In the dark forest.
Within it, the Watcher, Senior Yeonu, and I held our breaths and concealed our presence as much as we could.
The Watcher wrapped the surroundings in smoke, somehow keeping us from being caught by the enemy’s senses.
[I’m going to scatter smoke around us. At the very least, it should be able to show them an illusion.]
“Is it strong?”
Senior Yeonu asked if it was strong.
At that, the Watcher looked back and forth between Senior Yeonu and me, then nodded.
[You go out first, rookie.]
“…Excuse me?”
When I looked up at the Watcher and asked in bewilderment, the Watcher said she could not sacrifice herself.
[This lady is not here, is she?]
“Ah……”
It had felt so natural, as if she were right beside me.
Only now did I realize that there was only one person here who could fight directly.
And what I had to do was—
“I’ll be counting on you.”
—to become the meat shield for the senior now saying she was counting on me while fiddling with her sword.
‘Can I do it? Can I sacrifice myself?’
All my life, the only memories I had were of running to survive.
All I had were memories of fleeing, solely to live.
Could I run in order to die?
“……”
“Can you do it?”
As she said that, Senior placed a hand on my back.
Looking at her, my pupils trembled.
“If you can’t, I’ll push you.”
For a moment, I wondered how this was any different from an aberration.
But even if I didn’t do it here, that would be a breach of contract.
If I broke the contract……
“I-I’ll do it.”
A dreadful future unfolded before my eyes, so I said I would do it and trembled all over.
I want to live.
I desperately want to live.
Muttering that inwardly, I staggered to my feet.
“……”
I looked at the aberration before me.
A pure white body.
Its eyebrows, hair, even its skin—everything was pure white.
That alone was grotesque enough, but its face looked as though it were wearing a mask.
Even its eyes were not like human eyes, but entirely black, like an owl’s.
From the pupils to the whites.
Its lower body was drenched in blood, and beneath it, owls were crying out madly.
‘It looks like a masked owl.’
If I were to give it a name, that seemed appropriate.
My body trembled like crazy.
But I was no longer afraid.
My body swayed loosely.
It felt as if someone else were controlling me.
My mind was slightly hazy.
Just as I wondered if I was dreaming—
[Now.]
The Watcher gave me the signal.
I burst out from the smoke and the grass.
Then the gazes of the owls and the masked owl gathered on me.
[Gu…est…?]
The masked owl muttered so and turned its head.
Like an owl, its head rotated 180 degrees, leaving its face upside down.
Looking at it, only then did I—
“Ah… aaah……”
—feel goosebumps rise all over my body.
My face slowly dyed with terror.
Seeing my face, the aberration began to smile so wide its mouth seemed about to split.
—Flap!!
The sound of wings beating.
Along with the sound of something slicing through the air, I closed and opened my eyes.
“Keuhk!?”
There was a huge hole in my stomach.
“Ah… I want to li—”
—Crunch!!!
The pain of my leg being bitten.
The moment I felt it, I collapsed.
* * *
Sion’s blood splattered.
The owl was dyed bright red.
And yet, Sion endured his scream and covered his mouth.
Yeonu watched the scene in silence.
‘Now I’m feeling guilty and shit……’
It was an aberration.
It was definitely an aberration, so why did she feel guilty?
Sion was on the verge of death.
His trembling eyes met Yeonu’s.
“…!!”
[…Not yet. If you go out, you’ll die.]
The Watcher warned Yeonu as she flinched.
Calmly—no, with a little excitement—the Watcher continued.
[It seems the trigger isn’t necessarily the neck.]
“……”
[Even if he simply dies, he seems to regenerate, though not as quickly as when it’s the neck.]
“How… do you know that?”
[I saw it.]
“…Saw what?”
The moment Yeonu asked—
The Watcher smiled brightly at her.
[I do not wish to tell you. Go. Now.]
“…!!”
Sion’s head had been cut off by chance.
Then Sion’s body continued regenerating and rose to its feet, dripping blood.
Sion’s arms were gradually turning black.
Arms that had transformed like those of the guard sprouted sharp claws, then swung once through the air.
—Slaaaaaash!!!!
Blood scattered.
It was all the blood of the owls.
[Go.]
“…!!”
At the same time, Yeonu was thrown into the enemy formation by the Watcher.
She was a little flustered, but there was no time to be shaken.
Unlike Sion, Yeonu could not come back to life.
All she could do was charge.
—Shing!!
Yeonu’s sword rang out in the air.
“…I’m going.”
Only three times.
Within that, she had to incapacitate that female aberration.
She herself did not know whether she could do it well.
But she had to do it well.
Yeonu leaped into the air without a sound.
And Sion’s body, having finished regenerating, found his head and attached it back on.
“Kuaaaaak…!! Kkeuheup…!!”
Sion’s agonized scream echoed through the mountain.
* * *
When I closed and opened my eyes, my body had recovered, but—
“Uuup…!!”
An immense pain and nausea surged over me together.
I had seen something too shocking.
A hole being pierced through my body.
The sight of the aberration eating my body deliciously.
The fact that it was the last thing I saw was nothing short of horrifying.
I want to live.
Right now, I desperately want to live.
“Mom… Mom……”
I heard Senior’s sword cutting something down.
I had to help, but I couldn’t.
There was no strength in my body.
If I wanted to do something here—
“…Do I have to die again…?”
—I had to die again.
I looked around, but I couldn’t see any owls.
“……”
What I saw was a dead owl’s corpse and its sharp talons.
They were long, so if I stabbed my neck with one, I would probably die in one go.
Of course, it would be painful.
“…Ah.”
As if my body wanted me to die, my hand reached toward the owl.
And I grabbed the owl’s sharp talon.
‘If you want to live—’
My mother’s voice echoed in my head.
If you want to live.
“…I want to live.”
If you want to live……
‘Die.’
It seemed I had no choice but to die.
—Slash!!!
A terrible agony.
Along with it, blood sprayed everywhere and tears welled up.
“Ah……”
I’m dying again.
Like this, I’m once again……
My consciousness drifted away.
In the distance, I could see Senior calmly driving away the owls and approaching the masked owl.
Looking at that, I thought—
I want to help her.
* * *
The battle showed no sign of ending.
“Kreuk…!”
Countless owls flew in at her, one after another.
And then—
“Hel…lo, Gu…est…? What… do you know…?”
—the woman before her asked a grotesque question in a grotesque form.
What did she know, what would she teach her?
Just when would the game end?
‘Game…? What bullshit.’
Yeonu’s face twisted heavily as she wiped away the blood flowing from the scratches on her hands and face.
“This isn’t fun.”
Her expression was still blank.
When facing aberrations, showing emotion outwardly did no good.
If you revealed emotion, aberrations would quickly imitate it and deceive you with it.
Just like the aberration that had swallowed her father.
She could see her father before her eyes.
Yeonu did not stop swinging her sword.
—Pagagagagagak!!!
—Krigigigik!!
—Crack…!
Block, cut, deflect, block again, push away.
Only after she had deflected countless owls like that did a gap appear.
When Yeonu drove into it—
“…Stu…pid!!”
“…!?”
The aberration said so and lightly parried her attack.
Then it opened its own stomach and pulled out as many owls as had died.
There was no end in sight.
Honestly, it was hopeless.
It was to the point where she wondered if she would die here.
She had only shown a brief moment of agitation.
And as expected, the aberration was mocking Yeonu.
It giggled, enjoying the sight of Yeonu growing exhausted.
They were wicked beyond measure.
Though cutting such things down was Yeonu’s fate.
Yeonu took her stance once more.
She sharpened every nerve in her body and stared at the aberration.
“……”
Her expression was blank.
The aberration imitating Yeonu also turned expressionless.
‘Is it copying me? Can it even invade my thoughts like the Jangsanbeom?’
All sorts of thoughts crashed over Yeonu.
Honestly, all she could think was that she didn’t know.
There was far too little information about this aberration.
She had not known there was something controlling the owls from behind.
If the Watcher had not continuously supported her with smoke, she would probably have died.
“At…tacks… don’t hit… Gu, guest? How? Did you do it?”
The aberration asked with a smile.
Seeing that, Yeonu did not answer.
‘I’ll kill you.’
An aberration that had devoured countless people and begged to be forgiven.
Just as Yeonu resolved to cut it down, she kicked off the ground again.
“…Sen…ior.”
“…!?”
Sion’s voice came from behind her.
A child who would be no help and would only become an obstacle.
She tried to hurry and make him take shelter, but—
“Come out.”
Sion had changed somehow.
Drool dripped from his mouth, and his gait was strangely abnormal.
He staggered, unable even to lift his head.
Perhaps he had figured out how to transform one hand, because it was shaped like a blade.
Just as she was about to speak to him—
“The hunt…!! It’s time to hunt!!”
“…Sion?”
“Kihih! I’m hungry!”
Sion looked completely different.
X marks had appeared in both his eyes, and long fangs hung from his mouth.
Sion looked like a dokkaebi.
Without so much as glancing at Yeonu, he put an owl that had fallen to the ground into his mouth and chewed it up noisily before swallowing.