A large, callous hand seized Leon’s collar. Despite his body veering under the arm’s autonomy, Leon maintained an icy, stoic demeanor. However, the village chief and Demis quickly grabbed Jackie’s shoulders, opening their mouths to say something, but then—
“Don’t let go of that hand!”
Grandma shouted thunderously, advancing with wide strides.
In a blink of an eye, Grandma squeezed in between the two and forcefully separated Jackie’s hand from Leon’s collar. Jackie, as well as his subordinates, were visibly shaken, perhaps due to the severity of the situation. However, the man who lost not only his chickens but almost his wife wasn’t going to retreat as easily.
“Grandma, you wouldn’t act like this if you knew the situation!”
“Aren’t you ashamed? Accusing us without any evidence, spouting baseless words as if they were the truth?”
“No evidence? Did Gemini and I hallucinate seeing that thing? It’s clear that a black, furry creature attacked us! It fled as soon as I tried to fight back!”
Leon took a deep breath. The grip on his collar, though vicious, had not shaken his upright posture.
“That ‘black, furry’ thing in our house didn’t attack Mrs. Gemini, did it?”
All eyes turned to Leon.
“What nonsense is this?”
“The wolf in my room right now is unfortunately silver. Everyone in the village saw it last time.”
“On such a dark night, naturally, all objects appear black—.”
“It’s not visible. In fact, white objects appear even whiter in the dark. This is because they reflect what little light there is.”
Everyone exchanged glances. Jackie clenched his fists in lieu of being swept away by the strange confusion.
“We were attacked unexpectedly. Our vision blurred in the sudden situation. If you’re going to catch on to irrelevant details… .”
“Moreover, what did you say earlier?”
Leon ruthlessly continued his words, sounding as if he were a completely different person.
“The wolf attacked you and Mrs. Gemini even while the ‘dogs were asleep’? Judging by your words, it seems that the dog didn’t even bark. Mr. has been keeping a hunting dog tied up next to the chicken coop for over 10 years. What was its name again?”
Leon shot a cold look at everyone.
“Wasn’t it definitely ‘Blackie’, as its fur color is dark?”
As everyone turned their gaze towards Jackie, he trembled as if he had been slapped.
“We have raised Blackie ever since it was a puppy. Are you saying it suddenly lost its senses and attacked us? Is that right?”
“Before, even on the day your chickens died, Blackie didn’t make a single noise. Have you considered checking Blackie’s place at the mere chance it holds chicken feathers soaked in blood?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Jackie cleared his throat, looking straight at the crowd, but no one dared to step forward.
“Blackie is just a dog! It only brought fur back to the house because it was attracted by the smell of blood.”
“Oh, so that’s how you see it?”
“Damn it! Blackie has been tied up next to our chicken coop for over 10 years. It doesn’t make sense for it to suddenly kill chickens!”
“Why do you think it doesn’t make sense? We are ‘survivors’, after all.”
Jackie, the village chief, and even Demis gasped. A wave of unrest dispersed among the people.
The surroundings drew to silence, the sound of torches only crackling in the night. The intense heat had rendered everyone’s cheeks red, which served to amplify the fear they felt.
The village chief cleared his throat with great effort.
“Of course, we all remember how terrible the disaster was, Leon. At nightfall, every animal on this land turned violent. The animals we raised were no exception. At first, it only happened at dawn, but later, their agitation persisted throughout the course of days on end, and people too, in the blink of an eye… .”
He stopped talking, looking like he had been choked, but Leon remained silent, not even raising an eyebrow. His usual gentle and courteous conduct disappeared into the smoke.
“Do you believe that the disaster has started again?”
The village chief, the people, and even Jackie looked at Leon. The only one uninterested in receiving answers was Grandma, who held an inscrutable expression.
How much time has passed since the sound of crackling torches? Finally, when Leon’s voice fractured the silence, his inflection was so sardonic that everyone could feel it.
“We don’t know that yet. The only one who could see the black smoke contaminating both people and animals was the hero. Perhaps that person needs to check Blackie directly.”
“That’s true, but it’s not easy to bring a hero whose whereabouts we aren’t sure of… .”
“Or,”
Just as though he hadn’t heard someone muttering, Leon continued speaking.
“We could check Blackie ourselves right now. Only then can we truly assess whether Blackie is in good condition or not.”
“Nonsense! Spouting nonsense to cover up his own wolf! What tomfoolery about the ‘disaster’ arising again!”
“Mr. Jackie… .”
Demis spoke for the first time. Although he seemed to be unable to grasp whether he should be relieved at this situation or not—a situation where he didn’t have to swing an axe right away or grow dismayed at the bleak prospect of not knowing whether the disaster truly returned—as a doctor who had run an animal hospital, he hadn’t lost his reason.
“Even if it’s not because of the disaster, it seems necessary to check Blackie. Dogs with rabies can become excessively erratic and go on a rampage. I’m pretty sure I can take a look.”
“I… I, Blackie… me and my wife clearly… .”
Jackie looked around as if waiting for anyone to step forward and support him. It didn’t take him long to realize that no one was willing to do so.
“Fine, okay. But if Blackie remains unharmed and shows no suspicious behavior, Leon, I’ll personally break your wolf’s bones.”
He spat at Leon’s feet.
And so, the procession of torches swarmed back to the village, resembling a school of red fish swimming against the current of a dark river. Leon grabbed Grandma’s arm, who seemed like she wanted to follow.
“I’ll be back soon. Grandma, stay at home with the puppy.”
“If those bastards grab your collar one more time…!”
“Then I might have to show Grandma my skill in side-kicking.”
Leon faintly smiled, glancing at the window of his room. Placing his front paws on the windowsill, the keen puppy received a smile from Leon, but whether his sentiments were conveyed remained uncertain.
He left the cabin and trailed behind the horde of villagemen. The men fell silent as Leon approached, sealing their mouths shut the further he approached. The emotions painted on the faces of such big, bulky men were like red paint: conveying a mix of distrust, tension, faint frustration, and a desperate desire to deny reality.
“Leon, are you okay?”
Demis, who had lowered his axe, asked.
“If Blackie is normal, then your wolf… .”
“Nothing is certain yet. There’s no need to say unnecessary things.”
Demis looked at the unfamiliar young man with a slightly opened mouth.
The young man, with ashen hair and a complexion as pale and fragile as gilded glass, looked the same as usual. At least, outwardly, it seemed that way.
However, anyone who had known and spent even a month with Leon would feel strangely discomforted seeing him now. The villagers’ reluctance to approach Leon from the very beginning was not just because they were afraid of hinting at a disaster.
“Are you angry?”
“No.”
“….”
“I’m trying to stay calm.”
Leon didn’t need to try any harder. He already seemed calmer than Mount Tai. Even now, when the village chief—a man of ripe age—couldn’t completely hide his disquiet, the silence of the twenty-year-old was intimidating.
In a sense, he appeared acquainted with life’s ups and downs and looked to be impending death like an old man would on his deathbed. No, a dying old man wouldn’t probably be as calm as Leon.
The village came into view, and Jackie’s house got closer. Jackie dragged Leon to the backyard where the chicken coop was, clenching tightly onto Leon’s arm.
“Look, Blackie is always up here… .”
His pompous tirade abruptly cut off when Leon raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, it seems so.”
A thick post with an iron chain lay starkly in the yard, but the big, black dog was nowhere to be found. The only evidence that a black dog had ever existed was the tattered dog collar hanging on the opposite side of the iron chain. As a gust of wind swept over people’s heads, the silence deepened.
“Sometimes, this happens! It’s a well-known fact that Blackie can easily loosen his collar. Blackie sometimes used to wander around the village with its collar off, but it never caused any harm… .”
“On the day the chickens died, its collar was loose too. Isn’t that right?”
Jackie turned away from Leon with a face seething in anger. In the meantime, Demis, who had put his head inside Blackie’s house, came out holding a tuft of fur stained with blood.
“It was under the blanket. Seems suspicious.”
“I told you before that Blackie gets stimulated by the sight of blood and…!”
“Sir.”
Jackie opened his mouth to unleash a barrage of criticism, but Leon decidedly didn’t pay attention to him. Instead, slowly, very slowly, he moved towards the unnaturally quiet chicken coop.
Come to think of it, the chickens, which should have been stirred awake by the noise, were silent. They didn’t seem to be moving at all. They were huddled together in the dark coop, where the moonlight couldn’t reach… Yes, as if they were dead.
TL/N Wishing everyone a Happy New Year! May the coming year bring you all the best experiences. As a gift, I present five updates and my drawing of Leon and his puppy even though I somehow managed to forget that it was Western fantasy…
Thanks so much for the update! Things are getting interesting!!!! Happy New Year
THAT ART IS IMMACULATE!♡♡♡ 10/10 Leon is so incredibly handsome! Especially love the intricate details on his clothes and folds!♡ You’re an amazing artist!
Thank youuuu QAQ💛💛💛
Oh, sorry! I didnt mean to reply under you~ This is my first time replying under a comment section (Had to be said)😂 so I made the mistake. I hope you don’t mind
thank youu and ur welcommeee😍💛💛
Omg, is the disaster really starting again? 😨 But Leon is so weak, how would he be able to fight it a second time? 😥
Also the cliffhanger left me like aaaaaaaa 😫
😂
Thank you kindly both for the translation as well as the art. It’s really pretty! And it’s alright, the clothes look so good on Leon that we can ignore the fact that they don’t fit the genre 😂
Thank youu💛💛💛💛 Near the end of drawing I was like… something is wrong😂😂
Ahhhhh the suspense.
Unfortunately the drawing won’t load for me, but I’m sure it’s badass.