“Daddy!! Ravi is here!!”

Taekwoon’s ears perked like that of a dog when he heard the name. He quickly went to his small window and looked at this man named Ravi. It was one of Taekwoons daily routine.

“Ravi? Why is the demon kid here again?”, the dad asked, coming out of the house.

“Hey, Hakyeon!”, Ravi said in his deep, husky voice.

“Don’t tell me you came here for free food again!”, Hakyeon said, folding his arm.

“Yes, I did but in exchange for this!”, Ravi showed him a wild boar he had just hunted for this small family that always helped him and took care of him.

Hakyeon smiled with joy. “You!! Thank you so much!! With this, I can feed you for the next 2 weeks!”

Ravi and Hakyeon laughed as they took the wild boar to the back of the kitchen.

They lived in the forest. It was a small village with not more than 40+ people living. They were mostly farmers and hunters. The villagers were very kind and hospitable and they took care of the land very well. They worshipped the forest and they believed that if they take care of the forest, the forest spirit will continue to shower their land and community with wealth and prosperity.

Ravi was not from that village. In fact, the villagers still did not know where he is from and where he lives but they did know one thing, he wasn’t a human being. He did look like one but that was just one of the forms that Ravi could imitate. The villagers knew him as the demon kid but in contrast to the name that was given to him by the villagers, Ravi wasn’t as bad or evil as you would think a demon would be. He talked and lived like humans and he was a very lovable creature that every villager liked. He was also very helpful to the community in bringing them foods and wild animals when they needed it.

Taekwoon would always watch the villagers from his little window. He was also not from that village but unlike Ravi, he was a human being. Taekwoon lived a little further up the mountain from the community. The villagers did not know about him at all. Taekwoons house was in the deeper part of the forest where the villagers did not dare to enter. They had marked a portion of their land and never crossed that area that lead to the deepest part. The villagers believed that whoever goes there, never returns.

Taekwoon watched Ravi and Hakyeon talking from his little window. His eyes never blinking at the sight of Ravi. Taekwoon wasn’t sure himself but he was very fascinated by how Ravi looked. He was tall and masculine, he had a very deep black hair and his voice was a music to listen. It had already been more than a month since Taekwoon first noticed him and ever since then, he had never been able to take his eyes off him. Taekwoon would always listen to them talking and mumble the words he would hear so that he would not forget how to communicate.

In the last 10 years of living alone in the forest, Taekwoon had changed his home so many times but every time he did, he looked for a place that is near a settlement so that he would see what the people were doing and just listen to them talking. That was one of the main reasons for him, he wanted to hear people talk so that he could not forget how to speak, although the only friends he talked to were his animal friends, who in return, just stared back at him without any response. But the place he was living right now was the place he had promised himself not to leave because it was quite away from the village but also closer to see the people and hear them, plus the villagers dared not to enter the deeper part, so he was ok. He did not like to be seen by other humans.

While Ravi and Hakyeon were talking, Ravi felt the tingling feeling on his face like he always felt whenever he was at Hakyeon’s place. Ravi looked at the direction and Taekwoon immediately ducked down and hid himself.

Ravi looked at the deep forest with furrowed eyes.

“What?”, Hakyeon asked.

“I feel like there’s someone there in the forest Hakyeon”, Ravi said.

“Oh! You always say that!”, Hakyeon replied. There was no surprise to that because every time Ravi visited them, he always said that.

“But I am very sure that there is someone there.”, Ravi said again. “I just hope it doesn’t attack the village.”

“You have been saying that for a month now Ravi but nothing has ever happened, so don’t worry!”

“Oh well, ok!”, Ravi looked at the direction for one last time before they went inside for lunch.

Taekwoon finally looked up when he heard the door faintly closing and boy was he glad that Ravi did not see him. But he didn’t need to worry because his house was covered by trees and nobody would actually know someone lived there.

One faithful day, Taekwoon woke up to a sound of someone screaming. He quickly woke up and looked through his window and saw Hakyeon with his wife in his arm, sobbing. He also saw Ravi running towards them and asking them what had happened.

Apparently, their 7-year-old daughter, Joonie had crossed the mark and went inside the forest while chasing a small baby boar.

“Ravi-yah”, Hakyeon looked at the man with a worried expression. “Please save our daughter! You are the only one who can enter that place, please!”

Ravi gulped at Hakyeon’s request but he still managed to stay calm and he assured them that he will bring Joonie back safely.

Taekwoon quickly ran out of his house when he heard what had happened. Although he didn’t like humans for what they had done to him and his parents, he also did not feel comfortable knowing that the little girl was lost and alone in the forest. It reminded himself of his own past and he also felt a little attachment to the girl even though Taekwoon had only been looking at them from afar. He had seen the little girl when she was 5 and watched her grow up to become 7.

Taekwoon looked at a distance from his tree and scanned the area around him. A little away from where he lived, he saw birds flying off from the bushes and he knew she must be somewhere there. He quickly ran, he had gotten so used to living in the forest, he did not even need shoes or slipper anymore and he knew most of the ways.

When Taekwoon was approaching nearer and nearer, he heard the cry of the little girl and Taekwoon got a very dense feeling. She wasn’t alone.

The girls cry got more and more louder and when Taekwoon finally got to the scene, he saw Nago and his boars surrounding the little girl. Taekwoon jumped in the middle and picked up the girl quickly.

“Taekwoon!!”, Nago, the boar God cried loudly making him flinch in fear. “What are you doing?”

“Lord Nago, please spare this child’s life. She has done nothing wrong!”, Taekwoon bowed down, showing his respect to the god. The little girl was crying so much and Taekwoon hugged her tightly, making sure she felt safe.

“She chased our young ones”, Lord Nago said. “She would have killed our young ones if she had caught them!”, Nago approached closer and closer.

“But lord Nago, she is just a kid. I am sure she was just playing with them.”

“Give her to us or else we will kill you too, Taekwoon”, the other boars screamed.

Taekwoon refused.

“Taekwoon, LET US EAT HER!!”, Nago shouted and the girl started screaming even more in fear.

The boars moved towards the two helpless human, they tried to tear the two apart from each other but Taekwoon held on the girl as tightly as he could. Just in the mist of all this, they heard a wolf howling. It was very loud that all the boar froze. Nago looked at the direction of the howling and all the little boars ran behind their God.

From the dark forest, a huge white wolf walked in gracefully. It was very big and Taekwoon just watched the creature in awe.

“So, the Wolf God is also here”, Nago said.

“Long time no see, Lord Nago”, the wolf walked to the boar and placed his wet nose on the Boar’s head as a sign of greeting. After that, he walked towards Taekwoon and the girl. He sat behind them, putting the two humans in between his two legs. The Wolf God and the Boar God were similar in shape and size. Most of the forest god were unusually larger than the normal sized animals.

Taekwoon and Joonie froze in fear. They didn’t know how to escape anymore.

“Why are you here, Wonshik?”, Nago asked.

“I am here to collect the humans,” Wonshik was the name of the Wolf God.

Nago let out a big laugh at Wonshik’s reply. “I cannot let you. They are mine”

Wonshik looked at him angrily and Nago stopped.

“I am taking them whether you like it or not!”, Wonshik shouted in his deep, rough voice.

“BOARS!”, Nago commanded his army to get ready to attack but they were too scared to when Wonshik growled back at them loudly.

“Do you want me to decrease your boars number in half?”, Wonshik asked.

Nago just gulped and accept his defeat to the Wolf God. Nobody could win against him. Only the forest spirit could.

“Fine Wonshik, you can have them”, Nago said, turning around and leaving the scene. “You always side with the humans, but remember this my friend, they will be the death of you! I am serious!”.

With that, the boars had left and Wonshik just watched them as they disappeared.

When they were out of sight, Wonshik looked at the two humans only to find that the two had ran away.

“Tsk”, Wonshik tried to listen where they were and he found them immediately. Taekwoon was carrying the girl in his arms and running and when the girl saw the wolf coming their way, she screamed. Wonshik bit Taekwoon’s clothes and threw him and the girl in the air and they landed on the back of the wolf. They had seriously thought they would be eaten but the wolf was only taking them towards the direction of the village. When they got near the place, the wolf stopped and put the two down. Taekwoon and Joonie stayed there in silence as they watched every moves of the wolf. He went closer to the girl and places his nose on her forehead. After that, he went to Taekwoon. He knew what the wolf was going to do, the same thing with the nose and forehead but to his surprise, the wolf just his forehead and ran away.

He stood there in silence watching the creature disappear.

“Ahh Mr. can you please take me home?”, the puffy eyed girl said. She had been crying a lot.

“umm—ahh”, this was the first time Taekwoon was actually having a conversation with another human being after 10 years and he did not know how to talk to them. Sure, it was easy for him to talk to the animals because that’s what he had been doing all this time but now it was a human, the same creature as him and he was very nervous.

“Umm..if you—go—through—this—path—you—will—get—home”, Taekwoon pointed at the way leading to the village.

The girl started to cry even more. Taekwoon looked here and there, not knowing how to calm the girl down.

“Joonie!!”, the deep, husky voice of Ravi was heard and Taekwoon saw him running towards them from a distance. Not wanting to encounter any of the adult humans, Taekwoon escaped but was stopped when Ravi held his hands tightly.

‘How?’, Taekwoon looked at Ravi in confusion. How did the guy even managed to catch him? He was just running from so far away right now. ‘How did he manage to catch me?’

“Thank you for saving Joonie!”, Ravi said, now releasing Taekwoon and picking up the little girl.

Taekwoon just shook his head, trying to hide his blush. He had been watching this guy for so long and now, he was finally in front of him.

“Are you from here?”, Ravi asked.

Taekwoon shook his head again.

“G—go”, he made a word.

“Hmm?”, Ravi asked.

“I—ha—have—to—go”, with that Taekwoon ran back to the forest.

Ravi and the girl stared at each other in confusion.

I will finish this story later~~ :))