Go in and find the grandma. If you find her, she'll walk you back here and tell you not to come back. All you have to do is find the old lady. Just be careful not to let the beast find you.

It was a stupid dare, but her life hung in the balance.

Hae Soo gulped as she clutched the vibrant red picnic blanket over her work shirt. Her hands trembled and her knees grew weak as she stared into the darkness that was the forest before her. They weren't allowed to play near it as children, yet there they stood, a group of teenagers breaking their town's rules...

"I don't want to go," Soo said, turning to face the others around her. Her fingers turned white against the red silk that covered her dress to mask her scent. "Can't we just do something else? I'll jump off the brid-"

"If you don't go, I'll kill you and make sure your parents find your body," Yeon Hwa snapped at her, flicking a bug from her silk dress. The pink silk shimmered like nothing Soo had seen before, and for a moment, she caught herself staring at the rich girls' clothing. "Or how about this? You can go free and let this one die instead."

It was three to one. Soo knew she could not outrun the bullies she had confronted in an attempt to get her friend back. Won held a badly bleeding Eun down while Yo held a knife to his throat. Yeon Hwa stood before Soo, a wide grin on her face as she pointed to the forest.

Eun had been caught stealing food from the three aristocrats' picnic, and they had beaten him until Soo had run over when she caught sight of them while fetching water. She had managed to get the boys to stop hitting Eun, but they had kept her from taking him, declaring that one of them would die for his crime. Soo knew her friend would never steal anything – no matter how hungry he was.

"It's simple, Hae Soo," she declared. "Find the grandma, come back with her. If you do that, we won't mess with Eun, and we won't mess with you. If you don't, then we'll let your little rat friend free and you'll be dead anyways. Fair and square."

The wind never blew through the dense woods. It was too silent within, and no light penetrated the foliage. Animal noises bled from the black abyss, where only two beings resided comfortably. One was an old woman who had only been seen once. The other was a savage beast that she controlled. No one had ever seen the beast and lived.

Soo clutched at red blanket over her shoulders and her back to the fence that protected the town from the beast within.

She gulped and looked at Eun with worried eyes. Her friend's right eye was swollen shut, his open mouth dripping blood from where he was missing a tooth. The only way Soo could even tell if he was alive was from the strained huffs of air that blew from his mouth. Held up only by the strength of Won's arms, Eun moaned as his head lolled from side to side.

"You have to take him to a heal-"

"Won will do that while Yo and I stay and make sure you don't cheat," Yeon Hwa interjected. "C'mon, Hae Soo, the beast needs feeding… but you're a fast runner, so I'm sure you'll survive. Maybe it only likes virgins, though… too bad you slept with my brother, right?"

Soo gaped at the girl before her and shook her head, uncomprehending. "You want me to die because I had a relationship with your brother?" she asked. "But we're over! We're- We never really cared for each-"

"So much talking," Yo said with a groan, glaring at both Yeon Hwa and Soo. "You, big-eyes," he pointed the knife in his hand at Soo, "make your choice now or I cut your friend's ears and nose off."

In the silence that followed, only Eun moved to wheeze and drool another gob of blood onto himself. Crimson seeped into his clothes, dirtying the rough silk that covered his battered his body.

When Soo spoke, her voice came out in the faintest of whispers. "Fine," she uttered. "Just take him to a healer… please."

Her legs wobbled as she inched away from the three that leered at her, their wolfish smiles making her stomach ache with fear. Icy dread washed over her body and set her nerves tingling with the urge to run in the other direction. But there was no other direction. Behind her were Yo and Won and Yeon Hwa, and they would mutilate Eun and kill her if she turned back around, while in front of her was the slimmest chance of escape.

Soo took a deep breath of the fresh air that emanated from the town. She could still hear the shouts of men in the quarry, women calling out for the egg vendor to come over, and children running and screaming.

Her parents would not miss her; they already had six other mouths to feed and she was eighteen and unmarried. Her refusal to marry the blacksmith twenty years her senior had forever burned her in her parents' eyes. She heard their abuses every day, and every day, they demanded why she had not thrown her pride away and just married the man that would feed her well and dress her like the girl that currently held her hostage.

Soo looked back as Yo told Won to take Eun to the town healer and put the bill on his name. "Since big-eyes is too poor and pretty-boy is half dead, I might as well cover it," Yo said with a chuckle. "It's not like I'll miss a few gold coins anyways."

Soo's knees almost buckled at the mention of a few gold coins being tossed around as if they were nothing. One gold coin was enough to feed her family for a month... but it seemed a few were enough to save a man's life.

"Hurry up and go!" Yeon Hwa screeched. "Go so I can tell my brother you were suicidal and stupid enough to save a slave boy's life by going into the forest! Isn't it enough we gave you a blanket to mask your scent?"

Before Soo could speak, something rammed into her back and she fell through the gaps of the wooden spikes that lined the ground to prevent the beast from leaving the woods.

"Ah!" She shouted as she fell, her hands releasing the red blanket to muffle her fall. Soo stared at the damp, black dirt that she fell into before turning and staring into the unflinching eyes of the girl and boy that sneered at her.

"Go on, Hae Soo! Come back with the old lady or don't come back at all!"

Soo scrambled off the ground and wiped her hands onto her apron, glancing around for any movement. She whimpered when a crow squawked past her, and her hands immediately found purchase in the red blanket she kept firmly over her shoulders. The blanket would mask her scent and she would survive. She was going to be alright.

One foot stepped forward into the grass that seemed to grow a dull green from the poison that seeped out of the black forest. There was a whole world of danger within, and Soo was going in to save Eun's life.

A final look backwards, at the sunlit glade where a picnic basket lay overturned, lovely foods like stewed chicken and vegetables in sweet honey sauces scattered over the grass, and Soo said her final prayers. She became the last leaf on a tree in the middle of a winter storm, shivering and holding on for dear life.

Another step forward, and the cold, damp air from within filled her lungs, leeching whatever courage she had left. The trees were too still, covered with long sheets of moss that looked like the torn dresses of ghosts from the stories her mother had told her, they fluttered with a breeze before growing still once more.

She just had to go to the center and find the lady that would control the beast and keep him from killing her. The old lady would tie her monster down, and Soo would be able to go back home.

Chewing on her bottom lip, she endeavored into almost certain death, taking each step at a time. Her feet dipped into loosely packed earth, and a single misstep revealed legions of earthworms and bugs that wriggled just a fine layer of earth beneath her. The ground was rich, but that was the last thing on Soo's mind.

Her skin crawled with each tiny noise, and Soo's eyes rapidly shifted from the ground to her surroundings, her nails scraping into the unyielding cloth. Her breathing deepened, and she heard a rushing in her ears, her chest rising and falling in strangely paced huffs. Her stomach clenched, and her spine tingled, the hairs on the back of her neck standing.

Someone was watching her.

Soo could feel eyes on her as if the entire forest had gathered to watch the beast's prey fumble through dense foliage and keep her hands away from thick, red moss that looked like the massive tree trunks were bleeding onto the ground.

Snap.

She swiveled towards the noise with a terrified squeak, her voice disappearing into oblivion.

There was nothing – just trees and moss. No one was around.

Tears welled in her eyes and Soo knew better than to look up. A million pairs of eyes stared down at her from the treetops where critters of all breed ran about, squawking, shouting, and announcing the arrival of the beast's prey. The woods around were silent, but the canopy above rustled with the frenzied activity of the beast's many minions.

"Please, please don't eat me," Soo whimpered, pulling the red blanket closer. Tears slipped down her face with a will of their own. There was no one in sight to hear her desperate plea, but Soo's skin prickled as she felt two searing holes in her back.

White eyes the size of the moon followed her, and shining teeth smiled with glee, a red mouth salivating in anticipation. Soo's shoulders curled inward and she slouched into herself, trying to become smaller.

It was watching her.

"Please, I just wanted to help my friend. I didn't mean to come into your land. I'm sorry. I just wanted to help my friend. I just wanted to help him," she jabbered, her voice a shaking whisper, and her terror causing her to lose herself in her emotions. She walked on, begging her blanket to protect her.

Her nose dribbled and her eyes rained tears as she continued forward. Too occupied with trying to evade the eyes that constantly burned her, she forgot to keep her mind on marking her path back home. Her memorization of familiar trees ended abruptly when she looked up from the forest floor and realized she was completely and utterly lost.

All around her was forest for miles, and the critters above laughed. There was no sunlight aside from the slivers of brightness that appeared and disappeared instantly as the animals above danced, summoning their master with louder and louder screeches.

"No, no, please, please," Soo uttered, swiveling to regain a sense of direction. "Please, let me go. I only tried to help someone. I don't want to hurt you or take anything – I'm just trying to go home."

A deep, rumbling panting filled her ears, and Soo's feet froze, unwilling to take another step forward.

Heh heh heh heh

It was laughing. It was watching her and laughing. She was its plaything. It was toying with her mind, freezing her in place so she would be an easy target. Her legs trembled, unable to move. Centipedes slithered over her boots, hundreds of tiny claws raking into her shoes and tying her to the forest floor.

Soo gulped as the sounds grew softer before growing louder and louder, little pants and and huffs drawing closer and closer. She could feel its hot breath against her back and its claws reached out to rake into her until –

She screamed as something darted past her before slapping her own hand over her mouth when a rabbit ran into its den beneath the tangled roots that created a maze of walkways.

Crouching low, Soo pulled her blanket over her head and hid beneath the red warmth that protected her from the demon that trailed in her wake, shadowing her every move and occasionally making noises to force her guard higher than it was before.

"I don't want to die," she prayed, wiping her nose and eyes onto her apron and wishing she was back inside the town's communal bathhouse, scrubbing the various pools and private rooms that one could access based on the size of their coin purse.

If she tried hard enough, the bugs that crawled over her shoes were just drops of water that lapped at her toes, and the cold air that filled the blanket that covered her was just a chilly breeze that flew through the open windows of the private bathing rooms.

But when she opened her eyes, Soo saw the red tent she had made using the picnic blanket Yeon Hwa and Yo had tossed onto her shoulders with the express declaration that it would be the only thing protecting her from the beast.

Soo stood once more, wiping her eyes on her dirty hands and pulling the blanket as tightly as she possibly could around her body.

"You haven't eaten me yet," she whispered, shocked at how strong her voice sounded. Soo had no idea where her words came from, or how her logic added up, but she stared into the abyss and swallowed thickly, trying to speak to the silent, wordless monster that had stalked her from the very moment she had fallen into its domain.

"You haven't eaten me yet, so I'm going to walk forward. I know you're here. I know... I know you're watching." Her eyes moved even though her body did not, searching for the slightest movement.

She saw nothing but trees that bled moss and plants that seemed to turn away from her.

"Please, just let me find the old woman. They said she could help me leave. Please have mercy," Soo said into the darkness. She had no idea how many minutes or hours she had been in the forest, but her feet ached and her entire body shivered from the cold that only increased as sunlight dwindled above.

Her breath formed in soft clouds, and hands that shook from fear rattled from the chill that overtook her.

She took a step forward, and the forest screamed, causing her to instantly lose any courage she had built up in a split second. Fear replaced tiredness, and she walked to survive. There was no end to the forest, and there was no end to the chittering animals that mocked her for being stupid enough to beseech a monster to not eat her.

Silence reigned as night fell, and when Soo heard a twig snap, she immediately veered away from the noise, unwilling to face the monster so soon. Her feet grew sluggish and tired, her hands unravelling around her cloak.

Sunlight no longer drifted in and out of sight, and in the pitch dark, Soo had no choice but to hold a hand out from the safety of her blanket to keep from crashing into a tree, and to shuffle her feet to keep from tripping on the gnarled roots that cut through the soft dirt.

The hours grew long, and Soo wandered aimlessly, her tummy grumbling with an ache for the raspberries and blackberries that dangled oh so tantalizingly on taut, emerald vines. There were breeds of mushroom she recognized, and herbs grew from the rich earth.

But Soo could not stop to eat. Stopping meant letting the monster get closer, and she would never be able to eat with the beast anywhere near her.

So, she walked, dry of tears and dry of sweat. There was no water for miles, and her tongue and lips were void of moisture, her throat scratchily undulating in order to swallow the last dregs of saliva she could muster.

The sound of a creak made her feet stop their incessant kicking, and when Soo looked up, she saw a light in the distance, her nose immediately picking up the scent of something cooking.

Meat. Food.

Her feet were already leaping before she knew it, sending her towards the light without any thought as to what or who it might be. Her lungs burned with the fire of a thousand suns, and her feet screamed as they pounded over uneven ground.

A little cottage appeared and Soo moaned in relief, summoning the last reserves of her energy to run past the barrier meant to keep beasts out, before falling to her knees before the front door.

She hit the door with her palm once before collapsing into a pile of red blanket and shivers. Her legs were numb from the walking and running she had gone through, and she could not feel her fingers.

Yet, when the door opened and Soo gazed into the warm eyes of a woman that immediately crouched to cradle her head and ask how she arrived, Soo smiled and closed her eyes.

When she woke, she sat up in a soft bed with fur blankets. The smell of warm food lit her stomach ablaze, and when Soo opened her eyes, she saw the interior of a bedroom with pretty but old décor.

"I'm alive," she whispered, pressing a hand to her face. Soo felt her features and breathed in relief, overwhelmed with emotion as she realized she had survived a night in the forest, and had evaded the beast for hours until...

"Where am I?"

She looked at the shut door that slid open when a woman with black and white hair stepped in carrying a small table.

Soo stared, unabashed at how obvious she was. Her eyes never strayed from the woman in the clean but old dress made from blue and green silk. The woman wore her hair up in a simple knot, and everything about her reminded Soo about her own mother. Warm, sweet, and caring.

"Good morning, little miss," the woman said, her voice soft. She set the table on the floor beside the futon Soo sat up in and motioned for her to come closer. "I made you rice porridge and fried some pond loaches."

Crawling forward, Soo sat with the kind woman and smiled along with her.

The table was loaded with two bowls of porridge, one shared pot of bean-paste stew, a plate of fried pond loaches, and two small bowls of glazed mushrooms.

Soo's hand reached for her spoon before she could even think to address the woman before her.

Shoveling rice porridge into her mouth, Soo swallowed the nourishment, groaning as the soft foods hit her bare stomach and filled it with warm nourishment.

The pond loaches melted in her mouth, and after crunching through the fat-fried crust that covered the little fish, the meat fell apart on her tongue, and her teeth munched into soft bones. Soo grabbed two with her hands and immediately rammed them into her mouth, unwilling to lose time when eating.

"Have some water, my girl, you must be parched," the woman said with a smile.

Soo accepted a tin cup of cool, sweet water and emptied it in a single gulp, handing it back to the woman that slowly ate her food with the grace of a queen.

Pausing, Soo eyes the woman as she ate, scraping the bottom of her bowl with her spoon and gasping when she stared at the table before them. "I'm so sorry, I didn't leave any fish for you!" she exclaimed, an embarrassed blush spreading over her cheeks. Soo internally berated herself for being so self-absorbed that she had stolen food from an older woman.

The woman only laughed as she set her spoon down into her bowl. "That's quite alright, little lady. I made them for you. I don't enjoy pond loach."

This woman is the one I was looking for, Soo thought, unbelieving of how lucky she was. This is the woman that will take me home.

Her lips pulled into a giddy grin and Soo finally let herself relax as she realized she was in the only place in the forest where the beast could not reach her. This was its master's lair, and she was finally safe to indulge in good food and speak to the old lady that added mushrooms to her spoon before scooping some porridge on top and eating them together.

"Are you the one that can take me home?" Soo asked softly, setting her spoon down into her now-empty bowl. "Can you... can you take me back to me town?"

The woman ceased eating and Soo felt her heart flutter with hope when she smiled. "Of course, my dear, my name is Yoo Shin Myung. I'd be happy to take you back, but first, may I ask you to stay just a bit? It is terribly lonely for me living alone here, and... and I've never been visited by a girl before."

Her proposition was strange, and Soo's thoughts immediately drifted to Eun and her parents, but she doubted Eun was conscious yet. Her heart ached when she realized her parents were probably rejoicing that there was one less mouth to feed.

She had nothing to lose in the safest part of the forest, and Shin Myung had just fed and quartered her. She owed her that much. "Did you carry me to the bed?" Soo asked noting the distance between the locked front doors and the single bedroom. She did not notice any other bedding aside from the one she had slept on. "Where did you sleep?"

"I have already folded my bedding," Shin Myung said as she finished her breakfast. Her metal spoon scraped against her bowl before she scooped the last of her porridge into her mouth. "I gave you my bed since you seemed two seconds from freezing to death. I laid my blankets out right outside your door and slept there."

Soo stayed in the quiet tranquility of the woman's cottage for two days, helping to do the laundry, pick mushrooms, and clean. She shared stories of the outside world, wondering why the woman stayed in seclusion instead of coming out to buy the things she either made or grew.

Her eyes darted about whenever she left the house, but night or day, there was no sign of the beast, and Soo finally realized the power of the old woman. Shin Myung never left to feed the beast or ever contacted it, but there was no fear in her tired eyes.

It was strange to live in the heart of the very forest Soo had been told as a child would devour her soul and spit her bones out. But there was a certain charm living beneath the protection of the lady that owned the monstrous place.

The streams trickled clear and sweet, providing a bounty of fish and crustaceans for stews. Mushrooms grew on trees for miles, and edible flowers bloomed from the ground. Birds sang in trees that grew nuts, and the once terrifying forest became a thing of beauty.

Soo tended to the garden that grew in a patch of sunlight. It was strange to her how there were no trees around the cottage, but she was happy to put herself to use and pull weeds and harvest radishes for the older woman.

They ate their meals together and worked together. And it was during one of their dinners that Soo asked why Shin Myung lived in the forest instead of returning to the town. "I'm sure you'd be welcome back."

Shin Myung set her chopsticks down to stare at Soo, and suddenly, something regal and haughty appeared in her eyes.

"My girl, I used to live in that town. I was the beloved daughter of the house of Yoo," she stated with a kind smile. Soo's eyebrows rose as the woman spoke. "I wish I could go back to a life of riches and servants and food that I don't have to prepare, but... but I can't. It won't let me."

"It?" Soo asked. Suddenly, the room felt cold, and she watched the woman hang her head. Soo's head spun with thoughts and stories, and she gasped when the name Yoo Shin Myung finally clicked in her mind.

Yoo Shin Myung was the name of the beast's first victim. She and her young son and gone walking by the forest, and all that had been found of them was the boy's torn and bloodied clothes, and Shin Myung's gold bracelets and leather slippers.

"Is the beast holding you captive?" Soo whispered. A gust of wind rattled the doors around the house, and Soo set her spoon down as quietly as she could, suddenly unable to eat. Her stomach churned as if she was on a boat, and her head felt woozy. "Are you not the person that can help me leave?"

Shin Myung, however, took another piece of grilled squash and sighed before eating it. "I've been here for ten years, my girl. That monster killed my son and keeps me here alone. Once in a while, I get to have visitors, and they're always men who want to kill the beast. I let them stay, dress their wounds, feed them... Sometimes there are people that just got lost while picking berries in the forest. They leave after a day or two and I can escort them to the edge of the forest without a problem. But the hunters... the beast returns their heads to me."

Soo's hand flew to her throat. She gulped and coughed as her own body betrayed her want to be silent. "Leave with me," she immediately blurted, reaching over the table to hold Shin Myung's hand.

Grasping the older woman's veined fist in her palms, Soo stared into the tired eyes that had not seen civilization for ten years. "Please, come with me. You can't live like this. We can leave together. We can run. We can escape."

There was hope in those tired eyes, and Soo nodded her head at Shin Myung, willing her to run with her. "You can take me back to the edge of the forest, right? When we get there, we can run. We can run and leave this place. I'll help you. Your family will want you back, I'm sure of it."

A moment passed and Shin Myung finally nodded. "Yes," she whispered. "I'll leave with you. There must be a reason you're the first girl to come to me. You can save me."

They packed lightly at dawn. Berries, nuts, some rice cakes, and dried pieces of fish went into a satchel along with a knife and two pieces of metal to start a fire. They wore only the clothes on their backs and took nothing else from the house.

"What does it look like? The beast," Soo asked as she tied the berries in a cloth pouch.

"Big. It used to be small, but it grew. I was its owner in the beginning, but I hit it once and then it ate my son. It's the largest wolf. It moves in the shadows and eats men alive. I doubt there's a force on earth that can control it – not when the gods have cursed it."

Soo's blood ran cold at the description of the beast that had followed her on her first day in the forest. So, she had not imagined the white eyes and sharp teeth that snarled a her, waiting to eat her.

"A wolf," she whispered. "I didn't know it was a wolf."

"It's a monster. Wolves fear fire and hunt in packs, but this... it fears nothing and only eats. The only animals that are safe are the birds in the trees. Nothing else can survive in the forest. It killed them all."

Soo thought about the rabbit she had seen earlier and wondered if it was still alive – if the little critter had also fallen to the clutches of the great monster that lurked in the shadows.

They left within the hour, shouldering packs and holding hands as they walked past the sharpened stakes that protected the house from the monster.

Soo looked back when they entered the forest.

The quaint little house with its tiled roof and doors that were sorely in need of new paint looked so sad in the single grove of sunlight that glimmered in the forest. It was a gem amidst darkness, and they were leaving its safety.

They walked together, stopping only to fill their water pouches at the stream.

The forest was still daunting, and each tiny noise made Soo flinch, but Shin Myung walked forward with a determined look on her face. She held onto her walking stick with a fierce grip, never looking around, and never letting go of Soo's hand.

True to the woman's word, when Soo looked around, there were no little animals that hopped about – only centipedes and worms in the dirt. The birds above shouted for their master, and the louder they screeched, the faster Soo walked, following Shin Myung's lead through trees that looked identical.

Her skin began crawling a few miles into their journey, and Soo gulped when she felt her spine tingling again. The white eyes that leered at her from afar gave her the dirtiest of looks – as if she was committing a crime by leaving its territory.

The feeling never left her even hours into their trek, and Soo never dared to look behind herself. If she looked back, she feared she would look Death in is massive, white eyes.

Soo gasped when she saw the beginnings of sunlight creep past the massive trunks that blocked their path. They were so close.

Hope flooded into Soo's body, finally warming her for once. She sped up and tugged on Shin Myung's hand, gasping in delight and relief as she made for freedom. She was alive, and she was home.

There was nothing stopping Soo from running for the safety of the sun's rays when Shin Myung tugged her hand back. Soo stopped instantly, her smile never fading as she turned to see if the older woman was alright.

Shin Myung's face was white with fear, and Soo's body locked in ice as she saw the massive shadow of black fur and white teeth that stood behind the older woman.

The beast's eyes were white and dead. Its teeth were dry, yellow, and cracked, and from the folds of a black fur cloak, a pale, veined hand clenched down on Shin Myung's shoulder.

"I was clear," a deep voice rumbled, thundering the birds into silence and making even sunlight feel like ice against Soo's back. "That you were not allowed to leave, Mother."

The hand released Shin Myung, and Soo's body filled with dread as the older woman released her hand. "No," Soo squeaked.

"Goodbye, girl," Shin Myung said, her voice hard. "I fear I don't need you if you've failed your task." She held no remorse in her eyes, and Soo shook her head as the woman turned around to leave.

"No, no please!" Soo shouted, still unable to move. She looked between the beast and the woman that had thrown her to it – him?

A broad hand clamped over her throat, parching the air from her lungs. Soo scratched at the hand that held her, but her eyes only focused on the green skirt that walked away from her.

"I don't want to die, I'm sorry," she uttered.

Soo looked to her right and saw a pair of warm brown eyes.

Then, her sight faded to black.

Well shit, it's been awhile since I last posted stuff. So here's a short lil' thing to celebrate my deteriorating sanity. Cheers, loves. Chapter 2 will be up sometime in the future :)