Chapter 6 Death of an Immortal

The Death of an Immortal With their built-up trust and a shared hatred for the 'nasty frog', Cheong-o began to speak of things he had never mentioned before. It all began with that Immortal. No one knew who he was or where he came from.

All the beasts that had gained spiritual wisdom because of him called him 'the Immortal' and revered him. That was why all the beasts wailed in sorrow when he died. But feelings do not last forever.

Especially not when a tremendous, visible prize is dropped right before your eyes. 'The moment the Immortal breathed his last, the world changed.' That was how Cheong-o described it.

The wind raged, and all sorts of strange and powerful energies spread out. The sky darkened, grass and trees grew, and streams big and small appeared and vanished. After lingering in that great change, he came to his senses and realized the entire area had transformed into mountains.

"Does that mean... this area wasn't originally mountains?"

Jaekyung found it utterly unbelievable. He thought he had opened his mind as much as possible, but now came another story that shook his reason and common sense to the core. A single person dies, and a mountain that wasn't there before is born?

"Yes. Um… no. There were mountains here and there before. But they were small. After the Immortal passed away, the mountains grew bigger and merged."

The story was that what were once low, rolling hills had now become a vast mountain range. It was a little better than his first thought, but still a story hard to believe. 'Was he truly an Immortal?'

Until now, Jaekyyung had only believed about half of what Cheong-o said. He figured Cheong-o wouldn't make up stories from nothing, but he thought there was a good deal of exaggeration mixed in. The title 'Immortal' was the same.

He thought the man must have been great, but perhaps just a moderately great superhuman… While Jaekyung was lost in confusion, Cheong-o continued his story. Not long after the Immortal died.

A wicked wolf swallowed the Immortal's corpse in one bite. Then, the wolf's whole body exploded and it died, its blood and flesh scattering in all directions. At the same time, lightning began to fall from the sky, and a heavy rain poured down.

The terrified beasts screamed and fled. Cheong-o, too, hid in a nearby tree hollow, trembling. How much time had passed?

A few beasts, who had either forgotten or overcome their fear, approached the Immortal's flesh and blood. The moment they carefully swallowed it, most of them died just like the wolf, their bodies exploding. Only a few managed to avoid such a miserable end, but they all went mad and transformed into grotesque shapes.

To use Cheong-o's words, they became monsters. The beasts that became monsters were incredibly strong, but ferocious. They harmed other beasts for no reason.

Then, dozens, hundreds of beasts that would normally have never crossed paths joined forces to survive. In the end, the ferocious monster—the monsters—were hunted. When the hunt was over, the surviving beasts ate the monsters they had hunted.

This time, no beasts' bodies exploded and killed them. However, all of them either went mad or, if not mad, became extremely savage. They met the same end as the monsters they had hunted and eaten.

And then, a similar thing happened again. Over and over, and over again. Originally, it was a fight for survival.

But at some point, it twisted from a fight for survival into a scramble for power. It was because everyone realized that the madness left by the Immortal's remains had faded enough to be manageable. The beasts were not patient creatures to begin with.

When greed overcame fear, everyone's eyes turned red. Cheong-o did not dare to join the frenzied slaughter, watching quietly from the side. Rather than waiting for an opportunity, he was held back by a lingering hope.

Cheong-o's explanation was different, but that was how Jaekyung understood it. 'So greed isn't exclusive to humans.' In any case, Cheong-o's lingering hope and patience were eventually rewarded.

One day, a beast Cheong-o had been watching killed its enemies and hid itself, covered in wounds. The beast successfully avoided the eyes of its enemies, but it did not know that a single bird was watching it from afar.

The beast intended to treat its wounds in a place no one knew, but it had overlooked how deep its injuries were. In the end, the beast vomited blood and died in the place where it had hidden to treat its wounds. The blood splattered into a nearby puddle, and the small puddle soon became a small pond.

Watching this from a distance, Cheong-o's heart pounded. He wanted to fly over immediately, tear at the beast's corpse, and drink the water of the pond. But fear stopped his wings.

What if there's another one nearby? I'm so small, what if my body explodes and I die, or what if I go mad? One 'what if' led to another.

While Cheong-o dithered, the originally colorless pond gradually turned red. And then, from somewhere, a frog appeared. The frog approached the pond as if mesmerized.

Only then did Cheong-o flap his wings in regret, but it was already too late. The frog approaching the pond was clearly no ordinary frog. It was not an opponent a small bird, whose only skill was flying, could handle.

Having finally given up, Cheong-o watched with a churning stomach as the frog reached the edge of the pond. To be precise, it stopped at the edge of the pond. It leaned its body forward as if wanting to enter, but did not lift its feet.

Cheong-o could sense fear and hesitation in its reluctant posture. A moment later, the pond, red as blood, began to bubble and boil, and its color slowly started to fade. And a small lotus bud rose from within the boiling pond.

The frog stopped at the edge of the pond, and Cheong-o watching from afar, could not take their eyes off the lotus the moment they saw it. They knew instinctively that it would be beneficial to them. Cheong-o waited with bloodshot eyes, hoping the frog might give up or perhaps leave because of some urgent matter.

But cruelly, the frog did not move from that spot, as if it had become a stone statue. It neither entered the pond nor left it. It was waiting.

For the lotus to fully bloom. Upon hearing this much, Jaekyung remembered something he had briefly forgotten.

"Wait a minute. When was that? I mean, when you couldn't stand it anymore and left."

"Huh? I don't know."

Jaekyung felt a wave of frustration. It had been roughly two months since he first met Cheong-o, so it had to have been at least two months. It could have been much longer.

"By now, that frog fellow must have drunk not only the lotus but all the water in the pond."

As a deflated Jaekyung spoke bluntly, Cheong-o shrieked that it couldn't be true.

"The lotus hasn't bloomed yet! I go and check on it every day!"

You go and check on it every day? Jaekyung straightened his posture. His cooled enthusiasm rekindled.

He had thought Cheong-o disappeared to go sleep in a safe place, but it seemed he had been going to watch over the lotus. Wait, it's been at least two months and it still hasn't fully bloomed? Is that normal?

'No. That's not right.' He was trying to understand this world with the common sense of his past life again. When on earth would he be able to erase this bad habit?

"Is that frog fellow still guarding the place?"

"Yes."

"How does it eat and sleep?"

"It does everything there. There are fish in the pond."

So what was originally a puddle became a pond, and now it even has fish in it? How strange indeed. There aren't any other monsters besides fish in there, are there?

'What should I do.' In truth, his mind was already made up. He was just thinking it over one more time.

If this was really the right thing to do. If he wasn't making a mistake. This was clearly an adventure fraught with danger.

There was no guarantee that the treasure chest at the end of the adventure would contain a worthy reward. On the other hand, the danger, though its extent was unknown, was certainly real. The him of the past would not have undertaken such an adventure.

Ssssk- Jaekyung moved his stiff body. Then he happened to see the massive shadow cast beneath the tree. If he hadn't known it was his own shadow, he would have thought it was a monster.

"That frog fellow... is it strong?"

"I don't know. Probably... it's probably strong."

"Is that so?"

He had actually hoped for an answer like 'No,' or 'Not stronger than you.' Well, that was fine too. Jaekyung suddenly recalled a phrase from his past life that he had found impressive.

'A ship is safest in harbor, but that is not what ships are for,' was it? Unless he planned to stay deep inland his whole life, now that he had come to a place where the sea breeze blew, he had no choice but to board a ship and set out to sea.

When you thought about it, it was not so different from what he had been doing until now. Everything was for survival. He filled his belly to survive, and he sought to become stronger to survive.

Thinking like that made him feel at ease. The tension remained, but the anxiety was gone. In its place, motivation filled him.

"Guide me."

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb. I know you're clever. You let it slip on purpose. To use me."

Having hunted and spent time together for about two months, Jaekyung had a general grasp of this fellow called Cheong-o. This little guy was like a coin. One side was innocent, the other was cunning. Two seemingly incompatible facets coexisted within this small creature.

"I wasn't thinking anything bad!"

"Don't make excuses. I don't think it's bad. It's natural. Nothing new about it. Isn't it what we've been doing all along?"

"Huh?"

"Think about it. This is just another hunt. It's just that the prey is a little more dangerous."

Cheong-o hesitated, then spoke.

"Then, then what about the lotus?"

"We can just split it fairly."

"But there's only one."

"It should have multiple petals, right?"

It was as if a lightbulb appeared over Cheong-o's head. The light returned to his anxiously wavering eyes.

"Okay! Okay! Are we going now? Are we going right now?"

"Calm down."

Jaekyung calmed down Cheong-o, whose motivation had suddenly exploded. If he had his way, he would have liked to do the same, but he was still sufficiently rational. He had just molted.

Even though his body felt like it was overflowing with power, his condition was definitely not at its peak.

"You went yesterday too, right?"

"Yes."

"How was it? Did the lotus look like it was about to bloom?"

Cheong-o quickly nodded his head, then seemed to think for a moment before shaking it again.

"I don't know. But I'm anxious..."

"Don't be impatient. Rushing things will only make what could have been successful fail."

It was a remark directed at Cheong-o, but also one he was telling himself.

* "Mmm."

After a deep sleep, he could feel that his body was definitely in better condition. Right after he finished molting, it felt like his whole body was overflowing with power, but after a night's sleep and some thought, it seemed that was a temporary, sort of awakened state.

A state where the body was tired and wounded, yet only power overflowed… If he had used his strength in that state, his body probably would have started creaking before long. An even more serious problem might have occurred.

On the other hand, his body's condition now, after a night's sleep, was perfect beyond compare. He had never felt like this since being reborn.

"Jaekyung! Jaekyung!"

Cheong-o flew in as if he had been waiting. It was a first. This fellow usually appeared late, only after Jaekyung was fully awake and his stomach began to signal hunger.

But now, not only did he come early as if his tail was on fire, he even waited quietly. 'I guess the one in need is the one who bows.' Jaekyung grinned and slithered down the tree.

"Are we going now?"

"Well. How far is that pond from here?"

"It's close!"

Cheong-o's words couldn't be trusted. By the standards of a creature that flew through the sky, almost anywhere would seem close. But he had to crawl on the ground.

Jaekyung questioned him in detail and confirmed that the distance to the pond, while not close, was not that far either. He also confirmed that the direction was, as expected, 'away from the river.' 'This is no coincidence.'

Ever since hearing about the humans across the river from Cheong-o, Jaekyung had consistently moved away from that river. But before long, he realized something was strange. At some point, everything he could see changed.

Everything, both seen and unseen. The trees and grass grew larger and denser, and the blowing wind felt more refreshing. It wasn't a delusion.

The difference became more pronounced the farther he got from the river. Cheong-o said it was natural. Jaekyung didn't know what was so natural about it, but this change was a positive one for him.

It became easier to find a branch to spend the night on, and easier to find prey. The number of roaming beasts had increased, but that was because their bodies had grown larger. To such an extent that the pig he had once hunted with great effort would barely be considered average here.

The beasts here were not at a level that could be dismissed as simply being well-developed. They felt like a different species altogether. Jaekyung thought of the parents of this life, from whom he had been separated after only a few days.

Perhaps that giant snake had also come from a place far from the river. Could it be that it had traveled for days on end to find a safe place to lay its young (eggs), finally reaching that cave? 'If that's really the case, does that mean that somewhere over there, it's teeming with such monsters?'

He felt a sense of suffocation. But on the other hand, he also felt a sense of relief. If such a place truly existed, it would surely be a place that human hands had not yet reached.

"Let's go."

He might go there someday. But even if he did, it would be in the distant future. As they moved, Jaekyung told Cheong-o to let him know if he spotted any suitable prey.

He didn't know how long they would be traveling, so he intended to fill his stomach when he had the chance.

"Okay!"

Cheong-o agreed and flew higher with vigor. It was a display of motivation rarely seen. His intentions were obvious, but it wasn't annoying.