It’s been almost a week since Chris woke up and heard about what befell Soa and their friendly doctor. He was still mourning his demise, but kept it tucked inside him, as he didn’t want to be asked any more questions by his guards. Until now, he faked that he was suffering from memory loss as it was easier to explain why he asked so many questions that should be known knowledge.

  ‘How long do you think they will buy this memory loss story?’

  -Let’s hope long enough for us to gain access to a trusting source of information.-

  ‘Yeah, but where can we find it?’

  -You should ask them. Better ask Young-Pil or Jun-Bok.-

  ‘Why only them? The chief should be a better choice.’

  -He sure is, but he is too secretive, and I feel that he hasn’t bought your story. For the time being, you should keep your distance from him. He is too much of an unknown variable.-

  ‘I’ll do as you say.’ He let his thoughts flow around as he made a small pause. ‘How are those missions going?’

  -The first one is still the same, but we should hurry and find more about our target, so we are again returning to the pressing matter of finding a source. We only know that he is part of the Crimson Cult and that he will bring the end of this place, and now we have another ‘player’ coming after you.-

  ‘Could Jang Wol have sent him? Did he find out that I came after his head?’

  -As we found out from Eun-Hwa, this world has heard about Soul Reapers, but I think that the possibility of him knowing that we are hunting him is slim. The one who came after you felt different, as if he was out of place. I don’t want to say this, but I guess that he was sent by the one who interfered with the transfer tunnel.-

  The memory of that time made his body tremble as he remembered the pain he had suffered.

  ‘If he could find me once, he could do it again. We need to find what we’re looking for and leave the Baek mansion before anyone else gets dragged into this.'

  -I understand your concern, but we still need to remain under their roof until you are ready to face the target and our new ‘friend’.-

  ‘But…’

  His thought was put on hold by the sudden stop of the carriage, as he had to grip himself tight to not fall over.

  “What happened?”

  The chief guard was halfway out the door before he answered.

  “A mangy dog jumped in front of our carriage; it seems to be injured. Young master, you should stay inside until we solve the problem.”

  Chris couldn’t stay inside anymore, as he had been cooped up for the last few days. He had to get out, and ran out of the carriage as quickly as a house cat leaves at the first chance when someone forgets the front door open.

  The three guards were trying to calm the injured beast that was thrashing around, but to no avail, as it was too scared and in pain to listen to them.

  As he got closer, the dog’s barks grew louder. It spooked the carriage horses, and they had to be calmed down by Young-Pil and Jun-Bok, leaving Jin-Mu alone with the dog.

  -He says that he needs your help, and you should follow him.-

  ‘What? Since when did you understand other animals?’

  -I could understand Soa before she could talk. Maybe this dog is more than meets the eye.-

  ‘I hope you are right.’

  Jin-Mu managed to corner the dog next to a tree and was ready to catch him before Chris jumped in front of him.

  “Stop!”

  “What are you doing, young master?” The guard asked, bemused. “He might bite you. Get behind me and let me catch it.”

  “He won’t harm me, look.”

  Chris stretched a hand toward the snarling dog, but as soon as he scratched it behind the ears, it let go of its vicious look, made the cutest puppy face, and showed its belly to get good scrubbings there.

  “See, he is harmless.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Even though he is harmless right now, he could change at any moment. It is a wild beast; you should get away from him before he bites you.”

  As the guard finished, the dog sprang up on all fours and bit down on Chris’s hand. Jin-Mu quickly moved his hand to unsheathe his sword before Chris raised his other hand to stop him.

  “Wait!” He called. “Take a closer look, he just snagged my sleeve.”

  The dog was pulling at his sleeve with all its force.

  “I think that we should follow him. Quickly, follow it.”

  The dog had already begun to run into the woods.

  The chief looked back and saw that the two others calmed the horses and were preparing to give them something to eat.

  “Fine, but stay behind me.” He said reluctantly. “We don’t know what we can stumble on, as this forest is known to have grey wolves roaming it.”

  The two of them followed the dog into the forest. It wasn’t hard to find it, as it waited for them, and after it saw that they got close enough, it began to move again. As they followed him, they could hear the howls of the wolves. This was the first time Chris had heard the howl of a real wolf. He had only ever seen them on TV, but these sounded far more powerful than anything he’d imagined. Then he saw their pawprints, they were as big as his foot soles.

  The guard had already unsheathed his sword, and his visage was serious. Whatever they were going to find, he already knew that he would have to cut down a few of them.

  The dog stopped and began snarling and showing its white teeth. As they stopped behind him, they saw a pack of grey wolves encircling a big tree. They were as big as or bigger than the horses that were pulling the carriage, and Chris thought that those horses were bigger than those back on Earth. The biggest one of them was scratching and biting chunks of bark from the tree as he tried to get to something.

  From the hole in the tree, Chris heard someone crying and another dog yelping, while the big wolf clawed closer to widening the opening enough to get its head through and seize its prey.

  “We have to do something; we can’t leave them to their fate.”

  “I’ll do it, but before that.” He caught Chris by the back of his clothes and jumped to the nearest branch, where he let him down. “You should be safe here for now.” Then he leaped down.

  The dog that had led them there was still barking and baring its teeth as several wolves sensed them and turned to face the uninvited intruders to their meal.

  “I see that you are braver than most so-called warriors. Be sure that I’ll get your friends back unhurt.”

  The dog stopped his barking and went behind him as two wolves lunged toward them.

  The guard quickly dispatched them with the minimum movement of his sword. A fountain of blood sprang out from the single cut he had inflicted on their necks. Chris was astonished at the clean and quick movements of the sword. The big wolf stopped what he was doing and moved his head toward the sound of his dying brethren.

  ‘That must be the Alpha.’

  -He looks pissed.-

  The Alpha bared his dagger-like fangs toward the guard, but he was not impressed as he stood still and concentrated, and pointed the tip of his sword toward the monstrous animal.

  “I feel saddened to have ended your kin. We can continue and fight; you might kill me, but your pack will suffer if you die or get heavily injured.”

  The other wolves began howling as they were getting ready to strike, waiting for their Alpha’s orders.

  ‘Do you understand what they are saying?’

  -Only fragments, they are different from Soa and the dog; they call for revenge for their dead family.-

  ‘Do you think that they will attack?’

  -I’m not sure, but the Alpha seems to be thinking of taking the best course for his pack’s survival.-

  After a time, the Alpha howled. His howl engulfed the chorus of snarls of his pack. They all stopped and began retreating. It waited until the rest left before it looked back at Jin-Mu and snarled, before disappearing into the forest.

  -It said that it will remember this blood debt, and something about their old times. I don’t know what he was talking about in the last part.-

  ‘I hope we won’t have to learn too soon about what it was talking.’

  -I hope so too.-

  As the wolves left, the dog sprang out from behind the guard and ran toward the hole in the tree. Another one got out and went to welcome it. The two of them began to lick their wounds, then went back into the hole to look after their master. Until Chris managed to get down from the tree, the guard had already scooped out a small body of a child. It looked unharmed, but it had gone to sleep in the warm embrace of the guard. After escaping this situation, Chris wasn’t surprised that it went to sleep at the first sight of security.

  They returned to their carriage, the child sleeping soundly in the guard’s hands and the two dogs following them. They treated the two’s wounds and let the child sleep.

  When they had their lunch, Chris retold the tale of Jin-Mu’s fight and how easily he made the pack run with their tails between their legs. The other two guards were thrilled by the story, but Jin-Mu stayed silent, maintaining his watch over the sleeping child and the two dogs snoring at his right and left. The only thing that left his sealed lips was three words.

  “They’ll remember.”

  ***

  The next day, the child had awoken. A big yawn escaped as it stretched its little body, waking slowly. Then it remembered how wolves had hunted it and began fidgeting around until a calm voice spoke up.

  “You are safe, the wolves are gone.”

  The child looked and saw a young boy, a few years older than it, dressed in the finest clothes, playing with the two dogs. It jumped down from the bed and gave a deep bow, as it knew that the boy had to be an important person from his looks.

  “You can stop that. We have more important matters to talk about.”

  “I’ll pay you no matter how much you want.”

  “I wasn’t talking about payment, I was talking about you. How do you feel?”

  “I feel fine, thank you for saving me.” The child bowed again.

  Chris laughed.

  “Raise your head. I wasn’t the one who saved you; he did.” Chris pointed to the front.

  The child turned back to say its thanks, but stopped as it saw the giant hulk of a man in front of it.

  “Thank… you for… saving… me.” Its voice trembling.

  “Don’t worry, he’s my chief guard, Jin-Mu. He looks scary, but he has a heart of gold. The other two in the front are Young-Pil and Jun-Bok. My name is Baek Yong-Su. What would be your name?”

  “I’m sorry for the late introduction. My name is Hwa-Seon, and those two are Fua and Huang.” The dogs returned to their master’s side at the sound of their names and sat down. “Excuse me, could you tell me your name once more?”

  “Sure. My name is Baek Yong-Su.”

  The girl jumped down and glued her forehead to the hardwood plank.

  “I’m so sorry for showing such insolence in front of you, future patriarch of the Baek house.”

  “Get up and stop with this attitude; we are just a normal ragtag group of people returning to their home.”

  She hesitated at first, but at his insistence, got up and sat down on the bed she had just woken up on.

  They continued talking as they told each other their story until they got to the entrance of the Mistwood Village, where the Baek manor resides. Hwa-Seon got out at the entrance, followed by her two dogs, but not before she gave Chris a silver pin and told him that if he ever needed help, he should look for her at the Flying Crane. The dogs barked happily at Chris as they went away.

  -They are thanking you all for saving them.-

  “You are welcome.” Chris shouted.

  The girl turned at the sound of his voice. She waved at them, then went on her way.

  They still had a long way to go to the manor, so they too went on their way. A few minutes later, the carriage stopped, and Jin-Mu got out and waited for Chris to get out.

  As he got out, his sight went to the imposing wooden door on which appeared the name Baek, inscribed in golden letters.

  ‘So here we are. I wonder what we’ll find here.’

  -Answers, I hope.-

  The massive hinges groaned and screeched as the door swung ajar. The light of the setting sun began to creep out from the cracked door, blinding Chris as a familiar voice came from behind it, and a small girl jumped and hugged him.

  “You are finally back, brother.”

  Chris didn’t know what to do, but felt his body moving on its own, hugging the girl back and with a smile, saying,

  “I am, sister.”

  The two continued hugging as a few tears came down from Chris’s eyes. His heart ached at the warm embrace. Then he looked up as a deep and aged voice spoke, a voice his body couldn’t forget.

  “Finally home.”

  It was Baek Yong-Su’s father, his father for the short time he still had in this world.

  His eyes filled with tears.

  He had finally returned.