2. The Curse of the Forest
White breath poured out and scattered softly into the air.
Yeju's eyes, gazing at the endless expanse of white snow stretching before her, were filled with nothing but turmoil.
There had been no further contact from her father since that last call.
Unable to bear the anxiety any longer, she had finally opened the door to her father's room—the one she hadn't dared touch, like a blue-bearded chamber—and searched inside.
But no matter how thoroughly she looked, she couldn't find the countless books and documents her father had pored over day and night.
The room was so tidy it could only have been deliberately cleared. The only thing she found was a Russian conversation dictionary her father seemed to have bought before leaving for the tundra.
Flipping through it carelessly with a hollow heart, she froze for a long while upon seeing a single sheet of paper wedged deep between the pages.
On the paper, a black wolf was drawn in frantic, slashing strokes.
A massive black wolf with a lush mane, its crimson pupils flashing.
And that was what brought Yeju to stand now on this godforsaken, bitterly cold and dry Tundra.
"Yeju-ssi. What are you doing here?"
Seongwon asked playfully, tapping Yeju's thick padded jacket.
Startled out of her thoughts, Yeju whirled around, and he, in turn, looked even more startled, laughing awkwardly.
Because of the murders of two Korean students in Russia a few months prior, Asians traveling to Russia—let alone to the polar regions—were vanishingly rare.
Even after booking the tour, she'd had to wait three more months, barely filling the minimum headcount before departure. Meeting a fellow Korean on the tundra tour was quite lucky.
Seongwon was an office worker who had majored in Russian. He'd said he came traveling to clear his head while preparing to change jobs, and he truly seemed to be enjoying his leisure—bright and energetic all day long.
A complete contrast to Yeju's worry-laden face.
"They say we're moving to the next course? We walk through the forest while sightseeing, and they've apparently prepared a vehicle on the opposite side of the woods."
"Ah..."
Yeju responded absently to Seongwon's words.
The guide was a diminutive Russian poor at English. Yeju, who had come without any time to study conversation, could easily receive explanations about the sights thanks to Seongwon.
"By the way, why did you come to the tundra, Yeju-ssi? Sorry to say this, but you don't seem interested in sightseeing at all."
At Seongwon's pointed question, Yeju hesitated for a moment.
Truthfully, even she couldn't quite understand why she had come all this way.
She hadn't thought coming to the tundra would immediately lead her to her father. And that expectation had only solidified after arriving in the vast emptiness of Siberia.
Finding her father on this endless expanse of ice was like finding a needle in a desert.
Moreover, the Russian Far East was now in the heart of winter. It was weather perfectly suited for freezing to death if one went out recklessly looking for someone.
"...I came to find my father."
Only after a long pause did Yeju slowly answer Seongwon.
"Huh? Your father? Don't tell me your father went missing in Siberia?"
"Yes, well... something like that."
"Then you shouldn't have just come here recklessly—you should have reported it to the police first..."
Seongwon made a fuss at Yeju's words and looked for his phone.
But soon, realizing he couldn't turn it on even if he handed it to her, he made a perplexed expression.
All digital devices, including phones, had been turned off at the guide's recommendation once they'd gone deep into the Yamal Peninsula.
In the polar regions, because of the strong magnetic fields, anything that generated electromagnetic waves tended to break just by being left on.
Because of that, even photos had to be entirely entrusted to a single special camera the guide carried.
Of course, Yeju didn't care about photos—she just wanted to find her father and get out of this unpleasant region as quickly as possible.
She gave Seongwon, who was urging her to report it, no answer and only smiled ambiguously. He glanced at her with a strange look.
"My father is an archaeologist, and he came to the tundra to survey ruins. But contact's been cut for months, so I came because I was worried."
"Ah—if that's the case, shouldn't you go to the research base?"
"Well. I don't really know either, so I came partly to sightsee as well..."
At her vague evasion, the suspicious look finally faded.
That was when it happened. Angry shouting erupted from ahead.
Turning around, she saw the guide and the nomadic elder who had driven the tourists by sled locked in a heated, hostile argument.
"No, no. It's nothing. Don't worry!"
"Accursed Forest! Don't go into the forest! Don't go into the forest! Forest, Forest!"
To the guide, who raised both hands to calm him, saying it was fine, the elder screamed, his face flushed red, pointing at the forest.
The elder's fierce, shrill voice pierced her ears sharply.
The fight, which seemed it would never end, ultimately concluded with victory for the guide, who had maintained a good-natured face throughout.
"Damn it!"
The elder spat out a rough curse and swiftly drove his sled away.
The guide, trying to ease the chilled atmosphere, loudly gathered the people standing at a distance.
Seongwon gestured for them to go and walked ahead. About ten people gathered before the river of the tundra, frozen solid into earth.
Yeju looked around the next sightseeing spot—the largest vegetation area in the tundra.
Conifers, thin and gaunt under heavy piled snow, stood in endless rows, looking quite gloomy and eerie.
Yeju gazed with distant eyes at the entrance of the forest, gaping open like a monster's maw.
She knew well enough that she couldn't find her father on some shabby tour course like this. But.
...Still, I can't just sit by doing nothing.
Her father was her only family. If she lost even him in vain like this, she would be left utterly alone in the world.
"Let's go, Yeju-ssi."
Just then, Seongwon called her. Most of the other tourists, including the guide, had already entered the forest.
Nodding, Yeju followed him, and as she walked, she suddenly asked about a word that had stood out in the elder's angry voice.
"Les... Les. What does 'Les' mean?"
"Les? Ahh. A curse."
"A curse...?"
"That old man said this forest is cursed? Anyway, he said you must absolutely never go in here? Haha, a curse, that sounds fun."
Seongwon laughed playfully and left her behind, walking toward the forest first.
Yeju, remaining behind, looked at the still dark and gloomy forest with wavering eyes. A strange unease tickled beneath her ankles.
---
"Yeju-ssi, they say we'll rest here for a bit."
"Ah, thank you."
"We're about halfway now, I think. Are you tired? Your face is pale."
"No. I can still hold out."
Yeju shook her head at Seongwon's concern. It was only after quite a long time had passed since entering the forest that their group stopped.
She perched on a nearby snow-covered rock and caught her ragged breath.
She pretended to be fine, but in truth, she had been extremely on edge since entering the forest.
She kept feeling a gaze from somewhere she couldn't place.
With a chilling sensation at the nape of her neck, she'd looked around the whole way, but there was nothing—not even a presence, only white snow-covered weeds and pebbles.
Seongwon dismissed her words as probably just animals living in the forest. Yet as time passed, her nerves grew sharper and sharper.
What is it?
Ever since entering the forest, she couldn't shake the bizarre delusion that someone was targeting her.
She tore at her chapped lips with an anxious face.
Seongwon, prattling on beside her about plans for after the trip, abruptly left her side at the guide's suggestion to take photos.
Yeju was left alone, somewhat apart from the group.
Now that even Seongwon had left, her head spun and her stomach churned.
I'm dizzy... Is this also some kind of mirage?
Her vision intermittently blurred and returned to normal. Her mind quickly grew hazy.
Again.
In that moment, she felt the gaze again from somewhere.
After laboriously turning her head and quickly scanning her surroundings, Yeju confirmed no one was there, then leaned her head weakly against a nearby tree and closed her eyes.
My head hurts...
She thought she'd been exposed to the cold too long. Her head felt like it would split. Yeju blinked slowly.
Her vision grew blurry, and the sound of people's conversation drifted further away. Her body began to grow limp.
Through her gradually fading consciousness, she closed her eyes completely.
---
She dreamed.
The reason she thought it was a dream was that the black wolf, which always felt chillingly vivid against her skin, now seemed like something distant.
A beast so massive that three grown men combined wouldn't match it rampaged right before her eyes.
A lush black tail lightly brushed past Yeju's face.
"Ha..."
She let out a small groan, almost a sigh.
In that instant, the black wolf leaped up and lightly swallowed a person running on the opposite side.
Crunch—
"Kyaaaah—!"
Following the horrible sound she'd heard in her dreams before, a wretched scream pierced her ears. Her eardrums felt like they would burst. She briefly furrowed her delicate brows.
But that too didn't last long.
The scream that seemed it would go on forever suddenly cut off, and the sound of bones being chewed—crunch, crunch—began to take its place.
In her hazy vision, the black wolf's sharp, large teeth zoomed in as if by camera.
Between its teeth, which always shone with a beautiful whiteness, blood so horrifying just to look at dripped steadily.
The white snowfield became speckled with a brilliant red, viscous liquid.
"Aah, kyaaaah!"
At another human's scream, the black wolf flashed its red eyes.
With both its mouth and eyes bloodied as it rampaged, it was impossible to tell which was blood and which was its pupils.
The world crumpled into white, black, and red.
Kyaaaah—!
Hngh. Hnghhh, save me!
Crunch, crack, crrrunch—
What... the dream is too cruel.
Seeing people dying with arms and legs torn off in the wolf's mouth, she let out a hollow laugh. It was so unreal.
I'm sleepy... should I just sleep.
Her vision wavered as if she'd fall asleep again. She didn't want to see any more of this cruel bloodbath.
How long did she drift like that between unconsciousness and awareness?
In that moment, like a lie, the only figure that felt real appeared.
Seongwon, one leg bitten off up to the thigh, bleeding profusely, cried out desperately toward Yeju.
"Yeju-ssi! Ugh, Yeju-ssi, wake up! Lee Yeju-ssi! Lee Yeju-ssi!"
A drop of blood clinging to Seongwon's left cheek teetered precariously.
At his desperately contorted face, Yeju slowly opened her eyes wide.
...What?
She looked around with dazed eyes.
It was still the gloomy tundra forest. And before her was complete pandemonium.
"This is... a dream."
She couldn't tell if this was truly a dream or reality; her head wasn't working well.
If it were a dream, the hot stench of blood stung her nose enough to make her nauseous...
And if it were reality, wasn't the situation far too absurd? A black wolf had appeared and was tearing people limb from limb, killing them.
"Hngh, hck! Yeju-ssi! Run, quickly! Ye...!"
The moment Seongwon shouted again, Yeju's eyes and the beast's crimson pupils met exactly.
Crunch—
He couldn't finish his cry to run. The monster, bounding as if flying across the snowfield, raised its massive paw and crushed Seongwon's head right there.
His head burst. White brain matter and red blood streamed down at the black wolf's feet, soaking the ground.
"Ah. Ah..."
Yeju raised her head with a soul-stripped gaze and looked at the massive black wolf.
The beast was looking at her with its crimson eyes, smiling. Its white, sharp teeth moved jaggedly, forming syllables.
"Found you."
She lost consciousness just like that.
***
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