"Argh..."
"Why has your whole family come to my house...?"
By the third slap, the little boy with the parted hair finally remembered to cry. Especially with Han Su looking so vicious—he'd never seen a nightmare like this in his life. It was even scarier than the monsters upstairs. After all, the monsters didn't single him out and beat him.
"You hit me! You hit me..."
"You're in for it! When my dad comes to save me, I won't let him save you. I'll make him bury you in the garden..."
"..."
"Then I'll give you another taste of the working people's iron-palm education..."
Hearing that only made Han Su angrier. He kicked the boy again, careful not to hit too hard. He made sure it hurt, then chased the little boy with the parted hair around the cellar.
The boy's shrill, childish cries soon filled the night, stirring up a racket. In the other cellars, children who had been stepped on in the crush, accidentally kicked, or had finally been unable to hold back their fear began crying too.
The pent-up commotion erupted all at once. Cries and shouts echoed through the hollow cellar, so loud that even Han Su found them grating.
Thud, thud!
But the clamor also alerted someone—or perhaps a monster—outside. Heavy footsteps quickly drew near.
"Bang!"
Suddenly, the little door was shoved open, and a blaze of firelight poured inside.
A towering shadow crouched behind the light, letting out a hoarse, rasping growl that seemed to warn the children in the cellar to shut up.
Some of the children were frightened into silence, but Han Su immediately stamped hard on the parted-hair boy's foot. The pain made him howl, and the cellar, which had just quieted down a little, erupted into chaos again.
Seeing that the children in the cellar not only hadn't shut up but were shouting even louder, the monster outside the little door seemed to lose its temper. A guttural growl rose from its chest, mixed with the clanking of metal objects.
The firelight advanced quickly into the cellar. Only then could they see that it came from a kerosene lantern held aloft on a long pole.
The figure seemed to be trying to see who was making all the noise—a way of frightening the children, too.
As long as the lantern wasn't shining on them, the children still dared to cry and shout. But when it was lifted toward their faces, they all began backing away in fear, worried the monster would use it to burn them.
Just then, Han Su, who had been silently watching from among the crowd, suddenly charged up the stairs.
His small frame scrambled up the steps, using both hands and feet. In the firelight, he left a string of wavering shadows behind him.
Outside the little door, the hunchbacked person holding the lantern was taken aback. He hurriedly pulled it back, trying to see who the little thing daring to climb up was, but he had greatly underestimated Han Su's speed.
Han Su reached the little door at the top of the stairs faster than the lantern could be pulled back.
He darted through first, straight toward the enormous, imposing shadow outside the door. Without hesitation, he ducked low and rolled across the floor.
He came out from between the monster's legs and rushed into the living room. The hunchbacked person guarding the little door was clearly startled. He grabbed the lantern someone had just handed him and turned to shine it around, trying to find Han Su.
But when he turned, he saw that Han Su hadn't run away at all. He was standing calmly right behind him.
"Smack!"
Almost the instant the hunchbacked person turned around, Han Su raised his hand and struck with all his might.
He was only nine years old, and not strong enough to win a struggle against the tall hunchbacked person. But all he needed to do now was knock the lantern out of his hand.
It was that simple.
The lantern fell, spilling its oil. Its flame followed, setting the thick carpet on the floor alight.
The old fortress still bore signs of its former glory. The carpet was thick, but after years and years of use, it was caked with dust and especially easy to burn.
Han Su had figured that out the first time he was kidnapped and brought here.
"Whoosh!"
The flames sprang up almost instantly, spreading in several directions. Even the hunchbacked person, who had been reaching out to grab Han Su, was taken aback.
The fire spreading across the carpet separated Han Su from the hunchbacked person. Through the leaping flames and smoke, the hunchbacked person saw the strange look on the small child before him, who wasn't even ten years old.
Han Su simply took a few steps back, his expression unusually calm. Then he suddenly opened his mouth and shouted in a childish, urgent voice:
"Run! Teacher's here to get us..."
"The main gate's open! Teacher, wait for me! Teacher, wait for me..."
"..."
The eerie scene even made the hunchbacked person shiver. "Has this kid gone crazy?"
But then, realizing something, he turned in alarm toward the cellar.
No—the children downstairs had gone crazy.
Some of them were clever enough to have seen Han Su climb out of the cellar, but they hadn't followed. They'd already guessed that anyone who tried that would likely be beaten to death by the monster.
But they hadn't expected that instead of hearing Han Su scream, they'd hear him shout with delight.
His voice sounded so real, as if he really had seen their teacher—as if the teacher was closing the main gate right now, and they'd lose their chance if they waited any longer.
So they began scrambling up the stairs.
They jostled and shoved, their small bodies bursting with boundless strength.
A few of them might have been clever, but the others were enough to make a commotion. And even the clever ones, seeing that everyone else believed it, no longer seemed as calm as before.
The parted-hair boy, who had been beaten, was so frantic that he cried as he shoved at the others. "I'm going first! I order you to let me go first..."
But no one paid him any mind. Instead, they shoved him back again and again until he landed on his bottom. He kicked both legs against the floor and cried.
The carpet was on fire, the little door stood open, and the children were rushing upstairs.
The hunchbacked person had no idea how the chaos had erupted so suddenly. He only felt panicked, as if he didn't have enough hands.
He tried to rush over and grab Han Su, but more children had already poured out of the cellar behind him. Shouting and crying, they raced toward the main entrance like a flock of panicked lambs, scattering in every direction.
He couldn't spare any attention for Han Su. He hurried to catch the children.
Han Su glanced at the fortress's tightly locked main gate, took a deep breath, then turned and headed up the spiral staircase beside him, toward the monster upstairs.
"Creak, creak..."
The spiral staircase was old, and the wooden boards shifted and creaked as he climbed. But the chaos on the first floor drowned out the noise.
Neither the hunchbacked monster nor the children pouring out of the cellar noticed Han Su going upstairs.
In the darkness, his childish face was tense with concentration. His small body was controlled by a will and skill far beyond his years, moving nimbly like a monkey. In just a few steps, he had reached the fortress's second floor.
Looking up, he saw only a dim wall lamp and a scarlet carpet spread across the second-floor landing. The carpet was rotten and moldy in several places, giving off a suffocating smell.
Doors leading to unknown places were set into the walls. A little warm light seeped through the cracks beneath some of them.
As soon as Han Su reached the second floor, he opened the first door on his left. When he had escaped here earlier, he'd already tried the doors. This was the only one he could open.
He rushed inside and saw that the room was filled with all kinds of racks, caked in dust and grime.
On the racks sat glass vessels of all shapes and sizes. Some were empty and webbed with cobwebs, while others held a dark-brown, viscous liquid.
Something that looked like strange organs seemed to drift in the liquid.
Han Su kept his eyes straight ahead, as if trying not to look at anything. He headed directly for the window, aiming for the one on the left.
But as he passed a huge rack, the groaning from inside made him turn his head despite himself.
On the rack stood a glass vessel connected to all kinds of pipes and machinery...
It was filled to the brim with green liquid. The braided ponytail girl was immersed in it, naked, with strange tubes inserted into her body. She couldn't breathe, but she still seemed conscious.
When she saw Han Su pass in front of her, her eyes flew open. A string of bubbles escaped her mouth, and she began to struggle even more violently.
Han Su could see the pleading, pain, and despair in her eyes, but he didn't stop.
He knew the girl with the high ponytail was fine. Two days later, she would still appear at the Night of Joy, safe and sound.
He quickly crossed the room past the Iron Racks and reached the window opposite the door. With nimble hands, he swiftly opened the rust-covered window, then climbed out.
Inside the vessel, the braided ponytail girl watched in despair as Han Su appeared and disappeared beyond the window. At last, she fell still.
Her eyes remained fixed on the direction he'd vanished. Her lips moved slightly.
As if to say, "Then... you'd better run faster..."
Before you continue