episode_0025

“I have been investigating what is going on in Chilryong Mountain for a long time. Hikers are going missing every year, and although the police searched the mountain, they couldn’t find a single one. So, I also conducted a separate investigation. Because I felt some responsibility as the person managing Chilryongsan Mountain.”

As Namhong spoke, he held a rosary in his hand as if he was praying. At the same time, I constantly glanced sideways at the window covered by the curtain. It’s like being wary of other people outside eavesdropping.

“Then it was a year ago. While patrolling at night, I met a young man who appeared to be a hiker on the mountain. It was a young man climbing a mountain path in the middle of the night.”

“Are you a hiker? Why was that person climbing the mountain?”

“I was curious too, so I asked, and the young man gave me the answer. I came here to see ghosts. I heard that there are many people who see ghosts on Chilryong Mountain… Well, the answer was something like this. Actually, a lot of people like that come to the mountain. People who want to see ghosts.”

I had a rough idea of what kind of person the hiker was. Chilryongsan Mountain was also a famous place on the Internet for ghost sightings. It seems that he was probably someone who came to visit after hearing a rumor.

“I tried to send it back because it was dangerous. The young man just couldn’t listen. Not only does he not listen to me, he suddenly runs up the mountain. I had no choice but to chase after him. But by the time I found the young man again, it was already too late.”

Nam Hong tightly grasped the rosary in his hand. Nam Hong’s body, sitting in the chair, trembled slightly. When I looked into his eyes, he was trembling with fear.

“Well, that place was far from the hiking trail. I saw an unidentifiable monster between the trees. I think it was a beast covered in pure white fur. A tiger-like monster was eating the young man I saw earlier. Chew all the bones and swallow them… It was a terrible sight no matter who saw it.”

“It’s a tiger with pure white fur.”

“Yes! But do you know what’s even weirder?”

Nam Hong took a deep breath for a moment.

After a long breath, Namhong opened his mouth again.

“I personally saw people being eaten by monsters! But when I was watching it, it didn’t feel dangerous at all. As I was looking at the pure white fur, I felt like I was possessed. What I was seeing just looked like natural scenery… !”

“So what happened? Have you been seeing a monster that looks like a tiger?”

“After watching, I returned to the management office without thinking. I really didn’t think anything of it. The next day, I held the rosary and prayed as usual. From then on, I came to my senses! What I saw was truly a monster! It wasn’t like a natural scenery. There’s no way it’s natural for a person to be eaten by a monster, right?”

After that, Nam Hong said he realized what was happening on Chilryong Mountain.

There was a cause for the accident in which the hikers went missing.

A pure white tiger was preying on hikers.

“Have you ever reported it to the police?”

“If it was a report, of course I did it. Even though the police searched the mountain, they couldn’t find the monster. There was no trace left, so I was treated like a crazy person. The police asked me where there were wild tigers in the world these days.”

“I see.”

Namhong’s story has come to an end.

It seemed like enough clues had been gathered through eyewitness accounts.

I spoke to Sarah who was nearby.

“Sera, what do you think after listening to the story?”

“I’m slowly getting the hang of it. It’s a tiger covered in pure white fur. It also has the ability to deceive those who witness it. There are many monsters that resemble tigers, but there is one strong candidate.”

“I also thought about his identity… .”

A body covered in pure white fur.

Appearance that is thought to be a tiger.

Above all, his ability to deceive Nam Hong, who was the only witness.

I told them the identity of the monster living in Chilryongsan Mountain.

“It must be Jangsanbeom.”

Jang Sanbeom.

It was the name of a monster that was floating around like a rumor on the Internet.

“I think so too.”

Sarah nodded.

A pure white tiger that deceives people by imitating all kinds of voices.

It was a monster called Jangsan Beom because it mainly appeared in the Jangsan area of Busan. However, the area where it mainly appears was around Jangsan Mountain, but it does not mean that it does not appear in other areas. There were ghost stories going around about white tigers being seen on Mt. Manwol in Gangwon-do or Mt. Jirisan in Gyeongsangnam-do.

However, Jangsanbeom was by no means a rumor.

I had definitely heard this from my father. My father had personally hunted Jangsanbeom in the past.

The location is Busan.

In Busan, which can be said to be the source of the rumor, there was actually a Jangsanbeom.

Sarah looked at me with a slightly puzzled expression.

“But Jinwoo, didn’t you say that your father hunted Jangsanbeom? But why is Jang San-beom living here again?”

“My father once hunted Jangsanbeom. But they said it’s not over just because they killed one guy. Because they have the ability to reproduce.”

“Reproduction… ?”

“I don’t know specifically how they reproduce. But what is clear is that Jangsan tigers can give birth to babies. There is not one Jangsanbeom, but many.”

━Jangsanbeom is not one, but many.

━The long-term killer hiding somewhere may attack people again.

My father definitely told me that. Even though I couldn’t remember much else, I remembered that part clearly. It certainly makes no sense to think of Jang San-beom as one person. It was not only discovered in Busan, but sightings were also heard in other regions. Even in the Annals of King Yeongjo, a record from the distant past, there was a story about seeing a monster presumed to be Jangsan Beom.

“Oh, it makes sense if it has the ability to reproduce.”

“So, they are troublesome people.”

It was when we were talking about Jangsanbeom.

Nam Hong, who had been sitting quietly listening to our conversation, opened his mouth.

“What crime? What on earth are you guys talking about?”

“Jangsanbeom! Don’t you know Jang San-beom?”

“Jang Sanbeom… ?”

Nam Hong made a puzzled expression when he heard the name of the monster.

“What is that? I haven’t heard of it.”

“It’s the name of the pure white monster you saw. It is called Jangsanbeom because it mainly appears in Jangsan Mountain. It’s quite famous on the Internet, haven’t you heard of it?”

“I’m not very literate, so I don’t know much about the Internet.”

It turned out that it was Nam Hong’s first time hearing the name Jang Sanbeom.

Just looking at him, it was obvious that he was middle-aged. The rumors about Jang San-beom were only famous on the Internet. There were many residents in Busan who had no idea about Jangsan Beom. Until now, Nam Hong did not even know the name of the pure white tiger he had seen.

“Actually, there is not just one pure white monster that you saw. Even in Busan, a monster that can be said to be of the same species has appeared.”

“Really? Is there anything else so terrible?”

“Yes. My father was the one who hunted the Jangsanbeom that appeared there. I also know how to hunt because I heard about it from my father.”

How to hunt Jangsanbeom.

I heard the story quite a long time ago, so my memory is vague.

But it didn’t matter because I made a note before I forgot.

I had a precious notebook containing all of my father’s stories.

“Look. Here’s how to hunt Jangsanbeom.”

I took out a thick hardcover notebook from my duffel bag.

Nam Hong stared intently at the note I was holding.

“… … .”

After staring at me for a moment, Nam Hong burst into laughter as if he couldn’t believe my story.

“Haha… ! Is there a way to hunt monsters? Does that make sense? How are you going to hunt a monster that even the police couldn’t catch?”

“You can hunt. All of the records written here have been verified.”

“Then let’s listen! What on earth is a method?”

This was before I opened the note.

Before revealing the method, I decided to ask Nam Hong something important.

*

The original purpose of us climbing Mt. Chilryong was to find our father.

Because I found an article saying that a spirit resembling my father was seen on Chilryong Mountain.

I didn’t know whether Nam Hong, who manages the mountain, might have seen Yeongga.

“Before I tell you how, I have something to ask you first.”

I asked Nam Hong about his father.

“Uncle Namhong. Have you ever seen a man wearing a black jacket on Chilryong Mountain? That’s because I saw an article on a mystery site a while ago. They say there was a man who turned away a hiker who was trying to climb the mountain.”

“A man wearing a black jacket… ?”

“It looks like this.”

I took out my cell phone and showed Nam Hong a photo of my father.

Nam Hong looked at his father’s photo and looked surprised for some reason.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, I’ve seen this person before. For a few days now, I’ve been seeing it occasionally in the mountains at night.”

I heard that you have seen your father. At that moment, even I, who had asked the question, was a little surprised.

It wasn’t an ambiguous expression of seeing something that resembled my father.

I ended up getting the answer that I saw my father exactly as he was in the photo.

“Look, you saw it? Where did you see it?”

“You said you saw it on the mountain earlier. There are so many different places that it appears that I can’t tell you where it is.”

Nam Hong looked at me and continued speaking.

“I thought he was a hiker and tried to talk to him. But when I got closer, it disappeared. I don’t know what this person is doing.”

“Anyway, I saw it recently.”

“That’s right.”

It was good news. Until now, we didn’t even know for sure whether my father’s spirit song was wandering around the world. There is a possibility that he attained Buddhahood without any attachment to the world. However, there was a witness here who said he saw his father intact. This means that Sarah and I’s search for seven years was not in vain.

Sarah spoke to me with a smile.

“Jinwoo. Is your father really wandering around?”

“I’m sure. Going around to see ghosts was meaningful.”

There was a reason to search Chilryongsan Mountain.

However, in order to conduct a safe search, hunting Jangsanbeom was a priority.

“Let’s take a look at the notes first. I don’t want to be bitten to death by a Jangsan tiger.”

I opened the notebook I was holding in my hand.

The note contained a record of Jang Sanbeom.

What I paid attention to was Jang San-beom’s characteristics.

[…] … It is a monster in the shape of a tiger. Those who die after being bitten by a tiger become ghosts and cannot go anywhere else, becoming the tiger’s slaves. Likewise, a monster called Jangsanbeom could perform similar tricks. Those who are bitten to death by the Jangsan Beom become ghosts and follow the Jangsan Beom like their master. And he will never attain Buddhahood until he finds another victim.]

Changgui.

It meant ghosts who died after being bitten by a tiger.

Since Jangsanbeom was also a monster in the form of a tiger, it seemed that it could control ghosts like slaves.

“What we saw last night were ghosts.”

“Somehow they all looked terrible.”

Me and Sarah were attacked by spirits in the village last night. The spirits all looked miserable, as if they had been bitten by wild beasts. If you think about it again, the spirits that appeared in the village were ghosts that were bitten to death by the Jangsanbeom.

We continued to read my father’s records.

[After researching, I found out why Jang Sanbeom has magical abilities. The ability to imitate a human voice or the transcendent physical ability had a separate source of power.]

[They are window ghosts. Jang Sanbeom was gaining magical power from the ghosts he was using as slaves. Just as shamans gain strength by manipulating ghosts, Jang Sanbeom also gained strength from ghosts.]

[In fact, there were spear ghosts in Jangsanbeom’s jaw. Jang Sanbeom’s magical ability was a type of necromancy.]

The next part was important.

We couldn’t take our eyes off the notebook even for a moment.

Because the note contained instructions on how to hunt Jangsanbeom.

[If the source of power comes from the ghosts, then you can also know how to deal with Jangsanbeom. It is a method of weakening Jangsanbeom by temporarily sealing the ghosts. In order to seal away the ghosts, I created a trap using a tiger gun in the Jangsanbeom habitat.]

Hosikchong (虎食塚).

The moment she saw that word, Sarah next to her made an interesting expression.

“Aha! You made a trap using a hosik gun?”

“Yes.”

“It’s actually possible! Because hosikchong is a spell used since ancient times to ward off evil spirits.”

Hosikchong was a unique tomb where bodies eaten by tigers were buried.

The tomb itself was also a type of spell to ward off evil spirits.

In the distant past, people on the Korean Peninsula sealed their spirits by cremating and burying the bodies in hosikchong.

It was said that if you set a trap using a hosik gun, you could sufficiently tie up the spear ghosts.

The note contained the things needed to make a trap.

[The items used to make the trap are as follows. There are many stones, a holey skewer, an iron skewer, and a sour-smelling plum.]