Sansan, who had been backing away several steps, tripped over a tree trunk and fell right on his bottom. The great tiger also advanced several steps as much as Sansan had retreated, closing the distance with its prey.
An old saying goes that if you make eye contact with a tiger on a mountain path, you’ll fall ill from that gaze alone and eventually die. It was truly like that. He couldn’t move at all.
“…Ah.”
I’m going to die like this.
In the Ha Empire with its many mountains, tiger attacks were not uncommon. He never thought he’d actually encounter one, but having met one, it was hard to hope for survival. Now he would soon be torn apart alive in various ways and become the tiger’s meal.
Hic, tears burst forth from fear. Sansan covered his face with both hands and curled his body up as tightly as possible. As if that were a signal, the tiger bristled all the fur on its body. It was just before an attack. The body of Sansan, curled up like a ball as if he had resigned himself to everything, trembled like an aspen tree.
Grrrowl.
Though it seemed to growl low, that sound made the entire ground vibrate. He felt something flying through the air. Sansan sensed the end and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
However, for some reason, the pain of flesh being torn did not come. When he raised his head with a puzzled heart, moments that felt like eons vividly unfolded before Sansan’s eyes.
Whoosh, whoosh—arrows that flew from afar struck the great tiger’s body here and there. But a tiger was not a beast whose life could be ended with just a few arrows. It only managed to briefly stop the tiger from leaping toward its prey.
Most of the arrows couldn’t even pierce the thick hide and just fell to the muddy ground. If anything, it only further provoked its temper.
Just then, along with vibrations that shook the earth, the sound of horse hooves noisily shook the mountains. A black figure leaped down at lightning speed from a black horse that had galloped up beside the tree Sansan was leaning against. The tiger didn’t back down and pounced on that figure.
The moment the house-sized great tiger flew toward the figure’s head, the dagger held in the figure’s hand plunged deep into those yellow eyes. The tiger fell over the figure who had taken a heavy blow from its front paw, and the two became entangled and rolled several times on the ground.
When the movement completely stopped, the figure who stood up first rushed toward the tiger that was staggering with impaired vision. Swift as a flying tiger, he drew close, pulled out his blade, and immediately gouged out the opposite eye as well.
While the tiger roared in pain, the figure nimbly climbed onto the back of its neck, grabbed the tiger’s ears, and without hesitation slammed its head into the ground. Then immediately drove his fist vertically down into the large crown of its head. He brought his fist down like lightning several times to completely crush its skull.
With the first punch, the yellow eyeball popped out; with the second punch, the jaw pressed to the ground shattered. With the third punch, the strength drained from the house-sized entire body, and with the fourth punch, finally came the sound of the crown cracking open. By the time the figure rose, the tiger had already gone completely limp and sprawled on the ground.
Everything had truly happened in a flash. Dozens of horses that arrived just then surrounded them. The figures riding on the horses quickly jumped down and approached the sprawled tiger. It was to repeatedly confirm that its life had been cut off.
“Haa, haa.”
The one who had beaten the tiger to death with bare hands gasped for rough breaths, and when his breathing had somewhat calmed, he soon approached Sansan while dripping blood.
In the moonlight pouring through the darkness, a gonpo with one sleeve torn to shreds was revealed. It was the Emperor, Lee Heonjo. He extended his blood-soaked hand to Sansan.
Sansan, who sat there completely dazed and unable to come to his senses, just stared blankly up at the extended hand.
Only after the extreme fear ended did the breath he had been holding burst out. Following that breath, the Emperor’s sharp and heavy scent rushed into Sansan’s body. It was an even more raw smell because it was right after profusely bleeding and sweating. Sansan’s heart pounded as if it would burst.
“Take it.”
The Emperor shook his hand once more to urge Sansan. From that hand, vivid red blood still dripped steadily.
“Zhen told you to take it.”
Sansan reached his hand toward the Emperor as if entranced. Soon the blood-soaked hand and the dirt-covered hand met. The Emperor, who strongly gripped that dirt-covered hand, soon lifted Sansan in one motion, whose legs had given out.
“…Ah.”
Flustered by the Emperor’s face that had suddenly drawn close, Sansan just rolled his eyes around frantically in confusion. His head went white and he kept feeling dizzy. Tears whose cause he couldn’t understand also fell with a plop.
It was all because of the Emperor’s scent. That smell which had always felt only overwhelming now gave him a sense of relief.
Relief. Yes, it was relief.
Sansan realized on his own the name of the emotion he was feeling. Then the tears that had been falling in drops soon turned into streams.
Hic, waaaah. Without even knowing what he was doing, Sansan wrapped his arms around the Emperor’s neck and buried his face in his injured shoulder, crying like a child. How loudly he cries.
That unstable breath warmed the Emperor’s nape. The Emperor, who had lifted Sansan with one arm, furrowed his brow deeply and glared at the air for a moment.
“Your Majesty, the injury is serious. I will take him instead—”
One of the Imperial Guards approached to take Sansan from the Emperor, but soon retreated at the Emperor’s glare. The Emperor let out a big sigh that made his chest heave.
“…Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Hic, Your Majesty, waaah.”
He opened his mouth wanting to say something, but perhaps because of the overwhelming sorrow, Sansan absolutely couldn’t continue speaking properly. Between sobs, he tried hard to mutter something or other, but seemed not to even know himself what he was saying.
“Sob, Father, hiic, the carriage, sniff, hic, home, waaah, there was a tiger…”
The Emperor repeatedly looked up at the moon and let out low sighs.
Is this a joke right now? In a situation where he should be severely punished, is he being spoiled in my arms?
What, it’s not like he’s a fox.
The Emperor’s brow deepened further.
The sighs wouldn’t stop. He was angry that his heart wouldn’t follow as he wanted. Haah. The Emperor, who sighed deeply once more, swept back Sansan’s hair with his hand that was torn at the shoulder and bleeding profusely.
The eunuch’s samo he must have been wearing was nowhere to be found, his hair was disheveled, and his face was filthy with all sorts of things stuck to it. Now with blood added to it, there was no greater spectacle than this.
“So, where did you want to go so badly that you left on your own?”
Though he couldn’t contain his anger, thinking about what this one must have gone through while becoming this state made the Emperor feel both pity and sorry, driving him mad.
“Sniff, hic, h-home…”
Holding the continuously panting Sansan, the Emperor slowly began to walk. He approached his black horse standing and waiting a short distance away. Sansan still had his arms wrapped around the Emperor’s neck.
The Emperor felt indescribably complex emotions toward this young body that had gone completely limp, leaning its full weight against his chest. So he only gently stroked that pitiful back that kept rising and falling as it sobbed.
“Sob, hic, are, are you alright? The b-blood…”
Even while hearing the worried words, the Emperor, who had remained silent, suddenly lifted Sansan up onto the black horse. Though Sansan floundered in confusion as his view suddenly became higher, the horse didn’t even stamp its feet once and remained gentle.
It was a descendant of a famous horse that had accompanied the Emperor to battlefields and shared life and death together since he was Crown Prince. Like mother, like child—it was belligerent and never retreated. Yet it was obedient to its master.
The Emperor stroked the black horse’s mane as if in praise. The horse swished its tail once as if responding.
“Didn’t I tell you that your home is now the Imperial Palace?”
The Emperor, who turned his gaze back to Sansan, spoke while pressing down firmly on those slender thighs. Sansan’s amber eyes were all puffy from crying. The Emperor also silently took in with his eyes for a long while that Sansan couldn’t readily answer.
After sealing all the gates of Hagyeong, the Emperor returned to Sinmumun Gate and started over from the beginning. Unlike just before when he was so excited he couldn’t see anything, after his anger had risen to his head, he instead became calm. He swallowed his coldly settled fury and concentrated all his nerves on his sense of smell.
His five senses had originally been keen, but after manifesting through Sansan, they became even keener. Especially regarding Sansan alone, he reacted particularly instinctively. The Emperor had also only learned this after reclaiming him.
When he focused and pursued, he could feel the presence. No matter how faint, it ultimately rushed to his nose. This scent that drives me mad.
He led the troops into the mountain where the sun was setting, following the scent Sansan had left here and there. He instinctively realized that Sansan was crying. Otherwise there was no explaining this wave. The fingertips holding the reins grew cold. He was anxious.
And what about when he discovered Sansan? Had he ever felt such urgency that seemed to stop his breath throughout his entire life? The Emperor grimaced at the rising anguish. He had almost lost what he’d barely found again to a mere tiger.
“Let’s go.”
Without warning, the Emperor swiftly mounted the horse and spoke while wrapping his hand around Sansan’s waist before Sansan could even register it.
Footnote
Gonpo (곤포) – (type of robe/garment)
Samo (사모) – (eunuch’s hat)
