Yama Rising

Pusan Geumjeong District. Everything was silent.

All that remained was a series of high-rise buildings, just like an urban forest.

In fact, the only traces of civilization around these parts were the blood stains that were splattered all over the roads, walls and buildings around. Dark trails of dried blood remained where streams of blood used to flow. The scarlet hue of the blood appeared ever so striking, just like poppy flowers growing out of a war-torn zone.

“This is nuts…” Even Qin Ye couldn’t help but sigh in exclamation.

How desperate did Liu Yu have to be to assent to such madness?

That said, they couldn’t help but feel as though countless eyes were watching them from the shadows, scrutinizing their every movement. They would see nothing when they took a closer look, but they simply couldn’t shake off the niggling feeling that something was staring intently at them. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

Oda Nobutada froze, and then whispered back, “Are you afraid that we might attract Liu Yu’s attention now?”

“Then--...”

Wang Chenghao tutted softly, “I think someone’s really fallen in love--…”

Qin Ye gave Oda Nobutada a deep nod of appreciation - Exceptional! Like father, like son!

Then, Qin Ye turned to give Wang One Tail a disdainful look - Can you please learn more from Oda Nobutada, you piece of trash?!

“I want the specific location!”

……………………………………………………

Her beauty was practically indescribable. It was hard not to go overboard given how much of a rare beauty she was, and yet one would also run the risk of understating her beauty if one chose to err on the side of caution. Her appearances weren’t the kind that would astound the world, but rather… the kind that looked so pleasant that it was difficult to keep one’s eyes off her.

They had a good vantage of the devastation that had torn through the entire district. Everything in sight was completely desolate and barren.

Countless talismans hung from endless chains on the outskirts of Husaeng Middle School. Meanwhile, she could also see people moving about and playing with each other on the playground within the Middle School’s grounds. The juxtaposition of the desolation on the outside and the vibrancy on the inside made Husaeng Middle School appear no different from an oasis in the desert.

The lady behind her sighed and sat down on the table beside her, “Perhaps… never in this lifetime…”

Lee Jung-sook remained silent.

“Got it.” Lee Jung-sook frowned immediately as she bent over, lifted the two boxes at her feet and began to head back from where she came.

She lifted them up and carried them to the door of another classroom. The tables and chairs within this classroom have long been emptied out, and the room had been further subdivided into different areas by white canvases. There were varying sizes to these areas, depending on the number of family members staying within a single partition. She walked straight into the innermost partition. As soon as she opened the door to her partition, a dense stench of smoke wafted out, causing her to frown hard.

“You’re finally back?!” The lady immediately tossed away her phone as she snapped at Lee Jung-sook. The anger and frustration of being cooped up in a single location, coupled with the loneliness of isolation and endless boredom caused her to explode like an active volcano. She pointed accusingly at Lee Jung-sook and berated her, “How long does it take to get the damn supplies? How could that short trip have taken more than ten minutes?! Are you being intractable just because you see that I'm getting old? How did I end up with such a heartless daughter-in-law like you?!”

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Lee Jung-sook’s silence only seemed to stoke the frustrations in the middle-aged lady’s heart. At once, she pointed her finger directly at Lee Jung-sook’s nose and yelled at her at the top of her voice, “To think that our family has worked so hard to raise you, and this is how you repay me? Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you deaf or dumb?! My god! What kind of dumb luck does my son have to have married such a good-for-nothing like you?!”

“It’s just that the queue today was a little bit longer than usual…”

Lee Jung-sook bit down on her lips - It shouldn’t be this way… Her mind throbbed in pain. A little voice within her mind told her that this couldn’t be real. But whenever she tried to probe a little deeper, she couldn’t recall a thing of the past.

“Shut up.” Just then, the man playing with his ipad in the corner of the room finally interjected, “Do you want everyone else in the classroom to hear you? Have you gone mad?!”

Lee Jung-sook sighed in resignation, “My feet hurt…”

She couldn’t understand how Lee Hyomin could have so many orders for her that she couldn’t even catch a breather between tasks.

Lee Jung-sook stared at Lee Dae-jung and his gruff beard. He was looking at her with a bright gleam in his eyes. And then, she turned to glance at her mother-in-law who was lying on the bed like a sleeping Buddha, nit-picking at every single thing she was doing. She simply couldn’t accept the reality before her eyes.

Lee Jung-sook gritted her teeth, picked up the bucket at the corner of the room and walked out of the partition.

“What do you know?” Lee Hyomin laid back lazily on her bed with a snicker, “This lady looks amazing, and she even has an air of dignity about her… If not for the fact that I found her completely passed out in the garbage dump, do you think you old good-for-nothing would have been able to marry such a fine lady?!”

“Then shut up and stop interfering with my plans!” Lee Hyomin glared at him fiercely, “Look at her right now! Do you really think you’ll be able to consummate the marriage with her as things currently stand?! You’ll have to first properly educate her on what being a lady is all about, and then make her life revolve around you! You have to be heaven to her!”

“I don’t know where that little lady has come from, but this is practically a godsend to you. I was the one who saved her life anyway. How can she complain that I’m nit-picking on her? I’m just training her to become a good daughter-in-law! If not for me, she would have starved to death in the garbage dump a long time ago!” With that, Lee Hyomin clasped her hands together and respectfully prayed, “Bless us, God…”

She didn’t want to go back at all.

Life like this was far worse than death itself.

I shouldn’t be here… She rubbed her temples, trying desperately to remember where she had come from, but to no avail.

This isn’t who I am… This isn’t me...