That was the biggest thing that the people who were originally from Earth were surprised about. They had fought with the monsters, but it never occurred to them that they could eat the monsters that had killed and ate the humans. However, to Khalodian, it did not matter. They had learned to process the monsters into meat and eat them. Also, many monsters were made into food for other livestock and the other animals that they kept such as the Keroxes.
“Keep those intestines to feed the Keroxes!”
Keroxes were given large amounts of intestines and their trainers watched them eating the intestines away.
“Oh! No! Don’t fight!”
And between those Keroxes was a small girl. With her special power to befriend animals, she was fine while staying near tens of Keroxes.
“Helicopter?”
Joonbum then turned to a helicopter landing nearby.
“I think we have the new arrivals of those we have rescued.”
People began descending from the helicopter and soldiers guided them to a designated area.
“Huh?”
Jinpok then looked confused.
“What’s going on?”
“Huh? Uh, no… it’s…”
Jinpok had a weird expression which caused Joonbum to turn to the people coming out of the helicopter. They were all tired and exhausted.
‘What’s going on?’
He didn’t notice anyone special, but Jinpok seemed to know those people.
“Wait… no… that can’t be… but… no way…”
Joonbum then turned again to the tens of people who had left the helicopter. Most of them had various diseases and wounds that they had accrued over years of hiding.
“Huh?”
Then, a small girl ran out of the herd of Keroxes toward the group of rescued people.
“MOM! MOM!”
People were shocked to hear young girl, Misun, shouting as she ran.
“Wow. She actually found her mom.”
Jinpok mumbled and Misun ran up to a woman and sobbed in her embrace. Soon, Jungho, her brother, also ran up to them and they cried as they were reunited.
“Your Majesty. We have the mother of the two children.”
The soldier came to report and Joonbum nodded. He then continued in detail, “The area that Ahn Jungho told us was very detailed, so it was easy to find their original hideout. However, their mother and aunt left the area right before we found the hideout, so we had to track them down. Fortunately, we managed to get to them just in time.”
“In time? What do you mean?”
“They were trying to throw themselves off the cliff, Your Majesty.”
Joonbum felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He had seen similar happenings in Khalodian when the Empire did not take control over the world. The easiest way for people to run away from their suffering was sometimes to end their lives.
“At least we managed to rescue them before that happened, thanks to Jungho’s great memory.”
“Right. I heard his memory is very good.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. He can draw everything that he has seen if he is given a piece of paper and a pen.”
Just like Misun who had a special power of befriending animals, her brother Jungho had the power to recall anything that he had seen before.
“It’s a small world.”
Jinpok mumbled and Joonbum turned to him.
“What?”
“The world is so small. I didn’t expect them to still be alive.”
Jinpok frowned and then laughed. He was reminiscing about the old times.
‘Huh? What is he… wait.’
The expression that ‘the world is so small’ could only be used in very limited situations.
‘He knows someone there?’
Joonbum then turned back and noticed the children’s mother and aunt.
‘Hm…?’
They were familiar. Joonbum then narrowed his eyes and scrutinized them closely. Soon his eyes opened wide with shock.
“What?!”
“You remember now?”
Joonbum nodded.
“Lee Youngah! Ahn Suhee! It’s them!”
Joonbum pointed out and Jinpok nodded, “Yeah.”
As both of them stared at the two women, they also turned to look at them.
‘Will they remember us?’ Joonbum wondered. However, it seemed that the two women did not seem to recognize either of them.
‘Yeah, I guess not.’
Jinpok and Joonbum had undergone such huge changes with their physical bodies that it would be hard to recognize them.
‘Well, we should leave it at that, then.’
If the women did not remember them, there was no need to dredge up old memories.
“Haha. But what a coincidence. Don’t you think so?”
Jinpok just smiled as he shook away the old memories. Doral was curious but he did not ask.
“Yeah. It feels weird.”
Joonbum’s sight lingered on the two women walking towards the designated area.
End of Chapter
