Solbin roused herself from sleep when she heard a disturbing noise in the middle of the night. She opened her eyes wide, looking around the dark room, and her breathing became heavier. She raised herself up on her elbows, feeling how hard her heart was beating with fear.
Furthermore, she turned on the lamp that was on the nightstand, and it was only then that her attention was caught by the shadow that fell from the corner of the room.
- Your life has been in my hands for a long time, Solbin. - The words of the woman whose voice she did not know made her freeze from head to toe. - Are you ready to remember the day you freed me?
The girl pulled up the quilt and wrapped it up to her chin. She was so terrified that she began to shiver from the cold, although the night was warm.
- Who are you? How did you get into my room? - she asked in a trembling voice.
The woman's uneasy laughter reassured her that she was not dealing with a good person.
- Neither of you can remember what happened that afternoon when you were children, and since today is the fifteenth anniversary.... let me remind you, Solbin.
The gray-haired woman had no idea what was going on. She usually had nightmares, but they were not as realistic as they were at the moment. So she didn't know if she was really stuck in a dream, or was it all real after all?
She carefully watched the moving shadow. Her heart went up to her throat when she finally saw the silhouette of a woman emerge from a dark corner. The yellow light from the lamp fell directly on her face, and it was incredibly ugly. Such an unattractive woman is, Solbin had not seen since she came into the world. There were different canons of beauty, but she looked like a hellish monster. She had very sparse black hair and was bald on top of her head. Her eyes were so small that they looked like two slits. Her large, thick nose and thread-thin lips, as well as the ulcerated skin of her face, made her the ugliest person that could exist in this world.
She looked even worse than the witches in children's stories.
- Do I find myself in a dream? Why can't I do anything? Why can't I move?
- Because you are stuck in my novel, Solbin. You are the main character of the drama I am creating," she replied.
The girl watched the woman with horror in her eyes as she touched her forehead with an icy hand. Her head spun, and she felt as if she had drifted off into an even deeper dream in this product of her imagination.
She was seven years old. She was in a forest. Furthermore, she was at a camping site with her parents. She laughed happily when her dad's meat fell out of his hands to be grilled. Her mom yelled that he was clumsy and had wasted half the food.
Solbin looked with interest at the girl, who sat sulking, looking as if she would rather not be there.
- Ara, stop sulking. Look around, see. All the children are happy to be here with their parents, just not you. - The mother was fed up with her daughter's behavior.
- This is a place for poor families, so why are we here?
- Do you see how you spoiled her? - The woman turned to her husband, who shrugged his shoulders in response. - Both of you are doing me a favor. I just wanted to have a nice time in nature.
- We could have flown abroad, but you insisted, as usual. Our daughter wanted to play in the azure water, not in the forest.
Solbin approached the fussy girl.
- Shall we play together? - she suggested, wanting to improve her mood a bit.
Ara jumped down from the folding chair and grabbed her peer's hand.
- Mom, dad, let's go play," she communicated to her parents, dragging her newly met friend behind her. - Don't call me for food. I'll come myself.
- Ara, don't go too far away! Play nearby!
Solbin's parents smiled at this sight, also warning their daughter not to go too far away.
The girls sat down on the trunk of a tree, which was right next to the campsite, so their parents could keep an eye on them.
- My name is Solbin. Are you Ara?
The child, who had been teary-eyed so far, nodded.
- It's cool that you took me away from my parents. I would rather not come here. They pissed me off.
- Don't you like the forests? - Solbin blinked her eyelids, looking at her peer with curiosity in her eyes. - I, for one, couldn't wait to sleep in a tent. It's mega cool, don't you think?
- It's mega boring. It's cool by the sea," she replied, wrinkling her nose.
Sitting on a broken tree trunk, Solbin rocked her legs, looking ahead.
- I have never been to the sea. - Her voice sounded sad.
- Are you so poor? It's terrible. - The smug little girl shook her head. - Until I feel like taking you to the beach to build a sand castle.
Solbin lowered her face as she became sad.
- Should we make a base out of bushes? - Ara suggested.
- Do the rich play at it too?
- No, but I'll get down to your level," the girl declared in a cheerful tone.
No doubt, she said everything that came to her tongue.
They collected sticks and arranged them by the tree trunk, having a great time. The parents of the two girls, seeing that they were polite and did not stray too far, finally let them go and did not supervise occasionally.
Solbin looked into the woods with interest when a boy's scream reached her ears.
- Did you hear it? - she turned to Ara, who nodded. - Do you think there are other children playing there too?
- Shall we go check?
- We can't.
Ara threw the sticks on the ground that she had been holding so far and placed her hands on her hips.
- Don't say you're afraid.
- I promised my parents that I would not go far from this place....
- If we disappear for a while, they won't even see it. - She grabbed her peer's hand and pulled her with her. - Let's go, Solbin. I'm curious to see what the other children are doing.
The newly met friend undoubtedly had a commanding nature and Solbin simply had to yield to her.
Holding hands, the girls followed deep into the forest. Ara seemed extremely brave and naive, while Solbin felt fear.
- Maybe we'd better go back?
- Stop being afraid. With me, you are in no danger. I am a super heroine.
The girls hid behind a tree when they spotted a man dragging a boy of a similar age to them. He screamed and tried to get away from him, but he was just a helpless child in the hands of an adult.
- We should go back and tell the parents about this," Solbin spoke up in a whisper.
- Don't you watch fairy tales? Superheroes always react to evil. He can be harmed if we leave now.
- But we are only children. What can we do?
- Let's follow them.
Solbin was pulled too hard by Ara, causing her to fall with her whole body into a tree.
- Are you okay?
The girl's attention was caught by the mark imprinted inside her hand. With wide-open eyes, she looked at the tree, which had protruding black marks on the trunk.
- What is this? - She asked, lifting her face and looking at the tree branch, which was the only one waving in the forest, even though there was no wind.
- It's not relevant at this point. - Ara once again pulled her peer, paying no attention to her frightened face.
A piece further on, the girls spotted a wooden house. The man there took the boy, who jerked in his arms. From their hiding place, they watched as he came out alone a moment later, followed by a woman running out.
- Are you crazy? Why did you take this kid to my house! You know I have to take care of Seokjin since my sister abandoned him! I don't need problems!
- This is my only chance to get money! I'm tired of working for these rich people for a measly pittance! Ransom right now is my only chance to disappear from here and start a life elsewhere! I can provide you with the luxury you never had!
- Luxury? I am a demented shaman who has been living in a remote area for many years, and now I have been given to take care of my nephew for a few days. I don't intend to move from here. I'm fine here. Do what you want, but take this kid away from me and get out!
The man raised his hand and slapped her in the face.
- Auntie, what's going on? - A boy came out from behind the house, uncertainly heading toward them.
- Nothing of the sort, Jin. Uncle is just going to cause us problems.
The girls, who were crouching behind a tree, watching the whole situation, lost their balance and fell to the ground when one of them's leg gave out. They fell directly on the sticks that betrayed their presence.
The man was immediately interested in this and grabbed them by the collars of their blouses before they could escape. They screamed, but they were too far from the campsite for anyone to hear them.
- We got two, little parasites. Where did they come from? - he turned to the woman, who looked alarmed by their presence.
- I have no idea, but there is a campground nearby, so maybe they inadvertently wandered away from their parents.
- Fuck! - The man did not control his emotions. - This was still missing.
- Wooyoung, just get that rich kid out of here and leave me out of it! You will be the first suspect since you are the chauffeur of this boy. I don't need any money, especially scammed like this. - The woman looked nervous.
The man seemed not to listen to her. Holding the girls, who were darting about trying to free themselves from his grasp, he dragged them to the entrance of the house. Solbin managed to grab the woman's hand. She held it tightly, and then something surprising happened: the woman's face turned pale, and her eyes turned frighteningly black.
The man noticed this.
- Sella, what's wrong with you?
The woman, however, did not respond. With a stiff neck, she looked up, looking as if something had possessed her.
- Sella? - He let go of the girls, who fell to the ground. With horror in their eyes, they watched the woman, who at that moment looked like a ghoul. - What about you? Answer me.
The boy, who had so far watched everything from the side, came closer and stood behind the girls. At the sight of the aunt, however, he took a few steps back.
All three of them let out a cry of terror as the woman straightened her head and looked at the man with a blank stare. She took his face in her hands and, possessing an inordinate amount of strength, snapped his neck.
The children were paralyzed with fear, unable to move from their position. They stuck in one position, wide-eyed watching the shaman.
- Excuse me, little ones. I had to get rid of the problem," she announced, shaking her hands. - I am a five-hundred-year-old witch who was rotting in this cursed tree. You helped me get out and live in the body of a shaman. Thanks a lot. - She turned to Solbin. The girls looked at each other and shouted.
- Auntie? - Jin turned visibly pale on his face. - Why are your eyes black? Did you just kill your uncle?
The girls who tried to escape were captured by magic power and forced to sit on the ground.
- Wait a moment, the fourth should also join you so that he doesn't feel wronged.
The children watched the strangely behaving woman as she led the kidnapped boy out of the house. She sat him down next to them, looking pleased. Solbin looked at the frightened boy, whose cheeks were wet with tears.
- Do you intend to hurt us? - Ara asked.
The shaman squatted across from them and shook her head.
- No, I will simply turn your lives into an interesting novel. I will make you never get bored.
- Do you mean a fairy tale? - Ara was still inquisitive, and the woman had apparently stopped scaring her.
- You will be grateful to me. Just as I am grateful currently for freeing my soul from the tree. - The children did not understand what the woman meant. All four watched her as she raised her hands over them. - Now go to sleep and forget about this day. What your eyes saw never happened....