Chapter 1 — "The Mark of the Beast"
Dark clouds folded over the forest like bruises on the sky. The scent of wet earth mixed with iron and smoke. Each breath felt heavy… unnatural. The air itself had weight.
Sohajin sprinted through the forest — barefoot, bleeding, gasping. Every branch whipped against his skin, every root tried to drag him down.
The ground trembled. Something massive was chasing him.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The beast's growl tore through the silence — a White Tiger with red stripes, its eyes burning like molten gold. Its claws cut through trees as if slicing paper.
Sohajin glanced back once — mistake.
The moment he did, the tiger leaped, snapping a trunk in half.
He rolled, barely dodging.
A branch impaled his shoulder, but he didn't stop.
He couldn't stop.
His mark — the Hunter's Curse Seal Kael had burned into his chest — glowed faintly, reacting to his pain.
A voice echoed in his head:
Kael: "Run until your lungs collapse. Bleed until the forest remembers your name. Only then will the mark feed on your fear and make you stronger."
---
Flashback — The Fire
Ashes. Screams.
A small village burning under a crimson sky.
Sohajin, barely thirteen, dragging his sister through the flames.
Sister: "Hajin… it hurts—"
Sohajin: "Don't talk. Hold on—just a little longer!"
They burst through a collapsing gate—
but a blade struck her back. A poison-soaked dagger.
Her body went limp.
Her eyes — fading violet — met his trembling ones.
Sister: "You'll… find it… the cure…"
Sohajin: "I will. I promise."
Her pulse stopped.
And the fire swallowed her last breath.
When he woke up days later, Kael stood over him — sharp smile, eyes colder than the moonlight.
Kael: "You want strength? Then earn it. Survive where men die. Bleed until the world fears you."
He burned the Mark of the Beast into Sohajin's chest — the symbol that would only break when he hunted enough monsters to be deemed worthy.
---
Back to the Forest
Sohajin's legs gave out.
The tiger lunged — claws first — but Sohajin's instincts exploded like lightning.
He rolled sideways, grabbed a stone, and slammed it into the beast's jaw.
It roared, furious.
He could hear Kael's voice from the cliff above — calm, amused, almost proud.
Kael: "Your fear stinks. Let it consume you, Sohajin."
The boy gritted his teeth.
No.
Not fear. Rage.
His aura flickered — faint cyan-white, unstable but alive.
He dashed forward, eyes feral, blood mixing with sweat.
He ducked beneath the tiger's swing and rammed his dagger into its eye.
ROOOAARR!
It screamed — but didn't die.
Instead, it slammed him to the ground, claws slicing across his ribs.
He was pinned.
Kael's voice echoed again — this time softer.
Kael: "Show me. Show me that fire from the night your world burned."
Sohajin's pupils dilated.
His mark glowed brighter.
And with a final cry — he stabbed the beast through the jaw, the dagger exploding with his aura.
Silence.
Only his ragged breathing filled the air.
The tiger fell — blood misting the leaves.
Kael leaped down, landing beside the corpse.
He looked at the boy, eyes narrowing — not with disappointment, but satisfaction.
Kael: "You didn't die. That's a start."
He smirked — that cruel, wolfish grin.
Kael: "Now get up. You've only got 1,999 goblins left."
Sohajin coughed, blood pooling in his hands.
But when he looked up, the faintest smile tugged at his lips.
Sohajin: "Then let's start counting."