Hunting Dogs
The fact that, even as an adult, I had to perform actions worse than a child's was tormenting me beyond words. Being an adult, yet having urine soak my arm and being dragged along like that was the most pitiful thing imaginable.
"... Unni is really... what is there to be afraid of."
"N, not everyone is like you, though."
Her words sharpened because I had peed. Feeling a bit awkward after saying it, I quickly checked her mood, but luckily, she didn't seem displeased.
"... Unni looking at my eyes... how cute."
"Eh...?"
"Nope, Unni. It's late. Let's go quickly."
She had a strangely excited air, muttering something inaudible to me, and then hurried away, accelerating her steps.
One, two, three... twenty.
Exactly when we passed thirty candles, a massive iron door appeared. It looked incredibly sturdy, as if to prevent unauthorized entry from both outside and inside. On the door, there were two women kissing, and the pose was extremely bizarre.
One woman was kneeling, hands clasped in prayer, and the other was grabbing her chin and forcibly kissing her. It wasn't romantic at all.
But it didn't lack affection either. From the dominant woman, the love for the other was starkly evident. I don't know who drew it, but the expression was quite good.
The woman kneeling submissively had a veil over her head, so her face wasn't visible, but she looked just like me. Her build, figure, and aura all matched mine. And decisively, the dominant woman had her face exposed, looking exactly like Kim Heejin.
She smiled satisfiedly, as if the picture pleased her, and asked me.
"How is it, Unni. Is this your first impression?"
I was, and this body had never been here before. Of course, we came to pray every week, so I thought we were coming for prayer again, but still, it was a bit surprising. But since the time we had rolled around didn't go to waste, I could answer naturally without showing my surprise.
"J-just scary..."
"You'll like what's inside."
It didn't seem like I'd like it inside, but because I didn't like it, she didn't stop her steps. She pressed her palm against the door, and the door vibrated once, then slowly opened like a front door.
The first sight inside the opened door was different from my expectation.
It was even more horrific.
***
The inside of the church had only one wide path made between iron bars, and instinctively looking inside, I witnessed a horrifying scene that would haunt me for life.
"Guuuk!"
A line of burly adult men and women were crammed into full-body game capsule devices. Though I called them game devices by analogy, it was clear they weren't playing games. With current technology, how could they make such game capsules? No, they could make them, but there was no game that could be played like that.
As I hugged her tightly in the unfamiliar fear I was experiencing for the first time, she gently stroked my head and began explaining the people behind the bars.
"There are many creatures in the church. These are the Hunting Dogs. If something special doesn't happen, they won't come out of these VR devices until they die. Well, don't worry too much. They consented, and their families consented too."
"Ah... uwaa..."
No. Even if they consented, this wasn't it. This was beyond inhuman; it was just evil itself. And she couldn't have obtained consent normally. This wasn't something humans do.
"Do you know what the Hunting Dogs are doing, what they see all day long?"
I couldn't listen to her anymore. I didn't want to see anything. This place filled with human malice was suffocatingly horrific. I prepared to receive punishment and covered my ears with my hands, but with unstable wrists, I couldn't even listen to her words.
Her explanation continued.
"They watch Unni's videos all day long. So they live imprisoned in these devices for their whole lives. Selected humans with the greatest privilege and merit of seeing Unni's appearance, but enduring this much discomfort is only natural."
"Hah... ha... ha... guk..."
I couldn't breathe. Her words felt like they were turning into malice and choking my throat. I didn't understand what she was saying. I didn't want to understand. My stomach was churning.
"Actually, I didn't want to show Unni this shocking sight..."
The fact that she was staring at me with a brutal gaze even with my eyes closed was felt through my skin. Goosebumps rose all over my body. My body hair stood on end.
She lifted me a bit higher. The stinging pain from the hand covering my ears made my hand fall from my ear. In that moment, her lips came in and whispered by my ear.
"... Lately, it seems Unni doesn't understand her own situation well, so I decided to give Unni a shock. These Hunting Dogs are the result made for when Unni escapes. After five years of steady education, only Unni exists in the minds of these Hunting Dogs. If Unni escapes, no matter where, these Hunting Dogs will find Unni. And Unni will be held in my arms again."
"Uwa... ueek..."
Unable to calm my churning stomach, I vomited in her arms. Her words, wrapping brainwashing as education, were so disgusting that I couldn't hold back the nausea.
"Upon arriving home, before receiving punishment, you should eat a hearty meal first, Unni. The fact that only stomach acid comes out is really painful for my chest..."
"Uwa... ueek..."
I continued to shake my body like a worm in her arms to protect myself from the coming malice. Although the clothes wrapped tightly around me were thick, there was no cold, but a chill ran through my body. Like a patient with initial hypothermia, my jaw trembled tightly, and the body's tremors didn't stop.
"Still, I hope you don't fear me too much, Unni. That's because I love Unni so much, right?"
"........."
"... Unni. I'm asking."
"Hua... hueeong..."
I knew. When she asked about love, I had to answer clearly, but now, at this moment, I couldn't give her a clear answer about love.
The kind of first experience. Because of the fear felt in a space filled with human malice, I couldn't give her confidence in love due to her disgusting behavior and attitude of wrapping all these horrific acts in the word 'love' and seeking empathy and understanding.
"Today's prayer ends here."
Without imagining what the result would bring.
***
Her footsteps were swift and unhesitating. Now that I could finally escape this damned space, I could feel a momentary relief.
"... Just go home."
Her attitude of coldly looking down at me and threatening made me burst into tears again.
"Hua... l-love. I l-love you..."
"You're late, Unni. That word should have come out inside the church."
"Hua... hueeong..."
Why was I so aggrieved? The crying didn't stop.
If I was going to say I love you like this, why not confess it to her right there? Why did I have such useless stubbornness and make it this big? It was my fault. It was all my fault.
I had no memory of the way home. I just cried mindlessly. I cried so hard that I was choking, to the point where it might be okay to die from suffocation.
"Unni, stop."
"Hua, hueeong..."
"I don't want you to show your crying to other people, so stop."
"Hua, hueheong..."
Once the crying started, it couldn't be stopped no matter how much I wanted to.
For various reasons like my own patheticness, the fact that she was heated up and scary, the suffocation of what was to come, and crying pitifully so she might soften a bit, the crying didn't stop.
"Haa..."
I felt that her anger gauge was accumulating in progress. The fact that it was scary made me cry even more.
In the end, unable to find a compromise, she pulled me to sit, changed her quick steps to a run, and then kicked open the front door and grabbed me, roughly placing me on the bed. And commanded me.
"Take off all your clothes, Unni."
"Hua... I d-don't want... hueeong... don't want..."
It was the outfit I had wanted to take off so much, but now I didn't want to take it off. I hated pain more than heat. I wailed pathetically at her words to take off clothes.
Tears fell from behind the sunglasses and the mask was already completely soaked, almost having holes.
She looked at me with an incredulous expression and crossed her arms.
"Haa... yes. Let's see how long Unni can cry. When I punish you, you'll cry and receive punishment."
And she took out a chair and sat in front of me.