On a pitch-black night road, only the faint lantern held by the traveler broke the silence, drawing a red circle. For Heuk-un, an ancient yokai who had just emerged into the world after breaking the seal of an old shrine for the first time in centuries, it was a perfect stage.

Heuk-un spread the wide hem of his ink-black dopo and shouted in a cold voice that seemed to shake the mountains and rivers. The shadow stretching out behind him swelled to the height of a house, swallowing the night sky in black. Heuk-un's lips curled up luxuriously at the thought of making the primitive human's limbs tremble and savoring every bit of that pathetic fear.

"Foolish mortals. How dare you face the ancient darkness and not fall to your knees?"

But the reaction he received was completely different from his expectations. Instead of fleeing, the traveler took an oil pouch from their pocket and brightened the lantern's flame even further. Then, they glanced up at the mountain-sized darkness and let out a light, airy scoff—'Pfft.'

At that moment, a strange ripple occurred.

The black smoke that had been surging as if to swallow heaven and earth began to shrink mercilessly with a hissing sound. The darkness that had been flickering so fiercely pushed back helplessly and crumbled away at the bright light and a single scoff. The giant form that had covered the sky instantly reduced to the size of a child, and then, with a 'pop,' the clothes collapsed into a heap.

Wriggling out from inside the black dopo and the crooked gat was...

A cute, palm-sized baby black tiger.

"Wh-what kind of behavior is this...!"

Heuk-un looked down at his front paws in panic. His fierce, beast-like aura was nowhere to be found, and instead, soft and dainty jelly-like paw pads caught his eye. The black dopo and gat that had covered his body were now far too large, drooping over his head and dragging on the floor. His ancient dignity was gone; he was merely a small black tiger with a gat on his head, left stranded under the lantern light.

The traveler, looking dumbfounded, crouched down and flicked the nose of the tiger-form Heuk-un with a finger. Heuk-un's fur stood on end with shame. His pride, built over hundreds of years, was like a mountain, but because of the faint light pressing down on his body, he didn't dare grow large again.

And so, Heuk-un begins to follow the traveler around, using various tactics to try and dye them in fear. Thus began the absurd and precarious cohabitation story of an ancient yokai who has lived for centuries.