Backroom (4)
I stepped into the area still being cleaned, right in front of the exit.
And I faced something that looked just like a fat, plump rat.
The clerk had warned that luck could get you killed on your first day, but…
This was more than just bad luck. Had I accidentally offended some ancient curse?
“……”
The huge rat lay on its side, its eyes scanning me slowly.
A strange food-like scent rose from below. I looked down and saw a crushed can, its contents leaking out onto the floor. The yellow can held something that wasn’t soda—it was animal feed.
The giant rat pressed its snout close to my head.
Every time it sniffed, hot air blasted out along with a stench that made my stomach churn again.
The pain from being killed by the demon king yesterday had been unbearable, but I hadn’t felt it long. Now everything was different.
There was no chance I’d die cleanly at the hands of this monster. It would probably tear off my arms and legs one by one, or find some even worse way to kill me.
Should I run toward the exit right now?
Or would it be better to just lie there like I was dead?
Fortunately, I didn’t have to think about it for long.
Because the rat’s mouth opened wide, ready to swallow me in one bite.
“Aaaaah!”
I never wanted to see a rat’s mouth in such detail.
The moment its jaws parted and I saw the throat, I threw my body sideways. The giant rat’s teeth slammed shut right where I had been, making a deafening crack that rang in my ears.
CRACK!
I remembered watching a video online years ago of a crocodile closing its jaws. It looked like thunder or a gunshot. This sound was happening right beside me now.
“Huff… huh…”
What kind of rat has teeth that powerful!
I must have stepped on it wrong. I needed to get out of here. Staying alive was the only thing that mattered, no matter what I had to do later.
I turned around and sprinted straight toward the exit.
“Hup!”
I pushed off the ground and jumped up, running as fast as I could. If I died here, I’d get neither food nor drink.
Even if the company brought me back to life, it didn’t mean I could die as much as I wanted.
And it had been excruciatingly painful when I died the first time!
People who had experienced death—especially those who had—couldn’t possibly endure it again just by saying, “I’ll just bear this one death.”
“Huu… hah…”
My lungs burned as I fought for oxygen, but I couldn’t stop. I had to put more distance between me and the rat—
THUD!
“Kheuk!”
A blow hit my stomach.
Something had slammed into me, and my legs went weak. I collapsed to the floor, hitting my head hard.
My lungs felt crushed. I couldn’t breathe properly, and the momentum of running suddenly caught up with me.
“Kuh… kuh…”
My vision spun.
What had I been hit with?
—creak, creak…
THUD!
The same attack slammed into my back while I lay on the ground.
“Kheuk… kuh…”
After being hit twice, I finally realized what it was.
A tail.
The rat’s tail, longer than its own body.
I twisted my body to push off the floor. That revealed the giant rat’s outline—something I hadn’t been able to see in the shadows.
It was twice as big as my field of vision could show. Its eyes glowed red in the darkness, and its tail flicked at the very edge of my sight.
The same tail that had attacked me moments ago—and the one I had stepped on when I first entered the room.
“…Hah.”
The tail grew thicker in proportion to the body. It was so strong it felt like I had been struck by a ten-kilogram iron rod twice in a row…
Had anything in this world been this durable?
Am I really this weak if I want to survive here?
The giant rat approached me again.
—creak, creak. Squish, squeeze.
It sounded almost happy, like it was laughing. It had cornered its prey and knew I couldn’t escape. I was furious, but what good would anger do now?
I was going to die anyway.
“……”
I glared at the rat that was laughing at me. But glaring at a predator made no difference.
Could I even fight it?
No. I had no power at all.
I wasn’t even prepared.
At this point, I had no choice but to admit it.
I was just a weak human who could barely survive in Sanctum City.
“……”
But there was one small comfort.
The rat couldn’t do it, but I could.
“I’ll die this time, but not the next.”
I had been curious.
The first death had happened inside a sealed room with my body intact. Even if I was revived while lying down, there was no discomfort.
But in this Backroom—especially if I was torn apart or chewed up—would the company even bring me back whole?
How would they regenerate my limbs? Where?
Maybe I’d revive inside the rat’s guts by bad luck alone.
“I’ll just see what happens next.”
Even if that happened, it didn’t matter.
“I will kill you. I swear it.”
I would get revenge, even if I had to climb out of its intestines first.
The giant rat opened its mouth again, aiming at me.
—KEEEEEE!!
A piercing sound filled the air as it tried to finish me off. The throat and teeth closed in.
Still, this second death didn’t hurt as much.
The stench remained the same, though.
…Stench?
“……”
I opened my tightly shut eyes.
The mouth that had been wide open a moment ago was trembling and frozen in place.
What was going on?
Had I… suddenly awakened some hidden power? Or did death unlock some game-like ability?
But I felt nothing like a mysterious or powerful ability.
Then the rat’s mouth twitched. Its body began to rise slowly.
Only then did I realize what had happened.
Thin, white lines—almost like sheet music—were slicing through the rat’s body from the left, all the way to the other side.
Tentacles.
Several thin tentacles had burst out of the darkness and stabbed into the rat that had tried to swallow me.
—creak, gag.
It sounded like the rat was choking. One tentacle had pierced straight through its head. The giant rat looked even more unstable because of it.
Its head and body shook violently. It was badly injured.
I forgot about my own situation and stared blankly at the strange scene.
A predator suddenly becoming prey.
What were those thin tentacles?
Where did they come from?
That was when my thoughts reached that point.
Shwoosh.
BOOM!
Something huge and wide slammed down from above, crushing the rat.
The giant rat’s head and body smashed against the floor in an instant.
SPLAT!
Warm liquid splashed up, soaking my face and body completely.
My breath caught again. The hot blood that had just been inside a living creature felt like it would burn my face.
The stench turned instantly into a sharp, acrid smell.
But whatever had crushed the rat didn’t care about my feelings.
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
While pounding the spot where the rat had been several more times, I finally saw clearly.
It was a thick, giant tentacle.
It looked nothing like the one that had come from the rat. It swung down like a hammer, smashing into the rat’s body again and again.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
This was barbaric. It wasn’t even about killing something anymore—it was about erasing it completely.
Humans instinctively swat flies, mosquitoes, or cockroaches. This was the same level of brutality—pounding until the bug couldn’t even regenerate.
The rat I had sworn to kill was dead.
I had declared victory over the giant rat, but it was only because I thought I had a chance.
I planned to kill it again next time as long as it came back somehow.
But this was on a completely different scale.
No matter how many times I died and revived, could I actually win against the tentacles right in front of me now?
“……”
Nothing was left in the spot where the giant tentacles had slashed again and again.
The crushed items, of course, and the giant rat’s remains—only a pile of bloody, disgusting flesh and tail remained on the floor.
The silence stretched on.
One of the thin tentacles that had been stuck into the giant rat suddenly pulled out and lifted its body.
Watching it rise weakly, I realized I had forgotten I was even breathing.
“Hup… hah… huh…”
Before the unknown tentacle monster noticed me, I had to escape silently while it was focused on the rat—
SQUISH.
“Kuh…”
SQUISH.
SQUISH.
From behind.
My body was pierced the same way the rat had been.
When I looked down, two or three tentacles were twitching after passing through me.
“Kuk… kuh…”
Blood filled my mouth and poured to the floor.
I couldn’t move. My body was pinned.
“Ah… a…”
I lifted my head.
The giant thing was now directly above me.
“Damn it.”
Ah.
Even in the shadows, the darkness was deeper than I could imagine.
Shwoon.
The last thought before my head was crushed was…
Still, it was only a moment, so I wouldn’t feel pain…
BOOM!
That was all it took.