Chapter:2
Recently, Nain had been feeling strange emotions.
To be exact, ever since the day she became sure she had returned to the past.
Nain kept feeling like she was experiencing things she had already been through.
‘It’s strange. It feels like I’ve become a prophet who knows the future…’
And she wasn’t wrong. Since she had returned to the past, she now knew what would happen for the next ten days.
Even two days after returning, nothing had really changed in Nain’s life.
She woke up early, worked all day, and came back late at night to get just a little sleep.
No matter how hard she worked day and night to repay the debt, it never went down—it kept increasing.
She was sick of it.
Nain had hoped that returning to the past meant something good.
Maybe she had gained a special power. After all, it couldn’t be that she just came back for no reason.
Maybe someone helped her—like a god’s blessing—or perhaps she had a hidden ability she didn’t know about.
Was she now a great magician? Or could she hear the voice of a god like a priest?
‘If only… then I could escape this miserable life.’
But she wasn’t.
Nain didn’t have any magical powers. No special abilities appeared.
Even when she visited a small shrine and prayed, she couldn’t hear a god’s voice. She couldn’t feel any holy power.
Nain was still just an ordinary girl.
Time kept passing. On the eighth day, she was still working nonstop to make a living.
She just went back and forth between home and work every day.
Whenever she returned home, she would be met with her mother’s angry nagging, making it hard to breathe.
She was tired of it all.
She looked around the house, trying to ignore her mother’s words. Her eldest sister, who had stormed out recently, hadn’t come home.
She knew exactly where her sister had gone, and that made her feel even more anxious.
Nain tried her best to push down that fear.
She had been too busy to even eat properly at work.
When she checked the kitchen, there was only half a bowl of cold stew left. She quickly ate it and went back to her room.
Nothing had changed.
That’s what she thought. But for some reason, not seeing her older sister today made her even more anxious.
Even though she had already been gone for days, the fear kept growing.
The 21st was getting closer.
Nain lay in bed, completely worn out, and started counting the days left.
Not much time was left.
Just two days.
Fear rose inside her, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
‘Only two days left…’
Her heart felt dry and tight.
She had to run away. She kept telling herself that again and again.
But every time she tried to leave the village, she failed.
She would stop in her tracks whenever she heard a loud voice behind her.
Startled, she would turn around—but no one would be there.
Then, like a broken record, she would find herself back in the village.
It was as if fate wouldn’t let her escape.
As time passed, she became more and more nervous.
She could barely breathe under the fear of being murdered.
And so, another night passed.
The next evening, her older sister returned after being gone for days.
It was the ninth day after Nain came back to the past.
Her sister, with heavy makeup on her face, smiled at Nain and whispered something to their mother.
Nain trembled as she overheard them whispering.
It sent chills down her spine.
‘You’ll die… at Father’s hands…’
Her breath caught in her throat, and her whole body shook.
Death was near.
The Nain who had already died once whispered in her ear—
‘You’re going to die again.’
Nain couldn’t take it anymore.
That night, when everyone was asleep, she finally ran away from home.
It was the night before she was supposed to die.
Strangely, this time she felt sure she would succeed.
The scary voices she used to hear behind her weren’t there this time.
It was as if this moment had been allowed to her and her alone.
Nain didn’t waste that chance. She ran without looking back.
Right after she left, the lights in the house turned on.
An eerie feeling filled the air.
- Nain in the Book
“Huff, huff!”
Nain clutched the bundle holding all her money and ran through the forest path.
The dark night and thick trees made the forest look scary, but she wasn’t afraid.
What scared her was death—and her father.
After running for a long time, she suddenly started laughing.
Her loud laughter mixed with her heavy breathing sounded creepy.
Only when she felt so sick she couldn’t run anymore did she finally stop.
She dropped to the dirt path, covered in dust. Her head felt dizzy from the exhaustion.
She lay on the ground, staring up at the night sky.
The future she remembered—the night she was murdered—was horrible.
That night, her father, who only came home once a year, suddenly showed up and stabbed her with a knife.
The reason?
‘Because she disrespected her older sister.’
That was it.
Nain was only 24 years old.
She had spent nearly 10 years working for her family before even becoming an adult.
And the reward for all that? Being killed.
She briefly saw the twisted faces of her family in her mind—her parents, older sister, and younger sister—all laughing cruelly at her.
“You fool!”
“You idiot!”
“You don’t know your place!”
They were terrifying.
Nain hugged herself and trembled.
She got up and started walking again, scared that someone might come chasing after her.
She held her bundle tightly and kept going.
The sound of bugs in the forest made the night feel even creepier.
Still, she didn’t stop.
If she kept walking, she would reach a village near the port.
She planned to eat something small there, then head to the port.
And take a ship to the Western Continent.
“Live a new life! No more being the family’s workhorse!”
She walked faster, filled with hope for a new life.
Her shadow, stretched long by the moonlight, followed behind her.
The forest around her was still and dark, with only the bugs chirping.
She kept walking.
During the day, it would have taken maybe three or four hours to reach the next village.
But now, no matter how far she walked, there was no end in sight.
‘Was it always this far?’
A cold feeling ran down her spine.
Maybe it only felt long because she was anxious.
She wanted to believe that.
‘If Mom notices I’m gone, she might tell Dad. Then he’ll come after me.’
Since Nain was the one making money for the family, her absence would be a big problem.
Her heart filled with fear.
Then suddenly, she saw a small light in the distance.
‘So I was just imagining things out of fear!’
Thinking she had finally reached the village, she ran toward the light.
‘I made it! I reached the next village!’
She stepped forward, thinking she had finally escaped.
But suddenly, the world turned upside down.
Before she could even scream, everything twisted and spun.
Nain was sucked into the swirling mess.
“Ahhh!”
Nain screamed and fell on her bottom.
Right then, water poured over her like a waterfall.
“You filthy orphan! How dare you come in here!”
She gasped for breath, coughing and choking.
Even with her ears ringing from the water, she clearly heard a sharp middle-aged woman yelling at her.
Nain, dazed, looked up with squinting eyes.
‘What’s going on?’
Just a moment ago, she was running through a forest. Now the world was different.
Even the time had changed.
It had been night, but now it was a bright, sunny morning.
But that wasn’t the only strange thing.
Why was she sitting on the ground?
Why was this stranger yelling at her?
She couldn’t understand what was happening.
She looked up to see a very angry woman, shouting just like her mother used to.
Then the woman threw the bundle at Nain’s face.
“Your useless mother is dead, and you should get lost too!”
“…Ah.”
As Nain tried to get up, the bundle hit her face and knocked her down again.
The woman clicked her tongue and slammed her door shut.
Through the crack in the door, some children stuck out their tongues at Nain, mocking her.
She sat frozen for a moment.
Then the angry woman opened the door again and screamed.
“Get out of here, you filthy beggar!”
Startled, Nain grabbed the bundle and ran.
The woman kept yelling behind her.
Nain ran, panicked.
Only when she couldn’t breathe anymore did she stop.
She collapsed to her knees, gasping.
Water dripped from her wet hair. Her eyes drifted to her hands.
Her hands were dry and pale—and small.
Like a child’s hands.
How old did she look? Maybe six or seven?
She stared at her tiny white hands.
Then she fell backward in shock.
“W-What is this? Why are my hands so small?!”
