Daughter's Phone Call
**CHAPTER TITLE: The Daughter's Phone Call**
pHer daughter's phone call ////// -The Daughter's Phone Call- "Why are you doing that?" Gwijamoshin had left. Still, Hwan stood there blankly. The light that had accompanied Gwijamoshin as she descended also vanished. Once more, only the empty house stood lonely amid the pitch-black darkness. Hwan had no idea how much time had passed. It might have been a mere instant. Miho tilted her head as she approached him. Hwan startled and looked at her. Her expression had grown even more ambiguous. Had she not seen Gwijamoshin? He glanced back at the spot where she had been. It was empty. She had probably returned to the celestial realm or the side of those pitiful children... Snowflakes continued to drift down across the sky now stained black. Hwan shook his head. Then he said, "A moment ago, Gwijamoshin came to me." Miho frowned and looked around. "When?" She had clearly not noticed anything at all. Moreover, it seemed Gwijamoshin had truly arrived only for an instant. Perhaps time had momentarily stopped. Hwan entertained the thought. Hwan pulled out his phone from his pocket. Surprisingly, barely more than a minute had passed. His suspicions had been correct. "She... came and told me she was grateful to me." "Oh? You still appreciate it, huh? But? Is that all? What? No reward?" Just like a fox, she demanded payment. Hwan hesitated for a moment, frowning. Recalling what Gwijamoshin had said, he unconsciously clenched his fist. His heart began to beat thunderously. Mother is alive. Yes, Gwijamoshin had clearly told him that his mother was alive. Unfortunately, he could not yet know where she was, but simply knowing she lived gave him some relief. But... on the other hand, a different worry surfaced. If Mother has been alive until now... what kind of humiliation has she endured? What kind of despair and pain? The old words of Yoon-ssi from long ago flashed through his mind. "To her, a vessel was needed along with the sacrificial offering that appeased her hunger. She had gone looking for a vessel to give birth to her child!" The memory remained like a sharp blade, pricking his chest. Hwan's body shook violently. Pain tore through his chest as if being flayed. "Mom..." Where exactly is she? Where must I go to save her? He could not even imagine the suffering she must be facing now. He did not want to think about it. The more he thought, the greater the agony grew... Perhaps he should have wished for death instead. But Hwan hurriedly shook his head. He did not want to entertain such thoughts. "Rolling around in a field of manure is better than the afterlife," so the saying went. Somehow, he would get her back. Somehow. He would get his lost mother back. Unfortunately, their lives could never return to the way they were. Yet, just the hope of seeing her again was enough to keep him from giving up. He would do anything. Anything... "So what are you thinking about so hard? It's cold! Come inside and talk!" Miho's voice finally broke through his thoughts. Hwan snapped out of his daze, nodded, and followed her into the house. Before he knew it, the snowfall had grown quite thick. It did not seem likely to let up anytime soon.
p"Mom..." A voice suddenly called out, startling So-yeon awake in bed. "So-hee? So-hee!" She called her daughter's name softly. So-yeon shot up from the bed and looked around. At that moment, a crack in the door was slightly open. And through it came the faint voice, "Mom..." It was unmistakably her daughter's voice. "Yup! Uh, Mom will go... wait for me! Mom will come, So-hee!" She hurriedly jumped down from the bed, staggered for a moment, and left the bedroom, heading into the living room. The living room was pitch-black and empty as always. "So, So-hee? So-hee? Where are you?" She called her daughter's name again while scanning the empty living room. But she could not see her daughter's figure anywhere. Ah! So-yeon's chest felt as if it was being torn into a thousand pieces. Her already swollen eyelids had once again turned red. Her voice, calling for her daughter pathetically, trembled and became moist. "So-hee? Where are you? Please! Where are you?" So-yeon's voice grew more desperate. She shouted while desperately searching for her daughter, but unfortunately, there was no reply. She could not find her beloved daughter anywhere. Finally, she collapsed to the floor. "Hic... hic... hic..." The tears she had held back for so long finally burst forth. She had been calling her daughter's name repeatedly while sobbing bitterly for a long time. At that moment, "Mom..." A faint voice came again. It was an extremely precarious-sounding voice. Like a candle flame, it trembled and seemed ready to extinguish with the slightest breeze. And the voice was coming from the daughter's room. "There? You are there? So-hee!!" So-yeon, nearly on all fours, ran toward her daughter's room. She gripped the doorknob of the firmly closed door and wrenched it open with all her strength. In that instant... a strange chill swept through with a bang, slicing sharply across So-yeon's body. The wind was so cold it made her instinctively shrink. The path that unfolded before her was a road covered in pitch-black darkness. The end of the road was invisible. Moreover, the blizzard raged fiercely. How cold and sharp the wind felt... It felt like a blade, slicing her skin. But for So-yeon, this cold was nothing. "Mom..." Clearly the voice of her daughter was coming from far away. It was clearly coming from beyond the long road stretched before her eyes. Perhaps her daughter was ahead. "So-hee!!" So-yeon's voice grew louder. She shouted her daughter's name as if screaming and ran madly. She reached the middle of the road buried under deep snow. So-yeon was not even wearing shoes. Barefoot, crossing the field of frozen snow, ah! The frozen snow was sharp as a blade. With each step, new wounds appeared on her white feet. Still, So-yeon paid no attention. At this moment, she did not feel any pain. If only she could find her daughter, if only she could, then this pain was nothing at all. "So-hee! Just a moment... just a moment, wait for Mom! No! Take me with you too! Please! Please!!! Do not leave me alone!" So-yeon shouted desperately. She ran along the continuing road. Ah! She can see her daughter in the distance. A small body, familiar padded clothes, and a familiar hat—clearly it was her daughter. It was blurry, so she could not confirm the face in detail, but So-yeon knew. It was definitely her lost daughter So-hee. "W-wait! Mom will come soon! So-hee!! So, So-hee!! Please.." Her voice gradually locked up, cracking pathetically. Moreover, her throat was dry and raw. She ran while panting for breath. It seemed she had been running so hard in this hellish cold that sweat poured down as if drenched. But what was happening? Her daughter's figure was not getting any closer. Or was it her imagination that she was gradually moving farther away? The darkness stretching before her and the merciless blizzard seemed to be swallowing her daughter. Ah! Her anxiety grew worse. "So-hee!! Please! Please wait! No! At least take me with you! Please.. please take me too!" So-yeon's desperate voice shot forward more sharply. But no matter how much she tried to approach, no matter how much she stretched her hand, her daughter kept moving farther away annoyingly. She could not reach her daughter. "Please... please take me too! Please..." At that moment. Roar! Suddenly, a beast-like roar echoed, startling So-yeon and making her fall backward. And she saw it. A massive thing with red eyes snatched her daughter's neck and vanished somewhere... "No, no!! My daughter! No!!" "Kyaaaaah! Mom!!!" The young daughter's scream, desperately calling for her mother. So-yeon ran while crying. She ran on all fours, chasing after the thing that had snatched her daughter. But at that moment, she tripped on something. In the rush of pain, So-yeon coughed up a sound as if her breath was leaving her... Unfortunately, her daughter's figure disappeared. It vanished suddenly. So-yeon was left alone in the empty darkness where the blizzard poured down mercilessly. So-yeon repeated crying and sobbing. She called her daughter's name repeatedly, crying until all the moisture in her body was drained. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do. She was utterly powerless. At that moment, something was in front of her. A thing with red eyes looked at her from the darkness, and the moment it lunged forward with a thunderous roar.