Messiah

Well, after that, the girl kept doggedly coming after me.

I played along with 'Jimin' until she calmed down, and after being tormented almost senseless, I finally managed to get away from her insistence that I become her little sister.

No matter how excitedly someone rambled on, even a child seemed to lose interest quickly if the other person didn't respond with much enthusiasm.

If anything, maybe the curiosity peculiar to that age heated up and cooled down as quickly as a tin pot, so it ended before I passed out.

We hadn't talked about much.

We asked each other's names, ages, and schools—ordinary, trivial things.

It felt strangely nostalgic, as if I were watching little kids go through the process of becoming friends.

Ever since I started middle school, no one had shown any interest in me or approached me.

With such a dark and complicated background, I was someone the other kids' mothers and teachers...

...talked about behind my back—a pitiable child, but also a ticking time bomb no one should get involved with.

The sort of thing people commonly called bullying.

And not the kind of bullying created by kids, but the kind of outcast society itself had created.

So why bring this up all of a sudden?

"...Please let me go."

Because Jimin liked me so much that she wouldn't let go, holding me tightly in her arms like a beloved plushie.

A cloud-soft bed unlike any I'd ever experienced.

And the luxurious blanket covering it...

A subtle, pleasant scent alluring enough to captivate even someone's unconscious mind.

And to finish it off, all the soft flesh and cozy warmth pressed against my back.

Jimin had me in a back hug, and when I struggled, she even used her legs to trap my lower body between them.

She tormented me as if declaring that we'd stay stuck together like this forever, and I felt like I might die from an overdose of softness.

"No. Be one of our family! Aaaaaah! Just be my little sister, okay? We even have the same last name, Kim!"

All the dignity she'd shown as an older sister was gone; now she was just a ferocious little-sister demon clinging to me.

Was Jimin acting like a demon, just as I had unintentionally acted like a water ghost?

I wanted to reveal who I really was, make her understand, and go home, but...

Given those sparkling eyes and how I'd already acted like a child, I'd told her I was an elementary schooler, so there was no way I could suddenly act like I was older.

Besides, she'd seen me in my underwear and naked, and we'd even shared a bathroom, so if I told her the truth, she might despise me.

Still, by claiming to be a little older than my height suggested, I'd managed to change my identity from Kim Minseo (21/male/office worker) to Kim Minseo (11/female/elementary school student).

The one saving grace was that I was now one year older than Minsu, the brat downstairs.

Though this profile only applied within this brother-and-sister household, anyway.

"S-Sis... I'm starting to feel uncomfortable. Please...?"

Still, calling someone sis was a pretty serious blow to my mental state.

It was hundreds of times worse than when I'd called Hyunwoo oppa to get out of the police station earlier.

Maybe because it was a form of address that meant I was treating myself as a woman.

"...No."

Jimin had no intention of letting me go.

"If I let you go, you'll go try to die again."

"......"

The liveliness vanished from Jimin's voice in an instant, replaced by a chill.

I had nothing to say. Jimin was exactly right, and even if I denied it, there was no way she'd believe me.

"You're in fourth grade, so this is when you should be having fun with your friends. But why were you doing that? Is someone bullying you?! Tell me, and I'll scold them all for you. Okay?"

Her tone was so warm and gentle.

I was so moved by the way she cared for me and held me gently that I nearly started crying.

But that was enough.

This was a story about the cruel, fucked-up world, far too brutal for a fifteen-year-old middle schooler like Kim Jimin to know about, so I couldn't let her get involved any further.

It wouldn't be fair to the girl who'd given me a temporary refuge, either.

"It's not like that. I was just... the river was pretty, so I was looking at it..."

"...You think I'm stupid? You just happened to go over that railing by yourself while looking at the river?"

"......"

She had an unnecessarily sharp intuition.

Jimin's sharpness made short work of every excuse I came up with, and I ran out of things to say in no time.

Had I underestimated her just because she was a kid?

Or had my mind become childish along with my body, limiting how well I could think?

Though this had been second nature to me for so long, my mind went completely blank, as if there were nothing in my head.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me."

"Ugh..."

In the end, even my last resort—pretending to be hurt—didn't work, so I gave up and let all the strength drain out of my body.

Only then did Jimin loosen her hold and shift me into a more comfortable position.

I couldn't help thinking I'd have to expose at least part of this cruel world to Jimin.

"Sis, I... I'm a kid who shouldn't be alive. I'm just a burden on the world, always hurting the people around me... a piece of trash."

"Why? Why do you think that? That's just what you think."

Even though I'd used harsh words right off the bat, thinking she might be scared, Jimin didn't back down at all.

If anything, she asked me plainly why and tried to correct my thinking, which made her seem unlike a kid.

She might be a lot smarter than the run-of-the-mill old fogeys I'd encountered on the job.

"That's..."

When I couldn't come up with an answer, Jimin took control of the conversation and peppered me with questions instead.

"Tell me. What happened? Honestly, it makes no sense for a girl to have no shoes and be practically naked except for one ill-fitting men's shirt."

"......"

"If you weren't being bullied, what else could it be? Sounds like something those bastards deserve to be arrested for..."

Even as Jimin stroked my head, she refused to avoid this sensitive subject.

It was a kindness far removed from the modern way of showing consideration by avoiding something because the other person might think of it as a painful memory.

It felt as if my heart were melting at her genuine concern, which embraced my pain, exposed the wound, applied medicine, and tried to eliminate its source.

"...First of all, it's not like that. I mean, you probably won't believe me, but these are my regular clothes at home... kind of like a dress."

"That's hard to believe, but... okay."

"It's just... just at home, I live with my oppa... just the two of us. I can't earn money, and I only cause trouble, so I thought it'd be better if I disappeared..."

I told her about my situation, phrased as Kim Minseo, age eleven, in a way that would make it as understandable as possible to Jimin.

Though it was a little distorted, it was my genuine worry, with no lies in it.

I wondered why I was opening my heart and confiding my troubles so sincerely, all because of this girl's kindness and embrace.

Hyunwoo had never asked me about any of this.

My soul trembled at this soft consideration, something I'd never experienced before... consideration meant only for me.

"I don't have parents... or any relatives. I just live off my oppa, and I'm told I'll never... grow up. I'm told I'm not even from this country... There's no way to help me."

It felt as though my mind had returned to childhood.

A child who could be endlessly sad, cry because they wanted to cry, and easily bare their heart to someone stronger than them.

At this point, I couldn't even tell which was the real me now: the me who'd lived for twenty-one years, or the me who'd adapted to this body over the brief span of four days.

I'd wanted to confess my troubles like this, in someone's arms, with my worth acknowledged, and cry as much as I wanted.

But there was no one like that.

It was all just my wishful thinking.

I'd given up.

"...Did your oppa call you a burden, too? Did he tell you to die?"

"No... He told me to live. He said I wasn't a burden. He said he was keeping me because I'm cute..."

But Jimin took the words of a suspicious person she'd only met today as seriously as if they were about herself.

The words I'd wanted so desperately to hear all this time.

"Then it's okay. Honestly, you're so cute, Minseo, that I want to beg Dad to let us make you part of our family."

Jimin, who casually dug into my heart with those innocent words and pulled me out from the corner where I'd been hiding...

She was my savior. My own Messiah.

It was fine if this faith was misplaced. It was fine if it was nothing but blind devotion.

Even so, she was someone who had planted hope in me once more.

I couldn't help but sincerely thank this girl.

"Your oppa likes you so much, Minseo, he's going crazy. He can't live without you. I'm sure of it."

"...Yes."

Those words hit the contradictions in my heart precisely, without getting a single thing wrong.

Looking back on my memories with Hyunwoo, he had definitely called me cute and said he'd keep me many times.

I'd thought Hyunwoo didn't understand the world, but perhaps I was the one who'd shut my eyes and failed to understand his heart.

That's right. If Hyunwoo said my newly cute appearance was a strength...

I should've been able to willingly offer it to Hyunwoo to repay my debt, living like his pet.

It wasn't particularly inhumane or dirty, was it?

"...Please let me go now. Hyun... oppa must be waiting. I haven't even contacted him..."

"I'll take you home. It's dangerous for a little kid to be out alone in the evening."

When I checked the clock, it was almost seven.

...He must be really worried.

"Okay. Um, sis..."

"Hehe! Then let's go! Take all these clothes with you, too. Hmm... I'll give you a pair of shoes, too! They're my little brother's, though."

And so, I went back holding the Messiah's hand.

To the paradise where I belonged.

"...Still, I can come visit sometimes, right...?"

"Of course!"