I Met a Bear
"Anyone with bright yellow eyes… kind of cat-like?"
"I came to Korea because of what happened to Dominic," she said. "I heard you were a survivor of that incident. Is there anything you know about the bear?"
"…The bear?"
The man smiled awkwardly.
That smile was strange in its own way. It was a gentle smile, but the moment he laughed, the muscles beside his cheekbones shifted and the line of his jaw changed. It looked like a beast trying to smile.
"I don't really know. When I came to, I was already in that facility. Next thing I remember is the hospital."
"I see."
Rachel pretended to jot something in her notebook while she kept studying the man.
With that frame and that muscle…
Occupational hazard was kicking in. She couldn't help herself.
"This may be a rude question."
"Go ahead."
"Have you ever done combat sports?"
The man shook his head.
"No. Never."
That was a lie.
Rachel was certain of it.
The calluses on the backs of his hands. The faint deformation at the finger joints. The small scars scattered between his forehead and eyebrows. And more than anything else… the way he was sitting.
His center of gravity sat low. An ordinary person sat up straight on a hospital bed. This man kept his upper body tipped slightly forward—like a posture that could explode into a charge at any second. Like a beast crouched and waiting.
Never done combat sports? With a body like that?
She couldn't believe it. And yet his eyes were sincere. Those were not the eyes of a man telling a lie.
Which meant—
Born with it?
This monstrous physique was all natural?
Rachel's heart started racing again. This time it wasn't fear. It was excitement. A matchmaker's instinct was screaming at her.
This was a raw gemstone. No—even "raw gemstone" undersold it. A diamond was rolling around on the ground.
…Not yet.
Rachel forced the feeling down. She had come here to investigate. Not to scout. Not yet…
"Understood. Thank you for making time. I know you're busy."
She took out a business card and set it on the table beside the bed.
"If anything about the bear comes back to you, please get in touch."
The man picked up the card. In a hand the size of a manhole cover, the business card looked as small as a postage stamp.
"…Thank you."
Rachel nodded and walked toward the door. Just before she stepped out, she glanced back once.
The man was looking down at the card. Sunlight through the window caught his profile.
In that instant, an image flashed through Rachel's mind.
The octagon. That man standing inside the eight-sided cage.
…But something was wrong. When she called the image up again, it wasn't a man standing in the cage. A massive bear, thick with dark brown fur, was up on all fours inside the bars.
…I'm losing it.
Rachel shook her head and walked down the corridor. Her heart was still hammering.
Once she was in the elevator, she muttered to herself.
"I came to see a man who survived a bear… and I met a bear."
Meanwhile.
Alone in the hospital room, the man—no, the bear—looked down at the business card.
Rachel Kim
UFC Asia Matchmaker
…UFC.
Those three letters hit me square in the chest.
The place where Dominic—my absolute favorite—had been champion. The place I'd only ever seen through a screen. The place you could only stand in if you were a person, not a bear.
I looked down at the hand holding the card.
A human hand.
I blinked.
A bear's forepaw.
I blinked again.
A human hand.
…Could I stand there too? Even me.
As a person. Not a bear.
From outside the window, the sound of a news broadcast drifted in.
Still gripping the UFC business card, I stepped out of the hospital room.
I couldn't stand it. Even after becoming human, being locked in a room made it hard to breathe. Whether that was leftover habit from being a bear or just my original personality, I had no idea.
I walked the corridor. With every step, the floor trembled faintly. A nurse passed by, looked up at me, and flinched.
…Sorry. I come built-in large.
There was a vending machine at the end of the hall.
Someone was standing in front of it.
Small. Extremely small. A girl who didn't look like she cleared even 160 centimeters. Thin, face gaunt, hospital gown hanging loose on her frame. Under a short black bob, bright yellow eyes flashed.
She'd been digging through her pockets in front of the machine. Then she heard my footsteps and turned her head.
The way she turned was odd. It wasn't just her head—her whole body came around with it. The way she reacted to sound was less human and more like a cat.
Our eyes met.
Those bright yellow eyes looked up at me.
Up.
And further up.
"…Whoa."
The awe came out first.
"Hey, big mister over there."
Mister?
I wasn't old enough to get called mister.
Ah—right. I'd been a bear, so I had no idea how old I was. How old was this body, anyway?
"You got 500 won for the machine? I'm short a hundred."
"…"
"Why are you staring like that. I just need 500 won."
I fumbled in my pockets. The police had left me a few coins. I pulled out a 500-won piece and held it out.
The girl took the coin, flicked a glance at my hand, and muttered,
"…Your hand is seriously huge. What even is this."
"…It's just like this."
"You an athlete?"
"No."
"Liar. This is the hand of somebody who does something."
Out of nowhere, the girl grabbed my hand.
No hesitation at all. This tiny kid just seized the hand of a one-ton bear like it was nothing.
"Make a fist for me."
"…What?"
"A fist. Just once. I'm curious."
Weird request, but I didn't have a reason to refuse. I closed my hand into a fist, and the girl tried to wrap both of hers around it.
It didn't work. Even with both hands, she couldn't cover it.
"…What even is this."
She held my fist up beside her own face. Comparing.
"…"
My fist was about the size of this girl's head. No—almost exactly the same. This little kid's skull and my fist were nearly a match.
"That's insane. This isn't a fist, it's a cannonball."
She cackled. I couldn't laugh.
Because that fist had launched my favorite fighter. Well—back then it had been a forepaw, not a fist, but the essence was the same.
"You ever done combat sports?"
"…No."
"For real? With this fist? Not even once?"
"Ah, well… maybe not…?"
"For a lie, your eyes are pretty sincere."
For a second, the girl's eyes changed. She was still smiling, but the way she looked at my fist was different. How to put it. An appraising look. The look of someone weighing a weapon.
It only lasted a beat, and then her face snapped back to normal. She punched two canned coffees out of the machine and held one out to me.
"Fair trade for 500 won. Take it."
I took the can. In a hand the size of a manhole cover, the can looked like a toy.
"I'm Seo-yeon. You?"
"…"
A name.
A name…
My mind went blank. What was this body's name? I wouldn't have had an ID when they wheeled me into the hospital. So—my name from my past life?
…What was it again.
I'd definitely had one. It felt like it was right on the tip of my tongue and still wouldn't come. The name of the guy who worked overtime, rode the subway, headed home after work.
Whether living as a bear had erased it, or whether it had vanished the moment I landed in this body—I didn't know.
"…I don't know yet."
"…You don't know? You're not messing with me?"
"…Yeah."
Seo-yeon took a sip of her coffee, then made a face like she was thinking something over.
"The nameless fist cannon… kind of feels like a movie."
"…"
"So then your memory comes back later and it turns out you used to be a hitman or something, right? Right?"
"…"
"Ahem. Sorry. Anyway… well, it's fine. Not many people call me by my name either."
The tone was light. But it wasn't light. Something clung to that one sentence. I didn't know what.
"When people call me, they don't say Seo-yeon."
"Then what do they say?"
"A nickname. Everyone uses the nickname. There's a world where the nickname comes before the name, you know."
A world where the nickname comes before the name?
I was about to ask what that meant when Seo-yeon kept going first.
"So you don't need a name. One nickname is enough."
She looked up at my face. From under 160 centimeters, looking up at me was practically looking at the sky.
"…But you don't have a nickname yet either, do you?"
"…Nah."
"Then Bear—ah, no, later. We'll figure it out together. Name or nickname, either way. I'm good at naming things."
Seo-yeon grinned.
The smiling face was young, but her eyes weren't smiling. No—they were smiling, but somewhere behind them there was weight. The kind of weight you shouldn't be able to carry at that age.
Seo-yeon walked off down the corridor with her canned coffee.
"See you later. We're in the same hospital, after all."
I watched her back as she went.
But that walk was strange. Light. Not ordinary-person light. She walked on the balls of her feet. Center of gravity forward. A walk that could move at any second.
…?
I'd seen that walk somewhere a lot.
What was it again.
I couldn't remember.
I took a sip of the canned coffee.
Bitter. But not bad.
It was the first canned coffee anyone had given me since I became human.
Day three of hospital life.
There was nothing to do. Everything on TV was Monster Bear news, so I lay there on the IV, staring at the ceiling.
White ceiling. When I'd been a bear, the ceiling had been the sky. Blue sky through the leaves. Now it was nothing but fluorescent lights.
In the morning, my attending physician came by.
"The test results are in. Physically, there's nothing particularly wrong, but…"
The doctor paused, choosing his words.
"You said you can't remember your own name, correct?"
"…Yes."
"Date of birth, family, where you live—none of that either?"
"…None of it."
Half a lie, half the truth. I still had memories of my past life. Working overtime, riding the subway, tearing into fried chicken. But the specifics were all fog. Name, address, phone number, family. Everything hovered at the tip of my tongue and refused to come out.
"It appears to be dissociative amnesia. A symptom that can appear after extreme trauma or shock. Given that you were held captive by a smuggling organization, it's a situation that can absolutely occur."
"…Amnesia."
"Yes. And on top of that, I understand there was a large bear at that facility? If you were locked in the same space as a Kodiak bear over a ton… that terror alone could be enough to wipe the memories clean."
"…"
That bear was me, though.
"I don't know if you've seen the news, but the entire mountain has been locked down because of that bear. A UFC fighter was carried to the hospital. To think you were in the same room as a beast like that… you're lucky to be alive."
Not just alive—I am that beast, but sure.
"With time, it may come back, or it may not. Don't force yourself to remember. For now, the best thing is to take it easy."
"…Understood."
The doctor started toward the door, then stopped.
"Ah, and one more thing. There's another person rescued from the same facility here in this hospital. Have you spoken with them at all?"
"…Who?"
"A kid named Kang Seo-yeon. She's in the same hospital. Young, but a tough little thing."
Kang Seo-yeon.
"By any chance—bright yellow eyes… kind of cat-like?"
The doctor's eyes went round.
"Ah, so you've met her? That's right. Very striking eyes. She was found as a victim of the same smuggling organization. Her memory is intact, so she's been very cooperative with the police investigation."
…Seo-yeon is a survivor of the same incident?
The kid who'd borrowed 500 won at the vending machine. The kid who'd cackled and called my fist a cannonball.
…Found in the same place as me?
"If you're up to it, talking with her could help. People who share the same experience often have a positive effect on each other's recovery."
"…Alright."
After the doctor left, the hospital room fell quiet again.