Bride
From behind came the intensifying grunts of the pig-like beast as it thrust its member deeper. With each savage plunge, the hard, burning shaft burrowed further inside her, ravaging her insides with brutal force. It felt as though her womb was being stirred violently. Ah! Ahhh! The torment was unbearable. Yet even in the midst of that agony, a strange, insidious pleasure began to rise. And every time it did, she hated herself for it. It disgusted her. Her body felt crushed under the weight of something monstrous. There was no tenderness, no affection—only a creature violating her, an act meant solely to implant its filthy seed for its own sick gratification.
Heejin squeezed her eyes shut. Tears spilled over uncontrollably. Please… someone, please… help me… she whispered in her mind. But the only response was a guttural squeal from the monster, as if it were tearing her throat out. Kkweeeek! Ah! Its filthy organ swelled even larger inside her. And then—
"Huk…"
Ironically, Heejin reached her climax as well. In the explosion of unwanted ecstasy, she felt every vile detail—the way the thick, repulsive semen flooded her womb once again. Her body went limp. It was filthy. Disgusting. But what sickened her most was the fact that she had come at the same time. Heejin wept endlessly, tears streaming without end.
Yongha was sweeping the yard. He had no idea how much time had passed since that nightmare unfolded. When he paused and stared blankly at the village, it seemed even more houses stood empty now. People had already been leaving the countryside for the cities in droves. After everything that had happened here, it was perfectly understandable that the rest would flee as well.
Yongha let out a heavy sigh and kept sweeping. Traces of the past still clung to every corner of the yard; there was simply too much to clean. He sprinkled water across the ground, then scrubbed fiercely with a rag. No matter how hard he tried to erase the faint, fishy bloodstains, they refused to disappear completely. Suddenly, the tears burst forth. Try as he might to hold them back, he couldn’t. The frustration was suffocating. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve, sighed deeply, and resumed scrubbing the floor with desperate vigor. Afterward, he moved on to clean the outside of the house.
Through the living room window, he caught sight of his wife. She looked completely detached from reality. Her hair had turned completely white at some point, and she simply stared vacantly at the dark, unpowered television screen. She was no longer in her right mind. Then again, how many people could endure this nightmare and remain sane?
He was about to wipe the bloodstained window with the rag when he glanced through the curtains again. This time, he saw his daughter standing motionless behind his wife. An icy chill shot down Yongha’s spine. Her body was so painfully thin, completely naked, with only her belly grotesquely swollen. She looked like a starving demon consumed by insatiable hunger.
Yongha dropped the rag and hose and rushed inside. Breathing hard, he burst into the living room—but his daughter was nowhere to be seen. His wife remained in her catatonic state, paying no attention to his frantic entrance. Yongha swallowed dryly, his face deathly pale. Cold sweat continued to pour down his forehead. He wiped his face with his hand and tried to convince himself he had imagined it, letting out a shaky breath of relief.
That was when it happened.
Creeeeak…
The door to his daughter’s room swung open by itself. Yongha’s heart plummeted. Through the slowly widening gap, an eerie dread crept forward like invisible fingers tightening around his throat.
"Daddy…"
The voice that followed was his daughter’s, yet utterly different from before. It was calm. Peaceful. It sounded exactly like the voice she used to have, before everything went wrong. That gentle tone sent tiny ripples through the terror that had consumed Yongha’s heart, stirring the long-forgotten paternal love buried deep inside.
"Daddy…"
The voice called again. What father could ignore a daughter calling for him so desperately? There was a fleeting doubt—was this truly her voice?—but Yongha could not turn away from it.
"Yeah… H-Heejin… Daddy’s coming…"
His voice trembled as he spoke. Swallowing nervously, he forced his heavy, reluctant feet forward. The living room floor seemed to cling to his pant legs, making each step a struggle. Cold sweat poured from him like rain, soaking his shirt completely. His heart pounded so violently he thought it might explode. Throughout it all, his wife Sunja showed no reaction whatsoever. She continued staring blankly at the black television screen, as if her soul had already fled her body.
Could she not hear their daughter’s voice? Or was she deliberately choosing not to? He couldn’t tell.
Finally, Yongha reached the doorway of Heejin’s room. A foul stench hit him like a wall. He couldn’t quite place it—perhaps the smell of a sewer, or something rotting. Whatever it was, the odor was so revolting it made his stomach churn. He had to cover his mouth and nose with one hand.
"Daddy…"
The voice came again, clearer this time. Yongha exhaled deeply and gripped the doorknob. Thump. Thump. Thump. He had never felt his heart race this fast before. It felt like it might burst at any moment. The wave of fear was so overwhelming he could barely breathe.
Huu… Huu…
He took several deep breaths and slowly applied pressure to the knob. The stench grew even stronger. Now he could see the talismans plastered all over the walls—each one charred and ruined, as if burned by fire. Stepping inside, he saw Heejin’s old desk. The one she had used until she left for university. For a moment, he could almost see her small figure hunched over it, studying diligently. The memory brought fresh tears to his eyes. He fought them back desperately.
Taking another steadying breath, his gaze shifted to the bed beside the desk. There lay his daughter. She looked unbearably frail and gaunt, nothing but skin and bones. The sight filled him with such pity he could hardly bear it. In that instant, Yongha felt resentment toward everything that had led to this moment. Why did this have to happen to his daughter? Why her, of all people? She had always been such a good, kind child. Why had heaven allowed such horror to befall her? The tears he had been holding back finally broke free.
He couldn’t hide them. Wiping his eyes with his sleeve, Yongha approached the bed where his daughter lay as if in peaceful slumber.
"Heejin… It’s Daddy…"
His late-born child, the one he cherished more than life itself. He gazed at her with trembling affection. With a shaking hand, he gently brushed aside her disheveled hair. So much of it had fallen out. What remained was so thin that it snapped easily with the slightest pressure. How pitiful. How unbearably pitiful. He wished he could take all her pain onto himself. He would rather suffer in her place.
"H-Heejin…"
He took her hand and wept bitterly. For a long time, he remained like that, sobbing without restraint.
Then—
"Daddy…"
Heejin spoke in a thin, raspy voice.
"Do you… still regret it?"
"What?"
"Regret giving birth to me. Do you?"
"W-what are you saying? Never… Daddy has never once regretted it."
"Liar…"
That was when Heejin suddenly began to laugh. A laugh so chilling it froze the blood in his veins.
"If only you hadn’t had me… If only I had never been born…"
"W-what are you—"
"Ahh… If I hadn’t been born, you could have divorced that worthless bitch. Why the hell did that damn woman get pregnant so late in life?"
"H-Heejin?"
His daughter continued speaking with a eerie smile, spouting words that made no sense. Yongha’s face drained of all color, as if his soul were being sucked out. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, completely at a loss for words.
She kept going.
"Jeong Madam… Oh, right! I know, I know! That crazy bitch got knocked up out of nowhere! And at her age, no less! Useless fucking whore. I don’t even know! It might be some other man’s kid… Of course! We should get a test first… Ahh! I know. What? What if it is mine? Well… fuck… then I guess… we should just… get rid of it?"
Yongha’s expression grew even paler. His hand slipped from his daughter’s grasp.
"Get rid of it! Get rid of it! Get rid of it!"
His daughter’s voice grew increasingly monstrous, twisting into something no longer human. But what horrified him most was how familiar every single word sounded. It was as if he were hearing his own past sins replayed in the most grotesque way possible. A shiver ran down his spine.