The Red Woman (2)
Creak...
The Red Woman opened the front door and stepped inside. Even though the door lock and handle were double-locked... No, the front door that should have swung outward was opening inward. That was no longer Eunha's apartment door.
Squelch.
Squelch.
The sound of thoroughly soaked footsteps. The blood-soaked woman dripped gore as she headed toward the living room. The air turned as cold as if winter had arrived.
Eunha, having locked the bathroom door tight, clutched the pouch of salt she'd brought as a talisman and held her breath.
So red~ it's all dyed red~
Everything's dyed red~
The Red Woman hummed a chilling nursery rhyme as she headed to Eunha's bedroom. The overpowering stench of blood wafted into the bathroom, and Eunha—who already had her mouth full of soy sauce—had to clamp it shut against the rising nausea.
She felt like she was going to puke. Had using soy sauce instead of salt really been okay?
But damn, that woman's voice was nice. She could really sing.
We're lost forever~
Heading straight for you, hiding tight~
Before long, the Red Woman had moved from the master bedroom to the kitchen, wandering the apartment with leisurely squelching steps. Eunha heard the fridge door open, a chair dragged out, someone checking under the table. Meticulous personality too.
If she'd hidden anywhere but the bathroom, she'd have been found in no time.
Hide and hide, but we will~
Forever and ever, come for you~
Just like the book said, she was checking everywhere except the bathroom. She paced the hallway now and then but never even glanced at it. Following the guidebook really kept her safe.
Paint it red~ paint it all~
Together now~
If she could just hold out for 10 more minutes... It was close, but she'd make it. Not as bad as she'd thought.
Eunha sighed in relief and tossed the salt pouch into the bathroom trash can with a lighter heart.
Once that thing left, she'd shovel down some rice first thing. Her mouth was so steeped in soy sauce she wouldn't need salt for a while.
It was then, as Eunha chuckled to herself and plopped down on the toilet—that it happened.
Paint it red~ bright red~
The you hiding in the bathroom~
Click.
With the eerie song, the bathroom door swung open.
"Found you~♪"
Through the slightly ajar door crack, the Red Woman's face appeared. The blood-drenched woman looked down at Eunha and smiled.
Creak... And so, the door opened.
"Pfft—!"
Eunha spat out the soy sauce in her mouth and lunged to slam the bathroom door shut. But the Red Woman had already spotted her and pounded on it, trying to wrench it open.
Even pressing the door handle lock did nothing; the click-click of the handle turning echoed like an auditory hallucination.
Eunha threw her full body weight against it, desperately blocking the door from opening.
"Hahaha."
The woman's hand squeezed through the door crack. Slender fingers dripping red blood. The falling droplets splattered on the bathroom tiles, heightening the terror.
Eunha tried to push the Red Woman back by crushing those intruding fingers in the door gap. But they didn't break—instead, they scratched at the wall with tap-tap sounds, forcing their way in, the noise scraping her eardrums as fast as her pounding heart.
The air grew chillingly cold, her breath visible with every exhale. Was this what arm-wrestling a ghost felt like? Her heart thundered like it might burst.
Fear, or maybe too much soy sauce spiking her blood pressure. Eunha wanted to believe it was the soy sauce.
"Cough! Hack...! Wait! Let's talk this out!!"
"Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha."
"Just once! I'll go get salt! We're strangers, right?!"
"Hahaha. Hahaha."
Rattle-rattle-rattle...
Eunha, having spat out the soy sauce, cried out desperately. If only she'd had salt. If only she'd remembered to buy it on the way home. The trivial regret piled up like a grudge.
But all that echoed back from beyond the bathroom door was the Red Woman's spine-chilling laughter.
The widening door crack gaped like a massive monster's maw. Unfortunately, Eunha was a weakling who'd failed the Hunter Promotion Exam 30 times due to lack of strength, never winning a single contest of power.
She knew gritting her teeth would just hurt her jaw... but to survive, she gave it everything.
Screeech... The door opened.
Now the Red Woman's elbow forced through the gap, her bloodied hand groping Eunha's face with wet squelches. A piercing chill emanated from the corpse-like, rigid palm.
Then her foot slipped in, her leg, half her body—and finally, the woman's face peeked through with a sinister smile, grinning down at Eunha. The rusty saw in the Red Woman's hand scraped the door handle with a scraaaape.
And so the door opened fully. Eunha pushed with all her might...
Creak.
Click.
And at last, the door shut.
"Hah...! Hah...!"
She'd barely closed it. Eunha's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor. When was the last time she'd pushed herself this hard?
Suppressing the nausea rising to her chin, she gasped for breath. A metallic tang rose from the blood droplets on the bathroom floor.
The piercing blood stench snapped her back to reality. Eunha rubbed her aching neck. Her Self-Regeneration skill rapidly restored her depleted stamina, but her fear-quickened breaths showed no sign of slowing.
She massaged her throbbing arms, sore from the effort.
"Hoo..."
A cold sigh. The heartbeat pounding in her ears.
Drip...
Drip...
Blood droplets hitting the floor—and in Eunha's lowered view... someone's foot.
Eunha looked up.
"...Haha~."
The Red Woman loomed over her, grinning creepily. Mocking her? Well, what good was closing the door after that thing had already entered the bathroom?
Eunha cursed her own lack of strength.
Click. The door locked.
....
The thing that had entered the bathroom—the Red Woman—gazed down at the pitiful human frozen like stone before her.
Her cold hand cupped Eunha's cheek. The bloodied lips stretched to her cheekbones, revealing honest emotion.
"Got you."
A plain voice. All the more grotesque for its normalcy.
Scraaaape!
In a final desperate swing, Eunha slashed at the Red Woman with a kitchen knife. The blade, swung with her feeble strength, aimed for the thing's neck.
But as if defying physics, the knife halted right before the woman's skin. No piercing sensation... not even rebound shock. Like the kinetic energy had vanished somewhere, the knife hung motionless in midair, never touching the Red Woman.
Eunha gripped it tighter, face full of injustice.
"...I'll go next door and borrow some salt."
"Can't go."
The woman's smile deepened. Eunha's face stiffened. Her eyes looking up at the blood-soaked Red Woman held only terror and fear.
Her muscles rigid as stone, Eunha could only blankly stare up at the monster before her.
Now she finally saw that thing's face properly, beyond the brief intercom glimpse.
"...."
A woman with everything red—hair redder and darker than sunset. Only her pupils were pitch black like darkness, like gazing at the night sky as evening ended.
Just as the sunset visible through the bathroom window sank below the horizon, pushed back by encroaching dark, a pitch-black night sky descended over Eunha's life confronting the Red Woman.
So red~ so red~ it's all dyed~
The Red Woman gently clasped Eunha's hand. She pried away the kitchen knife, then gripped both the knife and her bloodied rusty saw properly.
And slowly, very slowly, she pressed Eunha's shoulders down, laying her on the cold bathroom floor, straddled her, and then, very slowly... brought the rusty saw to Eunha's shoulder.
"I'll make you red~"
The woman's hand moved. Back and forth.
Saw... saw...
....
....
Eunha's apartment. Saetbyeol Apartment, Room 904.
The sound of meat being carved and someone's screams echoed through the languid afternoon. The bathroom door stayed shut until the mournful screams fully ceased.
"The call cannot be connected. After the beep, it will transfer to voicemail. Call charges will apply...... Beep... Trilling..."
Late evening, as the sunset began to fade. Eunbangul, fresh from a shower and stepping into the living room, stared at her disconnected smartphone with a puzzled expression. Her soaked white rabbit ears drooped limply, twitching feebly.
"Hmm...... What could it be?"
The rabbit girl twisted her hair, lost in thought.
Her happy phone call with Eunha had suddenly cut off. A first.
Did Eunha hit the wrong button? But even calling back got no answer—just the cold voicemail voice echoing emptily.
Eunha had seemed off today, her condition poor. Had she collapsed? From the shock of failing the Hunter Promotion Exam... Or maybe burglars had broken in?
Thump.
Thump.
Bad thoughts sprouted like weeds. Was her pounding heart from simple worry, or sweet feelings for Eunha? Maybe both.
Before long, her call log showed over 50 missed calls, and her message inbox overflowed with concern and emojis like trash.
But Eunha remained silent.
Was her phone off? No time to answer?
As the missed calls and unread messages piled up, so did Eunbangul's worry for Eunha.
Thump.
Thump.
Her breath grew tight. Eunbangul scratched at her neck with her nails.
She's not the type to ignore calls... Should I go to her place...?
Red nail marks etched into the girl's slender neck.
'...Still, what could happen? She has so many people watching over her.'
How long had she agonized? After calling Eunha repeatedly, Eunbangul took a deep breath and rose from the sofa.
She rubbed the red scratches on her neck with her bath towel and toddled to her bedroom, white rabbit ears perking up.
Eunha would be fine. Even if she was an F-rank weakling who couldn't run, she had a rare 'recovery-type' skill among hunters.
Rare meant valuable, and valuables attracted flies. If something happened to Eunha, those flies would handle it themselves.
Though Eunha herself knew nothing of it.
Thus reassuring herself forcibly, the rabbit girl swept her gaze around her bedroom with an ecstatic expression.
Her personal space, shared with Eunha in spirit. A space decorated thinking of Eunha. Pride and affection swelled.
Yeah. Nothing would happen to Eunha. Tomorrow, she'd greet Eunbangul with her usual smiling face.
Definitely.
Trusting and waiting was just another way to show affection.
"Haa~... No more space left on the bedroom walls for photos."
Thump.
Thump.
Her heart raced. Like a newborn rabbit, thump-thump.
The pounding in her chest came from bottled emotions and feelings for Eunha blending together.
With bloodied hands gently placed over her racing heart, casually wiping away the blood dripping from her wounded neck, the girl closed the bedroom door with a happy smile.
Click.
And for a long while, she didn't emerge from the bedroom.