CHAPTER ONE

 

A strong stench of dried-up grass, a mixture of dirt and soil, the sound of wood creaking about...

Where am I?

His ears were ringing and his head was pounding painfully.

I want to throw up...

The boy opens his eyes, seeing nothing but the darkness around him. He's inside somewhere but he couldn't see much. He could barely make sense of his surroundings and as soon as he stood up, he felt the dizziness.

He sees a slit of light to the side in front of him and tries to reach for it.

A door?

He pushes open the door and as soon as he does, the night chills breeze across him, sending an uneasy chill down his spine.

"What the f... where am I?" he thought aloud. He turns back to see what he came out from, which looked like a tiny shack at the back of a large open field. But how did he get there?

His head started to throb again while he tried to digest the situation.

Okay, calm down Han Jisung. Think. What happened and how did you get here? The last thing I remember doing was...

He remembers. And it wasn't a good memory.

"ing Hwang Hyunjin! He didn't have to push me down- wait..." a thought triggered.

I'm not dead or something, am I? he gulps nervously as he starts to come to a realization.

But the afterlife looked too real and strange as if he got transported to somewhere unknown.

It didn't look like either heaven or hell. In fact, it looked just like any countryside from back home.

After a brief moment, Jisung finally decided to look around. He had nothing on him and he was dressed in a rather strange attire. Rather than his school uniform, he was wearing a navy-blue top that resembles a hanbok, a little shorter though, with a sash tied around his waist, and his pants were a little loose which made it easy to walk around. But aside from his clothes, he had nothing else, not even a loose change. He felt as if he time-travelled somehow, but nothing really made sense. What happened to his school uniform?

Haha... rather than dead, it looks more like I got mugged... he tries to joke around to comfort himself in this strange situation.

The more he thought about it, the stranger he thought the situation was. He walked far from the shack he woke up from and saw a small village in the distance. As he got closer, the village looked more like it came out of a historical Korean TV drama rather than modern times. And that's when a small denial clicked him.

No... it can't be. Things like this only happen in dramas, not real life, right? I didn't like... time travel or something after I died, did I? Did I get 'isekai-ed'? Jisung thought about all the anime he's been watching lately.

Did that influence this dream-like feeling he was getting?

Haha... no way, can't be, right? He laughed nervously to himself like a fool.

Jisung started to get more worried as he got closer to a village in the distance.

It was eerie and quiet throughout the village and the night was cold. Not a single soul was around, leaving Jisung standing in the middle of the dirt road alone in fear. He tries to find someone for help but all the doors were shut and not a single light was lit.

"Hello? Is anyone around?" Jisung called out but in a rather quiet voice due to fear and cowardice.

No response. Human or ghost, all had already gone to bed.

Dammit, what am I doing? He asks himself in frustration. He was confused and irritated but more than that, he was lonely.

He lost strength in his knees to stay standing, he crouched over and stared at the ground. He didn't know where to go or where he was, to begin with. Everything felt so unreal yet real at the same time, he felt sick just thinking about it.

Why am I here? If I'm dead, just let me be. I hate this so much! He almost felt like crying. If it wasn't for Hyunjin... Dammit, Hwang Hyunjin!

Then, a suspicious sound approached from behind. It sounded like something was being dragged along the muddy pathway and slowly coming towards his way.

Jisung jolted and every ounce of sadness he had vanished into thin air as he turned around nervously to look behind him.

From the distance, at the end of the road was a dark figure making its way slowly towards him.

W-what... is that... his instincts told him to hide, fast. He didn't know what it was in the distance but it can't be trusted. There was no time to mope.

He looked left and right for a place to hide.

He quickly fled into an alleyway and climbed into a large wooden barrel just enough for his small body to hide in. Burying himself inside it, with only a bit of room to see what was going on.

His heart was pounding loudly, his body was trembling from the uneasiness as the sound grew louder and closer. It didn't sound like any footsteps and it didn't sound 'heavy'. Instead, it sounded as if something wet and slimy was being forcefully dragged along. It sounded sickening.

Is it dragging something? He heard something scratching against the gravel and hitting the stranded rocks along the path.

He hid still, afraid to move and too afraid to make even the slightest of sound. Then, a figure stopped in front of him on the streets.

It was black from top to bottom, its limbs were long, arms drooping down to the ground and its face... it didn't have one. It stood like a human but slouched forward as if its hideous face could touch the floor. Rather than human, it was more like a monster.

Yes, a monster. That's what it was.

W-What is that thing? Jisung couldn't believe his eyes. He covered his mouth to prevent himself from making a sound as he watched the 'thing' sway its body back and forth as if it was scanning its surroundings for something.

Jisung has watched enough horror and nature documentaries to know that that 'thing' was looking for food.

A predator.

And if Jisung didn't stay still and quiet, he would become its prey.

He gulped slowly and nervously.

I'm dead. I have to be dead. If I'm not dead, then what the is that? It's not hunting for me, is it?

Then, the thing started to turn its head in different directions, as if it was sniffing out whatever. It turned its head right toward where Jisung was hiding, causing his heart to pound even louder.

What do I do? Do I run? But can I really outrun that thing? Knowing how non-athletic he was, he had doubts about making it far even if he took off running immediately. But if he doesn't run, he'll definitely be killed or eaten alive.

The thing started to approach him closer and closer, dragging its limbs toward his direction.

Ugh! It's coming this way. Is it because I'm in a barrel? Why's I hide in a barrel of all places? Damn barrel! If he was to get eaten alive now, who does he blame? The darn barrel he so happened to get inside of, out of convenience?

I'm so dead.

Unable to look at what was in front of him any longer and simply accepting his fate, he squeezed his eyes shut.

And just as he was about ready to meet his doom, a loud gunshot hit the thing and sent it flying.

Jisung opened his eyes again out of curiosity and saw the thing lying and twitching on the ground. It left a lot of black ooze around its body but it remained motionless.

Footsteps were coming from the other side and walking towards where the 'monster' was.

"Seriously, can a man get any sleep at all?"  a male voice said with an obviously annoyed tone.

"Let's get this over with and go back to HQ. We can get some sleep after," there was another man there.

Who? Jisung who continued hiding grew curious and peeked his head out from the barrel a little to see who they were.

Two men came into his vision and carried a bundle of chains with them. They stood in front of the monster without fear and were making sure that the monster was chained up so that it can't even budge a little.

"This thing has been lurking around for a while, huh?" one of the men said.

"Glad the villagers called in early or else we would end up missing it again," the other also stood next to him.

Jisung squinted his eyes to see a little further and when he could make out the faces of the two men who had just captured the monster lurking around, he was shocked.

"Minho-hyung? Chan-hyung?" he accidentally said out loud after seeing two familiar faces.

"Who's there?!"

Alarmed, the two men turned toward Jisung and approached him. One of them knew exactly where the voice was hiding and reached into the barrel, grabbing and pulling Jisung's body out of hiding. The men pulled the barrel out into the open to get a better look.

As soon as he was forced into the lights and made out the faces of the two men more clearly, he couldn't believe it.

"H-hyung...?" Jisung couldn't hide his obviously shocked face. His ready eyes caught the two men by surprise but unlike Jisung, who seems to be familiar with them, the two of them were clueless,

"Who are you?" the man who looked like Lee Minho asked. He didn't seem very pleased to find a peeping Tom in the middle of the night.

The two strangers, who look exactly like Jisung's sunbae, Lee Minho and Bang Chan, got him confused. But neither of them recognizes Jisung.

Same face but are completely different people. They wore strange black outfits with golden embellishments like a uniform of some sort, different hairstyles from the sunbae that Jisung remembers and their attitude felt unusual.

"What do you mean who I am?" Jisung sprinted towards them. He was so relieved to see familiar faces. "I-"

"Stay where you are," the Minho-look alike said as he held up a long-barrel pistol right in front of Jisung's face.

"Is it human?" the other asked his partner as he gripped the hilt of his giant cleaver just in case.

"He might be a shapeshifter, trying to trick us. Don't let your guard down Chan-hyung."

Chan-hyung? Their names... Jisung was confused but he stepped back out of caution. Something wasn't right for sure because the Minho-hyung he knew would never point a gun at him and look at him so coldly.

"W-wait?" Jisung said in panic. "I'm human! I swear! I-"

"You?"

The two men looked at the boy scrunched in a small posture and trying to drag the rest of his body out from the barrel left them dumbfounded. As they watch Jisung struggle in such a comedic way, made the two start to doubt that they've caught another monster.

"I lost my memories!" Jisung began to spurt out nonsense.

That's right! That's how they do it in dramas, right? If I say I lost my memories, surely that'll get me out of this.

Jisung wasn't particularly smart but he was quick-witted and lucky for him, he spent a lot of time at home watching enough dramas to learn a few cliche tricks or two.

"You're ing with me, right?" the Minho-look alike didn't look convinced and in fact, his brows twitched from annoyance.

"I-I'm not!" Jisung shouted. "Please, believe me! I don't know where I am or how I got here!"

That part wasn't a lie at least.

"Wait, Minho-ah," Chan stopped him. "I don't think he's a monster. Even Shapeshifters  aren't this eloquent."

Chan? Minho? Their names are the same! Jisung realized immediately. But... they're not my sunbae for sure... so where the f- never mind, let's get out of this situation one way or another before they kill me.

"I can only remember my name, it's Han Jisung. I don't remember where I came from and if anything, I want to ask something."

"Ask away," Chan said.

"Am I ... dead?"

"Huh?"

Minho and Chan looked at the clueless and lost boy, then looked at each other and sighed for a moment. Minho put away his gun and Chan also put his cleaver back into its case.

"I trust you're not a monster, but I can also assure you, you're alive. At least, you look pretty alive to me," Chan said and held his hands out. "Can you stand up?"

Though the older man isn't the same Chan-hyung Jisung recognizes, he still has the same warm smile his sunbae did.

"Thank you," Jisung said and finally felt relieved for once.

"You said your name is Han Jisung?" Minho asked.

"Yes! You can just call me Jisung! Or Han if that's easier," Jisung gleamed an innocent smile at the two, making it hard for them to suspect anything.

"You really don't remember how you got here?" Chan asked.

"Mhmm! I just found myself here the moment I woke up!"

"Hmm... then, you have nowhere to go?"

Jisung nodded frantically and desperately.

"Then, I guess we have no choice," Chan said.

"Wait, hyung. You're not serious, are you?" Minho seemed hesitant.

"It can't be helped, right? If we leave this kid here, he's gonna either be eaten by one of the Crawlers or taken away by another Ghoul. One way or another, don't you think he'd be safer with us until we figure out where to put him?"

Crawler? Ghoul? What? Jisung was very confused and looked at the two. Never mind, safety first!

"Take me with you! It's too scary out here!" Jisung pleaded as he held onto Chan's sleeves.

The older two looked at each other and gave it some thought. In defeat, Minho agreed and the two decided to bring Jisung back with them.




 

Despite the old traditional setup of the countryside, the two young men had a pretty sturdy and modern vehicle that even came with a navigation system and radio. The vehicle had large road tires and was slightly narrow but enough to plough through the rocky countryside roads which resembled a Jeep. And when Jisung glanced from the back seat at Minho and Chan, he noticed that one had a pistol and the other with a large cleaver that was now sitting next to Jisung in the back.

This is like I'm in some sort of RPG video game. Trippy... Jisung was quite astounded.

"So, how old are you? Do you remember that at least?" Minho asked.

"I'm in high school," Jisung blurted out without a second thought.

"High school? What's that? Some sort of school?" Minho was utterly confused.

"Oh um, I think I'm around 17," Jisung tried to correct himself.

"Oh?" Minho gave the boy a suspicious stare. He was totally not buying into Jisung's crap.

"Minho, stop it. You're scaring him," Chan pulled him back. "Stop being suspicious of everything. Anyways, Jisung, right? We're going to take you back to HQ first to check you in."

"HQ?" Jisung asked.

"Hunter's Society, our headquarters. Where we work."

"Hunters? Can I ask what your job is? What was that thing back there?"

"What you saw back there was a Ghoul. How should I describe it? It's like a demon of some sort but eats human flesh to survive. But don't worry, despite their appearance, they're easy to take care of," Chan said with a smile. Jisung didn't know whether to feel assured or not.

Even his demeanour is the same as Chan-hyung, Jisung thought.

"As for what we do, we're bounty hunters. Not for humans though. We hunt demons, monsters, and whatever supernatural thing you can think of. And the Hunter's Society is our headquarters where we report in and get new cases from," Chan said.

"Wow..." Jisung thought it was ridiculous and absurd but he kept his mouth shut. "So, are there a lot of those things out there?"

"Hmm, not usually. But the blue moon will be out soon, so their activities have increased recently," Chan continued to explain.

"Is that bad?"

"In a way, 'yes'. The blue moon affects all of us, humans or not. But this year, the red sun will be out at the same time so it's extra dangerous. We've already informed everyone to be cautious this year and get inside immediately once the sun sets. These creatures are the most active at night."

Blue moon? Red sun? What does that mean? Jisung looked at the sky towards the direction of the moon but the night was particularly cloudy and he couldn't see anything at all.

"You don't know about it?" Minho caught on and looked at the boy suspiciously.

"H-huh?"

, he's so suspicious of everything! Think of something quick!

"I-I lost my memories, remember? I don't have any recollection of those kinds of things!"

Jisung said immediately to shake off Minho's wary gaze.

"Uh, um, then you guys must be busy," Jisung tried to change the topic quickly.

"I guess so. But we were so bored until recently, so I guess that's okay. Heh~" Chan responded nonchalantly. It seems like he wasn't afraid of this kind of work and it seems like he's rather used to it.

Minho didn't comment on anything else but Jisung could feel it, the latter was definitely suspecting him still. One small hiccup could give him away immediately.

As the car kept going, Jisung looked out the window to see the mountains and forest around him. Born and growing up in a large city, this kind of nature was hard to come by. And strangely enough, it was fascinating.

Even though we made a promise to go camping together in the summer... I guess that's impossible now, huh? Jisung suddenly thought about his friends back home.

You know what? Forget it. Hwang Hyunjin! And here I thought we were friends. Why'd he go and do that? You happy now? I'm dead, or not. Or whatever.  Bet he's crying like a baby somewhere because of it too.

Jisung cracked up to himself imagining Hyunjin's face in his head both crying messily and just being a mess without him. But moments later, Jisung also felt really bad.

What's he going to do without me by his side? Jisung became more worried now than angry.

Chan and Minho looked back at Jisung, the boy who seemed to be amused one minute and solemn the next.

"We didn't bring a crazy person with us, did we?" Minho whispered to Chan.

Chan raised his brows, looked back at Jisung and then back at Minho. He simply smiled awkwardly with a shrug as he continued to drive.




 

After several hours, a few stops in between, the three of them finally reached Hunter's Society. The sun had already risen by the time Jisung woke up from his slumber in the back seat.

"We're here," Chan said and kindly opened the door for Jisung. 

Jisung followed behind but was still half asleep. The sun was so bright he wanted to just scurry back in the car for another nap. But he followed anyway and eventually, after passing a large black gate in front of him, he finally saw the HQ which the Chan and Minho-look-alikes kept talking about.

And the moment Chan stepped up to the porch of the front entrance, the doors opened automatically.

"Welcome back," a young lady said in the reception area.

"Thanks," Chan said and reported in. "Where's the boss?"

"He should be in his office right now-" the lady paused and noticed an unfamiliar face hiding behind Chan and Minho. "Who?"

"We found him. Thought to report it in and hopefully the boss can help."

"But," the lady seemed worried and wary of Jisung.

"Don't worry. We'll take care of it," Chan reassured her.

"Ok..."

Jisung didn't utter a word. He's an outsider after all. The entire Hunter's Society was like a completely different world within another world.

Unlike the countryside he was in just last night, this place was filled with people, modern technology with a mix of history. People seemed quite dandy with black uniforms that looked like both a suit and a hanbok. It was so weird but fascinating at the same time. The lobby they walked up to to check in was huge with tall pillars and curved staircases on the left and right. If Alice ended up in Wonderland, then Jisung ended up in a crazier place. He felt so small and insignificant standing in the middle of such a magnificent structure. That's what was going on in his head.

"Here, take this," Chan gave a set of keys to Jisung.

"What's this?" Jisung looked at it curiously.

"We have vacant rooms in the North Hall where you can stay for the time being. It seems that the Director is away on a business trip and won't be back for a few days. He'll decide what to do with you after he gets back."

"Um, he's not going to like, bury me alive or anything, is he?" Jisung gulped nervously.

"Don't worry. Our boss might look intimidating but he's a big softy on the inside. He'll know what's best to do with you. Plus, you have nowhere to go right? So, it's safest to stay here," Chan said with his typical reassuring smile.

He really is like Chan-hyung, Jisung thought as he stared at the older man with short red hair like flames.

"Just don't wander to places you're not allowed to, especially at night," Minho warned him.

And he's nothing like the Minho-hyung I know. What's with that attitude? The Minho-hyung I know is a tsundere but he's not this cold, Jisung hated it.

Left alone, Jisung could finally relax in his room. He looked out the window, staring at the mountains in the distance, the courtyard that connects all of the sectors of the main atrium and the sun fully out. Last night felt like a dream yet here he was, still in one piece thankfully.

"How am I really not dead? No, I must be," he told himself. "This whole thing is insane! I bet we're all dead and they just don't know it themselves. Monsters? Hunters? How can falling down a set of stairs bring me to this place? I have to be dead."

He seemed quite firm on this decision but giving it some other thought, he didn't like the idea of actually being dead either.

"Seriously, Hyunjin, why the hell did you do that?" Jisung still couldn't let it go. He couldn't figure it out. "It took us so many twists and turns just to be friends. You even said that you're thankful for being friends with me. I'm the same too."

So, why did you start avoiding me? Jisung scratched his head.

He plopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Dead or alive, I guess it doesn't matter now. I don't even know how to get back...

"What am I going to do now?"

He asked himself once more as he slowly drifted into slumber.