Chapter 1
Jiho stared at the building beyond the wide-open school gate.
Seonhwa High School
There was a runaway celestial maiden (seonnyeo) at this school.
And now, she had to find that celestial maiden at this school.
To calm her pounding heart, Jiho took a deep breath and recalled the background information she had received from her guardian, the celestial maiden Yerim, in the human world.
Ryu Jiho. 18 years old. Second year of high school. Average grades.
Her parents passed away when she was young, and she lives alone with her older sister, who is much older.
*Home address: 201-dong, 1104-ho, Eunha Apartment, Haeyeon-dong, Seongdeok-gu.*
This wasn’t the information about Ryu Jiho, the youngest of the White Tiger Clan, but about Ryu Jiho, the second-year high school student at Seonhwa High.
‘First, upon arriving at school, I was told to go straight to the chairman’s office.’
Jiho looked down at her clothes. A blue tie and an ivory vest. A navy-blue skirt that reached her knees.
It was a school uniform that still felt incredibly awkward on her.
After smoothing down her skirt and tidying her appearance, Jiho adjusted her bag, squeezed her eyes shut, and took another deep breath.
‘Ryu Jiho. You can do this. Find her quickly and return.’
Encouraging herself, Jiho moved her feet and blended in among the students.
Cherry blossoms were blooming all over the school, as if announcing the full arrival of spring. They probably weren’t as beautiful as the cherry blossoms on Kunlun Mountain, but once in full bloom, they seemed like they would be quite a sight.
Imagining the school covered in cherry blossoms, Jiho soon arrived at the central entrance. She took out her indoor shoes from her bag, changed her footwear, and carefully scanned the notices on the bulletin board.
Various things were written there, starting from the school’s history, its emblem flower, its emblem tree, its school song, the direction the school pursued, and so on.
As if boasting of the school’s long history, trophies from various competitions were also lined up.
But the information Jiho wanted wasn’t there. What she wanted was a school map.
The celestial maiden Yerim hadn’t told her where the chairman’s office was.
“What are you looking for so intently?”
“Kyaa!”
Startled almost to death by an unfamiliar voice from beside her, Jiho screamed and crouched down.
Her heart thumped. She clutched her chest and took a deep breath to calm her startled mind.
What? What’s going on? She heard students murmuring and felt stares gathering on her, but soon a voice sorted things out.
“It’s nothing. She just got surprised. Don’t mind it.”
It was the same voice that had spoken to her. That voice addressed her again.
“Sorry. Did I surprise you a lot?”
Having calmed down somewhat, Jiho cautiously turned her head to confirm the owner of the voice.
A boy, bending down and looking at her with a worried expression, was wearing the same school uniform.
Looking at the boy’s face, Jiho felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Even though she was meeting him for the first time, she felt like she had seen him somewhere before.
‘Who does he resemble…?’
A face that wasn’t unfamiliar, as if it strongly resembled someone.
“Jiho, are you okay?”
At his question, for a moment Jiho felt her hair stand on end. She had never told him her name, yet he knew it.
Mustering up courage that she didn’t really have, she asked the boy. But her trembling wasn’t very well hidden.
“W-who are you? How do you know my name?”
In response to Jiho’s question, the boy gestured. Towards her chest area.
“Your name tag there.”
“…Ah.”
Right. The uniform shop had personally attached the name tag.
Feeling awkward after being so on guard against the boy, Jiho’s cheeks grew hot.
Avoiding the boy’s eyes that were staring straight at her, Jiho stood up and patted down her wrinkled skirt to straighten it.
Then, still not letting down her guard, she cautiously asked the boy.
“But… who are you?”
The boy pointed to his own chest. Jiho’s gaze followed the boy’s long fingertip.
She read aloud the black letters clearly printed on the white name tag.
“Cheon Haerang…?”
“Yep. That’s my name.”
Jiho mulled over the boy’s name.
Cheon Haerang. A name that reminded her of the sea.
“The person you came to find… um, should I say ‘person’?”
“…Pardon?”
Jiho asked back, not understanding. At that moment.
“……!”
The air changed in an instant. No sound could be heard from around them.
Jiho urgently looked around. Others were moving about calmly. They were even talking to each other.
But she couldn’t mix in with them. It felt as if only the two of them were isolated here.
No, they were indeed isolated. Jiho noticed the barrier surrounding her and Cheon Haerang.
It felt like the blood in her entire body ran cold. This wasn’t something a human could do.
“…Who are you?”
A chilling voice rang out. By now, a gun was gripped in Jiho’s hand.
A white gun with black stripes drawn on it, as if embodying the pattern of the White Tiger. The muzzle was pointed at Cheon Haerang.
Cheon Haerang didn’t avoid the gun aimed at him. Instead, he looked straight at her.
Seeing Cheon Haerang’s demeanor, devoid of any fear, Jiho felt strangely eerie. Her mind was now in a complex state.
It was clear that Cheon Haerang wasn’t human. But he didn’t feel like a ghost (gui) either, as she couldn’t sense the characteristic yin energy.
‘Come to think of it…’
“The person you came to find… um, should I say ‘person’?”
Cheon Haerang’s words from a moment ago flashed through Jiho’s mind.
‘What exactly is his identity? How does he know?’
Cheon Haerang knew why she had come to this school. His tone even suggested he knew who she had come to find.
“You don’t recognize me, Jiho?”
His friendly tone, as if he knew her well, and even his expression, which seemed somewhat hurt.
If she were an ordinary human, she would have easily let down her guard, thinking he really must be someone she knew.
But she was the White Tiger.
The White Tiger, the divine beast (sinsu) of the Four Gods (sasin) that protects the Celestial Realm and the Heavenly Emperor. Jiho didn’t let her guard down; instead, she tensed up even more.
Still aiming the gun at Cheon Haerang, she silently scrutinized his face.
Clear features. A white face and a tall nose. Red lips, as if tinted with rouge.
It was a face as beautiful as a celestial maiden’s. Suddenly, someone else’s face overlapped onto that face. Jiho’s eyes widened.
“…Uh?”
“Remember now?”
It was hard to make the connection, so it was only natural she remembered now.
It was the face from the photo she had seen countless times. She even knew what that person looked like as a child.
But it was hard to believe the boy in front of her was that person. Because the person in the photo was…
“…Are you, are you saying you’re the Celestial Maiden Yeonhwa?”
“Yes. It’s me, Yeonhwa.”
As if satisfied with Jiho’s answer, Cheon Haerang nodded brightly, smiling.
Unable to believe it, Jiho’s eyes scanned Cheon Haerang up and down. No matter how she looked, the Cheon Haerang before her was a boy. A boy.
But Yeonhwa was a celestial maiden. Meaning, a girl.
Yet this boy claims to be the Celestial Maiden Yeonhwa.
It was hard to deny he was the Celestial Maiden Yeonhwa, because if that boy just grew his hair long, it would be the face from the photo.
Jiho was extremely confused.
“How, how is this even…?”
“Shall we discuss the details somewhere quieter?”
His tone was kind, but it carried a strange sense of pressure. It wasn’t a suggestion; it was closer to an order.
Jiho hesitated, unsure how to answer. At that moment, the surroundings instantly turned pitch black.
She flinched involuntarily and took a step back. Every hair on her body stood on end. In no time, thick yin energy filled the area.
She realized belatedly. This was…
A trap.
Since when exactly?
No, before worrying about that, escaping from that man was the priority.
What do you do in times like this? The 36th stratagem: run away. Strategic retreat.
Watching the man’s reaction, Jiho slowly moved her feet back. But her petty scheme was quickly discovered.
“Jiho, where are you going?”
The modern-day students’ language, which she had thought wouldn’t be easy to get used to, automatically came to mind. She couldn’t find any words that expressed this moment more appropriately.
‘I’m screwed.’
Right, it would have been strange if she hadn’t been caught in the first place. Since it’s come to this, let it all be damned. Trusting that this would at least buy her time to escape, Jiho pulled the trigger.
Bang-!
Along with a clear sound, blue flames shot from the muzzle, speeding towards the man.
Jiho couldn’t confirm whether the man had been hit. From the moment she pulled the trigger, she was already turning around and running.
Mustering even the strength she had used to suckle her mother’s milk a hundred years ago, Jiho ran like crazy. Her breath was becoming ragged, but she had no intention of stopping.
She could tell, without even looking back, that a host of very vicious things were chasing behind her.
Koo-goong. Koo-woong!
‘F*ck…!’
It was an irresistible force. Curses couldn’t help but escape her. To make matters worse, the ground itself was collapsing.
Since it had come to this, there was only one answer. This form would be more mobile than a human body.
Thak!
Kicking off the ground, Jiho’s form leaped into the air, transforming into the White Tiger. Blue light rippled around her plump paws.
Hovering in midair, Jiho glanced down. Fortunately, or perhaps by that man’s design, the vicious things that couldn’t leave the ground vanished without a trace.
But the most vicious one of all was right before her eyes.
The man met her gaze and spoke in a deliberately hurt tone.
“Jiho, we agreed to talk. I think we… have a lot to discuss.”
That was insane. She had nothing to talk about with this man.
She couldn’t identify this man, but there was one thing she was sure of. This man was neither the Celestial Maiden Yeonhwa nor Cheon Haerang.
Grrrr. Jiho growled, glaring at the man as a threat. Of course, she knew her threats wouldn’t work on him.
The man laughed mockingly.
“You’re young, but you’ve got quite a bit of spirit. Ryu Ibeom didn’t raise you for nothing.”
Grrrr!
Jiho growled once more. She was very surprised to hear the name from the man’s mouth, but she tried not to show it.
The man definitely said Ryu Ibeom.
Who was Ryu Ibeom? He was the head of the White Tiger Clan and her father.
That man knew her father.
How on earth? What exactly was that man?
Jiho became infinitely more confused. At that moment.
“Oh dear. He found us already.”
A voice, sounding regretful, pierced Jiho’s ears. Then she saw the smiling face of the man falling downwards.
She held her breath for a moment. It was a brutal sight. So much so that it felt like an illusion.
The man didn’t bleed a single drop, proving he wasn’t human.
The man’s face was also different from before. This face was probably his real face.
“Well then, see you later, Jiho.”
Leaving a relaxed farewell, the man soon vanished like smoke.
Head, and body.
Soon, the person she faced in the spot where he had vanished was a boy with a face identical to the one the man had been mimicking.
Cheon Haerang. This boy was the true owner of that name.
And the real Celestial Maiden Yeonhwa.
The boy still retained the childhood face from her memories.
Why the celestial maiden had become a boy, how that man knew that Cheon Haerang was the Celestial Maiden Yeonhwa, what on earth that man’s identity was.
Everything was full of unknowns.
But regardless, she was now, as a member of the White Tiger Clan, facing the Heavenly Emperor’s beloved consort.
Transforming back into human form, Jiho slowly knelt on one knee and bowed her head.
“The White Tiger of the West, Princess Jaga, greets you.”
