Dystopia Of Night - Chapter 3 Part 15

Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out two more times. Sehan’s gun and ammunition momentarily fell short. Sehan clicked his tongue, muttering that he should have prepared better if he had anticipated this.

“Hae-jun-ssi! Gasp! What happened to him?”

Yuju, who couldn’t even fathom her lover’s thoughts, gasped and asked, panting. Her concern for someone else’s life while being in a situation where even her own life wasn’t certain was both ridiculous and, on the other hand, noble.

Sehan smiled bitterly as he looked back at Yuju’s pale face with her black, flowing hair.

“Let’s think about it after we survive for now!”

Yuju wasn’t as fast on her feet as Sehan. Trying to keep up with him, she nearly stumbled several times. If he had let go of her hand, she might have fallen and become the monsters’ prey long ago. The sound of the monsters’ growls spurred her to lift her weakened legs and continue moving.

If she fell prey to them here, she knew Sehan would be in danger as well. Yuju ran after Sehan with all her might.

Meanwhile, Sehan was contemplating how the valley could be so far away. They had run for about 30 minutes to lure the webbed-footed monster. If they had run in a straight line without losing direction, they should have reached their destination in the same amount of time, but the clock had already ticked past 30 minutes.

‘Did we get lost?’

The darkness was so deep that he couldn’t be certain. He believed this was the right direction, but the darkness dulled his sense of direction. Lost in the maze that darkness had given them, the trapped humans wound through the forest to evade the pursuing monkey-like monsters.

It was when their strength was on the verge of giving out, when it felt like their lungs might burst. Hansol was the first to collapse, before Yuju.

“Ahhh! Don’t leave me!”

Instead of attempting to get up, Hansol chose to reach out his hand towards Sehan and Yuju. Yuju couldn’t turn away from him and tried to grab the outstretched hand as he lay fallen.

As Sehan saw the outstretched white hand towards Hansol, conflict raged in his eyes. The faint moonlight shimmered, illuminating the exposed human face in a life-or-death moment.

Sehan forcefully pulled Yuju, who was trying to grab Hansol’s hand, backwards and took a big step forward. Sehan slammed the monkey’s head with the heel of his shoe, and then swung his leg again like kicking a soccer ball.

Bam! The head of the monkey-like monster, which had been about to attack Hansol, exploded.

“Kkyaaaaaak!”

“Kkyaaaaak!”

At the same time, all the monkey-like monsters wrapped their heads and began screaming. The monsters, who were scratching their heads in agony, melted away like a swamp. Then, they transformed into dolls made of clay and sank down to the ground.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Sehan’s pupils narrowed as he watched the monster return to the ground as if nothing had happened.

“Hansol-ssi, are you okay?”

Yuju passed Sehan and checked on Hansol. However, Sehan didn’t even pretend to assist Hansol. He was looking at the monsters that had returned to the ground

“As expected…”

Trees become monsters, water becomes monsters, and even the ground becomes monsters. The monsters are a part of this world, and the entirety of this world is made up of monsters.

There is no place in this world to escape from the monsters. Each time, they were presented with challenges, and only those unknown rules kept them alive.

Sehan’s eyelids trembled slowly as he realized that this place was a lost paradise.

He immediately looked at Yuju, who was trying to lift Hansol. Her touch was gentle, pure, and filled with kindness. She didn’t belong in this place.

It was only after dawn that the three managed to escape the dense forest. Upon discovering the valley and the car, Hansol couldn’t contain his exhaustion and sank down wearily.

Their stomachs growled. Sehan and Yuju were just as hungry and exhausted as they had been running and wandering through the forest all night.

Sehan, upon seeing Yuju’s pale face, thought that he needed to feed her something. He extended his arms, determined to find something to eat.

Soon, a blazing fire was roasting fish. Sehan calmly thought that this fish could potentially be one of the webbed-footed monsters from the previous night. Nevertheless, he fearlessly ate it and urged Yuju to eat as well.

If this whole world is filled with monsters, then they have to hunt and devour those monsters in order to survive.

“What could that have been… Was it that Haejun hyung turned into a monster?”

After quickly eating the fish seasoned with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, Hansol, now with a full stomach, finally asked with a curious expression on his face.

“Almost like a doppelganger…”

As the image of Hae-jun transforming into a monster came to mind, Yuju’s appetite waned. She set down the half-eaten fish and muttered softly. Sehan, who was worried about Yuju, who was getting thinner and thinner, frowned.

“If you meet a doppelganger, you die. Could Hae-jun hyung be dead?”

“…..”

“Why did those monkey-like monsters suddenly die? They’re not apostles of death, are they? If one of the four of them die, do they all die together?”

Pretending not to hear Hansol’s words, Sehan nudged Yuju’s shoulder.

“Lost your appetite? Should I go get some fruits?”

“There’s no need. This is enough.”

“Eating only fish every day can get boring. I’ll see if there’s something else to eat later.”

Seeing their interaction, Hansol suddenly felt lonely. He gazed vacantly towards the forest, and in his eyes, the swaying shadows became evident.

“Huh?”

The identity of the shadow emerging under the bright sunlight was Yeonji.

“Hyung-nim! Sister-in-law!”

Hansol called out loudly to Sehan and Yuju as he stood up. He held the baseball bat he had left behind when they went into the forest and cautiously regarded Yeonji.

“It looks like that monster bastard is here again!”

“I-I’m not… I’m not like those monsters!”

Yeonji was clutching one leg, seemingly injured. Yuju widened her eyes upon seeing Yeonji’s shadow.

“That monkey-like monster seemed to not have a shadow.”

Yuju gently touched Sehan’s arm, who now held a gun, out of concern. She was worried that if he actually shot Yeonji and killed her, it would be a serious problem.

“Are you sure?”

Hansol looked at Yeonji suspiciously and asked Yuju. It was so dark that she couldn’t be certain.

“I’m not completely sure, but at a glance, it seemed like there was no shadow.”

“I told you, I’m not!”

The three of them were not in great condition either, but Yeonji’s condition was much worse. She pushed back her messy curly hair with blood-stained hands. That’s right. There was a substantial amount of blood smeared and clinging to Yeonji’s hands.

“What about Park Hae-jun? Didn’t he run away with you?”

“H-Hae-jun-ssi, he…”

Yeonji’s gaze shook uneasily. Yuju only now realized that there was an excessive amount of blood on her body. She had thought it was the result of Yeonji’s injuries, but if it was hers, it was too much for her to be moving like that.

“He got eaten by monsters… Ah, anyway, I need to rest a bit.”

Yeonji hastily concluded her words and walked unsteadily towards where her car was parked.

The pockets of her jeans weren’t very spacious. Sehan narrowed his eyes as he observed the two bulging guns protruding from each side.

Sehan continued to ponder. If this entire world was filled with monsters, why didn’t all of them come at once? Why do they keep giving humans a glimmer of hope, as if there is a way out? It felt as if they were toying with them.

It seemed like they were observing how humans reacted, killing them one by one. As if they found humans to be quite interesting animals.