Living with the Dangerous Beast

Chapter 1. How Did It Come to This?

Pant, Pant....

Sohwa was almost tumbling down the rough mountain path. Her breath was ragged, but she couldn’t stop.

As a fox with a light body, she was better suited for climbing uphill terrain. But the relentless predator chasing her kept her on the downhill path, which favored him rather than Sohwa.

Yelp!

Unable to maintain her speed, she rolled into a muddy puddle. On her way falling down, she hit a tree and landed in front of a burrow.

Her body ached from the impact, and her usually well-groomed fur was now caked with mud that smelled strange. But she had no time to waste taking care of her fur.

Driven by extreme fear and a sheer will to survive, she crawled into the burrow, likely dug by a badger.

‘It’s too narrow for him to follow.’

She trembled at the end of the burrow as she heard the thumping footsteps of the beast roaming outside.

Grrrrrowl....

The hidden growl of the predator sounded like thunder. It was just his breathing, but what kind of monster breathes in such a menacing and frightening way?

‘I don’t want to hear it anymore....’

Sohwa tucked her head between her front paws, pressing her ears down tightly, praying for this nightmare to end as quick as possible.

‘Please don’t let him find me....’

But Sohwa’s desperate prayers were nothing more than a futile hope. The beast’s sense of smell was sharp, and with a snout larger than her head, it was no surprise.

Looking back, he had never missed his prey. The sparrows Sohwa always failed to catch, he effortlessly placed on her plate every morning.

Why didn’t she realize sooner?

What she had raised was a ferocious beast, a tiger.

“Come out now, Sohwa.”

But unfortunately for Sohwa, regret was useless.

“Did you think you could escape me?”

The burrow seemed to shake as the beast started digging. She had foolishly believed he couldn’t fit his paw into the narrow burrow since it was so small that she could barely fit her petite body.

She heard the sound of dirt being dug up. It was like a bolt out of the blue. When the frightened Sohwa glanced up, she saw the beast’s enormous paw.

It thrust into the burrow, black, hook-like claws wriggling in front of her nose as if to snatch something.

“Come out, now. You have to take responsibility.”

Sweat and other unknown streams of liquids began to trickle down from Sohwa’s trembling body. She tried to wriggle her hind legs to run away, but the back of the burrow was blocked by tree roots.

Eventually, the beast’s paw withdrew without success. Instead, it began to dig out the burrow, seemingly intent on widening the entrance to pull her out.

‘What should I do? What do I do....’

Her entire body shook as she desperately looked around for an escape. But it was no use; the beast soon shoved his paw back in, this time easily grabbing her by the collar.

Startled and terrified out of pure terror, Sohwa reflexively bit down on the beast’s huge paw.

But the beast, seemingly amused by Sohwa’s desperate attempt to set herself free, just growled in laughter.

Finally, pulled out of the burrow, she dangled helplessly in the air, gripped by the neck.

Though she looked ridiculous, now was not the time for pride.

Golden. The bright yellow eyes of the tiger, glinting with amusement, stared directly at her.

“It hurts, you know. How could you bite me?”

As she met the beast’s gaze head-on, her entire body froze like a stream in the dead of winter.

Drops of ‘liquids’ fell beneath her.

“Oh... again.”

He clicked his tongue at the sight of the wet ground. Mortified and terrified, Sohwa whimpered, flailing her paws.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go back to ‘our home’, shall we?”

The beast then set her on the ground, pinning her down with his paw to prevent escape.

“Stay still.”

The beast licked Sohwa’s face, which was covered in mud. His large, rough tongue passed over her snout and sensitive ears, making her shudder involuntarily.

“If you’d just behaved well from the start, this wouldn’t have happened. Look at you now. You’re a complete mess.”

He shamelessly blamed her. Then, with his terrifying paw, he swiftly flipped her over.

With his paw pressing down on her chest, Sohwa gasped for breath, but he calmly licked up the urine she had spilled.

After thoroughly cleaning her up, the beast picked her up with his mouth. He didn’t bite hard enough to injure her, just enough to hold her.

Yet, the sharp teeth touching her neck made Sohwa lose any will to struggle.

Carrying the fox in his mouth, the beast leisurely walked back up the mountain path, swinging his head gently as if to remind her of her predicament.

Soon, they reached the foothills where they had first tussled. The beast pushed her into a bird cage he had prepared.

He told Sohwa that he even went down to a human village just to make a special request to purchase this cage from a Western merchant.

The meticulousness of it made Sohwa shiver in even more fear.

“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? To put me in this cage?”

“Of course not.”

With a click, he locked the cage and began to transform.