Chapter 1
"Chul-Soo! Stop," Soon-Yi commanded with a shaking voice. She wasn't quite sure what was currently happening. But, she knew she had to stop Chul-Soo before the snake that was Ji-Tae became injured any further.
Stopping his swinging arm mere inches from Ji-Tae's face, Chul-Soo waited for his teacher's next command. With golden eyes of the monstrous boy glaring into his soul, and dagger like clause twitching with anger, Ji-Tae was frozen in fear. 'What is he?!' Ji-Tae's mind screamed.
"That's enough. Come," Soon-Yi commanded once more, her voice no longer quivering in uncertainty. Stealing golden eyes slowly morphed back into warm chocolate, barely moving at all, Chul-Soo turned back towards Soon-Yi. Still shaking with fear, Soon-Yi was somewhat relieved to be staring into the face of Chul-Soo once more. Unbeknownst to her, silent tears streaked her swollen cheek.
Soon-Yi's tears ultimately pulled Chul-Soo from his beastly state. His mind no longer muddled by the feral instinct to protect, Chul-Soo began to panic. 'Had he hurt Soon-Yi? Was she hurt by the loud male?' his mind raced.
"Come," Soon-Yi spoke once more. Timidly, as if a guilty dog being caught, Chul-Soo returned to Soon-Yi's side. Every slowly, with a trembling hand, Soon-Yi delicately began to pet Chul-Soo's head as had become accustomed over the past months. Soothed by her touch, Chul-Soo's mind began to relax. The tenderness of Chul-Soo's kind eyes quenched all doubts in Soon-Yi's mind and her timid hand became steady as her resolve strengthened.
With his life no longer on the line, Ji-Tae scrambled to his feet threatening, "Wait until I tell my father about this!" a Vicious growl ripped from Chul-Soo's throat as he once more maneuvered Soon-Yi behind him in a protective manner. "Wait until your father hears you assaulted a nineteen year old girl," Soon-Yi shouted back. Placing a reassuring hand on Chul-Soo's arm, Soon-Yi slowly tugged him back with her towards the house.
As if finally noticing the ruckus in the middle of the night, Soon-Yi's mother rushed out in a panic. "What's going on here?!" She questioned. "I've already called the cops!"
"What happened is that…THING attacked me!" Ji-Tae accused of Chul-Soo, while pointing his bony figure towards Chul-Soo and Soon-Yi's direction. Confused, Soon-Yi's mother quickly scanned over her daughter and the feral boy she had adopted. Dismissing their interlocked fingers, she marveled on the beaten and dirtied state of her daughter.
"Liar!" Soon-Yi shouted in defense. "His friends and him came over drunk and tried breaking into the house," Soon-Yi explained.
"I own that house! It isn't breaking in!" Ji-Tae rebounded back. Soon-Yi's mother still unsure of who was telling the truth began believing her daughter as she took notice of Ji-Tae's friends stumbling back to his side.
Before anymore could be said, the local law enforcement pulled next to the house. As the police chief and another stepped out of the car, the yelling resumed. "That sorry excuse of a human attacked me!"Ji-tae once more accused.
"Who? Chul-Soo?" Soon-Yi's mother questioned in confusion.
"You're the one who assaulted me!" Soon-Yi charged back towards Ji-Tae's claim.
"Enough!" The police chief yelled over everyone. Motioning towards the house the Police chief continued, "Let's get inside. I'm not listening to anyone unless we do this calmly." As the policemen helped Ji-Tae's friends hobble towards the house, Soon-Yi's mother quickly ushered her two charges in side.
"Let me get this right," the Police chief clarified, "You saw a ghost?" If it wasn't for the tense atmosphere, the notion would have seemed comical. With Chul-Soo standing to the side of the room with a police man on his right, Soon-Yi and her mother sat on the couch as Ji-Tae paced back and forth explaining the situation to the Police chief.
"He isn't human…That THING is like a..a..a WOLF!" Ji-Tae angrily accused of Chul-Soo. With an incredulous look from everyone in the room Ji-Tae continued, "Ask her! She saw it too!"
Truthfully, Soon-Yi herself still couldn't understand what she had seen. In the dark all she could make out was the hunched and much hairier version of her companion. However, regardless of what happened, she wasn't about to let them take Chul-Soo away from her! It was still Ji-Tae who was in the wrong.
"I..I don't know what you're talking about," Soon-Yi responded.
"What?" Ji-Tae was appalled by her lie.
"She says you tried to break into the house and assault her," The police chief clarified.
Stealing a glance towards Chul-Soo in concern, Soon-Yi and Chul-Soo's eyes locked. Accustomed to the shocking connection that always accompanied their glances, Soon-Yi attempted to calm Chul-Soo's terrified gaze. "Anyway, let's go down to the station," The police Chief sighed in exhaustion as he tried to wrap up this late night.
"Whose house? My house?" Ji-Tae questioned while holding up the extra keys he had for the house. "And who is the one who is beaten up?" he added on.
At the mention of injuries the chief took notice of Chul-Soo's pristine appearance and the only injury accompanying Soon-Yi being a bruised cheek and some dirt.
"And who pays for this house? And your hospital bills?" Ji-Tae began yelling once more towards Soon-Yi. At Ji-Tae's advance, Chul-Soo began making his way towards the group only to be held back by the policeman at his side.
"My father." Soon-Yi curtly replied. "It is his company your family joined with. And after he died you stole from him. I know things, and bringing up hospital bills and the house won't help you." Soon-Yi's voice gained strength and volume as she finally shared what she had kept secret for so long. "So you can shut up!" Now that Soon-Yi could finally speak freely, the flood gates were opened.
Quickly, to stop her daughter before she insulted Ji-Tae any further, Soon-Yi's mother tried in vain to quiet her eldest daughter.
Being at a loss as to what to do next, Ji-Tae fell back to threatening, "Alright. That's enough. Get rid of that FREAK or get out of this house!"
Filled with strength, Soon-Yi was no longer afraid of Ji-Tae and if she couldn't be with Chul-Soo, she didn't need Ji-Tae's house or his money. "Fine, Bring it on!" Soon-Yi challenged. So fueled by her agitation Soon-Yi jumped to her feet. Turning to the Chief she continued, "Let's all go down to the station. You saw the bats and knives they wielded at me!" Returning to face Ji-Tae, Soon- Yi wasn't finished. "And let's call your father too? I have so many questions for him!" taking much needed breath; Soon-Yi calmed her voice, "If you're not going to do that. Then leave my family and Chul-Soo alone"
No use in stopping her daughter, Soon-Yi's mother held her head in her hands as she began racing through how she was expected to pay for her daughter's hospital bills' once Ji-Tae's family cut them off.
Saying all that needed to be said, Soon-Yi began to leave the room. Desperate to be by her side Chul-Soo once more began wrestling against the cop in hopes to follow her. With the chief's order, Chul-Soo was released and he ran up the stairs to follow Chul-Soo's exit.
Once safely out of the view of spectators, Soon-Yi slowly began to lose her strength. Despite hearing Chul-Soo's steady foot steps behind her, she only stopped at the sound of Ji-Tae smashing her beloved guitar into pieces down stairs. Pushing past the pain Soon-Yi knew she needed to clarify something before this night could be over.
Sharply turning to face Chul-Soo, her insides were a storm of emotions. "Chul-Soo, what was that earlier?" she questioned. Even if she trusted him, she still feared the creature she witnessed earlier. There were too many things about him that didn't make sense.
Before given a chance to mime an answer to her, the policeman from before came up and handcuffed Chul-Soo while Soon-Yi's mother took his other arm with warm words of comfort. Too frozen from the unsettling fear brought up with her question, Soon-Yi just stared into Chul-Soo's eyes as he was dragged off.
