there is a possibility that you can perish while wandering around the mountain while getting lost.

But that’s only possible when you’re sure that someone will come to rescue you, and you can’t even see the shadow of a person for an hour.

The smartphone is dead, and there is no hope that someone will come to rescue it.

“Hey, I don’t know.”

I decided to go down. Using the built-in compass app on my smartphone, I took only a rough direction and headed south.

Less than thirty minutes later, I regretted that choice.

“Heheh, fuck- no, what is the slope so high…….”

Even though it is going down, sweat drips down. I grabbed the sleeve of my neck and wiped off the sweat, and even then, I gulped down the Samdasoo I bought before coming up.

Perhaps it was because she had drank sparingly before being in distress, and there was not even half of the water left in her water bottle.

‘Aren’t we really going to live here?’

By the time I thought so, I found a cabin far away. Discovering the traces of civilization, I quickly ran toward the cabin with an indescribable sense of relief.

A hut made of whole wood. Thinking that tastes in the 21st century are very peculiar, I carefully knocked on the door.

“Excuse me. Are you there—!”

Smart, smart! Thump-!

I knocked on the door in a hurry, but there was no response from the inside. Carefully pulling the doorknob did not open the locked door.

Fucked. Hey, people probably don’t live in places like this. Not a natural person….

“Who?”

When I put everything down and slumped, I heard a thin voice from behind. I quickly turned my back and met the eyes of a woman who had a basket full of weeds.

Her face was not visible because she was wearing a robe and even a hood, but if you listened to her chest protruding from the top of the robe and her voice, you would be sure it was a woman.

“Ah! Hello! Nice to meet you!”
“…….”
“It’s nothing else, that- because I was in distress. Can I borrow your phone?”
“Distress? Here?”

The woman asked in an incredulous voice. Hey, it’s hard to believe that this place isn’t a big mountain, and that I was suddenly in distress.

It’s embarrassing, but it was true. When I nodded, she began to tilt her head, saying that couldn’t be the case.

“I can’t do that…… And the phone? There is no such thing here.”
“…… You don’t have a phone?”
“Yes.”

At that, I let out a laugh and looked at her. Even orphans living in orphanages and basic welfare recipients who can’t earn a single penny have smartphones.

But living alone in the mountains like this and not having a phone? Are you kidding me? If not, are you living here with the concept of being a real natural person?

Either way, it had nothing to do with me.

“Well, then… Can you tell me which way to go to get to the city?”
“…… You can go all the way down there.”
“Oh, this way? Thank you.”

I bowed to her and thanked her, then quickly headed in the direction she pointed. I didn’t want to stick with a strange woman with a more natural concept.

Trying hard to ignore the muttering she whispered behind her back, I walked towards the city.

* * *

How long had I walked, when the sun started to set, I arrived at the village.

And, when I arrived at the village, I stared at the village stiffly.

‘…… No, what kind of natural village is this?’

The village was extremely underdeveloped. It was not the level of a tile-roofed house that you would see in the countryside, but a house built with materials that were unlikely to be used even in the Joseon Dynasty.

I’ve only seen houses like this in games. In an RPG game set in a medieval fantasy.

As I cautiously entered the village, two young men approached me, yawning and fooling around near the entrance.

“You there! Who are you!”
“I…”

The two approaching looked at my appearance up and down, then asked me with a hard expression.

“You, no. Who are you?”
“… While hiking, I got lost.”
“… Climbing? Here?”
“Yes.”

Like the woman from before, they all looked at me with strange eyes. Why, what Even if this is private?

The two men, who had noticed each other, exchanged opinions as if they realized that it was not something they judged.

“Should I take you to the village chief?”
“OK. Please follow me.”
“Ah, yes.”

I followed the two into the village. However, the word village head swept through my head.

The village chief, isn’t it the village chief?

* * *

“…… What? Are you in distress in the mountains?”
“In my own words…….”

When the old man came out of the house where the two men had taken him, he widened his eyes when he heard the story. The gaze, which looked up and down my body as if it couldn’t be there, was disgusting.

However, it wasn’t long before he started to open his mouth in a kind tone like a benevolent grandfather.

“Hehe, I am the chief of this village. May I know your name?”

“…… It’s called John. Being in distress in the mountains—”

“You mean on the mountain outside of town?”

The village chief exclaimed in amazement. But when I asked with a tilt of my head, they said that there are many wild beasts living on the mountain I passed.

Humans are like lightly tearing bears and mountain wolves…… Hearing that story, I felt goose bumps run down my spine.

‘Fuck… I almost fell behind…….’

When I got a little goosebumps at the nonsense that wild beasts appeared in the 21st century, the village chief looked down at me with his eyes shining.

It was as if he was licking his whole body with his pupils.

“By the way, seeing as you came all the way here, it seems that someone came with you.”

“A person? Don’t you?”

“…… There are no villages around here. You said you came alone?”

“Yes. I just came out to take a walk, so I didn’t tell anyone.”

“…… Is that so.”

Hearing my words, the village chief suddenly shut his mouth and began to laugh. The unknown anxiety began to soar, and the village chief suddenly started to let go of his words.

“So, to sum up what you are saying now- you are from over the mountain, and no one knows you are from here…… Am I right?”

“Yeah, what… “

After saying that, I realized the true nature of my unknown anxiety. Even in Korea in the 21st century, don’t it often happen that people with no connection are kidnapped and used as slaves for the rest of their lives?

In this town where there is no sign of modern civilization, let alone a telephone, something that would only appear in the news could actually happen.

Indeed, Yang said that my intuition was correct. The village chief opened his mouth lightly.

“He said he was John, I don’t know. Your name is Charles from now on.”

The village chief laughed with his mouth torn apart.
It was an extremely demonic smile that could only be seen as a human being.

* * *

A month has passed since I arrived in the village.

“Fuck, shit…….”
“Noisy.”
“Yes yes….”

During the time of one month, I was able to realize firsthand what hell is. Physical labor of more than 18 hours a day, chowder that even livestock like pigs would skip, villagers who play with me whenever they are bored.

What was even more fucked up was that I was getting used to this fucking life.

‘Fuck, fuck really…….’

There is no freedom here. There is no abundance.
Living in the 21st century of freedom and abundance, I could not find a hell as terrible as this.

The only pleasure is the imagination of beating all the villagers to death every night. If it hadn’t been for that, he would have committed suicide right away.

And then, a villager came running from far away.

“Second, Chief-!”
“What is it?”
“Oh, that’s a big deal! Big deal!”

The residents who ran from the entrance of the village to this place in one month muttered something hesitantly while breathing heavily.

Hearing his words his, the village chief looked at me with a hard expression. It was clear that something else had happened.

In order not to attract aggro as much as possible, I averted my gaze and swung the hoe vigorously. I’m working hard – so don’t touch me. It was such an appeal.

Break-!

‘Oh, fuck…….’

While swinging it so hard, the handle of the hoe broke in half. It wasn’t my fault. Farming tools were originally consumables, and I received items that would otherwise rot.

However, it was the people of this village who were angry and violent even for such an obvious thing, so I looked back at the village chief with a little trembling.

“I, chief…….”
“Yes? Ah- the farming equipment is broken.”
“Yes, sorry…….”
“Hmm- I just ran out of farm tools… I can’t help it. Let’s just stop here and rest for today.”

It was the first time I heard it after working for over a month. The voice of the village chief, who was wondering if there was anything more to do because he couldn’t make it work, came out of his mouth to take a break?

However, if he hesitated or hesitated here, the village chief could act on his whim again.

“Go, thank you!”

I quickly bowed my head to say hello, put the farming tools in storage, and headed to my room at the village chief’s house.

It was a very small single room with fleas, rats, and bugs.

* * *

That night, the village head couple showed strangely excessive kindness.

In a bathtub full of hot water that he hadn’t seen in a month, additives were sprayed to remove the body’s lingering odor.

When he returned after taking a bath, the meat soup, which even the village chiefs did not often eat, was prepared.

It was a bit salty, but it felt salty. It means that not only the meat was boiled, but also salt was added. It was absurd considering that in this mountain village, salt, as the name implies, has a value similar to that of gold.

‘I don’t think I’m trying to eat it because I’m fat…….’

If he had intended to eat cannibals, he would have eaten them when he had just arrived in this village, not now when he had lost all his extra pounds of his.

Even though I knew in my head that I wasn’t trying to kill him, my body started to tremble with anxiety. As I was eating the soup with trembling hands, the village chief opened his mouth.

“John.”

The village chief called my name. My name I haven’t heard in a month. I answer with trembling as to what the hell I am trying to do.

“Yes? What happened…”
“I think I treated you well during my month.”

Seeing that it starts with an uneasy tone, it must be something serious. What do you mean? Could it be that the police came all the way here to find me? Finally?

But you can’t be happy about that. If I showed signs of being happy, the village chief could have killed me and buried me right here. I silently nodded.

Seeing the head nod, the village chief put on a satisfied expression.

“Hey, I need to go somewhere.”
“…… Where?”
“You must have said that you were shipwrecked on that mountain, right? If so, you might have seen it.”

The village chief said with a slightly frightened expression, as if he had recalled a memory he didn’t want to recall.

“To the witch’s hut.”