Compatibility Tiger Disaster

At the entrance to the mountain, there was a tavern.

Some might question who decided where the entrance to the mountain was.

However, it was a privilege unique to humans to name the nature created by the Sky God and divide its uses, so everyone called that place the entrance.

A wooden gate, attached to a wattle fence for mere formality, swayed in the wind.

It was the beginning of spring, when flowers were cautiously raising their buds, but the lingering chill of winter, pushed out of the fields, had temporarily settled at the foot of the mountain with the tavern’s guests.

In the tavern, six men were sitting on a wooden platform. Four of them were gambling, and two were drinking a little distance away.

The gamblers were peddlers on their way back from buying goods in Hanyang.

“Hey, are you interested?”

When one of the men drinking glanced at the gambling game, the man shuffling the cards spoke.

Normally, he might have gotten angry for being stared at, but he chose his words after observing the man across from the one who was watching.

It was obvious that he was a nobleman.

“Ah, I was just watching. Haha.”

Embarrassed that he had been caught staring, the man chuckled and raised his liquor bottle.

“Young master, would you like another drink?”

Aha, he was indeed a nobleman. The merchant sighed in relief inwardly.

If he had offended a tipsy nobleman, troublesome things would surely have happened.

“Yes, pour me some.”

The nobleman didn’t seem interested in the gambling game, only watching the liquor filling his cup.

Clear liquor dripped from the mouth of the bottle with a trickling sound.

A crescent moon was reflected on the clear surface. It was such an exquisite sight that anyone with a sense of romance would have been inspired to write a poem.

“Wow… the moon is reflected in the liquor cup. Isn’t that romantic?”

The servant pouring the liquor said, but the nobleman only smirked.

“The moon in the liquor cup, my ass. Do you think I’m Li Bai or something?”

The nobleman slurred out a curse.

“Ah, Young master. Magistrate told you to watch your language, didn’t he?”

“Even if I watch my language, I’m just a useless son to my father. Just a fool who failed the civil service exam. They say my conception dream was a dragon, but I guess it was a loach instead.”

The nobleman drank again.

“Mongryong Young master. You don’t have to worry too much. Has Magistrate ever scolded you for your studies? He just told you to keep to the proper way of human life, didn’t he?”

Despite the servant’s words, the nobleman named Mongryong kept drinking. His face was flushed red, comparable to a ripe persimmon.

“Bangja… I appreciate the comfort, but I don’t think it’ll make me feel any better. Just pour me more liquor.”

Mongryong said to Bangja.

Bangja sighed and picked up the liquor bottle. He lightly shook the seemingly empty bottle from side to side.

“It seems to be empty.”

“Then we can just order another bottle.”

“That’s the fifth bottle, Young master.”

Bangja put the bottle down and tried to dissuade him, but Mongryong was firm.

As a servant, he couldn’t say more without risking punishment. Bangja couldn’t hide his troubled expression as he called out to the tavern keeper.

“Tavern keeper, another bottle of liquor here.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s time to clean up now…”

A woman with a gruff impression said.

“Clean up?”

Mongryong said, still with slurred pronunciation, and the woman looked at Mongryong with a troubled face.

“The night is Mountain Lord’s time.”

At the tavern keeper’s words, the merchants who were gambling also started to pack up and go into their rooms.

“Mountain Lord? You mean a tiger? A tiger comes down here?”

Mongryong asked back.

“Yes. It’s open and close to the village, but it’s clearly the entrance to the mountain, so it’s best to be careful.”

“Hmm- I want to drink more…”

“Young master, you have to cross the mountain, and if you drink too much, you’ll suffer tomorrow.”

Bangja, having received a signal from the tavern keeper, cleaned up the table and took care of Mongryong.

Mongryong staggered to his feet, led by his servant.

“I failed the civil service exam, and I can’t even drink as much as I want. I’m a failure, a failure.”

The drunkard’s lament didn’t stop even as he went to his room.

Once all six men had entered their rooms, the tavern keeper cleaned up the tables.

The tavern keeper checked the fence, which was more for show than anything, and then closed the gate.

The gate swayed in the wind.

“Bangja.”

Mongryong, lying in the room, called his servant’s name.

“…….”

“Bangja. Are you asleep?”

“I’m not asleep.”

“…What should I do now?”

“You can just prepare again, can’t you?”

“Do you think so?”

“With my meager mind, that’s what I think…”

“I see. Go to sleep.”

“Yes, yes…”

Bangja was worried about Young master’s condition. But his worry didn’t last long, as fatigue and intoxication quickly brought sleep.

It was an hour later that Mongryong, who had fallen asleep similarly to Bangja, woke up to urinate.

He looked around the room with eyes that weren’t fully open, but he couldn’t find a chamber pot.

“Ugh….”

His mind, still floundering in a sea of intoxication, was different from usual, and he ended up opening the door.

“It’s cold.”

His body shivered in the cold night wind. He closed the door so that his servant wouldn’t get cold.

He sat on the wooden platform for a while, admiring the moon, and then put on his shoes as the urge to urinate came again.

“I guess I can just pee roughly.”

Remembering the foul-smelling outhouse, Mongryong opened the swaying old gate and went outside.

After all, there was no one to see him. It would be fine to pee in the bushes.

He lowered his pants and aimed his manhood at the bushes, and the liquor he had drunk earlier began to flow out.

The falling stream of water made a sound as it hit the grass.

“Ugh… it’s cold.”

Having finished urinating, Mongryong pulled up his pants and repeatedly checked below to see if any had splashed.

When he raised his head after checking his clothes, two brightly glowing yellow lanterns were floating in front of his eyes.

“…Huh?”

Those were his last words.

Something heavy that tore through the night pounced on Mongryong and disappeared into the mountain.

The mountain at night was the Mountain Lord’s territory.

Bangja woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing, announcing the new day.

Bangja, pressing his throbbing head from the previous day’s hangover, looked beside him.

An empty bed.

Bangja tilted his head and got out of bed.

Leaving behind his disheveled hair and the unpleasant feeling in his stuffy mouth, he wandered around the tavern.

“Young master?”

He wondered if he had gone to the outhouse and called out to Mongryong, but one of the merchants came out of the outhouse.

Bangja’s heart sank. An ominous feeling began to rise.

“Young master!”

Bangja burst out of the door and called his master’s name.

“Young master! Inho Young master!”

The servant cried out his master’s name, but his master’s whereabouts were unknown.