112. It's a Bit Hard to Tell Them Apart
"I'm heading out for a bit, unnie."
At Lim Yu-han's bright voice, the manager—headphones on, grooving away with gusto—stopped mid-step with a "? Huh?"
Lim Yu-han blinked her eyes wide.
"Wow, you actually caught that. The music's blasting loud enough to pierce right through those headphones—how did you even hear me?"
"I didn't catch it properly. Where are you going?"
"There."
At Lim Yu-han's answer, the manager echoed, "There?" then shouted, "THE place!"
The 'there' Lim Yu-han meant was the members-only club she frequented. In case anyone else might overhear, the two of them called it simply 'there.'
"What, you've been so scarce lately—why the sudden return?"
"I was scarce because jumping off that balcony left me in shock. But I've gotten over the shock now."
"Already?"
The manager clicked her tongue in exasperation.
"Keep this up and what happens when you actually meet someone?"
"That's exactly why I go to a members-only club—so I *don't* meet anyone I know. And even if I did, so what? All I do there is drink and dance."
Lim Yu-han said this while suppressing her irritation, then fished out her shoes and put them on.
Not that there was anything wrong with going to a club per se—but Lim Yu-han had a strong image as an innocent first-love type, and people couldn't reconcile that with nightclubs. That was why she went to the trouble and expense of a members-only club, though it clearly grated on her at times.
"If you love dancing that much, why did you become an actress instead of a dance singer?"
"Because I *can't* dance! Take it up with the CEO. He's the one who saw me dancing and talked me into acting instead. Yeon-woo's CEO had his guy singing even though he can't dance either."
"Which is exactly why that kid debuted so late."
Clicking her tongue, the manager still couldn't talk Lim Yu-han out of it.
She chain-smoked and had a rough temper, but as she said herself, she only enjoyed her drink, music, and dance—she never caused any real trouble. When she got drunk, she'd call asking to be picked up, or she'd go up to her private room above the club and quietly sleep it off.
Stress had to go somewhere, so it was better to let her go out and unwind in peace.
"Still, be careful. After that whole incident where you got pushed off the balcony—don't hang around strangers."
"Do I even know anyone I don't know there?"
"They say you can know ten fathoms of water but not one fathom of a person's heart. That stalker sending you those creepy letters could be someone from there."
"You think?"
"Keep the drinking light if you can, and call me from inside instead of coming out. I'll come get you."
Lim Yu-han nodded and headed out. The manager took off her headphones and planted her phone firmly at her side.
***
Around the same time.
Rembrary, summoned by Woo Sung-woo, stepped outside the dormitory.
A few days earlier, the Spear Wielder's superior had told them to come observe the team at work once. This was that. A text had arrived saying they were heading out on a job tonight and that he should come watch.
Rembrary hadn't wanted to go at all, but those phones of theirs gnawed at his mind, so he'd reluctantly accepted.
His plan was to tag along just far enough, then declare that this sort of thing simply wasn't for him and wash his hands of it. They'd probably withdraw the offer themselves—no point keeping around someone whose fear made him dead weight, they'd figure.
He had no idea where they'd be going or what they'd be doing, but the party would presumably be just the superior he'd spoken with on the phone and Woo Sung-woo...
"You made it?"
Yet when Rembrary stepped out, the people waiting beside a parked car were Woo Sung-woo and a huge man he didn't recognize.
"Where's the one I spoke to on the phone?"
The Spear Wielder being unable to come on account of his injuries, fine—but who on earth was this other fellow? When a bewildered Rembrary asked, Woo Sung-woo answered stiffly.
"Someone with the ability to fight demon beasts but no Eyes."
"You mean he can't see demon beasts?"
"Yeah. I brought him on purpose."
"Why?"
"Because if you end up helping with our work, you'll be assigned to a team with someone who has no Eyes. Consider it a proper trial run, in advance."
The moment Woo Sung-woo finished explaining, the huge man thrust out a hand. Rembrary shook it, then climbed into the car and asked Woo Sung-woo again.
"Then what did *you* come for?"
"We can't send just the two of you when we don't know whether you'll actually pull your weight as the Eyes."
"So you have the 'Eyes' too, do you?"
"..."
Woo Sung-woo said nothing, but Rembrary could read the answer anyway.
Still, it struck him as rather curious. In a world where youkai and demon beasts went unseen, the body he now inhabited belonged to the younger sibling of someone who *could* see them. There was surely something strange at work here. Was it mere coincidence, or the grace of Lady Redrin?
"So where are we headed?"
"You'll find out when we get there."
***
The man who could fight demon beasts but supposedly had no 'Eyes' was a man of very few words.
The car sat in heavy silence the entire drive, with Woo Sung-woo at the wheel. Rembrary kept quiet as he tried to take stock of the situation, while Woo Sung-woo scowled at something or other and refused to open his mouth.
At last the car stopped in front of a long, enormous, gleaming building. The moment it pulled up, a valet came jogging over. Woo Sung-woo handed off the car, then walked to the entrance and presented a gold card. The attendant took it, swiped it through a small device, and after a moment nodded and returned it.
There was a brief commotion when the attendant balked at letting in Rembrary—wearing a hat and a face mask—but somehow the whole party made it inside.
The interior was cavernous and desolate. The decor was exquisite, yet not a single soul was in sight.
"What exactly happens here?"
Rembrary asked, scanning the surroundings.
They'd said they'd show him their work, which meant a demon beast should be somewhere in this building—but perhaps because the place was simply so vast, nothing ominous made itself felt from the first-floor lobby. Even the evil spirit clinging to Rembrary's shadow stayed quiet.
"Twenty-fifth floor. Follow me."
Woo Sung-woo gave his clipped answer and headed for a bank of six elevators in a row, pressing the button. Shortly after, the party stepped out on the twenty-fifth floor. But even here, not so much as a stray hair of a person could be seen.
Rembrary tilted his head. Not only was there no one around, but no aura of demon beasts or evil spirits made itself felt here either. He turned to ask his question—*what is it we're doing here*—once more.
"He said he saw it somewhere around here..."
But Woo Sung-woo was muttering to himself, phone out, checking something, so Rembrary swallowed the question and kept his mouth shut. Woo Sung-woo clearly didn't know much more than he did. As for the man without 'Eyes,' he wasn't even blinking.
That was when it happened.
Something frigid surged up from beneath the floor and shot straight up through the ceiling. Something had passed through here at tremendous speed.
What was that?
It had blown past before he could even think, and Rembrary stood there dumbfounded, having no idea what it was—until Woo Sung-woo shouted "This way!" and sprinted for the emergency stairwell, the silent man following without a word.
They'd gone to the trouble of bringing him all this way, only to run off together and leave him behind. Rembrary stared at their retreating backs in exasperation and clicked his tongue. Apparently those two had assumed he'd naturally come chasing after them...
All the better, honestly.
His plan from the start had been to trip them up, after all. So instead of following, Rembrary deliberately ambled off in the opposite direction, dragging his feet. When they met up later, he'd claim he'd gotten lost. That was that.
But just as he was shuffling away from the emergency exit, a thudding—thud, thud, thud—came from inside one of the elevators. And then, one after another, caterpillar-like things began crawling out of it.
Rembrary stopped and frowned.
What now?
Whatever that thing had been—evil spirit or demon beast—it had clearly gone upward, and Woo Sung-woo had chased it. So why was something unpleasant rising up in the opposite direction?
Rembrary glanced back to confirm Woo Sung-woo was well and truly gone, then approached the elevator from which the unsettling presence was climbing. The moment he planted himself in front of it, a chime rang out and the doors slid smoothly open.
"!"
When the doors parted, two figures stood inside. Rembrary's eyebrows shot up.
One was human. The other, though it *looked* human, was not.
It had a perfectly sound body, dressed head to toe in a suit—but its face had no features whatsoever.
A youkai?
What was more, the featureless creature wore a collar around its neck like a dog, and the leash attached to that collar was held by the other 'person' standing beside it. Yet the featureless youkai showed not the slightest sign of resistance, and its handler was equally indifferent. A most peculiar arrangement.
The elevator doors had opened directly facing him, so naturally Rembrary's eyes met the man's. The featureless one's head turned toward Rembrary as well, but with no eyes, there was no telling whether their gazes had truly met.
The man gripping the youkai's leash calmly stepped out of the elevator. As the man and the youkai walked out, the chime sounded again and the doors closed behind them.
The man strode toward Rembrary, the featureless youkai reaching its hands out at empty air, lumbering along in measured rhythm—drag, drag, drag.
He'd been staring too hard at the youkai. Realizing his mistake, Rembrary quickly collected himself and turned his body aside. He'd chased down a cow head once and gotten himself tiresomely entangled with the Spear Wielder. This time, his plan was simply to act as if he'd never noticed anything at all.
But the man with the youkai's leash walked right up alongside Rembrary and stopped dead. Then, rolling only his eyes, he looked Rembrary over and asked:
"What are you?"
For a man who dragged a youkai around like a pet on a walk, it was a remarkably brazen question.
Rembrary hesitated a moment, but held firm to his original resolution—pretend you can't see the youkai—and answered pleasantly.
"Good day to you. Be on your way."
Just in case, he deliberately didn't spare so much as a glance at the collared youkai.
Had it worked?
The man tilted his head, ignored Rembrary's greeting entirely, and walked a couple of steps past him. But then he hesitated, stood still for a moment, and slowly turned his head back toward Rembrary.
"You can see it, can't you?"
When Rembrary tilted his head as though he hadn't understood a word, the man took two backward steps toward him and pressed.
"You can see it."
"See *what*, exactly?"
"This."
The man pointed a finger at the youkai.
"I don't see anything at all? That's just empty air?"
Rembrary denied it to the very last, but the man's face broke into a grin the instant he heard it—the unmistakable expression of caught you.
It was a face that made it obvious to anyone who he was the one lying, so Rembrary had no choice but to abandon the pretense.
Then what? Just say he could see it and leave it at that? Would this turn into another bizarre entanglement like the one with the Spear Wielder's crowd?
As Rembrary racked his brain, a story Yeomra had told him surfaced in his mind. There was supposedly a group trying to weaponize evil spirits and demon beasts against Nakru. Perhaps this man belonged to that group.
Yes—walking around with a youkai on a leash, he was clearly one of theirs!
Then I'll simply pose as one of them too!
Even if he wasn't, he could just act extremely well-disposed toward their group. They'd assume he was already one of them, and the man would be fooled enough to let him pass.
No sooner had Rembrary decided than he called out in a warm, honeyed voice.
"What a splendidly sturdy slave you have. Wherever did you purchase it?"
The man's eyebrows twitched.
***
Lim Yu-han— who had come up the emergency stairs to find her private room, meaning to sober up a little and squeeze in some exercise between drinks—had spotted Rembrary from far off and stopped to wait for a chance to greet him. Her jaw dropped.
Wow.
To Lim Yu-han's eyes, the featureless youkai looked like a perfectly ordinary person. The leash around its neck was invisible to her too. Just a perfectly normal man in a suit.
And the man standing next to that featureless youkai was the CEO of the very club she belonged to.
Yet here was Rembrary, pointing at what appeared to be the CEO's acquaintance and calling him a *slave*.
That was too catastrophic to write off as a mere slip of the tongue—Lim Yu-han just stared blankly at the scene.
He's not a bad kid, but... he really is a total lunatic.
She was starting to worry a little, too.
Perhaps stung by Rembrary's words, the CEO's expression had turned distinctly grim.
Lim Yu-han debated briefly whether she ought to step in.
In the meantime, Rembrary seemed to realize his own blunder. He studied the CEO's face, then gasped "Ah!" and sighed out an apology.
"Not a slave, then. A pet, was it?"
"!"
"I'm afraid I have trouble telling the two apart."
Rembrary smiled graciously, heaved a long sigh, and then turned kindly to the man in the suit.
"There, child. Were your feelings hurt?"
Why, you absolute lunatic—!