Chapter 72
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Hidden Villain: Doll Maker So Hee-ji (3)
“What are you?”
So Hee-ji's gaze turned fierce at her older sister's sudden appearance.
Her skill was threatening. Not only could she remotely control dolls to attack, but she could also freely adjust their specs.
As seen earlier, she could change not just their gender but also their height and figure at will, which was like having dozens of martial artists at her disposal.
“Hmm? Oh, there was someone here. Are you the culprit? I don't know who you are yet, but...”
But that depended on the opponent.
The moment Yu-ra noona vanished and reappeared, So Hee-ji, who had been brimming with murderous intent just seconds ago, collapsed limply like a doll with its strings cut.
“Sleep for a bit.”
It wasn't some comic book—how could she not even see a person moving?
Separate from the shock, all the hardship and fear I'd endured up to now melted away in noona's embracing arms.
“Noona?”
But why did the chill run down my spine again from the way she gently gripped the back of my neck?
Fortunately, that chill vanished along with the other fears soon enough.
“Phew, it really is Jun-hyuk.”
“What if it was a fake?”
“Nothing?”
Seeing her slowly release her hand from my neck as she said that, I could guess what she would have done.
I almost died.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Nope. I'm fine.”
“But what's this on your neck? Why... a restraint device for high-rank Awakeners?”
“I don't know either. When I woke up, it was already on me.”
Noona gave it a light tug, and the restraint around my neck tore apart like paper.
But I'm really curious. Why did she put this on me?
From the looks of it, she didn't even know I was an Awakener.
‘It might have been a kind of warning.’
That I had connections high up enough to procure something like this.
So even if I escaped and reported her, she wouldn't face any punishment—don't bother trying anything pointless.
I could ask her directly to know for sure, but...
“How should I kill this bitch?”
Hearing Yu-ra noona mutter to herself, it seemed like that wasn't happening.
Starting with ‘Should I rip her apart right now? It wouldn't hurt, so maybe wake her up first?’ and going all the way to talk of torture, but I had no intention of stopping her.
I already knew what a vile piece of trash she was.
‘Wait, trash?’
But a sudden thought crossed my mind, forcing me to stop Yu-ra noona.
“Noona, hold on.”
“Rip off all her limbs and throw her into a Gate... Hmm? What's wrong?”
“We can't kill her.”
“Why not?”
“Well...”
I told noona everything So Hee-ji had said to me.
Starting with how her skill created dolls, and how her main customers were the upper crust of society.
All the way to how she'd turned countless people into her real doll collection.
“...So that's why she had a high-rank Awakener restraint. She must have connections at the Hero Association or the police, or somewhere like that?”
“Yeah. So if we kill her now, only she dies, and we can't catch the others.”
“Got it. I'll handle that issue. For now, let's just tie her up and take her with us.”
Noona hoisted her over her shoulder.
Noona might really be able to catch the other trash embedded in the upper class.
If the Millennium Guild she belonged to moved, and her connections did too.
‘But is that really okay?’
The problem was that such a big move would tip them off, letting them prepare in advance.
Cut off tails and destroy evidence.
Even with noona's help, it would only be resolved legally, so those people had a high chance of walking free for insufficient evidence, even if So Hee-ji cooperated and testified.
‘They can smuggle out restraint devices like that—they're that high up. It's plenty possible.’
On top of that, as bad as this sounds...
Some of noona's connections might include So Hee-ji's customers.
There could even be some in the Millennium Guild, or among the people jumping into this incident, which might obstruct the investigation instead.
‘It might be just speculation. But I don't want to miss even the slightest possibility.’
Someone might say, what's the crime in enjoying secret tastes with mere dolls?
But would they really be unaware that So Hee-ji kidnapped her targets?
That she kidnapped them, turned them into dolls, and stripped away their lives without releasing them?
Commissioning a kidnapping meant they specified the target themselves, so they obviously knew what came after—and the fact that this hasn't surfaced until now means they're no different from accomplices.
In short, they were no better than people contracting murders for their own pleasure.
‘So what should we do?’
I grabbed noona's sleeve lightly and racked my brain hard.
As embarrassing as it is to say, I'm not that smart. In my past life, during college, I was always the type who quietly blended into the background in group projects, and in this life, even if I have the excuse of focusing on becoming a Hunter, my school grades weren't great.
“Noona. Hold on.”
That's probably why the only idea that flashed like lightning right now was the one I had—no other clever ones came to mind.
Even if I took more time to think, nothing else would pop up, so I wanted to go with this.
“I have a confession to make.”
It was to use a Korean “tradition.”
Since ancient times in Korea, you can't take down people with any power by going through the law.
You have to stir up public opinion and get the citizens to step up with protests demanding resolution.
“Yeah? Now?”
“If not now, then when.”
It had to blow up worldwide to the point where failing to resolve it would embarrass the nation.
For that, I was sorry to So Hee-ji's victims, but I trusted they'd understand.
“What is it?”
“Noona, the truth is...”
And to execute the plan right away...
I didn't want to say it, but if I didn't, noona wouldn't understand my actions at all.
“I'm an Awakener.”
I had no choice but to reveal my secret to noona.
“I know.”
“Huh? What? Huh?”
But this, I didn't see coming.
＊＊＊
“Haa...”
With a long sigh, So Hee-ji looked up at the ceiling that had just been repaired.
Lately, she'd felt an unsettling murkiness, like a chunk of her mind had been carved out.
“Meteor strike? On my head, no less?”
She'd suffered a head injury but miraculously lost only parts of her memory with no threat to her life.
That was the latest event she remembered, but a nagging sense of having forgotten something important kept surfacing.
“A meteor hit hard enough to half-demolish the ceiling all the way down here, and that cushioned the blow to save me?”
It was absurd.
She tried hard to recall what it was, but the discomfort vanished “as if washed away.”
“That must be it.”
As if someone was forcibly commanding her not to worry about it anymore.
Forgetting the discomfort, So Hee-ji soon thought of her plans for the day and got busy.
“It's the day of the press conference—I can't just sit around.”
So Hee-ji.
Chairwoman of Heeji Corporation, and to her customers, the villain known as “Doll Maker.”
Of course, the company was just a front—her main income came from selling dolls made with her skill.
But even her employees at the front company had no idea of her true identity, let alone her customers.
“Let's go. No one would believe it if I showed up like this.”
“Yes.”
A tall, elegant woman walked beside her.
The woman—no, the doll—beside her now was the other identity she used to deal with customers and the company.
She never revealed her true appearance to anyone. The only ones who saw it were her victims.
Even to those victims, she didn't appear as a woman, and for male victims, she only showed herself after securing them with high-rank Awakener restraints in case of emergencies.
Thorough secrecy.
That was So Hee-ji's survival strategy.
“It's the first time showing my real face at a press conference.”
For such a So Hee-ji to appear in person at a press conference.
She could hardly believe it herself, but she had no choice.
“It goes without saying that the chairwoman must appear in person at a press conference.”
Even as a villain, she had to follow common sense, right?
‘But why am I holding a press conference?’
There was no real reason, was there?
But... “It's common sense to hold the biggest possible press conference on the second Wednesday of November, using all your abilities.”
She had no choice.
“Wow.”
Arriving at the venue, the first thing that caught her eye was the massive crowd.
All of them were people she'd gathered through her customer connections: reporters from major newspapers, big broadcasters, waes with over a million subscribers, and streamers from major corporations.
‘Preparations are complete.’
Confirming the crowd, her gaze landed on the stage at the end.
The stage was even larger than the gathered crowd, covered with about a hundred massive boxes draped in cloth.
“Haa, I really don't want to reveal them.”
“But it's common sense to reveal your precious collection at a press conference.”
Drawing everyone's eyes, she ascended the stage with her doll.
“Hello. This is the first time I've shown my true face like this.”
Who was that woman?
Mindful of the stares, So Hee-ji called her doll to her side.
“The person known until now as the chairwoman of Heeji Corporation was actually a fake. She was made by my skill...”
She adjusted her skill to shrink the doll's height.
She changed its gender entirely.
And finally, she released the skill altogether, reverting it to a wooden doll.
To prove she was the real one, she did her best.
“What? A doll-manipulation skill? Manipulation type? Or unique trait? Which is it?”
“The Heeji Corporation chairwoman was actually a doll?”
“She set this up so the real body could appear without a proxy.”
The reporters speculated like that, but this event wasn't for that reason.
So Hee-ji summoned the other dolls she'd brought.
“Before revealing the purpose of calling you all here today, I first want to thank the customers who made this possible and have helped me until now.”
That's what a press conference was, right?
“Giving thanks to your customers and spilling their personal info.”
That was common sense too.
‘Huh? Was it really?’
A vague sense of crossing a line she shouldn't made her hesitate for a moment, but she soon rattled on without restraint.
“First, Congressman Yu Jin-yeon, who frequently bought my dolls—if only you didn't have the hobby of whipping prettier, younger women than yourself while masturbating. Not that I'm criticizing... I don't think that hobby's so bad.”
She could share vision with the dolls she made.
Her customers didn't know, but through them, she knew all their sordid behaviors and tastes.
“And the Hero Association vice-chairman? They say when you gaze into the abyss, don't let it swallow you. Have you been dealing with villains so long that the abyss swallowed you? Your playstyle's way too violent. Well, thanks to that, you use me often, so I get paid well and all sorts of conveniences—no complaints here.”
So that was the purpose—exposing the upper crust of society!
The people gathered lit up, but the veterans with experience looked elsewhere.
‘This isn't the end!’
Behind So Hee-ji, who was diligently spilling about her customers, were the cloth-covered boxes.
They instinctively knew those were the highlight of the day.
“Then... haa, I really don't want to reveal this. But it's a press conference, so no choice.”
After naming all her customers, So Hee-ji ordered her dolls to remove the cloths covering the boxes.
“What are those?”
“People? Or dolls?”
The crowd guessed they were dolls, given the lifeless, expressionless figures inside.
“Mi... insane...”
But some sharp-eyed reporters realized they were Korea's missing persons from recent years.
“Jason White?”
And Jason White, who had recently shaken society, was among them.
Veteran reporters, denying the shocking reality, raised their hands.
“...Those people in there—they're dolls, right? Grotesque dolls modeled after the missing, right?”
Please say yes.
If not, no matter how big the scoop, this was too horrific.
“Yes. That's right. They're dolls.”
The reporters sighed in relief that it wasn't a horrific crime, mixed with regret at missing the scoop.
“I made them from living people, but they're no longer alive, so they're basically dolls now.”
“...What does that mean?”
Mocking them, So Hee-ji spoke the truth.
It wasn't mockery.
To her, this was utterly common sense, so the smile came from the resignation of having to reveal her precious collection.
“The dolls here aren't modeled after the missing—they're the actual missing people, killed and turned into dolls.”
Korea...
No.
“My precious collection.”
The shock rippled across the world.