Living with the Dangerous Beast-Chapter 34: Bullets in the Mist

The marks were from a tiger standing on its hind legs and clawing the tree.

“How big must it be to leave claw marks that high?”

“It must be at least twelve feet tall.”

“Good grief.”

Tigers hated intruders in their territory, so all of these marks were from a single tiger.

The closer a tiger is to its mating season, the more frequently it marks its territory, and this one seemed to be in heat all year round, making it highly sensitive.

Such a tiger should never be provoked.

“I saw offerings being made at a temple up there near the mountaintop, so it’s probably not just a ‘normal’ tiger but something close to a mountain god or a deity.”

“Good point. Messing with such an ominous creature will bring nothing but misfortune and bad omens. I’ll make sure to inform the authorities.”

“Let’s get down quickly. This mountain gives me the creeps even in broad daylight. It feels like there are more than just tigers here.”

“Hey, can’t you see the Buddha statue above us?”

“Wait, isn’t this the wrong path? The way to the village is in the opposite direction of the temple....”

By now, the surroundings were shrouded in fog, and only the cuckoo’s mournful cry broke the eerie silence.

“Grrr, gack... No, no... This is hopeless... Completely hopeless.... I can’t live like this... anymore....”

It sounded like something was crying in sorrow.

“What is this woman doing? Where is she taking us?”

The hunters’ gazes turned to Sohwa, walking about ten steps ahead.

Her embroidered jade silk jacket, purple skirt, and flowered shoes made her look too elegant for a common village girl.

There were no known noble families in this rural area, so it was indeed strange.

“Wait, could she be...?”

As the men stopped and grew suspicious, Sohwa’s figure, half-shrouded in fog, vanished like a ghost.

For a moment, they saw sharp claws peeking from her lifted hand.

The men’s eyes widened in shock.

“A-A nine-tailed fox! S-She was a nine-tailed fox!”

“Everyone stand your ground!”

The men quickly formed a circle, back to back, with their guns drawn.

“We are tiger hunters! We won’t die easily at your hands!”

They scanned their surroundings with sharp eyes, but the forest was silent.

Only the bare branches swayed eerily in the wind.

The leader of the group, lighted his gun and lowered his body, cautiously took a step forward.

After about ten paces, he stepped on a pile of fallen leaves and instinctively looked down.

Screech!

With a fierce cry, something lunged at his face.

“ARGHHHH!”

The surprisingly agile creature clawed at his hair and obscured his vision.

Flailing his arms to force the creature from his body, he stumbled and fired his gun wildly into the air.

The other hunters scattered in panic, turning the area into chaos.

“UGHHHHH!!

Several men screamed as they tumbled over a hidden cliff, obscured by a pine tree growing on top of a rock at the edge of the mountain.

“Help me!”

“Hey! Where are you!!”

The remaining men rushed to the edge, extending their hands, but it was too far.

The fallen men rolled down the steep slope. Only seven or eight hunters remained.

“W-was there a river down there?”

Below the cliff was a large cave, from which a black stream of water flowed.

The fog concealed any sound, making it appear even more mysterious.

At that moment, a pair of eyes glowed from the water.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

The dark maw of a creature opened, catching the falling men with its crimson tongue.

The creature, having devoured them, disappeared back into the mist as if it had never been there.

“W-What was THAT?!”

It wasn’t a river.

It was a giant serpent as thick as the stream.

The hunters, speechless, stared in disbelief.

They had traveled all over the country but had never seen anything like this.

Then, the nine-tailed fox that had caused their comrades to fall leaped from the rocks.

Its moonlight-reflecting white body, with black ears, feet, and tail, shimmered as it darted swiftly.

The hunters quickly reloaded their guns and aimed.

“Hey! Are you serious about catching that nine-tailed fox?!”

“Of course! And that’s not a nine-tailed fox; it’s a silver fox!”

“Look at that fur! If we present that to the royal concubine, we’ll be richly rewarded!”

“It’s small, so we’ll only get enough for a single scarf.”

The men all aimed their guns at the silver fox.

A fur from a white fox was so rare that it was barely included on the list of gifts for foreign envoys or as a tribute for the royal family.

“Its tail can be made into gloves.”

One of the men fired at the fox.

Bang!

The bullet barely missed the fox’s hind legs, so he quickly reloaded.

Bang!

Another hunter’s bullet hit where the fox had just been.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The forest echoed with reckless gunfire.

But none of the hunters hit the fox.

In the blink of an eye, it had climbed the cliff and disappeared from their sight.