Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Ye Sa-ra owned exactly one piece of clothing that qualified as exercise wear: her school gym uniform.
She had suits that looked too mature for her age, elegant dresses she'd probably never have an occasion to wear, but when it came to clothes you could actually move in, the gym uniform was it. To be fair, it was likely bought not because she intended to exercise but simply because it was on the school supplies list.
The set at the mansion was the spare; what she wore at school stayed at school. True to rich-school form, a professional laundry service picked it up, washed it, and placed it back in her gym locker. Not her personal locker, the clothes locker in the changing room, so privacy wasn't an issue.
The uniform itself was exactly what popped into your head at the words "gym uniform": a dark green hooded zip-up and pants with the classic white stripe down each leg. The fit was slim enough that it didn't hang baggy, so it wasn't outright frumpy.
Not that it was entirely free of frump.
Almost nobody would glance at this tracksuit and immediately recognize it as a Hwayeong High School uniform, but on its own, it had the look of something a local college student would throw on just to step outside when changing felt like a chore. If my old body were wearing it instead of Ye Sa-ra's, I'd probably give off the image of some shut-in shuffling outside to buy cigarettes after an all-night gaming session.
The only reason that image was partially erased was because Ye Sa-ra's face was remarkably polished. Honestly, it wasn't the kind of outfit you could confidently walk around in at any given moment.
"...I really should buy actual workout clothes at some point."
Yu Ha-neul said it the moment she saw me after I'd changed. I nodded quietly. Even if I bought them, I probably wouldn't willingly wear them often, but since I had plenty of money, picking up a few sets couldn't hurt.
Besides, outside of the expensive pieces meant for important occasions and the pajamas she slept in, Ye Sa-ra's wardrobe barely had anything you'd label "everyday clothes." The thin indoor clothes I'd been wearing earlier when I stepped out to meet Yu Ha-neul were basically it. Had she never bought any because she simply never went out?
...But then, why did she own dresses and suits? Ye Sa-ra wouldn't have had occasions for those events either.
"Alright, let's go!"
While I stood there spacing out, something suddenly grabbed my arm.
Ah, not "something." Yu Ha-neul.
She had already looped her arm through mine. I'd been frozen in front of the gate, lost in thought, and I guess she got impatient.
...Something soft pressed against my arm in a way that was hard to ignore. Now that I thought about it, Yu Ha-neul was a character whose figure was far from bad. In this position, her chest was inevitably touching my arm.
There were a few layers of fabric between us, but not enough to keep me from noticing.
"Ah, w-wait, "
I fumbled my words in the sudden panic, but Yu Ha-neul didn't even seem to hear me. She tugged my arm.
My upper body tipped forward, crossing the line of the gate. My legs moved on their own to keep me from stumbling—
And just like that, I was outside the gate.
I glanced back. The security guard was staring at me, sweating profusely. In March, when you definitely couldn't call it hot. This situation clearly wasn't something he'd ever imagined possible.
Yang Hye-in, who had seen me this far, watched me with a largely expressionless face.
"Young lady."
She spoke as she took a few steps toward me. Yu Ha-neul, who had been holding my arm, read the moment and tactfully let go, easing back a little.
"Take this with you."
Yang Hye-in pulled a smartphone from the pocket of her maid uniform's apron.
"It belongs to you, young lady."
The phone was a model released years ago, yet so pristine it looked unused. Which made sense—it genuinely had barely been used. In hindsight, it was almost a miracle that a mobile phone had been activated under Ye Sa-ra's name at all.
And the smartphone wasn't the only thing in Yang Hye-in's hand.
"...What's this?"
There was something thick underneath it. When I pulled it free, I saw it was a wallet. A plain gray wallet, holding several fifty-thousand-won bills.
"That is also yours, young lady."
...An allowance?
Or maybe it really was Ye Sa-ra's own money. No matter how much you relied on a bank account and a card, it wasn't plausible for her to have zero cash.
Besides, if I used a card to buy something outside, the transaction would probably be reported straight to the Chairwoman. There was no way a minor like Ye Sa-ra could have a credit card in her own name, and even a debit card would leave a deposit and withdrawal record.
...Though the image of a kid like Ye Sa-ra walking around with a fat stack of fifty-thousand-won bills still felt a bit strange.
"I recommend using the mobile phone only when necessary."
Yang Hye-in offered that advice.
"...Okay. Thank you."
I nodded. She probably meant I was being tracked.
Honestly, I figured someone would be tailing me the moment I set foot outside the mansion, so whether I used the smartphone or not wouldn't change much... Still, there was no harm in heeding an insider's advice.
"Please have a safe trip, young lady."
Yang Hye-in slowly bowed her head.
Seeing her, so much older than Ye Sa-ra, bow so respectfully left me feeling a little unsettled.
Not just because I was watching an adult treat a teenager with rigid formality. More than that, I kept being reminded that Yang Hye-in was also a servant at this mansion.
Ye Sa-ra had received no attention from anyone, not even the mansion's staff. If the servants bore some responsibility for Ye Sa-ra's death, then Yang Hye-in could be counted among their accomplices.
Yang Hye-in didn't know I wasn't Ye Sa-ra. In fact, even if I told her the truth, she wouldn't believe it. It defied common sense. By my standards, this world was impossibly close to a fantasy story, a place that even had a ridiculous ability like the Sixth Sense, but to the people here, that was common knowledge. Everything else that felt "like a fantasy" was what was irrational.
No one would ever believe it unless they already subscribed to absurd conspiracy theories about possession, being transported to another world, and things of that nature.
In that case, Yang Hye-in might be acting this way because she had seen my behavior in Ye Sa-ra's body and concluded that "Ye Sa-ra has changed."
On the flip side, maybe Yang Hye-in would have acted like this toward the original Ye Sa-ra too, if Ye Sa-ra had opened her heart even a little.
"...."
But it was already too late.
Yang Hye-in hadn't even known Ye Sa-ra had died. Until I entered Ye Sa-ra's body, Ye Sa-ra had simply been lying there in bed.
"...Yes, I understand."
In Ye Sa-ra's will, the portion that hinted at Yang Hye-in's presence was extremely short. I needed to look into what kind of relationship they'd had.
Even if Yang Hye-in was one of the accomplices, as long as she was someone who could have helped Ye Sa-ra, she had plenty of value for me to make use of now.
At my reply, Yang Hye-in slowly straightened her back again.
I'd turned away at that moment, so I didn't see what expression she wore.
"Shall we go, then?"
Instead, what I saw was Yu Ha-neul beaming at me. A smile so bright and clear it could hold its own against the light practically radiating from her face.
She grabbed my wrist.
Then she turned and started running.
"Ah—wait—!"
Before I could stop her, we were already running together.
"First, let's just get as far from here as possible! We'll figure out what to do after that!"
Above her head as she shouted, the blue sky stretched endlessly.
*
In animation, when a beautiful girl breaks free from the place that held her captive, there's usually gentle music playing. The music swells slowly, and the background noise fades out, as if the only sound in the world is her footsteps. If there's a rescuer holding her hand and leading her, even better. As if the two of them are the only people left in the world, the music climbs higher and higher—what started as a soft melody now gains a choir, or a vocalist straining toward a soaring high note, and the animation drives toward its climax—
"Hah... hah..."
—is how it should go, but unfortunately, I didn't have the Stamina to keep running until that background music ended. If this were an animated scene, the music would've cut off partway through, leaving only the sound of the female protagonist gasping for breath.
Damn it. As I thought, raising my Stamina has to come first.
I'm not asking for superhuman fitness. Just being able to run as much as everyone else would help enormously.
I mean, wouldn't it be embarrassing if everyone else gets this soaring, triumphant moment and I'm the only one lagging behind? Okay, sure, the whole "scene" was just my own delusion. But the person standing right in front of me was the protagonist of a game.
Yu Ha-neul had let go of my hand and was deep in serious thought.
"You really should buy some proper workout clothes."
Whether I was gasping for air or not, Yu Ha-neul sized up my outfit and spoke.
"Our school's gym uniform isn't exceptionally ugly, but you can't keep wearing it every single time you run."
She wasn't wrong. I'd been thinking the exact same thing.
"Great. Then our first stop today is a clothing store."
Yu Ha-neul nodded.
"...First stop today?"
Once I'd finally caught my breath enough to ask, she nodded firmly.
"Yeah. Isn't it obvious? We came out on a sunny weekend like this—were you seriously planning to just jog a bit and go home?"
"...."
Rather than having a plan, I think I just hadn't thought about it at all. I'd only focused on getting out; I hadn't considered what to actually do once I was outside. I did want to look into how Ye Sa-ra had been contacting the outside world from within the mansion and the school, but apart from that, there weren't many places out here connected to her.
Well, there might be nostalgic places from her childhood. The problem was, I didn't know any of them.
"So, what do you think? In favor?"
"Sure."
It wasn't as if I had a reason to turn the offer down.
"Great. Then let's run to the clothing store from here."
Yu Ha-neul pulled her phone from her pocket.
"...What?"
"There's a shopping mall about 500 meters from here. We'll just run it. Come on, come on, straighten up."
As she spoke, she grabbed my shoulders and lifted. I'd been bent over double with my hands on my knees, struggling to breathe, but Yu Ha-neul was stronger than me—both in stamina and sheer physical strength. I had no choice but to let her force my back upright.
"Eek—w-wait!"
I shouted in surprise, but Yu Ha-neul showed not a shred of mercy.
"Alright! Big breath in!"
"You seriously want to run five hundred meters!?"
"Don't worry, I'll run right next to you. If it gets tough, we can rest on the way."
"That's not the problem—!"
Did she really mean to sprint through the middle of a crowded weekend commercial district in this outfit?
The same streets packed with foreign tourists?
But Yu Ha-neul's face didn't carry even a trace of a lie. She smiled, literally, physically, optically dazzling, and said:
"Of course!"
"No, let's just, walk instead, "
But before I could finish that suggestion, Yu Ha-neul had already grabbed my wrist.
"Alright! Let's go!"
And she started sprinting with all her might.
"Eeek, wuh, wait!"
My shriek-like cry didn't seem to reach her.