Chapter 2: Her

The sun had risen up the sky, illuminating the path that Yein was walking through. It was another normal day - boring, boring, boring. He travelled from place to place for a month, waiting for people to wander carelessly in the woods or going into a village and fooling the unsuspecting preys. He made sure that he would not attack a village in two consecutive nights to make sure that he would not raise suspicion. What was he doing it for? Necessity? Pleasure? It did not really matter for Yein anymore. Before, more than the taste of flesh and blood, he enjoyed his prey's screams of agony as they breathed their last. However, as time passed by, he stopped feeling the pleasure and hunting was just another task to do in order to survive.

'Survive. What for?' A tiny voice in his head asked but the lycan was too busy thinking of a strategy to have a time to waste on insignificant thoughts. He would survive for the sake of surviving. Other than that, reasons are not needed - at least, that's what he thought.

Music and chants filled his surroundings as he entered the temple where a crowd gathered. He managed to hide a smug grin on his face as he watched the shamans dance as part of the ceremony. 'If praying can kill me, then I would have died ages ago. This just looks really funny.' It was out of curiosity that he stayed to finish the whole ritual. It was not the first time that he had seen one but it had been decades since he had watched something like that. 'Should I hunt one of the shamans? That would be really ironic.' A smile slipped on his face at the thought but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Anyone would actually do as long as he could feed himself but there would be times like this when he would be picky to keep things exciting.

After the ceremony, he wandered around the temple for a while, waiting for the perfect time and waiting for the perfect victim - perhaps, an unguarded careless shaman would just walk out by herself, either unaware or not caring about the possible consequence. Perhaps, it was because he was near the temple that his prayers were heard to quickly. Someone who fit the description appeared in front of him, striding outside the temple and heading towards the direction of the nearest well.

"Hm..." He hummed, his lips pressed into a smile. "But I should not let my guard down. Shamans can't be that careless, right? She must have something up her sleeves." He muttered to himself and stealthily followed her, making sure that she would not notice his presence. There were barely people passing by the road but he was careful enough not to raise suspicion.

They arrived at the well and the shaman was humming a silly tune while Yein was silently observing her from behind a tree. 'I was worried for nothing. This looks like an easy kill.' He let out a sigh of disappointment. Despite it being the perfect opportunity to attack, he found himself being frozen in place. Instead, he just stood still, observing the human - her annoying humming voice, her clumsy way of holding the jar as she fetched the water, her average face that looked no more attractive than the rest. There is nothing special about her except that he seemed to have lost the energy to move and launch an attack and that was the first time it happened.

'Does she have some kind of Talisman? That can't be. Talismans are not effective against lycans like me. I've encountered plenty of them before.' As his thoughts were occupied with hypotheses on what was going on with him, his body moved unconsciously but carefully, following the female who was on her way back to the temple. 'Or is it their prayer? Since they've been doing it for more than a hundred years now, the heavens or whatever they're praying to must have heard them already. Now, I'm making less sense.'

"Ugh" He stopped his tracks when the girl grunted as she tripped down on the road. He was reading her too much. She seemed nothing but a shaman with only air in her head. At this point, he had already forgotten what his original intention was. He walked towards the female and extended out his hand, offering help.

"Miss, are you all right?" He spoke in a gentle voice, a manner of speaking that he learned so humans could easily trust him. Needless to say, it had always been effective. However, this time, it did not matter for his main problem was himself. 'We are this close but I can't bring myself to attack. Am I getting old?'

"I-I'm fine," replied the Shaman. She was stubborn and had a really high pride, traits which Yein thought do not really fit for someone as clumsy as her.

After much convincing, the female finally let him help. He accompanied her to the well, helped her with her wounds and accompanied her back to the temple. There are two things that he learned while conversing with her: Her name is Jinseong - a name which he would not like to forget, and she loathes him - not that it was a surprise. As a lycan, he had always been hated by every single human that he encountered. After all, who would accept someone who mercilessly kills their kind? Those two things that he learned were of no help in figuring out what was going on with him.

"Oh well, I should just go back to their village tomorrow." Yein was already back in the woods and he was sitting on a branch of a tall tree, his back leaning against the trunk as he gazed upon the moon light. Without realizing, he was humming a tune - that same silly tune he heard Jinseong humming. "I may be damned."

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The next morning, Yein was awaken by the sound of his growling stomach. Skipping his meal for a whole day made him hungry, a reminder that his hunting was not only for the excitement but also for his necessity. He let out a sigh before jumping down from the tree and changing his clothes to more decent ones. "Should I just give up on hunting Jinseong and go for someone else? I might end up starving myself if I continue acting like I did yesterday." Talking to himself had always been a habit whenever he's alone. His voice was soft enough for anyone to hear. "But I must find answers." 

So, off he go back to the village and back to the human who caught his interest. It did not take too long to find her, thanks to his hunting ability. He saw her at the marketplace, admiring some of the jewelries for trading together with another shaman. Yein casually approached her, a smile spread across his lips. As he walked towards her, their eyes meet and Jinseong cheerfully returned the smile.

"Good day." Yein greeted and bowed at the two shamans politely.

"Good morning." Jinseong greeted back with a bow then introduced her friend, "This is Chiwon, a really close friend of mine," She then glanced at her friend. "And Chiwon, this is Yein, the person I was telling you about yesterday - the one who helped me carry the jars of water."

"I see." Chiwon bowed towards him, smiling. "It's nice meeting you, sir."

"The pleasure's mine." Yein replied at the acquaintance with a nod then turned his gaze to Jinseong. She looked brighter than she was the previous day. 'Is it because the sun shines brighter on this side of the village?' "You seem enthusiastic." He thought that he was the type to be careful with his words so he was surprised to notice Jinseong's expression stiffen at his statement.

"What do you mean by that? I always look enthusiastic."

"I don't mean anything offensive by that." He chuckled out of nervousness - a feeling which he rarely had. "You just looked a bit snobby yesterday or is it because I met you at the wrong time?" He quickly jumped off to another topic, not giving her a chance to argue. "By the way, how are your knees? Can you walk all right now?"

"Yes, thank you for your concern." She still had the stiff expression on her face so it was difficult for Yein to tell whether she was genuinely grateful or not. Empathy was not exactly his best trait. "Anyway, it was nice seeing you again. Chiwon and I have some errands to do so we must get going."

"If you want to talk more, I am willing to finish the errand by myself." Chiwon said with a cheeky smile, wiggling her eyebrows at her best friend. 

"I can't let you do that." Jinseong squinted her eyes at her friend.

"Come on, I owe you lots so just let me pay back this one time." Chiwon replied, the smile not fading away. Yein just watched the two of them while trying to figure out what they were thinking. Again, empathy was never his best trait. 

"But..."

"It's all right. The beast can't possibly be here at the marketplace with this crowd of people. Just meet me at the entrance once you're done." Chiwon said then bowed at Yein. "It's nice meeting you. I hope to see you again." She then disappeared among the crowd while Yein just watched the whole thing silently.

'They're scared of the beast so they stick together in doing errands, I see. I'm not sure what happened but it's a good opportunity for me since I'm alone with Jinseong.' He was snapped out of his thoughts when Jinseong began to speak.

"I'm sorry about Chiwon. I hope you don't find it weird that she suddenly left us alone. I don't even think we have anything to talk about." She said, rubbing her nape and staring at Yein's facial features. She had been doing that since the previous day and Yein did not really mind but he would feel 'funny' every time. After a long pause, Jinseong continued, "So, um, what brought you here?"

"I was just exploring the village and I ended up in this marketplace." Yein replied, turning his gaze from her to the jewelries that she was previously admiring. They looked nothing special in his eyes. 

"Exploring the village? Are you not from here?"

"No, I'm not. I'm a traveller and I just happened to pass by this small village. It's interesting, I must say." He glanced at her, who was staring at him with a curious expression. "I might stay around for a while longer."

"Wow, you are interesting." She finally smiled and Yein let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. "Where are you originally from?"

"Does that matter?" He watched as she wrinkled her nose at the response. "I mean, it's not really a big deal. I'm more curious about you."

"There's nothing to be curious about. I'm just me." She replied rather flatly. But that was exactly what Yein was curious about. It's just "her" but for some reason, his hunting abilities seem to go dull whenever she's around.

"Then, I'm curious about what is 'just you'." He figured he was too vague when Jinseong stayed silent and stared at him with a confused expression. "Mind if we take a walk? Or will you trip on nothing again?"

"Are you saying offensive things on purpose? Of course, I don't mind walking." She answered with a soft laugh. "And I still don't think there's anything to be curious about myself but if you have anything you want to know, then I may or may not mind answering."

Yein was not sure what to ask her since it was not like he could ask her about his problem directly. However, when they started walking, words just came out naturally from his mouth and for a moment, he felt like another human having another normal conversation. "Hm... like why did you become a shaman?"

"You're not from here so you wouldn't have known but my family is known to be a family of shaman. My mother used to be the head shaman and it's only natural for her only child to train for the title." She said rather proudly. "I still have a long way to go though."

"Your mother used to be? So, she isn't the head shaman anymore?"

"Yeah, well, " She paused, gave Yein a glance then looked back to the front before hesitantly continuing, "She's already dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He wasn't but he found himself trying to be polite.

"Don't be." Her lips were pressed into a thin line as she struggled to show a smile. "It's been ages and she was already old anyway. The heavens might have wanted to end her suffering already."

"The heavens, huh?" Yein muttered, a little confused but decided to drop the topic. "Do you like what you're doing, as a shaman?"

"I can't say I like it but I can't say I don't either. It's the only thing I've ever done my whole life and the only thing I'll ever do in my whole life." She replied with a chuckle, lightly passing on the topic. Yein, nodded in response, lost for words at the moment. Perhaps, despite being different creatures, they had some similarities. Hunting was the only thing that he knew how to do and will do. It was not like they were given a choice.