chapter 0
0 – Prologue
It is said that hunters and prostitutes are the first professions of humanity.
And our family cautiously speculated that ‘woodcutter’ might also be one of the first professions of humanity.
The members who were good at hunting brought food, the attractive members took care of them, and what did the leftovers do? They must have gathered firewood to get a piece of meat.
Considering that human civilization started from the discovery of fire, this speculation would not be dismissed as nonsense.
“Finally, you are dying. You are the enemy of the plants.”
That’s why our family has taken woodcutting as a sacred duty for generations.
In modern times, the profession of hunter declined, and it was hard to prostitute with a man’s body, so the only choice left was woodcutter.
This was a family business that started from the grandfather’s idea that ‘if it is a profession that has existed since the beginning, you will not starve to death at least.’
Of course, I couldn’t fool the blood, so I also lived as a woodcutter.
I built a brilliant career that suited my aptitude.
“You really lived a life like a donkey.”
…I can’t agree with the evaluation of a donkey-like life, but I can say that it was a boring life.
Because I spent most of my life in the forest, I gave up many things for almost 10 years.
If you call restraint and solidity boredom, maybe my life was a boring life.
“Kwuk!”
That doesn’t mean I regret my past choices.
The family business was a decision I made myself, and what would change if I regret it now?
And what’s wrong with a boring life? If you package it as a slow life, there would be a truckload of people who would envy you.
Well, even that boring life seemed to become spectacular at the end….
“Kuluk―!!”
I spat out the blood clot that was obstructing my breathing and pulled out the chainsaw that was stuck in the fur.
The creature that was twitching a moment ago was spilling crimson blood and losing its life.
A huge body as big as a small car and a distinctive white fur pattern on the chest. And the characteristic of living in Jirisan.
It was hard to think normally because of the terrible dizziness, but it was not a difficult task to identify the identity of the thing that was lying under me.
‘It was a moon bear…’
The giant black bear that had fought with me just now.
It was undoubtedly the top predator of Jirisan, the half-moon chest bear.
‘National Park Service, you crazy bastards…’
I couldn’t stand the dizzying vertigo and collapsed forward.
I leaned on the back of the moon bear and hugged the hot chainsaw to my chest, and a clueless warmth settled on my cold shoulders.
It seemed like I was bleeding too much.
My mind was hazy and I even let out a hollow laugh.
“Puhuk! Kuhuk!”
I couldn’t believe it until now, spitting blood because it was too absurd.
I was attacked by a half-moon chest bear while logging in Jirisan? And then I knocked it down with a chainsaw and ended up in a coma?
If I wrote a novel like this, I would get a lot of criticism for breaking the plausibility.
It was beyond ridiculous and bewildering.
『You have an uncomfortable death that doesn’t suit you.』
I slowly looked down at my body at the hallucination that had been nagging me.
Blood wouldn’t stop flowing from the neck that was bitten off by a chunk, and the body that had become a mess looked amazing to be alive until now.
It was certain that it looked painfully awful, whether objectively or subjectively.
‘Is this a peaceful death?’
So he couldn’t accept it at all.
How could dying from being torn apart by a half-moon bear look comfortable?
The hallucination that he couldn’t tell if it was a death god or an angel seemed to have wished for him to die shredded.
It was nothing but a curse for the dying.
He wanted to spit on that nasty mouth, but it was frustrating that he couldn’t do that because it was a hallucination.
“This is the last time… how unlucky….”
He squeezed out the remaining strength and raised his middle finger straight up.
May this insult reach the sky. May that rude hallucination be punished.
He prayed and closed his eyes quietly.
『I summon you in the name of nature.』
As he did, his mind became faint and a deep sleep came over him.
He seemed to have reached the end of his flashback like a carousel.
He accepted his death and exhaled his last breath.
『Come here, you who swallowed the forest.』
But at the last moment.
The hallucination of a beautiful voice that seemed to pull him,
『It’s time to pay for your sins.』
With such clear hatred and hostility,
He declared a new beginning for me, not an end.