Chapter 1
The forest had taken many men.
Hunters.
Soldiers.
Woodcutters.
Even those who entered carrying torches and swords often disappeared before they had travelled half a day's journey.
No one knew what waited beyond the ancient stone markers.
Some called it a spirit.
Others called it a demon.
But the oldest villagers had another name for it.
The Human Beast.
A creature that walked on two legs like a man, yet was not a man.
For generations, the story had been nothing more than a frightening tale whispered to children whenever they wandered too close to the forest.
Then, one summer, everything changed.
A child appeared.
And the legend became real.
The Forbidden Forest
금지된 숲
The boy opened his eyes.
Cold.
That was the first thing he felt.
Cold against his skin.
Cold beneath his body.
Cold deep inside his chest.
He tried to move, but pain travelled through his small arms and legs.
A weak groan escaped his lips.
Slowly, he pushed himself upright.
Trees surrounded him.
Enormous trees.
Their branches stretched across the sky like the fingers of giants, blocking most of the sunlight.
Mist drifted between their trunks.
There was no road.
No house.
No voice.
No familiar face.
The boy looked around.
"Where am I?"
Only the sound of distant water answered him.
He looked down.
His clothes were torn and covered in dirt.
His feet were bare and bleeding.
He reached into his pockets.
Nothing.
He searched again.
Still nothing.
No phone.
No money.
No familiar object.
Nothing that could tell him who he was or how he had gotten there.
He closed his eyes.
He tried to remember.
His home.
His parents.
His friends.
His school.
His name.
Nothing.
His head suddenly throbbed.
He grabbed it with both hands and fell against the tree.
"I..."
His breathing became uneven.
"Who am I?"
There was no answer.
Only silence.
The boy was seven years old.
And he had forgotten everything.
For hours, he cried.
He called for someone who might hear him.
He shouted until his throat hurt.
Nobody came.
Eventually, hunger became stronger than fear.
The boy wiped his face and forced himself to stand.
If nobody was coming for him, he would have to find a way out himself.
He began to observe.
There were berries on one tree.
He did not eat them immediately.
Instead, he watched the birds.
They ate from the branches without becoming sick.
Only then did he try one.
It was bitter.
But he survived.
He found a stream by following the sound of running water.
He drank carefully.
Then he noticed something.
The stream flowed in one direction.
Water always led somewhere.
That thought became his hope.
So he followed it.
Day after day.
The forest tried to defeat him.
Rain soaked him.
Cold nights left him trembling.
He slept beneath trees and rocks.
He learned which plants to avoid.
He learned where animals gathered.
He learned to listen before he moved.
The boy did not understand why he knew how to reason through these things.
He simply did what his mind told him.
Observe.
Think.
Survive.
Seven days passed.
Seven days in a forest where grown men had disappeared.
And the boy was still alive.
The Seventh Day
칠 일째
The boy followed the river deeper into the forest.
Then he saw something he had not seen in seven days.
Smoke.
He stopped.
His heart began beating faster.
Smoke meant fire.
Fire meant people.
People meant safety.
He ran.
Branches struck his face.
Thorns scratched his arms.
His bleeding feet barely seemed to matter anymore.
He kept running.
Then he heard voices.
The boy stopped.
He slowly stepped through the trees.
Twenty men stood on the other side.
They wore unfamiliar clothing.
They carried swords, bows and spears.
The boy froze.
The men froze too.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The hunters had been searching for a monster.
Instead, they had found a child.
A strange child.
His skin was darker than anything they had ever seen.
His clothes were unlike anything in their country.
His hair and appearance were unfamiliar.
And most frightening of all—
he had walked out of the Forbidden Forest alive.
One hunter slowly raised his spear.
"The beast..."
The boy didn't understand the word.
He stepped backward.
The spear followed him.
"Please..."
Every hunter froze.
The creature had spoken.
Not growled.
Not screamed.
Spoken.
The captain stared at him.
"You speak?"
The boy nodded.
"Yes."
The captain lowered his weapon slightly.
"Who are you?"
The boy opened his mouth.
Nothing came.
He searched his mind again.
His name.
Where he came from.
His family.
Nothing.
"I don't know."
The hunters exchanged uneasy glances.
The captain stepped closer.
"Where did you come from?"
The boy pointed toward the forest.
"There."
"You came from inside?"
The boy nodded.
"How long?"
The boy looked at the sky.
He didn't know how to answer.
"Seven days."
The captain's expression changed.
"Seven?"
The boy nodded.
The hunters looked at one another.
No grown man had survived seven days inside that forest.
Yet this child had.
The captain studied him carefully.
"How did you survive?"
The boy pointed toward the river.
"I followed the water."
The captain said nothing.
For the first time, he wondered whether the old stories had been wrong.
Perhaps this was not a beast.
Perhaps it was simply a child who had somehow survived the impossible.
He turned to his men.
"Take him."
The Royal Palace
왕궁
The news reached King Yi Hyeon before sunset.
"A child?"
The king sat upon his throne, his expression unreadable.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"From the Forbidden Forest?"
"Yes."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
The king's fingers rested against the arm of his throne.
"What does he look like?"
The captain hesitated.
"Unlike anyone we have seen, Your Majesty."
"Explain."
The captain lowered his head.
"His skin is completely dark."
Silence filled the throne room.
One minister whispered,
"The Human Beast..."
King Yi Hyeon's eyes narrowed.
"Bring him to me."
The boy was brought into the throne room.
He looked impossibly small beneath the enormous ceiling.
Hundreds of eyes watched him.
Some were curious.
Some were frightened.
Others were disgusted.
The boy kept his eyes on the floor.
King Yi Hyeon studied him from the throne.
He had expected a monster.
Instead, he saw a frightened child.
A child covered in dirt.
A child with wounds on his feet.
A child who looked as though he had been alone for much longer than seven days.
"Come closer."
The boy hesitated.
A guard gently guided him forward.
The king leaned slightly toward him.
"What is your name?"
The boy shook his head.
"I don't remember."
"Your family?"
"I don't know."
"Where are you from?"
The boy lowered his eyes.
"I don't know."
The king remained silent.
Then one of the ministers stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, this creature should be executed."
The boy looked up.
The minister continued.
"We know nothing about him. His appearance is unnatural, and he claims to have survived the Forbidden Forest."
King Yi Hyeon looked at the child.
"Do you believe he is a beast?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The boy suddenly spoke.
"I'm not a beast."
The entire court went silent.
The king looked directly at him.
"Then what are you?"
The boy's lips trembled.
"I don't know."
Something changed in the king's expression.
He rose from his throne.
The court bowed as he walked down the steps.
He stopped in front of the child.
For a moment, the king said nothing.
Then he placed a hand gently upon the boy's head.
"You have no name."
The boy remained silent.
"You have no family."
Silence.
"And yet you survived a forest that has killed grown men."
The king turned toward his ministers.
"This child will remain in the palace."
Shock spread through the throne room.
One minister stepped forward.
"Your Majesty—"
The king raised his hand.
The minister immediately fell silent.
"He will be given a name."
The king looked down at the boy.
"From this day forward, you shall be called Han Mu-yeol."
The boy repeated the unfamiliar name quietly.
"Han... Mu-yeol."
"Yes."
The king turned toward the guards.
"Prepare quarters for him."
A minister looked confused.
"Your Majesty, what position shall he hold?"
The king considered the child for a moment.
Then he answered:
"He will enter the palace under the eunuch household."
The boy didn't understand what the word meant.
But the princes did.
The eldest prince stared at him.
Another prince's expression hardened.
A stranger.
A nameless foreign child.
A child who had appeared from a forbidden forest.
And now—
the king was bringing him into the royal household.
The king looked around the throne room.
"He will be raised under my protection."
The words struck the princes harder than any command.
The king had many sons.
Yet he had never spoken of protecting them with such tenderness in front of the entire court.
The eldest prince lowered his head.
But his eyes remained fixed on Mu-yeol.
There was hatred in them.
The boy didn't see it.
He was too busy staring at the king.
For the first time since waking in the forest, someone had told him that he belonged somewhere.
He didn't know why.
He didn't know who he had been.
He didn't know where his real family was.
He didn't even know what Joseon was.
But somewhere deep inside his broken memories, beneath the darkness he could not reach, a single name remained buried.
A name that did not belong to Joseon.
A name that belonged to another world.
Jerry.
And one day...
he would remember it.
