Chapter 442 – Exploration (5)
The golden time given to find a missing person is approximately 48 hours.
From that perspective, the search for the missing woman, Jo Yeon-hee, had no choice but to start with a disadvantage from the start.
No, in fact, if the target of disappearance is not only Jo Yeon-hee but also young men and women in their 20s or early to mid-30s, it is likely that they will miss the golden time.
Because?
Two to three days is a short time to be certain that a grown man and woman are missing.
It was like that when I saw Jo Yeon-hee’s mother, Lee Yeon-sook, crying and pleading at the police station.
In fact, I thought the probability that Jo Yeon-hee was alive was not very high.
However, she just wanted to be liberated.
Because I know better than anyone else how cruel the pain caused by long waits and the hope of not knowing is.
So, although I am very happy with the current situation.
“Mr. Jo Yeon-hee… ?”
“Yes, I’m Jo Yeon-hee… , Who are you?”
It was confusing at the same time.
I have participated in dozens or hundreds of missing person searches so far and have reached different ends, but this is the first time I have encountered an ending like this.
Five days after going missing… , No, a woman over six days old is alive.
He even appeared very friendly with the person he presumed to be the culprit.
I organize my mind, which has suddenly become a mess, as quickly as possible.
“… “Have you been here for the past six days?”
“Yes… , Ma, that’s right.”
Jo Yeon-hee blushes and nods her head.
There is only shame in that appearance, and there is no sign of any discomfort or rejection.
The flow of magical power is stable, so there seems to be no possibility of being attacked by a mental attack.
If this were to happen, the only conclusion would be that the two of you were doing this and that for the past six days, so much so that you didn’t even notice the passage of time…
Does that make sense?
Even thinking about it, it was so absurd that I almost burst out laughing.
“Hey, over there. “What on earth is going on?”
After asking her about this and that, when she closes her mouth, she becomes anxious and asks again.
There are so many things to organize due to unexpected circumstances.
But in the end, priorities are determined.
The first thing to do now is to return her to her mother, who is waiting for her at home and can’t even get a sip of water out of her mouth.
“… Let’s go home first. “Her mother is anxiously waiting for Jo Yeon-hee.”
* * *
The reunion of her mother and daughter, who had been apart for six days, was touching.
“Hey, Yeonhee!”
“Mom… !”
Just until the beginning.
“Ugh, you Gigi-bae… ! “How can you not contact your mom at least once!”
“I’m sorry, Mom! “I was wrong.”
“Where on earth and what have you been doing all this time? “Why don’t you say it the right way?!”
“Well, I was just at a friend’s house!”
After the joy of reunion, there is only nagging.
But even that wasn’t bad.
It’s still confusing, but as long as you’re alive, it doesn’t matter.
Thinking like that, I try to win her heart, but… , In fact, there are still a lot of things I don’t understand.
‘There are too many unclear details to just pass it off as a good thing.’
The first thing that caught her mind was her smartphone, which had been turned off for six days.
It wasn’t that there was no battery.
No, even if it wasn’t there, if you were at Kim Taeyang’s house, you could charge it as much as you want.
Yet she didn’t even leave a single message, let alone call my mom.
‘Jo Yeon-hee’s friends said that Jo Yeon-hee loves her mother very much.’
Her daughter, who said she loved her mother so much, cut off contact with her for six days?
It was difficult to understand.
The next thing that aroused his doubts was the facial expression Kim Tae-yang made when he came face to face with himself as he burst into the house.
‘He asked me what was going on at my house, but his expression didn’t show that.’
A little different than that.
‘It’s like he was waiting for me to come find him…’ .’
Maybe that’s why it felt very strange.
I should have felt relieved that I had solved the problem, but that wasn’t the case at all.
It felt as if I had gone up on stage with all the preparations completed and stepped down after finishing my performance not of my own volition, but of my own volition, hanging on a thread connected to someone else’s fingertips.
That strange discomfort made me doubt everything.
‘If it was all planned by Kim Tae-yang from beginning to end… , No, that’s not right.’
Wasn’t his involvement in this incident a combination of coincidence and paternal love?
‘Am I overreacting?’
Maybe so.
Just because he doesn’t like Kim Tae-yang, he may be trying to catch something that could be harmful to him.
I was shaking my head lightly to relieve some of the complicated thoughts in my head.
“Hunter Dojin Kim, thank you so much.”
After her emotional reunion with her daughter, she approached her helpless face and lowered her head.
“You went through a lot of trouble to find our Yeonhee, haha… “I’m really sorry.”
“No. “I’m glad nothing happened.”
“Thank you for thinking that way.”
She repeatedly lowered her head and slapped her daughter’s back as she stood there awkwardly and scolded her.
“Please say thank you quickly too! Do you know how much trouble this person and the police went through because of you?!”
“Aya! Crime… , Sorry.”
Kim Do-jin’s gaze, smiling bitterly, turns to Jo Yeon-hee’s face as she bows her head and offers her apology, unable to resist her mother’s bullying.
A reddish light can be seen in her eyes as she slightly turns her head, as if embarrassed.
And a very thin film covering it.
‘… Is it a lens?
I was puzzled.
I clearly remember that her visual acuity, as stated in the personal information received from the police, was over 1.2 in both cases.
‘I heard that there are lenses that are worn simply for fashion, but those…’
Fashion lenses are originally intended to change the original eye color.
But aren’t those lenses the same as your existing eye color?
Then, once, my thoughts changed.
‘What if that lens is what creates your current eye color?’
If that reddish color that occasionally shines through is the original color that the lens cannot hide.
Deepening doubts.
It was none other than her complaints that cut the string.
“Mom, I’m hungry. “I want to eat the food my mom cooked for the first time in a while, huh?”
“Ugh… “I’ve been out for six days, so it’s only then that I think about my mom’s food?”
“Hehe, no matter what I eat, what mom cooks is the most delicious.”
Lee Yeon-sook, who was captivated by her daughter’s charm, bowed her head towards Kim Do-jin once again before entering her house.
“I’ll just go in now, Hunter. “I was really grateful.”
Kim Do-jin, who finally came to her senses, smiled at her mother and daughter and answered.
“No, thanks. You must be tired, so go in and rest. “I’ll just go now.”
After she said hello, the mother and daughter entered the shabby house, fighting.
Kim Do-jin looked at the mother and daughter for a long time and then turned his back.
* * *
Inside an old and shabby room.
I sit on the creaky vanity chair, look at her in the mirror, and take out her lenses.
“Ugh, my eyes hurt.”
Eyes that had a slight brown tint regain their original color.
The color of the eyes that was finally revealed was bright red, like blood.
This was the only drawback to her abilities.
“It’s great when your eyes change too.”
The name of her trait is Shroud (壽衣).
A shroud usually refers to the clothes worn on her corpse, but her characteristics work a little differently.
“Ugh, it’s stuffy. “I want to take it off.”
She can wear a corpse.
In this way, she can completely transform into the corpse’s original appearance.
It is different from transformation that is just a trick.
From head to toe.
Since it is covered with the original owner’s biological tissue, it is not subject to any tests.
Just one thing.
Except for the eyes, which turn red when covered in corpses.
Of course, even this can be hidden to some extent through a specially designed lens.
Instead, you have to endure eye pain in the meantime.
She declared.
My characteristic is said to have unparalleled performance among similar transformation characteristics.
That’s why she was curious.
“How did my mother know… ?”
After fixing all her makeup, Jo Yeon-hee stands up and opens the door.
The food that was warm just a moment ago has already become cold, and the mother of this body is tied up with blue tape all over her body and is glaring at me as if she is going to kill me.
It was okay when I sat down with a table full of delicious food.
Then, as soon as she could pick up her chopsticks, she started shouting who it was, so I tied her up as a makeshift measure.
“Huh… , Was the chopsticks special? “I don’t know.”
In fact, she didn’t really want to know.
Anyway, soon this body will die once again.
With my mother, the only family in this body.
“What good is a sign? A daughter and mother who could not stand poverty commit suicide together… , Wouldn’t that be bad?”
“Town… , Ugh, ugh!”
Lee Yeon-sook, whose mouth is blocked by tape, cries out incessantly.
Jo Yeon-hee approaches her and meets her eye level.
“This is all because of mom. Why did they make an S-class hunter stick to their tail…”
She was so surprised when she heard that Kim Do-jin had begun investigating the case.
Even though Kim Tae-yang manipulated this and that and kept his mouth shut, he pushed in so quickly.
If the club president hadn’t contacted me in advance, and if Kim Tae-yang had burned Jo Yeon-hee’s body or dropped it into the depths of the sea, the whole thing would have gone wrong before it even started.
“But anyway, a crisis is an opportunity.”
Although she was scared by Kim Do-jin who followed her up to her chin, she decided to use it against her.
The only problem is Jo Yeon-hee.
So she plans to stage her death once again by turning over this corpse.
This time she was with her mother.
Once the two people who are the only flaw in the plan are gone, no one will be able to come after them.
“Hmph, huh~♬”
Even humming to herself, she hangs two ropes from the kitchen ceiling.
“This is mom’s, this is…” , Mine.”
Preparation is over.
After putting her mother and daughter here, I will burn the whole house down.
In order to completely erase even the slightest traces that may remain on the corpse.
“Ugh… , Ugh… , Uuuuu-!”
He slowly approaches Yeon-suk Lee, who is constantly twisting her body and screaming.
“Hi, Mom. “See you in hell now?”
It was when she was trying to lift the woman who was tied up with tape, spitting out the truly cruel words on the face of her daughter, who she would miss even after her death.
Wajangchang!
One of the windows broke loudly, and something flew out and landed on her shoulder.
Plop!
“Ahh!”
Jo Yeon-hee falls down screaming from the terrible pain she feels in her shoulder.
She immediately grabbed her shoulders and lifted her body up.
A pair of eyes staring at me through the broken window.
“Ahhh…”
What was in those eyes was death.
It’s also the most terrible thing in the world.
