A Damned Nightmare (1)

When I opened my eyes, the ceiling I knew was waiting for me.

There was a knot scar on one of the rafters. I had meant to replace it when I repaired the roof, then left it as it was because it was still sound.

I stared at it for a moment, then sat up.

"…When did I fall asleep?"

My head felt heavy. It was as if I had slept for a long time, and also as if I had only just closed my eyes and woken again. Rubbing at the corners of my eyes did nothing to clear the dull fog.

Outside the window it was dark. A faint wash of moonlight came through the paper panes and lay in a long stripe across the floor.

I sat on the edge of the bed. There had definitely been something I was supposed to do. It felt as though I had forgotten something important, but when I groped back through my memory, the thoughts refused to connect. Had I fixed the door? Had I promised to go to the market with Baekha?

I sat with my hands on my knees for a long while, then let out a small sigh. Water first, then. I was just lowering my feet when it came.

A clatter.

Somewhere, a sound. I lifted my head. It was like something knocking against something else. For a moment I thought I had misheard it in my sleep, but a faint murmur of voices followed soon after. I couldn't make out the words.

"Baekha?"

I felt under the bed for my shoes and put them on. The room was fairly cold. I turned, thinking I might have left the window open before I slept, but it was shut. I rubbed my arms once and went to the door.

"Baekha, is that you?"

I asked again as I opened it. Again, no answer came back.

The lights beyond the room were out. The basket Baekha carried around every day sat against the wall. I nudged it aside before I could trip over it and looked farther in.

The kitchen was quiet too. The pot lid was closed, and the bowls on the shelf were neatly lined up. I picked up a bowl that had been left upside down beside the water gourd.

Then the sound came again. Not from the kitchen this time. Still holding the bowl, I turned my head. A low voice leaked from the far end of the dark corridor. I still couldn't tell what was being said. It was muffled and faint, as if I were listening through a wall. Even so, I could tell that someone was speaking.

I set the bowl down. Baekha must have been talking with her father. What could they possibly be discussing at this hour, without even going to sleep? A yawn escaped me before I knew it. Covering my mouth, I left the kitchen. The floorboards gave a small creak under my feet.

I had taken two steps when the voices cut off. I stopped as well. I waited a moment, but nothing else came.

"Uncle, you home?"

I called the way I always did. My throat must have been thick with sleep; the voice that came out was smaller than I expected. I cleared it once and was about to speak again when laughter sounded from inside. A man's voice.

I looked down the corridor. Had a guest come in the middle of the night? If so, they would have woken me. Uneasy for no good reason, I started walking. My eyes had adjusted to the dark enough that I could make out the outer robe hanging on the wall and the pile of firewood stacked beneath it. Things I had been meaning to clear away. Baekha might hurt her foot. I pushed the wood against the wall with my toes.

And from inside, voices came again. This time a woman's voice was mixed in among them. It sounded like Baekha. Without thinking, I quickened my steps. I wanted to hear what they were saying. I had been calling her name for a while now without an answer, and that stung a little.

But even as I drew closer, the words still wouldn't come clear. A low voice. Short bursts of laughter slipping through it. I rubbed the space between my brows. I must not have been fully awake. The sound kept receding, then drawing near again.

At the end of the corridor there was light. A thin thread of orange spilled out from beneath a closed door. Whenever someone moved inside, a shadow passed across that light. It was the room Baekha was supposed to use. I remembered promising to redo the floor for her. Once I went in, I ought to start with that. I would be working from morning tomorrow, so she should bring her things in a little later.

I stepped up to the door. I raised my hand to knock—and in that instant a man's voice came through, perfectly clear.

Clothes? He was telling her to take her clothes off?

Frowning, I pushed the door open just a crack and looked inside with one eye.

Sure enough, Baekha was in there. And in front of her…

…What?

It was him. The cultivator who had taken Baekha away. Namhyeon. So that bastard had just told Baekha to strip?

My hands began to shake. I was about to throw the door wide when—

A soft slide. A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whisper.

The sound of cloth brushing bare skin. I turned my eyes to Baekha, and I saw her slowly taking her clothes off. The top first, and then the skirt. Everything but the cloth binding her breasts was bared.

"B-Baekha…?"

A loud voice slipped out of me before I could stop it. I thought the two of them might notice I was there. But they didn't so much as glance my way. As if I weren't there at all.

Baekha, face flushed, her full breasts laid bare. A sight she had never once shown even me.

That can't be…

The Baekha I knew would never do something like that. That bastard had to be using some kind of sorcery…

"Take off that scrap of cloth too. It's in the way."

While I was lost in the thought, Namhyeon whispered it softly at Baekha's ear. And Baekha, though her face twisted with reluctance, bared her breasts completely in the end.

I couldn't believe it. The scene unfolding in front of my eyes. Why was Baekha obeying Namhyeon? Was she being threatened? Thoughts like that began to rise.

But then—

A hard squeeze.

"Nnh…"

The moan that followed stopped every thought cold.

Kneading, squeezing.

Namhyeon worked Baekha's breasts with greedy hands. At the same time he flicked her nipples, pinched them, and every time he did, Baekha let out a lewd cry.

"Hnn… N-Namhyeon, wait, just a moment…"

Even when she asked him to wait, Namhyeon didn't stop his hands. If anything, it felt as though he pressed harder. A long, deliberate pull—he began to pinch and twist her nipples as if he wanted me to see.

"Hnn, I told you to wait…♥"

"Be quiet. Do you mean to defy your master's will?"

"Nn, hnn…♥"

For a long time. Right there in front of me, the two of them kept at it for a long time. Baekha, wearing a face of pleasure… Looking at her, I got hard before I could help it. I knew I shouldn't, but my body wouldn't follow my thoughts.

"……"

I lowered my pants a little and started stroking myself. Watching the fiancée I loved being taken by another man. Watching that obscene body of hers spill moan after moan. My hand moved hard and fast.

"Haah, I'm, I'm going to come…! Please, just for a moment…!"

Just as it all reached its peak, Namhyeon showed a thin, cold smile and crushed both of Baekha's breasts in a brutal squeeze.

"Hnnnghh!?♥♥"

A spurt, then another, then another. With Baekha's moan, a stream burst from between her legs. And I—

A thick pulse. Another.

I came at the same time.

After that… my awareness grew dimmer and dimmer. I thrashed, trying to hold on to my mind by force. There was something I wanted to say. I fixed my eyes on Baekha. And the moment I saw her look at me and smile, my consciousness snapped.

"……!"

I bolted upright. My breath came short. When I pressed a hand to my forehead, cold sweat clung to my palm. For a while I kept my head down and fought to steady my breathing.

Beyond the paper window it was bright. Outside, a rooster crowed, and I heard someone driving an ox past the house. Morning.

"…A dream."

The words came out in a cracked voice. I pushed my damp bangs back. It had been a dream. Baekha couldn't have been in this house. Neither could Namhyeon. A full week had already passed since the two of them left the village.

Even so, I couldn't calm down. Close my eyes, and what had just happened rose again. I scrubbed roughly at my face and got down from the bed. I was slipping my feet into my shoes when I happened to look at the open door. Not a sound. Of course there wasn't.

"……"

I went quietly to the kitchen and drank some water. Only after I gulped the cold water down, one bowl after another, did my throat loosen a little. I set the bowl down and leaned my back against the wall.

I hadn't slept properly a single night since Baekha left. By day I found work somehow and kept moving. I split firewood, mended the house, went to see Uncle Yu and ate with him. But once night came, the thoughts multiplied. Was she doing all right? Was she eating properly? Was she crying alone in some strange place? There was no way to find out. Even when I asked the Village Chief, all I got was that he knew nothing of cultivators' affairs. No one even knew exactly where Namhyeon had gone. I couldn't set out to look for her either. I didn't know where to go in the first place.

I rubbed the inside of the empty bowl with my thumb. What Baekha had been trying to say just before she left—that still snagged at me.

"Jinwoo. You in there?"

A voice from beyond the front gate made me lift my head. The Village Chief. I set the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bowl down and went outside. When I opened the gate, he was standing with his hands clasped behind his back. It was the first time he had come looking for me so early.

"Is something the matter?"

"A letter came."

A paper envelope was in his hand.

"From Baekha."

I took the envelope at once. My name was written on the front. A familiar hand. Whenever Baekha finished a stroke, she always lifted the brush too quickly. The habit I had teased her for, sitting beside her more times than I could count, was still right there.

"When did it arrive?"

"Just now. I thought you'd be waiting, so I brought it straight over."

My hands tightened as I tore the envelope open. The edge of the paper ripped a little. I stopped at once and carefully drew out the letter inside. It wasn't long. Writing that filled about half a single sheet.

I read the letter again from the beginning. And once more after that.

She was coming back. Baekha said she was coming back. Whatever had been crushing my chest for a week seemed to ease, just a little. Without meaning to, I let out a long breath.

"She says nothing's wrong?"

The Village Chief asked carefully. I nodded.

"Yes. She says she's well."

"That's a relief. Old Man Yu can finally set one worry down."

Only then did I think of Uncle. I had to tell him this first. I remembered the face he put on in front of me, pretending he was fine even after sending his daughter away.

"She says she'll be back for a short while."

"Baekha?"

"Yes. Within a few days."

The Village Chief's face brightened. I, on the other hand, couldn't take my eyes off a single line of the letter.

—Lord Namhyeon said he would come with me.

I pressed the edge of the paper hard with my finger. The excitement of seeing Baekha again sank a little. Namhyeon's face rose in my mind, the way he had smiled in front of me. The weight bearing down on my shoulder, and the moment I had done nothing but gasp for breath.

"That immortal is coming as well?"

"…So she says."

The Village Chief muttered to himself that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he would have to prepare something. Instead of answering, I folded the letter.

Baekha was coming. I only had to see her face and hear how she had been. So why, of all people, was that man coming with her?

I started to put the letter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back in the envelope, then stopped my hand. I wanted to see the last line one more time.

—See you soon.

I stared at that short sentence for a long time.