The doors to the sky and the underground opened simultaneously.

A monster reminiscent of the devil, a great being who existed before the beginning of time, pushed his way through the gap between the two doors.

A twilight time before dark, when light dominated the world's most brightly.

The girl closed her eyes and abandoned her God.

****

Rosha Lewen was living a very normal life in a small town in the South, but she had concerns.

“Rosha, where have you been hiding all day?”

Rosha, who was crouching in the direction where the sheep were grazing, did not answer her brother, Dane.

Rosha’s family, who ran a ranch on a hill close to the village, was in perfect harmony. However, her happiness was snatched away five years ago, when her younger sister Lily was born.

In the beginning, she was not jealous of her little sister. In fact, Rosha loved her sister more than anyone else. However, as Lily grew older, the time their parents devoted to her began to increase. Starting at some point, she suddenly received all sorts of orders from her parents, which ignited her hatred towards her own sister.

“Spent some time with her, play with her, and be patient with her because you’re her older sister.”

As Rosha started her schooling, she was forced to take on her role as an older sister because she was being disobedient. They said that she was jealous of her little sister. But, what she wanted was very simple.

She just wanted the same amount of love and attention that her parents had given to her little sister. However, no matter how obedient she was, her parents didn’t give her what she wanted. The same was true yesterday. It had been a while since she wanted to sleep with her parents, but when Lily went into their parents’ bedroom, she was told to sleep alone. She was asked to yield over her little sister as she was older.

Rosha’s house was located outside the village entrance. Therefore, in order to take her to her school in the village, her father had to leave their home early in the morning.

‘I don’t even want to go to school.’

She had been hiding from her father since morning and felt sad when only her brother had found her. However, she was not apologetic. Rosha, who was only 10 years old, wanted to be loved like a kid rather than being a mature sister.

“Because of our parents, you are not going to talk to me anymore? Rosha? Rosha!”

Dane sat down with his knees bent by Rosha’s side to console her feelings, but she turned her face away. No matter what Dane would say to her, she was not feeling good today. But, if she did not apologize to her parents today, she could be in big trouble as she had skipped school without their permission.

“Rosha, you are a bad kid, aren’t you?”

At this point, all she wanted to say was that she is not a bad kid, and she is still young, but she kept her lips shut. Dane decided to stimulate her a little more.

“If you don’t become a good child quickly, you will be in big trouble.

…. Ramia will take you.”

“You know about Ramia?”

“Of course. Ramia’s upper body appears like a woman with very long black hair, and her lower body resembles a monster with a snake tail long enough to stretch over our ranch. The monster has a great sense of smell and is excellent in searching for bad children. For example, a bad child who ignores family talks and skips school.”

As Dane whispered into Rosha’s ear, she flinched and trembled slightly. Seeing her scared reaction to the story, Dane smiled and stimulated her even more.

“During daytime, she watches the bad child from far away, and then, at night, she will come and call the bad child’s name. Bad kid Rosha, where are you? I’ll gobble you up in one bite!”

“Stop it!” Finally, she responded.

Dane burst into laughter due to Rosha’s screams with her brightly blushed cheeks.

“You are awful! You always say bad things.… and now, you don’t even call me Unnie but call me by my name?” She turned around with a snort.

“Rosha, I know you’re angry, but today, if mother and father scold you, you should tell them that you’re wrong and apologize.”

“No, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Are you still mad because Lily took your doll the other day?”

“Well, it’s not because of that!”

“That’s good then!”

She was still upset, but she did not want to admit it because she did not want to show herself acting childishly in front of Dane. Afterwards, Dane whispered and gently pulled on her hair so that he could braid it into two pigtails.

“I’ll buy you a new doll.”

“But…… You don’t have money!”

“I had saved some of my pocket money! Let’s go out today and eat until dark. Oh, it would be nice to take Polly for a walk, too.” Dane responded leisurely.

As soon as they finished talking, Polly, their sheepdog, came running to them out of nowhere and wagged her tail at them. The heavy atmosphere between them seemed to be lessened a bit. Dane hoped that their parents would feel relieved that he had managed to talk it out with Rosha.

Luckily, this time, he was able to touch Rosha’s heart. She nodded to him, pretending to surrender without erasing her sulky expression.

****

It was relaxing after going out for a long time. Rosha was satisfied because she didn’t have her gangster sister, Lily, who would always ask to play with her or ask for her favorite things. On top of that, she did not hate it when Dane, who always teases her, acted as a reliable younger brother today and soothed her anger.

Rosha did not want Dane to buy her a teddy bear, especially after considering his savings. As Dane seemed to feel relieved to some extent, he bought her an ice cream and carefully cajoled her.

“I’m not saying that you’re wrong. But, if you don’t listen to mother and father, you are the only one who loses. I know you are upset and our parents are too much sometimes, but…”

“But you said I was wrong earlier?”

“It’s not like that, but admit it, you’ve done wrong this time.”

Rosha nodded as if she understood when she saw Dane’s effort in advising her. She also wanted to reconcile with her parents. It took quite a while for Dane to spend all of his money in order to relieve Rosha’s mood.

The sun was setting down, and the most dazzling twilight time had come to town. It would be very dark during their walk back home.

“Shall we go home now?”

At Dane’s words, Rosha nodded softly and took Polly to the hill connected to the village, but Dane, who had been walking ahead of them, found something and stopped. He was looking closely at the poster on the wall. She then naturally stood by his side with Polly and looked at it as well.

“The Golden Dawn Society, who claims there is a huge evil group that wants to rule the world, what is their identity?”

****

“The Golden Dawn Society?” Rosha asked with confusion.

Dane shook his head with an expression as if he had swallowed bitter medicine. Rather than giving Rosha an explanation, he seemed to have a negative reaction towards the mention of the Golden Dawn.

“Father said that it’s a crazy cult. They appear in newspapers a lot these days, and they sound absurd.”

Dane was negative, but his reaction was rather actually propelling Rosha’s curiosity further.

“What do they say?”

“They asked if there are strong evil forces scattered all over the world, if people disappear from the village for no reason or get sick, or if the sinister persists, contact them. They would resolve the issues. But it’s not for free. It sounds like a scam to me.”

“……”

“Anyway, you don’t need to be interested in it because it’s a strange group.”

After he had finished explaining, Dane hurried again to see if her interest in the content of the newspaper had ceased. Rosha was not particularly intrigued by the content of the newspaper, so she followed Dane without a doubt in her mind. Then, it was the time to climb the hill.

Ruff! Ruff!

“Polly, what is it?”

Suddenly, Polly glared intently at somewhere and barked furiously. Her barks were somewhat unusual. Extreme aggression was revealed in her gaze.

“What’s wrong with her all of a sudden?”

In astonishment, Rosha stared at the direction where Polly was barking. It turned out that Polly was barking in a frenzy towards a house that was barely visible from where they were standing, with lights leaking from its window, in the distance.

“Polly, stop it. Let’s go.”

She was forced to push Polly to climb the hill. “Come on! Come on!” But the more she did it, the more rebellious Polly became. After a while, Polly stopped her misbehavior and started to tremble with her tail down, she even made painful sounds. Somehow, something around them had frightened her. However, it was getting late, and they had to go home, so Rosha and Dane were forced to push Polly forward. Eventually, Polly escaped from their arms and rushed down the hill.

“Polly!”

Roscha called anxiously, but Polly didn’t stop.

“Polly is acting strange. I’ll go after her. Tell father that Polly had run away!”

“What? Wait! Rosha!”

Dane tried to stop Rosha, but she was so focused on chasing Polly down the hill that she could not hear Dane’s call and did not look back.

‘Neither of them listened.’ Dane grunted and sped up towards their home.

He was worried about the path Rosha and Polly were heading to.

Without further hesitation, Dane took the familiar path and opened the door to their house, where the light shone bright.

****

“Polly! Polly!”

Rosha tracked down Polly’s footsteps, and continued to shout her name, but the dog had scampered away so fast that Rosha lost sight of her.

“Rosha!”

“Huh? Oh, Uncle!”

“Isn’t this your dog?”

Rosha glared at Polly, who was dragged by a leash in the uncle’s hand. Polly was still quivering with her tail close to her.

“All of a sudden, she barked a lot and ran away like she saw something scary.” Rosha said.

“What could possibly scare this big dog?” Her uncle asked.

“I know, right? Anyway, Polly. Let’s go home now.”

Rosha finished talking to a village uncle whom she had known since childhood and tried to take Polly. But, Polly avoided her touch.

“Polly, what’s the matter?” Rosha sighed in frustration.

“It looks like she doesn’t want to go home, you can leave her with me today. I’ll give her some leftover food, and you can pick her up tomorrow.” The village uncle suggested.

“It’s not that I don’t love you, but I can’t stay here with you, Polly.”

Rosha gazed at Polly with resentful eyes, and eventually nodded.

” Thank you, uncle.”

“Yes, come down here with your father tomorrow.”

Rosha greeted the uncle goodbye and turned around. As she was about to leave, Polly caught her sleeve.

“Polly, what do you want me to do?”

Rosha asked, frustrated, but Polly kept biting her sleeve, not letting go.

“No, Polly. I have to go home.”

The village uncle pulled the leash forcefully, but it was of no use, and eventually, Rosha’s sleeve was torn by her.

“Polly! You! I’m going to tell mother and father how bad you are!”

Rosha was upset with her torn clothes and dashed away in tears. Suddenly, the anger she had for her parents disappeared, and her only desire now was to haste back home and complain about it. It was completely dark as the sun had long gone, but there was yellow light shining faintly in the distance and the way back home was not so difficult. Moreover, she was so familiar with the road that she could even find her way home with her eyes closed.

The distance was getting closer, but suddenly, Rosha could hear the fierce cries and struggles of the farm animals. All the livestock on the ranch, which were usually gentle, quarreled and called out fiercely, trying to get out of the fence, and not a single person could be seen outside. Instinctively, Rosha realized that something was wrong. She hurried her steps and opened the door to her house, which seemed to be strangely peaceful.

“Well, I’m back …”

Nonetheless, the serenity of her world was shattered without warning. As soon as the door was opened, a fishy smell pierced her nose and made her stomach upset, as if she could throw up at any moment. And there was more to the sight than to the smell.

‘Why is there a snake in my house…?’ With the dining table, the sofa, and all the furniture broken, a large pit appeared in the middle of the house. It was huge, hollow, and of the same thickness as Rosha’s waist. It was round and still. Rosha’s gaze started at the snake’s tail, all the way up to the trunk. As her eyes went up along the serpent’s upper part, she saw the body of a person being swallowed halfway into the snake’s mouth. Rosha knew who the person was.

“Oppa….!”

The serpentine, the abominable creature, who was holding Dane and devouring him in her stomach, quickly raised her head. Only then could Rosha see the body of her parents, who were headless, lying on the ground behind it.

[Don’t you know Ramia?]

Rosha recalled Dane’s story earlier in the day. The upper body appeared like a woman with very long black hair, and the lower body resembles a monster with a snake tail long enough to stretch over their ranch.

Why did Dane’s nonsense story suddenly come to her mind? No, how could this unimaginable scene unfold in front of her eyes!?

****

Rosha looked at her brother with fear in her eyes. His body that had not yet died twitched like a newborn beast. Blood dripping down his face, which was covered with tears. His eyes, which were losing focus, managed to find Rosha amidst his pain. At that time, the monster was still chewing on Dane’s flesh and howled in laughter.

“Rosha… run…”

Dane, on his last breaths, gathered all of his strength and shouted out his final warning. The monster threw his body towards the wall, painting the house with more blood. The snake’s body slithered forward in a left, right curvy movement. The action was so large that even a small manoeuvre could destroy many objects in the house one by one.

‘Run away,’ were his last words to her before he left her behind, but Rosha couldn’t move. Her stiffened body could not release itself until the moment the monster came close to her face and opened its mouth. It was purely due to her innate survival instinct that she was barely able to move her uptight body in order to escape her death fate.

“Ahhhh!”

By the time the monster’s teeth touched her head, Rosha could barely take a step back to turn around and run, with fear and trepidation coursing through her blood. She could not even look back. However, the moment she did, the monster was right next to her, whispering in her ears.

[Rosha…… Nice child……]

Rohas turned back around and ran as fast as she could, away from the bloodthirsty creature towards the village. She needed help from the villagers. She needed to get there somehow. Rosha scrambled down the steep hill. It almost felt like she was going to tumble downhill, but she couldn’t slow down now, even though she knew that. However, her pace was bound to stop soon.

[Rosha….]

The voice of the monster was fading away, and the lights of the village were getting closer. Rosha felt relieved that she was still alive. Then suddenly, the monster called out her sister’s name.

[Lily……]

It was then that Rosha came back to her senses and recalled that the faces she saw inside the house only belonged to her dead parents and Dane.

‘Where was Lily?’

Rosha decided to braced herself and go back to the murder scene in search of her sister. There were times she was mad at Lily, but Lily was her little sister and now, her only family member. She would not let the monster hurt her. After the snake went into the house again, Rosha sneaked back in. When she was inside, she saw her family’s dead bodies again. It was the sight she could, would never get used to even after seeing it several times. But, it was not yet time to be sad. She had to first find Lily and get her out of there.

“Lily! Lily!” Rosha whispered her sister’s name quietly without attracting the monster’s attention.

As she scanned around the floor, a hammer near her father’s body, whose head was missing, caught her eyes. It was the same hammer that her father often used to fix fences and furniture. Perhaps this was the time it was time to use it to resist the monster. Rosha picked up the hammer off the floor with shaking hands. As tremors filled her body, Rosha raised her hammer and stepped slowly, ready to attack the unknown monster if needed.

“Lily? Lily!”

It wasn’t easy to even gesture silently when a monster was nearby. Her voice shook violently, even though she was only calling her sister’s name. First, she searched around her parent's room, but Lily wasn’t there. Next, Rosha went up the stairs and headed to her room.

“Lily?”

However, Lily was not even there either. Rosha turned to head for Dane’s room. It was then, she heard the sound of someone crying weakly. Rosha hurriedly went to the closet and opened the door, but inside, only clothes were seen. Subsequently, she carefully bent her knees too, bowed her back, and looked under the bed. And, there was Lily in a pitiful state.

“Ahhh!!!”

Even after seeing Rosha, Lily was still screaming and shuddering in with fear.

“Lily! It’s me! Rosha, it’s your sister!”

Rosha held onto Lily’s wrist in an effort to try to calm her down. It was then that Lily belatedly recognized Rosha belatedly.

“Rosha…?”

“Yes. It’s me, Lily.”

As soon as Rosha pulled Lily’s body out of the bed, she broke into tears and cried desperately in her arms. Although Rosha was the brave one at the moment amongst the two, she could not stop her hands from shaking as she stroked Lily’s trembling body.

“Lily, what happened? That monster is….”

“I don’t know……. I heard a loud sound from outside, so I left my room… Then, I saw our father swinging his hammer and told me to hide. I heard our brother’s screams from downstairs, but I couldn’t come out to look because I was too scared….”

Lily was gasping and stuttering while telling the story. Suddenly, Rosha got goosebumps on the back of her neck thinking, if she didn’t go to look for Polly, she would be dead by now. She was surprisingly relieved at this moment. However, when she realized her hidden emotions, she felt disgusted with herself. How could she be so selfish when her family is all dead? Rosha, who was guilty of only thinking of herself, buried her face on Lily’s shoulders, but soon removed her head as if she came to her senses.

“First, let’s go to the village. Can you move?”

“Yes……”

Lily stared upward at Rosha and nodded. Rosha also tried to raise her little sister up with her trembling body. It was then….

“Unnie……”

Lily’s gaze was subtly off as she looked up at Rosha. Her trembling pupils were filled with horror as she gaped over Rosha’s shoulder, not at her face. Rosha could feel it then, the cold wind from behind. It was Ramia. It fluttered its two-pronged tongue while rearranging its lower jaw. They were petrified as they couldn’t scream and held each other tightly. Their stone-like appearances allowed the monster to come close and, with its wicked hands, grabbed onto the hair of the two young sisters. Only then, came a scream.

“No, Lily!”

“Unnie!”

Rosha pulled on Lily’s arms hard to keep herself from letting her sister go. As the strength of her grip increased, the blade of the nails buried into Lily’s flesh and scratched the surface of her Lily’s arms.

[Who should I eat first…?] The monster roared thunderously.

Ramia’s grip was getting stronger and stronger, and Rosha eventually lost her strength. The monster lifted Lily as if it had been waiting for her meal all this time.

“Let my sister go!” Rosha yelled loudly.

The monster grabbed Lily’s hair and prepared to devour her body.

“Unnie, save me…”

Lily’s faint voice like breathing penetrated Rosha’s ears without the need for her to even shout. But Rosha was helpless. She was incapable to do anything, and had no choice but to watch the monster touch her little sister. At this moment, Rosha and Lily were the monster’s prey.

“Lily!”

Rosha tried to reach out, but her fingers could only rub against the sole of her sister’s foot. When the monster’s razor-sharpened fangs teeth were about to scratch Lily’s stomach, a sudden noise broke its concentration.

Ruff! Ruff!

Somewhere near them, a dog was barking. Ramia turned her gaze away from Lily and looked back. A dog with white fur and black spots jumped up and bit its face.

“Polly!”

The dog, who previously had left the house, had returned. Lily fell out from Ramia’s clasp hands when Polly bit Ramia’s face. Polly would not let go.

“Get up quickly, Lily! We have to run! Right now!”

Rosha, while holding on to her sister’s hand, dashed out of the room fearlessly, stepping on the torn scales of the monster that was being occupied by Polly. The two young sisters went down the stairs and exited the house.

“Unnie! What about Polly?!”

Lily was worried about Polly as she rushed down the hill. Polly was like a family member and a best friend who grew up with them. However, Rosha did not have the courage to go back to save Polly. She just pulled on Lily’s hand and ran. She did not even have the strength to lift Lily, who had fallen several times, but drag her instead. There was no time to stall, no time to look back; all they could do was to leave the place for their own safety.

In the great distance, they could hear the dog’s cry.

*****