You Shall Witness, The Vengeance of the Wicked Shall Be Shown to You
I will witness the villain's retribution for you, as you witness it for me.//LT__div style="text-align:centerpadding:30px 0margin:20px 0">
The oppressive silence slowly descended. The chaotic vibration stopped. A thick cloud of dust erupted with a sudden _bang!_, and visibility vanished. Yet it was precisely the moment when the haze began to lift gradually. Joon-hee lifted his trembling hand and shone his phone light ahead. The collapsed concrete and rebar lay strewn before him... and between the wreckage, Suyeon’s form was nowhere to be seen. The desperate pleas for death had also fallen silent. Ha... haah... haah... The breath he had held for so long finally tore its way free. His body still shook like a trembling pine tree. “Appa...” Then, from behind, Suyeon’s voice reached him. Thanks to his daughter’s voice, Joon-hee snapped back to his senses. “S-Suyeon... w-wait... Appa will come soon...” He kept glancing at the crushed ceiling and the pile of concrete where Suyeon lay, then turned his face toward the direction from which the voice had come once more. Deeper inside, there was one door. A metal door locked with a heavy padlock. A small window had been cut into it. Through that tiny pane he aimed his phone light. Inside, he saw Suyeon crying. “S-Suyeon!!” Had Suyeon seen him too? Sniffling, she kept calling for her father. “W-wait! Appa will open it!” He scanned the surroundings. He seized the locked padlock and shook it violently, but it would not budge. What was he to do? Just then, he spotted something rusty and pipe-like bolted to the wall beside the door. Joon-hee grabbed it and pulled with all his strength. _Kiiik... kiiik..._ A disgusting grinding noise filled the air, then _clank!_ The pipe tore free with a metallic shriek. “Ugh!” Joon-hee was knocked backward by the recoil, yet he had managed to snatch a surprisingly solid length of rusted pipe. He raised it, peered through the window again, and said, “Suyeon! Just a little longer! Appa will open the door!” He spoke to his daughter in a forced tone of reassurance, then brought the pipe down with all his might. _Thud! Thud!_ The sounds rang out. The lock was not so easily broken. It did not shatter easily, and the impact traveled straight through his palms. A sharp pain bloomed, but he bit his lower lip hard and swung again. _Thud! Thud!_ Cracks began to spiderweb across the lock. Fortunately, the metal was also badly rusted, so its durability was not high. “Ugh...!” He gathered every ounce of strength and brought the pipe down once more. _Bang!_ With a deafening crash the lock shattered, finally freeing the door. He gripped the handle and pushed with all his might. The thick door groaned and opened. In that instant an indescribable stench exploded out. It was a stench no words could describe—sour, rancid, the odor of something long decaying. It was so overwhelmingly foul that he had to cover his mouth with his hand, yet his body moved on instinct toward Suyeon. “Appa...” Her body had no strength left. Slumped and desperately searching for her father, she collapsed into his arms. And the tears came again. “It’s... it’s me... Appa is here! I’m sorry, Suyeon... I’m truly sorry! I should have come sooner...” “Appa...” Suyeon kept sniffling, calling for her father over and over. Her small hands clutched his clothes tightly. “Let’s go... Let’s... go home...” “But Mom...” Then Suyeon suddenly pointed sideways. Joon-hee looked in the same direction and let out a soft gasp. His eyes widened in shock. “S-Suyeon?” He called his wife’s name cautiously, his voice thick with complicated emotions. There was no reply. Suyeon was here. Her body hung limp, as if lost in deep sleep. More than that, it was not even human. Most of her clothes had been torn away, exposing her skin, and wounds covered every inch. And so her blood had soaked the fabric until it was a deep, unnatural red. For a moment he hesitated, unsure where to touch. Joon-hee gazed at his wife’s sleeping face, then gently placed his hand on her cheek. Ah! It was shockingly cold. And she was not breathing. “Ah... no... please...” Joon-hee placed his hands on his wife’s chest and began CPR, pouring all his desperation into the effort. He had been reasonably skilled from repeated training, but Suyeon remained unresponsive. Tears kept blurring his vision. “Please just wake up... Please! Please wake up!” He begged and begged until his face was slick with sweat and tears, but no reaction came. Maybe Suyeon had already crossed the river he could never return from. “Haah... haah... please...” Panting, he pressed harder on her chest, but it was useless. Sweat trickled down his forehead in rivers. At last Joon-hee had to stop the CPR. _Kurrung..._ Once more a deep vibration erupted from somewhere. The floor trembled violently, and cracks spiderwebbed across the walls and ceiling as if they might collapse at any moment. Aah! He could not waste time like this any longer. Joon-hee bit his lower lip the way he always did and looked again at his wife’s sleeping face. “I’m sorry. I was too late... I’m truly sorry.” He carefully pressed his lips to her forehead, pulled Suyeon tightly against his chest, and stood up in a rush. “Mom isn’t coming with us?” “Mom? Th-that... Mom will come later. Appa will bring her back.” “I don’t want to... I want to go with Mom... Appa! Wake Mom... Let’s go back together...” Suyeon whimpered weakly. Seeing his daughter like that, Joon-hee struggled to hold back the tears that kept spilling and answered calmly. “It’s all right... don’t worry so much. Mom seems to be sleeping for a little while... If Suyeon goes outside first, Appa will wake Mom and bring her. So, let’s go out first. You don’t want to stay here forever, do you?” He tried his best to soothe his daughter, letting the gentleness he had never shown before seep into his voice. Even though Suyeon pouted, the father’s desperate kindness must have reached her. She gave a tiny, helpless nod. Maybe she had no strength left to complain anymore. “Thank you, Suyeon. Come on! Let’s go with Appa.” Joon-hee spoke those words, then glanced back at his wife. Leaving her here tore at his heart like claws raking his chest. But for Suyeon’s sake, he could not waste another moment. With a heavy heart he turned away. He had to run. At the very least, he had to save his daughter... He wandered through the maze-like corridors once more. Just then... “Husband...” A sudden voice made his whole body jolt. Joon-hee’s form seemed to freeze solid. With a trembling body he turned carefully. Ah... there stood Suyeon—now a broken, mangled creature. No, it was not Suyeon anymore. It was the monster wearing her face. “Husband... die for me... Die for us...” It demanded the most absurd request imaginable. And it began to charge toward him on all fours like a beast. “Hah!” Joon-hee swallowed hard and sprinted with everything he had./////
After fleeing for a long time, Joon-hee finally tripped on something in the darkness. “Aah!” He fell with a thud. Startled, he looked at Suyeon and asked if she was all right. Fortunately his daughter managed a weak nod. Only then did he feel relief. Perhaps the hug had helped his daughter feel better. With a sigh of relief he stood again. “Husband... take me with you.” The voice of Suyeon rang out once more, sending chills down his spine. Joon-hee stood up without looking back and ran again. How long was this boiler room? The end was nowhere in sight. He had passed through countless branches, yet the corridor never seemed to end. It was strange. Too strange. Who had built such endless underground paths? The same place kept repeating. Soon his lungs burned with pain. He could not catch his breath. His entire body was drenched in sweat, and his panic reached its peak. He spun in place, hesitated at the two identical forks, then chose one and ran. “Suyeon! J-just hold on a little longer! If you just hold on, we can get outside!” He kept his daughter in his arms, soothing her as best he could, and ran with all his strength. In truth, Suyeon did not look well at all. Having been trapped here for so long, had she even eaten properly? Her body was too thin, her strength gone. Her breathing sounded dangerously fragile, like a candle flame about to flicker out with the slightest shock. Joon-hee grew even more frantic. For his daughter’s sake, for his own sake, he had to get out of here... “Husband... please die...” Behind him, the voice of Suyeon kept calling. He ignored it and kept running. He nearly tripped on something several times and actually fell once, but he forced himself up and continued. And at last he reached the end of this endless underground passage. “Ah...” But was it the wrong way? It was blocked. By a wall. There was no way forward.