episode_0004

[004] Schrödinger’s Tiger

Thud!

Startled!

“Haha!”

I was surprised.

I was startled by the sound of the branch I stepped on.

“Haa haa!”

My breath, which I had been holding, burst out, and I breathed heavily.

I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath.

I needed to relax. Excessive tension stiffens the mind and causes actions to contract more than necessary.

Phew… Inhale and count one, two, three. Sip! Inhale and count one, two, three. Phew… Exhale…

Slowly, I continued through the forest, regulating my breathing.

Yeah, there’s no need to assume the worst. I’ve only found traces of a tiger so far.

Could the tiger in the unobserved box both exist and not exist?

I can’t just turn back because of a possibly existing or non-existing tiger in the box.

…But, what if it’s not a tiger inside the box but me?

Am I like a cat trapped in a dark box, living and dead in this unknown world?

Then what happens when the box is opened?

As I tried to relax and let my body follow the flow of consciousness, even I, the subject of thought, pondered incomprehensible philosophical questions.

-Meow!

In the distance, I heard the sound of an animal being caught.

-Meow! Meow!

This is definitely something caught in the set trap!

The tension that had been released tightened again.

In an instant, my mind filled with barking, setting aside thoughts of boxes and tigers, focusing solely on the prey that was caught.

A feeling of vitality surged through my contracted and weary body!

“It’s… a deer!”

A deer! Hahaha! A deer is caught! I did well not to turn back!

Confirming that a deer was caught in the trap, I ran towards it with a face like an ant investor whose stock had skyrocketed.

-Meow!

“What?!”

Oh no!!!

Thud!

The trap where the deer was caught seemed unstable, then the tree broke, and the deer escaped.

“No! Come back, deer!!! I have to buy medicine for my mom!”

Desperately reloading an arrow into the bow, I shot.

Swish! Thud!

An arrow stuck in the tree.

“Oh, that missed!”

The survival instinct-triggered deer was incredibly quick.

It was unfortunate that I predicted the direction wrong and hit a tree!

No, I should have set a stronger trap from the beginning.

Who would have known that a deer would be caught in a trap set for catching pheasants?

Anyway, now I have to focus on chasing the deer.

I ran with eyes ablaze, determined not to miss even a strand of deer fur.

Despite stumbling over rocks and falling, I felt no pain.

My mind was entirely focused on catching the deer! I must catch the deer.

The deer was getting further away. Its slight glance back seemed to mock me.

Fine, I admit it.

You must have evolved the ability to run fast to escape predators. Indeed, you are faster than me.

But do you know what you lack?

Endurance.

You may have mocked my slow pace as you ran away smoothly, but eventually, you will tire. How far can you run with that snare around your leg?

The deer gradually disappeared, now out of sight.

It’s okay; I haven’t lost it yet.

The deer tracks on the ground, the faint bloodstains from the snare, and the broken branches showed me where the deer had gone.

In my hometown, there’s a saying left by the legendary huntress who hunted the passage of time.

“I won’t miss it.”

So, I won’t miss it either, never….

*

*

*

The diligent and kind-hearted lumberjack once again climbed the mountain today to cut wood.

Approaching his forties, he had one wish:

To obtain a beautiful wife and get married.

A diligent and deeply filial gentleman, why hasn’t he gotten married even at the age of forty?

I’m not sure if it’s right to call this kind of thing “facial probability.”

Hmm… If anyone has ever seen a lumberjack’s appearance, they would immediately understand why he is a widower, so it seems like the right expression.

With eyes like flatfish, a crooked nose, teeth that seem neglected, and a messy beard that looks like it hasn’t been groomed since birth, among all the ugly colors in the world, he was born with an ugly color.

Not only did the women lose their appetite when they accidentally saw the lumberjack’s face, but even the men were disgusted to the point of pushing away the food on the table.

Moreover, for some reason, the stench vibrated just by passing by.

Even when he stayed still, his face, which would receive unwarranted criticism, emitted a smell, leaving him without a wife and even a friend to share his heart with.

Then, is his conduct upright?

Of course, his deep filial piety towards his mother or his diligence in chopping wood daily despite coming from a wealthy household were aspects recognized by the villagers.

However, even though he wasn’t as aggressive as a rabid dog, there was a saying that in households with daughters, no one had ever tried to drive out a lumberjack with a stick.

Even if he was a hungry widower longing for a woman, it was too much. It was fortunate that neither the father nor the brother in those households went mad enough to beat him to death.

If you’re ugly, either manage yourself neatly or if you can’t manage yourself, at least keep your conduct upright.

In this crazy trinity of appearance, behavior, and smell, if the village maidens heard the name of a lumberjack, their faces would pale and they would be repulsed,

Even if his mother was a witch, where could she send him.

Of course, someone might ask if it makes sense that he couldn’t get married just for that reason in a medieval Korean worldview, not even the 21st century.

That’s a valid point.

In any era, men are judged by their abilities.

Being a lumberjack wasn’t such a prestigious profession, but having a prosperous household enough to own a decent house in the village was a big advantage.

As for the conduct that the women found repulsive, it might improve after marriage, and as for the smell, well, a wife wouldn’t let her husband go unwashed.

He may have stood out a bit due to his flaws, but back then, people didn’t pay much attention to having a dark complexion, so he wasn’t completely unable to find a wife.

For these reasons, he surely had opportunities to get married.

Once, even after crossing the age of marriage, the lumberjack’s mother, who hadn’t seen a son for a long time, made inquiries about widows to find a match for her son.

The results were not bad.

Although the parents of the somewhat flawed widow weren’t entirely pleased,

Knowing that their daughter would be left alone to grow old after they passed away, and since their daughter was no longer a maiden. With a round face, they had no choice but to accept it,

The lumberjack’s mother, seeing the widow’s plump face, tried to persuade her son, who was entering into his first marriage, to marry the widow, but

She said that she had to think about how to bring up a widow’s daughter living with them, and how to repay the humiliation received in that house through marriage.

The problem arose on the day the lumberjack decided to marry the widow.

As the day turned to dusk and the mother eagerly awaited her son bringing home his new bride, she pondered how to establish authority over the old woman and how to repay the disgrace received in that house through marriage.

Finally, she heard the loud voice of her beloved son.

“Mother! I’m back!”

“Oh, our son!”

With determination, the mother rushed out to the front door to see the bride, but what could have happened?

The color of the blanket was nowhere to be found, only an empty blanket held loosely in his hand. Wasn’t it his son who should be coming in alone?

“……”

Why empty-handed? Did he change his mind at his daughter-in-law’s house and just chase his son away?

Should he go to that house and turn everything upside down?

In the midst of such confusion, the lumberjack mother’s thoughts were all jumbled up.

Staring blankly at the empty blanket in her son’s hand like a mute person who had eaten honey, she soon regained her composure and asked, “Hey… hey, where is your blanket… Where did you leave it and come here alone?”

However suppressed her voice sounded when she spoke those words, could the lumberjack mother reveal what was on her mind?

“Oh, Mother! Why ask me to carry a heavy and ugly woman? It was too heavy so I just left it there and came back. I don’t want anyone other than a beautiful and graceful maiden as my partner.”

“……”

It was truly astonishing and bewildering.

If the lumberjack had turned away at that moment, how good would it have been…

But alas, the heavens, indifferent as they are, completely overturned her thoughts with a blunt remark.

“Well, I still dislike ugly women! I won’t go there anymore. I told you I wouldn’t go! Besides, I have someone else I’ve been seeing from before! That girl from the miller’s house is so pretty. I’ll just go to her place.”

!!!!???

“This… this… foolish boy!!!!”

The lumberjack mother felt as if the sky was falling.

In short, it was a disastrous statement for the household.

While marrying into a widow’s family wasn’t a bad idea and they had already agreed on it, kidnapping a distant relative would be a crime! It would lead to trouble!

Moreover, a distant relative!

Wasn’t she the precious youngest daughter raised trembling with fear at the Kim family’s mill?

The age gap between that maiden and her son was more than significant!

To think that a middle-aged man, trembling with fear, would covet a delicate fifteen-year-old girl like her daughter-in-law, was beyond belief!

Even though it seemed like something the lumberjack’s widow should worry about more than him, convincing her foolish son was important to the lumberjack mother, not the truth.

The pleading voice of the lumberjack mother was so pitiful.

How fortunate it would have been if the lumberjack had turned away at that moment…

However, the lumberjack, in the end, with a firm word, completely overturned her thoughts, leaving her speechless.

“Ah, but I still dislike ugly women! I won’t go there. I clearly said I won’t go! And didn’t I have another girl I used to see before! That girl from the miller’s house is so lovely. I’ll go to her place now.”

The unfortunate misunderstanding made the lumberjack mother feel as if the sky was collapsing.

It was a scandalous matter within the household.

Though marrying into a widow’s family wasn’t a bad idea and they had already agreed on it, kidnapping a distant relative would be a crime! It would lead to trouble!

Moreover, a distant relative!

Wasn’t she the precious youngest daughter raised trembling with fear at the Kim family’s mill?

The age gap between that maiden and her son was more than significant!

Even though it seemed like something the lumberjack’s widow should worry about more than him, convincing her foolish son was important to the lumberjack mother, not the truth.

As the hair thickened and hair started to grow on the lower body, how did one of the senior servants hear about the bossam news? Thinking of peeking through the window or hole secretly, he overheard the lumberjack’s slander and spread it around the neighborhood.

Mrs. Boon’s father, an old lumberjack, caused a commotion by reporting that the man, who was already eyeing his precious youngest daughter, tried to have bossam, and then,

The widow’s household tried to keep quiet because the fact that they were embroiled in an investigation was frightening, but,

After claiming that his daughter had been insulted by the lumberjack and causing a ruckus by bringing out knives and wooden clubs, the lumberjack touched the widow as if patting her to sleep that night, insulted her for being fat, and learned the whole story, grabbing an axe and coming to strike the lumberjack’s head, only to be barely stopped by the village elders.

Since then, whenever the lumberjack passed through the village, he received finger-pointing and endured stones and mud thrown by the villagers.

As a result, the diligent and filial lumberjack, who still hadn’t married, surprisingly had no significant correlation between his dark appearance and his marital status.

The lumberjack chops the tree with all his might.

This is Mr. Bangatgan Kim’s face!

This is the face of the widow’s husband!

This is the face of those brats who throw stones at me every time they see me!

He diligently chopped wood while thinking of the people he despised.

Before he knew it, the empty woodpile was full. As his back began to ache from the hard work, he decided to take a break, put down the axe, leaned against a tree, and contemplated his future.

“…I’ve lost all my wealth and even spent money on a feast, so will there be anyone willing to marry me?”

That widow? She won’t even look at me now.

Isn’t it natural to confirm what kind of color I am before becoming a husband?

“I wanted to look good, but she made a fuss just because I looked a bit dark these days? Am I the only one she dislikes? Perhaps I’m someone who has no intention of living with a woman who has a temper like that!”

The lumberjack felt extremely unjust. If she had been a woman he liked, he wouldn’t have minded, but he couldn’t get married because of a woman he didn’t care about at all.

It seemed like everything was the widow’s fault.

“Wait, since no one wants to marry me anyway, why not really! find a wife? Even Mother agrees. She told me to find a good woman to marry, why can’t I do it when others can? Maybe you don’t like the daughter-in-law? If you’re going to have a feast, bring a pretty one, right? Since we’re going to have a feast, bring a pretty woman. Ah, that nagging…”

Despite being very filial, he couldn’t understand why his mother scolded him so severely whenever the topic of marriage came up. Wasn’t it his mother who first suggested getting married? Why can’t he do it now!

Even if his mother hadn’t scolded him, by this time in the evening, he would have been married and probably tapping his wife’s side and patting her buttocks….

Just catch me and sneak out without my mother knowing. If I stamp it firmly on the way back, what can everyone do? Isn’t it good if your mother-in-law becomes a pretty daughter-in-law and your father-in-law is reliable and you gain a good son-in-law? Um… then which house should I choose? The miller’s daughter looks fresh and pretty, but she might not fit into the Kim family… Or maybe Choi Young-gam’s granddaughter? She’s really pretty too… And this Mr. Yi’s daughter…’

That’s how the woodcutter was in the midst of making a clumsy plan.

[Help me!]

Something rustled through the bushes and appeared in front of the woodcutter.