Chapter 54

A Tiger Leaves Behind Its Hide When It Dies (1)

It had been a long time since I'd dreamed.

Not a dream where I freely flew through the sky, but one about the days when I still lived back home.

I couldn't exactly call them ordinary days.

My parents had died in an accident when I was young, so I'd had to live on my own.

I didn't want to rely on my relatives.

They were good people, but I felt like I'd only be burdening them.

Besides, they weren't exactly well-off themselves, so I couldn't bring myself to ask for help.

If anything, I felt guilty toward them and barely kept in contact.

I simply gritted my teeth and survived on my own.

There wasn't a part-time job I hadn't tried, and I couldn't even attend school properly.

I barely managed to keep my attendance above the required threshold, but there was still more than enough room for me to lose my way.

College wasn't even something I could dream about.

After that, my memories were hazy, as though my head had been covered in fog.

I'd been focused entirely on making enough money to eat and survive.

My circumstances had been a complete mess.

Even so, maybe the world had been telling me not to die.

'Jonghyeok, we're fine. Why don't you come live with us?'

'Hey, Park Jonghyeok. Tell me when you're done with work. Let's go to a PC café. You don't have money? I'll cover some of it.'

'Do you like soccer? Or baseball?'

'You've been working diligently, so I'm giving you a little extra. People like you are hard to find these days.'

I had what people called good fortune when it came to others.

My relatives genuinely worried about me, and my friends were considerate without ever making things awkward.

Even the owners of the places where I worked seemed to pity my circumstances and made sure I was paid properly.

If those people showed me kindness, shouldn't I show kindness to others as well?

It was simply what a decent person ought to do.

With that mindset, I tried to live an upright life.

The military wasn't a problem either.

All I had to do was follow orders properly.

For someone like me, who had nothing, a life where everything was rigidly laid out was actually comfortable.

I even considered staying in the military as a career, but I was still unsure about my future, so I put the idea aside.

What would've happened if I'd stayed?

It was a meaningless hypothetical.

'God really is strange.'

I wasn't particularly religious.

But I didn't deny the possibility that God existed either.

When things were hard, you could curse God.

When things were going well, you could believe in God.

Or you could call out to God whenever you found yourself in danger.

Maybe that was just human instinct.

'From my perspective, the people who show kindness are gods.'

People who extend kindness to someone struggling.

To the person receiving that kindness, what else could they be but gods?

At least, that was how I saw it.

Even after I suddenly fell into the Forest of Four Seasons, there were people who helped me without asking for anything in return.

People whose faces I had never even seen.

Those were connections I could never bring myself to abandon.

Return kindness with kindness.

Return gratitude with gratitude.

More than anything, become someone who gives first instead of always receiving.

Even if the other person didn't return that kindness, just let it go.

I didn't care if people called me a sucker.

Otherwise, the people who had shown me kindness would become fools for having helped someone like me.

At least, that was what I believed.

"Mmm..."

I struggled to open my eyes.

Even after opening them, my vision was so blurry that I had to blink several times.

'Where am I...?'

My mind was foggy, and I couldn't think properly.

For now, I focused on what I could see.

As my blurred vision gradually cleared, a bright blue sky came into view.

Fluffy clouds drifted lazily across it.

Pretty.

That was the first thought that came to mind.

'Why am I looking at the sky...? What was I...'

Rustle.

Just as I wondered what I'd been doing, something entered my field of vision.

A relaxed expression that somehow looked stupid at the same time.

A face I found strangely cute.

I stared at it for a moment before immediately realizing who it belonged to.

"Why are you here—"

Before I could even finish asking, the events from before I'd lost consciousness flashed through my head like lightning.

The attack in the middle of the night.

The desperate fight against the giant tiger.

Its claws tearing chunks of flesh from my body.

Its enormous fangs piercing straight through me.

And finally, splitting the tiger's head apart before collapsing while trying to make absolutely certain it was dead.

As those memories came rushing back, I shot upright.

"AAAGH! Ugh...!"

But the agonizing pain throughout my body, especially in my right shoulder, immediately forced me back down.

Right.

My shoulder had been completely wrecked.

I'd even kept trying to finish the tiger off without performing any first aid.

Fearfully, I looked toward my right shoulder.

"Huh?"

But surprisingly, my shoulder was perfectly fine.

My uniform had been shredded where the tiger bit me, but the skin visible beneath it was completely intact.

I was still wondering what the hell had happened when I noticed a glass bottle lying on the ground nearby.

There was no mistaking it.

It was the bottle of elixir I'd received from Starlight Princess.

"Did you pour this on me?"

I asked Namu-Ppareumbo in a dazed voice.

Namu-Ppareumbo simply stared back at me with his usual vacant expression.

But that was answer enough.

"Pfft."

A laugh escaped me before I knew it.

How many times was I going to owe this guy my life?

Without Namu-Ppareumbo, there was no way I would've survived.

'Come to think of it, what happened to the tiger?'

Judging by the blue sky, it was morning.

If I was still alive and unharmed this far into the morning, then the tiger had to be dead.

I barely managed to turn my head and spotted the house-sized tiger lying on the ground.

It wasn't moving at all.

It was definitely dead.

That finally let me relax.

'What time is it...?'

Judging by the bright sky, morning was already well underway.

I frowned and slowly staggered to my feet.

Considering how badly injured I'd been, staying still would've been better, but at the very least, I wanted to lie down somewhere soft.

'What? Where's Wonmo?'

When I stumbled back into the cave, Wonmo was nowhere to be seen.

He wasn't beside me asking for food either.

His sudden disappearance made me nervous.

"Wonmo! Wonmo, where are you?!"

"Kkyu?"

A response came from behind me when I shouted his name.

Wondering what was going on, I turned around.

Wonmo wasn't there.

So I called again.

"Wonmo?"

"Kkyuu."

This time, I heard it clearly.

But the sound came from the direction of the tiger.

I was puzzled for a moment, but the mystery was soon solved.

"Kkyuuuu..."

Wonmo appeared from behind the fallen tiger.

Instead of jumping up, he was struggling to climb over it.

The sight was both pitiful and adorable.

I smiled warmly at Wonmo's appearance.

Then I noticed something strange.

"Wonmo. What's that around your mouth? Don't tell me that's blood?"

"Kkyu!"

Wonmo answered energetically with a bright smile.

So it was blood.

I was starting to get a bad feeling.

Just in case, I asked.

"Where did you get that on you? Don't tell me... the tiger?"

"Kkyuu!"

Wonmo tapped the ground—or rather, the tiger—with his front paw.

Seeing that, I couldn't help rubbing my face with both hands.

It seemed he'd been eating the dead tiger while I was unconscious.

The neck was practically torn to shreds, so he'd probably focused on eating that part.

I let out a complicated sigh before speaking to Wonmo.

"Fine. Just don't eat too much. Your stomach's going to burst."

"Kkyuu."

Wonmo replied as if he understood.

Now that I'd confirmed he was safe, I went back into the cave.

Then I lay down on the soft mat and tried to calm both my body and mind.

'Ah, right. What time is it?'

I immediately logged into the Gallery.

Hopefully, it was still morning.

[10 unread messages]

The moment I entered, a notification popped up saying I had unread messages.

Heavenly Demon was the only person I had one-on-one conversations with.

They were probably from her.

'It's already well past noon.'

No wonder Wonmo had been eating the tiger's corpse.

More time had passed than I'd expected.

Then again, considering the brutal fight I'd gone through last night, maybe it was only natural that I'd been unconscious for so long.

And if Namu-Ppareumbo hadn't poured the elixir on me, I would've died from blood loss.

'I should reply to Heavenly Demon first.'

I was curious about what was happening on the Gallery, but responding to Heavenly Demon came first.

I opened the flashing notification and entered our private messages.

[Heavenly Demon: Sir. It is morning, yet there has been no word from you.]

[Heavenly Demon: If you went to sleep late last night, I can understand.]

[Heavenly Demon: Sir. It seems you are sleeping unusually late.]

[Heavenly Demon: Sir?]

[Heavenly Demon: You have not even logged into the Gallery.]

[Heavenly Demon: Has something happened to you?]

[Heavenly Demon: If you see this message, I would like you to answer.]

[Heavenly Demon: Sir. It is already noon. Has something truly happened?]

The messages were filled with worry.

She seemed to be far too concerned about me.

I felt strangely embarrassed for a moment, then sent a reply to ease her worries.

[Wild Grylls: I'm sorry, Heavenly Demon. A huge tiger attacked me last night, and I passed out.]

[Heavenly Demon: A huge tiger attacked you? How large was it?]

[Wild Grylls: Its eye level was more than a full head above mine.]

[Heavenly Demon: Then it was truly worthy of being called a lord of the mountain. Is your body all right?]

[Wild Grylls: I almost died after getting holes punched through my body. Namu-Ppareumbo poured an elixir on me, so I survived.]

[Heavenly Demon: That is fortunate. Were you unconscious for a long time?]

[Wild Grylls: Yes. I think so. The place where it bit me still hurts like hell.]

[Heavenly Demon: If you wish, I shall send you an herb with excellent pain-relieving effects.]

[Wild Grylls: It's okay. I can drink some elixir. I'm just going to rest for now.]

[Heavenly Demon: After an intense battle, nothing is more important than proper rest. Then rest comfortably. I never doubted that you would return.]

[Wild Grylls: Thank you. I'll make a post on the Gallery soon too.]

I ended the conversation after receiving Heavenly Demon's concern and encouragement.

I slowly crawled across the mat toward the elixir.

My entire body hurt badly, and I had no way of knowing whether Namu-Ppareumbo had applied it thoroughly.

His claws weren't exactly suited for delicate work.

Gulp—

I took a sip of the elixir and slowly removed my clothes.

There was dried blood stuck to them, and I'd had holes punched straight through my body, so even taking them off was difficult.

'Looks like the fabric got dragged inside the wounds and then healed over.'

The uniform had stopped the tiger's claws.

But it hadn't been able to stop its fangs.

There were holes all over it now, so I doubted it would function properly anymore.

Still, the amount of protection I'd gotten from a single uniform was incredible.

'So adventurers wearing uniforms while working wasn't just some joke.'

I removed the uniform and checked the condition of my body.

Apparently, even an elixir couldn't completely erase injuries that severe, because dark scars remained.

Especially the places where those long fangs had pierced me.

The scars there were particularly pronounced.

Just to be safe, I poured some elixir over them.

The smaller scars faded somewhat, but the fang wounds remained unchanged.

'I should apply it to the other injuries too.'

To prevent infection, I applied elixir to every wounded area.

After a while, once I'd treated all the injuries, I closed the bottle.

In the meantime, the pain radiating from my shoulder had eased considerably.

Earlier, just standing up had been difficult.

Now I could at least walk.

'Without the elixir, I seriously would've been screwed.'

I silently sent endless gratitude toward Starlight Princess for making such a worthwhile trade with me.

Then I decided to post proof that I was still alive.

[Where did Grylls go? Is he dead?]

[Didn't he actually die?]

[Grylls. Come back.]

When I entered the Gallery, quite a few people were looking for news about me.

There were some weird posts mixed in, but they disappeared before long.

The Moderator or Heavenly Demon had probably banned the posters immediately.

All that remained was for me to announce that I was alive.

Title) Survival Report

Wild Grylls

(Photo of severe scars across the shoulder)

(Photo of a body covered in blood)

It's me.

A fucking enormous tiger showed up last night and I seriously almost died ;;

I was unconscious for at least ten hours and only just woke up.

The scars are from where the tiger bit me.

I think I'm just going to rest all day.

My body hurts so much I can barely move ;;

└ SwordMaster) So you were alive. Tigers are aggressive, so it must have been difficult... That was extremely dangerous.
　└ Wild Grylls) I was so scared I thought I was going to shit myself.
　　└ SwordMaster) There wasn't anyone around anyway lol. And even if you had, I would've understood.
└ Wild Grylls) SwordMaster, have you ever killed a tiger?
　└ SwordMaster) I have. It was a somewhat large one.
　└ Wild Grylls) I'll show you the tiger I killed later. It's seriously huge.

└ Passing Dwarf) Hey. So you're not giving me the crab today?
　└ Wild Grylls) Yeah, probably not. Sorry ;; I seriously feel like I'd die if I went there right now.
　　└ Passing Dwarf) Then give it to me tomorrow. I can send you the shoes in a little while.
　　　└ Wild Grylls) You... you're seriously going to be blessed. I'll get you another fully matured mandrake if I can.

└ Starlight Princess) Those scars look awful... And there's so much blood...! Did you use the elixir?
　└ Wild Grylls) Yeah. Namu-Ppareumbo poured it on me while I was unconscious. I probably would've died otherwise.
　　└ Starlight Princess) You're talking about something terrifying so casually. Anyway, I'm glad you're alive.
　　　└ Wild Grylls) It's thanks to the elixir you gave me, Starlight Princess. Thank you so much.
　　　　└ Starlight Princess) I owe you my life, Mr. Grylls. I hope you recover as soon as possible.

└ Princess Cheonggu) What happened to the uniform?
　└ Wild Grylls) (Photo of the shredded uniform) It ended up like this. Still, it got me through several dangerous moments. Thank you so much.
　　└ Princess Cheonggu) So it really did provide protection! I'll send you more uniforms later!
　　　└ Wild Grylls) I feel like I'm only receiving things from you, so there's no need to rush. I still have some left.

└ Where's the tiger?
　└ Wild Grylls) I'll make another post soon. I'm going to eat first.

└ Are you going to sell the tiger too?
　└ Obviously he should sell it. Butchering that thing would be a fucking nightmare lol
　　└ We all know you're just opening your mouth waiting to get a share.
　　　└ Busted lol.

Well.

I had a different idea.

Normally, I would've simply put it up for auction and moved on.

But I'd changed my mind.

For one thing, that bastard had nearly killed me.

And more importantly, its hide seemed like it could be incredibly useful.

Leather could be used for all sorts of things if properly preserved.

'Maybe butchering it myself wouldn't be a bad idea.'

It was a good idea.

Wonmo had already eaten some of its flesh anyway, and it was about time I developed my own skills.

There might come a day when I had to butcher animals myself.

This was a perfect opportunity.

└ Wild Grylls) Nah. This time I'm going to butcher it myself. I should start practicing.

└ ? Didn't you just say you're injured?

└ Wild Grylls) Yeah. But I still have to do it. It'll rot if I just leave it there.

└ If you're going to do it, absolutely ask the professional butchers for advice.

└ Do what the guy above said. They're all really nice people. Seriously.

└ They'll probably teach you pretty much everything they know. Though I'm not sure about tigers specifically.

└ Wild Grylls) Is there a reason they're so nice?

└ Because it's the kind of place where insulting someone gets you stabbed.

It was such a perfectly reasonable explanation that I trusted them even more.