Chapter 104: S#18. Bleedy Witch (1)
by fnovelpia
S#18.
Swishhh-
The sound of rain pounding on eardrums woke Summer.
Just before losing consciousness, the vivid image of Yuna rushing madly into the theater flashed in his mind.
That chilling sight…
He had blacked out the moment he focused on the screen. Now he stood in cold rain, not in the theater.
Unable to bear the rising nausea, he doubled over.
Catching his breath, he inhaled the air of 1980s America.
The scent of home. He’d missed it.
Straightening up, he stretched his arms overhead in triumph.
“I did it! Success!!”
The words from his mouth were English, not Korean.
But there was no time for elation.
The voice that came out wasn’t the axe killer’s deep tone, but a woman’s delicate one.
“Huh…?”
Once again, that soft, sweet voice.
He looked down at his body. Full breasts, shapely hips, smooth white legs.
Unmistakably a woman’s body.
What the hell was going on…?
Bewildered, he raised his head.
The axe killer carrying Ellen Strode stood right in front of him.
He spoke with a worried expression.
“Nancy. Are you feeling sick?”
Something was off with Nancy.
When I asked if she was ill, she trembled like she’d been struck by lightning and fainted.
I ended up carrying both Strode women home at once.
Nancy came to shortly after.
But her eyes seemed different somehow.
“You… Listen to me carefully…”
“I’m listening, Nancy.”
“I’m not Nancy…”
Nancy, claiming she wasn’t Nancy.
Why was she suddenly denying her identity? Had she hit her head?
“Han Yeoreum. You know me. I was the original owner of your body.”
A chill ran through me.
The person before me wasn’t Nancy.
“You’re… the axe killer from the ’80s slasher film? The one who was originally in this body?”
“That’s right.”
“But now you’re in Nancy’s body?”
Nancy, or rather he, nodded.
He explained everything to me. From when our souls switched up until now-
The bad blood with the university girl next door.
‘W’, who releases monsters into reality to create horror films, like in <The Cabin in the Woods>.
How some crazy female university student took on the role of W’s director, ultimately throwing the world into chaos.
It was a long, chaotic story. No less f*cked up than this world.
“Good God…”
I clutched my head.
My brain felt ready to explode.
“Nan- I mean, what should I call you…?”
“Call me Yeoreum.”
“But that’s my name.”
“…Sorry. Just call me Yeoreum.”
Nancy’s face twisted in anguish.
There must be a story behind why he doesn’t use his own name. I decided to call him Yeoreum as requested.
It shouldn’t be confusing. I’m Summer after all.
Ellen had regained consciousness by now.
She approached her (not)daughter on the sofa and stroked her shoulder.
“Nancy, are you alright?”
Yeoreum’s face reddened at the gentle touch of this beautiful stranger.
It was an incredibly awkward situation.
“Oh my, you’re burning up. Have you caught a cold?”
Ellen placed her hand on Yeoreum’s forehead. I couldn’t take it anymore and stepped in.
“Ellen… that’s not Nancy.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
I explained calmly, condensing and summarizing Yeoreum’s story.
The key point was that the daughter sitting on the sofa wasn’t her daughter.
Ellen’s reaction was pure shock.
“That’s impossible… Then where… where has my daughter gone?!”
“She’s probably possessed the body I was in.”
Yeoreum said nonchalantly.
Since our bodies had switched, Nancy was likely in 2020s Korea.
Ellen’s gaze turned to me.
“Summer, why didn’t you say anything before…?!”
“I did tell you. That I came from Korea…”
“You should have said your body switched while watching a video!!”
“That would’ve sounded ridiculous. I thought you wouldn’t believe me even if I told you. I hinted at it to Nancy once, but she didn’t believe me either.”
Ellen sighed deeply, clearly disappointed.
I understood. Her fundamental trust in me had been shaken.
I bowed my head in apology.
“I’m sorry, Ellen.”
“……”
“I’ll leave as soon as this is over. I’m sorry for being a burden…”
“That’s not it, Summer. I’m disappointed that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me.”
“What?”
“If you had trusted me enough to tell me your body switched with a stranger… I would have believed you.”
Ellen wiped away tears as she returned to her workshop.
Yeoreum and I sighed in unison.
What to do now? We were at a complete loss.
‘W’, short for Wes, was it?
Turning reality into a horror film – what an insane setup.
The narrator echoing in my head was in league with them.
Come to think of it, there was no narration during this gingerbread cookie fiasco. Were they too busy unleashing werewolves in Korea?
“Yeoreum… You said my dad was a W director?”
“That’s right. Completely insane.”
“Sounds like you met my dad in person.”
Yeoreum’s expression darkened. He seemed to be recalling a horrific scene.
I asked what happened, but he didn’t answer.
Dad… you’re okay, right?
“Summer. I risked coming here to tell you the truth.”
“But things have gone quite awry.”
I couldn’t blame Yeoreum. It wasn’t intentional.
But there was no denying the situation had turned into a complete mess.
Trying to return to his original body, only to end up in Nancy’s instead.
If things had gone as Yeoreum intended, we would have returned to our rightful places.
The axe killer back to 1980s America. The ordinary horror-loving university student back to 2020s Korea.
If our journey had ended that way, would it have been a happy ending?
Did Yeoreum want everything to return to its proper place?
“What do we do now?”
“There’s nothing we can do from this end. Nancy needs to figure out how to return to this world.”
“And if she can’t?”
Yeoreum fell into thought.
It was Nancy’s doll-like face, but knowing there was a man inside… it felt strange.
“There’s someone who knows the answer.”
“Who?”
“Very close by.”
Yeoreum stood up.
“Ishikawa Reiko.”
We headed to Reiko’s house.
Yeoreum pointed out that I’d never been to Reiko’s place before.
Come to think of it, Reiko never invited anyone over.
The lights were always off in her house, day or night.
I should have found it suspicious. But since she worked as a medium, I just accepted it without question.
“Reiko, are you home?”
I knocked on Reiko’s front door. No response.
Nancy… no, Yeoreum picked up a rock and smashed a window.
We climbed through like burglars.
Silence flowed through the darkness.
It had the atmosphere befitting a medium’s home.
I turned on the flashlight we’d brought. The light illuminated the space.
I expected the interior to be bizarre, filled with occult-friendly objects.
“…What the hell.”
That expectation was shattered.
When the flashlight beam revealed the space, I was struck speechless.
The room was packed with videotapes.
My old apartment in Korea had been full of videotapes and DVDs too. I’d found comfort surrounded by horror films.
Reiko’s house was similarly surrounded by horror films.
But this was on a whole different level.
Tapes stacked densely on the walls. Even the floor and ceiling were covered in tapes.
All horror genres.
It was like a space containing every horror movie in existence. Maybe even horror films that didn’t exist yet.
The videotapes weren’t just piled up, they formed the very structure of the house.
Like the candy house from <Hansel and Gretel>…
This was a video house built by a witch.
We ventured deeper inside.
The living room, hallway, and kitchen were all filled with videotapes.
While it should have delighted me given my tastes, I couldn’t feel any joy at all.
This went far beyond the level of a horror film “maniac”. This was just… insanity.
What kind of person had Reiko really been?
Madness touched my skin. It gave me chills.
Yeoreum muttered beside me.
“Ishikawa Reiko… was as much of a horror film maniac as you, Summer.”
“Seems that way.”
We climbed stairs made of videotapes.
There was a desk on the second floor. It looked like a Lego construction made of videotapes.
On the desk lay a note saying ‘Going to Tromaville Forest’.
Next to the note was a map of the forest, with a red X marked in the center.
This must be the destination.
“Smells like a trap to me.”
“Agreed. Going alone into a forest in a horror movie…”
“Is suicide.”
Yeoreum and I locked eyes.
“Does going as a pair change things?”
“We’re about to find out.”
We left Reiko’s house.
There was only one thing left to do.
Find Reiko in the forest.
0 Comments