Address (2)
“Hey… why can’t everyone else read that, nyang?” Kruru whispered right into my ear.
“...What?”
Han Yujin reflexively shot back. Swirls of incomprehensible characters. In this space where the letters themselves polluted the mind just by existing, that furball—no, the girl who looked like a cute little miss to everyone else—was totally fine.
“That’s just writing, right, nyang?” Kruru pointed at the air with her front paw—no, her slender finger.
Following her fingertip, horrific red letters floated by.
“You’re saying that’s writing?”
“Yeah. ‘Help me. I want to go home. Mom.’ That’s what it says, nyang.”
“Oh.”
Han Yujin’s eyes widened round. Come to think of it, Yoo Se-rin had said Kruru was a conceptual being. Probably, these letters were what humans—or anomalies that used to be human—had turned into bit by bit. So Kruru might not be bound by their form as letters.
Their lingering will from life. That would appear to Kruru’s eyes as pure concepts.
Right. She’d forgotten the key fact until now. This one wasn’t human. The fragment of Cthulhu that Unique Company was so desperately hunting. A being that fed on the fear of everything in this world.
...Ah.
The furball she’d seen as just gallery bait or a lure now looked different. This thing was the key to the horror story. A seriously powerful master key, at that.
Han Yujin’s lips curved up in a grin. She gently stroked the fluffy cat head—well, Kruru’s head—that only she could see.
“Kruru.”
“Nyang! How dare this body be...!”
“You were super cool just now. Full of dignity.”
“Kh, khem! I-Is that so? Of course it is, nyang!”
Watching Kruru puff up her shoulders, Han Yujin inwardly cheered. So simple to handle, as always. She pretty much had the full playbook on managing this one.
“Looks like our buddies back there are losing it.”
Kruru glanced back, and sure enough, Lee Kanghyeok, Yoo Se-rin, and even the lady were clutching their heads against the wall. They’d taken the mental pollution head-on.
“I need your help big time, Kruru.”
“Why should this body help pathetic humans...”
“Rock-paper-scissors.”
“......Kuh.”
Just like before, Kruru lost at rock-paper-scissors and stomped her tentacle legs on the floor in frustration.
“This is rigged, nyang? Humans really decide superiority like this, nyang?”
“Yup. Ask anyone.”
Thud. Thud. After whacking the floor with her tail—or tentacles—Kruru pouted.
“Just give this body your orders, nyang! I’ll make everything tremble in fear!”
“Good. Find the address from here.”
“Address?”
“Yeah. Anything works. Earth. Asia. Korea. Seoul. Keywords like that.”
Kruru’s bright yellow eyes gleamed. Her cat-like pupils slit vertically, long and sharp, scanning the darkness.
Amid the billions of letter piles, she focused like she was hunting something.
“Found it, nyang! There!”
Where Kruru pointed, a single line of text glowed brighter than the rest. It was definitely the address Han Yujin had recited, but to her eyes, it was just shattered garbage like [■■ District ■■ Neighborhood].
[Address: Seoul Special City ■■ District ■■ Neighborhood XXX-XX]
“Nice. Now we need four more...”
Han Yujin trailed off and shut her mouth.
Wait, hold up.
Why the hell do I need to find theirs too?
Irritation bubbled up, but the answer was already clear.
This horror story sees us as a team.
Calling numbers all at once. Or shoving us in here together. In cargo management, ‘sorting’ was key, so we were already bundled as one category. Meaning we were tied to the rules as a unit.
Whatever. Not that hard.
Dragging along the other three was doable. But hunting down all five addresses one by one? Near impossible. Plus, she couldn’t fully trust those Unique Company goons anyway.
Time to copy-paste.
Han Yujin’s gaze flicked to the cargo manifest she held. This bill of lading itself was an item governing the horror’s rules. If the letters here were concepts, this paper was the vessel holding them.
Without hesitation, she pressed the [Address] field of her manifest against the letters Kruru had pointed out.
Shhhk—
Like paper sucking up ink, the floating letters transferred instantly onto the manifest.
[Address: Seoul Special City ■■ District ■■ Neighborhood XXX-XX]
“Yes!”
Han Yujin whooped. Every horror had its exploits, and this one was no different.
She rushed to Lee Kanghyeok and Yoo Se-rin.
“Get up! Snap out of it!”
“......Ugh...”
The two, reeling from the pollution, barely lifted their heads.
“Did you... find the address?”
“Yeah! Barely!”
Han Yujin flashed the one she’d just copied.
“Is this... for sure?”
“Not the time to nitpick. Gimme your manifests. Quick.”
Lee Kanghyeok and Yoo Se-rin staggered forward and handed theirs over. Han Yujin pretended to stamp letters onto them, but slyly licked her finger and smudged each stroke away bit by bit. That way, even if they escaped, they wouldn’t end up in the same spot.
“Lady, yours too.”
“...Okay.”
She stamped the lady’s manifest. But as she went to alter it like the others—
Their eyes met. The lady, half-exhausted, pulled herself together and rasped,
“...I have a favor to ask.”
“Yeah?”
“Could you ship something for me? I’ll pay properly. You’re the only one I can trust here. Sorry.”
“What is it?”
“...Something more precious than myself.”
She couldn’t ask what. The lady’s head lolled, out cold.
Han Yujin hoisted her onto her back and yelled to the others,
“All set! Let’s go!”
Screeech... Bang!
They burst from the dark room, the door slamming shut behind. Back at the [Shipping] counter. The red beret-wearing employee anomaly was still scraping papers with its nails.
Han Yujin boldly shoved her manifest forward. The employee checked the [Address] field.
Bam!
A blood-red [Approved] stamp slammed down.
“Next.”
Lee Kanghyeok, Yoo Se-rin, and the now-recovering lady got theirs stamped one by one.
[Fill in the second item.]
[Sender.]
“This one...”
Han Yujin muttered blankly. Lee Kanghyeok stepped up.
“There’s a way.”
He pulled a black business card wallet from his pocket.
He placed the card on the [Sender] field. It dissolved like black smoke, etching letters into the paper.
“...Whoa.”
Han Yujin’s admiration slipped out.
“What’s with those cards?”
“No need to know. Want one?”
Han Yujin pondered. Was [Sender] and [Recipient] crucial? In logistics, address was king. The rest was just verification or liability stuff. If it looped back to Unique Company...
Even better.
She nodded eagerly. Lee Kanghyeok handed cards to the three.
“Yoo Se-rin, use your own.”
“...Yes!”
Second item: cakewalk.
[Fill in the third item.]
[Recipient.]
“Got more cards?”
“...You’re leaving it to me?”
“Nah, just convenient. We’re a team here, right? Let’s cooperate. Cooperate.”
Lee Kanghyeok sighed and dug out a few more from his wallet. All with his name.
“That won’t work.”
“Why?”
“Sender and recipient matching looks sus.”
“...Fair point.”
He rummaged and pulled some out.
“Field Team 1. Research. Rules. Security... Can I have that one?”
Han Yujin reached for Field Team 1’s card like it was hers. Lee Kanghyeok was briefly stunned by the audacity, but that shamelessness was a survival talent in horrors. Plus, her straight-to-the-point talk appealed to him.
“Take this.”
“Ack!”
She barely caught the flicked card.
“...Rules Team?”
“Suits you. Better than thug dens like Team 1.”
Wait, when did I say I was joining Unique Company?
...But whining was pointless. Disposable card anyway. Han Yujin shrugged and pressed it to her manifest.
[Recipient: Unique Company Rules Team]
Wait, why didn’t this one vanish?
She tilted her head. Bam! Bam! The stamps hammered down. Everyone had their final fields done.
[Fill in the fourth item.]
[Item Name.]
All eyes turned to Han Yujin. How the hell do we do this one?
She shrugged casually.
“Everyone, pluck out a strand of hair.”
She yanked a silver-white strand from her head and stuck it in the [Item Name] field.
“That enough?”
“Yeah. You saw earlier. People turning into letters. Meaning our bodies are basically letters here.”
Bold call. Yoo Se-rin muttered beside her, “Really? Might not work...” but Lee Kanghyeok yanked out a clump—not just one—and slapped it on his.
“Sharp insight.”
Han Yujin grinned and nodded, then handed her manifest to the employee.
The anomaly’s long, sharp nail poked her hair. It examined, then nodded.
[Cargo verified.]
Bam! Final [Approved] stamp. Manifest complete.
“Phew...!”
Yoo Se-rin sighed in relief. Kruru and the lady quickly added their hairs and got stamped.
Proceed to the [Settlement] counter for payment.
“Last one.”
Payment settlement. The deadliest choke point for survivors in this horror.
Lee Kanghyeok turned his bulk toward it. Yoo Se-rin and the lady followed.
The four glanced back at Han Yujin, who was grabbing her manifest last.
“Good work, everyone. Now head over there and...”
The moment Han Yujin picked up her completed manifest and turned—
—Grip.
A cold, sharp sensation clamped her wrist. The employee anomaly.
“......!”
Han Yujin froze. Its head creaked, rotating 180 degrees.
Bandages wrapped its face. Beneath, a voice echoed straight into her mind.