Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Among Moonlit Guests 3(2)
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Ibi stepped away from the mirror and out into the hallway. Her mind swirled with the intricate diagram drawn in blood that her reflection had shown her.
Seeing it had made her feel like she understood the secret of this bizarre place. Her heart pounded fiercely.
The way to resolve her doubts was simple. She just had to test it herself.
Ibi opened the door at the end of the hallway. A rectangular room. 1, 2. She headed to the south hallway. 3, 4. This time west. 5, 6. North. 7, 8.
This time, she chose the south door. A triangular room appeared.
After leaving the room, Ibi circled through all the rooms once more. Four rectangular rooms, four triangular ones.
Now she was certain. Of the layout of this space. What her reflection in the mirror had been trying to convey was clear.
Ibi marveled at her own brilliant mind, but she couldn't overlook the fact that she still didn't know a concrete way to escape.
"Think. Think."
As she stood there racking her brain, the gear attached to the wall began to turn. While the music played, Ibi closed her eyes and kept redrawing the blueprint her reflection had given her in her mind.
Finally, the music ended. Knocking sounds came from all directions.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Gue...st."
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Gue...st."
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Gue...st."
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Gue...st."
Ibi glared at one of the doors. So, logically speaking, if there were only eight rooms total in here... couldn't she just go outside?
This was room 1, 2. So the door to the outside should be east. The problem was that the 'guest' was blocking that east door.
Ibi stood still right there. Until the music ended.
The eerie solo piano came to a close. The door in front of Ibi creaked open with a thin groan. A hand gripped the doorframe, and a girl with a limp, corpse-like gait entered.
"Gue...st."
As always, the girl extended one hand and walked slowly forward. Terror made Ibi's body tremble, but she didn't run. Some problems couldn't be solved by just fleeing. That's how the world worked.
She barely steadied her shaking breath. She stepped forward. One step, two. The girl seemed puzzled by Ibi's approach and stopped in place.
"Gue...st."
Ibi opened her mouth.
"The owner."
The girl tilted her head. It was a grotesque, wind-up doll motion.
"Come inside. I just finished preparing to receive you."
With that, Ibi pointed to the door across from her. The girl raised her head with a screech and met Ibi's eyes.
"Really?"
"...Of course. I've prepared with all my heart."
"If you're lying......"
Saying that, the girl walked past Ibi. She poured every ounce of effort into not letting her trembling show. She felt a bead of sweat trickling down her nape.
"I won't let you get away with it."
Ibi stayed rooted to the spot until the girl opened the door and vanished into the hallway.
Finally, the girl's figure disappeared. Only after the door fully closed did Ibi hurriedly step in the opposite direction.
Her footsteps echoed unnaturally loudly in the hallway. The difference from the previous ones was that this hallway was much longer.
How far had she walked? Light appeared ahead. Not like before—this was a bright source, like the sun. There it is. I can get out!
That was when it happened. Frantic footsteps pounding the floor came from behind, along with a chilling scream.
"She's not here!"
Hearing that, Ibi screamed too and ran with all her might. It's right there. Right there. A slightly ajar door. Light leaked through. If she could just get past that.
Ibi reached the door in moments and grabbed the handle with both hands. But at the same time, an icy grip seized her ankle.
"No, no, no!"
The cold hand dragged her back into the hallway. Ibi desperately clung to the doorframe, but the small hand was horrifyingly strong.
No. Just one step. One more step and she'd be out.
Her hands slipped repeatedly, but she fought not to be pulled away. Finally, they came completely free from the door. Ibi screamed.
"You teased the guest, so you deserve punishment!"
She felt the cold hand sliding up from her ankle, inching toward her leg.
"No! I didn't! I didn't do anything to you! Nothing at all! Why are you doing this to me?!"
But no matter how she thrashed, she couldn't escape the grip. She was moments from being dragged back into the pitch-black hallway.
Then an arm shot out from beyond the door and firmly grabbed Ibi's wrist. In that instant, the door flew open, and light poured in.
Ibi felt her body yanked out through the door. Her pupils flooded with sudden blinding light, so she couldn't see who was pulling her. But she definitely felt the icy grip on her ankle release.
"Gotcha."
Ibi blinked repeatedly. Even so, she couldn't tell where she was.
All she knew was that she was in the arms of a strange man.
"Wh-what?!"
Realizing it, Ibi flushed red and struggled. The man was quite tall, so her flailing feet just kicked empty air.
"Ah, still full of spunk, I see. My apologies."
With that, the man set her down on a chair as easily as if handling a child.
Ibi had a lot she wanted to say, but the situation itself was so baffling she could only blink. She scanned her surroundings first.
Bright... and neat. A tea house? The wooden interior reminded her of the space she'd just escaped, nearly making her uncomfortable, but this place felt warm and soothing instead.
"Wh-where is this? I was just......"
Saying that, Ibi turned her gaze straight ahead. And she stopped speaking. There wasn't just one person sitting in front of her. There were four.
Suddenly, Ibi noticed she was at the end of a long table—the head seat. Becoming aware that all four were looking at her, she blushed awkwardly.
In order of closeness: a sharp-featured, slender man in his mid-to-late twenties; a younger-looking, sturdy-built man; a girl in a black sailor uniform even smaller than Ibi; and finally...
"Huh?"
Ibi's mouth fell open. The woman seated farthest away was someone she knew.
"G-Guest?"
The word felt gross coming out of her own mouth, but the woman smiled faintly and waved. It was definitely her—the stunningly pretty one with the killer figure who'd given her that weird business card...
"Looks like the card helped."
"Uh... uh-huh......"
As Ibi sat there dumbfounded, unable to respond, the two men beside her were chatting among themselves.
"See? I told you she'd figure it out and escape on her own. Pay up—50,000 won."
"This doesn't make sense..."
Ibi tore her eyes from the men exchanging money and looked at the table. There sat a familiar object.
It was the palm-sized box that had nearly chewed her up whole.
"Mommy!"
Ibi nearly toppled backward in shock. She barely recovered, but then the next event made her lose her balance completely and tip over.
Without anyone touching it, the box split into four sections and opened on its own. The moment it did, Moonlight Sonata began to play, and...
A pale hand planted itself on the table.
"Gue...st."
"No. Not anymore. I can't let this go on."
The response came from the skinny man. At some point, he'd produced a stiff folding fan. He aimed it at the hand and the box like a blade.
The box floated up on its own and froze midair, as if nailed in place by invisible forces.
"I......"
It was grotesque. From the fist-sized box, a school-uniformed girl dangled by her upper body. Ibi's eyes met the bloody girl's gaze as she hovered in the air; she crawled backward on the floor.
The next instant, the man snapped the fan shut and swung. Crimson threads like blood vessels shot from the fan's edge, binding the girl tight.
"I... cold, it hurts... I just wanted to rest. I'm not guilty of anything. The people who chased me away are the bad ones. The ones who let me freeze to death are the bad ones......"
"I'm sorry. But you're not innocent."
The man kept the fan trained on her as he spoke.
"An unjust death doesn't give you the right to toy with innocent lives. Stop here. Let me help you. Don't side with those who took your breath away."
With that, he gripped the fan and pressed down hard on empty air. From the side, it looked like the atmosphere itself had substance and was being crushed.
"Slaying the living requires discernment. Don't defile yourself to the point you can't even enter reincarnation."
The girl was then shoved by some invisible force back into the box. Only a faint scream echoed as an afterimage.
The box that swallowed her clicked shut and fell to the table with a thud, rolling lazily.
"Useless now."
The man casually reached out and picked it up. After inspecting it, he muttered that verdict and called to the silent sailor-uniform girl.
"Mina."
"Yeah."
"Eat it."
"Yeah."
But though she answered, the girl didn't grab the box. It flew straight at her and smacked her right on the crown of her head.
Watching that, Ibi nearly fainted at the scene that followed.
Crunch, crunch.
The girl's head split open. Literally—it cracked wide, parting front to back. The split skull was a massive maw, packed with dozens, hundreds of razor-sharp teeth inside.
Gulp.
The wood-chewing sounds stopped after a while. Her head returned to normal, as if it had never hidden such a monstrous mouth.
"Ah, ah......"
Ibi, having witnessed it all, no longer had the strength to scream. Her sanity for the day had exceeded its limit. No—it had surpassed it long ago, and she'd barely held on.
"Um, excuse me."
As she spoke, Ibi felt her mind growing hazy.
"Call 119 for me."
That was the end. Ibi lost consciousness and slumped to the floor.