The boat drifted quietly along the dark river, and the lantern flickered in the evening breeze, casting weak light over the water.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
There was a body in the water, half-submerged, a blood-soaked figure.
The couple's faces turned pale.
"Holy—This isn't fish!" Malik shouted in fright.
"You think?" Lia snorted as if he was an idiot. Then she stared at their catch again. No matter how she looked at it, this was a human.
An unconscious human
"I swear," he muttered, "I thought we hooked a monster."
The young woman hurried forward.
"Is he dead?"
Malik quickly pulled the body closer and grabbed the stranger's collar, dragging him into the boat. The unconscious man collapsed onto the wooden floor with a dull thud.
Blood had soaked through his torn clothes, forming a dark pool beneath him.
The couple knelt to check this stranger.
"This is a man!" Malik noticed. With a signal from Lia, they both gently turned him onto his back.
The stranger's face was pale beneath the dirt and blood. Lia moved close to his nostrils.
She paused, her eyes slightly widened.
"...He's breathing."
Malik frowned.
"...What the hell?"
Lia pressed two fingers against his neck again.
"...But it's faint."
Even so, the stranger's breathing, though weak, remained unmistakably steady.
"Help me," she said. Malik hesitated for a moment before crouching down beside her. Together they carefully raised his body, removing the man's-soaked outer jacket.
The moment the jacket came off, more blood poured from the wounds beneath, making Malik grimace.
"Damn… how is he even alive?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Lia rolled her eyes and scanned his body. It wasn't long before her eyes landed on something.
"Wait…"
She slowly pushed aside the torn shirt on the stranger's back. Upon witnessing it, she froze in place.
"What! What is it?" Malik moved to see what she saw, and his breath caught upon witnessing it,
"What the hell…"
Covering the stranger's entire back was a tattoo.
Black lines spread across his back like claws carved into flesh. They twisted into the outline of a monstrous face, its jaws opened in a silent roar. Under the lantern's trembling light, it almost looked alive.
Both of them recoiled instinctively, letting the unconscious man drop back onto the wooden floor with a dull thud.
"…What?" Malik screamed out to his wits, trembling. He had never witnessed anything like that. "Shit! We shouldn't have come here."
Lia's gaze flickered strangely as she responded. "Now you know?"
"…We need to do something."
Lia stared at him for a long moment.
"That's it."
"What?" Malik turned to face her, willing to listen to a suggestion.
"We're taking him to the hospital."
There was a pause that stretched for no longer than a second. Then a panicked scream pierced the evening sky once more,
"Are you crazy?"
Lia frowned, turning to him. "Then are we going to leave him like this?"
Wide-eyed, Malik began, "Yes, we should. In fact, let's return his body to where we found it. Nice and perfect."
Lia's frown deepened. "How can you think that? That's horrible. Besides, we've already seen him."
"No, no, No! Let's think of the scenario carefully. Why else would a person be found underwater?" He asked, then responded before she could say another word, "Because someone put them there? Or he entered himself, I don't know, but we can't deny the fact he could be dangerous."
When she seemed unconvinced, Malik pointed out, "Just look at that tattoo?"
His eyes began nervously scanning around. "What if whoever did this comes looking for the body? What if they find us? Shit! We need to leave this place now."
"And whose fault is it we are here now?" Lia asked, pausing Malik's panic.
"Are we really going to do that now?"
Lia shook her head. "I'm just saying. I'm not saying we do anything rash. Let's just take him to the hospital. Then we can at least have a clear conscience."
"Clear conscience? What makes you think he is still alive?" Malik pointed.
Lia palmed her face. "He didn't float you, idiot. If he floated, then he is dead. We found him underwater, and remember, I checked. He is still breathing."
"And it's not suspicious that he is still alive?" Malik asked. "A man is found deep underwater in the middle of this random river, for who knows how long, with these sort of injuries and tattoos, and you aren't suspicious about how he is alive?
"Alright then," Lia shouted, "And do you want to stay here? In case you don't know, if someone really threw him, then they are searching for the body."
Malik's eyes widened, understanding dawning.
"Shit! We better leave here now!" He had changed his stance.
Lia sighed, shaking her head.
Malik immediately went over to the controls, grabbed the motor at the back of the boat, and started it. The quiet hum broke the silence of the river.
The boat turned toward the distant lights as they sped through the dark water.
Lia returned to the stranger, doing whatever she could—cleaning his wounds, applying pressure, and pumping his chest— to keep him alive.
Neither of them noticed that far upstream, the dark forest had already disappeared into the night. The river continued flowing as though nothing had happened.
They didn't know the identity of the man they had just pulled from the river, nor that the world knew him by only one name.
Beast.