Casey's Essence, Eris's Essence
“First, I’d like to ask one question before we begin,” Siz said in a low, steady voice.
“When Lady Eris referred to herself as Eris earlier, you mentioned there were circumstances involved. Does that mean you have also heard the story that she was originally a man?”
“Yes, I have. I found out by chance and asked her directly. She told me.”
Eris’s original name was Casey Selenor. The body Eris currently used belonged to Casey’s younger sister.
“She said she would revive Fantasia in her sister’s body and atone for her sins.”
“It seems you know almost everything. That will make this easier to explain.”
Siz glanced through the glass at Eris. She was devouring a bowl of soup with single-minded focus.
“As I mentioned before, Lord Casey was a thoughtful person who weighed every action with great care. It could have been either Casey or Eris who inherited the organization, but the reason Lady Athena chose Casey as her successor was precisely because of that maturity.”
Athena Selenor—Casey and Eris’s mother and the previous boss of Fantasia—had selected Casey over her twin sibling.
“In contrast, Lady Eris was extremely childish, immature, and simple-minded.”
“I see. That makes sense.”
“What part do you find convincing?”
“When Eris first said she was sick, my brother thought it was just another one of her fake illnesses. If that was her usual personality, it’s no wonder he dismissed it.”
“Correct. To be honest, I have no defense. I also assumed she was throwing another tantrum.”
Even Siz, whose expression rarely changed, furrowed her brow in clear discomfort. It seemed both my brother and Siz found it difficult to speak about Eris.
“Although Lord Casey took over the organization at a young age and struggled with the work, some fighters still joined out of respect for Fantasia’s former glory.”
They were far from the elite of the old Fantasia. In fact, they were such a disorganized mess that calling them a ragtag bunch would have been generous.
“They saw Casey’s mature nature and believed that even if things were difficult now, one day he would create a Fantasia that was truly his own.”
Anyone could have called it a delusion. How could this pathetic group ever become the Fantasia of old? It was nothing but empty fantasy. Voices of doubt rose, yet they had not given up.
As time passed, Casey was driven further into a corner, but at some point he began to overcome the obstacles little by little. Hope started to appear.
“Until Lady Eris collapsed from magi poisoning.”
The moment Eris fell because of magi poisoning and Casey was consumed by guilt, everything began to crumble.
“You must have thought about it too, Hyun-woo. That Lady Eris cannot suspect others.”
“Yes. I think about it twenty-four hours a day.”
“That guilt began from the belief that her illness was just another fake complaint. At first, when he lent money and received repayment, things went well. But after he started carrying guilt toward Lady Eris, everything twisted.”
“Are you saying that from then on, he stopped doubting any lie someone told him?”
“Yes. The guilt wasn’t that severe at the beginning. However, as Lady Eris’s condition worsened, Lord Casey’s guilt grew alongside it.”
Siz let out a quiet sigh.
“The organization members asked Lord Casey why he so readily believed the debtors’ lies. He answered them like this.”
“It’s not entirely wrong, but…”
It left a bitter taste. When examined closely, Casey’s words weren’t mistaken. Yet lending money and failing to recover it wasn’t something that simply ended with one person looking like an idiot.
Still, I could understand how Casey felt. The guilt he harbored toward Eris had become a kind of PTSD. It would be impossible to escape. Every time he tried not to believe a lie, the memory of dismissing her real illness as a tantrum would burn itself into his mind.
“In the end, the members left one by one… and Fantasia truly collapsed. Some suggested that if things were going to turn out this way, they should stop lending money and try a different business. But by then Lord Casey’s confidence had hit rock bottom. He was in no state to start anything new.”
Because of his own misjudgment, his sister had contracted a fatal disease. And because of his almost pathological belief, the organization members were leaving. His confidence eroded without him realizing it. Running a business required bold execution and drive, but without confidence, success was impossible.
That was how the current Fantasia had come to be.
“Of course, simply believing lies at face value, losing confidence, and being swallowed by guilt wouldn’t be enough to make someone that foolish. Humans have something called essence.”
“Then why did he become foolish?”
“Because of the possession.”
“The possession?”
“Yes.”
Siz placed a hand over her chest and continued.
“A human body houses a soul. Possession is the act of extracting that soul through sorcery and placing it into another person’s body.”
“I know that much.”
“The problem comes after. Once the possession occurs, the soul and the body begin a fierce struggle for dominance.”
“What are they fighting over?”
“The essence of that person.”
A soul possesses its own essence. But a body also carries the essence left behind by the soul that once inhabited it. The moment a foreign soul enters, the body begins to resist, refusing to let its original essence be stolen.
“However, if the soul’s essence has grown too weak and is instead devoured by the body’s essence—”
“No matter who the soul originally was, their personality ends up resembling the body’s original owner?”
“Correct. This is why some bosses refuse to change bodies no matter how high their position becomes. They know their own soul’s essence is weak, so they avoid changing bodies to prevent losing it.”
“That makes sense. If they kept switching, the soul would have to fight foreign essences endlessly.”
“Yes. Continuous body swapping wears down the soul until it no longer remembers who it originally was. In the end, it is very likely to become hollow. The heart empties out completely.”
“That’s a horrifying story.”
Now I understood why Hwa Seol-hwa, the Palace Master of the North Sea Ice Palace, had never changed bodies even after her faction rose to one of the Five Great Clans. She had already been a beautiful girl before, so there was no need to switch. Though what would happen when she grew old remained to be seen.
“When Lord Casey entered Lady Eris’s body, his soul was already damaged beyond repair. The shaman performing the possession even tried to stop him.”
“But my brother isn’t the type to abandon something once he’s set his mind to it. It was also his only path to atonement.”
“Indeed. In the end, Lord Casey entered Lady Eris’s body and lost his original self. However, there are still traces of resistance, suggesting his soul’s essence has not completely surrendered.”
“Traces of resistance… like the obsession with wax and pants?”
“Yes. The fixation on wax, pants, and ties, as well as the tattoos of the dragon and Mohanya—which he believes are the strongest—can be seen as remnants of that resistance.”
“So he’s still fighting. No wonder he sang about wanting a tie.”
Come to think of it, I still hadn’t given him the tie I bought yesterday. I’d hand it over after he finished his soup and the bill was settled.
“Hearing it from you, Siz, makes everything click. At the same time, it raises a new question.”
“What question would that be?”
“Why did you stay by my brother’s side even as everything was falling apart?”
At those words, a faint light flickered in Siz’s eyes.
“Because if not for Lady Eris… no, if not for Lord Casey, I would have died long ago.”
“You would have died?”
“Yes. The mother who gave birth to me lived such a reckless life that she didn’t even know who my father was. With no money, she eventually abandoned me when I was twelve. At that time, Lord Casey—who was six years younger than me and only six years old—saw me.”
He found me lying on the street, starving to death, and begged Athena to take me in.
“Lady Athena asked what use a beggar like me would be. Lord Casey said he wanted a personal secretary. It was an unusually greedy request for a six-year-old, but Lady Athena found it promising and agreed.”
Of course, Casey had not actually wanted a personal secretary. He simply lied because he thought it would convince Athena to save me.
“So without my brother, you would have died?”
“Correct. My life is essentially Lord Casey’s. No matter what happens, I will never leave his side.”
Siz’s gaze grew distant. Perhaps the emotion she felt toward Eris wasn’t simple loyalty. In another life, they might have shared a relationship between man and woman.
“Then did my brother also give you that mismatched headband?”
Siz always wore a red headband that didn’t suit her at all, pushing her bangs up to expose her forehead. It wasn’t an appearance-sealing item, yet I had always found it strange.
“Yes. Although he gave it to me after he became Eris, that makes it even more precious, so I wear it always.”
“Why is it even more precious?”
“Because he gave it to me as a gift, saying my bangs might get in the way while I worked. If he had been Eris from the start, he would never have given such a present.”
So even after becoming Eris, traces of Casey remained, and that was why he gave her the headband. That made sense. After all, there were still moments when he showed a sharp side that suggested he hadn’t been completely consumed by Eris.
“Therefore, I wear this at all times as proof that Casey still exists inside Eris, carrying my gratitude with it.”
“I see. In that case, why don’t you give him this tie yourself, Siz?”
“Me? But you bought it with the money you earned, Hyun-woo. Why should I…”
“You received a headband, so giving something in return is only fair, isn’t it?”
Siz stared down at the tie for a moment, pondering, then nodded and accepted it.
At last, many of the questions surrounding Eris and Siz had been answered. It felt as if the holes in the story had finally been filled.
I stubbed out my cigarette, entered the shop to pay for the soup, and we all stepped back onto the street together. Eris was happily patting her full stomach when Siz pulled out the tie and spoke.
“Lady Eris, here is the tie you wanted.”
“Wow! It’s the perfect size for me to wear? Did you buy it, Siz?”
At the question, Siz glanced at me. Why are you looking at me? Just say you bought it. You like Casey, don’t you?
“No. Hyun-woo personally selected and purchased it.”
Hey, why are you doing this?
“Really?! Then why isn’t Hyunu giving it to me himself?”
“It seems he is feeling shy.”
Shy my ass.
“Eheng, Hyunu! Were you that embarrassed? Buying a tie for your big brother?”
“Will you cut the bullshit already?”
I couldn’t understand why Siz was acting like this. She could have just said she bought it and handed it over.
“Oh, Hyun-woo, are you feeling embarrassed right now? I’m very interested in these changes. So this is a sign that you like the boss, correct?”
“You really don’t know anything except magi, do you? Please stop pretending to understand other things.”
“That’s too harsh. I did correctly diagnose the facial muscle failure of the Pawn Cash president.”
“Why are you bringing that up here?”
I still felt regret over accidentally killing him and losing out on fifty million won, so I wished she would drop the subject.
“To my brother, you’re just the boss. Why would I like you?”
“Huh? Hyunu, you liar! You said you were teasing me because you like me!”
“I like you as a boss. As a boss.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“It’s completely different.”
It was a bit harsh, but I couldn’t help wondering why Casey had ever tried to make Eris study. Her head really was that bad.
“Still…”
Maybe it was because I had learned the secret behind why Eris had become such an idiot. Or maybe it was because the Casey in that story seemed so pitiful. At first I had protected her mostly out of a sense of duty toward my boss, but now I felt a small, genuine desire to keep her safe.
Just a little.
“…Never mind. You two wait somewhere safe. I’ll go look for properties.”
“Huh? Weren’t you about to say something?”
“No, so don’t worry about it.”
“It’s bothering me now. How can I not worry?”
“I was going to tell you to look at the price tag on that tie.”
“Hiek?! Two million five hundred thousand won! How many bowls of soup is that?!”
Leaving behind Eris, who measured everything’s value in bowls of soup, I turned away.
“Well then, shall we see if the seller is there?”