The Sickly-Looking Beauty

"From now on, you won't have to suffer."

The officer said it with a warm smile.

"Pardon?"

"You don't have to be afraid of retaliation anymore. We've made certain no one can come after you. And thanks to you, we caught the serial killer. Thank you."

"I-is that so?"

All I'd done was eat rice porridge in the interrogation room, and apparently that had been enough to wipe out any chance of retaliation and bring in a serial killer. I didn't understand a bit of it. Still, if everyone else was satisfied, wasn't that good enough?

"Then may I go home and rest?"

"You hardly look able to walk. We'll see you all the way home."

"Both my legs are perfectly fine, though?"

"You don't have to force yourself to pretend it doesn't hurt. A few steps and you'd go down. How could we simply send you off?"

"..."

Saying less seemed like the better idea.

My stomach growled. The porridge at the station had not been anywhere near enough, and it was starting to beg for a real meal, so I made up my mind that the moment I got home I would order something hot and filling.

"Figures. Porridge wasn't going to cut it."

And so I rode the police car home, thanked the officer who had driven me, and was just stepping toward the door when his phone rang, shrill and endless.

"You've had a long day. Go in and rest. I'll take this call and be on my way."

I had the door open and was about to go through.

"Uh, yeah. The investigation? What? That girl... no, that young lady had family?"

He was on the call and looking straight at me. I didn't like it.

"What?"

I couldn't tell what he'd been told, but the officer turned a hard stare on me, and the look crawled up my spine. I shoved the door open and slipped inside.

"Excuse me. Do you have a moment?"

"I'm busy."

"I'm truly sorry, but if we could just go over it together one more—"

"No."

Nothing mattered more than the emptiness in my stomach. For nearly four days, the only real thing I'd eaten was a single sandwich that morning.

I'd meant to wait until he left and then order food, but hours passed and the officer still would not move from the other side of the door.

"There's only one thing I need to confirm. It'll take a moment, so would you open the door?"

"I have nothing to confirm. Please go."

I couldn't order a thing until he was gone, and he wouldn't budge from the doorway. I couldn't see a way through it.

My stomach snarled.

"I'm hungry... When is that man ever going to leave?"

As I'd already discovered once, the house held not a single ingredient and not a single snack. Even that first day, when I'd actually gone out to buy some, the paramedics had grabbed me and it had all come to nothing. I was just about to give up and open the door when the officer sighed like a man surrendering and started away.

"Hah. This isn't working. I'll come again once you've had time to collect yourself. I'm sure you have your reasons. I'll be going, then. Forgive the intrusion."

The footsteps thinned until I was sure he was gone. Only then did I pick up the phone and place an order.

"Yes, Hometown Handmade Dumplings? I'd like to order. Yes—the blue-roofed house near A Elementary School, in the Delta Region. One dumpling soup, please!"

Now no one can ruin my meal. At last I get to eat something hot and filling, as much as I want.

Time that had felt like forever finally passed, and at last I heard the delivery voice I'd been waiting for.

"Delivery! Is anyone home?"

This time I didn't slip. I put on a mask and went out to collect the dumpling soup—and found the officer standing there with the bowl in his hands.

"Why are you the one out here? Wait. That voice just now wasn't yours."

"I used a voice changer, so of course it wasn't. If criminals can do it, why couldn't the police?"

So he'd intercepted the delivery on the way. And what had this man even been before he became a cop? The questions rose, but all he did was hurry me along.

"We're short on time, so please come with me. Your younger sister is waiting."

"I'm sorry, but could I eat the dumpling soup first?"

"Your sister is waiting, and dumpling soup is what matters to you right now?"

The soup was a hostage in the officer's hands, and it was too late to order anything else. The only choice left was to follow him, get it back, and eat.

My stomach complained again.

"I'm hungry..."

If he had even a scrap of conscience, surely he'd return it once we arrived. It would already have gone cold, but still.

Hoping the officer would give me back my dumpling soup, I set off for the police station with him.

"That's all for today's stream. Eva~"

"Oh, and if any of you happen to see someone with straight brown hair and blue-gray eyes, you have to tell me, all right? You have to..."

The line I always gave before ending. The first time, I'd choked it out through tears. These days the tears didn't even come.

I'd started streaming to drag myself out of the depression that followed my sister's disappearance, and I'd named the channel Evergreen—a vow that I would go on missing her, unchanging as a tree that never drops its leaves. For two years, the sign-off had never varied. I'm looking for my sister.

It had already been two ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠years since she vanished. I wasn't who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'd been at the start. I was simply worn out.

"Haah. Unni. Just tell me whether you're dead or alive..."

The only trace she'd left when she went missing was a single pair of shoes on the riverbank. I could guess, more or less, what had happened, but they still hadn't found a body, so I had let myself hope. It didn't mean anything anymore.

I was just about to hit the button to end the stream when a donation burst onto the screen.

"Thank you for the ten-thousand-won donation, ISawThat...? You saw her yourself?"

The message was specific enough to strike a flicker of hope, but it sank cold almost at once. This sort of thing had happened plenty of times before.

Right. It was a lie. How many lies like that had there been, back when the stream was new?

I was watching the viewers tear into the donor, trying to steady myself, when a call came in from the police station out of nowhere. I muted the mic and answered.

"Yes, this is Seol Jiyoon. Who is this?"

"...What?"

Wait. Then what that donor said just now was true?

"Is she... is she still alive?"

The moment the line went dead, I hit the button to end the stream and ran outside. The broadcast wasn't what mattered now.

"Unni was alive."

I'd resigned myself to her being dead, and she was alive. But what had the officer meant, that her condition wasn't good? Ugly thoughts crowded in. I shook them off—my sister being alive was what mattered—and flagged a taxi.

"Sir? The Delta Police Station, as fast as you can."

"You even got the fare?"

"If you're worried, shall I pay up front?"

"Forget it. You look like you're in a hurry. I'll get you there as fast as I can."

The taxi shot off toward the Delta Region.

"So what's got you rushing like that?"

"...A family matter."

"Aigoo. Sorry. Forget I asked."

The ride to the Delta Police Station was a long one, and through all of it I kept turning over memories of my sister.

Making a snowman together, for instance. Or—

Thinking about it, there wasn't a single ordinary memory among them. The moment my sister was in one, it stopped being normal. I was still lost in them when the taxi pulled up in front of the Delta Police Station, sooner than I'd noticed.

"We're here."

"Please charge this."

"Hope the family business goes well, miss!"

I paid the driver by card and hurried into the Delta Police Station to see my sister. The moment I reached the counter, I asked an officer where she was.

"I'm here to see Seol Jiyeon. Is she here?"

"Family, are you. Go on through there and you'll find her."

I followed the officer in, and at last I could see her. A sister so wretchedly ruined I could hardly take it in.

"Ky—kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!"

However I looked at her, I could not call that living. Her condition wasn't good? Was this something you could finish off with her condition isn't good? It would have been kinder if she had actually died than to be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠alive like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that.

I was still spiraling when I caught the small mutter leaving her mouth.

"...hur..."

I couldn't make out the first of it, but there was no mistaking the rest. She was saying it hurt. I stepped closer and brought my face into her view.

"Unni... it was really hard, wasn't it?"

What she said next dragged the last of my grip straight down into the pit.

"U-Unni! You don't know me?"

Nothing came but tears. The strength left my legs and I folded where I stood. My chest hurt so badly that not a single word would follow.

"Please come and talk with us for a moment."

Once I was outside with the officers, I forced my collapsing mind to hold and demanded they explain.

"What on earth happened to my sister?"

"Well... are you aware of the murder case that took place in the Alpha Region?"

I was. The criminal had been vicious past believing—vicious enough that even where I lived, a long way from the Alpha Region, people were told to be careful whenever they went out.

"I know. I even saw on the news recently that they killed him. But why?"

"Your sister... it seems she suffered for quite a long time at the hands of that vicious criminal."

"What...?"

"Ma'am? Ma'am!"

At the unbelievable thing the officers told me, I collapsed on the spot and blacked out.