Mad As A Hatter | bl | ORV

26: a grain of truth

The night breeze suddenly blew harshly outside, picking up dust and little debris. Cold silence pervaded the atmosphere, only the flickering flames keeping the room warm could be heard. Kim Dokja wondered how he should go about this.

'Who are you, really?'

That seemed too blunt and insensitive.

'Can I trust you?'

Dokja didn't want to ask that since it implied that he never trusted them to begin with. A light laughter pulled Dokja out of his musings. When he glanced at Binna, the shadows on her face made her appear... too mature for her age. As if she was someone who lived even longer than him.

It sent chills down Dokja's spine. The gaze Binna sent his way felt too invasive, as if she was a god who could see through every layer hiding his thoughts.

"Are you going to ask... who am I?"

"..."

"But brother-in-law, I think the question you should ask is what I am rather than who. However, even if it's you, I wouldn't say. It's best if only I know myself and no one else. My identity wouldn't affect anything in this world. After all, the rules of plausibility state so."

Ah.

Kim Dokja suddenly felt like a bucket of hot water was poured on him.

What she said implied many things.

Binna hinted that she no longer considered herself human. No one knows who she is, not even sunbae, only herself. Even if anyone finds out, her identity wouldn't cause any ripples because it doesn't have anything to do with this world.

'This world' she says... could it be that Binna came from another world? And she knows about plausibility... it means that if Binna did come from another world, then that world should have been a victim of the Star Stream as well. Then again, Antinus already implicitly admitted that one, since Binna made an appearance in Chronos.

Some questions were answered, and some remained unanswered.

"But," Kim Dokja's gaze landed on Eun-Byeol's sleeping face. "What about sunbae?"

"My brother... I can't say but I think you have an idea, brother-in-law. For someone like me to be his sister, of course brother wouldn't be a normal person either."

Ha.

Of course his sunbae's existence wasn't normal.

But that begs the question; why does Binna remember the other world while sunbae doesn't? Did something happen when they got here?

'Got here?' That can't be, right? Sunbae has pictures of Binna when she was a baby. Then...!

Kim Dokja's back straightened in attention. His reaction was so obvious that Binna laughed quietly across him. His cheeks turned red in embarrassment. So, Binna and sunbae... are reincarnators?

.

.

"..."

Ahn Eun-Byeol woke up to the sight of an unfamiliar girl standing across a monster, with arms outstretched as if trying to... tame it? Fixing the blanket around the slumbering Binna, the lunatic quietly approached the young girl with a curious look.

It took a few minutes for her to notice his presence and when she realized that he was staring, she took a step back with arms pulled close. She was obviously shy. Eun-Byeol couldn't help but think about Gilyoung. I wonder how that child is doing on his own.