The Ten-Day Corpse

Barely managing to pull myself together, I returned to the department room only for the male classmates to hurriedly avert their eyes the moment our gazes met, as if they had suffered some deep internal wound.

It seemed I had unintentionally left an indelible scratch on the delicate hearts of the male college students.

Reflection.

On top of that, I ran into Chae-ryeong again on the way back to the department room, and the moment she saw me she burst into laughter loud enough to shake the building.

"Pfft! You're really something, you know? If it weren't for that Ha-rin girl, I'd want to take you with me."

I felt a surge of anger, but thinking about it calmly, if I hadn't been the person involved even I would have been rolling on the floor clutching my stomach while reading the anonymous board.

I had no choice but to swallow bloody tears inside as I took the full force of the mocking gazes from Chae-ryeong's group with my entire body.

The female classmates in our department seemed to be trying to show consideration in their own way; they made absolutely no mention of the incident right up until the moment I entered the department room and slumped dejectedly into a corner.

I was grateful, but it might have been easier on me if they had just held an open hearing instead.

As my dejected mode grew even worse, class president Cho-hee seemed to take the lead and carefully approached to ask.

"Sang-hae. Why did you do that earlier?"

"Ah... that was, I was just thinking about the past...."

"The past? Ah~ you went to an all-girls high school?"

"Huh? Uh... yeah! That's right."

I answered at the speed of light.

"I see, so that was it."

Cho-hee nodded as if declaring a secret solved, adjusting her glasses. Sighs of realization rose among the surrounding female classmates as well.

"All-girls high school, yeah, that makes sense."

"Right, after PE we'd sometimes be half-undressed in the classroom."

Thank you for the beautiful misunderstanding!

"But the guys weren't properly dressed either—did you really feel nothing? You were so nonchalant..."

I was breathing an inward sigh of relief when Cho-hee's eyes sparkled behind her glasses and she threw a sharp, unblockable question.

If positions were reversed, what kind of impression would you get looking at those scrawny naked guys or the girls' boobs?

But of course I couldn't voice my true feelings, so I desperately racked my brain for an answer.

"I'm just the type who doesn't look around much when I walk. I was thinking about something else and laughed without realizing because a classmate was next to me. Sorry..."

Cho-hee and the female classmates nodded obediently at my answer.

Even though they must have seen me snickering at a few of the guys, they interpreted it through such a beautiful filter. Was it because I was a fellow female comrade? Anyway, it was a very useful misunderstanding, so there was no need to correct it.

Once the commotion roughly settled, classmates and seniors started packing their bags one by one.

I also wanted to escape this hellish campus as soon as possible and prepared to grab my bag and rush out.

But right as I was zipping up my bag and about to rise from my seat—

"Hey, Lee Sang-hae!"

...One bomb I had been trying hard to forget lit its fuse.

I turned my head with a rotten expression, not bothering to hide the emotions boiling up from within.

There stood Kim Byeong-tae, who had launched a confession attack that morning, confidently flanked by male classmates as his escorts.

I had thought there were a lot of people lingering without going home, but it seemed they had been waiting for this spectacle.

"...What?"

I said, suppressing the urge to roundhouse-kick Byeong-tae's confident face.

Please, just go home nicely even now...

"I need to hear your answer to my morning confession! I'm serious!"

Byeong-tae shouted once more with full confidence, receiving enthusiastic support from the surrounding male classmates.

But my mental fortitude, tempered by all the storms of the day, had evolved me into a different Sang-hae from yesterday.

Hmph... if you're going to come at me so mindlessly, I have my own ideas.

"Sorry."

I adjusted my bag strap and looked down at Byeong-tae with the coldest gaze I could muster in the world.

"I like muscular guys. I have no interest in men who can't even hit 500 on the big three."

The moment my rejection line dropped, the faces of Byeong-tae and the male members of our department hardened white like plaster statues.

A heavy silence settled over the entire department room.

I hurriedly shouldered my bag and left the department room before the guys, plunged into mental shock, could collect themselves.

I thought I heard someone's sob from behind saying, "I'm joining the gym starting tomorrow...!" but I cleanly ignored it.

Sorry. But if the day ever comes when you receive a confession from the same gender, I believe you'll understand my feelings now...

I later heard that after this day a registration boom of male education-department students hit the nearby gyms, but that was none of my business.

If something like this happened again, I could just answer, "My tastes changed. I like slim, skinny bodies."

"Sang-hae~ Want to go eat ramen with us?"

As I stepped out into the hallway, the female classmates—especially Eunjin—grabbed my arm and kindly invited me.

"Sorry about the invitation. I have to get home quickly today... I still haven't finished unpacking."

"Really? It must be hard to organize alone. Can't be helped then. See you tomorrow! Bye!"

Looking at the female classmates waving brightly with smiles, I felt a slight pang of conscience. Good kids. But the Sang-hae you see isn't the real one...

I hurriedly left the building, passed the back gate, and entered a quiet, deserted alley.

Ha-rin was leaning against the wall in the corner of the alley, fiddling with her smartphone, then raised her head at the sound of my footsteps.

She scanned me up and down with her usual indifferent, nonchalant eyes, then clicked her tongue quietly.

"Getting confessions from the morning, raiding the department room with guys in their underwear... Making quite a noisy ruckus on campus from day one, huh? You've got real talent as a Valkyrie."

"Argh... Did I do that because I wanted to? Where in the world is there a person as manly to the bone as me!"

"...Manly?"

Ha-rin snorted as if I were pathetic, then took a chocolate bar from her pocket and tossed it to me.

"Eat something sweet and replenish your sugar. Stop the nonsense."

I'm grateful, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but I wasn't talking nonsense, okay?

"But what's going on? Earlier Chae-ryeong said someone was looking for you—is that it? Who was it? Go ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Eun-bi?"

I asked while putting the chocolate in my mouth and chewing, and Ha-rin's face twisted slightly.

"...It'd be better not to think of stalking just because the name is pretty."

That direction!

"I'm not! In my entire life, the first and last time I followed a girl was you!"

"Ugh. Creepy. Feels bad..."

"Sorry about that! So what's the matter?"

"Kang Jun-cheol."

At the name that came from Ha-rin's mouth, the back of my neck went cold for a moment.

"It's related to the incarnation who killed you."

Ha-rin stared at me quietly for a while, then sighed and continued.

"Since the day you died, his whereabouts have been strangely unknown. He's not even caught on the CCTVs Yoon-ha unnie installed around. For about a week recently he was a guy who circled around me stalking like you."

Can you stop with the stalking talk already?

"Didn't he run away because his arm was torn off?"

"For a somewhat high-ranking incarnation, an arm is like a disposable part if things go south. If it's a faction of a certain scale, they have incarnations who can regenerate arms and legs. You really don't know anything except following girls around and grinning, do you?"

Ha-rin openly clicked her tongue with a tsk.

...If ordinary people like me know that kind of content, shouldn't we first suspect that the security of your world is lax?

"Actually, I was ignoring it after that, but today I got a call from Eun-bi unnie. He didn't just disappear from around me—he's been completely missing since that day."

"Missing?"

"Yeah.. That guy, Freyr, is one of the fairly famous incarnations. He was acting as the team leader of a security company under the 'Cheonmyeong Group', but he didn't show up for work today. The missing period ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is since last weekend."

"...Cheonmyeong Group?"

An unexpected company name popped out of Ha-rin's mouth.

If it was Cheonmyeong Group, it was the giant dinosaur corporation said to control the Korean economy, the pinnacle of capitalism, and the place my noona had barely passed after pouring blood from her nose trying to get hired.

"If he was injured, he should have returned to Cheonmyeong instead, but the fact that he didn't is also strange. It means he didn't regenerate a cut-off arm that he could grow back anytime."

Ha-rin continued with the most serious expression since we had met.

"And if this matter reaches the ears of Cheonmyeong's chairman, Oh Jin-soo, it'll become a headache."

"Sorry to cut you off. Chairman Oh Jin-soo? That Cheonmyeong Group chairman who appears on the news every day?"

"Yes, that Oh Jin-soo. The owner and chairman of Cheonmyeong Group. Now, as the representative of Asgard, maybe we should call him Odin..."

"The chairman? Uh... Chairman Oh Jin-soo is what? Odin? A god? The chairman the Valkyries talked about???"

"Are you even listening to my story properly?"

Ha-rin frowned, but my mouth just kept opening wider.

Of course, the chairman I knew was like a god of capitalism living far away above the clouds.

But he was a real god?

"No, wait a minute. Whether the chairman is a god or not, what does that lunatic going missing have to do with me?"

"It has a very big relation. Valkyrie. Because of that body you're using."

Ha-rin poked my chest with her finger.

"That body is something the Asgard faction that Chairman Oh Jin-soo belongs to was also looking for. I intercepted the stolen goods that flowed into the black market through Go Eun-bi."

"Stolen goods? My body is stolen goods?"

"That's why the Valkyries came looking. And if Odin finds out that an unidentifiable soul is occupying the Valkyrie as it pleases, he'd really like that, right?"

Ha-rin sneered, but cold sweat ran down my spine.

"Moreover, your body is a named unit among the replica Valkyries. If Odin uses his authority Gungnir - Confirmed Destiny, you'll inevitably face Odin."

My body was stolen goods, and the one targeting me was a chaebol chairman who was an incarnation...

"Even without authorities or Valkyries, wouldn't one phone call have the company bodyguards roll me up like a bossam and deliver me with a ribbon on top?"

"Ugh, you idiot. If it was just kidnapping, why would I explain this long to you? Have you already forgotten what the Valkyries said?"

"Soul disposal...? Why so scary? They haven't come since then."

"...If Odin's guard unit, the Einherjar, are dispatched, you're just headed to the afterlife. The moment they see you, they'll forcibly extract your soul and grind it into fertilizer for the World Tree. Never to reincarnate again."

Looking at my ashen face, Ha-rin ruffled her hair messily.

"We need to find Kang Jun-cheol before the sparks fly to us for no reason. Go Eun-bi is the only incarnation who can track that guy's location. We're going to the Sanctuary to meet her."

With that, Ha-rin immediately turned and strode off to the opposite side of the alley.

The place we arrived at by subway was a super high-rise building that stood out even in the middle of Gangnam.

My poor imagination, which had envisioned a gloomy underground den of criminals from movies at the mention of black market, was shattered to pieces right from the entrance.

Under the splendid lighting, a lobby paved with marble so shiny it could blind you, and the sight of huge bodyguards in perfect suits intimidatingly screening the people entering completely overwhelmed me.

Above the lobby reception hung a sign written in dazzling gold cursive: 'Sanctuary'.

It was a name even a college student like me had seen in internet economy news or boards.

A VVIP exclusive secret social club where Korea's political and business big shots secretly gathered to smuggle ultra-expensive artworks or exchange unimaginably high-class information—Sanctuary.

In our language, was it sacred ground?

It was a perfect name in the sense that not just anyone could set foot there.

"...Ha-rin. Something feels a bit off here?"

The moment I passed through the building's revolving door, I called Ha-rin at the sensation that the texture of the air had suddenly changed.

It was a clear sense close to discomfort, different from being intimidated by the air-conditioning wind or the grandeur of the interior.

A strange sense of alienation as if the blood in my whole body was being forcibly settled.

Like when diving into water, a strange and heavy pressure was crushing my entire body.

"Relax, this is a domain where Ganesha's authority is active. The powers of all incarnations are forcibly restricted."

"Isn't it dangerous? What if we get attacked here?"

"No, you should rather pray that Odin uses his authority while you're here. Here, even Odin's authority is nullified. ...Maybe I should have brought Nir just in case?"

"What would bringing Nir do? What changes?"

When I lightly challenged her, Ha-rin answered nonchalantly.

"It changes. At least when Nir is with us, Oh Jin-soo can't use his authority. That moment would be the day he goes to the afterlife."

"What do you mean?"

"There's something like that. You don't need to know."

As if Ha-rin had no intention of resolving my questions further, she got on the elevator and familiarly pressed the top-floor button.

Seeing that the guards lined up in the hallway until here did not stop her, it seemed she came and went quite often.

Ding-dong.

Soon the elevator arrived at the top floor.

As soon as the door opened, a heavy natural incense-wood scent and Indian-style dreamy music tickled my ears.

The private room at the very top.

This seemed to be the representative's office.

The floor gleamed with Italian natural marble that I couldn't even guess how many zeros to add to lay, and on top of it was laid a top-class carpet intricately embroidered with Persian patterns.

The entire wall was made of glass, and the splendid night view of Gangnam unfolding like a folding screen outside was truly a breathtaking spectacle.

As someone who had lived frugally sitting at a narrow desk studying for the CSAT all my life, I couldn't help but lament this tear-jerking wealth gap of capitalism.

"You're later than I thought, our Ha-rin?"

A woman who was demonstrating high-difficulty stretching moves on a mat in thin silk yoga wear that fully revealed her figure said.

With copper skin, sensual curves, and an overwhelming mature woman's aura ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seeping from her leisure, I was overwhelmed. Like a queen who owned the world?

She, Representative Go Eun-bi, seemed to make a puzzled expression when her eyes met mine half-hiding behind Ha-rin, then soon flexibly rose from the mat and strode over.

With each step she took, a crushing pressure like pressing down my whole body rushed in. It was at a level where the alarm surging from the bottom of my chest couldn't be dismissed as just being overwhelmed by her luxurious appearance with unapproachable elegance.

Yes, this sensation was the same as the survival instinct when my brain cells screamed facing Nir who had turned into a monster wolf earlier.

Whatever the appearance, this person was clearly another predator.

"Interesting."

She approached the intimidated me and suddenly stretched her hand boldly toward my chin.

Do predator-style women have a cliché of having to grab and turn the other person's chin on first meeting?

I reflexively tried to swat away Go Eun-bi's extending hand. But Go Eun-bi instead casually snatched my wrist in reverse.

What? Even if I intended to swat it moderately, to subdue it so lightly?

"It was just the other day that our Ha-rin was crying asking to refund this troublemaker after taking it as collateral for Yoon-ha's Infinite Expansion - The Serpent Encircling the World authority. This is quite fun?"

At that moment.

Extreme dizziness as if sweeping through my head rushed in.

Soon my vision blacked out for an instant, and the five senses supporting my body cut off with a snap.

When I came to, the scene of my body collapsing to the floor was unfolding before my eyes like a third-person perspective.

What? What happened to my body?

Representative Go Eun-bi, with a seductive smile, didn't let go of the hand holding 'my soul'. And she started observing my soul by turning it this way and that.

"I was curious about the original—the color of the soul is better than I thought?"

She said as if appraising, lifting the hand holding my soul up.

"But the grade of the soul is tearfully modest. An ordinary Manusha, how did it catch our Ha-rin's eye? To the point of suspecting if the synchronization rate was intentionally lowered... Hmm?"

At that moment, a sensation like a small spark flying from deep in my chest was felt.

It seemed to transfer to Representative Go Eun-bi's hand for a moment, then a tremendous silver lightning covered the surroundings white.

Soon after, a ding of an unidentified notification was heard. And the warning window I had seen the day I entered this body floated in the air.

Then, with a crack, a rupture sound came from the fingertips of Representative Go Eun-bi who was holding my soul.

She urgently pulled her hand away with a shocked face. At the same time, my vision turned black and a strong gravity as if the body was pulling the soul was felt. The five senses that had been cut off for a while returned with a flash, and breath rose to my chin as I gasped roughly.

Representative Go Eun-bi's fingertips were slightly blackened as if electrocuted by high-voltage current, trembling.

My stomach churned, but with my whole body's senses creaking, I couldn't move my body.

"Stop the pranks, 'Ganesha'! You didn't call me here to mess around, right?"

When Ha-rin, who had been quietly watching us, snapped coldly, Representative Go Eun-bi—Ganesha—composed her facial expression.

"Hehe... Fine, I got it, 'Trickster' miss. Don't rush. There's still plenty of time."

Without withdrawing her interest toward me, she walked to the desk. Then she picked up the tablet PC on it and held it out to Ha-rin.

Ha-rin looked at the tablet screen she held out and momentarily gasped. I also peeked at the screen from behind Ha-rin and had to barely endure the nausea rising from inside.

On the screen was captured a person's form that was horribly crushed.

"Don't tell me this is... Kang Jun-cheol?"

"Yes. Kang Jun-cheol who stalked you and cut short the life of this cute Valkyrie lady here—that guy's body. My kids collected it this morning. The handiwork is quite cruel, our Trickster miss?"

"No. Nir only bit off the arm. He didn't kill him."

"If bitten by Nir, that's quite a big deal in its own way. Our Nir isn't just any ordinary wolf."

"Don't tell me Odin is looking for us because of this? Thinking we killed Kang Jun-cheol?"

Looking at Ha-rin's hardened face, Ganesha burst into a playful laugh with a puff.

"Just kidding, kidding. Look at our Ha-rin's expression, so stiff, this kid~"

"Unnie! How can you joke with a corpse photo right in front of you?!"

When Ha-rin yelled, Ganesha returned to Representative Go Eun-bi's leisurely face again.

"Of course that corpse is Kang Jun-cheol, and he's completely dead. But there's a really strange part, you know?"

"What?"

When Ha-rin asked with a slightly sulky expression, Representative Go Eun-bi pointed at me with her finger and said.

"You said the day Kang Jun-cheol killed this Valkyrie lady was last Friday, right?"

"Yes. Precisely Friday night."

"That doesn't make sense, Ha-rin."

Representative Go Eun-bi shook her head.

"What do you mean?"

"The incarnations under me already forensically examined that guy's corpse thoroughly."

Go Eun-bi put down the tablet and smiled sweetly. But her eyes alone were coldly settled.

"Kang Jun-cheol's estimated time of death is…… at least 'ten days ago'."

"......!"

A shock as if a thunderbolt struck right into my head was transmitted.

That murderer who killed me...

Was already a corpse that died ten days ago?

"There's no way a dead corpse walked on its own feet to attack you guys."

Go Eun-bi slightly lifted my chin and whispered.

"Looks like Trickster. You seem to have properly gotten marked by a faction much more unpleasant than Asgard?"

A chilly dread began to storm down my spine.

The illusion of a peaceful campus that I thought I had barely grasped shattered once again miserably to pieces.