Mysterious knight
Embracing the Past
It all started when it was halloween.
The townsfolks dressed as a ghost, an insect, or whatever supernatural creature that comes in your mind; The whole neighborhood was at a feast. Candies were thrown everywhere, kids scared the neighbor's house, and they all get along pretty well.
"Okay, class," Your head teacher called. "Has everyone dressed properly? Baskets? Tricks? Candies?" She asked. Everyone said 'yes' in unison. "Good, then. Let's go." Today was when your section would go out and do fun halloween stuffs like horror houses, best costume designs, and many more. And to celebrate the final part of the event, your whole batch will have a "Trick or treat" fun in the four selected villages. The East Village, The North Village, The South Village, and last but definitely not the least, the West Village.
Everyone from the other sections walked away from the school gates and started to roam around the villages. However, your section decided to go to some other village where not a lot of people went to trick-or-treat.
The West Village.
It was one of the farthest villages in your city. A lot of rich people lived there due to the spacious land and the quiet neighborhood. It was the village that you dreamed to live in. Far from the city lights and peaceful neighborhood. It was the perfect place to stay, get a cup of coffee and have a book to read. Not to mention the grassy plains and the quiet but peaceful neighbors.
You all got on board in the van that the teacher prepared. You sat in the farthest corner, not wanting to be disturbed by your classmates.
"I want candies," One of your classmates yelled. Then, they all started to laugh and chat about how they look and a contest of the most candies to get, well, they just wanted the prize, actually.
"Ssaem, I live there so I think we could go to my house after," Bora, one of your classmates, suggested. "I can ask my mom to bake cookies and cakes!" They all agreed at the sound of the delightful meals. Then, they went back to chat with each other.
"Hey, Iljae," Someone called you. "Want to be on a group with us?" They asked. You shook your head and looked at the head teacher for further instructions. She looked at you with those stern eyes and looked at everyone else.
"Don't worry, we will all be in one group. The houses will only differ based on what street you're on."
They all nodded and talked with each other again. You quickly went back on watching the road. "Iljae," someone nudged your elbow, interrupting your thoughts, "What kind of ghost are you?" She asked.
"I'm a White Lady," You said. She looked at you from top to bottom and smiled. "You should've smeared some ketchup on your dress so it would be scarier. By the way, you look great."
"Thanks," you said. The atmosphere in the van quickly grew quiet as everyone anticipated quietly the trick or treat event.
"Kyah!" your female classmate shrieked when his seatmate nudged her abruptly. He laughed at her expression and she lightly hit him. "You know, you looked like a ghost!"
"Hey, do you believe in ghosts?" your seatmate asked. You shook your head and frowned. "You should talk more. Your saliva will pile up in your throat someday." She lightly chuckled and went back to sleep.
You took her advice and quickly thought of atopic. Feeling a little curious, you decided to ask your seatmate. "You know, I've had this question running in my mind. What if we really do encounter a ghost? I mean, I don't even know how to differentiate one from a human."
She opened her eyes and looked at you oddly. She chuckled lightly. "They said that there were a few things that ghosts can do that humans can't. First was that they have power over humans, like they can defeat you without even sweating. Second is when you look at their appearance. It was said that they look like an angel or something. I forgot the last one, but they said they could blend in pretty well."
You nodded. She continued to speak, "It was also said that, once you encounter a not-fully-dead ghost, one that is in coma or something, it is said that they might be your soulmate waiting for you to know them. Like a wolf and its mate, if that is even real," She chuckled. You smiled lightly, still not believing the paranormal things, and went back to what you were doing. After all, you just wanted to strike a conversation.
Soon, the van came to a stop and everyone stepped outside. You observed the whole place. Indeed, the village was breath-taking under the sunset's light just like what you heard from your teachers and classmates. Everyone grabbed their baskets hurriedly and started knocking on the houses' doors.
You stared at everyone's blissful expressions. Engrossed by the feeling, you unintentionally zoned out. You only went back to reality when someone poked you. "Candies won't rain down, you know? Come on. You'll be left with no candies now." Jwemil said and pulled you away. I don't really like candies a lot, though. You thought.
After two hours of constantly trying to shoo away your classmates and leave you alone, you finally gave up with your basket. Now, your basket is a quarter full while your classmates' are half full. Some already went to Bora's house after filling up their baskets.
You looked at the road ahead of you and sighed when you felt so lonely. "I barely made friends again," you said to yourself, "It's my failt anyways." You really at socializing with people, making you look like a loner. You just shrugged away the thoughts and continued to walk forward, admiring the sceneries that you passed by.
The quiet neighborhood was amusing to you. It was amazing how they seemed to get along despite the fact that they don't seem to converse with each other. However, in the crowded villages like the North Village and the East Village, it was very different. If you don't talk with other people, they ignore you, thinking that you are a strange and unfamiliar person.
The lulling silence accompanied by the soft breeze of the wind made you feel comfortable and lost in your thoughts.
The houses are so beautiful here. Everything and everyone here seems to be so organized. I sure would want to live here. But it's too quiet; possibly, there's a ghost. But then again, the neighborhood is too nice to have one, so nevermind the ghost. Ah, the wonderful--
However, your train of thoughts halted when you bumped on to someone, snapping you back to reality. He turned around only to reveal a drunk fat man along with his drunken crab friends. Surprised by their appearance, you were rooted on your place. You gulped when they all looked at your direction and snickered.
"Look! A little, lost ghost," they mocked. His companions laughed at the jest. Just by listening to their voice, you could feel that they weren't in their normal state. You slowly backed away, pretending to ignore them, but they all had their eyes on you. You felt so feeble under their gazes because you already knew that trouble was nearing.
Your instincts told you to run, and you did.
"Catch her!" One guy yelled. Soon, they all started chasing you.
You ran as far as you can, hoping to lose them. But despite their fats, they were definitely fast runners. Although you had the advantage of being a teen, you couldn't run fast due to your dress. It would flail around when you run too fast and you didn't want anyone to see your undies. Not when a group of drunk guys are after you.
You felt so weak and powerless when the distance was slowly closing. You emitted a low growl of frustration because you knew that you only had determination and perseverance left to overcome the mess you got into.
"I knew I shouldn't have come without a group," you whispered to yourself, feeling defeated.
You glanced at your back warily and noticed that the group of men disappeared, well, you could still see their silhouettes. You sat down to catch your breath. After a sparing a few seconds to breath, you began to run again.
You looked back once again to see if they gained distance towards you and saw that it was still the same. You turned to face around when you bumped into someone. You landed -first on the ground. Groaning, you stood up and rubbed your . When you realized that his profile was a guy, you immediately panicked. Is he with them? Hope not.
He looked at you, obviously displeased about what you did, and eyed you from head to toe, sending shivers up your spine. You panicked more when he bent towards you. But what he did next was what surprised you:
He scooped you up and defensively went infront of you.
"What are you doing?" You asked, completely astonished.
He looked at you boredly and looked behind you. "Isn't it obvious? You are gonna get by a bunch of sick walking elephants and you're just planning on running the whole night," He nonchalantly said. Soon, you saw the outlines of the men that were chasing you. You counted them and they were in a total of 10 people.
Is he gonna fight them? . I'm doomed. You thought. "What do you plan to do?" You asked.
He looked at you amused and looked back at them. "I fight. No need to be scared. I'm not like your average classy man who just shows off," He said and looked back infront. Everything happens strangely in the night.
The gang stopped when they saw you hiding behind another guy. The leader pointed at you and yelled, "There she is! Get her!"
They all advanced towards you and the guy infront of you seemed so relaxed, as if he was so confident that he'll defeat them. They all noticed the man standing infront of you ever so loose and smirked.
"Found your prince charming, cutiepie?" Someone asked. You cringed at the little pet name they gave you. Your body tensed when they were in less than 5 feet from you. I swear, I won't go back to this village anymore.
The guy that stood infront of you smirked. "Can't think of any good petnames, can you, fatman?" He his lips and stepped forward.
You couldn't help but to gape at the situation. He attacked them swiftly and at the same time, good in defense. Although he received a few punches that seemed to just pass by him, he was still attacking furiously as if they owed him something. Soon, the fight stopped and the winner was obvious.
"Oh my," you gasped. He still kept his composure even after the fight.
"Why? Never saw a fight like that before?" He smugly said with a smirk plastered upon his face. He looked at you up and down again and whistled, "Aren't you all innocent? Walking around the neighborhood with that seductive dress. Shouldn't you be at home, making cookies?" He asked. You rolled your eyes at him.
"It's Halloween, you dingbat. We're doing some trick-or-treat with the neighbor here and I'm a white lady," You said, obviously mocked.
"Ahh! That explains the other weirdos knocking on doors," he said. You heard him mutter a 'Creepy weirdos' and sighed. He cocked his head towards you, "Fine. I'll let them go for now. Anyways, do you know how to go back home?"
You looked at the road before you. It was empty and quiet. It was ironic how you felt so comfortable around the silence in the village a while ago, but now you felt so scared just by looking at it. "No. But my friend's house is here so I think I can go there," you said.
"Sure. Go ahead," he nonchalantly said. "Ah, by the way, what would your name be?"
You hesitated on whether to tell him or not since he was still a stranger to you. We won't meet again, right? "Iljae. Go Iljae," You said and then ran forward, not even sharing a glance behind. The mysterious guy chuckled and left, too, in a cloud of smoke.
STarting from Chapter 5, it would be in Iljae's POV, unless stated that it won't be.
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