2. Beom Rock

The spectacular view of the city sprawled before Zeha's eyes from the bus window.

Traditional Hanok roofs adorned the modern skyscrapers, the edges of their eaves curving slightly upward.

This fusion of Eastern and Western architecture was the work of Hwanwoong, the chairman of Yisal Group.

He owned the Yisal Tower, the largest and tallest skyscraper in the city which towered over the others.

A few years ago, Hwanwoong decided to rename the city to "Sin-si" in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of his company. That was the start of him embarking on the development of the city according to his vision.

Aside from that, he'd also promised the people incredible and lavish benefits. Needless to say, they were completely won over by his generous offer.

I don't know. Is that a good thing?

Unlike others, Zeha was skeptical about Sin-si developing for the better.

While most of the northern city district where Yisal Tower was situated blossomed into a luxurious and clean area, the state of the southern district significantly deteriorated.

The authorities, whose influence had been considerably reduced by then, tried in vain to keep criminals at bay there. As a result, the crime rate in the southern district skyrocketed.

It wasn't just the southern district. The northern district had its fair share of problems as well.

On the surface, it was a luxurious place with exciting developments to come. In reality, however, it was no better than the southern district when it came to crime.

Oh well, it's none of my business. They're problems that those on top should take care of. A citizen like me has just got to do what he has to do, right?

Zeha gently set his hand down onto his waist. He quivered slightly as his fingers came into contact with cold metal.

It was a gun that he had managed to acquire a few days ago. Zeha didn't know why, but for some reason, it put his mind at ease.

There was a small opening in the car window. The cold winter breeze entered through it and tousled Zeha's hair slightly.

Soon enough, Inwang Mountain appeared in the distance.

He was heading to the mountain by bus.

Has it been a month already?

After the incident, Zeha was discharged from thehospital as soon as he was deemed fit enough to be able to. While he remained safe, things took a turn for the worse in the city.

The atrocious murders that had happened at the mountain began to happen in the city as well.

Traces of scratch marks from large claws, dripping crimson blood smeared as if tongues licked the corpses, and ghastly bite marks...

The bodies with such marks were considered lucky. Many others were dismembered, left with nothing but a head or some mauled body parts.

As this series of mysterious murders started to spread throughout the city, signs of Soo-hoon secretly tailing Zeha disappeared.

He must've realized that Zeha had nothing to do with the murder cases.

A dark fog and a sandstorm...

The witnesses always mentioned them in their accounts.

They said that once the dark fog or sandstorm cleared out, mutilated bodies appeared, scattered around the area.

While the city cameras captured footage of these mysterious occurrences, they failed to capture the culprits behind them.

It was truly a mystery.

I knew it. They're not the work of a human.

One day, people started to call the entity responsible for the murders "Beom."

They dubbed it so due to the teeth marks and claw marks that covered the bodies of the unfortunate victims bearing a resemblance to those of a tiger. Hwanwoong didn't stay silent over these horrific incidents that were terrorizing Sin-si.

"A heinous crime is taking place in Sin-si, the very city that we have meticulously and tirelessly built together with our own hands... Therefore, I declare a state of emergency and plan to specially reward those who can capture the beom and put an end to this... So, let's see. Is there anyone who would like to step forward and hunt down these beom on behalf of Sin-si?"

Hwanwoong announced before the journalists, tapping his mouth with a black fan like he always did.

The reward was fifty million won per carcass.

While the amount was large enough of an incentive to stir those who could barely make ends meet, many were skeptical.

They wondered if it was even possible to kill these creatures that could not only produce dark fog and sandstorms but could also avoid being recorded by high-quality surveillance cameras.

It later turned out to be possible.

A team of beom hunters known collectively as "Tiger Butterfly" was the first to succeed in capturing one of them.

They presented to the public the beom that they'd captured. It looked just like a human, save for the ears, which sat upon its head, like a tiger.

A team leader, Seongjin, shook its severed head as he recounted,

"I thought it was one of us at first glance. However, I realized that there was something off. There was just something strange about its skin color and eyes. So I poked it. And look. It shapeshifted and became like this."

So, these beom did exist.

And it was possible to kill them.

This incident sparked more and more people to join in the hunt for these creatures with an assortment of weapons.

Zeha, too, had a weapon on him. However, he had it for a different reason.

The dark fog.

He vaguely remembered it.

Zeha remembered how it'd enveloped him in its darkness right before he'd lost consciousness on the mountain.

He'd tried going up to the mountain again as soon as he remembered this. However, the mountain was off-limits when he went there at that time. However, things are different now. The mountain was reopened to the public since the hunt for the beom had begun.

Zeha wanted to know for sure just what had taken place there a month ago.

The beom hunters have swept the mountain already, so it's not going to be that dangerous.

And I have a gun with me...

As soon as Zeha got off the bus, he looked up at the mountain, which was shrouded in darkness.

He didn't feel afraid in spite of his rather traumatic experience.

Zeha walked up to the mountain in the darkness, solely relying on his vague memory.

Cold air surrounded the snowy mountain, but strangely, Zeha felt warm the entire hike up.

Finally, he arrived at his destination without getting lost.

Zeha found himself standing in front of the Beom Rock.

The rock, which resembled a crouching tiger, shimmered against the moonlight.

Yes, I was here that day too. And I walked up to it... Huh? What's this?

There was a long carving on the rock which resembled a scar.

It wasn't there last time...

He placed his hand on the carving.

"Argh!"

Just then, Zeha's chest wound, which he assumed had healed by then, started to ache.

"Ouch!"

Zeha clutched at his chest as he doubled over.

A blue light began to emit through the gaps of his clenched fingers and started to get bigger and bigger.

That was when Zeha noticed the change in his body.

"What the-?"

He quickly pulled his hand away and looked down at it. It looked fine.

The light was coming from his chest, around the wound which he had suffered a month prior.

"What on earth is this...?"

Zeha was too shocked to speak.

But there was more.

The deep cut in the rock was also emitting the same blue light.

The lights grew stronger in the darkness to the point that they touched one another. It was almost as though they were resonating.

Zeha's jaw dropped as he watched the surreal scene unfold before his very eyes. He was at a complete loss for words.

He was so stunned that he completely forgot about the pain in the chest.

The lights were so strong by now that it was getting hard for Zeha to gaze at it directly.

And so, he squeezed his eyes shut.

Zeha slowly opened his eyes again once the light faded.

It was at that moment when he saw...

"Oh, my!"

Zeha stumbled onto the floor, caught off-guard by the surprising sight before him.

There was a slim man standing where the rock once stood.

He was a gorgeous-looking man with ashen hair and eyes. A dark navy robe which was draped loosely around him complemented his wide pants.

There was a thick and red rope wrapping around his neck like a necklace.

The man smiled at Zeha with his arms folded and made his way towards him. Just then, he grabbed the latter by the wrist and pulled him up effortlessly.

He then crossed his arms again and grinned.

Zeha couldn't believe his eyes. He blinked several times and scratched his head as he muttered,

"Am I dreaming again?"

"It's not a dream, my child. My name is Haru. I'm

the Beom Rock of Inwang Mountain."

The man spoke in a slightly strange manner. The color of his eyes was exactly the same as that of the rock which once stood where he was.

Zeha frowned. He looked down at Haru and studied the latter for a moment before he smirked.

''Whew, I never knew I dreamed this much. I can't believe I'm having such a ridiculous dream! Man, I'm too embarrassed to tell anybody about this."

He was muttering nonsensically to himself when Haru grabbed his wrist.

Zeha tried to pull his hand out of Haru's grip, only to realize that the mysterious man was stronger than he'd thought.

Zeha glared at Haru and scowled.

But Haru was unfazed. He grinned and began to

speak, sounding like an adult.

"Look how much you've grown, my dear child! You

were so little back then. Like this."

He proceeded to make a small lump in the air with his thumb and index finger.

"I was never that small," Zeha retorted. "Besides, we've never met. There's no way that you can tell me that I've grown up-"

'I watched you all the time when you were little,"

Haru said, cutting him off. "I saw you when you were in your father's embrace and when you plucked flowers while holding your mother's hand.

You were so cute when you danced around with a flower tucked behind your ear..."

"Cute? That sounds absurd... Wait a minute."

Just then, that very scene played out in Zeha's head.

It was during the spring, the sky a beautiful and clear blue. He was with his mother, plucking the flowers in front of the rock.

Zeha remembered how he'd danced around as his mother sang a song. It was a bittersweet memory.

He cleared his throat.

There was no one around during that time except for them.

How does this strange dude know this?

"How do you know that?"

"It seems like your memory is rather poor," Haru commented. "Didn't I say that I saw you? I've sat here and watched everything for such a long time now that I don't even know how long it has been.

My dear child, take a look at my eyes and hair.

Don't I look like the rock?"

"Well, you could've gotten colored contact lenses for your eyes, and you could've dyed your hair.

Zeha reached out and plucked a strand of Haru's hair.

"Ouch, that hurt!"

Haru exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh, so you do know how to talk like a normal person."

"That's hurtful, my dear child."

It wasn't a dye.

He doesn't look any older than me, so it can't be white hair...

He scanned Haru up and down.

Haru was looking around and stroking his jaw with his hand as though he was an old man with a long white beard.

Zeha found him weirder by the second.

"It doesn't look like there are beom here..."

The mention of the beom immediately caught Zeha's attention.

"You know about the beom? Can you feel it when they are around?"

"Of course, I'm here to guard the entrance of the Inwang Dungeon, the world of the beom - to protect it. Yes, I'm aware that I'm great and amazing-"

''What on earth is Inwang Dungeon?" Zeha interrupted.

Haru grinned.

"'So, do you believe me now?"

"Just explain it to me. What's Inwang Dungeon?"

"It's a very long story. It's been around for a long time. It's a very, very long-"

"You said your name is Haru, right?"

"Huh?"

"You, get to the point. A simple summary, please. Hello?"

"Tsk, tsk. How rude."

Haru shook his head in disapproval as he sat down cross-legged.

He stared at Zeha for a long time before he finally admitted,

"You know, I actually don't know much."

"..."