Love In The Stone World || Sahyo

chapter 6: mysterious village

||~I'm stuck on the path whether to go left, or right. Which way?~||

A pile of cutted wood was under the raging fire, on top of it was a wide flat stone, there was a thick stick holding a delectable lamb rib flavored with a bunch of colorful spices.

The man kept flipping the meat so each side didn't cause any unwanted burn. The flaming aromatic of the rich season was a cherry on top of the perfectly tender cooked steak, rightfully would cause any passenger in the area to be enchanted.

"Honey." The call was not so urgent from the tone of his wife, yet so close to be heard by the house.

"Yes?" He responded, as he turned toward his back. No reply proceeded, or either his wife arriving as he kept looking at the clear back door of the house. Silence overall.

He turned back, just to stumble upon the empty stick he was holding on the entire time.

The meat was gone.

A week passed by like a glimpse of light, the villagers started to notice her presence at first, people wouldn't mind seeing Jihyo, wandering outside the village, exploring the nearest woods. As long as she didn't bring any harm towards them, sometimes she walked past fishermans and farmers but no utterances or any other interaction occurred. Based on the policy 'no outsiders allowed', as the guard captain ordered when she tried to enter the small town and met with him guarding the entrance.

But things had turned around away from the previous deal lately. It all began when food started to magically disappear in a large amount in a short period of time, and many had become a victim of this. Some of the villagers declared that it was further from natural purpose, someone must be behind this case.

"Oh man, this is good." Moaned Jihyo in satisfaction after she shoved the entire steak into her mouth, devouring one gigantic bite that somehow fit inside her cheeks. Her lunch time was accompanied with voices of indignation and irritating yells not so far away from her. It was clear-out-loud, especially when she was plainly hiding behind some thick bushes near the forest. "It's been three freaking days!"

Before the petrification beam, food could easily be found anywhere. It was the least thing Jihyo could think of when the JYP's Cafeteria was only downstairs from the dance practice room. If the group wanted something else, there were also ramen shops and convenience stores nearby. Heck, there was 7-Eleven just two streets away from her place.

Everything disappeared, and back to square one. Jihyo even needed to hunt her own food, or climb on the tree that was higher than her and pick it up herself. When the squirrel kept flying away from her hand or the fruit was actually higher than how it looked, it was the most stressful experience for her. That was the moment where she switched to stealing the villagers' food, due to her desperate need.

"There!! I saw her behind the tree!" One of the shouts startled her, she drastically choked, desperate for the oxygen.

"Catch her!!" In a blink of an eye, a long sharp spear shot landed and it nearly hit her.

Jihyo was lucky enough to be inches away to the left side, or it would already be a lifeless body on the ground, bathing into the pool of her own blood. But she was lucky, and she kept her eyes wide open as there were more arrows and spears shot to the air. "Holy shit!"

"She went to the left!"

"Don't let her run away."

In the meantime, far away inside the village, lying on the fluffy comfortable bed was a young girl. Short brunette hair like in the mid 80s covering half of her face, she opened her dark hazelnut eyes that could slice through men's hearts, gazing on her wooden ceiling in defeat. A white angelic dress implying pure and innocence was crumpled all over, and the reason was she stayed up all night on her study table, connecting all the hidden meanings and clues left by this particular person. All sighed as if she was wishing the answer could only fall from the sky right on her lap. "Where could she be?"