(SEOL GU'S POV)
To be honest, I had no idea that we would be in this much trouble. I was climbing down the mountain. I remembered something.
"Darn it. I must have dropped them."
I took Id photos at the last minute today. And the photos went missing. I thought I must have dropped them somewhere nearby. So I went back by myself. I was searching thoroughly while going up.
But I couldn't find the envelope that had my photos. So I ended up in the front yard of the shrine. The shrine was just as I had left. The door was collapsed. I carefully looked inside the shrine.
"Who did this with my photos?"
On the floor of the shrine, I saw my face. My photos were laid there one at a time. But you see, my photos were laid in the same direction in a line.
I was certain that someone had placed my photos like that on purpose. It didn't feel good to leave them behind on the floor like that. I took ten photos in the afternoon.
"..Eight, nine.."
"Where's the last one?"
The spot where the last photo should have been was empty.
"My gosh!"
A kid was crouching down in a corner of the shrine with my photo.
"You startled me. Did you come here alone?"
"What about your parents?"
The kid didn't say anything.
"You will get scolded if you stay here by yourself."
"We should get out of here together."
I couldn't leave the kid alone in the shrine. I put the kid on my back and left the shrine. I thought I had to get out of the mountain quickly, so I kept walking straight.
The thing is, I had definitely come down for some time. But I was back at the front yard of the shrine.
"What? Why am I back at the shrine again?"
But all of a sudden, the kid pointed at something. It was a huge rock.
"You want to play on that rock?"
"No. We don't have time to play now."
The kid I was carrying on my back, suddenly got really heavy. At that moment, I broke out in a cold sweat.
There was a grown woman on my back. I was so shocked that I plopped down on the ground. She was wearing a green tee-shirt and a red skirt.
She was the woman in the portrait that fell when I kicked the door at the shrine.
"How could a woman come out of a drawing?"
I tried to get myself together. I closed my eyes and then opened them.
"Come here."
"Come here."
She was slowly getting close to me.
"Come here."
She stared at me for a long time. Then.. the woman looked at me and started crying. She looked so sad when she was sobbing. It was the most sorrowful cry I had ever heard. The woman didn't stop sobbing.
I started to hear a ringing that beeped in my ears. The sound of her cry was getting too loud for me to handle.
"I am sorry."
"I am sorry. It's my fault."
Strangely, when I lowered my head onto the ground as hard as I could, I didn't hear her. The sound of her cry was deafening.
"I am sorry."
"I am sorry."
When I apologized and pounded my head on the ground, I didn't hear the sound.
"Hey, Seol Gu. Are you crazy?"
"What's wrong with you?"
"You'll die if you keep doing that."
My friends had found me and stopped me from further pounding my head on the ground.
Later, I found out more about the shrine. The shrine was established to commemorate the chastity of Lady Yeoui. The story dates back to 1,500 years ago. The lady in the portrait had a person she liked. There were into each other ever since they were kids.
They were engaged. But the person she like made a huge contribution in a war. And the king forced him to marry his daughter.
Lady Yeoui missed and yearned for him who had to marry a princess. Then she passed away. He, who married the princess couldn't stop loving her. He got sick and died in the same year.
The rock that the kid kept pointing at was the rock where Lady Yeoui and her lover spent a lot of time together as kids.
After I got to know about that place, I often wonder if she was trying to convey her sadness or did she had anything to say.
(You can check out my original story. The title is 'THE REDDEST RED')