Multiverse of MiChaeng (Oneshots)

The Tiger (2)

Ten years later

The Japanese governor had given orders to his men and soldiers to track down and kill a tiger. But this was no ordinary tiger, it was the Mountain Lord himself, the one-eyed ferocious lord of Mount Jirisan, the one-eyed tiger that had killed hunters and soldiers alike for as long as he could breathe. The tiger they were tasked to hunt down and kill was known to be the largest of all known tigers to ever exist in their time.

He weighed more than eight hundred pounds and had slipped through the hunters' fingers without a scratch, as it possessed a high level of intelligence, unlike any other tigers, or even any other animals in the woods. The governor had sent a portion of his military armies, and it seemed that none of them came back in one piece.

A group of animal hunters were then hired to track down the huge beast, and though they failed to kill the Mountain Lord, they had eventually managed to kill the tiger's mate and his two cubs, angering him in the process. They then used the cubs for baits, yet they failed nonetheless as he was a magnificently intelligent animal.

Realizing that their strength combined was still not enough compared with the tiger, the Japanese governor ordered for artillery troops and detonators to be planted in the woods to lure the Mountain Lord out.

And there, lied the old huntress Mina as she sat on the cold harsh snow, holding the gravestone of her late husband Min Seuk, whom she accidentally shot when she was hunting for the cunning tiger, a regret she had since began to plant in her for her whole life ever since. She sobbed and sobbed when the guilt again began taking over her body.

She had lost everything, before the huntress then heard a low growl, coming from behind her in the woods. The growls had grown increasingly louder, and soon, an animal arrived at the area of her unwelcoming but vulnerable hut. She looked at the animal, and the animal looked back at her with a questionable emotion present in his eyes.

She then realized she had come face to face with the Mountain Lord himself, the king of the tigers, the king of Mount Jirisan. She didn't feel scared when looking at him, it's as if they had somehow met at one point in their life before, in the past. But she knew she had lost every precious treasure she held dear the most, when she saw that the Mountain Lord had brought her her own daughter, that the tiger had brought the corpse of her beloved daughter Im Seuk to her hut.

Her breaths hitched when she saw that her daughter was lying under the tiger's presence, bloodied and lifeless from being scavenged by the merciless and ferocious pack of wolves. The Mountain Lord happened to arrive at the wolves' den, and murdered their alpha as he 'rescued' Im Seuk, but he was too late as the young girl had succumbed to her wounds from the previous attack he himself caused to the soldiers, and so the animal brought the dead girl to her mother.

The Mountain Lord just stood there still while looking at her with pity carved within his eyes, his body injured from the endless attacks from the hunters and the soldiers, blood on his lower jaw from their torn flesh. Mina looked at the animal with rage in her eyes, but soon the hatred eased down, as she realized why the Mountain Lord did this, the reason why the one-eyed tiger did this.

Flashback ten years ago

She breathed in and out calmly while her index finger tapped on the rifle hammer, her eyes closed to ease herself. The growls were getting louder, and Mina realized she had not much time left, quickly standing up while turning to her back.

And there, she saw it. An animal, a hunter with sharp teeth growing out of its gums, snarling ferociously at her. A carnivorous predator boasting its sharp jagged teeth and merciless eyes to the brave huntress. Mina just stood there boldly while aiming her gun at the tiger of Mount Jirisan. The tiger snarled at her fiercely as if it was threatening her to leave its prime territory where only the animal ruled.