At Wei Yan-ho's shout, he turned his head and discovered Wei Yan-ho and those behind him, his eyes widening in shock.
"Kkeueuk, kkeuk!"
He tried to say something, but his throat seemed blocked; he swallowed his words several times before crying out.
"Nuuuniiiim! Hyeooooong!"
Jin Ye-ran pushed Wei Yan-ho aside and rushed forward.
"So-ahyaaaaa!"
Jin Ye-ran urgently approached Jin So-ah and began examining his condition.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Nuniim~"
As Jin So-ah wept pitifully with hiccupping sobs, tears began to well up in Jin Ye-ran's eyes as well. Having been dragged here through countless hardships, his face was covered with scrapes and scratches.
"You…!"
When Jin Ye-ran glared at the Great Tiger General with a fierce expression, the Great Tiger General sensed something had gone wrong.
"...Who are you?"
At the Great Tiger General's words, his subordinate answered with a bewildered expression.
"A physician."
"A, a physician? Why?"
"Didn't you tell us before departing to find a physician who could treat the Mountain God?"
"I did..."
"Though he looks young, this fellow has a great reputation as a divine physician in Wuhan. We tried to bring him courteously, but when he said he absolutely couldn't come here leaving his patients behind, we kidnapped him in the dead of night. Kkeul kkeul kkeul kkeul."
"Is that so?"
The Great Tiger General laughed hollowly.
"So that's what happened."
Yes, well done. Very well done indeed.
So well done that thanks to you, Green Forest's history will be rewritten today.
Gooooooooo.
Something with a terrifying aura began to emanate from behind.
"Heo heo heo heo."
Strangely, laughter kept coming out.
They say when a person is pushed beyond the limits of absurdity, there's nothing they can do but laugh—it seems that saying was right.
He didn't want to look.
But he had no choice but to look.
Slowly turning his head, he saw Wei Yan-ho trembling with bulging veins on his forehead.
"Which..."
As if choked up, Wei Yan-ho took several deep breaths before putting all his strength into his voice and shouting.
"Which bastard made my younger sibling like this!"
Wei Yan-ho's furious cry shook the mountain stronghold.
***
Ho-sam, who lived by gathering medicinal herbs on Mount Bokho, swallowed his saliva and walked upward.
"L-look here."
Yeom-mu, who was accompanying him, grabbed Ho-sam with an urgent voice.
"What's wrong?"
"...Isn't this the direction where Great Tiger Stronghold is located?"
"I know that."
"This man is asking for big trouble. Do you know what happens if you go towards the Great Tiger Stronghold and get caught by the bandits?"
"Of course I know, damn it!"
Ho-sam cursed.
"The mountain's medicinal herbs have dried up so much that we have nothing to eat before we die. Do you think I care about my life right now? You also know that there's a marsh further up where many medicinal herbs grow, don't you?"
"I do know. But no matter how important medicinal herbs are, are they more important than life?"
"They won't kill us."
Ho-sam quickened his pace with a determined expression.
"At most, they'll steal all our herbs and give us a beating before chasing us away. If that's the case, it's worth trying."
"Worth trying, this man..."
"Stop it."
Ho-sam snapped angrily.
"My children are starving at home. My wife doesn't nag me, but every time I leave the house, she's been setting out a bowl of cold water and praying for almost a month now. If I'm going to die either way—from this or from starvation—shouldn't I try once? If you're worried, go back now. Go down and dig up some bellflowers or something."
"..."
Yeom-mu looked at Ho-sam's retreating figure with a flustered expression before clicking his tongue.
"Damn."
Ho-sam was right.
Mount Bokho had been famous since ancient times as a sacred mountain where many medicinal herbs grew, but after the Great Tiger Stronghold expanded its influence, it became impossible to climb to the summit area where the herbs naturally grew.
Thanks to this, the herb gatherers who made their living collecting medicinal herbs here had either left this place or, like Ho-sam, were driven to the edge of survival.
"You only die once, not twice."
Yeom-mu gritted his teeth.
'Besides, since no one has gone up there for so long, if we can just make it up, we should be able to come back down with a big haul.'
Judging that he could no longer hold out like this, Yeom-mu took the gamble.
"Fine, I'll go too."
"Then keep quiet and follow me. If we get caught by those bandits before we even climb up, it's over."
"I understand."
So Yeom-mu and Ho-sam carefully climbed the mountain.
After climbing for quite a while, hiding in the grass to avoid making noise, the two men began to tense up extremely as they approached the area where Great Tiger Stronghold was located.
"There's not a single bandit to be seen today."
"Something must be happening. It's fortunate for us."
The bandits who usually roamed around the mountain under the pretext of patrolling were nowhere to be seen.
"It's so quiet that it's actually worrying..."
Suddenly, Ho-sam, who was speaking, quickly shut his mouth and looked around.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I'm asking if you just heard that sound."
"What sound?"
"Shh."
Ho-sam brought his hand to his lips and lay flat on the ground. Yeom-mu followed Ho-sam's lead and lay down, not understanding what was happening.
"This sounds like screaming?"
Ho-sam's gaze was directed toward where the Great Tiger Stronghold was located.
Convinced that what he heard was screaming, Ho-sam quietly began moving toward where the sound was coming from.
"W-where are you going? That's the direction of the Great Tiger Stronghold."
"I know. Something unusual is happening over there. If we carelessly climb the mountain at a time like this, we might lose our heads, so shouldn't we check what's happening?"
"C-can't we just go back down? My heart has been pounding so hard I can't stand it."
"If you want to starve to death, do as you please."
"Ugh..."
Ho-sam ignored the grumbling Yeom-mu and moved forward.
'If the bandits are fighting among themselves, or if government troops have come to suppress them, I might be able to steal some valuables in the confusion.'
It wasn't mere curiosity.
Ho-sam carefully approached where the Great Tiger Stronghold was visible and stretched his neck to look at the stronghold.
"...What is that?"
"That's what I'd like to know."
Ho-sam's eyes began to tremble.
'Is that a dust cloud? No way...'
Of course, a dust cloud wasn't such a rare phenomenon that one should be surprised just by seeing it, but the size of the dust cloud they were looking at was far too large.
That enormous dust cloud completely covered the large mountain stronghold. It was puzzling what could be happening inside to create such a scene.
"T-that, doesn't it look like something is flying out right now?"
"Flying out?"
At Yeom-mu's words, he concentrated his vision, and indeed, something was popping out through the dust cloud.
"What is that?"
"...Are you confident you won't laugh if I tell you honestly?"
"Tell me. Your eyesight seems better than mine."
"It looks like a person"
"Huh?"
"I said it looks like a person."
"A, a person?"
Hearing Yeom-mu's words and looking again, the flying figure really did appear whitish and person-like.
"No way?"
Aaaaaaaaaaah!
Hearing the whitish figure soaring in the distance and the faint screaming, its identity became clear.
'It really is a person.'
Ho-sam rubbed his eyes several times and opened them again.
A person.
Why is a person flying around like that?
What on earth is happening inside there that people are...
"I-it's coming this way."
"Huh?"
At Yeom-mu's words, Ho-sam quickly raised his head.
Aaaaaaaaaaah!
The echo of the scream grew louder, and then the whitish figure began flying toward them at an astonishing speed.
"Hiik!"
Before they could even think to dodge, it crashed right in front of them.
Kuuuuung!
A tremor that felt like the ground was collapsing engulfed them. Ho-sam, who had fallen flat on the ground in surprise, slowly raised his head to see a bizarre scene unfolding before his eyes.
'A person?'
Of course it was a person.
That was indeed a person.
But a person in such a state wouldn't be easily seen anywhere. The person who had flown from afar was buried waist-deep in the ground after crashing into it.
Only two legs, stiffly rigid and stretched toward the sky, trembled.
"W-what kind of sorcery is this?"
Why would a person fly through the sky and get stuck upside down like this?
Good heavens, what could be happening inside that stronghold...
That was the moment.
"Hey!"
Some man dropped down from the sky.
"Oops, bad throw. Are you still alive?"
The man who approached the buried body kicked the waist of the upside-down person a couple times with his foot. Tuk tuk. Each time he was kicked, the buried body wriggled like a mollusk.
"He's alive, he's alive."
The man.
The man, who hadn't yet shed his youthful appearance, nodded.
Ho-sam found himself gaping at the scene without realizing it.
The man, with his hair like a bird's nest and dried tear stains whitish around his eyes, stretched both arms wide and yawned lazily, then pulled out the person buried in the ground.
"Heok!"
Seeing the person pulled from the ground, Ho-sam covered his mouth. But he couldn't help the moan that escaped.
It was natural.
The person pulled from the ground was none other than the Great Tiger General, the master of Great Tiger Stronghold and the mountain lord. There wasn't a single resident in this area who didn't know the Great Tiger General's face.
The Great Tiger General, who had spread his infamy throughout the world as the mountain lord of Mount Bokho, was hanging upside down in the man's hand, half-unconscious with foam at his mouth and dirt all over his face.
"Hey, don't pretend to be unconscious!"
The man swung his arm and slammed the Great Tiger General into the ground. With a thud, dust scattered in all directions.
'Then could it be... the identity of that dust cloud?'
Ho-sam couldn't grasp what on earth was happening.
What in the world was going on here right now?
"Uh..."
A moan flowed from his mouth without him realizing it. At that moment, the man turned his head to look at Ho-sam.
"Heok!"
He felt like he'd been caught seeing something he shouldn't have seen.
The man tilted his head and asked.
"Bandit?"
"N-no."
"Then?"
"We're herb gatherers. We were just passing through this area..."
"Herbs?"
Ho-sam, unable to understand what the man was asking, spoke whatever came to mind.
"I-if we can't go up there today to gather herbs, we'll starve to death. Divine Spirit, please spare us!"
"Ah, what am I even? Wait a moment."
"...Yes?"
The man holding the Great Tiger General disappeared from that spot with a poof, as if vanishing.
"Hiik?"
Ho-sam was terrified by the unimaginable sorcery and sat down on the spot. Then, as quickly as he had disappeared, the man appeared again in the same place.
However, unlike when he left, instead of the Great Tiger General, he now held a large wicker basket in his hand.
"Is it like this? Please confirm if it's right."
The man threw the wicker basket to Ho-sam. Ho-sam opened the basket the man had thrown, not understanding what was happening.
"Heoeogeok!"
Ho-sam's eyes shook.
The basket was completely filled with precious medicinal ingredients he had never even seen before.
"Is that right?"
"Yes. Yes! These are such herbs."
"Then take that and go back down today."
"...Yes?"
"I'm giving it to you. It's dangerous today, so go back now. You might get seriously hurt if you get hit by a flying person."
Person?
A person flying?
Like earlier?
Again?
"Ah, understood."
"Yes, then."
As the man disappeared again from that spot with a poof, Ho-sam jumped up from where he sat.
Then he began bowing deeply towards the Great Tiger Stronghold.
"What are you doing?"
"It's a Divine Spirit!"
"Huh?"
Ho-sam shouted with eyes filled with emotion.
"The Divine Spirit has taken pity on us and is punishing those bandits!"
Ho-sam was clearly under a major misunderstanding.