Side Story 21
Translator: RaidenTL
Side Story 21
To be honest, Ga-hyeon still wasn't quite sure.
He had finished transcribing the ancient texts containing the wisdom of the sages as punishment from his father, yet he still didn't feel that what he had done was wrong.
However, listening to So-ya’s gentle, quiet voice, he felt himself being somewhat persuaded.
“Cheep...?”
Just then, Jjaek-jjaek, who had been fast asleep, opened his eyes.
Waking up in a daze, Jjaek-jjaek looked around before immediately spotting So-ya.
“Cheep! Cheep-cheep!”
Jjaek-jjaek cried out toward So-ya.
“Jjaek-jjaek!”
So-ya smiled brightly and reached out her hand toward him.
The baby bird began to waddle toward her with clumsy, tottering steps. But then—
Thud!
He ended up tumbling over.
“Cheep...”
A sorrowful cry escaped Jjaek-jjaek’s tiny beak.
Startled, Ga-hyeon was about to stand up to help.
“It’s okay, Jjaek-jjaek. You can get up.”
Unlike Ga-hyeon, who had instinctively moved to pick the bird up, So-ya remained where she was. She simply waved the hand she had extended and gave a beaming smile.
“Come on, come this way!”
“Cheep!”
Bolstered by So-ya’s encouragement, Jjaek-jjaek stood up again and flapped his wings toward her.
And in that moment.
Without even realizing it, Jjaek-jjaek gave a little hop, took flight, and landed right on So-ya’s palm.
“Cheep?!”
Jjaek-jjaek’s eyes grew wide with surprise.
“Wow, Jjaek-jjaek...!”
An excited exclamation escaped So-ya’s lips as well.
“Did you see that, Brother? Jjaek-jjaek just flew! Until yesterday, I had to help him from the side. But just now, he did it all by himself...!”
So-ya chattered away, even more thrilled than the bird himself.
“You’re really amazing, Jjaek-jjaek.”
“Cheep, cheep-cheep!”
Pleased by So-ya’s praise, Jjaek-jjaek narrowed his eyes happily and chirped.
“...”
As he watched the scene blankly, a soft smile slowly spread across Ga-hyeon’s face as well.
“You’re right. He really is amazing.”
Both Jjaek-jjaek and So-ya.
Suddenly, Ga-hyeon felt like he had a faint inkling of what the “righteous world” So-ya had mentioned earlier truly meant.
He still couldn't entirely agree with his father’s words that what he had done to the Silver Tiger Clan was excessive, but...
‘So-ya smiles most beautifully in the righteous world Father spoke of.’
That was the one fact he couldn't deny.
‘If Father gives you that kind of world...’
Ga-hyeon unconsciously clenched his fists inside his sleeves as he thought.
‘Then I want to gift you the safest world. So that you can always smile there, so that nothing can ever hurt you...’
So that nothing filthy or impure in this world could harm her.
So that she could grow up upright and true, just as she was now.
‘I will give you the safest world in existence.’
Since he couldn't gift her a righteous world like their father could, this was the kind of world he could offer his precious younger sister.
Ga-hyeon smiled warmly, watching So-ya and the baby birds with eyes softer than ever before.
*
4. So-ya, the Summer of Fourteen. Ga-ya’s Story
The day the White Tiger family finally gathered in one place after the long war ended.
“Don’t be too upset, Father. In my eyes, you’re the coolest tiger in the whole world.”
That single remark from So-ya during dinner caused a massive stir in the White Tiger Palace.
“That can’t be right.”
Baek Ga-yul. A teenage tiger, fifteen years of age.
For fifteen long years, he had lived believing he was the coolest tiger in the world. Ga-yul stared at So-ya with a face of utter disbelief.
“You’re lying, right, Cotton Ball?”
Baek Ga-ya. A twenty-year-old adult tiger who believed he was the coolest even when he was a crying infant. Ga-ya let out a short laugh, looking as if he had just heard the funniest lie in the world.
“So-ya, it’s good to comfort Father, but there’s no need to make things up.”
Baek Ga-hyeon. The most normal tiger among So-ya’s three older brothers. Ga-hyeon spoke in a chiding tone, maintaining the calmest expression of the three.
However, the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth and his trembling eyes revealed that he was anything but calm.
“Oh, come on. I’m not making it up. In my eyes, Father is always the most handsome.”
So-ya replied with a smile, unaware of the ripples her words were causing.
“...!”
“...!”
“...!”
The brothers’ expressions crumbled simultaneously at that one sentence. So-ya simply thought their exaggerated reactions were because they were acting a bit childish now that their mother had returned.
‘My brothers are something else. They’re so funny.’
But it didn't take long for So-ya to realize that their reactions were by no means an exaggeration.
Because she had stayed at the Imperial Palace instead of the White Tiger Palace for a while, So-ya was sitting at her desk catching up on her overdue schoolwork.
Suddenly, she noticed a tuft of snow-white hair peeking out from the doorway.
“Brother Yul?”
“Cotton Ball!”
It was none other than Ga-yul.
After hovering outside her door, he hopped into the room the moment their eyes met.
“Look at this. I brought these to eat with you.”
Ga-yul said with a boastful expression, showing So-ya a large tray filled with sweets.
“Aren't these your favorite, Brother?”
“No. I don’t really like these. I decided not to like them starting today. So you eat them all!”
“Huh?”
Before So-ya could even ask why, he popped a sweet confection into her small mouth.
Then, with a proud face as if he had accomplished the greatest feat in the world, he asked her, “How is it, Cotton Ball? It’s delicious, right? Your big brother is the best, isn't he?”
“Yes, you’re the best, Brother.”
It was a random question, but So-ya answered while munching on the sweet.
“Better than Father?”
“Suddenly Father?”
So-ya blinked her eyes as she swallowed the treat.
“Yeah, yeah, Cotton Ball. I’m a cooler tiger than Father, right?”
Ga-yul asked again, his eyes sparkling with immense expectation as he looked at her.
‘Ah...!’
Only then did So-ya realize Ga-yul’s intention.
‘This is about what happened at dinner the other day...!’
A mischievous urge suddenly rose within her.
“Oh, but Father is still the best.”
“What? That’s so mean, Cotton Ball! I even gave you all my sweets!”
Ga-yul protested in a wronged voice.
Ga-yul didn't realize that reacting like that only made people want to tease him more.
‘Brother Yul is so cute when he pouts.’
She had thought so since she first arrived at the White Tiger Palace; whether he was a baby tiger turning his back with puffed-out cheeks or the way he was now, his pouting was consistently adorable.
So-ya giggled as she watched Ga-yul’s retreating back as he stomped out with his lips protruding.
After Ga-yul left, this time Ga-hyeon came to visit her.
“So-ya, would you like to go up Mt. Horim with me? The summer flowers are in full bloom. Let’s make a flower crown together to give to Mother as a gift.”
So-ya was tempted by those words.
‘Mother,’ ‘Mt. Horim,’ and ‘flower crowns’ were all things So-ya loved.
“But I still have a lot of homework to do...”
“Don’t worry, So-ya. I’ll help you. We can finish it quickly that way.”
Ga-hyeon said as he pulled up a chair and sat down beside her.
“Thank you, Brother.”
So-ya nodded with a bright smile.
It was while So-ya was focusing intently on finishing her homework as quickly as possible.
Ga-hyeon glanced at So-ya’s face and spoke up.
“So-ya. Your brother... well.”
“Brother...?”
So-ya looked at Ga-hyeon with a puzzled expression, as he was unusually hesitant to speak.
“Well, I mean... I’m the only brother who takes care of you like this, right?”
“Pardon...?”
Ga-hyeon felt a bit embarrassed saying it himself. It was because he realized how childish he was being.
Soon, So-ya also caught on to Ga-hyeon’s intention and answered with a giggle.
“You’re right. You’re the only one who looks after me like this. Right after Father.”
“Father is...!”
Ga-hyeon momentarily flared up and raised his voice, but then quickly clamped his mouth shut.
So-ya’s eyes grew wide at the sight.
“Brother Hyeon, are you perhaps...”
So-ya asked, thinking, ‘No way, surely not,’ but wondering just in case.
“Are you pouting?”
“...Of course not, So-ya. I’m not Yul; why would I pout over something like this? It’s so childish. You’ve misunderstood.”
Ga-hyeon replied, instantly shifting his expression and tone.
‘Wow, Brother Hyeon is pouting...! I want to show this to Mom!’
So-ya couldn't hide her fascination at this rare sight.
“I’m really not.”
“I didn't say anything.”
So-ya retorted with a snicker.
Meanwhile, across from So-ya’s room window.
A handsome young man with a somewhat cold impression was sitting askew on a tree branch, watching the scene.
‘They’re both so childish.’
He scoffed at his younger brothers’ transparently immature behavior.
‘Trying to win their sister’s favor with such trivial actions.’
Ga-ya shook his head.
This was why young tigers who hadn't even completed their Second Growth were such a handful.