The life-or-death situation came too suddenly—so suddenly that neither of them had seen it coming. They were trapped in a bizarre village, surrounded by strange women wearing fox masks.
While Dao was being held hostage, Hasuko's tanto pressed against her throat. The blade nicked her skin, drawing a thin line of fresh blood. Dao winced in pain, letting out only a few weak, breathless sounds.
Seeing that, Mina's fury only grew stronger. She tightened her grip on the gun, aimed it straight at Hasuko, and shouted,
"Let her go! Or I'll blow your fucking head off!"
Hasuko ground her teeth and sneered, tightening her hold around Dao.
"You wouldn't dare."
The moment she finished speaking, the women surrounding Mina raised their swords and sharpened spears, closing in on her.
Mina froze in shock. How did it come to this?
They had mentioned Shana's name earlier—were these people hers?
The thought ignited something violent inside her. Mina refused to be seen in such a helpless state—especially not by Shana. She couldn't stand the idea of Shana enjoying this.
When Hasuko noticed the raw anger burning across Mina's beautiful face, she felt a twisted thrill. Perhaps that pleasure was what made her careless.
Suddenly—
Dao lifted her leg and slammed a powerful backward kick into Hasuko.
The force made Hasuko instinctively loosen her grip, releasing Dao completely. Everyone froze.
Hasuko stared at her in disbelief. Even though the kick hadn't truly hurt her, the fact that a mere human dared to strike her was infuriating.
"Bitch! How dare you!"
She roared, baring her fangs. Her eyes gleamed like a predator about to pounce.
"Dao!"
Dao hurried back to Mina's side, raising her guard instinctively. Her face was flushed—half shocked, half terrified by what she'd just done. She muttered under her breath,
"Guess… those kickfit classes actually paid off…"
Hasuko snarled, her teeth clenched. Taking advantage of the moment they let their guard down, she lunged forward at terrifying speed.
Dao didn't even have time to blink before Hasuko seized her wrist.
"Don't celebrate too early, human! I'll devour you—chew you down to the very bo—!"
Bang.
A gunshot rang out.
Haru's eyes widened in horror as she saw Hasuko's head explode under Mina's perfectly aimed shot.
Right before Dao's eyes, blood and gore splattered across her face. She screamed, panicking, and shoved Hasuko's now headless body away from her.
"Mina!? You—?!"
But Mina—the one who pulled the trigger—stood unnervingly calm. Cold. Collected.
The shock rippled through the crowd. The women screamed in rage, swinging their weapons toward Mina.
"Stop."
Haru's voice cut through everything. The entire village—including Mina—froze. Haru's expression was eerily calm, though the slight frown as she glanced at Hasuko's corpse showed her displeasure.
Mina spun around, raising her gun again—but in a flash, Haru struck her wrist with a swift, precise chop. The gun flew from Mina's hand and clattered to the ground.
"Ah!"
Mina cried out in pain as Haru seized her arm, yanking her close. Haru leaned in, whispering with icy blue eyes locked onto Mina.
"…Playtime's over. If you keep making this much noise, you might alert Miss Duyen."
At the sound of Duyen's name, Mina's eyes snapped wide open. She struggled violently, growling, but Haru's grip didn't budge. Mina looked like nothing more than a paper doll in Haru's grasp.
She's not human. That strength—it was monstrous.
"So now you admit you know her?" Mina spat.
Haru merely smirked.
"Whether I know her or not… does it really matter? Lady Duyen will soon be marrying Lady Shigonami."
The words hit Mina like a death sentence. Her heart felt like it stopped beating.
"…W-What… did you just say…?"
Haru's smile widened as she released Mina. The self-satisfied look crushed Mina completely. She shoved Haru with all her strength, screaming hysterically,
"No! That's impossible! She'd never marry Shana! Never!"
Haru looked at her coldly.
"It will happen. And she's doing it willingly."
Willingly?
What kind of sick joke was that?
Mina shook her head violently, clutching it in denial. Her chest felt like it was being stabbed by millions of blades—pain worse than death itself. She snapped.
"No! You're lying! She would never choose Shana! This is all a lie—A LIE! I have to see her myself! I have to hear it from her! DUYEN!"
She screamed Duyen's name at the top of her lungs.
"DUYEN! IT'S MINA! I'M HERE TO SAVE Y—!"
Smack.
Haru slapped her hard across the face. The impact sent Mina stumbling to the ground, disoriented. Haru muttered coldly,
"Perhaps I should cut out your tongue…"
Seeing Mina fall, Dao snapped out of her shock and rushed to her side.
"Mina! Are you okay!?"
Blood trickled from Mina's lips as she coughed.
"I'm fine… damn it… we have to see Duyen…"
She glared at Haru with blazing hatred. Haru laughed, surprised by Mina's stubbornness.
"It seems surviving the forest made you arrogant. You should remember—here, you're nothing but insects we can crush at will. Sparing you this long is already mercy."
Before she finished—Hasuko's headless body began to shake violently.
Mina and Dao turned around in horror. From the mangled neck, lumps of flesh erupted—twisting, writhing—until the body stood upright again, as if nothing had happened.
Dao's lips trembled.
Before their eyes, Hasuko regenerated an entirely new head—perfectly intact. The only trace of what happened was the dried blood clinging to her hair.
"Fuck," Hasuko muttered, brushing her wet hair back with a confident grin.
"She really is noisy, isn't she, Haru?"
That was when Dao finally collapsed—passing out on the spot.
"Dao!"
Mina caught her in panic, but she was completely unconscious.
Hasuko shrugged.
"Oof, weak nerves."
One surprise after another—it was no wonder Dao's mind had overloaded.
Hasuko, freshly returned from death, stepped past them casually.
"So, what do we do with them?"
Haru gazed down at the two women beneath her with emotionless eyes. Blue light flickered within them.
"Killing them now would be wasteful. Lady Shigonami's upcoming wedding needs offerings—meat, wine… Prepare them. Clean them. When the time comes, we'll serve their flesh at the feast for the new bride."
Mina stared at them in disbelief.
"…What did you just say?"
Haru and Hasuko laughed darkly.
"You're too thin—barely any meat!" Hasuko sneered. "Or would you prefer to live long enough to see Duyen become one of us?"
"What!?" Mina's eyes burned. "Become… you?"
Rage and jealousy exploded inside her. She lunged at Haru, but two fox-masked women restrained her.
"You bastards! What have you done to Duyen!? Don't touch her! I forbid it!" She screamed, kicking wildly.
Haru and Hasuko savored her cries like music.
"…Yes. And perhaps one day, Miss Duyen will enjoy devouring you herself. Just thinking about it makes me look forward to it."
She turned to the others.
"Sisters! Take these two humans. Wash them clean. Starve them for a few days so they won't taint the ceremony. We'll wait for the joyous wedding of our two ladies."
The women raised their weapons and cheered. Drums and horns erupted—loud, celebratory, like the start of a grand festival.
Only Mina stood frozen, completely hollow. She didn't resist as they bound them both.
Her lips trembled as she whispered,
"Duyen… no… it can't be…"
The music continued as dusk fell over the cold, fog-shrouded land. A brown falcon flew overhead, let out a soft cry, then beat its wings and vanished into the fading sky.
---
Yu's hand trembled as she gripped the strange sword.
Its blade was tinged with a corroded, rusted green, yet it radiated an unnervingly sharp presence. Strange patterns ran along the blade—symbols like an incomprehensible script—and the hilt itself was shaped like a serpent coiling around the hand. The snake's head, carved in deep black, was so exquisitely detailed it almost looked alive, as if it might move at any moment.
Before Yu lay the corpse of a massive, grotesque monster. Its body was covered in pure white fur, but its head—twisted and horrifying—was that of a woman. That single slash moments ago had truly killed it, in a way Yu herself couldn't explain.
"What the hell is going on…? That monster… and that sword…?"
Nayeon murmured in shock, her gaze shifting between the creature collapsed on the ground—black, viscous fluid seeping from its body—and the weapon trembling in Yu's hand.
Suddenly, a pain unlike anything she had ever felt exploded inside Yu's head. It was as if millions of ants were crawling violently into the bones of her right arm. Her face twisted in agony, and she collapsed to her knees.
"Yu!? What's wrong!?" Nayeon rushed to her side in panic.
That was when she saw it—the serpent carved into the sword began to move. It slithered along the blade, then slid toward Yu's fingers, shrinking and coiling itself into the shape of a ring wrapped tightly around her finger. At the same time, the sword reverted into an ordinary knife.
"Ah!"
Yu cried out, finally letting go. The knife fell to the ground with a dull clatter, as if sulking at being rejected by its owner.
"This is… really strange. But Yu—are you okay?"
Cold sweat streamed down Yu's forehead. Her face was usually expressionless, but even now it was obvious she was enduring a sharp, lingering pain in her arm.
Still, Yu shook her head.
"Nayeon… I'm fine."
Nayeon didn't buy it.
"Fine? How is that 'fine'!? Why did you suddenly rush forward like that earlier!? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was!?"
Her voice cracked, and she was on the verge of tears.
"And anyway… how did you manage to kill that thing all by yourself?"
Yu shook her head again.
"I don't know… When I held that knife, something changed. I couldn't control it…"
From the way Yu struggled to explain, Nayeon knew she truly didn't understand what had just happened either.
And yet—Nayeon had seen it with her own eyes.
Yu had swung the sword wildly, slashing the monster over and over again, her eyes glowing with a lethal green light. So feral, so merciless, that Nayeon hadn't even been able to recognize her.
It was as if there was only one word reflected in Yu's eyes at that moment:
Kill.
Cold. Absolute.
There was no point pressing Yu about it now. The white-haired girl already carried more mysteries than Nayeon could possibly comprehend.
Yu opened her palm and stared at the serpent ring wrapped around her finger. Now, it looked no different from an ordinary ring, resting on her still-trembling hand.
What had really happened just now?
Why had the ring… and that knife…?
Yu glanced at the blade on the ground. It was just a normal dagger—one Dali had used to cut mackerel, then casually given to her. So many questions, none with answers. Still, she silently thanked it—for protecting her earlier.
And that strange sword…
Suddenly, the massive corpse before them began to dissolve, fading away as if it had never existed at all.
Perhaps it was truly dead. Or perhaps not. They had no way of knowing.
Yu quickly picked up the knife and strapped it back to her belt.
"What should we do now?"
Nayeon asked anxiously, looking around.
"Dao and Mina have disappeared too…"
Even though the fog had thinned, it was clear they had been separated from the other two.
Yu scanned their surroundings, her expression once again calm, her voice flattening into its usual, almost robotic tone as she regained composure.
"They're no longer in the forest."
"Huh?" Nayeon turned to her in surprise. "How do you know that? How can you be so sure?"
"I don't know, Nayeon," Yu replied quietly. "But I'm certain."
Maybe ever since she had wielded that sword… something inside her had changed. Yu thought so to herself.
"Then where do we go now?" Nayeon said, her voice trembling. "I'm really worried about them."
Yu gently raised her hand and pointed forward.
"That way."
Nayeon blinked.
"That direction? Are you sure?"
Yu nodded once, then turned to Nayeon, her gaze firm.
"If anything happens, I'll protect you."
Hearing those words delivered with such a serious, unchanging expression almost made Nayeon laugh.
"Oh, give me a break," she said.
"I don't want to run into another freakish monster. But fine—we'll go the way you say. It's not like we have anything left to lose, right?"
And so, the two of them moved forward together in the direction Yu had indicated. The pine forest gradually became clearer than ever before. It was silent—eerily so. There wasn't a single living creature in sight. Even monsters like the one they had just fought failed to appear.
They eventually emerged from the forest and arrived at a hilltop where a broken windmill stood, its blades shattered, beside an ancient well abandoned and buried under layers of snow.
From this vantage point, they could see everything ahead.
Nayeon froze, unable to believe her eyes.
Dozens of meters below them lay a massive village—rows upon rows of tightly packed houses, bustling with life, towering steam vents rising into the air. Loud, rhythmic music thumped so powerfully it could be heard even from where they stood.
And among it all rose a strange, Japanese-style shrine, gleaming entirely in gold.
"This is…"
Nayeon whispered.
"Is this where we're supposed to go?"