The Tiger in the Courtyard
Heh, fuck. It wasn't fantastic—it was straight-up hallucinatory. This is the main story, Si-jin's tale. It's been five years since Han Myeong-hoe showed up.
Dreams of events from five years ago flooded my mind. Clearing Eori's father's false murder charge, taking down those thieving beggar bastards who came to steal, getting a huge reward from the court for it, winning the wrestling tournament, catching those multi-level marketing scammers, and... the crown prince sending Han Myeong-hoe to check if I was a modern man. Looked like I'd fooled Han Myeong-hoe good. No order came to drag me to Hanyang even after he left.
I woke up suddenly and stared blankly at the dark ceiling. The dream of my childhood left my heart feeling all fuzzy and unsettled.
After Han Myeong-hoe came and went, I grew up without much drama. Playing the genius at the seodang, hanging out with Eori, dealing with the occasional class discrimination in daily life. Naturally, things had changed over the past five-plus years. I'd graduate from the seodang this fall, Eori had become a proper young lady and was a bit distant with me now, and the class discrimination had dwindled to the point where only that punk Kim Hui-un still picked fights.
Ha, shit. Why's that? Just thinking of Eori made my chest tighten. Living my second life, I knew damn well this feeling was love. But experiencing it for the first time, I had no clue what to do.
"Haa, this is driving me crazy. For real."
I muttered to myself out of sheer frustration. Guess I was turning into an old man bit by bit. Even though I was only fifteen.
Anyway, beyond this first love in my second go-around, Eori's changed attitude was making my heart even more stuffy. Up until this summer, she'd flash a bright smile and run over the moment she saw me. But since graduating from the seodang this fall, even if our eyes met, she'd just bow her head in greeting and leave. Same if I went looking for her.
"Haaaa...!"
My troubled mind chased away any hope of sleep. Maybe some cool night air would ease my chest a bit, so I got out of bed. I went to the door and removed the insulating outer frame for ventilation.
Click. I took off the wooden frame with fur lining and opened the lattice window. The night breeze hit me, and the outside view was straight-up fantastical. The clear night sky without a cloud in sight sparkled with densely packed stars, the softly piled snow glowed faintly under the moonlight, and the tiger prowling our courtyard stopped and stared right at me...
Screech, thud. Heh, fuck. It wasn't fantastic—it was hallucinatory.
I closed the lattice window and replayed the scene in our courtyard. Clear night sky, snow-covered yard, and a tiger walking through it with rippling back muscles. Tiger. A tiger?
Realizing it wasn't a dream made my hands shake and cold sweat pour out. But denying reality—or maybe wanting to check again—I carefully poked a hole in the lattice paper with my finger.
Poke.
"!"
I didn't expect poking a hole in the lattice to make such a loud noise. My shoulders twitched, but I still peered through the hole with my head down.
Yup. Tiger. A real tiger.
That famous peephole in folktales wouldn't make my heart pound like this view. The tiger in the yard was heading straight for me.
Th-this, th-this, th-this, f-f-fuck...!
Confirming it with my own two eyes—no, one eye—I bolted from the door. I remembered the outer frame by the door, but a tiger could sneeze that shit away even if there were a hundred of them.
Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! I'm screwedI'mscrewedI'mscrewedI'mscrewedI'mscrewedI'mscrewedI'mscrewed!
Even facing off against that bastard Yun Seong-bae in our first wrestling match last year wasn't this scary. Back then it was fear of looking like a retard; now it was terror of getting my guts ripped out alive.
Fuckfuckfuck! Stringstringstringstring!
No way was I going down without a fight. I crept quietly and quickly to the bow in my room and nocked it. Not the first bow gifted by Kim Jin-sa, but the hunting bow from Eori's father. The thumb ring, the quiver called donggae, and the hunting arrows in it—all gifts from Eori's dad?!
Crash!
Ah, shit! Rushing to grab an arrow, I knocked over the quiver. Arrows clattered loudly on the floor.
That's when it happened.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"!"
Rough breathing came from the lattice window, along with a stench like rotten fish that assaulted my nose. Looking back at the window while grabbing arrows, a massive shadow loomed there.
Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!
The tiger, right outside my room, was sniffing short, rapid breaths. With my shaking hands barely cooperating, I nocked an arrow.
Please go away. Please. They say some house's hens wander the yard just fine—why won't you leave ours...! Please leave...! Please...!
Whoosh! Whoooosh...!
Seemed my prayers worked. The breathing from the hole in the lattice faded, and the shadow shrank.
But it was too soon to relax.
"Son?"
"?!"
"Son? What's wrong? Son? Is something happening?"
Mom, sleeping on the other side of the wall, must've heard the quiver fall. She called out in a sleepy, half-dazed voice, oblivious to the situation.
Grrrr...!
No way only I heard that. The tiger, heading away from my room, turned toward Mom's room.
"Hey!"
But the moment I yelled, it whipped its head back my way. Seeing the shadow approach again, I apologized to Mom in my head.
Sorry... Mom... I swore I'd never do this again... Cry! Si-jin Arrow!
Ignoring the advice to run and leave Mom behind in danger, I loosed the arrow. It flew straight into the hole in the lattice like it was sucked in.
The result came quick.
ROOOAR!Roooaaar!! Roooaaaar!!!
The tiger bellowed. Tigers were the strongest for a reason, fuck! It was huge! Didn't know where I hit, but it must've been a sensitive spot. The roar shook the house and left my ears ringing.
"Heyyy!!! Keep that tiger noise down!!!"
Grabbing arrows with the mindset of seeing who'd win, I kicked open the lattice and charged onto the veranda. In the yard, the tiger was rolling with an arrow in its nose.
ROOOAR! Roooaaar!!!
Spotting me, it seemed to realize I was the culprit. Seeing it crouch with rippling back muscles, I nocked another arrow.
Strangely, my hands weren't shaking anymore.
Yeah. It's fine. Even if it bites, stay sharp and you're good. It hasn't bitten yet, so I'm surviving no matter what. Not dying.
ROOOAR!!
The tiger uncoiled and lunged. Even then, my eyes scanned for a target.
Where to hit? Where for the tales to call it a perfect shot? Nose is done. Mouth won't pack punch. Eyes maybe? Ah, shit. Should've grabbed two arrows.
"Hup!"
Sucking in what might be my last breath, I drew the bow to full. Claws out, the tiger was seconds from pouncing. I aimed the arrowhead at its glaring yellow eye and released.
Twang!
Arrows really did wriggle like fish in flight. Time slowed weirdly, every detail hitting me. The tiger's maw gaped with yellow fangs, its head-sized paw flashed razor claws that'd shred flesh on a graze, and those yellow eyes burned with killing intent.
Ah. So this is killing intent. First time feeling it.
I shut my eyes, watching only the arrow wriggling toward the tiger's right eye.
That's where my memory cuts off.
"Kyaaaack!!! Kyaaaaack!!!"
"!"
A scream that wouldn't come even from being torn limb from limb alive snapped me awake. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn't obey. Eyes open or shut, pure darkness. Chest crushed like under a boulder. Face stung like a thousand needles. And that foul musk choked my breath.
Wait. Musk? I'm not dead? Then what's on top of me?
"Si-jin!!! Si-jiiiin!!!!"
Realizing the tiger had me pinned just as Mom screamed her lungs out for me. I wanted to yell I was alive, but the tiger stopped me.
Damn! This tiger bastard! Trouble dead or alive!
"Whoa! Fuck! It's a tiger! A chirom's pinning down the Tiger-slaying Boy!"
"What? A real chirom?"
"Isn't it eating the Tiger-slaying Boy right now?"
It's not?! Besides Mom, voices from Hwacheok Village folks started filtering in. I wriggled under the tiger, managing to stick just my face out.
"Hey! Help me out here! I've got a tiger on me!"
"Ah, son! Son! My son!"
Mom answered in a dazed voice right after I yelled through the stink. I figured help was coming, but the villagers did the opposite.
"Aigoo! Ma'am! You can't go! That's no Tiger-slaying Boy—it's a vengeful spirit!"
"Right! If you go too, it'll eat you next!"
"No! How can a mother not follow where her son goes! Vengeful spirit or not! I'll follow my son!"
Vengeful spirit? Me? A vengeful spirit? I'd heard of them even in modern times—ghosts eaten by tigers, luring more victims like water ghosts to feed the beast.
These people, seriously! I barely survived and now ghost treatment?! Ignoring that I'd been reborn in this alternate Joseon after dying, I squirmed out from under the tiger.
All the while, they just held Mom back.
"Aigoo! Son! What's the point of getting rewards from the court for your filial piety if you go so young!"
"Ma'am! You can't!"
"The living must live! You'll survive if you live! Ma'am!"
When I finally crawled out, I was covered head to toe in tiger fur. Dusting off my clothes, I stepped past the tiger onto the veranda.
"A tiger pinned me, and not one of you helps?!"
"......"
"......"
"......"
The moment I emerged, silence blanketed everything. Mom slumped in the yard, the villagers holding her, people peeking from the open gate and over walls.
"This many showed up, but zero helpers! Thought I'd die crushed, not bitten!"
Grumbling like a cheeky survivor, I eyed the tiger. It was so huge, its front half in my room but hind legs still in the yard.
Whoa, fuck. I really almost died.
"Euk, kuh, kruhk!"
Reality hit, and terror crashed over me. Stomach churning, vision blurring with tears, hands shaking uncontrollably—I couldn't even stand.
"Ah, ah, ah, son! Son! Si-jin!"
Mom rushed to me as I barely stayed upright, sitting on the veranda. Her trembling hands stroked my face, head, shoulders, everywhere.
"Ah, ah, son, a-are, are you okay? Wh-where's it hurt? N-no bites?"
Why ask about bites? Is this fucker a zombie tiger or what?
"Y-yeah. For now, I'm, uh, alive."
Hug!
"Hic! Yes! As long as you're alive! That's enough!"
Suddenly embraced, Mom rubbed my back repeatedly. Her touch eased the fear a little.
"Ex-excuse me! Young master! Young master!"
That's when Eori pushed through the crowd. Tall like her dad, glamorous like her mom, she'd become a fine young lady.
"Huh? Eori. Hey."
Spotting her over Mom's shoulder, I waved hello. My hand shook like a leaf in the wind.