Side Story Chapter 99 - One Day (1)

"Haaa, haaa, haaa."

The unquenching thirst was burning Oh Kang-Woo's throat. He felt like he was hallucinating from the pain of his cells drying up.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" he cursed as he pulled on his hair.

Kang-Woo looked around and saw tall sharp rocks, cracks in the earth, and a red sky.

"Where... the hell am I?"

It happened almost instantaneously— a black Gate suddenly appeared in front of him as he was dragging his fatigued self to his one-room apartment after a day's worth of hard work. He was sucked into it before he even had time to evade it and ended up in a place he had never seen before once he opened his eyes.

"A-Aaaahh."

Kang-Woo thought it was a dream at first; he thought he was hallucinating because he had pushed himself too hard to make enough to pay the overdue rent. However, he did not wake up from this nightmare no matter how much time passed. The sky continued to burn red and he was surrounded by arid land covered in rocks.

"Shit, shit..."

He couldn't tell how much time had passed since he ended up here. The burning red sky darkened three times so he could only assume three days had passed.

"H-Hurgh. What the fuck... what in the actual fuck?"

Kang-Woo staggered. He couldn't form tears because even his eyes had dried up. He hid between the tall sharp rocks and trembled.

"Water... water..."

He was going insane from dehydration. Every cell in his body was desperate for water.

"Haaa, haaa. Water, water, water, water."

He stood up as he swayed and pulled down his pants. He aimed at a small hole in the rock and peed. A dark yellow fluid pooled in the hole.

"

Huff, huff, huff!

"

A disgusting scent attacked Kang-Woo's sense of smell but he couldn't care less.

"WATER!!!"

He crouched as he panted heavily and licked the urine pooled in the hole. He suppressed his desire to vomit with all his might from the disgusting salty taste and the nasty stench and licked every last drop of the urine.

"Haaa, haaa."

His mind became clearer with the sensation of his thirst being quenched.

"..."

Kang-Woo aggressively bit his lip.

'I can't keep doing this.'

There was barely any urine coming out anymore.

"I need... something to drink."

However, he had no idea if water even existed in this arid land. He had spent a lot of time searching the surroundings but couldn't even find trees or plants. All that he found in three days was...

"A monster..."

It was a giant wolf about three meters long. It had two horns on its forehead and its fangs gleamed like knives. He barely managed to escape from the monster on his second day here.

'I was lucky.'

The monster wolf suddenly gave up on chasing Kang-Woo once he entered the rocky terrain. He had been staying hidden here since then but was reaching his limit. He couldn't stay hidden forever.

'I need food and water.'

"Anything... even a bug."

Kang-Woo forced his trembling legs to move and came out of the space between the rocks.

'The monster wolf fell back around here.'

Kang-Woo stared at the desert terrain filled with red sand across from the rocky terrain. The wolf had chased him up to where the rocky terrain began and suddenly turned back.

"One thing for sure is... going that way is dangerous."

He might meet the monster again if he stepped foot into the red sand desert. Kang-Woo traversed deeper into the rocky region to look for food and water.

"Shit..."

He did not find anything after an hour of searching. All he could find was tall rocks— not a hint of living organisms like small bugs, rats, or snakes.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

Kang-Woo pulled on his hair in irritation. The extreme thirst drove him more insane than the fear of death.

"Please... anything," he prayed as he continued to walk.

Just then, a putrid stench attacked his nose.

"Urpp!"

He almost vomited from the stench.

'This is...'

Kang-Woo once worked as a sewer cleaner and the stench he had been familiarized with was coming from beyond the wall of rocks in front of him.

"Poop...?"

Kang-Woo carefully approached the rocks and soon found the source of the stench. There was a one-meter pile of brown poop under the rock wall.

"..."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and examined the poop.

'It's recent.'

He brought his hand close to the poop and could feel its warmth, meaning the one who excreted this giant pile of poop was nearby.

"Shit."

Kang-Woo bit his lip. Considering the pile of poop was almost a meter tall, the one who excreted it was likely far taller.

"I guess... I wasn't lucky."

He recalled the monster wolf turning back as soon as he entered the rocky region.

'This must be a different monster's territory.'

Kang-Woo had no idea whose territory this was but he was at least sure he was no match for it. After all, a three-meter monster gave up on Kang-Woo, its prey, once he entered the other monster's territory.

"Haaa, haaa."

Kang-Woo was filled with anxiety. His heart beat so strong it was about to burst.

'First...'

He scooped a handful of the giant pile of poop and took a large bite.

"Urpp! BLEEEEEEEEEEEGHHH!!!"

He felt his intestines wringing. He tried to eat some with the hope that he could eat it but its stench and taste was so bad that he vomited out the poop along with some stomach juices.

'I can't eat this.'

Kang-Woo bit his lip. If he couldn't eat it, he would have to look around for something else— in the rocky territory of an unknown monster.

"Huuu, huuu," he caught his breath and turned around to look down at the giant pile of poop.

'If I don't want to get discovered...'

Splat, splat.

"Urgh, fuck."

Kang-Woo smeared the poop all over himself. He couldn't handle its horrible taste but could just barely endure its putrid stench. No, even if he couldn't endure it, he needed to if he wanted to survive.

'If the monster here relies on its sense of smell, I should be able to somewhat hide my presence with this.'

Other powerful monsters might also run away as well after getting a scent of the poop, just like how the monster wolf in the red sand desert had.

"Alright."

Kang-Woo finished covering every part of himself with the poop and carefully traversed the rocky territory. He wouldn't last any longer if he didn't find something to drink by today.

'Please, please.'

Kang-Woo desperately looked around but like before, there was only arid land and rocks. There wasn't even a tiny bug in sight.

'What the hell is with this place?'

He couldn't understand why there was nothing to eat or drink in a place where even a three-meter wolf could live. There should at least be a puddle of water.

'Then what do these goddamn monsters eat and drink?'

Kang-Woo was filled with frustration and rage, unable to understand the situation.

Rustle, splatter.

"...!"

Just then, Kang-Woo heard something loving on the other side of a rock wall. He became wide-eyed as he crouched and carefully stuck close to the rock wall. He peeked on the other side of the wall.

'Wh-What the hell is that?'

It was twice as large as the monster wolf that had chased him in the red sand desert. A giant dog with black fur was curled up into a ball and darting its tongue in and out, red flames igniting around its mouth each time it did. Its claws scratching the ground were so sharp that it was sinking into the rock.

'Is that... the boss of this territory?'

Kang-Woo could tell from a glance that it was powerful.

"..."

Kang-Woo examined the monster anxiously.

'It hasn't discovered me.'

Kang-Woo could see it sniffing but it didn't detect him; it seemed like he had made the right call to smear poop all over himself.

'Hm?'

Just then, he saw something small moving between the curled-up monster. He took a closer look and saw that it was a smaller dog rubbing its cheek on the larger dog's stomach. Although it was smaller, it was still easily over a meter long.

'Is that its baby?'

It was likely the case considering how similar they looked. The giant black dog was licking the small dog as if it were a precious treasure. Anyone could see that it was a mother caring for her baby but Kang-Woo's heart was not filled with warmth since the dog was over five meters and breathing fire.

"..."

Kang-Woo crawled on the ground so that he would make as little sound as possible and got far away from the monster's nest.

"Pwah! Haaa, haaa!" he panted heavily once he got far away from the nest and fell to the ground. "Fucking hell..."

Kang-Woo could understand why the monster wolf had turned back.

'What do I do?'

He might be able to hunt the baby dog but there was no way he could when it was stuck to the mother.

'Should I find something else to eat?'

Kang-Woo thought about it for a while but shook his head. He had spent the last several hours looking around but found nothing. Not only that but he did not have much time; his lips were dried up and his vision was getting blurry due to dehydration.

'I have to kill that monster's baby.'

That was the only path to survival.

'But how?'

He needed a way to separate the mother from the baby.

"..."

Kang-Woo's mind was jumbled. Considering the monster's overwhelming size, it would instantly catch up to him and tear him apart with its sharp claws if he tried to outrun it.

'Outrunning it is impossible.'

He couldn't outrun the monster even if he were in his best condition, so it was even less likely he could when he was exhausted.

"What should I..." Kang-Woo bit his lip anxiously. "Urgh, blegh!!"

He grimaced once the monster's poop on his lips touched his tongue.

"Huh...?"

Just then, he thought of an idea.

'With this, maybe I can...'

Kang-Woo's eyes shone as he looked down at the poop he was smeared with.