Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: New Moon Granny 2
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Nati trudged with heavy steps to the very edge of the rooftop and stood there. After peering down for a long while, he beckoned Ibi over with a gesture. She obediently followed his lead and stood beside him.
Nati spoke.
"Here... take a look. Where do you think the most people might be gathered?"
Ibi gazed down obediently, observing for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.
"If you've figured something out, just tell me straight. Don't keep throwing riddles at me. On a clear day, maybe, but how am I supposed to know where crowds would be in weather like this?"
Nati let out a stifled chuckle. What on earth was he thinking?
"Well, I really was asking for your opinion. If you want mine... that spot looks suspicious."
The place Nati pointed to was a wide park near the city limits. Ibi tilted her head. The park had a lake about fifty meters across at its center, with well-paved walkways, so it saw some foot traffic—but it wasn't the kind of place that stood out over others.
The nearby apartments were newly built but not fully sold out yet, and less than a hundred meters away stood a building most people avoided. Besides, who would leisurely stroll through a park in this weather?
"That doesn't seem right. Look, hardly any lights are on."
"That's exactly what makes it weird. Even with the rain, it's still a park—don't the lights seem too dim?"
Looking more closely after he said that, she saw he was right. It wasn't a stadium or anything, so it wouldn't be brightly lit, but even the few streetlamps seemed mostly off.
Staring intently, she even wondered if it was worse than that. From the distance, it was hard to tell, but the lights flickered—dimming, then brightening, repeating—before gradually fading altogether.
Seeing that sparked a sudden memory. Herself, dying with blood gushing from a severed neck. The masked giant staring blankly at her, and behind him, the streetlamp flickering wildly.
Were the park's streetlamps doing the same right now?
Then, suddenly, shadowy figures haunting the park came into view. Once she noticed them, she couldn't believe how she'd missed so many silhouettes before.
"...Nati."
"Seeing it now?"
Ibi nodded tensely. Something serious was happening in the city.
"You know what's going on, don't you? Tell me."
"I'm just guessing at this point myself."
"Then at least tell me your guess."
"We'll head back to Flower Mugwort first and talk it over. We need to hear from Mina too. If my hunch is right, though, she probably didn't find much either."
With that, Nati turned away as if he'd seen all he needed to. Ibi prepared to follow him down.
But glancing back one last time proved to be a mistake. Gripping the railing and scanning the park again, a chill suddenly ran down her spine without warning.
She didn't know why at first, but she learned soon enough—it didn't matter. An unknown force seized her ankle through the gap in the railing and yanked.
"What the..."
She tried to resist, but the pull was too strong for any resistance. Screaming, Ibi clutched the railing desperately. But by then, half her body was already dangling over the open air beyond the rooftop.
"Nati! Nati!"
She called out desperately to Nati, just a few steps away, but it was far too late. Her nails scraped the slick surface, one snapping off and leaving a skid mark of blood on the stone.
The next moment, Ibi was unceremoniously hurled off the fiftieth-floor rooftop.
"Help..."
A sudden floating sensation enveloped her body without warning. Then the fall began. The sky flipped upside down, rain and fierce winds battering her face chaotically. Countless lights swirled around her like dancers. She could no longer distinguish falling from flying.
She'd once heard that people falling from great heights died of heart attacks before hitting the ground. At the time, she'd been intrigued but skeptical. And anyway, she'd never imagined dying that way, so she'd quickly forgotten it.
But now Ibi was falling. In less than a minute, she'd be a gruesome mess. Was this how she'd die? For real?
Ibi closed her eyes. Strangely, the darkness behind her lids writhed like a curtain parting to reveal a new scene—not the stormy night sky from moments ago, but a brilliantly clear blue one.
Was this the fabled life-flashing-before-your-eyes? But weren't those supposed to show your past life? Ibi had never seen this scene before, dream or hallucination though it might be.
It was the most radiant hour just before sunset. Mid-autumn skies stretched endlessly high. Distant mountain ridges were visible, with fluffy sheep-clouds spreading wide along the horizon where peaks met sky.
Beneath them lay lush green fields. It looked like a plateau midway up a mountain. Ibi had never seen such vibrant grass—untouched by civilization, it seemed.
In the distance, a village nestled in lowlands: modest thatched-roof homes clustered together. It felt ancient, centuries old at least. Why would such a scene appear in Ibi's mind now?
Then she spotted a woman climbing the path through the fields, dressed in hanbok, carrying a water jar on her head.
The woman stopped at a well at the path's end and set down the jar to draw water.
From Ibi's view, only the back of her head was visible—no face. For some reason, Ibi desperately wanted to see it.
Just a little... just turn her head a bit more...
As if hearing the wish, the woman lifted her face and looked straight this way.
That face...
"...Me...?"
The woman in hanbok holding the water jar looked strikingly like Ibi.
Ibi wanted to see more, but she couldn't. The fall was ending; the ground rushed up.
In the heart of the rain-lashed city, something plummeting from a high-rise pierced even the downpour with a resounding thud.
Thud.
And Ibi died.
It was exactly midnight.
"Aaaah!"
Ibi jolted awake. She tumbled off the sofa she'd been lying on. Her body trembled uncontrollably, cold sweat pouring down. Unthinkingly, she patted herself all over.
Her body was fine. Perfectly healthy, even. So what was this? Why did the sensation of her body shattering and scattering feel so vividly real?
Regaining her wits, she looked around. Incredibly, it was Flower Mugwort Tea House. The Ghost Bridge Society members were all there, unharmed.
"What... what the hell happened?"
Ibi steadied her breathing, calming her mind as best she could. Then she noticed something off about the tea house interior. At the center of the glass door hung a white paper with a bizarre glyph scrawled in brush calligraphy.
Similar papers were plastered on other glass panels and walls everywhere. Not content with that, strings were strung across the ceiling with more dangling from them. It looked like some kind of shamanic ritual.
Finally composing herself, Ibi scanned her comrades and felt a sharp sense of déjà vu. She quickly pulled out her phone from her pocket to check the time. She'd done this exact action before.
9:36 PM. The date, predictably, was Sunday, October 31st.
"......"
It had looped back again. Just like the first time she died. And the second time too—she'd rewound through time once more.
"What in the world is going on?"
"That's what we want to ask you."
As Nati took the words, Ibi shot him a glare demanding an explanation. He sighed and sat beside her.
"Remember when I told Aerin and Haewon to prepare the ritual?"
Ibi clamped her mouth shut. Of course she remembered.
"...Come to think of it, I don't see Haewon."
"He's in the basement right now."
Aerin answered. Ibi turned to her this time.
"Why?"
"Casting a spell this big isn't easy. It's complicated to explain, but right now, Haewon is... like a battery, I guess. Filling that role. He might look like a kid on the outside, but he's the incarnation of starlight."
The "spell" had to refer to those papers plastered everywhere. She couldn't not ask.
"What does sticking those up do... exactly?"
"For one, it keeps monsters from getting in... and another thing."
Aerin paused briefly before continuing.
"It lets us retain memories of what happens inside here."
Ibi looked around at her comrades in shock. Did that mean they remembered the looping day now too? Unlike the first time she'd died?
Just then, papers rustled as someone dripping water entered.
"...I feel like this is my first time meeting you all, though."
The voice carried bewilderment equal to Ibi's own.
"Why doesn't it feel that way?"
Standing in the doorway was Kang Areum, hooded in a thoroughly soaked hoodie.