The man you revived at the hospital is named Han Myung-sook. He is
the only survivor of the attack that took place against his group of
freedom fighters, the Chosan Irregulars. Apparently those who found
him and brought him to the hospital didn¡¯t disclose his true
identity to the bug liaisons, or he most likely would have become a
zombie by now.

Once back at the inn, he starts to tell his story to Mel while they
wait for the rest of the group to meet back up. Han explains that
his group was returning from a weapons pick-up across the old DMZ
for a middleman just outside of Kong-nung, when they were passing
through a canyon just west of Solak Mountain and heard a couple
cries for help.

The cries sounded young and female. Our blood curdled with every
scream for help and we decided to investigate. The cries came from
our left sides up the rising slope. There was a small trail just up
in front of us that looked slightly old and overgrown. We stashed
our gear in the bushes and made our way up.

It seemed liked the closer we got to the girls the farther away they
would pull away. We couldn¡¯t see any bug tracks, or any clear signs
of the girls, but we pressed on further. A couple others and I grew
a little apprehensive, but our leader insisted that we push on. It
was true that we knew of some local folks who had some young girls,
and at first feared we that it was them; but something just didn¡¯t
seem right to me.

It¡¯s not uncommon knowledge for what the local shamans call that
place¡¦the East Gate to Magosung (¸¶°í¼º)(Ø«Í´àò). You say that you
are not familiar with that name? Well let me tell you.

The totemic and shamanistic traditions are perhaps the oldest in
Korea. According to the Mudang (shaman) this is how the world was
created. At the beginning the world did not exist. A deity by the
name of Yul-ryeo À²·Á(×ÈÕå) appeared and gave birth to a goddess
named Mago ¸¶°í(Ø«Í´). Yul-ryeo then died. Mago in turn gave birth
to two goddesses: Gung-hee ±Ãȸ(Ïâýï) and So-hee ¼ÒÈñ(áµýï). They in
turn each gave birth to two Men of Heaven õÀÎ(ô¸ìÑ) and two Women
of Heaven õ³à(ô¸Ò³).

After the appearance of the Heavenly People, Yul-ryeo À²·Á is
revived and through her re-birth heaven, earth, and the oceans were
created, along with Chi ±â(Ѩ), fire ºÒ/È­(ûý), water ¹°/¼ö(â©), and
earth ÃD/Åä(÷Ï). These four elements in turn mixed and became herbs
and plants, birds and animals.

Mago ¸¶°í(Ø«Í´) decides to stay with Yul-ryeo, whose body had now
become the world, and the Heavenly People ruled all living things
from their heavenly fortress named Magoseong ¸¶°í¼º(Ø«Í´àò) in honor
of the goddess.

There were four Heavenly Men guarding each cardinal direction of the
fortress, and they were Cheong-gung û±Ã(ôìÏâ), Hwang-gung Ȳ±Ã(üÜ
Ïâ) who were children of Gunghwee, and Hukso Èæ¼Ò(ýÙáµ), Baekso ¹é¼Ò
(ÛÜáµ)who were children of Sohwee. They in turn married the four
Heavenly Women, and gave birth to twelve children, who would become
the ancestors of the humans.

These ancestors were pure and were have said to drink from Earth's
Milk ÁöÀ¯(ò¢êá), which came from a spring inside the castle. They
could speak without making sounds, and act without seeing and never
died. Thus they lived for ten thousand years undisturbed.

Then there came a time when the number of people became too large.
There was not enough of Earth's Milk (or "Jiyu") to go around for
everyone. Because of this, a man from the line of Baekso ¹é¼Ò(ÛÜáµ)
by the name of Jiso Áö¼Ò(ò¨áµ) decided to cede his meal of Earth's
Milk five times to his neighbours (other versions say that he waited
in line but the line was so long he never got his turn). Eventually
his hunger grew intolerable, and deciding to kill himself he headed
towards a cliff, where he saw a grape vine growing in the edges.
Unable to suppress his hunger, he ate the grapes and immediately
acquired the five tastes of sourness, bitterness, spiciness,
sweetness, and saltiness. This is known as the Incident of the Five
Tastes (¿À¹ÌÀÇ º¯).

Jiso Áö¼Ò(ò¨áµ) returned to his people and told them of his
discovery. Soon however, those who ate from these grapes began to
grow teeth. From the teeth spewed a saliva that turned into venom.
This was because they had eaten another living thing in order to
stay alive.

Soon they were able to see, but were no longer able to hear the
heavens. Their skin became coarse, their feet heavy, and they were
no longer pure. They gave birth to many animal-resembling children
and their lifespans began to shrink.

There eventually came a point when the people of Magosung ¸¶°í¼º(Ø«Í´
àò) began blaming Jiso (Áö¼Ò) for the transformation, and he along
with his family and all those who had eaten the grapes were forced
to leave Magosung ¸¶°í¼º(Ø«Í´àò).

As the line of Jiso was leaving, however, Hwang-gung (Ȳ±Ã:üÜÏâ, one
of the four guardians and a direct ancestor of the Korean people)
tried to encourage them by saying that if they could recover their
pure nature, they would be free of their misery.

Upon hearing this, the people became convinced that the only way to
become pure once more was to drink from Earth's Milk again. They
then stormed the castle and overwhelmed it, razing the fortress to
its foundations in order to reveal the source of the spring that had
given them Earth's Milk. The spring, however, began to flow in all
directions and thereafter the milk turned into inedible earth,
leaving not only the original perpetrators but all the former
inhabitants of the now destroyed castle to starve.

Soon thereafter there ensued a massive famine, and everyone was
reduced to devouring not only grapes, but all sorts of plants and
even animals in an attempt to satiate their hunger. Of them only
Hwang-gung Ȳ±Ã(üÜÏâ) came forth to Mago ¸¶°í(Ø«Í´) and begged her
for forgiveness. He swore he would not rest until mankind could
recover its pure nature. From her he obtained the Three Heavenly
Heirlooms, and great knowledge. He then called together all the
people of the earth, taught them agriculture, and gave each clan
leader a Heavenly Heirloom and then sent them off in different
directions to people the earth.

Some of the local Mudang believe that the east entrance to Magosung
¸¶°í¼º is located somewhere in our mountains. I believe that we may
have found it it that day we were attacked. We found ourselves
standing outside of what looked like a cave entrance. However, there
was something unnatural about this place. Just looking into the
darkness I felt chills of cold go straight to my bones. I swear I
could hear voices wisper out to me from the dark abyss.

Then before another second could pass, we could hear the girls once
again crying for help. I didn¡¯t want to go in, and I wouldn¡¯t have
had it not been for my friend. As I walked into the dark cave it
felt as if I had entered another world. The darkness was unearthly
black and even seemed to cling to my skin.

As I was trying to shake off the errie feeling of being swallowed up
by the blackness, all of a sudden it was as if the cave walls had
come to life and complete caos errupted in front of my eyes. Blasts
from everyone¡¯s rilfes blinded me with every flash. My ears were
ringing from gunfire and screams of death. My friends were falling
right before my face, and before I could peel off a round, I felt my
flesh rip and my back felt instantly wet. A second later I could
feel my body go numb as I feel to the cave floor.

I turned my head back to the entrance and could see the bright
sunlight calling for me. I crawled on all fours until I reached the
opening and the last thing I remember was rolling down the mountain
side into a group of bushes. I remember being found by some local
hunters, and I not sure what I said to them before I passed out
again. The next thing I knew you and Dr. D were standing over my
bed.

I¡¯ll take you back there if you want, but I wont go inside. I can¡¯t.
However, I must know what happened to my friends. And hopefully our
gear is still stashed where we left it. We need to get it to Mr. Lee
down near Kong-nung. The Fighting Tigers need it despreately.