Ch.219219 – The Phantom of the Opera 4

# 219 – The Phantom of the Opera #4

“Look at that! The crazy idol pulled out a knife!”

Kwon Sua stared in shock at Jeong Sujeong who had drawn a knife.

I was also tense for various reasons when Jeong Sujeong spoke.

“I don’t intend to do anything with this. I just want you to understand my determination. Without Mr. Phantom, I’ll become nothing! I need him!”

One can never be certain that a wild beast won’t bite. Since I couldn’t predict when knife-wielding Jeong Sujeong might snap and attack us, I thought it best to retreat for now.

Swish-!

Jeong Sujeong pointed the sharp knife she was holding at herself. So that knife wasn’t meant to stab us but for self-harm? That was even more troublesome.

I don’t want to be in the news.

If I appeared in the news now, I’d be thoroughly criticized for being a “wayward chaebol heir” or something similar. That could potentially derail the polygamy law amendment that was finally making progress.

“Sua, let’s back away for now.”

“But…”

Kwon Sua glanced back and forth between my face and Jeong Sujeong’s.

Jeong Sujeong added words toward Kwon Sua.

“Wouldn’t you do anything for love? Senior Sua, you quit being an idol to pursue your love and dreams, didn’t you? You of all people should understand my feelings!”

Kwon Sua seemed to have many things to say but found it difficult to respond, mumbling with her mouth. Eventually, she chose to retreat, apparently thinking she couldn’t persuade Jeong Sujeong.

We withdrew from the broadcasting station for now.

Thinking it would be difficult for just Kwon Sua and me to handle this situation, I decided to call for backup.

“There’s a phantom living in the broadcasting station? Like the Phantom of the Opera?”

Yu Dahui showed great interest after hearing our story. The idea of a man hiding in a broadcasting station for 30 years seemed to stimulate her literary sensibilities.

Yang Juhui, however, frowned in shock.

“How is that possible? If he doesn’t have a birth registration, he couldn’t have gone to school or visited hospitals when sick.”

We had tried to rescue him, but the person himself refused, and Jeong Sujeong was threatening us not to take her phantom away.

Soon Kwon Sua spoke.

“Sacrificing someone else’s dreams and life for your own dream isn’t right. In my view, those two are headed for destruction if they continue like this!”

Kwon Sua spoke with near certainty.

“And idol romances never end well! Let alone keeping a man captive for romance. If this becomes public, the Korean entertainment industry will be devastated!”

Idol dating rumors always become a hot topic of conversation.

Miss Jeong Sujeong’s romance and love had crossed normal boundaries, and this meant the issue wouldn’t end simply as a problem between two people.

“Besides, love isn’t something to monopolize like that. Don’t you think that true romance is when two people’s relationship leads to building more human connections and broadening each other’s worlds?”

Is she asking me?

I don’t know. But I sympathized with the idea of non-exclusive love.

I’m a man trying to legalize polygamy. If any one woman monopolized me, the rest of the women who couldn’t have me would become sad.

“I guess we need to do something about this.”

Actually, I wasn’t particularly interested in idols or views on romance. What concerned me was the urban legend and strange existence entangled in this case.

I was too flustered at the time, but thinking about it calmly, I seemed to understand what we had missed. After much contemplation, I reached a conclusion.

“If the two of them truly love each other, they should be able to overcome any adversity or situation. Let’s do what we need to do.”

# # #

Dawn. We visited the broadcasting station and met the phantom.

He seemed somewhat surprised to see me leading a group.

“I’m sure my intentions were clearly conveyed. I have no desire to destroy this life.”

“But your current thoughts might not be your own will. You might be under control. By that…”

I looked at the man’s white face.

More precisely, it was a very plain mask.

“By that mask!”

“My mask?”

Swish-.

The man touched his face as if slightly startled. I thought that mask was a possessed object. A very suspicious item indeed.

Dahui also commented on the mask.

“It definitely seems like a strange object! A mask with no eye holes, no nostrils, and no mouth! It’s not a normal mask! Let’s take it off!”

“Everyone surround him!”

“Stay still if you don’t want to get hurt!”

Dahui, Kwon Sua, and Yang Juhui surrounded the man.

Through our various experiences, we had become somewhat experts on possessed objects.

Like “The Monkey’s Paw,” special objects generally make people’s lives miserable. The safe way to handle them was to seal them through special methods, collect them, or sell them at a high price to Gubeulnoi.

“T-this is a gift from my mother!”

The man covered his face with his palm, seemingly trying to protect the mask. Seeing this, Dahui shouted like a detective who had caught evidence.

“This is a typical possession phenomenon! People possessed by objects pathologically obsess over protecting them! He must be heavily infected! We need to save him quickly!”

Whatever the case, that man was alone. And we were many. When the man seemed to realize he had no chance of winning, he backed away hesitantly before quickly crawling through a hole in the wall of his room.

“We lost him!”

This broadcasting station was like a maze.

If a man who had been hiding here for 30 years decided to hide in earnest, we might not be able to find him.

However, we had mysterious animals with us.

“Kyong-kyong, go follow his scent!”

—Kyong-kyong…!

—Kyong-kyong…!

Small animals jumped from Yang Juhui’s shoulder. One was a chipmunk, and the other was an animal called a wolf spider.

The two small animals entered through the hole and eventually dragged the masked man out to us by biting his leg.

Since further resistance was futile, I reached out and grabbed the mask covering his face.

“……”

I thought it would be hard, but it was a silicone-like soft mask. And the man’s face revealed beneath the mask was very white, feminine, and somehow familiar.

It was natural for Kwon Sua’s expression to turn to bewilderment upon seeing that face.

“That face is…”

“Don’t look at me!”

The man hurriedly covered his face.

However, we seemed to understand why he was trying so hard to hide his face. His face closely resembled Jeong Sujeong.

“…Sujeong wants to become an entertainer hoping her famous singer mother watches over her from heaven. She respects her mother more than anyone.”

The fact that they were half-siblings was shocking to all of us. Reality is often more shocking than dramas or entertainment shows.

“Sujeong doesn’t know about her mother. And I don’t want to destroy her dream. So please return the mask. Without it, I… I’ll have to walk around the world with my face!”

In other words, the phantom was hiding his face for the sake of his mother’s and young sister’s honor. While I understood him, I also had an ominous feeling.

“Phantom Mask: A very suspicious mask. Processed through special methods. Once worn, it cannot be removed by the wearer’s will. One can eat while wearing the mask, but the principle remains unknown.”

It was indeed a strange mask as I suspected.

Did he say he received this mask from his mother?

Where did the phantom’s mother get this mask? While I was thinking about this, Yang Juhui clicked her tongue. Then she shouted toward the corner over there.

“You’ve been listening to everything from there, haven’t you? Stop hiding and come out.”

I wondered what she meant when someone emerged from the secret passage of the broadcasting station. It was Miss Jeong Sujeong. The phantom was greatly flustered, thinking she had overheard the entire situation.

“How did you…!”

“I heard everything you just said. To think you were my brother! That’s why you kept trying to push me away.”

“…Yes, that’s why we shouldn’t meet.”

“If we’re really siblings… that means we’re family connected by blood, right?”

Miss Jeong Sujeong trembled as if quite shocked that the phantom’s identity was her brother. Then she ran toward her brother and tightly embraced his waist.

“Brother!”

“You don’t hate me? I…”

“Being family means we can be together forever. Brother, you’ll be with me forever!”

The man and woman who needed each other had now become family.

Dahui put her hands together in front of her at the touching scene.

“Such a moving sight. Family truly is family.”

“That’s good. Kyong-kyongs, come back.”

—Kyong-kyong…!

—Kyong-kyong…!

—Grrrr…!

—Grrrr…!

“Hey! I told you two not to fight! You’re both Kyong-kyong, so get along! I even gave you the same name so you’d get along, but why do you keep fighting…”

In any case, it was fortunate that the siblings didn’t fight and learned the truth.

This turned out well. Really well.

…Did it really turn out well?

With that feeling, time passed, and on a day when summer was gradually fading.

The news reported extensively on singer A’s private life. It was revealed that she had an adult son, and that son was the brother of famous entertainer Miss J.

“Fans of famous entertainer Miss J are concerned that this incident might disrupt her future activities… that’s what they’re saying. Actually, ‘Nymphia’s’ activities have decreased, haven’t they? What do you think?”

I asked Sua, who was a former idol senior, for her opinion.

Soon, Kwon Sua, who was enthusiastically spinning a hula hoop in the house, wiped the sweat from her forehead with a towel and said.

“They’ll manage fine. Haven’t you heard that the worst worries in the world are worrying about politicians and worrying about celebrities? I became an ordinary person at the peak of my popularity, but I’m living well, aren’t I?”

“That’s true.”

“The members of our ‘Dorangmul Girlz’ are also living well in their own places, so Sujeong and the juniors of ‘Nymphia’ will eventually find their own paths and live well. More importantly, phew…”

Kwon Sua went into the bathroom.

From inside, Kwon Sua screamed.

“It’s back! My front teeth are back!”

It was something worth celebrating in many ways.

Ding-dong- Someone rang the doorbell then. Soon Yang Juhui came in through the door. She was holding a silicone mask in her hand.

“I found out where this mask was sold. You’ll be surprised when you hear it. According to Gubeulnoi, this probably came from another ‘Shop’…”

Yang Juhui, who was about to say something, opened her slender eyes.

She stared at Kwon Sua and me for a while.

“Kwon Sua, why are you sweating so much? Your face is red, and your breathing is rough. Don’t tell me you two were… before I came in!”

Yang Juhui’s face turned tomato red.

When Yang Juhui got like this, she usually let out a loud shout.

“We agreed to only date this week! We said we wouldn’t touch each other because we need to take care of our bodies before the wedding! You liar!”

Whoosh-!

Yang Juhui pulled my arm.

Soon Kwon Sua also pulled my arm from the opposite side and shouted.

“Monopolizing love isn’t right! Didn’t you learn anything from this case? If there’s something good, share it with many people! Trying to keep it all to yourself is a bad idea!”

If there was a lesson learned from this case, it was that women are scary.

Men who are captivated by such terrifying women fear their future but cannot escape their grasp. It’s truly a fragrant purgatory filled with flower beds.

More importantly, another ‘Shop’?