Who Are You? (2)
I buried my face in the desk and let out a long sigh before finally rising from my seat. The black hair that had been sprawled across the desk fluttered free.
This isn't working. I'll have to go find him myself.
"It's his fault for not coming... Yeah, after how long I've waited."
I couldn't take it anymore. It had already been nearly a year since I'd been running this organization in Sejin-nim's place. Even if Baek Sejin was the sort of person who never showed anyone a shred of affection and never once made personal contact—this was too much.
Even for someone like me, filled to the brim with respect and affection for Sejin-nim, a full year without a single word was hard to bear. I needed a recharge.
I would go to him. To Sejin-nim's house. Today was too chaotic, so... yes, tomorrow.
The next day, when the sun hung high in the sky, I arrived at Sejin-nim's house.
"Come to think of it, I never even called to say I was coming..."
Whatever. I'd come this far—I had to at least see his face. If it was the Sejin-nim I knew, he would at least put on a surface-level welcome. He would never go beyond that, of course.
I stood before the front door of Sejin-nim's house.
"Sejin-nim, it's me. Would you open the door, please?"
I pressed the doorbell with trembling fingers, but there was no response.
"Hm? Today the academy is closed from the start, isn't it...? Is he not home?"
Should I leave? No. After coming all this way, I couldn't just turn back.
"I'm coming in."
I opened the door lock and slowly entered the password Sejin-nim had given me.
12345678.
—Beep!
I opened the door and stepped inside. The moment I entered, I was met with a silent, empty house. He must have gone out.
Come to think of it, he seemed to have grown quite close to Kim Gabyul... Surely he hadn't gone out with that woman. I would have to check later through the crows.
Should I wait until he returns? Sejin-nim's residence, which I was visiting after so long, had changed in many ways. There were black and purple stains remaining in one corner of the living room, for instance. And black hairs scattered all over the place. Since Sejin-nim's hair was black, these were probably his.
The large and small dolls placed one in each room were also peculiar. Had he developed a new hobby? No, they didn't seem like mere hobbies. There were ghosts inside the dolls.
To leave such sinister objects all around the house... The Sejin-nim I knew didn't seem the type to do that. Especially the orange-haired doll in Sejin-nim's bedroom—whatever spirit was inside it, it radiated an ominous aura just from looking at it. It wasn't anything that could threaten me, but it was a little irritating. The fact that the doll sat right under the dagger hanging on the wall was also highly suspicious.
Sejin-nim would never keep anything useless in his house, so it must be something that helps him somehow.
To leave something so unpleasant in the house, and near the bed no less. Could Sejin-nim be in danger right now? He might be under threat from some spiritual force, and that's why he placed these things here—to protect himself from an immensely powerful curse.
The thought brought tears welling up in my eyes. I have to help him. That thought dominated my mind. But on the other hand, another thought arose. Is there even a way for me to help Sejin-nim?
"...Still, there must be something I can do."
To that end, I needed to know what Sejin-nim's daily life was like. Which meant I first had to examine the places where Sejin-nim usually spent his time.
I lay down on the bed. It was something I could never have imagined doing when Sejin-nim was around, but right now I was alone. Mm. Carefully, I pulled the blanket up to cover myself to the chest. It was cozy. If I sniffed carefully, I could almost smell Sejin-nim. No—I definitely could.
I luxuriated in the comfort of the bed for a while before getting up again. I still had other places to investigate.
"Hm?"
For some reason, the orange-haired doll seemed slightly askew. It must have moved on its own. With a ghost inside, moving would be no trouble at all. As expected of Sejin-nim. To have that much control over such a vicious, malevolent spirit that it could only shift a little...
I opened the door to head back to the living room. And right before my eyes, large and small dolls had all gathered, blocking the entrance to the bedroom. The dolls each radiated Black Mana as they charged at me.
Uh... did I touch something I shouldn't have?
Even as the thought crossed my mind, my legs moved. My long legs, sheathed in black stockings, intercepted the dolls' charge and sent them flying back. These were Sejin-nim's belongings—I couldn't damage them. I had no choice but to hold back my strength. If I messed up, all the ghosts inside the dolls might be released. Then Sejin-nim would have to go through the trouble of making these things all over again, and I wouldn't be able to face him after that.
Fortunately, after I blocked their attacks a few times, the smaller dolls seemed to give up on attacking me and retreated to their places. What remained were the large dolls that had been placed one in each room. And the orange-haired doll behind me.
Dolls attacked me from front and back. The orange-haired one was holding a dagger, so I targeted that one first. Even while blocking the other dolls' attacks, I never stopped trying to snatch the dagger from the orange-haired doll. The orange-haired doll was far stronger than the others. And because it was holding Sejin-nim's dagger, I was reluctant to lay hands on it carelessly. If I put even a little real force into striking the doll, it looked like it might burst.
So I tried to wrest the dagger away and subdue it, but for a mere doll, its strength was incredible—it absolutely refused to let go of the dagger. As time passed meaninglessly with me only deflecting the doll's attacks, suddenly all the dolls' movements stopped in unison.
And the front door opened.
I locked eyes with Sejin-nim, who had just returned home.
"Ah, Sejin-nim. I'm sorry. I should have contacted you first..."
"...Yes, it's nice to see you. So, who might you be?"
Who...?
Was Sejin-nim asking who I was right now? Had he forgotten me? No, that couldn't be—then...
Has he decided to abandon me, and the organization...?
I've been abandoned.
In contrast to the kind smile Sejin-nim wore, my expression could only fill with despair. Tears rolled from my eyes.
"No, I'm asking who you are."
Seeing my face, Sejin-nim shouted in fluster. Ah, so he's decided to cut ties completely... In my wretched mood, the tears wouldn't stop.
What the hell is this chick?
On my way home, a signal came from the dolls in the house. Calmly sharing vision with a doll, I saw a beautiful woman I'd never met before had entered my house. Black hair cascading to her waist, vividly glowing red eyes. Dressed in a black suit and black stockings—a woman who was black itself, in every sense. Yet her skin was so white that it contrasted sharply with the black.
"Haha, I don't know who you are, but this is interesting."
I had no idea what she had come to my house for, but now that she was inside, she wasn't leaving without my permission.
The woman who entered my bedroom looked around the room and spotted the orange-haired doll. Then she suddenly started crying.
What? Is she crazy?
And then she lay down on my bed and pulled up the blanket. At this point, two possibilities emerged. That this woman was a stalker, or that she had mistaken my house for her lover's. Since the latter had zero chance of being true, it had to be the former.
I picked up my phone to call the police, then put it back in my pocket. This body's original owner might know her, after all.
Taking advantage of the moment she entered the bedroom, I ordered all the dolls to gather and charge into the bedroom—to subdue her first. The moment the dolls all gathered, the woman somehow knew and opened the door. And she blocked every single one of the dolls' attacks. Moving her legs to dodge the dolls' assaults and instead kicking them away. The entire sequence didn't look like it cost her any effort at all.
The small dolls weren't going to cut it against her. If the dolls burst and the ghosts escaped, cleaning up would be a hassle, so I pulled all the small ones back. It would be better if I just got there quickly.
I ran toward home while watching the dolls' battle. I'd been pretty confident in the dolls made with evil spirits, but they didn't seem to pose much of a threat to that woman. Even while focusing on the evil-spirit doll, she was leisurely dodging the other dolls' attacks. And yet she caused no damage to the house or the dolls, which told me her skill was remarkable.
She was probably a martial artist who had trained in martial arts. Since she had no weapons, she seemed to be of the bare-handed fighter type that used arms and legs as weapons, and bare-handed fighters should be easy to deal with, right?
I toyed with my sword while simulating a fight with the woman.
...This is going to be tough.
With just the dolls, I couldn't fully gauge the woman's combat power, so prediction was difficult.
I opened the front door. The moment the door opened, what I saw was the black-haired woman surrounded by dolls. The woman's face stiffened as our eyes met.
"Ah, Sejin-nim. I'm sorry. I should have contacted you first..."
Ah, so she knows my name?
"...Yes, it's nice to meet you. So, who might you be?"
At my words, the woman's face slowly crumpled. And she suddenly began to cry.
"No, I'm asking who you are!"
Hearing that, the woman cried even harder.
What? Is she actually crazy?