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Chapter 126

"Maybe they came here to evacuate..."

"But there hasn\'t even been an evacuation order. Rather than wasting time saying nonsense, shut up and find a weapon."

Thump, thump, thump...

As Yu-Hyun and Min-Seo engaged in meaningless conversation, the sound of footsteps drew closer. I held my breath and listened carefully. I wasn\'t sure who the other party was, but they weren’t alone. There were multiple footsteps, and they were irregular. At least two people were coming up the stairs.

However, we had three people on our side. Min-Seo could handle most situations independently, and I would help her if she couldn’t. Moreover, Yu-Hyun had the ability to distinguish taxidermied creatures from regular people, so most enemies wouldn\'t pose a threat to us.

"I think I can see something... Ah."

Min-Seo had been leaning her head over the railing when she suddenly looked up and saw Yu-Hyun.

"Get ready. You know, that eye thingy."

"Eye thingy? You know the blessing has a name, right?."

"Ah, whatever. Anyway, get prepared to use it."

"I’m a complete tool to you, aren’t I..."

Yu-Hyun grumbled and drew a circle around his eye. I didn\'t know the name, but it seemed like he could distinguish taxidermied creatures through the help of that blessing. Did he use that blessing when distinguishing the Voodoo Cult dolls during The Starless Night? Probably not.

According to the testimonies of those who survived that day, Yu-Hyun could identify the Voodoo Cult with his naked eye. Anyway, we greeted the two people coming up the stairs, anxiety evident on our faces.

It was Jin-Seo and Ha-Yeon. They were familiar faces, but we couldn\'t let our guard down since a taxidermied creature could appear at any moment.

Yu-Hyun first looked at Jin-Seo.

"Jin-Seo is... fake. Ha-Yeon is..."

Pzzzk!

At that moment, sparks flew from the circle drawn around Yu-Hyun\'s eye. The circle emitting a brilliant light disappeared as it turned into ashes. Yu-Hyun grimaced in pain and covered his right eye with his palm.

"Ah, damn it, I overused it!"

"Huh? You fucker! If there was a limit, you should have said it earlier!"

"Hey, I didn\'t expect to reach the limit this quickly!"

"You crazy bitch...! Anyway, you said Jin-Seo is a taxidermied creature?"

"Yeah, but I don\'t know about Ha-Yeon. My eye hurts so much, ah..."

Min-Seo took a stance.

"It\'s okay. I can beat Jin-Seo even with my bare hands."

Jin-Seo looked up at us from below the stairs. Her gaze was vacant. In her right hand, she held a sword she had used for sparring on the sacred training ground. Perhaps because it was in Jin-Seo\'s hand, the dull sword looked more threatening than a real one. I got the chills even though I knew the Jin-Seo in front of me was just a taxidermied creature.

"Min-Seo,” Jin-Seo said as she slowly closed the gap between us.

The sword she held dragged on the ground, making a sharp and chilling sound.

Min-Seo smiled and drew a blessing array, then spat at Jin-Seo.

"Don\'t you dare say my name. I’m disgusted."

"...Now is not the time for us to fight."

"Shut up, you orphan girl. I’m glad I don’t have to watch my language because you’re a taxidermied creature."

Ha-Yeon tried to stop the fight with a trembling voice. "Huh? Why are you guys suddenly trying to fight... And what are you guys doing, not stopping them...!"

Judging from the way she acted, it seemed like she was the real Ha-Yeon, but at the same time, it also seemed like she was not the real Ha-Yeon at all.

"..."

I assessed the situation and went into deep thought. Jin-Seo dragged her blade across the ground as she approached Min-Seo, and Min-Seo entered into a fighting stance.

Could Min-Seo defeat Jin-Seo? If so, that would be great, but if Min-Seo lost, I would inevitably have to engage in battle as well.

However, Jin-Seo couldn’t just be beaten with the help of blessings. I confirmed that during the sparring session this morning. If I used Bossou\'s power, I might be able to win, but I had just used Bossou\'s power a moment ago. I was afraid of the drawbacks. I was not one to shy away from putting my body on the line, but I didn\'t want to harm myself any more than necessary.

I couldn\'t just wait for Min-Seo to lose and then intervene either. Whether I stepped in now or later, the result would be similar. I had to think and find a way to defeat Jin-Seo without using Bossou\'s power. I had to combine all the information I had gathered so far to come up with the best conclusion.

Numerous pieces of information, the habits of the taxidermied creatures, Yu-Hyun\'s abilities, and Jin-Seo\'s personality floated in my mind. I organized them and tied them together as one.

"...Yu-Hyun."

He was still clutching his right eye, groaning in pain. Yu-Hyun looked up at me with his bloodshot left eye. I gave him my instructions.

"Why do you pick fights with me when I’m around?"

“You should ask your mom. Oh, right, you can\'t."

I put myself between them, intervening in their heated conversation, and mediated the fight.

"Don’t fight."

Jin-Seo looked at me, surprised, as she put her blade away. From her actions alone, she was no different from the real Jin-Seo. However, she was nothing more than a taxidermied creature. I could not forget that.

Min-Seo glared at me with raised eyebrows.

"What are you doing?"

"There\'s no need to fight. As Jin-Seo said, this isn’t the time for us to fight."

"What is this guy saying? Have you been bewitched?"

I casually ignored Min-Seo\'s sarcasm and approached Jin-Seo. I placed my hand on her shoulder. Jin-Seo\'s body trembled slightly. However, she didn’t push my hand away or show any signs of discomfort.

My hand moved up her shoulder and eventually started stroking her slender neck. Jin-Seo looked at me slightly, biting her lower lip.

"Wait, not here... It\'s too..."

"It\'s okay."

I reassured her, stopping her clumsy attempt to try to remove my hand. Suddenly, I grabbed her neck.

"Argh...!"

My fingertips dug into her throat. Her face began to turn blue, and her lips turned purple.

Her bloodshot eyes bore into me. I used my strength to lift her body off the ground. Jin-Seo kicked and scratched my arm with her feet and nails. It hurt, but I could endure it.

I signaled to Yu-Hyun.

"Yu-Hyun─!"

"Uh, yeah!"

Yu-Hyun raised his finger and aimed at Min-Seo. Along his finger, the light of blessing that flowed through Min-Seo\'s body transferred to me. My whole body was filled with strength. I channeled the wave of strength into my right arm and used the Blessing of Superhuman Strength to tighten my grip on Jin-Seo\'s neck even more.

Snap!

Jin-Seo’s neck made a renounced snapping sound. Sawdust and cotton seeped out from the gap created by the broken neck. I reached inside and pulled out a strand of hair. The pulled-out hair was black and thin.

Thud.

Finally, the taxidermied creature lost its strength and collapsed to the ground. As the body disappeared, it emitted black smoke. In the place of the taxidermied creature, only the clothes she was wearing and the sword remained.

"... Phew." I sighed and sat down in front of the taxidermied creature that was slowly disappearing into smoke. My plan was successful, but I was mentally exhausted.

Just before dying, Jin-Seo\'s bloodshot eyes flashed in my mind. I didn’t feel this way when I killed the taxidermied Sung-Hyun, but when I killed the taxidermied Jin-Seo, my heart felt strangely heavy.

It must have been because of the difference in how I killed them. Piercing the heart for an instantaneous kill versus slowly wringing the neck—it was obvious which one would cause more guilt. No?, even when I killed the taxidermied Sung-Hyun... I also felt a little uneasy inside. I just didn\'t show it.

"Ah, ugh. Gasp...!" Ha-Yeon made a strange sound and sat down hesitantly.

With her bloodshot eyes, she looked back and forth between me and the taxidermied creature, which turned into smoke and disappeared. Then she lowered her head and gagged.

Yu-Hyun was just about to approach Ha-Yeon but then stopped. Meanwhile, Min-Seo came up to me with a bewildered look on her face.

"Why did you interfere? Did you want to strangle Jin-Seo that badly? You’re insane."

"...Stop being ridiculous. I just resorted to a safer method."

A taxidermied creature\'s personality mirrored its original. The taxidermied creature representing In-Ah was very emotional, just like the real In-Ah. I assumed that the taxidermied version of Jin-Seo would also be friendly toward me, just like the real Jin-Seo.

So, I pretended to mediate the fight, calmed down the taxidermied creature, and smoothly twisted its neck. However, I wasn\'t confident that I could break its neck in one go with the help of blessing alone.

Therefore, I had given instructions to Yu-Hyun. To be exact, I told him to transfer Min-Seo\'s blessing to me when I called his name. With Min-Seo\'s blessing and the Blessing of Superhuman Strength, I could break the taxidermied creature\'s neck and subdue it in one shot. I gave my instructions after considering Yu-Hyun\'s ability to control the light of blessing to his will.

If I did it my way, I’d guarantee that I would be able to overpower Jin-Seo. If I trusted Min-Seo, there were many variables that I would have to consider, but if I trusted myself, those variables would all disappear. Thus, there was no reason to leave it all to Min-Seo.

"Safe method, my ass. You must have done that just to satisfy your personal desires."

"What kind of crazy fuck gets satisfied by choking someone?"

"You\'re a crazy fuck yourself, no?”

"No, I\'m not."

I had targeted the neck instead of the heart for a reason. When In-Ah and Gabriel\'s taxidermied creatures died, strands of hair were left in their place. In the spot where In-Ah\'s taxidermied creature died, there were brown strands of hair, and when Gabriel\'s taxidermied creature died, there were white strands of hair.

The main components of a taxidermied creature were leather, cotton, and sawdust. However, I suspected it was the hair inside that determined how the taxidermied creature behaved. For instance, if one put In-Ah\'s hair into a taxidermied creature with In-Ah\'s appearance, it would mimic In-Ah\'s behavior pattern.

In other words, if someone removed the hair inside the taxidermied creature\'s body, they could render the taxidermied creature powerless. I had executed my actions based on this speculation, but honestly, it was a gamble since I didn’t have enough evidence to back up my suspicions.

Anyway, my speculation was correct in the end, so it worked out well.

"Yeah, right, you crazy bastard..." Min-Seo muttered as she approached Yu-Hyun.

"Yu-Hyun, how many seconds is the cooldown for your eye thingy?"

"Hey, I’m telling you, don\'t call it eye thingy."

"Ha, ah. Haah..."

Ha-Yeon still had her head lowered deeply. It seemed like she was catching her breath and trying to stop herself from retching.

Yu-Hyun crouched down and looked at Ha-Yeon with one eye.

"Um... thirty minutes?"

"Damn, that\'s long. Hey, Ha-Yeon."

Min-Seo tapped Ha-Yeon\'s shoulder with her toe.

Ha-Yeon was startled and raised her head.

"Yes? Pant, pant. What?"

"You just saw that, right? The Jin-Seo you had just come with was a taxidermied creature. Then what would you be?"

"...I’m myself. I\'m not a dirty taxidermied creature like that...!"

"Then prove it. But how, you ask? You see, I\'ve been thinking about it."

Min-Seo stopped talking and took a breath.

I had a guess about her method of distinguishing between taxidermied creatures. We’d just have to see the blood. By checking whether it was blood or sawdust and cotton that flowed through Ha-Yeon’s body, we could confirm whether she was a taxidermied creature or not–

“Take off your clothes."

...Was she crazy?

Min-Seo stood up with her arms crossed and looked at Ha-Yeon up and down with a sly smile. Ha-Yeon slumped down and took hesitant steps backward, looking up at Min-Seo with a bewildered and fearful gaze.

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

"If you’re a taxidermied creature, there should be some traces of added leather on your body or at least something out of place, right? If not, you’d be a human. Am I wrong?"

"That\'s nonsense..."

"Ah, stop hesitating and strip. If you\'re embarrassed, I could get the boys to cover their eyes. Or should I undress you myself?"

As Min-Seo approached Ha-Yeon, she took a step backward, trembling in fear.

I didn\'t understand why she wanted to undress Ha-Yeon. Before I could suggest that it\'d be better to inflict wounds and see blood, Yu-Hyun suddenly grabbed her by the hair.

"There\'s nothing to see. This is a taxidermied creature."

Baaam!

Yu-Hyun’s thick forearms slammed Ha-Yeon\'s head against the ground. Ha-Yeon didn’t even get a chance to scream and immediately lost consciousness.

Bam!

Bam!

Bam!

Yu-Hyun repeatedly lifted Ha-Yeon\'s head and slammed it against the ground. It was such a sudden and unpredictable action that there was no time to prevent it from happening, even if I wanted to. Yu-Hyun and Min-Seo\'s actions were truly unpredictable.

Finally, chunks of sawdust started pouring out of Ha-Yeon\'s shattered head. Ha-Yeon’s head started bulging like it would burst at any moment. Without hesitation, Yu-Hyun threw her off of the staircase railing.

Puff...

With the sound of a deflating balloon, Ha-Yeon\'s swollen head shrunk. Black smoke spewed out of the head. As he looked at the rising smoke, Yu-Hyun\'s face was calm. Min-Seo and I stared at him in bewilderment. Sensing our gazes on him, Yu-Hyun chuckled awkwardly.

"You see, there was a scar on her hand that wasn\'t there before. So I killed it."

"A scar?"

Yu-Hyun opened his palm and showed it to us.

"There was a long scar on her left palm. I killed it right away because the real Ha-Yeon doesn\'t have any scars on her hands."

When Ha-Yeon used the blessing of purification, she injured her palm in the process. Although I healed Ha-Yeon’s wound, the healing array I had drawn was terribly sloppy, so a scar remained on Ha-Yeon\'s palm. In other words, the real Ha-Yeon also had the scar on the taxidermied version of her.

Fortunately, what Yu-Hyun had killed was a taxidermied creature. Yu-Hyun would have smashed her head without hesitation, regardless if it was the real Ha-Yeon or not. And he would have laughed casually after the deed was done.

He would say something along the lines of: Ah, you were the real deal. Sorry about that, but why do you have a scar on your hand?

Just thinking about that gave me the chills.

“A scar... hmm."

Unlike the calm Yu-Hyun, Min-Seo muttered with a serious expression as she looked at the taxidermied Ha-Yeon. The creature had turned into smoke and disappeared, leaving only the school uniform and white hair behind.

"I guess the appearance isn’t completely the same as the original? Just like the scar on Ha-Yeon\'s hand."

"Yeah, it seems like it. Kind of feels like a fun game of finding the wrong picture."

Come to think of it, the only remains of the taxidermied Jin-Seo left were the sword and clothes. But the rosary I had given her was nowhere to be found. The real Jin-Seo always wore the rosary that I gave her on her wrist. She even wore it when she exercised.

At first glance, the taxidermied creature looked real. But upon closer inspection, there were a few differences from its real counterpart. Why did the Satanist who pursued the ‘perfect taxidermy’ make such a mistake? If I delved into this, I thought I could find evidence of Satanist’s identity.

But currently, my mind wasn\'t working at all. The feeling of strangling the taxidermied Jin-Seo to death still lingered at my fingertips. I also felt a mixture of disgust and astonishment towards Yu-Hyun, who looked like he found this situation to be entertaining.

Yu-Hyun still had a creepy smile on his face as he stared at Min-Seo.

"But why did you insist on taking off the clothes? You could have just stabbed her with a blade to see if blood or cotton would come out."

"Ah, about that," Min-Seo replied nonchalantly. "I just was curious if vitiligo affects the entire body or not."

"Oh! I am a bit curious about that." Yu-Hyun genuinely played along.

"Ah..."

I bowed my head and covered my face. Being in the midst of this crazy duo made me feel like my sanity was slipping away.