[Upcoming]
Gu Dong lost both his parents when he was young, and after that, he scraped by at his uncle's house.
At sixteen, his uncle arranged a marriage for him. His intended was the gray-haired, nearly toothless owner of the general store in town.
Gu Dong would rather die than live in misery. Though usually obedient and mild-mannered, he mustered his courage and sneaked away.
With the villagers hot on his heels, Gu Dong could only keep his head down and run for his life.
When he finally came to his senses, the familiar Wolf Mountain seemed strange at every turn. A vicious wolf crouched beside him, eyeing him hungrily.
Gu Dong's legs trembled with fright, and he nearly fainted.
To his surprise, the wolf threw back its head and howled, then scratched at the... leek flatbread in his hand with its sharp claws.
Gu Dong: "...What?"
Trembling with fear, Gu Dong watched the wolf devour the leek flatbread in one bite, then was forced to follow it back to its tribe.
The wolf-beast tribe was even poorer than his village. Dozens of wolves lived there, and they ate meat without leaving even a bone behind.
Gu Dong didn't dare run away or die, so all he could do was dig for mushrooms by the cave entrance every day.
Looking at the mushrooms covering the ground, he thought fearfully and regretfully: So much money! If only I could take them back to my world...
When he opened his eyes again, Gu Dong stared blankly at the familiar tree hollow and the handful of mushrooms beside him. He immediately wrapped them in a banana leaf and took them to the prefectural city to sell.
After selling the mushrooms, he counted his copper coins and thought: There are plenty more mushrooms in that other world. If I could pick them all, I could make even more...
The next time he saw those savage wolf eyes, Gu Dong was much calmer.
"I'll make you lunch. How about you take me to dig for mushrooms?"
The vicious wolf seemed not to understand. Gu Dong merely waved the roast chicken in his hand, and the wolf howled. It carried Gu Dong off to dig mushrooms, pick wild fruit and medicinal herbs, fish, catch shrimp, and hunt game...
The Beast World was full of treasures. Gu Dong traveled between the two worlds and made a fortune. Looking at the mountain of animal pelts and game, he slapped the wolf on the back and decided to open a shop in the prefectural city.
The wolf understood, but couldn't care less about opening a shop. He picked Gu Dong up in his jaws and carried him back to the den. It was the dead of winter, and they had nothing to do. It was time to have a wolf pup.
[Bonus Scene]
One day, Gu Yun'an carried a fish back to the cave and tossed it into the air. The wolf king leaped up and caught the plump fish in its jaws. The moment it landed, white smoke billowed around it, and the wolf king transformed into a person.
One cloud of white smoke after another rose inside the cave. At last, the well-fed wolf-beast people had enough energy to take human form.
Gu Yun'an: "..."
M-Monsters! Mom! I've been raising a whole mountain full of monsters!
The wolf king, now in human form, cornered the weak, pitiful, helpless Gu Yun'an against the cave wall. He gave what he thought was a handsome smile and said, "Awooo! Awooo? Awooo... Awooo? Awooo! Awooooooooo... oo!"
Gu Yun'an: "...How about you straighten out your tongue before you speak?"
Proud and fierce, the wolf king, still unused to speaking like a human: "..."
[Reading Guide]
* Travel between two worlds: bring goods back from the Beast World, make money in ancient times, then return to the Beast World to build things up.
* The gong is a wolf at first, but gradually takes human form. The shou is a male spouse who can give birth, and will have wolf-beast pups.
* At first, the gong can't speak the local language and only knows the wolf language: awooo, awooo~~ The shou gradually teaches him, so it's a somewhat unusual coming-of-age story (?)
* A sweet little romance, with no angst at all.
* The setting is entirely fictional. All vegetables, fruits, plants, and animals come from the author's current flights of fancy, so please don't scrutinize them too closely (if you do, the author will cry).
Theme: Moving forward hand in hand
