[BotB] Chapter 38

"We should descend quickly. Even in broad daylight, this mountain has a chilling feel to it—as if it's not just tigers but goblins infesting it." 

"Hey, do you not see Buddha above our heads?" one pointed out. 

"But is this the right way? Isn't the path to the village in the opposite direction from the temple?" they questioned as the surroundings grew eerily quiet, filled only with the relentless cooing of a cuckoo. It almost seemed as if something was sorrowfully wailing. 

"Miss, where exactly are you taking us?" the men asked, their gaze fixated on Sohwa's figure ten paces ahead. Her attire, an embroidered jade jacket with a purple skirt and wearing flower shoes, did not seem typical of a common household daughter. 

Rumor had it that there were no noble families in this countryside, which made her appearance all the more curious. 

"Wait, could it be..." they pondered, but as they began to suspect Sohwa, her figure, which had been half-obscured by the fog, vanished like a ghost. A glimpse of her hand revealed sharp, protruding claws. 

One of the men saw this clearly and his eyes widened in horror. 

"It's a nine-tailed fox! A gumiho*!" he exclaimed.

*In korean mythology, it’s a fox that can take on the form of a human.

"Don't rush in carelessly!" they warned each other as they drew their guns and formed a defensive circle, back to back. 

"We are hunters who even catch tigers! Did you think we'd be easily killed by your hands?" they declared, scanning their surroundings with sharp eyes, but the forest remained silent except for the rustling of bare branches in the wind. 

The group's leader lit his gun and cautiously stepped forward, but just a few paces in, he stepped on a dry leaf and instinctively looked down. 

Suddenly, something screamed and lunged at his face. 

"Arrgh!" the man shouted as the creature tore at his hair with sharp claws, obscuring his vision. 

He flailed his arms in an attempt to remove it, and a shot rang out into the air as the hunters panicked and scattered. Chaos ensued in an instant. 

Several men screamed as they fell down a cliff, hidden by the pine trees that had grown on the rocky edge, into a deep ravine below. 

"Help, save me!" they cried. 

"Hey, hey!" others called out as they ran to the edge of the cliff and reached out, but it was too late. The fallen hunters were tumbling down the steep slope. Only about seven hunters were left. 

"Is there a river down there?" they wondered aloud. 

Below the cliff was a large cave from which a black stream of water flowed, creating an awe-inspiring sight, obscured by the mist and silent. 

Suddenly, a pair of eyes flashed from within the water. 

"Arrgh!" a mouth opened in the darkness, its red tongue flicking as it seemingly devoured the falling men, then disappeared as calmly as if it had never been there. 

"What on earth is that...?" they gasped. 

It wasn't a river but a giant serpent, thick as the water itself. The hunters stood dumbfounded; they had traveled all over the country but had never encountered such a creature. 

Then, the gumiho that had caused their companions to fall leaped up from the rocks and raced up the ravine. Its body, reflected in the moonlight, was as white as snow except for its ears, feet, and tail, which were dark, and its fur gleamed with a healthy sheen. 

Seeing this, the men hastily lit their guns. 

"Are you thinking of catching the gumiho?" one asked. 

"Of course! And that's no ordinary gumiho, that's a silver fox!" another declared. 

"Look at the fur on that silver fox! If we present it to the Empress, a promotion is as good as ours!" they plotted. 

"It's small, so at best we could make a single scarf out of it," one remarked as they aimed their guns. 

The fur should not be damaged; it was more precious than tiger skin. While red foxes were common, a silver fox was a rare sight, even for mountain hermits who spent their lives in the wild. 

One hunter, his eyes gleaming, was the first to pull the trigger on his flintlock toward the silver fox. 

Bang! The bullet sadly missed the fox's hind leg as the hunter quickly relit his gun. 

Bang! Another shot by a different hunter struck only the place where the fox had been. Bang! Bang! Bang! The quiet of the forest was shattered by the sound of gunfire. 

But none could hit the fox. In the blink of an eye, it had vanished from their sight. 

"Where did that demon go?" they wondered, reloading with fresh urgency. 

"We must be careful not to damage the fur! It's worth more than tiger skin!" they reminded each other. 

Red foxes were common, but the silver fox was a rarity; even the most experienced mountain people who had climbed mountains might only see a single one in their lifetime.