The Hunt (2)
"This might not be enough… there are a hundred of us after all. I'm not sure this will even be enough to put something in everyone's mouth…"
"We're not the only ones who went out. The others will catch something too."
"Will they… We should've caught that one earlier. What a shame."
"What was it?"
So-un pressed like a child. Having tasted the thrill once, everything about hunting now felt fun and exciting.
"A bear…"
"What? You tried to have a child shoot a bear?"
"You're the shooter. A sharpshooter. Bears are dangerous… You shouldn't do that. That's really dangerous. You were joking, right?"
"Why? No confidence? No, I really chased a huge bear all the way here. That big one was chasing the roe deer and water deer, so I lured it this way."
How much of that was true?
He could tell some of it was exaggerated, but not how much.
He knew well that half of what uncles said was lies.
When it came to killing enemies, the lies reached their peak.
If you listened to them, they would say they tapped a man once and he fell, but most of the time it meant they had grappled and fought desperately to the death.
What they said after battle and what they said before battle were different things.
Especially in front of the scholar, most of it was playful exaggeration.
"Let's take these."
Gun-myeong carried the roe deer and made So-un carry the water deer.
He began to sing.
"Shall we go to the mountains to catch meat,
or go to the sea to catch fish—"
"That's not the same kind of meat."
"Fill this bottle up to the brim—"
Before long, Gun-myeong stopped singing.
They were coming down a narrow path, each carrying one carcass.
Then they saw it.
A massive black shadow blocked their way.
It was too close.
The bear charged at full speed.
Its enormous body seemed to swell larger every instant.
Its heavy movement created the illusion that it would crush them in the next breath.
Before they could even inhale, it felt as if it were already upon them.
Danger.
Gun-myeong flung the roe deer from his shoulder and turned to run.
The bear thundered forward.
The black shape grew larger with each blink.
"Move! Run!"
So-un dropped the water deer and ran back.
But the bear stopped at the roe deer Gun-myeong had thrown.
Perhaps what it wanted was not the hunters, but what they had taken.
It no longer pursued.
It stood over the deer and water deer.
It reared up on its hind legs and roared.
So-un saw that it was not chasing.
He stopped.
He drew out his bow calmly and set an arrow to the string.
"So, uncle… you really meant for me to shoot that thing?"
Gun-myeong nodded up and down, panting, glancing between the bear and So-un.
"I think we stole what it was hunting. It looks angry… Can you hit it?"
"Why not? I just have to hit it. You told me to shoot earlier. If we can't kill that, we won't eat tonight."
So-un, ignorant of worldly fear, sounded almost casual.
"I was just talking. But there really was a bear. My knees are shaking."
"Your knees?"
"Yes. I'm scared to death."
"Then just go ahead and wet yourself."
So-un looked Gun-myeong up and down.
For someone who had once been a royal guard of the imperial palace, trembling at a distant bear looked pitiful.
He steadied his aim and nocked a second arrow.
If he failed, there would be no dinner.
They would lose both deer.
The leaves rustled.
The wind blew from right to left.
Not a cold wind.
The bear beat its chest and exposed its torso.
Was it telling them to retreat?
If structured like a human… the heart would be there.
Before the bear dropped back down, he aimed at the left chest.
Time froze in a breathless stillness.
The arrow flew with a sharp ping.
Another arrow followed slightly lower.
But the bear did not remain upright long.
As it lowered itself, the lower arrow struck its shoulder.
The other arrow was not visible.
The bear growled and turned its head.
It looked even more terrifying now.
Damn.
They said wounded beasts were the most dangerous.
It roared so loudly the mountain seemed to shake.
Perhaps its thick hide had absorbed the blow—there seemed to be no serious wound.
So-un calmly set two more arrows.
These were arrows that pierced barbarian armor.
He had confidence.
He released both.
Because the bear had lowered its head, one struck the skull, the other lodged deep behind the shoulder.
The bear screamed in pain and slowly collapsed.
The arrow embedded in the head was fatal.
It pierced through the crown so deeply the fletching was barely visible.
Sweat filled So-un's hands as he lowered the bow.
He had been calm, but this was not a matter between people—no negotiation, no skill could control a beast.
It had been terrifying.
He exhaled deeply and sat down.
If he had truly trembled in fear, he could not have killed it.
He had thought himself composed, but now he realized how tense he had been.
His palms were soaked with sweat.
Even the bow grip was damp.
He sat like that for a long time.
The man whose knees had shaken was gone.
Instead, Gun-myeong shouted wildly and leapt toward the bear.
He bounded through the brush like a rabbit, screaming louder than the bear itself.
For a moment, So-un felt the strange joy of the mountain.
"What do we do with this? How are we going to carry it? This weighs more than three men."
"We can call the others…"
"There might be other beasts nearby. We need to move it fast. Let's try lifting it first."
So-un cut a thick branch as wide as his forearm.
With a sword meant to defend the nation, he shaved and shaped wood.
Was this an age of peace?
Melt weapons into farming tools…
The thought stirred something bittersweet.
They were doing peaceful work in an unpeaceful time.
Because they had not yet found their proper place.
Gun-myeong tied the bear's legs with vines and slid the pole between them.
They would lift from both ends.
"How do you plan to do this?"
"Like this. I'll lift from the front, you from the back. On the shoulder—one, two—"
They stood.
The front lifted slightly.
The rear did not move.
"Put your back into it!"
So-un knew it would not work.
He was small and not strong.
At most fifteen years old.
Still, he tried.
The front rose slightly, then fell.
"Let's drag it instead. Tie vines between two poles and lay it across, then lift the front and drag it. Like a sled behind a horse."
"We don't have a horse."
So-un pointed at Gun-myeong.
"There is one."
"What? I'm the horse?"
They burst into laughter.
They secured it as best they could.
Placed the bear on top.
Threw the deer on as well.
Lifted the front.
It moved.
Not easily.
They sweated and strained with everything they had.
Deep grooves carved into the earth as they dragged it forward.
After pushing through thick brush, they reached a slope.
Groaning, they dragged it downhill.
Three scouts approached—they had come looking when the two did not return.
With five men and the strength of a horse added, the bear moved more easily.
The poles left deep marks in the ground.