NOVEL NEXT Chapter 219
Yu Da On is basically gentle.
There was no malice in what she said, and in fact, her words to others weren’t malicious either.
When the Dream of the Butterfly incident first broke out, the look I saw on her face could be described as wary of people, not malicious.
In reality, she had never once leveled harsh words at me.
Rather, it might have been that my words unintentionally hurt her.
However, if that was a problem, then it was a problem.
If she were to speak with a mouth full of malice, I could ignore it or handle it, but the issue is that Yu Da On’s words carried no malice at all.
You can’t spit on a smiling face, right?
Isn’t that exactly what’s happening now?
“…Do you know much about me?”
The first to speak was the Theater Company Chief.
She stared intently at Yu Da On, who smiled and nodded.
“Yes! I know very well!”
“…How so?”
“We’ve spent quite a lot of time together, you know?”
Well, “a lot” only meant less than a year.
The Theater Company Chief’s gaze turned to Yu Da On.
“…”
“Surely you won’t deny that, will you?”
Yu Da On looked at the Theater Company Chief with a smile.
“It’s a bit bitter, you know.”
“…”
“How many thoughts must I have had while being alone?”
Yu Da On closed her eyes and then opened them as she looked at the Theater Company Chief.
In her eyes—
“Is it okay for me to live like this? How can I prove my worth?”
Compassion nested there.
“And so, you keep gnawing at yourself, writhing in mental pain.”
But. She looked at the Theater Company Chief as she said, “If that’s the case, it just leads to suffering only for yourself—”
Yu Da On’s words couldn’t continue to the end.
As the Theater Company Chief waved her hand, several puppets’ strings snapped.
-Crunch!
Instantly, a string wrapped around Yu Da On’s neck, and with a horrifying sound, her neck broke.
While the string was still wrapped around her neck, the Theater Company Chief looked at us.
Yu Da On’s body twitched as she put her hands on her neck to remove the strings, but—
-Crack!
The strings clung to her neck as if they could never fall away.
“…How can I know that Da On won’t die?”
“How would I know?”
As I muttered, Song Ah Rin stood next to me and answered.
“It seems like she’s already tried killing someone by saying something that gets on their nerves.”
“…”
“Now that she hasn’t died, I guess she’s thinking that she should just keep choking her this time.”
“You know her so well. Have you thought about that?”
“…”
At my words, Song Ah Rin briefly closed her mouth before opening it again.
“Anyway, now’s the time.”
“…That’s true, but…”
I agreed with Song Ah Rin’s murmur as I scanned the surroundings.
The number of puppets had significantly decreased compared to before.
Perhaps the strings controlling the puppets had been used to wrap around Yu Da On’s neck.
It wasn’t the right way, but we had to achieve something while Yu Da On bought us time.
I sprang into action and ran.
Now, I hoped that the creaking puppet legs would not stop making noise.
For now, if I could just deliver a physical shock to the Theater Company Chief or even get into a brawl—
But before I could, several puppets blocked my path.
At the same time,
-Thud!
With a tremendous noise, the puppets crashed into the ground.
“You’re here.”
Jang Chae Yeon stood behind us, panting heavily.
Floating in the air is my body.
“I was going to take you along, but when I brought you out, you vanished.”
Jang Chae Yeon mumbled with a bitter voice as she carefully laid my body on the ground.
“Thank you.”
“Yeah.”
She nodded and looked at the Theater Company Chief.
“…”
The Theater Company Chief gazed at Jang Chae Yeon, slowly opening her mouth.
“You’re still alive.”
“…”
What could it mean to be alive?
Was the Jang Chae Yeon she remembered someone who had already died long ago?
If so, what killed her?
Instantly, all sorts of thoughts raced through my mind, but it didn’t seem like Jang Chae Yeon was mulling over those things.
It was as if she paid no attention to it, clenching her fist and repeatedly extending and retracting it before looking at the Theater Company Chief.
“In my life…”
She murmured.
“Except for two people.”
She raised her hand.
The atmosphere began to shake.
-Crumble…
The ground trembled.
Behind that, Jang Chae Yeon looked at the Theater Company Chief.
“As long as you’re not human, you’ll just be isolated.”
Her voice was cold as she raised her hand.
“But you’ve touched those two.”
-Bang!
As she clenched her fist, the puppets in the midst all clustered together, and splinters of wood flew.
Blood flowed from Jang Chae Yeon’s nose, but she didn’t care, swinging her hand.
-Bang!
With a tremendous force, it smacked the Theater Company Chief like a hammer.
“…”
The Theater Company Chief hastily unraveled the strings wrapping around Yu Da On and hurriedly defended against Jang Chae Yeon’s attack.
“Cough!”
Yu Da On fell to the floor.
“Da On!”
“I’m fine!”
She stood up, already touching her neck, which bore no trace of the earlier injury at all.
“Let’s go!”
“…A-Rin!”
“Just like before!”
In response to my voice, Song Ah Rin replied and connected strings to my body.
It seems she had become accustomed to my body, and I too had grown familiar with this connection, allowing me to move much more smoothly than before.
We charged through the puppets like mad.
There was little time left.
As one hand of the Theater Company Chief was blocking Jang Chae Yeon, the other hand reached forth, and strings surged toward my face.
But I didn’t stop my legs.
—Thwack!
Yu Da On extended her arm to block the strings.
As the strings wrapped around her arm like they were alive, her arm twisted grotesquely, and she winced in pain.
“But…!”
Nevertheless, she pulled her twisted arm the other way, creating a path for me.
“Jae Heon!”
“…!”
Now, there were no more obstacles in front of me.
Her arm wasn’t moving, but—
“Huh…!”
Already, my left arm was stretching back.
Pulling the strings as tight as they would go, Song Ah Rin shouted.
“A strong shot to the solar plexus!”
As she shouted, my fist shot out vigorously—
-Bam!
It struck directly at the Theater Company Chief’s solar plexus.
Her body bent at an angle, and—
“Cough…!”
Unable to breathe properly, she let out a scream filled with agony.
With my arm extended forward, it sent the Theater Company Chief rolling several times on the ground.
“Ugh, ack…! Gah…!”
Clutching her solar plexus, she writhed.
“…You were acting so grand.”
By now, Song Ah Rin had come up behind me and muttered bitterly as she looked at the Theater Company Chief.
“In the end, you’re just someone who writhes when hit in the weak spot.”
“By the way, I stayed perfectly fine after taking a hit there, you know?”
Yu Da On proudly remarked as Song Ah Rin stared at her.
“Well, I wasn’t around then.”
“Right?”
“Then it wouldn’t have been as hard. I could have easily won just by dragging someone like you along.”
Yu Da On blinked, and Song Ah Rin chuckled softly.
“That guy’s amazing. He’s managed to survive with you as a weight holding him down.”
“…”
“Stop it.”
At this rate, they might end up fighting again.
With a sigh, I stepped between the two.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
Jang Chae Yeon, who had been watching, casually remarked.
“…Yes. Thank you.”
I always feel like I should say that Jang Chae Yeon helps out during times like this.
Surely, she wasn’t watching the two fight, just waiting for me to step in, right?
“But it seems like you all managed somehow.”
“Hooray!”
The one who replied like that was the Branch Chief.
With her hair a mess, she approached me with a hair tie in her mouth.
Her clothes were torn here and there, and her hair looked as if someone had pulled it roughly, but it was remarkable that she bore no injuries at all.
“Hooray…”
“How about tying your hair up and then speaking?”
“…What’s this ‘how about’ nonsense?”
The Branch Chief sighed while tying her hair.
“Do you know how many puppets came at me the moment I showed my face?”
“…Oh.”
Looking at where she had been, I saw—
“…Wow.”
The heaps of puppet fragments that had piled up like a mountain came into view.
Most of the puppets must have attached themselves to the Branch Chief.
“They lunged at me the moment they saw me.”
After she tied her hair up completely, she looked at the mountain of puppets.
Her hair was tied up like a lady from the Joseon dynasty.
“They knew I was a dangerous person.”
She slightly frowned.
“But anyway, this turned out well.”
She glanced at the Theater Company Chief.
“We succeeded in capturing her, so now we can isolate her—”
-Szi!
A sound resounded, and the Branch Chief’s figure vanished.
“…Branch Chief?”
No. There was no one.
In the dark space, I was the only one left.
“…The play is—”
A weary voice was heard.
“Because it is not reality, that’s when it can truly be a play.”
Embracing my stomach, the Theater Company Chief appeared before me.
With every step she took, she frowned as if in pain.
“…!”
The floor gives way.
“We just need to change the stage.”
The feeling of falling into an endless abyss seeped in,
“This is just another part of the play.”
The now-invisible voice of the Theater Company Chief was heard.
Control.
The stage is soon a play.
The Theater Company Chief’s specialty and talent is control.
I realized.
The extremely sophisticated hypnosis is nothing but a cunning reality and—
*
“…”
Discomfort.
That was what Song Ah Rin felt.
Though they were definitely discussing the procedure to isolate the Theater Company Chief with the white-haired man and the Branch Chief, what could this bizarre feeling be?
“…Hey.”
She tapped the man’s arm.
“Huh?”
The man looked at her.
“At least one thing is over.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
The man mumbled as he looked ahead.
“Ah, I’m tired. I think I’ll rest a bit now.”
“Resting, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve never actually rested after saying that, though.”
“Haha…”
The man laughed awkwardly, seeming troubled.
“That’s true, I guess.”
“…”
“By the way, A-Rin.”
“Huh.”
“When this is all over, do you want to go hang out?”
“…”
She looked around.
“I only hang out with people.”
“Huh?”
She closed her eyes.
Hypnosis.
There was no choice but to acknowledge it.
She was inferior.
To be exact, it meant Song Ah Rin’s ability was inferior to the Theater Company Chief she was currently fighting.
However, there was just one thing she felt she was more confident about than the Theater Company Chief.
It was something she had been doing for over ten years since she realized her past.
“…”
Self-deception.
She cast the suggestion she had stubbornly imposed on herself endlessly.
This time, she would simply overlay that reality.
“-”
The man who had been talking next to her disappeared.
The black-haired guy who was笑inging faded away, and the white-haired guy she had been talking with vanished too.
“…”
Holding onto her solar plexus, the Theater Company Chief appeared before her.
The five of them, all of them were standing on stage.
Lying down with a painful expression was the black-haired guy.
The white-haired guy, who seemed to be asleep, had his eyes closed.
Leaning against the wall was the Branch Chief.
Wrapped in the Theater Company Chief’s arms was the man.
“…What’s up, ge…”
“Sorry, but—”
Song Ah Rin mumbled as she looked at the Theater Company Chief.
“I’ve deceived myself the most.”
“…”
“And…”
“…”
“Those two crazy women glare at me when this guy suggests we hang out together.”
She answered confidently.