# Chapter 53
A piercing cold wind swept through my entire body. I woke up naturally from the bone-chilling cold. As my foggy consciousness cleared, drowsiness slowly receded.
“Where is this…?”
I clearly remember passing out while looking at the moon yesterday. As I recalled this, my sluggishly blinking eyes flew open. I hurriedly got up and surveyed the room.
My hand touched a soft blanket. I should have passed out on the balcony, but I woke up on the bed. That wasn’t the only strange thing. When I lifted my hand to get up—
I saw dirt on my palm. I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the sight of fine sand and even bits of grass stuck to it. There shouldn’t be any soil inside the room. Since there weren’t even any potted plants, there was no way this could have gotten on me.
“No way…”
If my hands were like this, other parts might be too. With this thought, I quickly checked the rest of my body. Surprisingly, my body was clean—except for my feet. The last part I examined, my feet, had a significant amount of soil on them, just like my hands.
I stared blankly at the bed that had been ruined by the dirt. Nothing made sense. I came down from the bed, clutching my head at the bizarre phenomenon I’d encountered first thing in the morning.
I don’t know what happened, but it’s clearly a nuisance. But apparently it wasn’t over yet, as something else caught my eye.
“Lavender…”
I’d been wondering where the floral scent was coming from, and there were actually flowers in the room. The purple flowers with their familiar scent were definitely lavender. The lavender was roughly cut, as if someone had carelessly ripped it off.
It wasn’t a large quantity, but perhaps due to the wind that had blown all night, the lavender leaves were scattered widely.
In short, the house was a complete mess.
I hadn’t been drinking, just passed out. Yet in just one day, the state of the house had changed like this. Did Kane have sleepwalking issues?
If not that, then this situation couldn’t be explained at all. I sighed deeply as I picked up the lavender that kept getting underfoot.
Should I at least be grateful for waking up early?
Since I couldn’t use the blanket with the soil marks on it, I roughly shook it off and put it in the washing machine. I vacuumed the floor and mopped it afterward.
Seeing what looked like animal footprints, something must have come in through a gap in the window. The question was how it got to this height. The small size suggested it was probably a cat or a dog. I wished there had been a surveillance camera to make it easier to guess, and now felt regret.
After cleaning until my body grew hot, the room returned to its original state. However, if this happened repeatedly, it would be a serious problem. Since this was the first time I’d experienced this since entering Kane’s body, it was hard to predict if it would happen often, but I didn’t want to repeat this kind of morning routine every day.
“Should I install one?”
A surveillance camera seemed necessary, if only to accurately determine what was happening. If it was sleepwalking, tying myself up would somehow solve the problem.
After roughly finishing up, all that was left was the lavender. Somehow, I didn’t feel like throwing it away, so I ended up putting it in a cup.
By the time I finished cleaning, it was cutting it close for work. Though I woke up early, the cleaning took longer than I expected.
I thought I was late, but fortunately, I was able to arrive just in time without being tardy. A warm sensation embraced my entire body instead of the cold chill. I awkwardly greeted the people passing by as I headed toward the lab.
“Kane-ssi!”
While walking, I heard a voice calling me from far away. Thinking it was a somehow familiar voice, I turned around. And there was—
“…Ben?”
Ben was approaching, waving his hand. I was so surprised that my expression momentarily disappeared. I quickly gathered my wits and maintained a composed face. But contrary to my appearance, my mind was spinning in confusion.
“Have you been well?”
Judging by Ben’s attitude, it seemed he and Kane had been acquainted from before.
“Ah… Yes. How about you, Ben-ssi?”
I spoke as similarly as possible to Kane’s personality as I recalled it. I hadn’t expected to meet Ben at all. I did think of him occasionally, but that didn’t mean I wanted to run into him like this. I hoped he wouldn’t notice and would just move on.
“I haven’t been doing well.”
Fortunately, it seems he didn’t sense anything unusual. I breathed an inward sigh of relief as he spoke without any suspicion. I wanted to just walk past him, but it didn’t seem like the right situation. A glance at Ben showed he had become quite emaciated.
The dark circles under his eyes made it clear he hadn’t been sleeping well either. Had he been busy lately? Despite his effort to appear cheerful, Ben looked like he could collapse at any moment, making it impossible for me to turn away.
“So I was wondering if you could counsel me a bit?”
“If I can be of help…”
In the end, I had no choice but to go along with his words. When I agreed, Ben led me to a place where no one was around. It was ironic that the place turned out to be Kane’s lab.
Ben seemed to have come here often, as he entered with familiarity and slumped into a chair. His downcast eyes seemed to be waiting for my words, so I carefully opened my mouth.
“Um… What’s the matter?”
As soon as I broached the subject, Ben readily began to explain his situation. A dejected voice sprang from his lips.
“There’s someone I like these days.”
I thought it would be some serious problem that required counseling, but it was a love issue? But neither I nor Kane was equipped to cover that area.
I should just nod along.
“I was growing to like them more and more, but one day they suddenly disappeared.”
But with his next words, I had to discard that thought immediately. Because the person Ben was referring to seemed to be pointing at me.
“I see…”
“Not recently, but remember when that intruder came in before?”
No, I could be certain. The person Ben was talking about was me. If it’s someone related to the intruder, who else could it be but me?
Like Zenon, it seems that I become the topic of conversation whenever these things happen.
“Ah, you mean that incident Ben-ssi witnessed?”
I barely kept the conversation going by mentioning a simple fact that anyone would know.
“Yes, thinking about it now, the intruder seems to have broken in to rescue the test subject. But coincidentally, that person disappeared the next day.”
“So is that person the culprit?”
“That’s not certain. Their faces were different.”
Of course. The face Ben saw was Kay’s face. I’m glad the choice I made then wasn’t wrong. If it had been Hans’s appearance, it could have been a serious problem.
But if the faces were different, it would be normal not to be suspicious. However, Ben hadn’t let go of his suspicion about Hans.
“Even though the faces are different, Zenon-ssi still suspects that person?”
I asked him a question to understand the reason.
“Yes, my ability didn’t work on that person either.”
Come to think of it, I barely broke free from the mind control to escape.
“Until now, the only one my mind control didn’t work on was that person, and it didn’t work on the intruder either, so I can’t help but be suspicious.”
That’s certainly reasonable. There probably aren’t many people who could resist his ability.
“Have you told the higher-ups about this?”
But that’s just a hunch. Fundamentally, there was no evidence that Hans was Kay. So there was a possibility that Ben hadn’t reported it to Peace yet.
Ben thought for quite a long time. After pondering for a while, as if it was something that shouldn’t be known to others, he finally spoke.
“…You can’t tell anyone. I’m telling you because it’s you, Kane.”
They didn’t seem that close, but were they closer than I thought? Or is he just desperate to talk about it?
“I understand.”
Either way, if he talks, it’s good for me. I nodded to show my firm resolve to keep the promise, to give him trust.
Only then did Ben seem relieved, and with a somewhat lightened expression, he said:
“The truth is, they did ask if I had anyone I suspected, but I didn’t tell them.”
“Why not?”
The Ben I knew was someone who blindly believed in Peace. For someone like him not to tell Peace? It’s unlike him.
As I looked at him with an expression of incomprehension, Ben fidgeted and finally opened his mouth.
“…It would harm that person. Even if they really are the intruder, I still believe in them for now.”
So he did it because of me. Did I do something that significant for Ben? No. If anything, I treated him coldly, and I have no memory of doing anything for him.
Then why does Ben think of me so preciously? Like before, it was difficult to read his thoughts.
I’m just one of the passersby. I’m not someone who benefits him either.
“What would you do if he really is the intruder?”
I needed to quickly resolve these complex feelings. No matter who he is, he wouldn’t show goodwill if he knew Hans was the intruder.
“Then… I would be sad.”
Ben’s face sank gloomily. But there was no anger in it. It would be normal to resent someone who used you.
“But I think there must be some reason behind it.”
If he was acting this way just because of a little friendship, Ben was truly a naive person. Living like this, he might end up with nothing.
“Even though he betrayed you?”
I kept talking, hoping his mind would change, but Ben’s response remained the same. A gentle smile appeared on his lips after he thought about my words for a moment.
“Still, I’ve come to know that he’s a good person.”
That smile, filled with trust directed at me, made my body momentarily stiffen. Could a person be this foolish? If there was betrayal, there’s no way the person could be good.
Why are there only such people around me? When I myself am carrying sins that I can’t forgive.
“So I want to continue believing in him.”
But towards someone like me, they keep saying they believe.
It’s a foolish act. There’s no way I can live up to that trust.
It’s already too late for that. That fact is something I know better than anyone else.
