episode_0096

… … … … …

“Teacher… … ?”

As my voice echoed through the darkness, all sounds suddenly stopped. The sound of meat being torn and chewed, and the heavy breathing, were completely gone.

A suffocating silence fell over the basement. It was as if time had stopped, and the entire room seemed frozen.

“Why… … Why here… … ?”

I could hear Ms. Wolhee’s trembling voice. It wasn’t her usual elegant yet calm voice.

It was a voice mixed with extreme fear, as if he was being chased by something scary, or as if he was a child who had been caught doing something big.

The fear in her voice worried me. What was wrong with the teacher?

Fortunately, there was a dim light deep inside the basement, and as I approached the light, I began to see the teacher’s figure more clearly.

“Teacher!”

I walked a little faster. The slippery liquid beneath my feet made a sloshing sound, but I didn’t care.

“… … … Don’t come――!!”

I heard Ms. Wol-hee’s desperate cries. Her voice was filled with a mixture of fear and despair I had never heard before.

But it was already too late. The light from the candles hanging on the wall became brighter and brighter, and beneath it, the figure of Professor Wol-hee slowly began to appear.

… … … … …

Finally, Professor Wolhee’s appearance was completely revealed.

The wine-colored dress was no longer elegant. Red stains covered the entire dress, and her pale face was also stained with blood.

Flesh hung between the serrated shark teeth that filled her long, slitted mouth, and at her feet… … .

“… … Ah… … .”

At first, I couldn’t understand it. No, I didn’t want to understand it.

But the candles brightened the darkness, so I could see everything clearly.

Flesh scattered on the floor… …. Blood splattered here and there. And… …. Arms, legs, and torsos that looked human, that could never be mistaken for animals… ….

“Ah… … Ahh… … !”

A small groan escaped my throat. My legs shook. I could now see what I had been stepping on just a moment ago.

That’s why I instinctively took a step back, then two steps. At that moment, my eyes met with Ms. Wol-hee’s.

“No… … No no no no no no no――!!”

The teacher’s scream-like scream echoed through the basement. Her voice was now too distorted to be human. It was like a mixture of a beast’s roar and a human’s scream.

“Ah… … Aaaah!!”

In unbearable fear, I screamed and turned around to run, running desperately into the darkness, towards the stairs, the slippery liquid sloshing under my feet.

“Boy! Wait! This is… … This is… … !”

Her voice grew closer. Heavy breathing, sharp claws or talons scraping the walls and floor, and a roar that sounded increasingly like that of a beast echoed through the darkness.

I groped my way up the dark stairs. I slipped and fell twice, but I was so terrified that I didn’t even feel the pain and got up and ran again.

The sound of her footsteps behind her no longer sounded human. It was as if she was running on all fours… … The thumping sound of her footsteps coming down the stairs came closer in an instant.

“Boy!”

A tremendous force suddenly came over me from behind. I almost fell down the stairs, but Teacher Wol-hee’s cold arms wrapped around me and I fell to the floor. Her power was completely beyond the realm of humans.

“Ugh!”

Thanks to Teacher Wol-hee, I wasn’t seriously hurt, but the aftereffects of falling to the floor remained on my body.

Teacher Wol-hee climbed on top of me as I fell and pressed down hard on my shoulders with both hands. Drops of blood fell from her blood-stained head and fell on my face. The pungent smell of blood stung my nose.

“Boy… … Calm down. Please, listen to me.

This is… … Yeah. It must be a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding… … !”

Her voice trembled pitifully, but the blood flowing between her sharp teeth and the flesh stuck to the corner of her mouth completely betrayed her words.

At this, I begged in a terrified voice, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Sa… … Please save me, teacher… … Please don’t eat me… … .”

“No, no. I… … this is… … this is… … !”

Teacher Wol-hee’s voice was shattered by my plea. The strength slowly left her grip.

“Please save me… … .”

When I begged her again, she flinched. Bloody tears slowly flowed from her red eyes.

“Don’t be afraid… … Please, don’t be afraid of me… … !”

Teacher Wol-hee’s pale face was distorted, and her blood-soaked lips trembled.

“AAAHH …

The teacher’s desperate scream shook the entire basement. It was a scream that sounded like crying, and it sounded like everything about her was coming crashing down.

… … … … …

Teacher Wol-hee’s screams slowly died down. She was still on top of me, but she wasn’t pressing down hard on me anymore. She was just mumbling unintelligible words.

That was when.

A strangely strong warning rang in my head, one that had been repeated several times during my meeting with Professor Wol-hee today. It was as if someone was whispering in my ear.

[Calm down… …Stay calm. You have to deal with situations like this better.]

Strangely, the fear subsided little by little as the constant warnings and advice whispered in my head. My heart was still beating fast, but I had some time to think.

I looked at Teacher Wol-hee again. Her blood-stained dress, her sharp teeth, her pale skin. She was clearly an incredibly scary being.

But the way I see her now… … she looks more like a wounded girl than a monster.

“Boy… … Boy… … Don’t be afraid… … Don’t hate me… … .”

She kept mumbling the same words over and over again, as if reciting a spell.

‘Don’t be too afraid or reject them. Whatever their feelings for you are… … as long as you show an attitude of acceptance, they won’t be able to harm you.’

… … That seems right. Probably. Teacher Wol-hee has never… … hurt me. Didn’t she protect me when I fell down the stairs just now?

‘The only thing you have to be careful of is… …you’re too easy to read emotions. If you try to hide things like fear or rejection, they’ll quickly figure it out.

So, try to be as honest as possible with them and try to accept them with positive feelings.

If you continue to refuse, they will be destroyed. Then your life too… … .’

“… … … .’

As he advised, Ms. Wol-hee now seemed completely broken by the fear and horror I had for her. She continued to mutter incoherently.

“Now… …I have no choice… …but to eat… …the boy… ….”

“Teacher!”

When I called out loud, Teacher Wol-hee’s muttering stopped. But her eyes were still wandering into space.

“Teacher Wolhee! It’s me!”

I called out more strongly, more firmly. Only then did her red eyes slowly turn to me.

The moment my eyes met hers, my breath stopped. Her blood-red eyes were so bright that I couldn’t even tell they were human.

A dark red liquid flowed out from between her sharp teeth, and her fingernails were not human fingernails, but rather what could be called the claws of a monster.

My body instinctively shrank. But at that moment, I had a strong premonition. This is the turning point. If I reveal my fear to the teacher at this moment… … something truly irreversible will happen.

I gritted my teeth and held back my trembling. I felt the cold sweat running down my spine, but I tried to keep my expression as calm as possible.

“Teacher… …It’s me. It’s fall.”

He said, desperately trying to calm his trembling voice.

“It’s not… … scary. It’s not scary, teacher.”

Her beast-like eyes began to waver a little at my words. Her sharp claws also gradually returned to their original state.

“I’m not scared, teacher… I’m just surprised. You would never hurt me, right?

Oh, yeah… …Teacher, you worried about me, took care of me, and just now you protected me from getting hurt.”

He slowly reached out and placed his hand on her cold cheek, trying to ignore the blood and tears dripping from his fingertips.

Finally, Teacher Wol-hee’s face began to change slowly. The sharp teeth that had been protruding went back in, the torn mouth shrank, and even the reddened whites of her eyes gradually regained their original appearance.

But her face and dress were still covered in blood and flesh. She no longer looked like a hideous monster, but she was no longer her usual graceful self either.