Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Commandment 4
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"I have no idea at all."
"Ah... Is that so?"
Ibi, who had been inwardly tense while awaiting the answer, felt a faint sense of emptiness. She scratched her cheek awkwardly for no reason, and then the woman sat down beside her.
She had never minded others' gazes feeling burdensome in her life, but having her eyes covered was a first that actually bothered her.
Still, she tossed out a few more questions. Why was she managing this temple alone? Were there really no monks left here? Had she heard anything unusual from them?
In the end, she didn't gain much. The reason for managing the place was simply that she'd once been in someone's debt here long ago. No monks remained, and she'd never heard any talk of suspicious spiritual presences in the temple.
"I see. Thanks for the tea. I'll head down now."
"Stay a little longer."
"No, it's fine. Dinner will be soon anyway."
Was it because she'd lost a full month trapped in that wardrobe? Autumn already felt unreal. But regardless of how Ibi felt, the evening sun had grown shorter. One corner of the sky was already starting to turn a faint orange.
As Ibi stood, the woman saw her off. Ibi had thought the veiled face made her uneasy to deal with, but she'd been polite the whole time.
Feeling sorry for suspecting her unnecessarily, Ibi started down the hill.
"Oh, and when you go down..."
"Yes?"
"If you hear any strange sounds, absolutely do not look back."
Ibi froze, not understanding. The woman just gave a cryptic smile without explaining.
The moment Ibi left the main hall, she turned around, but the woman was already gone. Had she gone inside?
Soon, she reached the spot with the broken bell from earlier. She recalled the uneasy feeling from hearing what sounded like it ringing on the way up. She hurried her steps, deliberately ignoring it.
...Dong.
Ibi's footsteps halted.
Probably just her imagination.
Dong...... Dong.
"......"
It was clear. Not a hallucination.
At the same time, the woman's warning flashed in her mind. Absolutely do not look back? What the hell was behind her right now?
The woman's true nature was still a mystery, so whether to heed her words was unclear. But looking back might turn her to stone on the spot.
Suddenly, Ibi remembered a childhood memory at this bell.
It was when she'd climbed the hill with her mother and stopped by. Ibi had innocently laughed, shaking the heavy striker to ring the bell and play. Her mother had scolded her not to touch the monks' things, so she'd stopped quickly.
But then, a madman appeared out of nowhere. Though a stranger, he giggled nonstop with unsteady steps—undeniably insane.
Terrified, Ibi hid behind her mother. Ignoring the mother and daughter, the madman rang the bell.
By slamming his head against it with all his might.
That sound was still buried somewhere in her memory.
Dong.
"No way......"
Dong.
Ibi turned around.
No one was ringing the bell. Strictly speaking, it wasn't exactly the same as that long-ago head-slamming sound.
There were similarities, but this was duller, the echo fading abruptly.
Because... the bell had collapsed onto the ground.
"Maybe."
Ibi slowly approached the bell. The woman's warning was already forgotten. She placed her hand on top.
At that moment, the sound rang again. Dong. And she definitely felt vibrations through her fingertips.
But no matter where she looked, no one else was here besides her.
"Is someone... inside?"
Dong, dong, dong, dong.
As if responding to her words, the bell rang repeatedly. Ibi jumped back several steps in shock. Soon, the dull tolling stopped.
Ibi gradually pieced it together. She quickly knelt and pressed her ear close to the thick bell surface.
"Can you hear me? Are you in there?"
"......"
It wasn't clear words. More like mumbling noise. But one thing was certain. It was a human voice.
The color drained from Ibi's face. An unwanted possibility swelled uncontrollably. She raised her voice high.
"No way... Haewon oppa?"
In response, the bell clanged incomparably louder than before. The muffled voices leaked out like anguished screams. Ibi covered her mouth and collapsed right there.
"P-Police..."
But the phone from her pocket proudly showed a dead battery. This made no sense—she'd charged it before leaving!
Running down for help would take too long. Ibi strained to push the bell over, but a single woman couldn't lift an iron bell bigger than herself.
After grunting futilely several times, Ibi stepped back and calmly surveyed the surroundings. There had to be something useful.
The striker sprawled amid severed ropes, collapsed roof, half-fallen rafters, bent pillars.
"......"
After racking her brain, Ibi began untying the rope around the striker. It was tightly knotted and tough, but she managed.
Next, she piled up scattered debris for a foothold. Stepping on it, she tied the rope securely to the bell's top loop. The other end went into a groove at the top of the bell tower pillar, which looked ready to collapse.
The pillar was already weathered and couldn't bear the outward-pulling rafters. If Ibi could topple it with her strength, the connected rope might flip the bell.
Finishing, Ibi took a short deep breath. Just as she lunged to push the pillar...
"After all I told you. You really don't listen at all, do you?"
The woman's voice suddenly whispered in her ear. Ibi's eyes widened. The tone was sweet like murmuring to a lover, but laced with blade-like chill.
"Aaah!"
Startled into a scream, she stumbled backward. The woman stood rigidly, one hand on the bell surface. Still veiled in white cloth.
"He's my groom. With women like you meddling, I kept him within my reach until the wedding. Yet you ignore my warning, come here, and touch another woman's man?"
While Ibi was speechless, the woman approached step by step.
"Shameless stray cat. Can't understand nice words, huh?"
In an instant, she was in Ibi's face, grabbing her throat.
"Normally, I shouldn't lay a hand..."
Her grip was impossibly strong. Vision blurred the moment she touched. It felt like her neck would snap before she suffocated. Not even a groan escaped.
In her fading sight, she glimpsed the face under the cloth. Delicately painted beauty like a brushstroke, yet eerily demonic.
Her face looks fine... You bitch... Liar...
Ibi couldn't break free. She thought death was certain, but the hand suddenly released.
"Eek!"
The scream came from the woman. Coughing, Ibi barely looked up through blurry vision. What she saw was astonishing.
The woman's hands that had gripped her throat were gone. Or rather, turning to ash and scattering. Charred-black wrists smoldered with vein-like embers.
"This crazy... Damn protection!"
Ibi didn't know what it meant. Didn't care. Clutching her sore throat, she staggered up.
Instinct screamed this was her chance. Ibi threw her full weight at the roped pillar. The bell-connected rope tautened.
Once more!
Crack!
The pillar toppled. Rafters collapsed, tiles cascading down.
Finally, the bell's underside lifted, a gap forming.
Two hands burst from inside. They pushed up, lifting the bell themselves and emerging. The bell flipped, the pillar fully crumbling.
Inside was truly Haewon. But in terrible shape. Covered in dirt, forehead split with dark red blood flowing.
"Oppa! Are you okay?"
"H-Here... Where is this? What happened to me..."
Ibi rushed to support him, but Haewon couldn't stand properly. She glanced where the woman had been.
The woman was staggering to her feet. Her ashen arms were regenerating. Fully upright, she glared straight at Ibi and Haewon.
Or so Ibi thought. The cloth had fallen back over her face during the attack, hiding her eyes.
But that didn't hide the overwhelming murderous intent.
"If I can't kill you... I'll lock you away. Right. Until the wedding. Even Mother would understand this much."
With that, the woman strode forward. Ibi dragged Haewon desperately. He tried to steady himself but was still ragdoll-like, dazed.
"Get your hands off my groom right—"
Then it happened. A massive shadow loomed behind the woman. A mouth lined with shark-like teeth, big enough to swallow a person whole.
And it did—devouring her in an instant.
"Gulp."