The woman taken away by the tiger by Ribenia
A Lady and Her Servant.
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“Beom, are you still sleeping?”
Nan-young shook the doorknob of the servant’s quarters. Behind the thin door was the sound of rustling mats.
“No, M’lady. I’ve been awake for a while.”
In fact, it was too early to ask if he was still asleep. The moon shone brightly over her head like a brass plate, and somewhere in the courtyard crickets were chirping.
Although he could have grumbled and said that he was sleeping, Beom told Nan-young that he had been awake for a while, as if he had been awake for eight seasons, because Nan-young had insisted on fetching fresh water early in the morning. But Nan-young, who had no hearing problems of a grandma, couldn’t have not known that the sound of his snoring, tired from farming, had resonated loudly in this small thatched-roof house until now.
Soon, the door to the servants’ quarters burst open and Beom, wearing only a single jeogori, quickly slipped his feet into the straw shoes. His chest was exposed between the unfastened front flaps of the jeogori due to his rush to get out.
T/N: *jeogori is the upper garment of the traditional hanbok.
If Nan-young were a noblewoman, she would have turned her head at the sight of a naked man, but there was nothing to be surprised about when she saw Beom, who was wearing only a thin trouser because he worked in the fields. Instead, Nan-young stared at Beom’s chest sullenly.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Beom took the water jug from Nan-young’s head and looked at her darkened face.
“It’s not like you’re going to get pregnant or breastfeed, so what’s the use of growing it so big like that?”
The lady swiftly turned around, pouting. Her steps were weak as she moved toward the gate.
Beom couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. It was a comment she made while looking at his chest, which had grown through hard work and was bigger than most women’s chests.
『 I can’t even get pregnant, and yet you’re jealous of everything.』
The small village at the foot of the mountain was still in a deep sleep. The road to the village well was well-lit thanks to the full moon, but Beom did not follow the woman for fear of her falling in the night and hurting her knee.
How could one send a woman in her prime, blooming like a gardenia in the early summer moonlight, alone in the wee hours of the day? Any man could take her. No, Beom would snatch her away.
The sound of the owl hooting today seemed particularly sad. The lady’s face, normally as bright as the full moon, looked especially melancholic today.
“M’lady.”
“Yes?”
Should I tell her? Beom hesitated.
He was frustrated with her naivety. Even though she was over 20 years old, she thought she could get pregnant just by offering sincere prayers to Samshin Halmoni.
T/N: *Samshin Halmoni, also known as the Grandmother Samsin, is the triple goddess of childbirth in Korean folklore.
This was all because her mother passed away early, and there was no one to teach her the joy of physical intercourse between a man and a woman before marriage.
But that wasn’t something a male servant like him could teach her. Even if he were to give her advice, the thought of her slender hands grasping the dirty cock of her husband and climbing on top of him made his mind strangely twisted.
“… it’s nothing.”
“Why have you been acting so nonsensical since dawn?”
Finally, with a sound like the wind blowing, the full moon appeared on Nan-young’s face.
This is why Beom has been following the lady’s gentle footsteps to fetch water for eight seasons now.
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“M’lady, please take it easy, otherwise you will collapse under the scorching sun.”
Despite Beom’s pleas, Nan-young did not stop hoeing.
『 Stubborn as ever.』
With the rainy season approaching and the potatoes needing to be harvested quickly before they rotted, the lady’s unsteady gait as she crouched in the field seemed precarious.
Sure enough, after a few steps, Nan-young stumbled and landed on her buttocks among the freshly dug potatoes.
“Ouch, that hurt…”
Nan-young rubbed her buttocks as she complained.
“I must have crushed them.”
Was she talking about the freshly dug potatoes or her buttocks, round like the gourds that were hanging from the thatched roof? Beom tossed the hoe aside, stood up, and brushed the dirt off his hands.
“Beom, could you help me up?”
She tried to get up but fell back down as she held out her hand to Beom. He looked at her pale palms blankly, and quickly wiped his hands on his pants before helping her up.
Her skin was as smooth as magnolia petals. In the days when she only did sewing and not hard labor, her skin must have been just as soft as a newborn’s cheeks.
『 Well, well, isn’t this woman from a noble family? Is it okay to just hold a grown man’s hand like this?』
As soon as the lady stood up on both feet, Beom quickly let go of her hand. Although she wore a hat and was not burned by the sun, her neck was red.
“Oh dear, what am I going to do with these potatoes…”
Nan-young picked up a smashed potato with a long face. Beom clicked his tongue as he shook off the dirt and watched her blow air on the vegetables that would be served for dinner tonight.
『 How did this respected lady end up like this?』
He heard that she was originally the eldest daughter of a poor family, but with her skilled hands, she was able to support her widowed father and younger brothers just by sewing. She was now in a situation where she had to hold her own hoe and could not afford to waste a single potato.
Even Nan-young didn’t know that she would end up like this when she married into the Jang family. Instead, it was puzzling that she, as the daughter of a once prestigious family that fell into ruin, was granted land and slaves from a powerful family.
The Jang family was originally a Daegam household, then became Yeonggam and finally Hyeongam, and although their status declined, they were still a respected military officer family.
T/N: * Daegam: an honorific title for officials of 1st and 2nd senior rank or higher; Yeonggam: a title for subjects with ranks ranging from 2nd junior rank to 3rd senior rank; Hyeongam: the lowest official position for a local leader.
When such a family gives you an unreasonable amount of money, there is always a reason.
『 It was because Young Master Won-gyu was a rotten potato back then.』
His brother, two years younger, whispered to him the night the offer of marriage came.
Young Master Won-gyu had failed his military exam like an octopus, and it was no secret that he was so depressed that he wandered around with a bottle of liquor and a gisaeng at his side, a fact known even outside the village.
T/N: *gisaengs were courtesans from outcast or enslaved families.
It was said that he was so drunk in the middle of the night that he fell off his horse while crossing a bridge. Unfortunately, he fell headlong into a dry, white-stone stream and was paralyzed for life.
Thinking the potato was healthy, it had rotted in an instant, and the matchmakers who used to come and go through the threshold of the house stopped abruptly. It went without saying that the lady of the house, once as proud as a peacock, had to swallow her pride and find a suitable bride for her son, even if it meant a match with a family of lower social standing.
In the end, it was Nan-young who won the bid.
Naive as she was, she thought, “Oh, how wonderful!” as she eagerly accepted the land and slaves offered to her by the Madam of the Jang family. After all, regardless of whether the potatoes were gone bad or not, isn’t the Jang Family a rich family with a palace-like tile-roofed house, spacious and fertile fields, and many servants?
However, she would never have imagined that the mother-in-law was able to hide the fact that the potato was so rotten that it turned into mush.
Before long, debt collectors came knocking at their door. In the end, the palace-like tile-roofed house, the wide and fertile fields, and the slaves, whom they had to count down to their toes, had to be sold to pay for medicines and the accumulated debts.
It’s been two years since her mother-in-law, who went from being a wealthy lady living in a rich family to living like an old woman in a musty thatched-roof hut in the mountains, passed away without being able to overcome the disease.
In the end, Nan-young is left with a husband who lies in bed all day long and can’t lift a finger; Grandma Deoki, a chanmo who makes side dishes with her back bent like a sickle and is deaf; and Beom, the servant who served her husband since childhood.
T/N: * A chanmo is a woman in charge of making side dishes.
『 Still, even one slave to tend a small field is better than nothing.』
Although Nan-young was born optimistic, poverty was her destiny. As long as her family didn’t starve and her father and brothers ate well, she was content, even if her heart felt a little lonely.
“Why are you sighing?”
After accidentally sighing heavily while eating the food brought by Grandma Deok, Beom bit into a peach instead of answering and said.
“If I could only choose one thing, I wouldn’t ask for anything more…”
Beom’s eyes wavered as he followed the hand stroking its flat stomach. His wavering was due to the revelation of the Lady’s secret curvature as the damp hem of her skirt crumpled with sweat.
How round they are. The higher the mountain, the deeper the valley.
“Ahem…”
Why did my gaze happen to turn to that place?
Sweat was soaking not only the lady’s undergarment but also her outer garment. Underneath, her pink skin shimmered faintly.
Beom gulped hard.
The plump breasts pressed against the straps of her skirt were truly firm. Why is she jealous of my hard, useless chest first thing in the morning when she has those round breasts that are so desirable? Well, I don’t know what women really think.
With her legs spread wide and sitting like a slut, Nan-young smiled wryly as she counted on her fingers as if calculating something.
“Beom.”
“Yes, M’lady?”
“If I save up a bit more money in a couple of years, I’ll marry you off.”
“Marry me off?”
Beom, his mouth still full of peach, responded with one cheek puffed out.
That’s probably why his answer sounds so disapproving, right? Nanyoung was excited at the thought of marrying off her male servant, who was already twenty-four years old and had missed the right time. Planting this, selling that, saving money like that…
“I will find you a gentle and beautiful girl…”
“No, thanks.”
Beom gulped down the peach and cut her off.
“Why is that? It would be nice if you had someone to spend a long night with.”
For someone like her who doesn’t know how men and women share their hearts on long nights to speak…
“Just don’t sell me off or throw me away.”
Because of the price of his master’s medicine, even the pillar base, similar to chaffs, might be pulled out, but would there be any money left to save?
T/N: *Chaff refers to grain or fruit that has only the husk and no content inside. Ultimately, the pillar-base similar to chaff means useless.
“But if you have enough money, you should buy a boy who will do the woodwork for you.”
“Beom, how can you be so kind-hearted?”
Nan-young, who is extremely naive, smiled happily, not knowing that Beom was actually saying this after all sorts of calculations.
“Thanks to you, I’m still sleeping with my legs stretched out and my stomach full.”
So don’t run away. Nan-young pleaded as she handed a large peach to the only servant in the house who knew how to work hard, the one who could use a little muscle.
『 How reliable he is…』
Nan-young marveled as she watched him eat his sixth peach.
This boy is worthy of his name.
From what she heard from Grandma Deoki, he was called Gaedong when he was born, but after he turned three, they started calling him Beom, saying that he was like a mountain tiger, showing off his magnificent body and the bones of a six-year-old child.
T/N: * Gaedong means dog poop/dung.
She thought that as people grew taller they would become like a hollow long stick like her husband, but Beom grew quite tall and had a very robust body.
“M’lady, why don’t you go inside? It’s faster if I dig by myself.”
With a stomach as big as his, Beom, who had quickly eaten eight peaches the size of Nan-young’s fists, brushed off his hands and stood up.
As he grabbed the hoe and walked out into the scorching sun, the servant’s back looked as dark as a sun-ripened hazel. It’s a far cry from her husband, who never sees the sun and is as pale as a ghost.
But her husband, famous for his tall, grand stature through generations in the Jang Family, seemed like a dweeb.
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“It’s a blessing that my husband is slim,” Nan-young smiled, her cheeks dimpling while feeding porridge to Won-gyu.
“Beom, if I were as robust as you, I would have taken care of him alone.”
Even though she could carry this kind of burden alone, nevertheless Beom, while holding onto his master and making him sit, did not leave.
『 Is she a fool? How could someone who has never had a wedding night be smiling innocently at how blessed it is to call her husband weak?』
Beom sighed deeply while watching his lady wipe her husband’s mouth with her skirt, smiling happily as if she were feeding a baby.
“If you keep doing that, the blessing will run away.”
It would be better if M’lady ran away instead.
How come you don’t even have the wit to trick this weak husband, let alone this strong man, into running away?
But as Beom recalled the faces of the men in the village, his expression crumpled like his lady’s wrinkled apron.
He knew some scoundrels were drooling over her, who was already a living widow. The servant from the house below, Moksoe, has even been beaten to a pulp by his fists over sordid remarks he made about how his lady, having sexual intercourse with her husband.
The thought of his kind lady sleeping around with one of those bastards makes his blood boil just as much as it did then.
Still, it was a real shame to see such a young and desirable woman wither away without knowing the love between a husband and a wife.
『 Always causing trouble.』
Beom, who had unknowingly peeked at the gap between Nan-young’s jeogori, quickly looked away. Then, by chance, he made eye contact with his master.
Won-gyu’s limbs were paralyzed and he could only blink his eyes and groan through his mouth, but his mind was still intact. And that dark lust seems to be fine as well.
His crotch bulged, drooling while peeping at the secret skin of the sensual woman he had never even tasted.
『 He doesn’t even eat the porridge he’s been given.』
Beom didn’t have to throw his fists like a fool for his lady because she belonged to his master, but Beom’s blood began to boil more than ever.
It was because of his master’s fierce stare.
『 How dare you, a lowly slave, desire someone else’s rice cake?』
『 Haven’t you stolen my rice cakes many times before?』
Recalling the past events one by one, Beom did not flinch and glared back at him with a fierce expression.
I’m not even a eunuch, so why can’t I get married, let alone be able to woo a woman?
He gritted his teeth and his hand tightened around the back of his Won-gyu’s neck.
But Won-gyu was also as stubborn as a beef tendon. He couldn’t stand it if someone else, especially that damn servant, coveted what was his.
T/N: *beef tendon means tough and stubborn.
Won-gyu, whose only weapon was his tongue, spat the porridge into Beom’s hand that was holding his chin. At that moment, even Beom, who had endured like a fool for over twenty years, completely lost his mind.
When Beom was only six years old, he had been deceived by the promise of receiving the Jang family name if he won a sword fight. The young servant who actually defeated the young master was locked up and beaten.
Then, the young master looked down with satisfaction at the bloodied body of a mere six-year-old, then spat at him and walked away.
Now, more than ten years have passed, the young master has become a living corpse who can do nothing more than spit, and Beom has grown into a man who no one could beat, like a tiger.
Thud.
Beom, pretending it was accidental, swung his hand, and the bowl of porridge he was holding tipped over.
“Oh my goodness… Be careful.”
“I apologize.”
Of all things, why did the hot porridge have to spill all over his crotch?
“Ughhh…”
Won-gyu groaned in pain. It must have felt like being thrown into a boiling cauldron, especially since it was summer and his trousers were thin.
“Oh dear, what shall we do… Does it hurt, husband?”
The lady began to urgently undo her husband’s waistband. With his imagination running wild, imagining those delicate hands washing and soothing his master’s rotten cock, Beom grabbed Nan-young’s wrist firmly.
The woman raised her head, eyes wide open.
She was being held by a strange man in broad daylight.
“It was my mistake, so I will take responsibility.”
“Ah… are you sure you want to do this?”
“Leave it to me, M’Lady. Why don’t you go outside and get something to eat?”
After releasing her wrist, Nan-young rubbed the spot where his hand had been and left the room. He didn’t hold on too tightly.
As Nan-young’s footsteps faded, Beom changed his demeanor.
He took off Won-gyu’s trousers and undergarments and threw them into the corner of the room. The sight of the man hesitating in front of a servant with barely three centimeters of modesty made him laugh.
He didn’t say anything when the lady unbuckled his waistband, but exposing himself to another man made him feel helpless and miserable, so he just groaned in embarrassment.
“Why are you so embarrassed? Didn’t you make fun of my lower part in front of me when we were younger?”
The lump of flesh, scalded red by the hot porridge, was crushed by his dirty bare feet. He even kicked his small testicles, resembling the first eggs laid by a young hen, with his toes.
“Ughhh…”
“M’lord, you said that other people’s rice cakes are more delicious, didn’t you? How dare I, a fool, not follow your teachings? Let me try your rice cakes today to see how delicious they are.”
I can’t take it anymore. I’ve had everything taken from me like a fool, and yet I still serve you as my master.
Beom stepped out. The dinner that the lady was supposed to eat wasn’t there; instead, she was squatting on one side of the courtyard, preparing medicine to give to her mediocre husband.
『 M’lady, you will no longer have to beg for water at dawn anymore.』
The suppressed passion and madness flashed in Beom’s eyes as he scanned Nan-young’s mature body, as ripe as the full moon. Not to mention, his cock twitched.
