Chapter 1: 0

Prologue

Despite the power saw in her hand, she froze in terror. A pair of blue eyes glowed in the dark.  Her feet were rooted to the spot by his bloodthirsty eyes. She was paralyzed as her eyes met with the man’s who was burying a person alive.

Her thoughts whirled around in her mind like a siren. Murderer…. That one word that she had only ever seen in news headlines shook her. Her body broke out in cold sweat and goosebumps. Her only wish had been a quiet and safe life. Was that too much to ask?

Today had been wholly normal and uneventful day. She had gone to the hospital, went through her overdue bills, inspected trees that had undergone treatment for their disease, and argued with a client who had not paid their treatment fee for over a month now.

It was an old habit for the tree doctor, So Lee-yeon, to go up to the mountains at night and inspect the neglected trees. Today had been a normal and casual day like any other. This mountain was a private property, but it wasn’t managed at all so the overgrown trees and bushes gave the illusion of ghosts and creatures.

Just like trees which are usually found in abandoned areas, the trees here suffered from malnutrition and neglect, so she took extra care of them. Always.

“Help! Please, help!” The one being buried shouted in a muffled voice. However, the screams were cut abruptly when the earth piled up on top of them, leaving only silence in the air.

The tall man wore a shiny, black, plastic raincoat. He dug up the soil and piled it onto the pit as though he was familiar with this. As though, he had done this many times before.

“Pl-please!” said the voice. An arm protruded from the fresh soil, desperately scratching the ground for a handhold. “I will t-tell you everything.”

Unlike the one struggling against their imminent death, the man hummed the notes of a tune, calmly. “Wrong!” he said, finally, “You should be begging me to kill you here.”

The silence stretched. “Help…”

“The show has just begun,” said the man and pushed the hand on the ground with his shoes and kicked on it repeatedly, smashing them.

“Ahh!!” screamed the one in the ground.

The man’s face was stony, but he kicked like a madman. The fingers seemed to be broken and bloody.

“Aaaa……!” The scream was muffled yet pitiful from below the ground.

“Don’t you know that the more you scream, the more excited I get?”

“Aaaaa!”

“I can’t stop doing this because a dumbass like you comes out once in a while.”

The man resembled the birch that is said to shine brightly even at night. His face was just as white and sleek. However, he didn’t appear to have the color or complexion of a living person at all. She could only look in horror at the man who was looking at his face reflected on the blade.

“Aaaaa, please!” The soil trembled as the cream and sobs sounded from within. A head was exposed but the man pressed down on it with his foot as though snuffing out a cigarette. With the hood of the raincoat covering half his face, she could only see his long lips.

When she saw the person trying to resist gradually weaken in their movement, and then stop completely, So Lee-yeon’s mind formed a semblance of the truth. It’s a murder scene!

The event unfolding in front of her eyes was so shocking and unbelievable. She gulped nervously. She felt very afraid, and her hands started to sweat. She hid her phone behind her back and tried to press 112. Relying solely on her intuition and feel, she fumbled around with her phone.

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All her focus was on her fingers fumbling with the screen when she stepped on a branch. The cracking of the stray branch was a very insignificant sound in normal circumstances but in the dead of night, nothing was louder than the said sound.

The man who had ignored the dying screams suddenly stopped shoveling. He dropped the shovel, and So Lee-yeon’s gaze followed it. she couldn’t breathe. She only now realized the smell of blood emanating from the motionless man on the ground. She looked at the body closely and she realized that the white shirt was all dark, drenched with blood.

“What the fuck is this?” said a voice near her, “Isn’t it about time you ran for your life?” A gunshot was fired.

So Lee-yeon ran. The ground was muddy because of the rain. Her shoes sank and squelched in the damp. It was hard to run smoothly, but if she hesitated even a little, she would be caught and killed. Her heart was in her mouth and she ran. She gasped for breath but didn’t stop running.

The call finally connected.

“Hwayang Police Station,” said a voice.

“H-hello,” she stammered.

“Yes, please speak slowly.”

She burst into tears. She was so afraid. She fumbled with the words. “I s-saw somebody b-burying a body here. Please, come quick. I got caught. I a-am in danger.”

“What’s your name, ma’am?”

“So Lee-yeon. Please, I might die.”

“Please calm down, ma’am. Are you able to give me a location?”

“Y-yes. There are dozens of Japanese Oak trees here. You can also see an elm tree with a large hole. I just passed that now. Please!” she responded, as best as she could, trying to calm herself. Her breath was coming in rough gasps.

“Can you give me more information? Is there any sort of building or infrastructure nearby?”

Lee-yeon heaved a deep breath and pulled herself together. “Spruce Tree Hospital. The mountain right behind that.”

“We are coming. Ma’am, I don’t need to tell you that if this is a prank call, there will be consequences.”

“Please. Please come quick.”

She finally reached the road at the entrance to the trail towards the mountain. She tried to catch her breath. A wire thin as a thread wrapped around her neck and she was yanked back. She scratched her neck to get hold of the wire, but it was too thin and cut into her skin.

“Hey, you dropped this.”

Her hair stood on end. The sound of breathing near her ear was terrifying. One hand tightened the wire around her neck while the other placed something heavy in her hand. Before she lost consciousness, she swung it with all her might towards the man.

She felt the aftereffects of the heavy swing and heard something breaking as the saw collided with the man. She swung her tools twice more. The wire loosened around her neck. So Lee-yeon, petrified with fear, didn’t look back. The power saw belatedly roared to life. This was the first time she had met her secret patient, a vegetative man who had been lying in bed, unmoving, for two years.

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