The night crawling in and the darkness cover the whole forest thus bringing a cold and horror atmosphere. The sound of crickets and owls’ hoot echoing the whole place. There’s nothing surrounding but the trees that cover the view from far. Anyone will lost in this dark labyrinth that created by Mother Nature.

“Look. This forest is really bringing some chill down to my spine. Oh…! I’m excited about this!”

One of the members of the group that explore the forest let out his voice, full of enthusiasm.

“Shhh! Quite! Don’t you know that this forest is famous for a lot dark, mysterious, horror rumors?” Another one put his finger on his nose, signaling to be quite. His black padded jacket is totally contrasted with the enthusiastic one as he wears red.

“Like what?” Another one with video camera in his hand let out his voice with his camera pointing at the person he talks to.

“I heard that a long time ago, this place is being forbidden as a lot of people who came here missing out of nowhere. If there are some them survived, they became insane and traumatized for years. There are also some of them lost their memories all of sudden.”

“Why? There must be a reason for them to behave like someone that just came out from torture chamber for months.”

The first guy knocks his arm, amused by his joke.

“According to my research, some of the survivors said that they saw a terrifying creature came to them and attacked them. They went inside this forest to hunt some animals. A group of animal hunters. But they end up having some of their friends missing or get injured. One of the report said that when one of the police officers interviewed one of them, they said the regret for trespassing and ruin this place. They feel like this forest is protected by something. Something that beyond human’s mind. Out of this universe.”

“What is that attacked them? What the creature look like?”

“I’m not sure. But some of the reports mentioned something that same.”

“What is it?”

“That they were attacked by something that moves fast and strong.”

“Strong and fast? Could it be…a beast?”

“I don’t know. They said that they saw something came to them but they couldn’t figure out what is it.”
“Maybe a wolf? Bear? Any type of mammal?”

“Not really. One of them said that they shot to the creatures many times but nothing happened to it.”

“Shot many times but still manage to attack them? We were looking something like invulnerable with bullets?” He stops for a moment. “A ghost?"

Then, he hit the cameraman’s head.

“Ouch!! What’s that for?”

“A ghost? Really? Do you think a ghost that hurt them? Think about it. We were in the forest that never being explore by humans for long time. It could be some unknown being that terrifying them.”

“Like what?”

“Like giant mammal or bird like bigfoot or mothman or…?”

“Or what?”

The black jacket one starts to grin. “Something that not discovered. Yet.”

“You mean another creature that humans not found yet?”

“Yeah. Think about it. We may be able to meet it now.”

“But what if we wouldn’t be able to?”

“We will never know if we don’t try.”

The guy with black jacket just went to the front, confidently facing them, “Guys, if we able to record it, we will be famous!”

The other two amused by their antic friend.

“A creature that not discovered yet will be revealed to the whole world! Is that super amazing?! Come on! We waste no time right now!”

He just starts to walk and allow the other two follow him.

They have been walk for hours since beginning and there’s no sign of anything. The cameraman looks at his watch. It’s 1:06 in the morning. It’s been three hours passed by.

“Man, I’m getting tired right now. Can’t we just stop this and continue at morning?”

“Dude. We are getting closer to search it. Why we have to stop when we were already half way to do it?”

The cameraman let out a deep sigh. Why I follow this guy from the beginning?

Another hour passed. But, there’s no anything. Anything but trees, rocks, crickets, mosquitoes, bumpy path and silence.

“I’m totally, really, very tired right now. There’s nothing in here.”

The red jacket one went to the cameraman. “Seriously, we were on this now, okay? So, can you please stop your babbling?”

Suddenly, the strong wind hit them. The sound of the wind hit the tree is really loud. All three of them cover their faces to prevent any dust went into their eyes as it is blow by the wind so hard.

After few seconds, it stops. All of them look at surrounding. Their expression shows amusement and terrifying.

“Guys.” The two of them look at their friend. His face shows some worry.

“Honestly, I don’t think I can continue this.”

The two of them have their eyes open wide. “Why??”

“Because I’ve heard that some people thought that this forest is cursed. People were missing every time they came here. Some of them heavily injured and left shock for months. There are also couldn’t remember anything what happened to them.  Just what I mentioned just now. I don’t think it’s a good idea to continue.”

The black jacket one approaches him.

“Wait. Are you out of mind? We are already here. So why you want to stop?”

His friend doesn’t feel amused.

“We will explore this place right now. And if we lucky, we may be able to meet that creature and record it. A lot of people will watch this. We will be famous. Right?”

“You know what, I want to quit as well.” The cameraman put his camera down.

“What?” He turns to his other friend.

“I think what he said is true. There’s no point of doing this. I really want to quit.”

“Woah, woah, woah, hold on a second.”

He looks at each of his friends with disbelieving look.

“Both of you want to quit? Guys. Look. If we continue it, we will bring solid proof to the people outside. Beside, this ‘curse’ forest will never stop us to find the truth. We must find it. And at the same time we can show it on Youtube later! Exploring the dangerous forest and come out alive! Just like Exploring with Josh!”

“You are not Josh!”

He looks at his friend with red jacket, dumbfounded.

“Just stop this, okay?”

The red jacket is finally exploded right now. Then, he went to the cameraman. He takes his camera from his hand.

“If you want to continue it so badly…” He gives the camera to him aggressively. “Then, do it by yourself!”

The guy looks at the camera intensively. There’s no way he want to quit.

“Okay, fine. I’ll do it.” He takes the camera sarcastically. “But, if I’m the one who found the proof, don’t blame me, okay? I’m going to show it to both of you. Just wait.”

Then, he walks away from them.

“Should we follow him?”

“No. If that’s what he wants, just let him.”

They look at the guy in front of them getting far away from them with different expression; one is worry while other upset.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

He asks the cameraman to follow him. The cameraman has to obey him despite a slight of protest inside of him.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

“Seriously, what’s to be afraid of? Is not like we doing something illegal. Just come here and have fun. Oh well, maybe they are being scaredy cat. ‘Curse’ forest? Psst!”

He continues to walk and walk to the point he couldn’t figure out where he has been right now. He holds his camera in front of him. He looks around him and notice that the whole surrounding is looking the same. Right, left, everything same.

The feel of panic starts to appear. But when he remember back what he said to his friends, he decided to calm himself a little bit and went straight to the front.

It’s okay. It’s going to be alright. When I’m finishing this, they will be surprise. No doubt.

He walks for another hour without taking any break until he notice something.

He takes look at it carefully.

What is that?

He finally finds out that it is actually a light.

A light? In the deep forest? No way!

He takes a step by step getting closer to the source of light.

He is getting closer and closer and what he see in front of him is really unbelievable.

It’s a house! A house in this forest?!

He can’t believe what he sees. A modern house in the deep forest with lightning on.

He is admiring every inch of the house. It is fairly large with three stories. The color of light brown matching with the wall that designed with brown bricks, giving off the luxury and old vibe. The ground floor there is a garage that covers with black door attached with living room. He can see from second floor the yellow lights are . That’s the light that he saw. The stairs that connect each floor can be seen from outside as the wall is made from glass. It’s more like the Mediterranean house combine with modern design of glass house.

His mouth is open wide. He still amaze by what he found.

How can this huge luxury house be in this forest? I thought this forest is abandoned for a long time!

He holds up his camera and facing to the lens.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know what is going on but it seems like the forest that we thought were abandoned is actually not abandoned at all! Look!”

He took the camera to the front and records the house in front of him. Then, he is facing it again.

“All of you see that? It’s a house! Not just a house! A huge house that maybe belong to someone that rich! And as you can see, there’s light! It means someone living here! But, the question is what about the rumors that said by the witnesses before that they attacked by some weird, scary looking creature? Is it could be someone tried to cover it up? I think this house has lot secrets that we don’t know. And it looks like… I need to investigate this more deeply. I need to go inside.”

Then, he turn off his camera and search somewhere around the house so he can find something. The house doesn’t have any fence, so it’s easy for him to look at the house closely.

From the glass door, he can see there’s living room with complete set of furniture and huge LCD television.

LCD TV? It must be about 40’! Damn, wish I can have that!

He can see there’s huge brown door from the back. It must the room for kitchen and dining. Judging by the size of the door, it must huge. He can see there’s about two or three paintings hanging on the wall. He looks at them and they look very old. Looking at the style and color, it must be Dutch Old Master.

Gosh, the owner of this house even has those bloody, priceless paintings?!

He holds up his camera and recording it.

“Look, there are paintings inside. I’m pretty sure that they are Dutch paintings from old ages. And there’s TV. A LCD TV. I think the owner of this house is someone that appreciate the fine arts and living in modern way. I think I need to go upstairs.”

His curiosity is getting more intense. He has to get inside of this house. He try to enter from the door but it’s completely lock. He checks on the windows but it’s no use.

Frustrating by it, he decide to make some plan. He takes a moment and he suddenly remembers something. The stairs at the side of garage.

Yes! That’s it!

He goes the stairs from side and climb up. Lucky for him, there’s no door. The stair is connecting to the first floor. There’s a huge balcony on the first floor. Huge enough for people to have party upstairs.

He looks around and amaze by what he see. The outside of first floor is a small garden with grass carpet. He tries to take a peek at the window. Fortunately, there’s a light. There’s another living room that design in such modern interior. But it has only two couches and one glass table. He can see there are few doors painted in black brown. They are must be rooms for the people who live here.

He takes out his camera and start to record it.

“Everyone, look. This is the interior of this house. This is the first floor. Gosh, the interior is the same like luxury house that we always see in TV, magazine or website. And there are rooms. 1, 2, 3… three rooms. It means that there is more than one person living in this house.”

Then, he looks at the camera.

“If I have to think about it for a second, it’s not normal for this house to be in this abandoned forest. What if the rumors of terrifying creatures are actually made up? Someone try to cover up something. I think the answers are in this house. There’s no way someone living here. It has to be something that we don’t know.”

“I wish I can go inside but the doors and windows are lock. I really want to go in there but it seems like I have got enough evidence. I’m going to show this to my friends and let others to investigate this.”

Then, suddenly someone tap his shoulder from behind.

He shocks by it and quickly turns around.

Before he can realize it, the figure snatched his neck really fast. His hand suddenly loses his grip and the camera fell to the ground.

Then, the figure lifts him up and throws him outside. He hit one of the trees and falls to the ground. He screams in pain.

The figure jump off from the balcony and went to the guy.

The sound of his footsteps is really frightening him. He tries to get up but he is feel too pain to get up. Thus, he crawls to escape from the figure. But the figure reaches out his jacket and pulls him with force. He back is hit by tree and he sit there completely. The figure walks slowly toward him and hunker down in front of him.

“What are you doing here? You are not supposed to be here. I thought those stories about this forest make humans avoid coming here.”

He looks at the guy inch by inch. Obviously, he comes here prepared judging by his clothes. He let his grin.

“You are really such an idiot. You thought by record this place with that camera of yours, you can tell the whole world about us?”

Then, he grabs the guy’s hair and pulls his head up to look at him.

“We are not something you can underestimate for.”

His eyes turn into crimson and his fangs appear.

The guy starts to freak out to see what in front of him.

“You annoying nosy human! Take this!”

The guy let out his scream as he sees the figure’s eyes glowing red.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

“This forest feels so different from last night.”

One man is looking around the forest while following his friend.

“Well, of course. It’s 8:30 in the morning. We have to find him before it turns dark again in no time.”

“You seem care about him so much despite what happened last night.”

The guy from the front looks at his friend.

“Truth is, other time he can be quite irritating. But on the other time, you can depend on him when you need him. If not because of his obsession with mystery, horror tales or urban legends, he can be one good friend. What makes us different is our philosophy. If he wants to do something, he will do it to the end even if it will kill him. While me, I’m tend into thinking the risk and consequences if I continue to do it. Just like last night.”

“I see. How long do you know him?”

“Since middle school. You get to know him when he went to college, right?”

“Yeah, he was my roommate. I thought he is an odd fellow because he tends to collect a lot of horror stories, urban legends, conspiracies and other weird things. If other students fill their study desks with notes and books for their studies, he fills it with a collection of horror novels and magazines. But I completely drawn by him when he tells a lot stories that I’ve never heard of.”

“I know. That’s why since middle school we tend to invite him to our summer camp and let him told us a lot of scary stories to lift up the mood.”

“Really? I guess his stories never finish for the whole summer that you invite him a lot of times.”

“You got that right.”

They fill up the emptiness of walking by having long conversation until one of them sees something.

“Wait! Look!”

The other looks at what his friend point at.

“Is that…?”

They run to the front as quickly as they can. When they reach, they finally figure it out.

“Dude! Dude! Wake up! Hey, come on! Wake up!”

He gently hit the fainted guy’s cheek a few times to wake him up.

“Come on! Wake up! Wake up!”

After few try, he finally opens his eyes a bit.

“Hey, are you alright?”

They try to get him up and let him sit for a few moments.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

He rubs his eyes and slowly opens them, and looks at the people in front of him.

“Oh. Guys. You came.”

“What happened? What happened last night?”

“Last night?”

He tries recall of what happened last night but his memories seem fuzzy. He tries to recall it back. Then, something hit him.

“I saw it.” He grabs his friend’s arm.

“What?”

“I saw it.”

The other two look at each other.

“You saw what?”

The moment is paused for a bit until he let out his voice.

“The creature.”

“What?”

“The creature. I saw it. It attacked me last night.”

“It attacked you?”

“Yeah. No doubt about it.”

“Did you saw what it looks like?”

He tries to remember back. But, he can’t.

“No. I can’t see it. All I can see is that it moves fast and really strong. It pushed me really hard that I hit the tree. And I hit the ground and…   that’s it.”

The other two completely shocks by their friend’s explanation.

“It’s same. Just like before.”

“Just like what others said. ‘Moves fast and strong.’ “

Their jaws are about to drop. The other suddenly remembers something.

“Wait, where’s my camera? Did you catch it?”

The man then thinks about the camera that his friend lent to him. His face suddenly shows disappointment.

“I’m sorry. I must have dropped when I was attacked. Sorry, man.”

“That’s okay. At least you are safe.”

The other one looks around, scanning the whole place.

“We need to get out of here. This place is really creepy.”

“It’s just like you said. This place is curse. A curse forest. Come on.”

The two friends help the man to get up and put his arms around their shoulders. They walk slowly as the man still feels the pain from the attack last night.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

”Don’t you know that this forest is famous for a lot dark, mysterious, horror rumors?” Another one put his finger on his nose, signaling to be quite. His black padded jacket is totally contrasted with the enthusiastic one as he wears red.

“Like what?” Another one with video camera in his hand let out his voice with his camera pointing at the person he talks to.

“I heard that a long time ago, this place is being forbidden as a lot of people who came here missing out of nowhere. If there are some them survived, they became insane and traumatized for years. There are also some of them lost their memories all of sudden.”

The man sitting on the couch, watching with full of his attention to the television in front of him.

It’s still night outside. So, he doesn’t have to worry to cover the windows and doors with the thick curtains that had been set up on them.

“Yo, Hyukkie!”

 “Oh, Wonshik hyung.”

The older one sitting on the other side of the couch.  “Where were you, hyung?”

“Just to the music store. I need to buy a new headphone.”

Then, his eyes turn to the television.

“What are you watching?”

“A video.”

“You mean another creature that humans not found yet?”

“Yeah. Think about it. We may be able to meet it now.”

“But what if we wouldn’t be able to?”

“We will never know if we don’t try.”

“Wait. Is this the forest where we live now?”

“Yeah. I caught one of them tried to record our house. Luckily, I managed to stop him.”

“How did you catch him?”

“I was in my room at that time when I suddenly heard some footsteps. At first, I thought maybe it’s one of you. But judging by the smell, it’s human. And the sounds of the footstep lead to the first floor even though each of us has key to enter the house at the ground floor. That’s when I decided to checked it and saw this man loitering around with camera in his hand.”

Wonshik look at the television again.

“All of you see that? It’s a house! Not just a house! A huge house that maybe belong to someone that rich! And as you can see, there’s light! It means someone living here! But, the question is what about the rumors that said by the witnesses before that they attacked by some weird, scary looking creature? Is it could be someone tried to cover it up? I think this house has lot secrets that we don’t know. And it looks like… I need to investigate this more deeply. I need to go inside.”

“Jeez, this guy is really . He had a nerve to trespass our area and record it.”

“Don’t worry. I already take care of him.”

“How?”

“As usual. Mess up with his memory and make him think that he never came here.”

Sanghyuk let out satisfied smile to Wonshik.

“I get it.”

“But, to be honest. I’m really frustrating right now.”

“Why?”

“Human nowadays doesn’t really care about the caution and safety. They have courage to go to the dangerous places despite all the rumors and incidents that happened. Like this place. Hongbin hyung and I spread a lot of fake stories and rumors through website. Even did some false documents so that it convincing humans not to come here. We did a lot of things so that nobody can come here. Even though some of them are true. We attack them and scare them to get out from here. I also changed their memories so that they will never recognize us or even remember about coming here. But as you can see, there are still nosy humans come here and try finding the truth.”

“I wish I can go inside but the doors and windows are lock. I really want to go in there but it seems like I have got enough evidence. I’m going to show this to my friends and let others to investigate this.”

Wonshik feel pity toward Sanghyuk. He has done a lot of things to help them but he feels like he doesn’t do enough.

“Hey, don’t feel down. At least you protect us from being exposed. Your ability is really such a great help.”

Wonshik pat Sanghyuk’s shoulder.

“All of this happen is because human crave of something.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just like this guy.” He point to the television.

“I guess he craves for fame and his curiosity led him to do something stupid like this. He knew its dangerous coming here but he still wants to do what he wants to do. These days, I saw lot videos where human went to horror and dangerous place so that human’s curiosity will be filling. And this guy here thinks that he can do the same but he failed. Because of you.”

Sanghyuk look at Wonshik with full attention.

“Hyuk-ah. It’s not just you. But all of us well. Hakyeon hyung, Taekwoon hyung, Jaehwan hyung, Hongbin and I. We are also getting some headache whenever human try to put their nose on our business. But as long as we together, our existence will never be reveal no matter what. That’s the meaning of group.”

“That’s right, Hyuk.”

They both look at behind and sees Hakyeon, Jaehwan and Hongbin.

“All of us in this.”

They both smile at them.

“Count in me as well.”

Taekwoon just coming down from the stairs.

Sanghyuk look at all of them with proud.

Yes, they are vampire and their existence must never been known to the outside world. With all of them, everything will be possible.