Bones in the Walls
Two days had passed since Vita took the test tube.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I was having breakfast with Jamie as usual when someone rapped on the door.
"It's the woman working on the construction upstairs."
"Come in."
I took a bite of toast spread with peanut butter and topped with thinly sliced banana just as the closed door swung open and Yoko — the archipelago-born designer I'd hired — edged her way inside, looking thoroughly awkward.
"Hello."
"Ah — good morning!"
I'd greeted her first. She'd been scanning the empty living room and only belatedly whipped her head toward the kitchen and bowed.
"Finished?"
"Ah, no! Almost done! It's, uh, almost finished, but…"
Anyone could tell something had gone wrong. I took another bite of toast.
"Have you eaten?"
"No…"
"Then come sit and join us."
"Excuse me!?"
Had I said something that strange? We weren't strangers, and all I'd done was casually invite her to share breakfast while we talked. Her reaction felt a little excessive.
"Is there a problem?"
"No, it's just — I came straight down from the job site…"
Her clothes were, admittedly, a bit dirty.
"Just come sit down."
"Ah — yes."
At the second invitation, Yoko finally shuffled over and settled into the empty seat.
"Any peanut allergies?"
"Huh? Ah — no. None."
I spread a thin layer of peanut butter over a soft milk loaf that was already giving off a rich, roasted scent, then laid the banana slices on top.
"We'll talk while we eat."
"Th-thank you!"
"Don't mention it."
She accepted the toast and carefully took a bite.
"Mm!?"
Her eyes went round. Her eyebrows shot up. Apparently it agreed with her.
"Priest."
"Thank you."
Once I'd finished off three slices clean, Jamie — who had already eaten — brought over a drink of green tea steeped in water and mixed with milk.
"I thought they'd go well together. Not bad."
"I agree."
It had already been smooth, but the finish was even silkier now, with a natural sweetness at the end that wasn't artificial at all — close to milk mixed with honey.
"So."
"Hup!?"
Yoko, who had demolished the toast I'd made her in record time, was staring blankly at her empty hands. When I called her, she flinched as if snapping back to reality and looked my way.
"What kind of trouble brought you downstairs?"
"Well……"
Her gaze shifted from me to Jamie standing behind me.
"Before I tell you, Priest, I wanted to check whether it's all right to say this…"
I was curious what kind of problem would make her want clearance from Jamie first rather than from the man who'd actually commissioned the work.
"It's fine. Speak."
"Uh, well, the thing is……?"
She scrubbed the bread crumbs off her hands against her clothes, chewing on her words, and then:
"I stripped the wallpaper to put up new paper, and a whole pile of bones came out…"
She hadn't committed any crime, yet she was hunched in on herself as if she had.
"Let's go take a look."
"Uh, well, Priest, it might be a little disgusting for you to see, there are a few──"
I casually ignored Yoko's fretting and headed up from the second floor to the third with Jamie. The third floor, which I hadn't visited in days, had become a completely different place from the one I remembered.
"Looking only at the building's exterior, you'd never expect a design like this."
"You mean it looks elegant."
"Yes. Remarkably so."
Just as Jamie said, the living room that greeted us the moment we opened the door had been transformed into a warm color scheme that matched the brief perfectly. The floor looked like wood at a glance, but the material was hard and smooth as marble. Carving every detail by hand would have been physically absurd, so she must have ordered it specially when placing the commission.
"That would be the bedroom over there."
Every other door stood open. Only the bedroom was shut.
When people panic, they usually bolt without even thinking to close a door — yet the knock Yoko had given us mid-breakfast had been remarkably composed.
"I can't even hear the doorknob turning."
"Hmm. I'll have to put in a separate order for these later."
Jamie, opening the closed door herself, seemed quite taken with the silent, smooth mechanism.
"I see."
Stepping into the bedroom with Jamie, I began to understand why Yoko had hesitated to speak.
"To an ordinary person, it would look rather violent."
"'Grotesque' might fit a little better than 'violent.'"
Of course, neither Jamie nor I were anywhere near ordinary — a fact Yoko simply hadn't known.
"These look like the women from those photographs we burned. What do you think, Jamie?"
"I agree."
The wall behind the stripped wallpaper was packed not with cement or brick or even wood, but with what appeared to be human bones and skulls.
"The hair still looks in good condition."
"Just in case, please don't touch it."
Jamie, who knew me far too well by now, quietly caught me around the waist as I drifted toward the bone-filled wall and set me gently back at her side.
"S-so, uh, what should I do…?"
Yoko, who had trailed after us in silence, made no effort to hide her bewilderment at a reaction she clearly hadn't expected, and asked for instructions.
"I'll put in a request with the organization and call a cleaner."
"No."
After a brief moment of thought, I stopped Jamie and spoke to Yoko.
"Leave it like that. Just put up a wall — cement, whatever — and paper over it."
"Just put up a wall…… Excuse me?"
"Priest."
Both women looked at me for entirely different reasons. Naturally, I had no intention of explaining myself.
"I'll leave it in your capable hands."
"Huh? Ah, uh, well — yes, yes……?"
I gave the dazed Yoko a light pat on the shoulder and headed back down to the second floor with Jamie, who was still staring at me hard.
"Black magic is──"
"It isn't that."
"…I don't know anything."
Jamie, who had banked another sigh for the day, began clearing the remnants of breakfast still left on the table.
A languid afternoon.
I was killing time learning about the slums from Jamie while waiting for Vita to bring news from the border, when:
"I believe we should end today's lesson here."
Jamie only ever ended a lesson for two reasons. One was mealtime.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The other was when a guest arrived.
"Come in."
The doorknob turned, and the first face through the door was Vita's — the same Vita who had taken the test tube. Two people followed her in, a man and a woman.
Jamie, who always stood behind me, stepped forward and hid me with her back. A sharp, unmistakable wariness poured off her — so intense it felt like needles pricking my skin.
A novel experience.
But I was still the master of this house, and as master I had no intention of playing along with this frozen atmosphere. So I gently lifted Jamie's left arm and poked my face out through the gap at her side.
"Miss Vita. So they caught you after all."
"I still managed to throw what you gave me properly."
"Well done."
I gave her a thumbs-up. Vita scrubbed a finger under her nose and grinned.
"……"
"……"
Jamie and the two strangers watching us wore the exact same expression Bishua had worn when I'd announced I was heading into the slums.
"Ahem!"
The man among the pair cleared his throat and stepped forward.
"Vacuum, of Grayneck."
Grayneck was the organization that controlled the Western Slum.
"Priest Baek Jinhyuk."
When I stepped out, Jamie exhaled a small sigh and took her usual place behind me.
"Would you care to sit?"
"If you'll permit it."
"Then shall we?"
At the invitation, the man who had introduced himself as Vacuum obediently settled onto the sofa. I sat across from him. Behind each of us stood a solid, reliable woman. We hadn't exchanged a word, and already we had something in common.
"So — what brings someone from the Western Slum all the way out here?"
"I'll be direct."
I offered an open palm, inviting him to speak freely.
"Please cease your acts of hostility against us."
"Hostility? Someone might get the wrong idea. I'm merely returning the courtesy of a first greeting, nothing more."
"…My apologies."
The man let out a quiet sigh.
"We've received more than enough of your courtesy. Now please──"
"I still find it insufficient."
"……"
He pressed his lips together for a moment, then sighed again.
"What would it take to satisfy you?"
"For starters, would you return my client that you're holding onto?"
"…Let her go."
At his order, the woman behind him released Vita, whose wrists she had been gripping.
"Sit quietly right here."
"Yes, sir."
I pointed to the floor beside the sofa. Vita came over without a word of complaint and knelt.
"I'm curious how much authority you actually hold."
"I've been granted full discretion."
"People are the sort of creatures who change their minds between walking into a bathroom and walking out of one."
"If something falls outside what I can decide, I'll do everything I can to persuade those above me. For now, I earnestly ask that you tell us what you want."
Still seated, he bowed his head toward me.
"I want only one thing."
"I'm listening."
What I wanted from them had been the same from the first day I'd decided to settle in these slums until now — only one thing.
"I'd like to meet the retired individual currently under your care──"
"Stop!!!"
The shout wasn't aimed at me. It was aimed at the woman behind him and at Jamie behind me — because the woman at his back had, without the slightest hesitation, drawn a pistol hidden at her wrist and leveled it at me.
"My apologies."
"It's fine."
I accepted his apology with an easy smile. The man rose from the sofa and backhanded the woman across the face. His hand was vicious enough that a single blow split her lip and drew blood.
"Meeting the person under our care — is that one condition enough for you?"
"Of course."
"Then I'd like to request a contract to that effect. Naturally, we'll cover the full cost of the contract on our end."
"Very well."
From where I sat, I sent Vita — who had been in and out frequently of late — to fetch a contract I'd prepared ahead of time, rather than Jamie, who was still bristling with edge. Then, with the fountain pen I always kept clipped in my breast pocket, I drafted a simple agreement.
The terms were straightforward.
Upon the undersigned's meeting with the retired individual under Grayneck's care,
all matters pertaining to the greetings of that day shall be cleanly and fully settled.
The moment he and I signed, the contract went up in flames and vanished.
"Please understand that I cannot give you a firm answer immediately. In exchange, I'll do everything I can to bring you a swift and favorable reply."
"I'll wait."
"Then…"
He rose, bowed to me with full formality, and left in a hurry with the woman whose lip was still bleeding.
"Priest──"
"Shh."
I cut Jamie off and spoke to Vita, who was still standing blankly behind me.
"Once the sun goes down, go deliver today's greetings."
There was no particular malice in it.
It was simply a way of helping the man bring back a faster answer.
That was all.