079 – Haildo, Tracking the Witch # 1
Crash-!
A woman disguised with the same face and voice as Seo Ye-rim broke the window and fled.
I shouted as I watched her.
“Kkungkkungi! Bang Bang! Chase her!”
Pang-!
At my command, Kkungkkungi lunged outside like a released arrow.
However, Kkungkkungi and Bang Bang seemed lost in the dark outside.
—Growl…!
Kkungkkungi puffed its fur, glaring around.
The woman who had just been in our house had vanished from the dark fields as if she had evaporated.
I calmed my startled heart and knocked on the nymphs’ door.
Knock, knock-.
Soon, a rustling sound could be heard from inside.
Creeeeak- Beyond the opened door, Inoi rubbed its sleepy eyes.
“The owner of the house…! Is curious about what happened…!”
“Why did you wake up Illinois…?”
Inoi and Illinois seemed fine.
I told them.
“The Seo Ye-rim who just came was fake! The face and voice were completely the same! It was fake! I don’t know what’s going on! How can this be? What is happening?”
Was my explanation too lacking?
Illinois and Inoi looked like they didn’t understand the situation.
Chatter-.
After I added a few more sentences and explained the situation for about five minutes, Inoi was greatly surprised.
“I, Inoi, had no idea…!”
“Even Illinois was fooled for a moment…! A fake…. Fake Core…! This extremely nymph-hating act of deceit…. I want to file a complaint…! Please call a lawyer…!”
Even Illinois, who was with us, was tricked by the disguise.
No—.
Could it even be described as a disguise?
It was completely the real thing!
“Then where is the real Seo Ye-rim?”
I thought the real Seo Ye-rim must be somewhere.
So, I confirmed the safety of the nymphs and immediately went outside.
Clatter, clatter-.
The noise reached my ears.
When I opened the trunk of the electric car, wasn’t Seo Ye-rim tied up inside?
“The fake Core has appeared…! The act of tricking Illinois…! It is absolutely unacceptable and IMPOSSIBLE…. Blood punishment…! Let’s do it…!”
Nymph-beating-.
Illinois’s fist pounded Seo Ye-rim, who was tied up.
“This is the revenge of the nymph Illinois, who usually received little allowance…! And this is the share of Illinois, who had saved ice cream to eat alone but got it stolen…!”
Thud, thud, thud-.
After getting punched for a while, Seo Ye-rim spat out the gag from her mouth and said.
“Hey! What is this! Why are you hitting me?”
“Ah-! This voice is undoubtedly the true Core! In fact, Illinois knew about it…! I believed…!”
It was quite chaotic, but it seemed certain that Seo Ye-rim, trapped in the car trunk, was the real one.
What the hell happened?
I released the bindings that held Seo Ye-rim.
The rope was surprisingly ordinary.
“You’re tied up with such a plain rope.”
“That’s what I want to say! More importantly, where did that girl go? The one who cut my hair and tied me up like this! If I catch her, I’ll really burn her!”
Seo Ye-rim was unable to hold back her anger.
However, the astonishing thing was that even though Seo Ye-rim was this angry, the surrounding air had not heated up.
I felt that the situation was serious in many ways.
“Kkungkkungi, go call Ari.”
Ari was enjoying a vacation renting a room near our house.
I felt a bit sorry to call a junior who was on vacation at such a late hour.
About five minutes later?
Ari appeared in front of me, wearing light sweatpants.
“Senpai. You called me at this late hour? What’s going on?”
“The situation is urgent.”
“Urgent?”
“Look at this.”
Swoosh-.
I showed the hair-cut Seo Ye-rim to Yu Ara.
Yu Ara opened her narrow eyes, saying, “What is this—.” but soon seemed to grasp the situation.
I explained the recent events to Yu Ara well.
“You were attacked? A fake?”
Swoosh-.
I even showed her the CCTV footage.
Without a doubt, Seo Ye-rim’s figure was captured on CCTV, and even Yu Ara, who was watching, was startled and stiffened with tension.
“I think the disguise is so convincing that I would believe it’s the same person. It feels like some magic, not just a disguise. How did you realize it was a fake?”
Ari had sharp instincts.
To her, this strange woman did seem to look just like Seo Ye-rim.
Soon Illinois shouted as if realizing something.
“It must be clear that Core Ye-rim had a twin sister…! Otherwise, this situation is IMPOSSIBLE…!”
“……”
“It was a joke!”
I see.
However, Illinois’s words didn’t sound like a joke.
While continuing to review the CCTV, Yu Ara asked me.
“However, Senpai. How did you realize this elaborate fake?”
“How did I know?”
I too didn’t know at first.
But as time went on, she said something that Seo Ye-rim would never say to me. So, my ‘instinct’ rang.
I decided to speak honestly.
“She suddenly confessed that she liked me. Think about it. Does it make sense that Seo Ye-rim would tell me she likes me? I thought for sure she was either a fake or was being controlled.”
“What! What’s the reasoning for that?”
At my words, the real Seo Ye-rim grimaced.
Soon Yu Ara, who was listening from the side, clapped her hands in agreement with my words.
“That’s right! Ye-rim once said among girls that the man she dates should at least be A rank to match her level! Senpai is still B rank, so you wouldn’t even catch Ye-rim’s eye! I guess the fake didn’t know that!”
“Hey, when was that? Of course, whoever I date has to be at least A rank, but─.”
Indeed, Seo Ye-rim seemed to have high standards regarding the opposite sex.
Anyway.
I knew well that the great Seo Ye-rim was not someone who would create a mood and confess to me, and in reality, the identity of that person turned out to be fake.
A problem arose from here.
“What on earth was the purpose? Why did she go through the hassle of pretending to be Seo Ye-rim to approach me? What was she planning to do?”
What if—
If I had not realized the identity of the fake, what kind of terrible thing might have happened?
I was convinced that something unimaginable would occur.
Scary.
Night.
We decided to protect Seo Ye-rim’s identity.
This house was safe because it had Kkungkkungi, Bang Bang, and the honey ants as well.
It felt like deja vu.
Swoosh-.
Yu Ara pinched Seo Ye-rim’s side.
Seo Ye-rim coldly asked Yu Ara with her narrow eyes.
“What are you doing now?”
“Nothing, I was wondering if you might be a fake again. Setting up double traps isn’t hard at all. Aren’t you also a fake?”
“What about you?”
Yu Ara and Seo Ye-rim began bickering.
While watching them bicker, Inoi, who had been thinking for a while, spoke.
“It seems like they used ‘magic’…!”
Inoi’s words opened my ears wide.
“Magic? If it’s magic, you mean real magic, not just superpowers or the abilities of Awakened individuals? Like flying on a broomstick, turning people into frogs, and such?”
In the 21st century.
In the era of the fifth industrial revolution.
Even in this world where Awakened individuals exist, ‘magic’ was actually something close to a fantastical realm.
The supernatural powers of Awakened individuals came with certain defined rules and limits, so they couldn’t cross those boundaries.
Soon Inoi added.
“If they were able to deceive sensitive animals like myself and Illinois, it definitely must be the work of an extremely skilled wizard…! I believe it must be a terrifying witch…!”
A witch—.
At that story, my vision became dizzy.
The being that had once cursed me had come close to me once again.
“But if she came this close, it means we can track her…! If I, Inoi, have the materials, I can use tracking magic…!”
She can track a witch?
That was fortunate amidst the misfortune that had disturbed my day.
That witch.
If the tail is long, it’ll get caught!
Soon Illinois rubbed its hands with a mischievous smile.
“Indeed, tracking magic is something Illinois has heard of…! It was the magic used by the moon goddess’s followers, the nets of nymphs, when they tracked animals…!”
“Illinois! Let’s capture the moonlight in this glass bottle…!”
“Indeed, very good thinking!”
Inoi and Illinois hurriedly went up to the rooftop to prepare the so-called ‘tracking magic.’ I didn’t know what capturing moonlight in a glass bottle meant, but—
Seo Ye-rim, who was looking anxiously at those two, asked me.
“Hey. That fake didn’t say anything unnecessary, did she? Whatever she said was all lies! Don’t think it came from me!”
Seo Ye-rim was a celebrity.
It seemed she was anxious about someone impersonating her and spreading rumors.
I spoke to reassure Seo Ye-rim.
“It’s okay. I don’t believe in those kinds of lies. Probably the fake didn’t know what kind of relationship you and I had. So I’m glad about that.”
“What? What kind of relationship do we have?”
Seo Ye-rim opened her narrow eyes.
Soon Yu Ara, who was measuring blood pressure on Seo Ye-rim’s arm, chimed in.
“We’re not in any kind of relationship. Senpai is kind to everyone, but I think the fake might have ‘misunderstood.’ The kindness you show isn’t just for her. Right?”
Jingle, jingle-.
Yu Ara shook a glass bottle filled with milk tea.
“Giving me such a precious gift. It wouldn’t be strange if others thought, ‘Does he like me?’ I, for one, don’t have such misunderstandings—but Senpai, always remember that showing kindness to girls might lead to misunderstandings.”
I thought I should be more careful next time.
Anyway.
Yu Ara said that Seo Ye-rim’s condition was not good.
“The magical power concentration within her body has dropped to A rank. We’ll need more precise equipment to understand better, but… to suddenly drop in magical power like this—. It’s similar to what happened with Lee Joon-Hun.”
Seo Ye-rim seemed to have been cursed.
In a time when T-class rifts were appearing like mushrooms after rain, the curse on Seo Ye-rim was as serious as a national crisis.
The fate of the country rested on the nymphs who had gone up to the rooftop!
