Chapter 11

While the two are eating , Rose joined them . She got separated from them when she saw her friend from the Willow Village who coincidentally also came to the town to buy necessities.  When she saw her two brothers eating flatbreads she immediately asked for one and joined them. Not long after , they stopped by the Topiary Village. 

Ryan and Rose stepped down from the ox and entered the village. The siblings were not particularly close to the Topiary Village Head so they didn't bother to visit him . They first went to Aunt Yassi first and saw her sweeping their house's front yard. 

Rose excitedly ran towards her . " Aunt Yassi!!! "

Ryan and Gab slowly followed her and went to Yassi's direction .

Yassi paused and looked at the toddler running towards her . Yassi immediately stopped her movements and faced Rose . " Hello , Little Rose.  "

" Auntie!!! We're here to visit . "

Yassi made an o shaped mouth as her eyes smiled into a crescent shape . " Is that so? Aunt Yassi is happy to know that . "

Gab arrived and gave a gentlemanly bow . " Good day , Aunt Yassi . "

Ryan also followed him to also bow slightly. Aunt Yassi wasn't accostumed to being greeted like a lady so she awkwardly smiled . Realizing that the pair of siblings suddenly visited her , she decided to ask . " What makes you pay a visit to me today? "

Gab took out his savings from his waist and handed it to her . " Before i was married to my husband , we owed you a lot , Aunt Yassi.  So i remembered to repay you.  "

He also took the basket Ryan was holding and handed it to her . " You've done a lot for us , Auntie and i don't know what to do to pay the kindness you bestowed to us when we were struggling to survive alone together in the outskirts of the village.  "

Yassi smiled and didn't reject his small basket.  She looked inside and saw the basket contains dark bar thing . She sniffed it and smelled cocoa . She recognized it immediately as the rumored chocolate from the capital . She was inwardly surprised . She was about to talk to Ryan about the chocolate thing when something suddenly caught her eyes .

There are five glass containers inside the basket . She took it out and scrunitized it . " What's this? Little boy . "

Gab immediately smiled and introduced to her that it was sardines . The fishes inside the glass container originated from the Northwest Kingdom , northwestern people found it in an island named Sardinia Island .

Of course , Gab was just talking nonsense , coming up with a lot of lies to justify the origins of his product. He also said to Yassi that they've been keeping that in their storage for a lot of years and they didn't even spoil . Because of the tight lid on the container , the sardines don't easily spoil .

In reality , that sardines was a product from Spain . He just removed the label and gave it to Aunt Yassi as a gift . There are a lot of sardines in the space but it was tin canned , and as far as he could remember . Tin can wasn't yet invented in this timeline probably, so he didn't take the risk .

" Oh goodness , Gabriel , these glass containers must be expensive right? How did you afford to buy such thing.  "

" Well , we aquired that before we came here . "

" That's justifiable . Ok , i like this gift . Thank you so much , Gabriel . "

Yassi only then noticed the silent man behind Gab and covered her mouth. " I was so fascinated by this sardines that i forgot to invite you in the house . I'm so rude , please forgive me . "

Rose immediately waved her hand while eating her flatbread and said to her.  " It's alright Auntie , we're also about to go back home now . "

Gab nodded in agreement . Yassi smiled and looked at the man beside Gabriel . " You must be Ryan , right? "

Ryan put his hand to his chest and greeted . " Hello , Auntie . "

" Hehe , take good care of these two little guys ok? "

" That's my duty , Auntie . I will definitely not neglect my wife and sis-in-law . "

" That's a relief for me then . "

The three bid their a farewell and went back to the Willow Village , Rose carried the small chicken they previously bought before Gab was married to Ryan . When they arrived in the Village , some villagers noticed Gabriel. The rumored guy who was married to Ryan .

They sent a pitying gaze on him and started chatting how miserable his life might become once the priests from the church in the capital visit the village to preach .

Gabriel will surely recieve the priest's negative views once they heard of him . Ryan gave them a glance and silently clasp Gab's hands and said seriously . " Don't listen to them.  "

Gab lifted his head and stared at his husband.  " I can't close my ears.  "

" ... " Ryan

Gab chuckled seeing his speechless stoic expression . He actually just wanted to tease him but he seems to have inavertently destroyed the atmosphere . He straightened his lips and asked Ryan . " If the Priests indeed found me , can you protect me? "

Hearing his words , Ryan's eyes suddenly turned serious and looked at Gab's face . " I can protect you . "

" How? "

" ... "

Gab smiled and patted Ryan's biceps . " Honestly , i am not afraid of the church . "

Ryan's brows arc up . " You're not afraid? "

Gab nodded .

" How come? "

Gab blinked his eyes and puckered his lips . He also doesn't know where his confidence came from . It maybe because of his former pride as the most powerful warrior in the apocalypse . Nevertheless , his pride is useless if he couldn't even protect himself from possible dangers . The world he transmigrated to was not an ordinary world.  It is full of spiritual energy , warriors or ability users might not even a rare thing in the capital .

If he just broadened his sight outside of the village , he could immediately deduce that the village wasn't a place for him . If he wants to advance and regain his strength , he has to experience hurdles again .

Gab silently looked at Ryan and suddenly felt reluctant . Honestly , even if they've only together for not long , he already developed attachment to this guy .

Back in the modern times , he could easily date women and develop affection to them even if it were just a week old relationship . The label ' boyfriend ' could already make him feel responsible of his girlfriend's emotions.  He would give his girlfriend some flowers before and even kissed them intimately on the forehead .

Even though dating was good to the heart , he honestly didn't fantasized being with them for a lifetime .

Because he knows that they'll eventually break up . When the apocalypse came , having sex was an option to relieve stress . He even witnessed women getting into a relationship with some powerful warriors to be protected. 

He also did that before , but he was too cold for that . He just took her in his wing and provided her with food , after that , he got busy again searching for food supplies .

If he gets stronger day by day , he will probably go outside of the village to explore the world . He doesn't know if he can bring this man with him .

" I can just run away if i want . " Gab said with his profound eyes .

Ryan's heart suddenly thump in nervousness when the word run away escaped out of Gab's mouth .

He will run away?

There's no way he'll let that happen. " You're my wife , you can't run away.  " Ryan frowned and tightened his hold on his palm . " You can't run away from me . "

" I'm not running away from you . " Gab rolled his eyes .

The ox cart slowly entered the gate of their house and turned towards the backyard to be parked . Gab stepped down from the ox cart and carried the sleeping Rose with him. 

Gab patted the toddler's back and kissed her forehead . " She's asleep . "

Ryan looked at them and also rubbed Rose's back . " She's tired playing with her friends.  "

Gab smiled gently , anyone from the apocalypse world who saw him smiling in such a way would surely be dumbfounded .

They earned enough money for them to feel at ease in the next month , unless they planned to spend on random things. 

At night , Gab took over the kitchen and cooked a barbeque for the dinner . Gab especially roamed around the town to buy honey . What Gab feel good was that the honey sold in town was 100% authentic . Not the same for the fake honey in the space.

Gab made a simple barbeque sauce using soy sauce , white vinegar , honey , cornstarch and etc.  When he boiled it on the stove , it became liquid like syrup . Gab dipped his spoon and licked it . He savored the taste for a while before nodding .

" This is already enough.  No need to be extravagant . "

Gab then took out a second hand grill from the space and put it over the stove . He also added more charcoal in the stove and brushed a bit of oil on the surface of the grill .

When he felt that the grill was hot enough to put the marinated pork . He began putting several sticks of pork on the grill and brushed a layer of oil on them . The sound of the fire in the charcoal roasting the pork rang out in the chicken and a delicious aroma of the barbeque gradually diffuse to the air .

" Just from the smell , i could already conclude that it will taste like heaven.  " Gab muttered seriously and flipped them occasionally.

While waiting for it to roast , Gab started swaying his hips while humming a modern song he liked in his past life .

Talking about modern songs ... It's naturally his favorite boy groups in Korea . When he was still a child , their neighborhood often play kpop music to the point that he ended up shouting to them that they were too noisy.

When he and his family flew to his maternal ancestral place , that's when his life changed a lot . He was really shocked by the unhealthy environment there . He was usually a very sophisticated man in the mountains , where he just quietly watch tv , do chores then focus on his study . They were still impoverished at that time and only has a keypad phone when he was an elementary student . Yet the moment they flew to Davao .

Everything changed .

The sea near their maternal ancestral house became polluted . People living in a house over the sea discarded their waste directly on the sea and the place became more crowded .

When he arrived at the urban city , Gab couldn't properly sleep because of the occasional fights in the neighborhood . He even saw blood when his cousin attempted to commit suicide because of a family dispute , and he and his siblings can totally hear their loud arguments because their house were just back to back with each other. 

The whole neighborhood gathered around the doorstep of his cousin's house and peeked inside to gossip . Gab at that time was told to lock the door and protect his siblings . He did close the door , but he was too curious about their argument and also peeked inside .

That's when he saw his young auntie bleeding on her palm when she tried to block brother's attempt to stab himself .

Aunt's child at that time was handed to him because he was crying so loud . His aunt that time was also crying and said to his brother to not kill himself because of a petty family dispute .

No one actually understood how depressed his cousin at first . He was a quiet person but he has a violent tendency to hold a knife. 

He also heard from the Eldest maternal aunt that the most dangerous person in the family wasn't the socialite bratty sister ( cousin ) , but the quiet Kenneth who had long since stopped studying and was even suspected that he was using drugs. 

Gab then realized how different the world in the city was compared to the rural life . He learned how to cuss , he learned how to be rude and even learned blowing cigarettes at a very young age.

As time passed , he gradually felt accostumed to the noisy environment .

That was also the time when his mom flew abroad.  He acquired a smartphone and discovered another world again ( the world pf adults , 18+)

He was also once a TikTok addict . Gab remembered at that time that he did some dance challenges before and even sold meat ( exposing skin ) to the followers . He however ended up being scolded online by his keyboard warrior mother who caught him on TikTok seducing little girls .

Gab immediately shook his head and collected the barbeque .

Ryan and Rose were already seated on their respective chairs . The moment Gab arrived with plate of barbeque sticks , he immediately perceived their excitement .

" Let's suit our selves . "

Rose . " Let's dig in! "

Ryan held his utensils and followed after Rose who started eating after clapping her hands. 

--

In the middle of the night . Ryan noticed Gab waking up and exited the house.  Ryan sat up and removed the quilt before quietly watching at Gab's back from the second floor .

Ryan frowned and remembered Gab's words earlier. 

' I can just run away if i want.  '

While Ryan was recalling Gab's words.  Gab walked outside while humming a song entitled ' Blood , Sweat and Tears.  '

" Nae pi ttam nunmul

Nae majimak chumeul

Da gajyeoga ga ah~ ah~ ah~ "

Gab ventured deep into the forest although the forest . The forest was at the east side of of Ryan's house while his paddy fields were located behind the poultry .

Sounds of his feet stepping on the dry leaves rang out in the quiet forest . The whole surroundings were dark but the young boy wasn't afraid . He was already used to walking without seeing whenever he went on a mission in his past life.  Light attracts low rank zombies so their team often turned their flashlight off , but if they really required a light , they would just use a small flashlight. 

Gab paused and closed his eyes to hear the surroundings .

" Ravens "

Ravens really sound creepy.  Gab sighed and continued . A few munites after walking inside , Gab discovered a cave and decided to enter .

The moment he entered the cave , he suddenly met a ferocious bear inside .

' oh ohw '

" Grrrrowlll "

" Shut up!! "

" ... " Bear

" Good boy . "