Chapter 217: The Difference
Lee Ha-neul. To others, the Gangseo Branch Head.
Her head hurt so badly it felt like it was about to crack.
"...I wasn't even this bad..."
She muttered, staring at the wall that was now just an ordinary wall.
After hearing that Kim Jae-heon from the HR Team had disappeared, she had rushed over, only to find Yu Daon and Jang Chae-yeon from the HR Team before her.
"Oh. It's the Branch Head."
And Yu Daon, who had spotted her, looked at Lee Ha-neul as if it were nothing and muttered.
"Hello?"
"..."
Yu Daon gave a slight wave of her hand, while Jang Chae-yeon watched her with a wary gaze.
Lee Ha-neul's eyes turned to the two of them.
Yu Daon wore a businesslike smile, while Jang Chae-yeon didn't even bother to hide her wariness.
"..."
They might not be very cooperative.
Forcing back the sigh that wanted to escape, the Branch Head addressed the two.
"What's the situation?"
"Ah, well, you see."
As Yu Daon explained, the Branch Head pressed her temples.
"...Handling threads? Wearing clothes like someone from the Troupe? Ms. Song A-rin did that?"
"Ms. Song A-rin... the bad one, but yes."
Yu Daon muttered ambiguously.
"..."
Does that even make sense?
As the Branch Head of the Management Bureau, it was no exaggeration to say she knew everything about the world's secrets, except for the things she didn't know.
The bugs hiding in the moon, the Hospital, the Wedge Incident, and so on—information she had no choice but to keep in her head, whether she wanted to or not.
From the dusty library of Lee Ha-neul's old memories, she pulled out information about the Troupe.
"..."
The Troupe Leader is a man.
Someone she had met a few times, if not often. No. Should she call it a monster?
At least, that was the case thirty years ago.
Did the Troupe Leader change within thirty years?
"...That doesn't make sense."
If so, it wasn't a succession through normal means.
Did she usurp the position of Troupe Leader? Is that even physically possible?
Pressing her throbbing temples firmly, she looked at the two.
"So, you two are waiting here because you're worried about Mr. Kim Jae-heon and Ms. Song A-rin?"
"No?"
At her words, Yu Daon tilted her head with a 'what are you talking about?' expression and answered.
"I'm not worried about A-rin? But I am worried about what might happen to Jae-heon."
Worry was etched on Yu Daon's face as she spoke of Kim Jae-heon.
"..."
"...I'm more worried about him too."
When the Branch Head's gaze turned to Jang Chae-yeon, she also nodded quietly in agreement.
Poor Ms. Song A-rin.
After offering a perfunctory consolation to Song A-rin in her heart, the Branch Head looked at the wall.
"...Branch Head."
Then, Jang Chae-yeon, who was looking at her.
"Yes?"
"...Can't we go in?"
Her gaze seemed to pierce through Lee Ha-neul.
A look that said, 'You know, don't you?'
"..."
After a brief exchange of glances between Jang Chae-yeon and Lee Ha-neul,
"...Hah."
In the end, she had no choice but to sigh.
"Wait a moment."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
She needed to increase their chances anyway.
Until now, he had overcome the challenges and trials that came his way well, but trials that were starting to push the limits of his strength were beginning to arrive.
If so, as his senior and as a fellow Management Bureau employee, helping him was, in a way, something she had to do.
"...Thank you."
"Thank you!"
Jang Chae-yeon bowed her head in gratitude, and Yu Daon smiled brightly and returned the greeting.
"..."
Honestly, it wasn't a difficult task.
A single phone call would do it.
Yes. That one phone call.
With trembling hands, the Branch Head took out her flip phone.
With a click, she opened the flip phone and began scrolling through her contacts.
Soon, a single name appeared on the old screen.
<Director-GeneralSonofabitchSir>
"..."
Closing her eyes tightly, she pressed the call button.
The dial tone rang, and an old man's voice reached her ears.
"Bow your head. I'll come open it right away."
"Understood!"
Immediately, she bowed her head to the ground.
"Wow, did you see that speed? I thought the floor would crack!"
"..."
Yu Daon exclaimed in surprise, while Jang Chae-yeon tried to stifle her laughter at her words.
I'll get you for this one day.
Lee Ha-neul gritted her teeth inwardly as she bowed her head.
A myriad of thoughts flashed through her mind.
Yeah. It's my fault.
No, it's not my fault.
Should I just quit?
Her heart was nothing but complicated.
*
"First of all..."
I look at the distant distance with Song A-rin.
"We have to walk, right?"
"...Honestly, I don't really know."
Song A-rin let out a sigh.
"But we've looked everywhere inside here. We didn't find anything particularly useful."
"That's right."
"Then... shouldn't we go?"
"...Well. It's not a wrong statement."
I walk with Song A-rin along the dark street.
I don't stop thinking.
Song A-rin, who became the Troupe Leader, came to find me.
While it's different in that she came to me, it's about meeting a different Song A-rin, not the one I know now.
The image of Yu Daon, who had become a complete form, flashed through my mind for a moment.
It's very similar to the Wedge Incident, you could say.
But why?
In the Wedge Incident, you could say it was because the wedge work wasn't going well when I went.
But this current situation has no reason at all.
Is it really my problem?
I hope it's not.
"..."
In contrast to my pondering, Song A-rin was looking at the people.
"Strange."
"What is?"
"Look at them lying down."
She pointed at the people.
"They're lying down so neatly."
"I guess the Troupe Leader laid them out neatly."
"That's what I mean."
Song A-rin looked at me.
"The fact that she went out of her way to lay them out neatly."
"...Is that something we need to pay attention to?"
"...It seems my hypothesis is correct."
Song A-rin muttered, looking at the ground.
"Your hypothesis?"
"The Troupe Leader, from what I can feel, is obsessively fixated on happiness, to an almost compulsive degree."
"Happiness?"
"There could be many methods, though."
Song A-rin muttered, looking back.
Without realizing it, the theater that had been behind us was now far in the distance.
"In her world, there are only eleven humans. The people sitting at the table and herself."
"..."
"The rest, well. She probably sees them as beings she must save."
"Beings she must save?"
At my muttering, Song A-rin smiled a self-deprecating smile.
"It's foolish."
"..."
"Having experienced one wound so painful that she hastily judges that everyone in the world must be hurting like her."
"..."
"And then one day, if she gains great power, she starts thinking like this."
"What thought?"
"Ah. 'I can make these people happy,' she thinks."
Song A-rin shook her head.
"Really. I don't want to understand it so much."
Her gaze turned to the far distance.
"Annoyingly, I'm the one who can understand it best."
I turn back and look at the name of the theater.
<Dream & Hope Troupe>
And the names of the plays I saw.
<A Happy Life>, <How to Overcome Sorrow>.
I think I roughly understand what Song A-rin meant.
We walk through the city in silence.
An uncomfortable silence.
As I always feel, there are people with whom silence suits, and people with whom conversation suits.
Jang Chae-yeon is someone with whom silence suits me, and Song A-rin is someone with whom conversation suits me.
"But."
"Yes."
Song A-rin looked at me.
"Um. Hey."
"Yes."
"...Um."
"...No, just say it."
"..."
Song A-rin opened and closed her mouth a few times.
"I was surprised."
"Huh?"
"I saw you getting caught."
"...You saw it?"
How?
Didn't Song A-rin go the opposite way from me?
"Um, I had a feeling something dangerous was going to happen."
At my words, Song A-rin hesitated and answered.
"Anyway, so I followed you."
"Okay."
"...Yeah, that's it."
"...Okay."
What is it? What are you trying to say?
"..."
Song A-rin twisted her fingers together, then lowered her gaze.
"Um, what is it."
"Yes."
"...Ah, shit... You have absolutely, absolutely no sense of awareness...!"
Just as Song A-rin was about to mutter in an agitated voice.
-Ping!
A sound was heard.
I immediately change my thoughts.
I hastily grab Song A-rin and throw us both to the ground.
"Kyaak!"
Song A-rin falls flat on the ground,
A sensation of something wrapping around my right arm, and my body is pulled backward.
-Rip!
At the same time, my right arm is completely torn off.
"Hey!"
Song A-rin's eyes widen, and another sound is heard.
-Ping!
Is it the left arm next?
I hurriedly tried to turn my body, but my body wasn't that fast to begin with. I was also a wooden doll.
At that moment,
-Whoosh!
Something latched onto my back, and I was thrown forward onto my stomach.
"Ugh!"
"G-got you!"
Song A-rin was holding onto my back, letting out a sigh of relief.
"...How crude."
Soon, a voice was heard.
A familiar voice.
It was Song A-rin's voice.
-Click... clack...
The sound of footsteps.
Wearing heels, a familiar figure appears.
An absurd, no. The kind of clothes the Troupe Leader would wear.
And eyes completely devoid of emotion.
The Troupe Leader was looking at us.
"..."
Song A-rin gritted her teeth.
"You, were you following us?"
"Following?"
The Troupe Leader looked at Song A-rin as if to say, 'what nonsense are you talking about?'
"I knew from the beginning."
"..."
"After all, this is a world I created."
The Troupe Leader looked around with a languid expression.
The sky opens.
Buildings collapse.
The sun rises.
Despite all these events happening, not a speck of dust rises, nor is there any sound.
"Because this is a stage I created."
The Troupe Leader muttered, looking at us.
Before I knew it, countless dolls were standing and watching us.
It was an event so sudden it could be called magic.
"..."
I was speechless.
"...Then, locking me in the house and me escaping was also intentional?"
"No. Not that."
At my question, the Troupe Leader slowly shook her head.
"That was outside my expectations. Thanks to that, I let an intruder in."
"..."
Even after knowing that, she still chose to catch us so leisurely.
How are we supposed to win against this?
Seeing that, Song A-rin closed her eyes tightly and then opened them.
"Then why? Were you planning to play with us and then kill us?"
"Me? You? ...Why?"
At Song A-rin's words, the Troupe Leader made a genuinely curious expression.
"I never had any intention of playing with you."
"...Then what were you trying to do with all that-"
"Learning."
The Troupe Leader cut off Song A-rin.
"How you talk to him. What expression you make when you look at him, and how he reacts and responds to you."
The Troupe Leader looked back and forth between me and Song A-rin.
"Hey!"
Suddenly, she looks at me.
"..."
"You, can't you understand even one feeling of mine?"
Not with the emotionless face from before, but with a perfect replica of Song A-rin's face, showing clear irritation directed at me, the Troupe Leader shouted.
"..."
"All I wanted to hear was a simple 'thank you'!"
"..."
"...See."
Soon, as if it never happened, the Troupe Leader looked at Song A-rin with an expressionless face again.
"It's the same, right?"
"..."
"Now, can't I take that child's place?"
"...What are you talking about?"
"There shouldn't be anything I lack compared to that child."
At my question, the Troupe Leader tilted her head expressionlessly.
"If you just acknowledge me, I can live by your side forever, just like that child."
"...So. Why?"
What's the reason for that? Why go to such lengths?
"...You don't know."
At my words, the Troupe Leader shook her head.
"It's okay. You'll know soon."
Song A-rin steps in front of me.
"Ms. A-rin—"
"Run away."
She muttered.
"Run away somehow, and bring Yu Daon and Jang Chae-yeon."
For the first time, she uttered both their names as she looked ahead.
"No, even if you can't bring them, just run away."
"Ms. A-rin."
At my words, the Troupe Leader stares intently at Song A-rin.
"Fear, sorrow, desperate resolve. And... a little bit of joy."
The Troupe Leader mutters.
"You're happy, aren't you."
"...Yeah. I'm happy."
Song A-rin mutters.
"Why? Are you happy to die for him? Because you like him?"
"How stupid. It's not such a simple reason."
"...Is that so?"
The Troupe Leader tilts her head.
"Yeah. You'll never understand, will you."
"..."
Song A-rin let out a short laugh.
A sense of contempt filled her face.
"What gives you the right to try and understand when all you do is analyze and study people."
"It's because I still lack time."
"No."
Song A-rin shook her head.
"You will never understand this feeling."
"..."
"Because you didn't walk the same path as me."
Song A-rin mutters as she opens her hand, and the Troupe Leader raises her hand as if conducting an orchestra.
Countless dolls rise from their positions at her gesture.
In contrast, not a single doll stood before Song A-rin.
"..."
"What are you doing? I told you to run away."
I stand beside Song A-rin.
"Thinking about it, I probably can't run away anyway."
If she can make buildings disappear at will. It's not like she can't fold the ground and make me run on it.
"So, you see."
I have nothing right now.
My arms are broken and won't move by my will, and my eyes can't use their power either.
All I have is a body made of wood. And,
"Please handle me appropriately."
A firm sense of self.
"..."
Song A-rin looked at me.
"You, what are you going to do if you really die like this?"
"Then Ms. A-rin shouldn't let me die."
"...You're not actually crazy, are you..."
Song A-rin muttered and let out a sigh.
But, my left arm, which hadn't been moving, was now moving.
"...Alright."
She muttered, spreading her fingers, and my body assumed a stance.
"I'll get you out of here. No matter what happens."
"Yes. I'll trust you."
Countless dolls and the Troupe Leader.
Me and Song A-rin.
No matter how I thought about it, the outcome was obvious.
"Let's go."
We were going to win.