Chapter 78 – Day 78

Day 78

Step. Step. Step.

Whether it was poorly maintained or not, a woman walking down a dark alley showed an uneasy expression at the constantly flickering streetlights.

Step. Step.

Flicker. Flicker.

With each step the woman took, the streetlights flickered as if keeping time.

The woman’s expression hardened at this strange rhythm, filling her with even more fear, and she continued down the alley for a while.

At some point, the end of the alley came into view in the distance.
The end of the alley was in stark contrast to the dark passage, being incredibly bright.

At that moment, a glimmer of hope appeared in the eyes of the woman who had been wearing an anxious expression.

“Hello?”

Startled-!

When had it approached?

Behind the woman, another woman with a somewhat strange air about her appeared and greeted her.

“Oh, hello…”

Still, the woman breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that it was another woman who had spoken to her in this dark alley, and as she returned the greeting.

“Am I pretty?”

“Pardon?”

“Am I pretty?”

At this sudden and unexpected question, the woman’s expression turned bewildered for a moment, and as she tilted her head in confusion, the other person asked the same question again.

It was then that the woman realized that there was something strange about the person asking her such an out-of-the-blue question.

Although it wasn’t midsummer, despite the heat not having subsided yet, the other person was wearing a long padded coat that reached down to their ankles.
Their face was as pale as a corpse, and the mask covering their mouth was of a strikingly bright red color.

The woman, who even felt a faint fishy smell, slowly backed away, realizing that something was wrong.

However.

“Am I pretty?”

“Uh… well, that’s…”

“Am I pretty?”

“Why, why are you doing this?”

The other person staring intently at her, asking the same question over and over.
At this, tears begin to well up and trickle down the woman’s eyes, filled with rising fear.

Nevertheless.

“Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?””Am I pretty?”

The unidentified being keeps asking the same question, taking a step forward to close the distance each time the woman takes a step back.

At this, the woman, as if she could no longer endure, turned her back and ran away.

But, was her mind too rushed?
The woman stumbled and fell to the ground as her heel broke before she could even take a few steps.

“Am I pretty?”

The unidentified being slowly approaches the fallen woman, continuously asking the question “Am I pretty?”

No, there was one thing that had changed.
The mask of a strikingly bright red color that had been covering the mouth of the unidentified being had disappeared without a trace.

The mouth that was hidden behind that mask catches the woman’s eye.

The mouth of the unidentified being reflected in the woman’s terror-stricken eyes was not that of a human.

As the mask disappeared, the visible mouth was smiling, but it wasn’t the usual ‘ear-to-ear grin’. It was literally a smile made with a ‘torn mouth’.

Blood was continuously dripping from the mouth torn up to the ears, and the reason why the now-vanished mask had such a vivid red color was because it was stained with blood flowing from the torn mouth.

The moment she realized this.

“Kyaaaaaaaaah-!”

A sharp scream erupted from the fallen woman’s mouth.

A scream filled with terror that filled the dark alley.

Upon hearing that scream, the unidentified something no longer asked questions.

Instead.

Hehehehehehe-!

It only let out an eerie laugh through its torn mouth, as if it was thoroughly pleased with the woman’s terrified scream.

As the terrified scream and the eerie laughter filled the dark alley.

Squish-!

“Eh…?”

A sound of something being crushed coming from right in front.
The woman who had been screaming in terror suddenly uttered a dumbfounded voice, and for good reason.

“Hello?”

In an instant, the unidentified being with the torn mouth who had been letting out an eerie laugh.
The unidentified being who had been slowly approaching her while snipping the scissors in its left hand had disappeared. In its place was a girl showing an incredibly innocent and naive smile.

Meanwhile, the girl who appeared while crushing an unidentified being, Cheon Seoa, asked the woman with a fear-stained expression.

What.

“What year is it?”

“Pardon…?”

“I asked what year, month, and day is it today.”

…?

Cheon Seoa’s question continued again.

At that, the woman’s expression became even more dumbfounded.

Her mind couldn’t keep up with Cheon Seoa who appeared out of nowhere and asked such sudden questions.

However, despite this, Cheon Seoa added a note saying ‘You can answer slowly,’ as if willing to wait until the woman came to her senses.

“Um…. Well, well, if you’re asking what month and day it is….”

“Including the year please.”
“W-Well then.”

The date she heard was.
October 22nd, 2024.

It was exactly 10 years after the point when the Beast tried to cross over to Earth.
At least.

“Should I say it’s fortunate that I was in the outer universe?”

Cheon Seoa muttered while standing alone in the dark alley, after even the terrified woman had fled.

The battle with the Beast took so long it couldn’t be measured in mere decades or centuries.

However, perhaps because she was in the outer universe where the time axis was twisted compared to the inner universe, despite fighting for that long time, only 10 years had passed on Earth.

However, in that short span of 10 years, Earth once again underwent a drastic change.

And it was all thanks to the beasts.

The evidence for that is.

“This must be it.”

Cheon Seoa, who muttered those words, looked down at the small scissors in her hand.

The blades of the scissors were completely covered in red blood, and these scissors existed on the border between ‘reality’ and ‘unreality’.

In other words, the scissors could clearly be seen with the eyes, touched with hands, and even affect reality.
But strangely, any attempt to destroy the scissors in reality was futile.

This was something incredibly unfair that could influence reality but was not affected by anything existing in reality.

However, it wasn’t just the scissors in Cheon Seoa’s hand.

Even now, existing all over the Earth.
All kinds of monsters that Cheon Seoa had seen when looking down from space were just like these scissors.

But that doesn’t mean the scissors, or things like them, were completely invincible.

After all, if they truly weren’t affected by anything, they wouldn’t have been caught by Cheon Seoa like this.

These things could also be damaged to some extent if one reached the 8th level of Yeongi, could be sealed sufficiently upon reaching Chukgi,
And could be completely annihilated upon reaching Gyeoljeonggi.

Moreover, the superpowers used by humans on Earth could also inflict some damage on them.

Even when Cheon Seoa was looking down from space, she often witnessed Earth’s heroes fighting against these things.

Although they couldn’t completely annihilate them, they could seal their core to some extent.

By the way…

“How should we handle this?”

The blood-stained scissors in Cheon Seoa’s hand, for one.
And then there are those things that appear and disappear, causing havoc all over the Earth even at this moment.

All of these are manifestations of urban legends and folklore that once circulated among humans, now gaining physical form and appearing on Earth.

And the decisive reason for their appearance is, of course, due to the beasts coming through the cracks.

It might be considered fortunate that it’s limited to this extent, but still.

“Should I modify it?”

Cheon Seoa muttered, suddenly furrowing her brow.

Even if it’s ‘slight’, it’s still a phenomenon caused by her mother’s child.
To modify it would require enduring considerable inconvenience.

“Well, it’s not really a big deal. If it becomes necessary later, I’ll modify it then.”

After pondering for a long time, Cheon Seoa said with a bright smile.

It wasn’t as if the Earth was going to be destroyed or humanity was going to be wiped out.

In this way, the urban legends, folklore, and oral traditions passed down in each country, city, and village becoming reality is also, in its own way…

“Isn’t it interesting?”

Muttering so, Cheon Seoa swallowed the scissors in her hand with a gulp and showed a bright smile.