Lotus
Stories
5
Chapters
523
Words
1.0 M
Comments
88
Reading
3 d, 15 h
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To think he could sleep so soundly in a place like this, in such a state. Though the drowsiness had long since left him and he had been awake for quite some time, Yeon did not stir—lying there like a corpse. As clarity slowly returned to his mind, he briefly considered firing his matchlock into the air. Surely someone would hear the shot and come investigate? But after scouring the pit with his eyes, the powder pouch was nowhere to be seen. Even that sliver of hope crumbled away. He could tell…-
56.3 K • Ongoing
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“Ah!” That single cry was all Yeon managed as he plummeted into the very trap he had dug for the black tiger. From above, the pit hadn’t seemed so deep. But once falling, the descent felt like dropping from the earth into the underworld itself. Was it that time had slowed, or had he truly fallen that far? Tensing his body in preparation for the impact, Yeon couldn’t shake the thought of how long he was falling. His senses were indeed playing tricks on him, but the pit was, in truth, quite…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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“I’m sorry.” Yeon spoke the apology into the air—an apology the black tiger could never understand. He’d said it in hopes of easing his guilt, but the moment the words left his mouth, an even heavier wave of guilt surged over him. “Sorry, my ass. Get it together, Yeon.” Mercy and compassion were luxuries afforded only to those who had the means. Apologizing to a tiger that couldn’t even comprehend human speech? Guilt? It was all absurd. The one before him was a beast that could…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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Yeon looked up at the sky. Snowflakes were drifting down from the ashen clouds. The snow, which would be pure white once it touched the ground, appeared like ash rising from a hearth, backlit by the pale sky. The snowflakes, tossed here and there like buoys caught in a rough sea, melted away the instant they settled on the decayed leaves. The cold wasn’t deep yet, and more snow melted than stayed. In this village, where winter always came earlier and stayed longer than elsewhere, deep snow was nothing…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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The whole village had been in an uproar when Du-soe came pounding on the village doctor’s door, carrying Yeon like he’d just clawed his way out of a grave—but that was already some time ago. Enough time had passed that the bruises on his body had faded into faint marks. The leg that had looked like it must’ve snapped in two, miraculously, had no broken bone. But even so, Yeon struggled to walk for a long while. His condition was worse than his ailing mother’s—his body hollowed out by…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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“Coward.” Even when mocked with jabs about being a man who’d dropped his manhood, Yeon wasn’t angry—because he truly was a wretched coward. The only reason he clung so desperately to his sick mother, no different from someone deemed incompetent, was because he was afraid. Afraid of facing the world alone. He knew the rope he held wasn’t a lifeline, but a noose tightening around his neck—but he couldn’t let go. Paradoxically, his ailing parent was his shield. Just like…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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With trembling hands, Yeon brushed the leaves off his leg and let out a sigh of relief, his face twisted in pain. At least the bottom of his trousers wasn’t soaked in blood. He untied the cloth wrapped around his ankle and rolled up his pants to check it. It was hard to see clearly in the dark, but the pale skin of his leg was discolored at the ankle, swollen and dark. It didn’t look good. Yeon’s expression darkened like the sky above. There was no way he could make it down a rainy mountain at…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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Was Ja-oh trying to exact revenge on the human in the black tiger’s place? Struck once by the tiger, the crow grew more unruly, as though offended that a mere crow had been hit. If he could have, he would’ve jabbed his beak into the unconscious Yeon’s throat without hesitation. The crow’s endless tantrum grew so tiresome that the tiger didn’t even bother lifting a paw anymore. Instead, he began waving his tail back and forth like a fan. He swept it widely across Yeon’s face to block…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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The crow landed squarely on the black tiger’s head, but it didn’t fold its wings right away. Instead, it flapped them as if smacking the tiger’s head with each beat. With eyes blacker than the darkened forest around them, the crow blinked slowly and stared at the human the tiger had rescued. Rumble— a sound like a tiger’s growl rolled through the sky. The thick scent of the old leopard’s blood gradually faded, replaced by the damp stench of soaked earth. Tap. Drip-drip-drip. A…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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At the thunderous roar that seemed to command the entire mountain, the deer jerked their heads up, ears twitching. Though their mouths continued to chew the grass and their nostrils flared toward the sky in alarm at the thunder, they sensed no real danger from the natural sound. Now. Yeon held his breath—one, two, three. Just as he was about to release his fingers from the bowstring, the deer suddenly bolted in every direction, all at once slipping from his aim. It happened in a flash—too fast…
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56.3 K • Ongoing
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