Death God of the Drifting Moon

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Manhwa: Chapter 1-2

Drops of water were flowing along the curved side of the wall. Although it was a very small amount, it was the water of life that made Pyo-wol avoid the light at the end of the tunnel.

Pyo-wol licked the wall frantically.

It was just a little bit, but when the water entered his body, his hunger also went away a little.

After drinking enough water, Pyo-wol's rationality returned little by little.

— Hu!

He leaned his back against the wall and sighed.

As the water entered his dehydrated body, his strength gradually returned to his dry muscles.

Pyo-wol moved his arms and legs while breathing slowly.

As time passed, his joints were gently relaxing. Her muscles were also getting stronger.

When he had enough strength, Pyo-wol leaned his back against the wall and tried to stand up.

— Urgh!

A painful moan came out of his mouth, and veins stood out on his forehead.

Simply crawling on the floor and lifting yourself up with strength on both legs required a different level of strength and concentration of spirit.

It was a painful challenge for Pyo-wol, who had been lying on the ground for a long time with his entire body paralyzed.

In his mind, he wanted to rest his back against the wall like before. But knowing that he would never be able to get up if he did, Pyo-wol endured the pain and gave strength to his legs.

Both his legs were shaking, and cold sweat fell like a waterfall from his body. All the water he drank a while ago seemed to drain away like sweat.

— Urghh

Pyo-wol gritted his teeth and took a deep breath.

His body shook as if he was about to fall. However, Pyo-Wol managed to maintain his center of gravity with difficulty.

He eventually stood up on his own two legs.

— That!

The breath that had been suppressed came out.

Pyo-wol hissed as he was holding her thighs with both hands.

He couldn't confirm it because he couldn't see, but Pyo-wol thought hot steam would rise over his body.

My body was so hot.

Like a volcano just before it erupts.

Pyo-wol had to spend a lot of time dissipating the heat.

When the heat finally subsided, he looked around.

All he could see was still deep black darkness.

Even though he had been here for quite a while, his eyes had not yet adapted to the darkness.

In the end, Pyo-wol gave up looking with his eyes. Instead, he reached out and touched the wall in front of him.

The walls were slippery as the water had been running for a long time.

He felt thin bumps as well as stings on his hands.

"Moss?"

Moss is always present when there is water flowing. In particular, such a humid place was the ideal environment for moss to grow.

Pyo-wol scraped the wall with the tip of his fingernail. When Moss got caught in his nail, he ripped it off.

He could not tell what color the moss was, nor could he tell what type it was.

Some mosses are edible, but some can cause serious health problems. It could be poisonous, or it could harbor a disease.

If he could see it with his eyes, he could easily decide, but now the only thing Pyo-wol could get information from was the feeling at his fingertips.

Pyo-wol felt an excruciating pain in his stomach.

The hunger he had forgotten about for a while suddenly returned.

Drinking water was nothing more than a temporary measure. He had to eat something.

Your fingertips alone wouldn't be enough to tell if the moss was edible. Still, the fact that she was holding moss in her hand made his mouth water.

His worries didn't last long.

Now it was time to eat something.

Even if it was poison.

Pyo-wol took the moss into his mouth.

An indescribable hellish taste attacked his tongue. The taste was so terrible that Pyo-wol almost sat up and choked.

Knowing that once he sat down in his current state, it would be impossible to get up again, Pyo-wol forced himself to hold on.

Water ran from his eyes and nose.

Since losing his parents, he has been wandering the world and experiencing all kinds of things, but he has never tasted anything so horrible.

It tasted so bad he didn't want to taste it again.

Pyo-wol didn't throw away the moss in his hand despite his tears and running nose.

All hell was raging in his mouth, but fortunately he didn't feel any abnormalities elsewhere.

If the moss was harboring some extreme poison, he would have lost his life as soon as he ate it. Even if it didn't have such an extreme effect, any abnormalities should have been felt in the body.

But he didn't feel any other abnormalities except that his taste buds were numb.

It meant it was edible.

Pyo-wol hurriedly scraped off the moss and brought it to his mouth.

Since his mouth was already paralyzed, he no longer tasted hell. It was painful, however, once he got used to it, it was tolerable.

Crack!

Pyo-wol was randomly scraping the wall and collecting moss. When collected in a certain quantity, he placed it in his mouth, and repeated the act of collecting the moss.

"I can live. Somehow I can live," Chewing the moss, Pyo-wol muttered.

His tongue was almost paralyzed, and his voice never left his mouth, but his spirit was steadfast.

He had to survive to get revenge on the man who imprisoned him here.

At the very least, he would be relieved to find out the reason why he had been trapped here.

He didn't know how much of the moss had been scraped off.

There was no feeling of satiety. Still, the hunger passed, at least a little.

His tongue continued to tingle even though he was paralyzed.

Pyo-wol caressed the area around her mouth with his hand. Fortunately, after some time, his tongue sensation returned to normal.

Pyo-wol thought he was lucky.

It was a bet that risked his life.

He didn't know how big the space he was trapped in, but there's a lot of moss on the wall, so he'll be able to hang on for dear life for now. Of course, he will have to endure this hellish taste every time.

Pyo-wol, who had been standing and resting for a moment, soon began to move, placing his hand on the wall.

It was to estimate the size of the space in which he was confined.

As he walked about ten steps with his left hand against the wall, an end appeared. It was blocked by the wall.

He walked again along the wall that blocked him. Again, after about ten steps, another wall appeared.

"A rectangular space of about three square meters."

It was only then that Pyo-wol began to visualize the size and shape of the space in which he was confined.

It's reasonably bigger than I expected.

Pyo-wol continued walking along the wall.

Chin!

Then something got stuck in my fingertips.

It felt solid, a texture different from moss.

Pyo-wol moved his hand along the different area.

It was something unique.

Something rectangular that takes up a lot of space.

"Is it a door?"

Pyo-wol knocked on the part that was supposed to be the door with his hand.

Thump!

A muffled sound echoed in the underground space where he was confined.

It was a distinctly different sound from the other parts.

"An iron door..."

Pyo-wol groped and looked around for a device that could open the door. However, the iron gate was smooth with no protrusions or indentations.

There was no way to open it from the inside. It looked like it could only be opened from the outside.

Pyo-wol couldn't figure out a way to open the door. But he did not despair.

He survived the famine crisis.

There was moss and water to hold out for a while. It will be difficult and painful, but he will be able to survive for a few days.

Pyo-wol slowly sat up, leaning his back against the iron gate.

Now, at least there was no more anxiety that I would never wake up again if I closed my eyes.

Now that he had filled his stomach, it was time to rest.

In the darkness, only the sound of his breathing echoed.

* * *

Pyo-wol opened his eyes.

In fact, it was unclear whether his eyes were open or still closed.

He closed his eyes, but when he opened them, all he could see was darkness.

Pyo-wol stood still and tried to gauge how much time had passed.

It didn't seem like much time had passed since I didn't feel hungry.

In recent days, Pyo-wol has lived by eating moss on the walls.

He thought he would never get used to it, but to his surprise, he got used to the hellish taste of the moss.

His tongue was still numb, but it didn't feel as gross as it used to.

After resolving his hunger like that, many thoughts flooded his mind like a tidal wave.

It was quiet here.

There was no sound outside.

He couldn't see ahead, so he couldn't feel the passage of time.

It was obvious that anyone would go crazy if they were trapped here.

He had to keep his mind steady.

If he let his guard down, he would lose it and go crazy.

Pyo-wol constantly repeated his name and tried not to lose his identity.

There was no promise of how long it would stay like this.

When he was hungry, he scraped the moss off the wall and licked the running water.

He had to persevere to survive.

Pyo-wol thought he was getting thinner.

Even if it wasn't, the unsightly fat was lost. Fortunately, he could still maintain his strength, but he didn't know when the limit would come.

The moss on the wall was not infinite.

The day all the moss disappears will be the last. Still, she thought she would stay with him until then.

I didn't know why I was putting up with so much.

If he gave up, his body might be more comfortable.

He knew that if he died, he wouldn't have to suffer like this.

Such temptations came often.

Each time, Pyo-wol bit his lip and endured it.

Overcoming the temptation of death, his mouth was torn open. There was not a day when the blood dried.

The wall suddenly seemed to have something different about it.

When he looked up, he saw someone looking at him.

"Who's there?" she questioned.

The iron gate was clearly closed.

There was no sign of anyone coming from outside.

Above all, it made no sense to see someone else's figure in this black darkness.

Pyo-wol still couldn't see his hand.

"Is not real. It is a dream?"

Pyo-wol raised his head and looked at the person looking at him.

The man with a thin face and empty eyes strangely resembled himself.

It was clear that if I had been thin before coming here, I would have looked like this.

"It is me."

It was then that Pyo-wol realized that the man he was staring at was another version of himself.

It was exactly himself in a dream.

Or, it was his true form peeking out.

In an extremely difficult situation, you begin to see things that you would never see normally.

Pyo-wol asked himself.

"What?"

— Why are you putting up with so much? Just give up. If you give up, it will be easier.

His inner self responded.

Pyo-wol narrowed his eyes.

Because he didn't expect you to respond.

He asked: — Why are you putting up with so much? Why don't you have anything? Why does a bastard who has nothing to protect put up with so much?

"Is there something I should protect?"

— It's funny, why do you fight so much? Why can't you waste your life? Give up. Giving up will be easier

"Are you really going to feel comfortable?"

- What?

"Will it really be comfortable when you give up? I don't think so."

- You are sick.

"I will live. It's a life I can't lose. I will survive and see the end."

— You're talking nonsense.

"It would be unfair to die like this. I'm going to put a knife to the guy who imprisoned me here. If I don't do this, then I won't be able to close my eyes even if I die."

—...

"Then I will live. I will live like a cruel person and take revenge on everyone who made me like this."

The inner self crouched down and they looked into each other's eyes.

—Are you really going to get revenge?

"Yes".

—Aren't you going to give up?

"Never!"

His inner self smiled, as if he liked Pyo-wol's answer.

Pyo-wol also smiled.

Their smiles were surprisingly similar.

At that moment, Pyo-wol opened his eyes.

His inner self was gone.

Pyo-wol realized he had woken up from a dream. At the same time, he realized that the other self he had seen was not just a dream.

It was the devil inside your heart

If he had not been able to overcome the demon in his heart, he would have been devoured and driven mad. Or his ego would be split in two.

Darkness makes people crazy.

Pyo-wol had unknowingly overcome a new obstacle.

— Hu!

Pyo-wol sighed.

Chunkyung!

Suddenly, the window at the bottom of the iron gate opened with a dull sound.

The space was small enough to fit a small plate.

A faint light passed through the space.

Even in the dim light, Pyo-wol's eyes hurt like they were about to explode.

Eyes that have adapted to darkness react violently to dim light.

Suk!

A small plate appeared inside. And the window was closed again.

Pyo-wol's sense of smell was the first to respond.

"Food?"