Hyeji considered herself someone who attempted to understand things, every now and then she would jump to conclusions and such, but after Leo’s disappearance from her life, she wasn’t entirely sure of what to do. When she didn’t understand things, she would ask, but in this situation who would she ask? There was no place to turn to for answers, there was no pure science to logically answer something that was so far from it.

Why was the supernatural so intangible and why was it something that coexisted with so seamlessly with the world she knew that she didn’t know what to do when she was finally made aware of it? It bothered her, even if she didn’t know what to do anymore. Maybe if she went about her life as it was things would go back to normal. But how does one forget someone who had burned themselves into your memory?

But Hyeji wasn’t someone who moped around for too long, that was too dramatic for her. She was a woman of action and if something bothered her, she would try and find a solution to it. She wouldn’t let it consume her life even if it meant something so dear to her.

Leo was a wolf, it scared him to be with her, so how could she solve that? She wondered as she helped her father out carrying the baskets of fresh vegetables into the store next to her house. Her family had been running the store for as long as she could remember, her father told her that her great great great (she had lost track of the times he had said great) grandmother Joohyun had been the one to start up the store. According to him, Joohyun had been the first ‘Red’ of the town as she had often worn a red hooded cloak over everything she owned to ward away the cold as she travelled to the town to visit her grandmother and had many adventures in the woods.

“Hyeji, put the basket there, I’ll unload it in a bit.” her father, Changhyeok said, wiping his hands off with a piece of cloth before tossing it to her to catch. Wiping the wetness off her hands, she cleared .

“Do you think you can tell me more about grandma Joohyun?” she asked, reaching for the scissors to snip the strings that covered the basket to start unloading the vegetables.

“You mean, great great great...” her father began only to have his daughter interrupt him with.

“Yes, I mean the cool grandmother who was the original ‘Red’.”  Hyeji said, pulling out bundles of spinach and arranging them in the box set out for them. She watched her father join her with a grin.

“Not just the original ‘Red’ miss name thief, but she also dealt with a wolf in the woods just like you will if you don’t stop taking it as a shortcut to the town.” he said, making Hyeji freeze and look at him.

“Why have you not told me about this?”

“You never asked,” her father shrugged as she groaned in response “your grandmother was like the real-life version of that fairy-tale… what is it called? Little Red Riding Hood? Yes.” he said, pulling the next basket towards himself and snipping it open as the two unloaded the bell peppers in it. Something about this felt odd to Hyeji as she checked them for damage.

“I’m asking you now, so please tell me?”

“Right, remember how I told you she used to visit her grandmother in the town next door? Your friend Jaehwan stays in that house now, but she used to go across the woods to get there. There was a wolf in the woods then and it followed her nearly to the town and attacked her...but she was saved by this man who was cutting wood close by Jaehyun was his name, or something like that, your grandmother wasn’t very good with names when she told me this as a bedtime story. Either way, he killed the wolf and brought her back home.”

“Hmm.” Hyeji sighed, she had a far more illustrious past than she had expected. This was suspicious for certain. This was a little too similar to what was happening to her for it to even be normal “what happened to this Jaehyun person though?”

“No one knows, he went missing for a long time and Joohyun’s grandmother, your great great great great grandmother’s, house had been attacked by a wolf-like creature. Not entirely sure what happened, but both of them survived and moved here.” her father shrugged as Hyeji’s eyes grew wide open.

“Why hasn’t anyone told me anything about this?!” she exclaimed, her heart was beating faster now wondering whether this was possibly related to Leo. There were parts of the puzzle that was missing but this seemed like a strong possibility. He father was very calmly still unloading vegetables and all Hyeji wanted to do was to run to the woods and find Leo, ask him if what she thought was true, if he remembered it. Maybe it was far-fetched, but it was worth a shot.

“Well, I don’t really know, you never seemed interested in it. There is some written record of it somewhere in the attic, your great great great grandfather wrote it down, you can always take a look at it. ” her father shrugged. Of course, he was always functional and practical. Hyeji nearly made a mess unloading the rest of the vegetables before hurrying into the house and speeding her way to the attic. There were piles and piles of boxes she tripped over to find the right one. She wasn’t entirely sure as to what she was looking for, but when she spotted the most beaten up box in the corner of the large attic and pried it open, coughing when the dust rose. Maybe this contained all the information she would need. Shifting through the masses of yellowing diaries, she found a piece of string with a fang attached to it. She cringed as she picked it up and placed it aside. Thumbing through the diaries, she found a sheet of paper fall out as she gently reached for it hoping it wouldn’t crumble in her hands. Turning it over, she froze.

Leo stared back at her with short cropped hair and an axe in his hands. Beneath it was in very small handwriting, inscribed ‘Joohyun’s sketch of Jaehyun, maybe it will help people find the man who saved my daughter. None the less, she will not leave the house without an .’

Now it all made sense.

Leo was not the wolf.

Leo was the hunter who saved Joohyun.

I'm sorry for taking so long to update, this was quite difficult to write. I hope this makes sense though. If it didn't do let me know and I will try and explain better in the comments? :)

Thank you for reading and your patience with this fiction. I love you guys!

Ryukai