“Mother, it has been five years since you left us for heaven. Father has been sick ever since. And I’m all alone. Everyone is afraid of me” said a twenty years old woman as she opened her mask that had been hiding her face for the past twenty years. She wanted to show her mother how beautiful she was.

 

“Why does Gradiaan hates beautiful people? Why do they want to kill us?” said the young pretty woman as she put a bucket of blue roses. “I have done nothing wrong. Your daughter has been a good girl up until now” she said. She held a white strand of her hair. “Is it sinful to have a beautiful face?” she asked then bit her lips.

 

Lee Seuk already told her that she actually was beautiful when she was fifteen years old and she should hide her face no matter what because Gradiaan hated beauty and would kill her if they found out the truth behind the mask of her face. She actually didn’t know the real reason why the Gradiaans wanted to kill the beauties. Her father didn’t want to tell her no matter what.

 

Seully sighed heavily. She never thought that her life would be this difficult. Because of her looks, she had to spend her time in solitude, having no friend at all. She was lonely. Everyone liked to bully her because she always hid her face. They called her ‘Ugly Mask’ girl. She hated herself for having this cursed hair which looked like those of mystical creatures that lurked in the forest at night.

 

She never left the house unless it was morning and necessary. Other than that time, she spent most of her time in her room. Her house was the farthest from Gradian village and it was near to the accursed forest which was known as the ‘Black Forest’. She didn’t know why she was drawn to going to that dark place. She felt like that there was someone or something calling for her at night from the ‘Black Forest’. She felt like she needed to go there.

 

She had been hearing that voices every night and now it was frequent. She didn’t know that she could handle it anymore. It always woke her up from her dream. Her father once said that she was found lying near to the entrance to the Black Forest that morning. She told him that she had a weird dream of a man with same hair colour as hers, calling for her to go with him into the Forest. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

 

The wind was blowing very hard. It was as if something bad was going to happen. Seully looked at her surroundings. It was very suspicious. She didn’t even bother to wear back her cape and mask.

 

“Seully, you poor lonely girl”

 

Seully turned to the source of the voice. It came from the Black Forest. Seully somehow wanted to enter that forbidden forest. She felt drawn to it. That voice belonged to a male.

 

“Seully, come with us and you won’t be alone again”

 

She kept walking nearer to the forest as she was being possessed by something. Her stares were blank and lifeless. It was as if the voice that made her like that.

 

“You are nothing like those filthy humans. You belong to us”

 

She nearly entered the forest when someone tapped her on her shoulder. “Seully, what are you doing?” the voice belonged to a middle aged man. Seully was shocked and surprised.

 

‘They’ve found out’ thought Seully at an instant. The Gradiaans would kill her for this. They would never let her alive if they found out the ugly truth about Seully’s real face. She forgot to wear her cape and mask.

 

Seully turned her face and gulped nervously. It was her father, Lee Seuk. Seully heaved out a sigh of relief. Her father put on a cape on her head. “Why do you take off your mask?” said Lee Seuk. Seully looked at her father and felt slightly guilty. She didn’t even noticed how his father would have felt if he was to lose someone he loved for the second time again.

 

Seully picked the mask that had been covering half of her face for twenty years and wore it. “I’m sorry, father” said Seully, looking at the ground. Her father hugged her all of a sudden and startled the poor young girl. “I don’t want to lose you, my daughter” said Lee Seuk.

 

“Don’t ever think about entering the Black Forest again” said Lee Seuk as if he knew what was going on in her head for the whole time. “Yes, I won’t” said Seully. With that they went to their house away from any other villager’s.

====

 

“What do you hear that time?” asked her father all of a sudden, making Seully to drop her spoon. “Nothing”, lied Seully. She didn’t want her father to find out what had been attracting her to the Black Forest. It was because her mother did the same thing too. Her mother had been missing for two days and only to find her lying almost dying near the Black Forest. Few days after, her mother died of an unknown disease even the Village witch doctor couldn’t do anything about it.

 

That was the reason why her mother’s grave situated near the Black Forest’s boundaries. Her father, Lee Seuk, held her hand tight. “I don’t want to lose you” said Lee Seuk. Seully couldn’t stare into her father’s eyes. She let her white bangs hid her blue eyes.

 

Seully wanted to leave the table when her father said something. “Your mother heard voices too, calling for her from the Black Forest”

 

Seully’s eyes widened with shock and fear. “Am I going to die?” she thought to herself. It was as if her father knew what was she thinking, he hugged her from her back. “Don’t worry, my child. Father will protect you”

 

Seully was scared. She had never been this scared for her whole life. She was alone and she was going to die alone. Just like she had to be. “Father, I’m scared” she cried.

 

Her father caressed her head just like he did when his daughter cried when his wife died. To him, she was still a baby. Her little and small daughter. “Go to your room and get some sleep”

 

She was in her room, staring into the ceiling. She couldn’t fall asleep. She reached for the sky. That night, the sky was the darkest among all of other nights. She was wondering why did her mother died. She noticed that when she was small, her mother looked more like human day by day.

 

She could hear a male voice. This time it was different than that of other night. It was as if it was someone else’s. It was soft and tingling to her heart content.

 

Lonely girl,

Please come with us,

Come with us…

 

He was singing. Seully ran to her window and scanned outside of her house to see who the owner of the voices was. It was nostalgic and the wind looked as if it was dancing to the song.

 

Pretty girl,

You belong to me,

My fair lady…

 

Seully could see a silhouette from the Black Forest. It was a man. She couldn’t figure out the face since it was too far away but she was pretty clear that she could see his eyes. It was crimson red. And it was fierce as if it wanted to eat her soul and mind. And it was full of evil.

 

He called her name softly but it was loud enough for her alone to hear it.

 

“Seully, don’t let them get you” that man warned and he left. Seully felt that she needed to see that man no matter what.

 

‘What does he mean by ‘them’?’ thought Seully as she picked her red cape and mask.

 

By the time, she arrived at the border of the so-called accursed forest, she couldn’t enter it. She could feel something binding each of her limbs. Fear overwhelmed her greatly.

 

“What do you mean by ‘them’? Who are they?” shouted Seully nervously. She summoned all of her energy to ask the mysterious man. She still couldn’t make out his face from the silhouette and the darkness of the night. The man disappeared into the darkness of the Black Forest. Before he disappeared entirely, he said something to Seully which made Seully trembling all over.

 

“There will be a time when you know everything you needed to know….” he said as he extended his hand to Seully and thus earned a confused look from Seully. She wanted to reach for his hand but it was too far. And he disappeared into the darkness completely.

 

[Seully’s POV]

 

All of a sudden without my notice, I was at the centre of the village I grew up. But how did I come here. I saw an old lady and I was trying to talk to her but instead she ran away from me shouting “There’s a demon”

 

“Demon?” I thought. I was not a demon. I was a human just like all of them. It was as if the woman’s scream like a siren, everyone ran away from me. Why did they run away from me?

 

No words come out from me. I couldn’t say something. I felt my movements were being controlled by someone. Why was it?

 

I took a sight of myself in a mirror and was shocked with the sight of my own. It couldn’t be. This was a dream. I could see a monster, a demon in the mirror. I was a werewolf. Without further thought, I destroyed the mirror in front of me.

 

The thirst in my throat was burning like hell and it was hurting me. I felt hungry and I couldn’t think straight right now. All I need was meat. Human flesh. I was trying to stop myself from hurting the villagers.

 

Something caught my eyes. It was a male. Someone named Zico. He had been acting mean towards me. He even threw stones at me when I was small. He never liked me. He hated me for being ugly. I was holding a grudge against him. I hated him. I despised him.

 

Human like him should not be born to this world. So I let this body to be controlled by someone. I ran to him and caught him and crushed him in my fists. I was three times larger than any human being. I sank my fang onto his neck and bit him, draining blood from his body. After that, I ate his flesh. I didn’t know why it felt so blissful to taste human’s blood and flesh.

 

I wanted more. ‘So this is blood tastes like’ I thought as blood drip down from my mouth. I was out of control. But it was then; I smelled a strong scent of blood. It was very delicious. It drove me mad. So I headed to that scent of blood.

 

I was no longer the master of this body. The desire to eat human’s flesh was overlapping. I didn’t know if I could take control back of this body. ‘Damn, this is my house’ I thought. I could see from the window of my room, a girl wearing red cape and a mask.

 

‘Is that me?’ I thought to myself. ‘Then why I’m in this body?’

 

The girl was startled to look at me. Or I would rather say, Human me was startled to look at Monster me. She escaped to the Black Forest before I took hold of her.

 

I could see a group of people coming towards me. It was the village headman. Lee Joo Min. he brought along with him a group of angry villagers. They brought weapons with them.

 

“We will kill you, werewolf” said Joo Min. I attacked most of them and they managed to wound me. I howled, calling for help.

 

“We must kill this thing before it calls for the others” said Joo Min. It was full moon. I was turning into my human form slowly.

 

“He becomes weak. We have to take this opportunity to kill this demon” said one of the remaining villagers.

 

I was outnumbered. So I decided to run away from the villagers before they killed me.

 

Without hesitation, I went into the Black Forest and encountered with a human me. Without hesitation, I changed into werewolf again and tried to eat her when a dark mythical creature attacked me all of a sudden.

 

It was Raven. Even though, it was just a mere second, I managed to scratch her left hand and the scent of her blood filled my nostrils. My body trembled with excitement. I wanted her blood.

 

It was driven me mad. I was taken over by overwhelming desire of blood. I her blood on my nails and tasted it. The raven spoke “She is not yours. She will never come with you”

 

Feeling angry, I pierced my hand into his wing and heard a scream coming from the girl that was me.

 

[END OF SEULLY’S POV]

 

“NOOOO‼‼‼‼‼‼‼!” Seully screamed with all her heart. Her father shook her body very hard. She was having a nightmare. Her body was sweating greatly. “Seully, are you okay?” asked Lee Seuk.

 

She was feeling dizzy when she tried to stand up. “Nightmare?” asked her father. She nodded. Every time, she had a nightmare, something bad would happen. She was able to see the premonitions of the future in her dreams. This was her power. She could foresee the future. When her mother was spirited away into the Black Forest, she had a nightmare where her mother was being held captive by Werewolves. But of course, her father didn’t know any of these things.

 

She didn’t want to tell her father about it. It was because she was afraid that her father might hate her for having this power.

 

“I’m okay, father. You can leave” said Seully. She needed to check something.

 

Her father left as her wish. As her father closed the door, she took a look at her hand. Her left hand was bleeding. This was the flaw of her power. Whenever she had a dream, she would get the same wound in her dream. If she died in her dream, then she would die in her real world. She thanked her father for waking her up before it was too late.

 

Not wanting her father to know about her wound, she wrapped a white scarf around the injury.

 

She could alter the future but she didn’t know how. It could either make thing better or worst. She didn’t want to take any risks related with her life and her father’s.

 

Full moon would be happening tomorrow. And a werewolf would attack Gradian that day. She needed to warn the villagers but how.

 

They would kill her right away if they knew about her power. She could just hope that her premonition wouldn’t come true.