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The tiger couple told Hwang Jiho in advance that they’d allow Kim Shinrok to torture the bear “depending on his behavior”
Hwang Jiho would’ve relayed those words to Kim Shinrok for sure, and Kim Shinrok would’ve had his own interpretation of it.
‘But he never would’ve imagined this.’
Kim Shinrok was frozen, unable to respond to the couple’s suggestion.
He blinked his eyes belatedly, seemingly doubting his ears.
“…Can you please say that again?”
The couple stared at Kim Shinrok with calm faces, observing him closely.
The masks that they wore covered their expressions.
Even though I know that this couple is not enemies, I still felt a lot of pressure from them.
“Before we came here, we met and talked with a few compatriots.”
“There was no one who wanted to tell us about you, so we had no choice but to find out for ourselves.”
It was difficult to tell if the couple found out good or bad things about Kim Shinrok.
“Those who were hostile to you, those who felt sympathy, and those who were indifferent to you said the same thing. They said that if we are looking for the best torture master in our clan, it would be the son of Jeokho.”
“I heard that you are good at digging up secrets by inflicting pain so exquisitely that the subjects wouldn’t die.”
“Regardless of your blood origin.”
What the couple demanded from Kim Shinrok was clear — to be tortured by Kim Shinrok.
“If you are so good at it, show it to us.”
The couple fell silent.
As if he wanted to say something, Hwang Jiho stepped forward and looked at me.
“…”
He seems to be hesitating, but it looked like he decided not to intervene here.
Perhaps he trusts that I did or said something to the couple?
But I don’t know for sure how this couple would act.
Meanwhile, Kim Shinrok’s answer came after a long moment of silence.
“…Torture is done when there is a reason to inflict pain on the subject. When a subject has done something evil or is hiding information that we need.”
Kim Shinrok’s voice was quite dry, calm, and matter-of-fact compared to what he was saying.
He seems to be trying to persuade the couple first.
“You need a reason? Is our permission not enough?”
“Unless we allow it, Hwangho-nim will not allow you to torture the bear.”
Despite the couple’s determined attitude, Kim Shinrok stood his ground.
“It’s a pity that I can’t get your permission to torture that bear, but it is too difficult for me to cause you pain solely for that reason.”
“Is that so…?”
“In the basement of Eunyeonggwan, there is still a bear with complete limbs and spirit. I’ll demonstrate on them if you wish.”
Kim Shinrok must’ve thought that that was the original intention of the couple from the beginning.
Kim Shinrok tried to persuade them, explaining how he usually conducts torture and what the current condition of that bear was.
The couple looked into Kim Shinrok directly, observing his expression persistently before suddenly spitting out words that were out of context.
“Do you know how your father escaped the death penalty?”
Why is that brought up here?
But ultimately, the reason why Kim Shinrok is standing here in this position is related to Jeokho.
‘I thought Jeokho escaped death thanks to his friends’ and Cheonshin’s (Heavenly God) mercy, and his contract with Hwang Jiho.’
Foreign enemies invaded the Korean Peninsula, and there existed a time when the Tiger and Bear Clans fought together.
However, after the head of the Bear Clan was killed during the war, the bears began to betray the tigers.
Whatever the thought process of the new clan head was, he thought it was best to betray the Tiger Clan and join hands with the foreign enemies.
After a long war, overpowering the foreign enemies and the bears, the heavens opened and Cheonshin came down to bless the Korean Peninsula.
The sacred beasts were given huge powers and became the now Mythical Tiger Clan.
‘That’s when Jeokho wished that the bears be forgiven, and Cheonshin granted it.’
Subsequently, from the information that I know from PMH and the Myth of Gaecheon, along with Hwang Jiho’s stories of the past, I have knowledge of the history between Jeokho and Ungnyeo, the Bear Goddess.
The Tigers and the Bears made a dramatic reconciliation, but peace did not last long.
The Bear Clan couldn’t give up on their ambition.
Ungnyeo managed to persuade Jeokho that only when Cheonshin’s grace disappears can the tigers and bears live fairly on the Korean Peninsula.
Jeokho destroyed all the self-defense systems built throughout the Korean Peninsula and erased Cheonshin’s blessings from heaven.
Everything except those on Cheonik Mountain was destroyed.
‘Fortunately, before he could do anything about the blessings that his friends received, I think Jeokho snapped out of it.’
Regardless of his intention, it was a great sin to erase Cheonshin’s blessings.
Jeokho decided to give up his life to pay for his crime.
However, Jeokho, who was ready to die, entered a contract with Hwang Jiho for the sake of his son.
This was what Hwang Jiho said about the contract.
— After Red Tiger committed his crime, he offered his life to protect his son until he became an adult instead of paying for his crime.
— At that time, I was only the temporary leader on behalf of Silver Tiger. On behalf of the Tiger Clan, I refused Red Tiger’s proposal and I proposed my own. Well… It’s more of a threat than a proposal.
— As long as Red Tiger lives and pays for his sins and hears my orders, I will protect his son and take him as a descendant of the Tiger Clan. However, the moment Red Tiger dies, his son will be regarded as a descendant of the Bear Clan.
This contract looks fair at first, but there’s a gap in it the more I thought about it.
The loophole was the other tigers.
I only realized it when we met this tiger couple.
‘How did the other tigers feel about Hwang Jiho’s decision?’
Hwang Jiho was not officially the clan head at that time.
A person who is not the official clan head personally signs a contract to save his friend and his friend’s son…
I wonder if the other tigers really took it well.
Hwang Jiho protects Kim Shinrok, Jeokho avoided death, and Jeokho is given authority to move as the closest aide to the chief.
It wouldn’t be strange if the Tiger Clan would want to oust Hwang Jiho.
But from what I observed so far, Hwang Jiho’s position as the clan head is solid, and the attitude of the Tiger Clan who follows him well is consistent.
Even this tiger couple welcomed Hwang Jiho warmly.
‘The other tigers accepted his decision. There must be something else that I don’t know.”
And just like me, Kim Shinrok doesn’t know about it.
Kim Shinrok looked confused but soon answered the couple calmly.
“…I heard that Jeokho-nim’s friends prayed for mercy, and Cheonshin granted it.”
“That’s right… There’s that too. However, is that really enough to avoid paying for the crime of betraying the clan, and then being permitted to work for the clan again by none other than the clan head?”
“The old clan head Eunho-nim, and the current clan head Hwangho-nim value their close friends, but that does not mean that they would betray the Tiger Clan.”
The words of the tiger couple further confused Kim Shinrok.
“Your father escaped death because he was the first to notice the betrayal of the bears, and he fought on the front lines, making the greatest achievement.”
“That was the first and last time that Jeokho-nim defeated Baekho-nim in terms of hunting numbers.”
The couple told the story of the mythical times when the Bear Clan betrayed the Tiger Clan.
Jeokho managed to destroy the self-defense technologies spread throughout the Korean Peninsula without the Tiger Clan noticing.
However, before he broke the last one on Cheonik Mountain, Jeokho felt strange as he looked down on the Korean Peninsula.
Belatedly realizing that he was fooled by the Bear Clan, Jeokho stopped himself and admitted everything to himself.
He returned to the main camp of the bears on his own.
It is said that the Bear Clan greatly welcomed Jeokho.
Jeokho’s love for Ungnyeo was intense, and the two had already borne a descendant.
Now that Jeokho cannot step between the Tiger and Bear Clans, the bears naturally thought that Jeokho would join hands with them.
However, Jeokho, who dug deep into the bears’ main camp, immediately summoned a bolt of red lightning upon them.
Jeokho destroyed the bears in an instant, constantly turning all the bears he could see into ashes.
After putting all his strength into destroying the bears, Jeokho returned to the Tiger Clan to confess his sins.
“I… I never heard that story before…”
“Well, who would tell the story of your love-blinded father who made a foolish choice?”
“It was the first and last time Jeokho-nim had greater achievements than Baekho-nim.”
“There wouldn’t be a lot of tigers who remember that story.”
Kim Shinrok was flustered.
“We are very ungrateful tigers. Before the betrayal of the Bear Clan, Jeokho-nim has saved many of us against foreign enemies, and yet we resented him.
“…If Jeokho-nim hadn’t endured the trials of a hundred, no, thirty-seven days, and stopped foreign enemies, we wouldn’t have gotten together. Because we would’ve been dead.”
The couple spoke to Kim Shinrok in a very gentle voice.
But perhaps because of their masks, the unresting sound of their voices was heavy on my ears.
“For us who lost a descendant, we were harsher on your father.”
“If we had forgiven, understood, and resented your father a little less, his sentence of suffering would’ve been shortened.”
“If we had, then you might have made a name for yourself as a warrior of the Tiger Clan instead of a torturer.”
The more the couple continued to speak, Kim Shinrok’s expression began to collapse.
Kim Shinrok’s head must be filled with what-ifs.
What if Jeokho didn’t get the punishment that he got?
If the couple’s words were true, what if Jeokho didn’t have to carry the Predicted Hell debuff?
“Do you still not intend to torture us?”
“If you agree to torture us, you may hear more of your father’s story.”
“We gave you one of the reasons why your childhood was destroyed. Shall we give you more reasons to torture us?”
Kim Shinrok covered his face with one hand while the couple whispered more words that they hoped would encourage him.
After long moments of agony, Kim Shinrok finally let go and raised his head.
“…I understand what you are saying and what you want me to do.”
His voice cracked.
“But I cannot torture you two.”
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