GDWY 02

Chapter 02

Rosha looked at her older brother with trembling eyes.

Flap, flap…

The body that had not yet died shivered like a newborn beast. His bloodshot eyes, filled with tears, moved.

“…….”

His unfocused eyes found Rosha.

At that moment, the monster grinned as it chewed on Dain’s flesh, connected to its teeth. The corners of its mouth stretched like his lips had been torn.

“Do… do, des…stroy…!”

The words Dain screamed with all his strength just before dying became the trigger. The monster threw Dain’s body toward the wall. Stretching out its hunched body, the long monster, large enough to cover the entire house, began moving toward Rosha. Its upper body swayed side to side, and the snake-like lower body followed in curves. Its sheer size caused objects in the house to shatter with even the slightest movement.

“Ah, ah…….”

Run.

Those were the last words her brother had left her, but Rosha’s feet wouldn’t move. Even when the monster came right up to her, opening its jaws, her frozen body remained stiff.

The only reason she was able to move at all, after being paralyzed like pinned by a curse, was the pure instinct to survive.

“U-uaaah!”

Just as the monster’s teeth brushed the crown of her head, Rosha managed to stumble backward, then turned and ran.

[Ro…sha…]

She couldn’t even look back. The moment she did, it would feel like the voice that whispered so close beside her would devour her.

[Ro-sha… bad… O, Lin…]

She had to run.

Don’t look back, just run as fast as you can.

Run to the village. If she reached the adults in the village, they would help somehow!

Rosha ran down the hill. She felt like she might fall, but she couldn’t slow down.

However, her steps could not continue for long.

[Dai…n… Ro-sha…]

The monster’s voice grew more distant, while the lights of the village drew closer…

She felt a momentary relief, believing she might survive.

[Lily…]

The monster called her younger sister’s name.

‘Come to think of it, where is Lily…?’

Inside the house, Rosha had only seen her already-dead father and mother, and her dying brother.

‘Lily…’

When she regained her senses, Rosha was running back toward the house. She hated Lily sometimes, but still, Lily was her little sister, her family. She could torment and tease her sister herself, but she couldn’t allow a monster to harm her.

The serpent must have already entered the house because it was no longer visible in Rosha’s sight.

“Lily, Lily!”

She ran into the house, where the door had been smashed open by the monster chasing her moments ago, and saw her family’s bodies again.

“Ah…….”

No matter how many times she saw it, she couldn’t get used to it. But this wasn’t the time to grieve.

She had to find Lily and survive.

Looking around, she noticed a hammer lying near her father’s decapitated body. He often carried it when repairing fences or furniture.

…Perhaps this time, he had picked it up to resist the monster.

Rosha picked up the hammer with trembling hands.

If she encountered the monster again, she would resist with this hammer.

With the hammer gripped tightly in her quivering hands, she slowly moved forward, ready to strike the monster at any moment.

“Li…Lily…?”

She was too scared of the monster being nearby to even raise her voice. Even just saying her sister’s name made her voice shake violently.

“Lily……”

Rosha flung open the door as if to smash it, her hands trembling incessantly. But Lily wasn’t in her parents’ room.

Lily had sometimes slept in her parents’ room or shared a room with Rosha. Unsure, Rosha went upstairs to her own room.

“Lily…?”

But Lily wasn’t there either. Rosha turned toward Dain’s room.

Then…

…sniffle.

She heard the faint sound of someone swallowing their tears.

“…Lily.”

Rosha hurried to the wardrobe and opened it. Apart from clothes belonging to herself and Lily, there was nothing.

‘Could it be…?’

Rosha cautiously bent her knees and leaned down to look under the bed.

“Hu, hub….”

“Lily…!”

There she was.

“Ugh, aah! No!”

Even after seeing Rosha’s face, Lily screamed and flailed her hands.

“Lily! It’s me! Rosha Lewen, your sister!”

Rosha held Lily’s wrists firmly, trying to calm her down. Only then did Lily finally recognize her.

“…S-si…ster…?”

“Yes. It’s me, Lily.”

Rosha pulled Lily from under the bed. The little girl buried herself in her sister’s arms and began to cry.

“Huaaah……”

Rosha hugged her sister tightly, as if her bones might crush, trying to steady her own trembling body. But she couldn’t stop her hands from shaking as she patted Lily.

“Lily, what happened? That monster, what…?”

“I-I don’t know… I heard a loud noise outside, and I left the room… sniff….”

“……”

“My father swung the hammer, and told me to h-hide, sob… I hid, but I could hear my brother’s vo-voice below, huff… I was too scared to go out, so I kept….”

Though Lily’s breathless, stammering words required effort to understand, Rosha grasped their meaning.

By the time Lily peeked downstairs after hearing the noise, the monster had already broken in and attacked their parents. Lily had hidden again, and at that moment Dain must have returned home…

Goosebumps ran up Rosha’s hands to her neck.

‘If I hadn’t gone back home instead of looking for Polly…’

It would have been me who died.

And yet, the emotion she felt at that moment was, surprisingly, relief.

“Ugh….”

Realizing her own feelings made her feel sick. How could she feel that way, leaving her dead family behind?

Rosha pressed her face against her sister’s shoulder, holding back the nausea, then gently pulled her sister out.

“Let’s go to the village first. You can walk, right?”

“Mhm…”

Lily nodded, looking up at Rosha. Rosha gathered herself, trying to steady her trembling body as she helped her sister stand.

Then—

“Si-ster…”

Lily’s gaze, looking at Rosha, subtly shifted. Her trembling eyes weren’t on Rosha’s face, but over her shoulder.

That’s when Rosha felt it—the cold creeping from behind.

At the edge of her vision, where she turned, was the Lamia, its forked tongue flicking.

“Ah, ah, ah…….”

She couldn’t scream; her lips wouldn’t move. Rosha hugged her sister tightly.

Craaaack!

The monster’s brutish hand grabbed the heads of the two young sisters.

“Aaaah!”

The scream finally burst out.

“No, Lily!”

“Sister!”

Rosha pulled her sister closer, trying not to let go. The more she resisted, the sharper the claws dug in. Her nails left marks on Lily’s shoulders, the marks of a sister trying to protect her sibling.

[Who… should we eat first…?]

The Lamia’s grip tightened further, and Rosha ultimately lost hold of her sister. The monster lifted Lily with a cruel grin.

[The most… tender… meat… first…]

“Let go of my sister!”

The monster opened its jaws wide, holding Lily by the hair.

“…Sis… save me…”

The barely audible, fragile voice pierced Rosha’s ears.

But Rosha was powerless. Being weak meant she couldn’t protect anything. She could only watch as the monster brought its teeth close to her sister’s pale stomach.

Just like the other cattle had watched as her father sold the old cow, powerless.

Just like the chickens in the coop had watched her father slit the neck of another chicken.

In this moment, Rosha and Lily were now the monster’s livestock.

“Lily!”

Rosha reached out, but her fingers only brushed the soles of her sister’s feet.

Just as the monster’s sharp teeth grazed Lily’s stomach—

Grr! Grrr!

A dog barked from somewhere. Lamia lifted its face from Lily’s belly, turning.

[Kerrrrek!]

A puppy with white fur and black spots jumped, biting Lamia’s face.

“Polly!”

The dog that had run away had returned.

Because Polly clamped its mouth on the monster’s face, Lily fell free.

With a thud, Rosha picked up Lily immediately, without even a moment to ask if she was okay.

“Get up quickly, Lily! We have to run! Now!”

Holding her sister’s hand, Rosha boldly stepped on the monster’s scales and ran past the doorway.

The two young sisters ran down the stairs and out of the house.

“Sister! What about Polly?!”

Lily ran down the hill, worried about Polly.

Polly must have sensed what was happening in the house through instinct. That’s why she didn’t want to go home.

Yet the dog that had been afraid had returned.

‘…To save us.’

Though an animal, Polly was family. From the time their mother brought her home as a puppy, she had been like a sibling, sometimes a friend.

But Rosha didn’t have the courage to go back for Polly.

She just held Lily’s hand and ran. She couldn’t gently help Lily up after multiple stumbles; she practically dragged her along.

Yip-yip!

From a distance, the sound of a dog barking echoed from the house.