episode_0397

***

The tiger was able to fill his hungry stomach for the first time in a long time. The neck of the captured prey was gently broken.

Along with the feeling of my neck bone being broken, a handful of blood entered my mouth. Sangun wrinkled his nose at the fishy smell and buried his head further into the hanging prey.

The mountain army’s meals took place deep in the mountains, untouched by humans.

Putting its nickname, the king of the mountains, to shame, the tiger hurriedly ripped off the body of its prey.

They tore the soft fabric with their teeth and chewed the soft flesh and internal organs with their molars.

I wanted to move the game to a safer place and eat, but I had no choice because my hungry stomach was churning.

The tiger, which had been chewing meat for a while, raised its head in surprise and looked around.

The tiger realized where he was. I’m sure you haven’t entered their territory.

Sniff your nose to gauge the area. Fortunately, this is his territory.

Actually, they’re not scary. Their leader was just scary.

When I thought about the leader, my hair naturally stood up. Perhaps due to my mood, the trees and grass around me seemed to be shaking.

The tiger, who had been wary of his surroundings for a moment, finished eating around the time the sun was rising over the mountain.

The tiger attempted to carry the remaining torn open remains of its prey back to its den.

At that time, a cold wind blew from the top. The tiger jumped up and fought against the wind.

Its front paws trembled, and its tail curled by itself. In order to maintain the reputation of a mountain army that only remains in name, he lowered his body and purred.

Old trees that were well over a hundred years old bowed their heads, and peaks that had been sheltered by the gentle wind suddenly opened up.

A terrible scent began to fill the mountain.

And the wind blew again.

The wind that came down from the mountain wrapped around the prey that the tiger had just touched.

And just like that, the prey leapt to its feet.

The prey arose, just as I had seen it in the bush, with a clean body without a single wound.

***

The man got up. It looked different from when it was taken from a private home.

It was the same face, same body type, and same smell, but something was different.

“Where are we again?”

The behavior of the man who had just opened his stomach with dead eyes changed.

As if he was bored or now used to it, he quickly looked around and asked the huge beast standing in front of him.

The tiger only purred in a situation he had never experienced before.

“Ah… I can’t speak. This is correct. A talking tiger is strange.”

The man looked at his body, which was wearing tattered clothes. And then he stepped on the puddle of blood on the ground.

Blood splattered on the flower along with a crashing sound.

The man, who briefly glanced at the red-painted flower, pulled up his clothes and covered himself.

While he was covering his upper body, Sangun began circling around the prey he had caught.

“Can’t I just go? It’s good that we don’t lose strength to each other.”

The man spoke indifferently while making a knot out of torn clothes, but the animal did not understand the man’s words.

Without any warning, the tiger ran quickly. The massive body flew into the air with the power of its hind feet.

Sangun raised his right foot and tried to push the man down with his own weight.

Before the tiger’s attack formed a trace, the man who was once the prey moved into the trace.

Neither fast nor slow, the water in the valley flows naturally from top to bottom.

thud. Just as he had brought down the northern female warrior, he pushed the tiger back. The mountain beast did not back down despite the pain it felt in its abdomen.

The beast aimed its teeth at the nape of the neck of the man who came into its arms.

“Wow… this thing is powerful.”

The man lifted his open jaw with his hand.

Although he has courage and skill, the body that executes them is not trained.

The man broke into a cold sweat as he repeatedly lifted the tiger’s mouth, which was gradually widening.

“It doesn’t matter if I die… but if I die from a tiger bite, it hurts so much.”

The bad breath of an animal covered in death and rotting meat stung my nose.

The corners of its mouth twitched, and it lifted the beast’s chin with both hands.

The man’s body gradually collapsed under the weight of the tiger that was leaning against his body.

“Yay… Mr….”

The man, breathing heavily, had a premonition of the end of the world.

Whether it was long or short, it was the same anyway, so there was nothing to regret.

At that time, I heard the sound of the wind along with the strong scent of flowers.

***

Pot! And blood splattered out.

Bright red blood soaked the man’s face.

Something stuck out from the side of the tiger’s head, which had opened its mouth.

“Arrow?”

It was an unusually shaped arrow made from tree trunks.

The large beast died and fell sideways.

The man also sat down and took a deep breath.

He estimated the direction from which the arrow came.

From a gap in the densely packed trees, he caught eyes looking at him.

There was someone hiding under the thick greenery.

The outfit was similar to his, but there was one thing different.

Long ears stretched out horizontally, eyes shining gold.

Even though he made eye contact with a mysterious-looking woman, he did not move away.

Rather, he stared at him as if he had discovered something strange, or as if he were peering into his soul.

‘I wish I would just go.’

It was good news that there was no hostility in the other person’s eyes, but it was a bad thing to hastily form a relationship.

“Ah….”

When the other person opened his mouth to say something, he felt the presence of several people approaching.

“Master! Master Inho!!!!”

A large number of men were coming, whistling and shouting.

“!!!”

When I turned my head towards the sound for a moment, the woman who had been observing Kang In-ho under the shade of the tree suddenly disappeared.

Kang In-ho admired the woman’s movements that even his eyes could not follow, and waited for the voices of people looking for him to come closer.

***

The man who called me by my name is called ‘Bangja’.

As I stood still, Bangja felt my body here and there, and when he saw that my body was healthy, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Do you know how surprised I was?”

“Okay. I was surprised too.”

It was difficult to imitate the old-fashioned way of speaking.

“You didn’t have a single wound on your body even after being bitten by a tiger… The mountain spirit must have helped you.”

Bangja spoke while the village youth hired by Bangja were dismantling the skin of a fallen tiger.

“It wasn’t a mountain god, but I got help from a woman.”

“Are you talking about a woman? In a mountain like this?”

“Do you see that arrow? Just before being bitten by the tiger, the woman shot an arrow and killed the tiger.”

When I pointed to the unusually shaped arrow made by tying together tree trunks, Bangja’s eyes began to waver.

“…Master. By any chance, what did she look like?”

“I can’t tell because I saw it from a distance. The eye color was unique and the ears were long.”

As I reported what I had seen, the hands of the men who were dismantling the tiger all stopped.

“Do, Master, let’s go to the village first.”

“Huh? The leather disassembly isn’t finished yet.”

You can see young men tidying up the place. Everyone, why are you doing this?

“This is not the time to leisurely tear off tiger skins. Now that I know they are here, I have to get out of the mountain quickly.”

“Guys?”

In response to my question, Bangja shouted, pounding his chest as if he was frustrated.

“Zhang family! The Zhangyi people are in this mountain!!”