The Fighting Dog of a Ruined Organization

I had asked Eris if she had ever killed someone.

She said no.

I had asked Eris if she had killed a girl and taken over her body too.

She said it wasn’t like that.

Even to me, it’s not. Eris doesn’t have the personality to kill someone and take over their body.

Moreover, Fantasia is already a fallen organization. A boss of a fallen organization made their tattoo small because they shouldn’t make it big, so does it make sense to kill an idol and take over their body?

But Gold Sun said Eris was a man.

Casey Selenoor.

There’s nothing for Gold Sun to gain by telling such a lie, so if anyone lied, it could be seen as Eris who did.

Eris’s cold and sharp appearance in front of the police.

I don’t know which is Eris’s true self. But if the Eris I’ve known has been fake, it’s chilling.

Of course, looking back, there were hints that Eris was originally a man. Not only did she not feel uncomfortable undressing in front of me, a man, but there were times when she seemed to forget that she was a woman.

Then is Eris a liar? This becomes a big problem. How can I serve someone as a boss who lies about never having killed someone when they have, and pretends to be stupid?

With such doubts, I blurted out the question, but,

“Yes! I was originally a man!”

The answer came so energetically that I was taken aback.

But now she reveals that she was a man? It doesn’t add up at all.

“When I asked before, you said it wasn’t like that?”

“Huh? Think about what you actually asked.”

What did I ask again?

Did I ask if you killed a girl and took over her body too?

“It’s true that I was a man and entered a woman’s body, but I’ve never committed murder.”

Indeed, I was the one who communicated poorly. Let’s say I’m the idiot for misunderstanding.

“Then whose body is it?”

“This body… is my younger sister’s.”

Younger sister.

Hearing those words, I took a deep breath.

Come to think of it, Eris had mentioned before that she had a twin sister. And that sister had died because she was sickly.

“S-sorry. For making you recall sad memories. And even doubting Hyungnim Agasshi…”

I was sincerely sorry. Even I get sad when I think of my missing friend, let alone Eris who lived with her sister for many years.

Using the body of a sister who died from illness and being misunderstood as a murderer, I was definitely in the wrong.

But Eris shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. Hyeonwoo, you did nothing wrong. I should have told you earlier but I forgot.”

“But still…”

“Honestly, don’t you find it hard to understand? Why I specifically took the body of my sister who died from illness.”

That’s not wrong either. There’s no reason to take the body of a sister who died from illness, right?

“Of course, it’s hard to understand. But I didn’t ask because it’s obviously a sad story. There must be circumstances behind it all, right?”

“Circumstances… Yeah, there are. It’s a story of how I came to bear a sin I can never repay in my lifetime.”

A sin that can never be repaid in a lifetime, what kind of story could it be?

“I’ll tell you since it seems like we’ll be together for life, Hyeonwoo. This is a story only Shizu, who has stayed by my side, knows.”

Eris stepped on a chair, climbed up, and took out a photo album from the bookshelf attached to the desk. In the photo album, there was an Eris with jet-black hair and eyes, and a boy.

“Here. This is my younger sister and me.”

Are Eris’s snow-white hair and red eyes characteristics of her soul? It feels like the story is coming together.

“At 13, Fantasia fell, and I, who inherited the boss position, worked busily. I wanted to revive Fantasia somehow.”

“At that time, you didn’t think about changing your body to a woman’s?”

“No. My mother was someone who killed a woman and changed bodies… but I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to sacrifice someone completely unrelated to the organization.”

“You’re too soft. You’re not qualified to be an organization boss.”

“Maybe that’s why I messed up.”

Eris continued with a bitter smile.

“Anyway, while I was working so busily, my sister Eris was attending school. But she didn’t really like going to school. She said she wanted to help revive Fantasia too.”

“Then Eris could have helped too. Why didn’t you let her?”

“Because I didn’t want to make my younger sister do hard work. Even if we’re twins, a younger sister is a younger sister. I thought I should take care of her.”

“You were a good older brother.”

“A good older brother… That’s wrong.”

Eris turned the page of the photo album. When she turned the page, there was a picture of Eris smiling with difficulty while lying on a hospital bed.

In that photo, Casey was showing guilt with a gloomy face. His mouth was smiling, but it didn’t seem like he was really smiling.

“It was when we were 14, I think… One day Eris said she felt really sick. She said she felt like she was dying. So she said she couldn’t go to school. I dismissed it, telling her not to fake illness. I thought she was faking it because she didn’t want to go to school.”

“And it wasn’t fake?”

“Yeah… Shizu and I were too busy to pay attention, but as Eris’s condition got more serious, Shizu got worried and took her to the hospital. They said it was mana poisoning. Her body’s growth stopped then too.”

Eris let out a short self-deprecating laugh.

“The doctor told me. That it hadn’t been long since the mana poisoning became chronic. There must have been early symptoms, so why didn’t I bring her to the hospital, he said.”

After hearing that Eris had mana poisoning, I had researched about mana poisoning too.

When you get mana poisoning, it shows the same symptoms as a cold and flu in the early stages. So people think it’s just a cold and flu and ignore it, and the mana poisoning gets worse and becomes chronic.

In Eris’s case, it wasn’t that they thought it was a cold and flu and ignored it, but it got worse because they didn’t pay attention at all, thinking it was fake.

“Eris went to school while suffering from mana poisoning. Because I told her not to fake illness. At that time, I was really struggling because nothing was going well for me. She didn’t want to trouble me.”

Eris is now experiencing mana poisoning. Because she entered her younger sister’s body. Then she must know how painful mana poisoning is, and how hard it is to go to school in that state.

When she first found out, when she first felt the pain of mana poisoning, how must Eris have felt?

“So I committed an unforgivable sin against Eris. Although a cure for mana poisoning has been developed, it’s a disease that can kill depending on the patient’s condition, so Eris eventually died at 20.”

Eris’s face was contorting with sadness. She tried to smile with the corners of her mouth, pretending to be okay, but it didn’t seem to be working well.

“But Eris was stupid. Even though it happened because I ignored her and sent her to school. She apologized to me, saying she was sorry for being a burden. When I should have apologized, she apologized and left. When I should apologize for a lifetime, she didn’t even give me time to apologize for a lifetime.”

Eris looked like she was about to cry. She was on the verge of tears. But she opened her eyes wide, wiped her tears with her arm, and spoke with a determined voice.

“So, I decided then. For Eris who wanted to revive Fantasia, I would revive Fantasia with Eris’s body.”

So that’s how the story went.

“Hyungnim Agasshi, Eris died from mana poisoning, right? But Hyungnim Agasshi doesn’t die from mana poisoning?”

“Because it’s a possessed body, it’s not directly connected to the soul so I don’t die. It just hurts enough to feel like dying.”

“I see.”

If you don’t die, it might be quite a good thing. If souls exist, Eris might be able to see her brother reviving Fantasia.

Of course, thinking coldly, it’s a foolish thought. Abandoning a healthy body and becoming a body that not only stopped growing at 14 but also has to endure the pain of mana poisoning.

It’s just a reckless act committed due to guilt and complex emotions.

But I didn’t want to say cold words to this sad story. And it was awkward to give any words of comfort and encouragement to the saddened Eris.

Because I think it’s meaningless to comfort and encourage something from long ago.

So I gave Eris a light knock on the head with all my strength.

“Ouch! Why did you hit me suddenly?!”

“You stupid human.”

“Wh-what, stupid human?!”

“Yeah! You’re a stupid human. Feeling so guilty towards your younger sister, even possessing her body to try and revive the organization, and what? Suicide? Suuuuicide? Suuuuuuicide?”

I gave her another light knock.

Eris had clearly said she would commit suicide the day before Fantasia was dissolved. She said she wanted to play one game of LoL before committing suicide.

I remembered that and got angry for a moment. Although it was because the situation had come to Shizu trying to sell her body, how could she try to commit suicide after borrowing her younger sister’s body?

“Do you reflect on thinking about suicide then or not? Huh?”

“I-I reflect. I was wrong…”

Eris sniffled and bowed her head.

Yeah yeah, oh how good. I patted Eris’s head and said.

“Well done. Don’t ever think like that again in the future.”

“Yes…”

Eris seemed to feel good having her head patted and leaned on me. I sometimes get confused whether she’s really 3 years older than me.

Still, I have Hyuka as a mom, but Eris lost hers at a young age, so she must miss this kind of touch.

“But it’s fortunate.”

“What is?”

“That Hyeonwoo is here. Now I don’t have to die, Shizu doesn’t have to sell her body, and it seems like we can revive Fantasia with Eris’s body…”

Oh my.

“You think things will go that well just because I joined?”

“But Hyeonwoo is amazing. Because you’re big and cool and strong, I’m sure everything will work out… all of it…”

Eris fell asleep while saying that. It must have been a mentally tiring story to just talk about.

By the way, isn’t she trusting me too completely? My combat power is only 190 right now. I’m just at the level of barely beating the Half-moon Bear or whatever of the Three Bears of Gangnam.

Still, I need to get stronger to take revenge on Chunsik, so I can’t stop here.

And if I can find my missing friend too.

─Ding.

As I was laying Eris down and covering her with a blanket, I got a text message. It was from Shizu.

《Hyeon-woo-nim, I’ll be a bit late today. I heard a rumor about a researcher studying magic and mana, so I’m going to visit them for a while.》

You’re going there after finishing your part-time job? Your loyalty to Eris is really amazing. Is there a reason you’re going this far?

But it would be beneficial if we could cure the mana poisoning thanks to the researcher. I sent a text message hoping that the conversation with the researcher would go well.

《Okay~ By the way, is there anything Eris has been wanting? I got back part of the loan I gave out today so I have some money, and I want to buy her a surprise gift.》

《It’s good that you got the money back. But aren’t you treating Eris-nim too much like a child, Hyeon-woo-nim? A surprise gift…》

《She is a child honestly. Let’s be honest.》

She’s just a child who had to become strong because of a slightly painful story. It must have been too unfortunate an environment for her to mature mentally.

《I can’t deny it. I don’t think I have enough energy to send more texts, so I’ll tell you and end it here. Eris-nim wants a necktie. She says a necktie is the symbol of a man. But since changing bodies, she can’t use her original necktie because it’s too long. And she didn’t have money to buy a children’s necktie.》

A necktie, but why is a necktie the symbol of a man?

Even though she got her younger sister’s body, does she not want to forget that she’s a man? Maybe that’s why she thinks wax is a man’s symbol and insists on putting it on, and sticks to wearing pants too.

To be honest, whether it’s wax or neckties or pants, it’s ambiguous to call them symbols of men, but if that’s what she thinks, it can’t be helped. It’s not time for the stores to close yet, so I should quickly go and buy one.

And until then, I didn’t know.

That it’s dangerous to leave Eris alone.

That this was the world of gangsters.