Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Live Flesh Butchery
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The alleys in the Death Alleys ghost story each have their own theme.
Just like in the real world, where shops dealing in similar goods or themes cluster together to form a commercial district.
Of course, they appear completely unpredictably, and the odds of them showing up vary.
And the place we're stepping into right now is the daily necessities alley.
But at first glance, I'm heading straight for the shop in this alley that looks the least inviting.
A butchery with living organs and chunks of flesh hanging up.
Wriggle wriggle.
'Th-think of it as a haunted house.'
It's fine. It's not like there's... anything hanging there in its exact living form. They're all just parts, so just... just think of it as an animatronic attraction at an amusement park...
Wait, amusement park makes me think of cheerful theme parks, which somehow makes it scarier?!
'C-calm down.'
I can't back down.
I forced a casual expression and strode toward the butchery.
Under the glass window illuminated by red and blue lights, the owner—who had been sharpening his knife on a whetstone with a grating scrape scrape—lifts his head.
His apron is soaked in blood, and he's got a massive build.
Looking closer...
A flayed cow, its head a mangled clump of flesh, turns to look at us.
Creak.
He gestures with his hand.
As if saying he'll treat customers right, come on in...
"M-manager, hold on!"
Kang Ihak blocks my path.
"Haha, uh, um. Doesn't look like we need anything from that shop. Let's head to another one!"
"The owner's already beckoned us. Feels rude not to go in."
"No!"
Kang Ihak notices his voice rose and hurriedly lowers it, speaking urgently.
"It said never go into the meat alley...!"
He's right.
Just reading the manual entries sends chills down your spine.
"Right."
"Ah, so you do remember? Then..."
"So?"
"...!?"
"I want to go shopping."
And with heavy steps, I headed for the butchery.
"D-Deer...!"
Sorry, Jang Heorun! Feel free to run...!
But I heard the footsteps of the two following me. Looks like they'd both decided to stick with me.
Hmm. Thought they'd bolt.
'Truth is, I want to run more than anyone...'
But if I stopped here and chickened out, I'd just get dragged around by that motive of theirs again, so I kept moving forward.
In the end, all three of us stood side by side before the brightly lit butchery, its display of wriggling parts...
Needless to say, I was out front.
Ha.
...
The flayed cow stares at me.
'Ughhh.'
Don't look too closely.
I unfocused my eyes and stared at the owner's neck area, but when I saw the veins wriggling, I hurriedly shifted to his clothes.
Better to look at the blood-soaked outfit.
"Hello. Do you do fresh packaging?"
Gr...k.
"Lots of good cuts here. Hmm... by any chance."
I pretended to mull it over, then pointed with my finger.
"Can I see some front paws?"
Thud.
The flayed cow head rises from its seat and opens the glass door.
From inside, the 'front paws' parts are neatly laid out before my eyes.
...Still living, wriggling flesh.
Beast paw.
Primate hand.
Primate hand.
Tentacle?
Beast paw.
Primate hand...
A person's hand, ringed finger trembling, pleadingly scraping at the glass floor...
'Urk.'
I had to hold it together.
I looked down with feigned composure.
......None of them were a suitable left hand.
'Too bad.'
I'd endured this mental torment; it'd be nice to at least get something out of it.
I shook off thoughts of Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je and, after a moment's feigned deliberation, spoke to the owner.
"Something with sturdier bones simmers better broth... hmm. Got anything with eyes?"
Thud!
His hand grew rougher after the first rejection. I could faintly hear my companions holding their breath behind me.
I took a deep breath to suppress my own fear.
'Display...'
The front paws are cleared away,
and eyeballs appear before me.
Black sclera with purple iris.
Fist-sized blue eyeball.
Lens still attached to flesh.
Trembling white circle without focus...
A desperate dark brown pupil gazing at me.
'Ha.'
I closed my eyes, then opened them.
"That one looks good."
I pointed to the first one displayed: the black eyeball with the flickering purple iris.
"I'd like to buy it. Oh, no need to cut it up."
......
The flayed cow stares fixedly at me.
Then extends a hand.
A clear gesture: pay up.
Kang Ihak mutters in the tiniest voice.
"...Manager, maybe test the waters on what payment...?"
"No."
I pulled a box out from my tattoo inventory.
Thud.
The hefty box, stuffed full of corn and carrots, was set down before the shop.
"...??"
"...?!"
"I'll pay with this."
Right. The Death Alley shops sometimes use bizarre currencies, but we don't have any of that as a baseline.
'So we try bartering.'
Each shop accepts different things, so I'd stuffed my tattoo full of daily necessities, jewelry, snacks...
Including the vegetable box.
Of course, some shops demand things no sane human would ever give up, but here, this would do.
"How much do I need to pay?"
......
The butchery owner reaches out to take the entire pile of vegetables I'd brought.
My companions' faces brightened; they'd been shocked by the tattoo inventory performance.
"Ah, trade successful..."
"Hold on. That much?"
"...?!"
I frowned and cut in.
"That's too expensive. Even for fresh packaging, there's a limit. Bringing it here that fresh wasn't easy for me either..."
"D-Deer...?!"
My companions went pale as sheets, staring at me like I was even more insane, but I kept talking.
"You didn't jack up the price just because I picked one to buy... right? Supply issues lately?"
Gr...k.
"...Tough times. Still, it's over my budget... sigh."
I deliberately went silent.
The owner went silent too.
The flayed cow's head seemed to stare blankly at me before shuffling to what looked like a checkout counter and grabbing a handful of coins.
Rusted coins with all numbers and letters printed upside down.
The local currency.
'Yesss!'
Some shops don't barter, and escaping those requires coins no matter what!
I smiled as I accepted the coins.
"...Plenty of change. Thank you. I'll take it."
......!
The flayed owner excitedly rises and packages my purchase.
The madly twitching black eyeball ends up vinyl-wrapped in transparent liquid and handed to me.
I strained not to look too closely at either the coins or the item.
"Tha...nks."
And in that moment.
Splat.
Blood from the heavily moving apron splashes onto my face.
And onto Jang Heorun's too.
"...!"
Jang Heorun in his water buffalo mask stiffens rigidly and bows his head.
Probably desperately holding back vomit...
'Damn.'
I jumped in and started talking.
"Ah. That guy's hungry and looking weak. Better hurry back and get some food in him."
Please, please!
The flayed cow peers intently at Jang Heorun.
Just before Jang Heorun starts sweating while frozen stiff.
Drop.
The shop owner drops an item toward him.
...One of the corns I'd paid with.
"Tha...nks..."
Jang Heorun takes the corn with trembling hands.
The shop owner stares at him for a moment, then sits back down by the glass door of the butchery.
'...We passed.'
We hurried away from the 'Live Flesh Butchery'.
At the same time, I glanced at Jang Heorun's face, tightly clutching the corn.
More precisely, at what he was wearing over it.
'......The mask, huh.'
He must've mistaken Jang Heorun for a water buffalo.
Daydream Corporation masks really weren't ordinary items. Just like the Dream Essence Collector.
'Whew.'
Don't Abandon Your Body!
Remaining Steps: 7999
Our footsteps only halted when the next alley appeared, and I immediately checked on Jang Heorun.
"You okay?"
"Pardon? Ah, yes...... The, the blood wasn't that much, and it was all prepped anyway, so this much is fine now..."
'Prepped clean but still alive—that's more grotesque, isn't it...?'
But everyone has their own fear triggers. Gotta respect that.
Anyway, glad he's okay. His color wasn't bad.
The moment we were about to move again.
"Wh-what the hell was that just now? How did you pull off a trade like...?!"
Kang Ihak finally started with the questions.
Hmm.
'One more push here...!'
I casually asked back.
"What do you mean?"
"What you just bought! The manual clearly said to avoid alleys with meat shops, but you handled it like you were totally prepared..."
I was prepared!
But I couldn't say that, so I replied:
"It was too obvious."
"...?"
"The manual's description of meat-related shops sounded like a restaurant district. Usually, the problem comes from eating..."
I lifted the bagged purchase.
"But this is a butchery. Guessed we could just buy without eating."
"...!"
"And judging by how they were displayed..."
I turned the bag to show them.
The bizarre black eyeball.
"They're alive, so I figured they could be used another way. That's why I bought it."
"......"
"Like, say... organ transplants."
"...!"
Yeah.
Explorers don't buy food to eat from the Live Flesh Butchery.
They package those parts fresh and alive for a reason. Attach them to a missing body part, and they activate.
Sometimes even bringing the original ability of that part along.
Of course, blindly approaching that butchery to buy something without knowing this is pure madness!
So I kept blabbering.
"Places like this require creative reasoning from limited clues."
Yeah. Not really.
'Trying to profit off imagined clues from scraps is a great way to die...'
Everyone knows that's a last-resort desperate measure when no escape seems possible...!
But I had to pretend calm and crazy. Real crazies always have their own airtight logic, after all.
"I succeeded at that reasoning. Any issues?"
Lots!
Sure enough, Kang Ihak gaped at me.
Yeah, must seem absurd...
"Wow!"
Whoa, startled me.
"You're absolutely right!"
"...?!"
Eyes sparkle from behind the pony mask.
"No, wow, yeah. To aim high, you need thinking outside the norm... Guess I've been too hung up on risks."
"......"
"Life's all or nothing anyway! Haha! Right!"
Wa-wait.
Something's off here...
"Let's keep moving. Man, it's been ages since I met a boss worth emulating!"
"......"
That's when it hit me.
'Silver Heart!'
I still had the Silver Heart pinned inside my pocket.
'Went ahead and convinced them with my bullshit anyway!'
The problem was how weird this still felt.
Silver Heart is a persuasion tool by design, not brainwashing.
It only works when there's solid logic and emotional resonance.
'So normally, no one would buy this level of nonsense...'
"From now on, I'll back up Manager's exploits properly! Haha."
"......"
Ah.
I get it.
This guy... actually thought my crazy logic was plausible.
'What kind of worldview is that.'
Cold sweat down my back.
Clutching at my last straw, I turned to the normal one among them.
'Heorun, at least you...'
"Yes, I'll back you up properly too!"
"......"
"......"
Yeah.
But something... something feels wrong.
For now, though, all we could do was keep walking to get out of here...
'F-first, escape.'
Don't Abandon Your Body!
Remaining Steps: 6999
Surprisingly, the next alley went smoothly too.
And the one after that.
"Lighting shops. Staring at the windows can blind or possess you, so let's pretend to chat among ourselves and avert our eyes while moving."
"Yes!"
Alleys lined with all sorts of bizarre and mysterious shops.
But with the manual already memorized, it felt like taking an open-book test after cramming the textbook.
Except one wrong answer means death, so I was still on high alert...
"Ooh! Pharmacy! Should I try buying something there this time? What do you think, Manager? Buffalo okay too?"
"Yes! I'm good with it!"
"......Doesn't seem worth much, so let's move on for now."
"Ah, yeah, gotta save the ammo for the big scores, haha!"
Now they've got this vibe expecting me to boldly buy something again...?
And the worst part was how my colleagues seemed ready to back it 100%.
Meanwhile, no sign of a shop that might stock the chocolate I'd come here for in the first place.
Glancing around without meeting shop owners' eyes is exhausting. Sigh...
That was when it happened.
Don't Abandon Your Body!
Remaining Steps: 4999
"Ah, Manager. New alley up ahead..."
I halted and peered into the gap between the pharmacies.
A stench wafted out from within.
'Ugh.'
It was an incredibly narrow back alley.
Seemed less than half the width of the street vendor alley... oppressively pitch-black.
Whooo.
Worn side doors line the alley eerily, one after another. Sparse gas lamps barely flicker here and there...
In that dim glow, thick, sewage-like sludge oozing from pipes beside the doors appears and vanishes.
And beneath the gas lamps, leaning against the walls: bizarre silhouettes, spines hunched, parched and withered.
Glance.
They're staring at us from dirty, worn uniforms.
......All told.
'Even if you didn't know this was the ghost story zone, you'd turn tail immediately.'
The alley reeked of an ominous chill where no normal purchase could possibly happen.
"...Not in the manual."
That was correct.
Daydream Corporation hadn't actually explored this point yet; it was an unknown alley to the staff.
...The issue was.
'I have to go in there......'
Tears well up.
And somehow... even in a mad place like this, I won't even need to convince them to enter... that brings tears too...
With complicated feelings, I turned to my colleagues and said:
"Let's head into that alley."
And their reactions were:
"Yes...!"
"Looks like a fenced goods spot? Guaranteed high returns!"
"......"
I'll handle being the crazy one in this squad alone, please...!