The Monster Who Loved the Moon - Episode 1

Mode-Marie (1)

Yujin woke up with a start.

As a re-sit student, she couldn’t fall asleep easily even after studying late into the night. It was because she was conscious of her parents. When she was so tired that she felt like she was going to die, she would often doze off at her desk with the desk lamp on, like today. Feeling tired from the pale light, she grumbled inwardly, wondering why she had woken up.

It was then that she noticed a strange sound. Something was rattling and scratching at her nerves. At first, Yujin thought it was the ticking of a clock or the sound of a meter running. But when it turned into a rustling, moving sound, she realized that someone was in the room.

“Mom?”

Yujin, who had woken up, turned her head without thinking much.

An eyeball the size of a fist was staring at her.

“Aaaaaaah!!”

Yujin, who had sprung up as if bouncing, gasped for breath. Her whole body was soaked in cold sweat. Someone took her hand and said kindly, “It’s okay, baby, it’s just a dream. You just had a nightmare.”

Ah, it’s a dream. It was just a nightmare.

Yujin, shuddering with relief, felt someone stroking her face and cringed. A foreign woman she had never seen before was sitting next to the bed.

“W-Who are you?”

Yujin, who had opened her mouth in embarrassment, belatedly realized that she had to speak in English and panicked. But the other woman, surprised by her question, clutched her chest.

“Oh my god, she can talk. This is amazing! It’s a miracle!”

“Excuse me?”

Yujin was more embarrassed by the fact that the woman was speaking Korean than by her sudden words. The woman left Yujin, who didn’t know what to do, and got up from her seat. Her bright yellow dress fluttered as she moved lightly, as if dancing. Yujin, who was about to ask what she meant, was so surprised by her outfit, which defied common sense, that she closed her mouth.

The woman, with a flushed face, shook the bell placed on the bedside table. Soon, the door clicked open and a girl with long brown braids entered. She was also wearing a dress, but the skirt wasn’t puffed up like a balloon. Yujin felt a deep sense of discomfort as the girl’s curious gaze was fixed on her face.

“Dana, tell everyone that Mode-Marie has woken up. Oh, we must thank God for today’s joy. Also, ask the priest to prepare a blessing.”

“Yes, madam.”

The girl, who bowed her knees politely as she answered, headed outside. Yujin, who was trying to take advantage of the gap to ask if this was a hospital, was blocked by the people who rushed in as soon as the door opened. An old man with snow-white hair appeared from the door, which had been opened with a bang, supported by a man. They were also foreigners.

Yujin awkwardly raised her half-lying body. The awkwardly long piece of furniture, which she didn’t know if it was a bed or a sofa, was becoming uncomfortable anyway. The old man, who was observing Yujin with eyes as sharp as a hawk, opened his mouth.

“Has the curse really been lifted?”

The end of his clear voice was trembling slightly. Yujin’s head was throbbing with the situation, where only incomprehensible words were being said. It seemed more efficient to go outside and check if this was a filming set than to talk to them.

While Yujin was thinking about other things, the old man shook off the man’s support and approached her. The old man’s unique slow and shrunken gait made the people watching him feel uneasy. The old man, who walked precariously and stood in front of Yujin, said with a sigh.

“Elizabeth Mode-Marie, that is your name.”

Yujin remained silent even at these sudden words. It was because she was so dumbfounded, and because she felt that the old man still had something to say. The old man, who hesitated for a moment, opened his mouth again.

“And I am your father.”

Yujin couldn’t help but think of a scene from a very famous movie at that moment. Perhaps because she was in a state of panic, a chuckle leaked out inappropriately. The old man, interpreting her smiling face in some way, spread his trembling arms wide.

“My daughter, please kiss me. I have been working for a long time to lift the curse that has been placed on you. Please prove that my efforts have not been in vain.”

Yujin felt goosebumps all over her body. It felt like she was facing a pervert in a place where she couldn’t escape. She wanted to get angry and ask if he was a pervert, but her voice wouldn’t come out as if she was frozen. The man, who had been silent until then, intervened when he saw Yujin, who had stiffened.

“Father, she is like a newborn baby who has just opened her eyes. I don’t know how she learned to speak, but there’s nothing in her head. Don’t rush too much.”

Yujin glanced sideways at his attire. A drooping lace covered his entire shoulder in a wavy pattern, and a strange outfit with a rounded top in the shape of a stingray T-shirt drooped down. His hair reached his shoulders and his beard covered his chin, so she couldn’t even guess how old he was. The man, who met Yujin’s eyes, smiled.

“I am your brother, Edmund.”

She didn’t know what the switch was. The moment Yujin saw the man’s smile, she felt a splitting headache. It felt like her brain was being crushed by a pestle.

Yujin clutched her head and screamed. Forgotten memories came to her mind in a jumbled and distorted vision.

The dark alley and the monster chasing her, and the light rushing at her!

“Gasp!”

She reflexively hugged her shoulders and noticed something strange. Her arm, caught in her grip, was strangely thin and hard. It felt like a dry twig. When she rolled up the fluttering sleeves with a trembling hand, an arm as withered as a mummy was revealed. It was strange that she hadn’t noticed it until now.

Yujin threw up on the carpet on the floor. Only watery stomach acid came out, but as she continued to throw up, the headache that felt like it would break her brain seemed to subside. Yujin, who nervously rubbed her face, which was a mess of saliva and tears, asked in a cracked voice.

“I, what the hell happened to me? And why is my body like this? Where the hell is this!”

Tears were mixed in at the end of her words. All the situations were far beyond the limit that Yujin could endure. She didn’t want to cry, but she was fed up with the fact that all she could do was cry.

A handkerchief was suddenly thrust into Yujin’s vision, who was sobbing.

“You have been cursed for sixteen years, from birth until now. As of yesterday, the curse has been lifted, and this is your home.”

Edmund’s face, who said that, was filled with pity, sadness, and disgust when looking at something insignificant. Yujin reached out with a dazed head and grabbed the handkerchief.

Sixteen years.

The dry handkerchief was crumpled weakly. She was twenty years old.

* * *

Yujin looked at her reflection in the mirror. It was a cloudy and highly refractive mirror, but there was no problem in reflecting her face. Even if it looked like a skull, what was reflected in the mirror was clearly Yujin’s own face. It was a little younger than she remembered—it looked similar to the photo she took when she entered high school.

“Yujin, Shin Yujin.”

Yujin called out her name aloud. Unless time went backwards, she would never suddenly become younger.

Then, did she die back then? Did she die and be reborn, and then not regain consciousness for sixteen years until now?

Her whole body sank like a stone in a feeling of despair.

No, it was because of muscle pain. Yujin bitterly looked at her twig-like wrist. The act of getting out of bed and walking around on the first day she woke up resulted in a terrifying result called total muscle rupture. If it hadn’t been for the priest who ran over in time, she would never have been able to move again.

Yujin’s new body, Elizabeth Mode-Marie, was a glass doll who had never left her bed for sixteen years. Still, as a result of Yujin constantly wiggling her body, things that could be called basic muscles necessary for the basic movements of a sedentary human were gradually being created. Three weeks later, it was possible to walk around the bed once. Of course, it would have been impossible without the priest’s continuous divine healing.

“Oh my, miss, are you already awake? Why don’t you sleep a little more?”

Dana, who was bringing in breakfast, said in a surprised voice. Yujin just nodded without saying anything and buried her body in the soft cushion.

The beds here were strangely short, so when Yujin lay straight, her ankles protruded out. Perhaps because she hadn’t grown properly, her height had become as small as a middle school student. Dana told her that she had to sleep with her upper body leaning diagonally against the backrest and cushion, not lying straight on the bed. It was a sleeping method that Yujin couldn’t understand at all.

Yujin wasn’t getting a good night’s sleep because of the uncomfortable bed. Once, she couldn’t stand it and lay down on the carpet on the floor, but the drafts and chills were so bad that she almost froze to death. In fact, the only place in this room where warming magic was cast was the bed.

Dana, who had straightened the disheveled blanket, glanced at Yujin and put away the mirror that she had put down. Yujin knew that she was pitying her. Dana thought that Yujin’s ‘hideous appearance’ was a sequela of the curse. The yellow skin, low nose, and slit eyes, typical of Asians, were enough to arouse her pity.

“I put a lot of rose water in today’s wash water. If you keep washing your face with this, your face will definitely become as white as snow.”

That won’t happen unless I change my race. Yujin coldly retorted inwardly and put her hand in the reddish wash water mixed with wine. Washing her face with wine water always felt subtle. It was like feeling like a drunkard with alcohol she hadn’t even drunk.

She had asked if she could wash her face with water that wasn’t mixed with alcohol, but Dana refused, saying that she would get a skin disease. Instead, she allowed Yujin to splash the wash water on her face. She emphasized that she should originally only wipe it with a cloth soaked in water so that it wouldn’t touch her skin directly.

Yujin thought that this place was really strange. There was divine power and magic that seemed like a miracle in her eyes, but people’s consciousness and living standards were no different from the Dark Ages. Their lifestyle, full of superstition and ignorance, sometimes felt frightening.

“…I have to adapt.”

Yujin muttered as if making a resolution. It was a self-hypnosis she was putting on herself. At first, she couldn’t accept reality at all. She pinched her arms until they turned blue and slapped her cheeks, praying that she would wake up from her dream soon. Every time she fell asleep, she prayed that she would wake up in her room. She fell into despair at the unchanging morning and cried, tearing at her hair, saying that this wasn’t reality. After three weeks, the thought of having to live somehow settled on top of resignation. She was afraid that if she was found out that this wasn’t real, she would be kicked out naked.

Elizabeth Mode-Marie’s body was too weak. So weak that she wouldn’t be able to survive if she were kicked out of this place. Her skinny body didn’t even have proper muscles, and her bones were so thin they looked like they would break if you just tapped them. Her basic strength was weak, and she was short like a child, making her look inadequate in every way.

Moreover, this was not a world that was kind to unprotected women. It was a place where it was even ambiguous whether kidnapping and rape were illegal. To survive, she had to hide, forget, and conceal everything.

Adapt and adapt, learn everything about this place, and become capable of surviving on her own. Maybe then she could leave to find the truth.

“What did you say?”

Dana, who had closed the door she’d opened for ventilation and returned, tilted her head. Yujin said it was nothing and smiled. It was a childlike, innocent smile.

Elizabeth Mode-Marie had been the prince’s fiancée.

The reason it’s in the past tense is that after the fact that she was cursed was revealed, the engagement was unilaterally broken off. In fact, it was unfair to Mode-Marie. She was cursed because she was the prince’s fiancée.

The story began like this. About 20 years ago, a saintess called the daughter of God appeared. God directly blessed the saintess, calling her his breath, and she went wherever help was needed and performed miracles.

When everyone in the world praised and revered the saintess, something unexpected happened. The young and energetic king of this country knelt at the saintess’s feet and proposed. Unexpectedly, the saintess accepted the king’s proposal.

“When the saintess accepted the proposal, the whole country was in a festive mood. Everyone was jumping for joy and calling out the name of God. They thought that if the saintess became the queen, this country would be blessed by God forever. The temple opposed their marriage, calling it blasphemy, but no one listened.”

So the two married, and sometime later, they even had a prince. But Dana said that no one knows exactly what happened after that. The most widely known story is that God was angry with the king for defiling his daughter, so he sent the saintess back to the divine realm and cursed the royal family.

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