Note: Thank you so much for subscribing guys! Hope the number continues to go up and I hope to see more comments. :) Please, please do comment! It really motivates me to continue writing and updating!

Thanks again and enjoy!

_____________________________________________________________________________

    Bom stretched out her arms as she cooled down from her morning run. She gazed at her surrounding and smiled slightly. The air was nice and cool and the wind blew gently, ruffling her long red hair. She walked by the University, her eyes widened upon seeing a very familiar face. They met eyes for a brief second before she ducked her head low and started speed walking. “Hey! You!” Just ignore him, Bom...just ignored him…

    “Hey! Little Red!”

    Suddenly the man she was trying to avoid jumped in front of her. She groaned inwardly before looking up to him, forcing a smile. “Hi…”

    “It’s Bom, right?”

    “Yup, that’s me. What...what are you doing here?”

    “I’m a Biochemist professor. You do remember me, don’t you?”

    “Of course...Choi Seunghyun?”

    Top smiled. “You do remember. Of course I still prefer Top. What are you doing here, Little Red?”

    “Little Red?”

    Top nodded and grabbed onto one of Bom’s fiery locks as they blew in the wind. She stared at his finger holding her hair and then looked back at him. “How did you manage to get your hair this red? It’s very nice.”

    “Really good color dye. Anyway, it was nice talking to you, Top. But I really should be going now.”

    “Right… There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

    “What is it?” Bom asked nervously.

    “Can I buy you dinner sometime? Maybe tonight? Or whenever you’re free?”

    “Oh! Um...you know what, I’ll get back to you on that. I really gotta run now. I’m due at work in a few. So, I’ll catch up with you later!”

    Bom broke into a run and waved at him before taking off. Top stared at her fleeting figure and smiled. I’ve never met a woman quite like you, Park Bom… He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked back to his class.

    As he was walking through the courtyard, he came to a quiet little walkway leading to as short cut to the woods that led down to the beach. In the distance, he saw students gathered around something, some crying and some in a panic. He squinted his eyes until he got a little closer and then his heart stopped. On the ground before him now was a body soaked in blood, claw marks raking down his back and throat gushing blood. Top covered his mouth with his hands and stepped back. “What could have done this?” A girl asked, sobbing.

    “Obviously some kind of monster!”

    “Alright, everyone get out of here. Get to class. I’ll handle things here.” Top said, still shaken.

    “We already called the cops. They should be here soon, Professor.”

    Top just nodded as he continued to stare at the body. Oh, Jiyong...this better not have been you…

--------------------------------

    Dara frowned as she looked through the multiple papers lying on her desk. Over the course of the past few weeks, the number of homicides had increased. But this time, they weren’t poisoned. They were...attacked and slashed up by something. Il Woo had said that it seemed like an animal had attacked them. But Dara hoped he was referring to the actual animals...and not Jiyong. But he couldn’t have, right? Jiyong saved people… right?

    She groaned and threw down the reports. A sigh escaped her lips when she felt a pair of hands massage her neck and shoulders. “Damn, you’re incredibly tense…”

    Dara spun around in her chair and glared up at Il Woo. “Well, I wouldn’t be so damn tense if we could just figure out what hell is going on.”

    “Most likely, the people were attacked by some kind of animal. The lacerations and claw marks indicate that is so. However, they were attacked in the most uncommon places…”

    “I know what you mean…”

    “They were attacked the same way as the men that tried to kill you three years ago. Maybe you weren’t so crazy after all. Maybe you’re right about some ‘beast’ saving you. Except this time, he’s going after innocent people…”

    Dara closed here and clenched her jaw. That...couldn’t be. Jiyong would never hurt innocent people. He wasn’t like that. And he sure as hell wasn’t a brutal monster that ripped people up...but the evidence was all there. “Maybe it wasn’t the same thing that saved me...maybe it was something else.”

    “That could be a possibility. Although---”

    “Suit up. We got another case coming in!” Chief Yang grumbled as he walked into the office, Bom trailing behind him.

    “Another case? What happened this time?”

    “Body was found on campus at a local university. Students reported that he stumbled upon it while heading over to the beach. Multiple laceration along the scalp, claw marks down the back, and looks like our kill decided to aim for the throat this time.” Chief Yang sighed.

    “What keeps doing this? This has been going on for two weeks now! And they’re all the same! What the hell is going on?” Bom shook her head.

    “I-I don’t know. But let’s get going and find out.”

    The team rushed over to the crime scene and grimaced at the sight before. Everything that Chief Yang said has been correct but even with his description, it wasn’t enough to describe the gore that lay before them. The body was so badly mangled and bloodied that it barely even looked like a human being. Dara slipped gloved on and kneeled down by the body, examining it carefully. Her heart felt...torn. As far as she knew, there was only one “beast” in this town that was capable of doing this but at the same time she wanted to believe that it wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him… “Well, I narrowed down the time of death and it looks like our victim was killed around three this morning. Bring him in and I’ll check to see if I can get any fingerprints.” Il Woo nodded to Chief Yang.

    “Will do.” He sighed. “Poor boy, such a horrible way to die.”

    Dara stood up and shook her head. She didn’t know what to think. The cop part of her told her that she had to report Jiyong just in case it was him but the human part of her...the part of her she forgot she had, told her otherwise. After all, everyone was innocent unless proven guilty. She jumped a bit when Bom suddenly patted her back. “Don’t worry, Dara. We’ll catch this sick bastard. He won’t hurt anyone anymore for long.”

    “I hope you’re right…”

----------------------------------------

    Blood swirled around in the water, slowly being washed away down the drain. Jiyong stood in the shower, staring at his bloodied shaking hands. He didn’t know what happened...all he remembered was walking through the park and then suddenly he woke up back at the warehouse covered in blood...and it wasn’t his blood. He frantically tried to scrub the blood off of his fingers and body but the smell remained, he couldn’t get rid of it. What did I do? Did I…. kill someone?  

    Top ran into the warehouse and called out for Jiyong but got no answer. He slowly crept up the steps to Jiyong’s room and looked around. He didn’t walk far before he stepped in something sticky. He looked down and his eyes widened upon seeing a trail of blood leading to Jiyong’s bathroom. He followed it and then his eyes landed up on the pile of bloody clothes.

    Top shut his eyes tightly as he tried to control his breathing. He leaned down and picked up the articles of clothing, his breathing uneven and heart racing. His head snapped up when Jiyong emerged from the bathroom, his hair damp and eyes dark. “Jiyong...what happened last night?” Top asked carefully.

    “I...don’t know. I don’t remember what happened. Did I...kill someone?”

    Top dropped the clothes and sighed. “I-I don’t know if it was you but there was a body found by the University today. There were claws marks and it looked like the guy suffered a pretty horrific death.”

    “I killed him…?”

    Jiyong spun around, yanking his fingers through his hair, feeling incredibly distressed. He looked at his hands again and despite them looking clean, he could still smell and see the blood on his hands. He clenched his hands into fists and stormed to the sink and desperately tried to wash it all away but no matter how hard he tried, the blood remained. “Damn it...Damn it! I can’t get the smell of blood off my hands! ! It’s sickening…”

    Top watched him sadly. He knew it was hard enough for Jiyong to live with what he was but he couldn’t imagine how hard it must be for him to soak in the fact that he could’ve potentially killed someone. “I-I think I need to leave…”

    “What?” Top frowned.

    “I have to leave, Top. If...If this happens again, I don’t want to hurt you…”

    “You won’t hurt me, Jiyong. And if you do run away, where are you going to go? Besides, if this happens again, I won’t be there to cover up for you and you’ll have no where to hide. Just stay calm until we can figure this out.”

    “You’re not the only one I’m afraid of hurting…”

    “Ji...I doubt that'll ever happen. You would never hurt Dara. But...if she somehow traces this case back to you, I’m afraid she’ll have no choice but to turn you in for endangerment of public safety.”

    Jiyong leaned against the sink and shook his head. “No...No, she would never do that. She said she’d keep me hidden.”

    “She’s a cop, Jiyong. Her job is to put people like you away so no one gets hurt. Look, I don’t think you’re a monster and I don’t think you meant to kill that guy if you did, but she’s a cop...none of that will matter to her.”

    Jiyong  closed his eyes. Dara would never betray him like that. She would never turn him in. She promised to keep him safe...she said that she never thought of him as anything less than human. He trusted her. “She won’t do it. I know she won’t.”

    “Well, whatever you say, man. In the meantime, we need to figure out what’s causing this. What do you remember?”

    “I...remember walking through campus. It was just after three and I sensed something...the next thing I knew, I out and ended up back here.”

    “You out?”

    “I guess so. What does this mean, Top?”

    “This isn’t the first time this has happened, is it? All those other killings that have been going around lately, that was you, wasn’t it?”

    Jiyong grimaced. “I-I don’t remember.”

    “When did this start happening?”

    “Ever since I stopped talking to Dara and when I saw her with that guy and---”

    “Whoa, whoa...stopped talking to Dara? As in you talked to her?” Top looked at Jiyong in disbelief.

    “Yes...but she walked away. I haven’t seen her since. I just know that I can’t get her out of my head. I can’t get the image of her and that guy out of my head…”

    “I think I may have just found your trigger. Sit down in that chair and hold on a second.”

    Jiyong raised a brow but followed Top’s instructions nevertheless. He sat down in the chair and Top attached a bunch of wires to his head and chest that hooked up to a machine. “I’m going to run an EGC on you. We’ll see what’s happening to that brain of yours.”

    “What if it happens again?”

    “Don’t worry. I’m prepared.” Top walked away momentarily and came back with a large gun-looking thing.

    “You’re going to ing shoot me?!”

    “Relax, bro. This is just a tranquilizer gun. It won’t hurt you much. It’ll just put you to sleep.”

“Good, I guess.”

“Anyway, back to Dara. When and how did you talk to her?”

Jiyong sighed. “She came back to the warehouse and she came up here. I had no choice but to reveal myself and then she just kept coming back asking questions about her mother.”

“And did you tell her?”

“Of course not! I’m not that stupid! You expect me to somehow explain to her about her mother’s connection to SM? No, I wouldn’t put her at risk like that.”

“Well, I think you already have. You talked to her...you’ve been in contact with her. Even more so, she’ll probably turn you in. If she knows that you in fact exist and what you are, she’ll have no choice.”

“I told you, she wouldn’t do that!”

“How do you know, Jiyong? You barely know her! Sure you talked to her for a bit but do you think you actually appealed to her better nature? She’s a cop, ok? Cops only see in black in white, there is no inbetween. If you’re a danger to other people, she’ll have to give you up.”

Jiyong just shook his head. He knew she wouldn’t. She SAID she wouldn’t. “Look, can we just please focus on the problem at hand and find out what’s causing me to blackout like this?”

“Right…” Top looked at the screen in front of him showing Jiyong’s brain waves, heart beat, and breathing. So far, it seemed normal. “So, tell me again when this happened.”

“Well, I just remember walking through the park at night and I started thinking about Dara and the guy she was with. Then I sensed something and the next thing I knew I out…”

“Hmm...I have a hunch. The thing that could be triggering the blackouts is---” Top stopped abruptly when the monitor started going haywire. He looked over at Jiyong and noticed how his eyes began to droop. “! Jiyong, stay awake! Don’t do this, man!”

But it was no use...Jiyong had already knocked out. Top gulped and took a step toward his comatose friend. However, he jumped back in fright when Jiyong’s eyes snapped open again. His irises had turned gold, the rim around the pupil and the edge of the irises had turned black. The veins that ran up his neck and through his arms had turned black and his hands turned into claws. “Jiyong…”

Jiyong growled viciously and sat up to knock Top back into the wall. He grabbed the chair and smashed it against the ground. Top scrambled to grab the tranquilizer gun and stood up, pointing the gun at his best friend. His hand shook as he aimed the gun at Jiyong’s shoulder. “Don’t make me do this, Ji. Snap out of it, damn it!”

He snarled and crouched down to attack but Top shot him before he had the chance. Jiyong knocked out in an instant allowing Top to breathe. In all his years of knowing and dealing with Jiyong and his secret, he had never seen it this bad...it was like he had completely lost himself and had no control whatsoever. It was like the human side he had in that state had been completely overpowered, turning Jiyong into a monster.

Top sighed and shoved the gun into his pocket. He looked around the room before dragging Jiyong by his legs and locking him in the small cage they had just in case. Sorry, buddy. But this is for the best…

----------------------------------

    Dara took off after work and headed straight for the warehouse. She knew she promised to stay away but this time she couldn’t. She had to find out the truth. Deep in her heart, she hoped Jiyong was innocent. If not...she didn’t know what she would do. She parked outside the warehouse and got out, covering herself from the rain with her jacket. She ran up to the metal doors and knocked. “Jiyong? Jiyong, open up!”

    Soon, the doors opened. Top peaked out. “Oh, hey! It’s you!”

    “Yes, it’s me. Is Jiyong here? Yea, I know about him. I need to talk to him. It’s really important.”

    “Oh, sorry. He’s sleeping at the moment. Why don’t you come back another time, okay? In the meantime, why don’t you tell me what it is you need to talk about?”

    “The killings that have been happening lately...we just got a new case today. A University student was killed...there were claw marks all over his body.”

    “And what? You think Jiyong did it?” Top eyed her.

    “I-I don’t know what to think at this point. I’m really hoping it wasn’t him…”

“And if it was?”

“Then...I don’t know. It’s just more for me to cover up.”

“You mean, even if he was the one who did this...you wouldn’t turn him in?”

“Of course not! I know what he’s been through, Top. I wouldn’t do that to him. He trusted me with his secret. I would never betray that trust. Now, where is he really?”

Top sighed. Maybe Dara wasn’t so bad after all. “He’s upstairs. But just to warn you, he hasn’t exactly been himself.”

    “I understand…”

    Top let Dara in and she immediately ran upstairs to Jiyong’s room. She looked around and found him sitting in a cage. She looked at Top. “This was the only thing I could do for him so that he wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

    Dara bit her lip and kneeled down beside the cage. She reached a hand out and gently touched his face. He startled awake, his eyes wild and his senses on high alert. Dara immediately calmed him down. “Jiyong, it’s ok. It’s ok...it’s me. You’re safe. Everything’s going to be alright.”

    Jiyong looked at her, puzzled and half in fear. “Wh-what are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here, Dara. I-I don’t want to hurt you…”

    “You won’t hurt me, Jiyong. Remember what I told you? No matter what people think, no matter what YOU think, you’ll never be anything short of human? You’re not a monster…”

    “I-I...those people...I killed them, Dara. I killed them.”

    Dara’s heart broke as Jiyong broke down into a sob. She didn’t know what to say to him. She was really hoping he didn’t kill them but he just openly admitted to killing the people. “Hey, it’s ok. It wasn’t your fault.”

    “I ing murdered people, Dara! How the is it not my fault?!”

    Jiyong turned into a blur as he stood up and started pacing around the mini cellar-like cage. Dara watched helplessly as he mentally beat himself up over what he did. But if he felt guilty for what he did, then he was not a psychopath. He had remorse over what he did, which meant despite what happened, he was still human underneath it all. Only a true human being would have remorse over killing someone. “Jiyong, I don’t believe you’re a monster. I know there has to be a logical explanation for all of this. I know you. I know you would never hurt someone unless you had a justified reason.”

    “Then what was my reason, Dara? I don’t even remember what happened or what I did. I just woke up here covered in blood…I killed them...I killed that boy at the university.”

    “But you weren’t conscious when this happened. Which means it wasn’t really YOU that killed them. It was the thing inside of you. It wasn’t you, Jiyong.”

    Jiyong scoffed and took at her. “What’s the difference?”

    “Kwon Jiyong isn’t a monster. He’s a good man. You’re a good man, Jiyong. It’s SM that did this. You didn’t ask for this to happen. You’re not evil. So never think that.”

    “I-I don’t understand this, Dara…”

    “We’ll figure this out, we’ll get you back to normal again. I promise…”

    “Maybe it would be best if I left...if I stay here, the more dangerous it is. You’re already risking your job to protect me. Maybe if I ran away and went somewhere then---”

    “No...no. You’re not running away. Jiyong, running away won’t solve anything. You shouldn’t have to live this way. We’ll find a way to cure you…”

    “And if we can’t? Then what?”

    “We will. I’ll make sure of that.”

    Jiyong reached out to gently touched Dara’s cheek. He ran his hand against her smooth skin and groaned inwardly. He gazed deeply into her eyes and felt his heart ache. “I don’t want to hurt you, Dara. If leaving is the only thing I can do to make sure you’re safe, I’ll do it.”

    “You won’t hurt me.”

    “How do you know?”

    Dara smiled slightly. “That night you saved me from those men...I knew that you would never hurt me. The moment I met you officially, I could see in your eyes that you were just misunderstood. You weren’t a monster and you weren’t a beast. I don’t believe you’d ever hurt me, Jiyong.”

    “I really hope you’re right.”

    Jiyong dropped his hand and Dara looked back at Top. “Do you have any idea what’s been causing this to happen?”

    “When Jiyong was talking about how he saw you with your little male friend that one night, he suddenly out again and went into his ‘beast’ mode.”

    “Wh-what do you mean?”

    “In other words...the trigger is you.”