episode_0124

Swaaaah-

I waited for Choi Se-rim, who was washing up in the bathroom, while lying on the bed.

No. When I think about it this way, something seems strange.

Even I washed up first.

“… … .”

If I were a man, I wonder if I would have felt excited somewhere.

This kind of thing never happened in the first place.

My gaze unconsciously turns towards the dressing table.

The mirror gleams under the soothing amber light.

A girl quietly looking this way inside.

Her hair is cut strangely and looks quite messy, but she still doesn’t look unattractive.

You look so innocent and pure, like you wouldn’t be able to kill even an ant.

As I lift my finger and place it on my cheek, the girl in the mirror does the same.

This feeling is still amazing.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve become like this, but it’s still like this. But it’s probably because it’s still so lacking compared to the time I was a man.

“Dabin, are you still here?”

“Yes.”

He raised his voice and answered Choi Se-rim, who was in the bathroom.

You need someone to wait outside because you never know what might happen while you’re washing.

Choi Se-rim opens the door and comes out.

Of course, without even a single piece of cloth on.

All that’s covering your body is a towel.

“Are you resting well?”

“Yes.”

Even while answering, I somehow find myself avoiding eye contact.

This happened before too. When I forced myself to wash with Daju.

At that time, I pretended not to like it, but I would sneak glances at it.

Is it because people are different?

Yoon Da-joo and Serim are a bit different. As expected.

Choi Se-rim must have noticed that I was avoiding eye contact because she smiled and blurted out a word.

“Anyway, there are girls.”

Choi Se-rim is still wearing only a towel.

The distance is quite close, so the warm air and a nice scent come in.

eww…….

“I will definitely go back.”

He shook his head and said curtly.

It’s just women, after all. I still have some resistance to hearing things like that.

It’s not just because of my ego as a man.

My goal is to get everything back to normal.

When it’s all over, you’ll probably never hear those words again.

“I don’t think Dabin can go back.”

“Huh?”

For a moment, my thoughts suddenly stopped.

The content is one thing, but it’s not common for Choi Se-rim to pull off such a prank.

Because I was always a quiet person.

When I opened my eyes wide and made eye contact, my older sister smiled brightly and continued talking.

“Do you know what your sister is capable of?”

“Hey, you can’t read my mind anymore. And you’re still a man, right?”

“Huh? Is that so?”

Choi Se-rim left with an ambiguous response and went to dry her hair.

uh…….

You were just trying to tease me, right?

By the way. What a prank.

It’s definitely changed a lot since when we first met.

When I first saw Choi Se-rim, she was struggling to figure out who she was while continuing to record her thoughts.

One’s own thoughts.

And other people’s thoughts flow in naturally.

It was harder than I thought to clearly distinguish between the two.

But now, I guess I should say that my ego has become stronger. I should say that I have become more assertive.

Anyway, it looks much better than before.

Choi Se-rim takes out clothes from her bag and puts them on.

It’s a comfortable long-sleeved shirt, perfect for the slightly chilly hotel weather.

“All done. Dabin. Sit here. I’ll cut your hair.”

“Ah… … . Yes. Sister.”

As I sit in front of the mirror, my hair comes into view again.

Maybe it’s because I got cut off in the accident, but my hair is a mess.

“The back of my head is really in trouble.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Yeah. If I hadn’t done it today, I would have been in big trouble.”

Square, square.

Every time Choi Se-rim opens and closes the small scissors, clumps of hair fall onto the newspaper placed underneath.

It’s amazing how hair keeps growing back no matter how much you cut it.

More than that, I’m concerned about the occasional touch of a hand on my head.

“Hmm. At this point, I’ve basically done first aid.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you. I’m not good at beauty. I just hastily trimmed the shape.”

“Still.”

I got up and dusted myself off.

As I was removing the hair fragments stuck to my eyes, Choi Se-rim let out a gasp as if she remembered something.

“Ah! I should’ve cut it before washing my hair!”

“Still, you can just brush it off roughly.”

“Your hair will grow a lot.”

“How can I not shake it off in the hallway?”

“Yeah… … . Sorry.”

No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think it’s something to be sorry about.

Just as I was about to correct it, Choi Se-rim started talking first.

“But will Dabin sleep alone?”

“Yes. I can’t sleep well when there are other people around.”

“It’s okay if we sleep together. And don’t cry while sleeping.”

“No. When did I cry?”

“Hmm. When you first came into the apartment? At that time, I could read Dabin’s thoughts.”

“No… … .”

I’ll take back what I said a little while ago about how nice it looked.

I can’t handle it because Choi Se-rim of all people shows up like this.

Since the ability is mind-reading, there is no way to refute it.

“Oh, I’m not crying.”

For some reason, I felt really embarrassed, so I quickly put on my shoes and left the room.

The hallway we came back into was eerie.

Even though the lights are brightly turned on.

How long have you been left alone like this?

I turned my head and looked at the stairs.

I want to go down there right now and figure out all the dangers that exist on this floor.

That would be reassuring, but not yet.

The room I’m planning to write in is 405.

The rooms at both ends of the hallway. And since I left room 404 empty because I felt uneasy, my only neighbor is Choi Se-rim in room 406.

Beep-

Bam!

I slowly held the card key up to the lock and opened the door.

The room is still dark. When I put the card key in the holder, the light comes on brightly.

Now, if that card key is pulled out, I’ll die.

Like my severed hair, I will disappear in an instant without even finding my body.

I took some insulating tape out of my bag and wrapped it carefully around the card key holder.

Yeah, it’ll be okay.

As long as you’re careful, you’ll be fine.

It’ll be okay.

My body is tired, but I can’t sleep.

I lay in bed and tossed and turned.

It would be good to close your eyes for a little while. The time available for rest is quickly running out.

Tick, tick.

The clock in the room is ticking.

The ticking sound sounds like a faint auditory hallucination.

And then, midnight. The time when everyone is asleep.

I sat up quietly.

I haven’t had a single moment of proper rest, but time doesn’t wait for me.

“After… … .”

It’s time to face the truth here.

I simply put on a long-sleeved coat and walked into the hallway.

Squeak-

Open the door carefully and look outside through the gap.

First of all, it’s quiet outside.

Everyone is asleep.

Not only the people, but even the hotel, which was always lit up.

All I can see is darkness.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Sound tends to travel better in the dark.

Because everyone focuses on the sound instead of the invisible sight in front of them.

I held the doorknob carefully so as not to make too much noise.

Of course, the card key is still inserted in the room.

If I go out like this and close the door, it’s going to be really difficult. It’s like leaving the room key in a locked room.

If it were a real hotel, they would have called the staff to open it.

So first of all, you need to secure the door so that the lock does not work.

After a quick check outside, we head back inside the room.

“Ugh.”

I carried the heavier chair than I thought back to the front door.

It would be easier to move it by pushing it, but it makes a noise, so I have no choice but to lift it and move it.

“Whew.”

It’s not as easy as you think.

It was a wooden chair that was much heavier than it looked, so even a man might not have been able to move it.

Bam.

Okay.

The door will be secured securely as it is heavy.

I put my hands on my knees and panted for a while.

It must have been so hard that I felt like sweat was pouring out of my forehead. Anyway, it was hard work.

One thing that’s fortunate is that I have my hair cut a bit shorter.

It’s not short, but it’s not long either, it’s an in-between length.

Choi Se-rim felt sorry for the beggar, but it was still comfortable.

There is much less hair sticking to the mouth or spilling out when bending over.

I was just about to go back out the door.

“Dabin.”

“Gasp.”

I took a deep breath reflexively.

The person standing where my gaze was directed was Yebin.

“Where are you going?”

“Are you awake… … ?”

“You said you weren’t going to leave me behind last time.”

“Shh.”

I silenced Yebin and looked around the other rooms.

Fortunately, it seems that no one other than Yebin woke up.

“Dabin. Where are you going?”

“Be quiet for now.”

“Where are you going?”

It’s not like some sleepy kid is whining or anything.

Come to think of it, Yebin has messy silver hair.

Did you just wake up from your sleep?

“Stay here. I’ll go check and see what’s downstairs. ”

“I don’t like it.”

“Oh, why!”

“It’s dangerous to go alone. Let’s go together.”

“… … ”

I sigh, my breath caught in my throat.

“Do you remember when you were AI?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think that your personality is too different from mine now?”

“… … .”

Yebin is lost in thought for a moment.

“I don’t know either.”

“What?”

“Dabin made it like this.”

A pair of red eyes looking up at me.

Looking at Yebin’s pure eyes, regret comes back to me again.

At that time, efficiency wasn’t the only thing being considered.

When creating a body for AI, we try to make it as small as possible, and it seems to continue to affect its personality.

So as time goes by, you become more and more childish.

wait for a sec.

Does the body affect the personality?

“Ugh.”

I suddenly have a headache.

“Anyway, Yebin is here. I’ll go downstairs and check.”

“Then I’ll scream and wake everyone up.”

“Hey.”

“Why?”

“Are you acting up more and more?”

“I’m not being sarcastic. I’m threatening Dabin.”

“Oh. Do you know the word “threat”?”

One thing is for sure, the longer this story goes on, the more impatient I become.

In the end, I had no choice but to give in.

“Follow me carefully. Don’t touch anything strange.”

“Yes. Dabin.”

The fewer people who know the inconvenient truth, the better.

This is especially true if knowing something doesn’t change anything.

So I was thinking of going alone somehow.

I couldn’t shake off Yebin, who was connected to me through the library system.

We crossed the hallway, walking quietly.

I’m currently in room 406.

It is located opposite to the destination.

The lights didn’t turn on.

There’s a reason why the hotel is asleep.

Instead, I let my eyes get used to the darkness.

And slowly, carefully, I was able to reach the stairs at the end of the hallway.

“Let’s go down slowly.”

“Yes.”

No matter how accustomed you are to the darkness, going down the stairs is difficult and dangerous.

It was when I absentmindedly placed my hand on the wall to support myself while I was staggering.

“Huh?”

A foreign sensation felt at the fingertips.

The feeling returned, as if I was being pressed against something like a firm rubber, rather than a solid wall.

“Ugh… .”

I swallowed the scream that was about to escape reflexively with a groan.

As I slowly looked into the wall, something was sticking out.

Pulsating blood vessels.

The exterior is still a white wall.

But there is blood flowing underneath.

As if there was a pulse beating beneath the skin.

“… … .”

It might be even more horrible than you thought.

I tried to check Yebin’s location belatedly, but I quickly jumped out of my seat and ran.

I was barely able to catch Yebin who was about to fall.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. But then suddenly the floor started shaking… …. I almost fell.”

“What?”

Sit quietly on the floor and look at the floor of the emergency exit.

It wasn’t just the walls that were moving.

The hard floor, which was clearly made of cement, was still moving up and down as if breathing.