A Wolf Appears Among the Sheep #1
The call bell rang again and again—ding-ding, ding-ding-ding. Seo Gaeul kept jabbing the button without pause. The conversation from moments ago had left her seething, and the fact that the male student had simply walked out on his own terms meant her fury had nowhere to go. In times like these, the best remedy was to sink her nails in deep and rake them across something until it bled.
Ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding—. But no matter how many times she pressed it, there was no sign of the boy returning. That only infuriated her more.
“Wow, is he seriously ignoring me right now?”
Seo Gaeul had never been disregarded by anyone in her entire life. From boys her own age to full-grown adults, men had always acted as if they would die if she so much as hinted at the possibility. Even Wang Ja-hyun—the prince of that notoriously arrogant emperor—adjusted his behavior in her presence and devoted every ounce of his attention to her. Because of that, Seo Gaeul understood her own worth better than anyone.
Yet Ha Namjin had kidnapped her and then proceeded to abandon her completely. He treated her like a toy he’d grown bored of and shoved into the corner of a closet.
“Weren’t you the one who made a whole wedding invitation because you wanted to marry me?”
She could not accept the current situation on any level. What made her even angrier was that the person provoking her wasn’t some third-generation chaebol heir or even a similarly accomplished young man—it was a boy who was essentially a nobody.
Seo Gaeul’s pride was wounded by Ha Namjin’s pathetic, low-class attitude and his pitiful origins. The fact that she had been kidnapped by someone like him, that she was even irritated because of him, felt so unjust it was almost unbearable. As a result, she naturally began rationalizing things to protect her delicate, haughty inner self.
Maybe Ha Namjin is actually an incredible guy?
There was no way an ordinary boy could ignore her seduction, her pleas, and her tantrums. If the person who had kidnapped her had been Wang Ja-hyun instead, it would have been equally repulsive and vomit-inducing, but Seo Gaeul was confident she could control him according to her will in no time. That bastard was the type who would break into a cold sweat the moment she so much as frowned.
He never would have had the guts to kidnap me in the first place.
Ha Namjin, on the other hand, was different. He didn’t do a single thing the way she wanted. He wouldn’t even grant a trivial request like installing a small TV, opting instead to cover the wall with newspaper.
“He doesn’t seem like an ordinary guy after all.”
She had to think that way. The idea that she had been kidnapped by some plain, worthless boy was simply impossible. In this manner, Seo Gaeul elevated her opponent in her mind and successfully protected her self-esteem.
Ha Namjin, I’ll at least acknowledge that you’re not just some pathetic, half-witted idiot. Thinking that makes me feel a little better. Even so—.
Ding-ding, ding-ding-ding—. She was still furious with Ha Namjin for ignoring her call bell. All she had wanted was to get Ing-ing back. The soft little slime made the perfect pillow; resting her head on it helped her sleep.
Rustle—.
Just then, her senses—sharpened by quite a long stretch of basement living—picked up the sound of movement. She thought it might be Ha Namjin returning, but the footsteps were different.
Click, click—.
High heels. A woman?
She didn’t know who, but it was definitely a woman. An adult woman old enough to wear heels that high. Soon she heard the ding-dong of the doorbell next door.
What business would a woman in high heels have visiting Ha Namjin?
“Little brother, noona’s here. Are you home? Our conversation got cut short last time because of that interrupter. I wanted to talk about the Judge and Seo Gaeul’s disappearance! To be precise, I’m hoping for your cooperation in the investigation!”
Hearing talk of investigations and cooperation, she seemed to be someone from the police. Seo Gaeul’s lips curved upward as she thought how interestingly things were unfolding.
“Not home? This noona came to see you in secret, very discreetly, avoiding everyone else, you know? An opportunity like this won’t come again. So how about we have a nice, thick conversation with our bodies instead?”
Click, click, click—.
Soon the sound of the woman’s high heels approached the empty house where Seo Gaeul was imprisoned.
“This house feels suspicious. My senses are telling me so.”
Click.
The woman’s presence reached right in front of the basement where Seo Gaeul was held.
“It’s quiet, but it gives off a dangerous vibe. Why? It’s just the basement of an empty house. It’s actually bothering me now.”
Clank, clunk—.
The sound of chains and locks being handled echoed.
“How many locks are there? What on earth is inside that it needs to be locked up like this? Maybe… is someone in there? Hello? By any chance. Is there possibly a person locked up inside?”
Knock knock knock—. The woman rapped on the iron door.
“Seo Gaeul, are you in here? If I were Ha Namjin, who holds a grudge against the Seonam Group, I would have kidnapped you and locked you up somewhere like this.”
She was so good at following her “gut” that even Seo Gaeul felt a hint of admiration. Watching the situation from the basement, Seo Gaeul decided a perfect opportunity had arrived. She opened her mouth and let out a small cry.
“Kyaeng-kyaeng-kyaeng—!”
It was a flawless imitation of an animal. To be precise, it was the cry of a cute little red fox—the friend of the Little Prince—known for its reddish fur like autumn maple leaves and black legs that looked like they were wearing stockings.
“Kyaeng-kyaeng-kyaeng—!”
Thanks to the Imitation concept she had learned to relieve the boredom of basement life, Seo Gaeul could replicate the red fox’s cry more accurately than anyone.
Did it work?
“An animal? Ugh, damn. I hate animals. I break out in hives the moment I touch one.”
The woman, who had been rattling the lock, moved away from the basement door. After that, Seo Gaeul remained seated on the mattress until the click-click of those high heels faded into the distance. She stayed perfectly still for quite a long time.
─Kyu-ing.
Late at night. Around midnight. On the road leading to the orphanage grounds.
Ing-ing, now transformed into a cloud, had flown far off into the distant night sky.
“Hey! You’d better come back home before it gets too late!”
Since Ing-ing had also been trapped in the basement for a long time like Seo Gaeul, it was probably feeling the urge to fly through the sky as much as it wanted. Still, I wasn’t sure whether the cloud-formed Ing-ing would actually return to our house.
If Ing-ing didn’t come back… well, I’d have to respect its wishes. Ing-ing did love to roam around, after all.
What about Seo Gaeul?
My legs were carrying me toward the orphanage, but my head was completely filled with thoughts of her. I guess that’s what love is like.
“Maybe I should take Seo Gaeul out for walks once in a while.”
How would it be to take her for a walk while she was tightly bound in chains? It might soothe her prickly mood considerably. But if she started thrashing around and screaming, that would cause problems. Maybe it was best to wait for the full moon before doing any walks or baths. The next full moon was still half a month away.
Lost in those thoughts, I arrived at the orphanage grounds. It wasn’t far from the abandoned factory that had turned into a battlefield last time because of Yeom Hoon.
Sprout Orphanage. A creaking, spinning playground ride on the building’s exterior wall where the paint was peeling off. A rusty chain swing and a seesaw dented in several places—it all strongly evoked the image of a haunted house.
But I was a real man. Real men don’t fear ghosts or anything of the sort. Besides, I was wearing my tiger-print underwear, so the ghosts should be the ones afraid of me.
With that fearless mindset, I strode boldly into the Sprout Orphanage building. Sure enough, the place reeked of abandonment. Broken window panes, baby bottles rolling everywhere—the long period of neglect was obvious, yet at the same time I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
A chill crawled down my neck. It was extremely unsettling. It reminded me of a few months ago when I had searched an abandoned hospital where robbers were hiding to obtain medicine. Exactly that kind of feeling.
The sensation that someone was hiding and watching me. A trap. To put it simply, it felt like I was walking straight into a trap someone had dug for me.
Sniff sniff—.
Above all, the strong smell of disinfectant lingered at the tip of my nose. That was what had automatically brought back memories of entering the abandoned hospital. There was definitely someone here at this orphanage.
“Who’s there?”
I shone my phone’s flashlight around a dark corner of the orphanage hallway and asked. Rustle. Clink. The sound of glass shards and asbestos falling from the ceiling being stepped on rang out, and soon a girl with short, boyishly cropped hair and a piercing on her lip appeared.
If not for the lack of a prominent chest, her androgynous appearance would have made it hard to tell she was a girl. She looked like the type who’d be really into hip-hop.
“It’s been a while since someone saw through my hiding spot. You must be a Newtype, huh?”
“Newtype?”
“I mean an Awakened.”
So there were people who called Awakened “Newtypes.” While I was warily observing her from multiple angles, the short-haired girl also scanned me with uneasy eyes, as if on guard.
“You came here to join the Villainers too, right?”
Villainers? I never expected that name to come up here.
“Me? Why would you think that?”
“You’re just like us. Look at your messy clothes. I can tell from your nails and hair. Are you an orphan? Or is your family situation bad? Maybe you’ve got adults at home who turn violent when they drink.”
She had pretty sharp eyes. I thought I’d been keeping myself relatively clean, but apparently I couldn’t hide my orphan roots. I never imagined I’d hear about the Villainers at this orphanage. I wondered if Seo Gaeul had known about it.
“Whoa, that wristwatch is from Youngsa High. Are you a student there?”
Crackle—. Like Ing-ing, the short-haired girl sparked with hostility, her short hair standing on end. It seemed she held a grudge against Youngsa High students.
On the contrary, I was curious.
“You seem like an Awakened too. Aren’t you a Youngsa High student?”
“Why would I go to a place like that? It’s basically putting a collar around my own neck. Once you enter, they take your fingerprints, blood samples, run all sorts of tests and register you. It’s suffocating.”
I see. So she was what they called an “unregistered Awakened.” Until just a month ago, I had been the same. Awakened who didn’t enroll in Youngsa High tended to misuse their powers and cause all kinds of social problems. You could think of them as super-powered juvenile delinquents.
“Since you’re a Youngsa High student, do you happen to know ‘that bastard’?”
My Emotion concept picked up raw criticism and hatred from the way the short-haired girl pronounced “that bastard.” The reason she was showing hostility toward Youngsa High was probably because of him. Was he a guy?
“Who?”
“Geum Taeseong. He should be a third-year now.”
Now that was an unexpectedly familiar name. Whatever the relationship was between this short-haired girl and Geum Taeseong, it clearly ran deep.
“Not really. I’m a transfer student.”
I used the ring’s Deception and told a suitable lie. At the same time, my curiosity about this orphanage and the Villainers skyrocketed.
“So how do I join this Villainers place? And what’s the connection between this orphanage and the Villainers that you’re hanging around here?”
“If you want to know, follow me.”
There was a certain understanding that ran between runaway youths and orphans. The girl in front of me must have sensed the same thing from me, because she quickly dropped her guard and led me down to the orphanage basement.