GDWY 03

Chapter 03

It was a sound closer to a scream than a cry.

“Haa… Haa…”

The hurried footsteps came to an automatic stop.

Probably, it was Polly…

“Let’s go, Lily!”

The pause was brief. Rosha grabbed Lily’s hand again and pulled her downward. Lily’s knees, which had repeatedly fallen, were covered in bruises and scrapes.

If Polly were dead, that monster would have chased here very soon as well.

So they had to hurry.

“Lily, we have to hurry… Aah!”

Rosha turned back to check on Lily, still young and small and unable to move fast, and failed to see the protruding rock ahead. Holding her sister’s wrist tightly, Rosha tumbled down the hill along with Lily.

In the process, one side of Rosha’s braided hair completely came undone. Normally, she would have whined and run to her mother to have it fixed again, but this situation was different. When survival was at stake, Rosha didn’t care about her hairstyle.

“Lily! Are you okay?”

“U-uh… I’m okay!”

Lily bravely got up and approached Rosha, reaching out her hand. But Rosha couldn’t rely on her smaller sister for support. She tried to get up herself, using her hands on the ground for leverage.

“Ugh…”

“Unni…?”

One leg, however, was a problem. Whenever she tried to step on the ground, immense pain shot through her. It seemed she had sprained her ankle.

‘I want to live…’

She tried to get up. After exerting all her strength, she managed to stand on the ground, sweating from the effort. But the next problem was walking.

“Ah…!”

“Unni, are you okay?!”

She couldn’t bear to take a single step on the sprained foot and collapsed.

This was impossible. Not only could she not escape with her sister, but her presence would put Lily in danger as well.

Rosha knew what she had to do at that moment.

‘I’m scared…’

But she was afraid. She didn’t want to be left alone. She wanted Lily by her side.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“…Lily.”

“I’ll carry you!”

Her younger sister, even smaller than her, bent her knees and offered her back. Rosha, who would have struggled carrying Lily herself, couldn’t believe Lily wanted to carry her down…

It was impossible.

“Lily…”

“Unni…?”

From the moment Lily was born, their parents had endlessly told Rosha that now she was the older sister, she had to protect her sibling. She had to be responsible, care for her, and watch over her.

Rosha had always hated those words.

She resented her parents for forcing her, and she resented the younger sister for taking away the love she felt she deserved. At times, she wished she could go back to a time when Lily didn’t exist.

Yet strangely, the very words she had hated so much now felt painfully vital when facing her sister in danger.

“Lily, I’m sorry…”

“Unni, what’s wrong…”

“When you wanted to play together, ugh! When I went out without you… not letting you play with my dolls… sniff… I’m sorry…”

Even though she secretly knew that Lily just wanted to play with her, and that Lily tried to get attention while she and her brother were at school, why had she acted like that?

“Ugh…”

Rosha’s sorrowful crying seemed to trigger Lily, who started crying as well.

“No, it’s me who’s more sorry… for wanting your things, going out without you, telling mom… sniff, ugh…”

“Lily…”

“Go with me… I don’t want to go alone…!”

Lily seemed to anticipate what Rosha was about to say. Rosha wanted, if she survived, to be a good older sister from now on. But she couldn’t grant Lily’s request now.

“I… can’t go with you…”

“No, let’s go together! We can go together!”

“Go down to the village first. Tell the adults, and they’ll help somehow.”

“I can carry you! I’m really strong! Come on, unni, let’s go!”

“Stop being stubborn!”

Rosha had no choice but to get angry.

“If you stay by my side, I can’t do anything.”

“But…”

“Don’t think I’m abandoning you. You’re going down to get the adults’ help. Got it?”

“…”

“…Go now.”

“Unni…”

“I said go first!”

Finally, Lily, tears streaming down her face, turned away and hurried down the hill.

“I… I’ll bring the adults for sure!”

Rosha couldn’t take her eyes off Lily’s retreating figure.

Lily, I’m sorry.

I lied.

By the time you bring the adults… I might…

‘No, I can survive.’

As her heart wavered, Rosha steadied herself.

I can survive. I’ll survive. Even for Lily.

Rosha turned back. On the hill above, Lamia looked down at her, holding Polly’s severed head.

Even from afar, the lifeless eyes of Polly seemed vivid, and Rosha struggled to suppress her grief. Yet she averted her gaze from Polly and looked down. Thankfully, Lily had reached the village entrance. At that point, she could soon alert the villagers.

She just had to hold on until then.

“Ugh…!”

Rosha crawled on her hands and knees over the cold dirt, unable to use her injured ankle. She had to escape from Lamia. But in this open area, there was nowhere to hide.

Terrified, she looked back while fleeing. Lamia, massive in size, moved clearly even in the darkness.

The giant serpent slid down the hill with startling speed.

“Ugh, aaah!”

Lamia, which had seemed only as small as a finger, now appeared as large as a hand in an instant. The closer Lamia got, the greater Rosha’s fear.

Scraping her knees and getting dirt on her hands didn’t matter. Rosha crawled desperately, but to Lamia, she probably looked as slow as an ant.

〔Little… children’s flesh, so… fresh…〕

“Ah, ugh!”

〔Blood… dripping…〕

Lamia’s grip reached Rosha’s sprained ankle. Rosha screamed in pain but held on. She clutched at grass and dirt, but it did nothing.

“Let go! I said let go!”

Rosha scratched Lamia’s scales with her nails, resisting, but the more she struggled, the more Lamia delighted.

The serpent coiled around her long body, wrapping Rosha tightly.

“No! Let go!”

Lamia’s coils squeezed tighter. Rosha’s hands gradually lost strength; she couldn’t scream, she couldn’t breathe.

“Huh… ugh… ack!”

As her ribs crushed, her body twitched in brief spasms.

Crack, crack…

She helplessly heard her ribs break. Breathing was a struggle; only faint breaths escaped. Saliva dripped from her parted lips.

Only after becoming completely powerless did Lamia loosen her coils slightly, still holding Rosha with her upper body. A white hand, human-like, lifted Rosha’s torso. Lamia licked and buried her face in Rosha’s navel.

It would have been better if she were dead, but Rosha was still alive.

She could feel Lamia’s fangs piercing her flesh and biting into her stomach.

The girl’s blood soaked her young body, wrapped by the serpent.

‘Mother, Father…’

The last time she had seen their bodies…

‘Hyun…’

Dain, shouting for her to escape even as he died…

‘Lily…’

Lily, I hope only you survive.

Now, she could see nothing—neither the monster Lamia, nor the pasture, nor the hill’s grass.

Rosha just lay in the darkness. Yet at the edge of that darkness, pure white light seeped in.

It was dazzling, almost impossible to look at, but Rosha didn’t close her eyes. She faced the light, which gradually grew larger.

『Child.』

A voice, neither clearly male nor female, spoke.

Who… are you?

『Do you want to live?』

The face remained unseen, the voice obscured the gender. But Rosha, staring unblinking at the light, felt divinity for the first time.

She realized this was her chance. Just as Dain had shouted for her to escape with all his strength, Rosha reached out with all her strength.

I want to live! Please save me…!

In the white light, pure white eyes fell like light itself. Feeling something brush against her cheek, Rosha realized it was a pure white wing falling over her body.

Are you an angel? Or a god?

Rosha’s whispered question, unsure if it even came from her, was answered.

『I am your father and mother, salvation and calamity, light and darkness.』

Amidst countless falling white feathers, the god reached out a hand.

『If you are saved by me, you will become light and face darkness. Will you still take my hand?』

The god warned that survival came at a great cost.

But could there be a higher price than death? On the brink of exhaustion, Rosha grasped the god’s hand that touched her fingertips.

Light flowed down through the god’s hand into her body.

Instantly, a new pain struck.

Ah, aaah! It hurts! It’s agony! Painful! It hurts! It hurts! I hate it! Hot! Difficult! Painful! Father, Mother! Save me! It hurts! I said it hurts!

The pain spread through Rosha’s entire body—from fingertips to toes, to the tips of her hair.

“Ahhh!”

Her brown hair and eyes gradually glowed with bright light.

A color no ordinary human could possess.

When all the pain ended, Rosha awoke on the blood-stained hill.

She was dazed. No thoughts came. Yet even so, her eyes searched for Lamia.

Though invisible to human eyes, the new sense granted by the god guided her toward Lamia.

Her unfocused gaze turned toward the village below the hill.

What happened next lingered like a hazy afterimage.

Dry, emotionless memories, as if peeking into someone else’s experiences.

Yet she remembered the important things.

The villagers slaughtered by Lamia, the children’s flesh eaten, the moment she confronted the feeding Lamia…

And even how Lamia’s neck flew at her command.