The Executioner

1. The Beginning

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It was a cold, dark night.

Darker than most, as the elusive moon danced between unseasonal clouds.

Seo NaEun, a young girl, placed a slightly wide straw hat atop her head. She picked her lantern and a long wooden stick, which she used as a staff.

"Na Eun-ah, don't stay out too late, uh? We need the money, but don't run too many errands at night... You're a girl, so you should think about your reputation."

"Yes, Mother." The girl replied impatiently, hurrying off.

She briefly pondered what her mother had just said as she left, but she discarded it almost at once...

It just wasn't possible!

The head of the family had died the previous year, so NaEun, his first daughter, had to find ways to feed the family.

There was no son in their household, her mother was sick and her younger sister had to tend her mother...

Everything from picking herbs and selling, to cleaning, to serving customers at the local inns and food stalls... NaEun did everything she could find.

And on the side, she had spent the last year earning the trust of people as an efficient errand girl, and she was not about to jeopardize that, even if it meant being out a little late...

And yet...

Numerous nights of running errands, and NaEun had not quite felt like this before...

She had run far from home and was close to the outskirts of the capital.

Again, she had been here before, even later than today, and yet...

She stopped suddenly, as she came to a copse of trees she had to pass.

'Old Man Ma is just on the other side of those trees...' She calmed herself and felt for the small pouch dangling from her belt.

A pouch filled with medical herbs for Old Man Ma.

'If I deliver this, we would have enough for almost two weeks!' She reminded herself.

But what was this uneasy feeling?

She listened to the sounds of the night. They were the same...

There was the scurry here and there of rats and other night creatures. There were the crickets, ever present, and there was even the buzz of insects...

Nothing out of the ordinary.

She took a tentative step and then another.

"There's nothing to fear here!" She finally convinced herself and ran full on into the shaded path she knew so well.

But she hadn't gone far when she noticed it.

The silence.

There was suddenly no scurrying, or cricket song, or buzzing.

Just silence!

She stopped suddenly, slowing to a cautious walk. She heard a rustle to her left and she turned in that direction.

But it was all silent again.

Another rustle came from behind her, and she swivelled sharply, holding her staff out in defence.

"Who's there?!" She whispered harshly into the silence. No response. No sounds.

She had passed the halfway point, so she began to cautiously move forward toward her destination.