Ignoring the answer that came back, pretending not to hear it, I stroked Cha Woodan’s head. After petting him for a while longer, when I withdrew my touch, he lifted me into his arms as if he’d been waiting.
“Where’s Cha Jeoh?”
“He went to the club room first.”
Cha Jeoh seemed to have moved ahead and was meeting with Ponytail. Come to think of it, unlike helping me wake up by wiping me down and arranging my clothes, the one who had first woken me from deep sleep wasn’t Cha Woodan’s voice but Cha Jeoh’s. After confirming I’d barely come to my senses, he seemed to have headed to the club room first.
Cha Woodan, who had firmly supported me, began to move his steps. Leaning against his unwavering embrace, I stared at the black collar that was so terribly maintaining its position. Then, at a thought that suddenly bloomed, I raised my head.
“…Why am I being carried to move around?”
I had completely forgotten due to it being too familiar. It had been after Hanul High’s main building reached a state of perfect control under Ponytail’s leadership, and because of that, I didn’t need to close my eyes even when going outside the art room and wandering the hallways or other floors. It wasn’t freedom that had started just yesterday—quite some time had passed.
However, this kind of thing still happened occasionally. Partly because I’d become too accustomed to being carried in the twins’ arms to move around, and partly because regardless of what happened inside the main building, I inevitably had to be held by them to walk around outside, so it remained ingrained in my body.
‘Even if I forgot for a moment, it doesn’t seem like Cha Woodan didn’t know.’
When I occasionally acted this way, the twins would think “perfect” and hold me without refusing. As expected, this time being no different, Cha Woodan looked down at me with a calm smile.
“That’s right, isn’t it? I completely forgot too.”
“……”
“It’s too much trouble to put you down again, so shall we just move like this?”
It wasn’t even surprising anymore. I quietly leaned my head against his chest. Cha Woodan, who understood the meaning without difficulty, opened the art room door and stepped into the hallway.
Unlike me, who had the latest wake-up time in Hanul High, everyone was moving busily from this hour, performing their respective roles. Of course, objectively speaking it wasn’t that early a time, but from my perspective, it wasn’t.
Leaving behind the avoidance and fleeing directed at me that I’d grown accustomed to, and the familiar-designed cloaks, we went down to the lower floor. Not long after reaching the club room, one student standing in front of it discovered us and hurriedly opened the door.
Cha Woodan stepped into the club room.
“Hayoung-ah.”
I turned my head following the sound of Cha Jeoh’s voice. Cha Jeoh, whose eyes met mine, grinned happily as always. He’d just woken me up and left a few minutes ago, yet anyone watching would think he was reuniting with someone he’d been apart from for at least a day or two.
Meanwhile, as expected, Cha Jeoh’s collar was hanging around his neck unchanged. Unlike Cha Woodan, thanks to wearing dark navy athletic clothes, the leash was camouflaged by the protective coloring and not very visible, which was fortunate.
When Cha Jeoh pulled out the chair next to him, Cha Woodan carefully sat me on it. As I sat still and straightened my posture, I felt piercing gazes not only from across the table but from all over the club room.
Looking across the desk first, Ponytail, who I immediately met eyes with, flinched. Soon she awkwardly pulled up the corners of her mouth.
“D-did something happen to the hallway windows or doors?”
“No.”
“I thought so, right? Since you came being carried by Cha Woodan, I wondered just in case…”
Not only that, she seemed to have many other things she wanted to ask. When I waited for her to speak as if telling her to go ahead, Ponytail didn’t miss the opportunity and carefully opened her mouth.
“I asked Cha Jeoh this just a moment ago too. That collar—you gave it to the twins as a gift?”
That was the truth.
“And you earnestly asked them to never take it off their necks no matter what happens, is that true?”
But that was a lie.
Narrowing my eyes thinly, I looked back at Cha Jeoh sitting beside me. Then he rolled his eyes away from me as if he knew nothing. It was a ridiculous sight.
Turning my head back to look at Ponytail, she flinched even more strongly than before, startled by something. Then she hurriedly raised both hands and waved them.
“Of course I don’t mean it’s a problem. If that’s what you want, Hayoung, then that’s what should be done.”
Before I could open my mouth to deny it, Ponytail carefully added.
“It’s just that we’re a little worried. That the collar might… end up establishing itself as a symbol of the Church of Hayoung.”
For example, like the cloaks. Even without continuing that afterthought, I could understand well enough, and could also foresee the situation that would come in the not-too-distant future.
How disgusted had I been at the sight of not only Lee Gojun but all the survivors in Hanul High wearing cloaks? Even now, not only Ponytail in front of me but also all the club-affiliated survivors here were wearing cloaks.
But if collars were added on top of that, the situation that would unfold was sufficiently horrifying without having to witness it with my own eyes. I already felt overwhelmingly responsible just from the two twins’ collars.
It seemed I’d have to talk separately with the twins and discuss the collars. Swallowing a weary sigh, I first brought up the topic I’d originally prepared.
“Did you already hear the general idea from Cha Jeoh?”
“Yeah. We also think it’s better to go out directly and experience real combat. If one of the twins accompanies us along with Lee Gojun, there’s no worry about safety.”
“You can arbitrarily divide and form the groups. Call us when you’re ready to depart.”
As I continued conveying several main points, I slowly closed my mouth.
‘…Now that I think about it.’
Clearly when I first decided to stay at Hanul High, I was told I didn’t have to do anything, and I thought so too. But how did it end up like this?
‘Where did it start going wrong…’
“Kim Hayoung?”
I raised my head. Staring at Ponytail blinking her wide-open eyes, I finished the words I’d cut off.
“I think it would be good to form groups based on survivors who aren’t club members.”
“Ah, yeah. I’ll prepare it that way.”
Ponytail expressed agreement without objection. In the first place, had Ponytail ever shown even a bit of refusal to the opinions the twins or I presented, even if she expressed concerns?
It felt exactly like being a dictator king. And the fewer loyal subjects a king had, the more wise and clever that king himself had to be.
‘…There’s no need to worry this much.’
If I raise their skills appropriately, they’ll survive on their own. If push comes to shove, I can just leave this place with the twins and the Lee brothers and find a new base. Thinking so, I idly wiggled my toes.
***
Unlike when going to the club room, I walked to the auditorium on my own feet. Opening the tightly closed door and entering, a vast scene I could never get used to spread before my eyes.
Unlike last time, survivors weren’t gathered in the auditorium today, but that didn’t mean the subtle sense of intimidation or atmosphere had completely disappeared. Moreover, several more paintings had increased to fill the walls in the meantime, making it seem like something sacred had only intensified.
I think I’m starting to respect this bastard…, Cha Jeoh’s voice muttering that faintly approached and brushed past my ears.
Making an effort to take my eyes off the paintings, I looked around. In one corner of the auditorium, I saw a single figure on the platform diligently doing something alone. Who it might be was obvious without trying to look closely, so I headed straight there.
Lee Gojun, who belatedly sensed an unfamiliar presence, quickly raised his head. His eyes meeting my presence widened greatly, then soon tinged with a brilliant light, sparkling dazzlingly. Despite not having seen each other for that long, his reaction was no less than the twins’, as if having a reunion of the century.
Soon Lee Gojun jumped down from the platform and ran to me. I tried not to look at the cloak fluttering beautifully behind his back, but there was no way to forcibly prevent it from inevitably entering my field of vision.
“…The design changed again?”
He must have caught my low muttering. Soon Lee Gojun, who reached right in front of my nose, caught his breath for a moment, then bloomed a bright smile.
“I made several spare cloaks and still had time left, so I tried adding a bit of pattern. How is it, is it okay?”
Lee Gojun turned his back to show me the cloak he was wearing. In addition to before when black embroidery had been embedded all over the pure white cloth, this time small silver threads bloomed between each black embroidery. Meanwhile, whether he’d put his heart and soul into selecting the design and adopting candidates, the mixed two-colored embroidery matched pleasingly without any cluttered corners.
Taking in how I was just blankly staring at that cloak, Lee Gojun proudly fiddled with his own cloak.
“I wanted it too, but the friend in charge of making our Church of Hayoung’s cloaks is quite passionate.”
“……”
“They said they couldn’t stand not making something for you. Even though I told them we already had sufficient spare upon spare cloaks prepared.”
So I had to give them work like this, Lee Gojun calmly added. I wanted to ignore and pass over those nonsensical words as usual, but perhaps because it was so shocking, that wasn’t easy.
I didn’t know whether to view this as the crime of brainwashing and gaslighting, or the crime of labor exploitation. No, since they said they wanted it so much themselves, could it not be considered labor exploitation?
“Right, Hayoung-ah!”
Lee Gojun clapped his hands together with a sound. Then, holding vivid expectations in eyes sparkling even more than just before.
“Where’s my gift?”
