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The nightmares chased her, through corridors of the cursed castle where the screams were like slashing knives in her mind, into her heart. Its chambers were haunted by an incessant echoing, like some dripping cavern. Everywhere she turned, each time she raced through a door, like a mouth waiting to devour her, the screams followed.
And worse than the screams, even worse, was the laughter.
Somewhere in her dreams, Mun-yeong found herself wandering in a forest, with mud thick under her feet. The wind shrilled through the pines, whipped the branches toward a sky the color of sheer darkness. She continued running, through the dense woods that smelled of blood and death, where the shadows were so thick she could feel them brushing over her skin like cold fingers.
She stumbled out of the forest, and into the muddy plains of a lake. A great moon hung above her like a red lamp in the sycamore. She heard her name being called by a voice that rang in the night.
Haunted with a chill and unearthly foreboding, she stepped forward onto the wooden platform and stared down at the water. And felt her stomach dropped when she saw a shadow of a figure slowly rising to the surface.
Now she smelled the fear, and they were her own. It gripped her in a vice.
She sucked in the breath to scream as she turned and ran, letting one rip. She heard its answering call behind her, and it sounded like laughter.
Not real, not true, Mun-yeong thought frantically, but deadly all the same. It toyed with her, wanting her fear first.
Somehow in her terror she’d run in a circle, and was back at the basement of the cursed castle that held something even death feared.
When she turned around, Do Hui Jae stood, elegant in her long, flowy dress, her beauty luminous against the velvet black. When she saw her smile, Mun-yeong felt a terrible pull inside her own belly. A deep and terrible yearning.
"Mother." Mun-yeong said it softly. She recognised the scream, the laughter in her head.
"There's my gorgeous baby," her mother murmured. "But you look tense and tired. Hardly a wonder with whom you've been hanging out with. Those boys are doing you no good." She wagged her finger playfully. "Naughty of you. But I blame myself. I wasn't around to guide you, to mold you into the woman you're meant to be."
"You deserted me. You were alive, and you deserted me." Odd, Mun-yeong thought, odd to realise she had this resentment, even this hurt buried inside her. She was, after all, a child tossed aside by her mother.
"You're right, you're right. I can't argue." Do Hui Jae floated across the room. "But you did so well for yourself - initially. Imagine my shock when I realised how weak you've become. I must correct that mistake, which is why I come bearing you a gift," she said excitedly, gesturing to the floor. At her feet laid a white cloth that covered a long, bulging object.
Is that a body? A sudden sense of fear ran through Mun-yeong’s nerves like the chill of an icy wind.
“I warned you, didn’t I? I warned you that I will kill the prince who thinks he can save you.”
Mun-yeong felt her stomach twist. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on him.”
Do Hui Jae's smile faded, and her voice cut like a knife. “Watch your tone with me, Mun-yeong. You will listen to your mother, or live to regret it.”
“I will never listen to you.”
Even when her face was hard and unsmiling, Do Hui Jae’s eyes gleamed delightfully. “I knew you'd say that. Let’s see you sing the same tune once you’ve seen what I have for you.”
She bent over to lift the cloth up and away, and what Mun-yeong saw had her blood freezing.
No. No, no, no.
“I have to admit, he is handsome.” This time, her mother’s eyes twinkled with merriment, and the curve of her lips was viciously female. “I can see why you feel for him.”
“It isn’t real.” The muscles around Mun-yeong’s heart seemed to clench, leaving her breathless. Gang-tae laid motionless on the floor, his eyes shut and his face as pale as wax. “It’s not real.”
“I am going to give you a choice.” Do Hui Jae wandered the room, lazy sweeps that had her skirts of her dress brushing through a table. “You can either embrace who you truly are. Like mother, like daughter, as it always should be. Or…” She did a long, sweeping turn with her eyes bright as suns. In her hand she brandished her weapon of choice - the blue fountain pen. “Or I kill your handsome prince, like I did with his mother. Your choice.”
Mun-yeong couldn’t move. She felt the pull, mesmerising, glorious and dark, a drawing up in the belly that she can’t seem to escape. She could almost hear the beat of the blood that ran in her veins, the same blood as Do Hui Jae.
She had only to go to her mother, and the nightmare will end.
Do Hui Jae’s teeth flashed as she smiled. “So what will it be, daughter?”
Tears stung Mun-yeong’s eyes, but she dug her fingers in to keep them at bay. Her body swayed in the sudden grip of anger. She had made her choice long ago. “I will not turn into a monster like you.”
It was the fury that brought the demon to Do Hui Jae’s eyes, the murderous glint. "Then, your precious prince dies!" Now her screams rang as she turned and lunged at the motionless Gang-tae with a wild vengeance.
In that flash of an instant, Mun-yeong saw the tip of the fountain pen plunged deep into his neck.
There was a scream ripping through her head when she shot up in bed, only to realise it was her own.
When Gang-tae rushed in all he saw was Mun-yeong punching over and over into the bed. She was weeping as she did it in wild, screaming sobs, and there was a madness on her face.
He ran to her, and when he grabbed for her, she clung to him like ivy on an oak.
"Run! You need to run. She’s going to kill you. She’s going to kill you!"
"It's okay, Mun-yeong. I'm here. I’m here." His heart tripping in his throat, he rubbed her arms up and down. She was trembling, violently under his gentle strokes. The skin under his hands was like ice.
Her eyes had been open when he went to her. He saw only the glint of them in the dark, but they looked blind and wild. For a moment he was afraid that the boiling turmoil inside her would break through and batter her.
“You were having a nightmare.” He said it firmly. He had to put Mun-yeong back into those glassy, staring eyes.
She burrowed into him, gripping his shirt so tight her knuckles turned white. "She came. She came. Into my head, into my dream. Not a dream. It was real. It had to be real."
“It wasn’t real. It’s all right now. It was just a dream.”
“No, no, no. Not a dream. It was real. She was real. She's coming for you. You need to leave. You need to leave now!”
"Stop. Stop this." He took a firm grip on her shoulders. "Ko Mun-yeong!"
Her head jerked back, her breath came shuddering out. Her eyes were huge on his face, full of pain, full of fear. "Please. Please run."
"Ssh... It’s okay." His tone and his touch gentled while he brushed tears from her cheeks. He pulled her into his arms, pressed her head into the crook of his neck. "It was a dream, a nightmare. Nothing more."
He pressed his lips to the top of her head. And gently rocked her.
Slowly, the nausea that had curled sickly in her stomach was starting to ease. Her head that was pounding and swimming with the echo of her screams was also clearing.
He shifted her so that she curled into the curve of his arm as he leaned back against the bed’s headboard. Reaching out for the sleep covers that pooled at her hip, he drew it up and laid it over them, warming her against the chill of the night.
“Sleep, Mun-yeong. I'm here,” he murmured.
He shouldn't stay, she thought as she began to drift. He should leave. She felt his warm, sturdy hand caressed her hair. Gentle, rhythmic. Her eyes grew heavy. As she listened to the beat of his heart, she slowly slid into sleep.
Gang-tae simply held her, feeling her breath on his collarbone, taking in how her lithe weight settled in the crook of his arm, flush against his chest. He’d wanted to lay in bed with her until morning, until he too fell asleep with his head rested against hers and their arms tangled together. He’d wanted to stay with her, wake next to her, watch her blush scarlet and stumble over excuses.
But if the sun had come up and Mun-yeong had opened her eyes, she wouldn’t have smiled at him.
She would have immediately shut him out, told him and Sang-tae to pack their things and leave the cursed castle.
Gang-tae felt something prodding him open, fragile and frail. He would leave her side after he was certain she was sound asleep, and return to his bed later.
But he would sleep restlessly.