Dystopia Of Night - Chapter 3 Part 8

“I-Is this woman crazy?”

Hyeong-jin screamed, seeking agreement from the others.

“That’s right! She’s possessed by a snake monster! Didn’t she get bitten by that thing? Her eyes look insane, don’t they?”

As Hyeong-jin tried to escape from the monster, everyone was watching him. No one could see exactly how Hyeong-jin pushed Yeonhee, as he was obscured by the monster’s body, but it was enough to raise suspicions.

Regardless, it was a fact that Yeonhee, who tried to help Hyeong-jin, died, and Yeonji, who lost her sister, was a victim. A slap in the face meant nothing compared to the pain of losing family in this crazy place.

As the others didn’t take his side, Hyeong-jin anxiously bit his lips and approached Yeonji, grabbing her shoulders.

“We need to check right away!”

“What? You’re not letting go?”

“Why? Scared you’ll get caught? Let’s just see if there’s a bite mark!”

Hyeong-jin grabbed Yeonji’s shirt and pulled it down, revealing her neck and shoulders. Yuju, who had been anxiously watching the situation unfold, couldn’t hold back any longer and stepped forward.

“What are you doing!”

Yeonji, whose lips were pursed, came out from behind Yuju, who was shielding her.

“You crazy lunatic! Yes, go ahead, check! Go ahead and see. But what if there isn’t? How will you take responsibility then?”

Yeonji jerked her chin up, saying he could do whatever he wanted. As the situation escalated, Hae-jun and Hansol intervened, trying to calm them down.

“Hyeong-jin, you haven’t done anything good. Just stop.”

“First, calm down, Yeonji.”

As the two distanced themselves, the temporary ceasefire was broken by Hyeong-jin’s words.

“Damn it. This is fucking ridiculous. I’m not going with that bitch. Who knows if she got bitten by a snake?”

Yeonji glared at Hyeong-jin as if she could kill him. Her bloodshot eyes showed just how much stress she was under in this situation.

Facing the monster, people died. Every day, they were threatened for survival, and just when things seemed a bit better, new dangers would emerge. What’s even more frightening is that nobody knew how this ordeal would end.

They were like prisoners trapped in a monster’s labyrinth. They were driven by the monster and they killed to survive. The exit was nowhere to be seen and the entrance was getting further and further away.

Rather than adapting, Yeonji had relied on her sister Yeonhee in this place where it was fortunate not to go insane. She had to watch her beloved sister suffer and die in agony with her own eyes. She didn’t know how the psychological fuse would be twisted and where the spark would ignite.

“Ahh!”

Yeonji screamed, thrashing her long hair with her hands.

“You’re no better! You look like you’re half-crazy, running around with your eyes rolled back.”

“Yeonji-ssi, calm down…”

Yuju could understand Yeonji’s feelings. If it had been Sehan who died today instead of Yeonhee, she wouldn’t have been any different from Yeonji.

With tears welling up in pity, Yuju tightly embraced the struggling Yeonji. Yeonji’s larger frame made it difficult, but she knew she couldn’t let go.

In the white hands pushing against Yuju’s shoulder, black strands of hair were all tangled up.

“Sniff….”

A little while later, Yeonji, who had stopped struggling, sobbed softly, tears streaming down her face. She had tried to hold on until Hyeong-jin died just like Yeonhee, but once her sanity cracked, it was more fragile than shattered glass.

“That woman is crazy.”

Yuju’s face twisted at Hyeong-jin’s resentful words.

“How can someone like you be so heartless?”

Yuju, who always responded kindly even to rude remarks, spoke sharply unintentionally. Sehan’s eyes widened slightly.

“Ha. Yuju-ssi, I didn’t expect that from you. Are you taking her side just because she’s a woman?”

“You’re not even a three-year-old baby, how can you talk like that?”

Yuju looked at Hyeong-jin with a trembling tone, as if wondering why he couldn’t understand. 

“Yeonhee-ssi is dead. How sad do you think Yeonji must be? Instead of comforting her, why are you pushing her like this?”

“Comfort her? Are you saying we should have held a funeral here? What’s the use of that in this situation! We’ll all die eventually!”

If it weren’t for Hyeong-jin, Yeonhee wouldn’t have died. Whether it was an accident or intentional, that was the truth. Yuju felt sad seeing him becoming more shameless without feeling any guilt.

The people here were losing their humanity. They became indifferent to others’ deaths and accepted violence without a second thought.

However, humans were not just instinct-driven animals. Even if she had to die, Yuju wanted to remain human until the end.

“If you want to die like that, then go ahead, Hyeong-jin. I don’t think I’m going to die. I will survive, and I will find a way to get out of here.”

“What can you do? Right now, you’re just hiding behind Sehan….”

“Hyeong-jin-ssi, speak properly. Do you have the right to blame me? At least I’ve been more helpful than you, haven’t I?”

She wasn’t wrong. Unlike Hyeong-jin, who seemed to hide and passively avoid situations, Yuju had been proactive in her actions. She had provided clues about the tree monster last night. Unlike Hyeong-jin, who put the others in danger again.

“And just to clear up any misunderstandings, it’s true. Yes, I was hiding behind Sehan. I leaned on him and relied on him. But now, I don’t want to do that anymore. I’ll do it on my own. That’s only natural.”

Yuju looked at everyone except Sehan one by one. Then, she gently let go of Yeonji, whom she had been holding, and stood up.

She wanted to be human. However, that didn’t mean it automatically meant protecting adult women like her.

“Let’s each make our own choice. Whether to go to the valley or not.”

Sehan, who had been observing the situation with an indiscernible expression, suddenly burst into a smile as if straight out of a painting. Like a moon enchanted by the sun.

***