“This mark…” he spoke. “Why can’t I see yours?”

Her eyes studied the mark, fascinated by it. “Isn’t it hurt when you get it tattooed?” She brought her fingers up to touch it but he backed away, avoiding her fingers.

“Stand still,” she grabbed his arm and he gaped as he stood still, unmoved. Her pupils dilated as she stared and scanned at the distinctive and artistic tattoo. She had never seen it before and she tip toed on her toe as she tried to place her finger on it, to know how it felt under her finger.

He could see the light in her eyes as she completely absorbed by the unique mark she just seen. That didn’t give him a good vibe about her as he moved to distance himself from her but her grip was tightened as she gave a threatening look.

“Don’t move,” she warned and his eyes saw she brought her fingers to before she entered her fingers into , it wet and lifted it high towards his marked temple.

He jerked away instantly, disgusted. “What are you doing, it’s gross.”

An unsatisfied look spread on her face. “I just want to find out if…” she left her words hung as she attempted to touch his mark again but he couldn’t stop himself from jolting away.

The girl in front of her was scarier than any other ghosts he ever encountered as she shot him an oddly menacing look. Her every move made him nervous and the way she looked at him was intimidating, enough to scare him off. Especially when he still couldn’t tell what was she exactly?

“I told you to don’t move, why are you running away!” she scowled as she moved forward and grabbed him on the arm, tightening her grip before he could escape again.

He shook his head to let the bang fell down, covering his right eye. “Stop it, it’s disgusting.”

She didn’t gave up and wetting her finger again with her saliva, “I want to see if it will ruin if I–”

He grabbed her arm and pushed it away from her dirty finger touched him, “Stop it, it will not disappear.”

Her eyes stared at his face, “Really? So it is a permanent tattoo?”

“What are you talking about?” he retorted as he pushed her arm away and let go from her grip. “You avoid my question. Where is yours? I can’t see it anywhere.”

His eyes scanned her up from her head down her toe and seeing that, she instantly covered her chest with her arms, “Mister, what are you looking at?”

He groaned in annoyance and turned away, frustrated. Why was it so hard for him to get an answer from this unpredictable girl he just ran into?

Turning back to see her, a voice suddenly startled both of them.

“Jooyoung, what are you doing here? Aren’t you scared?” an old woman approached them with a concern look on her face. He backed away as he tried to look at the face of the old woman who just approached them, but she didn’t seem to realise his existence there.

Jooyoung looked at her grandmother, shocked. She then remembered the promise she made with her grandmother. “Grandma! I’m sorry, grandma. I forget…”

Her grandmother shook her head as she began to drag her out from under the huge tree, “What are you doing here? Are you okay?” she grabbed Jooyoung’s arms and checked on her. “What is this?” she asked as she saw the red marks on both of her elbows.

She sheepishly grinned as she tried to pull her arms back but her grandmother wouldn’t let her do that and continued to check at other area of her body to see if she hurt herself on the other side. Jooyoung then just remembered the guy he just met, and as her grandmother turned her body facing the tree, her sight rested under the tree.

Her eyes scanned the place under the tree thoroughly and her eyes moved faster as she tried to locate the guy he just met.

“Grandma… Where is he?” she spoke.

Her grandmother dusted off her dirty skirt, “Did you fall, there’s sand stain on your skirt.”

She turned her head around the place to find him but he was nowhere to be found. Was he hallucinating the whole time? Her grandmother didn’t seem to see him with her when she found her.

“Grandma, how do you found me?” she asked, stopping her grandmother’s action. Her grandmother stood straight and looked her in the eyes, “You’re not scared?”

She furrowed her eyebrows, “Scared of what…?”

A breathy chuckle escaped her grandmother’s mouth, “There’s a lot I haven’t tell you but I don’t want to scare you.” She then turned around and started walking.

“What is it, grandma?” she fastened her paced and walked alongside her. She looked in front to see that they were walking home. “Grandma, we’re going the opposite way.”

Her grandmother nodded, “We’re going home.”

“What? What about the ritual?” she asked, surprised.

“They had done it. There’s no point for us to return back,” her grandmother casually spoke and linked her arm with her granddaughter, guiding her home.

“They did it…?” she sighed disappointed. “I was looking forward to it.”

A laugh heard from her grandmother, “They will repeat the ritual at the dawn, right before the sun rises.”

Jooyoung’s eyebrow arched, “For real? We should come back.”

Her grandmother opposed the idea and walked hurriedly forward with the flash light on her hand. The trees around them sent shivers down her grandmother’s spine. She didn’t feel good being too long out there.

“Jooyoung, aren’t you scared?” her grandmother insisted as she dragged her granddaughter down the small hill of the path.

Jooyoung looked at her grandmother, puzzled. She realised that her grandmother had repeated the question since she found her. There must be something bothering her as she noticed both of their steps getting quicker than necessary.

As if they were getting chased by an unknown entity.

“Grandma…” she called, trying to make her grandmother looked at her.

Her grandmother only hummed as a response and their walked didn’t getting slower at any rate. Her heart raced seeing that kind of behaviour coming up from her grandmother, who usually tends to be calmer than any other villagers she came across with.

“Did you see–” she paused. “No, I mean. Are you scared, grandma?”

Her mind was still thinking about the guy she just met but as soon as her grandmother’s eyes met her eyes, she sensed the fear through her eyes and that made her stopped questioning about her company a while ago.

Her grandmother didn’t answer but instead she just whispered that managed to send shiver down her spine, “There are reasons I asked you to run fast back to Uncle Yoon’s house…”

Jooyoung’s expression turned pale, when it was the villagers that tell her creepy stories about the village, their stories usually didn’t give much impact on her. They didn’t give her the horror enough to drive her having a nightmare sleep.

However, when it came to her grandmother…

Everything sounded so believable and chilling.

Was it because she trusts her grandmother more than anyone else in the village or was it because her grandmother rarely passed her knowledge of the darkness about the place she currently stayed on?

The words left her grandmother’s mouth were enough to make her loss of words, even though she just hurt her hip, the pain had magically disappeared and her legs became energetic all of sudden. The quiet and shady surrounding gave her this eerie feeling that whispered her to not stay long enough outside of their house.

Because there was actually something eyeing their every move out there…

Hongbin leapt from the tree branches and turned around, facing the opposite direction of the girl and her grandmother going. His hands trembled as he made small steps forward back to his hiding spot. He saw it.

He saw the face.

He saw the face of her grandmother.

And his eyes couldn’t deceive him.

He swore he had seen the grandmother’s face a lot of time in the village.

And the grandmother is one of the villagers…

She certainly is a mortal being… A true human being…

Then what about the girl?

She couldn’t be a human as well. She touched him and he could touch her too… She saw him and heard him... What is she? Why she could do everything that human couldn’t do to him?

That proved to him that she was not a human being and certainly not one of them too as he couldn’t find any mark on her to prove it. He still couldn’t believe what just happened and the curiosity grew every second after leaving her.

He halted on his way and turned his head back, to see her but she had gone with her grandmother from his sight. Should he risk himself to go to the grandmother’s house? He knew where she lived, it was just he never came in to the house.

But what if he found the girl’s room and she saw him, would she freak out this time? Perhaps she had told her grandmother that a ghost just ran into her and what made it worst was that, he had injured the girl.

A grandmother wouldn’t let her granddaughter got close to a ghost that had just hurt her granddaughter…

---

Jooyoung stood still as her grandmother treated her wounded elbows. She winced in pain as the liquid her grandmother put on her scratched elbow made contact. Her grandmother hadn’t said anything about what she just told to her that gave her goose bumps.

Clearing , her eyes searched her grandmother’s eyes, “Grandma…”

Her grandmother almost finish treating her right elbow, she hummed as a response. Jooyoung tried to gain her attention so that their eyes met but her grandmother was so busy treating her red elbows.

“You look calmer than we were at the outside,” she began as she gave her grandmother more access to the wounded skin. Her grandmother’s hand froze and a heavy sigh could be heard from .

“I shouldn’t have let you go, I didn’t know that they’re going to start the ritual earlier than expected,” she let out another sigh, making Jooyoung looked at her, puzzled.

The older woman’s eyes averted to Jooyoung’s eyes as she made an eye contact. “I understand it that you don’t like to hear the dark stories that everybody is trying to share with you…” she paused. The look from her eyes told Jooyoung that she was not content by it as well.

“But… Sometime, we need to see it first in order for us to believe it.”

Jooyoung’s eyebrows knitted together, confused. What was her grandmother trying to say? Was she trying to tell her that all of the stories she heard so far were made up?

Her grandmother rested her hand on Jooyoung’s shoulder as she patted it gently, a smile developed on her wrinkled face. “Thanks God nothing bad happen to you.”

“What do you mean, grandma?” Jooyoung questioned as she scanned her grandmother’s dark brown eyes. “I don’t understand. What happen if the ritual starts early or… What happen if it starts late? What’s the difference? What was the ritual all about?”

A look was shot to Jooyoung and her grandmother raised her eyebrows, “I don’t want you to leave me by tomorrow if I tell you all about it. I know how you hate how rusty the superstitions and legends this village hold.”

Jooyoung shook her head immediately, “I won’t…” She paused as she gave her grandmother a thinking look, the face of the guy she met earlier flashed back in her head. “I know you won’t scare me like what everyone else trying to do. It’ll be nice to hear your point of view.”

An appreciative nod caught Jooyoung’s eyes. Jooyoung smiled and the urge to ask about the guy she just met emerged but she didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere. Her question would come out naturally later as the story about the ritual she missed came out.

A laugh then heard from her grandmother’s mouth as she finished treating her left elbow. “Don’t tell me you need the light on after you finish listening to my bedtime story.”

A laugh burst out from , “No way, I’m not a scaredy cat, grandma. You know that.”

Her grandmother’s laughter grew louder. “Are you sure, sweety?” Her laughter then ceased as she stared at her granddaughter’s elbow. “Wait honey, how did you get these wounds?”

Jooyoung turned nervous hearing the question that came out from the older woman’s mouth. Both their eyes met and Jooyoung was about to explain every details about the incident but her grandmother cut before her.

“It couldn’t be…”

Jooyoung swallowed hard as she stared into her grandmother’s eyes.

“It couldn’t be,” her grandmother repeated and this time with a worried facial expression. Her expression looked a bit exaggerated but Jooyoung knew her grandmother wasn’t making any joke at that time.

“Did something knock you down?” her grandmother whispered.

Almost gasping, Jooyoung felt her heart skipped a beat.