In the midst of their struggle, they froze like statues.
The language was not English, and they did not understand a word.
In her desperate situation, Heesoo welcomed the arrival of the strangers.
Initially, she thought they would help her.
But it didn’t take long to realize that it was a naive hope.
“Help me! This man is trying to rape me!”
The foreigner, panicked, loosened his grip.
Heesoo quickly pushed him away and started to button up her clothes, assessing the strangers.
“Les mains en l’air, donnez-nous la fille. (Hands up, hand over that chick.)”
The strangers were not alone.
There were about four men.
They weren’t Asian but seemed closer to Caucasian, possibly from the Middle East or Turkey.
Maybe their skin appeared that way due to sunburn.
And…
they were all men.
“Suivez mes ordres.
Je ne te tuerai pas.
(Do what I say and you won’t get hurt.)”
“Oui, on ne te tuera pas.
(Yeah, we’re not gonna kill you.)”
Heesoo could hear them laughing and bantering among themselves, the gleam of swords at their waists adding a sinister edge to the scene.
Their clothing wasn’t modern—far from it.
They looked like they’d stepped right out of a scene from a medieval-based movie.
Four men, each armed with long swords.
And Heesoo couldn’t understand a word they said.
Instinctively, she began backing away.
Something terrible was about to happen—she was sure of it.
“What are you all? Don’t you know English? Speak English, you stupid savages!”
The foreigner seemed to have lost all sense of fear.
Despite being outnumbered, he marched toward the men without hesitation.
Heesoo, on the other hand, had no intention of staying to see how things unfolded.
“Elle s’enfuit! Allez attrapez-la! (She’s running away! Go catch her!)”
Joyful shouts erupted behind her as she turned and bolted into the forest.
“Si l’attrape en premier, baiser sa première! (Whoever catches her first gets her first!)”
A blood-curdling scream tore through the night, loud enough to make the trees shudder.
“Ahhhhhh!”
The foreigner was dead.
At that moment, Heesoo understood the truth with chilling clarity.
‘I’m not dead.’
This wasn’t heaven.
And sometimes, reality could be far more horrifying than any hell.
* * *
It didn’t take long for the men to catch Heesoo.
She had never been much of a runner, and with four strong men pursuing her, there was no chance of escape.
Before they toyed with her, they showed her something they’d pulled from a sack.
“Ah!”
Heesoo nearly fainted at the sight.
It was the severed hand of the foreigner.
She recognized it immediately because of the watch still strapped to the wrist.
The men, grinning wickedly, removed the watch and discarded the hand as if it were a worthless piece of garbage.
It seemed they didn’t know how to take the watch off without cutting off the hand.
Heesoo quickly realized what was happening.
Trembling, Heesoo unclasped her bracelet and handed it to them.
Then her rings, her necklace, and her earrings.
When they pointed to her hair, she even removed the pins.
Judging by their expressions, that seemed to satisfy them—for now.
But, unfortunately, that wasn’t all they wanted from her.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay still, huh?”
The man spoke to her in a language she didn’t understand.
His rough hands began to grope her, wandering over her body.
“You’re so pretty. Why don’t you just cooperate?”
Heesoo couldn’t fight back against his brute force.
At first, she tried resisting, but after being struck a few times, she realized any resistance was futile.
No matter how much she begged, they wouldn’t let her go.
Resigning herself to the situation, she clamped her mouth shut and stopped struggling.
“What’s with these clothes? Why are they so hard to take off?”
The man grunted in frustration as he tried to remove her skinny jeans, clearly baffled by the unfamiliar design of the buckle and zipper.
“So, you’re not from around here either, huh?”
Limp and motionless, Heesoo endured his invasive hands, her spirit already broken.
“Your skin is so smooth, and your face is flawless.
I’m one lucky guy.
To think I get to be the first to—”
“Just hurry up, you idiot!” shouted one of the other men, impatiently glaring at him.
“There are three of us still waiting!”
“Yeah, stop wasting time!
The holy knight will be here soon, and they’ll send her straight to the mines!”
“You know how uptight they are right now!
Ever since the Pope died, it’s been pure chaos.”
“Speaking of that…”
The man’s voice dropped, an ominous tone lingering in his words.
“Rumors have it that one of the knights might’ve been the one to kill the Pope.”