episode_0031

Because of that, he was about to get annoyed, but gasped upon seeing Lena’s naked body. “I can’t move by myself.” Originally, seeing his twin’s naked body like this didn’t bother him. So he had bathed with her casually. But today, he felt a strange feeling. Somehow, he was unusually conscious of that small chest and the crack of his twin revealed as she sat sprawling carelessly. Normally, he might have thought nothing of it and refused. No, he would have refused even if strange thoughts crossed his mind. “…Whatever happens, I don’t know.” But now, wanting to forget this situation even just a little, he reached out his hand to that unknown temptation. The first thing he did was scoop water from the basin in the bathroom and pour it on her. Because, in his heart, he wanted to touch his twin’s body right away, but he felt he needed an excuse like washing her. “Ah, it’s cold!” “Just bear with it for a bit.” He tilted the basin as slowly as possible to wet his twin’s whole body, wetting her bit by bit. Wetting only her body while avoiding her hair, just as their mother used to do. The basin full of water was heavy, making his hands tremble and causing him to fail at controlling the water flow sometimes, but he managed to wet her completely. “Oppa, your clothes got wet too.” The fact that he failed to control it and his clothes got wet was a problem. Seeing the front was completely wet, he took off his clothes like Lena. He thought he needed to wash too, but for some reason, the desire to do so was strong. Since he was naked anyway, he splashed water on his own body too, but he felt a strange feeling. Except for the fact that their mother wasn’t there, they were just bathing together as usual. This situation of the two of them being naked together felt a little embarrassing. Still, he had a greater curiosity than that. “Alright, shall I wash you?” “Okay.” Tom felt guilty seeing his twin, who didn’t know his inner thoughts and just entrusted her body to him, but soon that guilt was swallowed by his growing curiosity. He really hadn’t felt anything before. But today, he was conscious of Lena’s brown hair, the same color as his, and those innocent black eyes. What bothered him more was, of course. Her small chest and the crack situated down there. He reached out his hand and placed it on her chest, feeling a soft sensation. The size wasn’t much different compared to his, but there was a slight bud-like firmness somewhere. There was nothing special about it, yet he couldn’t understand what was stimulating him so much that he wanted to keep touching it, and he continued to do so. “Aren’t you going to wash other places?” “R-right.” When the water disappeared from her chest due to the subtle warmth created by skin meeting skin, Tom was greatly flustered by Lena’s words, wondering if he had been caught. Still, pretending otherwise and not unnaturally, he sprinkled water again and washed her body with his hands. Her skin was soft, but somehow it didn’t make his heart pound as much as when he was touching her chest. At least when he touched her buttocks and around her legs, he felt a similar sensation, but still, no matter what. “Stay still.” “Okay.” Especially the area between her legs, which he was about to wash now, made his heart pound. He felt his heart pounding wildly, like when he was about to play a mischievous prank that could get him scolded by adults. He sprinkled water again so it flowed down Lena’s belly and from behind her, he slowly, very slowly, tried to reach his hand towards that spot as if crawling. But this time too, Tom was afraid. What on earth was he doing? Was he really allowed to do something like this? What if their mother saw this situation now? He eventually stopped the hand he was reaching out. As he realized what the action he had taken to escape reality was. The first thing that came was deep self-loathing. “Let’s just wash quickly and get out.” “Why?” Seeing his twin look at him with innocent eyes, seemingly unaware of what he was about to do to her, somehow made him feel suffocated. “What are we going to do if those guys come at a time like this? We need to wash quickly and get out.” At his words, Lena’s face turned pale as if remembering something she had forgotten, and she quickly washed herself. Tom, who washed himself along with her, soon cautiously returned with his twin to the room where he had first woken up. However, they were not really the same as they were at first. Their bodies could be dried with a dry cloth or towel, but their clothes were wet and didn’t show any sign of drying no matter how hard they squeezed them. Because of that, they had to stay naked in the room. He remembered their mother hanging clothes to dry on a straw rope stretched taut in the air, but they lacked the strength and height to do that, and outside, those things were roaming around. They weren’t brave enough to leisurely hang clothes while such terrifying things were roaming around. In the end, the limit was to squeeze the wet clothes with all their strength and spread them out in the room. “Ah, move away a bit.” “No! I’m scared!” The two of them, now naked, were sharing a blanket. Tom felt burdened by them being naked together because of what he had almost done to Lena, and he tried to move away, but she clung to him, whining. “Our clothes, when will they dry?” “Probably have to wait a long time.” He answered Lena’s question, trying not to be conscious of her bare body clinging to him and pressing against him. It was cold as they had just washed, but being together under the blanket, they felt warmer as time passed. How long did they stay like that, spacing out? “Shallow breaths.” “Hey, are you sleeping?” Tom was dumbfounded seeing her, who had somehow fallen asleep, hugging him and making soft breathing sounds. He mumbled, looking at Lena, who was sleeping defenselessly, unaware of what he had been about to do. “I’m sorry.” He couldn’t understand why that action was wrong. Still, for some reason, he felt like he shouldn’t have done such a thing, so he quietly apologized, mumbling, even though she wouldn’t hear him. Her body, still pressed against him, bothered him, but he didn’t want to do such a thing anymore, so he spent the time quietly, holding his twin. The light still seeping through the gaps in the house told him it was daytime, but doing nothing in the dark house made him naturally feel sleepy. According to Lena, he had slept for a very long time, but with the continuous surge of sleepiness, he ended up dozing off. -Keeereeeereek! Suddenly, a sharp cry was heard. “Gasp!” He hadn’t heard that cry for long, but he could feel it instinctively. It was the cry of those guys. At that terrifying sound, his sleepiness vanished, and looking around, his eyes fell upon the pitch-black darkness where not even the faint light that had indicated daytime could enter. Night had fallen while he was dozing off. Fumbling in the dark room, wondering if his twin might have been harmed, he felt her still nestled in his arms. She hadn’t woken up yet, seemingly tired, but the important thing was that she was alive. If he had been left alone, he might have been strangled by fear. Tom understood why she had woken him up, even by hitting him, when he hadn’t woken up after hearing their mother’s scream. -Kagagagak! But the fear didn’t end with just one sound. Another cry was heard from the opposite direction. As night fell, the room was filled with darkness. -Kigik. -Kigigik! The cries of the guys increased one by one, along with rustling sounds, and even sounds like something crawling on the walls or roof were heard. The certainty that they wouldn’t be caught by those guys if they just stayed hidden here was gradually losing its hold on him. As his eyes adjusted to the dark room, he saw faint light, which he hadn’t noticed before, shining through the gaps in the house. It seemed like moonlight, but perhaps it would have been better not to notice that light at all. The lights seeping through the gaps in the house were all flickering along with the sounds of those guys moving. It was terrifying even just hearing the sounds, but seeing the horror itself made even his screams get swallowed. Then, the moment he thought he met something like their eyes in the gaps of light. -Kagagagagagak! The terrifying cry of the guy grew fiercer. It wasn’t like a simple animal cry. The strong malice he felt the moment he thought their eyes met told him it was a sound of laughter. Had they noticed him just now? Loud thudding sounds, as if the guys were trying to break down the house, were heard from all directions. He thought his twin might have woken up from that sound, but as he shook her to wake her up and tell her they needed to run, he felt a little envious that she didn’t know about this situation. How long did the sounds of the guys hitting the house continue? Soon, with a tearing sound, the sound of a wooden board being ripped apart was heard. -Kagagak! Having failed to wake up his twin and escape, he held Lena protectively and hid under the blanket, pulling it over their heads. He didn’t know how much hiding under just a blanket would help, but he still tried his best to hide themselves. -Kireek? As he held his breath as much as possible. He felt the footsteps of the guys moving around nearby and heard their cries from above their heads. Had they already noticed? When he was hidden under the blanket, forgetting even to breathe. -Kagak. He felt the clacking footsteps of the guys gradually moving away. The guys hadn’t noticed that they were hiding under the blanket. They survived. He thought. “Ugh!?” If it hadn’t been for the sudden sharp sensation pressing into his back as if stabbing him. It wasn’t sharp enough to pierce the blanket or his body, nor did it have much force, but it was so heavy that Tom, who had let his guard down for a moment, couldn’t help but let out a painful sound. The sounds of the guys walking stopped all at once. He knew without even checking that the color had drained from his face. -Kagagagagak! The guy’s cry was heard with only a thick blanket separating them. It was a rather thick blanket, but a fear so great that the blanket felt utterly thin approached. As the approaching sounds grew closer and closer and the blanket covering them began to shake. -Thud! A massive impact shook his entire body. No, it wasn’t his body that was shaking. The entire ground where they were hiding against the floor was shaking. Was it an earthquake? However, an earthquake happening in this situation was strangely well-timed. Also, Tom, whose ear was unintentionally against the ground, had heard a sound like a massive impact striking the ground just before it began to shake. The biggest question was why the sounds of the guys were no longer heard. “Ungh, what’s that sound?” “You’re finally awake.” The sound of the ground shaking seemed to have woken up his twin as well. “More importantly, why are we completely covered by the blanket?” “Hey, wait a minute!” But it would have been better if she had stayed asleep. Because Lena, not understanding the situation, nonchalantly lifted the blanket. Tom closed his eyes, thinking the guys would rush in, but all he heard was her voice sounding strange. “Where, where is this? When did we get to a place like this?” “What kind of…” His voice, which was about to ask if she was talking nonsense, couldn’t continue. A moment later, he heard the sound of something falling with a snap, and looking there, he saw small stick-like things of unknown origin standing tall before falling over. But he knew the identity of those sticks. Those were the legs of those guys. But why? Why had the guys disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only parts of their legs? As the question arose. He heard his twin’s voice again. “Ah! There’s a person over there! Let’s ask for help!” “What?” Not knowing what Lena was talking about, when he looked where she was looking. Tom felt a chill so deep it felt like his body would freeze. It had the silhouette of a human. It was walking. It was massive. It was a single piece of iron. He only saw it from afar, but it felt as if he had encountered the only natural predator in the world. He hadn’t felt this level of terror even when he saw those guys. Tom urgently grabbed his twin who was about to run towards it. “Ah! That hurts! Why are you stopping me?!” “You can’t go!!” “Why not?” “Can’t you tell by looking?! That’s not like a person!” He could feel it instinctively. That had a human form but wasn’t human. Even though it was moving on its own, there was no sense of life at all. It was just like inorganic iron. “Then what is it if it’s not human?” “…I don’t know either.” There was no way he could explain it in detail either. He had never seen anything like it in his life. The only thing he could be certain of was that it was by no means a benevolent being towards them. Had she somehow understood his words? Lena no longer tried to approach it. Tom took her and hid back under the blanket. She whined that it was stuffy, but for now, all they could do was hope that thing hadn’t noticed them. So, they spent the night holding their breath in tension. Then, he opened his eyes to the sensation of his body trembling with a chill. Perhaps he had fallen asleep while hiding, as he saw sunlight seeping in through the dark blanket. “Is it morning?” Thinking that it hadn’t discovered them, he still didn’t let down his guard and looked outside through a gap in the blanket. But in this position, he could only see the ground nearby, so as he lifted the blanket to widen the gap, he heard Lena’s voice, still heavy with sleep. “Ugh, it’s cold.” “Hey! What are you doing taking the whole blanket?!” Because she took the entire blanket they were sharing, Tom was left exposed outside, completely naked. Thinking that something like that might still be there, he stopped shouting and scanned his surroundings, and thankfully, he saw nothing. However, the problem was that there was too little of anything. “What is this?” Tom stared blankly at the black wasteland. Yesterday, he hadn’t been able to see properly because of the strange bugs and that human-like thing, but there was nothing left that could be called a village where he looked. Only the green forest surrounding the village existed as usual. “This is the village we lived in, right?” Lena, woken up by him, rubbed her eyes as if still unable to shake off the sleepiness, and asked. “Probably.” Nobody would have moved them, and their location wouldn’t have changed just because they slept for a night. “Then where did all the villagers and houses go?” Tom couldn’t say anything at Lena’s words. He had confirmed that the giant insects and that thing had disappeared and had come down to the original village site to look around, but he couldn’t find any people anywhere. At most, only the house foundations barely remained, and most had vanished without even a trace of their foundations. Looking at the bricks that barely remained, which had been the wall of a house, they looked as if they had been diagonally cut, and the cut surface was so clean it reflected the appearance of other things like the surface of water. As if it had been a single stone from the beginning. He couldn’t understand what kind of magic-like power it had used for the houses to disappear so neatly like this. All that remained were the lower parts of a few houses and the ash covering the area that had been the village in pitch black. Tom and Lena were searching through the areas that had been houses, focusing on the relatively intact spots, hoping to find any villagers who might be there. But no matter how much they searched, there was no sign of people, to the extent that it was questionable if this place had ever been inhabited by humans in the first place. Just two days ago, it had clearly been a village where they lived with friendly neighbors and their mother, but now no one was visible. If the items and houses had all disappeared cleanly, they might have at least thought this was a different place. “Is this, Mr. Mac’s house?” Tom mumbled as he rummaged through the belongings in a house that unusually had many items left, perhaps because they had fallen to the floor, and found a name written on a piece of wood. “But why are there so many girl’s clothes like this…” While wondering if Mr. Mac had a daughter, he was collecting them thinking Lena could wear them later, when he heard a voice calling him. “Oppa! Oppa!!” “Huh? What?!” He shivered, wondering if those things were still around, but it wasn’t a very urgent voice, so he felt relieved. He roughly answered while collecting relatively intact items, as the voice seemed joyful. They were not naked anymore. Because the clothes they had washed yesterday had dried by then and they could wear them. Because they had been buried in something like ash, they looked as if they were wearing gray clothes, but there was nothing they could do about it now. “Oppa! Look here!” While he was collecting items, Lena’s voice had come right up behind him. He wondered what on earth could make her so happy, the girl who had just moments ago been whining and asking where the villagers had gone, and turned around. He saw his twin holding something like a gray rice cake. Just as he was about to ask what it was that made her so happy. The rice cake barked at him. -Woof! Yelp! Woof! “…A puppy?” Covered in ash, sneezing and barking cutely, it was clearly a puppy. Now that he looked closely, it appeared gray because it was covered in ash, but when he brushed it with his hand, some white fur was revealed. “Where did you find this one?” “Over~ there!” He asked, thinking how well it had hidden amidst such chaos, and the place she pointed to was the foundation of another house. “Were there no other ones?” “No, this one was whimpering alone.” He remembered that place was the house of the hunter who raised hunting dogs. If so, this puppy must be the offspring of the dog the hunter raised. Then, a sudden uneasy thought crossed his mind. “Let’s take this one with us!” He had a feeling, but it was just as he expected. “Haa, alright. Might as well take it with us.” Still, he didn’t particularly feel like refusing. Its appearance covered in ash was pitiable, and it was obvious it would die if left like this. He walked, taking Lena who was hugging the puppy tightly. “But where are we going?” “Let’s try to find another village first. We have no choice.” Because no matter how much they searched here, they couldn’t find any people. Tom was also uneasy because he didn’t know what had happened to their mother, but he still had his twin left. Finding a way to survive was the priority.