Chapter 7: Irene’s Escape Plan
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Irene was positively livid, her furious words flying out like sharp little daggers. Yu Sheng could hardly believe his ears. He never imagined that a doll sealed inside a painting could know so many outrageous curse words—and use them all so swiftly, too, while sliding down the stairs without even pausing for breath. Perhaps it was because she was a doll; maybe she didn’t need to breathe at all.
Yu Sheng, however, kept his cool. He watched calmly as Irene’s painted form reached the bottom of the staircase, still shrieking insults at him. He took his time coming down after her, holding tight to the handrail. His back ached, and he certainly wasn’t going to rush and risk making it worse. When he finally reached the ground floor, he bent over—grimacing a bit from the pain—and picked up Irene’s frame.
“Have you lost your mind?!” Irene screamed from inside the painting. She clutched her stuffed bear with one arm, her painted hair and clothing all mussed, making her look like she’d just tumbled through a hedge. “Who throws someone down the stairs like that? What if you had cracked the frame?”
“My back hurts,” Yu Sheng replied evenly, carrying the painting toward the dining room. “Your frame is heavy, and I didn’t feel like hauling you down one step at a time. Besides, I checked—it’s a sturdy frame. And who knows, if it had broken, perhaps you’d be freed.”
“If it were that easy, do you think I’d still be stuck in here?” Irene huffed, flopping back into the chair inside her painted world. “Ugh, my head is spinning…”
Hearing this, Yu Sheng suddenly halted and looked down at the girl in the painting with a serious, thoughtful expression. Irene visibly shuddered under his gaze.
“W-What are you thinking now?” she demanded, gripping her bear protectively. “I’m warning you, if you throw me down the stairs again, I’ll make your life a nightmare! I’ll slip into your dreams every single night—if you dream of exams, I’ll set off alarms right before you finish; if you dream of gaming, I’ll yank the plug; if you dream of a nice outing, I’ll chase you down with a truck; and if you dream of a date—”
Yu Sheng couldn’t believe how much nonsense this cursed doll could spew. For a moment, he had to resist the strong urge to lug her right back upstairs and send her tumbling down again. Still, he forced himself to remain calm and steady. He tried to look as serious as possible and said, “I want to ask about this ‘seal’ you mentioned. You said you need help getting out. What exactly has to be done to help you break it?”
Irene blinked, caught completely off guard. Her eyes grew wide with surprise, as though she couldn’t quite believe what she’d just heard. “You… you’re going to help me escape?”
“Weren’t you the one begging for help with your seal?” Yu Sheng frowned, then quickly added, “I’m only asking what needs to be done. I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”
Irene seemed not to hear the second part. She burst out excitedly before he finished speaking, “There are three—no, actually two—ways! The best way is to find my original body. I don’t know where it’s gone, but it must be somewhere not too far from this painting. If you can locate it and bring it near me, I can break free from this cursed frame.
“But if you can’t find it, or if my original body’s been destroyed, then we’ll have to try the second method: creating a new body. Of course, that won’t be as perfect as my real one, and I’ll need some time to adjust…”
Yu Sheng listened carefully, then couldn’t help asking, “Make a new one? How would I even do that? Just buy a doll at a toy store?”
“Of course not!” Irene snapped, sounding insulted. “I’m an ‘Alice Doll,’ a special living doll blessed with magic. I’m not like those cheap, mass-produced trinkets on a shop’s shelf!” She paused, growing more serious. “Living dolls like me are born in the garden of Alice’s Little House. My original body came from there. But I’ve lost my link to that garden, and I can’t leave this painting to return and be reborn. Still, there’s a way to craft a temporary body here… though it’s tricky.
“First, you need to find hair that can grow on its own, soil that squirms as if it’s alive, bones that can mend themselves when broken, and at least one drop of a living doll’s tear—two drops are even better, for smoother ‘skin.’ After that, you’d perform a bit of alchemy to awaken these materials and smear some of your own blood— Hey, why are you looking at me like that?”
Yu Sheng stared at her for several long moments, then let out a deep sigh. “Let’s just stick to finding your original body, shall we?”
Irene looked perplexed. “You… you don’t know alchemy?”
Yu Sheng’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Should I? You’re talking as if it’s common knowledge! And even if I ignore the alchemy part, where would I get these absurd ingredients? Hair that grows by itself, soil that wriggles, self-healing bones, tears of a living doll… It sounds like you pulled this out of some cheap fantasy magazine. If I could find another living doll, I’d hand you over to her and be done with it!”
He still felt completely new to this bizarre world. He didn’t fully understand the strange shadows and hidden forces lurking around. But from what he’d seen so far, the ingredients Irene described seemed impossible for an ordinary person to find. How could she toss these ideas out so casually?
Irene’s cheeks reddened slightly. She looked embarrassed and shifted awkwardly in her little painted chair. In a softer voice, she said, “Well, we could use… simpler materials too. You could just buy some clay, paint, and a wig online…”
“…What?” Yu Sheng was stunned, staring at her as though she were playing a prank. Irene wilted under his gaze.
“I only wanted the best possible body,” she muttered. “But if that’s too hard, we can settle for a basic one. Even a simple shape will do. It just has to look somewhat human. Once I enter it, I can reshape it from the inside. Still, it won’t work without your blood and a tiny bit of alchemical technique. Don’t worry, I can teach you. It’s not that complicated; even someone ordinary can learn if they try…”
For a few moments, Yu Sheng didn’t answer. He seemed lost in his own thoughts, weighing his options. Suddenly, he remembered something Irene had said earlier. “When you first started, you said there were three ways. Why did you skip the third one?”
At that, Irene’s eyes slid away nervously. “…The third way has a cost,” she admitted. “I don’t think you’d agree to it, and honestly, I don’t want you to. We’re not that close, and it’s… well, it’s dangerous.”
“Well, if you know we’re not that close, then stop spouting nonsense,” Yu Sheng shot back, irritated.
Irene bit her lip, looking a bit ashamed. Finally, she spoke again in a softer tone. “So… will you help me get out? The second method isn’t all that bad. You don’t have to make the perfect body. It can be a simple, rough shape as long as I can move in it. I can fix it up once I’m inside. Just make sure it looks at least like a person.”
This time, Yu Sheng didn’t argue. He thought about it quietly for nearly half a minute before replying, “I’m not making any promises now. I need some time to think it over.”
He certainly didn’t trust Irene yet—not entirely. She seemed honest enough on the surface, and perhaps even sweet and harmless in her own odd way. But one had to remember she was still a strange being sealed inside a painting. Would she turn on him the moment she gained freedom? He had just recently died once; he wasn’t eager to repeat that experience.
Irene didn’t fight him on this. She simply watched him for a moment, then nodded as if she understood. “Alright,” she said lightly, “I get it.”
Yu Sheng had braced himself for more protests, so her quiet acceptance caught him by surprise.
Irene smiled from within the painting, eyes sparkling. “We’re not that close yet, right? I’ll ask you again once we know each other better.”
“Fine,” Yu Sheng answered, relaxing his shoulders. “We can talk about it again later.”
With that, he placed her frame on the dining table and leaned it against the wall. He then headed toward the kitchen. “I haven’t had dinner yet,” he told her, “so I’m going to cook something.”
“Alright,” Irene said, then quickly added, “Oh! Could you turn on the TV across the table for me? I feel like watching something.”
“So demanding,” Yu Sheng muttered under his breath, but he did as asked, switching on the television before moving on. He grabbed the groceries he’d left by the shelf—fresh vegetables and a few seasonings he had bought earlier—and disappeared into the kitchen.
Cooking relaxed him. Ever since he’d arrived in this odd, not-quite-familiar “Boundary City,” preparing his own meals had been one of his few comforts. Here, inside this big old house, at least he could cook and eat in peace. The rest of the world might be crawling with strange shadows and eerie sights, but he wouldn’t let them spoil his appetite.
He didn’t mind the strange encounters he had on the streets, but when it came to eating a proper meal, he refused to be disturbed. Cooking and enjoying his food were sacred moments to him.
Now, even here in what he hoped was his safe haven, there was Irene to deal with. But compared to the ghosts, the icy rain, and the unsettling frogs he’d run into outside, a talkative doll trapped inside a painting wasn’t all that bad. At least, as far as he knew, she wouldn’t try to tear out his heart. In fact, she even seemed a bit… cute, in her own unusual way.