Hongbin sat up in his bed, breathing heavily. He took in deep breaths, and as he caught his breath, he brought his hand up to his face to wipe away the dripping sweat. His hair clung to his forehead and his arms were covered in a thin layer of film. 

He peered over the edge of the mattress, hoping to see Taekwoon. However, he saw a wolf curled up in the middle of the futon, nose tucked into his tail.

He briefly considered letting him sleep, but then recalled his dream. "Hey, wake up," he softly called. "Taekwoon-ah, hey, wake up!"

The other slowly opened his eyes. "Oh, hey, you're up," Taekwoon drowsily said, stretching himself well before getting comfortable in a sitting position. He then seemed to notice Hongbin's current state and shifted back. "Did something happen?" he asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Hongbin exhaled. "I had a dream..."

"Another dream?" Taekwoon asked.

Hongbin swallowed, nodding. "Yeah," he said. "This one was...different from the last one."

Taekwoon moved to sit cross legged. "What did you see?" he calmly inquired.

"It was like last time, I didn't have my senses," Hongbin said, unconsciously gripping the edge of the mattress. "But I was running. It was night, a full moon..."

"A full moon?" Taekwoon muttered. "Go on."

"I was...chasing something...I think."

"Did you manage to catch a glimpse of it?"

Hongbin shook his head. "It was too fast. All I was able to see was that it was deformed. It definitely had fangs though, and hair, a lot of hair."

"Anything else?"

Hongbin paused for a moment. "Red eyes," he said. "The thing had red eyes."

"Red eyes, deformed figure, fangs, fur..." Taekwoon narrowed his eyes. "What happened then?" 

Hongbin stopped for a while to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. "It started out with me just running," he explained. "Then I saw it front of me, I think I was chasing it. Then I was running alongside it. The only reason I was able to see anything was because of the moon."

"Then what?"

He gulped slightly. "Then it turned around and attacked me, everything spiraled into darkness, and I saw the white stag again." 

Taekwoon raised an eyebrow. "You saw the white stag?" he asked. "But you didn't see any hellhounds, did you?"

Hongbin shook his head. "None. Just the creature, the moon and the stag." 

Taekwoon leaned back slightly, holding his chin as he began to think and speculate. Hongbin leaned forward a bit. "What do you make of this?" he asked. 

"I'm-I'm not sure," Taekwoon admitted. "It's strange."

"Should we call Wonsik and Sanghyuk?" Hongbin asked.

"Now?" Taekwoon's eyes widened slightly. "No, let them sleep. We'll tell them in the morning."

Hongbin nodded. "Alright then," he said, his voice lowering. "What do we do now?"

"Us? We go back to sleep," Taekwoon said, stifling a yawn.

Hongbin hummed slightly before getting back into his bed, pulling the covers up to his chest as Taekwoon shifted back into a wolf and curled up on the floor. Hongbin furrowed his brows when he saw Taekwoon tucking his nose into his tail.

"Hey, why are you sleeping as a wolf?" he asked.

Taekwoon lifted his head for a minute before laying it back down again. 

"It helps keep the nightmares away."

"So who was that woman?"

Wonsik looked up from organizing his books to see Sanghyuk with his elbows on the table. "What are you doing?"

"You said you'd tell me what it was about, but you didn't," Sanghyuk pointed out. "Who was that person?"

Wonsik placed his stack of old books under the table. "It's long, and complicated."

"We have time."

Wonsik sighed. "Alright then, you win." Sanghyuk adjusted himself so he was listening intently. "The woman you saw was Jung Sooyeon," Wonsik explained. "She and her sister, Jung Soojung, grew up in this town."

"She treated you like she was close to you," Sanghyuk pointed out.

Wonsik shook his head. "Close? With me? No. But with Taekwoon-hyung and Hongbin-hyung? Oh yes."

Sanghyuk sat up slightly. "They're close with them?" 

Wonsik nodded. "They've known them since they were young boys. They were pretty attached to them, treated them like little brothers. Those two definitely have a soft spot for those two girls."

"So what happened?"

Wonsik shrugged. "Life happened," he said. "Five years ago, the two left for the US to study. Still came and visited a couple of times a year. While they're here, they help out at the convenience store their cousin runs."

"Five years ago..." Sanghyuk said in a low voice. "Isn't that the time you moved here?"

Wonsik hummed. "Pretty much around the same time. They left, and in a couple of months, I show up." He sighed softly. "To be honest, the first couple of months, I felt like a replacement, because Hongbin-hyung and Taekwoon-hyung felt lonely after Soojung-shi and Sooyeon-shi left."

"Is that why you're not close with them?"

Wonsik smiled softly, shaking his head. "Not really, it has nothing to do with that." He sat down on the chair, finally. "I don't have to be close with everyone they're close with. We do have our other circles apart from each other."

"Did they know?" Sanghyuk continued to inquire. 

"No, they didn't," Wonsik explained. 

"Why? They knew them long, didn't they?"

Wonsik exhaled lightly. "I don't know a lot, all I know is that it was the Alpha's decision. She didn't want to burden anybody who was human and not connected with our world." 

"Why?"

"You're pretty inquisitive today, aren't you?" Wonsik asked. He leaned against the back of the chair. "The thing about our world is...it's nightmares come to life. Everything we were told as children, all the scary stories, the monsters under the bed? The fact that they all exist...is....frankly disturbing for most people. You and I should know that first and foremost, right?"

Sanghyuk nodded. "While there are some people who can handle this knowledge and prove to be an asset, most can't. The truth is terrifying, soul crushing. If they manage to survive an attack from a supernatural creature, they'll go their whole lives seeing the supernatural everywhere they go."

"I know," Sanghyuk said. "That's why my dad didn't tell my mom about it, because he knew she wouldn't be able to handle it."

"Now you know why the Alpha preferred to just assume that mortals should be kept in the dark," Wonsik said. "According to her, the fewer people know about us, the better."

Sanghyuk pursed his lips a bit. "You really respected Hongbin's mother, huh?" he softly said. "Was she that good of a leader?"

Wonsik hid a faint smile. "You don't know the half of it," he said. "Personally, I can't even explain to you what she was like, it would all be an understatement." He looked up, sobering. "But that's why we expected a lot from Hongbin, because he was trained by her so well."

"Is he doing well?" Sanghyuk asked.

Wonsik took in a deep breath. "He's a natural leader, that one," he said. "His only problem is that he keeps comparing himself to his mother. He feels like he can't live up to her."

"Can he?"

Wonsik faintly smiled. "You should see him when his mind isn't holding him back," he said. "I'd dare say he's better than his mother."