Gyeol was sitting on a flat surface in the corner of the yard, sharpening his large, broad sword. The sword was currently the only item of his clan that remained.
Crunch, rustling, rustling...
The slanting sunlight, dipping slowly into the horizon, was completely absorbed by his back, his forehead tanned with a copper hue. The sword was so hard that it looked more like a whetstone being sharpened than a blade itself. When the whetstone became thin, Gyeol would toss it aside and retrieve a suitable whetstone from somewhere near the stream, then sharpen the sword again.
Crunch, rustling, rustling...
In fact, his sword, imbued with a spirit, needed no care. Its inherent powers knew how to maintain its sharpness, preventing it from becoming dull. However, the hidden Kyeol needed a routine. He no longer hunted like he used to, and with no people to care for him, he was left to sharpen his poor sword.
The mighty sword that protected the wolf tribe by cutting through the wind was silently sharpening its whetstone, as if accepting the miserable reality of the present, surrendering itself to its master's meaningless gestures.
Kyeol, the leader of the gray wolf tribe, was originally a brave wolf.
Even as the battle with humans intensified, he never grew pessimistic or weak. However, as his people vanished during his time here, and the disappearance of his two beloved children became increasingly apparent, his once-fiery fighting spirit gradually faded.
When he first arrived here, he hoped the two children he'd left behind in the forest might still be alive, desperately trying to survive. Kyeol searched the forest day and night, searching for traces of the children. He also searched for any survivors who had returned to the now-ruined wolf tribe home. To support Kyeol, I spent the night and early morning wandering around with him, excluding the time I spent at the temple.
But was it because the war was prolonged..?
The wolf tribe's traces vanished with astonishing speed. Human cruelty likely played a role. Not long ago, we had been searching for wolves who had failed to completely conceal their spirits, hiding in a human village. We learned of this too late, and we tried to rescue some of them, but it was too late. Gyeol, watching the execution of the captured wolves and the humans who had helped them from afar, clenched his fists so tightly that they bled. The crimson blood dripping down his thumb seemed to represent the agony squeezing his heart.
After that day, Kyeol returned home and lived quietly for a while, no longer searching for his people or his children. So much time had passed that even if the children remained in the forest, their survival was uncertain. But he seemed to have given up so quickly that I felt it was uncharacteristic of him. The curiosity, drive, and intelligence he once had were quickly fading away.
The passion for life disappeared from Gyeol, who lost his family.
I felt apologetic that for a while, Gyeol-i kept his true form hidden and remained in human form, as if it were taking away his firepower. For ordinary beastmen, human form was a form transformed through magical powers, so maintaining it all day was no easy feat. Of course, Gyeol-i possessed magical powers on a different level than ordinary beastmen, so remaining in human form wasn't terribly uncomfortable... After bringing Gyeol-i here, I sent even the family members, who were almost nonexistent to begin with, back home, citing the war as a reason. But still, we were cautious, afraid that there might be unexpected visitors... and there were houses nearby, so we were careful. Gyeol-i rarely revealed his true form, even when he slept.
I was leaning against the porch pillar, watching the man quietly sharpening his knife... when suddenly a thought occurred to me.
Could it be that he will end up living like this among humans, in human form?
Even though the land of the water people was falling into despair, I felt a strange sense of relief at being able to be close to him. I'd often wondered since I was young: if he hadn't been the chieftain's successor, or if I hadn't belonged to the temple, would we have been able to be more than friends?
The time I spent with Gyeol in my childhood was the only time I could feel alive and vital. However, after I was suddenly selected as a priestess at the temple, I was forced to confront him, and I could no longer be close to him.
After that, while he took another woman as his wife and had descendants in order to continue the lineage as the patriarch... I had to be content with just being able to hear news of my precious Gyeol-i and still see him as a friend. I didn't tell him, but there were times when I was foolishly hoping that if I were kicked out of the temple, Gyeol-i would accept me, who had nowhere to go, and that maybe he would embrace me. But we each agreed to do our best in our own worlds, and I tried to keep that promise. And unfortunately, the more I diligently walked my own path, and the more I rose to the rank of senior priestess, the more distant I became from Gyeol-i, and I could only pray for his happiness and prosperity from afar.
but...
Having spent the past few weeks completely with Kyeol, I've been feeling a nagging feeling. As he loses his vitality, dark thoughts are blooming within me without me realizing it. If I keep going like this, won't I finally have Kyeol all to myself? If I can keep him here, so he can't leave me behind, wouldn't that be good for me at least? If I can be alone with him, won't all the bruised times I've had to give him up to someone else, the heartache of not being able to get closer, be repaid?
Crunch, rustling, rustling... thud!
As I tossed the whetstone, now thin, into the corner of the yard, it shattered with a loud crack. Thanks to this, my briefly-blooming dark fantasies were shattered as well. As I watched Gyeol from behind a pillar on the veranda, I realized how far my thoughts had stretched. I felt a pang of nausea at the realization that I was, in the end, one of the same vicious humans who had started the war. Standing on the veranda, I offered Gyeol a handkerchief to wipe away his sweat, but unable to approach him any further, I returned to my room.
Even though it was considerably cooler inside the room than outside, I sweated more than I did on the veranda. As I sat in the room, trying to calm my pounding heart, I found myself laughing at myself in disbelief.
It would be bad and harmful for you, the noble one, to approach me.
Of course, even if I were to put my dark fantasies into action, and no matter how well Gyeol-i maintained his human form, it wouldn't last long. We both knew we couldn't stay here forever. If it were revealed that I had hidden him, I wouldn't just be stripped of my title as a priestess, I'd be executed for sparing the beastmen. Perhaps even my innocent family members and the baby priestesses in the temple would suffer harm. Furthermore, if Gyeol-i were revealed to be the leader of the wolf tribe, they might literally demand the destruction of the entire clan... Of course, since I have no parents or siblings, even the destruction of the entire clan wouldn't mean much...
"Seol, I'm going to go get a whetstone."
I heard Gyeol talking outside.
"Okay, I get it~ Shall we go together?"
"No, that's okay. I'll go alone~"
Gyeol's shadow, cast long by the sunset on the door, soon crossed the yard and disappeared. He could have gone out and fetched several whetstones, but Gyeol meticulously selected only one. Even though they were stones destined to disappear, he chose them with keen precision. He sharpened them until they disappeared, then tossed them into the corner of the yard. Perhaps that was how you dealt with your grief and found solace.
I can't stand the loss of vitality any longer. Just as you were the one who brought me back to life when I was losing my vitality without my father, this time I'll try to save you...
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This is what I wrote when I saw Namjoon lying between the moon jars when the Vogue pictorial came out last year... Since I uploaded it as a regular novel, the name is Kyeol..! Hahaha