The Three Sacrifices?
The old man’s eyes widened in terror. “Th-three sacrifices? What the hell were the three sacrifices?”
“A grown man, a woman, and a child who ain’t reached adulthood yet. Once every five years, if we offered them up, that… that thing promised it would keep on protecting us… and make sure we never went hungry again. That’s all it was!”
“You tried to turn us into sacrifices for that? Innocent people who never did anything wrong…”
Yoon-ssi broke down in tears. “We had no choice! There weren’t any more young men or women left in the village to offer… no more children either. So we had no option but to start dragging outsiders in! We… we had to survive too. If we broke the contract… the whole village would be destroyed. We didn’t have a choice, damn it!”
“In the end, it was all because of your greed. That disgusting lust for survival. That’s why you kept doing those horrible things… all this time?”
Aaah… Rage surged up to the top of his skull. Because of people like this, because of these greedy old bastards, his entire family had died meaningless deaths.
“You… you’re the one who ruined everything.”
The old man lifted his head again. Just like back then, he glared at Hwan with a towering resentment. His eyes had gone bloodshot. They burned a horrifying crimson, radiating pure, venomous hatred. The sickle gripped tight in his trembling hands shook pitifully.
“You ruined it all. Because of you…”
“No! We didn’t do anything wrong! We were nothing but victims! Everything that happened was the karmic debt created by your greed! It was your sin!”
“Shut up… Shut your damn mouth! Because of you… because you ran away that day… that being’s curse fell on all of us! So everyone except me… Aaaah! Everyone but me died! It’s your fault! All because of you!! They’re all dead! And now you show up here again?! Aaaaaaaaagh!!”
Suddenly Yoon-ssi lunged forward. He raised the sickle high and swung it at Hwan, exactly the same way he had that day. But Hwan was no longer the same person. He wasn’t weak enough to be taken down by a wild, desperate slash.
Whoosh! Swish! The weakened old man’s swings were nothing but pathetic. Hwan twisted his body with ease, dodging every strike, then hooked his foot around Yoon-ssi’s ankle.
“Aaaack!”
The old man tripped and pitched forward, slamming face-first into the ground. He screamed, then lay there groaning in pain, whimpering like a wounded animal.
Looking down at the pathetic, broken old man, Hwan felt hot tears spill from his own eyes. It was too unfair. Too infuriating.
“Why are you blaming me?! What did I ever do wrong?! If it weren’t for all of you… No, if we had never moved to that village in the first place… we could have lived normally… just happily… We would still be living happily right now. All because of you…”
“Shut your mouth! Shut up!! It’s your fault! All your fault!! The whole village is dead because of you!”
The old man scrambled to his feet and swung the sickle again. The blade traced several chilling arcs through the air, but none of them posed even the slightest threat to Hwan. On top of that, Yoon-ssi was far thinner and frailer than he had been back then. He clearly hadn’t eaten properly in years. He must have wandered the trackless mountains, surviving on arrowroot, wild greens, or the occasional rotting animal carcass when he was lucky. There was no way he could muster any real strength.
Hwan tripped him again.
“Oof!”
The old man groaned and collapsed once more. This time he couldn’t get up easily. He lay there wheezing, letting out long, labored breaths. His lungs must have been ruined. Every inhale came with a wet, metallic rasp.
“All because… all because of someone like you… because of people like you…”
It was unbearable. The fact that he had ended up like this because of such a weak, pathetic old man filled him with rage. The injustice of losing everything made him feel like he was going insane.
Yoon-ssi struggled back to his feet, panting heavily. He gripped the sickle again with shaking hands and pointed it at Hwan. Even now, his eyes burned with nothing but resentment. There wasn’t the slightest trace of remorse or regret. If he regretted anything, it was only that he had let Hwan slip away that day.
“Because of you… we all died!”
Yes. In a way, it was a relief.
Hwan was genuinely glad the old man hadn’t changed at all, that he still blamed him completely. He had been afraid the old bastard might beg for forgiveness, that he might show genuine remorse and apologize from the heart. It was fortunate he hadn’t.
Yoon-ssi flinched.
At some point, a long sword had appeared in Hwan’s hand. And the blade gave off an incredibly eerie aura. At first glance it looked like the sword itself was bright red, but that wasn’t it. It was completely drenched in blood. Thick drops fell from the tip with soft, wet plops.
Suddenly the old man began to cackle.
“What? You gonna stab me with that? Go on then! Do it!!”
He laughed mockingly and strode forward without fear. Hwan gripped the sword tighter and took a slow, deep breath. Even so, he couldn’t hide the faint tremor in the hand holding the blade.
“I really do think it’s fortunate. That you haven’t changed at all… Yes… It’s better this way. At least now I don’t have to feel any regret either…”
“What the hell are you talking about…”
“Instead, tell me everything you know. What exactly is the true identity of the thing you worshipped? And… where is it? Where did it take my mother?”
“Heh heh… Even if I told you, what could a worthless piece of shit like you actually do?”
“Talk. If you tell me the truth, I’ll kill you without pain.”
Yoon-ssi let out a shrill, wheezing laugh. After laughing for a long time, he gripped the sickle even tighter.
“You really want to know that badly? It might be better for you if you stayed ignorant… But fine! If you want to know so much, I’ll tell you. You asked about your mother’s whereabouts, right? Heh heh… I wonder what she’s doing right about now… That being, you see, is incredibly greedy. And it’s also very serious about continuing its bloodline…”
“What are you saying?”
“All this time… it has been offered countless women. But not a single one managed to bear a child that satisfied it. Aaah… I wonder if it will finally get what it wants this time… Heh heh… Honestly, it might have been better if your mother had her throat torn out on the spot like your father and became nothing but a meal. Right now, your mother is probably living a life where death would be a mercy.”
“Wh-what the hell are you talking about…”
Hwan’s wide eyes began to tremble violently. Aaah! It felt like all the blood in his body was rushing to his head. In front of him, the old man kept cackling and mocking him. Before long he was even shedding tears of blood, letting out a laugh so horrifying and skin-crawling that it defied description. The shock and horror on Hwan’s face drained it of all color.
Aaah! He could no longer contain his fury.
“What the hell does that mean!!”
“You idiot… It means your mother has become a vessel meant to carry that being’s child! Of course… she might have already failed to endure it and died by now. Well… whatever. Aaah… How regrettable. Truly regrettable… If only we had offered you up in time, we could still be living happily in that village! You damn bastard… Even if I chewed you up and swallowed you it wouldn’t be enough! Because of you… In the end, you’re the one who ruined everything! You! So I’m going to kill you! Even now, I’ll kill you and at least console the souls of the villagers! Aaaaaaaaagh!”
Yoon-ssi screamed again, raising the sickle high. The razor-sharp blade whistled through the air as he charged.
And then… shunk.
The sickle buried itself deep into Hwan’s throat in a single thrust.
“Die!! Die!! Die!!!”
Yoon-ssi shrieked in madness. He cackled wildly, screaming for Hwan to die over and over.
But… for some reason, Hwan did not fall.
Cold, sunken eyes met the old man’s. In that instant, Yoon-ssi froze in shock.
“Wh-what… Why… Why aren’t you dying…”
It was then that a woman appeared behind Yoon-ssi. She was a breathtakingly beautiful woman he had never seen before. In that brief moment, her beauty was so overwhelming it seemed to reach the edge of heaven itself, enough to entrance anyone who looked upon her. Yet something about her sent a strange chill down the spine.
Moreover, how was this boy still standing with a sickle blade lodged in his throat?
Everything felt like nothing more than a hallucination. He was just starting to think that when—
Hwan suddenly grabbed the blade of the sickle with his bare hand. Yoon-ssi immediately realized the weapon wouldn’t budge an inch.
And then Hwan asked,
“Where is it?”
“Wh-what?”
“I said where is it! Where is my mother? Tell me everything you know!”
Yoon-ssi shook his head frantically.
“I-I don’t know… That being only came down to the village when the time was right… I have no idea where it stays! And even if you went looking, what could you possibly do? That being… is no different from a god. It is the master of this land. A mere human can’t do anything to it!”
“A god?”
“Yes! A god! And your mother has become the one who will give birth to the god’s child…”