Predator or Pet?

“Get lost! I said, get lost!”

I screamed at the boy. I didn’t know if it would work, but I hoped that he might at least feel a shred of intimidation and back away from me.

However, the boy merely stared at me with a blunt, sullen expression, staying rooted to the spot.

‘Is he planning to just stand there until he sees an opening to attack me?’

It felt like watching a lion pacing inside a cage—except I was the one trapped. Yet, the boy didn’t attempt to breach the iron bars again.

Standing still, I tried to ignore his gaze that tracked my every movement and began to observe him. After all, it was just the two of us in this bizarre space. I needed to figure him out if I wanted to survive.

“Ui! Woi!”

But as soon as I began to scan him, he let out a strange sound and tried to say something again.

I stared intently at his face. Up close, his eyes were not human; they were yellow, with pupils split into vertical slits.

‘……He’s a real monster. Is this “the other side”? Did I cross over without even realizing it?’

While observing, I discovered another physical characteristic. In the middle of his emaciated chest, the number ‘5’ was etched in small print.

It looked like a tattoo, yet it twitched strangely, catching my eye. Beneath it, I noticed a fine seam—a thin line that shouldn’t exist on a human body.

‘What kind of creature is this?’

As I wondered, my gaze drifted further down to his fingernails. They were black to the root and pointed—terrifying and grotesque.

Skritch, skreeeech.

“Ugh!”

The moment my eyes landed on his nails, he began to drag them across the iron bars, creating a horrific screeching noise.

I covered my ears and took a step back. When I retreated, the boy reached his hand through the bars as if desperate to catch me.

Clang!

He was cut short by the chains on his wrists. He furrowed his brows in annoyance, a reaction that seemed almost foolish, yet it made my skin crawl.

Right then—

Whish—!

A sharp whistle of air slicing through the void echoed from outside the bars. The boy reacted with startling agility, whipping around.

Thwack—!

Since the boy had moved his head, an arrow flew through the gap in the bars and lodged itself into the wall of my cell.

“Die! You monster!”

A distinct, human voice followed.

I brightened instantly and turned toward the direction of the voice. However, the boy’s body blocked my view, preventing me from seeing the archer clearly.

“Grrrrrrr…….”

A low growl vibrated in the boy’s throat, and then, utilizing that terrifying leaping power, he vanished from my sight. I stumbled toward the bars.

What I saw below was….

“……People?”

They were all as thin as the monster, but they were definitely human. Grimy and skeletal, they faced off against the boy, each wielding a weapon.

However, despite their desperation, they were no match for the boy’s monstrous strength.

“Aaaaagh—!”

“Don’t run! It’s now or never!”

Despite the encouragement from the person who seemed to be the leader, the gap in raw combat power was simply too wide. In the end, several people lost their lives to the monster’s hands.

Watching the floor below become drenched in blood, I was left speechless.

Lick. Lick.

The boy dropped to all fours and began to lap up the flowing blood.

The people who were still alive began to flee, driven by survival instinct. Surprisingly, the boy didn’t pursue them. Some, however, seemed to succumb to their wounds mid-flight; their bodies shuddered before they collapsed and went still.

Then, something incredible happened.

The floor, which seemed to be made of fine white sand where the corpses lay, began to swirl slowly. It started to suck the bodies down into the depths.

The boy watched the scene with indifference before standing up on two feet. Then, he looked directly at me.

“What is… this place…….”

I let out a low groan after witnessing the entire scene.

But there was no time to remain in shock. The boy leaped back up to my level and began scratching at the bars again.

“You crazy brat, stop it!”

“Stop it! Stop it!”

He mimicked my words like a moron, grinning ear to ear. That smile looked strangely innocent, but knowing what he had just done, it felt like the deception of a predator.

In the end, I could do nothing but lean against the wall in agony until the monster left. After a while, he sauntered away, and consumed by exhaustion, I leaned back and drifted into a fitful sleep.

When I woke, my jumbled thoughts had cleared a little.

‘So… there are other people here besides me. There were people who escaped even while injured, and they had weapons, however crude.’

They had even fought against that monster.

‘Then, I should cooperate with them to defeat the monster… and find a way back to where I belong.’

It was clear that while trying to seal the Demonic Sword, I had been flung to “the other side.” The boy was a type of monster I had never seen before, but there was no denying he was one.

‘Should I try calling those people from earlier?’

After confirming several times that the monster wasn’t nearby, I carefully scanned the area. But the landscape was desolate; there was no sign of human movement.

“……Is anyone there?”

I mustered my courage and shouted, but no one answered.

However, the moment my voice rang out, I heard the pitter-patter of footsteps running toward me from the distance.

“Dammit…….”

The source revealed itself almost instantly.

It was the monster.

“Hik, hik! Hik!”

He flapped his hands wildly as if wagging a tail. I naturally backed away, but he was already at the bars.

Before I slept, he had only scratched the bars with his hands, but this time, he opened his mouth wide and began to gnaw on the iron with his teeth.

Thanks to that, I noticed his large canines. They certainly weren’t human teeth. This thing was definitely a monster in the guise of a boy.

Whack!

“Get lost!”

I used the only weapon in the room—the rope—to strike at his face. He merely narrowed his eyes, showing no intention of moving away from the bars.

“Haa, haa…….”

He panted heavily, his eyeballs darting around.

“Don’t… hurt?”

“What are you saying?”

“Don’t hit? Don’t hit?”

I couldn’t understand his message, but I noticed he was staring intently at the rope in my hand.

‘Is he telling me not to hit him with the rope?’

When I raised the rope high again, he growled. Yet, his expression didn’t look particularly angry.

“Wooh! Don’t hurt!”

“…….”

I hesitated for a moment but ignored him and swung the cord once more.

In an instant, he snatched the rope with incredible speed. If I hadn’t let go immediately, his terrifying grip would have pulled me right up against the bars.

‘Shit, he was acting like an idiot, but…….’

The realization that I had almost lost my life made me go cold, and I couldn’t say a word.

But the boy, having taken the rope from me, just started fidgeting with it. He licked the part I had held or sniffed it while hopping up and down.

When I shifted my stance to see if he was playing with it, he immediately tossed the rope aside and glared at me. Then, he went back to scratching the bars.

“Grrrr.”

But… as I watched closely, the vibrating sound in his throat didn’t feel like a threat; it felt like uncontrollable excitement.

Looking at the monster’s flushed face, a strange feeling washed over me. I knew it made no sense, but… was he like a puppy? He acted as if he were dying for a bit of my attention.

‘But I can’t gamble my life to test that theory…….’

Having seen his aggression, I continued to hesitate. But the monster kept panting and rubbing his body against the bars. I had to make a decision.

First, I took off my outer shirt. Holding it in my hand, I cautiously approached him. As I drew near, the boy’s face lit up as if he would have wagged a tail if he had one, and he began to drool.