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The moment the small hut came into view, his legs turned to jelly. It was laughable how he had thought he was fine just moments ago; his entire body trembled violently. The sky turned a sickly yellow. His knees buckled again, and he collapsed to the dirt, his vision blurring. Yeom-gon’s voice asking if he was alright sounded like a distant ringing in his ears, and instead of the tall grass in front of him, he saw something else entirely.

He didn’t know their names or where they lived, but he recognized them. They were the men he had seen walking up the path while he was being carried down on Yeom-gon’s back. He couldn’t make out their faces clearly, but their clothing and builds were unmistakable. But why was he hallucinating them now? Completely bewildered, Kang-soe gasped for air.

The men crowded into the cramped, damp hut. Instantly, an agonizing, piercing pain racked his entire body. He tried to scream in shock, but his throat felt blocked; no sound would come out. Only a ragged, wheezing hiss escaped his lips. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Kang-soe felt as though he had completely forgotten how to draw air into his lungs.

How do I breathe? How do I take a breath?

Panicking, he thrashed and beat his own chest. Something was definitely blocking his airway. Hoping to dislodge it, he pounded his chest fiercely.

I’m suffocating.

Oh god, I’m going to die. Oh god. While he frantically beat his chest, the men inside stripped naked. They tangled together in a grotesque mass—it was horrific to witness. And in the center of it all, the fool was vomiting something up.

He was vomiting up the bride he had consumed, alongside the spawn of the vile creature. Black leeches poured from his mouth in a horrifying torrent. Through the fool’s sickeningly stretched jaws, the half-emerged bride unleashed a silent, agonizing scream.

I’m suffocating. I can’t breathe.

It felt as if someone had crashed a massive gong directly next to his ear. A deafening ringing filled his head, and the sky and earth spun together into chaos. Just as his vision was fading to pitch black, a sharp flash exploded across his face.

“Pull yourself together.”

Smack. With the sharp crack of flesh hitting flesh, the blockage in his throat vanished, and air rushed into his lungs.

“Gah! Cough! Hack!”

As Kang-soe violently gasped for air, someone lightly tapped his cheek again.

Who is it…

Who is that? Kang-soe stared blankly at Yeom-gon, taking a moment to remember who he was. The name eluded him entirely, but he finally dragged it from his memory and gasped it out.

“Yeom-gon. Brother Yeom-gon?”

You forgot how to breathe, and now you forgot who you are traveling with. He must have been slapped quite hard, because his cheek stung fiercely. As he rubbed his face, tears streamed steadily from his eyes. Unaware that he was crying, and unaware that he was lying sprawled in the dirt, he merely focused on breathing. When Yeom-gon raised his hand as if to deliver another slap, Kang-soe’s senses snapped fully back to reality. He shot his hand out and caught Yeom-gon’s wrist, finally meeting his gaze with clear eyes.

“Little brother. Have you regained your senses?”

“…My senses. I think I have regained them.”

To confirm he was truly lucid, Yeom-gon lightly tapped Kang-soe’s cheek again. Only after Kang-soe practically begged him to stop hitting him, insisting he was fully awake, did Yeom-gon withdraw his hand.

Infuriating bastard.

Kang-soe rubbed his stinging cheek again. Ouch. As he let out a groan, Yeom-gon asked politely, “Does it hurt very much?” This man was so skilled at giving the disease and offering the cure that he had clearly practiced it extensively. Holding his throbbing cheek, Kang-soe snapped back.

“Of course it hurts! How could it not?”

“Is that so?”

“Ugh!”

My cheek is going to explode. Just as he complained, a large, thick finger shoved forcefully into Kang-soe’s mouth and probed the inside of his cheek. It tasted faintly salty, and Kang-soe felt a petty urge to bite down on it.

Ugh. If I had the temper, I’d bite it right off. But he was too terrified to actually do anything.

“Fortunately, it hasn’t burst open.”

“What on earth are you doing?! If you’re going to put your finger in my mouth, you should at least warn me first! And why would you shove your finger into another man’s mouth in the first place…”

Why would you put your finger in another man’s mouth? He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. Yeom-gon merely stared at him in silence, making Kang-soe’s knees knock with fear. Right, I suppose he could stick his finger in. I guess he just wanted to check if he busted the inside of the mouth he just slapped. Haha. Ignoring the bitter bile constantly rising in his throat, Kang-soe let out a hollow, defeated laugh.

While he laughed awkwardly, Yeom-gon asked if he planned to stay on the ground forever. Only then did Kang-soe realize he was still lying in the dirt and hurriedly pushed himself up. As he tried to stand straight, severe dizziness washed over him. Seeing him stumble and fail to rise, Yeom-gon sighed, said “It cannot be helped,” and drew his sword.

“W-w-what?! I just need a second to stand up! Just let me stand! Why are you pulling a sword over something so trivial?! What kind of person… Seriously.”

As Kang-soe scrambled backward in a panic, Yeom-gon laughed as if looking at a deeply peculiar creature.

“Did you truly think I would cut you down with this blade, little brother? I drew it for another purpose.”

“Are you sure?”

“Do I look like a man who goes back on his word?”

“…”

Actually, you kind of do. When Kang-soe just stared at him silently, the corner of Yeom-gon’s mouth twitched upward. Catching the dangerous sign, Kang-soe hastily backpedaled.

“Of course not! Why would you, of all people, do such a thing! Naturally, I believe you. I believe you completely.”

Despite his severe dizziness and his knees constantly threatening to buckle, Kang-soe fought desperately to stay upright. He snatched his fallen walking stick from the ground and gripped it tightly, as if it were his only lifeline. Meanwhile, Yeom-gon shifted his gaze between the sky, the hut, and the snail resting on his palm.

A sudden gust of wind blew. The day was blindingly clear without a single cloud, yet the wind was chillingly cold. As the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, Yeom-gon turned to him and issued a command.

“Prepare to run. Honestly, it’s a gamble whether this will work smoothly, but the moment I tell you to run, you must flee directly up the mountain. Stay sharp and focus.”

Despite the command to stay sharp, Kang-soe’s vision blurred once more. Spacing out for a fraction of a second, he heard the ragged breathing and sickeningly wet, squelching sounds of the men. He didn’t know what the sounds meant, but the crushing weight on his chest returned, suffocating him. Thump. Just as he went to pound his chest, Yeom-gon reiterated his command to stay alert. The moment Kang-soe nodded, Yeom-gon used his terrifyingly sharp blade to slice the mouth of the snail resting on his palm.

In truth, it was impossible to tell if he had merely cut the mouth or sliced the creature in half entirely, given how small the snail was and how massive the sword was. Just as Kang-soe was about to laugh at the ridiculous, overly dramatic posture Yeom-gon took with the giant blade, Yeom-gon hurled the mutilated snail from his palm. Simultaneously, a pitch-black substance erupted violently from the severed wound, and the snail unleashed a deafening, monstrous roar.

It was an earth-shattering sound. It felt as though it shook the very axis of the world and tore the heavens apart. The blindingly clear sky turned pitch black in an instant, accompanied by a ferocious rumble of thunder. Amidst the chaos, Yeom-gon glared up at the sky, his lips moving as if cursing the heavens themselves. Meanwhile, the black, hair-like substance exploding from the snail grew exponentially. It rapidly wove itself into the shape of the bride that had crawled from the fool’s mouth, and charged toward the hut with terrifying speed.

W-What… w-w-what is this?!

His legs shook uncontrollably in terror. The sickening sounds of the tangled men—the slapping of wet flesh—scratched at his ears once more.

My bride. My bride. Live here with me.

The slow, idiotic voice of the man suddenly slashed through Kang-soe’s mind. Hearing that voice so clearly amidst the babbling stream of his consciousness, he pounded his chest again. Thump, thump. With every strike to his chest, lightning flashed across the blackened sky, followed by deafening thunder. The massive black entity wailed continuously. As if finally unleashing the sorrow she had been unable to weep for in life, the entity shrieked, lunged into the hut, and violently entangled the men inside.

It tore their flesh, scattered their blood, and poured out its boundless resentment. How could he see all this so vividly when they were so far away?

It’s because I didn’t stay sharp, just like Yeom-gon warned. Kang-soe violently slapped his own cheek. He felt something dripping heavily from his nose, but ignored it. Right then, Yeom-gon screamed at him to run.

It was the exact moment the hut, where the woman was unleashing her wrath, erupted into roaring flames.

“…!”

His heart hammered against his ribs. Kang-soe bolted. Tearing through the dense, overgrown weeds, he sprinted blindly. There was no path leading up the mountain, so he scrambled upward by grabbing onto tree trunks. But Yeom-gon wasn’t following him.

Why isn’t he coming?!

He whipped his head around frantically. Yeom-gon was nowhere to be seen, but the blazing hut was terrifyingly clear. It looked as if it were right in front of his eyes. The torn, dismembered pieces of the fool’s body were half-melting in the intense flames, yet they grotesquely slithered and fused back together. A face attached to the back, an arm attached to the buttocks, a leg grafted to the chest—the monstrous amalgamation pushed through the inferno, giggling hehe.

Where was it going? Where was it headed? As his eyes tracked the horrifying fool, a sudden realization flashed in his mind.

The jar.

He remembered the half-shattered clay jar—the one the Snail Bride had been shoved into, the one the fool had crawled inside.

But brother told me to run up the mountain.

He needed to keep climbing. At the deafening roar of thunder, Kang-soe drew a sharp, deep breath. The image of the fool’s face shoving into the jar, the sound of his whispered words—it felt as if they were turning into foul slime and dripping directly into his ear. He frantically wiped at his ear, but in his panic, his foot slipped on the slick, wet earth, sending him tumbling backward down the slope.

The incline wasn’t extremely steep, so he managed to arrest his fall before tumbling completely out of control, but the blue cloth Yeom-gon had tied around his hand was gone, and his palm burned fiercely from fresh cuts. Cradling his bleeding hand, he tried to scramble back up the mountain, but his vision blurred once more.

My bride. My bride.

The fool laughed. Giggling hehe, he crawled into the clay jar. The sickening crunch of snapping bones echoed. Just as his wet, dissolving flesh began to fuse and transform into a giant snail, Kang-soe’s body moved entirely on its own. I have to stay sharp. If I focus, I won’t see these horrifying visions. No matter how many times he repeated this, the agonizing screams of the bride continued to echo in his ears.

God damn it!

The suffocating, blocked wails that had been trapped inside her seemed to have taken root in his own chest.

“Little brother!”

Deaf to Yeom-gon’s desperate shout, Kang-soe lunged at the jar containing the fool. Gripping the rim, he twisted his body violently, yanking the half-submerged fool out of the vessel. The moment a slimy, mutating hand reached toward him, Kang-soe hurled the jar down the steep slope. As he sprinted after the tumbling vessel, Yeom-gon repeatedly screamed that he was going the wrong way.

“Little brother!”

I know that! But Kang-soe deliberately ignored him. The sluggish, slimy pursuit felt terrifyingly close, filling him with frantic anxiety. Finally catching up to where the tumbling jar had stopped, Kang-soe hoisted the unbroken vessel high above his head and smashed it violently against the ground.

CRASH.

Through the shattered shards, a massive gale erupted. The howling wind sounded exactly like the bitter weeping of a woman. The cry was so profoundly sorrowful that tears sprang to Kang-soe’s own eyes.

Do not be bound anymore. Not to that dark jar, or that wretched hut, or any house ever again. If someone asked why a grown man had so many tears to shed, he would have no defense, but the tears flowed endlessly regardless.

When he turned around with a wet face, the burned field was engulfed in a raging inferno. The fool who had pursued him had lost the ability to speak, emitting only a horrific kke-kke, kke-kke noise. As Kang-soe shuddered at the sound, which grated like a rusty saw, the black, monstrous entity of the Snail Bride arrived at the shattered jar before the fool. Hovering right in front of him, the faceless, pitch-black mass should have been utterly terrifying, yet he felt no fear at all.

Without a word, without a single scream, she simply burned fiercely. The flames were so intense that her massive form rapidly disintegrated into ash. The darkened sky roared and thundered relentlessly, but the silent bride merely continued to fade away. She burned rapidly, ensuring the impending downpour wouldn’t extinguish her cleansing fire before she was gone.

As the Snail Bride blazed and vanished piece by piece, Kang-soe remembered the crushed snail shell from the well. Reaching into the roaring fireball that had consumed the entity, Kang-soe saw a small, glowing stone. Without thinking, he thrust his hand into the flames, but it wasn’t hot at all. The very instant his fingertips brushed the glowing stone, lightning tore through the sky. A blinding flash was immediately followed by a world-shaking crash of thunder.

In the brief flash of light, the glowing stone vanished. The roaring flames abruptly died down, disappearing without a trace, and raindrops finally began to fall, one by one.

It’s actually raining.

Standing under the sudden, heavy downpour, Kang-soe had that singular, dazed thought. In the distance, Yeom-gon was sprinting toward him with a terrifyingly furious expression, but in that moment, Kang-soe’s courage must have swelled beyond his body, because he wasn’t afraid of the hunter at all. He couldn’t hear a single word Yeom-gon was yelling. His vision faded to black once more. Whether Yeom-gon slapped him to wake him up or not, Kang-soe let his eyes fall shut.

A deep, absolute darkness rushed in and swallowed him whole.

***