The words that reached pierced my heart deeply.
Unable to say anything, he simply covered my face with his hands and remained silent.
After a while, Dokyun heard the sound of soone clicking their tongue above his head.
"Tsk."
He flinched.
His body trembled, but he couldn't bring himself to remove his hands from his face.
"How old are you to be acting like this?"
It was a rhetorical question.
Dokyun, who had maintained silence until then, spoke with a trembling voice in response to the reproach that pierced him.
"Please don't say anything."
'Could I just pass by pretending I didn't see him? That's what I wished to convey with my words.'
"You're quite good at it. Are you trying to make a thirty-year-old cry?"
The returned remark was chilling reproach.
Clang.
His teeth are grinding.
'That sneaky little brat seed to have deliberately orchestrated today's events.'
Anger grew from a corner of my heart, soaked in self-loathing and sha, igniting flas.
'Next ti we et, I will kill you.'
'I thought he could be a secret friend, but that brat trampled on my innocence.'
As Dokyun burned with anger, Eunseol, who had changed her clothes without him noticing, sighed and spoke to him as she sat on the couch.
"Get up now. You look pathetic."
Dokyun, who had been lying on the floor covering his face until then, raised a finger to look at her upon hearing her words.
The essence of the emotions heavily laid on her face was pity.
Dokyun felt his heart ache again at that expression and spoke up.
"Please don't look at like that. It hurts."
"Then stop acting in a way that invites it."
It was a valid point, but couldn't she say it a bit more gently?
"Ugh"
Dokyun reluctantly got up with a heavy heart. His body ached from rolling on the floor.
After fully standing up and massaging his stiff waist, Dokyun, with a crazy idea in mind, looked at her and blurted out a question.
"What's with that brat, anyway?"
'I guess she can tell this much.' Thinking so, as he looked at her, she looked down and answered.
"You can figure it out by looking at her, can't you? She's just a kid."
"Why are you asking that"
"Find out for yourself."
She interrupted , expressing her firm refusal.
It seed she had no intention of giving any information about the other personality.
Frustrated, Dokyun began to complain in a tone full of emotions, hoping that finding out sothing would alleviate his sense of injustice.
"Do you have any idea how much I've suffered today? Starting from the morning"
A long stream of complaints.
Dokyoon poured out his feelings, hoping she would understand his miserable state even a little, but what he received from her was plain contempt.
"You idiot."
""
"Be ashad of yourself. How old are you ntally?"
""
It was humiliating.
Once again, his hand rose to his face.
Dokyun, who didn't have the courage to show his face, trembled with sha in that state.
"No matter how naive the kid acts, what are you accomplishing by conforming to that?"
"Please, stop"
It was a plea filled with sincerity. He had no energy left now.
Suddenly, he missed Eunah.
It had only been two days since he last saw her, but he longed for the face that used to smile warmly at him, and his eyes beca moist with longing.
What would co up tomorrow?
Though it had only been two days, Dokyun, who had already begun to worry about the remaining days, raised a thick frown on his face and asked her a question.
"Just tell this."
"What?"
"Do the other personalities act like this too?"
'It was a vague question, but as she always did, she understood my intention at once and gave her answer.'
"The kids are kind."
Her words, spoken with averted eyes, carried a certain uneasy resonance.
As Dokyun's expression crumbled even more miserably upon hearing her answer, Eun-eol glanced at him briefly, showing a hint of sympathy on her face as she spoke to comfort him.
"Two of them."
Perhaps his face looked pitiful to her, or maybe she sensed his despair, but after maintaining an attitude of having nothing to say until just before, she sighed and gave a hint in a weary voice.
"There are only two left. This ti, only one of them will co out."
There are a total of 6 personalities, including Go Eunah. That's what she was saying.
It was a relief to hear.
It seed there would be no more tornt from new personalities popping up constantly.
As Dokyun let out a small sigh upon hearing her answer, she took out her smartphone from her pocket and handed it to him, speaking to him.
"Use it while I'm here. If I can't reach you, people might start suspecting when I'm outside."
"Oh, thank you."
He watched her as he received the smartphone from her. Suddenly, she withdrew her gaze from and began to unfold a book, rolling her eyes around and staring intensely at the pages.
Whether she had just entered a state of concentration or not, her eyes began to roll around, staring piercingly at the book.
The gaze that had been staring blankly at her until now soon fell upon the book she was reading.
A philosophy book that gave him a headache just by looking at the title.
"She reads difficult stuff."
Looking back, it seed that the books she had been reading were always of that kind.
It was a taste he simply couldn't understand, but once she started reading such books, she hardly diverted her attention elsewhere.
Now realizing that no matter what he said, she would ignore him, Dokyun sighed deeply and lay down on the sofa.
Just enough space for one more person.
Sitting on the sofa, keeping that distance from her, Dokyun turned on his smartphone, which had been turned off, and continued his thoughts.
"Well I need to do so research."
He couldn't afford to repeat the regrets of the morning.
While he had access to the internet, he needed to gather as much information as possible on Dissociative Identity Disorder.
He recalled his tasks.
Shortly after, Dokyun's eyes fell on the smartphone screen as the wallpaper appeared.
Moving his finger to turn on the search engine, Dokyun entered "Harry's Identity Disorder" into the search bar and pressed the confirm button to begin his research in earnest.
"I hope sothing useful cos out."
Research papers and such were beyond his understanding.
What he needed were simple enough information and precautions when dealing with patients.
His gaze scrolled down the screen, scanning the erging information.
***
While concentrating on the smartphone for a while, he heard a voice from beside him.
"Hey."
When Dokyun looked up to see where the voice was coming from, he saw her looking at him.
"Oh, yeah."
"Let's eat."
Had it already been that ti?
Surprised, Dokyun glanced at the ti on his smartphone, which showed 7 p.m.
Confirming the ti for a mont and starting to get up, Dokyun suddenly felt a question forming in his mind that had been lingering there.
"But why isn't there a clock in this house?"
A question he had been carrying since he first stepped out of the bedroom.
At first, he thought it was just a ans to disrupt his sense of ti and ruin him, but considering Eunah's actions and Eunseol's attitude afterward, it didn't seem like it.
As Dokgyun looked at her with eyes full of doubt, she maintained a short silence before opening her mouth and spitting out her response.
"Don't recognize the flow of ti."
Whether he felt it didn't matter, the returning answer explained the reason quite crisply.
"If you accurately recognize the flow of ti, you'll keep noticing other personalities popping out. That's unnecessary in Eunah's happy world."
"Ah."
He understood instantly.
To Eunah, other personalities are either strangers or delusions.
As characters that should exist only in her mind, when they pop out while looking at the clock, the gap in ti makes them perceptible.
That undermines Eunah's world.
Eunseol said that's why there are no clocks in this house.
Suddenly, he felt a tightness in his chest.
It started to feel stuffy.
The rising emotions were increasingly sympathetic.
Perhaps feeling such sentints was due to traces of her life visible all over the house.
As if the world within her delusions was so important, the furniture in the house, which she had struggled to maintain and fill in, remained as traces of her life and made her seem so pitiful to .
'Ironically, as I got to know her, my hatred for her was gradually fading, replaced by empathy'
A bitter laugh escaped.
Stockholm syndro.
Victims sympathizing with their abusers.
'That's exactly the state I was in right now'.
Emotions seeping in like getting soaked in the rain made it impossible for to hate her.
It seed too late to turn back; I was already falling for her.
Lost in these thoughts for a mont, Eunseol's voice echoed once again.
"What are you spacing out for?"
The words nudging .
As Dokyun looked at her, she, with the sa tired eyes as usual, uttered to .
"Let's eat."
Finally coming to his senses, Dokyun uttered an apology with a sheepish expression.
"I'm sorry."
She responded as if it were nothing, requesting a al.
"Well, since it's settled, how about you make so food?"
"Yes."
As Dokyun nodded in response and started heading towards the kitchen, he stopped in his tracks suddenly feeling a sense of discomfort.
"Wait."
Turning his head back towards her, who was reading a book casually.
"Sothing"
Now a natural image of himself cooking dinner ca to mind.
As Dokyun realized this, he narrowed his eyes and glanced at her. Sensing his gaze, she raised her head, staring at him and opening her mouth.
"What?"
An authoritative tone.
Sensing Dokyun slightly shrinking, he drew a smile on his face and spoke.
"Would ran be okay?"
That was the only thing he knew how to cook in this house.
After a mont of silence, she gave a short reply.
"Yes, Jinsun."
"Okay."
With her response, Dokyun's body turned towards the kitchen again.
He had shown too much disgrace today, and he couldn't bring himself to ask her to cook.
After a while, they finished their al, tidied up, finished washing, and as they were about to enter the bedroom, she was already lying down, prepared to sleep.
Carefully moving to avoid touching her, Dokyun lay down on the bed and then spoke to her.
"Are you going to sleep?"
"Not yet."
"The answer ca with closed eyes.
Dokyun glanced at her for a mont, then opened his mouth with the question that imdiately ca to mind.
"Will another personality co out tomorrow too?"
It was a question about tomorrow.
"Yeah."
A brief affirmation.
Judging from the attitude she showed during the day, she was expected to be quite formidable.
As Dokyun's tension rose, he was about to ask another question when her mouth opened again.
"Next week."
"Ah."
Next week. The word heightened Dokyun's tension once again.
"Um Who is it? Is there anything I should be aware of?"
Thinking of soone who drives eight luxury foreign cars, I involuntarily elevate my speech.
As Dokyun poured out his questions, she seed to be continuing her thoughts for a mont before answering.
"You'll get along well with him."
His head tilted.
It was too abstract of an answer.
Unable to grasp the aning of her words, Dokyun stared at her with curiosity for a mont, and she, after glancing at him briefly, closed her eyes again and spoke.
"Take care."
An unexpected word of encouragent.
Anxiety surged.
***
The next day, Dokyun was able to understand the aning of the words "cheer up" she had said at once.
Inyoung was seen as she ca out of the bedroom.
Her hair was neatly combed with a headband.
She wore a white t-shirt with a sagging neckline and black shorts.
She was lying on the sofa diagonally, holding a smartphone in one hand.
Just like the little one, her unique outfit made it obvious at a glance that she had a different personality.
As Dokyun stared blankly at her, her eyes, which had been glued to her smartphone, turned towards him.
With a face that seed to be full of annoyance, she discovered him and let out a forced laugh, speaking.
"Welco, Honeybee."
Her gaze turned to her hand.
Reflected on the smartphone screen that peeked out was the main page of the community she was active in.
My hand, without my knowledge, touched my forehead.
"I'm going crazy for real."
Next to the princess was a community addict.
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