Breaking the Eggshell (Eggshell Destruction)
Breaking the Eggshell (Eggshell Destruction)
It was only after running for quite a while that I felt a sense of doubt.
"Why am I running away?"
I had applied some strong private sanctions against a criminal group a few days ago, but fundamentally, I was a law-abiding citizen.
There was no one left who had witnessed the scene of those private sanctions.
I dragged my shoe soles against the ground and hit the brakes.
Helsi, trying to avoid me when I suddenly stopped, twisted her ankle and tumbled across the floor.
Thump-thump-thump
Hati, who had been running cheerfully, stopped when she heard the commotion.
We had just emerged from an alley at that moment.
I looked around.
Stalls covered with cloth.
Signs attached to the first floor of every building.
It was clearly a shopping district, but with not a single person in sight, it didn't feel like one.
The sanitary condition of the streets also seemed unsuitable for running stores.
A rat waddled by.
Trash piled up at every corner of the buildings.
With thick fog settling over such a scene, the atmosphere became so eerie it felt like a ghost might pop out at any moment.
But Helsi's eyes seemed to find even this dirty alleyway beautiful.
Lying face down on the ground, she looked at the alley with sparkling eyes, letting out a small gasp as she murmured.
"It's just like what I saw in the books..."
Then she came to her senses, jumped up, and said.
"Ah! I'm, I'm sorry!"
And then she suddenly bowed deeply, so I opened my notebook.
'I thought I was done with coding after graduation, but I never thought I'd end up coding a human.'
Prohibited action +1
I tore out the newly added manual page and handed it to Helsi.
"Inside the village, always follow the manual."
Helsi nodded with a tense face.
"Yes... Ah, no. Okay."
Now it was time to check whether the inputted code was working properly.
I nodded with a resolute face.
I stretched my finger and pointed at the clothing store.
"Sister! Buy me that dress!"
Helsi stepped forward with a solemn expression and answered.
"Alright! Let's go buy a dress!"
Then she stretched out one arm and struck a cool pose.
'Is it working properly?'
I wasn't sure.
I passed by Hati, who was tilting her head blankly, and headed toward the clothing store.
It was a peculiar clothing store.
The fact that they had set up shop on the second floor, despite display windows being essential for this type of business, was strange. The bizarre picture of a cat in an odd pose (a courtship dance) drawn on the door was also strange—I couldn't grasp its meaning.
The interior was no different.
Creeeak
What slowly revealed itself along with the friction sound of old hinges was a splendid space reminiscent of a Victorian-era clothing boutique.
In front of the cylindrical fitting room at the back, a luxurious sofa and a full-length mirror were placed, with about a dozen racks installed radially around them.
What I found strange were the dolls plastered all over the walls.
Bisque dolls, I think they're called.
Since their original purpose was to serve as guinea pigs for designers, the clothes they wore were quite extravagant.
From Gothic dresses to the dazzling military uniforms that a general from the imperial era might have worn.
The dolls dressed in various outfits were all facing the entrance.
In other words, they seemed to be looking at us, who had just passed through the door.
'This isn't ordinary.'
Whether in the gaze of the dolls,
Or in the location selection of the clothing store,
I sensed a unique sensibility that was hard for me to understand.
'Should I call it contradictory...'
It was the moment my contemplation about the nature of that sensibility began.
"Waaah—"
Helsi let out an exclamation of admiration and stepped forward.
Hati stared at the dolls with sharp eyes.
Worried that Hati might go on a rampage, I patted her head.
The effect was tremendous!
All the strength drained from Hati's body, and she swayed gently in the direction my hand guided her head.
Meanwhile, Helsi had reached the fitting room and was cheerfully smiling while looking at the dolls, when she suddenly stopped.
Her pupils wavered.
Her smile became tinged with awkwardness and embarrassment.
The hand she slowly raised trembled slightly as it rubbed her own cheek.
In the direction her gaze was fixed stood the full-length mirror.
'Come to think of it, I didn't even wash her.'
Cleanliness wasn't the issue.
The cheek she was rubbing was discolored black from frequent violence.
The robe she was wearing had been nothing more than a rag from the start, and blood was still faintly beading on her chapped lips.
'I thought she looked decent for a pilgrim nun...'
Maybe it was because the comparison subjects were dolls wearing fancy clothes.
I thought my judgment was wrong.
I approached her and spoke.
"Sister. Where did the shop owner go?"
Helsi flinched and turned around.
"I, I wonder."
You're looking at me when you should be looking around.
I was momentarily puzzled but soon realized.
'She's embarrassed.'
If she hadn't been aware of her own appearance until now, it was understandable.
She must have thought she looked fine and walked around confidently, but there was a homeless-looking person standing in the mirror.
Even I would have been startled.
Though I wouldn't be embarrassed.
"Isn't there a bathroom?"
Exercising consideration, I pretended to know nothing and spoke only the essential words, and Helsi shuffled her steps hesitantly.
"I'll go look for it."
Helsi circled the room along the wall, then called me from inside, hidden behind a clothing rack.
"Soi... Soi-yah— It's here—"
Hearing it in practice, it was an awkward name.
'Let's play with Grandma today!'
A girl's voice ringing in my head.
Pushing aside the memories trying to resurface, I walked toward where Helsi was.
Past the racks, through a door hidden by a curtain.
A marble bathtub.
A shower head shaped like a brass flower bud.
A carpet and wool curtains that made you seriously worry about whoever had to do the laundry.
It was quietly irritating that they had plastered carpets all over the walls but only tiled the partition surrounding the toilet.
I turned the faucet to check if the water came out properly.
Pointing my finger at the bathtub, I asked.
"Do you want to wash up first, Sister?"
Actually, it wasn't really a question.
The decision to fix Helsi's appearance had already been made.
Since it wasn't a bad measure for her either, I didn't plan to accept any refusal.
Helsi looked back at me with a flustered face, then blushed and lowered her head.
I spread my palm and pushed Helsi's thigh.
Finally grasping my intention, Helsi asked in a trembling voice.
"Do I really have to wash?"
I nodded.
"You won't be able to find a proper place to stay looking like that."
Helsi's already red face started taking on the color of a tomato.
Whether she liked it or not, I pushed her toward the bathtub, turned the faucet, and slit my palm.
Shoooosh—
Helsi screamed at the sudden spray of water.
"Eek!"
While she wiped the water from her eyes, I poured blood from my palm.
From here on, it was a complete gamble.
If I had to put it politely, it was a 'debut stage without any practice.'
If you ask what kind of debut, should I call it Genesis Studies? Or medicine?
"Sit down."
I sat Helsi down in the bathtub, which was turning red.
The water from the shower continued to hit Helsi's crown, so she couldn't open her eyes.
Placing my hand on her disheveled hair, I asked.
"Do you want to become pretty?"
Helsi flinched.
There was no answer.
I waited a bit, then changed the question.
"If you could become pretty right now, how much pain could you endure?"
The pain of having your skin peeled off.
The pain of having your bones shaved.
The pain of your eyeballs burning.
I was thinking about how to describe the pain she was about to experience, when a strange question came back.
"Is that also S...no, is that also the blessing of Soi-nim?"
I searched through my past life memories.
"If I had to force a metaphor, it's a curse. The substance is Genesis Studies' cell relocation magic."
Helsi tilted her head.
"A curse..."
Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
Since the overwhelming majority of people would accept plastic surgery as a blessing, I should have just given a sales pitch.
As I was thinking about what to add out of regret,
"I can endure anything."
Helsi said with a silly smile.
"So please, just tell me to do whatever you want."
It was an unsettling line.
Like when I saw a junior who blindly showed favor,
Like when I saw a coworker who preached every day,
I felt uneasy that the standards Helsi had set in her heart might someday cause trouble for me.
But the chances of that happening were very slim.
She was different from Hati.
Helsi was nothing more than an incompetent tool who couldn't even become a guinea pig.
Causing trouble is also a form of influence.
It's not a power that mere tools can wield.
Comforting myself with that thought, I wrapped Helsi in the blood that had gathered in the bathtub.
The bathtub was filled with red liquid.
Splash splash
Beneath the violently churning surface was submerged a lump of flesh that was once Helsi.
The screams that lump of flesh let out became thick and muffled as they passed through the liquid.
"Uuung!!! Uuooouuu!!!"
The arm that suddenly burst out of the bathtub was horribly contorted.
Only skin hung dangling from the back of the hand, and the muscle was half torn, revealing the artery clearly.
I made a rope of blood and shoved it back into the bathtub.
Frowning in distress, I muttered.
"I'll have to start from the beginning."
As expected, doing something for the first time is difficult.
I calmed my micro-muscles with a deep breath.
Rubbing my soft cheeks with both hands, I placed a self-suggestion.
'I am a dollmaker.'
From now on, what I'll be handling is the clay that becomes the material for bisque dolls.
Two hours later.
I was cleaning the bathroom with blood and water when Helsi regained consciousness.
"Water..."
Come to think of it, I had decomposed an enormous amount of fat from Helsi's body.
Since I hadn't touched the central nerves connected to the fat, Helsi was now likely feeling the contraction of fat cells—in other words, energy depletion.
I took out my notebook.
"Please give me your impressions."
I sat next to Helsi, ready to take shorthand like an experienced journalist.
Helsi moved her hand blankly.
Extending her trembling hand toward the holes of the shower head as if pleading for salvation, she finally gave her impression.
"I'm thirsty..."
I dashed over and brought back a mirror.
Then I held it out so Helsi could see her face and asked.
"How do you feel now?"
Helsi reflexively received the mirror.
"Who is this? She's incredibly pret..."
The figure in the mirror, moving its lips identically to her at the very same time.
Unless she was an idiot, she would have realized immediately.