The End of Vacation #6
The End of Vacation #6
"What's that supposed to... Hey! Lee Si-hoo! Snap out of it!"
I grabbed Si-hoo by the shoulders and shook her hard!
—shake shake!
"..."
Even so, Lee Si-hoo just let herself be shaken and stayed completely out of it. Is that not enough?
Then I'll show you the power of a superhuman!
"Hup!"
I hoisted Si-hoo right off the ground and flailed her through the air!
"I said snap out of it!"
It's harsh, but when someone's like this, you have to jolt their mind somewhere else so they can look at their own situation objectively.
Lee Si-hoo is strong.
He's in shock right now, but once he pulls himself together, he'll be fine—that much is certain!
"Come on! Come on, wake up! Hey!"
"Urgh."
—whoosh!
—whoooosh!
I swung Si-hoo like a baseball bat, then spun her in the air like a disc, which scared the wits out of her. Even so, Si-hoo's bandages never tore.
A minute passed like that.
"G-Geun-cheooool! Let go of meeee!"
At last, Si-hoo let out a proper scream.
"You! Did you snap out of it or not! Hey!"
"I'm fine now! I swear I'm fine!"
"Don't lie! I don't believe you!"
"Aaaaaaagh!"
Another minute.
"Haah! Haah, haah, haah...!"
After flinging Si-hoo all over the place, I finally laid her down on the bed. She was breathing like she'd just run a marathon, but my eyes don't lie.
Still not right in the head.
"I-I'm calm now, so please just stop...!"
"A normal Lee Si-hoo would've broken free the second I started this nonsense. Nah, this isn't working, Si-hoo. This time I'll grab your ankles and take you for a swing."
"Will you quit it with the weird stuuuff!"
—thud!
"Gahk!"
Si-hoo shot up, grabbed me, and hurled me onto the bed!
"You really are insane, Geun-cheol! What the hell is this! Who on earth shakes a person half to death to make them come to their senses!"
Face red, Si-hoo shouted at me, all worked up and clearly offended.
Yeah.
Looks like he finally came to.
"And that means you can just throw people? Sheesh. Anyway, Si-hoo, you were trembling like crazy. You okay now?"
"Uh, yeah... I actually think I'm okay. For real. That's insane. Your insane method actually worked... ugh. My head is seriously a mess."
"Then it's fine. Just a minute ago you were absolutely terrified."
I got up and sat next to Si-hoo.
"Seeing you like that, I couldn't just leave you."
"Geun-cheol, you..."
"So. What happened? You're with me now, right? Talk."
"Yeah, okay... I'll tell you."
She said that, but still scratched her cheek as if she were hesitating.
"But, Geun-cheol... I think this story is kind of dangerous."
"Dangerous story my ass. Hey. If it's that bad, why'd you come to me with it written all over your face? You trying to drag me under like some kind of water ghost? You Water Ghost Lee Si-hoo bastard?"
"That—!"
Si-hoo flopped onto the bed like she'd had enough.
"How am I supposed to stay quiet when I heard something like that! I was terrified and a wreck! I couldn't keep my head on straight!"
"Man, you little shit. Fine, if I die, it's your fault. So spill."
"You always have to tack on weird stuff..."
"You said you had two older sisters."
"...Yeah."
Lee Si-hoo answered cautiously.
When I heard that earlier, a few theories popped into my head. Lee Si-hoo, terrified. The word "had." And the bloodline.
Given the circumstances... could Si-hoo's sisters have been eliminated because they were girls? Sure, it's a leap, but maybe—just maybe—that's why Si-hoo cross-dresses.
"Geun-cheol. You asked me before why I dress like a guy. The truth is, I don't really know the real reason either. I just gave you an excuse."
"Wait, what? You don't know? You've been doing it this whole time?"
"That's why I went to ask!"
Right.
"I went home to the main house. I saw my mother there. She was lying down like always, but..."
"Huh? Lying down?"
"Yeah."
What Si-hoo told me next was, honestly, beyond ominous.
Si-hoo's mother has been bedridden for years. She's a superhuman, but she's suffering from an incurable disease and receiving superhuman treatment. She lives at home like a long-term patient.
She almost never comes to, but that time Si-hoo woke her up, desperate for answers.
And what he heard.
"My mother suddenly came to... looking absolutely terrified... and said that no matter what happens, I must never let that man find out I'm a woman."
"..."
"Then, while she was still panicking, she told me I had two older sisters. Wh-what else could that mean."
This.
Was my guess right?
"It sounds like... my sisters were taken by the Sovereign Commander... and something terrible happened to them. And then I heard my mother mutter the word 'lab' too..."
Hold on.
"Lab?"
What's that about?
"Don't tell me they were used as test subjects in some lab..."
"Yes! J-just thinking about that made me so terrified I couldn't stand it!"
"When did you hear all this?"
"A few days ago. I stayed with my mother until today and just got back. She had to get more treatment after that episode... haah. What do I do? I'm so scared."
"..."
I get the fear.
Even hearing it gave me chills.
"It'll be okay, man. Your sisters... maybe they're still alive and well. Or maybe your mother got confused about something. She's bedridden; her memories could've gotten jumbled."
"...Maybe."
I said that to comfort her, but the odds looked painfully slim.
There's a conspiracy here.
The Sovereign Commander. The king of the Republic of Korea might be hiding a truly horrifying secret. On the surface, he seems to govern the country well, but underneath...
"There's something about the Sovereign Commander."
"There would be. He's basically the monarch of a nation. Of course he'd handle a lot of dark business. So someone like me..."
Si-hoo had gone weak.
Hearing that shocking secret threw her mind into chaos.
"Heart demon!"
"Huh?"
"Lee Si-hoo! You're about to fall to the heart demon! Snap out of it!"
"Heart... demon...?"
"A kind of spiritual sickness that eats away at your mind and steals your fighting spirit. Listen, man. In times like this, if you don't pull yourself together, you're gonna get stabbed in the back with your eyes wide open. Let's get your mind right first."
"R-right."
"Quick. Hoo, haa, hoo, haa. Let's calm down with the Lamaze breathing method."
"That's for pregnant women!"
Is it?
"Who cares? Anyway, Si-hoo, I gave it some thought. There's a good chance your mother had you cross-dress... to protect you from the Sovereign Commander."
"You think so?"
At that, Si-hoo's expression eased a little. Whatever else happened, just knowing your parent thought of you can be a real comfort.
"Maybe that's really it. The reason I've been dressing as a guy... maybe it really was for that."
"Yeah. Let's think of it that way, Si-hoo."
You were born to be loved.
"Yeah."
She answered, then went on.
An utterly serious face.
"Geun-cheol. There's one more thing I learned."
"What?"
"That lab."
The lab?
"I think it was some old research facility in Seongnam. My mother muttered that at the end."
"Let's look it up. Now."
"Look it up?"
I was certain.
This is Si-hoo's secret, and at the same time, the Sovereign Commander's secret. I can't tell how it all connects yet... but my gut is telling me.
We have to uncover this.
Something like this doesn't just appear for no reason.
"First, turn on the computer."
I powered it on right away.
"How?"
"We've got a location. That's enough. Seongnam. Old research facility-type buildings. If we dig around, we can narrow the candidates."
Si-hoo doesn't know anything about her sisters.
So does that mean—before Si-hoo was born?
Or when she was very young?
Then we can set the timeline to at least fifteen years ago. Let's start with that.
"But there's no way we can actually find it..."
"We'll just give it a shot."
—tap-tap-tap.
I typed in "Seongnam" and "lab" and ran a search, specifically filtering for older results.
"A lot of chatter."
All sorts of news and info popped up. Mostly really old blog posts. Or brief mentions in news articles.
But.
"Oh."
A keyword suddenly caught my eye.
[Void Princess's Attack]
"This is...?"
"Geun-cheol, look at this. Something about the Void Princess."
Si-hoo rested her chin on my shoulder and spoke.
Why the hell is this woman showing up here?
I clicked it.
"Hmm."
The gist was this.
About seventeen years ago, the Void Princess attacked a research facility in Seongnam.
She doesn't operate much these days, but back then, VP was extremely active and carried out terror attacks regularly.
This was one of those incidents, and according to the article, the facility in Seongnam was completely destroyed, with heavy casualties.
"..."
That damn monster terrorist.
She massacred that many people?
Rage simmered up from inside me. I always did know, on some level. I was just too scared, and it never hit me this hard. I only keep seeing her face because I need something from her. Otherwise, I wouldn't give her the time of day.
The Void Princess is a villain.
A brutal terrorist, no less.
My memories.
Presumably, before the regression—my past self must have had some kind of relationship with the Void Princess. In that case... is she really the one who destroys the world?
The same woman who won't shut up about gold?
Whatever the case, she is ultimately our enemy. An ally... maybe our goals could align temporarily, but seeing a terror attack like this makes my opinion of her drop through the floor. I'll still have to sweet-talk her somehow to get information, but imagining her as an ally is impossible.
"Geun-cheol. This is probably it, right? The timeframe roughly lines up... and it's way too suspicious that the Void Princess suddenly destroyed the place, but still. Probably."
"Could really be the one."
At that facility in Seongnam.
The Sovereign Commander did something.
And while that was going on, the Void Princess launched a terror attack?
Then that means...
Is there some kind of conspiracy between the Sovereign Commander and the Void Princess? And in the middle of it, Si-hoo's sisters? Looking at Si-hoo, even if she's a bastard child, as long as you're seen as a guy, you seem to live well. But if you're born a girl, you end up in a lab...
—slide.
I touched the fragment in my pocket.
That hard texture felt deeply unpleasant.