Chapter 154

Kkobong (1)

Title: Introducing My New Worker

Wild Grylls

(Photo of an albino gorilla glaring viciously while wearing a suppressor around his neck)

This is Kkobong, my new worker who joined me through entirely legal means. Please treat him well from now on~

└ Heavenly Demon: He has the eyes of a beast ready to devour a man. Educating him will take some time.

└ SwordMaster: Considering he’s wearing what looks like a dog collar, I don’t think this is legal.

└ Wild Grylls: What do you mean? I never engage in illegal activities.

└ SwordMaster: That’s plainly a slave;; Isn’t slavery illegal?

└ Wild Grylls: He caused me losses first, so I merely enslaved him temporarily in accordance with the law.

└ SwordMaster: Slavery was abolished ages ago;; And who passed that judgment?

└ Wild Grylls: Me.

└ SwordMaster: Hahahahahaha!

└ He just shamelessly said, "Me," lmao.

└ You should’ve called him a prisoner instead, lol.

└ What kind of legal system is that? Lmao.

└ Is that what they call the law of the wild? Lol.

└ Starlight Princess: If you want, I can give you a potion that will make him more obedient. Would you like it?

└ Wild Grylls: What kind of potion?

└ Starlight Princess: One that kills him unless he drinks an antidote at regular intervals.

└ Wild Grylls: That’s incredibly inhumane;;

└ Starlight Princess: Hehe.

└ You two are exactly the same;;

└ I’m curious. What would Grylls be charged with for this? Animal abuse or illegal slavery?

└ He’d just be arrested. Why are you bothering to distinguish between them?;;

└ Could anyone even arrest him in the Forest of Four Seasons?

└ We only need to watch. Why are you analyzing every little detail? Lol.

└ Something about seeing a gorilla restrained like that is strangely attractive.

└ ?

└ ??

└ Excuse me?

└ Pardon me, but could you please die?

└ Are you perhaps a beastfolk?

└ For the record, she’s a woman.

└ Oh. Then it’s fine.

└ It’s understandable if she’s a beastfolk.

└ Suspiciously: What do you mean, "understandable"? Even beastfolk don’t feel that way about animals. That bitch is the weird one, fuck!

└ It’s a talking gorilla. What’s the difference?

└ Yeah, lol. Explain the difference.

Everyone seemed to be welcoming my new worker, Kkobong.

Some people told me to whip him whenever he refused to listen, but I ignored them.

No matter how malicious I might be, I wasn’t that cruel.

Besides, Fast Sloth would intervene first the moment Kkobong tried to touch me.

’First, I need to treat his injuries...’

I looked at Kkobong, who remained frozen while glaring at me.

Not only was he encased in ice, but he was also bound with rope.

He had even been stabbed with a sword, so I needed to treat him.

"Hey, Kkobong."

"Kkobong, I’m talking to you. I already told you, didn’t I? Your name is Kkobong now."

I continued speaking in Korean because I saw no reason to explain it in the language of the Central Plains.

The language of the Central Plains might have been his native tongue(?), but I was Korean.

Moreover, he had tried to kill me and take away the shelter I had painstakingly built.

I had absolutely no intention of accommodating him, so I planned to communicate exclusively in Korean.

"...Wi Baek."

"What?"

"$#%$ Kkobong, #$#! Wi Baek!"

What the hell was he saying?

Kkobong barked something at me.

Judging from his tone, he seemed to be demanding that I call him Wi Baek instead of Kkobong.

Smack!

"Urgh!"

"What are you saying? Speak Korean. And from now on, your name is Kkobong."

Annoyed, I struck him on the head.

Since he had tried to kill me, I had no intention of showing him consideration.

If he disobeyed, I would hit him. If he listened, I planned to reward him.

Therefore, I had no choice but to keep making an effort(?) until he became obedient.

"Hey. Look at me properly."

I crouched down until my eyes were level with Kkobong’s.

Kkobong faced me with a deep scowl.

"See this key? It’s the key to the suppressor around your neck."

"@&#$!"

"Why, you..."

He needed to listen until someone had finished speaking.

When I raised my hand, Kkobong flinched.

He had already been defeated by me once and struck several more times while restrained.

I intended to teach him until it became instinctively ingrained in his mind that resisting me was pointless.

"Anyway, you need this key to remove the thing around your neck. But I’m never going to give it to you."

"You already know, don’t you? Surviving in this forest without those martial techniques you’re so proud of will be extremely difficult."

Kkobong was an albino gorilla, and albinos had extremely low survival rates in the wild.

Their white fur made them conspicuous, while their poor eyesight slowed their reactions.

He possessed enough martial strength to compensate for those weaknesses, but with the suppressor around his neck, he was effectively an ordinary gorilla.

"And look over there."

I pointed toward a particular spot.

The workpieces Kkobong had destroyed during his rampage lay there in a miserable state.

From now on, I intended to work him relentlessly until the job was complete.

"You’re going to help me with the woodworking from now on. Understand?"

It would be best to explain it kindly at first.

He couldn’t understand Korean?

There was no need to worry.

If he couldn’t understand, I would discipline him until he did.

Since he wasn’t even a foreigner but an animal, it would probably take quite some time.

’But that isn’t my problem.’

I stared at Kkobong, who maintained his silence.

His future would be much more comfortable if he obeyed me, yet he didn’t seem to understand that.

It would have been best to break his spirit completely, but unfortunately, I didn’t have a suitable method.

’Torture is... something I don’t want to do. I’ll just have to make him accept reality.’

He must have understood it himself.

Unless he could remove the mana suppressor, surviving in the forest would be difficult.

That meant there was a high probability he would remain here until he acquired the key.

’I should untie him first.’

The ice encasing his entire body had gradually begun to melt.

I placed a campfire near Kkobong to accelerate the process.

His right arm thawed first.

The instant his right arm was free, Kkobong reached out.

His hand moved directly toward my arm.

Apparently, he was trying to grab me.

However—

Bzzzzzt!

"Oooaaaargh!!!"

All he earned was another punishment.

The instant Kkobong’s hand touched me, the suppressor activated.

He must have realized one more thing from that.

The moment he made physical contact with me, the electrical current would activate.

I snorted as I watched Kkobong sit there in a daze from the electrocution.

"You should’ve given up when you had the chance."

"Ugh..."

Kkobong’s eyes repeatedly went in and out of focus, suggesting that he hadn’t heard me.

Apparently, the suppressor released a stronger electrical current in response to physical contact than it did when he used mana.

’It runs on the wearer’s mana, so I won’t have to worry about it running out of power.’

Kkobong was now destined to remain at this shelter.

While his body thawed, I toyed with the key.

There was a chance he might ambush me, so I had absolutely no intention of carrying it around.

One might ask what I had to worry about when physical contact would activate the suppressor, but—

’He survived in the Forest of Four Seasons, so he must be incredibly tenacious.’

The problem was that this concern was unlikely to remain merely hypothetical.

Even I struggled desperately to survive.

That albino gorilla must have gone through a similar ordeal.

He was also nearly as intelligent as a human, so I had to prepare for every possibility.

Then whom would I entrust the key to?

"Fast Sloth, you hold on to this."

I planned to give it to my master and the strongest member of our shelter—Fast Sloth.

First, I made a cord from the wood fibers I had collected while working.

I threaded it through the hole in the key, tied it securely, and hung it around Fast Sloth’s neck.

Now there was no chance of the key ever being stolen.

What if someone tried to take it by force?

’Then they’ll receive a proper lesson.’

While Kkobong’s ice continued to melt, I went inside the cave.

Since I intended to put him to work immediately, I needed to treat his injuries.

Frostbite was beyond me, but I could treat his puncture wounds to some extent.

"There. You can walk now, right?"

"..."

I had completely thawed his body and treated every puncture wound.

Kkobong examined his rapidly healed hands and feet from every angle.

Judging solely by his expression, he seemed amazed by the elixir’s remarkable effectiveness.

"Enough admiring yourself. It’s time to work."

"..."

"Look at this bastard. If you don’t—"

"Kaishi."

When I slowly extended my hand, Kkobong hurriedly spoke.

Even someone as prideful as him seemed afraid of being electrocuted.

I was satisfied with his reaction, but only briefly. I still needed to explain the work he would be doing.

"Your task is simple. You’re going to process these logs according to specific measurements."

"...?"

After hearing my explanation, Kkobong tilted his head as though he had no idea what I was saying.

He didn’t appear to be mocking me. He genuinely couldn’t understand, and the realization left me strangely disillusioned.

’Do I really have to teach him Korean?’

I didn’t want to learn the language of the Central Plains.

I saw no reason why I should have to.

After letting out a frustrated sigh, I decided to demonstrate instead of explaining.

"Watch carefully. If you can’t copy me, you’re getting electrocuted again."

"..."

At least threats seemed to work well.

Kkobong unfolded his arms and began paying attention after hearing my warning.

He still looked dissatisfied, but that would probably disappear soon enough.

"See this? This is called a saw."

"..."

"And then... Ah, forget it. Just watch and copy me."

I finally understood what it meant to recite scripture to a cow.

Humiliation.

Utter humiliation.

That was how the albino gorilla felt after Grylls bestowed upon him the affectionate name "Kkobong."

One might ask how a mere beast could feel humiliation, but animals possessed emotions as well.

Moreover, Kkobong was intelligent enough to learn human speech.

He could experience a greater variety of emotions than an ordinary beast, humiliation included.

’Someday, I will escape.’

Kkobong stared at Grylls.

His naturally poor eyesight prevented him from making out Grylls’s appearance, but one thing was certain.

Kkobong had been ostracized because he was born different from the rest of his kind.

There had once been a human who taught him language and martial arts without discriminating against him.

Remembering that human had initially made Kkobong curious about Grylls, but everything that had happened since their meeting had extinguished that curiosity.

Not all humans were the same.

Another human had threatened him before as well.

Consequently, the only emotions he now felt toward Grylls were humiliation and a desire for revenge.

He might have lowered his head for now, but he planned to escape someday.

’This device is infuriating.’

To accomplish that, he first had to remove the suppressor around his neck.

He hadn’t understood what Grylls said, but judging from the situation, he would need that key.

The key was currently hanging around the neck of a sloth.

Therefore, removing the device meant he first had to defeat the sloth.

"I’m going up to the river for a moment. Keep a close eye on Kkobong."

His opportunity arrived sooner than expected.

Wi Baek—no, Kkobong—looked at the sloth.

It was small and appeared sluggish.

Its sharply honed claws concerned him, but he would be fine as long as he remained vigilant.

’Every one of its movements is slow and lethargic.’

He had observed that during his fight with Grylls.

At the same time, it made him wonder.

Why had Grylls fought with the sloth riding on his back?

Was it so the creature could use its sharp claws to climb trees easily?

He still had questions, but ultimately, a sloth was only a sloth.

It was a beast incapable of the same higher-order reasoning as a human.

’I’ll kill it.’

Kkobong therefore decided to kill the dim-witted-looking sloth.

His actions were as swift as his decision.

He slowly approached the sloth.

Flinch!

"...?"

Something was strange.

Kkobong’s body twitched.

The closer he came to the sloth, the stronger his unease grew.

What was the source of this feeling?

He looked around.

For a moment, he wondered if Grylls was secretly watching him, but that wasn’t the case.

’...Something is wrong.’

As a beast ruled more by instinct than reason, Kkobong instinctively sensed danger.

He didn’t know what was unusual about the sloth, but he knew it was extremely dangerous.

Would he retreat, then?

Absolutely not.

Instead, he concluded that he needed to finish it as quickly as possible.

Kkobong released a terrifying aura as he stared at the sloth.

"..."

The sloth merely looked back with its characteristically relaxed expression.

Its entire demeanor proclaimed, I’m completely harmless~

Who would ever consider this sloth dangerous?

Most would instead wonder how something so incredibly slow had managed to survive.

’I almost feel sorry for it.’

Looking at the sloth stirred a pang of guilt within Kkobong.

But this was the Forest of Four Seasons—a place where one had to do anything necessary to survive.

His enormous, hammer-like fist slowly rose above the sloth’s head.

The sloth leisurely raised its head and looked up at his arm.

Even that movement was painfully slow, exactly as one would expect from a sloth.

It was slow enough to frustrate anyone—or any animal—watching.

"Blame your master."

Muttering those words, Kkobong brought down his fist.

Slash!

A snow-white head separated from its body and flew through the air.