A few minutes ago…
"Mira, can I ask you to get her attention? Half an hour would be great."
We were at the entrance door. Mom and Yurim were talking in the kitchen, they wouldn't hear our voices, except for Yurim. So, I took a short drag and surrounded ourselves with smoke. This smoke will block our voice from coming out.
"What's this all of a sudden?" Mira asked back, perhaps she was bewildered by the sudden request.
"I can't get into details, but our neighbor is more than meets the eye."
She paused, probably thinking for a moment then asked thoughtfully, "Ms. Rin's attention or mom?"
"Both."
"I'll do my best."
"Thanks!" I exclaimed, make a clone and turned into mist as I entered Yurim's bedroom through the tiny gaps of the door.
It has been a couple of minutes and I haven't found anything. I moved to another room, a children's bedroom. It was a mess with toys scattered.
I saw two boys sleeping soundly, still in their school uniform. I tried my best not to disturb them as I opened each drawer, checking out their wardrobe and even went as far as going through the mirror on the wall, thinking there might be a secret pathway but no, my mist form simply scattered as soon as it went through the mirror and hit the wall behind it.
Perhaps because I went through the mirror, the latter swayed back and forth before falling. Thankfully, I returned to my human form and caught it before it was too late.
At the same time, I stepped on a building brick and the pain shocked me, causing me to fall with a loud thud.
Why is there a building brick enough to cause an Honor pain?!
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"So Mira, how is school?" Yurim asked politely.
"It's alright, I guess." She replied lazily and noticed her brother's clone was spacing out. He was looking at the ceiling with a drippy look. Mira frowned a bit when a muffled thud could be heard upstairs. Their attention shifted to the source.
"What was that?" Yurim wore a worried expression.
"Maybe just a lost cat?"
"But that sound seems to be coming from the boys room. The windows are shut so there's no way a cat could come in!" Yurim got up and left the table, walking hastily upstairs.
What are you doing, big brother! Mira panicked inside.
She also see her mom got up and followed behind Yurim. Probably because she was worried.
Mira didn't have much choice but to get up and tag along. She glanced at Sunny's clone and decide to bring him along. It'd be weird if he stayed there while everyone was checking the situation.
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I sensed them coming and turned into mist. I lowered my presence as much as possible and left the room through the tiny gap of the ceiling.
The ceiling had only a small space that only a child could fit. The area was dim and filled with old items. I checked them one by one but no result.
I found a brown suitcase and after checking what was inside, I furrowed deeply and almost doubted what I just discovered.
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Yurim and the others arrived at the boys room and opened the door. At first glance, they see nothing suspicious.
"There's no one here." Yurim said with a frown and added, "Then what is that voice just now?"
Thud!
A loud thud came from the ceiling. They looked up simultaneously.
"There really is something up there." Yurim walked to a certain spot and pressed a button on the wall.
The ceiling began to open up and a hidden staircase was revealed. Yurim climbed up while the two watched.
"Be careful," Mom said in concern.
Yurim observed the tiny ceiling. Except for old items that were not in their original spot, nothing was odd.
She kept looking and saw a huge rat. Her eyes glowed and a dark beam came out of her eyes, disintegrating the rat into nothingness.
Not really sure if there was only a rat here, she kept looking around. However, the result was vain. It seemed there was only a huge rat.
"It's only a rat. I don't know how it gets there, I should install a trap next time." Yurim climbed down and pressed the button again to close the ceiling.
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I was sweating buckets. When Yurim opened the ceiling, I made my mist to be as translucent as possible and scattered them around the ceiling. I could still control them.
When she was observing the area, I moved the scattered mist and hid behind the old items or behind the planks.
When her eyes landed on the rat, which was the original sound of that thud– the rat was surprised by my presence. Not sure how and why. Anyway, her eyes glowed and disintegrated it into nothingness.
She wasn't satisfied and kept checking. She reluctantly gave up and left the ceiling. Before that, however, she softly said, almost like a whisper, 'I'll meet you after dinner.'
I've been discovered, I thought to myself.
As she said those words, my heart was beating wildly and my hands were trembling a bit, perhaps because of an adrenaline rush rather than fear.
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Yurim and mom chatted for the next few hours before saying goodbye. Mira held Sunny's hand and led him to the exit. They left Yurim's house with a satisfied stomach and a bright smile.
Mom waved her hands to the left and right before turning away and walked back to her house, following her was Mira and Sunny.
Yurim watched from the distance, her thoughts unknown. She closed the door.
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She closed the door and said without turning her back, "What do you want? Snooping around my house like some cockroach."
"How did you find me?"
"You still need some training, though I must admit your hiding technique is worth the praise."
"What do you know about Igor?" I asked, going straight to the point.
"You found that briefcase, why ask again?"
"You're sickening me."
"I'm just doing my job."
"But they don't deserve that."
"That's not up to me to decide, but those at the top."
"Why did you go into hiding? Do you think Synth didn't know?"
"They already know. My disappearance is their orders."