If he died, he died.
The pit of the Oenunbaki goemul yawned deep and dark before them. Despite its endless fall, it was not a trap meant to kill rather only a void that swallowed everything.
His sharp eyes quickly caught sight of the small figure tumbling down, the girl who looked like a haegol goemul, helpless and vulnerable.
Without hesitation and hungry for his eternal death, he wrapped his hands gently around her and lifted her upward.
*
Eum Muak had crossed into the Goemul Realm, where she had seen Yang's Pin pierced deep into the eye of a giant monster. But in her shrunken child form, she had drifted toward the wrong edge… the pit.
She'd made herself small—into a small size, hoping that if the monsters saw a child, their pity would outweigh their hunger. She didn't ask for kindness, only mercy not to be eaten alive.
But fate had other plans.
Just as she was falling blindly into the pit, something cold and unforgiving grabbed at the collar of her dress. Her neck tightened sharply.
Eum Muak cursed her luck under his breath. Was it possible the thing clutching her like a rat by its tail was the very one-eyed giant monster pierced by Yang's Pin?
The thought chilled her, turning her face pale.
She struggled to free herself, but her strength was gone. Days without proper Immortal heavenly essence, surviving only on bad meat, 114 pieces to be exact, and the blow she'd taken from her brother, combined with her shrunken form, sapped her power. Even transforming back to her full size was impossible, as if her body were trapped in this tiny shell.
Being pulled higher and higher by whatever monster, she couldn't help but wonder bitterly, "Had I truly read Yang Noori's mind, would I have seen the cruel truth that he was trying to discard me?"
Fear and rage welled up inside her all at once.
At last, her eyelids fluttered closed. Weak and helpless, the small body could no longer fight. And darkness claimed her.
Eum Muak opened her eyes again, this time, from real hunger. Her stomach growled like thunder rolling across empty skies.
Instinctively, she reached out to rub her eyes, but her small hands were tied to a large, pulsing bag by strings that glowed faintly yellow.
Her brows furrowed. What kind of situation was this?
She had never experienced anything like it before. The bag above her head was black, large, and ominously still, but the string connected to it was flowing something warm into her. It felt familiar, like spirit essence perhaps. Her body, though sore, felt a little livelier with each breath.
But what... was this place? And how had she gotten here?
Could it be… were the monsters seasoning her? Infusing her with essence so they could devour her later, well-marinated and delicious? Her heart skipped. She wriggled a little, trying to shake off the line connected to her….
A low voice suddenly rang out beneath her. "Move again, and I'll bite your ear off."
She froze.
Immediately, her hands straightened. Her gaze dropped below. And what she saw made her eyes stretch wide.
Bathed in the soft golden light of a fake sun, a man stood beneath her. No, not a man. A green man. One she had never seen before.
He was... beautiful.
No… handsome, and strange. Tall. Even taller than the tallest immortal she had ever seen in all the heavenly realms. His face was like something out of myth: long, sharp eyes as black as obsidian pearls, no whites in sight. A narrow nose, thin lips so fine they almost disappeared into his face that had very long ears beside it.
He wore a black shirt, oversized and loose, and equally black pants ripped at the bottom, like it was some monster fashion runway design. But on his feet were clean, glowing human white sneakers.
Was this how all monsters dressed in the Goemul Realm?
Even the gods and high celestials didn't have such fashion sense.
The green man glanced at her stunned expression and clicked his tongue lightly. Perhaps she was still shocked from his earlier bark.
He stepped toward her, his voice softer now. "Haebol aga¹, What's your name?"
Haebol aga? Skeleton baby? Eum Muak's jaw tightened. Her immortal blood surged. What kind of ridiculous name was that? For a split second, she imagined slapping the handsomeness off his green face with a slap so divine it would echo across three realms.
Wait… slap someone? She thought that?
She glanced down at herself... and then up again at the green stranger. Only then did the horrifying truth dawn on her.
"I'm… in a child's body?"
No wonder he called her "baby." Her small limbs, her voice, her gaze… it all made sense now. But what was worse…
"Did I just, for the first time since I was born, have a bad thought about someone of how I want to do something bad to him?!"
Her round eyes trembled. Her face turned pale.
"I don't want to be a bad person," she whimpered, her tiny childlike voice rising in fear. "I want to be good! Monster, please… please let me go back. I promise I won't come here to disturb you ever again…"
Even though the monster in front of her looked young, handsome, almost like a fallen deity—just green—she didn't want to fall. She didn't want to prove all the whisperings true: that she was evil, that she was the villain, the devil's leftover.
Just being near him, somehow, was triggering it. And that was dangerous… no, things could really get dangerous!
The green man raised one brow. "…What is this human child babbling about now?"
He squinted slightly. Wasn't she… five? Maybe six? Why did she talk so much? Shouldn't she be calling him uncle? Was she some spoiled human brat?
He had seen kids like that before, back when he used to sneak into the human world to have a little fun.
---
¹ Haebol aga – literally "Baby Skeleton" (하뼈 아가), a nickname used casually by the ML. Not necessarily insulting… but also not very respectful.