Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Reverberation
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"Ugh..."
I lifted my heavy eyelids as if waking from a deep sleep.
My head throbbed.
My entire body felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, likely a side effect of the painkiller.
This was the characteristic of the Catastrophe Foundation's pharmaceuticals.
They were effective, but they came at a cost.
It felt like lead weights were attached to my entire body; moving even a single limb was a struggle.
Seeing that I was still wearing the paper bag, it seemed I hadn't taken it off in the middle of it all.
A lukewarm warmth still emanated from the inside of the bag, which had strange characters engraved on it.
"Dammit..."
I slowly took off the bag.
At that moment, a pungent, metallic smell of blood hit my nostrils.
It was a thick, nauseating stench, like stepping into a slaughterhouse.
The breakfast I'd eaten threatened to come back up.
"Ugh..."
It was the smell of blood.
A smell I was familiar with, yet not, and one I never wanted to get used to.
The moment I looked around the auditorium, I instinctively turned my head away.
It was a sight I couldn't bear to look at with open eyes.
The nightmare from the subway flashed through my mind again.
Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind: this might become my daily life from now on.
As long as I was part of the Catastrophe Foundation, I'd have to keep facing these horrific scenes.
'Can I really get used to this?'
But whether I could get used to it or not, it was something I had to do.
Nausea surged up.
The contents of my stomach rose to my throat before going back down.
My mouth was filled with a sour taste.
I hurriedly pulled out the green Emotion Spray and sprayed it into my mouth.
A refreshing coolness washed over me, and my mind calmed down.
It felt like taking a deep breath of crisp air deep in the mountains.
I felt my mind clearing.
'I think I can look now.'
I took one deep breath and looked around again.
It was a sea of blood, literally.
Under the cold fluorescent lights, the auditorium, mosaiced out by Leon's Keychain, was laid bare.
Thankfully, the scene, which was more terrifying than any horror movie, was blurred out.
A deeper shade of red stained the red velvet seats of the auditorium.
It looked as if someone had poured red dye all over them.
But that wasn't dye; it was blood.
Human blood.
I could still feel a lukewarm warmth, as if it hadn't cooled yet.
Through the mosaic, I could vaguely make out the silhouettes of the corpses.
The only clear sound was that of the red liquid dripping down.
Even though the sight of the audience members who had died by suicide was blurred, it was still 凄惨.
Traces of them attacking each other to death faintly showed through the mosaic.
The 300-seat small theater was a scene of utter chaos.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it hell.
The stage was even worse.
The actors' figures were blurred, appearing in different shapes.
The stage floor was covered in bloodstains like an abstract painting.
Red marks reminiscent of Jackson Pollock's action painting covered the stage.
Suddenly, I thought of my smartphone.
There was something I had to check first, even in this situation.
I rummaged through my pockets with trembling hands and pulled out my smartphone.
My fingertips were shaking so much I almost dropped it several times.
Thankfully, the screen was intact.
Even though it was in a spot where blood could have splattered, the smartphone was clean.
I checked, and there was a message.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[You have safely escaped the ghost story, 'Tragedy of the Red Prince'.]
[Basic reward of 300,000 Talents has been granted.]
300,000D
'Typical for a B-rank ghost story.'
Of course, it was a far cry from the amount needed to get the Reset Button.
Compared to the 10 billion Talents, it was just a drop in the bucket.
Still, it was double what I got from the Backrooms.
The results weren't bad.
Getting this many points from a single escape might be considered a success.
If I had been the first to clear it, there would have been follow-up rewards, but since I cleared it with Moon Jin-wook, there were no additional rewards this time.
Usually, I would have been disappointed, but right now, I didn't even feel that.
I was just relieved to be alive.
Moreover, I couldn't just leave my superior to die.
It was an unavoidable choice for the sake of my future career at the company.
Besides, it would have been impossible to clean up this scene alone.
'But what about the Chief...'
I looked to the side, and he was still asleep.
With his head bowed against the back of the seat, he looked peaceful.
The painkiller's effects must have still been lingering, as he seemed to be in a deep sleep.
Thanks to the drug, he didn't even seem to be having a nightmare.
"Chief, wake up."
I shook his shoulder, and Moon Jin-wook opened his eyes and looked around.
His face instantly turned pale.
He went as white as if all the blood had drained from his body, his lips turning blue.
"Ugh..."
I quickly sprayed the spray into his mouth as well.
A green mist enveloped his face.
A faint green light spread out like fog rising.
For a moment, Moon Jin-wook's expression softened considerably.
"Haa... We survived."
Moon Jin-wook let out a sigh of relief.
The tension leaving his shoulders was visible to the naked eye.
His gaze, which had been scanning the auditorium, no longer trembled.
Thanks to the spray, he started to calmly assess the situation.
As expected of a veteran, his recovery was quick.
"This... seems a bit much for just the two of us to handle, doesn't it?"
"Tell me about it."
Over 200 corpses.
And most of them were in a state too gruesome to handle.
This wasn't just an accident scene.
It was a supernatural mass murder incident, one that couldn't even be found in the National Statistics Office's classifications.
A sigh echoed through the auditorium.
Moon Jin-wook thought for a moment, then pulled out his phone.
His finger hesitated over the screen.
It seemed he was choosing who to call.
He was contemplating who would be best to contact in this situation.
"I'll contact the Deputy."
The moment he pressed the call button, Kang Ha-na answered.
Her sharp voice came through the receiver.
After about an hour of explaining the situation...
Deputy Kang Ha-na, a man in a suit, and a cleanup team in white hazmat suits entered the theater.
The man whistled the moment he entered.
The cheerful whistle sound contrasted strangely with the horrific surroundings.
"This is a real bloodbath."
His voice was tinged with an unnerving amount of leisure, as if he were looking at an everyday scene.
Then, he looked at me and asked.
"You must be the new recruit our team just got?"
"Our team"—does that mean this person is the Team 4 leader?
I bowed my head slightly and answered.
"Yes."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Team 4 Leader, Cheon Seung-soo."
The moment I heard the name Cheon Seung-soo, the effect of the Intelligence stat activated.
My mind cleared, and related information flooded in like a tidal wave.
Cheon Seung-soo.
Another named character of the Catastrophe Foundation.
A figure with a special position within the organization.
If Kang Ha-na is the type to solve ghost stories with pure brute force, Cheon Seung-soo is a strategist type, an extreme pragmatist who can escape ghost stories with only the bare minimum of information.
His ghost story resolution success rate was over 90%, but his team's survival rate was only in the 30s.
He was known for his cold judgment, earning him the nickname 'The Cold Calculator.'
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️
Cheon Seung-soo
He often sacrificed his own team members as offerings to ghost stories under the name of 'the greater good.'
However, his judgments were always accurate, and in the end, he saved more lives.
At least, numerically speaking.
'Dammit, why did the team leader have to be Cheon Seung-soo...'
As I was secretly despairing, Cheon Seung-soo asked Moon Jin-wook.
"But how did you survive in a scene like this?"
"If it hadn't been for the new recruit, I would have died too. I took a sleeping pill and was out like a light..."
"You avoided a play that guarantees death by sleeping through it? Interesting."
Cheon Seung-soo muttered to himself.
A smile crept onto his lips.
He looked as pleased as a child who had found a new toy.
It seemed I had piqued his interest.
"Let's head back to the company first. I think we need to write up the field investigation report."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After the meeting, Team Leader Cheon Seung-soo came to the office.
The fluorescent lights cast a cold glow on his suit.
The tension from the meeting still lingered in the air.
"'[Boy A]', no... 'Tragedy of the Red Prince' has been reclassified as a B-rank ghost story, considering its extreme difficulty in control and abysmal survival rate."
Cheon Seung-soo continued.
There was a strange nuance in his voice.
"Including the hazard pay and the manual writing incentive, Mr. Baek Jeong-woo will be paid 200 million won, and Mr. Moon Jin-wook will be paid 70 million won."
"...!"
Moon Jin-wook's lips twitched up for a moment before settling into a serious expression.
He seemed to ponder for a moment, then turned to me.
"Jeong-woo."
"Yes?"
"Actually... I owe you a huge favor this time. Could you tell me your account number?"
Moon Jin-wook said as he opened his smartphone's banking app.
"Thirty-five million won. It's a pittance for saving my life, but..."
I shook my head and waved my hands.
Of course, I had done everything this time, but accepting money for something like this would likely have a negative impact on the long-term relationship with my teammate.
"No, I can't accept it."
"Please take it. I used items to save you, so I need to repay that kindness..."
"Chief, I only did what I had to do. Isn't it natural for teammates to help each other out?"
Moon Jin-wook's eyes turned slightly red.
"Jeong-woo..."
"And if I had been alone, I never would have survived. It was only possible because you were with me."
Cheon Seung-soo watched our conversation with interest, a smile on his lips.
Moon Jin-wook reluctantly put his phone away, but his expression had brightened considerably.
"Well, you've all worked hard today..."
Cheon Seung-soo said as he stood up.
His long shadow was cast on the office wall.
"Let's grease the wheels of our Team 4."
"Pardon?"
"We need to know how delicious Korean beef is after escaping a ghost story."
Moon Jin-wook's eyes sparkled at the mention of Korean beef.
Honestly, I was hungry too.
I hadn't eaten anything since lunch.
A high-end Korean beef restaurant near Gangnam Station.
After Cheon Seung-soo took a seat, we followed.
The smell of meat sizzling on the charcoal grill stimulated my nose.
My mouth watered.
"Order whatever you want. It's on me today."
At Cheon Seung-soo's words, Moon Jin-wook picked up the menu.
After a moment of thought, he chose a few special cuts.
Cheon Seung-soo nodded readily.
At the evening dinner party, I thought to myself.
Today was truly a crazy day.
It was a nightmare-like day that I probably wouldn't forget even as time passed.
But strangely, the taste of the Korean beef melting in my mouth was, more than ever, incredibly delicious.