Chapter 75: S#13. Scary Woman (2)
by fnovelpia
When the moon rose, the ghost appeared.
It was the woman with her face torn off.
She came for the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ festival, held for the first time in 20 years.
The woman, exposing her white skull, crawled creepily on the ceiling.
She approached me as I lay in bed trying to sleep.
I had prepared for this. I took out a crucifix.
“Jesus, give me strength…”
I held the crucifix tightly.
As the skull woman got closer, I delivered a Holy Cross Punch, smashing her jawbone.
But the skull woman effortlessly regenerated the shattered bone.
I switched items. This time, I wrapped a rosary around my fist.
Buddha, give me strength.
I put all my strength into my punch and struck the skull woman. Crack—her eye sockets shattered.
But again, it was futile. The ghost regenerated the broken bones as if nothing had happened.
I wondered if religious harmony was needed, so I held both the crucifix and the rosary in one hand and struck again, but the result was the same.
Exorcism failed.
If I had a ‘Proton Pack’ like in <Ghostbusters>, I could have captured her. It was frustrating.
“Only I can lift your curse,” the skull woman said.
“I will be chosen as the Beauty and will march with the Beast.”
“With that look, you’ll be cut off at the entrance.”
It would have been impossible even in her human days before her face was torn off.
According to the story Nancy told me, this woman was an ugly woman who had torn off her face with her own hands.
“Why are you haunting me? I haven’t done anything to warrant a grudge. Sure, I’ve killed a few people, but…”
“Because you are the Beast.”
“I’m human.”
“You are the Beast.”
Neither attacks nor words got through to her.
Running away seemed like the only option.
But taking something like this home would be disastrous. It would be like returning with a bomb vest on.
“In a week, the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ festival will be held. I will be the Beauty, and you will be the Beast.”
“Dream on. I’m not entering such a contest.”
The skull woman firmly believed she would win the contest. She was out of her mind.
Someone who tore off their own face couldn’t be sane.
Why was she so obsessed with the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ festival? Was it because of the grudge from her unfulfilled dream 20 years ago?
Fortunately, the skull woman wasn’t very aggressive. She didn’t try to chop me up or eat me.
Compared to the creatures that were always trying to kill me, she was better.
But then the skull woman made a chilling remark.
“…If I don’t win the contest, something terrible will happen…”
Something terrible?
I didn’t even have time to ask what she meant. The ghost had already vanished.
The next day, it rained.
A dismal, drizzling rain. On such a day, a welcome visitor came.
It was Ishikawa Reiko.
The mystical psychic immediately sensed my situation.
“Summer… you’re possessed by something, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but I can’t go into details.”
The skull woman had told me not to reveal her existence to anyone else.
I didn’t like it, but I was keeping her word.
Reiko tilted her head curiously. Her ebony hair flowed smoothly over her shoulders.
Even a simple gesture became an enchanting picture when done by a beauty.
“The ghost you met might be a Yuki-onna.”
“A Yuki-onna?”
“A spirit from Japanese folklore.”
Long ago, a woodcutter was stranded in a snowy mountain.
Caught in a fierce blizzard, he was about to freeze to death. He entered an ice cave to escape the wind and met a Yuki-onna.
The Yuki-onna was about to devour the woodcutter.
But the woodcutter was a handsome man, and the Yuki-onna thought it would be a waste to eat him, so she decided to let him go.
‘But don’t tell anyone that you met me. If you reveal my existence to anyone, I will kill you.’
The woodcutter cried and promised, and with the Yuki-onna’s help, he was able to safely descend the mountain.
The woodcutter, who had narrowly escaped death, met a beautiful maiden some time later and married her.
The couple lived happily and had healthy children.
One day, the woodcutter told his wife the story of meeting the Yuki-onna in the ice cave.
At that moment, a chilling snowstorm swept through the house.
A biting wind…
“The wife was actually the Yuki-onna. She had to kill the woodcutter for breaking his promise, but because of their love and children, she spared his life. Instead, she cut off his limbs and took him back to the ice cave. The woodcutter had to stay in the ice cave, creating children with the Yuki-onna forever.”
“The ending seems a bit strange.”
“It’s not strange.”
The lesson is clear. Do not reveal the forbidden.
Reiko offered to make a talisman to exorcise the ghost if I wanted.
But it would take a month to make. I politely declined.
Night fell.
When I opened the door and stepped into the hallway, I saw the ghost standing at the end.
I had prepared a box. It was an icebox I had borrowed from a nurse.
I grabbed the skull woman and tried to shove her into the box.
But it was useless. The ghost in my hand dissipated like smoke.
I couldn’t trap her.
I sighed and leaned against the hallway wall.
This was the first time I felt so helpless in an exorcism.
“No way out,” I muttered.
“There is hope,” the skull woman said.
“If we become the Beauty and the Beast, I can rest in peace.”
“Why are you so obsessed with this contest?”
“I’ve waited 20 years.”
Her bony jaw clattered.
Was she saying she would pass on peacefully if she was chosen as the Beauty in the contest?
How could a ghastly ghost with her face torn off become the Beauty…
An idea suddenly struck me.
Nancy stepped out to the porch. She wanted to get some fresh air.
Someone was in the yard next door.
It was one of the Hyper twins, and since her eyes were open, it was Hilda.
Nancy greeted Hilda. Hilda hesitated before returning the greeting.
They were neighbors but still a bit awkward around each other.
The two women exchanged notes in their palms. It was trivial small talk, but it wasn’t boring.
Every time Hilda’s slender fingers moved, Nancy’s palm tingled.
Before long, the conversation shifted to Summer, who was hospitalized.
Nancy laughed at Hilda’s honest confession that she was initially terrified of him.
“Right! I also thought he was some serial killer at first!”
Hilda laughed without reservation. Her expression was bright.
She looked like a fresh girl who had just fallen in love.
To Nancy, it was a dangerous signal. She felt a bit tense.
At that moment, they saw a woman walking on the sidewalk in front of the house.
A woman in a yellow dress with long hair.
Walking alone at night. She had guts.
Hilda and Nancy stared at her, then froze.
Her face was hidden by her long hair, but… the woman was definitely strange.
It was hard to pinpoint what exactly was strange, but she somehow didn’t seem normal.
The more they looked, the more eerie it felt.
Hilda Hyper, whose hearing was impaired, had more developed sight and an extraordinary sense of observation.
She vaguely realized what was off about the woman.
She quietly reached out and wrote on Nancy’s palm.
‘She must have had plastic surgery.’
Nancy frowned.
Plastic surgery? I can’t even see her face.
She moved closer to get a better look.
But the woman had already passed by.
“Forget it.”
I removed the clay from the skull woman’s face. The plastic eyeballs fell off too.
I had tried to disguise her, but it was a failure. She didn’t look human, let alone beautiful.
What should I do? Should I put a paper bag over her head?
I thought of a few ways to make the ghost win the beauty contest.
Feeding hallucinogenic mushrooms to the judges.
Kidnapping all the other beauty contestants.
Planting a bomb under the stage and threatening everyone… and so on.
Of course, none of these methods were feasible.
I remembered what the skull woman said yesterday.
‘…If I don’t win the contest, something terrible will happen…’
How does she expect to win when she doesn’t even have a face, let alone beauty?
I pulled at my hair in frustration. If she were a physical monster or a killer, I would have smashed her to pieces.
But she was a ghost. Physical force was useless against her, making exorcism impossible, and only amplifying my meaningless anxiety.
Why is she doing this to me? Today, I felt the narrator’s absence more keenly.
“Don’t worry. I will become the Beauty, and you will be the Beast.”
“Where do you get that confidence?”
“Because I’m beautiful.”
“I told you when we first met.”
I spoke seriously.
“You are better suited to being the Beast.”
Blue flames flickered in the skull’s eye sockets.
They looked like flickering sapphires. It was a familiar sight.
I prepared for a fight, thinking she might attack.
“…”
But the ghost didn’t attack.
Her form gradually faded until she completely disappeared.
I realized too late that I had said something hurtful.
That woman… she was so tormented by the crowd’s jeers that she tore off her own face.
Yet, I didn’t feel any sympathy.
They said she killed the leading beauty contestants two years in a row as a ghost. That’s why the festival was stopped for 20 years.
I wasn’t sure if it was accurate information, but it fit the horror movie structure perfectly.
When daylight came, I was discharged from the hospital.
The centipede-like scar on my abdomen had completely disappeared. My recovery was miraculous.
I went straight to the university as soon as I left the hospital.
I met Nancy and borrowed her student ID.
My destination was the university library.
I went to the archive room to find old newspaper articles.
The Beauty and the Beast festival… the ugly woman who tore off her face and committed suicide…
It happened 20 years ago, in the 1960s.
Given the era, the newspapers didn’t include many photos.
Reading in reverse order, I started with the article about the death at the last festival.
Leading beauty contestant killed the day before the festival—
Just as Nancy had told me, the same thing happened the previous year. Leading beauty contestant killed the day before the festival…
As I went through the articles, I finally found it.
The ugly woman who tore off her face and committed suicide.
“…What is this.”
I was shocked by the newspaper article.
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