MB Ch 4 part 2

“Well, everyone left and I was left all alone for days. How can I not cry in such a situation?”

“There sure are a lot of things that make you cry. You were comfortable inside this house, so why did you make all that fuss?”

“How is this comfortable? I was by myself!”

“What’s wrong with being by yourself?”

“What’s wrong with it? It’s terrifying!”

Mujang threw her a strange look. Why does she feel that way? Before he asked more questions out of curiosity, Mujang took the washcloth back from Bari and began to pat her face with it. His strength was too fierce, so Bari’s head kept tilting back.

“Clean your own snot, hm?”

“Leave me alone!”

“Ah, when I did leave you alone, you were crying like a baby. You’re such a crybaby.”

Bari truly wanted to strangle this man. However, if she were completely honest, she was glad he was back. Every single day had been difficult ever since she stepped foot in the underworld, but she hated being alone on Mount Dongdae even more.

“Where did you go?”

Bari cleaned her nose with the cloth and asked. After she asked the question, both of them flinched in surprise. During the nine years Bari had been in the underworld, she had never asked Mujang where he went.

“Quit acting like you’re my wife.”

Mujang smirked in disbelief. Unwilling to back down, Bari raised a brow.

“I am your wife.”

“That’s…”

His mouth opened, but he stopped speaking. He frowned slightly before raising his head. His expression looked dark. Well, it always looked dark. In the past nine years, Bari had never seen him laugh. He never smiled.

Is that why he wanted a child? Because his life is too dark? Was it possible to raise a child on Mount Dongdae? All the thoughts she’d pushed aside began to fill her head.

Had she been too focused on the yaksu alone?

Bari suddenly felt dizzy.

“What’s wrong?”

Mujang asked when he saw Bari frown.

“Are you hurt?”

That question reminded her of their wedding night. Bari’s cheeks flushed once again.

“No, it’s just…”

Suddenly, they both heard something that caused Bari’s breath to catch. Grrrrrr? This sound came from Bari’s stomach.

“Are you hungry?”

Mujang scoffed as he crossed his arms. Bari pouted. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t eaten since Ran and Mujang had disappeared.

* * *

“What am I doing right now?”

Mujang frowned as he looked back at her. However, Bari couldn’t respond because she was laughing. When he saw this, his expression turned even more menacing, but Bari couldn’t help it.

His messy hair had been pulled up into a topknot, held up by a hairpin and crown. His long, billowing sleeves were pulled up, revealing his firm forearms. Despite his majestic appearance, he was now holding a stone pot and washing rice. It seemed to suit him so well that it caused Bari to laugh.

“Pfft, you’re making rice, what else could it be?”

Bari’s whole body shook as she tried to hold back her laughter and barely managed to answer him.

“Are you truly unable to move?”

Mujang looked like he wanted to throw the stone pot. If Bari hadn’t told him she was hurt, he wouldn’t have done something like this. He didn’t have to eat to gain strength and energy, but unlike him, Bari claimed that she needed to eat. Why were humans so troublesome? Why did they have to eat food?

“Yes, I really don’t have the strength to move.”

Bari clenched her hands together and barely got the words out as she held in the laughter. Even though she had not eaten in three days, she did not feel hungry. Although she was embarrassed about her stomach growling in front of Mujang, what could she do? A human needed to eat to survive!

Normally, she would have made the food herself. But right now, she couldn’t even lift a finger. Seeing her like this, Mujang told her he’d cook. Bari was so shocked. Did the sun rise from the west today? Did he take a huge blow to the head? Or was the man in front of her not Mujang? Was it an imposter?

Either way, he claimed that it couldn’t be too difficult and made his way into the kitchen. However, he reached an obstacle at the first step. He came to realize how tedious it was to cook rice.

He needed to take out the rice and put it in a mortar to pound the shells off before picking out the grains. It wasn’t an easy task. Additionally, this wasn’t something he could just conjure up like the garden or the house. Like the flowers in the garden, if he conjured up the rice, it would turn into dust in Bari’s stomach.

“Can’t I just pour some water in and boil it?”

“Of course not.”

Bari firmly rejected his idea and shook her head. Because he used too much force when he pounded the rice and washed the grains, the rice had mostly turned to dust. However, she wouldn’t be able to eat it at all if he didn’t wash it first.

“Then I have to wash this in water again?”

“Yes.”

“Why do such a needless…”

He began to complain again, but when Bari glared at him, he reeled it back and obediently washed the rice again. He was a man who seemed more suited to a battlefield, but he was currently in the kitchen cooking rice. It was funny to watch, but Bari bit down on her lips to keep the laughter from escaping.

Thinking back to the way she lived like a servant in the past nine years, this was nothing.

“Don’t wash it so aggressively. The grains have already broken into pieces…”

When he heard Bari’s nagging, Mujang glared at her with cold eyes.

“How is this ‘aggressive’…”

“They’re merely grains of rice, so you should be gentle. If you’re thoughtlessly rough… Just like that night…”

“What?”

“N-Nothing.”

She had recalled the way he had nearly ground her into a pulp during their wedding night and almost said it out loud. Embarrassed, she quickly changed the subject.

“Wow, you’re really good at this.”

But no matter how one looked at it, it was obviously an awkwardly insincere compliment.

Mujang glared at her again, but he continued to do his best washing the rice.

“What’s next?”

“You need to cover it with a lid and light a fire on the stove.”

“I’m good at lighting fires.”

After saying this, he swiftly added firewood and lit a fire.

“Ho, I never knew you were so good at this.”

“Well, if you live in Wani, you…”

“Wani?”

Suddenly, Mujang’s hand froze as it fed the fire. After a moment, he returned to what he was doing.

“There, is rice all you need?”

He turned around and looked at her as he asked.

“Ah! Of course rice isn’t enough. If you open that door to the pantry, you should see something inside.”

There really was something there. One of the most surprising things about this house was that something always appeared in the pantry every morning. They were mostly grains, but sometimes there were herbs and meat.

“I’ve always wanted to ask you about this, but how is food always appearing there?”

She had been curious about how the food appeared like magic. Mujang opened the small door and took out the herbs that were inside.

“They’re the grains from the offerings that the humans give to the gods.”

“Ah!”

She understood it now. That must be why the food was a bit different every time.

“I never knew the food offerings to the gods came here.”

“The divine gods have large farmlands of their own, so they don’t need this. However, it is not the case in this place. If this food did not come to the underworld, the evil spirits would have an even more difficult time here.”

Bari silently gazed at the food. She remembered how she had almost starved during the first few days she had arrived at the underworld. After she hadn’t eaten for a while, food was all she could think about. By the time she entered Mount Dongdae, she looked no different from a corpse. The reason why she had difficulty leaving this place may also be because of the food.

“How should I prepare this?”

When Bari saw the herbs he was holding, her eyes widened.

“Ah, these are thistles.”

“So? Why does its name sound like that?”

“You shouldn’t judge it by its name. It’s a very delicious herb.”

Bari flashed him a smile as she stood up and approached him.

“In the summertime, this thistle would sprout up all over the fields back in my hometown.”

“Your hometown?”

“Yes, a town in the southern province of Bula…”

Bari’s voice faded away.

“How did a human from Bula make it into the underworld alive? It would have been impossible for you to even cross the River Styx in the first place…”

Although it was ridiculous that he was curious about this now, he couldn’t help but ask. It was impossible for a living, breathing human to enter the underworld. Even if they managed to enter, they would only end up becoming fodder for the starving ghosts.

“I don’t know.”

Bari bit her lips and answered him. She lifted the pot lid and tossed the thistles inside.

“By the time I was aware of it, I had already crossed the River Styx.”

“What? How is that possible? Are you telling me that the ferryman for the boat has bad eyesight?”

She truly didn’t know. At the time, she was dragged into the boat with all the other evil spirits. Those evil spirits that tormented her and lashed at her. They were the evil spirits of the townspeople that continued to surround this house in the shadows.

“Why did you come here? Why do you need the yaksu?”

Mujang asked as he crossed his arms.

“Ha! I begged you for some of the yaksu for nine years, and now you’re curious?”

She asked him back in a reproachful voice. After she had foolishly married Mujang, this girl had become even more daring. Mujang glared at her and sighed before answering her.

“To a human, nine years is a long time. But for me, it’s merely a moment in time.”

“Ah, how mysterious.”

“Answer the question.”

If it weren’t for the deal they had struck, Mujang would have flung this punk outside Mount Dongdae by now.

Mujang growled as he threw more firewood into the stove.

“My… father is very sick.”

Bari barely managed to spit out the word ‘father’.

“Haa, you came all the way to the underworld for your father?”

Despite Mujang’s question, Bari’s eyes never left the flickering fire of the stove. Her face was blank. She did not look like a daughter filled with filial piety. Instead, she looked like she was filled with cold hatred as she gritted her teeth.

“Yes.”

Her reply was simple.

“You are quite devoted to your father.”

When she heard his sarcastic response, Bari raised her eyes and looked at him. Her eyes looked incredibly black and numb. Bari kept her mouth shut and stared at him. Suddenly, she grinned.

“It isn’t fair if I’m the only one answering questions.”

“Fair?”

This little human girl was really starting to get out of line. How dare she claim he was being unfair.

“Weren’t you a heavenly god, Mujang-nim?”

“……”

Mujang did not answer her.

“But what did you mean when you said you lived in Wani? Where is Wani?”

He did not answer her question. He merely lowered his eyes and stared at the boiling pot.

“What should we do with this?”

Bari cried out and slightly lifted the lid.

She only tossed some herbs in, but the fragrance of the rice smelled delicious. Bari teased him and said that the broken grains of rice had turned into porridge, but she licked her bowl clean in no time. Looking down at her, Mujang frowned.

After he left her, after he had exited the room where they had shared their wedding night, he had returned to a cave on Mount Dongdae. No matter how many times he searched the mountain, there was only boiling lava underneath.

Maybe the yaksu isn’t even here.

Maybe all of this was the Heavenly Emperor’s impossible demand.

Maybe this was merely nonsensical drivel, a way to torture him by giving him false hope.

Was he going to give up here?

Suddenly, he thought he heard someone scream. The cry was filled with pain, and he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Yuck! You’re a monster! You’re a monster!”

He thought he heard the sound of children’s teasing. His little sister crouched in embarrassment and fear, her face covered by a worn cloth. She ran through the dirt path towards him. She barely entered the house and took off the cloth. One side of her face was beautiful, but on the other side, the skin was twisted and deformed as if it had melted. She took out a rotten fruit from the bundle in her arms and held it out to him.

“Orabeoni, look at this. It’s a pomegranate! Have a taste. Hurry!”

Her face was sunken due to starvation, and bones almost protruded from her skin. Despite looking this way, she flashed him a twisted smile. How could he abandon this child?

Snap. Something broke.

Startled, Bari raised her head and looked at him. Mujang then realized that he had snapped his chopsticks.

“Does it taste bad?”

Bari worriedly lowered her chopsticks as she asked. Mujang did not answer right away. He merely stared blankly at his broken chopsticks.

Why is he acting like this?

Bari bit down on her lip. The rice was a bit too chewy. However, it was rice that he himself had cooked, so what could they do? Mujang finally raised his head and looked at her.

The one who deserved to fall into the depths of hell was him. If he had been the one to go there from the start, this would not have happened. Why must he add another sin on top of the sin he already carried?

Bari…

He wanted to ask her.

However, his wife knew nothing, and she merely blinked at him with clear eyes.

Yes, didn’t he decide to see this to the end? No matter what happened, he could not give up now.

“Bari.”

When he called her name, Bari raised her head. She looked at him in confusion.

“A child will not come from spending just one night together.”

He spoke in an empty voice as if he were talking about someone else. She gave him a strange look, confusion filling her eyes. However, he ignored this.

“If possible, we must do it often, every day. That is what I was told.”

It was strange of Mujang to speak of this so casually, but there was nothing that could be done. Bari swallowed the rest of her rice.

“Who said that? Who told you something like that?”

“Hong-yo…”

Who was Hong-yo? Bari looked at him in confusion. There were many monsters in the Magenta Forest, but she had never spoken to any of them.

“If you’re done eating, let’s go.”

He held out his hand. Bari hesitated, but she could only take it in the end.

A deep blue darkness had settled inside the room. Bari followed him inside and walked to the bed. She hesitated before turning around.

“Do you want me to take off my clothes?”

He gazed at her and answered.

“No.”

Then he turned Bari’s body around and had her look out the window. He did not have the confidence to look at her face. He did not have the confidence to show her his pathetic face. He did not want to feel those intense feelings from their wedding night again. This was merely something he needed to do to obtain a child. Mujang murmured this to himself once again.

This was merely an act that Bari needed, that he needed. Nothing more.

Bari seemed bewildered as she gripped the windowsill. He stroked her delicate shoulder and raised the hem of her skirt. Her thin underwear and pale bottom became exposed to the blue moonlight. Bari’s hitched breath scattered into the night air.

Don’t think about anything.

Mujang could not tell if he was referring to himself or to Bari. He stretched out his hand and undid Bari’s underwear. Bari grabbed onto the windowsill with all her might and did not look back. Only her round bottom and slender legs were exposed to the darkness. Mujang put his hand on top. At some point, his large hand slipped inside her clothes and squeezed her breast.

His cock pushed against the part of her body that was exposed by her hitched skirt. It felt strange, as if a large, hot club had slipped between her legs. She couldn’t stop the shivers that ran up and down her body.

It hurt last time…

Bari recalled their first night and bit her lips.

It hurt so much that night. How did men and women sleep together like this? How did women endure this? The cock plunging into her body was like a deadly weapon. That large, swollen column of flesh drilled inside her body. Just the thought of it caused her body to tremble.

So why…?

Bari bit her lips.

So why didn’t she want to push him away?

Why did something deep within her belly twitch as if it tickled?

She really hadn’t liked it… Hadn’t it hurt…?

“Bari.”

Suddenly, Mujang’s low voice called her name. A shiver ran down Bari’s spine. Fireworks seemed to swirl somewhere deep inside her body.

Honestly, for a few years now, she had felt strange whenever she looked at him. She had entered Mount Dongdae at the age of thirteen and had spent nine years here. Her breasts had developed during that time, and she began to feel sexual desire at fifteen. But the only man she had seen in all that time was Mujang. Her first period had also come five years ago.

She always cursed him, claiming he was hopeless and gruff, but whenever Mujang returned home, Bari revolved around him as if she were his moon. He also had an indifferent look on his face, cold underneath the moonlight. Silver eyes that could cut deep. As she looked into those eyes, it would be a lie if she said her heart didn’t skip a beat.

However, he was the god of death. It was impossible for her, a human begging him for yaksu, to be with him in that capacity. No matter how handsome he was, they were fundamentally different. And she could not stay in this place forever. Once she received the yaksu, she planned on going back up to the land of the living.

She had almost fainted from shock when he asked her to bear his child, but, honestly, she did not hate it. Of course she didn’t. When he approached her, she felt like her heart would burst. Whenever he called out her name during their wedding night, she couldn’t help but feel strange.

“Bari…”

Bari’s body flinched. Something watery flowed out of her body and drenched Mujang’s staff as it moved back and forth.

“Hmm.”

Bari clenched her teeth to stop the moan from leaving her lips. However, her body was currently dominated by the recently awakened blending of yin and yang.

Her breast undulated within the man’s grasp. The moon became distorted within the clouds. Moans and hot breaths scattered in the air. The trees shook along with the wind. Meanwhile, a feverish heat began to surge between them. Every time their flesh rubbed together, a damp, scalding heat spread throughout her body. Their eyes grew blurry.

“Aah.”

With a short groan, his staff began to plunge inside her. Pain and heat entered her in tandem with his stiff cock. Bari used all her strength to hold onto the windowsill. As he continued to thrust, one of her legs was lifted up. As her body tilted forward, Mujang’s hand wrapped around her hips.

And then…

Bursts, moans, heat. She wasn’t sure which came first. However, at some point, Mujang was inside her body. As if she’d been captured within a beast’s grasp, Bari couldn’t breathe. His body was large and strong as it dominated her small frame. As if it were laying roots, his cock continued to plunge inside.

He did not make a sound. She felt like she was the only one writhing from the sensations. She also felt like she was the only one who couldn’t move because she was so filled with him. He pulled away. And with him, all thoughts flew out of her mind. All her nerves were focused on their point of connection. Bari lowered her head.

Rustle, her neck was now exposed from underneath her hair. Mujang lowered his lips. His mouth was so hot that it felt like a brand that was burning the skin on the nape of her neck. No, he was burning her entire body.

Slowly, he pulled out. As he moved, it was as if her whole body was letting out a silent scream. He pulled out so slowly that it caused goosebumps to rise on her skin. Then he aggressively plunged back inside. Smack, his cock and drooping scrotum hit her pale bottom.

He pulled out slowly once again. He plunged back inside. Like writhing snakes, their limbs tangled together. Their point of connection grew drenched with their fluids. Every time he rubbed against her pubic hair, Bari could not hold back her cries. It felt like he was going to pierce through her belly.

Smack, he entered back inside. An intense heat and shiver spread throughout her body in waves.

“Please…”

Bari was so delirious that she didn’t know what she was saying. At first, pain. In the end, a certain sweetness. She couldn’t endure the sensations that were surrounding her.

“Mujang-nim…”

She tried to turn around and look at his face. However, Mujang coldly grabbed her face and turned it around so that she couldn’t see him.

Why did he do that? As intense as the heat between their bodies, a chill swept through her heart. 

Does he not want to see my face?

Why?

She looked down at her hands gripping the windowsill. She now realized that they hadn’t even taken their clothes off. He was plunging into her, doing the bare minimum to get this deed done. As if they were merely animals that were mating. However, their wedding night hadn’t been like this. Back then, at the very least, they were facing each other. They were completely nude, and they could feel each other’s naked bodies.

So why was he doing it like this now?

He doesn’t… want to look at me?

She tried to turn around again. But the result was the same. He stubbornly turned her back, not making a sound. However, other than this, his movements were as hot as always.

Smack! His body entered deep inside her once again. A shiver reached the top of her head, and Bari bit her lips as she moaned. The semen that burst out filled her belly before overflowing, drenching her thighs.

“Mujang-nim…”

Bari called his name again. A distant darkness swallowed her whole.