"Hoooook."
"Hello, Peter."
The audience held its breath at the sight of the two actors everyone had been talking about sharing the stage.
Peter, wearing a bright smile without a trace of darkness, threw his arms around Hook.
Hook returned a strange smile, a mixture of pleasure and discomfort. Then, trying not to make it too obvious, he brushed off his clothes and straightened his appearance again.
His long black curls were neatly tied back.
He wore what appeared to be a school uniform jacket.
The way he adjusted his clothing and checked his watch radiated an obsessive neatness.
Proper behavior.
An obsession with proper behavior drilled into him since childhood.
The performance made Hook's character instantly clear.
"You're tidy as always, Hook. Doesn't it feel suffocating? You could at least undo one button."
Ignoring him completely, Peter Pan flopped onto the floor with his arms and legs spread wide.
Like oil and water.
A combination that could never truly mix.
And yet...
That was precisely why Hook envied him.
He cast a longing glance toward Peter sprawled on the ground before turning gracefully toward the audience.
His dark eyes, soaked in melancholy, crossed beyond the stage and reached into the seats.
The audience tensed instinctively.
"This is Peter.
He transferred here not long ago."
Checking his watch once more, he continued.
"He's bright. Charming. The moment he starts talking, people gather around him.
He gets carried away easily and craves attention, so he pulls all sorts of ridiculous pranks.
But everyone just laughs them off.
He's... completely different from me."
A rough voice.
And beneath it, a sadness difficult to describe.
Admiration and envy intertwined.
Affection and inferiority layered upon one another.
Wearing that complicated expression, Hook crouched beside Peter.
"What's this?"
"A knife."
Peter held up a rusty knife.
Careful not to touch something filthy, Hook nevertheless examined it closely.
"I found it on the way here. Someone must've thrown it away. Haha."
"What are you planning to do with that? Throw it away."
"I'm thinking of bringing it to class later and playing a prank. What kind of prank should I pull?"
"Your head is always full of pranks, Peter."
"And you're always staring at clocks. Stop looking at clocks and look at the world! There are so many fun things in it."
Even while criticizing him, Hook felt that being around Peter allowed him to breathe a little more easily.
He let out a long sigh.
Then turned back toward the audience.
"I found his freedom irritating.
And yet...
Whenever I watched him, it felt like my own heart came back to life a little.
Ah, free Peter.
Peter who cared nothing for rules.
Happy Peter.
Why couldn't I be like him?
And so...
I said something without thinking."
The regret saturating those words sent a chill through the audience.
"...Peter's lucky.
I can't do that.
Maybe personalities are something people are born with."
"That's difficult for you?
We're friends. Want me to fix it for you?"
"How...?"
No... surely not...
Slash.
With a sharp sound effect, Peter swung the knife in his right hand.
Something dropped.
AAAAAAAAAH—
Screams exploded throughout the theater.
A liquid far too red to be mistaken for paint burst across the stage.
And as though keeping rhythm with the audience's cries, a ticking sound began.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
"If I hide your watch, you'll just wear another one.
So I made it impossible for you to wear watches at all.
I got rid of your wrist.
You're grateful, right?"
Hook rolled across the floor clutching his severed wrist.
Peter Pan beamed happily as he watched Hook's carefully maintained appearance fall apart.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The sound was coming from the watch strapped tightly around the severed wrist.
The image that created in the audience's minds plunged the theater into horrified silence.
Hook, drowned in pitch-black agony.
Peter Pan, wearing a bright blue smile.
The contrast between the two actors was almost painful to look at.
Act One ended.
The audience struggled to steady their racing hearts.
Seol Su Yeon's fingertips trembled.
This is acting.
There had been a fairy tale she once loved.
A child would lie down in bed.
The mattress would sink, becoming an entrance to another world.
The protagonist would experience countless adventures before barely making it back in time and returning to bed.
Upon waking, everything seemed like a dream.
Except a souvenir from the other world remained in their hand.
She had been obsessed with that story.
While reading it, she became so immersed that she heard nothing around her.
Afterward, every night when she lay down to sleep, she imagined it.
What if my bed sank too?
What if I could travel to another world?
Today, it felt as though she actually had.
When she first stepped onto the stage, her heart had pounded.
So many eyes.
So close.
Eyes that followed every movement.
Terrifying eyes.
Eyes that seemed ready to tell her she had no value.
To ask why someone like her deserved to stand there.
If she hadn't practiced so much, she might have frozen completely.
When she finally managed to push out her first line through her own strength—
She met Peter Pan's gaze.
And he smiled warmly, as though encouraging her.
—Wendy, over here! This way!
Come where I am.
Let's play together.
After that, her memory became hazy.
Like being absorbed in an extraordinary book, all awareness of the outside world faded.
The space of the stage expanded endlessly.
It became another world.
And she had become the protagonist of that story.
Not the pitiful person who always felt like a beggar wandering through a distorted world.
But someone whose story everyone wanted to hear.
Wendy suffered.
But Seol Su Yeon was happy.
She poured all of her remaining pain into Wendy.
Wendy became more complete.
And Seol Su Yeon became lighter.
The audience's attention gathered upon them.
That attention formed invisible walls around the stage.
The heat generated by the actors inside accumulated layer by layer.
Even without looking, she could sense tiny movements through changes in the airflow.
The atmosphere had become that dense.
A small breath.
An "ah."
And the currents shifted gently.
What tremendous pressure.
Among such extraordinary actors, she gathered her courage and asserted her existence.
Then they willingly made room for her.
A place of her own.
The energies of the four actors meshed together and filled the stage without a single gap.
How beautiful it was.
During the final scene of Act One, while Peter Pan and Hook shared the stage, Seol Su Yeon stared unblinkingly.
As though afraid it would disappear.
As though she desperately wanted to return to that stage as soon as possible.
"You did well, Su Yeon."
"Just keep doing that."
The greatest actors in the production whispered to her as they crossed paths during the transition.
The encouragement made her heart swell.
The gloomy music crackled.
Then cut off.
Act Two began.
Click.
Click.
The familiar sound of the Doctor's heels opened the second act.
"Name: Peter Pan.
Age: Seventeen.
This patient was originally treated at our institution for severe ADHD and delusional disorder.
However, Peter was forcibly admitted to the ward after another psychological defect manifested itself.
The incident I mentioned earlier.
The one in which he severed Hook's arm.
Hook underwent major surgery at our hospital.
However, because the rusty knife caused catastrophic damage to the severed area, reattachment surgery failed, and he was ultimately fitted with a prosthetic arm.
Our medical staff diagnosed Peter Pan with antisocial personality disorder, characterized by repeated patterns of violating or disregarding the rights of others."
A spotlight illuminated the center platform.
Inside the acrylic isolation chamber, Peter cheerfully waved at the audience.
His eyes wide.
Both hands swinging enthusiastically.
Why did something so innocent feel so horrifying?
"He is the most problematic patient in our hospital.
He constantly creates incidents.
And he enjoys the attention those incidents bring him.
The interesting aspect of this case is that people continue to be drawn to him despite everything."
Inside the isolation room, Peter Pan called out brightly.
"Hey, friend in the suit!
Want to play a fun game with me?"
A businessman sitting in the front row flinched and avoided eye contact.
"Let's defeat pirates together.
Let's listen to mermaids sing.
And if we get bored, let's grab a mermaid by the tail and throw her into the mountains.
Wouldn't it be funny watching a giant mermaid flop around somewhere with no water?
Then we can build a campfire and roast a huge rabbit!
There are so many fun things in the world.
Come with me to Neverland!"
Human silhouettes appeared across the cyclorama.
One.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
As Peter chattered happily, more shadows gathered behind him.
And beneath their faces—
Smiling mouths appeared.
Ha ha ha—
Ha ha ha ha—
Bright laughter echoed throughout the theater.
Yet no one in the audience could laugh.
The chill creeping across their skin only grew stronger.
"This patient is also one of our primary observation targets.
Cases like this are rare.
Our hospital is a research-oriented institution possessing a significant number of rare cases."
The Doctor's confident smile left a bitter taste behind.
Act Two, Scene One ended.
"Let's play.
You can have fun with me."
"I'm bored. Bored. I'm boooored!"
Peter Pan lay with his head resting on Wendy's lap, complaining endlessly.
Then his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Want to meet my friend?"
"Friend? Is he in Neverland?"
"Yep. He's in the ward on the other side of that door."
"You're forbidden from going to Ward B, Peter."
"But you can go."
The look he gave her made the request sound perfectly natural.
In the end, Wendy nodded.
Wendy was a good girl.
She didn't want to do things the doctors and nurses told her not to do.
But disobeying Peter was even harder.
He was the first friend who had ever told her she was wonderful.
And Wendy didn't know how to refuse anyone.
The two children secretly passed through the connecting door between wards.
After pointing out Hook and introducing him, Peter hid himself, saying he wanted to surprise him.
Wendy hesitated before approaching Hook.
"Are you Hook?"
"Hm? You're new."
"I'm Wendy."
"Wendy..."
Hook paused.
"You look like my mother."
Without clocks.
Without Peter Pan.
Hook was surprisingly stable.
He found himself liking the girl who had approached him.
She resembled the version of his mother who had been gentle.
Not the one always demanding perfect behavior.
"You seem... like the most normal person here."
"I take my medicine properly.
I've gotten a lot better.
Would you like to be my friend?"
"Uh... what?"
"I like kind people.
Which room are you in?"
"I'm in Ward A."
The moment she said it, Hook's expression froze.
"If you're from there, be careful around a guy named Peter Pan.
He seems bright and funny and charming, but in reality he's—"
Before he could finish—
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The sound of a clock.
"AAAAAAAH! GET AWAY! GET AWAY—!"
Hook exploded into panic.
Wendy trembled as she watched the polite, calm boy from moments earlier lose control.
Covering his ears.
Screaming.
Convulsing.
And then Peter appeared with perfect timing, clutching his stomach with laughter.
"AAAAAH! YOU AGAIN! DIE! I'LL KILL YOU!"
Even in the middle of his breakdown, Hook never stopped cursing Peter Pan.
It was as though killing Peter had become the sole purpose of his existence.
"Hahahaha! Wendy, look! Isn't this funny?
He's scared of clock sounds."
"P-Peter..."
"Tick tick! That's me making the sound with my tongue.
Pretty convincing, right?
Let's run before the staff show up and throw me into isolation."
"He... he looks hurt..."
"It's fine.
He'll calm down soon.
Come on."
And just like that—
Peter and Wendy ran away.
Hook remained alone onstage.
Occasionally twitching.
Tears streamed from his dark eyes.
The sight was painful to watch.
And she began revealing the feelings hidden inside her heart.
Peter always agreed with her.
He criticized the adults he hated.
And took her side.
"That's your mother's fault.
She treated children unfairly.
Mothers are supposed to be warm and fair.
Wendy got hurt because your mother was wrong."
"A woman like that isn't a real mother.
A real mother is someone kind and gentle, like Wendy."
"I needed someone like you.
Be my mother, Wendy."
"A real mother who doesn't play favorites.
Who forgives mistakes and loves her children.
You can be that person."
He asked Wendy to become his mother.
"O-Okay!
I'll be your mother, Peter."
And Wendy accepted.
Their relationship was strange.
An endless exchange of childish dependency.
Yet Wendy found comfort in it.
At the same time, their attachment steadily worsened both of them.
Peter Pan became more selfish with every passing day.
A mother should be kind!
A mother should give in!
You're Wendy, so you should do everything for me!
I like that snack, so give it to me!
And Wendy accepted everything.
Mistaking his unreasonable demands for affection.
Okay, Peter.
You're the best.
Let's do whatever you want.
A damp, unhealthy attachment sank deeper and deeper.
Then came Act Two, Scene Seven.
Peter brought Wendy to visit Hook once again.
"Hooook~ Let's play~"
"Why are you doing this to me...?"
"What's wrong, Hook?
We're friends.
We've had so much fun together."
Watching Peter Pan's expression, Ryu Shin felt every cell in his body come alive.
That bright, selfish face.
Unable to understand another person's feelings in the slightest.
Yu Myeong's acting was far more stimulating from inside the scene than from the audience.
That childishness.
That sense that he was playing with people's hearts without the slightest guilt.
How could someone whose real personality was so completely different portray a character like this so perfectly?
Jealousy simmered inside him.
"Ha...
The trauma that destroyed my life was nothing more than entertainment to you."
The line escaped him with genuine feeling.
It mirrored his own emotions perfectly.
Acting with Yu Myeong transformed the stage into something increasingly real.
"Want to duel?
Take your revenge."
"...What?"
"Sounds fun.
Let's fight."
Fun.
That damned word.
At last, Hook snapped.
He lunged at Peter.
But a one-armed boy was no match.
Peter subdued him effortlessly.
Then twisted his elbow backward.
Crack.
The sickening sound echoed through the theater.
Hook screamed once more.
And only then—
Only then—
Peter Pan smiled as though he were finally having fun.
The brighter his smile became, the more the air in the theater shrank inward.
Like the audience had forgotten how to breathe.
And with that—
Act Two ended.
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