Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Movie Shooting (2)
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No sooner had the words fallen than a man emerged from the darkness at the far end of the alley, shuffling toward us with feeble, listless steps.
But Shun and I ignored the man completely, scanning our surroundings sharply for the monster causing this phenomenon.
We were desperately looking around for the source of this occurrence.
Now was not the time to worry about some character from the script.
His footsteps were slow, but they didn't stop.
With each step that closed the distance between us and the man, the air in the alley seemed to grow heavier.
"Let's deal with that camera first somehow."
At my suggestion, the other team members nodded.
Those cameras and lights that seemed to be filming us nonstop.
They might be the medium for this monster phenomenon, or at least key devices.
If we neutralized them, maybe the shooting would stop for a bit.
"Yeah, no camera, no shooting."
"I'll go."
Bora pulled out a talisman, but Shun was one step faster.
As if no more words were needed, Shun charged toward the camera.
He rushed at the nearest one without a hint of hesitation, unleashing a lightning-fast, clean kick.
Crash-!
With a loud shattering sound, the camera broke apart and fell to the floor in pieces.
"Ooh..."
"It's smashed."
I'd worried something might happen the moment we attacked the camera, but nothing did.
The camera was cleanly destroyed.
But our brief relief turned to confusion in the next instant.
The wreckage of the broken camera slithered away across the floor, and as if time had been rewound, an identical new camera appeared right in its place.
"...Gasp!"
Boom!
Crash!
The lights were the same.
Even when Shun punched them to pieces, they restored to their original state instantly, as if nothing had happened.
"...No use."
Shun said in a low voice.
Helplessness was etched on his face.
This approach wasn't going to work.
We realized that simply destroying the cameras and lights wouldn't stop the shooting.
"Look over there..."
"Already like this..."
And finally, the man reached right in front of us.
Shun was the first to show changes.
He suddenly let out a short groan and grabbed his arm.
"Urk...!"
"Shun?"
Park Sunja, sensing his abnormality first, asked in a worried voice.
Shun's face was full of bewilderment, his whole body trembling.
He stared alternately at his hands and arms in disbelief, muttering.
"My body... My body's moving on its own!"
Clear bewilderment laced his voice.
His body was trying to move of its own accord, completely against his will, like a puppet manipulated by invisible strings.
"It's trying to move toward that man!"
The second scene from the script flashed through my mind.
The part where Shun beats up the man.
When Shun resisted, the monster phenomenon was now trying to directly control his body.
"Ugh... Krk...!"
Shun struggled desperately.
He resisted the invisible force trying to control him as much as he could, but it wasn't enough—his body finally turned toward the man.
Then, like iron drawn to a magnet, he started striding toward him.
If this continued, the second scene from the script would play out exactly.
"Hup!"
I reflexively moved fast, blocking Shun's path and gripping his shoulders hard to restrain him.
The force was surprisingly immense, but not more than I could handle.
"Hold him!"
Bora instantly grasped the situation and pulled two talismans from her waistband.
"Suppression Talisman!"
"Hngh..."
The talismans she threw with a shout flew precisely to Shun's ankles, sticking fast, flashing blue once, and halting his movement.
Shun stood rooted to the spot, as if shackled with heavy irons.
Only his ragged breathing echoed through the alley.
"Hoo... It's stopped..."
"Is this resolved...?"
We'd succeeded in stopping Shun for now, at least.
Bora let out a sigh of relief, and Hanbit judged the situation had calmed.
But it wasn't over.
Something utterly absurd, beyond all our expectations, happened.
Thud thud thud!
"Huh?"
While the Shun we'd restrained hadn't budged, the approaching stranger suddenly charged at Shun's rigid arm on his own, colliding with a "Gah!" and slamming hard into it.
Thud!
Then, as if he'd taken a massive hit, he clutched his nose and collapsed to the ground.
The man glared at Shun while feigning pain, grinding his teeth and muttering lines straight out of the script as if reciting revenge.
"Just you wait... I will... have my revenge...!"
"...What?"
It was ridiculous.
It was obvious self-inflicted injury for extortion, no matter who saw it.
Shun hadn't even twitched a finger, yet the guy had run into him and was vowing revenge.
And right on cue, that voice rang out again.
No sooner had the voice ended than the surroundings warped once more.
We shifted to a small, dim room.
It was cluttered with junk, and a computer glowed in one corner.
Being a small room, the number of cameras and lights had decreased significantly.
"How is it forcing this so hard...!"
"Wait! The script's changed."
As Bora was about to vent her frustration at the absurdity, Park Sunja noticed the second page of the script she held had changed, as if edited on the spot.
The original content was "Shun brutally beats the man," but the revised version read:
"Shun goes berserk, and his teammates desperately try to stop him, but they fail to fully restrain him, and the man ends up injured and collapsing."
Our actions, imperfect as they were, had influenced the script's content.
Realizing that, I glimpsed a faint possibility.
This might be the way to overcome the monster phenomenon.
Not just being dragged along by the script, but actively intervening to change the story's flow.
Even amid this, the third scene appeared on the script, sliding into place as if writing itself.
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SCENE #3.
To get revenge on Shun who beat him, the man begins secretly investigating those around him first. His eyes burn with cold thirst for vengeance...
---
The man, who had appeared out of nowhere, sat at the computer, peering at the screen and muttering continuously.
He ignored us as if we didn't exist and began talking to himself.
"Shun... Encountered a monster in Japan, abandoned his friend and ran away alone. Is his obsession with strength due to that trauma..."
At the man's low murmur, Shun's face paled and stiffened for a moment.
The reason for his abnormal fixation on strength was such a horrific past.
His shoulders began to tremble finely, a mix of anger and shame.
"...Shut up!"
Unable to hold back any longer, Shun lunged like lightning to silence the man, delivering a powerful kick to his side.
Hit dead-on, the man choked "Guh!" and tumbled from the chair onto the floor.
Silence fell for a moment.
"Shun, if you do that suddenly..."
"No, it's actually good. It was worth trying once."
As Hanbit started to say something, Park Sunja cut in, saying it was for the best.
At that moment, the unidentified voice filled the room again.
An unbelievable sight unfolded.
The man on the floor slithered back up as if time had rewound, sitting at the computer again as if nothing had happened.
And he calmly resumed reciting the personal info, exactly as before.
In the exact same voice.
"Shun... Encountered a monster in Japan... Abandoned his friend and ran away alone. Is his obsession with strength due to that trauma..."
Shun stared at him with a hollow expression.
We were all at a loss for words at this monster phenomenon.
"Attacking the man seems pointless..."
The man continued reading the next info.
"Hanbit... Didn't want to get involved in the messy family inheritance fight, so he ran away by applying to an exploration team."
Hanbit bit his lip and bowed his head.
Next was Bora.
"Bora... Joined an exploration team to find a good marriage partner at her grandma's request..."
"No, that's not it! Not a marriage partner, but to find someone to learn talisman arts from...!"
Bora protested, her face flushing red.
So she had a story.
Then Park Sunja.
"Park Sunja... Orphan background, still hasn't changed that name out of lingering attachment..."
Park Sunja glared coldly at the man, but a hidden sadness seeped from deep in her eyes.
The team members' faces all darkened, and the room's air grew taut enough to pop a needle.
Finally, it was my turn.
I swallowed dryly, tense about what secret would be revealed.
Even knowing it was pointless, I wondered if I should shut his mouth—that instant.
The man clutched his head.
Then groaned in pain.
He stared at the monitor for a long time, as if checking my info, then spat out just one phrase with great difficulty, as if he'd discovered something huge.
"Urk... Kim Minjun... Hated by a dangerous monster... Can't use his power properly..."
Hated by a monster?
"..."
Too many guesses came to mind.
I could accept the part about not using his power properly.
No sooner had he finished than the next page of the script in Park Sunja's hand—the fourth scene—appeared.
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SCENE #4.
Determined on revenge, the man sets out to eliminate those around Shun one by one, starting with his first target. The place he arrives at is...
---
"Those around him first..."
"Ahem... Meaning us first, right?"
As I muttered, Bora voiced my thought.
Her cheeks were still a bit flushed from having her secret exposed earlier.
The monster seemed to be targeting us, Shun's associates, first.
The surroundings shifted locations once more.
Before our eyes appeared an antique mansion with a well-manicured expansive garden.