Episode 2 The Black Snake Biting Its Tail (1)
Episode 2 The Black Snake Biting Its Tail (1)
Ugliness as the Black Snake, purity as Hyeonmu.
After a very long time had passed, Kim Dokja, who would face the day when the countless stars of the sky fell, would have to recall today's subway where he met the barefoot girl with a ponytail.
"Ahaha."
The girl laughed. Even as the conductor had died and unidentified characters hovered in the air.
But before I had time to feel that sense of incompatibility, a single word flashed through my head.
'Ways of Survival...?'
At the moment when these absurd things were happening, what flashed through my head was neither a speculation that it might be a prank by YouTubers, nor a deduction about why such a thing had happened, nor worry about what would happen in the future, but the title of a novel I had read for ten years.
It makes no sense. It was just a novel.
It was at that moment when Car 3807 of the subway suddenly brightened and a certain entity appeared. I could hear the people beside me in low murmurs.
"Dokkaebi...?"
For a moment, the front of my eyes went dark and then brightened. As the word 'Ways of Survival' flashed through my head once more, my pupils trembled wildly.
The entity that appeared out of nowhere in the air of the subway was grinning, possessing two horns, soft white fur, and wearing a scrap of cloth that could well be called a rag.
Although it was clearly neither a human nor an animal, I received the distinct feeling that that thing was laughing.
Yeah. It was exactly as described in Ways of Survival.
In Ways of Survival, that entity was called a Dokkaebi.
[^%#%&@#^&!]
[&*^$#$#@^%$!]
The world that had been with me for over ten years began to fall like rain soaking the ground.
That entity was still spewing unintelligible sounds. The passengers hesitated at first, but then several took out their smartphones to launch translator apps, while someone pointed a camera as if filming.
Turning my head to look at Yoo Sangah, her mouth moved slightly as if she had resolved to do something. However, she seemingly lacked the courage to speak at all and cast her gaze downward again.
It was then that a familiar language reached my ears.
[Ah, ah. Can you hear me well?]
The murmurs among the people grew louder.
[You can hear me now, right? The Korean patch was a bit delayed.]
For a moment, no one knew how to react, and the interior of the train car sank into silence.
Then, a man standing right in front of the Dokkaebi nervously checked his wristwatch.
"Excuse me."
The Dokkaebi tilted its head.
"I have to go to an audition right now. I don't know what kind of event this is, but what are you doing holding people up like this?"
As one person opened his mouth, others poured out their complaints as if they had been waiting for the chance.
"What kind of prank is this!"
"If you're filming, shouldn't you get consent first?"
"Is there no one who called the police?"
"Where's the camera?"
The train car, where people had only been eyeing each other nervously until just a moment ago, instantly turned into a commotion. The Dokkaebi told them to be quiet several times. At first, it was in a fairly light voice, and even the second time, it was still smiling.
But no one listened.
[Now, now, everyone. Calm down and listen to me first! I'm going to say something important from now on!]
"Ah, fucking hell. Hurry up and get the train moving!"
"What was that earlier, the conductor made that weird broadcast too, did you guys plot this together or something?"
"Omma, what's that? Is it something like a Dokkaebi?"
The world that had been falling inside my head eventually soaked my thoughts completely.
There is no doubt.
This is the development I know.
I have to stop them.
But I couldn't stop them. Because the man who had protested first had already opened his mouth.
"Hey, can't you hear a person talking right now?"
I said nothing and merely stopped Yoo Sangah from opening her mouth. Because that world that had already soaked my head was demanding silence.
It didn't take long for the Dokkaebi's mouth, which had been momentarily closed, to open again.
[You really are noisy.]
The man's head exploded.
There was no gunshot. No loud sound either. A small puk sound was heard, and the severed artery sprayed blood in all directions, as if proving he was a person whose heart had been beating until just a moment ago.
Chwahaaaak!
The pouring blood soaked the ceiling and hand straps. A woman in the front row screamed, and someone collapsed onto the floor right then and there. The other people who had been protesting didn't even have time to cover their own mouths.
One person.
And another person.
[Be quiet.]
The people who had been raising their voices to argue collapsed one by one, and the Dokkaebi ordered. The people who had been shouting until a moment ago shut their mouths, becoming acutely conscious of even each other's breathing.
I looked across to the opposite side.
The child was still in that place.
Her small bare feet moved slowly up and down, and her laughter did not fade either. She seemed more interested in how the Dokkaebi did such a thing than in the fact that a person had died.
[This is not a movie shoot. It's not a dream, nor a novel, and at least it's not the reality you used to know.]
The spurts of blood from the people did not stop, dyeing the interior of the subway into a sea of blood.
[Do you get it? So everyone shut the fuck up and listen to me.]
I pressed firmly on the shoulder of Yoo Sangah, who was repeatedly hiccuping in shock. Her pupils were trembling endlessly like a flag swaying in the wind.
The world that had been falling inside my head finally stopped.
This is real.
Even when I saw the strange child, when something like a status window shimmered in the air, and when the Dokkaebi appeared before my eyes, the rain of thought had not stopped, but seeing the train car turned into a sea of blood, it finally ceased.
[Everyone, up until now, life must have been quite pleasant for you.]
The severed arteries were still spurting blood.
[You people have been living for free for way too long, haven't you? Without any reason to draw the attention of the Constellations, without any reason to carry out dangerous scenarios. Ha! You really lived in a fucking great world, didn't you!]
It wasn't free. Most people on the subway earned money, and even if they didn't, they would have done their best in their respective positions. There must have been someone sighing while checking their bank account balance every day, and someone wiping away tears over grades that wouldn't go up.
[But the good times are over now. You were owing a debt.]
Tuk
A nameless passenger stumbled backward and bumped into the elderly person who had died.
Urureu
As the dried-up body moved slightly, the contents inside the bag scattered across the aisle. A few candies, a folded handkerchief, a packet of medicine.
[However, what you borrowed must be repaid with interest.]
It was ridiculous sophistry. Yet no one in the subway could raise an objection. Because they were terrified.
That fact was something one could easily tell just by looking at the endlessly trembling eyes of the people.
[Now then, are you slowly getting a sense of what I'm talking about?]
The Dokkaebi twisted its lips and looked down at the people. A proud smile hung around its mouth, as if it had just revealed a tremendous secret of this world.
Just then, someone stepped forward. He didn't look like he was trying to raise an objection, but he seemed to have made a big decision.
"Wait a minute."
I turned my head.
The man's jaw was slightly set, and sweat had beaded inside his shirt collar. Even so, he walked forward.
"Dokja-ssi... isn't that person Department Head Han from the finance team?"
"...I think you're right."
Finance Team Department Head Han Myeongoh went forward anyway.
"Do you want money?"
Spouting such nonsense in a situation like this. Yoo Sangah and I looked at each other in that moment. Each of our eyes was filled with absurdity.
Fortunately, there was no additional murder.
Because the Dokkaebi paused its speech for a moment and raised its chin slightly as if saying, 'go ahead and try.'
Han Myeongoh pulled out his wallet. Though his fingertips trembled violently, he clenched his teeth and held out a check.
"M-Money, I will give you as much as you want. Take this first. If it's not enough—"
Ttak
When the Dokkaebi snapped its fingers, flames burst forth.
The check burned away in an instant.
"Hk..."
An uncontrollable gasp burst from lips trembling with anxiety.
He must have thought it was a fairly wise judgment in his own way. Since usually, what the opponent wanted in a situation like this was money.
Of course, the problem was that the current situation was far from usual.
A burnt smell quietly blended into the interior of the train car, which had been filled only with the fishy stench of blood.
As black ashes fell from between Han Myeongoh's fingers, the eyes of the people who had been looking at him as if he were a hero burned down to ash-grey as well.
The Dokkaebi laughed.
[That kind of paper is utterly useless in the macro-dimensional realm. Keep in mind that if you do shit like that one more time, I'll blow your head off.]
"Ugh, uuu..."
[Well, no matter how many hundred days I jabber on with words, it can't beat doing it yourself, right?]
The Dokkaebi spewed unintelligible words from its mouth and opened its arms wide as if welcoming someone.
Along with that, a sensation of something opening that hadn't been anywhere in the train car until now flashed by. I couldn't explain that feeling, but I knew the message that soon floated before my eyes.
[#BI-7623 Channel has opened!]
[Constellations are entering.]
And.
[Main Scenario has arrived!]
A blue window floated up in front of the eyes of everyone inside the train car.
Someone flailed at the air, and someone took off their glasses to wipe the lenses. Even the people who had been turning their heads away just a moment ago to avoid looking at the corpses could not avoid the text before their eyes.
*
Category: Main
Difficulty: F
Clear Condition: Kill one or more living creatures.
Time Limit: 30 minutes
Reward: 300 Coins
Failure: Death
*
While everyone was in confusion, not knowing how to accept the reality that had befallen them, the barefoot child raised her hand.
A small finger pointed at the characters floating in the air.
"Woah!"
A few glances inside the train car turned toward her. The child's eyes sparkled.
"It's letters!"
And then, as if finding something so amusing, she began to laugh while dangling her feet.
"Ahahahahaha."
Blood was flowing along the floor.
Someone was still swallowing their sobs, and someone was turning their head away, unable to look toward the person who had just died. Between Han Myeongoh's fingers clung a charred remnant of the check.
In the very middle of it all, only the child laughed.
Like a child afraid of nothing. No, with a face that truly was afraid of nothing.
"Ahahahahaha!"
Amidst the train car that had fallen into silence, the child's laughter rang out clearly.
Someone might have thought she was crazy.
Someone might have assumed she couldn't understand the situation due to fear.
But I didn't think so.
That child wasn't laughing out of fright. She was genuinely having fun. Simply over the fact that she saw letters floating in the air.
Because that one simple fact was amusing to her.
The eyes of the Dokkaebi floating in the air narrowed.
[...What is that?]
For the first time, a question came from the Dokkaebi's side.
I didn't answer. There was no way I could answer anyway.
Because I wanted to know as well.
Just who on earth that child was—the one who was nowhere to be found in Ways of Survival.