paranoia / gyuricky

06: jaws (1975)

"None of this is random," Taerae explains as Gyuvin and Ricky return to the living room. He pulls an illustration of the witch's execution out of the folder. "It's Jo Hayoon. She's turning people from this town into killers."

Matthew makes a face of confusion as he stares at the drawing. "Do you really believe that? No one actually thinks this witch shit is real."

"Yeah," Gunwook agrees. "It's something babysitters make up to scare kids."

Taerae frowns, shaking his head. "No, no. Just listen to me."

"The floor is yours," Gyuvin reassures, patting his friend on the shoulders before sitting back down on the couch with Ricky.

"1666, Jo Hayoon was executed for witchcraft," Taerae states, lifting the illustration off the table to make sure everyone had a good look at it. "But ever since she was executed, she's been possessing people, turning them into killers to take revenge on the town."

Gyuvin's eyes suddenly light up, jumping up from the couch. He points at the text placed right under the illustration of Jo Hayoon's hanging. "It's like the nursery rhyme! 'Before the witch's final breath, she found a way to cheat her death. By cutting off her cursed hand, she kept her grip upon our land.'" He flips through the photos, revealing other illustrations that depicted the gruesome events that took place. "'She reaches from beyond the grave to make good men her wicked slaves.'"

Yujin stares at Gyuvin, then at Taerae in disbelief. "If that's true, then why is the witch so mad at us?"

"I saw her," Ricky said, joining in on the conversation. "Earlier, I held her skull and I saw her. It was her. I saw the witch."

The group, this time larger, finds themselves in the forest, near where Gyuvin and Ricky discovered the witch's bones. To avoid getting spotted, Taerae had parked his van, which he had driven upon arriving at Gyuvin's place, a little further down the road.

"Right over here," Gyuvin said, stopping the group in their tracks, using his flashlight to illuminate the number of holes he and Ricky dug earlier that night.

Yujin glances down after feeling something touch the toe of his shoe, figuring he merely kicked a rock or the root of a tree. He soon discovers that he has come into contact with the witch's skull, not a rock. Yujin yelped in fear, jumping into the arms of whoever was standing closest to him, which turned out to be Matthew.

Matthew gently rubs Yujin's back, feeling him tremble. "Looks like we found the skull," he points out, turning to face the rest of the group.

"Oh shit," Gunwook exclaims softly, peering into the hole that was dug in the middle of the red moss. "This is her fucking grave, dude. No wonder she's pissed, I'd be pissed too. Ricky disturbed her grave."

"Hold on," Gyuvin said, crouching down to take a closer look at the grave. "If we disturbed her grave, shouldn't we un-disturb it? We can put the bones back and rebury her."

Ricky brought a hand up to his head. "That's so fucking stupid—"

"That's genius!" Taerae exclaimed in a hushed tone.

Slowly, but surely, each hole that Gyuvin and Ricky dug was filled with dirt, leaving the witch's grave last. They get Ricky to pull all the bones out of the ground so that Gunwook can wrap them in his sweater, which he so generously offers since it was dirty and old anyways.

The sound of a twig snapping causes the group to halt their activities and look out into the forest in hopes that it was just a gust of wind and nothing more.

Taerae stands up, walking deeper into the forest. "You guys continue doing that, I'll keep watch."

Jo Hayoon's skull, the last bone to be buried, was picked up by Ricky. He's disturbed, yet glad that they'll be able to end everything soon. The familiar wet feeling on his upper lip had Ricky wiping the blood away with his fingertips. He picks the skull back up.

...

"You! It's you!"

"It's you!"

...

A hand on Ricky's shoulder causes him to gasp. He turns around in fear, with it quickly subsiding when he finds out it's only Gyuvin.

"Oh, your nose," Gyuvin pointed out, a pout on his face. "We'll get you cleaned up later."

Ricky just nods, placing the skull into Gunwook's sweater with the rest of the witch's bones. He watches how it's lowered into the ground, a sigh of relief leaving his lips; everything is going to be over soon.

"There we go," Matthew whispers, patting the ground after the hole was filled with dirt. "Sorry, Jo Hayoon. We're sorry."

Silence echoed through the forest.

"So did it work?" asked Gyuvin, a lot louder than intended, causing him to be shushed by Gunwook.

"It didn't work!" Taerae shouted as he emerged from the depths of the forest, being chased by a masked man carrying an axe. "It didn't fucking work!"

The man ends up running past Taerae and towards Ricky, who was once again left in a daze, staring at the man as he approached.

Gyuvin notices it and without a second to waste, he grabs Ricky by the sleeve, pulling him out of the way just as the man swung his axe, grazing Ricky's shoulder. "We gotta go!"

They pile up in Taerae's van, barely able to shut the back doors before they're sped away, leaving the masked man standing in the middle of the street.

"What the fuck was that?" asked Gunwook with a huff, slumping in his seat, allowing Yujin to place his head on his shoulder. "That Camp Planet bitch completely ignored Taerae and went for Ricky."

"Because the witch doesn't want you," Ricky replied, wiping the blood from his nose with a tissue handed to him by Gyuvin. "I disturbed her grave, so she wants me."

Gyuvin shook his head. "No," he disagreed. "Eunbi attacked me, she—"

"Ricky's blood is on your shirt," Matthew pointed out, gesturing to Gyuvin's shoulder with his head.

"It's like the sharks in Jaws, dude!" Yujin exclaims, lifting his head up from Gunwook's shoulder. "Ricky bled on her bones and now she wants more of his blood!"

Ricky made a face of confusion, yet nodded along to what Yujin was saying anyways. "Okay, so what do they do in Jaws?"

"They don't go skinny dipping with the fucking bait, that's all I know," Gunwook remarks with a shrug.

"He's not bait!" Gyuvin retorts, feeling offended in place of Ricky, crossing his arms.

"No," Taerae chimes in, abruptly stopping the van on the side of the road before turning around to face the others. "He is bait. Like, seriously. If we're right and they're after him, let's give these assholes what they want, simple as that."