Chapter 80: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (1)

[7. There are still no definite investigation results regarding the entity referred to as ‘Grandma’ within this ghost story as a singularity. It is recommended that you avoid approaching her whenever possible.]

Offered to the wolves.

Bitten by wolves.

Turning into wolves.

Eating wolves.

All the evidence and clues they had found here revolved around things like that.

The things called wolves seemed to be objects of fear, yet at the same time, they were also treated like a kind of livestock to be exploited.

But in the end, every one of those wolves was something that had once been human, just like them.

Just what were wolves to the survivors of this city?

“Besides, this is ultimately a ghost story based on Little Red Riding Hood.”

The story that formed the foundation of the ghost story.

Every ghost story had rules that arose from that foundation.

And the desires and urges of its major characters, in particular, were even more deeply rooted in the original story.

“In the end, that fairy tale is a story where the wolf is the villain, right?”

And then there was the wolf’s first victim in the fairy tale, as well as the person the wolf disguised itself as.

“Grandma is still bothering you, isn’t she?”

Hwi-yeon cut into Su-myeon’s explanation.

She was right.

Every ghost story they had encountered so far had possessed a master.

“She’s also an especially unusual presence here. It’s strange.”

Grandma possessed an oddly large amount of influence.

There were wolves among the other characters, of course.

But there were far too many of them to identify any single one as the master of the ghost story.

Besides, they were humans who had lost their sense of self and become monsters.

They did not seem capable of controlling or coordinating anything.

“...If we’re talking about a main character, shouldn’t Little Red Riding Hood be here?”

Han-su tilted his head at Hwi-yeon’s words and asked in return.

The grandmother from the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood.

She was merely a minor character who lived alone in an isolated place and was swallowed whole by the wolf.

Did she truly possess enough desire and narrative justification to become the master of this story?

“I’ll go meet her first.”

Since it did not seem like they would reach any conclusion like this, Su-myeon rose from his seat.

But he soon froze when he noticed Han-su staring directly at him.

In a situation like this, going alone might actually be safer.

While he investigated Grandma, the other two could search for the exit, and a single person would probably put her less on guard than three.

Dozens of reasons why he should go alone sprang into Su-myeon’s mind, but he quietly shifted his eyes aside.

In the face of the intense gaze of an active-duty detective, he had no choice but to meekly surrender.

“......Together. Together. Let’s go together.”

***

“Oh, you came...? Goodness, why would you bother wasting your time talking to an old woman again.......”

The old woman opened the door with slightly trembling hands and looked delighted when she saw the three young people standing outside.

Even then, she fussed about how they were going through unnecessary trouble, making her seem exactly like an ordinary elderly neighborhood grandmother.

“Come in, sit down. Sit. Have you eaten?”

An ordinary grandmother who was happy to have young people visiting, but awkward at expressing it.

At the sight, Su-myeon and the others exchanged strange looks.

“Ah, yes. We ate. Have you eaten, Grandma?”

Su-myeon replied awkwardly as he stepped inside.

The woman, who had no name and was simply called ‘Grandma,’ busily rummaged around the kitchen as if desperate to bring them something.

Suspecting an old woman like this and having to search for something suspicious about her was a plan that made Su-myeon feel far guiltier than he had expected.

“Do you always live alone?”

“That’s right....... What young person would want to live alongside some old stranger?”

She chuckled as though it were nothing.

Growing increasingly uncomfortable, Su-myeon looked around the living room.

Like the woodcutter’s house, there were modern camping supplies here and there, such as a burner and a kettle.

But aside from those, everything else consisted entirely of primitive items carved from wood.

Even the lap blanket had grown old and badly frayed over the years, leaving it in miserable condition.

“Have some of this, at least.”

Apparently thinking of it as a substitute for fruit, she brought out a peeled white radish.

It was difficult to put anything into their mouths while they were suspicious of Grandma.

Su-myeon stopped Hwi-yeon before she could decline and said,

“Then, I’ll just use the bathroom for a moment.... I want to wash my hands.”

“Mm-hm, sure.”

Su-myeon rose naturally, gave the other two a meaningful glance, and headed deeper into the house.

Apparently understanding his intention, Hwi-yeon awkwardly tried to keep Grandma’s attention.

“Do you... take care of the house by yourself?”

“That’s right, well.......”

Listening to Hwi-yeon and Grandma talking, Su-myeon cautiously began searching the house.

It was a small place consisting only of a living room, a bathroom, and a single bedroom.

Even the bedroom contained nothing more than two old blankets and a neck pillow.

The windows were small, and the wooden shutters were closed, leaving the interior dark and filled with a strangely damp smell.

Naturally, there were no electric lights, nor even candles or torches.

The layout also made it difficult to rummage through things without being obvious, so Su-myeon returned having found almost nothing.

“Things have gotten easier to live with now that there are more young people around.... Goodness, back in the old days....”

It seemed Hwi-yeon and Han-su had not managed to draw out anything particularly useful in the meantime, either.

Watching Grandma shake her head as she talked about the past, Su-myeon suddenly asked,

“But Grandma, your house is pretty dark. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a fireplace or something in the living room?”

A few small wooden windows had been opened, but there was only so much light they could let in.

He could even see light leaking through gaps in the wooden walls.

The inside was quite dark.

“The whole house is made of wood. No need to start a fire inside.”

If they were gathering materials from nature anyway, couldn’t they simply build the place for a fire out of stone?

From what he had seen on the way in, she seemed to cook by lighting a fire on the sandy ground beside the house.

“If that’s the problem, you could make the place for the fire out of stone....”

“I don’t want to.”

Grandma’s tone, which had remained slow and easygoing the entire time, changed.

It lasted for only an instant.

After cutting him off with a rejection as sharp as a knife, Grandma immediately chuckled again and smiled.

“Oh dear, oh dear. Look at my memory. Right. I had chestnuts. Would you like some of those too?”

Grandma suddenly became flustered, even clapping her hands as she rose from her seat.

Watching her turn around and head toward the place where she stored food, Su-myeon carefully covered his right eye.

The Cyclops Contact Lens that revealed the truth.

That same unidentified dark substance was still wrapped around the old woman....

“.......”

Su-myeon swallowed dryly at what he saw for an instant.

Just now... what was that...?

“No. Maybe because today was our first time doing logging work, we’re pretty tired.”

His tone came out awkward, but there was nothing he could do about it.

At Su-myeon’s voice, the old woman turned back around to face them.

An old woman with deeply etched wrinkles and thin, sagging skin worn by age.

Why did her kindly, gentle smile and all those signs of passing years feel so ominous?

When Su-myeon hurriedly began gathering himself to leave, Han-su and Hwi-yeon rose from their seats as well, caught off guard.

***

Seung-min trudged down the mountain with a heavy expression.

The city stood in a comfortable area nestled between two large hills, with a small lake between them.

The two hills were divided between the logging site and Grandma’s residence.

Today, he had visited both places and spent a long time wandering around the surrounding area as well.

Thanks to that, the soles of his feet hurt quite a bit inside his worn shoes.

Thinking that he felt especially tired today, Seung-min stopped for a moment in front of his house.

“.......”

He was a man with a wife and son.

A beloved wife and a nine-year-old son he treasured more than anything.

“......Haa.”

But instead of feeling joy at returning home, he lingered outside the door for a long time, burdened by worry and sighs, before finally opening it and stepping inside.

He heard his wife’s footsteps coming from the kitchen as she eagerly came out to greet him.

At the sound, Seung-min involuntarily flinched and stopped walking.

“Honey, what did Grandma say?”

Not Welcome home? Or, You worked hard again today.

It was not one of those ordinary greetings.

“Just Mr. Jang wasn’t enough after all, was he?”

A pale, smooth complexion and a pretty face with pronounced double eyelids.

There had once been a time when he loved only her and she had been his entire world.

A life spent beside her, watching that still beautiful face grow older.

There had been days when he believed that alone meant he possessed the entire world.

But.

“Does she think those new guys who came in this time will be enough to satisfy Him?”

Those pitch-black eyes gleaming with madness.

Looking into those eyes, Seung-min could no longer dream the same dreams he once had.

Maybe, instead.

It might have been better if we hadn’t stayed together.

Forcing that thought back down, he gave a flat reply.

“I don’t really know.”

“Well, it’s not like He’s satisfied just because there are a lot of people. I really can’t understand what standard He uses or what His will is.”

His wife tilted her head thoughtfully, looking adorable.

And because of that, Seung-min swallowed dryly and took half a step backward.

This bizarre village worshipped a god.

Not the kind of god they had believed in back in reality, like Jesus or Buddha.

The being they called ‘Him’ was probably a real entity that was still watching them from somewhere not far away.

He periodically coveted humans, biting and tearing at them until they became something similar to Himself.

But as long as they offered living people to Him and everyone simply continued living without anyone dying or killing anyone.

He was the kind of absolute being who left them alone.

The apex predator who allowed them to continue existing safely and peacefully in this world.

They lived while worshipping that thing as both their god and their king.

“Then there’s nothing we can do. We’ll just have to keep offering sacrifices until He’s completely satisfied.”

“......Yeah.”

But could this truly be called a peaceful life?

Seung-min often found himself wondering that.

“Dad. You’re home?”

But Seung-min stopped thinking when he saw his son emerging from inside, rubbing sleepy eyes.

A child who looked exactly like both his wife and himself.

An obedient boy who had never caused even the ordinary kinds of trouble, and the first child ever born in this city.

As Seung-min silently stared at his son, Hye-won hugged him tightly.

“It’s okay. Our son will be safe. Forever.”

As Hye-won whispered calmly into his ear, chills ran down Seung-min’s spine.

As the head of this family, he had to protect her and their son.

So that they would not die.

They would keep expanding the city, increasing the number of people, and offer some of them as sacrifices.

At least if ‘we’ were the ones taking charge of it.

‘There’s no chance we’ll become sacrifices.’

They only needed to sacrifice a small number so that everyone else could live happily and peacefully.

Yet the question kept forcing its way back into his mind.

Was this really the right way?

Everything they had done, to the point that now even their son had become an implicit accomplice.

‘Is this really right?’

Seung-min bit his lip hard.

There had probably been a time when he dreamed of returning to reality.

But now, could they really raise their son well in that fiercely competitive society?

After spending the past ten years without any kind of social activity, what could either of them possibly do in reality?

How would they explain a child whose birth had never even been registered?

And even if they registered him now, would they have to send a child already over nine years old to the first grade of elementary school?

Would he be bullied? Would he begin from the very start in the position of a loser?

‘But it’s different here.’

Seung-min and Hye-won were founding members of this city.

Because they knew so much, they effectively held some of the highest authority here.

By the standards of this place, they could raise their son without him lacking anything compared to anyone else.

That was why he had to preserve this life.

And if possible, before they grew too attached, it would be better to cut away those who were of little use to their community first.......

‘......That must be the right thing to do.’

In the end, Seung-min had no choice but to repeat it to himself as though brainwashing himself.

Even so, all he could do was chew up and swallow that indescribable feeling that refused to disappear.......

“......I’m going back out for a bit.”

Still carrying emotions he could not sort out at all, Seung-min immediately left the house again.