Chapter 169 - 27 YEARS AGO - Little Star

Jeong Geun had arrived for at least half an hour near the intersection sign as Mrs. Shin had explained to do. But the sunset was dying the horizon with orange and pink hues, and there was no sign of his Nam Joo coming.

"That little fox!?" he grunted to himself, yet fond of his wife and the way she was. He looked at the house from a distance, wondering whether or not to go there. 'Talkative as you are, when I get there you will introduce me and tell them our whole life, from kindergarten to our today's breakfast, and the owners of the house will not be able to do anything but invite us to dinner. If I go there, we'll definitely just come home late at night, I know her well, that loud mouth …!'

Jeong Geun was a pragmatic man in the middle of his 20s. All he wanted was to go home after a heavy day's work, but Nam Joo's little adventure had changed his plans. Not that it was the first time she'd done something like that.

He looked at his watch once more, starting to worry. He did not want her to walk alone at night. 'Should I go there? Aish!' he turned off the radio, and got out of the car, kicking the dust by being forced to do something he was sure was trouble.

...

The delivery was confusing, fast and scary, to the makeshift midwife, Nam Joo, who just carefully cleaned the little girl, delivering her to the exhausted mother. She was not sure how much time had passed, or how she had managed to do all that without any experience, only instinct. But she was equally exhausted, her body aching in several places, her nerves at the edge. But truly satisfied that mother and daughter were doing well, thanks to her interference.

"All right now. Your little baby needs milk, unnie; and you, good hot food and actual doctors and nurses," she grinned to Myung Hee.

Myung Hee barely had the strength to smile back, but she managed to; the little one being nested to herself, sucking the milk with all her strength.

"Thank you, Mrs. Nam Joo."

"Do not thank me now, I'll absolutely get all the pomegranates out there and then you'd done thanking me," Nam Joo teased, wiping the sweat from her forehead. The gloom in the house bothered her, the still air was suffocating now. Nam Joo went toward the curtains, placing her hand on her aching back. She certainly had overreacted at all, also had her concerns about her own health after so much effort and emotions, but she would not complain.

"What if we opened the window a little bit, eh?"

"No!" the woman lying down exclaimed, making a move so that Nam Joo wouldn't open the curtains. Nam Joo instinctively stepped back, obeying the owner of the house.

"Unnie!" Nam Joo wanted to ask questions, but thought that it would be better to do so when the pressing problems were solved. She had to go now, not only because she had arranged a meeting point with Jeong Geun, but also because they needed to get a doctor for Myung Hee and her newborn baby. "I have to go, unnie. Be right back. You're very weak, and it's not good. I'll get help for you and your baby."

"No, you cannot leave!"

'She is afraid of being alone with the baby, but there is no other way, what can I do from here? Why can't she understand? She's so scared and weak. What should I do?'

The younger woman took the woman's hand, trying to calm her down. "It's all right. I'm not going anywhere, then. Do sleep, unnie, I'll stay here."

When Myung Hee, who struggled with all the strength she had to avoid it, fell asleep, Nam Joo knew she should risk leaving them for a moment, so she could get help. Step by step, she left the house and went for the early evening outside.

...

The events inside the house did not go unnoticed by the creatures that surrounded them. The legion of wraiths, who eagerly awaited the inevitable moment when they could get Myung Hee, crawled uneasily, preparing for it.

Nam Joo left the house, surprised by how much time had passed. The sky was already tinted with indigo, the silhouettes of the trees and objects a little diffused at the magic hour. She felt cold, and hugged herself, rubbing her arms. From the part where she was, Nam Joo could not see the road in the distance, but she imagined that Jeong Geun was already there, waiting for her.

Oh, I'm so tired..." she mumbled, stepping down the steps to the front yard. She hardly believed what had happened this afternoon. Because of pomegranates...

"I cannot believe it. I didn't even come close to any pomegranates."

The cool breeze that had come with the late afternoon seemed wet and unpleasant. The sound of leaves swaying, followed by silence, brought sadness and loneliness.

"I don't even hear birds..."

A light thump reached her ears. She pricked up her ears, trying to find out the source of the sound. 'Was it a fruit falling from the tree? Or something else?'

Straying a little from her path, with her attention drawn to the nearby orchard, Nam Joo took a few steps, uncertain, thinking that it would not hurt anyone to quench her crave of pomegranates that brought her here. However, feeling totally uncomfortable in that wilderness, she wielded the umbrella she was carrying with a firm grip, for eventual protection.

"We both deserve a prize for today's good deeds, don't we, my baby girl? Who could deny us a fruit? she indulgently smiled at her belly, now taking confiant steps to a pomegranate tree, avoiding and turning away the bushes and twigs entangled along the way.

"Aigoo, where are you, chubby pomegranate?"

She turned her eyes to the floor, trying to see between the fallen leaves and rotting fruit, the fresh fruit that had just fallen. She poked here and there with the shaft of the umbrella. "Where are you, juicy?"

Behind her, the ghostly shadows gathered before the attack, while Nam Joo inadvertently sought her well-deserved compensation on the soil of the abandoned orchard.

The sound of footsteps in the dry foliage alerted the pregnant woman. Nam Joo stopped what she was doing, the umbrella hanging just inches from the ground. Her heart chilled, her legs weakened. She did not know what was behind her, but she was convinced she didn't want to know it either. The taste of fear in her mouth was nauseating.

In a way, Nam Joo sensed that this was why Myung Hee kept herself locked in the house even under these conditions.

But what could she do, but turn around to face whatever it was? Squeezing the handle of the umbrella, she slowly turned.

"Omo ...!"