Song Yi entered the forest before dawn had fully broken.
The forest was called the Three Streams Grove. A common and simple forest, without a pompous name.
It had ordinary trees and ordinary animals. Hunters from the village entered it every day to catch rabbits and deer.
Beasts were extremely rare there, especially in the outer parts of the forest. The stories told in the nearby village said that monstrous beasts appeared deeper inside. And that they rarely came out. One could appear every few years, strong enough to kill a group of experienced hunters.
Song Yi knew about the rarity. Because of that, he entered the forest calmly. He already knew the forest, he had hunted there since childhood.
He was seventeen years old. An orphan, without family or a steady job. He lived in a rotten wooden shack at the edge of the nearby village.
He paid the rent by carrying water for the landowner. When there was no water to carry, he did other tasks. He cleaned the stable, swept the walkway, and fixed fences. Small jobs for the landowner and for other residents.
Even being practically a beggar, he never begged.
He ate when he could. He starved when he couldn't. His body was thin. The bones of his ribs showed under the skin. His cheeks were hollow. His hands trembled when he went too long without eating.
But he was still alive. And he believed he would remain alive.
He entered the forest with only a knife at his waist, old and rusted. The rope on his shoulder was thin but sturdy. He had three snare traps in the pocket of his patched pants.
The plan was simple. Set the traps near the stream and return the next day. If he was lucky, he would catch a rabbit and could survive for a few more days.
...
Song Yi walked for forty minutes until the sun began to rise. The light filtered through the branches, illuminating the path better. Everything was normal in the forest. Little sound, only the noise of the stream's water.
Song Yi crouched to drink water while looking at his own appearance in the reflection. He was not ugly, but due to the apparent malnutrition, he looked sick. Along with his torn clothes, he looked like a common beggar found in any city.
While he drank water normally, suddenly he heard something that made his expression and body freeze.
He knew the sounds of the animals that lived there. Deer, rabbits, boars, even small wolves.
But this sound was a guttural roar.
A deep roar he had never heard before. It was low and threatening, seeming to come from about thirty or forty steps ahead, behind a clump of bushes.
Song Yi froze.
That sound did not belong to any animal he knew.
The thought came immediately.
'A beast?'
'No. They should live deeper in the forest.'
The thought came on its own. Cold. Certain.
While he thought, praying that his thoughts were wrong, the bush moved.
Then, a being emerged from behind the vegetation like a solid shadow.
It looked like a wolf, but it was the size of a small horse. Its fur was black, dull, and without shine. Bony spikes sprouted from its back, small and irregular. Its mouth was half open. Its tongue was dark and hung between teeth that looked like knives.
The beast's amber eyes locked onto Song Yi.
And, for the first time in his life, Song Yi felt fear.
Not the fear of starving. Not the fear of loneliness or cold. It was instinctive fear. A fear that came from the depths of the soul. The kind of fear that makes the hairs on your arms stand up and your legs go weak.
The beast, upon noticing Song Yi, roared again. It did not advance immediately. It just stayed there, watching.
As if it already knew he had nowhere to run.
Song Yi did not wait. He could not wait. Immediately, he ran.
He had never run so fast in his life. His legs burned after several steps. His lungs begged for air after a while. His heart beat so hard that he could feel his blood pounding.
He ran between the trees. Jumped over roots. Tore his shirt on branches while the rusted knife struck against his thigh.
He did not look back. He knew that, if he had any chance to escape, it would be by running as fast as possible.
At first, he thought the beast had ignored him.
But suddenly, he heard it.
Behind him, the sound of enormous paws cutting through the earth. They were heavy and fast. And they were getting closer.
'Damn it! Faster! Faster!'
He tripped over a stone hidden under dry leaves. He almost fell. He regained his balance at the last instant but lost speed.
At that moment, he felt the beast's hot breath on his back.
'Shit! It's going to catch me!'
Suddenly, a paw struck his back.
Song Yi was thrown forward. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs. He hit the ground, rolled, and tried to get up, but the beast was already on top of him.
Claws tore into his shoulder and chest.
The pain was hot and immediate. Three deep cuts on his right shoulder. Two more on his chest, near the collarbone. Blood sprayed like a jet. Song Yi felt his flesh opening.
He did not have time to scream.
The beast's head, with a small horn on top of its nose, slammed into his chest like a hammer. He was thrown backward. His back hit the trunk of a tree.
The tree shook. The air left his lungs like a burst while blood came out of his mouth.
Song Yi slid down the trunk and fell, sitting on the ground.
His chest throbbed. His shoulder burned. Blood flowed through his torn shirt, ran down his arm, and dripped onto the ground. He coughed. Coughed even more blood.
'Damn. This time, it really looks like my end…' he thought while looking at the beast that had attacked him.
The beast did not advance again. It stayed still five steps away. Its amber eyes watched. Its half-open mouth let a thread of thick saliva escape.
'It's waiting for me to die.'
"Haha. Seriously. What pathetic luck."
Song Yi cursed in his mind as he closed his eyes.
The beast advanced. He heard the paws hitting the ground. He felt the wind of the charge.
It seemed that today was the day of his end.
'Sorry, Mom. I ended up being no one.'
He waited for the impact. But the impact did not come. Song Yi opened his eyes.
The beast was with its mouth open just centimeters from his face. Its teeth are ready to bite. But it did not move. Its body trembled. Its amber eyes were wide.
'What the hell?' he thought.
Then he saw it. The ring.
The rusty copper ring on his middle finger, the only inheritance from his mother, an object so cheap that not even the beggars in the city would steal it, was glowing.
A red light. Faint at first. Then stronger. Then too strong.
Song Yi's blood, the blood that flowed from his wounds, was dripping onto the ring.
And the ring was absorbing it.
The beast tried to retreat. It could not. Its body seemed stuck in place.
Song Yi tried to speak. No sound came out. Time seemed to have frozen for a moment.
The red light exploded from the ring, covering all of Song Yi's vision.