CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CONVINCING NARAE
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Theo
Surprisingly, I’d been able to keep the man in sight, but now that the danger had passed, I hunched over like I’d just run a triathlon. My breath came sharp and harsh, my heart beating miles a minute. Adrenaline was a powerful thing.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched the man hug his absolutely confounded wife. No one was hurt, but the experience had been eye-opening. I’d treated this whole thing like the goose who laid the golden egg when it was more like having a lion prowling the streets. Until someone saw it themselves, I didn’t think I’d be able to convince anyone, but at this point, I didn’t think I could afford not to.
My efforts clearly hadn’t been enough to stem the tide. I’d hoped my totems would kill a goblin or two until they learned to avoid the surface, but it seemed they’d taken my roots and traps as a challenge. In fact, it had almost galvanized them.
Till this point, I’d been getting lucky. It had paid off, but I got the feeling I’d need to start investing if I wanted these returns to keep up. Assault rifles, bear traps, cameras, the whole nine yards.
I was still wary of going back down there. The darkness was just too intense. Too risky. Flashlights had barely kept me alive, but what I really needed to be safe down there was an ally. A traditional dungeon party, perhaps. Someone to stand out front with a bigass shield, three people who could shoot anything that moved, and a fifth perhaps to toss out potions if they were necessary.
As I looked at Seok, I wondered if he might be interested in helping. I shook my head, watching tears stream down the man’s face, and reconsidered. Narae, his wife, was staring straight at me over her husband’s shoulder as he held her tight and shook.
I felt suddenly awkward like I was intruding on a private moment. Seok was clearly overwhelmed. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed about his breakdown once he got over it. There was an easier solution than asking them for help anyway. I’d already thought of it once before, but this time I’d follow through.
I’d close the entrance entirely. I doubted even those spellcaster icicles would be able to cut through a solid concrete wall. After that, I’d reinforce it with roots and install cameras down there to make sure the cave’s denizens could never bother anyone near my mountain again.
Hell, maybe we could organize a watch. I could imagine Jill gleefully sitting down there with a shotgun, just waiting for a chance to shoot something as morally reprehensible as these goblins.
The woman’s gaze made me incredibly uncomfortable, and I turned away, looking down toward the cave, when a thought suddenly occurred. The goblins… they’d been carrying Seok. Kidnapping him. They hadn’t immediately tried to kill him like they’d done with me.
I thought back to my first encounter with the goblins and recalled that they’d only sliced my arm when they first ambushed me. I’d attributed that to my reflexes and dumb luck, but what if it hadn’t been? Could they have been trying to kidnap me as well? They’d become more than willing to try to kill me after I’d proven to be a threat, but before that?
The more I thought about it, the more sure I was. Their initial aim had been to capture me and take me to the dungeon, the same as they had done for Seok.
Why though? Why would they be kidnapping people?
A nagging feeling tugged at my memory, like I was forgetting something important, but my musings were interrupted as Seok’s wife approached me.
“Mister Tande, yes?” Narae said, surprising me by knowing my name. Her accent was thick but easy to understand, indicating long practice with English.
“Th-that’s me,” I said, suddenly nervous under her sharp gaze.
“Seok tells a wild tale. Imps in the woods? I saw nothing, but he says they kidnapped him. He says he might owe you his life. All I see is a big man chasing my husband, and he is hurt,” she accused.
“Narae,” Seok barked from a few paces behind her. All traces of his breakdown had evaporated.
Narae snapped something back at him in a sharp staccato. I couldn’t understand the language, but I assumed it was Korean. She turned back to me, her expression skeptical and worried.
My eyes widened as her stern gaze settled on me.
“Miss… uh.” I blanched, drawing a blank on their last name. “Mrs. Narae, your husband isn’t lying. The goblins were… Ugh. I know it sounds crazy. There are goblins down there, and I saw them trying to kidnap your husband. I stopped them.”
“Goblins,” she drawled. “In the woods.”
“Narae, do you truly think I would lie about something so… ridiculous if it weren’t true?” Seok piped up in my defense.
“Y-yeah. I had my own encounter with them a few days ago. They’re coming from a cave at the bottom of that ravine,” I said, pointing down the mountain. “I… have no idea what they are. They tried to kill me, but I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”
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“If not for Seok, I wouldn’t believe you. I’m still not sure I do.”
I gave an exasperated nod. “Why do you think I didn’t tell anyone? Still, I couldn’t just let them take your husband down there.”
Slowly, she nodded. “I will see this cave and these goblins.”
“No. It is dangerous down there!”
“How? He killed them all, yes?” she asked.
“All but one that I saw,” the man replied. His accent was about as good as Narae’s was, but I got the feeling his command of the language wasn’t as firm. He seemed to prefer short, simple sentences.
“I shot the ones that were there,” I corrected. “There could be many more. I tried to wall up the area, but it didn’t work. A lot of them got out. Maybe more than just the group that tried to kidnap Seok.”
I supposed I could just use Gripping Vines to prove something supernatural was happening, but I didn’t want to scare the woman. I’d been their neighbor for almost two years now, and I really didn’t feel like I was making the best first impression now that we were finally meeting.
“It does not matter. You are not going down there,” Seok said with finality. “Definitely not while I am hurt.”
To my surprise, Narae simply nodded without complaint. A pensive expression crossed her face as she gently touched the bloody area around his wrists, carefully avoiding the rope burns themselves.
I was an idiot. I didn’t know if he’d broken anything but there was a purple bruise sneaking out from under one of his sleeves that looked nasty. He wasn’t a big man but he looked tough as nails. It must’ve taken a lot of effort for those Goblins to subdue him.
I activated my healing aura and immediately felt the two begin to slowly heal. Narae didn’t seem to notice, but I saw Seok’s eyes widen.
Narae hesitated for a moment. “You are serious, Seok? This is no joke?”
He nodded, and she did the same as if making a decision.
“Do we have ammo for the gun?” she asked.
“Some…” he replied. “Not a lot. Mostly for scaring coyotes.”
“Then you will stay here with what we have. I will go buy two more in town. The girls should be home soon. We’ll need to arm Haru. Taemi…” she trailed off.
“No. Haru can watch over her. She’s responsible enough. Taemi is too young.” he turned to look at me again before glancing back at his arm. The bruise was already beginning to fade.
The whole situation was making me feel guilty. Narae took this in stride. She believed her husband. If I'd just been honest from the beginning, would Rio have acted the same? I had no reason to think she wouldn't. I'd just been... stupid. Well. That wasn't anything new. I could start making up for it now.
“There’s… something else,” I muttered as I set down my bag. I reached in and pulled out one of the potion vials. Seeing those burns on his arms was almost painful for me. I couldn’t imagine how much they must’ve hurt him.
I handed it over to the man, who took it curiously.
“It’ll help you heal. The goblins – imps? – drop them when they die sometimes.”
Narae’s eyes narrowed at the red liquid before she turned back to me.
“Are you a drug dealer, Mister Tande?”
“What!? No!” I shouted.
“Narae!” Seok snapped.
Her sharp gaze remained fixed on me, unperturbed by either outburst, but there was a hint of a grin in her eyes. Some sort of test? She looked like she was about to speak again, but I wasn’t about to let her think along those lines.
“It’s for healing. It should help his burns and bruises,” I insisted, holding the vial out. “I’m as new to this as you. A few days ago, I saw some of those little fuckers in my backyard. They tried to kill me. I killed them instead. They drop things when they die, though. Coins and items. One of these helped me out of a tight spot. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to.”
I certainly wasn’t going to waste it on them if they didn’t want it. These things could save lives. I made to withdraw it, but Seok reached out.
I put the vial in his hand. He uncorked it with a pop.
“Seok!” Narae objected, but Seok ignored her and gulped down the vial. I go the feeling that he did so more as a show of trust and gratitude to me than with any expectation of actual healing, though.
Narae gasped as she watched the burns on his arm begin to fade immediately. Immense relief washed over Seok’s face as the potion did its work.
Seok beamed, turning his wrist over and back as he hunted for remnants of the wounds, but there were only faded scars that looked long healed.
“Amazing,” he said when he finally turned back to me. Narae was poking him where his bruises should’ve been with no small amount of awe. “Thank you.”
Narae, seemingly catching herself, turned to me abruptly and gave a slight bow. “Thank you very much, Mister Tande.”
I blanched, immediately uncomfortable. “Don’t mention it.”
Narae rose and turned back to her husband before they began speaking Korean again.
After a few minutes of standing around feeling awkward, with no end to their conversation in sight, I began to turn to head back down the mountain.
“Uhh. Mister Tande?” Narae asked, much less suspiciously now.
“You can call me Theo,” I said softly. “And I’m sorry, but I don’t know your last name. I only knew Seok’s name because I heard Jill talking about you guys a few months back.”
“Yes! Sorry. I am Min Narae. Min Seok is my husband,” she said, introducing them.
“Theodore Tande. My friends just call me Theo,” I replied, offering my hand to her. “Sorry, we got off on such a wrong foot.”
“Uh. Yes. I am sorry, too. Thank you, again, for helping Seok,” she said. “Might I ask you for another favor?”
I lifted an eyebrow curiously. “Probably. What do you need?”
“If there is truly something dangerous in the woods–!”
“There is,” I interrupted.
“Yes. I… we only have one weapon in the house. A large rifle. Old. I would like to buy two more guns in town. Who knows how long it will take for that to be finished, and our girls will be home from school soon. Would you stay with Seok while I am gone?”
“I… uh. Sure,” I said, immediately thinking of how to tell Rio. It was Wednesday night, after all, and we usually liked to do something before she took off back to school. But shit, I wasn’t going to say no when she was just asking for more protection for her daughters. Rio would understand. This had gone on long enough anyway, and now I had a witness.
“Would… it be alright if I invited my wife over, too?” I asked. “I… haven’t told her about any of this. I didn’t think she’d believe me, but I don’t think I can’t keep it from her anymore. Not if they’re kidnapping people.”
A sudden conversation lit up in my mind. Todd. The kid Dane had been talking about. Could it be connected? Hadn't the television been saying something about increased kidnappings as well? Was that local news or national? Fucking hell, how much had I been missing?
Narae’s eyes brightened considerably at my suggestion.
“Of course! We would love to meet her!” She said, ignorant of my internal horror. Her delighted tone pulled me out of my grim thoughts, though, and I couldn’t help but grin.
It certainly wasn’t conventional, but Rio was always pestering me about making more friends. It seemed after living here for two years, I might finally be succeeding! All it took was a band of murder goblins and a zombie cave.
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