A Peace Built on Lies
"Goodness… what are you two up to?"
Mom, returning from her grocery run, stopped in the living room and gave us a puzzled look at the awkward positions we'd ended up in.
I'd barely managed to straighten my pants before she came in, so the worst-case scenario—my erect cock on full display—had been narrowly averted.
The demon, having miraculously restored itself to Jia's appearance, was still kneeling in front of me with its hand on my waistband, and it spoke up with a smile.
"Well, you're heading back to university soon, Oppa, aren't you? So I asked him to check whether these pants were the right size for me to buy him."
Watching the demon nonchalantly impersonate my sister's personality as though nothing had happened moments ago, I cursed inwardly.
"Hoho! You two get along so well. Well, I suppose… you've always been close, ever since you were little."
Between the two of us holding our ridiculous poses, 'checking a pant size' hardly explained anything—she had every reason to be suspicious. But Mom, wrapped in her love for Jia, didn't harbor a single shred of doubt.
What parent on earth could imagine their son and daughter having sex in the living room?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, guilt over my mother settled onto my chest like a heavy stone.
"That's right, Oppa is always so sweet to me. That's why he's my favorite person in the whole world. You like me too, don't you, Oppa? Right, Oppa?"
Rising from where she knelt, the demon deliberately leaned into my arm, hooking hers through mine as she asked.
Her eyes, sparkling with a childlike, innocent smile, bored into me as if demanding my confirmation.
"Mm-hmm…"
I answered on reflex, barely managing to keep my face from sinking.
The result was an unreadable expression caught somewhere between a smile and tears, but Mom was too absorbed in the heartwarming sight of the affectionate siblings to notice anything of the sort.
Seeing the two of us leaning into each other, Mom's face crumpled with emotion, and she came over slowly, opened her arms, and pulled us both into an embrace.
"Sob… thank you, Jia, Dohyun… thank you for staying alive like this… for growing up so kind and good… thank you, my daughter, my son… I love you both so, so much."
"I love you too, Mom…"
The demon answered tenderly in Jia's voice, returning my mother's embrace.
That alone seemed to bring her salvation—she held us deeper against her chest and wept without a sound.
"…Me too."
My heart a tangle of emotions, I answered in a small voice.
Then my gaze drifted downward, and when I spotted the glistening wet smear on the floor, my eyes went wide.
I realized it was the juices that had dripped from between the demon's legs while she was in heat for me just moments ago, and I hastily wiped it away with the sole of my foot.
Feeling my little sister's sticky nectar on my sole and my mother's warm embrace around me at the same time, my feelings grew only more hopelessly complicated.
* *
Contrary to my expectations, the demon never once approached me in its true form to strike up a conversation after that day.
I, too, had my own reasons for keeping my distance—my heart was still in knots over what had happened.
We shared the same house, so we crossed paths constantly, and every time, the demon would come to me as my little sister and speak to me warmly. But with my feelings unresolved, I found it uncomfortable and dodged her each time with some half-hearted reply.
Right up until my return to university, I shut myself in my room.
The truth was, there was so much I wanted to ask the demon.
Things I probably ought to ask, sooner or later.
What is a demon?
How are demons born?
Do other demons exist?
If demons exist, do angels exist too?
And if so—does God exist?
Is my sister… my missing sister… truly dead?
If she died, then how on earth could the demon appear before me wearing the shape of Yoon Jia—my sister?
I felt the urge to march into the room the demon had claimed, my sister's room, and interrogate it without mercy.
But I couldn't.
Because I was afraid.
Afraid that I would be forced to face truths I couldn't bear.
What if… my sister had actually been alive all along, and the demon had devoured her existence at my wish before appearing at my side?
If beings like demons truly existed in numbers in this world, how was I supposed to live my life going forward, knowing that?
My thoughts chased themselves in circles, spiraling down into rumination, and every train of thought ended the same way—back to the image of the demon that had seduced me in the living room.
The demon stroking my cock, whispering obscene words as it craved me.
And because I still hadn't been allowed to finish, that image burned all the more vividly in my mind.
Finally, on a night lost in thought, I gave in—lying on my bed, I masturbated while replaying that day over and over.
"What am I even doing… Yoon Dohyun… hah…"
I came with a groan, but instead of relief, an inexplicable guilt came flooding in, and I let out a long sigh.
Flick.
I tossed the tissue—my mess tangled among the pile of trash in the wastebasket—and lay back down, trying to summon sleep.
Creeeak…
The moment I heard what sounded like a door opening, I jolted upright in fright and stared hard at the door in front of me.
In an instant—or something close to it—I thought I caught a flash of a gleaming gaze through the gap of the door, and fear surged up through me. Then, working up my courage, I got out of bed and flung the door open.
But contrary to my expectations, there was nothing there at all. Only the hushed stillness of a pre-dawn hour when everyone lay fast asleep came pressing in around me.
Still unconvinced, I stepped out and glanced toward the room where my sister was—or rather, where the demon was—and saw the door firmly shut.
Had it just… been my imagination?
Feeling the breeze drift in from the open living room veranda, I admitted my nerves had grown oversensitive and lay back down.
Maybe it was the release of tension, but the instant my head touched the pillow, sleep came pouring over me.
Just as my eyelids closed and consciousness began to slip away, I sensed the faint presence of someone lying down beside me—but I had already sunk too deep into sleep, and I did not remember it.
* *
The day finally came when I would go to university together with my sister, now attending the same school.
Woken by my alarm, I sat up in bed with a bleary face and idly scanned my room—and felt a prickle of unease.
The wastebasket that had been stuffed full until last night was completely empty.
Which meant someone had entered my room while I slept.
Startled, I opened my door and stepped out to find Mom setting out breakfast in the kitchen.
"Mom, did you empty the trash can in my room?"
"Hm? Oh, I threw it out. Why?"
Uh…
"No reason. Thanks…"
Thrown off by the unexpected answer, I forced a smile and let it slide.
Thinking it over, there was no reason whatsoever for the demon to have any interest in my trash.
Once again, I became aware of how hypersensitive my nerves had grown.
"Jia took it out this morning, though."
"…Oh?"
At that follow-up remark, my face stiffened slightly—but on reflection, even that wasn't quite enough to call suspicious.
"You should take after your sister and get up a little earlier, you know. And you'd better hurry and get ready, shouldn't you? Today's the day you two head to school together. Mom is… feeling a little strange… that the day has come for you and Jia to go to the same university…"
Mom couldn't finish the sentence.
Remembering the present reality—that Jia had come back alive—seemed to send her emotions surging up again.
"Mom, it's a happy day—why are you crying? I'm just so happy that I get to go to university with Oppa!"
Then the demon, already dressed and ready, opened my door, came over to Mom, and pulled her into a gentle embrace, wiping her tears.
That was something I couldn't have brought myself to do, and for the first time, I felt a flicker of gratitude toward the demon.
"Yes, Jia… I'm just happy. Mom is… just so happy…"
Gazing at the demon wearing Jia's face with unwavering love, Mom struggled to stem her tears.
"Mom must be so happy that the two of us get to go to university together. Right, Oppa?"
"Mm…"
When the demon turned to me, seeking agreement, I answered with a smile, weak as it was.
At my smile, the demon smiled back, took Mom's hand, and led her toward the table.
"Come on, Mom, let's eat! I'm starving!"
"Let's do that…"
The three of us sat down and began the meal together.
Jia chattered away beside Mom, talking about her hopes for the university life ahead of her, and Mom—happy just to hear it—smiled and answered every single one.
Watching that warm family scene unfold across the table, a thought came to me.
Maybe… maybe this is all it takes. Everything's settled.
Was there really any need to think any deeper?
Fake or real, the demon had my sister's appearance, her memories, her personality.
Mom would believe that demon was her daughter without question and live happily from here on.
And if I simply changed my way of thinking, I might be able to treat the demon as the sister she used to be.
I would no longer need to be tormented by the guilt of maybe having killed her.
I would never again have to live through those days, two wasted years of rotting away like a wreck, crushed under guilt while searching for my sister.
Of course, no matter what, things could never go back to a perfectly whole relationship.
Then again, it was never a whole relationship to begin with.
Peace lay before my eyes.
Even if it was only skin-deep, the warm, reunited family of before was laid out right in front of me.
With that thought, I resolved to accept the situation as it was.
But.
How naive that thinking of mine truly was—
how badly I had misjudged the thing called a demon, that twisted, warped existence, as something as benign as a human being—
I would come to understand it, bitterly, before long.