Agathokakological…

It did sound weird when you heard it for the first time. But, that strange word was how Kang Seulgi described herself.  The word itself means composed of both good and evil.

Whenever Seulgi told her parents about this, they always said that it was a phase of her being a teenager. That was when Seulgi finally realized; her parents knew nothing. She did try to convince her parents, and ended up being dragged to a psychiatrist. But, she got no answer. Not even a bit. The adults always related it with something about puberty or whatsoever.

“You’re going to get through it, honey.” Her mother said as she brushed her warm hand against Seulgi’s long brown locks, just like she always did.

Of course, she doubted that. And she was not wrong. Because it started to consume her; and it was not the good one.

She could feel her heart was going dark; she could hear the voices inside her head told her to do bad things. Sometimes, she could hear both good and evil fight inside her head, and she did try to choose to do nothing at all.

Things just got weirder when Seulgi found out that she could lift things without touching it. She was happy about it because she thought it could come in handy. But, not until she burnt some things, and hurting people even if she did not want to do it.

She stopped going to school and locked herself from her family; from the world. The voices inside her head were not voices anymore when she started talking to herself with—she noticed— slightly different voices. Sometime, she saw her reflection was doing something she did not actually do.

Her parents always said,

“Everything is going to be alright.”

“Nothing to be afraid of.”

She believed that.

Until she accidentally hurt her parents.

So she ran away…

---

Seulgi woke up in the middle of a not-so-familiar room as she felt a jolt in her head. She remembered nothing except when she saw a very bright light before she passed out.

She passed out…

Seulgi surely knew that, but she did not know how.

“Ah, I see you’re awake!”

A bright voice shocked her.

“Whoa, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya!” The voice’s owner said. “I’m Yeri, by the way, Yeri Kim.”

“S-Seulgi Kang.” Seulgi murmured; she did not know why she was hesitating to say her own name, as if it was not her name at the first place.

Yeri hummed. “I know who you are.

“Anyway, the doctor will be here soon.”

Seulgi widened her eyes.

“Am I…Am I in a hospital?” She carefully asked.

Yeri shrugged, “well, sort of. You can call it a hospital if you want. Hospital…Lab, whatever.” She smiled.

Seulgi frowned, why did Yeri answer her like this place was not any of those places she was thinking?

“Are my parents here?” Seulgi asked in a very serious tone. Her parents might send her to this weird place because of what she did. She started to think that the place was actually an asylum.

And Seulgi did not know, either she had to feel relief or angry because Yeri just laughed at her question as if she just asked the stupidest question ever.

“Your parents are far…far away from this place, Seulgi. They’re nowhere to be seen near here.”

Seulgi gritted her teeth, “what do you mean?”

“That means you’re not in wherever you came from, Seulgi.”

A strong voice got Seulgi’s attention in a second. She saw a woman with crescent-like glasses in a very nice suit.

“W-Who are you?”

The woman patted Yeri’s head, and Yeri said, “Seulgi, meet Dr. Jekyll.”

Doctor…Jekyll?

Isn’t that mean….

Seulgi pushed her body away, caused her to fall down from the bed.

“I see…you’ve heard about me in your world.” The woman smiled.

Seulgi shook her head, “no…no…! It can’t be!”

She hit her own head, “wake up, Seulgi! Wake up!”

“Unfortunately…you’re pretty much awake…” Yeri said, she offered her a hand.

Seulgi could feel tears dropped from her eyes.

“Sit here, kid.” The doctor—that was actually shorter than her— said; she patted the couch beside her. “We have so much to talk about.”

---

“Agathokakological,”

Seulgi nibbled on her lower lip, she never heard someone said that word, except herself. She finally felt a bit accepted when she heard the doctor said it out loud, as if it was just a normal word. However, she was still scared because in her world, someone who sat beside her was just a myth, so did her other self.

The doctor chuckled, she probably realised that Seulgi was staring at her for God-knows-how-long.

“Relax. Mrs. Hyde won’t come out in any seconds.” She said, as if she could read Seulgi’s mind. “She’s dead. Long time ago.

“There is only me now…Dr. Jekyll.”

“Don’t forget Yeri too!”

Yeri said, carrying a tray full of cookies and a glass of milk. Seulgi mumbled a thank you.

The doctor sighed as she eyed Yeri who just excused herself to go to her room.

“She’s a little bit bright, isn’t she?”

Well…Seulgi could not agree more.

“But…she’s all I have now. I promised to myself to protect her just like my own daughter.”

Seulgi nodded.

“Alright, let’s talk about you now!” The doctor clapped her hands and faced Seulgi. “How’s your magic going?”

“Y-You know?” Seulgi stuttered. Just how many things did this doctor know about her?

The doctor nodded and smiled.

“It’s…horrible. I can’t control it at all.”

The doctor frowned, “it’s not you…It’s the other you that won’t let you to control it.”

Seulgi could not say anything. But, she knew that it was not something good to hear.

The doctor chuckled, again.

“Good thing I know someone who can train you!”

---

It ended up with Yeri took Seulgi to someone that could help her with her magic. The road was not too long; it only took fifteen minutes from the doctor’s place. Seulgi kept shut as Yeri was talking about things that she thought was not real in her whole existence. For example, Yeri said that if it happened that she got lost, she just have to follow the white rabbit, and whatsoever. And it got Seulgi a headache. It was just hard too accept that her bedtime stories are actually…things.

As they reached the place, a girl who has a long reddish hair greeted Seulgi and Yeri. She was pale, and her eyes were blue; not to mention that she also has no expression. And Seulgi never felt so intimidated.

“What do you want?” The girl asked with her half-lidded eyes. She looked so…uninterested.

Yeri clicked her tongue. “Come on, Joy! Don’t be so rude in front of Seulgi!”

Joy? Her name is…Joy?

Seulgi almost scoffed, but she managed to prevent herself from doing so.

Joy did not say anything but she headed inside the house. She probably was calling for someone.

“Don’t take it personal. It’s just…she was born with that attitude.” Yeri explained, giggling.

After a long ten minutes, Joy was back with another girl behind her. This girl is way smaller than her, she is beautiful, and Seulgi admitted that. The voices inside her mind were starting to fight against each other, but she tried to cover it because she did not want to show the people she just met that she is a freak—at least that was what she thought. She just did not know what she actually felt; she did not notice the weird feeling inside.  All that she knew was…some part of her wanted to hurt the girl.

“Yeri? Who’s this?” The girl said.

“Oh! This is Seulgi! Seulgi, this is Irene! Your trainer!”

My trainer?

Seulgi just bowed a bit, so did the girl named Irene.

“…And for today you will live here with Irene and Joy!” Yeri excitedly said.

“I am…what!?”

“Yeah, it’s good, isn’t it? It’s better than sleeping in a room full of chemical!” Yeri shivered in disgust as she thought about it. “Anyway…I have to go! She is all yours!”

Joy finally opened her voice, “you’re not…staying?”

Yeri smirked, “aww…look who missed me! I’d love to, but the doctor needs me! Maybe next time!” She said before she rushed away from the house, living the dumbfounded Seulgi.

Seulgi scratched her nape.

“I-“

“Come,” Irene cut her. “I’ll show you your room.”

---

Seulgi was staring around her new room; she was actually expecting some spooky rooms that full of spider web and the infamous scary sound whenever you walked on the wooden floor.

But, it was oddly…normal.

So, instead of wandering around, Seulgi just shrugged it off and lay down on the comfortable bed. And she had to be honest, that the room was bigger that her old room.

Seulgi was about to close her eyes and drove herself to her dreamland, but all of sudden she heard knocks against her door.

“Seulgi?”

“Irene?” She thought.

Seulgi dragged herself to the door and opened it. She revealed the petite girl that has a very beautiful feature, and Seulgi felt stupid because she just realised how beautiful Irene is, when she looked at her up-close.

“Ah, were you sleeping? Sorry, I just wanted to ask you if you want to join me and Joy for dinner.”

Seulgi could hear the guiltiness in Irene’s voice.

“No, no! I wasn’t sleeping. It- I- I will join you and Joy. I’ll be there in a minute!” Seulgi said, not wanting the latter felt like she was interrupting her.

Irene was taken aback, probably because Seulgi was slightly raising her voice and she looked panic. But, however, she was smiling at her.

“Very well,” she said. “I’ll be downstairs…”

Seulgi was caught off guard,

Because she had never seen a person who smile like that…like Irene.

A smile that could melt her heart.

---

The night was quite.

Nevertheless, not for Seulgi.

The voices kept ringing inside her head.

In the past she would try to covering her ears, or distracting her minds. And in the end, she knew that none of those would work. So, now Seulgi just let the voices win and she would cry to sleep.

Tonight was different.

The voices were louder than it supposed to be, they were…arguing. Seulgi could not hear clearly what they were saying, for the first time.

It was like; they were whispering…they did not talk to her, but each other. And the most importantly, Seulgi knew that they did not want Seulgi to hear them.

Seulgi shut her eyes, hoping that they would stop, but they didn’t. And Seulgi realised, the voices started to do that ever since she stepped her feet on this unknown world. She was suffering. She knew she wanted to go home, but she couldn’t. Because, she thought she would hurt the people she loved.

“Shh…I’m here.”

Seulgi’s eyes widened when she heard the voice, it was not because she was afraid. But because the voice was strangely calming her. It made her feel like…home.

Until she felt an arm wrapped on her waist, she decided to turn her body and met the beautiful Irene. Her expression was calm. She ran her hand up and down on Seulgi’s back.

“I know what you’re facing, Seulgi…And I’m here to help.” She said, hand was pulling Seulgi closer.

“Do you trust me?”

Seulgi could feel the warmth in Irene’s stare.                           

And by that…she nodded.

Of course, I will trust you, Irene.

---

The morning was odd. Because, Seulgi realised that the whole thing that happened to her was real. She almost broke Irene’s vase when she saw the girl in the kitchen this morning with a bright smile on her face.

“Good morning,” the latter said.

And Seulgi could not control her face. She did look stupid that caused Irene laughed—giggled—at her. She recalled what happened last night; she cuddled with a stranger, who was Irene. She did not know why Irene acted like it was normal. Truthfully, she was a little hurt by that.

“W-Where is Joy?” Seulgi asked. She thought that things would probably less awkward for her if Joy was around, even though she was a bit scared of the tall girl.

“She’s helping Yeri with some important task, so…whether you like it or not…” Irene playfully smirked. “You’re stuck with me.”

Seulgi blinked. She was confused; she did not