Chapter 16: CUT. I Want to Go Back (1)

CUT.

A cramped room.

In a dark space surrounded by videotapes and DVDs, Yeoreum had draped a blanket over himself.

His shoulders shivering as if he had hypothermia.

The moment he was attacked by Yuna Yeon wouldn’t leave his mind.

The shock was so intense, he couldn’t even go to school.

The aftermath still roamed his entire body.

“Haah…”

Yuna Yeon was terrifying. At the same time, she was beautiful.

Her smooth skin exposed, her body’s graceful shape and her picturesque beauty were striking.

He involuntarily imagined what it would have been like if he hadn’t run away but had embraced her right there.

Despite experiencing a humiliating and shameful situation, the fact that his body responded in such a vulgar way angered him.

He couldn’t stand the anger.

With his body in 1980s America, he was strong. Anyone could be overpowered by his physical strength.

But now, he felt weak.

Weak enough to be overpowered by a young woman.

Thinking about his fall in physical strength filled him with a sense of powerlessness.

At times like this, one must pull oneself together.

Even if the body has weakened, the spirit must not.

He would maintain his dignity and purity from that evil crazy b*tch, Yuna Yeon.

Yes. He was a real man.

He would never break.

As he made this resolution, a knock sounded at the front door.

He flinched, curling up.

“…Who is it?”

“Parcel delivery.”

The courier’s voice answered.

A parcel? Strange.

“I don’t remember ordering anything.”

“Parcel delivery.”

Knock, knock, knock.

A heavy knocking spread through the front door again.

“I said I didn’t order anything.”

“Parcel delivery.”

“Then leave it at the door and go.”

“Parcel delivery.”

“……”

“Parcel delivery.”

The voice repeated mechanically.

Then he realized.

It was a recorded voice.

Someone behind the door was playing a recorded message.

Chills ran down his spine as if he had been doused in cold water.

There was only one psycho capable of such an act on this planet.

“Yuna Yeon?!”

“…You caught me.”

Yuna Yeon spoke from beyond the door.

What would have happened if he had thought it was the courier and opened the door? His hair stood on end.

Yuna Yeon lingered in front of the door.

“Yeoreum… Please open the door…”

“F*ck off, rapist.”

“I’m really sorry about what happened that day…! Something must have gone wrong with my head…!!”

At least she seemed to realize she had done something wrong.

Yuna Yeon tried to overpower Yeoreum with force, intending to take his body.

Although the roles of men and women were a bit reversed, it was undoubtedly an attempted rape.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault…”

“If you don’t leave now, I’m calling the cops.”

“It’s okay to call the cops. And it’s okay if you don’t accept my apology. But please, just show me your face… I miss you.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m worried…! You didn’t come to school today. Are you sick or something? Huh?”

Her concern was genuine. It was evident even from her voice alone.

But he had only one thing to say.

“F*ck off.”

“Uh-uh, I don’t want to. I won’t go until I see your face.”

Rustling sounds could be heard. Yuna Yeon was leaning against the door.

Was she really not planning to leave?

“Yeoreum, have you seen ‘Green Room’ directed by Jeremy Saulnier?”

“No.”

“It kind of feels like that movie right now. Someone wants to open the door, and someone doesn’t…”

Yuna Yeon continued.

“Do you remember our ‘Understanding Cinema’ discussion time? We talked about ‘Evil Dead.'”

“I don’t remember.”

“You said the original by Sam Raimi was the best. I liked the reboot more.”

Her pleasing voice came through the door.

“So, you know… I watched the original again. I kept watching it until I could recite every line, over and over.”

“……”

“I was curious about what you saw in that old film… Which scenes captivated you, which character touched your heart, I wanted to know.”

Her pleasant voice came through the door.

“So I kept watching the original… But still, I couldn’t understand. I couldn’t see what made it better than the reboot.”

The doorknob slowly turned.

Yuna Yeon was turning the doorknob.

“…But it doesn’t matter anyway. I’ve come to like the original more now.”

Then, the doorknob began to shake violently.

Thud, thud, thud – the front door shook as if there was an earthquake.

An overwhelming fear washed over him.

“Eek…!!!”

“Yeoreum, please, open the door.”

“Go, go, go away!!!”

“I just want to see your face. I’m really worried about you, I’m going crazy…”

Thud, thud, thud – it sounded like the front door was about to be ripped off.

Yeoreum screamed in a manner unbecoming of a man.

Terror churned his insides.

He clutched the blanket he was under.

Soon after, the shaking of the door suddenly stopped.

“…It can’t be helped.”

After Yuna Yeon’s words, an eerie silence fell.

He threw off the blanket and pressed his ear against the front door. No sound came from outside.

Had she left?

Did she really leave?

He cautiously cracked open the front door. Yuna Yeon was nowhere to be seen.

The long hallway was empty. No shadow of a person was visible.

Phew. He felt like he had aged ten years.

He crawled back under the blanket and calmed his pounding heart.

Why had he become such a cowardly rabbit?

Perhaps the soul follows the body.

Just as water takes the shape of the container it’s poured into, so might the soul…

Thud, thud, thud –

The sound came again.

He felt his breath catch. This time, it wasn’t the front door.

He turned his head back.

It was the window.

Yuna Yeon’s face was flickering at the window.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

How could she be there…?!?!

This is the third floor, right?

How is she knocking on the window?

Is she not human?

Luckily, the window was locked. It was a close call.

Yeoreum kicked the front door open and ran outside.

He tripped over his feet and fell flat.

Ignoring the pain, he scrambled up and ran again.

His heart was racing.

“Hah… Hah……”

He caught his breath at the bottom of the stairs.

What was Yuna Yeon doing outside the window?

Yuna Yeon is tall, but not three stories tall.

Did her legs stretch like rubber? Or did she learn to levitate?

Curious, he went outside the building.

He went around to where the window was.

“……”

He saw Yuna Yeon clinging to the building wall like a cicada.

He was at a loss for words.

She had simply climbed up the outside wall pipes to the third floor.

“What are you doing there, Yuna Yeon?”

“Eeek… I’m too scared to come down…!”

Yuna Yeon looked on the verge of tears.

The pipe she was standing on shook as if it would break.

Yuna Yeon was in a precarious position.

After all the effort to climb up, what was she doing? It was ridiculous.

“Yeoreum, I’m scared… Help me…! Waaaah…!!”

Yuna Yeon began to sob, hanging on the pipe three stories high.

It was a sight too pitiful to watch.

Hard to believe this was the same woman who had created a terrifying atmosphere at the front door.

Whether she falls and dies or not, he should just ignore her.

But a part of him felt pity.

Yuna Yeon looked like a kitten who had climbed up a high tree and didn’t know what to do.

Yeoreum’s inner self was a murderer.

In the 1980s, he would have been the infamous axe murderer that shocked all of America.

Though he never achieved that, his foundational skills as a killer were solid.

Rage and a desire to kill.

And a body as strong as steel.

He fantasized every night about chopping off victims’ heads with an axe and dismembering their limbs.

About pulling out intestines from the victims’ bellies to skip rope with.

But those scenes never materialized.

Every time he set out to kill, he felt pity for the victim.

He couldn’t bring himself to hurt them, let alone kill.

He hadn’t harmed a single person.

He had tried to train himself to eliminate this weak pity.

He had tried to kill a lost puppy.

It was a small dog, soaked from the rain.

It would have been over with one swing of the axe to the neck.

But even that failed.

It was because the wet puppy was trembling so delicately.

He lowered the axe he had raised.

Instead of killing the puppy, he washed it with warm water, fed it until it was full, and then sent it on its way.

The killer who wanted to kill everyone but ended up killing no one always ended up like this.

Having no other choice, Yeoreum headed back home.

He ran up the stairs and opened the front door.

Without taking off his shoes, he threw himself toward the window.

He grabbed Yuna Yeon’s trembling arms.

“I’ve got you…!”

He pulled her toward the house with all his might.

Both of them fell together.

The stacked DVDs and videotapes collapsed as well.

“I… I almost died…!”

In a room, littered with horror movies, Yuna Yeon tightly hugged Yeoreum.

The scent of sweet sweat, like a fruit.

A woman’s body was softer than he imagined.

Their heartbeats transmitted through their bodies pressed together.

Having always felt Yuna Yeon to be so imposing, holding her so tightly in his arms now made her seem unusually small.

Or, was it he who was being embraced?

Maybe it was him that felt small?

Yeoreum was confused.

Yuna Yeon’s body was trembling delicately. Just like the puppy that day.

“…I can’t breathe, Yuna Yeon. Let go now.”

“……”

He tried to pull away.

But Yuna Yeon tightened her arms around his waist even more, as if she would never let go.

Wait. Something was off.

Yuna Yeon’s body wasn’t trembling from fear; it was trembling as if she was holding back laughter, trembling with joy.

Yuna Yeon whispered in his ear,

“…Hehe. Mission accomplished.”

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