The Escape Ticket
"Minel... are you there?"
"Yes. I am."
His mother's hand rose and settled on his head. It had grown far thinner than before—so frail it seemed a breeze might snap it.
"I'd like to see your face..."
Irritation surged through Minel. The math problem that had felt hopelessly blocked had finally begun to show signs of yielding. Yet defying his mother always drew his father's fury like a struck match. The only time that eternally cold man ever showed emotion was then. Because of it, Minel had learned to obey her words by pure reflex.
He rose from the desk and leaned toward the sickbed. With great effort his mother opened her eyes and looked at him. Both pupils wavered without cease, like water disturbed by wind, unable to find focus in a way that was almost pitiful.
"Have you seen enough?"
"..."
"It's all right. Look longer."
The thread of the problem had long since vanished completely from his mind. Resigned, Minel simply gazed down at her in silence. She continued to study his face as if tracing it with her eyes, even though he was right in front of her—as though he stood somewhere far away.
And the next day.
His mother seemed to have recovered completely overnight. Minel thought she was better. That night, however, she drew her last breath.
"Chori's Mother. May I speak with you alone for a moment?"
At Minel's question, Chori's Mother regarded him steadily for a while. Then she turned to Chori and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Chori. Could you go to the other room for a little while?"
"Why? Why?"
"Just for a short time."
Chori's Mother's face was the exact image of the mother in Minel's memory. That expression alone told him at once that her time was nearly gone.
"I don't want to!"
Chori cried out with stubborn force and burrowed deeper into her mother's arms. The woman winced in pain, yet she never pushed the child away.
"Truly only a little while."
"No! You'll fall asleep again right away! Then I'll have to wait another three months! I want to stay longer. Longer..."
"Chori."
The voice was soft, yet firm. Chori looked up at her mother with trembling eyes, then quietly slipped free of the embrace.
"H-how long?"
"Ten minutes... please, just ten minutes."
Despair slowly hardened across Chori's face. Their lips moved several times, but at last they bowed their head before their mother's gaze.
"Okay."
Shoulders sagging, Chori left the room in silence. The moment the door closed, the performance on Chori's Mother's face vanished cleanly. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say she could no longer maintain the act.
"Hahh... hahh. Hahh... hahh..."
Rough, uneven breathing. Hidden within it were pain and the strain of holding something down.
Minel quietly drew Silence. In his flat, monotonous voice he asked,
"Are you human? Or a monster?"
Chori's Mother steadied her ragged breaths, swallowed dryly, and gave a slight nod.
"I was human once. But now... even I don't know..."
"Because you ate Blood Crystals?"
She nodded slowly.
"I borrowed the Wildness inside the crystals to hold on this long. But even that is now..."
So eating Blood Crystals let one borrow the power of Wildness. Even the boldest person would hesitate to put a monster's dropped crystal into their own mouth. To possess such knowledge meant she had been in the Backrooms a very long time. A veteran. She would have information.
"Do you know a way to escape the Backrooms?"
Chori's Mother seemed to consider for a moment, then her face darkened sharply. She murmured in a voice close to a sigh.
"I-I'm sorry... it's been so long... these days my memories... don't come well. I can't even remember what happened just before... it's a shame..."
Come to think of it, Hina had also pretended to remember things. Minel spoke quietly.
"Even the smallest clue is fine."
In that instant Chori's Mother's pupils cleared, and the yellow light within them receded. It was the first time he had seen vitality return without the aid of Wildness.
"There's something I remember faintly. A merchant I met on the 7th Floor... said they sold an escape ticket. I was going to leave then... but I couldn't bring myself to. The reason... I don't remember. Whether that merchant is still there... I don't know."
The 7th Floor?
An escape ticket?
Minel's eyes sharpened with sudden clarity. A goal that had felt like a distant mirage now seemed almost within reach. He had expected to climb at least a hundred floors, if not ten thousand. The 7th Floor was something they could reach soon.
"Are you certain?"
"I don't know... merchants are untrustworthy beings... but they can't lie. Of course there may be some trick, yet... we truly could have escaped the Backrooms..."
Minel lowered his head and thought. What had to be done to reach the 7th Floor? One thing, at least, was clear.
Avoid the Shocker and ascend to the 3rd Floor.
"Do you know the way to the 3rd Floor?"
Chori's Mother simply stared at him without answering. For a moment he wondered if her reason had slipped, but fortunately no yellow light rose in her eyes. After a long silence she opened her mouth and spoke in a quiet tone.
"You have to kill the Shocker."
"What?"
"Only then can you go to the 3rd Floor."
Minel recalled the Smiler he had met on the 1st Floor. Even that rare monster had been near the emergency exit leading up to the 2nd Floor. Was this similar?
"Must it be killed?"
Chori's Mother paused briefly, then said in a low voice,
"The Shocker is extremely fast. You can never escape it. Sneaking past it to the 3rd Floor is absolutely impossible."
Suddenly she began speaking clearly, word by word. That shift felt strangely suspicious.
"Are you certain?"
Chori's Mother shook her head.
"Killing the Shocker is the best method. Trust me. I know the Backrooms well."
Hadn't she said she had lost most of her memories? Still, the fact that they could not outrun the Shocker was clearly true. Judging by the speed it had shown at the end, they would die before they even reached the emergency exit.
So a frontal breakthrough was the answer. Yet he had no idea how to kill it. Strength, speed, and lightning were all problems—but more than that, they could not even inflict damage.
"Cold weapons don't work on the Shocker."
"Because of the electromagnetic field. You can strip away the lightning with strong firepower. Attacking after that is the standard strategy."
That matched the explanation in the Backrooms Codex. Yet it had not happened that way earlier.
"My firearms didn't work."
"What's the weapon level?"
Minel almost answered honestly, then felt an inexplicable sense of unease. Could he fully trust Chori's Mother? He decided to hide the peculiarities of Silence and Noise. She was surely hiding things as well.
"Level 2."
"Same level leaves too many variables. If you have a blacksmith reinforce them, you'll definitely be able to strip the lightning."
For a moment Minel doubted his ears. A blacksmith who reinforced weapons. Like the merchants—an NPC, then? He had always meant to confirm it someday.
"Where is it?"
"Chori knows the location. They'll take you. Once you've reinforced your items... will you make sure to kill the Shocker for me?"
A subtle dissonance. Minel nodded for now.
"Once the weapons are reinforced."
"Good. Call Chori in now."
"Understood."
When Minel stepped outside, Chori was sitting beside Hina. Hina seemed to have just regained consciousness; she was half-sitting on the edge of the bed.
"M-Minel?"
"How do you feel?"
"M-my body is fine. M-my head is a little dizzy..."
Minel turned to Chori.
"Your mother wants you to come in."
"Really? Okay!"
Chori hurried inside faster than anyone. Once Minel confirmed the door had closed, he carefully asked Hina,
"How much do you remember?"
"I remember everything."
"Do you remember Chori's Mother as well?"
At that, Hina drew a sharp breath, then managed a nod while barely holding herself together.
"I-I remember. My head hurt because of that lightning monster... and after seeing Chori's Mother it got even..."
Looking back, she had witnessed too many Mysteries in too short a span; her mind simply could not bear it. Balan had said Mysteries had to be witnessed slowly. That advice had not been empty.
"Can we trust Chori's Mother?"
Hina's eyes widened a little.
"Why?"
Minel recounted the entire conversation that had just taken place. Hina listened quietly, then said,
"I fainted almost immediately, so I never had the chance to check what kind of person—no, what kind of being—Chori's Mother really is."
"..."
"Do you think Chori is being used?"
From the moment she insisted they had to kill the Shocker, her manner had been far too different from the struggling, barely-able-to-speak figure she had been at first. If Hina had been present, she would have pinpointed the reason with certainty. Should he go back in now and verify it?
Just then Chori emerged from the room, closed the door, and turned the hatch. Their shoulders trembled slightly; they were crying.
Hina approached and gathered them into her arms.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Startled by their mother's sudden change, Chori spoke through tears.
"She told me... to get out. When I tried to hug her... she said... get... get lost..."
Hina held them tightly. Chori buried their face in her chest and began to cry as quietly as they could.
What was Chori's Mother's true intent? It was hard to know like this. While Hina soothed the child, Minel thought for a moment.
She had saved Hina. She had given them information about the 7th Floor. And the chance to meet a blacksmith and reinforce their gear was a major gain. The way she had emphasized killing the Shocker made him wonder if she had another agenda, yet the part about reinforcing the weapons at least seemed trustworthy.
After crying for a while, Chori pulled free of Hina's arms. They wiped their tears with effort and spoke in a voice that had steadied its emotions.
"Mom told me to take both of you to the blacksmith. I'll guide you."
Chori went out of the room first. Hina looked at Minel. He said quietly,
"We'll decide after we see the blacksmith."
"..."
The two of them soon followed Chori. The child moved this way and that through what seemed like emergency corridors, then stopped before a door leading outside. When they turned the hatch and swung the door wide open, a single corridor of the 2nd Floor stretched before them once more, just as before.
Thoom—
Thoom—
A strange sound. From the far end of the quiet corridor came a faint vibration accompanied by something like the ring of metal.
"Sounds like a hammer."
"That's right. We're almost there."
Chori picked up the pace again. Normally one moved more carefully the closer one drew to an important place, yet Chori began walking with casual, unhurried steps. Their movements carried the quiet confidence of someone who knew the area was completely safe.
Minel and Hina kept their tension high, ready to draw weapons at any moment as they followed. At last they rounded a corner.
Far ahead.
A place where the corridor wall recessed inward.
There, someone was bringing a heavy hammer down with solid force. Yet—
The figure stood nearly three meters tall.