[BotB] Chapter 4

"This is a wildcat. I’m certain."

Sohwa, who had never seen a tiger in real life and had never heard of a tiger in Ihwang Mountain, thought of him as a wildcat with a king (王) character on his forehead. His feet were enormous, but his color was even stranger.

"But do wildcats come in black?"

-Well, there are red foxes like me, so why wouldn't there be black wildcats?

"You seem to be a mutant too. Poor thing."

Humans often raise cute animals. It seemed they raised this guy for a few years when he was young because he was cute and abandoned him when he grew up. -Because black was often regarded as ominous.

Whether he was beaten or his eyes couldn't open, and his whole body was soaked in blood, it was so pitiful that Sohwa brought him home as a pet without much thought. Even though he couldn't talk, it was pitiful to pretend not to know, so she planned to raise him until he got better.

When she carefully washed his blood-soaked body, a wound appeared near his navel. Something that she couldn't tell, whether it was flesh or blood vessels, was dangling.

Fortunately, a scab formed a few days later and naturally fell off, but until then, he was not fully conscious and only slept soundly.

"Looking at the size, it seems to be an adult...."

Finding it strange and taking care of him for a few days, he suddenly opened his eyes.

"Golden eyes. So cute."

Sohwa, who had never been a mother or taken care of a baby, didn't know that he was a newborn tiger and only thought he was a sick wildcat. When she shared the most delicious and soft fruit she ate, he gladly ate it.

After caring for him for a few days like this, he gradually began walking. He also made cute sounds, crying and squealing.

Sohwa, who had been living alone since the pack abandoned her, began to enjoy that there was another small being in this house besides her.

He followed Sohwa around the house since he started walking. She only thought it was a sign of gratitude for caring for him when he was sick.

Then, one day, hearing rumors that early summer grapes were hanging down the mountain, Sohwa was about to climb the mountain as usual and put him in a fruit basket.

However, his body, which seemed to fill about half of the fruit basket, did not fit into the basket.

"Huh? Why has this become smaller?"

After looking at the basket for a long time, Sohwa looked at him.

With black and brown stripes mixed in half, he stared at her with sparkling eyes.

Could this cute thing have grown? No way.

He was originally a cute size that just fit into the fruit basket. With mild disbelief, Sohwa held the cute thing.

"Phew, you're heavy."

He, quietly held in her arms, was heavy. He was so heavy that her arm felt numb when she held him for a long time. Sohwa contemplated for a moment. Seeing him every day, she couldn't tell if he was growing or getting heavier.

'Is he getting bigger then? Even more here?'

Observing closely, she noticed the creature had grown significantly larger than its original size. It was now bigger than her own fox form, making it naturally heavy.

"Are wildcats usually this large?" She wondered.

Weren't they smaller than foxes? It had been a long time since she had seen a wildcat, so she couldn't accurately estimate its size. This was beyond her understanding as a fox who couldn't even distinguish between a hawk and an eagle.

"Why do you keep growing? Weren't you already grown up?" She asked.

The creature responded with a soft whimper, apparently understanding her words but not entirely. Intriguingly, it seemed to only grasp words that were favorable to it.

"Ah, I see. You've been eating a lot."

After some thought, she concluded that 'it had grown as much as it had eaten'.

"Well then, I can't carry you around anymore because you're too heavy. You stay home. I have to go pick grapes. If I don't go quickly, that raccoon will steal them all."

Recalling the sour-sweet taste of the grapes, she prepared to leave the house alone. The creature began to fuss.

"No, you can't. I can't carry you around anymore because you're too heavy."

She closed the door firmly, and the creature began to knock on it with its fluffy paws as if it were going to break it.

"What's with this stubbornness?" Surprised, she eventually opened the door, and the creature followed her.

"How far are you going to follow me with those fluffy feet? The road is dangerous."

However, the creature climbed the hills quite well without showing any signs of fatigue. It even outpaced her, who was walking with a cane.