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Chapter:01
The Weakest in the World’s Greatest Village
There’s an old saying: “Harsh governance is more fearsome than a tiger.”
I don’t know which sage said that, but this much I can tell you —
That’s nonsense.
Whoever said it clearly never met a tiger.
“Huff… Huuuff…”
A cloud of white breath spilled from Yu Pil-gwang’s mouth as he trudged through the deep snow, bundled in a winter coat.
He was a Chakho-gun — a tiger hunter.
At the age of seven, he first drew a bow alongside his father.
By thirteen, he joined the royal tiger-hunting corps.
From the southernmost shores to the northern peaks of the kingdom,
he had roamed every mountain, killing tigers wherever they lurked.
For thirty years he hunted, and in time he became known as the greatest of all tiger-slayers.
He had skinned over a hundred tigers, and the court had even granted him a title for his service.
Tiger cubs that weren’t yet grown would wet themselves if he merely came near.
And yet now, that very Yu Pil-gwang — the greatest of tiger hunters — was in tatters.
“Hahh! Hahh!”
He gasped, white breath pluming in the air as he constantly glanced behind him.
The Lord of Mount Banyabong.
The White Tiger.
No — the White Demon.
He had laughed at the stories before.
They said its claws had shredded scores of hunters,
that hundreds had vanished into its jaws.
They said it was as large as a house, as swift as the wind.
He had scoffed.
It had sounded like the usual exaggerations from people who had only ever heard of tigers in tales.
“Uhhah!”
Yu Pil-gwang threw himself down a steep slope.
Rocks and branches tore at his limbs, but that didn’t matter — it was his best chance.
The White Demon was different.
Not exaggerated — understated.
It wasn’t the size of a house. It was the size of two.
It didn’t move like the wind. It moved like lightning.
Its hide was so thick that his arrows and spears couldn’t even scratch it.
The Lord of Banyabong was not an animal.
It was a being unlike any he had seen in all thirty years of hunting.
“Damn it!”
Yu Pil-gwang tumbled down the slope, clutching at his mangled arm as he ran again.
Snow, trees, brush, stone — that was all he could see.
The forest was silent.
Maybe he had rolled far enough to leave the creature’s territory.
Still, he didn’t stop.
Another slope appeared, and again he hurled himself down it.
“Uhhhak!”
He tumbled and rolled — bones cracking, flesh splitting — until finally he slammed against a rock.
“Ugh…”
The mountain was silent save for the cry of a bird overhead.
Had the beast spared him?
Or had he simply escaped its domain?
Whatever the case, he wasn’t tiger food — not yet.
But in this state, he wouldn’t make it far before freezing to death.
“Huff… huff…”
He forced himself up, using the rock as support, trembling all the while.
Then he felt it — a hot breath against the back of his neck.
A white mist drifted past his face.
A stench assaulted his nose.
Slowly, Yu Pil-gwang turned his head.
Yellow eyes.
A mouth dripping with saliva.
His life flashed before his eyes.
The beast’s damp breath washed across his cheek.
“D-damn it…”
Even so, Yu Pil-gwang did not give up.
That stubborn will to survive — that was what had made him the finest tiger hunter in the land.
Still staring into the White Demon’s eyes, Yu Pil-gwang’s hand crept toward his waist.
His fingers found a small pouch.
Cinnabar Powder.
Cinnabar — a material used for talismans, one whose scent even the king of beasts hated.
He flung the fine red dust into the air.
“GRAAH!”
At the same instant, Yu Pil-gwang hurled himself over the rock.
He tumbled again down a sheer incline.
Normally, a tiger that inhaled cinnabar powder would recoil or flee.
But not this one.
In his spinning vision, Yu Pil-gwang saw the ghostly figure —
a white monster now dusted red,
the demon of Banyabong itself.
The White Demon bounded after him, covering three full jang with each leap.
It was on him in moments,
its massive claws tearing into the ground as it leapt into the air.
“Damn it.”
His bow and spear were long lost, and he’d spent his last cinnabar.
He was tumbling helplessly down the slope.
There was nothing left to do.
As the creature’s fangs loomed before him, Yu Pil-gwang, the greatest tiger-slayer of the realm, closed his eyes.
“Mother…”
And then —
Thud! — “Kuh-huhk!”
Through his swirling vision, he saw it.
The white demon, coated red, hurtling through the air — away from him.
“…??”
The monster’s body twisted grotesquely in midair, smashing through several trees before vanishing off a cliff.
It let out a sound no tiger should ever make —
A dog’s yelp.
“Kiieeeeee—!”
The White Demon’s scream echoed across the mountains.
Then came a young voice.
“Where does a wildcat think it’s going, attacking people like that?”
Wildcat?
Before he could make sense of it, Yu Pil-gwang’s body finally came to rest against a tree.
A boy stood before him — no older than twenty at most,
his youthful face matching the voice.
“Are you alright?” the boy asked, looking down at him with concern.
“You must’ve slipped while hiking.”
“H-hiking?”
“Yeah. You must’ve been chased by that wildcat.”
“W-wildcat?”
“Yep.”
“……”
Wildcat?
What on earth was he saying?
That wasn’t a wildcat.
That was the White Tiger of Banyabong, the mountain’s true lord —
the great beast Baek-gwi — the one even the best tiger hunters couldn’t overcome.
“Wow, you really took a tumble.”
While Yu Pil-gwang blinked in disbelief, the boy opened his pack.
He pulled out a wooden box, roughly carved,
with messy handwriting on the lid —
the sort of handwriting you’d see on jars labeled Soy Sauce and Bean Paste by a tired mother.
The crude letters read:
“Great Rejuvenation Pill (大還丹)”
Yu Pil-gwang’s eyes widened.
The Great Rejuvenation Pill — the legendary elixir said to be crafted once in a hundred years by the monks of Shaolin itself.
But the box before him was full of them.
Dozens.
Moments ago this boy had called a great tiger a “wildcat,”
and now he was calling these divine elixirs “pills.”
Still, the boy handed one to him.
“Here, take this.”
Yu Pil-gwang stared at it.
The pill gave off a rich, fragrant aroma.
It certainly didn’t seem dangerous, so he accepted and swallowed it.
“…!”
An indescribable fragrance filled his body.
A sweet taste swirled through him.
Broken bones knit together.
Torn flesh grew new.
Old scars vanished.
A powerful energy rose in his core.
His danjeon swelled with force.
In the span of a few breaths, he’d gained the internal strength of half a lifetime of training.
He looked again at the lid of the wooden box.
“Great Rejuvenation Pill (大還丹)”
“……”
Yu Pil-gwang dropped to his knees and bowed deeply.
“Are… are you an Immortal, sir?”
“Huh?”
“N-no, it’s just— such precious elixirs in such numbers, and earlier, you felled that great tiger with a single kick!”
The boy scratched his head.
“They’re not that precious. There’s tons of them back home.”
“What?”
“Yeah. You can ask Grandpa Baek to make more — he’ll whip them up for you right away.”
“…Grandpa Baek?”
What nonsense was this?
He’d felt the pill’s effect with his own body.
This was no ordinary medicine — this was the true Great Rejuvenation Pill of legend.
Yet this boy claimed some old man could make them on command?
And the boy kept talking.
“Also, people can’t hunt tigers. It’s impossible.”
Yu Pil-gwang blinked.
“B-but you just did! You killed one with a single kick!”
The boy laughed.
“Eh? That wasn’t a tiger. That was a wildcat!”
“What?”
“Have you ever even seen a tiger before?”
“……”
He’d lived as a tiger hunter for thirty years.
Seen tigers?
He’d seen hundreds.
Killed hundreds more.
And now this child was asking if he’d ever seen one?
“Well, a real tiger,” the boy said, gesturing with his hands,
“has a horn right here, in the middle of its forehead.
And its whole body is covered in scales — really tough ones!
It’s got wings under its arms, with golden feathers, so it can fly through the sky.
That’s what a tiger looks like.”
“……”
What was this boy even saying?
And yet — Yu Pil-gwang had heard of such a creature.
A divine beast.
Haetae.
The mythical guardian of justice.
The boy had just described that legendary beast to the last detail.
“Y-you mean to say… that’s a tiger?”
“Yeah. You sometimes see them in Heaven and Earth. That’s what a tiger looks like.”
The boy giggled.
“Ha ha, just thinking about it’s funny. As if a person could catch a tiger! Ha ha ha!”
Still chuckling, the boy looked around suddenly.
“Wait, where are we?”
Yu Pil-gwang, still dazed, managed to answer.
“This… this is Mount Banyabong.”
“Banyabong?”
“Well… we’ve rolled down quite a bit, so not quite the peak. Altogether, it’s part of Mount Jiri.”
“Mount Jiri? Isn’t that in Liaodong?”
“Yes, sir. It’s in Liaodong.”
“Ah, damn it. I went the wrong way again.”
“What?”
The boy pulled out another pill and handed it to Yu Pil-gwang.
“Here. If you’re still hurting after you sleep, take another. You won’t feel any pain after that.”
“……”
Yu Pil-gwang accepted it with trembling hands.
He knew what this pill could do.
With just one of these, his ailing mother could be cured instantly.
He wouldn’t have had to risk his life today, hunting tigers alone for her medicine money.
“Have a good hike!”
“Ah, w-wait—”
Before he could respond, the boy shot up into the sky, shrinking into a distant dot.
Yu Pil-gwang stared blankly at the heavens.
Then he turned toward the direction the Immortal had gone
and bowed deeply to the ground.
