episode_0093

… … … … …

“… … … .”

I was momentarily speechless at the sight of the building the driver pointed to through the car window.

There, a huge Gothic mansion that looked like something out of a Dracula movie stood tall against the dark sky.

The tall spires, the sharp arched windows, and the black iron fence surrounding the lush gardens all felt unreal.

“Teacher Wol-hee… …lived in a place like this.”

Looking at the mansion, it occurred to me that the teacher was a kind of vampire… … a relative of some kind.

Considering her pale skin, red eyes, and always chilly body temperature, it seemed that a gothic mansion like the ones you see in novels and movies might be more suitable for her race.

Meanwhile, the taxi driver was still glancing back and forth between the mansion and me with anxious eyes. I quickly paid the fare and got out.

As I stood before the black iron gate, the mansion seemed even more overwhelming. A crow was sitting on the top of the spire, and the walls covered with ivy seemed to move slightly as if they were alive.

“ and… … .”

I don’t know if I should call it creepy or mysterious. I felt a strange sense of awe.

In front of the main gate, there was a bronze doorknocker with a devil-like face. When I carefully pressed the doorknocker, a heavy sound echoed deep into the mansion. Before the echo could die down, the door opened silently.

“… … … !”

The person who opened the door and came out was a boy… or a girl wearing a maid outfit. With a black dress with white lace, a white apron, and elegant ribbon decorations, it was an outfit that seemed to have come straight out of a European historical drama.

But what was more surprising was the maid’s face.

Pale skin, black hair, and slightly hazy, unfocused eyes.

For some reason, I had the feeling that this maid’s face resembled mine. However, there was no life in the maid’s eyes, and her expression was frozen like a doll’s.

“Uh… …Hello… …?”

I greeted her, but there was no reply. The maid just walked ahead with a blank expression on her face.

As I followed the maid up the stone steps leading to the mansion, I caught a glimpse of the maid’s back without realizing it.

“Ugh… … .”

Height, build, and no matter how much I thought about it, there were too many similarities between us. There were too many similarities to just be a coincidence.

At that moment, the maid’s short hair that reached down to her shoulders shook slightly.

At that moment, on the maid’s neck, on her pale skin, there was a faint trace of thread――

… … No, no matter how much I think about it, there’s no way there could be such a horrible mark on the neck. It must be my imagination.

But the chill down my spine still remained. That maid felt as if she wasn’t alive.

As I followed the maid and watched her back, we soon reached the mansion’s grand front door through the eerie garden.

As the maid slowly opened the front door, a soft red light from the chandelier appeared in the darkness.

As you enter the mansion through the front door, your eyes are drawn to the medieval portraits lining both sides of the hallway.

The light from the chandelier hanging from the high ceiling illuminated the paintings, creating strange shadows.

“Wow, wow… … … .”

I couldn’t hide my surprise. The maid was so unresponsive that I ended up mumbling to myself as if she wasn’t there.

The main character in all the portraits hanging on the wall was Teacher Wol-hee.

There are portraits of her in gorgeous dresses like a Renaissance lady, portraits of her wearing a plague doctor’s mask shaped like a bird’s beak, portraits of her in antique attire from the modern era, and even portraits of her in a white doctor’s gown.

Although they all seemed to represent different eras, her pale skin and red eyes remained unchanged.

As if time had stopped, Ms. Wol-hee in all the portraits looked exactly the same age.

Among those portraits of Professor Wol-hee, there were some that caught my eye.

“Uh… … ?”

Looking closely, I could see another figure, faintly like a shadow, but clearly. In all the portraits, there was a boy drawn next to Teacher Wol-hee.

The boy had short black hair that reached his shoulders, was small for a man, and had such thin features that if you didn’t look closely you could mistake him for a girl.

That is, that is… …it was exactly the same as me.

In the Renaissance portrait, the boy was dressed in the splendid attire of a nobleman, and in the portrait of a plague doctor, he was dressed in a gown like a doctor’s apprentice. The only difference between the eras was the clothing, but the boy was definitely me.

But… … strangely enough, I noticed traces of paint that looked new. As if someone had hastily added them recently.

The paint in other parts was very finely cracked, perhaps due to weathering over time, but the part depicting the boy was clear.

And in all those pictures, the boy had an expression on his face that seemed to truly adore Teacher Wol-hee.

“What the… … What the… … ?”

While I was looking around at the portraits on the wall, the maid continued to lead the way with a blank expression on her face.

As I walked down the long hallway, it seemed as if I was constantly being followed by dozens of portraits of myself.

Without being able to continue speaking, I just followed the maid in silence. The red-carpeted hallway seemed to go on forever.

… … … … …

Finally, we arrived at the huge door at the end of the hallway. As the maid grabbed the brass handles on both sides and opened the door, a red light poured out.

“Come on, boy.”

A woman was standing in the sunset light streaming through the stained glass. It was Teacher Wol-hee. But today’s teacher was so different from her usual self.

First of all, instead of the white doctor’s gown she usually wore, she was wearing a dress of deep wine color. It was an elegant dress, like that of a noble lady of the modern era, similar to the one seen in the portrait in the hallway.

The deep slits from the neck below her face to her collarbone and the upper part of her chest accentuated her pale skin even more, and her waist, tightened by a corset, formed an elegant curve.

The hem of the dress’s skirt was long enough to reach the floor, and her white legs were faintly visible through the lace-decorated slits.

Her red eyes shone brighter than usual, and her pale skin glowed softly like moonlight. Her silver hair, almost pink, hung elegantly on one side, and the ruby necklace on her neck glowed red.

“Seo, teacher… … ?”

I couldn’t continue speaking. She was beautiful enough as usual, but her current appearance was truly overwhelming.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

A smile spread across Teacher Wol-hee’s lips. It was not the calm expression she usually showed me, but a face that could not hide its joy. Her fangs seemed to shine a little sharper than usual, but it was probably an illusion.

I swallowed unconsciously. My heart started pounding at the sight of her, who looked beautiful yet strangely dangerous, like a vampire countess in a movie.

“Come in. I’ve prepared a lot of things to spend special time with the boy today.”

Teacher Wolhee’s voice sounded sweeter than usual.

As she made an elegant gesture, my steps naturally began to move toward her. Strangely enough, the maid had already disappeared.

The place we followed the teacher into was a huge banquet hall.

In the center was a long table that seemed to be made of oak. The black, glossy table was polished like a mirror, and on it were placed candleholders that seemed to be made of pure silver at regular intervals.

On such a huge table, a meal for just two people was prepared.

“Come here, boy.”

Teacher Wol-hee guided me to the seat at the very end of the table. The utensils placed before me all seemed to be made of silver, and each plate contained food that seemed to have been carefully prepared.

Roast duck garnished with herbs, steak with mushroom sauce, fresh salad, and freshly baked, steaming bread. It was like a re-creation of a noble banquet.

But the food on the teacher’s table… was a little different from mine.

In front of her… … was a strangely reddish, unidentifiable steak. It looked almost uncooked, and you could see blood flowing out of the meat.

What kind of meat is that? Beef? Pork? Sheep? Horse?

I don’t know much about meat, but I somehow knew that it wasn’t the meat of any animal.

By any chance, could it be――

“Okay, sit down.”

The teacher sat me down and then with an elegant movement pulled the cork out of a black glass bottle.

The liquid in the crystal goblet was a deep red, like blood. As it swayed under the candlelight, it appeared as if it were alive.