episode_0030

Conner couldn’t stop running, even as his breath caught in his throat and fear made his heart feel like it would burst.

-Caw-caw-caw-caw!

Because if they stopped running for even a moment, they would be eaten alive by that giant, bug-like monster. If this quiet rural village had one advantage, it was that monsters didn’t invade. They didn’t know the exact reason, but the adults said it was because monsters were reluctant to enter the forest surrounding the village. Considering that this place had never been attacked by monsters, compared to the news of other villages near the forest being occasionally attacked, suffering great damage, or being annihilated, it might not have been entirely wrong.

But why on earth? Why today, of all days, did a monster that had never attacked invade this place? Today wasn’t much different from any other day. The only special thing was that the Maskapir festival had been going on for a few days, but they had heard that this festival had been held in this village for a long time, so they couldn’t consider it the cause. Even if they wanted to know what the problem was, there was no time now as they kept running according to the instinct that filled their minds: they just had to run. Finally, when they reached their limit with breathing.

“Hey! Hey! Stop for a second!”

Conner, who had been running frantically, barely recognized his friend’s voice coming from behind and stopped running. Turning back, panting and exhausted, he saw Robert catching his breath just like him.

“Why?! We have to run further…!”

“I’ve told you several times that I can’t hear their sounds anymore!”

“Huh? Oh, really?”

Hearing that, Conner realized that the monsters’ chilling cries were no longer audible. It seemed they had somehow shaken them off. Only after realizing that fact did Conner collapse onto a tree root nearby. Robert also sat down beside him. Like the large forest outside the village, the big tree was spacious enough for them to lean against its trunk side by side.

“…Now that I think about it, we’re outside the village.”

While escaping the monsters, they hadn’t even realized they had left the village.

“That’s something to worry about only if there’s a village left.”

Just as he was thinking he had inadvertently broken the rule, Robert’s gloomy retort came back. Yes, worrying about breaking a rule was something only possible when there was a village where that rule existed. Then, the name of another friend who had recently become distant came to mind.

“What do you think happened to Usher?”

“Don’t know about that guy.”

Robert replied gruffly, perhaps still upset with him. It wasn’t something he couldn’t understand. They hadn’t even heard a proper reason why Usher had put distance between them.

“More importantly, are you worried about others right now? We should be worried about our own lives, let alone our families.”

He wanted to say something to Robert’s words, but since he wasn’t wrong, he had nothing to say. The village they should return to had been taken over by monsters, and they were already lost to go to another village outside the forest. They didn’t know what to do next. For now, they sat without a word, wanting to rest their bodies exhausted by fear and fatigue. It was then that Robert spoke first.

“Hey, doesn’t this place look familiar?”

“We came out here often when we followed the adults to gather wood. Of course it would.”

At first, he thought it was nonsense. The night forest felt different, but it was the same forest in the end. It would be strange if it weren’t familiar.

“Damn it! Not that! I mean that time long ago, when we came outside the village secretly from the adults!”

Looking at the forest more closely at that, it did feel familiar in some way. The old forest didn’t change unless trees were felled, so they could faintly recall the appearance of that place they had seen just once before.

“No way.”

In fact, about seven years ago, they had broken the rule not to go outside the village unless it was for gathering wood. They didn’t remember the details well, but they had definitely gone outside the village. Remembering what prompted it, he thought it was probably because they were curious about why such a rule existed and what was outside the village. The forest itself was hard to distinguish because it was the same everywhere they went, but back then everything in the forest was just amazing, so they ran around and played. Then, Conner tripped over something.

“Ah!”

At first, he thought he had simply tripped over a tree root. The bumpy and large tree roots that protruded above the ground were something they often tripped on when playing carelessly. But when he turned back because it felt different. What was there wasn’t like a tree root.

“Is this… a hand?”

“What hand? Why would a hand be in the ground?”

Conner and Robert felt curious the moment they discovered it. It was buried in the ground with only a part sticking out above the soil. When they touched it lightly, it was made of a hard material whose texture they couldn’t identify. It definitely couldn’t be called a human hand, but its shape was clearly that of a human hand.

“Let’s try digging it up!”

“But.”

Conner wondered if it would really be okay to dig this up, but seeing Robert already starting to dig, he had no choice but to help. Because the forest ground was too hard for the children’s weak hands to dig directly, he remembered picking up a suitable stone nearby and digging it out by scraping. The lower part of the hand was buried quite deep, making it a considerable labor, but they focused on digging without noticing the passage of time. It might seem like just digging the ground, but back then, it was really fun just doing that. How much time had passed like that? When the intensity of the sunlight filtering through the gaps in the trees gradually decreased and even the color turned red.

“”….””

Having dug up the ground and confirmed the overall appearance of the hand, neither of them could easily speak. Its overall appearance and size were the same as a human’s. But it was different. While its general shape might look like a human’s, it was not at all something that could be called human. Its body was made of the same hard material as the hand that had been partially exposed above ground. It seemed like iron, but it definitely wasn’t iron. If it were iron, it would have been rusted, but there was no rust to be found at all. And when they touched it, it was so smooth they couldn’t find any rough edges.

“Is it armor?”

Robert muttered, but Conner immediately denied his words internally. If it were armor, it would clearly be something made for a person to wear, but that object wasn’t structured in a way that a person could wear it, and when they tapped it, it seemed completely filled with something whose inside they couldn’t discern. Moreover, they tried to lift and move it together, but it was too heavy and wouldn’t budge at all. More than anything, the oppressive feeling they still remembered. To claim it was an empty suit of armor, it gave the ones who found it far too great a sense of pressure. As if they had encountered a giant predator. Overwhelmed by the object that had fully revealed its form, they remained silent for a long time. Realizing it was getting late, they had to return to the village.

“Shouldn’t we bury it again?”

“Okay, let’s bury it when we come back later.”

Still feeling uneasy, they promised to bury it again next time, but they were never able to see it again. This was because the adults found out they had gone outside the village, and Conner and Robert were thoroughly beaten by their respective parents with wooden planks. Also, because a neighborhood noona, who had gone outside the village like them that day, was found as a gruesome corpse, they couldn’t even think of going outside the village again. Forgetting completely about the object they had dug up from the ground.

“Do you think it’s still there? Let’s check…”

However, Robert’s words were cut short. Because something splattered down from above them. Shivers, goosebumps rose. That sticky, transparent substance was clearly monster saliva. They knew this because.

-Kiiiiiirrrrk!

It was because of the sound of the bug’s cry coming from above them. Looking up with a creaking neck like a rusty doorknob, and sure enough? There was a giant insect looking down at them, drooling. Just as they forgot to even scream. It happened suddenly. Whoosh! A sound like wind was heard exactly three times, consecutively.

-Kigigigik!!!

Simultaneously, the insect fell downwards, scattering unpleasant brown blood. Those who were directly below it were startled and moved away from the falling insect. Almost crushed by the giant insect, what they found were three clean holes pierced through it: one in its head and two in its chest. The insect twitched slightly and then stopped moving. One of the monsters that had been ravaging the village died instantly. As Conner and Robert stared at the monster’s corpse, dumbfounded, they heard a thudding sound approaching right in front of them. They thought it was what had helped them, so they looked towards where the sound came from, but it was not a savior.

“Huh?”

Conner blankly wiped something warm that had splashed onto his cheek with his hand. It was hard to see in the dark, but it smelled of metal. Looking at where it had splattered, Robert was nowhere to be seen. He had to look down a little further to see his collapsed form. One in the head, two in the chest. His hands trembled. When the footsteps were heard again, what he saw was the thing he had seen that day, seven years ago, its red eyes glowing. Flames drew a ring. That moment was his last memory.

Tom never doubted that when he woke up from sleep, the same day would continue. It was a village that felt somehow awkward and unstable, like a broken dish patched together, but even within that instability, the village was peaceful, and he believed that his days of bickering with his annoying twin sister would continue.

“Aaaagh!!”

Hearing a scream from somewhere in his sleep, he initially thought it was a dream. He was too tired to fully wake up now, and the slight bit of consciousness he had gained was quickly trying to sink back into drowsiness.

“Oppa! Oppa!”

Just then, his twin sister Lena’s voice was heard, grabbing his attention. He felt a little puzzled that his twin sister, who normally wouldn’t even call him Oppa, was calling him that, but that alone wasn’t enough to shake off his drowsiness. The sleepiness made even that voice sound like it was coming from a very distant place.

“Please wake up! Please!”

Now, not content with just calling him, she hit him hard with both hands, truly putting all her strength into it, forcing him to wake up. He said irritably,

“Ah, seriously, why are you waking me up?”

The room Tom saw after waking up was still full of darkness, so he thought it was night. For some reason, he really didn’t want to wake up due to the sleepiness that kept trying to pull him out of consciousness and his heavy, listless body, but since it was a time when he would normally still be asleep, he just accepted it.

“How long have you been sleeping?! I really thought you were dead! Hweong!”

However, Tom felt puzzled by what she was saying. Forcing away his sleepiness, Tom rubbed his eyelids with his arm and looked at his twin sister, Lena. And he was startled.

“Hey, are you crying?”

The room was dark, but he could tell she was crying from the faint light filtering in from somewhere. What was even more startling was. Her appearance was a mess.

“Why do you look like that?”

“Hweoooong! I don’t know! Why are you just waking up now!”

Lena’s state was beyond description. Her hair was disheveled, and her face was swollen from how much she had been crying. Only then did Tom realize that something bad had happened. Shaking off the sleepiness that still clung to him, he said,

“Calm down first. Tell me slowly. What happened?”

“Heuk, well.”

Even while speaking, Lena looked around nervously, seemingly frightened, and often flinched even at the sound of small insects, making it agony just to listen to her story. Nevertheless, having finally managed to hear everything, he wanted to tell her that she must have had a bad dream. However.

-Caw-caw

“Heeuuk! It’s here again! It’s here again!”

“What is that.”

The sound of the giant insect that Lena had desperately tried to explain was heard, and seeing its appearance through a gap in the house, which was blocked on all sides by wooden planks, Tom was left speechless. It was a creature that looked like a giant grasshopper. The thing, with a thick shell like armor, crawled slowly and awkwardly with its enormous body, scanning the area around the house, and Tom involuntarily held his breath. How long had they been listening to the sound of the thing crawling around the house? By the time the thing left, Lena was so tense she seemed like she might stop breathing.

“Did it… go?”

“Yeah, it’s gone now.”

“Really? It really left, right?”

“I said it’s gone! Calm down a little!”

Would the thing hear Lena’s voice and come back? Tom, who had blurted out the words irritably, regretted it, but seeing her holding her breath somehow despite her hiccups, he sighed. An awkward silence filled the house, and the only sounds from outside were those of insects and the wind, creating an eerie feeling. According to Lena, there were countless giant bugs out there like the one they had just seen. That feeling was surely no illusion.

“Is that story… all true?”

He was the first to speak. He couldn’t believe it, but he had already clearly seen the giant insect.

“It’s true, hiccup, I’ve told you several times.”

The story he had heard from Lena was so shocking and strange that he couldn’t believe it at all until he saw the giant insect himself. The giant insects had suddenly invaded in the middle of the night. Lena and her Mom, awakened by the screams of the villagers, found the things trying to get into the house and tried to wake Tom up. But for some reason, no matter how much they woke him, he wouldn’t wake up, so they thought he might be dead, but since he was breathing, Mom carried him on her back and went outside. Seeing the things attacking the villagers, they desperately searched for a safe place and remembered Usher’s house, located in a somewhat distant corner of the village, and came here.

“Then this is hyung’s house. What about Usher-hyung?”

Looking around the house with the light coming in from outside, it was definitely not their house. The places blocked with planks or wood must have been Mom’s doing, but the inside of the house was empty, with only blankets scattered haphazardly and a small drawer.

“Hiccup, I don’t know. Mom said he might have known those things were attacking first and ran away.”

Lena, saying that, had an expression full of betrayal, as if she was convinced that Usher had already run away first. At first, he thought it was night, but when he looked outside through the gap where light was entering, it was bright daylight.

“What about Mom?”

“Before Oppa woke up. Heuk, she said she was going to get food again.”

The things were said to be active at night but clearly sluggish during the daytime when the sun was up. So Mom had left them in this safe place and brought as much food, water, and clothes as she could during the daytime. So she had gone out today as well.

“Mom screamed.”

“What?”

Tom felt as if his blood was running cold.

“Was that really Mom’s voice?”

The owner of the scream he had thought was a dream earlier was none other than Mom’s? Unable to believe the fact, he looked at Lena with a hardened face and asked, but she just cried again and said something else.

“Uheong, what do we do now?”

Lena’s weeping sounded like it was saying their Mom was dead instead, making Tom feel completely drained.

“You said those things don’t seem active during the day.”

“Heuuk, I don’t know. She said they definitely didn’t move.”

Just now, they had already seen the thing lurking outside the house in broad daylight. It was indeed sluggish, seemingly weak during the day, but it was moving around fine. If so, Mom must have been… The house was filled with silence again, only broken by Lena’s whimpering sounds. Then, Tom suddenly smelled something strange.

“What is this smell… No, did you wet yourself?!”

He even felt lukewarm moisture on his fingertips and quickly knew what it was.

“Hiccup, yeah.”

Lena had wet herself. With the already sudden and absurdly horrifying situation, he was annoyed with his twin sister. The room was almost sealed, perhaps to block the insects’ intrusion, so the smell didn’t dissipate easily.

“Go outside and do it!”

“But I might die if I go outside! I’d rather do it inside!”

At that, Tom pressed his lips together. The fact he wanted to forget came back to mind. But that urine smell was too strong in this narrow space. Wiping it with the blanket would cause issues when sleeping, and he needed something else to wipe it with. What caught his eye was Lena, who was still hiccuping.

“Hey, you, take off your clothes.”

“Heuk, why?”

“Just take them off, no arguing!”

At first, she seemed hesitant, perhaps feeling resistant to Tom’s words, but when he spoke forcefully, Lena took off her clothes. Originally, he had planned to wipe it with just her pants.

“Ugh, did you just pee right on your clothes?”

“But, hiccup, Mom screamed. And Oppa wouldn’t wake up. Heuk, I thought I was going to be left alone.”

At her words, Tom frowned, but still pulled off her shirt as well and wiped away the urine. But the smell didn’t go away.

“Hey, go wash up a bit. You stink!”

“No! Those things are outside!”

“I told you they’re gone!”

After arguing like that, Lena finally decided to wash herself. But.

“My legs… they won’t move.”

“Agh.”

Ultimately, Tom had to take her to the bathroom to wash her. Taking the clothes he had used to wipe the urine to wash them at the same time, he cautiously peeked outside the room. He had said the things were gone, but it was better to be safe. After confirming that the things weren’t there, Tom quickly found the bathroom in this house with Lena and took her there. Fortunately, he found a small bathroom connected to the kitchen, and when he took her in, he saw a large wooden tub full of water.

“Okay, now wash yourself. I need to wash your clothes.”

“Wash me.”

“Hey, you seriously…!”

Tom felt like his insides were bursting because she was throwing a tantrum and being unreasonable, even though he himself was confused by the situation.