My grandpa fought a monster on a mountain. We all thought he was crazy.

This happened about 20 years ago. My grandpa's story.

He loved hiking into the mountains near our house to photograph wild birds. Like, genuinely loved it, went all the time. So one day he comes home and something is WRONG. His back has this huge gash on it, he's covered in blood, clothes completely shredded. And his right pinky finger. bent at this angle it should not be bent at.

We freaked out and asked what happened.

"I fought a monster on the mountain. It was genuinely dangerous."

The whole family was like. okay. sure grandpa. But we let him talk.

So he'd gone deep into the woods like usual, looking for birds. Got tired, sat down on a tree stump to eat his packed lunch. And then he felt something behind him. That instinct. Before he could even turn around, something SLASHED his back and this incredible force just knocked him over.

He looked up. Standing on two legs. Brown fur, lots of it. Big head, no horns. Front paws raised, sharp claws out. Something he had never seen before in his life.

He decided running was pointless. So he pulled out his hiking knife and just. fought it. Stabbed it a few times, drew blood, but it would NOT back down. Keep coming at him with those claws. Eventually grandpa said he accepted that he was going to die there.

And then. out of nowhere. some guy appears behind the creature and SMASHES it in the nose with a rock.

The thing panicked and bolted.

The man looked rough. Barely any hair on his head but this thick beard, filthy clothes, and his hands were weirdly long. He looked at grandpa and said "I helped you. Now you owe me a gift."

What did he want? Alcohol. Cigarettes. Doenjang paste¹.

Grandpa said sure, hiked back down the mountain, spent all the cash he had on him, and went back up. When he got there, the man was sitting on grandpa's stump eating grandpa's leftover lunch and playing with grandpa's camera like a kid with a new toy.

The man was thrilled with the gifts. He said "if you're ever in a tough spot again, bring a small gift and come back here." Then he just. disappeared. Fast.

Nobody in the family believed a single word of this.

Grandpa didn't clean his wounds properly, they got infected, he ended up hospitalized. The hospital asked how he got hurt. He told them the exact same story. They didn't believe him either.

But I believed him.

I was an only child and I hung around grandpa constantly. My mom said I wasn't allowed to follow him up the mountain but I did it anyway, secretly. And every single time we went, grandpa would bring a cup of rice wine as a "gift" and leave it on that same stump.

"He's probably some kind of creature too, honestly. But you can't ignore a debt to someone who saved your life. I leave it here, and next time I come back it's always gone. Maybe he's a drinker like me and your dad."

He'd say that and then laugh this big wheezy laugh.

I asked him once about the beast that attacked him. He grinned and said "it got me that time but I'm fine now. I know its weak spot is the nose. Next time I see it I'm grabbing it and selling it to a newspaper."

He never saw either of them again though. Not the beast. Not the man.

When grandpa died, he left a will. We opened it after the funeral and mixed in with the usual stuff about his belongings, there was a specific request. Just for me.

He wanted me to go up that mountain with a big pile of gifts, leave them at the stump, and pass along the message: grandpa is gone now, please look after the family.

Everyone thought it was a bit much. But you don't ignore a dead man's last wish. So I went, with a few friends, carrying a ton of alcohol and cigarettes and doenjang. We left everything at the stump with a letter and came back down.

A few years after that, the mountain got developed. Golf course. Resort. The parts they wanted to show tourists got manicured and pretty. The rest became a dumping ground, just garbage everywhere. The city officials who pushed the development were thrilled with themselves.

I think about grandpa looking down at it from wherever he is and just. being devastated.

The stump is gone. No trace of it.

I still think about that man sometimes. Wonder where he ended up.