The noise outside with the combination of people screaming, monsters shouting, and the sound of meat getting sliced alongside his nerves constantly telling him to run without thinking, made it impossible for Seo Hyunwoo to notice the light shriek that Yuna made when she fell to the monster's mouth.
However, now that he was facing her, he could hear it loudly and clearly.
The sound of the monster munching on her feet, and her bones getting crushed by its sharp teeth.
Yuna stretched her hand out, eyes pleading to him.
"O, oppa… sa, save me…"
"Yuna…"
Hyunwoo clutched his chest tightly, gasping for air. His heart was beating so fast, it was unlike he'd ever felt before.
He wanted to move. Move and run away. The monster was just below him. If he made a single mistake, he would slip and fall down the tube. Then, he would surely get eaten.
But what about Yuna? Yuna is… Yuna is…!
"Haa, haa…"
His breathing became unstable and his iris continued to widen as he watched the monster consume his younger cousin.
"Oppa… hic, o, oppa!"
Yuna called out to him in pain, making his ears perk up.
Gasp!
Seo Hyunwoo clenched his fists and quickly got out of the spiral tube. He put his left hand on the edge and put his right inside it.
"Yuna, hold your hand out! Hurry up!"
"O, ppa…"
Yuna's tears made it hard for her to speak, but when she saw the look in his eyes, she gulped. She disregarded the excruciating pain she was feeling below her legs and reached her hand out.
Only a few centimeters more and their fingers would have touched. However, the monster inside the tube had just finished chewing her little, fragile bones and went on to widen its jaws to devour more of her, making her hand slip away from her cousin's.
"Uh, ah!"
Her scream echoed inside the spiral tube, and in Hyunwoo's ears.
"Yuna! No, Yuna!"
Seo Hyunwoo stretched his arms out as much as he could, trying to reach Yuna, who kept falling deeper and deeper inside the tube.
Crunch!
The monster's muscles slowly grew larger the more it consumed Yuna's flesh and bones. The overflowing blood was used to freshen up its throat every now and then.
The stronger it got, the faster it devoured the child in its mouth.
"O, oppa! Oppa, no! Oppa, sa, save me! No, I don't want this! I don't want to die! Oppa, I don't want to die!"
Yuna struggled to get away from the monster's jaw, but it was useless.
The monster got its head locked onto its target. Its large, sharp teeth against the strength of a 7-year-old child, it was obvious who would win.
Nonetheless, Seo Hyunwoo did not care. To be more specific, he couldn't care. When he saw Yuna slipping away, he swiftly put his head inside to try and get closer to her.
"Yu, Yuna! Yuna! Dammit!"
He left his right leg outside the edge, just enough so he wouldn't fall with her. Hyunwoo crawled inside the tube until he finally made contact with Yuna.
"Yuna!"
"Oppa…!"
Yuna put all of her energy into holding Hyunwoo's hand and grabbed it as tight as she could.
Seo Hyunwoo's face beamed up.
"Don't worry, Yuna! Oppa will get you out of here, okay? Don't worry, it's okay! Hold on to me tight!"
"Hng!"
Yuna could only nod.
Hyunwoo breathed in as much air as he could and started putting all of his strength into pulling his cousin up.
"Kugh!"
But it was not enough. Hyunwoo clenched his grip, and tried once more. Yuna struggled to move the bottom part of her body, but still held on to his arms.
Hyunwoo pulled Yuna with his eyes closed, fully focused on getting her out of the monster's mouth. It was the same as pulling an immovable boulder, a useless struggle against a foe he couldn't defeat.
His mind was telling him to stop, and his body was starting to lose energy.
"Kugh–! Haa… Haa!"
However, he didn't want to stop. No matter how much he hated his uncle and everyone else in this family, this younger cousin of his was different.
Yuna was the only innocent member of their family, the only one he couldn't blame for his struggles.
Even if there had been countless times when his uncle treated him unfairly because of his daughter, he could not bring himself to hate on Yuna.
The Yuna who always smiles at him, the polite Yuna who follows him around even when her parents leave her with him in order to enjoy themselves…
Seo Hyunwoo put his other hand on Yuna's and started to use both of his hands to pull her up until he flew back outside the tube.
"Ack–!"
He opened his eyes and saw Yuna's face.
Seo Hyunwoo smiled as he looked up.
"Yuna! Eh?"
Below her navel was an endless amount of blood dripping down the tube. Her face was completely void of any color while her eyes remained open, as if they were staring at his soul.
"Yu… na? Hiek!"
When he noticed that he was still holding her cold hands, Seo Hyunwoo panicked and quickly let go of them.
"Gasp! No, Yuna!"
Yuna's upper body quickly slid down the spiral tube and went straight to the monster's jaw. As if it were waiting for the other half of her, the monster opened its mouth as wide as it could. Without missing a single beat, it bit her stomach with Yuna's blood gushing out from it.
"Yu, Yuna… No, Yuna… Yuna! Yuna!"
It was as though his stomach was being turned upside down. Clear vomit came out of Seo Hyunwoo's mouth.
Tears flowing as he heard the sound of the monster completely feasting on his younger cousin, he couldn't keep himself from throwing up.
Regret came too late when he heard metal cracking in front of him. He paused, looking at the creature inside the spiral tube as the monster's body got bigger.
Seo Hyunwoo flinched. He knew what was happening. His throat itched, and he got on his feet. The bigger the monster got, the harder it would be for the tube to keep it in.
He immediately ran away from the spiral tube and out of the playground. He was not sure where he would go, but his feet kept moving, doing their best to get him as far away as possible from that place.