Chapter 11: Chameleon (2)

“Even if a chameleon changes, it cannot acquire memories from long ago.”

The information I heard during the briefing flashed through my mind.

Even if the creature absorbs memories and knowledge, it has a weakness: it cannot perfectly bring back memories from the distant past.

Perhaps this could be the breakthrough.

I looked again at the people gathered in the living room.

We each carried out our assigned roles diligently.

Seo Ji-hyun was still buried in her smartphone, but occasionally, she would lift her head and check the locations of objects like the fire hydrant in the corner of the living room or the firewood beside the fireplace.

At the same time, her fingers were busily moving across the screen.

She was likely cross-checking information about the suspects.

Information gathering.

She was doing her job.

Now it was my turn.

My role was to approach people as naturally as possible and probe their ‘old memories.’

I approached the fisherman.

“…It’s raining so much that we can’t go out… Did you come here to fish?”

As I spoke first, the fisherman glanced at me.

“…Yeah, I was planning to go out by boat, but with this rain…”

“When I was young, I used to go fishing with my father every summer… Did you fish from when you were little?”

At my sudden question, the fisherman furrowed his brow for a moment, then chuckled and opened his mouth.

“Well, I grew up in a mountain valley in Gangwon Province. Back then, we didn’t even have fishing rods. I just tied bait to a string and caught fish like minnows by the river. I could only start fishing when I became an adult and moved to Incheon.”

He seemed to be recalling something from long ago, squinting his eyes and gazing out the window.

There was no sign of fabrication in his expression or tone.

At least, it seemed that way to me.

This was enough to be considered an ‘old memory.’

Could the creature possibly fabricate a story like this?

“I also want to try fishing again after a long time.”

“Yeah, after living for a while, I realized there’s no hobby like fishing.”

I nodded in agreement and wrapped up the conversation.

The fisherman turned his gaze back to the window.

I returned to my seat and exchanged a brief glance with Seo Ji-hyun.

She gave a slight nod.

She had confirmed that there was no lie in what the fisherman had said.

She must have cross-checked the fact that his hometown was a mountain valley in Gangwon Province and that he had moved to Incheon when he became an adult, comparing it with the data she had.

It seemed likely that he was not the creature.

Now, the remaining suspects were the elderly owner, the grandchild, the dog, and the young couple.

At that moment, I heard raised voices from the young couple sitting on a sofa in the lobby.

At first, they were whispering, but soon the woman’s sharp voice and the man’s pleading voice mixed, cutting through the heavy air in the living room.

“Sigh… I’m going to step outside for a bit to clear my head.”

Finally, the man stood up with a slightly angry expression and stomped up the stairs to the second floor.

In the living room, only the woman, who was sulking with her arms crossed, and the others who were unsure of what to do remained in cold silence.

It was an opportunity.

I quickly signaled to Han So-ra and Seo Ji-hyun.

Han So-ra nodded and naturally approached the woman sitting on the sofa, pretending to comfort her while starting a conversation.

I took advantage of this moment and quietly climbed the stairs.

I needed to check on the man who had gone upstairs.

The second-floor hallway was darker and quieter than the first floor.

A faint smell of tobacco drifted through the air.

Following the scent, I went to the end of the hallway, where a window was open, and a man was leaning against the window frame, smoking a cigarette while looking outside.

It was the man who had angrily gone upstairs earlier.

The heavy rain was lightly dampening his shoulders.

Surprisingly, he was smoking in this rain.

When he noticed me approaching, he turned his head.

When our eyes met, he gave a somewhat awkward smile.

“Ah… haha. Could you not tell the owner? It’s raining outside, and I just got a little frustrated, and I… didn’t mean to…”

“Ah, yes. Of course. I also came up here because I was upset after arguing with my friends…”

I awkwardly replied, standing next to him.

I opened the window beside me and looked out at the rain.

At first, he looked at me strangely, but as I exhaled deeply outside the window, he seemed to feel a sense of camaraderie and began to speak.

“Phew… It’s really driving me crazy. I don’t know why my girlfriend is being so sensitive today… She was fine up until just now, right? We were enjoying our trip, but once the rain started this afternoon, she suddenly got angry.”

He exhaled a long cloud of smoke and continued.

“I asked her if I did something wrong, but she wouldn’t even give me a proper answer… It’s so frustrating. I have no idea why she’s acting this way.”

His expression was filled with genuine frustration and confusion.

He clearly didn’t understand the sudden change in his girlfriend.

I comforted him while mentally checking the map.

Then, the layout of the second floor appeared along with a clean map.

In other words, the red dot was not visible.

‘No.’

Since the map separated the second floor from the first, I was certain the man from the couple was not the creature.

If we lured each person up to the second floor one by one, we could easily identify the creature.

“…It might be that everyone is just a bit sensitive because of the rain.”

“…Is that so?”

I offered a mild comforting remark and left first.

The man was still looking out the window with an unresolved expression.

A while later, when I returned to the living room on the first floor, Han So-ra had finished talking to the woman and was retreating.

I signaled for Han So-ra and Seo Ji-hyun to follow me, and we headed to the second-floor room.

I planned to have a quick strategy meeting away from the others’ eyes.

“So, what happened?”

When I asked, Han So-ra spoke first.

“The woman, it turns out, has been dating her boyfriend for exactly two years today. But her boyfriend completely forgot about it and just planned the trip without considering it. She’s been upset about it since earlier, and the guy just didn’t notice, so she exploded.”

“Two years, huh…”

Now I could understand why the woman was upset.

I also shared the things I had heard from the man with both of them.

“I talked to that guy earlier, and he said that everything was fine during the trip until this afternoon, when the rain started. That’s when the woman suddenly started acting out…”

“I heard it changed.”

At my words, Seo Ji-hyun looked up from her smartphone screen and furrowed her brow.

“Hmm… It seems like it’s been two years.”

The woman’s anger had a valid reason.

“Isn’t it strange? How could he forget the 2nd anniversary?”

“It’s a common thing.”

“Huh? Really?”

At Han Sora’s words, Seo Ji-hyun made a firm statement.

I also nodded with a wry smile.

It was indeed a somewhat common occurrence.

From the conversation, the man seemed a bit suspicious, but I confirmed that he wasn’t strange after all.

Now, the remaining suspects were three.

The elderly owner, the grandson, and a dog.

“The problem is, it’s difficult to verify ‘old memories’ with them,” Seo Ji-hyun said.

She was right.

It was natural that a child wouldn’t remember things from a few years ago. Of course, you couldn’t ask a dog about the past either.

The elderly woman was the only one with a possibility, but it wouldn’t be strange if her memories were hazy due to her age.

“First, let’s report the current situation to the team leader, and then observe more carefully.”

No good ideas came to mind.

We decided to each take a seat in a corner of the living room and spend our time secretly observing the remaining suspects.

Outside the window, the rain was still pouring heavily, and time inside the pension passed slowly and uneasily.

As evening approached, the elderly woman began moving busily in the kitchen with the child.

Tap, tap, tap.

The old woman skillfully chopped vegetables as she prepared dinner.

The dog stayed close to her, eagerly eating the vegetables that accidentally fell.

The dining table in the living room was set with steaming food, and at the call of the old woman, everyone in the pension awkwardly gathered around the table.

The atmosphere around the table was, of course, unpleasant.

The anxiety of being trapped in the heavy rain, regret, awkwardness with strangers, and even a couple that had fought—all of these made the mood heavy over the table.

“Mmm~ It’s delicious!”

“Ah, it’s nice to see you enjoying it.”

Han Sora forced a cheerful tone to compliment the food, but it didn’t completely lift the awkward atmosphere.

I tried to act as naturally as possible while observing the expressions and actions of others, but I didn’t notice anything unusual.

Just as the meal was nearing its end, Seo Ji-hyun quietly stood up and headed toward the kitchen.

She pretended to be getting a drink, but I sensed that she was going to check something.

A moment later, she came back with a glass of water and casually sat back down.

Then, under the table, she tapped my leg with her foot—only I knew it was a signal.

It meant that she had something to say and wanted me to come quickly.

I finished my meal with as little expression as possible, sent a subtle glance to Han Sora, and followed Seo Ji-hyun to the corner near the kitchen.

As soon as we entered the kitchen, Seo Ji-hyun spoke in a low voice.

“Two knives are missing from the knife block.”

“What?”

“One was used by the elderly woman when she was preparing dinner, and it’s still in the sink… but the other one is gone.”

Her words sent a chill down my spine.

One of the knives was missing—apart from the one that had been used for cooking.

This meant that someone had hidden a knife inside this isolated pension.

“…Could it be strange?”

At Seo Ji-hyun’s question, I bit my lip.

It was just a gut feeling, but it seemed like something odd was going on.