Tigers, known as the ‘kings of the mountain,’ were feared and respected by humans.
But Sohwa, who somehow had a strong sense of pride and ego, had no intention of calling tigers as the ‘kings of the mountain.’
“If you really turn out to be a tiger, I can always let you go.”
Sohwa should have heeded Hoyoung’s warning then.
But already accustomed to the cuteness and warmth of the small creature, Sohwa didn’t think much of it.
* * *
The day after Hoyoung’s visit, Sohwa was awakened by a strange boy’s voice.
“Master, wake up. The sun is already high.”
“...Hmm?”
Rubbing her eyes and sitting up, Sohwa saw a boy with clear eyes staring at her.
“Who are you?”
“Who am I? It’s me. How can you not recognize me?”
The boy, looking hurt, offered her a peeled apple. As she ate the neatly peeled apple, Sohwa speculated.
‘I’ve heard that if humans live alone for a long time, some kind of a magical fairy helper appears.’
‘Could he be a misdirected fairy helper?’
But Sohwa wasn’t that foolish to believe such nonsense.
The boy was definitely a male.
Black hair, delicate but well-defined brown eyes that had a shade of mysteriousness in it. His voice and build were clearly those of a boy, even if his face was pretty like a girl.
“Could you be...?”
Sohwa swallowed the apple, her voice filled with surprise.
“The black wildcat cub that I picked up?”
“Yes, Master.”
The boy smiled innocently, offering a basket of washed cherries. Accepting the cherries, Sohwa smiled back.
“Wow. So you’re also a half-beast.”
She thought he was just an animal because he couldn’t speak. While eating the cherries, Sohwa pondered.
The boy must have been abandoned like her, with no parents around when she found him.
Instead of asking about his likely painful past, she asked about his species.
“Are you a wildcat?”
It was hard to believe a tiger could be this pretty and gentle.
“I think so.”
“Hmm.”
His answer was doubtful, but there was no immediate way to confirm it.
“We’ll find out when you turn into your true form.”
Confident that he was a cat-type, she planned to ask Myojin, a cat half-beast, when she met her.
“How old are you?”
“I’m... not sure.”
The boy shook his head dejectedly. In his human form, he looked to be at least in his mid-teens.
“You don’t look like you’ve reached adulthood yet.”
Not knowing his origin, the boy didn’t know his age either.
Sohwa, whose human form matched her young adult fox form, knew that some powerful half-beasts could maintain a mature human appearance even when they were actually young.
Given the boy’s size, she guessed he was in his adolescent to young adult phase.
“Did you lose your memory because of your injury?”
“Maybe.”
He must have been abandoned by his family, wandering the forest before being attacked and left bloody.
‘Though the wound near his navel has healed....’
Sohwa decided not to ask further. What more could she ask this poor boy, who didn’t even know his own origin?
“I’m a red fox. This is Mount Yeehwang, a small hill compared to the famous Seolhak or Taeryong Mountains.”
The boy’s light brown eyes sparkled as he listened to Sohwa.
“Would you like to stay with me until you’re fully healed?”
The boy shyly nodded.
“We’re different species, so we won’t go into heat with each other. You’re gentle and kind, so living together should be fine. What do you think?”
Sohwa also thought it was quite fortunate for her. Wildcats were known to be skilled hunters. She had even heard they were good swimmers.
‘Now I can eat plenty of meat and fish!’
Sohwa thought in joy.
Sohwa had never properly learned to hunt from her mother, so she was clumsy at it.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she had eaten meat. Having a nimble wildcat friend would be very reassuring.
“Anything is fine as long as I’m with you, master.”
“Okay. First of all, I’m not your ‘Master.’ You can just call me Sohwa.”
“Sohwa.”
“Yes, much better. And I should call you... Hmm.”
Not knowing his origin or age, she doubted he’d know his name.
“What should I call you?”
“Dohwi.”
The boy, who claimed to know nothing, clearly stated his name.
“Please call me Dohwi.”
Sohwa found it suspicious, but at the same time, she recalled the first impression of the blood-soaked cub she found in the middle of the woods.
A child weaker than her. Abandoned by his family with nowhere to go.
Such a poor creature deserved help.
“Dohwi? Alright.”
She could confirm his species later when he returned to his true form, and he was certainly younger than her.
This poor thing had nowhere else to go.
‘Let’s take him in.’
If he found a place to go later, she would just let him leave and everything would be fine.
At least that was what Sohwa thought.
* * *
Twenty years passed with the boy.
There is a saying among humans, ‘Ten year is an epoch,’ but for half-beasts who can live for hundreds of years, twenty years wasn’t that long.
In those twenty years, Sohwa still didn’t know exactly ‘what’ Dohwi was and how old he was.