TBML 24

“I’m sorry.”

Yiyeon spoke the apology into the air, an apology the black tiger could never understand. He’d said it in hopes of lessening his guilt, but the moment the words left his mouth, he was hit with an even heavier wave of guilt.

“You’re not sorry. Get it together, Yiyeon.”

Mercy and compassion were luxuries afforded only to those who had the means. Apologizing to a tiger that couldn’t even comprehend human speech? Guilt? It was all absurd.

It was a beast that could tear off a man’s arm or leg in a single bite. Even if he apologized, it wasn’t as if the tiger would understand and say, “Ah, I see. You have your reasons. All right then, go ahead and kill me.” It was meaningless.

And “sorry”? From whom to whom? A hunter feeling such sentiment toward prey was no different than a beggar offering charity. That hollow pity only made the recipient seem even more miserable, a creature to be pitied by even the lowest of the low. In the end, it did nothing but drag the one being apologized to into an abyss.

Those amber eyes that had stared at him lingered in his mind. He owed the black tiger something. No matter how hard he steeled himself, the thought kept circling through his head.

Owe what? He was a beast that couldn’t even speak. Even if the black tiger possessed something akin to human reason, Yiyeon had killed his mother, he would be an unforgivable enemy. If they met and tore each other apart, neither would be in the wrong.

Yiyeon splashed cold water onto Read on his face once more, ordering himself to stop such foolish thoughts and stay alert.

There was no other choice. Tigers were animals that lived in the mountains and hunted to survive. And to survive himself, Yiyeon had to kill the tiger. It was a reality as cold as the water that numbed his fingertips.

As he kept splashing the icy water over his face, even his dirtied, weary features managed to shine with a quiet brilliance.

“In your next life, be born a human, and I’ll be the beast. Tear me apart, grind my bones, and devour me.”

Yiyeon muttered the words to himself as he thought of the black tiger. He let out a bitter, hollow laugh.

What did it matter?

Since the day he learned the trade of hunting, he’d killed enough rabbits to fill a cart, and how many other tigers had he exchanged for one hundred nyang?

Back then, he’d been thrilled to have a handful of coins, to have enough to throw in the faces of the debt collectors who stormed into his home, breaking what little furniture he had, screaming for interest payments.

And yet now, when it came to this black tiger, he hesitated. He felt sorry. It was so contradictory, it was almost ridiculous.

Yiyeon stood from the stream. After crouching for so long, he visit our site felt a bit dizzy. But he had made up his mind.

There would be time for regret after everything was over. That was the way of human life: mistake after mistake, regret after regret, contradiction after contradiction.

He unwrapped the cloth and pulled out his matchlock. Then he turned in the direction where the black tiger’s traces were scattered across the ground.

It would’ve been easier if he’d never seen it at all.

Not long after Yiyeon set off, he caught sight of the black tiger’s tail, swaying lazily.

He was seated, tapping his tail on the ground while watching a few crows hop about. He was carefree, like a child untouched by the world.

The distance was fairly great, but Yiyeon could see everything: how the black tiger’s fur rippled with each breath, how his claws poked between his thick toes. His earlier pangs of guilt vanished without a trace. The first thing that came to mind was the fact that high-quality tiger pelts fetched the best price when the claws were still intact and fierce-looking.

Cruel. While he scorned the world for its harshness, he himself was the most cold-hearted and materialistic of them all.

Yiyeon lowered his body like a hunting beast and moved slowly. His movements were so slow it was agonizing to watch, but he dared not make the slightest sound. Any noise might alert the tiger.

One shot. If he fired well, just one would be enough, just as it had been when he killed the black tiger’s mother. [stolen content]But the conditions had to be right.

He needed a vital spot exposed, somewhere like the head or the eyes. where a single shot could kill instantly.

But unfortunately, the black tiger was sitting with his back to him. Shooting into that thick haunch, even multiple times, would do no good. It would only enrage the beast. If he truly wanted to, the tiger could climb a tree in a single bound. There was nothing he couldn’t do.

Yiyeon moved with a slowness that would make a turtle seem quick, yet his motions were without waste as he loaded the powder into the matchlock. As if the heavens themselves had taken his side, even the wind that had been whipping through the forest suddenly fell still.

He took one deep breath in, then slowly let it out, and raised the muzzle toward the black tiger.

If only he had a beater with him, someone to distract the tiger, or drive him toward a trap. But Yiyeon was alone. The muzzle followed the tiger again and again, but he did not fire. One wrong shot would mean certain death. He had to be absolutely sure.

If the matchlock’s thunder shook the skies, how would the black tiger react? Would he charge at him? Flee in terror?

The black tiger must knew about guns. Even if he had been just a cub, he must remember that a single shot had killed his mother. And now, Yiyeon had quietly approached him from behind.

If Yiyeon had not been careless in his tiger hunting before, the black tiger would have run in the opposite direction at the sound of the gunshot. Had he faced Yiyeon or noticed him, he would have attacked at him. But instead, the black tiger was leisurely playing with crows.

The sight of a tiger playing with crows was bizarre, yet Yiyeon had no time to entertain [unauthorized copy]such unnecessary thoughts.

Not far from where Yiyeon stood, there was a hastily made trap, unfinished. It hadn’t been concealed with dirt or branches, but it was still a likely place for a wild animal fleeing in panic to stumble into.

The “if” scenarios. And the if scenarios within those scenarios.

Yiyeon was usually a calm, methodical hunter, but today, he had to be reckless, like a madman with his hair let loose. The kind of reckless actions that would make a mountain hunter shake his head in disbelief.

But it was a matter of life or death. Yiyeon’s impatient heart burned like a spark. After loading his matchlock, he set his eyes on the black tiger.

Bang!

The quiet mountain was shaken by the gunshot. All the birds in the area startled and flew up. The sound was so loud that even the trees seemed to murmur in surprise.

As Yiyeon had expected, the black tiger ran, like the bullet from the gun, startled by the loud noise. Yiyeon immediately gave chase.

Even though reloading while standing still would have made his hands fumble, Yiyeon ran through the forest like a mountain deer, reloading his matchlock as he went. There wasn’t even time to clear the gunpowder residue. He had to reload as quickly as possible to push the tiger in the direction he wanted.

While running down the mountain slope, he didn’t manage to load the powder fully. Half of it spilled out. Reluctantly, unauthorized copyYiyeon had to tear open another pouch of precious powder. But even as he did that, he never lost sight of the black tiger’s current direction. When the black tiger’s path veered from the position he had planned to corner him, Yiyeon, caught in the heat of the moment, shouted.

“Aaaahh!”

If he had a beater with him, the sound of drums and gongs would have echoed, but with no one else, it was up to his own voice. As soon as the reloading was done, Yiyeon didn’t even aim before firing.

Bang!

Once again, a thunderous sound rang out, and the black tiger twisted his head in the opposite direction of the gunshot.

Run, run faster. Run without knowing what lies beneath your feet, and stumble into the deep pit!

Yiyeon’s feet and hands moved faster, driven by his mounting excitement. Just as he was about to reload again, he briefly felt as though the black tiger was watching hum, so he looked up.

It almost seemed like the tiger turned his head in the direction he wanted and glanced back at him.

“That’s impossible.”

Yiyeon shook his head and urgee himself to pick up the pace. He wasn’t like the mountain deer that effortlessly leapt over obstacles; he was running up the mountain like a wild colt with fire on its tail.

This was the fastest and longest he had ever run in his life. The situation was so chaotic that he couldn’t even tell where he was heading or if he was pushing the tiger into the direction he intended.

Even while running, his hands kept moving, not because he was thinking, but because it had become second nature to him after years of practice. His mind went blank, leaving only the primal instincts of a beast.

As Yiyeon ran desperately behind the swaying hind of the black tiger, something suddenly struck him as odd.

“Was the pit this far?”

Only then did Yiyeon realize that he had been chasing the black tiger for too long and too far. Just as he thought that, he turned his head and saw a pair of bright amber eyes staring back at him through a bush. The tiger grinned as if he had just realized that Yiyeon had caught up.

The amber eyes glistened like pumpkins, and Yiyeon knew that look. It was the look of a predator hunting its prey. Like a game of tag, the roles had reversed, and now it was his turn to run.

The moment Yiyeon’s eyes met the black tiger’s, he turned and ran. His breath was already ragged, but he didn’t care.

Running from a tiger? Who in their right mind would do that?

People called it the tiger plague, but to be mauled by a tiger was nothing short of a disaster. There ​stolen content​was no way for humans to avoid or prevent it.

And yet, Yiyeon ran without thinking of what was ahead or behind. The black tiger, as if giving Yiyeon enough time, leapt leisurely over a rock.

Ironically, the act of fleeing felt familiar. Had he experienced this before? It almost felt too familiar, so much so that it lacked any sense of reality.

While fleeing, Yiyeon turned his head to check if the black tiger was behind him. To his surprise, there was more distance between them than he had expected.

Just when he thought the tiger had slowed down enough to give him a chance, Yiyeon suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet give way, and he plummeted into a deep hole.