Nosferatu: Ruler of the Night [TAEKOOK] Echoes of the Past

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The afternoon sun had begun to descend. Tae had finished cleaning the entire house and was now preparing to cook. Jhope had already brought vegetables from the field and slaughtered a chicken from the farm. Tae started cooking, pushing aside Dong-wook's words from his mind. But after all these years, seeing his uncle again made him miss his mother terribly.

After Tae's father, Ivan, passed away, his mother, Iliana, was both physically and emotionally shattered. Though she appeared normal in front of others, she would silently shed tears in solitude. No one else might have noticed, but Tae did. Her mother’s vacant stares and the forced smiles at the corners of her lips—none of it was unfamiliar to Tae.

But suddenly, Iliana began to change. After Ivan’s death, she lived with her two daughters in Tae's house. One night, Tae woke up to a faint sound. He looked beside her—his mother wasn’t there! On the other side of the bed, Jimin was fast asleep. Tae assumed that his mother had gone to drink water. But when she didn’t return for a long time, a sense of unease crept over her.

He got out of bed and stepped out of the room. The entire corridor was engulfed in pitch darkness. Tae lit a lantern in the room and then ventured out again. The interplay of the pitch-black darkness and the lantern's glow created an eerie play of light and shadow across the corridor. Tae called out,

Taehyung

Mom

No response came. His voice echoed back to him. Then, suddenly, he heard a thud-thud sound against a wooden door! Tae followed the sound, hurriedly descending the stairs, only to see his mother, Iliana, standing in front of the main door, banging her head against it. Tae rushed forward, calling out,

Taehyung

Mom! What are you doing?

As he spoke, he placed a hand on his mother's shoulder, and Iliana suddenly collapsed. Tae quickly set the lantern down and held his mother, calling out in panic,

Taehyung

Mom! mom, what’s wrong?

Iliana mumbled something in a drowsy voice, but Tae couldn’t quite understand. Supporting his mother, he carefully brought her back to the room. As soon as he laid her on the bed, Iliana sank into a deep sleep. Tae, however, didn’t sleep for the rest of the night, fearing that his mother might wake up and wander off again.

A few days passed after that incident, and during this time, Iliana behaved completely normally. In fact, she seemed quite stable. Tae felt relieved, believing that his mother was finally recovering from her grief.

But then, one night, he was awakened again by a faint rustling sound. It was a very soft noise, yet somehow unbearably unsettling. Tae opened his eyes and turned to look—his mother was not in bed!

He sat up abruptly, his heart pounding. The dim light of the lantern illuminated the room well enough—Iliana was nowhere to be seen! Tae quickly got out of bed, grabbed the lantern, and stepped out of the room.

The entire corridor was once again engulfed in pitch darkness. Even with the lantern’s bright glow, it was impossible to see anything more than an arm’s length ahead.

To be continued