TBML 65

There were definitely more unfamiliar objects in the room, yet there were no signs of people coming and going in the yard. Instead, there were plenty of animal footprints; since the house was deep in the mountains, it seemed various animals were passing through.

Yiyeon examined a few of the footprints imprinted on the frost that had settled overnight. There were roe deer, crows, raccoon dogs, and even some footprints that looked like they belonged to a tiger. For a moment, a chill ran down his spine, but he quickly calmed himself.

After all, humans were always the first to arrive. No matter how fierce a predator might be, it would usually flee upon encountering a human. Yet it was always humans who started things, only to later cry out that the beasts have attacked them. From the animals’ perspective, this mountain house might just seem like a strange object built along a path they passed through. Something they wouldn’t think much of.

With animals coming this close, where could Hyunhak have gone at such an early hour? As a hunter who knew how dangerous yet merciful the mountains could be, Yiyeon worried about Hyunhak.

As Yiyeon looked around the yard, his eyes met those of a crow perched on what was once a fence. Upon seeing him, the crow raised his tail feathers high into the sky and made a “caw, caw” sound. Yiyeon thought it looked somewhat glad to see him. He gently greeted it.

“Hello? Why were you cawing like that?”

When Yiyeon asked, the crow kept looking up. It was as if it were telling Yiyeon to look up.

Yiyeon tilted his head back and looked where the crow was pointing. Suddenly, he felt dizzy and staggered. Before he even had a chance to see what was on the roof, the dizziness made him flail his arms, searching for something to hold onto. He could hear the crow cawing, but Yiyeon couldn’t steady himself and staggered.

If the courtyard were covered in snow, would it hurt a little less when he fell? After several winter nights, it would be frozen and no different from bare ground, but at least to the naked eye, it looked white and fluffy. As his body tilted backward, Yiyeon saw a hen on the roof.

“A chicken?”

A creature that looked nothing like a crow stood confidently on the roof. The crow [stolen content]must have been cawing because of that chicken.

The chicken suddenly flapped its wings and leaped off the roof. He had occasionally seen chickens climb onto roofs, but they weren’t actually very good fliers, unlike other birds. Yiyeon stared at the chicken as it flapped so awkwardly, to the point where calling it “flying” felt embarrassing, and plummeted to the ground.

However, unlike the falling chicken, no matter how long he waited, Yiyeon’s own body didn’t fall; instead, his dizziness gradually subsided. Feeling something solid supporting his back, Yiyeon turned his head.

“Why are you out here?”

“My Lord.”

Before Yiyeon could even identify what was behind him, Hyunhak’s voice reached his ears. When Yiyeon looked up at him, his topknot was gone, and his jet-black hair was dripping water.

If he stays like that, his hair will freeze in no time. He’ll catch a cold. A droplet of water from Hyunhak’s hair fell onto Yiyeon’s face, which was already clouded with worry. It was cold water, radiating a chill as if it had never known warmth.

Fearing that Yiyeon might get wet from their contact, Hyunhak pressed his palm against Yiyeon and pushed him away. Using Hyunhak’s force as support, Yiyeon steadied himself just as he was about to fall. Once Hyunhak confirmed that Yiyeon was standing on his own two feet, he turned away.

Hyunhak moved as if he had no intention of entering the room, so Yiyeon hurriedly grabbed his sleeve. Cold water dripped even from the sleeve he was clutching. It wasn’t just a cold; if he went out in this weather while soaked like that, he’d freeze to death.

“You’ll catch a cold. How did you get so completely soaked?”

“It just happened.”

“Please come inside, My Lord.”

Yiyeon, who could barely stand on his own, tugged at Hyunhak. His touch was so feeble it felt ticklish, yet Hyunhak took a step forward. As if bewitched by a fox, Hyunhak followed Yiyeon inside.

There had been a minor mishap on the way back after raiding a band of bandits. He should have come and gone quickly before encountering anyone, but his unnecessary curiosity and greed had slowed his pace, and he’d been discovered.

It was late at night; he’d assumed everyone would be asleep, but to his surprise, just as he was finishing ransacking the kitchen of the last house, he found two humans sitting together in a secluded corner. As he tried to stifle his movements to approach quietly and take care of them, Hyunhak’s ears perked up at their conversation.

“Go ahead and eat. I secretly set this aside just for you.”

“What’s this?”

Hyunhak, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, pricked up his ears. His round, fur-covered ears fluttered as he asked himself the exact same question the other human had just spoken aloud.

“Oh, come on. I thought you’ve been looking a bit weak lately.”

“Wait, what is this? Isn’t that a chicken leg? You brought this for me? Aren’t you going to eat it yourself?”

“Yes. So eat this and try to get some strength.”

Hyunhak craned his neck and looked at the two humans.

‘A chicken leg.’

So, they were preparing and feeding chicken in a human way to help the weak-looking human regain his strength. And the human receiving it clutched it with both hands as if it were a rare treat and devoured with relish?

While chicken was indeed delicious when caught and eaten, what stopped Hyunhak in his tracks was the sight of the moved expression of the human accepting the food. One devoured the chicken leg in the blink of an eye, and the human who had secretly taken it watched with satisfaction before they soon began to cling to each other in the darkness.

He should have run away, but after witnessing that situation, he just couldn’t walk away. Especially not when he could clearly see the chicken clucking away in the backyard coop.

Hyunhak thought it would be perfect to feed Yiyeon – who was so weak he could barely stand – a chicken, just like those humans were doing. And so, in that precarious moment when he was on the verge of being caught, Hyunhak had no choice but to raid the chicken coop.

It was only a matter of time before he was caught by the two human, who had hurriedly stopped what they were doing and rushed back to check on the coop after being startled by the chickens’ clucking.

“It’s a tiger!”

At the thunderous voice waking the sleeping bandits in the middle of the night, men with bushy beards rushed out one after another, each holding a blade in their hands.

But who was he? Despite being frightened, Hyunhak managed to dodge and subdue the humans wielding weapons. He escaped safely into the deep mountains. However, as a result, he was in such a mess that he could not face Yiyeon in that state.

To anyone who saw him, it was obvious he hadn’t been sleeping at a reasonable hour but had gone out and done something suspicious. Fearful that even the slightest sound might wake Yiyeon and reveal his disheveled state, Hyunhak hurriedly set down the belongings as quietly as a stray cat and scurried back the way he had come.

Determined to look presentable before Yiyeon woke up, Hyunhak ran as fast as his tail could swing. So, Hyunhak had just returned after plunging into the deep mountain stream— deep enough that the water hadn’t frozen —to wash off the blood and dirt caked on his body.

But lo and behold? Hyunhak caught sight of Yiyeon staggering from dizziness and falling backward. Before he could even [Read on]think, Hyunhak moved to prevent him from falling. It was truly a busy dawn.

Zao cried out, his nerves on edge at the sudden appearance of a chicken. There was no separate chicken coop, and for some reason, the chicken had been caught alive and brought here and there. Watching the chicken run wild, Zao herded it this way and that to prevent it from escaping the house. It was a strange and funny sight, but no one appreciated the crow’s efforts.

Yiyeon, who had hurriedly brought Hyunhak into the room, wiped the moisture from his body with the cotton cloth he had prepared to use as a makeshift bandage. Although he could only use one hand, Yiyeon worked with remarkable dexterity. He patted his wet hair against the cloth to remove some of the moisture. Once his hair was somewhat tidied up, his clothes became the problem.

“Did you fall into a river?”

Yiyeon asked Hyunhak in surprise as he noticed the puddle of water that had pooled on the floor. He was so soaked that it was absurd. He really did look like a mouse that had just fallen into water. Well, his build was more like a bear or a tiger than a mouse. In response to Yiyeon’s surprised question, Hyunhak calmly repeated the same words.

“It just happened.”

“Oh, how did that happen?”

Hyunhak’s nonchalant reply that it had simply happened that way made Yiyeon’s eyes and mouth widen in surprise. The swelling had gone down considerably overnight, and his eyes, which had been puffy, were now regaining their normal shape.

How could someone fall into a river deep enough to submerge his entire body in the dead of winter? And was there even a river that deep in the vicinity? He had more than ten questions burning in his mind, but that wasn’t what mattered right now. At this rate, both master and servant were in danger of falling ill together in the depths of the mountains, far from any doctor. While Hyunhak was unfazed, for Yiyeon, this was a very serious matter.

“More importantly, you really should change your clothes.”

Normally, a nobleman was nothing but a corpse without his dignity, but whether this nobleman was unaware of shame or simply didn’t care at all, Hyunhak untied his sash without the slightest hesitation right in front of Yiyeon.

No sooner had Yiyeon’s words left his mouth than Hyunhak, his chest fully exposed, strained with brute force to remove the clothes that were not only wet but also clinging to his body. He could have gently coaxed the wet fabric off his [Read on]body, but since Yiyeon had ordered it, he was eager to comply quickly. In the end, his brute force caused the sleeve to tear.

Although he had been the one to suggest it, Yiyeon was momentarily taken aback by Hyunhak’s brazenness in baring himself right before his eyes the instant the words left his mouth. But as the sound of tearing fabric reached his ears, his body stiffened and he felt cold sweat break out. For some reason he couldn’t explain, the moment he heard that sound, his hands began to tremble and his breath hitched.

Just like the events of that day he still couldn’t remember, he grew anxious. The feeling that something terrible was about to happen to him all over again engulfed Yiyeon completely. While Yiyeon stood frozen and pale, Hyunhak, completely unashamed, pulled down his pants all the way.