Silhouette de la Réalité (2)
Lee Jun stared at the being before him.
A shadow.
For the time being, she was... something, he supposed.
"How long are you planning to keep that form up?"
"Hmm, who knows? What do you think I should do?"
She said it with a sly smile.
"Staying like this makes it easy to shake you up, which I like... but eventually you'll get used to this too, won't you? So I think I'll save this form as a finishing move that never stops working."
"...Stop talking nonsense about shaking me up or not."
"Hehehe, being unable to stay cold with me is one of your virtues, you know. I might have to borrow this look every now and then?"
Yeah, that much was true.
With her looking like that right now, he couldn't manage a single proper retort.
Which meant he needed to get her to take another shape, and quickly.
"You. Do you not have an original form? Something other than that pitch-black silhouette."
"Hm, I honestly don't remember. I was alone in that place for far too long. There was no one to show myself to, so I never bothered to think about it."
"That's a bit much, forgetting what you look like."
"Oh, it happens. You wouldn't understand, but time is a truly vicious thing."
Right now, the vicious one in front of my eyes is you, though.
"Either way, that form won't do."
"I was planning to change it anyway. If I keep distracting you and you make a mistake out in the field, that's a real problem, isn't it?"
With that, she closed her eyes for a moment.
Then her outer appearance began to slowly melt away.
Back into a black mannequin-like shape.
And on top of it, another someone was layered on.
"...Who is it this time?"
"Rude. This is my original form, the one I finally managed to recall."
Silver hair flowing all the way down to her waist.
Amethyst eyes steeped in an ominous, hypnotic mystique — the kind that threatened to pull you in if you stared too long.
Skin as pale as Yoon Seol's, and sharply defined features.
Objectively speaking, it was beauty enough to be called stunning.
And she seemed well aware of that fact herself.
After all, the girl was carrying a hint of expectation as she asked,
"Well? Do you like it?"
"......"
It was captivating, without question.
And yet... something was—
"It gives me... a bad feeling."
"...You, sir, are being rude to a lady for the second time now."
She looked a little sulky at Lee Jun's reaction.
But there was nothing he could do about it.
Truly, behind that form of hers...
there lurked a sinister aura that could only be described as having swallowed every ill omen and misfortune in the world.
"Aha, got it. You mean ominous in the sense of a beauty so devastating it topples kingdoms — that sort of thing, right?"
"...Sure. Interpret it however you like."
Lee Jun set the ominousness aside behind her jesting.
They were in the same boat now, whatever happened.
Her appearance, her aura — none of it could be undone anymore.
"Fine, I'll admit it. Beauty schemes don't work on you. You're remarkably stubborn."
"You're saying that about yourself?"
"Honestly, I wasn't expecting much."
Pat—
"We share everything, after all?"
"...Take your hand off my head."
Tap—
Lee Jun swatted away the palm resting on top of his skull.
Then he looked at her.
That faint smile of hers... was somehow unsettling.
"......"
"Hehe, what's the matter? Feeling your heart stir a little?"
"Haah... enough. Let's stop this and get to the real business."
Lee Jun decided that further bickering was pointless.
So the time-wasting ended here.
Time to resolve the reason he'd woken her up in the first place.
"You. What did you do when you took my hand?"
"My hand? Ah, that."
Her gaze turned to Lee Jun's right hand.
To the wrist he had offered up, casually, as part of a bluff.
She looked down at it, still hollow and empty.
"So it never reattached after all?"
"No. Something unidentifiable is blocking the regeneration. That was your doing, wasn't it?"
"Hmm, who knows. Maybe it was?"
"You said we're in the same boat. Cut the tricks and tell me what you know."
"Fine, fine. What's with the rush? I can't even have a little fun."
She frowned once, then examined Lee Jun's wrist.
The bandage wrapped around it slowly unraveled, revealing the severed cross-section.
"Well, it's holding up better than I expected? The bleeding's stopped."
But that was all.
The wrist had not regenerated at all.
With only the bleeding stanched, it sat there, openly displaying bone and muscle.
"Doesn't it hurt a lot?"
"Quit stalling and undo whatever you did."
"Yessir, right away~ understood, sir."
Wearing an expression of mild disappointment, she slowly wrapped her hands around Lee Jun's wrist.
Vmmm—
Something churned violently, and almost immediately his insides began to heave.
"Ugh...!"
Ssss—
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Black liquid began seeping out of the wound.
"I left shadow behind in it to block the regeneration. Normally, the bleeding would never have stopped and you would have died. You're sturdier than I imagined. No mana, but the body's clearly been trained to its limits, hm?"
"......"
Lee Jun didn't answer.
No — he couldn't answer.
It was all he could do to endure the excruciating agony of the shadow being drawn out of him.
"What... the hell... is this...!"
It felt as if his muscles were being wrung out like a rag.
Was it because shadow had seeped into every crevice of the wound?
No — whatever the reason, he didn't care.
He just... wanted this pain to end, as fast as possible.
And how much time had passed?
"Impressive. You're the first person I've ever seen endure this. Even I thought you'd scream, at the very least."
"Haah... haah..."
Gulping down ragged breaths, Lee Jun clutched his wrist.
Where the wound had been, a part that hadn't existed moments ago was now attached.
The shadow had been fully extracted, and the right hand he'd preserved inside his storage device had been retrieved and reattached.
"Hehe, looks like it took nicely."
"Ha... seriously... that hurt like hell..."
Lee Jun said, utterly drained.
He was soaked through head to toe — as if he'd sweated out an entire bucket of cold sweat.
Even so, he had swallowed every sound of suffering so thoroughly that nothing leaked outside the room.
Seo Yoon was in the room next door, and the last thing he needed was for her to catch wind of it because he'd made too much noise.
"...What's this? You actually care, huh?"
"She's a hunter under my agency. Of course I do."
"Hm. Fair enough."
"Fair warning — you'd better give up any ideas about touching her."
"Hmph. As if I'd do that."
She spoke with a faint sulkiness, as if something were bothering her.
Did it irritate her that he kept doubting her?
"What are you so worried about? I swore on my mana, didn't I?"
"There's always a loophole somewhere. Nothing in this world is absolute."
"Yes, there is. What do you take an oath for?"
Right — she must be dissatisfied with that, too.
But this side had no choice but to go this far.
Because he was far, far weaker.
Their gap in strength was such that one blow to the back of the head would kill him outright — so he had to verify everything, suspect everything.
"That's just going too far, honestly. I staked my life on that oath, you know."
"You tried to kill me first, so I'd say we're even."
"Mm... that's... water under the bridge, let's move on."
"There we go."
What on earth is this girl trying to—
"Silhouette."
"......?"
"My name. Silhouette. Stop calling me 'this thing' or 'that woman' — call me by my name."
"...Just how much detail can you actually read from my thoughts?"
"Practically all of it? Since we're connected, everything just flows in on its own."
"...Haah."
"My name. I asked you to say it."
Silhouette.
Silhouette...
So the name of the shadow that had finally awakened was Silhouette...
"Terrible name."
"Hey!"
"Oh, there goes the elegant act."
"Grr...!"
Stung, apparently, she dropped the refined, softly laughing facade in an instant.
But honestly, the name was a little much.
Silhouette — literally 'outline.' What kind of name is Outline?
"It actually sounds like a Korean name, the way you put it."
"Why — why would you translate it like that?! Just call me Silhouette!"
"Sure thing, Silhouette."
A name.
A name, huh.
"So does that mean you're alive, too."
"......"
Seeing Lee Jun's complicated expression, Silhouette fell silent.
He hadn't needed to react like that, really.
"Ahem! Ahem. Anyway — we're going to be partners from now on, so let's not go around doubting each other."
"I'll think about it."
"Hah... honestly."
"Can't be helped. You've read all of my memories already, haven't you? So understand that much and let it go."
"......"
She had nothing she could say to that.
Because she had seen, vividly and firsthand... the reason Lee Jun had sharpened himself to this degree.
Reading his memories had let her live through them, and the contract had let her feel his emotions directly — so even if she hadn't wanted to understand, understanding had come whether she liked it or not.
And yet.
—■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■.
No.
But still...
—■■■■■ ■ ■■■ ■■■.
"...Tch."
This noise.
The voice that kept prodding at his heart... was far too loud.
So.
He was cutting her some slack. Just for a moment.
"What's wrong? Why are you doing that?"
"...Nothing."
Lee Jun voiced his puzzlement as he watched Silhouette suddenly squeeze her eyes shut.
Her face had twisted as if she were suffering a migraine.
Wait — can a being made of mana even get headaches?
But that question lasted only a moment.
Silhouette, now perfectly fine again, let out a long sigh.
"Haah..."
"Are you seriously all right?"
"Of course. And it's not like you actually care, is it? Drop the polite questions already."
With that, she slowly crawled toward Lee Jun.
On her knees across the floor, bit by bit... bit by bit.
Then she seized his wrist like a hawk snatching its prey.
"Good. It's attached well."
She turned his wrist this way and that, gave it a few test tugs —
and then began pouring shadow into it again.
Tap—
"What do you think you're doing."
Lee Jun jerked his hand away in a flash.
And in his left hand, a gun had appeared before he knew it.
A revolver loaded with mana-hardened rounds.
The same one he'd used in his fight against Silhouette.
"Tell me. What were you just trying to do?"
"It's simple. I made a contract with you, didn't I? So I was trying to help you draw out a little more of your abilities."
So she replied — and then grabbed his wrist again.
Completely unperturbed.
"I am a shadow. My essence is a little different, but for now you can think of me that way."
"......?"
"A shadow can only manifest in the world if there is an original to cast it. Light, too, of course. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"You've been just fine all this time — why bring this up now?"
"This world is very different from the one I came from. So to maintain myself, I need an original onto which I can project myself."
"Sounds like you're saying you want to parasite off me."
"Broadly speaking? Not that different."
Lee Jun knew plenty of cases like this.
Parasitic artifacts.
So this was the same kind of situation as those?
No.
Lee Jun knew better.
In his previous life, this one had wandered around entirely on her own.
...Or so he'd thought.
This time... things were flowing differently from the last cycle.
"Is it the suppressant?"
"I couldn't say it's that, specifically. But it's certainly had an effect. Thanks to it, my dissolution has accelerated."
"Right. And here I wondered why you accepted the contract so docilely. Turns out you were in just as much of a hurry as I was."
"...It wasn't only that."
She was still gripping Lee Jun's wrist.
And Lee Jun, in turn, was gripping her wrist.
"......"
Should he really permit her to parasite off him?
Anyone in their right mind would say absolutely not.
But... one thing caught in his mind.
"You said you'd help me draw out my abilities."
"I did. With my help, even a body without mana could keep pace with the others, to some extent."
"......"
That one thing was what made Lee Jun hesitate.
And the hesitation—
didn't last long.
Hadn't this always been his motto in life?
Use everything that can be used.
And if it made him stronger... all the more so.
"All right."
Lee Jun pulled her hand — the one he was gripping.
Away from his wrist, and toward his chest.
"Projection, was it? If we're doing this, might as well go deeper, don't you think?"
"You..."
"Not the wrist. Do it here."
His heart.
He was saying he would offer her the deepest place he had.
"So you'd better pull your own weight, too."
Every return carries a risk.
Put another way: behind every risk lies a return.
That, you could call a truth of living.
"...Hehe. Do you trust me?"
"I trust that you're not an idiot."
At those words, she smiled.
A faint smile — the kind that looked as if it might shatter at any moment.
Then she opened her mouth, looking thoroughly satisfied.
"I'll make myself... the greatest gamble of your life."
With those words, she melted into black liquid and poured herself into Lee Jun's chest.
A moment later, not a single trace of the shadow remained in the room.
Everything had flowed into him.
{Hehehe, I look forward to working with you, Master.}
A viscous voice rang out.
Not at his ear — inside his skull.