Causing a train crash was certainly not on Yena’s bucket list of things she’s always wanted to do, but sometimes life throws curve balls that you could never expect. The chimera’s combined poison and fire had deteriorated enough of the metal supports connecting their half of the train from the front for them to completely snap and send their cart careening off track.

When she woke up and her vision cleared, she realized just how much damage their little fight had done. Yes, the chimera was defeated, but Echidna had gotten away, and Yujin had been injected with venom. Passengers were screaming and fires were roaring all around her. Yuri had to shake her to get her to regain her bearings.

Across from them, Yujin was sprawled on the ground, Wonyoung trying to get her to sit up.

“Water! We need water!” she screamed in their direction. Yena didn’t understand what that would do, but she didn’t care. Yujin’s life was in the balance.

She quickly found a bucket that had fallen out of one of the train’s supply closets and filled it up with water from bottles scattered from an overturned galley cart. Once it was full, she hurried over to Yujin who was looking really green in the face.

“Stay with me, Yuj. C’mon.” Yena said while Yuri plunged Yujin’s wounded leg into the bucket. Immediately, her complexion improved. Her wound that was starting to turn black, returned to its normal color.

“H-how did you know that would work?” Yena asked confusedly.

“She’s a child of Poseidon. Water is like their do-it-all medicine,” Wonyoung explained before a familiar voice called from behind.

“Yena-unnie! What happened?” It was Chaewon limping forward with Minju leaning on her shoulder.

“Oh gods, what happened to you girls?” Yuri asked, taking out a couple of ambrosia squares from her backpack, which she’d found in the debris, and giving them to her friends.

“Empousai…” Minju croaked out. Yena didn’t know what that monster was, but the claw marks on the child of Athena’s shoulder told her that they were probably bad news too.

They were about to compare notes when Yujin started coughing. Wonyoung looked elated but tried to play it off a second later.

Yujin mentioned a story she had to tell- probably a dream-, but the sound of sirens in the distance forced them to grab the stuff they could first and run for it.

~~~~

The group of six ran off into a forest that was next to the train tracks. When the sounds of sirens wailing finally faded away, they stopped to rest.

“I think the coast is clear,” said Yuri with a huff.

“First things first, where in the world are we?” Yujin asked.

“We were only on the train for around fifteen minutes before it crashed, so probably not too far from Seoul yet,” Minju guessed.

“Great…” Chaewon groaned. “How are we going to get to Ami-dong in time now?”

“In time?” Yena looked over at her friend curiously. “I want to finish this quest as fast as possible too, but I don’t remember there being a time limit.”

“Oh, well, Yujin’s not the only one who has a story to tell,” Chaewon answered quietly before going into detail on her dream about Kronos. From the way she was talking though, Yena could feel like there was some information her friend wasn’t mentioning. She decided to ask her in private another time.

“A gateway to the underworld? Sounds too good to be true, don’t you think?” Yuri said when Chaewon eventually finished.

Minju nodded, her shoulder looking a lot better than it did a few minutes ago due to the ambrosia. “I agree, but Chaewon-unnie has a point. We don’t exactly have a map to the underworld either.”

“So we’re just willingly walking into a trap set by Kronos?” Wonyoung said in a tone that screamed ‘are you crazy’.

“Until we find any alternatives, that’s our best lead. Now, what we’re even supposed to be looking for down there is another mystery altogether,” Chaewon replied.

Silence began to cover the forest clearing they were in until Yujin cleared . “That… may be where my dream comes in.”

It was now the daughter of Poseidon that took center stage as she described her encounter with her father and the story of the Korean god that was assassinated. Again though, Yena felt it in her friend’s tone that something was being withheld.

“That is bad. Very, very bad,” Minju muttered.

Yena, who didn’t really pay attention in her history classes, was still confused though. “Wait, who’s Dangun?”

“That would be the founder of Korean culture. Son of Hwanung and Ungnyeo. If he was the god that was killed, I can understand why there’s such a big fuss over it.” Minju explained.

“So, you think we’re supposed to find his spirit in the underworld and just ask him who murdered him?” Yuri asked.

“Maybe, but could you really find a god’s spirit in the Greek underworld? Wouldn’t he go to the Korean version?” Wonyoung wondered.

“I remember reading about this,” said Minju. “No matter what your beliefs or religions are, the underworld will largely remain the same place. The only thing that changes is how each person perceives it.”

“Just like how different sun gods can all move the sun across the sky every day,” Yuri realized.

“Yes, the lines that divide each pantheon are not as thick as people make them out to be. The death of someone like Dangun, though, is something great enough to break the balance, especially here in Korea.”

“So Kronos orchestrated his death to create chaos and take over?” Yena tried to summarize. Given the big fight they just had and the long run away from the crash site, her brain was working overtime just to process all this new information. A part of her was worried that there would literally be sparks flying off her head as she thought.

“Sounds about right. If we really only have three days until both sides start a war, we need to get moving,” Yujin said as she picked up her backpack and started moving, as if she wasn’t just on the brink of death herself.

~~~~

The group continued to move through the forest until they reached a road. There was one barely functional gas station a bit to their right and what appeared to be a garden shop in front of them.

“Let’s check that place out,” Yuri suggested when no car would stop for them to ask questions. “Maybe the owner will know where we are.”

Once they crossed the road and got closer to the store, it became clear that its main products were statues. The logo above the entrance read “Aunty Em’s Garden Emporium”.

Each stone sculpture was incredibly detailed down to the hairs on their faces. Most of them resembled people and animals, but something was just off about them to Yena. They all looked like they were caught mid-surprise.

“Really getting the creeps right now…” Minju whispered as they arrived at the front door whose knocker had a stone claw hand gripping onto a metal chain.

A few seconds after using it to knock, the group heard footsteps walking up to the door.

“Why hello!” a middle-aged woman greeted them cheerfully. She was wearing a black dress paired with a white rimmed sun hat and a set of black shades.

“Hi!” Yena tried to greet back with similar energy. “We were just wondering where we were on the map. We got a little lost.”

“This is Maseong road in Suwon. What do you mean by ‘lost’? Oh my, did you girls come from the train crash that just happened earlier?” she asked worriedly.

“Uhm, how did you-” Yujin’s question was cut off by the woman continuing to speak.

“It’s all over the news already. You kids must be very tired, come in. I insist!” she said, hurrying the six girls inside and shutting the door.

~~~~

“So, I’m assuming you’re Aunty Em?” Yuri asked cautiously as they were seated along a wooden table.

“Oh that,” she chuckled. “That’s just a nickname my friends call me. Now sit tight, I have some food cooking that I can probably split for you all.”

“Yeah, definitely a ten on the creepy factor…” Minju said after the woman turned a corner to what everyone assumed was the kitchen. A quick look around the inside showed even more statues than there were outside.

Meanwhile, Yena poked at Chaewon’s side to get her attention. “Chae, about earlier, what are you not telling us? It feels like you’re holding something back.”

“It’s nothing, unnie… Kronos is just pretty good at being scary, you know?” she whispered back.

“Don’t ‘it’s nothing’ me, girl. I can tell you’re conflicted about something,” Yena said.

Chaewon sighed. “It’s complicated. I’m still trying to determine what’s real in my dreams and what isn’t.”

Yena nodded understandingly. She could relate to that for sure, but she wasn’t completely convinced yet. Before she could ask any more questions though, the sound of plates clinking caught the group’s attention.

“Here you go, girls!” Aunty Em said with two plates of grilled beef in her hands.

“Oh my gods, thank you!” Wonyoung cheered thankfully as she took out some chopsticks and prepared to dig in.

“No problem, dear. Girls like yourselves need to eat a lot to remain strong. Speaking of which, I should get some dessert too. How does ice cream sound?” the woman replied before heading back to the kitchen.

Wonyoung was about to take her first bite but was stopped by Yuri. “Don’t eat that. We don’t know what’s in it.”

“Yah! I’m starving though! She seems like a nice person anyway,” Wonyoung complained.

“No, Yuri’s right. We need to get out of here now.” Minju said while pointing at a statue hidden between a few other human ones. At first glance, it looked human too, until you noticed the horns sprouting from its head and the hooves it had for feet.

“A satyr…” Yujin mumbled.

“Wait, this person knows what satyrs are? How could she have sculpted one so well without a good reference?” Yena asked.

“What if that isn’t just a sculpture?” Minju said. “What if that’s a-”

“Hey, girls? I got the ice cream now. Hope you’re ready, it’s really delicious,” Aunty Em called from the kitchen.

The six girls looked at each other, a silent understanding passing between them before sprinting off to hide. By the time Aunty Em arrived back in the dining room, no one was in sight.

“Running already?” she said disappointedly before taking off her hat and shades. From Yena’s vantage point, it didn’t look like the woman was holding any ice cream, but what caught her attention even more were the snakes that began slipping down her head and past her neck.

“You didn’t even touch your food…” she hissed.

Aunty Em’s… oh, I am stupid. Yena thought to herself. This was one of those monsters that you would know about even if you weren’t into Greek mythology. This was Medusa.

“Come on out, heroes. Why spend your time trying to make your way across the country for some parents that never gave you the time of day when you could be still here, forever.”

Yena looked across the room and saw Yuri pulling her bow out, ready to shoot. Unfortunately, the glint of her arrow caught Medusa’s snake hair’s attention just in time for her to dodge it.

“Oh, I am going to make sure your statue gets ground to dust,” she cursed before turning and charging in Yuri’s direction.

Instinctively, the child of Apollo closed her eyes, but that meant she couldn’t see where she was going and promptly stumbled over a statue.

“Yuri!” Yena yelled from behind as she watched Medusa’s now clawed hand grip onto her friend’s neck.

“This is what I meant when I said I had some eyes scream by the way,” Medusa laughed. “The screams of helplessness just fill me up.”

Suddenly, her snake hair hissed again, and in a blink, Medusa’s claws found another target- Minju. She had tried to sneak up behind her using her invisibility cap but was easily found out.

“I’m not falling for that trick again!” she said smugly as Minju was down on one knee, holding her previously injured shoulder which just caught another set of sharp claws.

This time it was Chaewon’s turn to be angry as she recklessly jumped out from her hiding spot and ran up to Medusa with her stygian iron blade in her hand. Again, Medusa was ready and used her gaze to force Chaewon to close her eyes and run into a set of statues.

“This country’s heroes are so inexperienced. You aren’t on the level of the demigods I’ve fought for millennia! And don’t even think of using the mirror trick! I made sure to remove any of them from this new store.”

Yena gulped. She knew that if she charged in now, Medusa’s snake hair would just alert her, so she looked around frantically until she saw Wonyoung holding out her compact mirror while pointing at someone across the room - Yujin.

“That’s it…” Yena said, locking eyes with Yujin and sending a signal she hoped she understood.

Yena then stepped out of her hiding spot and called out to Medusa. “Let’s see how you like having a taste of your own medicine!”

The child of Zeus proceeded to take out her sword and unleash a flash of light that engulfed the whole room.

Medusa immediately flinched and began rubbing her eyes. In the confusion, Yujin, who had taken cover from the lightshow, jumped out and tackled the monster to the ground. When Medusa’s vision cleared enough for her to look up, she realized she was staring right at her own reflection from Wonyoung’s compact mirror.

“No… NO!!!” She screamed as her entire body slowly turned to stone.

“Good work, girls,” Yena said, putting the cap back on Lightbreaker to shrink it back into a pen.

“That wasn’t terrifying at all…” Wonyoung laughed sarcastically as she put her mirror back in her bag and took out some medicine for Chaewon and Minju.

“You did good, Wonyoung. I still haven’t thanked you for the help at the train wreck earlier either,” said Yujin with a smile.

“Those two finally starting to hit it off,” Yena chuckled to herself as she tended to Yuri.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I’m not a statue standing in someone’s front lawn, so yes,” Yuri replied after clearing . There were still marks from where she was grabbed, but it wasn’t anything a bit of ambrosia and some ointment couldn’t fix. “Seems we're getting the underworld’s heaviest hitters. The Minotaur, Echidna, now Medusa? What luck.”

“Heh, they just don’t stop coming…,” said Yena.

“Uhm, Yena-unnie, I don’t think monsters are going to be our only problem this trip,” Yujin called over. Next to her was a television that she’d which was playing a news story about six girls causing a train crash.

Yena sighed. “Sounds about right…” 

 

A/N: Hi everyone, and welcome back to another chapter! Apologies again for the delay. Hopefully this longer chapter makes up for it.

Medusa has always been one of my favorite enemies, so writing about her now was really cool. Any other monsters y'all think will show up in this book?

Anyways, I won't keep y'all on this A/N much longer. Thank you so much for the support and patience. It means a lot!

Have a nice day and I'll see y'all in the next one!