HER || [Chaerji]

{25}

"Search around! Don't miss any corner around this place!" a man commanded a big group of his men.

"Where is it!?" he yelled at the couple, who were tied together and were laid on the floor. "I'll never tell you— Augh!" the male victim gritted his teeth as he got his stomach kicked by the man.

"Are you telling me or not?" He grabbed the male victim's hair and pulled up, tightly, making the victim shout in pain. "N-Never...!"

The man smirked evilly, "Then we'll have to do it the hard way." he gestured for one of his men to strike the female victim with a cane.

"Harder."

The woman yelled in pain, but the couple still kept their mouth shut tightly, though they were about to die. "Still not saying?"

"I would never s-spill out a s-single w-word..." the male victim whispered, glaring at the commander furiously. The man stared back at him, he chuckled, "I remember you have a daughter, right?" then he grinned evilly.

"N-No..." the couple knew what the man would do just to get what he wanted. Their face turned worried and scared, and they both gulped. "Don't you dare touch her." the woman said weakly.

"Oh. I will." he laughed terrifyingly before he commanded again, switching to a merciless, cold-blooded face, "Kill them."

"M-Mama... Papa..." a little girl whispered very softly, her hands covering her mouth to prevent her sniffing and sobbing noises that would reveal where she was. Tears were all over the kid's face as her body trembled in fear.

As the group of gangsters left the house, she crawled out of the cabinet and escaped to the outside from the window. Step after step she ran as fast as she could, her breathing went at an unsteady pace but that wasn't stopping her from running away.

It was a massacre of innocents in the village, and she knew her life would end if she didn't leave the place quickly enough.

However, the small girl passed out after a very long run. Her stamina just couldn't provide enough energy for the kid to run in that way, she fell along the side of a road.

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"Yeji unnie!" the girl called, a smile on her face evident as she ran towards a teenage girl.

"Hey, lil' kid" the older caressed the girl's head with a warming smile. "Ready for the ritual?" she questioned.

"Yeah..." the girl uttered softly, her head tilted down a little. The older noticed how the girl was forcing her to smile, so she knelt in front of the latter and faced her.

"Cherry-ah, *smiles lightly* everything's gonna be fine. I'm here for you."

"Thank you, unnie." the girl finally showed a genuine smile. The older chuckled and gently caressed the latter's head once again, "Now let's go?"

"Sure unnie, *grins*. But can you stop calling me Cherry? It's weird."

"Hm... No?"

"...Why? It's really weird." the younger pouted.

"I don't know. Maybe because I found you under a cherry tree?" the older replied and giggled.

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"Stay here and don't make a sound, okay? I'll be right back."

"No, unnie, w-where are you g-going?" the girl stuttered in fear.

"Cherry... I need to help the brothers."

"I-I'll help too! I can—"

"No. You stay here. It's too dangerous." the latter stated firmly.

"Please... Please don't l-leave me here alone...." the girl grabbed onto the older girl's wrist tightly.

"I have to. They need me, Cherry."

"I n-need you too." tears fill the girl's eyes, and her grip on the older becomes tighter. The latter creased her brows. She didn't want to leave her alone but she had to, for a while, or else the whole clan would be in danger and if it was the worst, everyone would get killed.

"I'll come back to you, I promise." the older left a light kiss on the girl's forehead before she loosened the girl's grip on her wrist and left to fight for the clan.

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"Chaeryeong-ah."

"Chaeryeong, wake up!"

"H-Huh?" Chaeryeong woke up in shock, and Jisu was by her side. "Are you okay?"

"What... What happened?" the girl felt confused.

"You were sweating a lot in your sleep. Are you having nightmares? Or are you sick?" Jisu asked in a worried tone.

"I-I'm fine, unnie... I'm okay." the younger sighed out a breath. "Okay then. Your breakfast is ready by the way, go wash up and I'll be waiting for you downstairs." Chaeryeong nodded in response with a weak smile.

She plopped her forehead onto her right palm and breathed deeply. „That was a dream? It felt so realistic and somehow familiar to me..." she thought.

„A girl named Cherry? Ritual? Yeji unnie? A clan? Why does it all seem so familiar... "

Chaeryeong forced herself to think about what she had dreamed of last night. She wandered off in her thoughts for flashback and— "The story Yeji told me about... Her story..." she muttered.

Everything in the dream was compatible with what Yeji had shared with her. All the details and occasions.

„The ritual... where they burn a unique mark on skin..." She suddenly reminisced that day when Yeji asked about the mark on her ankle, looking interested in it. And the day where she treated Yeji's wounds, she remembered when Yeji stopped her from cleaning the injuries on her arm like she was hiding something from her.

„Could it be..." Chaeryeong frowns, still feeling confused with all the complicated details she has had, but it all somehow makes sense. "I'm that girl she's been mentioning about?"