Don't Pick Up the Male Lead in the Apocalypse - Chapter 18
“Long ago, deep in the mountains, lived a mother and two children. Their household relied on the mother selling… not rice cakes, but cookies in the market. They were so poor that not working even a single day wasn’t an option.”
“I don’t like sad stories.”
He cut me off right at the beginning of the story.
“Ugh… It ends happily, okay? Just listen.”
“……”
“But to get to the market, the mother had to cross several deep passes. One day, on her way back from selling cookies, she encountered a tiger at the first pass.”
“……”
“The tiger said, ‘Give me a cookie, and I won’t eat you~’ So, what could the mother do? She had to survive and return to her children. So, she said, ‘Here you go, you tiger cub,’ and gave it a cookie. But this tiger was a thug-like tiger.”
The term “thug-like tiger” piqued his interest, and he glanced my way.
Oh~ Look at him, getting curious?
Pleased, I continued the story.
“What the tiger did was, it rushed ahead of the mother at every pass, waiting for her, and each time she appeared, it would say, ‘Give me a cookie, and I won’t eat you~’ What a scoundrel. But what could she do? She had to get back to her children, so she complied.”
“……”
“But after the tiger had eaten all the cookies and there were none left, guess what it did? It ate the mother too.”
He seemed to be getting emotionally involved, as the speed at which he was hanging the curtains had slowed a bit.
Right? It’s interesting, isn’t it? Just how dynamic Korean folktales can be.
“But the tiger, still hungry, decided to go after the children as well. It dressed in the mother’s clothes and went to their house. Hearing footsteps, the sister thought it was their mother and was about to run out, but the brother, being slightly older and wiser, decided to ask the tiger three questions.
‘Why does mom’s voice sound strange? Why do her hands look like that? And why are you so late?’
The tiger answered, but oh, that brother was smart. He sensed something was off. ‘That’s not our mom.’ So, he grabbed his sister’s hand and they fled through the back door.”
“Ah.”
He accidentally responded and quickly turned his head away.
“The siblings climbed up a tree to escape, but at first, the tiger couldn’t find them. Then, looking down into a well beside the tree, it saw the reflection of the siblings up in the tree.”
He let out a sigh, seemingly moved by the story.
“The tiger called out, ‘Kids~ How did you get up there?’ The brother cleverly replied, ‘Rub sesame oil on your hands, you tiger.’ And what happened? The tiger slipped and slid down the tree, unable to climb because of the oil.”
“……”
“But the sister found it so funny that she blurted out, ‘Don’t you know how to use an axe?’ The brother quickly covered her mouth in shock, but what did the tiger do? It had already brought an axe and started chopping at the tree to climb up. Oh, the goosebumps.”
“……”
“So, the siblings prayed to the heavens. ‘If you’re going to save us, please send down a rope. If not, send a rotten rope.’ And guess what came down from the heavens?”
“A rope?”
“Exactly, if it had been a rotten rope, it wouldn’t have held the children.”
The man nodded in agreement.
“So, the story ends with the rope coming down, and the siblings climb to heaven on it. The sister becomes the sun, and the brother becomes the moon. It’s a fun story, isn’t it?”
As he nodded, he suddenly asked a question.
“But you said it’s a happy ending. Their mother was eaten by the tiger.”
“How can life always have a happy ending? Let’s think about everything in moderation.”
“……”
He didn’t seem fully convinced, but he appeared to somewhat accept the explanation.
As he finished hanging the last part of the curtain, he murmured quietly.
“That’s an interesting and unique folktale. I’ll have to remember to tell it to my child when we meet again.”
My first thought was that he must have married young, but then I realized from his words that he was currently separated from his child.
This is when I find it most difficult. Offering consolation in situations where no words can truly comfort, like now, when someone has lost their child.
In the end, I just blinked my eyes, unable to find any words of comfort, and kept my mouth shut.
“……”
“……”
With the curtains tightly closed, the attic became suffocatingly dark. The returning silence, now coupled with darkness, made the atmosphere even more oppressive.
I tentatively tugged at the edge of the curtain, gauging his reaction.
“Do you really want to tear it open?”
“Just a little bit. I can’t sleep well if it’s too dark…”
“……Do as you wish.”
The moonlight seeped through the torn part of the curtain, illuminating the blanket I was under.
In contrast, the man’s side was completely sealed off, dark as a deep cave.
He sat leaning against the wall on the opposite side, it was unclear whether he was looking this way or had his eyes closed, his expression was not visible.
“During the day…”
He started speaking in a low voice from within the darkness.
“You asked where we were headed.”
It seemed like the man was finally ready to share something important with me.
