Scene 1. [The Claws of the Beast]
Dawn broke over the back alleys of Jongno.
The torrential rain of the previous night had failed to wash away the bloodstains on the asphalt. The stench of sewage regurgitated from the drains mingled with the metallic tang of blood, assaulting the senses. Inside the police cordon, it wasn't a traffic accident scene. It was a slaughterhouse.
"...A bomb terror attack, you say?"
Major Kageyama tapped the tip of his nose with a gloved hand. His voice was dry. He seemed more concerned about dust settling on his pristine white gloves than the mutilated corpses scattered at his feet.
"Y-yes, sir! That's correct! The Independence Army must have used a new type of explosive!"
Cold sweat trickled down the temple of the Military Police Lieutenant. His gaze was fixed on the crumpled mass of scrap metal that used to be a truck. The three-ton steel chassis was as grotesque as an aluminum can crushed by a giant's grip.
"A bomb..."
Kageyama walked slowly.
Squelch, squelch.
His military boots sank into the mud with every step. A dark crimson liquid—a mixture of rain and blood—soaked the toes of his shoes. He passed indifferently by a corpse with its head burst open, spilling brain matter, and another with its chest caved in, spine protruding from its back.
He stopped in front of the overturned truck. The driver's side door had been ripped off, and the steel bonnet was twisted like taffy.
"Where are the traces of explosives?"
Kageyama ran a finger along the torn metal edge.
"W-well... we assume they were washed away by the rain..."
"Idiot."
Kageyama rapped his gloved knuckles against the bent steel frame. Clack, clack.
"Explosions come with heat. Metal should melt, or there should be soot. But look at this."
Where he pointed, there was no soot, but a distinct mark.
The steel plate was caved inward. It wasn't a dent from a collision. It was a mark left by something gripping the steel and ripping it apart.
Five finger marks.
An imprint of overwhelming grip strength, engraving even the wrinkles of the knuckles into the steel.
"This isn't thermodynamics. It's mechanics."
Kageyama crouched down and placed his own hand over the handprint embedded in the bumper.
It matched the size of a human hand perfectly. But the output was not human.
"Lieutenant. Have you ever heard steel scream when a bomb goes off?"
"Sir? What do you mean..."
"This wouldn't have been an explosion sound. It would have been the sound of metal tearing. Very slowly, and very horrifically."
Kageyama stood up and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, dusting the fine metal filings off his gloves.
"Autopsy report."
"Ah, here it is!"
The Lieutenant hurriedly handed over a file. Kageyama's eyes scanned the paper rapidly.
[Victim 1: Comminuted fracture of the skull. Presumed blunt force trauma.]
[Victim 2: Cardiac rupture due to thoracic compression. Ribs fractured throughout the body.]
[Victim 3: Cervical vertebrae severed. Not by a sharp edge, but torn off.]
"Blunt force, compression, tearing."
Kageyama let out a hollow chuckle.
"Are you planning to report that the Independence Army attacked an MP truck with hammers and pliers? There isn't a single bullet hole."
"T-that's... we couldn't understand it either..."
"Of course you couldn't."
Kageyama tossed the file onto the Lieutenant's chest. He stared into the dark alley, the direction the monster had disappeared into the night.
"Because it wasn't human."
The hands of the MPs cleaning the area froze. Silence descended upon the cold dawn air.
"Wire headquarters. Tell them 'Code T' has manifested."
"C-Code T... Do you mean the rumors are true?"
"Rumors?"
Kageyama twisted his lips into a smirk. He kicked a crumpled helmet rolling at his feet.
"Rumors don't tear people apart. He exists. As a starving beast made of flesh and bone."
He looked at the handprint on the truck again. The power to mold steel like clay. And the beast's bones that must have shattered every time it used that power.
"Incinerate all the bodies. Process it as if there were no witnesses."
"But shouldn't we check for survivors..."
"Survivors?"
Kageyama's cold eyes pierced the Lieutenant.
"He went on a hunt. There is no predator that lets its prey escape."
True to his word, only the smell of blood permeated the scene; there was no sign of life. Only spent shell casings and rain-soaked flyers on the ground proved that this had once been the world of humans.
"Let's go. The stench is revolting."
Kageyama turned his back without a second glance. His black coat flapped in the dawn breeze.
The remaining MPs stared blankly at the crushed truck. The handprints on the steel seemed to hallucinate, looking as if they were strangling their own necks.
Scene 2. [Those Who Were Not Saved]
Outside Seodaemun, a desolate cave.
In the damp air of the Independence Army's temporary hideout, the smell of mold and blood congealed.
"...Drink."
The tin cup someone handed over shook violently. Clatter, clatter.
Young-sik, a young member who had barely survived, took the cup but couldn't bring it to his lips. His wrist spasmed uncontrollably. Water sloshed over the rim and spilled onto the floor.
He wasn't thirsty. He just wanted to stop the sound of his teeth chattering.
"Calm down. We survived. It's safe here."
The squad leader sitting opposite him gripped Young-sik's shoulder tight. But the leader's pupils were also unfocused, scattering in the void. They hadn't been rescued. They had merely been spat out from the maw of hell.
"Leader... did you see it?"
Young-sik's voice rasped like scratching iron.
The scene inside the truck was branded onto his retinas like a tattoo.
The steel door ripping like paper.
The afterimage of a white suit cutting through the air.
And... the crack-crack sound of that man's limbs twisting.
"Was that... a human?"
"...I don't know."
"Is he on our side? A secret agent from Shanghai?"
The squad leader kept his mouth shut. He recalled the man snapping the necks of MPs and dragging out their entrails. When killing enemies, the man didn't smile. There was no grim determination.
He just howled. As if he were in too much pain to bear.
"No."
The squad leader shook his head.
"That is not a comrade."
Another survivor huddled in the corner shuddered. He was the only one who had made eye contact with Lee Kang from the deepest part of the truck.
"I saw... his eyes."
He mumbled, the whites of his eyes rolling in terror.
"At the end, after he killed them all... he walked toward the cargo bed. Dragging his dangling arm."
He clutched his own arm and trembled.
"He didn't come to free us. Those weren't eyes looking to cut ropes!"
His voice rose to a tearing shriek.
"They were eyes looking at prey! Like he was starving... like he was about to tear out our throats right then and there... eyes of a beast cub!"
A heavy silence settled in the cave. No one could deny it. Lee Kang turning away without killing them wasn't due to mercy. He had simply stopped hunting because he was exhausted from the pain.
"...Forget it."
The squad leader rubbed his face with dry hands.
"Whoever saved us, we lived. That's enough."
Young-sik stared blankly at the water spilled on the floor. Superimposed on his reflection in the puddle were the tiger's eyes, soaked in rain.
They hadn't survived; their death had been postponed. The overwhelming violence that saved them was a disaster that could one day aim for their throats.
"...Monster."
Young-sik whispered, biting his lip. There was no gratitude for the savior. Only the shudder of those who had witnessed a living calamity filled the narrow cave.
Scene 3. [Silence of the Snowy Mountain]
A chill starting from the toes climbed up the spine and froze the brain.
A tearing tinnitus rang in the ears.
Eeeeeeeee—
A sharp mechanical noise pierced the eardrums. Vision blurred, and the color drained from the world. It wasn't darkness.
The world... was turning pale white.
Whooooosh—!
The tinnitus turned into the sound of rough wind.
When I opened my eyes, the blood-smelling barn was gone.
[White-out]....
White.
The sky, the ground, even the breath puffing from my mouth—everything was white. Biting winds slapped my cheeks. Snowflakes caught on my eyelashes froze, stabbing my vision.
I was crumpling my body into a crevice in the rocks. Ten years old? Or eleven? My shrunk hands and feet trembled uncontrollably. My knees knocked together with a clack, clack sound, but my jaw was frozen shut.
'Must hide.'
Instinct screamed.
I clamped both hands over my mouth. The air, cold enough to tear my lungs, scraped down my windpipe.
Far ahead, a red flower bloomed on the snowfield.
Godmother. The shaman woman's body was half-buried in the snow. Dark crimson blood spread like ink over her white mourning clothes. She didn't move.
"Move it! You bitch!"
The sound of military boots crushing snow. Rough, guttural Japanese carried on the wind. Two soldiers were dragging a small child.
Yeon-hwa.
She struggled, looking at the Godmother's corpse. But she was no match for the soldiers' brutal grip. Her dragging feet drew two wretched lines across the snow.
'Save her.'
My head knew. I had to throw a stone, bite their arms, do something.
But my legs were hard as cement, refusing to lift.
Thump, thump, thump.
My heart beat like thunder against my ears. Terrified that they would hear this sound, I dug deeper behind the rock, unable to even breathe.
At that moment, Yeon-hwa, being dragged across the snow, turned her head.
Through her scattering black hair, our gazes locked.
A face pale with terror. A face messy with tears and snot.
She was watching. Knowing that I was hiding behind the rock, trembling and watching.
'Save me.'
I thought she would say that.
I tried to squeeze my eyes shut, lacking the courage to face the guilt.
But she didn't scream. Instead, she looked straight at me with red, bloodshot eyes and moved her lips.
'...'
Her voice was buried in the wind. But the shape of her mouth was so vivid, it felt like it would be branded on my brain forever.
'Don't... come.'
Don't come.
If you come out, you die too. Stay hidden. Please.
Yeon-hwa twisted her expression, looking like she was faintly smiling or crying, then turned her head away again. A blizzard raged behind her small back. Her receding figure began to be swallowed by the white snow.
"Ah..."
A beast-like groan leaked from my mouth.
Until she completely disappeared from sight, I couldn't move a single finger. Relief that I had saved my own life and self-loathing strong enough to make me want to die washed over me simultaneously.
The blizzard grew stronger.
The world returned to perfect whiteness. As if to cover the blood, the footprints, and the guilt.
But I knew. This snow would never melt. It would pile up in my heart forever, freezing me to death.
"AAAAAAH—!"
A scream that echoed only inside me burst out.
Scene 4. [The Oath in the Barn]
"AAAAAAH—!"
A scream tore through the silence.
Simultaneously, ragged breath burst from the depths of my lungs.
"Haa, haa, haaa...!"
I opened my eyes. The white snowy mountain was gone. The smell of musty mold and old straw pierced my nose. It was the abandoned barn of the estate.
Reflexively, I sat up. My back was damp. Cold sweat soaked the bedsheets. A chill, like ice water running down my spine, made my whole body tremble.
'A dream...'
I wiped my face with trembling hands. The sweat on my palms was cold.
Ten years had passed, but that blizzard raged in my dreams every night. Mocking me for being a coward, for only hiding.
Rustle.
I felt a presence beside me.
Someone approached in the darkness. It was Yeon-hwa. She must have woken from a nap at my scream. Without even time to fix her disheveled hair, she rushed to me. Her eyes, full of worry, shone like stars in the dark.
"...Sorry."
A raspy voice came out.
But she acted as if the apology didn't matter, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead with her sleeve.
Swish, swish.
Every time the rough cotton touched my skin, the remnants of the nightmare washed away.
I snatched her hand. A slender wrist. Scars remaining on the back of her hand. That hand, roughened by hard labor and abuse, was the warmest spark in the world to me.
Yeon-hwa didn't pull her hand away. Having lost her speech, she simply looked at me.
'It's okay. I'm here.'
Her eyes were speaking. My throat burned.
In my dream, she shouted at me, 'Don't come.' To save me, she told me to abandon her and run. The me back then ran away. I was a cowardly beast who hid behind a rock and felt relief.
I pulled her hand and pressed it against my cheek. The warmth of her palm melted my frozen cheek.
"Yeon-hwa."
I called her name softly. Her shoulders flinched.
"That day, the boy hiding in the snow died."
I whispered, burying my face in her hand. Hoping this sincerity would seep into her silence, having lost her tongue.
"I won't hide anymore."
I lifted my head. Moonlight seeped through the cracks of the barn, illuminating Yeon-hwa's face.
I gripped her trembling hand tight. It was a grip strong enough to crush finger bones, but she held back without showing pain.
"I will hide you. Behind my back, so no one can find you."
The world calls me a tiger. They say I'm a monster that chews on human bones and tears steel. It doesn't matter. If I must become a monster to protect you.
"I promise."
I looked straight into her eyes. My amber pupils shone ferociously in the dark. They were no longer the eyes of a terrified herbivore.
"Even if the whole world points fingers at me and calls me a monster..."
I kissed the back of the hand I was holding. It wasn't a prayer; it was an oath.
"I will be the monster that protects you. Even if my bones turn to dust and disappear."
Moisture gathered in the corners of Yeon-hwa's eyes. She opened her mouth soundlessly and smiled. Tears flowed down, but the corners of her mouth turned up—a smile both incredibly sad and beautiful.
Outside, the sound of the wind returned.
But inside the barn, it was no longer cold. Two wounded beasts leaned on each other's warmth, preparing for the coming winter.