Chapter 71
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Hidden Villain: Doll Maker So-hee-ji (2)
After being caught by Yoo Jun-hyuk using a perverted treatment method,
Choi Yu-ra hadn't been able to face him. Until now, she'd only kept in touch through messages and calls.
"Jun-hyuk-ah."
It had been ages since they'd seen each other face-to-face.
Yoo Jun-hyuk looked exactly as she remembered, and his voice and mannerisms showed no difference whatsoever.
"You're really okay, right? Nothing happened?"
But Choi Yu-ra's intuition kept sounding the alarm.
He was in danger right now. She had to save him immediately.
"As you can see? Why do you keep asking like that?"
"......"
At the same time, though, Yoo Jun-hyuk was safe.
He was working at the cafe like always, and her intuition confirmed he was the real Yoo Jun-hyuk.
"No. It's nothing."
"?"
"I just suddenly got worried about you. You know, just in case."
Casually, as if it were no big deal, Choi Yu-ra spread her arms, drew closer, and carefully pulled Yoo Jun-hyuk into an embrace.
"Sis...... embarrassing......"
"Jun-hyuk-ah. Isn't it?"
Yoo Jun-hyuk, buried in her chest, slowly lifted his head.
Choi Yu-ra looked down to meet his eyes.
"Ever since I became an EX-Rank Hunter, the way I see the world has changed."
Her intuition, that extra sense, revealed things to her that no one else could see.
The direction a monster was about to attack from, the weakness of a monster she'd never encountered before.
How to destroy the core of a gate that could only be broken in a specific way, and so on.
It was like prophecy, delivering a flood of information all at once.
"So I know you better than anyone."
Other people's heart rates and the wavelengths in their voices.
The movements of their muscles and how often they blinked.
Even the speed and pressure of the blood flowing through their veins.
Putting all that data together...
"What are you?"
The Yoo Jun-hyuk standing before her wasn't alive.
His heart was beating, blood was flowing. His body temperature was normal, and moisture welled in his eyes with every blink. He seemed utterly human.
But the pieces didn't fit together.
Blood only flowed a split-second after each heartbeat.
His blood pressure stayed locked at 100, refusing to rise or fall even as she hugged him like this. When he fidgeted, the muscle fibers in those areas did move, but it was just faint twitching.
"S-Sis?"
"What are you, I said."
Not a living person.
A doll pretending to be one.
A dangerous doll that could fool even her intuition without that breakdown of data!
"Peop... le..."
Yoo Jun-hyuk sensed the sour mood and tried to shout,
but Choi Yu-ra's hand got there first.
She clamped his throat in an instant and glared at him with emotionless eyes.
"If you don't tell me right now, I'll kill you."
"Guhk, guhk......"
Yoo Jun-hyuk grimaced as he clutched her wrist, but Choi Yu-ra ignored it.
The moment she confirmed that, the expression drained from Yoo Jun-hyuk's face.
"Ah."
He spoke in a flat, toneless voice.
"That's why I should've used blood instead of hair."
Right then, Choi Yu-ra couldn't hold back her rage and squeezed.
His head sheared clean off, dropping to the floor along with his torso.
"But hey, I've got insurance."
After those parting words, Yoo Jun-hyuk turned into a wooden doll. Choi Yu-ra shut her eyes, surrendering to her intuition without a second to waste.
Her so-called "Yoo Jun-hyuk sensor," which hadn't triggered properly because of the fake, kicked back in...
But...
"There's too many Jun-hyuks."
Her intuition picked up no fewer than twelve Yoo Jun-hyuks.
Not clustered in one spot, either—they were scattered all across Korea.
'Which one's the real one?'
Fakes that could fool even her intuition.
Up close like this, she could tell real from fake by cross-referencing other data. But spread out like they were now? Impossible.
"......"
What could she do in this situation?
Raid them one by one? No good. Judging from what the fake had said before breaking, the culprit could see their moves through the dolls.
She could probably smash all twelve in short order, but if she missed the right one early on, who knew what the cornered culprit might do to the real Jun-hyuk.
'Call the cops?'
Reporting it didn't sit right, either.
A skill that could craft dolls identical to real people? Had to be a special trait ability.
When a villain with a special trait skill was on the loose, police and Heroes mobilized in force to hunt them down.
Of course, all that activity would draw eyes—and put Yoo Jun-hyuk at risk.
'Worse, this guy's cranking out dolls like it's nothing, using hair or blood as material.'
The culprit mentioning hair and blood meant they could craft dolls matching the donor down to the body part.
Bio-dolls precise enough to fool an EX-Rank Hunter's intuition, no less.
What if they'd planted one in the police or Hero Association?
Reporting might just give those plants time to interfere and make her miss her window.
Information was light itself. Without it, she was stumbling in the dark.
"No helping it."
She pulled out her phone and made a call.
"Seo-yeon-ssi?"
The one person she could trust most in this mess.
The one who could find answers the fastest.
"Could you come to the cafe?"
＊＊＊
One day since the kidnapping.
The sun hung high in the sky, but the kidnapper, So-hee-ji, still hadn't shown her face.
"Had a good stay?"
Speak of the devil.
She wasn't some tiger—what was with her timing?
"How could I?"
"Hmm. I did my best to make you comfortable. Anyway, we can talk that over food."
I had no choice but to follow her gesture. Right now, all I could do was play along verbally with some minor pushback.
Lip service would just get brushed off, but anything physical could turn violent fast.
"I didn't prepare much—eat up."
She said that, but the table was piled high enough for a crowd.
No appetite in a situation like this, so I only touched the bread and soup right in front of me.
"So, time for you to tell me about yourself."
"You ever hear that you should introduce yourself before asking others to? All I know about you is your name. Why should I go first?"
Petty rebellion, sure, but my palms were sweating.
What if she snapped and clocked me over it?
"Hmm. Wasn't what I told you yesterday enough?"
"So-hee-ji. Chairwoman of Hee-ji Trading. That's it—and I can't buy either one."
"Fine, then. I'll tell you everything. But after that, you spill yours too?"
I nodded quietly, and she launched into her story.
"My name really is So-hee-ji, and I really am chairwoman of Hee-ji Trading. Ten employees total—we do small-scale distribution, that's all. But the profit margins are fat, so the media keeps sniffing around. That's the downside."
"Good company doing well is a win."
"Ufufu! It's a front—if it gets too much spotlight, that's trouble."
Her laugh was cute, but right now it just grated.
"The distribution part's true too. On the surface, we handle imports from Japan. But really? Dolls, as you can see."
"And there are people who need dolls like that?"
"Jun-hyuk, you grew up loved, didn't you? The world's full of people dirtier and uglier than you think. I'm one of them."
She hadn't said a word, but one of her bodyguards stepped into the room.
"Lots of folks want a human-like toy they can boss around without it ever squealing about what they do to it. The so-called perverts. They're not ugly, dumb caricatures from comics or movies, or criminal-looking thugs. Surprisingly normal people you pass every day. And..."
She snapped her fingers, and his form shifted.
"...elites, too. You know one of the Hero Association execs gets off on being surrounded by the same women licking his whole body?"
"......I didn't wanna know that."
"The police chief loves sucking boys' chests. And that two-term congressman? He gets his kicks whipping girls shorter and frailer than him."
The bodyguard, who'd towered moments ago, shrank down.
To my build: slim and cute, feminine.
Her hair lengthened in a blink, skin turning snow-white.
"Those are your customers?"
"Yeah. Real people are a hassle to manage, might run, and one slip-up could cost an elite everything they've built. Dolls? No such problems. Foolproof. The ultimate adult toy you can play with however."
She clapped again, and now it was a man—not a woman.
All while preserving some of the original template, just as she said: craft a doll of whoever they wanted, tweak to their tastes.
"Seriously...... I didn't need to know any of this."
It was horrifying information, too.
Because I got her angle.
"People like that in the police and Hero Association."
"The brighter the light, the deeper the shadows. If you can't hide in the dark, camouflage in plain sight—what else?"
No matter how much I stalled, no cops were coming.
Her clients—the ones she'd just named—would have her back against any heat. To protect their "personal hobbies," not for her sake.
"So what about the originals? The people your dolls come from. Just pluck a few hairs and done?"
"Depends on the case. Sometimes we track them and snag some hair. Other times, we go full kidnap, like with you. Oh, by the way—you weren't a commission. I snatched you because I wanted you."
"Pluck the hair and let 'em go after?"
Her smile deepened.
"Come with me. Got something to show you."
She stood up before we'd even finished eating.
Like a parent dying to show off a present.
"Lucky for us, we've got one right here. They're spread out across my villas nationwide—this one's new, so just the one."
My head was spinning.
God, please don't let it be what I think. I couldn't even bring myself to ask.
"I'd love a private gallery all in one spot, but you don't put all your eggs in one basket, right? Gotta plan for risks. Cluster 'em and boom—one fire or disaster wipes the collection."
No way it'd be that bad.
Few hairs and she could make whatever doll she wanted. She could just release the original, right?
"But Jun-hyuk, you know what they say? The cuter the kid, the better they look scared. I usually don't go for whiners or folks shaking more than necessary...... but you're too calm. I wanna see you rattled."
She opened a door.
An empty room, hollow except for one massive box in the corner.
"I bet you know this one. Famous, right? Who is it?"
The moment I saw the transparent acrylic case, a recent news story flashed back, and I muttered without thinking.
"Jason...... White?"
"Right! Next question! Doll I made with my skill? Or not?"
He looked asleep, identical to what I'd seen on TV.
Like he'd wake any second—but lifeless, so he never would.
"Can't guess? I'll tell you."
A doll made from a person.
Not her skill—just stolen life.
As I fought back vomit at the gruesome sight, she whispered.
"A very special doll made from a living person. Or, more precisely, someone who used to be living."
"Why...... do something like this?"
Her skill could've made perfect copies anytime.
Why? Why bother killing people for it?
"I told you earlier. The world's dirtier than you think—and I'm part of it."
Like a comic-book villain monologuing her backstory, her goal was simple.
Not stupidity.
She just wanted me afraid.
No one from the police or Heroes to save you, she'd said.
Now she was showing me my future.
And...
"Dolls I make move under my power, so they're meh. But one I can't control? Gets me going. God, I just want it to move. To obey me."
You're next on the doll list.
Her play worked. Fear hit me for the first time.
"Hehe, scared looks cute on you too. Keep me entertained like this, and maybe that future gets put off a bit..."
Right then, the whole building shook.
I'd felt it before recently—fear vanished in a flash.
"!?"
Unlike last time, though, I didn't have to go to it.
Crashing sounded from above, and the ceiling over our room shattered as Yu-ra sis dropped in.
"Found you."
But her face was so terrifying, I got scared all over again.
"Jun-hyuk-ah?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"You're the real one, right?"
Was that chill down my neck just my imagination?
＊＊＊
"Haa, haa......"
In the staff room at Cafe Hypnop,
Lee Seo-yeon sat before a spread of laptops, heaving ragged breaths.
"The rest...... Jeong-shil can handle."
She'd poured everything into restoring the CCTV footage that So-hee-ji's allies in the police had scrubbed.
Tracked the vehicles in it to their destination.
Tons of footage deleted, constant interference probing how she'd even found it.
Against all that, Lee Seo-yeon bulldozed through and wrapped it up in a mere ten minutes before flopping to the floor.
"If you can't save Jun-hyuk-ssi, I'll go back to being Go Jin-yo."