When Anastasia finished her story, the atmosphere had turned cold.
Was it because of the deepening night’s chill?
Or was it simply the eerie nature of the tale Anastasia told?
Perhaps it was both.
“It’s strange~ Just listening to the story doesn’t seem all that scary, but somehow I still get goosebumps….”
Iarin commented while lying with her head on Ella’s lap, reflecting on the tale they had just heard.
Although there was no particular reason to be scared, the story felt oddly uncomfortable.
In fact, Anastasia’s story didn’t even feature monsters or ghosts.
It was merely about bizarre dreams.
Absurd and somewhat odd… a backdrop of dreams, making it an all too easy story to grasp.
But why was that?
That strangely chilling sensation that seemed to creep down her spine.
Iarin shivered from the lingering discomfort that followed her like an echo.
“Yikes!”
Of course, she squealed while still using Ella’s lap as a pillow.
Iarin’s instinctive shudder naturally spread, causing Ella to squirm as well.
“But I feel like this is something big brother would enjoy, you know?”
Suddenly, a thought popped into Iarin’s mind.
This story.
For some reason, she felt like her brother would love it.
She recalled how he was always obsessed with anything related to magic and eagerly collected mysteries and urban legends.
There is always an origin story behind legends, and these origins are likely connected to culture. It was said that understanding the culture allows for a deeper understanding of its magic…
Well… it was all quite complicated for Iarin.
She had no desire to comprehend it.
But surely, Park Jinseong liked such stories, right?
With a gleeful expression, Iarin pulled out her smartphone.
She typed out Anastasia’s unusual story with rapid-fire ‘tap-tap-tap’ sounds and sent it off to Jinseong, eager for a quick response.
“Who did you just send that to?”
“Huh? I sent it to big brother.”
“At this hour… you mean?”
“Yep. He’s 100% still awake at this hour!”
Iarin was confident.
She believed Jinseong would be awake, check her message soon, and reply promptly.
And just as she expected, a notification lit up her phone, indicating that Jinseong had replied.
“See? I told you he’d be awake.”
She giggled and checked her smartphone, curious about how Jinseong would react to Anastasia’s peculiar tale.
A smile formed on her face.
At least until she read the message.
[ It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it. ]
A short, concise line.
Iarin tilted her head in confusion.
“What does this mean…?”
Nothing to worry about….?
“Something feels….”
There was nothing particularly odd about it.
Just an ordinary statement.
An ordinary statement… yet.
“Something’s off…?”
Why was that?
Why did it give her such a strange feeling?
Was it the remnants of the eerie story Anastasia told that lingered on her mind?
Was that why Jinseong’s message felt so unsettling?
Instincts were screaming, while her reason failed to catch anything odd.
An unsettling discomfort arising from the gap between instinct and reason.
Iarin couldn’t shake off that discomfort.
Did Iserin notice Iarin’s unease?
She got up from her chair and walked gracefully towards her.
Then she checked Jinseong’s message on Iarin’s smartphone and tilted her head in contemplation, quietly mumbling.
“It’s like he saw it himself…?”
A small mutter.
But to Iarin, Iserin’s comment hit her like thunder.
“Oh!”
That’s right.
What she sensed from Jinseong’s reply was exactly that.
It was as if he had already confirmed it, assessing the situation with absolute certainty.
Indeed.
As if he had seen it with his own eyes.
As if he had met that monster…
Chills ran down her spine.
At that moment, the image of the melted person Anastasia spoke about flashed in Iarin’s mind, and goosebumps prickled her arms.
She originally thought of it as just a creepy dream story…
“Uh, hey, everyone?”
Iarin raised herself and looked at the others.
Iserin maintained a neutral expression, seemingly hiding her curiosity, while Ella looked tense—perhaps because Anastasia’s tale had really scared her. And Anastasia…
Anastasia gazed at Iarin and Ella with a fond smile, as if watching two scared little sisters who couldn’t even make it to the bathroom after hearing a scary story.
“The time seems late, perhaps we should head in and sleep?”
Iarin stated firmly, trying not to reveal her own fright.
Let’s go to bed.
This wasn’t out of fear, merely that it was getting later than expected.
It was simply time to sleep, nothing more.
“Yeah. I think that’s a good idea.”
“Well, then I guess it can’t be helped. It’s not good to stay up too late! Lack of sleep can have adverse effects on your skin, you know.”
Anastasia accepted Iarin’s suggestion, as if she knew everything.
Following suit, Ella also agreed with Iarin’s statement.
She feared Anastasia might change her mind and suggest, “Let’s tell scary stories all night!”
Iserin seemed lost in thought regarding Jinseong’s earlier message, nonchalantly nodding her head as if it didn’t matter whether they stayed up late or retired now.
They tidied up their chairs and headed towards the tent, which housed a bed.
It was a roomy camping tent with a three-figure-priced large camping bed.
“Hey, Bunny? Want to share the bed? It’s so wide…”
“Quit trying to charm me.”
“But the bed is so huge!”
“Don’t worry. The Gaming Owl will come and sleep next to me.”
Ella, now changed into her pajamas and lying comfortably on the camping bed, was joined by the Gaming Owl, who effortlessly infiltrated her personal space.
Not pleased with the encroachment, Iarin engaged in an eye battle with the Owl but ultimately lost and sprawled out on the sofa.
Anastasia was nestled in a capsule, likely borrowed from a sci-fi movie, preparing for sleep.
And let’s not forget Iserin, who had disappeared into a small blackout tent, whose origin was unknown.
Their camping venture was successfully wrapping up.
*
Just as the girls were closing their camping chapter and preparing to leap into the dream world, Jinseong, on the top floor of a horrifying building bustling with evil spirits and ghosts, was checking his smartphone.
“Hmm.”
Jinseong’s eyes landed on the message Iarin had sent earlier.
It contained an exact retelling of the dream Anastasia recounted.
Chairs packed tightly in a vast space.
And in the center, the melted figure.
A vivid and bizarre scenery resembling something straight out of a dream.
“A bizarre appearance….”
But the description that made the girls shudder didn’t hold much weight for Jinseong.
Dreams, after all, are connected to the unconscious.
That very process of disassembly and reassembly often yields dreams that are bizarre and filled with peculiar symbolism. The existence within dreams can take on grotesque forms, yet that doesn’t classify it as unusual.
Such sights are a common occurrence and a part of everyday existence in the realm of dreams.
What truly mattered wasn’t how bizarre or horrific the dream was.
It was the ‘message’.
The message encased within the dream held significance.
In that sense, Anastasia’s dreamscape story she presented as an urban legend was strikingly straightforward, almost visceral.
It was a story that hardly required interpretation.
“Hmm….”
In the dream, the melted figure spoke.
Claiming there was a monster in Australia.
Which referred to itself as Death.
“Death, huh.”
Yes.
That was precisely it.
There was nothing hidden beneath the surface, no philosophical depths to search.
In Australia, there exists death.
‘Huele.’
Before the rewind, the entity that had horrified the world by dismantling the German Reichstag.
A man roaming the earth, harvesting human souls.
His deeds floating around as mere absurd urban legends, until finally transforming into the epitome of indescribable terror.
The name as a person was forgotten, far too monstrous to label as human.
Thus, he was known by a name that meant hell in German, “Hölle.”
And now, time having twisted,
Instead of ‘Hölle,’ he was being referred to as ‘monster’ and ‘death’ within the dream.
He was in Australia.
