Around the time dusk crept in through the window, the hands disappeared. The sleep paralysis lifted too. As his body became free, his suppressed breath surged up and coughs burst out. Yugeon clutched his chest and coughed violently. It felt like his lungs were tearing. He gasped for breath, and wheezing sounds leaked out. A fishy metallic taste circulated in his mouth, but no blood came out.
Panting as he sat up, Yugeon felt sharp pain in his chest and went to the bathroom to lift his shirt in front of the mirror. Bright red nail marks were carved all over his chest.
Yugeon stared at his chest with a pale face before collapsing on the spot.
“Even the cross is utterly useless…”
He thought perhaps he needed a talisman after all. Until the talisman burned, nothing like this had happened. Yugeon left the bathroom and called his father. He planned to urge him to send a talisman quickly, at least. But again, the call wouldn’t connect.
He was furious to the top of his head. What had he done so wrong to be ignored like this? Yugeon almost threw his phone in anger but barely calmed himself and sent a text asking him to send a talisman quickly.
After sending the text, while waiting for a possible reply, he felt sharp pain in his lower abdomen.
“Ugh!”
Yugeon clutched his belly and curled up. It felt like something was wriggling inside his stomach.
“What, this… is…?”
It hurt so much that not even a scream came out. Barely, groan-like words leaked out sporadically through his gritted teeth. As he was writhing like that, he felt vibration in his hand. Yugeon barely raised his eyes to look at his phone. It wasn’t a call—a text had come.
He wondered if it might be his father, but he couldn’t check. His belly hurt so much that nothing registered in his eyes. After clutching his stomach and groaning for a while, the pain slowly began to subside.
His tightly curled body relaxed, and his body that had been rigid with pain went limp. In that brief time, his whole body had become drenched in cold sweat.
Yugeon, who had collapsed on the floor panting, wondered what that had been and touched his lower abdomen, then frowned and sat up to lift his shirt.
“……”
His belly had protruded a bit more.
Staring at his stomach with a serious face, Yugeon remembered the text and picked up his phone.
『You up?』
It was Choi Jacheol, not his father. Yugeon let out a low sigh as if disappointed before sending a reply.
『Yes』
As soon as he sent the reply, a call came in.
“Yes, Ahjussi.”
[Oh, Yugeon. Did you sleep well?]
“Yes… well…”
[…That’s not a very reassuring answer?]
“……”
[Sigh… So what do you want to do today? Want to go to the temple?]
At Choi Jacheol’s question, Yugeon stroked his belly that had protruded a bit more. It seemed like he should try going somewhere.
“Yes. I’d like to go.”
[Really? Then come out to the front of the mart in an hour.]
“What about your work today, Ahjussi?”
[I’m on the afternoon shift today.]
“Ah…”
[See you later then.]
“Okay.”
After hanging up, Yugeon went straight to the bathroom to shower and left the house. Though he was about thirty minutes early for the appointment, the inside of the house felt strangely unpleasant and he wanted to leave quickly.
When he arrived at the mart and entered the parking lot, he saw a familiar car. It was Choi Jacheol’s car. He seemed to have arrived before him. Not seeing him in the driver’s seat, Yugeon looked around and saw Choi Jacheol walking out from inside the mart.
“Ahjussi.”
When Yugeon waved and called out, Choi Jacheol spotted Yugeon and quickly approached with rapid steps.
“You came early?”
“You too, Ahjussi.”
“Ah, I was buying this… Here, take this and get in.”
Choi Jacheol held out bread and milk to Yugeon.
“?”
As Yugeon just looked at Choi Jacheol’s hand with a puzzled face, Choi Jacheol forced the bread and milk into his hands.
“You didn’t eat again, did you? Your face has become half of half.”
“Ah…”
Yugeon fumbled and touched his face.
“Get in and eat.”
“Thank you…”
“What’s there to thank me for. This is all my fault for making you drink that damn snake liquor. It’s hot, right? Get in quickly, I’ll turn on the AC.”
At Choi Jacheol’s actions taking care of him, Yugeon’s nose tingled for no reason as he got in the passenger seat and diligently ate the bread and milk he’d given him. But as soon as they arrived at the temple, he ran into the bathroom and threw it all up.
Having witnessed that scene completely, Choi Jacheol worried that they should have gone to a hospital instead of a temple, but Yugeon vaguely knew it couldn’t be solved medically, so he glossed over it saying he just got carsick and reassured Choi Jacheol.
They barely managed to enter the temple, but there was no particular gain. The monk who saw Yugeon turned pale and fled the spot as if running away. Absurd at the ridiculous situation, Choi Jacheol grabbed the monk’s pant leg and begged him to at least listen, but the monk wouldn’t even make eye contact with Yugeon.
In the end, having returned empty-handed, Choi Jacheol rattled off nothing but curses about the monk throughout the drive back, calling him a fake monk and a fraud. After that, Choi Jacheol began taking Yugeon around to churches and other shamans’ houses, but wherever they went, the results were similar.
At the church, they told him to pray to God, and at the shamans’ houses, they were usually chased out without even setting foot inside, accused of coming to kill someone again. One shaman took one look at Yugeon’s face and chased them out with a knife, telling him to get lost, and they ran away in complete panic.
Having returned home empty-handed again today, Yugeon habitually tried calling his father. But the other party’s voice never answered. Since the last call, there had been no connection at all. At this point, he should rather be worried that something had happened to his father.
Yugeon took off his outer garment and hung it on a hanger before heading to the bathroom. When Yugeon first started wearing the outer garment, Choi Jacheol had wondered why he was wearing it in midsummer. Yugeon had made an excuse that he had a summer cold, but the truth was to hide his increasingly protruding belly.
Yugeon stood in front of the bathroom mirror and lifted his shirt. The belly that had been forming a subtle curve was now drawing a gentle arc. Though it was still at a level where it could be hidden if he tensed his stomach, he was just scared someone might notice.
He couldn’t know the exact reason why his belly was protruding like this, but there was a suspicious part. Embarrassing to say, but Yugeon thought it seemed to be because of the ghost rape. There was no way pregnancy could happen from ghost rape, and even if it were possible, it wouldn’t apply to him as a male, but his belly had started protruding after being ghost raped, and the ghost rape had stopped after his belly started protruding.
He still had dreams of snakes coming out, and even if not ghost rape, he was frequently paralyzed and saw ghosts often, but the cold presence hadn’t come since then.
“Should I consider even that fortunate…”
Yugeon was self-deprecating at the thought that even such a thing was fortunate.
After washing up and checking the time, it was a little past 4 PM. Yugeon sat leaning against the wall, turned on the TV, and raised the volume. Then he called his father once more. The call still wouldn’t connect.
Yugeon put down the phone as if throwing it and lay down on his side as if sliding.
Lying there blankly, just staring at the meaninglessly moving TV screen for a while, thunder rumbled from outside the window. Yugeon raised his eyes to look at the window.
“What thunder? Did they say it would rain today…?”
No sooner had the words ended than the sound of rain began. Yugeon jumped up startled. Rain would pour in, so he had to close the window. He hurried toward the window and reached out his hand, when his vision flashed brightly.
He blanked out for a moment.
Pitch-black sky, lightning striking down, torrential rain, ascending…
“…Huh?”
Yugeon blinked a couple of times. Something seemed about to surface, but he immediately forgot what it was. Standing there blankly, Yugeon quickly came to his senses at the raindrops splashing on his face and closed the window. Then as he turned around to return to where he’d been lying, suddenly all the electricity in the house went out.
Silence rushed into the house that had been bright and noisy.
“What? A blackout?”
Yugeon looked around the room as if flustered. He wondered if lightning had struck the surroundings or the building. Thinking he should check the circuit breaker, he was about to pick up his phone from the floor when his lower abdomen began to hurt as if being torn and squeezed.
“Ugh!”
Yugeon clutched his lower abdomen and collapsed on the floor, curling up. It felt like someone was slashing and gouging out his insides with something sharp. He couldn’t breathe from the terrible pain. Saliva he couldn’t swallow dripped from his wide-open mouth.
In the midst of his intestines feeling like they would tear, something wriggled greatly inside his belly. His vision flickered mercilessly from the pain. He wanted to scream but his throat felt blocked, and his eyes bulged as if they would pop out.
His body tensed up involuntarily. He wanted to cling to anything and searched for something to grab, but there was nothing. His hands curled, and his nails dug into his palms. Yugeon, who had been writhing, eventually clawed mercilessly at the bare floor.
“Ugh, hic… Ahhh, ah…!”
He wanted to at least faint, but his consciousness became even more sensitive and on edge from the sharp pain. In an instant, his whole body was drenched in cold sweat. He was so scared and terrified of what was happening to him.
“Huu, save me… ugh! Please save me, Father… Grandmother…”
Yugeon sobbed calling for people who couldn’t possibly help. But no matter how much he called, they wouldn’t answer, and they wouldn’t appear here right now to help him. Yugeon shed tears from pain and fear, then raised his head to find his phone.
It seemed like something he couldn’t handle alone after all. Though he’d been reluctant about the hospital because it was awkward to explain that his belly started protruding after being ghost raped, it might not be hurting and protruding because of the ghost rape. He might have another illness. He thought he should go to the hospital after all.
Fortunately, the phone was not far away. It was within reach. Yugeon moved as if crawling and reached out his hand. He planned to call 119 with his phone. But the next moment, he had no choice but to curl up again.
Because what had been wriggling inside began pushing down, down below.
“Ahh!”
It felt like his bottom would fall out. He instinctively pushed.
It felt like all the blood in his body was being swept away together. His vision spun round and round. He couldn’t tell whether he was lying on the floor or hanging from the ceiling.
“Huu, ugh! Ahhh!”
Writhing in pain, the moment he got on his knees and bent over, with a bursting scream, something slipped out from inside his body between his legs. That sensation was too shocking. Yugeon panted with dilated pupils, then slowly lowered his gaze. Between his legs on the floor, he saw something slimy and mushy like mucus.
He was still clothed, yet that mucus-like thing had come out from inside his body. As soon as he confirmed that, his eyes rolled back. His body crashed to the floor as if plummeting. Right before his vision went dark, he saw the lights and TV that had gone out from the blackout turn back on.
The floor was buzzing. At the irritating noise and vibration, Yugeon, who had been sleeping, frowned and slowly opened his eyes. Because of his blurry vision, he narrowed his eyes searching for the source of the sound, and soon realized it was his phone vibrating.
‘Why is that ringing…?’
With a dazed mind, Yugeon just stared at the vibrating phone, then as if something came to mind, he bolted upright and checked between his legs. The slimy mucus that had come out from inside him last night was nowhere to be found. Yugeon pressed the floor with a confused face and checked between his legs too, but there was no trace of the mucus having been there, of something having come out from inside him.
It felt exactly like being possessed by something. Or like he’d had a dream. Staring blankly at the empty floor, Yugeon suddenly came to his senses at the still-ringing vibration and picked up his phone.
“!”
It was his father. Yugeon hurriedly pressed the call button as if it might disconnect.
“Hello? Father!”
[……]
“Hello? Hello? Father?”
[…Hyung.]
At the unexpected form of address and voice that came from beyond the phone, Yugeon’s eyes widened.
“…? Migeon?”
[Yeah, Hyung. It’s me.]
“How did you…?”
Until now, no one else had ever answered his father’s phone. No one else had ever used his father’s phone to call him either.
[Hyung.]
“Uh… huh?”
[Hyung, Father passed away.]
“What?”
[We need to hold the funeral, so please come back to the island.]
As if his mind had frozen, all thoughts stopped.
He’d heard unbelievable news, and though he was shocked and bewildered, Yugeon’s heart was strangely calm.
Perhaps it was because his younger brother’s voice on the phone delivering the obituary was so matter-of-fact.
