The King Of The Tiger Clan

“You can’t go in!”

Bang!

Just as the noise outside started to seem troublesome, someone threw open the conference room door, ignoring the Association staff calling after him.
It was Lee Ro-un.

‘Looks like I’m not too late yet.’

He had boarded the D-Train the moment he got the message, but it seemed the Association President had moved faster than Ro-un had expected.

‘He must’ve pulled the same stunt before too. That’s probably why the Tiger Clan princess missed her chance.’

Tearing his gaze away from the Association President, whose fleshy cheeks trembled with greed and whose wrinkled eyes were wide open, Ro-un looked to the other side.
Without taking his eyes off the Tiger Clan envoy seated across from him, Ro-un spoke.

“Where is the patient right now?”

The envoy’s face brightened.
Lee Ro-un was the only reason he had endured that nauseating conversation, so hearing the man himself declare his intention to treat the patient made it feel like a weight had been lifted off his chest.
In truth, after dealing with the greedy old human, the envoy felt refreshed at the sight of upright-hearted Lee Ro-un.

‘Looking for the patient the moment he arrives. As expected of the future Saint!’

When word spread that the owner of an SSS-rank trait had appeared in Korea, the Tiger Clan too had learned of his existence through their King and their shamaness.
But because he belonged to human society, and because the South Korean government held Lee Ro-un in its grasp and wielded him as it pleased, the Tiger Clan had cut off their interest in him.

‘It would have been better if we had met under different circumstances.’

At the sight of a good and righteous human for the first time in a long while, the envoy rose from his seat.
But before the envoy could speak, the Association President, who had also gotten to his feet, spoke first.

“Lee Ro-un. Where did you learn to interrupt people in the middle of a conversation like that? Wait just a—”
“I heard the patient’s condition is critical right now. You two can stay and continue your conversation. I’m going to see the patient first.”

Ro-un cut the Association President off.
It was an intentional interruption.
Even though he had done it on purpose, the Association President, who knew Lee Ro-un’s usual temperament, suspected nothing.
If anything, he disliked that Ro-un was ruining a golden opportunity to gain the upper hand in dealing with one of the Korean Peninsula’s top species.

‘Why is this brat, who always just sat still and did as he was told, suddenly butting in?’

The Association President, who had squeezed every possible benefit out of Lee Ro-un all this time, glared at him with a fearsome face for ruining such an important moment.
Of course, Ro-un could read the Association President’s thoughts perfectly well.

‘And what are you going to do if you glare at me?’

Ever since regressing, Lee Ro-un had stopped caring what anyone thought.

‘You ran too, didn’t you.’

There was no reason to curry favor with an Association President who had already fled overseas before the Big Wave struck.
You’re already on my kill list.
Flipping the Association President off in his mind, Ro-un signaled with his eyes to the person standing behind the envoy.

“You two finish your discussion. I need to see the patient first.”
“Take him there at once.”
“Yes. Lee Ro-un, we’ll escort you.”

Before the Association President could step in, the envoy from the Tiger Clan answered in a flash.
At the envoy’s words, one of the Tiger Clan members standing behind him came forward as if he had teleported and began guiding Ro-un.

“This way.”
“Wait, Lee Ro-un! Hold it!”
“Leave the Saint aside. Let’s continue our discussion.”
“Ghk!”

The envoy was already treating Lee Ro-un not as a future Saint, but simply as a Saint.
The Association President, having just watched his sure-win card get sent away right in front of him, ground his teeth in frustration.
Having taken hold of his opponent’s card without any effort, the envoy sank back into his chair with the ease of a predator staring at prey it had already caught.

‘I’ll tear you to pieces for daring to weigh the Princess’s life on a scale.’

Like a tiger released from the bars that had confined it, the envoy stared at the Association President with narrowed pupils.
Only then did the Association President realize that he was standing before a tiger whose cage bars had vanished, and he turned deathly pale as the situation sank in.

‘F-Fuck.’

This was no time to think about how to punish Lee Ro-un. This was the time to desperately rack his brain for a way to stay alive.

Slide, thud.

The conference room door shut, leaving behind only the tiger and the Association President, the tiger now stalking the vile man who had mocked him.

‘Good luck, Association President!’

Trying to play games with one of the Korean Peninsula’s strongest species was no trivial matter.
He was crafty enough that this alone would not get him thrown out of the Association President’s seat, but even so, falling out with one of the strongest species was no small problem.
Ro-un followed behind the Tiger Clan member with light steps.

The Tiger Clan’s territory was close.
Inwang Mountain.
Their territory lay in the middle of this country’s old capital.
It was the King’s will. They would not deign to mingle with humans, but neither would they let their watchful eye slip.

‘This time, I absolutely have to save the youngest princess of the Mountain Lord!’

Mountain Lord.

On the Korean Peninsula, tigers had long been called the lords of the mountains.
The Tiger Clan was a lineage rooted throughout the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, so much so that they were called Mountain Lords.
Most of the Korean Peninsula’s spiritual veins lay deep in the mountains, but before the regression, the Association President’s greed had turned the mountain-guarding Tiger Clan into an enemy.
Perhaps because of that, more and more otherworld passages opened in the mountains the Tiger Clan had abandoned, and once those beings, whose combat power was so great they were called a warlike species, left, the Korean Peninsula’s passage saturation rose sharply.

‘The youngest princess absolutely has to live. I can’t let the Tiger Clan leave the Korean Peninsula.’

On the list he had written after regressing, of those who absolutely had to be kept alive, the Tiger Clan princess was one of them.
He couldn’t miss this chance.

“We’ve arrived.”

While Ro-un was thinking, they had already arrived at the Tiger Clan’s territory.
He was the first human to set foot in the Tiger Clan’s territory since the , but Ro-un had no time to lose himself in thoughts like that.

“Where is the patient?”

At Ro-un’s words, his mind filled only with stopping the Tiger Clan from leaving, the Tiger Clan members who had come to receive him let out quiet sounds of admiration.

‘So he really is a human worthy of being called a Saint.’
‘To think he’s still so young, yet thinking only of the patient.’
‘So humans like this still exist.’

The Tiger Clan’s gaze toward Ro-un changed, but he had no time to pay attention to that now.

“Please, quickly.”

At his urging for them to show him the patient already, the Tiger Clan hurriedly led Ro-un onward.
The patient was in an especially clear and pure area even within the Tiger Clan’s territory.

“We’ll be crossing a barrier. Just follow behind me.”

Ro-un nodded at the Tiger Clan member’s words.
As he followed at the other’s heels and checked over his skills, a sudden chill ran down Ro-un’s spine.

‘What is… this?’

The moment he entered the barrier, Ro-un felt a damp, sticky energy and his steps faltered.

‘This energy is…?’

A sense of déjà vu struck him, and Ro-un took his next step a beat late.
It seemed the sickness the Tiger Clan princess had fallen to was not an ordinary illness.

Slide, bang!

Before the Tiger Clan guards watching over the princess’s quarters could even stop him, Ro-un slid open the paper door to where the patient lay and urgently drew up his Holy Power.

“…Hnnng.”

A small, young girl, no taller than his waist, was only letting out weak groans with a deathly pale face.
At the energy he felt from the princess’s body, Ro-un’s face hardened.

‘This isn’t any ordinary illness. This is 【Defilement】 that crossed over from the otherworld!’

【Defilement】 was one of the energies that had crossed over from the otherworld, and to beings that did not belong to the otherworld, it was no different from poison.
A being afflicted by 【Defilement】, if it spread into both body and mind, would end up in a state little different from a resident of the otherworld.
How in the world had the princess, protected deep within the Tiger Clan’s territory, been afflicted by something like this?

“Ugh… hnng.”

‘Damn it! This isn’t the time to figure out where it came from. Think later. Treat her first!’

At the sound of the princess’s groan, Ro-un came to his senses and stepped to the patient’s side.
Thanks, perhaps, to the barrier hanging over the quarters, the power of the 【Defilement】 had weakened, which was fortunate, but because proper treatment had been delayed, the princess had grown terribly frail.
Ro-un quickly thought through how to treat her.

‘Purify the 【Defilement】 while healing the weakened princess at the same time.’

In other words, it would require 【Healing Lv.6】 and 【Purification Lv.5】 to be cast simultaneously.
Easy to say, but it wasn’t something an ordinary healer could do.

‘But I’m not an ordinary healer.’

Three years from now, even more complex and empowered otherworldly energy would blanket the Korean Peninsula.
Something like this pathetic little bit of 【Defilement】 is nothing!
Remembering the devastated Korean Peninsula three years later, Ro-un ground his teeth.
He could hear whispering at his side.

“Who exactly is that human?”
“He’s the human His Majesty ordered us to bring. Lee Ro-un. A healer who awakened .”
“Ah. So that’s him!”

The shamanesses guarding the princess’s quarters quietly stepped back.
In the meantime, Ro-un steadied himself in front of the patient.

“Hoooooo.”

Ro-un drew in a deep breath and let it out, blowing away all stray thoughts in one go.
After taking that deep breath, Ro-un opened his eyes and looked down at the Tiger Clan shamaness tainted by 【Defilement】.

“I’ll begin now. From this point on, no one comes any closer.”

With that declaration from Ro-un, treatment of the Tiger Clan shamaness began.
Soon after, a dazzling light of purification and a warm light of healing lit up the interior of the barrier within the princess’s quarters.

A vast great hall.
At the highest point of the great hall, where dark curtains had been hung to block out the light, someone rose to his feet.

“Who came?”

It was nothing more than the simple act of moving his body, yet the Tiger Clan member standing before him felt as though Mount Tai itself had shifted.
The space filled with his presence from that small movement alone.
That was the weight of the man’s presence.
Even while inwardly marveling at the King’s power, the subordinate answered obediently.

“The owner of has come.”
“Those Association humans wouldn’t have let him go easily. It seems the negotiation went well.”
“It seems that rather than anything the Association intended, the future Saint moved on his own.”
“The Saint himself?”

The Tiger Clan King’s eyes gleamed in the darkness.
At the tiger’s eyes, said to kill the weak-hearted with a single glance, the subordinate bowed his head.
“Yes. According to the report from those who went to the Association, that seems to be the case.”
“Hm. So the future Saint who had been made to dance to the Association’s tune moved of his own accord.”

Curiosity and interest swelled in his yellow eyes.
Cutting themselves off from human society did not mean they knew nothing of what happened outside.
If anything, they were always watching the outside world closely.

“How interesting.”

The King rose from his seat and descended.
As if emerging from a cave, a white-haired man stepped out from the shadows cast by the curtain.
One of the Divine Beasts that guarded the four directions, the lord of Bukhan Mountain, the King of the Tiger Clan.

“I will meet him myself.”
“Yes.”

Baekho Baek Ho-yeon, the White Tiger, emerged from long seclusion.

From the quarters of the Tiger Clan’s princess, the tiger who would one day become the Great Shamaness, flowed lights so gentle they were enough to bring tears to one’s eyes.
Thick drops of sweat ran down the cheeks of Ro-un, who was using 【Healing】 and 【Purification】 at the same time.

Drip.

“……”

It was a long, silent battle.
Those watching from the outside could not tell, but within the princess’s body, a fierce battle was underway.

Chiiiiiiik….

Holy Power like a sea became the light of purification and flowed through the princess’s body, driving out the 【Defilement】.

‘It really is 【Defilement】. Damp and tenacious.’

【Defilement】 was a energy that contaminated everything and reshaped Earth into the environment of the otherworld.
There were even scholars who had stated that 【Defilement】 possessed a function that terraformed Earth into the otherworld.
Ro-un had read that paper before, and to some extent he agreed with their claim.

‘But this level of energy is something you’re only supposed to see three years from now. Why now, at this point in time?’

Could it be because I regressed?

‘No. Someone deliberately intensified this 【Defilement】 to a vicious degree.’

Just like three years later, when the otherworld invasion had intensified and the otherworld’s energy had grown vicious.
And then used it to target the Tiger Clan’s princess.

‘Whoever it was, before the regression, someone succeeded in killing the princess.’

Just who?
Who targeted a princess being heavily protected in the heart of the Tiger Clan’s territory?

‘Could it be that turning the Tiger Clan and the Association against each other was also part of someone’s plan?’

If so, then from when, and how far, does that hand extend?
At the dark hand he never would have known of without regressing, Ro-un felt dizzy for a moment.

“Ughhh.”

‘Damn it! This isn’t the time for that.’

What am I doing, thinking about that with a patient in front of me.
This demands everything I’ve got, and I’m letting my mind wander!
Ro-un crumpled those questions back into the back of his mind and refocused on the patient.
Following Ro-un’s will, Holy Power burrowed into the princess’s body.
【Purification】 burned away the 【Defilement】, while 【Healing】 restored the body that had been weakened by it as the two advanced together.
The stubborn 【Defilement】 was swept back by an overwhelming wave of Holy Power.

‘Stop resisting and disappear!’

Chiiiiiiiiii!

More smoke poured from the princess’s body.
With the fierce sound of something burning, color slowly began to return to the princess’s deathly pale face.
And Baek Ho-yeon, having arrived at the quarters of his beloved youngest princess, watched the entire scene.

“…So that’s . Fitting for the brat who’s caused such a stir all over the place these past few years.”

Baek Ho-yeon bared his teeth in a grin, then his expression sharpened and he fixed his gaze somewhere.
Something rose above his adorable youngest child’s body.
At the seeds of 【Defilement】 scattering away, the King of the Tiger Clan and lord of Bukhan Mountain’s eyes flashed with killing intent.

The White Tiger, Guardian Beast of the West.
A lord who ruled over mountains, rivers, plants, and trees.
A divine beast.

The being those many epithets described stared at the 【Defilement】 being purified away from his youngest child.

‘That didn’t occur naturally. Seeds? Was it planted?’

Seeing through the state of the seeds, which had been altered by some method, Ho-yeon bared his teeth.
Who dares
target my clan?
Realizing it was an attack aimed at his clan, at his bloodline, Ho-yeon showed his fangs.

‘It seems I’ve been too quiet for too long.’

To think there would be someone so fearless as to target my clan in my domain.
I’ll make sure they learn that there are things in this world they should never touch.

‘I don’t know who you are, but the moment I find you, I’ll make you regret ever tugging a tiger’s whiskers.’

……!

The light, bursting forth in a final brilliant radiance, scattered like dandelion seeds and dissolved into the air.
After silently sending a warning to the one who had targeted his clan, he shifted his gaze and looked at Ro-un with warm eyes.

‘Saint. I will repay this debt for a long, long time.’

A tiger does not forget a debt.
And so, without even knowing it, Ro-un gained the favor of one of the strongest beings on the Korean Peninsula.