Mysterious Events in the Modern Era
Modern Seoul had become a place of strange and mysterious occurrences. Perhaps the villagers had performed human sacrifice, or it might have been the work of some cult, or even the yakuza and thugs committing a horrific crime. The rumors flew back and forth endlessly. It had grown so large that foreign news outlets were starting to pay attention, turning the strange events of modern times into quite the famous mystery. Thanks to that, the police seemed to be in a real bind. They didn’t know how to answer questions about a situation they themselves couldn’t understand. It might even be that they were simply pushing Hwan harder. Unfortunately, though, Hwan knew almost nothing. He only knew that his family had been offered as sacrifice, and that, according to the media, they had almost been made that way. Since then, the idea that it was the work of a cult religion had become the strongest opinion. Especially since there had already been several mass suicide cases by cult groups in the past, they were using those stories to say this was similar. Hwan himself might even think that. At least if not for that strange woman named Miho, or perhaps a yokai, the expression might have fit. If he hadn’t met her, and hadn’t returned from death, he might have simply thought he was a victim of some cult sacrifice ritual. That said, he still couldn’t find Miho’s whereabouts. On the other hand, the police had another question: where had the cut-off faces gone? They still hadn’t found where all those faces had gone, even a month later. Right now the police were still struggling to find the cut-off faces. They were searching the entire area around the church where the corpses were piled, but they hadn’t found even one face. Hwan didn’t know that either. He had secretly entered the church then and had been the first to confirm there was no neck. Unfortunately, this mystery remained the biggest one. A few more days passed. Hwan had a thought. It was a dream. He couldn’t tell the police that either. In the dream he had seen a strange creature. He didn’t know if it really existed. It looked like a huge beast. He couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but he remembered clearly that it had eaten his father’s face. Maybe… maybe it had eaten the faces of his father and the villagers. He tried to turn his head away and deny it, but he still had no certainty. If only Miho knew… He thought that, but it had been more than a month since he had met her. He didn’t know where she was. Had he really met her? Were all the things he had experienced real? Had he really gone mad? And so time flowed endlessly. Hwan had mostly been in the hospital. There he received psychiatric treatment again and again. Then he talked with detectives who came to visit. After going back to the village and re-enacting the situation, the police had stopped searching for him so often. Maybe they thought there was nothing more to get out of his repeated same answers. Hwan had no more words to give either. And so time flowed again. He still couldn’t go back to school. Even if he could, he doubted he could act normally there anymore. The fact that he was the only survivor had already spread to everyone. Strange stories were still flying around. Many still suspected him. Then he learned of two more mysterious disappearances. Lee Heeyeon, his mother. No corpse of his mother had been found anywhere. Whether that was something to be happy about was another question. In the end, the other one was Yoon-ssi, the old man. They still hadn’t found the old man’s whereabouts. The police seemed to be looking for them as the most likely candidates to solve this case, treating his mother and the old man as suspects. But so far they had found no trace. It was as if their whereabouts had vanished into the sky. So maybe…? Hadn’t the old man Yoon and his mother committed a cult ritual? Rumors even spread that the two of them were the culprits. Hwan thought it was nonsense. At least his mother had been a victim. We were just victims. And time flowed again. His mother and the old man were still missing. No one came looking for him anymore. And he didn’t know how long he had to stay in this hospital room. Before he knew it, a full year had passed since that day. Hwan could finally calm his heart a little. He no longer needed psychiatric treatment. He could talk well with others, and less often woke up in the middle of the night or let his mind slip because of the old trauma. He was recovering little by little. A few days later he heard from the police that he could be discharged. Then he contacted his relatives and they said they would come pick him up. At that moment Hwan felt uneasy. Did I have any relatives? He thought. His grandfather and grandmother had already passed away long ago. On his father’s side and his mother’s side, the same. Since then he had hardly had any contact with other relatives. It wasn’t that there were none, but asking if they were close? No, he couldn’t say that. It was because of money. After his grandfather and grandmother died, his brothers had fought violently, they said. Of course his father had said they didn’t need them because he was going to be the shaman anyway, but the remaining two brothers had fought so fiercely that their father had lost all interest. His mother had been an only child to begin with. Relatives, yes, but distant ones, and Hwan had never met any of them. Hwan tried to feel awkward. But… thinking about it, how could he live alone when he wasn’t even an adult yet? He thought. At least someone’s help was needed, maybe the police had searched for relatives to take responsibility for him. Hwan didn’t want to be a burden. But there was nowhere else to go. He couldn’t go back to that village either… He sighed and went through the discharge procedures. There was nothing to pack. After all, he hadn’t brought anything. The only thing was the few clothes he had received for free from the hospital. He had been almost torn to shreds before entering, and the clothes the police had given him, and the ones he had received here, were mostly second-hand, but still. Hwan finally finished the discharge procedures and came out to the outside. Suddenly he felt like everyone’s eyes were fixed on him. As if everyone thought he was the survivor or the murderer of that place. Under that heavy gaze, his chest suddenly tightened. He wanted to run away from here as fast as possible. He left the hospital like he was running. There was a parking lot in front of the hospital, and in front of it was a car waiting for him. Maybe a relative had come to pick him up. Hwan thought so and approached the car with some tension. As soon as the car door opened, an “ah!” exclamation burst out. And he felt his heart beat faster than ever. Because there was a familiar woman there. And she was not a relative. “Hehe… Big Mother.” //////// “I didn’t know there was a car…” “I borrowed it.” Miho said casually. Hwan nodded silently and asked again. “Do you have a driver’s license?” Then this time she gave a sly smile. And then, glancing at Hwan, asked, “Would you think that’s the case?” The answer was perfectly nonchalant. If an ordinary person had said that, Hwan might have been flustered and tried to get out of the car somehow. But now he didn’t. No, he didn’t have the energy to do so. It wasn’t a dream. She existed in front of him. The woman in front of him was real. Hwan silently nodded and looked out the window. The scenery of the city rushed past quickly. People were just living their ordinary days like always. It was the usual view. But to Hwan it felt a little different. As if all their eyes were looking at him. He felt like they were whispering about him. With an uncomfortable expression he frowned. And he lay deeper in the chair, escaping the window. He asked Miho again. “Where are we going?” She paused for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and said, “Home…” At the word “home,” his body trembled. Even though a year had passed, the trauma from that day still remained… The fear suddenly raised its head.