Narrator's POV

The man yanked Chanyeol's sleeve down to his elbow to get a good look and nearly blamed the recently concluded Korean War, which would most probably be the reason for their decline in medical advancement. The genius population still mourned over the emancipation of the north and south of the peninsula.

Sighing, he ignored the agitated mother's worried mumblings as she lightly massaged Chanyeol's shoulder. The daughter, however, silently took microscopic sips of water from the glass that her shaking hands gripped. To say she was scared was an understatement. She was traumatized, barely escaping a near-death experience.

Chanyeol munched happily on the crackers which the doctor gave him – if that was even the right word to call the man who relies on the effectiveness of the various herbs and shrubs he prescribes to his patients. From a simple cough to a high fever, he prescribes the same: boiled ginseng with the addition of whatever leaves he could find in his backyard.

Despite all these, Mijeong trusted him as the man he says he is. And though there was a newly-opened hospital on the outskirts of town, she went to him just the same. After he alternated from massaging Chanyeol's shoulder to his own chin thoughtfully, the good doctor flinched away from the boy before standing up and rushing to the book shelf.

Consulting his books, he flipped over to a wrinkled page and read a few paragraphs. Then he let the book fall from his hands before he stormed to where Hwayoung was. She didn't even give him as much as a glance as her mind still slowly processed everything that had happened. Grabbing the girl by her arm, "Come here," the doctor said, pulling her to a private corner.

Hwayoung dragged her feet lazily, her eyes had a blank look on them. "Do you know what he is?" the man asked in hushed whispers, fearfully looking over his shoulder to where Chanyeol was seated. Snapping out of her trance, the girl had her eyebrows knit in confusion at the doctor's words. "That boy...do you know what he is?" he repeated.

"You mean Ch-chanyeol?" Hwayoung asked, still not following.

The man nodded. "Do you know where he came from? Do you know what he is?"

"Well, I was the one who found him on our backyard one day. He had wounds all over and he had no clothes on..." she mumbled and trailed off. "Ya, don't say something like that! He belongs to our family now and I didn't teach him a lot of skills just for you to treat him like some kind of animal–"

"But he is," the doctor cut her off through gritted teeth. His eyes glistened and sparked in great interest and amazement at his new discovery. "I mean, not fully, maybe just half..."

Hwayoung's eyes widened. "What are you trying to say?"

The doctor sighed. "Don't you get it yet? His abnormally high body temperature, his monstrous appetite, his unbelievable speed...that boy is nothing of the ordinary." His words seemed to spark curiosity in the girl, for she almost agreed to him. And now she knew she wasn't the only one to wonder why Chanyeol was different.

Seeing her face contorted in deep thought, the man smiled to himself. "You can leave him to me," he finally stated. "I would do more research about the matter and see if there are more of his specie–" He was interrupted as the girl disappeared in front of him. When he turned around, he saw her dressing the boy up, buttoning the front of his shirt.

"Chanyeol, gwenchanayo?" Hwayoung asked, loud enough for everyone to hear. When the boy responded with the usual blank stare, the girl turned to her mother. "See, omma? There was no need to bring him here, anyway." Turning to the doctor, "If you don't have anything more to say, we're going to leave," she continued before pulling Chanyeol by the arm.

Before he could completely step out of the man's house, Chanyeol remembered what Hwayoung taught him about manners. And so he stiffly bent down from his waist up, bowing down to the doctor and giving his respect. His hand felt rough from the bread crumbs of the crackers he ate, leaving Hwayoung to wipe his hand clean.

Mijeong, retracing her daughter's steps with her gaze, scratched her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. She still must be shocked from what happened so..." she explained, slowly advancing to the door. "I should go after them. Thank you for all your help," she said and bowed a good 90 degrees before leaving.

She didn't see why she should pay him when he didn't do as much as inspect Chanyeol's shoulder and nothing more. In the end, she stood firm in her decision and caught up with the two. "Hwayoung!" Mijeong called out, waving her arm frantically to catch her daughter's attention. The girl stopped in the middle of her tracks, making the boy come to a halt, too.

"Did he tell you something? Wait...DID HE TOUCH YOU? That man..." Mijeong exclaimed and was about to storm back until Hwayoung stopped her.

She shook her head no. "It's nothing like that, omma. And if ever that was the issue, I would have defended myself firsthand, of course."

"Then why did you leave?" the mother pressed curiously, wounding her arm around Chanyeol's for warmth as they walked.

Hwayoung shrugged. "He just didn't seem to be as good as you think he is, omma," she explained with a heavy sigh. "And he doesn't understand Chanyeol."

The woman snorted. "Well, who does? Even I couldn't understand this boy," she said, standing on her tip toes to ruffle Chanyeol's hair.

"But I do," Hwayoung muttered to herself, her gentle gaze lingering on the tall boy who always had a stoic but tranquil façade. She proceeded on clasping their hands together, afraid that he’d be lost on their way back. Before she could even understand what she was doing, she felt a reassuring squeeze inside her heart.

It was okay even though she’s the only one who could understand him.

Soon, after a few more minutes of walking, the trio had reached their home. “Omma, are you expecting any visitors?” Hwayoung pressed, noticing the four figures who were sitting on the bench in front of their house.

Mijeong followed her line of sight and was surprised that there was indeed a family waiting for their arrival. “Wait here,” she mumbled before heading towards their home. The woman ran towards the unexpected visitors and was already greeted with a bone-crushing hug.

“Unnie!” exclaimed the figure whose arms were wrapped around her. Mijeong gave out a soft chuckle, recognizing the voice of her younger sister. “It’s nice to see you too, Minji.” She patted her back gently before she was released from the embrace. Waving towards Hwayoung and Chanyeol who were still frozen on the same spot, she shouted. “Hwayoung, you and Chanyeol can come in now! It’s just your aunt!”

And Hwayoung immediately pulled Chanyeol, excited to see her little cousins. “You’ve grown up a lot, Hwayoung. I missed taking care of you!” Minji stated the moment Hwayoung reached them. Laughing a little, Hwayoung bowed towards her aunt and her husband, which Chanyeol also mimicked a few seconds after.

“Oh, and who’s this handsome lad right here? Is he, by chance, your lover, Hwayoung?” Staring curiously, Minji studied Chanyeol’s tall physique before giggling and not even giving a chance for the girl to answer. “He’s a good catch, by the way,” she commented, which caused Hwayoung to blush all the more.

“He’s not Hwayoung’s lover, Minji!” Mijeong defended with a laugh. “He’s the boy I adopted. So they’re practically siblings.”

Hwayoung cringed. Siblings. That realization didn’t quite dawn on to her yet. If any case, Chanyeol was more like a close friend than a sibling to her.

“Anyway, why don’t we all go inside?” Mijeong offered and both Minji and her husband nodded. Then suddenly Hwayoung felt someone grab onto the sides of her coat.

“Noona.” The four year old kid stared up at her with his doe-like eyes the color of hazelnut.

“Oppa.” And Hwayoung turned her head towards the other tot, who was, by now, clinging onto Chanyeol’s long legs. She, like her twin brother, sported an innocent look with her wide eyes – except that hers were the color of the deep ocean.

“Youngmin, Naeun, do you want to play with noona and oppa?” She showed them a gentle smile as she crouched down to their level. At first, they just stared at Hwayoung, registering what she had just said, before they excitedly nodded their heads.

Turning to her mother, “Omma, the four of us will just be playing outside,” Hwayoung stated, to which the woman just nodded. She bowed quickly to their visitors before holding the children’s hands and leading them out the gates. Chanyeol, however, was torn. He didn’t know which one he should do first – catch up with Hwayoung and the children or give respect to the adults. In the end, he figured it would make the girl happier if he paid his respects first, and so he bowed down twice – to Minji and to Daehyun, respectively.

He ran, quickly catching up with the three. With obvious wonder, Chanyeol watched as Hwayoung picked the little boy up and carried him as they walked. He felt a tug by his knees and saw the boy’s younger sister. “Oppa, carry me too,” she requested softly in broken Korean.

Not understanding a single word, Chanyeol just grabbed her on the side of her waist and swung her on the side like a life-size doll. “Oh goodness, Chanyeol, you don’t carry a kid like that!” Hwayoung scolded the tall lad. She positioned Youngmin into her arms and instructed him.

“You need to hold a kid like this.” She began. “Your arms wrap around the waist.” Her fingers settled around Youngmin’s tiny waist and the boy, feeling the ticklish sensation within her hold, chuckled as if he just received a lollipop. “Arasseo?”

Hwayoung turned to look at his actions and he obediently followed every single move she made. “Good.” She patted his head and smiled. She then led them to the swing near their backyard and the twins started getting all giddy just by looking at it.

“Swing it gently.” She placed the ecstatic Youngmin on one of the swing and Chanyeol followed suit. “Be sure not to push it too hard. Just do it gently,” Hwayoung instructed and the two kids giggled as they felt the swing slowly move. Amazed, Chanyeol started swinging Naeun’s swing gently just like he was ordered to.

—

That night, she tossed and turned in bed restlessly. Hwayoung forced her eyes open, afraid that when she closed her eyes, flashbacks of the incident earlier that day would resurface. She shook her head, not really wanting to think about that now. She tapped her hand against the floor to create noise. Silence only leaves room for over thinking.

It was that quack doctor’s fault, she thought. If he hadn’t scanned through his books and thumbed through pages, then she wouldn’t be as equally curious as he is about Chanyeol. It wasn’t as if she was scared of him. No, Hwayoung had spent more time with Chanyeol to know he was anything but terrifying.

A loud howl erupted from nowhere. All so suddenly, the girl sat up, her eyes widening. After a few seconds of deafening silence, Hwayoung laid back down, thinking she must have imagined the sound. But then it sounded again after a short while. Frantically scanning her room, she looked for the crowbar she had hid under her closet.

She took it from the cabinet and took deep breaths before opening her door. Her furiously beating heart sounded louder than her footsteps towards her parents’ bedroom. Seeing how they were both soundly asleep, she still wasn’t assured, however. Mumbling words of encouragement for herself, Hwayoung descended the stairs slowly, her feet feeling for the next step in the darkness.

As soon as her feet reached the flat ground, the howl sounded again, to which Hwayoung felt a tingle in her spine. The sound seemed to be coming from the storage room, and the fact that Chanyeol was asleep in there brought the courage in her. Inhaling deeply, she twisted the knob and yanked the door open, ready for whatever awaited her behind the closed door.

The boy was fine — to her surprise — and huddled by the open window with his back turned to her. With the crowbar still in her hands, Hwayoung approached Chanyeol slowly, one step at a time. The howling ensued, but she wasn't that much shocked to realize that the sounds erupted from the boy himself.

"Ch-chanyeol?" she called out, her lips trembling as she inched nearer.

At the sound of his name, Chanyeol turned around. It was then that Hwayoung realized something. The moon was full. And so were the boy's eyes.