Resemblance
The alarm beeps echoed faintly beyond my hazy consciousness.
It was the familiar sound that had pulled me from deep sleep, like waking to an alarm in the morning. The sound that had been small and distant had now successfully dragged me into reality.
My body instinctively began to absorb surrounding information. First, my ears and sense of hearing activated.
Twitch, twitch.
I moved my ears slightly while lying down to discern the situation by sound. Similar to how bats use echolocation, this is one of the supplementary techniques learned as the Silent Killing Method was refined.
No restraints were felt or heard, as I was lying on the bed. There were various mechanical devices emitting constant sounds, and wires from them were attached to my body. At least, it wasn't reading brain waves or something; the machine's beeps were no different from when I was in the unconscious state.
It looked like a laboratory or ICU.
Tiss?
Tiss...?
I called Tiss's name cautiously, but no response came from Tiss.
Tiss? If you're awake, answer me.
The area below my right breast, where Tiss was, was completely black, as if the light had gone out. Although there was slight movement, it seemed she wasn't dead or severely injured. She was probably in a deep sleep. No other people seemed to be around.
I slowly opened my eyes. A strange ceiling. I tried to speak, but my mouth didn't move as I wanted, as if my senses weren't fully back.
Ugh.
I tried to sit up, but the aftereffects of fighting Cheon Geomhwa were bigger than expected, so I couldn't move.
Was I turned into a plant person or something?
I quickly scanned my whole body due to unease. I was a bit weaker than before losing consciousness, but luckily no big problem.
Finally breathed a sigh of relief.
If the aftereffects were this much, the next time I should use it after going through molting once more and lowering the Demerit a bit more. But something felt off. I had determined there was no one by sound. Yet, I felt a strange feeling as if something was missing.
"...?"
Presence. On the bed next to where there was nothing just a moment ago, someone was quietly sitting with a chair. And that gaze was directed at me now.
Not a ghost, silently watching me without saying a word or making a sound? Instantly, a chill ran down my spine.
- Cough, cough!
My body's senses returned quickly, like waking from a nightmare. My eyelids were heavy as lead. I forced my eyes open with effort and looked where the chair was.
Me? There was someone who looked exactly like me. At first, I thought I was mistaken seeing myself in the mirror. If I asked anyone, they'd say "sister" or "twins" 100 out of 100. No, upon closer look, there were some differences. Her height was a bit taller than mine, around 140 cm, and her body line looked more mature. And she had a strange adult scent from her face. Her impression looked slightly decadent. Well, if I scrutinized with burning eyes to find differences, it was this much, roughly a bigger smiley girl than Dorothy. Compared to Sia, who could beat most adults, it was exactly the appearance of a young child like me.
The petite white girl sitting on the chair noticed I woke up, opened her closed eyes and looked this way.
"..."
"..."
My red eyes were visible beyond her deep blue eyes. Tiss and the white girl stared at each other without saying a word.
Scratch, scratch.
The white girl moved her hand resting on her knee for a moment, then extended something to me. A refreshing and cool fruit scent passed by my nose.
"...?"
"Don't you eat?"
The young-voiced girl extended a rabbit-shaped apple. Right after waking up?
Crisp.
"It doesn't taste bad."
The white girl who bit into the apple she cut herself with her front teeth muttered in a voice that was hard to hear, as if something didn't make sense.
"The old lady must have told the patient to cut the apple."
The white girl who muttered incomprehensible words in her own words, I moved my mouth with difficulty.
"Um... who are you?"
Ugh!
The pain pushed from inside my chest prevented me from continuing. The white girl stood up from her seat. Without saying anything, she came in front of me.
Poke, poke.
She started poking my body here and there with her fingers. It wasn't some strange attack. If it was, my survival instinct would have ignored the pain and moved first.
"How is it?"
This time, I immediately understood what she meant by that. Surprisingly, when I poked with fingers, no pain was felt from my body anymore.
"Ah, thank you?"
"I pricked the blood to temporarily block the pain."
The white girl who calmly pricked the blood and could instantly eliminate pain, just like me. I cautiously opened my mouth, thinking it was impossible.
"White Ghost?"
"Yeah. Everyone calls me that."
White Ghost calmly stated that she was the legendary hero in her flat, young voice.
"How long have I been sleeping?"
"A week."
I was sleeping for a week.
"Did I pass the exam?"
"Yeah. That's right."
White Ghost nodded lightly.
"What happened to me...?"
Where am I, and why is White Ghost next to me? I demanded an explanation, but White Ghost just stared at me without answering.
...
'Interesting.'
A pretender who passed the trial. At first, my recognition was that, but as time passed, Tiss's interest in White Ghost increased. The white girl on the bed was not an adult who had reached Baba Yaga's realm and stopped growing. She was just an ordinary girl of that age. The past where she honed her skills to survive was felt throughout her body. But the seasoned years contained in her, as if she already knew where to go and was walking that path, was longer than the life she had lived. Same technique, same appearance. A sense of satisfaction like recovering lost family from long ago. Would there be any connection to herself in the past that was thoroughly erased to the point of coercion? White Ghost wanted to know more about Tiss. If curious, check it out. Thinking that, White Ghost silently climbed onto Tiss.
White Ghost slowly wagged her tail and looked at Tiss lying below her.
"Heavy... isn't it?"
"I erased it along with sound."
Feathers would have more weight, but White Ghost who erased the five senses felt nothing.
"...?"
"Feels strange."
White Ghost said something incomprehensible and stared at my face with her blue sea-like eyes.
Swish.
Then, she suddenly bent her waist a little and reached out to stroke my cheek. This situation was really strange. If I faced myself in the mirror, would it feel like this?
"Why are you like me?"
"I wonder?"
I couldn't answer even if asked that. My current appearance was definitely not the result of White Ghost consciously making it. Since she can transform her body every time she molts, it was the result of working as Shan wished. I only designed my outer appearance as the ideal beautiful girl we think, but I didn't know it would resemble White Ghost's true appearance to this extent. Originally, in the game original, you could meet White Ghost, but the point was not to show her real face till the end.
Blinking.
Under the dim light, White Ghost's white hair sparkled. White Ghost slowly bent her waist and leaned her upper body towards me.
Rustle.
A part of White Ghost's snow-white silk-like hair fell on my cheek and tickled. White Ghost brought her face close enough for our noses to touch. At first, I thought it was okay because I had Hoyeonjigi and it was like a doppelganger making me feel chills.
Thump, thump.
My heart started beating on its own. Her face without makeup, her lips with a subtle peach glow and her cheeks like plump baby skin came into view. I had an impulse to reach out and touch it. About 3 seconds. After that time passed, White Ghost, whose expression was still unreadable as if not knowing what she was thinking, moved away from me.
"Smell, taste, touch, shape none. Hmm, pass. You learned the technique well. I don't know how you learned it."
There was the first expression change on White Ghost's face as she said that. The line drawn on her face slightly curved. Smiled? That White Ghost? When I blinked thinking I might have misseen, the ghost's smile had already disappeared without a trace.
"Where is this?"
"The 3rd Area Management Bureau Direct Medical Center Isolation Treatment Room."
It was the ICU facility of a medical center that only licensed heroes and hunters could use.
"I remembered. Who you are."
White Ghost spoke to me while still sitting on top. Her tone was the same flat, heightless as before, but somehow, a feeling of being glad was felt.
"I knew you."
"You... know me?"
"Yeah. Know."
White Ghost said that and nodded slightly as if it was a fact. It was just a head that was complicated in my mind, with an expressionless, machine-like delivery without any emotion. White Ghost was the owner of a transparent personality with a snow-white appearance. If she didn't like it or there was a problem, she would speak straight or stab with a knife first, so White Ghost wouldn't be doing this to flatter me. By having such a one-sided conversation, it was hard to get information.... For now, I had to ask questions one by one with the thought of twenty questions.
"Since when have you known me?"
"From two years ago."
"Where did you first see me?"
"Area 7."
"...What do you think I am?"
"Guardian Angel."
Ah... ah? My mind froze for a moment. I never thought I'd hear that name from White Ghost.
"I watched you from afar several times."
"Me?"
"The hero who protects the night outside the city, not a hero. The guardian angel of children. A savior of all people who doesn't stop at racial discrimination. 'White Angel-nim', 'Children's Guardian Angel', 'Child who protects children', 'Baby Angel', 'White Hero'"
Uwaa!
I almost flailed in embarrassment, not knowing what to do. White Ghost's voice rose a little as she told her story, freely revealing her past.
"You... don't have to say it that much."
If I put gold on my face, it's embarrassing.
"That's what people call you."
White Ghost said calmly, meaning she didn't hit or raise it.
"Names have meaning. The reason you are called that is the result of your past actions. You don't have to be ashamed. You should be proud."
White Ghost spat out shameless words casually.
"I couldn't do that."
White Ghost's face, adding that, became a bit darker than before. Why such a face, I know. The victim who experienced the worst otherworldly discrimination body and soul, and fell into deep human hatred, and the perpetrator who repaid that anger by cutting the necks of countless people. Her assassination technique as the white ghost who kills people started from the beginning to kill people.
"Um."
"Yeah?"
"Could you please get down now?"
The conversation was good, but... White Ghost had been on top of me since a while ago. It wasn't heavy or anything. White Ghost's weight was no different from feathers, so no discomfort, but the fact that she was mixing words in this posture was a bit strange. White Ghost instead of getting down from me, stared at me.
"Um, White Ghost-nim?"
"Yeah. Decided."
Seeing my inability to move, White Ghost said without giving me a chance to ask.
"Tiss."
"Yeah?"
White Ghost, who called my name out of the blue, dropped a shocking bomb.
"Tiss is my daughter from today."
"Eh?"
Did my ears break? What is White Ghost saying now?
"Daughter, welcome to the family."
"Daughter...?"
"Yeah. Call me mom."
"...???"
After waking up after a week, I suddenly got a new mom.