บท 15: RUNNING AWAY FROM REALITY

"THEN YOU better work hard to remember where you came from," Yujin said, frowning. "You must remember and bring me to where Sun Geun-wook is."

After all, he hadn't given up on saving her childhood friend yet.

"But why?" the doppelganger asked as if he was genuinely confused. He even tilted his head to one side innocently. "The Original is already dead."

"No!" she said stubbornly, raising the golf club in her hands. "Sun Geun-wook is still alive."

"That can't be right since I have already completed my transition," the doppelganger said, putting a hand over his chest. "I'm now a full human, thanks to you."

She was startled to hear that. "Thanks to me?"

"I'm Wookie," the doppelganger said, his face beaming. Then he pointed a slender finger at him. "You gave me that name, Yujinie."

Her entire body suddenly turned cold.

"Yujinie doesn't know?" 'Wookie' asked, smiling 'brightly' at her. "Giving a doppelganger a name completes their transition from being a ghost to being a full human."

What…?

[Is that why Aunt Hayi told me many times to never give a doppelganger a name?]

Yujin's body wobbled.

First, she dropped the golf club to the floor after her hands lose their strength. Then her knees buckled. The next thing she knew, she was already kneeling on the floor while pulling her hair.

"Then all of this is my fault?" Yujin asked herself in disbelief. "Because of me, Sun Geun-wook can no longer return…?"

She suddenly felt sick.

Since she had been educated by her Aunt Hayi about doppelgangers early, she thought she already knew everything about them.

Hence, she thought she could still save Sun Geun-wook.

[Aunt Hayi told me that if ever my doppelganger somehow ended up stealing my place, all I have to do is wait for her to save me.]

She thought she could do the same for her childhood friend, but…

"Are you saying that Sun Geun-wook is already dead?" Yujin asked weakly while looking at the fake mustard in front of her. "The door that took him away…" She gulped before she gathered the courage to ask. "Was that the door that leads to the Afterlife?"

The doppelganger squatted down in front of her and hugged his knees while looking at her straight in the eye. "I don't know."

That made her upset.

Her anger seemed to have fueled her energy. After all, she found herself picking up the golf club again and grabbing it tightly.

"What do you know, you fake mustard?"

The doppelganger beamed instantly. "I know many things!" he exclaimed cheerfully, then he began counting using his fingers. "I know that you are Yujinie. I know that you like your baseball bat. And…" His eyes sparkled as if he was really delighted. "And I know that my name is 'Wookie!'"

That hurt.

That stupid name was a reminder of the foolish mistake that she had done, after all.

"You're wrong. Everything you said is wrong!" she said bitterly. "My name isn't Yujinie– it's 'Yujin' for you. I don't like my baseball bat– I just NEED it to survive. And you're not 'Wookie'– that's the pet name that I made for Geun-wook and for Geun-wook only."

After gathering her wits and remaining strength, she stood up.

She was still devastated, but her anger helped her calm down. Her body had stopped trembling, and her mind was clear now.

[This isn't over yet.]

"You're just a doppelganger, so stop acting like a human using Sun Geun-wook's body," Yujin said viciously, then she swung the golf club as hard as she could while yelling "Begone, you awful copy-cat!"

The golf club in her hands glimmered brightly.

It was a sign that the talisman engraved in the club had been activated. However, the blinding light that exploded didn't last long.

The doppelganger stood up and blocked her attack by grabbing the golf club's handle.

[Huh? What happened?]

The light disappeared AND the club suddenly turned into ashes.

"It hurts," the doppelganger said, frowning. In fact, he actually looked pitiful at the moment. "Getting hit hurts, so please stop."

She was initially shocked that the doppelganger managed to deactivate the talisman in the golf club to the point that it disappeared without a trace.

But it wasn't the reason why she froze on the spot.

She didn't want to admit this, but she felt guilty after hearing the doppelganger say that it hurt getting hit by her blunt weapons.

It wasn't like the thought had never crossed her mind.

[But I thought the doppelgangers don't get hurt since they're not that different from ghosts…]

She clenched her hands tight until her nails cut into the skin of her palms.

[No, I shouldn't feel bad,] she condemned herself. [I shouldn't feel bad for the doppelganger who stole Sun Geun-wook from this world. He's an evil spirit…]

But how was she different from the doppelganger?

[He stole Sun Geun-wook body because he needed to survive– just like how I fight my doppelganger and the Grim Reapers to stay alive.]

"Yujinie?"

"Don't call me that," she said bitterly. She wanted to yell at the doppelganger who kept calling her by the nickname that Sun Geun-wook gave her when they were kids. But she didn't have any energy left in her body. "Get out."

The doppelganger looked at her, confused.

"I'm telling you to get out of my sight," Yujin said, then she pointed at the door. "You're not Sun Geun-wook, so I need you to get out of my life now."

***

"AUNTIE!"

Hayi knew that Yujin would be waiting for her.

But she was still surprised when her niece ran towards her as soon as she entered the living room. It looked like Yujin hadn't gathered her wits yet since she was still in her dirty school uniform even though it had been at least two hours since she sent her home.

[I was late since I still had to clean after the mess that Nightmare and the doppelgangers made this time.]

Speaking of doppelganger…

Hayi opened her mouth to ask Yujin where Sun Geun-wook's doppelganger was, but her niece beat her to talking first.

"Aunt Hayi, Sun Geun-wook was swallowed by a strange door!"

[I know, dear.]

"And his doppelganger took his place!"

[That's inevitable since he lost to his copy, dear.]

"The doppelganger said that Sun Geun-wook is already dead…"

Her heart sank when she saw how devastated Yujin looked when she thought Sun Geun-wook was already dead.

She was about to correct her niece's false assumption, but Yujin wasn't done yet.

"It's my fault, Aunt Hayi," Yujin said, then her head drooped down as if she was embarrassed. "I… I accidentally gave the doppelganger a name…"

Hayi's eyes went wide. "What did you say, Yujin-ah?" She grabbed her niece's shoulders and shook them a bit. "You gave the doppelganger a name?"

Her niece looked up at her with shaking pupils.

Oh.

She didn't mean to scare Yujin, but she was surprised by her revelation.

"I'm not scolding you, dear," Hayi said as calmly as she could despite the situation. "Can you tell me where the doppelganger is?"

"I don't know, Auntie."

"What?"

Her niece avoided her gaze. "I sent it away."

"We need to find him as soon as possible, Yujin-ah."

Yujin looked at her with knitted eyebrows. "Why are you worried about the doppelganger, Auntie? He said he has Sun Geun-wook's memories. I'm sure he can find his way home."

"That's not what I'm worried about," she said, shaking her head. "Doppelgangers who successfully replaced the Original have a strange smell that attracts ghosts who eat beings like them."

"Auntie, are you saying that the doppelganger is being targeted by other violent ghosts now?"

"That's right?"

Her niece avoided her gaze. "Why would I care? It's his karma for stealing the life of the living."

She understood why Yujin was being stubborn.

In fact, she would have reacted the same way as her niece did if the same thing happened to her. However, not all hopes were gone yet.

"Yujin-ah, we need to find and save the doppelganger."

Her niece turned to her with accusing eyes. "Auntie, why are you taking the doppelganger's side? Do you not care that Sun Geun-wook died because of that thing?"

"Sun Geun-wook isn't dead yet, Moon Yujin."

Yujin's eyes went wide. "Huh?"

"We can still bring back Sun Geun-wook, but we can only do that if his body– the one that the doppelganger uses right now– is still alive by the time we rescue his soul from the Duplicate World," Hayi explained as clearly as she could given the time constraint. "Hence, we have to protect the doppelganger."

***

'SAVAGES.'

Yujin listened to her Aunt Hayi intently earlier.

According to her aunt, the evil ghosts who hunted down 'complete doppelgangers' were called 'Savages.'

Apparently, 'Savages' were ghouls.

Hearing the name already gave her shivers. Hence, when she saw the Savages attack the doppelganger in person, she froze in fear.

[C-Can I really beat those demons?!]

***

Please add SPOOKY SOULMATE to your library~