Chapter 18 – The Wolf’s Embrace.
Currently, Usher and Belka were walking through the night forest toward the place where the zelkova tree had been. It was because he had already left the village and the bag with his belongings he had prepared in advance to go on a trip, so he needed to go back to the village. However, there was a fear of being noticed by someone entering the main gate of the village, so they decided to go towards the zelkova tree, where there is a safe place to enter and exit the village even if it is a little far away.
“Isn’t it heavy?”
“Don’t worry, it’s light.”
However, in Belka’s case, she was held in his arms. She was not in a condition where she could walk on her own, so he decided to carry her. It was really fortunate that the girl was light. However, the forest at night was rough and the road was difficult to see, so it was just as dangerous to go with the girl in your arms, but you could say that the road they were walking on was not as dark as they were now. This is because the stars in the night sky were swimming there, as if the stars mistook the place where they were standing for the sky and came down to play.
“Wow, you mean these are all things that live in this forest?”
But they are not like stars.
“Yes, they are all children living in this forest.”
If you look closely at each one, they are not just light, but flying insects. Instead of the moon and stars floating high in the sky that could not illuminate the forest, countless insects that emit their own light were illuminating the forest path. Most of them were new to him, but among them, he could see fireflies, familiar to Usher’s eyes, flying together in harmony. They all flocked to the girl’s call. The path they walk with the help of the light created by the insects feels like walking through the night sky.
Then, at some point, the insects that had led Usher in front of them suddenly scattered. And what spread out in front was a hill with zelkova trees. As if ridiculing the prejudice that the night would be dark, the night sky, where not a single cloud could be seen, was densely packed with countless stars, forming a large Milky Way, and a large moon illuminated the night between them. The appearance of the night sky imitated by the self-luminous insects that guided them in the forest was beautiful enough, but I couldn’t catch up with the magnificence of the now vast night sky as a drawing paper.
It was just that the visit time was different, but Usher, who felt like he was in a completely different place, woke up to an unfamiliar touch brushing his toes. It was the leaves that fell from the zelkova tree. The leaves filling this hill tell us how huge the zelkova tree was, but the tree that would have already been the owner of the leaves is nowhere to be seen. He bit his lip at the unwelcome face that emerged with the reddened leaves in the sunset.
“Belka, is it really okay if I leave it as it is?”
What he remembered was Mac, who was still lying in the cabin. If it wasn’t for Belka’s request, he was worried that he’d left him in the cabin, where he wouldn’t have been able to hit him a few times with an axe. Even after confirming several times that he was tied up with a rope and unable to move, he was still anxious at the thought that the man might loosen the rope and come after them.
“It’s okay. He won’t be able to get out of there.”
Even so, he had no choice but to accept Belka’s words. He knew that the girl would not answer if asked how he knew that. Besides, Belka’s words matched strangely well. The girl who arrived at the zelkova tree led Usher to the place where the zelkova tree had been. She then said that the appearance of the zelkova tree she saw was a disaster. Usually, when a tree is cut down, only the stump is left behind, but the stump of a tree is so short that it would be impossible to know whether a tree even existed unless the annual rings engraved on the cross section of the tree were found.
The girl, looking down at her zelkova tree for a long time, where even her stump was not properly left, bent her knees and brushed the cross section of her tree with her hand. She just seemed peaceful without saying anything. She later turned around and looked at him. It was only after the girl saw her eyes that Usher could tell she was sad. Belka was silently mourning, hiding her sadness in her golden light and burying even her resentment in her heart. Usher wanted to comfort her, but she didn’t know what to say, so all she could do was follow the girl who was leading him somewhere.
“Belka? Why are you here?”
The place we reached was a clear valley with the sound of rushing water. Was there a place like this behind the zelkova tree? Looking around, they were standing in a place where the water flow was relatively weak and seemed to be standing in the midst of large and small rocks and gravel fields. Did the fireflies come from here among the glowing insects that were scattered as soon as they reached the hill? I saw the scene of fireflies playing with subtle lights between light green and yellow on their tails. Perhaps, if the villagers knew about this place, would they not have tried to use it for various purposes?
“I’m sorry. I want to wash a little… Can’t I?”
Come to think of it, my sweaty body was more disgusting than I thought. When the girl said it, she felt that she wanted to wash it too.
“Then I’ll wash too.”
Then the girl nodded her head and first took off the festive dress she had been wearing over her dress and folded it on the ground, placing the mask on it. As she watched, Usher questioned.
“But why don’t you throw away the clothes and mask?”
It was an item used at that eerie festival. Feeling reluctant, Usher immediately wanted to break the masks and throw away the white clothes, but Belka stopped him.
“Because at that festival, these masks and clothes weren’t originally meant to be used for that purpose. And…”
Belka smiled as she stroked the cross on the part of Usher’s mask that Usher had casually draped over his arm.
“This is proof that Yeo and I were together.”
“Is it?”
Thinking of what she said, the mask that just felt bad looked a little better. After staring at the mask for a while, I looked up and saw the girl taking off the remaining dress. Surprised by the girl’s pale skin, Usher turned his back on the heat on her face. It’s a girl’s naked body that I often see these days, but he couldn’t get used to it. I couldn’t tell if it was because Belka was overly beautiful or if it was because of his desire to keep rising.
“Open, are you not washing?”
A girl’s voice could be heard as if his appearance was strange.
“Sir, you need to wash.”
He pretended nothing was wrong and threw off his clothes. When he calmed down by inhaling and exhaling, the desire, which had been inflated for a short while, soon diminished again, perhaps because he had already relieved many cravings. Even so, when he was naked and looked back, he saw a girl staring at him. The naked body of a girl with graceful curves, like pure white porcelain crafted by a skilled artisan, looks white even in the middle of the night. The naked body of a girl so beautiful that even someone who dared to touch it felt disrespectful was enough to make him dazed for a moment.
Even in the midst of that, there were places where his gaze lingered for a long time. The girl’s red hair and the brightly shining marigolds, the ridges on her chest that create small shadows that can be seen when she goes down, and the fruit at the tip still make her mouth swallow. In addition, the small ax marks that did not show even a fluff under the border between her thin waist and thighs made her wonder if this was the place where she had swallowed his stuff. Usher, who felt a terrifying desire to swell up, threw himself into the valley water, lest the girl find out about it.
“Oh, a car!?”
Usher cried out in surprise at the cold aura that ran through her body. Was it fortunate that his stuff, which was about to swell because of it, shrank?
“No matter how good the water is, it’s not good to rush in.”
Belka scolded Usher and walked into the water. As if it were nothing to do with soaking in the cold water, as if it would freeze your skin with just touching it, the girl, who had covered half of her slender body with the blackened valley water as if she had released the ink called chestnut, sighed with a gourd floating nearby as if familiar. Scoop up and pour over the body. Wouldn’t the water stained at night make her body even more dirty? She doesn’t even care for a moment. When the moonlight shone on her, the water shone transparently, erasing the night from its body. As Usher stared blankly at the scene, she saw one of the stories from which mascarpir was derived superimposed on it.
In the valley where the night came, a girl was washing her body in the moonlight. She is a peerless girl bathing in the moonlight while numerous fireflies dance and play. I dare say it was a beautiful monster.
“Usher.”
Caught by the sight of Belka washing her body, Usher walked over to him while Usher was absent-minded.
“Why why?”
When he responds in surprise at the sight of the girl approaching her, she turns into a worried golden light.
“If you don’t wash up soon, you’ll catch a cold.”
He shuddered at the cold energy rising from under the water. He might catch a cold this summer if he didn’t wash up as soon as she said. When he was about to wash up and leave, the slightest touch on his body stiffened him. His hand was so wet, so how could the place he touched in the middle of the car feel so hot? When he looked down, he saw the girl putting her hands on him and looking up at him.
“It’s hard to wash alone? Shall I wash you?”
The girl said that, whether or not she knew that he could see the two tall hills and the pink fruits at their tips. Since he had seen a woman’s naked body for the first time, he hadn’t been able to look at Belka as easily as before. Because the flesh-colored thoughts kept running through his head and covering his eyes. Even now, I couldn’t stop wanting to touch the girl’s soft skin to my heart’s content. Perhaps because of this, the girl’s gaze full of affection is a little uncomfortable. Even so, I really like Belka, who only looks at him.
“Please.”
He stopped acting like a dark fool. She knew that Belka would gladly accept his foolishness. The girl immediately dipped her hands in the cold valley water. I could feel the gentle touch of her hand soaked in her water, thoroughly wiping his body. From the girl’s point of view, it seems that she wipes his body with a fairly strong force, but it feels like she’s only a little stronger than usual to him.
“Isn’t it cold?”
“It’s cold, but tolerable.”
As he was washing him, Usher continued to answer Belka, who spoke to her worriedly, but his nerves were sharpened by the girl’s body occasionally touching his own. Occasionally, when the hill and the fruit at its tip brushed against it, it seemed that his desire would wriggle out even in the cold valley water. But that feeling is short-lived.
“Close your eyes.”
As if she thought she had finished wiping his body, Usher felt regret at the sight of the girl putting her small hands together to fill up the water. Could feel It fell from a high place like water in a valley, but the water flow was not strong. The water trickling down his body like a girl’s affectionate touch is too cold to frighten if he’s not nervous.
“Well, wouldn’t it be better to pour out the water with a gourd rather than doing it like Belka did?”
“But isn’t it cold?”
It was understandable that she worried about him, but whatever.
“I think it would be better if we did it all at once.”
I felt like I would have to do this for quite some time in cold water. Fortunately, Belka nodded and filled the gourd with water. Because of her height difference with him, she raises her hand above her own head, leaving her girlish body even more vulnerable. Did he notice now that he was digging an eye into her own body? A girl with her blush poured cold water on him. After the bath, they were standing in front of the hole Usher used to frequent. He asked her while playing with his and her girl’s hair, which had dried up before she knew it.
“I’m just coming out with a bag, are you really going to follow me?”
Yes, he intended to quickly pack his bags and leave town with Belka anyway.
“You can’t go alone now.”
But she insists on going with him. In the end, he couldn’t overcome the girl’s stubbornness and had to go down the hole together. And he peeped out of the crack to see if anyone was there, frowning at the dark night of the town. The moon and stars, which were so bright until I came here, must have been covered by clouds, so I couldn’t see anything because the front was pitch black. Apparently, even the moon had turned its back on this eerie town. Unable to see, Usher decided to slowly work his way up the wall to find the door.
“Hold my hand tight.”
“Huh.”
Don’t forget to ask the girl. He couldn’t see an inch in front of him, and he was walking on the wall, so it felt like his house was bigger than usual. It can’t be. How many times did he fumble the wall? Usher could finally feel the wall bending sideways. Now I have a sense of where the door is. The only problem was that he forgot the floor.
“Turn it off!”
“Uss?”
“Oh, nothing. Wait a minute.”
He hit his shin on the corner of the floor and went into her room even though he was suffering from pain. He looked for a candle to light first. He wants to quickly grab his bag and leave town, but it’s hard to find the bag he’s been hiding. If you fumble around where the candle was, something bumps into your hand. Realizing that it was the candle he was using, he looked for a flint he had placed nearby. Usher, who managed to light a candle after several mistakes and mishandling, tried to find the bag right away, but his body froze at the creepy sound he heard.
– Close to close!
It was the sound of something as hard as iron hitting quickly. The sound was coming from the only window in the room and, unfortunately, it was also there that Usher turned to find his bag. It had a huge, mask-like head, long antennae that felt like a baton, big eyes twitching and sharp jaws snapping swiftly. It was the head of a giant insect. What looked like a giant cricket or katydid was obviously delighted.
The sound you make when you hit your chin sounds like laughter. More than anything, it was looking at itself exactly. Usher couldn’t even scream when he faced it. It feels like his throat has been hoarse before he can even scream. Usher’s legs had already loosened at that terrifying and terrifying sight. Eventually, when it ran towards him.
“Usher!!”
I heard Belka’s voice. Breathless silence and darkness filled the room. The candle he lit faded, leaving only a faint scent.
“Just now! Just now!”
“Quietly.”
-Kagagak
Usher repeated the same words in horror, but immediately swallowed a gasp at the sound of its jaws grinding back with Belka’s words. I couldn’t see anything because I had extinguished the candle, but it was still in this room. Have you already heard them?
-Are you kidding me?
I heard the sound of crawling, dragging my hard armor-like body on the floor. Just listening to that sound makes my heart beat so fast, as if I was running with all my might. Even the air felt heavy with fear, and it felt like my body was weighed down. When he forgot to breathe. Did he even forget the passing time? When I came to my senses, I could find golden eyes shining faintly in the moonlight coming in from outside the window.
“Are we alive?”
Awakened by that kind light, Usher opened his mouth in a daze. He thought he might die. If you saw it, you might think it was just a big insect, but it was different. It’s not a matter of being gross. What was contained in its eyes was not even hostility or vigilance like the wild animals we sometimes encounter in the forest. What was in it was simple malice and pleasure. Being able to read such emotions in the eyes of an inorganic insect, not a human, terrified Usher even more. Belka spoke in a calm and quiet voice to him who was still terrified.
“Because I wasn’t the smart one. I think I barely managed to get caught.”
Belka’s gaze turned to the window where he encountered it. Following its gaze, he found nothing in the window where he encountered it. As it pounced on him, Belka grabbed him, pulled him into her arms, and extinguished the candle. Then he went up somewhere, and now I see that he was a table he used to eat occasionally. He hadn’t expected that being bothered and not organized would be so helpful, but he wasn’t very tall. It seems to have been enough to avoid it.
“Does that also live in this forest?”
But Belka shook his head.
“It doesn’t listen to me. It’s probably fundamentally different from normal kids.”
“…Are you talking about monsters?”
Monsters are arbitrary, but generally refer to creatures that are hostile and harmful to humans. Adventurers who came to the village said that there were many such dangerous creatures, but the existence of a monster that they encountered for the first time was more frightening than they thought.
