Chapter 4.1
Chapter 4.1
The hem of a bloodstained dress fluttered in the breeze. A woman with long, shoulder-length hair stood on the rooftop ledge.
“Unni…? Is that you…?”
Heeju stumbled forward, each step stuck to the ground as if she were wading through a sticky swamp.
“Unni, it’s you, right…?”
The woman turned around. It really was her sister.
A sudden gust of wind blew, causing her sister’s dress to billow out. Her body, precariously perched on the ledge, looked so thin and fragile that it seemed she might be swept away by the wind and fall at any moment.
“Unni!”
Heeju’s desperate scream was met with the calm voice she always remembered.
Sorry. I’m sorry.
Her sister’s pale face, staring at Heeju, showed no change. Her chapped white lips didn’t move at all, yet the sorrowful voice echoed through Heeju’s entire head.
It sounded like her sister’s voice, but also like her own. A sharp, piercing headache struck her temples, as if a sharpened nail was being driven in.
“What do you mean, why are you sorry… Why are you doing this? Come down, it’s too dangerous up there.”
Heeju’s face contorted as she mumbled incoherently. Tears streamed down her cheeks like rain.
“No, right? You’re not leaving me, not just me, right? How could you leave me alone…?”
Heeju gritted her teeth and tried to move forward. But her feet kept sinking deeper into the sticky swamp. The more she struggled to move her legs, the more her body sank.
Her sister frowned slightly and turned away again. Heeju’s blood ran cold. She had to grab her. She had to grab her now…
“No. No. No. Unni. Hey, Ko Heejin, don’t do this. No, no. No!”
Her desperate plea cut through the air. But without any hesitation, her sister slipped off the railing and fell. The blood-soaked dress fluttered wildly, almost in slow motion, before her sister plummeted from the rooftop.
Nooooo!
Heeju reached out desperately. But her feeble, flailing body continued to sink slowly into the sticky swamp. The wind carried a strong scent of blood as it slapped her cheeks.
Overwhelmed by a strange sense of dissonance, Heeju frantically touched her own face like a madwoman. No sound came from her gaping mouth. It was as if she were trapped in a scene from an old silent film.
Ah, once again, I’m still wandering through this stupid, godforsaken dream, she realized.
“Hey.”
A cold voice pierced her mind.
“Kid.”
What? Who is it? Who’s calling me…?
Heeju’s closed eyelids twitched. This had never happened before. It felt as if her soul, separated from her body, was being yanked out of the swirling nightmare.
“Stop lying around and wake up. You’ve got work to do.”
The gruff voice shattered her consciousness, and at the same time, a rough hand gripped her shoulder with bone-crushing force.
Heeju gasped, sucking in a sharp breath as her eyes flew open. Through her blurry, tear-filled vision, she saw Kwon Gukhyun staring down at her with a blank expression. She blinked her dazed eyes, and the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes trickled down her temples.
“I thought you were the quiet type ’cause you look so calm, but your sleeping habits are pretty wild.”
The guy, who had been leaning towards Heeju while sitting on the bed, straightened up. Then, he gently brushed Heeju’s sweat-soaked hair, which was sticking to her forehead, behind her ear.
“I won’t get bored if you’re snuggled next to me.”
The touch brushing against her ear was surprisingly gentle. In the hazy state between dream and reality, Heeju let the man play with her hair, breathing shallowly.
Her body felt incredibly heavy, exhausted from the mental strain of having that nightmare all night. Her head throbbed as if it would split open, and her consciousness remained foggy, as if still wandering in a dream. Even the vivid scent of blood carried by the wind felt like a lingering nightmare. Her stomach churned out of habit.
“Where… where am I?”
Heeju sat up in bed, looking around groggily. The morning sunlight poured through the large window, illuminating the spacious room. She belatedly realized it was the place where she had treated the man yesterday.
“My bedroom.”