Ch.79Graffiti

Dawn.

For whatever reason, Seok Hyunmin knocked on the door of my apartment.

He must have seen the light on while passing through the hallway without thinking.

Knock, knock, knock.

I silently stared at the door.

There’s no strange feeling. It’s not something pretending to be Seok Hyunmin, nor is it Seok Hyunmin in some entranced state.

It really is the Seok Hyunmin I know.

After double-checking, I opened the door.

Knocking on someone’s door at dawn was considered strange even here.

“What brings you here?”

“Let’s go smoke.”

Adjusting his glasses, Seok Hyunmin spoke casually.

As if it were perfectly normal.

“I don’t smoke.”

“Really? Even when you were a man?”

“No.”

“…”

Seok Hyunmin clicks his tongue, seemingly quite disappointed.

“Haewon is underage. And women don’t seem like they’d smoke at dawn.”

“So that’s why you came looking for me?”

“Yeah.”

After thinking for a moment.

“I can’t sleep anyway. I’ll just go with you, then.”

I got up from my seat.

Back in the hallway. Despite being dawn, the air was hot. No. Rather than hot, it was an extremely subtle feeling.

The hallway air was wrapped in a cool shell, but deeper inside, it retained the heat of midday.

The moment we stepped outside. That brief coolness. But as we walked around outside, I too would gradually become warm.

Seok Hyunmin walked along the railing, then stopped at the end of the corridor.

The red light of the elevator button was spreading in all directions.

“Honestly, you came along because I treated you like a man. Since I said women don’t smoke.”

“Yes.”

“Still like that?”

“What?”

“…Never mind.”

Seok Hyunmin silently smoked his cigarette.

Inhaling, then exhaling after a long pause. Each time, the smoke scattered into the night sky.

It took about seven breaths before he spoke again.

“At first, I thought I’d get out of here no matter what. But people adapt.”

“…Yes. That’s true.”

“Being trapped here for so long, I keep thinking that if I’m careful, it might be okay. So I’ve been conflicted lately. You seem to be actually accomplishing something. In fact, you know all the ways to get out of here, don’t you?”

“Yes. More or less.”

“Right. But I’m not sure if I can risk my life again.”

His bitter voice scattered with the smoke.

“What I said earlier too. Dabin, you don’t adapt. No. I’m not criticizing, I just don’t know how to express it. Strong-willed?”

Saying that, Seok Hyunmin turned his eyes back to the empty space of the night sky.

The ash, drained of pleasure, smudges onto the cigarette pack.

One.

Two.

Even after waiting a long time, the light doesn’t go out.

Then, when only a single mast remained.

“By the way, Dabin.”

Seok Hyunmin stares quietly at a single point.

“Was that drawing always there?”

“Where?”

“There. On the outer wall near the elevator.”

The place Seok Hyunmin was pointing to was the outer wall of the building beyond the railing. It was a spot that could only be seen precariously by craning one’s neck.

Something was visible on the pure white apartment wall.

☾

That’s…

“Looks like graffiti.”

“Yeah. You don’t see anything special either.”

“No.”

It’s an ordinary drawing the size of a palm, with no surreal characteristics or anything dangerous.

“But was there originally a drawing in that spot?”

“No. There wasn’t.”

Seok Hyunmin reaches his arm over the railing, carefully measuring the distance.

“It looks like it was drawn with a pen. To leave a mark there, you’d have to hang from the railing and stretch your arm all the way out.”

“It’s not something Daju would do as a prank, right?”

“Hmm, maybe? I’m not sure.”

“I’ll ask her tomorrow.”

“Phew… Alright. Smoking actually makes me sleepy.”

Seok Hyunmin stretches fully while looking at the night sky.

The ash-covered cigarette pack is tossed over the railing.

The cigarette pack floats in the empty space outside the apartment for a long time,

Thud.

Then returns, falling inside the railing.

Patter-patter-

The cigarette ash scatters all over Seok Hyunmin’s head.

“Ah. Right, shit.”

***

Sleep doesn’t come. After tossing and turning for a long time, dawn breaks.

Everyone’s asleep, so no one’s around.

I get up alone and examine the outside of the railing.

It’s more clearly visible than when it was dark.

The graffiti remains in the same place.

☾

It’s not drawn with a pen or marker, but a shape created by scratching with a sharp tool.

What does it mean?

A crescent moon?

I looked at it carefully again, but couldn’t figure anything out this time either.

It’s just an ordinary drawing.

It has no meaning, no anomalous abilities. It’s just a shape that anyone could draw if they put their hand to it.

“What are you doing?”

I turned around.

The girl was standing in the not-yet-sufficient sunlight.

A weak, emotionless voice.

White long hair with red eyes. Somehow sickly-looking pale skin, a thick expressionless face, and a small stature. (Though similar to my height.)

The AI.

The one I extracted from my phone.

I introduced her to everyone yesterday, but I still haven’t given her a name.

Everyone had different opinions.

Names like “Ai,” directly taken from AI.

“Sophia,” just named on a whim.

“Lim Dahye,” given because technically she’s my child, and so on.

Especially Jung Haewon.

Jung Haewon insisted that she must be called Seol Ah-yeon.

She said she didn’t particularly like any name either.

So I decided to just call her like this.

“Hey.”

“Yes.”

She responds expressionlessly.

“There’s a strange graffiti there. Can you check it out?”

“If you ask properly.”

“Do it.”

When I spoke firmly, the command activated.

With no choice, she moved and stretched her head over the railing.

“I don’t know. Nothing comes up even when I search.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

The graffiti is still there.

☾☾

What could it be?

“Wait.”

I stopped her.

“Didn’t you say you know most things? You literally lived in internet servers.”

“Yes. But why?”

“Come here.”

She shuffles back to me.

Her walking seems awkward, like she doesn’t know how to do it properly.

Above all,

“Your shirt buttons are wrong.”

“Oh. So they are.”

She hasn’t had a body for long.

Her personality has changed rapidly lately. I think she used to have a much more playful and noisy personality.

This being whose very birth is questionable.

Perhaps that’s why she doesn’t do anything properly.

Come to think of it, she is literally the information that remained on internet servers.

She should have most things in her head.

Even if she encounters new information, she can focus a little and search for it herself.

The funny thing about her comes from this.

She acts like she knows everything, but in reality, she doesn’t do very well.

“Hold still.”

The current situation is like that too.

What she’s wearing is a white long-sleeved button-up shirt.

If she had put it on properly, it would be fine, but the buttons are misaligned by one.

I reached out and undid each button one by one.

Then fastened them back in the correct positions.

“Wow.”

She expresses genuine amazement.

She usually has a thick expression and only mocks, but at times like this, she has a cute side.

“I told you. Theory and practice are inevitably different.”

“But when you take care of me like this, you’re like a mom. Dabin maman.”

“What?”

My face suddenly flushes hot.

“Where did you learn to say that?”

“Yoon Daju taught me. Should I call her Daju unnie?”

“Hah…”

I clicked my tongue and patted her shoulder.

“All done. Now go.”

“Are you going to stay here, Dabin unnie?”

“No. I need to go sleep. I’ll head in after a little while.”

“…”

“Aren’t you going?”

“Then I’ll stay a little longer too.”

The AI leaned against the railing beside me.

“Fine. Do as you please.”

Just standing here quietly like this isn’t a bad feeling either.

It’s not exactly like being a maman, but still.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

As I turned my gaze toward the hallway, I found a very familiar shape.

☾

The same shape as the one drawn on the outer wall. But this time, the location is different.

The graffiti was etched on the floor in the middle of the corridor.

“That. It’s the same graffiti that was on the apartment’s outer wall.”

“Yes. It seems so.”

“Did it move?”

I said it, but it’s completely nonsensical.

It’s just an ordinary drawing. There’s no way that could happen.

With half-belief, I checked the apartment’s outer wall again.

The graffiti is still there, in the same shape and place.

☾

She also confirmed the wall and repeated the result.

“It’s still on the wall too.”

“Yeah. So is it multiplying?”

“Maybe it was on the floor all along?”

“Definitely not. I checked.”

What on earth is this?

What is it?

After pondering for a long time, I spoke to her.

“If you find the same graffiti later, remember it and tell me. Got it?”

“Yes.”

If I can’t understand it with my insight, I’ll have to use another method.

The original way I collected information in this apartment.

For now, let’s try to find out as many facts as possible.

There’s still plenty of time before morning fully breaks.

Until then, I plan to walk around with her and look at various places.

“There’s one over there. Under the door.”

She already found one.

Graffiti of the same size and shape was etched in the corner of the door.

“When did this appear? Was it here earlier?”

“No. I don’t know. Who would examine every corner of a door?”

That’s true.

But I have to think this is newly appeared.

If graffiti had already been etched in so many places, I would have noticed it earlier.

We kept finding more graffiti.

On the tag on the back of a t-shirt in the closet.

Under the metal structural pillar of the storage shelf.

I put my finger to my forehead and organized the information.

“It’s only appearing in places we wouldn’t normally pay attention to.”

“Is that a characteristic of the graffiti?”

“No. The graffiti itself has no characteristics.”

I can’t figure it out no matter how much I think about it.

Is there something transparent that’s going around etching graffiti?

Or could graffiti appear by itself… is that possible?

I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem like there’s any anomalous involvement.

“I think we’ll need to discuss this with everyone when they wake up.”

As I was about to move on with that conclusion, she spoke in an emotionless voice.

“Could this be appearing on people’s bodies too?”

“…Huh?”

A moment later.

I was in the bathroom, naked, checking various parts of my body.

Even though I’m alone, it’s a bit embarrassing.

I keep feeling self-conscious.

For arms and legs, I could check directly with my eyes, but for other parts, I had to bring a mirror.

‘Thank goodness.’

At least there’s nothing visible in obvious places.

The only places left would be inside my body.

I put my finger inside my cheek and flipped it in front of the mirror.

It’s there.

☾

It’s there.

A small nail-shaped drawing is clearly etched as if paint had been applied over the flesh.

Why on earth?

It’s impossible to draw this without me knowing.

It’s my body after all.

So how is this here?

I felt my breath catch.

It felt worse because I thought I had learned a bit about this apartment and its anomalies.

There’s nothing special about the drawing. It’s graffiti commonly seen around us.

But it appeared inside my body on its own.

There’s nothing unusual around either.

A reality so perfect it’s scary. Everything is common sense except for that graffiti.

That graffiti.

I attempted to observe the anomaly.

The familiar dizziness came, but nothing. Nothing is visible.

Just a drawing. Just a mirror. Just me. Just a bathroom toothbrush.

All just ordinary things.

Then how is this phenomenon happening?

The drawing appeared by itself. Is this something that can happen in reality without any anomalous properties?

I checked the objects in front of me again.

It’s the scene of an ordinary bathroom.

Water comes out of the sink. The toilet cover is cleanly wiped.

There’s plenty of toilet paper.

Just a mirror. Just plastic. Just a toilet cover.

Just bathroom tiles. Just tempered glass. Just a shower hose. Just shampoo.

Just soap. Just hair. Just drain flies and the eggs they laid.

Unpleasant residue accumulated around the drain. Smooth copper-plated doorknob. Just plastic. Just a toilet cover. Just toilet paper. Just bathroom tiles. Just tempered glass. Just a shower hose. Just shampoo. Just soap. Just hair. Just drain flies and the eggs they laid. Unpleasant residue accumulated around the drain. Water stains in the sewer. Ordinary light. Silicone holding the mirror. The sound of water leaking from the shower. Water droplets that could be anywhere. Cast shadows. Glass cover preventing water from entering the light. Outlet. Metal toilet paper holder. Smooth copper-plated doorknob. Just plastic. Just a toilet cover. Just toilet paper. Just bathroom tiles. Just tempered glass. Just a shower hose. Just shampoo. Just soap. Just hair. Just drain flies and the eggs they laid. Unpleasant residue accumulated around the drain. Water stains in the sewer. Ordinary light. Silicone holding the mirror. The sound of water leaking from the shower. Water droplets that could be anywhere. Cast shadows. Glass cover preventing water from entering the light. Outlet. Metal toilet paper holder.