Chapter 151 - Slipping Away I

'My babies!' Eun Ha thought as the models walked past her backstage and onto the catwalk. They were so perfect that her eyes filled with tears of nervousness and emotion. Baek Woo Geun and Ye Rim are at her side, as anxious as she is. Kang Dae passed by with a smile, saying,

"It will be all right, Shorty. Relax!" and he strutted onto the catwalk. She bit her lip as she watched what was happening outside on a TV. Kang Dae was impeccable on the catwalk! So s.e.xy! Even Woo Geun mumbled,

"Aigoo, he's not that bad!"

"Unnie, Unnie!" Ye Rim exclaimed, showing his cell phone, "The reactions are incredible! People are enjoying it! The views are increasing!"

The two hopped for joy together. But everything went so fast. The final line of models passed and at the end, Eun Ha, accompanied by her two friends who worked so hard to make the event, went to the catwalk, to receive the applause. Her first look was at her adoptive mother who was melting into tears near the catwalk. She went to the edge of the catwalk and leaned over to hug her mother, and receive flowers from Ye Rim's father. The man she had as her father's reference. But her gaze also shifted to the back of the room, where she saw Hunter Shin standing, as always so serious, looking in her direction.

He was applauding her.

Ye Rim finally managed to leave the backstage with Eun Ha, but people surrounded her unnie as soon as she showed up. Ye Rim was at her limit and urgently needed to pee. She just forgot to do it before.  There were so many worries and so many good emotions at the same time that she wasn't sure if she was missing anything.

On the way to one restroom, she saw Lee Dae Won, and although she wanted to talk to him, she didn't want to do that when nature called her so urgently. So she turned away, hoping the Musician wouldn't see her so she wouldn't have to explain herself. But Ye Rim realized that he was going in one direction, and suddenly he pivoted, in a very peculiar way. Almost as if he didn't want to be seen. 

'Well, it's not just me.' She didn't have time to find out why Lee Dae Won was immediately going to the exit door. To the side where he looked, Ye Rim just recognized Chang Mi, absentmindedly carrying some heavy objects.

Luckily, Ye Rim knew exactly which bathroom was unlikely to have a line of women, and went there. 

After using the toilet, she was washing her hands when she felt the same cold she had felt days ago near Jun Hyeon's room. She took a deep breath, letting the water run some more in her hands. 

Outside the bathroom, there was such a creature, she wondered, 'Why is this thing here?'

Ye Rim wasn't afraid, she just tried to think what to do. But now she had a weapon: the words of power that the shaman Mo Bin had taught her. Words to expel and 'cut like a knife' those creatures. The Serpent-Sun Prayer.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Rim opened the door.

To her surprise, in front of her was Yuna Zhang, with an anxious expression and glassy eyes, her forehead shiny with sweat. She looked away when their eyes met, and passed Ye Rim to enter the bathroom.

But Ye Rim saw more than that. Glued to the woman's neck and crouched over her back, the black shadow seemed to suck heavily from Yuna. It was like a dark version of herself, fat and glossy like a worm made of shadow. Ye Rim knew she was going to risk her reputation, but that thing was killing this woman. Should she just let it go, like she doesn't know?

When Yuna was closing the door, Ye Rim put her foot up to prevent it, and forced the door open.

Yuna looked at her in surprise, opening her mouth at the odd and invasive attitude of the unknown woman. 

Ye Rim entered the small bathroom space and closed the door behind her, much to Yuna Zhang's shock.

ºº

"Miss Jung, can you come here for a moment?" Hunter Shin's low voice brought the fashion designer out of her lively conversation with a group of people. Eun Ha was so happy that she couldn't pay much attention to what was going on around her. But of course, if her fairy teacher called her, she had to go.

Following him to a less crowded part of the party, next to the entrance, Eun Ha turned to thank him for the thousandth time in the last few days,

"Professor Shin, thank you so much for ..."

"Cut it out. Hold this," he said, pushing an object into her hands. She held it like a hot potato, until she realized it was not at all dangerous. Just a cell phone.

"What is it? I mean, what are you giving me this for?" she asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Dr. Kim saw Yuna Zhang hiding this cell phone in the bushes in the garden. And Ahn saw the same person spiking a drink just before. I think this woman is trying, for the second time, to kill her father. And from the things Dr. Kim ended up telling me, he thinks it may involve Vivian Park," the Hunter summed up what the guest revealed to him. Kim Jun Hyeon was pressured about the reasons he was following Yuna Zhang. Eun Ha looked at the people at her party, but saw none of the Zhangs around.

"But ... what am I supposed to do with this phone?"

"I didn't want to involve you today, but you are a girl. Use your magic to change your voice just a little and imitate Yuna Zhang for the person on the other end of the line. I still don't know why she hid her cell phone in the bushes, but there must be a good reason. I just need you to do this. I'll fix it out of here, without ruining your event. But maybe the person on the other end of the line will get rid of their own cell phone, if we take too long to act."

Eun Ha took a deep breath, and said,

"Yes, please keep it from hurting Stylist Zhang. He's a good person, "and discreetly using her magic wand, she cast a spell on the phone. Using callback, she waited for the person on the other end to answer. 

ººº

Yuna was wide-eyed, in the small space of the toilet, when Ye Rim raised her hand in her direction,

"What are you doing? Who are you?! Don't touch me!" she flinched at Ye Rim's aggressive attitude. Ye Rim, however, was not really focusing her attention on the woman, but on the thing over her head. The shadow seemed to be on the alert as soon as Ye Rim appeared. The singer could comparatively assess that this creature was much stronger than the one she had seen in Jun Hyeon's room.

Ye Rim recited the mantra, and felt the body tingle. The thing about Yuna Zhang jumped from her towards the ceiling, looking like it was in pain, and trying to stay as far away from Ye Rim as possible. Yuna covered her mouth, seeming to contain a sudden nausea.

'What should I do now? Shouldn't that thing just go away? ' Ye Rim wondered, looking at the high-ceiling of the bathroom, where the creature had taken shelter. And where it seemed that Ye Rim could not reach it even with prayers. What she did was carefully open the bathroom door behind her, and say, "Go away, Yuna Zhang."

The woman pushed Ye Rim violently to pass, looking like she was about to pass out, while covering her mouth with both hands. 

'What do I do now, aigoo!' Ye Rim asked herself in distress. She trapped the creature, but the singer also could not expel it. She knew that what the creature wanted was to escape from there and go after its host, Yuna Zhang. And at that moment, Yuna Zhang could be outside saying that she was a madwoman who had attacked her in the bathroom.

'Why do I get into this kind of thing?' she wondered, staring at the shadow. 

ººº

"How much longer will you take, you little idiot?" the female voice on the other side growled.

"It's full of people here, I can't ..." Eun Ha tried to maintain a dubious dialogue, but now she was sure it was Vivian Park. She had never spoken personally to the heiress to Stylist Park, but she had seen several interviews on TV and on the internet. And her own voice came close to Yuna's voice on the phone, or at least that was what she expected. 

"It does not matter to me. You shouldn't have even waited for the show to end. Will it make an effect in front of people? Don't delay your part in this deal, it's useless. If it doesn't happen today, it will happen. Suffering and shame for you and your father. Your videos are ready to upload. "

Eun Ha looked at Professor Shin, alarmed, not knowing what to say to continue the conversation and keep Vivian Park talking. Then she saw the real Yuna Zhang coming towards them. Yuna was not only pale, but of a purple hue of pale. Her distraught state and poor health were visible even under layers of makeup. The woman pointed a finger at Eun Ha, and said in a strange way,

"This cell phone ..."

On the other end of the line, Vivian Park seemed to notice the trap, and hung up.