Chapter 76 - Anormality - BONUS CHAPTER

In his dream, black birds — not ravens, but creatures made of shadow — stand on the electricity wires that cross the city, gazing intently at the empty street. The sky is light gray, like a cloudy dawn frozen in time. All colors are faded and unsaturated. And that's why he knows that ghost crows can easily spot him.

There is a humming_ not like electricity, but something like a swarm of bees and a strange low chant_ amalgamated.

He needs to hide. His heart is pounding faster because there seems to be no alternative left. Soon 'they' will know… Instinctively he knows he must hide. But the city in the distance, with its empty, post-apocalyptic landscape, seems to attract him. He doesn't know what to do there ... But he wants to go. He has to go.

In his first uncertain step, the ghost bird turns its head towards him. With a hoarse and fierce croak, the bird calls out to its mates. They move restlessly, their wings spread, their bright, glossy eyes fixed on him:

"Go away!!!"

Chang Mi woke up sweaty_ despite the cold night_ under the blankets in his upstairs bedroom on the greengrocer building's second storey.

His eyes searched the darkness for enemy birds, but he was alone. Lately he had frequently dreamed of the damn birds that chased him like emissaries of invisible powers.

Chang Mi touched the amulet his mother had bought him from a shaman. Apparently it was just expensive stuff because it didn't work. It never did.

As he looked at the watch on his wrist and checked that it was nearly two in the morning, the 18-year-old had a feeling.

Walking to the window and carefully pushing the blinds aside, he peered down the empty, quiet street below.

Chang Mi, who used to be a pragmatic and silent boy, took the bundle he had prepared under the bed, grabbed the blanket with his other hand, and climbed onto the terrace.

The cold wind whipped his thin, slender body as soon as he opened the access door. But he just wrapped himself in the blanket and ignored the heat shock, knowing that he would soon get used to it.

Maybe his vigil would have to last the rest of the night.

Going to the wall that held the water tank, Chang Mi groped for the hiding place and pulled the carefully wrapped canvas from there. Rolling out in a hurry, he picked up the homemade shotgun he had made himself in his spare time.

Checking his situation from his weapon, he settled into a comfortable position in the pyeong sang against the rail, wrapped himself better in the blanket, and from inside his bundle reached a chocolate milk box. And a binocular.

He straightened his straw and sipped his drink, gathering strength with the sweetened beverage.

Adjusting the focus, his first magnified look was the stars above him. Though cold, the night had bright stars. He was distracted for a brief moment, but remembered his mission.

His second look went to the window across the street. The straw fell from his mouth as his mouth gaped involuntarily in surprise.

"Noona!" he exclaimed, seeing her petite, feminine silhouette against the framed light. Her lights were off just seconds ago.

Her whole body throbbed uncomfortably, and Chang Mi leaned forward, trying to push the sensation away, taking a deep breath, and other and other. Clutching both his binoculars and shotgun, he followed Noona Eun Ha's movements in his room.

'Oh, she's coming to the window!' he ducked down quickly, hiding behind the terrace rail. Otherwise, he would be easily seen, he believed, if she looked that way. "Damn!"

…

A choking sensation and weight on her chest made Eun Ha struggle without result in the middle of her restless sleep. She walked behind a window full of sweet cakes and pies, and on the other side, female voices whispered, savoring the poison of gossip:

"She said… Black ghosts..."

"Hahah, poor crazy woman…!?"

"Yes, the ranch owner was found with a hole in her chest. The crazy girl said nonsense things… Black ghosts… On her shoulder."

"The woman wanted the other lady's baby… She wanted the two babies."

"She said those things. Poor thing. Crazy."

"Such a horror…"

"Such a horror…"

"Horror…"

She was a child and looked through the gaps between the beauty of the confectionery and the ugliness of the people.

Suddenly, the sensation.

That someone was watching her from the other side of the window.

Something.

Something hungry.

"I saw you…" the voice that sounded as if spoken with a wide smile, playing with a child, made her shiver. It was a familiar voice.

Eun Ha woke up staring at the painted stars on her ceiling, feeling her body come out of its nocturnal numbness. She took a deep breath, intrigued.

She had had a nightmare, and though her heart was pounding wildly, the fairy knew she had reason to dream of grotesque things. Only this voice, which she had a sense of knowing, was something fleeting that really bothered her.

She really didn't remember — if her dream was really based on a memory of her childhood, or if her mind was concatenating information and trying to assemble a bizarre puzzle that seemed to made sense. For mixing her memories of Jolly Bakery with fairy Chil Won's candy store, the gossiping ladies, and Ye Rim's mom and the rumors about the crazy woman… Maybe none of that was connected in real life.

Still, her heart ached, and she decided to get up and let the cool night air into her room. After what she'd heard from Professor Shin, she didn't want to let bad feelings build up where she slept.

"Shin… what's your name, really?" she asked to no one as she stood up.

Eun Ha turned on the light, and after fumbling for her fluffy robe, she protected himself and opened the window, feeling the cool breeze invade the room. The cold air roused her fully, touching her cheeks.

The dream still left a lingering, lingering memory in the back of her mind — the familiar, frightening voice playing hide and seek with her among the delicious sweetnesses.

The stars caught her eye. 'So bright tonight.' The night was particularly quiet, suspended… which made her wonder,

"Wait, have I woken up?"

The pinch on her arm made Eun Ha realize that she was indeed awake. She sighed. Maybe it was her new look at magic. Maybe she was seeing the night differently.

She let her gaze wander to the empty street, searching for magic. But somehow it only made her cringe, suddenly afraid.

She didn't like the feel of the cold breeze. She felt watched.

"Uhmmm. Maybe the feng shui in this neighborhood is not so good…"

She closed the window, and closed the curtains too. "Will it give me insomnia? That food Ye Rim made may not have done me good ..." Rubbing her arms, she decided to go to the bathroom right away.

…

'Noona? Have you gone already?' Chang Mi thought to hear the window closing, and peered cautiously from his strategic position on the roof. 'Yes, you better close the window, Noona… Rest assured. Sleep well magic noona. Nothing will pass me by.'

He moved carefully, looking through the binoculars at the cross alley where the stranger was hiding _ staring at the window that had just closed.

"You are there again."