Rotten Luck Ch. 3: Hoya The Tiger Hunter

Week 1:

Hoya scanned through the newspaper, flipping page after page, squinting his eyes behind his spectacles as he studied at each section carefully. He flipped the papers between his hands as he stopped at the Job Listing page. Being a tiger hunter wasn’t easy, since there weren’t many tigers in the woodland area around the village and there was competition with the other hunters too. He had to make a living somehow, and Woohyun was starting to nag him about eating Myungsoo’s snacks.

There weren’t many jobs that seemed promising or any that sounded like anything he could do.

• Babysitter needed, male or female would do! Qualifications: Good with children, and can handle up to 12 kids a day.  Pay: 5 gold coins and 2 silver coins an hour.

• Jester needed, Qualifications: Must know how to entertain at parties, works well with children, has skills in making balloon animals, doesn’t mind excessive makeup. 7 gold coins and 12 silvers an hour

• Dog walker, Qualifications: Work well with animals. Pay: 3 gold coins and 4 silvers an hour.

These jobs are ridiculous. He barely tolerated children and he had enough of smelling dog on Woohyun--wait. Hoya saw one that he could do. A dancer! Someone was looking for a dancer! His eyes lit up as the read the details in fine print

• Dancer for Old Man Palryongie’s Tavern, Qualifications: Proficient at the art of pole dancing. Knows how to entertain, and has skills in serving beer and wine.  Pay: 50 coins and 30 silvers an hour.

Nevermind.

There were some weird listings with ridiculous qualifications. It was hard enough handling one kid for him, but then again taking care of Myungsoo on occasion was like handling 12 kids at once, except that Myungsoo couldn’t physically  multiply. Hoya frowned and  shook his head slightly trying to forget about the thought of having 12 Myungsoos running around the house and silently thanked God that there was only one to worry about. He couldn’t even take the other job offerings seriously.

As Hoya scanned through the rest of the paper, there wasn’t even anything else worth looking into, however something (else)  in the headlines caught his eye.

Young Men Mysteriously Disappear: Possible Tiger Attacks

Monday- Two young men in the village have mysteriously gone missing overnight. The cause of their disappearances are still unknown and being investigated; however, there have been accounts from locals and people who know these young men are certain they saw claw marks around the proximity of their home. there also has been hungry growling noises reported at night, but it is unsure whether these sounds are related to the incident.

Soon after setting down the paper, Hoya stopped whatever he was doing when he heard his name. It seems that Myungsoo had gotten himself in trouble again, so as usual Hoya got up from his purple lounge chair and picked up some handy equipment like candied blood to go fetch the little vampire child (demon).

Week 2:

Job hunting week two. Again this week’s game had been poor and Hoya the Tiger Hunter had only managed to pull in some wild squirrel and raccoon pelts. There weren’t any sightings tigers lurking about this week and Hoya had to resort the the next best thing. The Tiger Hunter once again shuffled through the newspaper’s listings. This time was worst than the last. The only jobs available this week seeme to land themselves in the “worse than shady” category, and Hoya had enough dealing with shade to last him a lifetime ( thanks to his ex wife).

He stopped halfway once again to read the headlines. The same report caught his eye about the missing men of the village. This time the numbers have increased, and there are 7 more missing. As he read on the updated information about this case there seem to be similar accounts from witnesses between the victims such as the claw marks and sounds of growling sound similar to that of a tiger. This case was starting to catch Hoya’s attention.

On week three, Hoya was determined to catch the culprit behind the case of the missing young men of the village. Base on all these accounts, and according to his good judgements this case definitely sounded like the golden opportunity to catch his game. Hoya was sure that there must be a tiger on the loose. The numbers of victims have increased to 15 missing young men now annnndd, they were offering money for it!

Hoya put on his best coat and boots heading for downtown with his trusty sack of equipment slung over his shoulders. He places his trusty shotgun and cross bows on each side of his body as he prepares to make his way out the door. The older man was stop by two pairs of large ruby red eyes staring up at him from the dim light. The child stared at him with a toothy smile revealing his sharp fangs and dimples on each cheek.

“Hoya ahjusshii , Hoya Ahjusshiiii are you going hunting?” Myungsoo asks

“Yes, Myungsoo Ahjusshi is going hunting, now be a good boy and stay home with your Woohyun Umma.” Hoya said patting the little child on the head.

“Can Mingthoo come along?” Myungsoo asks eagerly.

“No, Tiger hunting is dangerous business, you’re just a baby now stay home with your mom.”

“But how come Gyu Appa can go with you and Mingthoo can’t Appa can’t even climb a thrwee?”

        “Because Appa is a grown up Myunggie, ” Sunggyu said upon entering from the other room and patting his child on the head. “ Now now run along, and let us men handle our adult business.”

        “Are you going to  the pwretty pink hair lady Appa? Woohyun Umma told me to tell her if you are so if you are, I have to go tell umma about this!” Myungsoo looked delighted that he was such an obedient son.

    “Oh! Shush now!” Sunggyu hushed, cupping the child’s mouth in fear that his wife would hear from the other room. The child wiggled under Sunggyu’s grip for a little while before calming down and giving his attention to something else irrelevant in the living room.

_____________________________________________________________________________

    The two men proceeded to town to attend to their business. Gyu parted ways from Hoya to make his regular stop over at Lady Jang’s Apothecary Shop. Hoya had to make a visit at the Mayor’s office to find out more information regarding the missing men incidents and had agreed to regroup with Gyu later at the shop.

    Upon entering town, chaos seemed to have taken a first step. The whole market had been thrashed as broken pieces of building blocks laid in the streets, and fire was in the process of burning some of  the structures in town. This wasn’t work done by any tiger. As much as he wanted to believe all this mess was done by a tiger, Hoya’s senses told him otherwise. He wasn’t a former Vampire Hunter for a nothing, the chaos in town told him that this was not done by a vampire, but something similar: banshees.

    Before he could fully gather his thoughts, Hoya’s attention fell to the sky as hoards of screaming banshees flew in flocks from above crashing into buildings and abducting local youthful males of the village. To his horror a huge flock was heading way towards Lady Jang’s Apothecary Shop where Gyu was. Hoya picked up his pace and ran towards that direction from city hall.

There was an eerie silence that spread through the street that lead to Lady Jang’s shop. Hoya could hear his own footsteps echoing down the leaky alley. Echos from the screaming banshees seem to have drown out from a distance, but a person or two would occasionally run past him screeching their heads off, making the periodic silence more nerve wrecking. Hoya proceeded cautiously down the alley way. He made a stop in front of the shop and slowly crept in.

    The weren’t any signs of banshee wreckage in the shop (yet) as he was met with the sight of his sleazy old friend one sidedly flirting with the shop owner, and the pink haired beauty shyly pushing off Gyu’s advances. Hoya furrowed his eyebrows in disgust and sighed in disapproval of Sunggyu’s actions, but he was secretly triumphant in gathering blackmail material against Gyu for use with Woohyun. Just the night before, his old friend was having an argument with his wife about this issue and now he was back to his old geezer ways. Hoya was about to intervene shed the geezer from the beautiful lady but a loud screeching caught their attention as a huge screaming banshee broke through the stained glass windows in full claws and fangs dripping with saliva.

    “LEEEE HOOOOOOOOOO WOOOOON!!! WHERE ISSSS MY CHILD SUPPORTTT!! WHERE IS MY ALIMONY!!!!!! EEEEEEECCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK”

    Hoya’s eyes grew wide in shock staring at the familiar tall, lanky, disfigured banshee with long, streaking blonde hair and dark eyes. If the creature hadn’t turned into a banshee it would’ve been one of the Great Beauties. He knew this creature too well, so well that the core of his head ached as he thought about this conniving, cheating, promiscuous creature.

    “Kevin….” He whispered bitterly under his breath, emphasizing the sharp, crisp “k” sound.

    “KYYYYAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKKKAHHAHAHAHAH” The creature made a deafening screech, causing all the glass mason jars, bottles, and windows in the store to shatter into pieces. By now, Gyu’s eyes had gotten as big as they ever could, and they had turned pure black in indication of fear.  Gyu quickly crouched down under a shelf to guard himself from the broken glass shards. Lady Jang however, wasn’t as quick. The screaming banshee was Hoya’s ex-wife. It proceeded to thrash the shop breaking everything within sight, flying swiftly around the perimeter of the shop. It made a full swing throwing a huge barrel flying into the air that Hoya barely ducked. Wrong move. The dangerous object made it’s way towards Dongwoo. By instinct, Hoya jumped across the counter and crashed landed on Dongwoo, Hoya’s back taking the impact of a bottle. He grunted in pain, but didn’t faze he wrapped one arm around the pink haired beauty blocking Dongwoo from harm’s way. Kevin came closer now in flapping his huge, sharp wings as a form of attack, and began to claw at Hoya, but Hoya had already pulled himself and Dongwoo underneath a sturdy table. Hoya’s arms, pants, and legs were all scratched up and bloodied both from the shattered glass and the banshee’s slicing claws.

    “Kkkkiiiiiaaaccccccccckkk LEEEE HOOOOOWOOOooooOOON WHERE ISTHH MY ALIMONYY!!!”

    “I. ALREADY. PAID. IT OFF!” Hoya growled in rage loudly like Woohyun did once and lifted his leg to give the banshee a kick to the stomach. “ YOUR ALIMONY IS DEAD! DEAD ALONG WITH OUR CHILD!!!” Hoya screamed at the creature. Despite the intense life and death situation Hoya thought back to the moment of his greatest downfall. The moment when he was left with nothing on his back but the clothes that he wore, and a small child nested in a white bundle in his arms. The white bundle that was very similar to the one that he found containing Myungsoo.

    His son, the poor child that he had left behind due to desperation and poverty. He had left his own child in by the dumpster similar to how he done with Myungsoo. Pain, guilt, and anger washed over him as he remembered the person who had put him in such a pathetic state, the person who had left him first,  and now this terrible terrible creature had returned in a form far more dangerous than before.

Hoya’s violent kicks only momentarily deterred the monster for a couple seconds until the monster bounced back in full charge and started to swipe its nasty claws at the two again. In heaps of desperation, Hoya pulled at the back of his pocket taking out a bottle and spewing it across Kevin’s face. The liquid burned the monster making it back out in pain and despair. The creature staggered heavily and broke through the roof. It was finally gone.

The hunter sigh in relief as finally rested his head down unintentionally leaning onto the beautiful pink haired maiden. He shifted and “aughoww” he hissed through his teeth.

“Sir? Sir are you alright?” The soft angelic voice called out to Hoya as he was beginning to lose his consciousness from the blood loss and a possible pending infection from all those cuts laden with banshee saliva.

“He’s been poisoned by banshee venom! He’s going to die unless you out the poison for him!” Sunggyu suddenly spoke up dramatically, easing himself out of fetal position under a cabinet.

Lady Jang was heavily hyperventilating. “Okay, heugh, heugh, ok, ok, ok”. Dongwoo almost put his lips to a cut on Hoya’s face until he realized, “WAIT, are you sure this is the way!? What am I doing?! I can just whip up a formula to cure him; I’ve studied this! Where did you hear that Mr. Gyu?!”

“I don’t know, I saw it in one of Myungsoo’s storybooks,” Gyu replied plainly.

“Help me take him to the back!” Dongwoo ordered Sunggyu as he dashed about to salvage whatever medicine bottles that didn’t break and hoped that all the ingredients he needed were still intact.

Sunggyu obliged and bent down to hook his arms around Hoya by the armpits and proceeded to pull on the upper half of the wounded body, dragging Hoya’s legs after him. Sunggyu backed into the back room of the Apothecary shop where Dongwoo’s living quarter was set up and attempted to put Hoya on the vintage looking bed. He tried to raise Hoya’s upper body so that it’d make it over the edge of the bed, but Hoya’s legs gave out and the body just kind of slumped on the floor. Sunggyu could still hear Dongwoo back in the shop tapping around for the formula. He stepped back to take a breather and decided to bend down once again to pick up Hoya, bridal style, and with a heaving breath, Gyu threw Hoya on the bed; his hands promptly grasped his back. “Hueeghmpphphhh”, Gyu grimaced. “Hernia”.

Dongwoo promptly entered with wild eyes scanning his bedroom until it landed on the bloodied sheets of his white covers. He proceeded to scatter a cryptic circle of pink salt around Hoya. The pink haired beauty then began chanting some inaudible words causing the ring around hoya to glow a neon green. The vampire watched in awe as Lady Jang worked his healing magic.

“I should’ve known you were more than what meets the eye.” Sunggyu smiled knowingly at the pink haired figure attending to Hoya’s wounds.

    The witch doctor nodded at Sunggyu without looking at him, still focused on healing the hunter.

    “Oh you poor, poor man.” Dongwoo whispered at Hoya with tears threatening to fall  from his eyes. Hoya scrunched his eyebrows together in his state of unconsciousness. The handsome man was obviously having horrible nightmares now after the incident that had happen with his former wife. Dongwoo gently wiped away the cold sweat forming on Hoya’s forehead and his cheek. “How can I ever repay you...you...saved me.” Dongwoo’s voice started to crack and a tear fell. And another. And many more tears fell shortly before Lady Jang broke into a full on sob. “ *hic hic* you saved me, oh I am so thankful. You are such a nice man, how could I ever, ever repay you?”

    “What about me! Can you cure me? I had to endured the loud screeching from his ex wife, and broken glass. I’m having a traumatic episode right now!” Gyu protested trying steal attention from the beautiful lady.

    “Y-yyou baad maaan.! Eughhhuhhhwaahaa,” Dongwoo spoke the words that barely made it through his heavy sobbing and breath hitching. “Thhhddee jinsengg-geuuh you sohld me turned out to be fpalsly agged and immattree haaaa haaa waaahhh.”

    Dongwoo continued to sob in whispers repeatedly, “I’m so sorry Howon shi…”

    Dongwoo turned back to Hoya ignoring Gyu’s desperate attempt to justify himself. Hoya weakly opened his heavy eyelids  to a blurry sight of a beautiful pink haired angel in a brightly lit, almost white, room. For a second, he swore he’d died and gone to heaven.

    “Are you alright Howon shi?” Dongwoo barely whispered softly.

    Now that he realized it...what happened to his bleeding legs? It didn’t hurt anymore! He looked down at his pants. Yep. Still torn. But his wounds, they were healing, not completely yet, but they were healing.

    “Y-yeah” Hoya said and looked into Dongwoo’s puffy eyes,”Did you heal me?”

    “Yes, of course . It’s only right since you saved me and my shop after all.”

    “No, no...it was partially my fault...that banshee came here.”

    “No, if you hadn’t saved me I’m sure it would’ve done much worse. I’m sure I wouldn't even be here right now!”

    The two stared deeply into each other eyes as they both could feel a warm spark of something, maybe attraction, or could it possibly love, forming between them. Hoya was mesmerized by Dongwoo; he thought Dongwoo was the most beautiful creature that he’d ever come across in the land and woodlands, and Hoya was the most dashing and handsome man Dongwoo had ever seen. Deep inside his cold, dark, and bitter heart; Hoya felt warmth spreading in his heart for the first time since it naively beat for the deceiving banshee.

    “Ok ok, you both can stop being all googly eyed now. I need to get back to my wife and kid, so I guess I’ll leave Hoya here a few days in your care witch doctor.” Gyu bitterly spat.

    “Wait here,” Lady Jang gingerly said. “I’ll get you something to eat.”

    Hoya simply just nodded confusingly. He laid back in the bed and smiled softly to himself.

The smile quickly escalated to a school girl’s giggle with a twinkle in his eyes until Hoya caught himself and calmed down again.