Free Web NovelChapter 57: Chapter 51: Pooki
A/N:
Warning: This Chapter contains graphic content that involves coercion, child abuse, and animal sacrifice.
I do not endorse or promote abuse of any kind, be it mental, physical or sexual on anybody regardless of age, gender, or affiliation.
Do not forget that this is just a dark fantasy novel and even here, abuse is not cool.
You have been warned.
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But there were many things that he needed to do before that. The first on that list being, building a shelter for themselves. He gathered his team and said, "Today, we’ll be surveying the areas near the river. We’re looking for a somewhat flat area. We’ll separate to cover more ground and meet here at noon. Remember, danger lurks everywhere. So be careful."
Then they each went in a separate direction. Zeke went against the current of the river to see if he could find what he was looking for. He walked for quite a bit but didn’t find suitable land.
After some time passed, he looked at the sky and saw that the sun was reaching its zenith. He decided to return to the cave. When he reached back, he saw that Bum and Woo were waiting for him. freewebnøvel.coɱ
He asked them, "Find anything?"
They shook their heads. Woo said, "Ryeong, this forest, no, this whole mountain is very weird. As I was walking, I almost got lost in a strange stone forest. I was walking in circles no matter what I did. It was a coincidence that I was able to get out. I hurried back after that."
Zeke started thinking before saying, "Natural Formation! The positions of the stones in the stone forest must have created a Natural Formation. You got lucky, Woo. You could have spent god knows how long before you were able to get out."
Bum said, "I didn’t find anything strange. But where is Woong? He should have returned by now."
Zeke said, "I’ll go look for him if he doesn’t return soon."
Some time passed, but Woong still hadn’t returned. They went looking for him in the direction he had gone. They looked for him until it was evening but had to return when they couldn’t find him. When they reached the cave, Zeke suddenly became alert.
He motioned for the other two to stay silent. He gripped his weapon and silently walked towards the cave. Inside, he found a bear, a giant panda, to be exact. The beast had also sensed him, as it turned around and roared at him.
Zeke got in stance and rushed towards the bear, intending to end it quickly. The bear also wanted to fight but was unable to fully stand because of the size of the cave. This gave Zeke an advantage. He reached it and was about to slice its neck when he heard an urgent voice, "Ryeong wait!!"
Zeke couldn’t stop entirely but changed the direction so that the blade didn’t hurt the bear. Seeing that the threat had missed for some reason, the bear didn’t hesitate and opened its jaw, letting out an angry roar. Or wanted to but was interrupted by a voice, "Bad Pooki."
The bear looked visibly confused and turned its head towards the voice. It tilted its head as if it were asking, ’I...bad?’
A figure appeared from behind the bear. It was Woong. He looked at Zeke and said, "I’m sorry Ryeong. I was really sleepy and asked Pooki to protect me."
He then looked at the bear and said, "Pooki, apologize."
He pointed at Zeke and said, "Ryeong..."
Then he pointed at himself and said, "...friend."
The bear copied what Woong did and pointed one of its claws at Zeke. Then it pointed the claw at himself and growled questioningly, "Rawr?"
Woong nodded his head and said, "Yes. Ryeong is my friend."
The bear repeated what it had just done a few times before walking to Zeke. It lay on its back in front of him, exposing its belly. Seeing what was happening in front of him, Zeke was speechless.
Why was this bear exposing his belly to him? Was it a dog? Where was its dignity? Where was its pride? He could tell that unlike normal pandas, this one was carnivorous and it also ate meat. So why was it surrendering so easily?
(Fun fact: After researching a bit, I found that like other bears, Giant Pandas are also carnivores. Technically. Although their diet consists almost entirely of bamboo, their digestive systems are that of carnivores. They just evolved to eat bamboo for some reason.)
Woong looked at Zeke and said, "Rub his belly. It means that you’ve forgiven him and are now his friend."
Zeke bent down and rubbed the bear’s belly. Its fur was soft and its belly was fat. But he could feel that there were extremely strong muscles beneath the fat. Ok. he had to admit that rubbing its belly was very satisfying but he had to stop as there were more important matters at hand. He looked at Woong and said, "Explain."
Woong said, "Well, when I couldn’t find a suitable place, I wanted to return. But I got lost. I somehow wandered into a bamboo forest. I found Pooki there. At first, he attacked me as soon as he saw me. But when he got close, he suddenly paused.
He walked slowly towards me and started sniffing me. Then he lay before me with his belly exposed. I couldn’t understand what was going on so I just left him there and tried searching for my way back. But he started following me. As soon as I turned towards him, he exposed his belly.
I finally rubbed it. Then he tried speaking to me and strangely, I could faintly understand what he was saying. But his words made no sense. From what I could understand, he was calling me, ’King’. After realizing that he could also barely understand me, I named him Pooki. He is very smart. He took me to a creek and I was able to get to the river from there.
When I returned, you guys weren’t here. And I was feeling very sleepy. So I asked him to protect me while I slept. I didn’t know that he would attack you. I should have thought about this. I’m sorry."
Zeke opened his mouth to say something but was unable to. This situation was too bizarre. But it also gave him all the confirmation he needed. He was now sure what the tattoos were. He said, "I forgive you. Tell Pooki that I forgive him too."
He went outside and called the others in. They were shocked to see the bear in the cave. Pooki was also shocked to see the two of them. It took a while before Woong was able to calm him down. Then he explained who Pooki was and why he was in the cave to them. He also told Pooki that Woo and Bum were also friends. Although Pooki was reluctant at first, he eventually exposed his belly to them. Then four bellies growled at the same time.
It had been an eventful day and now all of them were hungry. They went to the river and caught some fish. They also had some of the deer meat from the day before. Zeke got the fire going, skewered the fishes and let them roast in the fire. He also roasted another two legs of the deer on a spit roast.
Pooki ate the rest of the deer. Apparently, he didn’t care that it wasn’t fresh. While the food was cooking, Zeke said, "Woong, do you remember the way to the bamboo forest? Is it far from here?"
Woong replied, "I don’t. But Pooki does. He can take us there. We’ll have to walk a bit but it isn’t that far away."
Zeke hummed. The bamboo forest was now their best option. They could build a house with the bamboo and they could get water from the creek. He also wanted to see if there was anything special about the place. After all, it wasn’t easy for a normal animal to evolve into a Spirit Beast. Although he wasn’t one yet, Pooki was well on his way. They had their food and took turns sleeping. In the morning, they set out for the creek. As it turned out, Pooki didn’t know the way to the bamboo forest from the cave but the creek. He had just followed Woong to the cave.
On the way to the creek, they encountered no animals. Bum said, "Ryeong, something’s off. Why haven’t we encountered even a hare?"
Zeke pointed at Pooki and said, "His aura as a predator is keeping them away."
Bum was confused. He asked, "What aura?"
Zeke said, "I’ll explain later."
Bum nodded. The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful. Soon, they reached the creek. Woong put his hand on Pooki’s body and said, "Pooki, home."
Pooki looked confused. Woong had to explain what he meant for a few minutes before Pooki understood that Woong wanted to go to the bamboo forest. Pooki roared and started walking in front of them.
By the time that the bamboo forest appeared in sight, it was already evening. Finally, they entered the forest. Zeke was instantly attracted to the purple bamboo. He went towards a towering bamboo and put his hand on it.
