A dry lightning crack sound from somewhere far away.

However, upon listening closely, there was no cheering, perhaps it was a false thunder.

Jeong Taeui sighed: “Hmph” and continued walking.

The tall grass brushed against his calves, hindering his path a bit.

He was not deep into the forest yet. When he looked up, the sky was clearer than being covered by leaves.

In this grassy forest where foxes could not walk, Jeong Taeui strolled leisurely as if on a casual walk. Occasionally, he heard the sounds of horse hooves, people shouting and gunfire from afar, but those sounds echoed from deep within the forest.

Above was the clear blue sky, as clear as Christoph’s eyes and below were lush, green grass spreading far and wide. Everything was wonderful. The tall trees occasionally blocked the view, the air was quiet and fresh, wrapped in tranquility……. except for the distant sounds.

“If only there weren’t those gunshots.”

Jeong Taeui sighed regretfully whenever the thunderous sound echoed again.

He always thought about this whenever he heard it. That it was the coldest and harshest sound.

“Let’s find a place…… to take a nice nap……”

“——You better be careful not to fall asleep and get mistaken for a fox and get shot.”

The person who casually spoke the unimaginable was a man who had walked a step ahead of him.

Jeong Taeui frowned when he saw the man comfortably sitting on a rare tall tree in this low forest.

Ilay.

How did he always appear like a ghost wherever he went? Was he secretly following him from behind…… But this time, he got there first……

“Why say such terrible things…… It’s fine. I’m wearing bright yellow clothes, no one could mistake me for a fox. Better safe than sorry*.”

(*유비무환” (Yubi Mu Hwan) is a Korean idiom originating from Chinese, meaning ‘if you are prepared, you will have no worries’.)

Jeong Taeui pointed to his bright yellow clothes – truly impossible to mistake for a fox – and puffed out his chest proudly as he spoke to Ilay.

“On the contrary, the red clothes you’re wearing are more likely to be mistaken for a fox. You should be more careful.”

Jeong Taeui stared with black eyes at Ilay, who was looking down at him.

Today, a hunting event was prepared to welcome distinguished guests from afar. Although this event was free to join, most of the young men were dragged to the hunting grounds.

Although Jeong Taeui did not want to participate, he reluctantly walked into the forest with a hunting rifle in hand.

Ilay was no different. He must have come to hunt too.

Perhaps because of that, today he was not dressed in the elegant and scholarly attire Jeong Taeui always saw him in since arriving here. Instead, he wore a comfortable shirt and pants with gloves, overall comfortable for movement.

Maybe because it was rare to see him dressed like this or because they were in an environment where gunfire occasionally echoed, Jeong Taeui suddenly felt instinctively that he was very dangerous.

Noticing the change in Jeong Taeui’s eyes, Ilay slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

“You know well, Taei. You are my prey.”

“It doesn’t sound like a joke when you say it.”

“A joke?”

Ilay asked softly. But he said nothing more, only smiling. That made Taeui feel more uneasy.

Taeui looked at Ilay warily. Ilay glanced at Taeui from head to toe and said.

“If you wander around carelessly like that, you might get hunted without even the mice knowing or the birds noticing*.”

(*The mice knowing or the birds noticing: secretly and quietly, without anyone noticing.)

“If someone mistakes a person casually walking for a fox and shoots them, that person definitely should not be participating in the hunt in the first place.”

“Foxes aren’t the only things getting shot. Who knows who’s aiming at whom and hiding where.”

Jeong Taeui remained silent, looking up at Ilay. When this man spoke like that, it was sometimes hard to tell if he was joking or serious.

“If someone’s life is being threatened, the most likely person is……”

It’s you, yourself! Taeui stopped himself from speaking and looked at Ilay fondly.

Ilay raised an eyebrow and jumped down from the tree.

Seeing such a large figure jump down from a height really really far above his head was truly impressive, Taeui couldn’t help but be amazed.

This man really had a body that seemed born for ‘strong and decisive violence that could not be stopped.’

“You said you had to watch over the successor candidate, but now you’re here. Is hunting skill one of the criteria for evaluation?”

“Today, for Richard, it’s more about entertaining the guests than hunting.”

Hearing Ilay’s words, Taeui nodded: “Ah, that’s right.”

This morning, Christoph had gone hunting with Richard, even though he moved and walked a bit slowly.

Seeing Christoph – who strictly adhered to dress codes – wearing riding clothes instead of hunting attire, Taeui guessed that Christoph also had no intention of hunting.

Earlier, while wandering around the forest, Taeui had seen them enter a different forest entrance far from here. The distinguished Arab guests, along with Richard and Christoph.

Christoph had also seen Taeui but immediately turned his head and rode into the forest.

Maybe because he felt humiliated for exposing his embarrassed state yesterday morning, Christoph hardly spoke to Taeui anymore. Whenever they accidentally met in the dining hall or elsewhere, he would turn away with an angry face.

Well…… I guess I’d die of embarrassment if I were seen in such an invasive situation…… Thinking about it, I should have died many times already.

It was then that Taeui was disappointed by these sudden thoughts.

Suddenly, a gunshot echoed from afar. A few seconds later, cheers also erupted. It seemed an unlucky fox had been sacrificed.

“You should try hunting one. The foxes around here are of good quality and sell for a high price.”

“Well…… I don’t have such noble interests.”

“Noble interests? You mean cruel interests. Actually, I don’t like fox hunting much either. Chasing after something that only knows how to run away isn’t interesting. It’s boring.”

“No, you misunderstand. I don’t hunt for that reason……”

Jeong Taeui quickly waved his hands, not wanting to be misunderstood. It wasn’t very pleasant.

At that moment, another gunshot rang out somewhere far away and the cheers echoed again.

Taeui suddenly looked towards that direction without thinking and muttered.

“If you’re just walking and get caught up in the hunt while strolling leisurely in the forest, it’s quite troublesome…… There’s no way a fox would appear in an area this close to the hillside, so as long as we stay around here, we shouldn’t get caught up.”

“Well…… not necessarily. With a bit of bad luck, you could get caught anywhere. For example—”

Before Ilay could give an example, the forest suddenly became noisy.

“Over there! It’s running that way!”

“This one’s big! ……Oh wait, there’s another one, two…… no, three of them!”

“Drive it that way! Hurry!!”

The excited shouts, the sound of horse hooves and occasional random gunshots grew closer.

“Oh……”

As Jeong Taeui looked in that direction with suspicion, Ilay murmured leisurely beside him.

“Yes, exactly a situation like this.”

“Wait, this is no time to be so relaxed. We should get out of the way—……!!”

But just as Jeong Taeui shouted, a creature burst through the forest at a terrifying speed, noisily shaking the bushes.

The first creature running was a dark brown animal.

The reason Jeong Taeui didn’t recognize it as a fox at first was its size, twice that of a regular fox, over a meter long. Following it were two other foxes, smaller but still larger than average.

“Oh…… oh……”

But the problem was not the foxes.

When they saw Jeong Taeui and Ilay blocking the path, the foxes veered off in another direction.

A more dangerous problem than the foxes was the human on horseback chasing them from behind.

Dodging became useless as the horse, charging furiously, was too fast. Moreover, the rider was not skilled at handling the horse, contributing to the misfortune of the situation.

“Whoa……!!”

The rider belatedly noticed Jeong Taeui standing in the path and opened his eyes wide in surprise. The issue was not chasing the foxes that had veered off to one side.

“MOVE, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY……!!”

A massive horse charged straight towards Jeong Taeui. Although the rider briefly spotted him and frantically pulled the reins, it was too late.

Damn, this isn’t just ‘a bit unlucky’ anymore……!

Jeong Taeui surrendered everything to chance and lowered his body as much as possible, hoping not to get trampled and to survive.

As he tightly closed his eyes.

*Bang—*

Right by his ear.

A deafening gunshot rang out.

Along with the gunshot was the pitiful neigh of the horse.

The previously quiet surroundings were shattered by the panicked cries and the heavy thud of the horse collapsing to the ground.

“……”

What Jeong Taeui saw when he opened his eyes was a white horse that had fallen less than a meter away and the rider sprawled out behind it, groaning in pain.

In the middle of the horse’s forehead was a red-black hole. Beside it, the surrounding white fur was slowly being dyed red.

“Usually, no one is this unlucky…….I’ve always thought this, but it’s amazing! Taei, you must have quite the heavy fate.”

Ilay casually remarked as he walked up from behind Jeong Taeui. The sound of his footsteps on the grass mixed with the scent of gunpowder lingering in the air.

Jeong Taeui, bewildered, stared at the horse that was convulsing and slowly stopping. He sighed and said: “I also think I’m very unlucky……”

As he spoke, he turned to look at Ilay.

Before he could realize where it came from, Ilay was lightly spinning a .38 caliber revolver in his hand.

However, as Ilay approached and looked down at the horse, he suddenly frowned slightly.

Jeong Taeui followed his gaze and noticed another hole in the horse’s neck. He turned his head to look at the bullet wound.

From a distance, Christoph was slowly approaching.

He held a rifle in his hand, his face still cold as he looked at Jeong Taeui. When their eyes met, Christoph turned away.

His horse approached quickly and stopped a few meters away from Jeong Taeui.

“……Thank you both.”

Jeong Taeui said after a brief moment of tense silence.

But despite Jeong Taeui’s words, Christoph looked coldly at Ilay from his horse, while Ilay gazed back calmly at Christoph.

“If you’re going to shoot you need to aim correctly. From this position, you can’t kill instantly. If the horse’s hooves trampled and killed someone, what good is it if the horse also dies?”

Ilay pointed at the wound Christoph caused while speaking. Christoph snorted and turned his head away, clearly displeased by the insult.

Just as Jeong Taeui was about to say something, a voice called out to Christoph from behind.

At the moment he heard the voice, Christoph’s expression turned grim before he looked back. He only turned his head with a very fierce look.

In the distance, Richard was standing. Even from here, everyone could see him waving his hand to signal Christoph.

Christoph pouted. Then he pulled the reins and turned his horse around.

Before he could disappear like the wind, Jeong Taeui called out loudly.

“Chris!”

He stopped after a few steps and looked back.

But Jeong Taeui had nothing to say. He hesitated, then shrugged and said.

“Thanks for coming to help.”

Christoph fell silent as if dissatisfied. After a moment, he turned his horse back and spoke briefly.

“Be careful.”

His cold and piercing gaze seemed to say – ‘You’d better stay away from me from now on’ – but Jeong Taeui just watched him and obediently nodded.

“Yeah, thanks for worrying about me” – Jeong Taeui said. Christoph seemed to turn his head slightly but quickly rode away.

When Christoph had disappeared as swiftly as the wind and returned to Richard, both of them vanished into the forest. Jeong Taeui stared blankly in that direction and suddenly mumbled.

“Really disappeared like the wind…… But weren’t they entertaining the Arab guests?”

“I guess they must have something important to do to leave the guests like that. Otherwise, the abandoned guests would be quite displeased” – Ilay lazily replied.

Jeong Taeui responded half-heartedly: “Yeah, that’s true”, and turned around when he heard a groan. The rider who had fallen, luckily not seriously injured, was clutching his leg and groaning.

Jeong Taeui shook his head and went to help the young man nurse his injured leg instead of hunting foxes.

 **************

“I saw you running in a hurry earlier and it turns out it was for him? You recognized him quickly from that distance” – Richard said with admiration. Christoph glanced at him and walked a few steps ahead.

“How could I not recognize him? He was shining so brightly.”

There was no response after Christoph’s indifferent mumbling. He hadn’t expected an answer anyway. After walking a while without hearing footsteps behind, he turned around. Richard was standing a bit away, looking at him with a strange expression.

“……?”

When Christoph frowned in confusion, Richard quickly adjusted his expression and calmly stepped forward.

“Shining brightly…… That man?”

Richard asked, this time looking at Christoph with annoyance.

“If your eyes don’t see it that way, then don’t see it. Because seeing it myself is enough.”

After grumbling, Christoph muttered to himself – “Even Rick saw it.”

Richard, walking a few steps behind, looked at Christoph with a strange gaze, then laughed and asked.

“Is it like in a Thangka painting with a halo over the head?”

(*Thangka: a type of painting (or embroidery) hanging in monasteries or home altars. Behind every Buddha, there is a halo of light.)

“What nonsense. I don’t follow any religion. No god has ever loved me.”

Christoph’s cold response made Richard frown slightly, as if distracted. But he ignored it.

Christoph silently thought while continuing to walk forward with a sullen face, then suddenly glanced at Richard with a mischievous look.

“You’ve never seen anyone shining brightly, have you?” – Chris

“Huh……?” – Richard

“Yet you say I don’t know how to love anyone.” – Chris

Suddenly, Christoph’s face darkened. His face seemed to lose its light, becoming somber and indifferent as he looked at Richard.

“After thinking about it, I realized that’s not true. I’m not like that. If this isn’t love, then what is?”

Christoph slowly shook his head.

His soft voice seemed like he was talking to himself.

“Hm…… So when you love someone, that person looks like a Thangka painting to you?”

“NOT A THANGKA!”

Christoph suddenly yelled. Then he sighed as if calming himself and continued.

“Actually…… I don’t know if everyone sees it that way because I’ve never seen anyone like that, but I’ve heard that when someone looks more beautiful than they really are, it means you’ve fallen for them.”

“Looks more beautiful than they really are……”

Richard repeated Christoph’s words, looking at him for a moment, then tilted his head.

“If that’s the case—”

But midway, Richard stopped. Christoph looked at him curiously, but he didn’t continue. He just silently walked on.

The two horses walked side by side, then gradually diverged slightly, moving deeper into the dense forest path. Although dense, the horse trail was well-maintained, winding in gentle curves.

Looking up at the lush green canopy that covered the sky instead of the viewer’s line of sight.

“If it weren’t for the occasional gunshots, it would feel like a walk.”

Richard suddenly mumbled. Christoph, thinking similarly, nodded unconsciously, then snapped out of it. Then, as if suddenly waking up, he frowned.

“Why should I be walking with you?”

“We’re not really walking, so that statement is inaccurate.”

Richard coldly replied, glancing at Christoph with a similarly cold gaze.

“They must be somewhere around here, so it’s time we meet them…… Christoph, I must say that you’re running off and making me chase after you left our esteemed guests alone. Though they agreed and apologized, it’s very impolite to leave guests invited to our family as honored guests alone. —Don’t forget that you must assist me in my work. Even if it means setting aside personal feelings.”

“—……”

Richard continued, brushing aside branches occasionally obstructing the path with the back of his hand.

“You may not know, but they are important guests. Very important. This negotiation was difficult from the start because we’re at a disadvantage…… Even the smallest things should not be done foolishly.”

Christoph didn’t respond. Richard glanced at him but didn’t force an answer. Christoph understood the importance of this without it being said.

For decades, Tarten had been paying off enormous debts. And this was the last time. After paying off this debt, Tarten would only have to move forward.

The guests visiting this time were the ones who would help with this final payment.

Christoph wasn’t easily swayed by personal feelings, but work could fail due to the smallest reasons.

As they rounded the fourth corner, they clearly saw the hindquarters of the horses ahead. The horses were moving slowly, indicating their riders were enjoying the forest scenery rather than hunting.

“MALIK! AZIZ!” – Richard called out loudly. The horses stopped. When they turned, Malik appeared on his horse. Moving a bit further, they saw Aziz and a young man who seemed to be their servant.

Richard gently approached them and apologized once more for leaving them. Malik smiled and shook his head. Aziz quietly stood beside Malik, silent but occasionally nodding. The servant stood back, keeping a respectful distance not joining the conversation.

“Fox hunting is interesting, but this forest is so beautiful that we slowed down to enjoy the scenery. It’s enviable that you have such a lush forest.”

Malik said, looking up at the dense foliage with admiration. Suddenly, Malik’s gaze met Christoph’s.

When their eyes met, Malik smiled and asked,

“But what happened that made you rush over so quickly?”

“……Someone was chasing a fox on horseback towards an acquaintance of mine,”

Christoph mumbled, cleverly indicating he didn’t want to answer. But Malik continued to ask.

“Oh, you were worried about your friend? Is everything okay?”

Christoph shook his head. If it could be answered without speaking, but clearly, Chris didn’t want to say more.

Richard sighed and added to help him out.

“Though there was some danger, no one was injured. Fortunately, Riegrow was there, so everything should be fine even if Christoph wasn’t present.”