The White Smile
A white smile that looked bright and pure — and was all the more chilling for it.
The corners of the mouth were stretched unnaturally high, as if the flesh might tear, and each tooth stood out with an unnatural, glaring white.
That sudden white grin in the dark did not so much glow as swallow the light itself.
Then, from the smile, came laughter.
Keh-keh-keh… kheh… kik-kik-kik… kak…
It was not the sound of a human laughing.
Irregular, jumping in pitch, never quite breaking off — only spreading. Like a machine and a person laughing at the same time.
With that laugh that muddied reason itself, the unknown monster slowly began to show its form.
"……."
"……."
There were no eyes.
More precisely, the places where eyes should have been looked torn away, leaving empty hollows. Even so, the sensation of locking gazes would not fade. It was obvious exactly whom that smile was aimed at.
Without so much as bending its knees, the monster slid toward Minel and Hina in a twisted, gliding gait. Joints popped with the grotesque crack of breaking bone, and a greasy black fluid ran from its body.
Even from the air alone, it was clearly something far beyond any Hound.
Minel's mind raced.
Fire Noise first?
Swing Silence?
Whatever he tried, he had the feeling this thing would brush it off without effort. He needed to attack somehow — and yet, unnervingly, his body would not obey.
Then a searing pain shot through his eyes, as if the orbs themselves were burning. He was already too slow to react; the pain left him completely exposed.
In that instant, the unknown monster's head snapped around.
There, one of the Hounds still jammed in the door was thrashing, clawing wildly at the wall. The sound was small, but the monster's response was immediate.
Kang.
A grotesquely elongated arm crushed the Hound's skull. The force was so great it looked as if the entire head had been fed into a blender.
As the pain in his eyes slowly eased, Minel forced them open. Hina, only just free of the same agony, was looking at him. Their eyes spoke for them.
A monster attacked a monster?
Then another Hound, given a little more room, threw its jaws wide and howled toward them. At that barking, the unknown monster's smile only deepened.
And then—
KWAANG—!
Its arm shot out again, lengthening in a brutal lunge. The Hounds packed into the corridor were flung away as a single mass, and the hallway blew open. Flesh and bone fragments sprayed in every direction; some of it spattered across the smiling monster's face.
The unknown thing did not care. If anything, it looked delighted, the corners of its mouth climbing higher still. On that eyeless face, the smile was the only expression it had.
Minel clenched Silence in his hand. His body still would not move — an alien sensation, as if every cell were forbidding him to act.
It reacts to sound. That was what reason said. The Hound's horrific death had been nothing but the result of that sound. Put the other way: stay still, stay quiet, and you live.
Instinct whispered something else.
Attack now. Miss this chance and you die. Move. Ambush it if you have to.
His hands began to tremble. Cold sweat ran down his back; his heart beat in uneven thuds. Every sense in his body locked onto the unknown monster.
Minel ground his teeth. Killing instinct by force, he held perfectly still, making not a sound. Hina, too, understood that she must not move for anything, and barely even breathed.
But her mind had reached its limit. Her eyelids drooped, and she crumpled where she stood.
Minel moved fast and caught her falling body — and the single step he took for it made a soft footfall ring through the room.
Tak.
The unknown monster's face turned toward Minel and Hina. The smile deepened by degrees.
At this rate—
We die.
He understood it by instinct: blink once and death would take them. A flood of memories flashed across Minel's vision.
Then, far down the corridor, something slammed with a heavy crash.
KOO-GUNG—!
In that instant, the unknown monster's head whipped around like lightning. Its laughter swelled; it twisted on its warped legs at a sickening speed and slid away toward the source of the sound, vanishing as if the dark had simply taken it back.
The room fell utterly silent.
The blood-red lights began to shift back toward their ordinary color. Of the unknown monster's form, nothing remained inside the room.
Minel held his breath for a long time. His heart still hammered; his hands still shook.
If we had fought, we would have died. Absolutely.
He had been arrogant. A few high scores at the Arcade had made him forget what kind of place this was. This was the Backrooms. Anything could crawl out of the walls, and it would not be strange.
Minel held Hina tight and squeezed his eyes shut.
How did we even survive?
Outside, the sounds of combat rose — someone fighting not only the swarm of Hounds in the dark, but the unknown monster as well, all at once. But the pain in both eyes was still so fierce he could barely make out the noise.
"M-Minel?"
"You're awake?"
Hina screwed her eyes shut hard and lifted both hands toward them.
"M-My eyes feel like they're burning."
She was trying to sound calm, but her voice shook badly.
Neither Minel nor Hina had been struck in the eyes. For a moment, a similar experience from the past rose in his mind. The first time they had faced a monster in the elevator, their eyes had hurt like this too.
"Wait it out. It'll pass."
"R-Really? Ah… you're right. It's getting a little better."
Does looking at a new kind of monster hurt the eyes? What kind of principle is that?
As the headache eased a little, Minel immediately pulled out the Backrooms Field Guide.
Smiler — A rare giant monster distinguished by a white smile. Aside from that smile, it prefers to hide its body in darkness. It has effectively no vision, and identifies enemies solely by sound.
It is a powerful being, but its precursors — the red light and the white smile — are unmistakable, and simply remaining still makes it easy to avoid. For that reason, it is not considered a serious threat.
So it really does track by sound alone.
If it didn't, we'd already be dead.
The quiet room. Once the headache was gone, the tension drained out of him by degrees — but he could not fully let his guard down. Outside was still a kill zone. He did not know who was drawing every monster's attention and fighting them all at once, and he knew even less whether that person was an ally.
He had to check. Whether they were a threat.
Minel helped Hina over and carefully sat her in a corner. She looked up at him with fear-bright eyes; he answered with a soft smile.
"Stay here."
"……."
"Don't come out for any reason."
Hina started to say something, but Minel had already turned. Drawing Silence and Noise, he stepped quietly into the corridor the Smiler had torn open.
The walls of the hallway were a slaughterhouse. Bloodstains and scraps of flesh clung thick where the Hounds had been thrown, and drops of blood and meat fell from the ceiling with soft, wet sounds. Minel picked his way carefully past them and moved forward.
Outside was unnaturally quiet. Blue light flickered at intervals, and in that light the black fog began to thin.
At the center of it stood a man.
He had one foot planted on the Smiler's head and was taking something from his coat. Surprisingly, it was a phone. He pressed the numbers with a blank face, then scowled in irritation when it would not work.
"Damn it. Of all times for it to break— Huh? You?"
A familiar face. The same veteran Minel had met in the elevator when he first fell into the Backrooms.
The man looked Minel over without expression. His gaze lingered especially long on Silence and Noise.
In that moment the black fog cleared completely, and the Smiler under his foot crumbled away like dust. All that remained was the white smile. The Hounds scattered into dust as well, leaving only several Blood Crystals on the floor.
The veteran opened his inventory and stored the white smile the Smiler had dropped. As before, he seemed to have no interest in the Blood Crystals at all.
Without hesitation, Minel raised Noise and aimed it at the man.
The veteran smiled — startled, or perhaps amused — and tossed out a remark.
"You're that newbie from back then, aren't you? Think I saw you about a month ago. Looks like you've gotten a little used to the Backrooms since then. Decent weapons, too."
So the veteran remembered him as well. Minel chose his words carefully.
"I survived thanks to you."
The man shrugged, almost mocking.
"I wasn't trying to save you. And you're thanking me by pointing a gun?"
He jerked his chin at the Noise in Minel's hands. Minel still did not lower it.
"I've learned a few things since then."
"Looks like it. Not dropping your guard is a good habit. But…"
"……."
"You've got to know who you're dealing with. When you run into a veteran like me, the first thing you do is get on your knees. You can't even handle a single Smiler properly, can you?"
The instant the words left his mouth, the veteran's form blurred. Minel's eyes snapped across every direction, but the man was nowhere to be seen.
Tak.
The cold kiss of metal against his temple. Minel sucked in a breath and his eyes flew wide.
"Competitive little thing, aren't you. Put the gun down. Quietly."
A whisper right beside his ear. In the blink of an eye, the veteran had closed the distance to his side — overwhelming skill that left no room even for resistance.
Minel gritted his teeth and slowly lowered his weapons. The veteran took the muzzle from Minel's temple, strolled leisurely around in front of him, and smiled.
"We've run into each other twice now. Might as well exchange names. What do they call you?"
Fortunately, there was no hostility in him. Or rather — Minel was not even an enemy worth showing hostility toward.
"Minel."
"That so? Unusual name."
"……."
"I'm Balan."
The name was familiar. The single name that blanketed every Arcade machine's number-one ranking.
Balan Cassel.
Minel knew at once that the veteran in front of him was that man. Balan smiled at his ease and held out a hand. Minel watched him with wary eyes, then slowly reached out and took it.
Kkeuk.
The moment their hands met, a grip like steel closed around his. Minel's fingertips twitched, but he did not let go until the end. Balan released him first, folded his arms, and spoke in a low voice.
"Taking on juniors isn't really my style. But meeting you on my first floor counts as fate, so I'll help you out."
Junior. My first floor. A few of the words lodged in Minel's mind. He could not say why, but he was certain of one thing: Balan rather liked him. Otherwise, he would never treat someone who had pointed a gun at him like this.
"You're just… helping me? Just like that?"
Minel kept his manners, but made his position clear. If a price had to be paid, he would not take the help. Balan seemed pleased even by that, and let out a short laugh.
"It's been a long time since anyone stood that tall in front of me. Long time since anyone on the lower floors pointed a gun at me, too. And on the first floor, no less. Heh-heh-heh."
"……."
"Fine. I'll help you for free. But don't expect me to hand you nice items or anything. That's not my style. Climbing the floors is still your job."
In truth, Minel had already received plenty of help from Balan. Dozens of Blood Crystals — without the advantages that had branched from them, he would almost certainly be dead by now.
Minel asked carefully.
"Then what exactly will you help me with?"
Balan grinned and held up three fingers. Behind the gesture sat that peculiar smile of his.
"I already gave you the first truth last time. I'll give you the second as well. Listen carefully. In the Backrooms, the most valuable thing is information first, information second, and information last."
"……."
"I'll tell you what you want to know. Spilling everything would be no fun, so ask me exactly three things."