Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Moonlight shone through the window which lighted the stairways to the second floor. A couple of creaks could be heard as a dark silhouette tried to climb the stairs in silence.

The longwall clock which had been in the hospital ever since its opening, struck 12 and chimed loudly.

Making a visit to the second floor every night had become a routine for Lee-yeon. Initially Lee-yeon planned to go just once but now it served as a reminder that as long as the murderer lay there, she was safe.

Like any other day, Lee-yeon pressed the password and turned the door

***

Plants also have spirits, so the more people say nice things, the healthier they grow, and the more people say negative things, the sooner they die. Knowing that, Lee-yeon prayed this could be applied to her life. Words have power so she chanted in her head,

‘Please don’t wake up. You shouldn’t wake up.’

‘Please let me live a peaceful, quiet life.’

As Lee-yeon opened the door in hopes of seeing the frail body lying on the bed like usual, she paused.

‘…He’s not… here?’

She couldn’t believe her eyes. She blinked once, then twice and once again. The person was always here. He was a mere ghost of a human. The bed, where only the hard shell of him remained, was empty.

She felt chills down her spine and as goosebumps claimed her body, she realized she might not be safe anymore. The incident of that knight replayed in her mind, reminding her of her doom.

***

<Flashback>

‘The man who fell off the hill may have died.’ Lee-yeon thought as she looked at the pool of blood on the floor.

‘He must have died. He rolled down the hill after getting his head smashed probably multiple times.’

When she barely pulled herself together, she was left alone in the mountains. ‘Let’s, let’s return home after reporting this to the police.’

She was sure that she was going to get nightmares after this incident, but a new morning will come. She had to live.

Lee-yeon managed to pull herself on her feet, she felt like she was going to collapse but she willed her foot to take another step. She was celebrating this small victory in her mind when something heavy covered her face. She smelled something bitter and strong which made her feel faint. She tried to resist but the smell got to her head and the darkness took over her.

Lee-yeon could feel her head pounding. It was hard just to open one eye. She shook her head several times to get rid of the headache and focus.

‘Where am I?’

The first thing she saw was an old flickering light bulb in the backdrop of darkness. Every time the light flickered, she saw a silhouette of a man smoking a cigar. The smoke filled the air.

“Who are you?” asked Lee-yeon with what little courage she could muster. When she tried standing up she realized that she was tied to a chair. A cold metal dug into her wrists as she tried to free her hands. The man was still smoking.

“Why did you do that?” asked an emotionless voice. The fear in her chest which stopped her from her struggle against the restraints.

“I don’t think he’ll live with his head smashed like that,” continued the man.

Lee-yeon was confused and scared so the only answer she could give was silence.

“The half-dead guy is my brother.” When the light bulb stopped blinking, her senses became suddenly sharp.

Then Lee-yeon realized what was happening here. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she tried to look around to make sense of her surroundings. Hooks hanging from the ceiling that supported the bodies of slaughtered pigs. The blood dripping from the pigs made her stomach churn.

Workers, wearing heavy rubber boots, walked around casually minding their own business. They didn’t throw a look her way even once. They removed the intestines, cut the flesh by part, and washed the bloodstains with a long hose.

She had woken up in the middle of a slaughterhouse in front of a man who stood tall, wearing an expensive looking suit.

The man took a long puff of his cigar and said ““While you were sleeping, I pondered whether I should simply tear you apart, or throw it into the sea.”

He was interrupted by a series of bangs. Lee-yeon looked around to find that it was coming from a drum at the far end of the room and froze at the desperate scream that echoed in the closed space.

“My brother is dying, and someone must pay for that,” said the voice again with an uncomfortable edge.

Lee-yeon by now started panicking. She could hear her heart beating in her chest.