Chapter 39

Felix, the wolf beastfolk who led Beast, grabbed a bottle of vodka and brought it straight to his mouth.

Gulp- Gulp-

The vodka, over forty percent alcohol, disappeared into his stomach in moments.

CRASH-!!

He hurled the empty bottle at the wall.
The opaque bottle shattered against the wall, sending fragments flying everywhere.

“Fuck! Where the hell is Tae-ung?!”
“…We don’t know.”

Tae-ung, a bear beastfolk who served as Felix’s right-hand man and one of the organization’s central figures, had disappeared.
He was the fourth to vanish, following Su-cheol, Seon-gi, and Tae-hun.

Beast had already shrunk after the members sent to Sajik-dong disappeared, and now more of his men were vanishing. Felix was on edge.

“You don’t know? Huh? You bastard! You don’t know?”

Felix kicked Ji-ho, a wild-dog beastfolk standing before him, several times in the shin.
As Ji-ho recoiled with a frightened expression, Felix seized him by the collar and growled.

“Find him. Find him and bring him to me!”
“Y-Yes! Understood!”

Felix shoved Ji-ho away and walked toward his desk.
Through the picture window behind it, the brightly colored Majang-dong market spread out below.

“This feels fucking wrong.”

He hated the gloomy sky.
He hated the red mixed among all those garish colors.
It reminded him of his own future.

“Fuck!”

He pulled another bottle of liquor from the cabinet and raised it to his mouth.

Ji-ho left the boss’s office and headed straight for the warehouse.
The moment he entered, he took off his blazer and tossed it to the woman standing nearby.
Then he undid his shirt cuffs and rolled up his sleeves.
Colorful tattoos covered his exposed forearms.

A man sat bound to a chair in the middle of the warehouse.
Ji-ho dragged over another chair, sat in front of him, and spoke curtly.

“Is he dead?”
“No.”
“Wake him up.”

At his command, the female beastfolk stepped forward and slapped the man’s face viciously.

SLAP!

“Kgh-”

The bound man’s nose started bleeding again as his eyes snapped open.
One eye was already swollen completely shut, while burst blood vessels had turned the other bloodshot red.
Blood stained the corner of his mouth, and fresh blood from his nose streamed down over it.

“Untie him. Give him a towel.”

The female beastfolk untied his hands from behind his back and tossed a towel at his face.

“Wipe yourself off.”

The man flinched at her voice, lowered his head, and hurriedly wiped away the blood.
Ji-ho leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs.

“Hoo… Hey, Kim. Let’s make this easy.”
“Y-Yes.”
“Su-cheol went to your shop and disappeared afterward. You know that, right?”
“…Yes.”
“And you’re saying… you don’t know where he went?”

The man shook his head frantically.

“I-I don’t know. He was just there to collect payment, so I gave him the money. He took it and left right away.”
“Haa… Fuck. This is pissing me off.”

The woman stepped toward him.

SLAP! SLAP!

After slapping him twice, she seized him by the hair.

“Stop repeating yourself. Tell us what you heard after that, you fucking bastard.”
“…Yes! Yes. He was annoyed because collections weren’t going well that day. He left saying he needed to fuck Dae-hun up.”
“Dae-hun. Right. Dae-hun. Except that bastard disappeared too. You don’t know where he went?”
“No.”

Ji-ho looked at the woman.

“When did Dae-hun disappear?”
“No one’s seen him since the same day Su-cheol vanished.”
“Fuck. What the hell happened that day?”

The man glanced around nervously before speaking carefully.

“…That day… was the day of the ritual.”
“Ritual?”

A ritual?
The two beastfolk exchanged looks, but neither knew anything about it.
It was the first either of them had heard of such a thing.

“Explain.”

The man began speaking haltingly.

“I-It’s a traditional ritual that’s been passed down for years. It’s gone now, but there used to be a Livestock Soul Monument at the entrance to Majang-dong to pray for the repose of the animals’ souls. They held a rite for it every year. A few shops still carry on the tradition.”
“You’re saying Dae-hun was one of them?”
“Yes. Probably.”
“Why are you only telling us this now?”
“I don’t actually know whether Dae-hun attended. You asked what happened that day, and it just came to mind.”
“Haa… You bastard. Give us the names of everyone who attended that day. And where do they hold this ritual?”
“I heard the Livestock Soul Monument is hidden past the shipping containers in a corner of the market. I’ve never been there myself.”

Ji-ho gave Mr. Kim a few light pats on the cheek and stood.

“Get the names out of him. Got it?”
“Yes.”

Ji-ho left the warehouse, and the man screamed as the woman dragged him away.
At the warehouse entrance, Ji-ho cracked his neck from side to side and put a cigarette between his lips.

“Hoo… Fuck. It’s muggy enough already. Feels like something’s about to come down.”

The sky was dark, with black clouds churning overhead.
Ji-ho headed straight for the abandoned shipping containers at the edge of the market.

“What a shithole. Figures there’d be something shitty hidden here too.”

The beastfolk following him snickered at his complaint.

“I think this is it, hyung-nim.”

Ji-ho followed his subordinate around the containers and frowned.
The sky was already gloomy with the sun blocked by clouds, but this place was a true pocket of shadow, enclosed by buildings and containers so tightly that sunlight never reached it even on clear days.
A huge stone monument stood at its center, rising toward the sky.
Ji-ho shuddered.

“Haa… This place is fucking awful. Search around. See if there’s anything.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”

His men scattered to look for clues while Ji-ho lit another cigarette.

“Hyung-nim! There’s blood over here.”

Ji-ho approached while exhaling smoke and found dark-red bloodstains on the ground, dried long ago.
Then another subordinate shouted from a corner.

“The ground here looks like it was covered over recently.”

Ji-ho’s brow twisted.
A growing sense of unease told him this was becoming something much bigger.

“Dig.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”

One subordinate left to get a shovel while the others gathered around the disturbed ground.

“Hoo… Fuck. I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

Soon the subordinate returned with a shovel, and two beastfolk began digging.
Before long, one of them shouted.

“Hyung-nim, I think you need to see this.”

As Ji-ho approached the hole, a nauseating stench of rot struck him.
A headless corpse had been dumped inside.

“The clothes match, and judging by the ring, I think this is Dae-hun.”

The corpse showed no signs of having transformed into a beastfolk form.
That meant it had to be human, and the ring on its finger was the same one Dae-hun always wore.

“Hoo… This is fucking insane. Fine. Cover him back up.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
“You and him cover this up. Everyone else, follow me.”

Ji-ho headed back toward the warehouse to find the people who had participated in the rite that night.
The female beastfolk was walking out of the warehouse, dusting off her hands.
Judging by the blood splattered across her face and body, Mr. Kim had already been dealt with.

“Good work. Did he give you the names?”
“Yes. Here.”

The female beastfolk handed him a small notebook.
Ji-ho checked the names written inside, gave a short laugh, and started walking.

“These are all the old fossils who’ve been rotting in Majang-dong forever. Merchants’ association officers. Haa… These fucking bastards. Let’s go. They gave us the perfect excuse.”

They had already been difficult to control.
But because they were influential figures in the market, Beast had left them alone until now.
Now it looked like something had happened among them.
With a justification in hand, Ji-ho picked the easiest name on the list and made his move.

“We hit In-cheol first. Let’s go.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”

RUMBLE-

At last, rain began falling from the heavily overcast sky.

Tap- Tap- Tap-

One drop at a time.
But within moments, it was pouring so hard they could barely see ahead.

SHHHHHH- KRAKABOOM-!!

The surroundings flashed as lightning struck nearby.
But even that could not stop the gangsters on their way to find In-cheol.

Neither the torrential rain nor the lightning that shattered the Livestock Soul Monument.

The gangsters violently kicked open the door to In-cheol’s office.

BANG-!

“Fuck, what the hell is that smell?”

Ji-ho stepped inside, covered his nose, and looked around.
No one was visible in the sparse office.
Only the stench of rot strong enough to make his nose feel like it was decaying, mixed with the metallic smell of blood.

His gaze shifted to the walk-in refrigerator occupying one wall.
Blood had seeped out across the floor.
Ji-ho slowly approached and took hold of the refrigerator handle.

Clunk-

The scene revealed when he opened the door was horrific.
Unrecognizable chunks of meat hung from hooks attached to the ceiling.
Their original forms were impossible to distinguish, but one thing was obvious.
소나 돼지의 피부에 문신을 새겨 도축을 하진 않으니 말이다.

Among them, one piece of meat still retained enough of its form to identify.
The head of Tae-hun, one of the wolf beastfolk, dangled from a hook in the ceiling.

“Fuck.”

Ji-ho clutched his head as he examined the refrigerator.
None of the meat that should have been stacked inside remained. Instead, a large cocoon clung to the wall as though suspended in black spiderwebs.

“What the hell is that?”

Ji-ho drew a sashimi knife and approached the black cocoon.

Tap.

The cocoon’s surface suddenly bulged outward into the shape of a human face, then sank back in.

“AH! FUCK! FUCK!”
“You’d better not touch that.”

Startled by the voice from the doorway, Ji-ho spun around.
In-cheol, the man they had come looking for, stood there.

“Ah, fuck, you scared me, you bastard! Drag that asshole over here.”

One of the subordinates moved forward and dragged In-cheol over.
Ji-ho gave a short laugh and slapped In-cheol lightly across the cheek several times.

“Is this your handiwork?”
“What? That beastfolk meat? Of course it’s mine. I’m pretty handy with a knife.”
“Haa… What the hell did this bastard eat to make him so desperate to die? Boys, soften him up. He’s way too stiff.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”

Ji-ho stepped back while the other gangsters approached In-cheol.

“What the hell makes you think you can act so tough?”
“You wanna die, you fucker?”

One gangster grabbed In-cheol by the hair, shook his head, and forced him to make eye contact.
For some reason, In-cheol found the whole thing hilarious and began snickering.

“Hehehehe. This is fun. Right? You’re having fun too, aren’t you?”
“Has this bastard actually lost his mind?! Grab him!”

Two gangsters held In-cheol from behind while another punched him from the front.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

“You son of a bitch. Who the hell do you think you are? You wanna die?!”

One of the gangsters restraining him from behind chuckled.

“Ease up. You’re actually going to kill him.”

In-cheol’s face swelled almost immediately.
His eyelid split, the inside of his mouth tore open, and blood poured from his nose.

His face was a wreck, yet the smile never disappeared.

“Hehehe. Is that all? Come on. Do more.”
“Ha! You fucking bastard.”

The gangster drew a sashimi knife.

“You’re dead.”
“Hehe. Good. That’s a fantastic idea. Stab me.”

In-cheol actually thrust his stomach forward.

“You fucking bastard.”

SHNK-!!

The sashimi knife plunged into In-cheol’s stomach.

“Kgh-”
“Die, you son of a bitch!”

SHNK- SHNK- SHNK-

The gangster stabbed In-cheol’s stomach again and again as though plunging a knife into pork.

“Kuhk-”

Blood began pouring from In-cheol’s mouth.
Ji-ho had been prodding at the black cocoon when he heard the groan and turned around.

“Hey! Why the fuck are you killing him, you idiots?! We still need to find out who did all this fucked-up shit!”

The men holding In-cheol’s arms released him and stepped back.
The gangster who had stabbed him stood with a grimace and lowered his head.

“Sorry.”
“Haa… Fuck. You bastards look down on me too? You think I’m beneath Tae-ung too?”
“Ah… no. Sorry.”
“Goddamn fucking bastards.”

At that moment, In-cheol, still kneeling on the floor with blood pouring from his stomach and mouth, began to snicker as he stood.

“Heh. Tae-ung? Ah~ Tae-ung, Felix’s number two, his right-hand man. Maybe that pile over in the corner is him.”

Every gangster turned toward the heap of meat carelessly discarded beside the black cocoon.
One of them hurried over and pulled apart the mangled mass.

Clink-

A gold chain fell onto the floor.

“T-This is…”

It was the massive 500-don¹ gold chain Tae-ung was always boasting about.
The gangsters turned back toward In-cheol.
The bleeding from the holes in his stomach had already stopped, and he stretched broadly as he continued.

“So? What about it?”

Ji-ho spoke quietly.

“Kill him. Tear him apart.”
“Kahahaha! Tear me apart? Then you’d better transform first. Like this.”

CRRRACK-

As In-cheol curled his body inward, his clothes tore apart and bony horns erupted from his back.
At the same time, the skin of his face split and peeled away, exposing raw red flesh underneath.
Between his torn lips appeared not fangs,
but multiple rows of teeth resembling the molars of beasts.

Then a cracked, murky voice seeped from within.

“Khehehehe… Come on. You should transform too. You’re good at it, aren’t you? Trans…form.”