episode_0369
by fnovelpiaOn a day in October.
The face reflected in the mirror belonged to someone else.
(There must be something wrong with the mirror. Why would someone with money use a weird mirror like this? Change it.)
(Ban Harin-ssi. Please stay quiet.)
Having taken the form of Ban Harin, Yeonbunhong Mongsil met Yang So-a.
A woman who introduced herself as an A-rank Hunter from Team 4 of the [Rare Hunter Protection-Execution Division].
Did she come to kill Ban Harin to take the [Rare Hunter] Galaxy for herself…?
Still, she didn’t seem to actually intend harm—she just snapped my neck and left.
After that, I encountered a bizarre spiderweb apparition in [Euncheon Park] and barely escaped,
then took the form of Kang Nari and saved a dying ‘Mouse’.
Using the [Composition Replacement] skill to seal the ‘Mouse’s wounds.
Because of that, though Galaxy herself was left covered in wounds, her flesh and organs torn apart… At least it hurt less than being sawed apart by the [Red Woman].
‘Saving someone’s life, huh. It’s worth the pain.’
Along the way, I realized something.
When I become someone else, my [Self-Recovery] skill stops working.
Thanks to that, I had to stitch up the ‘Mouse’ while leaking blood and organs everywhere,
and just when I thought I might actually die, my regenerative abilities finally returned… By the time I fully recovered, I was back to my original soft, squishy body.
In other words, transformation only lifts after dying once.
[Self-Recovery] stops working while transformed.
‘Huh. Then did Yang So-a really intend to kill me when she snapped my neck?… Kinda makes me salty. Next time we meet, I’ll comb her cotton candy hair with a fine-tooth comb. Rip it all out.’
The ability of a ‘mirror apparition’ to become someone else.
But in the end, because it was Galaxy, she saved the ‘Mouse’.
‘Still, Ban Harin-ssi helped out in the end…… As long as everyone’s safe, I guess it’s fine.’
A soft, squishy fist with nothing but good regenerative abilities.
A perpetually F-rank Hunter.
Galaxy, just a little,
felt glad she was like this.
Splash! Splash!
She thought positively.
What if it had been someone else?
If Kang Nari herself had been there, could she have saved the ‘Mouse’?
Maybe it was possible, but nobody would’ve escaped unhurt the way they did now.
(Yang So-a… the more I think about it, she’s kinda ambiguous.)
(In the end, I was the one who got her neck snapped, and the apparition seems ambiguous too… Maybe I’ll keep watching for now.)
She wished everything could be resolved peacefully, without anyone getting hurt.
Reflecting on the long day, Galaxy steeled herself.
Two things remained.
To ask Ban Harin about her current physical state and the [Rare Hunter Protection-Execution Division],
and—
to deal with the ones who attacked the ‘Mouse’.
(If Ban Harin dies, the ‘Rare Hunter’ would fall under their jurisdiction, right?)
(Mhm…… ‘New Director’s orders…)
(Without anyone knowing?)
(Mhm… Leaking it is prohibited… The mission is top secret too…… Nobody must kn…)
Recalling Yang So-ha’s words, tracking down and handling the Hunter Association’s secret division, specializing in protective surveillance, would be difficult for the soft and sluggish Galaxy.
She hadn’t even noticed Yang So-a keeping an eye on her over the past few days.
So she decided—
to leave it be.
They probably thought Ban Harin was dead, so even without Galaxy seeking them out, they’d approach on their own.
As for the rest, she could think about it later.
‘Ah… Good thing I made friends with apparitions.’
Splash! Splash!
Galaxy curled her lips upward.
She was glad she was this version of herself.
【Why are you smiling?】
Splash!
Late at night, in the bathroom.
The [Mirror Apparition], who had just dunked Galaxy into the bathwater, muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. Prolonged bathing may be harmful to your health.
– Bathing is good for fatigue recovery and blood circulation.
– However, bathing for more than 30 minutes is discouraged.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pressing down on Galaxy’s shoulders and large chest, the apparition tried to drown her in the cold water.
The [Mirror Apparition], identical as a twin, glared down at Galaxy pinned beneath her with a face full of dissatisfaction.
Squelch.
At the apparition’s muttering, Galaxy, submerged in the bathwater, gestured weakly.
The [Mirror Apparition], frowning, pulled her out from the water.
Splash!
Galaxy spat out the water filling her lungs and looked up at the [Mirror Apparition].
Her vision was blocked by the large chest, only allowing faint glimpses of eyes.
So crude.
【Why are you smiling?】
“The water’s cold.”
Glance…
The [Mirror Apparition] checked the bathwater.
Time had passed, and because of her, the [Apparition], the water had turned ice-cold.
【……】
Squeak…
Frowning with dissatisfaction, the [Mirror Apparition] turned on the hot water.
“Much better now.”
Splash!
Galaxy dunked [Galaxy] back into the water.
The submerged Galaxy frowned.
No matter how many times she experienced it, the sensation of suffocation never got easier.
The feeling of falling into endless darkness, slipping further from life.
Flailing her arms, desperate to grasp something, she eventually clung to the ‘someone’ pressing her down.
Splash! Splash!
Someone identical, like a twin.
Ever since encountering the apparition, meeting this hostile ‘someone’ daily was always chilling, unsettling enough to freeze her body stiff at times.
“……”
【My spot.】
But as time passed,
like warm water mixing into the cold bath.
The chilling hostility gradually softened into something lukewarm.
So Galaxy couldn’t bring herself to fully hate the apartment’s apparitions.
“……”
Splash!
Galaxy pinned [Galaxy] underwater.
Their skin pressed together, squishing the large chest bigger than their heads.
Perfectly identical twins.
An indistinguishable, petty struggle—who was dunking who?
【Feel free to resent me.】
【……】
Galaxy.
[Galaxy].
And so, for a long while,
they took turns drowning each other in the now-warm bathwater.
Time passed.
……
……
……
“Unni… Wanna try playing a prank together?”
“What kind of prank?”
One day.
Returning home, ‘you’ spoke to ‘me’ in the bath.
An invitation to bathe together for the first time in a while—your skin was wonderfully soft.
……
This place is the world inside the mirror.
The town where our stories intertwined.
“We’re twins… Let’s try switching roles.”
“……”
“Tomorrow, you’ll be me, and I’ll be you.”
A silly prank.
A conversation shared while embracing each other in the cramped bathtub.
Looking back, ‘you’ always acted mischievous at the strangest times.
Like calling your younger sister ‘Unni’.
So it happened.
Because such mischief was familiar,
I played along this time too, pretending to fall for ‘your prank’.
……
Drip. Drip.
Perfectly identical twins.
Gazing at reflections of ourselves in the bathwater.
We only resembled each other on the surface.
The older sister, ‘you’, had everything.
The younger sister, ‘me’, had nothing.
“It’s okay. You’ll make good friends someday.”
“Don’t call me Unni.”
You insisted that the twin born later was the older sister,
so when alone, ‘you’ called ‘me’ Unni.
Outwardly identical, we’d occasionally swap roles for fun.
Yesterday was ‘you’,
today was ‘me’,
and tomorrow would be ‘you’ again.
“No way! First place again?! What’s your secret?”
“Hah… Haha… Yeah. First place.”
The younger sister, ‘me’, learned to blend in.
Studying from ‘you’, making friends too.
The world you saw was so warm it made me jealous.
“Another bath? Now you spend longer in there than I do.”
“It’s relaxing… Join me.”
The older sister, ‘you’, learned tranquility.
Baths always over 30 minutes.
You said the world I saw was peaceful, comfortable—
enough to make you jealous.
Like a mirror, opposites in everything,
yet somehow strangely alike in odd ways.
“……Unni.”
“What.”
Perfectly identical twins.
No one noticed we’d switched.
Friends, teachers,
not even our parents.
“Should we… keep living like this? With me as the younger sister?”
“……”
“If we were opposites, would life be happier?”
Even the twin ‘me’ didn’t realize
that ‘you’, always so perfect, were gradually changing…
……
“…Dunno.”
“Unni?”
“I said don’t call me Unni. If you’re done, move. That’s my spot.”
All I ever wanted was for ‘you’ to be happy.
Seeing ‘you’, my twin sister, happy,
felt like the ‘me’ in the mirror smiled too,
making the ‘me’ facing you happy as well.
But in this space with no room left for ‘me’,
the only thing left was ‘you’.
“…No.”
“Huh?”
“This is… my spot.”
It was me who lacked,
who wanted to be like you.
But in the end, we were just mirrors.
……
……
Click—
“Welcome back! You’re late toda—”
“……Unniii…”
One day.
‘The younger sister’ returned home limping on one leg, clothes filthy with blood and dirt.
She’d fought with ‘Unni’s friends’, she said.
I never learned why.
Was that ‘you’?
Or was it ‘me’?
What wounded her?
I can’t remember now.
“What’s the mea—”
“It’s okay.”
“……”
“I’m… fine. This was my place to begin with.”
If I could take your place—
would we have been happy?
One thing was certain.
“Sorry, Unni… All this time, only I was happy…”
My story.
Wasn’t a happy ending.
……
“Move. That’s my spot.”
“No.”
We fought more often after that day.
Over trivial things.
Insisting on playing the ‘younger sister’ role that day.
Or telling me not to worry about you.
A poor household’s,
unexpected twins’,
imperfect younger sister.
‘You’, who had everything, seemed determined to take even ‘my spot’.
“Get out. I want to bathe alone.”
We grew distant, one step at a time.
Once mirrors facing each other,
that single backward step widened the gap between us,
until we couldn’t reach each other even stretching our arms.
Regret was all that remained in my outstretched hand.
That day was the same.
“……Isn’t your bath taking too long?”
Following my younger sister ‘me’,
your baths always lasted over 30 minutes.
But after one hour, two—
‘You’, who insisted on bathing alone, never came out.
“……”
If only we hadn’t fought.
If only I’d corrected your habit of long baths.
Could things have ended differently?
……
Thud.
Three hours after ‘you’ entered the bathroom.
Frantic, I opened the door and stepped inside.
The bathwater was cold.
“……What are you doing?”
“……”
“Get up. Stop joking.”
The water was red.
You slept soundly, clutching a box cutter in your hand.
……On the cutter,
was my name.
“Get up…!”
Splash!
I stepped into the tub.
Shook you awake.
Why—
That question alone escaped my throat,
but your body was as cold as the water.
“Why… why would you…”
Sound asleep, ‘you’.
Would you tell me why now?
Did you feel guilty after those you called ‘friends’ tormented me, your younger sister?
Or was it the life insurance our parents had taken out years ago in ‘my name’?
Or maybe…
Had you grown to hate ‘me’?
“……”
I never learned why.
Stories always end abruptly.
‘You’ left without a word,
lying in the tub as the imperfect younger sister.
Because the one who loved baths was me.
“That’s my spot…! That’s…!”
Splash! Splash!
I shook you awake.
Tried submerging you too.
Hoping you’d wake.
Splash! Splash!
Throw you into cold water,
and your suffocating ‘self’ would jolt awake,
scolding me furiously, drowning ‘me’ the way ‘I’ did—
killing me.
I prayed.
“Why… why did you…?”
The water you drowned in was so cold,
I worried you’d be cold. You’d catch a chill—
so I turned on the warm water.
Futile.
“Why… why……”
Perfectly identical twins.
Inside the mirror was ‘you’.
Always,
my life had ‘you’.
“Whhyyyy……!”
But in the end,
there was no place for ‘me’.
You were gone.
Leaving only regret.
……
……
This place is the world inside the mirror.
A town where ‘my spot’ no longer exists.
“How sad…”
“But at least the older sister is safe.”
“……”
Time flowed through my hollow heart.
In a world without ‘you’, the ‘me’ who lost my place lived on as ‘you’.
Perfectly identical twins.
No one noticed.
Friends, teachers,
not even our parents.
“……”
I lived.
As ‘you’.
“First place again. Amazing.”
I learned from you.
How to blend in with life.
I became you,
you became me.
We continued this prank known to none.
I never followed ‘you’ in picking up a box cutter.
Such an end didn’t suit ‘you’, loved by all.
I wanted the world to remember how dazzling ‘you’ were,
living brightly, more than anyone.
With no ‘you’ left to stop me, embarrassedly—
I lived as I pleased.
“……”
But no matter how much I wanted to replace ‘you’,
the imperfect twin ‘me’ was lacking.
On hard days… I’d sink into warm bathwater with a happy smile.
Because ‘you’ in the water would smile back.
It gave me strength.
The will to keep living.
‘Me’ became ‘you’,
and ‘you’ remained inside my heart.
Drip—
Perfectly identical twins.
Wishing only for each other’s happiness.
……On our parents’ last day.
If only I could’ve told them, face-to-face,
that ‘me’ hadn’t died ‘that day’.
If only ‘you’ had seen their distorted expressions then.
“……”
So please,
let me live through this hell in your place.
In this place where not a single soul mourns the disappearance of beloved ‘you’,
let me mourn you alone.
If we’re granted another life—
“……That was my spot.”
Let’s meet again.
I’ll find happiness myself,
just—
let’s meet again.
I pray to the skies.
……
……
Thus, the regrets of someone reflected in the mirror finally reached the heavens,
and ‘that thing’ rose from the darkness.
【My spot.】
And it walks.
Endlessly.
Searching for the place it lost,
for ‘someone’ sitting in its stead.
……
……
Splash!
Eventually.
The lost ‘me’ met ‘you’.
“Cough! Cough—!”
【……】
Softer than anyone.
Galaxy rose from the water.
Just as she’d once wished for ‘you’, drowned in cold bathwater.
No matter how often she’s dunked, she stubbornly resurfaces and grabs ‘me’.
Splash!
The bathwater reflected ‘you’, smiling.
“Seriously, I won’t die! Wanna swap places?!”
Splash! Splash!
When ‘you’, who I thought I’d never reach again,
emerged from the mirror, struggling to pin me down—
Every time I watch ‘you’ claw your way back from the cold water,
does ‘you’ know what emotions well up inside ‘me’?
Plop!
The water was comfortably warm now.
“Hah! Amateur!”
【……】
We resembled the mirror.
Stretching my hand only met cold glass.
……So,
what was it I truly wanted?
I revisited an old question.
……Squelch.
Finally.
[Galaxy], dragged underwater by Galaxy,
pulled Galaxy into a tight embrace.
“Huh…”
【……】
Galaxy, who’d been pressing [Galaxy] forcefully, froze.
So soft.
After a moment, [Galaxy] hurriedly lifted Galaxy’s face above water…
After brief hesitation,
she hugged back with her usual smile.
Drip…
Baths over 30 minutes.
Time for easeful peace.
【…Too tight.】
In the warm tub, hugging each other.
Their pressed-together chests, flat as pancakes, made breathing hard.
“Ughh. Just ‘cause yours are bigger doesn’t make you better.”
【Yeah. Your body’s yours.】
[Galaxy] chuckled, meeting Galaxy’s eyes.
Taking that single step closer, the twins once mirrored apart finally touched.
【How was today?】
“Hm? Well, it helped a lot. Saving ‘Mouse’-ssi, and Ban Harin-ssi’s safe too.”
【……】
“I’m glad the mirror ‘apparition’ turned out to be someone like you.”
In the end, ‘me’ couldn’t become ‘you’.
Because this ‘you’ sees ‘me’ as I am.
【…Then it’s enough.】
Drip…
And so, [Galaxy],
silently submerged in warm water,
held Galaxy’s soft body tightly, endlessly.
【It’s enough… That way.】
The ‘me’ reflected in the mirror,
was smiling just like ‘you’.
A warm night.
……
……
“……”
At that moment.
In the dark 9th floor of ‘Morning Star Apartments’.
“……”
Rustle…
Ban Harin absentmindedly brushed her fingers over her face.
Leaning against the entrance of [Room 904], she blankly gazed at the night sky.
The gigantic [Red Moon], slit-pupiled like a reptile’s eye, stared down at her from the dark heavens.
“……”
【Oh? You came after all.】
Click!
Then, a ‘rabbit plushie’ ascended the stairs from the 8th floor.
Bouncing toward Ban Harin, the pale rabbit-eared girl twitched her ears.
“I’m still human. No need to worry.”
【Alright then… I’ll trust you for now, Miss Liar.】
Tap.
The ‘rabbit plushie’, now beside Galaxy’s door, handed Ban Harin a canned beer.
Accepting it, Ban Harin offered a chapssaltteok from her plastic bag.
“Housewarming rice cake.”
【Ah.】
“…Galaxy-nim didn’t seem to notice you.”
【Maybe.】
Fizz…!
Leaning against the doorway, Ban Harin and the rabbit.
Silently drinking beer under the night sky.
A distance slowly widened since May, when Galaxy found the [Black Book], like retreating from a mirror.
Yet here they were.
At Galaxy’s doorstep.
All that remained was waiting for her to open the door.
Be it her heart’s door,
or the entrance she now leaned against.
Both would always stay by Galaxy’s side.
【Somehow, we made it this far.】
“Behind Galaxy-nim’s back, no less.”
【…Isn’t sneaking into the apartment behind Unni fun? One by one.】
“If she catches us, she might faint. Could you handle that?”
They gazed upward.
Clinking beer cans.
【Would getting caught now be okay?】
“…Guess so.”
A night of sparkling stars.
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