I began walking through the forest alone, where no one else was.
Clutching the walkie-talkie tightly in one hand and holding a flashlight in the other.
"S-Senior."
[Yeah, what.]
As soon as I called for her, her blunt manner of speech came through immediately.
It was a voice coming from the walkie-talkie.
"T-The gwii comes out at 1 AM, right?"
[Yeah. To be exact, it gives a sign at one and comes out at two.]
"......."
[It seems to have its own set of rules, so it probably won't break them.]
"What if we're being deceived...?"
[Then... tch, we die.]
At the senior's words, my blood ran cold. I told her not to joke like that, then shone the flashlight behind me.
"......."
[What's wrong?]
"Ah, no... I must have been mistaken."
[Yeah, keep going forward.]
The senior said so, commanding me.
Perhaps because the contract's power was taking effect, I could feel my throat tightening.
'I can't go back......'
To think it was a contract that persisted eternally, even through death.
Thinking it truly horrific, I quickened my steps.
The mountain was shrouded in deep darkness.
I couldn't see an inch ahead.
The twisted trees began to look like human fingers.
"...They look like human fingers."
The senior's voice was not heard.
It seemed she had decided not to answer unnecessary things.
Please, I wished she would talk to me.
I wished she wouldn't leave me alone.
Please, please.
Praying fervently, I diligently searched the surroundings.
Nothing out of the ordinary was visible.
"Haa... haa... I'm scared, I'm scared...! I'm scared...!! I'm scared...!!!"
My breathing grew ragged, and the only words that left my mouth were that I was scared.
Would that dark forest swallow me up?
Then, what would become of me?
Would I suffer in here forever, unable to even die?
Just when such thoughts began to slowly eat away at my mind.
[...Come back!!]
"Hic!?"
The senior's voice rang out.
An urgent voice from the senior.
At that, I looked around frantically, and the walkie-talkie clamored noisily.
[Come back right now...!! What was that just now?]
"Y-yes...?"
[Haa.......]
The senior let out a sigh and didn't say another word.
At this, my curiosity and fear intensified.
Perhaps because she had seen the screen shaking violently, the senior said she would tell me when I got back.
[When you come back... I'll tell you.]
"Ah... okay."
Killing my curiosity, I hurried back along the path I had come and returned to the tent.
* * *
Yeonu, who had been giving instructions from the tent, discovered something strange.
'Hey... isn't she just circling around the same spot as before?'
Sion had been circling round and round in the same place since some point.
Looking at that Sion, a sigh burst out.
"...Hey, what are you doing. Move straight."
[.......]
"Answer."
She said so, trying to scare her a little, but Sion didn't come back.
It was then that she sensed something was off.
A white feather dropped onto the outer edge of the screen with a tap.
At the same time, a grotesque creature crept up from the ground, squirming.
"...!?"
She couldn't know its exact identity, but she could tell that Sion was in an extremely dangerous state.
Yeonu hurriedly checked the time.
Something was wrong.
[00:55 am]
"...It's not even 1 o'clock yet?"
It definitely wasn't 1 o'clock yet.
There hadn't been so much as an owl's hoot, let alone anything happening.
The fact that a gwii had appeared so suddenly was nothing but bewildering.
Soon, Yeonu shouted.
"Wake up!!!!!"
To wake Sion, who had her face buried in the ground and was being consumed by that horrifying thing.
Perhaps startled by Yeonu's voice, Sion jerked up.
Looking at that Sion, Yeonu ordered her to come back quickly.
'...Something has started to go strangely wrong.'
A drop of cold sweat ran down Yeonu's face and fell to the ground.
* * *
1 AM.
The deepest part of the dark forest.
There, a naked woman sat alone, noble and serene, and smiled brightly.
Clouds that had cleared at some point shone the moonlight bright, making her body glow white.
A woman shining mysteriously.
Her yellow, cat-like pupils looked around the surroundings.
A woman who truly exuded a mysterious atmosphere.
One could say she was very beautiful.
Of course, if one excluded the fact that her stomach was wide open.
And that bizarre owls of infinitely twisted shapes were streaming out from there.
The woman whispered.
"...Hoo."
The woman let out an owl's sound.
Then, the pure white owls born from her stomach flew into the sky and mimicked owl sounds together as a group.
And a moment later.
-Squelch
"...?"
An owl flew to her side.
A torn black strand of hair was caught in its beak.
"...Gue... st... Gue... st?"
Using her pincer-like fingers to lift the hair, the woman twisted her face upside down like an owl and looked at the strand.
The woman who had muttered "guest" several times returned to a somewhat dignified appearance and grinned.
"...Manners... you... have...?"
Though it had been the voice of a mature woman earlier.
This time, the voice she chose was that of a little brat.
At the awkward young boy's voice, the owl turned its head and opened its mouth as if it had found a suitable answer.
"Save... don't!! You, die! Die! Ack, ugh... Mommy, mommy..."
Elderly, adult man, adult woman.
Young boy, young girl.
The owl created words by combining the final words spat out by all those people.
Looking at such an owl, she put on a proud smile.
"Gue... st... dy...ing. Right?"
The owl spun its head around wildly as if happy.
Spinning around wildly like that, the owl's head couldn't endure and tore off.
-Schwaaaaack!!!!
"Mo... mmy... mommy, ah....."
Twitching, the owl died just like that.
The woman who had been staring blankly at such an owl lifted the monster that resembled her own child, put on a happy smile, and stuffed it back into her stomach.
"Kheuk......."
-Crunch!!
-Crack...! Crack!
-Squish... Craccck
As sounds of organs breaking rang out and fresh blood gushed from the woman's mouth.
The woman stroked her stomach as if full, then closed up the opened spaces as if zipping them shut.
Then, the owls no longer multiplied.
The woman still sat atop a large boulder, gathered her legs, and gazed at the moonlight.
Beautiful.
Gazing at the moon in a place unreachable because it was so beautiful.
The girl... no, the gwii spaced out for a moment.
The boulder was plastered with blood.
And the rotting corpses piled beneath it.
Looking at that, the woman let out a blank smile.
Food.
Something a child who ate a human for the first time had taught her.
Killing humans was enjoyable.
Because killing animals yielded little.
Animals only taught instinct.
Eating, defecating, reproducing.
While they only taught such basic things.
Humans handed over very rich things to learn.
Things like language, family, fear, love.
What rare treasures would the guests who came to the forest this time bring?
"...Ex... citement?"
The gwii that muttered so smiled with its mouth torn wide open.
As a bonus, bits of flesh stained with blood could be seen between her sharp teeth.
* * *
"Are you okay!?"
"...!!"
As soon as I arrived at the tent, the senior jumped out and ran her hands all over my body.
She seemed quite startled.
"Ah, nothing happened though......."
"......."
"Are you o...kay...?"
When I asked if she was feeling unwell somewhere, the senior sighed and told me to quickly come inside first.
Then she grabbed my wrist forcefully and dragged me into the tent.
Then, an alarm rang out inside the tent.
-Beeeeep!!!!!
"...It's time."
Checking the time in a hurry, sure enough, it was 1 AM.
And the anomaly began immediately.
When the senior turned off the lantern, the inside of the tent darkened instantly, and countless lights were visible behind the thin fabric.
"...!!"
They were all wild animals' eyes.
No, not wild animals. They were gwii.
Startled, I almost screamed, but the senior covered my mouth and shook her head, indicating absolutely not.
At that, I nodded my head frantically, holding back tears that felt ready to fall, and squeezed my eyes shut.
-Dad! Come over here!
-Honey, this place is really nice, isn't it?
-Daughter... I love you
-Wow! It's a forest! The trees are huge!
Familiar voices could be heard.
This made it certain.
Those things were owls.
Monsters that drove out all the real owls and tried to become owls themselves.
My understanding reached that point, and I shed tears.
-Kiyaaaaaack!!!
-Sa, save me! Please...! Don't kill...! Keok!
-Mommy... ah... mommy...
-Ha... hahaha!! Kill the...!!
-Kheuheuht
Final screams heard along with owl sounds.
They drove me mad.
Even covering my ears, they rang out painfully, as if striking my head directly.
The senior's expression was not good either.
Thinking that we must not be discovered to be here, we held our breath.
The owls wouldn't leave and kept circling around.
In women's voices, men's voices, elderly voices, children's voices, they kept whispering for us to come out.
Save me, please save me.
Even as they spat out such screams, the beasts' hooting sounds gradually rose in pitch.
As if they had become gods.
Nausea washed over me at that sight.
Gwii were horrifying.
Gwii were... creatures impossible to understand.
'Save me...! Mommy...!!'
Inside, I desperately called for my mother.